I stopped on the way home from work at TJ Maxx. Yes, I had to work today. *sigh* But I was delighted to find several Alex items at prices drastically less than suggested retail. I saw Alex "Woman of the Year" for $59.99 as well as several other dolls (whose names escape me) for between $29.99-$59.99. I picked up the Atlantico outfit for $29.99. Heck I'm worth it. ;o) I got that, "Oh you collect dolls look" from the cashier as well as this is $30? Yeah whatever. As to the outfit, I am impressed. I only own a few Alex items, one doll, Lunch at Two and a few of the outfits. But this is a nice addition, the pants an actual silk, with a beaded/sequinned backless lace-up halter, silver lace up shoes, nude hip hugger panties, a beaded purse, earrings and a necklace. Alex looks quite sexy in it, and quite hip...the one thing I love about the Alex outfits which most of the Tyler outfits lack, that hip "edginess."

Happy Thanksgiving!

Competition and Auction doll pictures are up!

Most of my pictures are done, and I hope to have the rest of them up in the next few days...in the meantime, I found the most AWESOME accessory for the Gene family at Restoration Hardware. (My favorite non-doll store.) It's a Gene sized record player!! And the coolest thing about it? Yes! The records from the assorted Gene outfits will fit on it! Even the arm moves! It's actually a music box that plays "Peggy Sue" when wound up, even the turn table spins slowly! It's time to break out the Hi-Fi!

I was so taken by this little record player, that I brought one to Mel at the recent signing at The Brass Horse this past weekend. He LOVED it. My friend Debbie took this picture of him while we admired it:



The signing was alot of fun. Marie, owner of The Brass Horse, went all out. There were wonderful snacks and drinks, door prizes and even a charity raffle for some wonderful OOAK's. There was also a costume competition with three categories, custom day-wear, evening-wear, and outfits composed from pieces of existing Ashton Drake outfits. My entry which I called, "Seven for Cocktails?" was the underskirt from Savannah (yes, Savannah! It does have some redeeming qualities!) and the blouse from Turbulence, and the shoes from Iced Coffee. While it didn't win, I surprised alot of people with that skirt. One of my favorites was the skirt and shoes from Press Conference with the sweater from Hi-Fi turned backwards and then belted with the belt from Warmest Wishes and around her neck the scarf from Secret Sleueth. Very ingenious. The winning entry was Gene as a bag-lady, complete with shopping cart full of pieces of outfits, a miniature Girl-Star book, her Oscars and even a hat full of change! It was very fun (although, I can Madra more in this role, LOL). It was put together by Dave Duffy and he called it "Hollywood Royalty."

Mel also brought Vera -- his 1940's sewing manniquin. She was very cool, and much bigger than I thought she was. If you remember, there is a picture of her in the "Screen Look" magazine that came with Afternoon Off. I was lucky enough to get this picture of her:



Well folks...until next time!

I'm here, I'm home. I've got lots more pics from the Gene Convention to get up, specifically, Auction and Competition dolls, but there are lots of fun pictures in the General and Sightseeing albums. Links up above. :o)