Doll Comparison: Mia St. Clair (aka Charlie) and My AG #37 (plus more pics of Piper) :D

Hi guys!  Sorry it's been a while since I've posted anything.  My wisdom teeth removal actually went really well with few complications.  Even so, I still have 4 giant holes in the back of my mouth, and recovery just takes some time.  Thanks for being so patient. :)

I'll be leaving on vacation next week.  We'll take off on Wednesday, June 1st, and head back on Sunday the 5th.  Naturally, you guys won't be hearing much from me during that time.  But I'm bringing my camera and planning on bringing at least one doll with me, so I'll have lots of fun pics to share when I come back. :)

I thought I'd try to do at least one post on each blog today since I'll be gone next week.  This doll comparison post is one I've had on the back burner for a while and just never got around to.

So, without further ado, here is a comparison between Girl of the Year from 2008, Mia St. Clair (known as Charlie in my house) ;)  and My AG #37.

As you can see the two are very similar.  Their hair seems to be the exact same shade, at least to me. :)  Their skin tones also match perfectly (not that you can tell from some of my pics...once again, my camera is changing doll skin tones on me!).  Mia's hair is longer, and her part is on the opposite side.

Lovely Mia, aka Charlie.

My AG #37, aka Janie (my mom's doll).

Here's a top view of their parts.  Charlie's is on the left and is a zig-zag part, while Janie's is on the right and is a straight part.

 

Here are close-ups of their faces.  Sorry the lighting is so different on Janie's.  In reality, their skin tone and hair is nearly identical.  As you can see from the pics, Charlie has hazel eyes and lighter freckles and eyebrows.  Janie's freckles and eyebrows are darker, and her freckles have a different pattern.  She also has regular dark green eyes instead of hazel.

Profile shots. :)

Two beautiful gals!

Back view, showing the difference in their hair length.

So as you can see, My AG #37 would be a doable substitute for a Mia, as long as you didn't mind the differing hair length.  I still prefer Mia over #37, but both are beautiful dolls.

By the way, as I was uploading the pics for this post, I realized that I'd never shared the pics I took of Piper and her sisters.  So as an added bonus, here are some pics of Emma, Piper, and Charlie all together (and some shots of Piper by herself, too). :)  Those of you who follow Tess and Maggie's Blog will probably recognize a few of these pics from Piper's introductory post.

Sweet Sisters!

Lovely Piper: 

Introducing Charlotte Nora Hathaway! :)

The UPS truck made its delivery moments after I finished typing the last post.  Yay!! I opened my package right away, but I had to finish dinner prep, dinner, etc, before I could do this post.   It wouldn't do to have crabby, hungry kids! :}

Here's a picture of the box...oh, the suspense!  :)

And here's a hint...can you guess who it is by the braid? 

That's right, it's MIA!! :)  At least, that was her former name.  She is now Charlotte Nora Hathaway, or Charlie for short. :) 

It took me a long time to decide whether or not I'd rename her.  Normally, I'm the type that names dolls the name they came with.  But I have no attachment to the Mia stories.  The main reason I liked her was because I loved her hair and eyes and freckles. :)  Then I thought how fun it would be to come up with another name and personality for her.  Her first name is after a close family member, her middle name is after Nora Demington (the renamed Mia doll who writes "The Doll Wardrobe" blog and gave me Emma) :), and her last name I got from Anne Hathaway, the actress.  I love her acting and enjoy watching her CLEAN movies. :}  Unfortunately, there are less and less of those in recent years.  I just liked the way the name flowed, though.

So here are some more pics of Charlie:

She has such a pretty face!! I especially love her freckles.   Her eyes do appear to be a bit on the uneven side, but she's still beautiful. :)

This next pic shows why I was able to afford her...she has a major problem with her right eye.  Eventually (when I've saved enough) she'll take a trip to the AG doll hospital for eye surgery.  The nice thing is that her eye will stay in place if you push it up manually. 

Other than her bad eye, she is in excellent shape!  Her limbs are nice and tight, as you can see from this pic:

Her original braid is still in.  Although it's beautiful, I may eventually take it out.  Some of the hairs going into the braid are starting to pull out of it.  It's going to be hard to keep her hair neat if I keep the braid in.  I haven't decided yet. 

Here are some pics after I brushed through her hair and changed her into some of my doll clothes:

Okay, I know some of those were really similar, but she's so photogenic, it's hard to decide which pics to use. :) 

Charlie will be my last 18" doll for a while.  I'm going to be getting rid of a few dolls in the coming month, too.  It's gotten to the point where my doll collection is a little overwhelming.  I want to get it back down to a manageable number.  :)  I'm not sure what I'll tell Tess and Maggie yet (don't worry, they'll be among the dolls that stay).  I'm also reworking a few of my dolls' background stories.  Some names might change and some personalities might combine.  It's all still in the rough stages right now.  Just wanted to give a "head's up" for those of you that follow Tess and Maggie's blog. :)  

Thanks for stopping by.  Be sure to keep checking back for more posts with the adorable Charlie.  I'm sure there will be several posts with our newest member on Tess and Maggie's blog, too, so I'll be sure to keep you posted. :) 

Missed Opportunity

Have you ever missed a really good deal on eBay and had a hard time getting over it?  I had that happen to me last night.  But first some background.

I've been trying to find an American Girl Mia doll.  You know, the girl of the year from 2008?  I love how beautiful she looks in everyone's pics and in videos on Youtube.  I'd also like a Ruthie Smithens doll to be my look-alike doll.  At first, I thought I'd like a MAG #41 as my look-alike, but I realized after some study that Ruthie's eyes are actually closer to my color.  Mine are grey-green, and MAG #41's eyes are such a bright green that they just didn't quite fit.  Anyway, moving on.

I've been following Craigslist for a while, have bid on several eBay Mias, and even checked places like shopgoodwill.com and bonanza.com.  Nothing's worked out so far.  Part of the problem is I can't spend $100 on a doll at this stage in my life (or any past stage of my life, for that matter), so the eBay ones always go too high.   

I've had a Mia doll saved on my watch list for a few days now, and for some reason I didn't really look closely at her until last night (probably because the starting bid was $99.99, and we're trying to be more careful financially right now).  Last night I took a closer look and got really excited.  She had a buy it now option for $110, with only $8.99 shipping.  The auction included Mia, both of her books, her original meet outfit, her accessories (just missing her ipod player), her 2-in-1 skate outfit (just missing the hockey puck), her skate practice outfit, and her green ice skating outfit, plus the four boxes for her outfits!  I did some research on what her things were going for by checking completed listings.  I checked AG playthings to see if there were any missing items (which is how I found out that her ipod and hockey puck were missing). 

The important thing to me is the Mia doll herself.  While I love her outfits, I wasn't planning on making her an ice skater.  I figured if I bought her, then I could sell all the clothing and accessories in different lots to help pay for her.  I'd recently made $70 from Craiglist sales.  I was confident that I could get back $85, at the least (meaning I would have spent $35 on a Mia doll in excellent condition from a smoke-free home!). 

The problem was the initial price.  I almost just clicked buy it now, but I didn't feel right about going for it without talking to my husband first.  So I called him at work...and immediately lost my nerve.  I know it's silly (he's not an ogre or anything), but I could tell he was really busy and I felt so selfish asking for it when we've been trying to be good.  I didn't want to just spring it on him, either.  I just asked him how things were going and if he knew when he'd be home (he didn't)...and hung up.

I gave the girls their baths, but the whole time I was going crazy.  Mia only had a little over one day left, which meant that she could go at any time, especially with that amazing buy it now price.  Finally, I couldn't stand it any more.  I sent him a text ( a really long text!!) explaining everything and then nervously waited.  While I waited, I checked the computer again, only to discover a big "Ended" sign over Mia's picture.

I know it's silly, but I literally felt sick to my stomach.  I couldn't believe I'd missed it!  I'd known that someone would snatch her up soon...I'd just hoped she would last until I could be the snatcher! :}  I sent my husband a short text:  "Never mind-just ended. :( "

The funny thing was, he didn't get my texts until an hour later.  He called me and said he was sorry I'd missed it.  I told him it was okay and wished for the hundredth time that I'd just spit out my question the first time I'd called him.  He probably would have said yes, because I was going to tell him he could use it as my Christmas present, and he always stresses about what to get me.

Okay, so that's my pathetic confession of the day.  I get waayy too involved with eBay.  As I sat there planning and studying, I was already picturing Mia with my other dolls, and already planning the wording for my eBay listings when I sold her clothes.  It was like I already owned her, so to have her suddenly gone was a blow.

I've been comforting myself with the fact that she was probably purchased for a little girl who's been wanting a Mia doll instead of a silly mom like me who already has plenty of dolls for herself. :}  It's also nice to know that God's in control of everything, even eBay purchases.  If I really had needed a Mia right now, it would have worked out.  I'm also hoping that maybe someday, by some miracle, I'll find Mia at a garage sale or flea mart or something.  Until then, I'll just be content with what I have and try not to keep thinking about my missed opportunity.