Oops! It's almost February!

It's already the end of this month, I can't believe it :X I feel like the days are getting shorter. Am I getting old? I feel like I'm running out of time to find a job. Last year, I wouldn't have thought that I'd still be jobless in 2014! :( I know I'm not a failure, but it's hard to believe it when my parents are constantly asking me how the job search is going, or how many job listings I applied to, or if I called so-and-so to try to network. *le sigh*

In the meantime, I have started pin collecting. It wasn't a good idea, I tell ya x'D Below is what  my board looks like as of today. I still have more coming in the mail <___<;;

New Dolly Alert!

I didn't think it would actually happen, but I'd been dreaming about turning my whole story character troupe into dolls! It was fun thinking of Xyrnne's character (one of Yuuki's familiars) especially because she's this bubbly little foxy lady who just strikes me as colorful and adventurous, but innocent. I even looked for rainbow wigs for her, beautiful magenta eyes, etc. and got a fox version of her (a white Penny from Aileendoll). And I was content with having her in familiar form (read: as a fox) until ...

And I was sold! I NEEDED her desperately. And by chance, I was able to put her on layaway at Denver Doll. So I suppose we might be getting a human doll versions of Xyrnne after all! And this is a reminder to myself - I need to make a character chart with some doodles so I can just reference said chart instead of spelling out character relationships each time I mention someone. 

Happy new year!

This holiday, I've been busy going out every day because my cousin is visiting from Nebraska. Well, he's from Thailand and is going to school in Nebraska, if that makes any differences. We've never met him before, but I have to say that he's my favorite of my cousins! He's so much like myself and my brother as opposed to all our other cousins to whom I cannot relate. I am sad that he's leaving us already this coming Monday! He and his friend arrived Christmas day and I've been busy doing all sorts of things since then. This past Christmas was great, just another quiet day for the most part.

On top of other things,  my parents completely surprised me with a new laptop, which I am using to type up this blog entry :) His name is Tyreke Tyrone Toblerone - or Ty for short. I have to admit, I'm still not exactly used to this laptop yet with its different keyboard, touchpad, and most of all, Windows 8. I do have a Surface tablet, so I had some experience with it, but I really did not think it would be the same on a pc! For now, my old laptop is still functional - it was just dying in so many physical ways (though it has a new 1 TB harddrive just installed earlier this spring!). So I have two working computers :) 

I am not the type to stick to New Years' resolutions, so I never really bother with them. But this year, I want to do a little 365 project once again. I felt so accomplished when I did the pic-a-day challenge back in 2012. This year, it'll be a bit different, though. With all the negativity I've found in my life, I decided I would do a happiness project. Every night before bed, I'm going to write down a little blessing or happy thought from that day. On the bad days, I can go back to my pile of notes and pull things out to see that 1. there is always something to be thankful for, and 2. both big and small things are capable of making me feel happy. And although joy is completely different from happiness, I think this little thing will help me change my outlook.

My first entry involved this photo I took while hiking in Muir Woods:

There is so much beauty in nature. And I never realized it, but each individual petal of a clover looks like a heart! And in the field of green, all clovers with just one leaf were yellow and stood out like crazy! I just felt so giddy when I saw these all over the woods!

And today, I got my Minifee Luka after months of waiting :) I was scared that his skintone would be a bit too dark (after looking at others' pictures of tan minifees), but I think it is such a gorgeous color! I am so glad I was able to get a tan order in at the last second :) I am still waiting on his eyes to arrive. I also have NO boys clothes at all, haha. Poor thing! Now I really have to put aside money to get his faceup done! :X I also got his sleeping head, so that's a lot of $$$! Sorry for the super horrid after-dark iphone photo!

I hope I can share more moments here as the year progresses! For now, I wish you all a very happy new year!

HNNNGGG

I died! CANNOT WAIT!

Also this reminded me that I still need to finish re-reading The Hobbit. Did I even read this in middle school? Why do I not remember anything?!

Lovely Queen Elsa

My Disney Store exclusive Anna and Elsa dolls arrived yesterday!

Number 1492/2500

I absolutely love Elsa! Ice has always been my element, so when Disney announced the release of Frozen, I was over the moon excited! I was able to get both the limited Elsa and Anna dolls through the online orders! Luck was definitely on my side :) I am so in love with this lovely lady ♥ For those of you who haven't watched Frozen yet, I urge you to go! If I could take everyone with me to see it again, I would!

I need to take pictures of Anna as well. Probably not til next week. I need more light! :X

Apparently ...

Apparently, my having anxiety is just another little thing to brush off to the side. I doubt that most other people in the world have thoughts of death to end the pain associated with anxiety. Not that I would ever think of killing myself, but sometimes it just hurts that much. Like I don't want to exist anymore. And after years of talking every day I had thought that that person would be able to understand it. But I guess if that person don't suffer from the same pain, headaches, worry, etc., it doesn't make sense to that person. It's hard explaining what I go through - panic attacks and feeling like the universe is closing in on you. I know I'm not alone, and I'm so glad to find people who suffer in the same way I do because it makes it that much easier. But please, don't ever tell me "oh, everyone goes through the same thing," because I can confidently tell you that not everyone has it as bad as we do. And I am okay with knowing that my anxiety still is under control when I hear others' stories about their episodes. Makes me wish there was an easy fix to all of this so that we wouldn't all have to put up with it by ourselves! It's hard knowing that the person I lean on will never fully understand what I go through on a daily basis.

Don't know

My sister got engaged this Monday! Woo!

Also, I hit the 50k word mark in NaNoWriMo on Tuesday (only because I was crazily distracted when my sister got engaged!! I wanted to finish by Monday!).

Yuuki's familiars should be shipping out this weekend? Idk if Aileen Doll will remember to add my Penny to my order. I guess if not, I can just go crazy on them on their Q&A. I mean, we've only sent correspondence every week for the past three weeks. No big deal or anything!!!!!

I also finally got a shipping confirmation email for these two beauties! I hope hope HOPE that I will be able to pick them up on Wednesday. Fingers crossed for that! I will be way too busy to pick them up on Friday. Well, not busy. I have to work from 8-4:30 so there's no way I will be able to do that lol. I guess I could always just let them get delivered to the house, but I'm a bit scared, even with my family possibly staying home all day!

And that has been my random update!

Double Yuukis

Earlier this month, I bought a silvery-gray wig off of eBay for Yuuki, thinking I might as well start looking for one now that she's here. The white wig she's been wearing has been a temporary fix, but I've been too lazy and/or broke to find her a permanent wig. This one arrived today, but it was ridiculously thin at the top. I was going to contact the seller to get a refund, but it seemed like too much work for my $25 back (shipping would have been to China and I didn't wanna deal with that). So I'm going to try to make this work.

The first thing I noticed, however, was not the thinness, but the length of the wig. Looking at the auction/listing, it looked like the wig would just fall below her knees. Well. I was pleasantly surprised that it is long enough to be dragging on the floor. JUST like Pullip Yuuki's was! Seriously, Pullip Yuuki was wearing an SD wig, and it even touched the floor on my old SDs :'P That thing was MASSIVE.

I have been wanting to take a picture of my minifee with Pullip Yuuki for a while now, but have been too lazy to get her down from my bookcase. I thought since minifee Yuuki's wig came in, it was a good time to do it! Seeing them together like this, they are so different! But the character is really coming alive in my heart once again, and I'm so happy to have them both here with me.

Since we're on the topic, my novel for NaNoWriMo is at about 45k words right now. Well, missing pieces here and there, just like it was in 2009. But I'm making such good progress with it. I thought I'd come alive again when minifee Yuuki arrived, and having her in front of me is just so motivating. Once Ryo comes in (I'm expecting him to come in January. He was a last minute tan skin order through DDE.) - that'll be great! And I know I'm gonna want to make a doll version of all my OCs, just because that's how my brain worked in the past, haha. Soon, I'll have to find a YoSD for Reinor, another minifee for Xyrnne ... Not too much money is flowing in right now, though, unfortunately :'P I'll have to stick with having Yuuki and Ryo for now and make the best of it!

We meet again.

Last month, I decided to attempt NaNoWriMo again. It has been years since I've done it - lots of emotional struggles and just LIFE have kept me from writing, which I used to love so much. With the Priestess coming home in MSD form (my newest MNF Miyu), I've found it easier to find motivation to work on her story. After all, how can I introduce her to my friends if she's got no story?! So, this year, I'm cheating a bit and editing and adding more to my previously unfinished attempt to write part of her story. Oddly enough, this is book 2 out of the trilogy (with one other minisode stuffed in between books 2 and 3), so I'll have to also be wary of keeping timelines and other oddities in check when I finally do get to writing the first book. For now, all these ideas are mixed in my head, on notebooks, in binders, in my email drafts, and on multiple word documents. It is craziness!

I am absolutely horrid with blurbs, so I don't even know if I can fully explain what it is I'm writing about. Though I know not everyone will want to be reading the 75+ pages of my still-expanding novel about her. Still, here's a silly little blurb of sorts that give the gist of this second book I'm writing.

The Priestess is back, with powers she never thought she would be capable of without the help of her spirit guardians. After a confusing re-introduction into the Ronins' lives, the Priestess has to face dark secrets about her past as she confronts old friends-turned-enemies. In this sequel to Winter Premiere, we find out the real mission with which YUUKI was sent to Earth, the reason that she hasn't been able to get back, and, even moreso, why she absolutely must find her way to AURYEALIS now more than ever before.

I have to admit - I am absolutely in love with this story right now, and I'm constantly in the mood to be surrounded by all my messy notes and on the computer typing every night. So much so that I often lose track of the time and find that it's way past my normal bed time. For instance, last night, I slept around 3 and was just so lazy to get out of bed. I finally pulled myself out because I had to use the bathroom, lol. By then, it was 12 noon! Oops! I'm just on such a writing high right now. I'm not going to let a night go by without doing some writing because I just know that one night without writing will be enough to undo it!

So that's what I've been up to lately!

2013 Holiday Operation!

Fill out the form below, please! I do still have all your answers and addresses from last year, but I like to do this every year in case favorites/likes/dislikes change (I know mine do all the time)! You can email me at alawrendra@gmail.com ^^ I will at least send cards and some small things to everyone this holiday season :) I'd love to get a card back from you! I keep ALL my cards and letters from everyone! Take your time answering the questionnaire! And don't worry about long responses to questions - those are the best because of range of options! And, yes, I do realize I have a very specific Disney question thrown in there. If you haven't heard yet, I work at The Disney Store now, haha! Looking forward to hearing from you ♡ 

The questionnaire:
1. Full name and address 
2. Favorite colors (and any dislikes)
3. Favorite animals and "characters" (such as Hello Kitty, Stitch, Twilight Sparkle, etc.) (and any dislikes)
4. Any favorite Disney movies or characters?
5. Other things you like (mention other movies or series you watch, other things you like receiving, etc.)
6. Things you definitely do not want/like/will not have a use for
7. Do you have an online wishlist anywhere? (Amazon, Wishpot, etc.)
8. General hobby-related wishes ("LTF clothes," for example)

My answers are below to serve as examples! I tried to be as thorough as possible. The more answers you give me for each question, the better! :) Thanks, everyone!

________________________________________________________________

Favorite colors
Pink! Also mint, teal, red, light blue, and any pastels! (Not huge on purple or orange, but I do like all colors!)

Favorite animals and "characters"
Animals: GIRAFFES, penguins, puppies (corgis, German shepherds, labs, huskies, shiba inu), pandas, llamas/alpacas, octopus, tigers, unicorns (are those animals? yes, I guess so), jellyfish & squid, deer, dragons, foxes, pigs. Squirrels and tiny dogs scare me in real life haha!
Characters: Korilakkuma, Iiwaken Shiba Inu, Chopper, Zoro and Nami (One Piece), minions, Eevee, Charmander/Charizard, Vaporeon, Gengar, Scraggy, Stellina and Donutella (Tokidoki), Ryo and Rowen (Ronin Warriors), Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie (MLP), Midna (LoZ: Twilight Princess), Zuko (A:TLA), Yamamoto Takeshi and Hibari Kyouya (KHR)

Any favorite Disney movies or characters?
Movies: Aladdin, The Little Mermaid, Nightmare Before Christmas, Beauty and The Beast, The Lion King, Tangled, Lilo and Stitch, Cars & Cars 2, Pocahontas, Hercu
Characters: Ariel, Olaf, Donald Duck, Jack Skellington, Aladdin, Rapunzel & Pascal, Perry the Platypus, Belle, Meeko, Tigger, Hamish cubs, Stitch and Angel, Peter Pan, Merida

Other things you like
Socks, anything Disney, One Piece, earrings, lip balm, stickers, tea, stamps & ink pads, small figures (blind bags! :3), notepads, deco tape, princesses, bows, tokidoki, pirates, mermaids, glitter, stars, hearts, fairytales, Pokemon, carnivals, weddings, anything handmade (cards, knits, fanart of my characters, etc.), scarves, floral prints, hair clips/pins, gift cards!

Things you definitely do not want/like/will not have a use for
Soaps and scented lotions because I'm allergic to them! :x

Do you have an online wishlist anywhere?
I have one on Amazon and disneystore.com, HT, etc.

General hobby-related wishes
Minifee basic clothing items (plain tanks, tshirts), gift cards to Denver Doll, shoes that fit the tiny moe-line feetsies!