Vacation memories

We're home now, but Phoebe wanted me to post the last few vacation pictures. Here she is at the pool at the condo in North Myrtle Beach, called Nautical Watch. We have been lucky enough to know someone to rent the same first floor ocean-front 2BR/2BT condo for nearly 30 years! of course Phoebe is too young to know that! Here she is in another vintage Skipper bathing suit.

Now we're home to gloomy weather, laundry, cleaning, bills and work. Vacation always seems to end that way. *sigh*

Finding Frog

First Frog finds Neemo! Then she finds a shark tooth! A very exciting beach day. Good thing she had her Madeleine shovel and bucket that came with her Madeleine swim suit. She couldn't wait to come in to tell Phoebe all about it. Note: Frog-size shark tooth is real. I don't care what size they are; I don't swim in the ocean anymore. I used to. Too many creepy crawly things and riptides. Just not smart.

Phoebe at the beach

Phoebs & Frog: At the beach

Phoebe and Frog were The Chosen Ones to accompany me on my flight to North Myrtle Beach, SC. When Frog heard there was a beach, she promptly put on her vintage Tutti & Chris red European-issue rain boots. Turns out the sand hurts her webbed feet.

On the other hand, or foot, Phoebe brought her vintage Ken green scuba flippers so she could swim in the ocean with Frog. She also brought her groovy Teen Queen surfboard and no less than five different swimsuits. Sounds like a lot of photo shoots to me.

Charlotte: Off to Myrtle Beach (with me)

Yes. We brought Too. Much. Stuff. Also attending: Frog, Mini Frog, Mini Blythe, Tutti, Kelly, Poppy Parker, Francie, Midge, 2 Silkstones and 3 vintage Barbies. Further acoutrements: one book of 562 pages, 19 magazines weighing approximately 42 pounds (3 copies of Vogue), 2 doll beds, 2 room backdrops, assorted cases and shoe sorters, 1 large shopping bag of Ebay sales to manage, 1 small bag of dolly sewing, mending, ironing and tiny vintage bouquets to re-wire and re-glue; laptop, camera and assorted electronic devices; 1 large first-aid kit and bag of supplies for the inevitable beach mishaps that have befallen me in the past (too numerous to mention here but do note at least 3 E.R. visits in 25 years of semi-annual beach pilgrimages); 1 blanket and pillow from home (adult size), and I even managed to remember to pack my own suitcase and bring a swim suit and towel (2 ea.).

Perhaps I need a class in a) How to Relax, b) How to Take a Vacation and/or c) How Not to be So Anal.

Daisy at the beach Wednesday morning

We've had lots of Blythe drama here, too much for a vacation. Daisy, with her new Pure Neemo flexion body, keeps losing arms, legs, feet and hands every time she gets dressed. Worse, her head keeps falling off unexpectedly. Very creepy. I was advised to use small rubber bands above the neck joint, which I did. One band left her wobbly still and two bands got in the way of the joint and caused her head to keep coming off. So, I opened her head with a screwdriver for the umpteenth time and went back to just one rubber band and a wobbly head. Didn't plan to be opening any heads on this trip.

Next, Abby's sleep pull string broke and her eyes stuck, so I had to open her head to fix that. Miraculously, I hadn't damaged her arc when the string broke, so she could be fixed with only one head opening, knotting the pull string back together and securing it with a little super glue, without getting the string glued to any of the working parts. Amazing. I didn't screw that up.

I had high hopes with all the outlet malls here of snagging some discontinued Barbie furniture or clothes, but every toy store in a 25 mile or more radius seems to have gone out of business. Shocking. Can't believe families with kids who come to the beach don't need to go on a toy shopping spree or pacify junior with a new toy while mom hits the outlet mall.

Only two more days of vacation. :(

Let the wild rumpus begin! Vacation! Yay!!!

I left Friday afternoon to drive to North Myrtle Beach for my first vacation in a couple years. What should have taken 7 hours took 11 hours, especially since we spent two hours going 6 miles in northern Virginia.

As I crossed the national harbor (drawbridge-scary!), I saw the Washington Monument and the Capitol dome for the first time, amid sunshine and cherry blossoms and sparkling blue water (cue the frogmen- some people will understand that!)

Then I was thrust into what is called The Mixing Bowl for my first time ever. I don't even want to explain it; I am still traumatized from the traffic. But at 15 minutes until midnight I arrived at my stress-lowering destination, along with Molly, Daisy, Abby and Alice.

Molly called shotgun and got to ride outside of their carrier. As you can see, she is a big fan of my driving. She did get a little bored once though.

Abby looks sweet here with her new pink/yellow eye chips, but her sleep string hasn't worked right since I got her, and it broke here so now we are stuck with those eyes until I get home or go buy a tiny screwdriver.

Alice hasn't been photographed much nor Abby, both because I don't want to get sand in their hair. Daisy is the only one who got to go on the beach, since I had just given her a Pure Neemo flexion body. How great that is! I am still figuring out what all I can do with it. Posted some additional pics on my Flickr.

First thing I get after giving her a new body is attitude, demonstrated above with "talk to the hand" and she doesn't even have opposable thumbs! Sure does make for fun photos, though. It took me an extra hour to get out the door for my trip because I had to pack clothes for the Blythes. Sometimes I crack myself up.

When we get back it will be time to work on a new dollhouse or Blythe Manor, and "Joey" should be home from Joey with her whole new face and self. Lilly will be pouty as usual; she never gets to go anywhere because of her earrings and beautiful hair. Don't want to mess up either one.

More vacation pics to follow.

More Friday Fashion Fun

Charlotte (top) must be dreaming of Myrtle Beach in her finely crocheted hat and top from Plastic Paradise. Or, maybe it's that she is just dreaming of Plastic Paradise, come to think of it. It's a pretty great Blythe forum afterall, and the source of most of the girlz' apparel.

In fact, Bunny snatched up this black and yellow Lolita set from there. It's perfect with her black hair and yellow eyes. Came with the high tops, too.

And Molly shows off in a dress, also from PP and our friends Linda, Molli, Zelda and Ramona who are on quasi-hiatus, still recovering from Blythecon 2009 and the arrival of a not-so-plastic sister! Molly herself, a custom by Joey/Pheisty and Tammara/DollyMolly also came from PP. It really is a Blythe lover's paradise!

Violet London, Travel Writer

Ms. Violet here, reporting from Nautical Watch in North Myrtle Beach, S.C. So much to see and do- perfect for Blythes of all ages! The spring weather is perfect also, about 80 and sunny everyday. Sunscreen would be a good idea to protect our shiny heads! Bug spray would also be good to pack. Auntie Angela wasn't kidding about sand crabs! Or, maybe it is the famous no-see-ums Mom told me about. Maybe it is bed bugs! Whatever it is, they bite! I mean, they bite! All the kids say stuff sucks, but Mom won't let me.

Our pool is really cold since it is unheated, but who needs that when we have an unheated ocean right out the front door. Actually, we don't have a front door, just patio doors and a deck, but big people can jump off that if they want (since it is the first floor).

We went to an outside park called Warbird Park. Who knew that planes were called Warbirds? Scary. I saw a plane that looked like a cute dolphin, but I think it was supposed to kill people. That's mean.

We went for a walk on the beach one night about 7 p.m. It was really pretty and a little chilly. I saw lots of big holes in the sand. I think big monsters live in them. It can't possibly be sand dollars or crabs or anything, because we didn't find one stinkin' shell. And shells do stink sometimes, Mom says.

I was so tired after all this, I had to get right into my Hello Kitty pjs from Effiedal Shop and get to bed! More adventures tomorrow! Soon, we will be heading home through North Carolina. Mom wrote all about that here http://vintageindie.typepad.com/vintage_indie/2008/04/vintage-hot-s-1.html. You should check it out if you like neat little towns. Byeee!

Violet and her Vespa

In a fluke of vacation outlet shopping, I found a deal on a Vespa for Violet that was just too good to pass up. I haven't let her take it off-road to the beach yet. In fact, I let her practice on the the dining room table. I've got to check the road rules: can you ride a Vespa barefoot? Violet London, law-breaker.

Violet, a.k.a. Beach Babe

Violet was able to catch a few rays today without getting burned. I made her put her swim suit under her PJ's last night, because she is such a grouch in the morning. However, this made her ready for the beach bright and early....then we just had to wait for the sun to come out. It finally did, and after a little shut-eye on the beach, Violet decided to take a spin in her (violet) VW Bug. For a new driver, she did pretty well. So well, in fact, that I bought her a Vespa scooter also!

Violet's First Day of Spring Break

Violet made it 900 miles to North Myrtle Beach without complaint. Maybe it was her new Ugly Doll that kept her content. It was somewhat cloudy and drizzly, so she couldn't take her VW Bug onto the beach. She did take her artist's palette and go for a little walk. After some chicken, tomato and artichoke pizza from California Pizza Kitchen, she put on her Joe Boxer nightshirt for the Blythe in America pajama party on Flickr. She kind of over-packed. More on that later.

We received the happy word that Tuesday made it to Madrid and is now Elaia (olive or swallow) in the good care of Carmen. We are hoping our own little "exchange student" from Hong Kong makes it to Indiana by the time we get home.

Look Out Beach, Here We Come!

The waiting is over, and tomorrow marks the departure to North Myrtle Beach for half the Smith household and one-fifth of the present Blythe Manor household. So, who is going? Stay tuned for in-vacation photo posting. I will say the lucky girl was chosen on the basis of whose earrings were not going to get lost, whose hair cooperates and who is an all around sweet-demeanored girl. Oh, and it was also based on who is not claustrophobic since she will be traveling in this swell dolly carrier, custom-made for me by Becca of Sew Pixie http://sewpixie.tinfoildreams.com/blog using Vera Bradley placemats.

As you can see, Mystery Girl has her shorts and sunglasses at the ready as well as her tote bag with laptop and $35. I wonder how far that will take her shopping? It won't last long if we find any vintage Barbie or Skipper clothes or some fabulous old-school Barbie cast-off at the outlet shops.

Meanwhile, Lilly has decided she wants to become a famous photographer like Gina Garan http://www.thisisblythe.com, for all intents and purposes the "founder" of Blythe here in America, not to be confused with Blythe in America http://www.flickr.com/groups/BlytheinAmerica, the group I co-administer on Flickr. B in A is having a Blythe pajama party on April weekends, so Vi...I mean, Mystery Girl has several sets of pajamas packed for her trip, along with her beach towel, swim ring, umbrella, cooler and VW Bug for beach cruising. I wonder how many weird looks I'll get photographing that?