AG Spotlight: Doremi Latowski

It's my turn!

FULL NAME:  Doremi Annabeth Latowski

NICKNAMES:  Sometimes the Moon Girl calls me "Dodo," and my friends call me "Dori."  Camille calls me "Big Sissy."  I call myself "Princess."

WHERE I GOT MY NAME:  Justin and Marie Hayward named their daughter "Doremi" after that infernal song from The Sound of Music, and the Moon Girl liked the idea (though she doesn't like the movie, she says).  "Annabeth" is the name of Percy Jackson's friend/rival/love interest, and the name of someone the Moon Girl knows.

JUST LIKE YOU NUMBER:  Second-edition #27 (ie without permanent earrings) with a haircut

HOMETOWN:  Orlando, Florida

HEAD MOLD:  Classic

HAIR COLOR:  Light blonde

EYE COLOR:  Dark blue

FAVORITE COLORS:  Pink and yellow

THINGS I LIKE:  Cheerleading and gymnastics, autumn, ballet, playing the flute, Finding Nemo (I relate with Dory), line dancing, dogs (especially Westies), being from the south, and comics (Mutts and Peanuts are my favorites; fittingly, Charles Schultz and Patrick McDonnell were good friends)

THINGS I DISLIKE:  Being mistaken for a dumb blonde, being dropped in cheerleading practice (I'm a flyer), overly hot days, being bossed around, being a younger sister

MY CHOICE IN MUSIC:  I'm the household's resident Moody Blues fan.  The Moon Girl is also a fan, so it makes sense that one of us dolls would like them.  I also like the Electric Light Orchestra, like Lindsey does.

FAMILY:  Camille and that infernal Justin are my siblings, Salome and Rael Karkoszka are my cousins, and Xenia Papadakis is a more distant cousin.

PET:  Coconut, a Westie, and Moochie, an orange tabby cat.

BEST FRIENDS:  Xenia, Justine-Marie, and Zoe.  I'm on the cheerleading team with Justine-Marie and Zoe, and Xenia and I like to take long walks together.  Xenia can't see well, but she manages just fine.

SOMEONE I'D RATHER AVOID:  Speaking of long walks, I wish Justin would take a long walk off a short pier.  He can take Rita Cheryl, Samantha, and Luciana with him, since they seem to like him so much.

HOW I CAME HERE:  I came from eBay.  I have a bit of a hair trim, and the Moon Girl says that helped me stand out.

ABOUT ME:  I'm often called your stereotypical dumb blonde, and I'll admit that being both a flake and a member of the Dumb Blonde Society doesn't help my case.  The truth is that I have a sizeable imagination, and if I flake out it's usually because I'm mulling something over.

I've got a lot to mull over, like how I'm going to land my next back handspring without breaking my neck, or why the sky had to be blue instead of pink or green or purple (not that I'm complaining; I love blue), or why I suddenly have to have a brother who watches my every move.  Seriously, Justin is always keeping an eye on me and telling me "Doremi, be careful!"  "Doremi, don't fly so high!"  "Doremi, don't stay out too late!"  I get that last one, but I can't help how high I fly when Justine-Marie and Joss throw me.  Forget princess, I'm Queen of the World!

Flyyyy me straight and fly me high...EEEK!!!

Owie...

*Side note from Justin:  Now see there?  I told you so, Dori!  Are you alright?

*Side note from the Moon Girl:  Looks like Justin has a point.  And how many times have I told you girls not to practice on my porch without mats?  

Oh, whatever. all of y'all!!!  Isn't Rita Cheryl supposed to catch me?  What kind of a spotter are you?  Why, I oughta...

*Side note from Rita Cheryl:  How can I catch you if you fall forward???  You're supposed to kick out and fall backwards.

*Side note from Justine-Marie:  Be nice, Dodo.  It wasn't Rita Cheryl's fault.

Oh, never mind.  Everyone seems to prefer Joss as a flyer anyway.

*Side note from everyone:  <collective sigh>

*Muttered side note from Rita Cheryl:  There's more than one reason for that.

I'll ignore that.  Where was I?  Oh yes, we're all so glad that it's fall!  The Moon Girl's sedums are so leggy that I can use them as a nest, just like Moon did when she was little.

*Side note from the Moon Girl:  Don't get excited, Doremi.  They're predicting temperatures in the high nineties next week.

Well drat!  And this week's been so nice!  Soon it'll be time to trot out Halloween clothes.  I want to be a princess this year, because...well, because I AM a princess!  Or I like to pretend I am.  If I pretend to be one will I magically be come one???  Ooo, I hope so!

All of my love,
Princess Doremi Annabeth Latowski

Never too early!

I know I'm jumping the gun here, especially since daytime temps in Malden are still hitting the middle and upper eighties, but I put Doremi and Zoe in their Halloween clothes anyway.  Both of these outfits are from Etsy, and both were gifts from my mother.

They've actually been this way since Labor Day, but I had to order some shoes for Doremi since her outfit didn't come with any.  They have little ghosts on the toes!

I've got a buddy who is fascinated with the dark and the macabre, even more so than I am.  Halloween is her favorite holiday, and she says it's never too early to start decorating.  I agree wholeheartedly!

Happy early Halloween,
RagingMoon1987 

Happy National Relaxation Day

I had no idea that this was a thing.  Good thing the folks on Failbook clued me in.  Doremi and Amanda are already ahead of me, LOL.

Good thing National Relaxation Day occurred on my day off this year, so I can keep my holiday spirit.  And yes, Amanda is new.  I'll give her a proper intro soon.  Just not today; we're relaxing.

Happy relaxing,
RagingMoon1987 

Another American Girl

Yes, she's my fifteenth...no, she's my sixteenth.  Yes, she's my third doll with the blonde hair/blue eyes/classic mold combo.  Oh well on both counts.  This is a JLY #27, one that I see...well, fairly often, but maybe not as much as her nearly identical twin, #22.

Her name is Doremi Annabeth Latowski, and like my other secondhand dolls she's been around the block a couple'a times.  Her legs are a little loose and she's had a hair trim, and her earrings and original clothes are missing.  I can rectify most of those issues, and I think the hair trim adds to her charm, as her hair has layers that frame her face now.

I love little imperfections like this because they make the doll an individual, kinda like my dolls with silver eye.  Unfortunately the hair in the back is a little dry, meaning that Doremi will need a spa day in the future, just like Julie and Felicity do.

To tell the truth ALL of my girls past a certain age probably need a spa day with the possible exception of Silver Bird, so I need to get on the stick and do that.  Seriously, if Silver Bird didn't have so many broken ends she'd have the best hair of my bunch.  Anyway, Doremi is a little unique in that she's got an artist's mark on her neck.  As far as I know, none of my other dolls have a mark like this.  Since it's such a teeny-weeny little mark I may have overlooked it on my other girls.

I don't know how significant that is, but I think it's worth mentioning.  The wiki says that "these are assumed to be from early in production," but they don't really say anything about the age of the mold.  Since Doremi's earrings weren't permanently attached she can't be one of the earliest of her kind, as #27 had permanently attached earrings for the first two years of her existence.  No worries, her earrings were easily replaced.

Somewhere in my cache of stuff I have some cheerleader-themed earrings, which I had intended to be for Joss Kendrick.  Lo and behold, I got Courtney and Justine-Marie instead of Joss (though I do still like Joss), so I guess Doremi can be my little cheerleader.  That's why I bought the green cheerleading outfit.

I wish I could get a cheerleading outfit for the Greenwave.  I showed very little support for Malden High's athletics department during my days in high school, but...well, times have changed, and so has my attitude.  Doremi's uniform IS mostly green, and it looks a little like the older cheer uniforms that Malden had, so I guess I can't complain too much.

Of course I want to discuss eyes, as I often do.  When I talked about Zoe earlier this year I talked about how she was one of the first dolls to break the pie-banged standard that most of the early Truly Me dolls had.  Granted, Zoe wasn't THE FIRST; that honor would go to #21 with her short, curly pigtails.  Doremi is another of these early dolls, though she isn't as original as Zoe is/was.  As I noted above, #22 and #27 are practically twins.

Practically.  #22 has light blue eyes and "straight" eyebrows, while #27 has dark blue eyes and feathered brows, and it was this dark blue shade that I was after.  Only a handful of AG dolls have this color, and I understand that it can develop silver eye, but as far as I can tell Doremi has no issues with that.  Apparently #27 is not predisposed to that, but...well, that don't mean nuttin'!  Not that silver eye bugs me much, but Doremi's eyes are healthy.

Not bad!  I admit that I was a little disappointed at first when I saw Zoe's eyes, as the wiki lists them as an amber shade and they're...well, not.  I've since grown to like them, but that's beside the point.  Doremi does not disappoint at all, and in an odd way she also helped clear up one of my weird little conundrums.  When I reviewed Courtney at the beginning of the year I mused about the shade of her eyes.  They're blue, but they seem to be darker than Kirsten's eyes.

I thought this might mean that Courtney had dark blue eyes, but her eyes are definitely NOT as dark as Doremi's are.

The wiki lists the eye colors of Kirsten, Courtney, and #27 as light blue, blue, and dark blue, respectively.  When I first got Courtney that confused me.  I guess it shouldn't have, since when the wiki says "blue" it means "blue" and not "light blue" or "dark blue."  What can I say, I can be a bit of a pea-brain at times.  Just to pound my point further into the wood, here's a close-up of each eye.

But then again, the wiki states that the new 35th anniversary Kirsten has darker blue eyes than the original.  Maybe Courtney's shade of blue is the new light blue???  I dunno.  I like Courtney's middle-of-the-road shade, but I like the pale blue eyes too because they're...like mine.  Oh well, I've got a doll representing all three shades now, so no biggie.  As an aside, dig this.

See the black smear under her eye?  Now dig this!

The eBay seller warned of this.  Looks like some little kid was practicing her makeup skills on her doll.  I may paint over this so it doesn't look so glaring.  I don't usually like my American Girls wearing makeup but...well, Justine-Marie and Lark have a little makeup and I don't gripe about that!

So that's Doremi, my sixteenth child, my fifth sixth blonde (I forgot Kyle, LOL), my fifth blue-eyed doll, and...I've lost count of how many classic heads I've got.  IDC, my collection, my rules.  Kirsten, Doremi, and Courtney are all enuff of individuals that I can tell them apart.

That being said, if I count Julie and Kyle that gives me six blondes in the AG department, and then when I throw Sadie and Gracie into the mix that gives me eight.  So unless I magically fall in love with #21 or #56 Doremi should be my last blonde doll of this size...yeah.  Y'all know how good I am at keeping promises!  But no, when I do get another AG doll (and it will be "when," not "if") it will hopefully either Joss or Gabby, both of whom I adore, and both of whom have attributes that I don't yet have in my collection.  Joss has such a sweet face, and I just like Gabby.  She got done so dirty by American Girl, and she could've been great if she'd gotten the time and attention she deserved.  We'll just see.  In the meantime I need to find out what all the fuss is behind Disney's ily 4ever clothes.  Are they just clothes, or is there a doll line involved?

Much love, 

RagingMoon1987