Yuiko Takes a Bike Ride

Yuiko Takes a Bike Ride, originally uploaded by esmereldes.

I think I'm not cut out to be a blogger. Esp. since, as I think I've said before, I spend so much time on flickr. So I still don't really have anything too much to say, I just thought I'd just share a sunny photo - mostly because I wish we had more sunny evenings like this! It's so nice to come home from work on a lovely sunny day and take a bike ride, maybe snap a few pictures...
Alas, more often than not these days it's raining, or it seems like it might rain, or I have errands, or I am too tired...
So this photo represents me getting to do something I wish I could do more often! ^^

Restart?

I haven't been doing a great job of updating my blogs lately. I think it is not so much that my life is busier than usual. Rather it is because my computer has become a mess. It's so full of pictures, I have nearly no memory left! I bought an external hard drive ages ago, and I finally have it all formatted (typically for me, that was a process...) and am copying pictures onto it. But me being me, I'm having trouble with the concept of actually *deleting* things. So where other people would go Step 1: Copy files to external drive. Step 2: Erase files from computer. Step 3: Enjoy all your new space! For me, it is a much more labored process. So my computer time is actually tending to be devoted to dealing with that, or to keeping my flickr account organized. Because, as much as I have clearly flooded my computer with photos, I can't. stop. taking. them. ARRGHH!!!
I also realize that I tend to treat flickr as a blog already, so it is hard to know exactly how to make the content here unique. I'm still working on figuring out an answer to that dilemma... In the meantime, here's some slightly repetitive content. ;)

I've been going slightly crazy with taking photos in stores. It's my method of saving money! XD If I photo it, I don't *have* to buy it. So here's my little report on Barbie furniture and clothing at Toys R Us. I did it comics style to make up for the fact that the photos are kind of lousy. Some of the photos are of pages in this little catalog of Barbie items that I grabbed at the store...


(click to make the photo bigger - you'll be brought over to my flickr account...)












This last one is not in comics form because I started editing it in Photoshop before I realized that Comiclife would make more sense to do what I wanted. I ran out of time and energy, however, before I could redo it. But I just wanted to show a (unfortunately bad) picture of Holiday Barbie because I really like her. I am worried I'm going to accidentally become a Barbie collector at this rate. I want to buy her for the dress, but it's like the Sanrio Barbies - the Barbie herself is kind of cool, and I really like the package! For the Sanrio ones, I like the package so much I still haven't ever taken them out of the box to use the clothes... ^^;

I never got around to showing a picture, but I was able to get My Melody Barbie for a really good price. (Now if I could just get the My Melody Pullip too, I'd feel all set...) It's so tempting to leave her in the box, but the clothes are just too adorable to *never* use. The shoes are esp. cute!

July 4 Weekend

Space, the final frontier..., originally uploaded by esmereldes.

If you live in the US, I hope you had a lovely 4th of July! If you live outside the US, I know that a lot of countries had independence celebrations recently, so I hope those were enjoyable too!

We had a 3-day weekend, and I was really looking forward to using it to catch up on things. I was particularly in need of some down time to try to organize all of my various collections. One problem with all this toy collecting is that storing or displaying everything is quite a challenge. It takes up a lot of space, and as I am constantly buying - and trading, if not selling (wish I did more selling.... <.<) - my collection is always in flux. And I'm always disarranging my storage as I move things around to take photos. So it really tends to always leave things messy and disorganized. Add that to a room that doesn't always get the attention that it needs from a busy person, and well, a 3 day weekend to sort it out seems like a real blessing... Unfortunately, I think I needed more like a week! >.< But I got my Hello Kitty stuff largely squared back away, and I threw out some old papers I didn't need, etc. etc. I have a bunch more to do for my long-term display goals, but I guess it's always good to have projects.... Uh, or so I'm telling myself.... ^^;

Anyway, I am afraid I also did some Hello Kitty shopping too! I can't seem to stop lately! It is pure evil that they are selling Hello Kitty stuff at all the craft stores, and also at Target. Those are my most frequent shopping areas! And now I can't buy anything practical without the temptation of seeing Kitty things! Wah! Not to mention the weekly 40% off coupons at A.C. Moore make me feel it is almost criminal if I don't use them to buy *something* Hello Kitty. So I ended up buying a small plushie, a weekly planner, some tiny notebooks (for gifts!), and a dish set. And possibly something else. I've already forgotten... *wince*
(I also bought a Barbie on clearance to steal her clothes. Spoiled rotten pullips!)

This is not part of the dish set that I bought, I bought this two weeks ago:



I love this design! There are other things I've seen with this cooking design, but not many.

Here's the side view:



There's a really cute tray in this design that I just saw on Friday while my friend and I were doing some shopping after our July 4 picnic. I was really tempted by it, but I don't really need a Hello Kitty serving tray. I can sort of get away with saying I "need" a dish, but not really... I ended up leaving it at my dad's apartment. I think I won't be eating with it, I just thought I'd leave it on the bureau as a place to keep earrings and hairclips. I find having a designated "home" for these things really helps keep them from getting lost.

So, overall, I'm feeling a bit guilty and wondering if I should return the dish set I just bought. That also has a plastic bowl, but comes with a matching plate and glass. Plus a spoon and fork. It's made of the same plastic tho, which I know is not that durable. I think I probably can't justify the purchase by saying I 'need' it for anything, but I am really reluctant to return it - it's so cute! I'll take a picture of it soon. And see if my guilty conscience wins, or my Hello Kitty hoarding problem...

UPDATE
Here's a shot of the aforementioned Hello Kitty plates:

I think I plan to return them now. They are awfully cute, but they are clearly for kids and probably not too useful for me overall. And I've been spending money like there's no tomorrow on Kitty things. That has to slow down a bit!

In Search Of...

My Melody Bag, originally uploaded by esmereldes.

Thanks to the influence of Flickr (I won't say good or bad... <.<) I seem to get sent off on shopping 'quests' these days. I'll see something is popular with folks on Flickr, and I'll get curious to see if I can find it locally. Most recently, it has been macarons. But often it is a looser sort of thing. I won't necessarily be going out of my way to find something, but I'll end up wanting to photograph something I see in a store because I know people have been talking about it. For instance, anything with an owl on it. Sanrio items tend to be a little of both. I always want to photograph them (or buy them... ^^;) when I see them, but I will also sometimes go out looking for a specific pattern or character if I read about them.

So, recently, I saw on someone's blog (and I'm sorry, I lost the link. I'll look for it again...) that there was a bunch of My Melody stuff at Wal-Mart. We don't really have those here, but I decided to look in CT where they do (I live too near the city, and I think Wal-Mart hasn't been able to get any property in the city. Makes sense - a big store like that would be really expensive!). I guess I am not lucky tho, because I found nearly nothing. Just this and some little kids' clothes. Ah well.

I used to be one of those wal-mart haters on principle, back when everyone hated wal-mart and starbucks. But I mellowed or something as I got older and decided that was stupid, and I should give it a chance. I gotta admit tho - I never seem to buy anything there! I think I bought some candy once. Meanwhile I may as well just surrender my wallet at the door when I go into Target. I guess I can see whose marketing is aimed most correctly at my demographic. For better or for worse...

I haven't done any side-by-side comparisons of prices, but I think that wal-mart is not any cheaper than Target for the most part. At least not for the things I personally buy - like cereal and contact lens solution - so it's really all a matter of the 'vibe' when you shop there I guess. Wal-mart is deliberately very warehouse-like and I find that depressing. I don't like to shop in the costcos and sam's clubs of the world either, tho in that case, the problem is more that I cannot find a use for 37 pounds of cereal at one time, even if it is cheaper that way. Buying in bulk doesn't do it for me. The stores seem dark and a little dirty to me somehow. Target meanwhile is very bright and has carpeting and reminds me of the caldor's and bradlee's of my youth. I actually work (sort of) in marketing, so I have read about Target's marketing strategies, and I can understand why they work on me, but it doesn't change the fact that I always seem to impulse buy in Target and never in Wal-Mart.

Accidental Blogging Holiday

Falada, originally uploaded by esmereldes.

"Nightfall apologizes for disappearing off the face of the earth recently (at least as far as concerns blogging) and will try to catch up soon. She has to! I'm new here and I want lots of pictures!"

Talk Radio

365 Toy Project: Talk Radio, originally uploaded by esmereldes.

Jun imitating Rush Limbaugh or someone like that... XD

I really loved this idea. I think Jun is hysterical, I am always so excited whenever I come up with a picture idea for him/her. ~.^

I took this at an actual radio station. I used to DJ at a community/college station, and tho I quit a while back because I felt like I didn't have time for it anymore, some of my friends still DJ. I stopped by on monday (dragged myself out of my room because I was temporarily feeling a bit better) to visit a friend's show. Usually he's on while I am at work, so I wanted to take advantage of the holiday to visit (it was a long weekend for memorial day). First time I got to use Jun's angry/drunk/assertive face... XD

365 Toy Project: Sick as a Dog

365 Toy Project: Sick as a Dog, originally uploaded by esmereldes.

Yes, I know. It's been a year and a day since I last posted anything. I've been sick for almost two weeks now, and I just haven't had the energy to have anything to say. I'm starting to maybe feel on the mend again tho, so I will see if I can get back into the blogging habit before I get to used to never posting. ^^;
In the meantime, please enjoy the double cuteness of Pucchi and a puppy dog! ^^

(My good friend always says people are "sick as a dog" when they get really sick. I don't know that I've heard anyone but her say this, so I don't know how common the expression is, but I find it kind of amusing. Esp. when you can illustrate it with cute pictures of puppies... ~.^)

Wall Display

365 Toy Project: Lazy Day, originally uploaded by esmereldes.

Strictly in terms of the photography, this is a pretty bad photo. The lighting is off. But I am posting it anyway, just to show off how I have some of my (too many) toys displayed. I decided to set up a little scene with some of my re-ment (actually, I think this set is megahouse...) and one of my Pinkys. I quite like it, and I think I want to set up at least one more. The only downside of a display like this (not counting the fact that I don't have a ton of wallspace...) is that it makes it harder to use these pieces in other photos. If I want to use any of these pieces I have to pull the whole display apart. It's not the end of the world, but the other problem is actually that I tend to forget I *could* use these pieces. So I will have to be careful not to use any pieces that I would want to use frequently in other scenes...

Who Should I Get?

Who Should I Get?, originally uploaded by esmereldes.

Decisions, Decisions.

It's so hard working out what to spend my money on. I could easily buy a million things at any given time. New dolls are particularly vexing tho, because as often as I tell myself I should quit buying them and just buy clothes for existing dolls, along comes some other new doll I think is just too cute to pass up.

I currently have two pullips/Taeyangs on pre-order (Seian and Celsiy) and that should be it for pullips until September at least. And maybe I won't want anything even then, I don't automatically love ever new release (and thank goodness for that!). So for Jun Planning dolls, I'm done unless I go back and buy an old doll I have wanted for a while.

June is my birthday, and there's that federal bribe... eh, I mean, tax rebate... as well, so there is a bit more money in June than usual, I think. I intend to capitalize on that to buy Butler, who I have wanted forever, and the Winter Bus Stop momoko. (I am not in such a hurry to buy momokos as I am to buy other dolls for whatever reason, but I do love her. )

So that's 4 dolls for the summer. That's a lot! And yet... I feel like I really could get away with one more. These are the three I am still considering. Can Can Cat Blythe because she's the first cute (to me) Blythe I can afford (Blythes are so expensive!), Colline because I like her outfit and I think she would be a cute sister for my Yuiko (Rei), and My Melody because I've been wanting her since she came out.

But I'm also thinking about just not buying any of them, and spending my money on Pinkys and re-ment and doll clothes and... I don't know... something "useful". I don't know what that would be tho... It's scary how I only think of toys these days! ^^;
I guess I could go on vacation somewhere... Dolls are still cheaper than airplane tickets tho... >.<

Pinky Size?

Pinky Size?, originally uploaded by esmereldes.

Even though I have been very lame about taking Pinky photos these days, I still carry a Pinky with me everywhere I go! So when I saw these adorable tiny flowers alongside an empty parking lot, I knew I had to show off how cute and Pinky-sized they were!

I hope I will have some more Pinky photos soon. Truth to tell, I have been trying hard to clean up my room these days, since my lack of free time back in February and March sort of piled on top of my lack of free time over the Christmas holidays, which piled on top of my lack of time last year and amounted to a lot of toys that didn't have a proper home and an enormous stack of magazines I haven't had time to read.

To top it off, my hard drive is pretty much full (too many pictures!), and althought I bought an external drive to help me free up some space, I haven't had a chance to install it. I wanted to try to back up (and sort) all my photos on discs first, because I am paranoid that in the process of installing the new drive, I will somehow erase my old drive. I know it sounds insane, but that would be just the sort of Murphy's Law thing that might happen... (or maybe it wouldn't, but I can't help worrying!)

So what with all of this struggling against disarray, it's been hard to bust out the re-ment and the pinky pieces for fear of them getting lost in the shuffle. It's seemed easier to leave new Pinkys in their boxes until I had more "play space"... And dragging all the Pinky parts out of containment to try new combos just seems like going in the wrong direction, cleaning and organizing-wise! So I haven't had much time for my Pinkys...

Still, there's light at the end of the tunnel! I'm almost done backing up my files, I've read and thrown out a bunch of my magazines, and I'm slowly clearing up some new space on my shelves... So, Pinky photos soon or else!

I just bought, too, this adorable little easel at the stationary store. As soon as I have some time, I'll have to do a "Pinky the Artist" shoot!

Momiji!

365 Toy Project, originally uploaded by esmereldes.

I'm so pleased! I saw these on someone's flickr photostream a while back, and was envious. Then I saw them at Urban Outfitters, but regretfully decided I'd better not buy any. At $15 each, they just seemed like too unnecessary of a purchase. I try really hard to limit my toy purchases, so as not to go overboard and waste too much money on stuff I can't really be said to need (no matter how much "I want" FEELS like "I need"! :P). However, I feel like I've lately needed to draw a triple underline under the "Don't buy too many toys" statement because I am really running out of space. I'm at the point where I have to would have to stuff new purchases in a box and not even try to think about displaying them. My room, also, actually looks more like a kid's room than it did when I was an actual kid. Part of me feels like "hm, I'm going in the wrong direction interior-decorating-wise". The other part of me is thinking, "hm, I bet I could squeeze in another shelf over there, and maybe over *there*, and then I could display a whole BUNCH more stuff!" Guess which side is going to win out?

But to get back to my original point - at $15 each, these were easy to resist. But then I saw them in Urban Outfitters sale section for $5 each, and, well, it would just be criminal to pass them up for that price... Wouldn't it?

Pretty Spring Weather

Atsuko, originally uploaded by esmereldes.

We have beautiful spring weather here in Boston - but somehow only during the week... ^^; This is pretty much pure torture for me, since I am outside so rarely during the day on a workday. And I work in a largely windowless office, so it's sad how little sunshine I see on a sunny weekday... At least as the days get longer, I can get a little bit of time in the sun before and after work. So to get my spring photos, I've ended up taking to plotting them out on my way in and out of work. There's some pretty scenery that I'm lucky enough to go by, and I keep a careful watch for stuff that seems like it will be a good photo op. Then I can pick out the appropriate doll and appropriate outfit, and bring them out with me on a day when I know I have time for photos.

The shot above worked out perfectly - I love it when that happens! ^^ Sometimes the idea in my mind doesn't work as well as I hope when I try to execute it. Other times I do something on a whim and it comes out wonderfully. Somehow tho the planned shots are more satisfactory to me than the unplanned ones. I could take pride in either, I suppose, since they still depend on my doing a good job with the actual taking of the photo, but I am not so confident of my photography skills, and sometimes feel getting a good photo for me is still pure luck. So I prefer it when my ideas are what work - at least I know part of the finished result is not just luck!

I should also note that in truth, these photos of Enna below were taken on a saturday, but they were nonetheless picked out on my drive in and out of work. I love that pink tree!! I wish the trees kept flowers on them all summer, instead of losing the flowers and growing leaves, but then again, it wouldn't be as special if they did! That's supposed to be the wonderful thing about New England, experiencing all the different seasons and knowing you only have a limited time to enjoy them. I think it works, but having never lived elsewhere, I can't help but wonder if it would *really* be less fun if it were beautiful in the same way all year...

Also, although these were taken on a saturday, they don't really contradict my statement about it being beautiful only during the week - it was cold and only intermittantly sunny that day. There's no photos from this previous weekend tho, that was rain through and through...

Goddess of Spring

Goddess of Spring, originally uploaded by esmereldes.

Hm, I've disappeared off of blogging again... ^^; It's really hard to do every day for some reason. It's not like I'm not on the computer all the time (sadly) - I guess sometimes I just forget to have anything to say. I also haven't had a lot of time to post photos to flickr, even tho I've still been taking them, but if you go there now, you can see my photos of my Rei out with cherry blossoms. It was truly wonderful weather all week last week. Sadly it went back to being cold and rainy for this week, but I feel happy because I did ride my bike into work one day last week, which gave me lots of time to take photos along the Charles River bike path area. Most of my photos are in color, but I really liked the sepia effect on this one. Something about Rei seems to work well in monochrome. I wonder if that is because I don't really like her blue hair...? (d'oh!) I still plan on rewigging her in black some day, but it's gotta wait a bit, as dolly funds are low...

Yuiko is wearing what I am calling a "goddess" outfit. It's probably an old Barbie outfit. I found it recently while clearing out the attic. I didn't have as many Barbie toys as I remember (or they didn't survive the recent damage to the attic) and most were not in good condition. This one was wrapped up special inside of the Barbie box. I think that saved it, as otherwise it would probably have been quite dirty. It needed a pretty serious airing out, but otherwise looks pristine. I don't remember it at all, so I wonder where it came from?

Pirate Angharad

Pirate Angharad, originally uploaded by esmereldes.

This is my newest girl, Angharad. She was a Veritas that I put in a new wig and made ears for. The ears are a little silly, but I'm happy with the way they came out. :P
All of my Pullips are fairy tale characters, and Angharad has ears because she is Puss-in-Boots. This is her story:

Some time ago, Angharad turned down a marriage proposal from a Prince. She was probably right to do so, because the rejected Prince had an enchantment placed on her in punishment. She had to find a way to get a commoner married into royalty in order to break the enchantment. Difficult, but not impossible, right? But of course that was only the condition to break the enchantment - the enchantment itself turned her into a cat! The Prince didn't think much of cats, and figured there was no smaller or lower creature than a cat, and there was no way a cat could help a commoner marry into royalty. Clearly the Prince was not very bright, in addition to being snobby and not very nice, because everyone knows that cats get their way with everything!

Angharad found herself in the household of a very poor and very old and sick miller. When the poor man passed away, he left the eldest son his mill and the middle son his donkey, which were all of
the significant things he had in the world. To the youngest son, he had nothing to leave but his cat. His youngest son bemoaned his fate, as not only did he have nothing to feed himself with, he had gained another mouth to feed!

Still, he was a kind boy, and promised the cat he would not leave
her to starve. Hearing this, the cat suddenly spoke up and said, "If you can give me a pair of boots, I will make your fortune for you!" The boy was much surprised, but fortunately he was clever with a needle. Begging some scraps from the local tannery, he made the cat some fine boots. So she set off to make him rich. Every day she caught some lovely game and presented it to the King as a gift from her master. After some time, the King asked to meet her master. The boy was ready to panic, but Angharad still had a plan. She told him to bathe in the river the next morning and all would be well. He did so, and at that moment, the King passed by. Angharad cried out that her master was drowning and had been set upon by thieves! The King
"rescued" the Miller's son and gave him some clothes of his own to borrow.

The King - and the King's daughter! - both took a fancy to the boy, who was really quite handsome and charming. After he had stayed for some time, the King asked if they could visit the boy's home, as Angharad had assured the King the boy was a wealthy Count. Again the boy was ready to panic, but Angharad promised all would be well. She knew of a nearby castle that had been taken over by an ogre. After craftily defeating the ogre, she told the King it belonged to the boy. The King, impressed by the boy's wealth - and the entreaties of his daughter! - decided the two should be married.

On the day of the wedding, the boy said to Angharad, "I thank you Puss, for all you have done. It was more than worth a pair of boots! If there is anything further I can do for you, you have only to ask." Angharad said she wanted only a slice of their wedding cake and her freedom. Surprised by this, but more than willing to comply, the boy-turned-Prince handed over a slice of cake. No sooner had Angharad tasted some then she turned into a lovely girl - although a girl with a pair of cat ears! Angharad thanked the Prince and explained that she had been under a rather odd enchantment and helping a poor boy marry a Princess was the condition for turning back to human. (The ears remaining was unexpected, but Angharad rather liked them after all...) Angharad then set off and had many adventures of her own. Most lately she has been Captain of a Pirate ship!

Restoration Project

365 Toy Project: Day 169, originally uploaded by esmereldes.

Ok, I'm falling a bit behind on my blog posts again. The weather's been wonderful, I'm on a deadline at work, and I'm busy with a couple of projects at home. All of this is not enough to keep me offline completely, I've just not been keeping up with everything...

This is one of my projects. I have some old cloth dolls that are very badly damaged that I am trying to restore. This one is probably one of the worst for wear, but I'm hoping I can help her. She is a doll I had as a child, and tho I was not one for dolls back then, I liked that she was a brunette with blue eyes - just like me. So I took all her stuffing out and am trying to wash and probably bleach the stains out of her. I may need to redo her hair completely, I'm not sure. I'm moderately terrified to wash her face, because I'm afraid of the colors on the thread running, but I don't really have any choice, I don't think, unless someone out there has a brilliant idea for cleaning her otherwise?
(dry cleaners don't really like to dry clean dolls, apparently... The pieces are too small to go thru the machines well...)

More Shana!

365 Toy Project: Day 167, originally uploaded by esmereldes.

I found this melon pan flavor pocky yesterday. There seem to be a lot of new Pocky flavors lately. I don't know if that is a reflection of Glico adding new flavors, or if it's just that the store I'm buying from is importing more new flavors...
Someday I will take a picture of Shana with an actual melon pan, but in the meantime, I couldn't resist this picture!
The pocky itself is sort of good, and sort of strange. It does taste quite a bit like melon pan, but that's not a particularly strong flavor, even in the original, so it's somehow almost more salty than sweet as pocky. I haven't had melon pan in a while, and I only know of one place around here that makes it, so I am not sure if the slightly salty taste belongs with the original, or if it's just there because of the pocky... I am guessing the overall flavor is meant to be like the slightly crunchy outside of the bread, but it's a little odd as pocky, because of course it is VERY crunchy. As pocky goes, it's probably not my favorite, but it does make a nice change of pace...

Shana is known to be very particular about her melon pan, so maybe she looks grumpy because the pocky doesn't meet with her approval?

Flame-Hair, Burning-Eye Shana!

Shana, originally uploaded by esmereldes.

Sorry for the lack of posts there for a bit! Flickr was annoying me with the whole video thing. I don't know if it is actually coincidental or not (seems unlikely) but since they added video, it has been much slower for me to load, and the little widget I used to grab the code for posting on the web wasn't working. So I didn't feel like dealing with it until it straightened itself out. I'm still getting slightly slow loading, but at least the widget works again. So, in honor of that, I'm going to post these photos I've been meaning to post for a while. The flickr problems were only one thing holding me back here. The other thing is that I went a little photo-crazy, and it seemed like a bit of a project to post so I was procrastinating on it a bit.

I was pretty excited to get my Shana. Her crazy red-hair is just awesome! It's a little translucent and a little sparkley. No mix-and-match possibilities, but who cares? It's too cool to worry about stuff like that! My only regret is in not having black-haired Shana too. So far she's been too expensive for me to make the leap into buying. I was hoping someone would be selling her at Anime Boston - good for impulse-buying, if not for best price - but no dice there.

I'm not really a big fan of Shana the anime, etc. I didn't even know it existed until the Pinky was announced! I decided to try watching the anime as a result of the Pinky. I'm almost finished with the first season, I guess. I'm not blown away by it. The mix of creepy and school romance is not quite working for me. It's not that I oppose mixing genres - in fact, I generally like it! - but if you are going to shift tone frequently, it needs to be done well, and I'm not sure I think Shana succeeds. It felt, almost, to me anyway, like they were going to go in one direction, and then changed their mind completely. I like the "cute" part better than the "creepy" part too, I am sorry to admit. So I think it's getting better as it goes on, but I still am left a bit flat by it. Still, Shana is kind of a cute character.

Shana the Pinky came in a really cute box! I guess I think that because, like I said, the anime art is cute...

-- from esmereldes - (?)

I couldn't resist buying a pencil board from the series at Anime Boston too, esp. when I saw it selling for $3.75 at one place and $10 at another! Pinky Shana seems a bit bewildered by the giant portrait of her... :P

-- from esmereldes - (?)

I ended up with so many photos of Shana from this shoot largely because I was fooling around with trying to focus more on her sword than on her. I don't know if I came up with any really stellar results, but I hope you might enjoy some of the experimenting!

-- from esmereldes - (?)

-- from esmereldes - (?)

-- from esmereldes - (?)

-- from esmereldes - (?)

I also had to try a couple of ultra closeups on her cute grumpy face!

-- from esmereldes - (?)

-- from esmereldes - (?)

Strange Food

Barbie for Breakfast, originally uploaded by esmereldes.

Sometimes the food aimed at kids can be really disturbing...

Despite the ridiculousness of printing barbie pictures on waffles, I would have passed these by easily were it not for the "limited edition" logo on them. That totally cracked me up! I mean, do we really need limited edition waffles? I know limited edition soda and candy is a big thing over in Japan (what with the special flavor kit kats - which I finally scored one of, btw, at a local grocery store. I am excited, just because I am curious to see what one tastes like. I got strawberry), but this seems less like that and more like baseball cards somehow. I think because the "limited edition" does not apply to the flavor, but to the pictures. And also, because there are 40 designs total (so the box says) but only 8 waffles per package. So, do you collect them all in a scrapbook that you keep in your freezer, do you think?

I do have to note that my waffles were very heavy on pictures of Theresa. I don't know who she is, but she converts to waffledom better than ol' Barbie does. Miss Barbie's golden hair and pale skin sort of just blend into the waffle. My "set" also included a bunch of logos, which are, as always, just the filler of any limited edition card set.

I'd love to link to some info on how these waffles are made, or why they thought it was a good idea to make them, but alas, I am not finding anything.

Lovely Yuiko

"Sometimes I need to be alone...", originally uploaded by esmereldes.

Did I run out of things to say already? ^^;
I've been totally swamped at work for most of last week until today. This doesn't mean I couldn't've found 5 minutes to post something, but working too hard turns my brain into uncreative mush and I tend to be unable to think about much.

But I certainly ought to post some photos of my lovely Yuiko. I finally found a few minutes to give her an obitsu and change her clothes, and it turns out that she is very photogenic! I only had like 20 minutes to do this photo shoot after work. I had been a grim day, and it was hard to take the photos without sitting or kneeling (I didn't want to get wet) but it was all worth it to me! You can see the rest of her photos from this session (and earlier photos) in her flickr set.

I started out really hating this wig, but I gotta admit that it is growing on me. It's not that I mind the blue, but it reminded me of Leda's (Nero's) stock wig, in terms of the short cut, and I just hated that wig. I expected to hate this one too, but the bowl cut actually suits her! I'm still thinking I will get her a new wig in the future, because a. I'd like to see how she looks with something else, esp. something in black and b. I still find myself sometimes thinking of her as Rei, which is a little annoying to me. I actually have a wig picked out, I'm just holding off because I've been spending money like crazy lately. Or I feel like it anyway... (and it's not all been irresponsible spending, some of it was just general "hey, life sure is expensive" stuff... >.<)

Rabbit Rabbit

CT Wildlife - Mr Bunny, originally uploaded by esmereldes.

I'm a little late, but it's the first of the month, so Rabbit! My mom always had my brother and I say this on the first of the month, but as a kid, I never had any idea why. I think we only said it once tho, rather than twice. It was a long time before I met anyone else who had this tradition/superstition, but I guess if it rates a wikipedia explanation than it must be fairly common...

This bit is interesting, since I jused to like Jawbreaker - "The band Jawbreaker makes reference to the superstition in their song Jinx Removing."
I never picked that up tho...

At any rate, hope your month is lucky!

The Picture Has Nothing To Do With The Text

365 Toy Project: Day 143, originally uploaded by esmereldes.

I guess another indicator of Spring is that I just had to renew my Flickr subscription. So my lucky "public" (ha) gets another year of flickrness from me! ;P

I considered renewing for 2 years, but I always worry when I do that - what if something happens that I don't want the service anymore? Then I have wasted my money. I seriously HOPE nothing happens to Flickr, but you just never know. I'm still sort of bitter about my Newtype USA subscription being converted over to some new magazine that I'm not as excited about. Mostly I am sad that Newtype USA is gone, but the fact that I am now a hostage of the new magazine makes it even more annoying... I guess maybe in time I will get to like it, I like Shojo Beat, which is what I got in compensation for my lost subscription to Animerica. But even there, I still miss Animerica... <.<

I was also just thinking of subscribing to DeviantArt, but I am annoyed because there's already a Nightfall on there. One thing I am noticing is that unless I sign up to a brand new service, there's *always* a Nightfall. Which is fine, I can see it being a popular name. But here's the kicker - whoever it is that grabs the name pretty much inevitably doesn't use the service!! It's like some loser just runs around and grabs the user name and then does nothing with it. The Nightfall account on deviantart is blank. The Nightfall on Flickr is a blank account. The Nightfall on livejournal is not precisely blank, but is *nearly* blank and has a message telling people off for criticizing the person for hogging the user name and not doing anything with the account. What's up with this?

So, anyway, the debate is now "What username to use? Some weird variant of Nightfall? (N1ghtfall? Nightf4ll? Niightfall? Nightfall21? bleh) or esmereldes, like my flickr account?

Happy Spring!

Happy Easter, originally uploaded by esmereldes.

These were my Easter photos, but since I didn't get them posted here in time for Easter, I think they will be "Happy Spring" photos instead...
I love to do holiday photos, but this year I didn't manage to really do any for Easter. Too little time for photography lately, and then on top of that, Anime Boston was Easter weekend, so even if I did make time for Easter photos, that time got taken up by convention stuff. I also wasn't in a very Easter mood - it was so early this year I didn't feel ready for it! All of my "spring indicators" have arrived - Easter, the first day of spring on the calendar, Anime Boston, the robins, the first flower shoots - but the weather just absolutely does not feel springlike, even by New England standards! Tho, the weather always sucks in the spring and I think many New Englanders (or at least me) have some sort of amnesia every year about this fact. I think part of the attraction of living in the area must be complaining about the weather, since we always do, and we always seem vaguely surprised by how bad it is, even tho it's bad more often than not. So I am outraged - OUTRAGED I say! - that it is going to snow today. Where is the warm weather?!
But seriously, even tho I am not surprised to find that the weather is still bad at the end of March, it screwed me up to have both Easter and Anime Boston be in March. I'm more used to them happening in April when there's blossoms on the trees and some start of new grass. I did manage to take some cute spring-like photos here, but the secret involved in them is that they were all done in planters!! The first two photos are in some outdoor planters in front of a flower shop on Boylston St (and boy did people give me weird looks on that one... And they couldn't even see the Pinky!) and the ones with pink flowers were done inside of the mall. So yes, Happy Spring, even tho it feels so far away! XD







And while I'm complaining/talking about Easter, I also have to mention - why were the Valentine's Day and Easter post-sales so bad? Christmas stuff was around for ages, but Valentine's Day and Easter candy was gone by pretty much the next day! Do people really buy so much more candy for those holidays? Or, do you suppose they actually scoop a lot of it off the shelves and return it to the warehouse for next year?



I bought these adorable little chick plushes before Easter and felt bad about not waiting until they were onsale, but now I feel glad I did, since they were nowhere to be seen post-Easter!! o.o
I'm disappointed, too, that I didn't get to grab any of the Hello Kitty Easter eggs, or buy anymore Cadbury Creme Eggs... Tho at least on that last one, maybe it is for the best. They have a ridiculous number of calories... ^^; (they're actually really kind of gross, but since I can only eat them at Easter, I always get excited about them - clever marketing!)
I did buy a Hello Kitty easter basket. This is probably something I did not need, but after being largely thwarted by my sale shopping, I was maybe a little too excited to get *something*... It is cute tho!

Doll Meet at Anime Boston

Rozen Maiden Girls, originally uploaded by esmereldes.

I went to a doll meetup (actually, I went to *two* doll meetups) at Anime Boston. Mostly everyone brought BJDs, and I took about a million pictures. So if you like BJDs, be sure to check on my flickr account in the next couple of days as I get all the pictures posted to my Anime Boston set...

Look Who Followed Me Home...

Look Who Followed Me Home..., originally uploaded by esmereldes.

I am such a victim of marketing, I'm afraid. Whenever I see something on sale, or have a coupon, I am easily pursuaded to buy it because it is a "good deal". I am also prone to buying things because I am afraid they will become rare. This turns into trouble with my toy collections, because I tend to rationalize that even if I don't want it, I can always resell it. But... so far my resell rate is pretty much at zero... ^^; So it would really be much smarter if I only bought things I really wanted, regardless of the price. That is, indeed, what 'financial experts' will recommend. But I never can stick to this, because I think at heart what I really enjoy is bargain hunting, and not so much owning things. That's probably a bad trait in a lot of ways, because I end up buying a lot of crap I simply do not need. And truthfully the fact that my room looks like a rummage sale is doing a lot more to dissuade me from buying things than looking at my bank account does. But on the other hand, this tendency has its benefits because I can be completely thrilled for weeks by buying stickers, or some silly $10 item. I think in a lot of ways I'm easily pleased, and I can be equally happy with, for instance, a blue sweater or a green sweater. So that being said, I tend to use price as the deciding factor. The one that is on sale is a "bargain" and so that one is more exciting to buy. And it might not be on sale next week, so that's a good reason to buy it NOW and not think so much about it!

Despite the fact that I *know* that this is a marketing trick, and that is why they put things on sale and issue coupons... well, I am apparently helpless in the face of it. My dad is always making fun of me for my coupon clipping, but I can't help it - my mom was the same way and I clearly learned it from her.

What does this have to do with anything? (is that a question that even should be asked on a blog? Blogs are pretty much the home of pointless rambling, no? But, I do have a reason for this discussion! Surprise!) Well, something like a year ago, local record store/comic book store/collectible toy shop Newbury Comics got in a couple of Pullips and Taeyangs. Namely, Filato and Eternia. Their price was higher than it would've cost me to buy them mail order, incl. shipping, so I just got into the habit of checking to see if they were still there or not when I went into the store. I was hoping they'd sell well and the store might carry more - preferably new models, and ones that I wanted more than I wanted Eternia and Filato. Because altho internet shopping is often a better deal, there's something a lot more satisfying to me about buying in person. However, months dragged on and altho Eternia sold, Filato never did. I gave up on the idea that Newbury Comics would want to carry Pullips regularly. Instead, I started thinking "hm, maybe there is an opportunity for a bargain here". I have a friend who says she negotiates lower prices at stores all the time (apparently this is a trend, but clearly I do not have the gift b/c when I decided to ask about the possibility of a lowered price on Filato I was told that they don't discount collectibles - if they don't sell they go on the company website. If they don't sell there, they go on ebay. This seemed silly to me, but I'm not assertive enough to push things, I guess. So... Filato sat there. And sat there. And sat there some more. And then suddenly last night I walked in and he was substantially cheaper! I was shocked. His price was now what he would've cost to buy new *without* shipping. This was a good deal! And... maybe now someone else would buy him! I had to act fast! Uh... didn't I?

So the question here is - is the moral of this story that my patience paid off? I waited it out and got a good price for something I wanted. Or, is the moral of this story that I got suckered into buying something I didn't really want or need because it was "on sale"? Because, the truth of the matter is that I didn't esp. want Filato. I just got two new dolls who are barely out of their stock outfits. So the timing is off - it's not time for me to be thinking of a new doll. And if I bought I new doll, my wishlist was Butler, Colline and then My Melody. And maybe Horizon. Oh, and Winter Bus Stop Momoko. And I kinda wanted a Freulein Revolvtech (which is what I was actually browsing for at the store) So this unexpected purchase is actually pushing back the purchase of dolls I wanted more. But, you know, he's a nice ordinary-looking boy, which is something I did kind of want (my collection is mostly girls). And the only new ordinary boy (William) was not grabbing me any more than Filato, and Filato was cheaper.

So I am having post-purchase waffling, and Filato is staying in his box for a while. If I don't start experiencing full-on regret and decide to sell or return him, I will just keep him in his box until I want a new doll again. Because at this point I have blown my dolly budget all the way into June... >.>

Socks Kitty!!

365 Toy Project, originally uploaded by esmereldes.

So easy to fall off the blogging wagon... d'oh!

Anyway, this past weekend I went to Anime Boston. I had hoped to come back with just tons of cute things, but I didn't see that many things I couldn't live without, and the prices weren't pushing me into buying things that I probably *could* live without. (no good deals, darn it all!) Which is not to say that I did not buy anything! Far from it, I'm afraid. XD My chief purchase was this adorable little guy. I love this character and I've been snapping up everything featuring him that I come across.

So when I saw this plush at wizzywig's booth, I was unable to resist him, even tho I thought $10 was a bit pricey for a small plush. However, I'm so glad I did buy him! He's so cute and cuddly I want to bring him with me everywhere I go like I am 8 again. ^^

On a side note, wizzywig had one of my favorite booths this year, which just goes to show how much cute and random stationary has become an addiction to me... ^^;

Also, since this is supposedly a *Pinky* blog, I should note that there were a fair number of Pinkys there, but nothing rare. Mostly the very newest release girls, and then the Monster Hunter Pinkys. I'm still missing two Monster Hunters, but they were $26 at probably the cheapest place, and I have yet to take the one I got out of its packaging... But lest you think my Pinky love is fading, it's just that I don't really like anything about the Monster Hunters except the heads. I think Pinky failed me more than I failed Pinky in this instance! Tho they are very nicely done, they just don't seem very cute, you know? Someone else's style, but not mine. Maybe I'll still get them someday tho...

Oh, I must also amend this post to show the matching stickers I also bought. Check out the cute kerchief-wearing kitty, and the nesting dolls!!

Vote for me?

365 Toy Project: Lady and the Tramp, originally uploaded by esmereldes.

I think I posted this photo once before, but I'm posting it again with a plea:
I'm entered into a photo contest with the theme of "toys in love", and I'm trying to collect myself some votes. If you are so inclined, please vote for me!

I'm currently in fourth place and I think I probably don't really know enough people to get my tally up there to win, but it's still worth a try!!

You can vote on my flickr page (just click on the photo) and be sure to say that you are voting for me (just saying you like it won't count). You can also vote on the contest blog or on facebook. Head over to the blog to get more info on how to vote. If you do vote for me, thanks so much! ^^