What a fabulous idea! I will have some dolls in need of a new home but am not sure how to donate them except via the large donation I’m making to charity when I finish my general clear out.
It’s that time again! World Doll Day is Saturday, June 10th, 2017. Started by Mildred Seeley in 1986, the day is one of celebration for doll collectors. World Doll Day began with a letter, which is copied below. (Keep reading for information on our first ever World Doll Day Toy Drive!)
World Doll Day Logo
So, you have not heard of World Doll Day? This is not surprising as of an hour ago, I hadn’t conceived the idea. To make it happen. I need cooperation of every doll collector, every magazine editor, doll newsletter, doll shop, library, doll maker, mother, grandmother, father, grandfather, and all the stray aunts and uncles. The first World Doll Day is the Second Saturday of June 1986. Give a doll to a grownup, child in the family or just a friend. If you don’t have a child to give a doll to – find one…
View original post 914 more words
Here she is in full Andrassy Avenue regalia – very cute. And they make a very cute couple.
Gorgeous! Various colours in the dress match both her eyes and her hair. Wearing colour transforms her – she’s far more gorgeous in these new clothes than she was in original outfit, in my opinion.
She’ll be getting Momoko and Yuki to go clubbing soon – I can’t see Nick joining them however.
It’s early February and Corbin is in the garden with his new girlfriend Jazmin. He’s invited her home to meet his family.
In the kitchen, Corbin introduces Jazmin to Emma, Marvin and Viviane, who immediately asks, “Why is your hair blue?”
Jazmin and Corbin head upstairs, and Emma can’t contain herself. “Oh, my God,” she says, “A white girl with blue hair!”
Merida comes in for Happy Hour and finds Sutton and Monique deep in conversation. She pauses to listen for a moment, as Sutton hasn’t noticed her and Monique has no idea who she is.
Merida can’t believe her ears. It’s pretty clear that this is a blind date and Sutton has decided to bring this woman into the George where he knows he’s likely to run into Merida!
Sutton and Monique get up to leave and as he passes Merida she hisses at him, “Well, you said you fancied a lass with curly ginger hair, didn’t you?” She’s clearly furious. Monique stops as she can hear angry whispers and definitely doesn’t want to get involved or hear what’s going on.
Merida orders a martini and sits down, completely gobsmacked, both angry and miserable, and very close to bursting into tears. Yvette tries to console her and Blessing thinks to herself, “Oh my, I think I’m going to like this job! It’s just like a soap!”
Sutton and Monique arrive for dinner and find that Emma has prepared a feast. After a couple of glasses of wine, she’s ready to put her plan into action.
The ball is terribly elegant, with a jazz singer, accompanied by Jake on the piano. Jenny is taking photos. It’s going to be Kurhn’s debut, and she’s terribly nervous. Nicole and Dexter reassure her that she’s going to be great.
In the meantime, the dancers are enjoying themselves. Everyone agrees that Lara and Emma are the belles of the ball, in their designer gowns by Cora Gu. Tommy and Mira are dancing close together and everyone seems to be having a good time – but especially Midge and Sam. And why? As they were dancing, Sam whispered in Midge’s ear, “Darling, there is something I have to ask you.”
It’s time for Kurhn to sing. She’s chosen “My Funny Valentine,” of course, and she brings down the house.
The crowd goes wild – they all stop dancing and listen, mesmerised! What a fabulous night for Kurhn!
Kurhn is really excited! She is taking voice lessons after school with Nicole, who is incredibly encouraging and tells her she has a wonderful voice. Nicole urges Kurhn to debut publicly at the Saint Valentine’s Day Ball, the biggest event in the dolls’ lives after Christmas. Jake will be playing piano to accompany a jazz singer, but Nicole assures Kurhn that she can do a couple of numbers as well. Kurhn is both ecstatically excited and terrified. She’s also feeling a bit of guilt about not telling her family how much she wants to study music instead of medicine.
It’s a quiet Saturday afternoon at the George. Barbie and Sandra are enjoying a couple of the George’s famous martinis and catching up.
Suddenly they hear the door open. Esmée asks Pierre if his ears are burning. She’s giggling.
In the meantime, Yuki and Nick have settled into a cosy relationship. Nick is so glad that Yuki understands the stress he is under. He’s working part time in a veterinary surgery while trying to analyse his PhD data and finish his degree at the same time.Yuki seems happy to paint while he works. She’s doing a portrait of him.
Of course, there are occasional distractions…
Emma has come home from a long day at work to find that Midge, Sasha, and Monique’s younger brother, Corbin, are in the kitchen along with Marvin. Midge has walked Viviane home from school and stops for a cuppa. Corbin has come from university for a visit and brought a friend, whom he introduces as Zayn. Emma thinks how nicely dressed Zayn is and wonders, not for the first time, why Corbin always looks so – well, slovenly. Doesn’t he own anything except a hoodie and jeans? She doesn’t dare say anything, though, because Marvin loves his cousins and will call her “Madame Bourgeoisie” or “Mrs Snobbo.” So she keeps her mouth shut. 
Seeing Corbin reminds her of Monique, however. Emma is an inveterate matchmaker and Monique’s single status is fuel to her fire. She remembers seeing that nice young man, Sutton, alone at the New Years Eve party. He looked so nice – yes, quite handsome in that suit. She’ll have to invite him for dinner when Monique is home. That’s it!
In fact, the George is heaving! Didn’t these people hear about Dry January? It’s happy hour and the place is packed.
After their terrible New Years Eve row, Steffi and Kevin have vowed to work harder on making their marriage work. The pub is making so much money that Kevin has agreed to try and hire someone to help Yvette and to spend more time with his family. He and Steffi have signed up for one of Mira’s yoga classes.
Going out together means finding a babysitter and Skipper isn’t thrilled that she’s once again the obvious choice. Since Steffi looks after Layla while Esmée is at work, Skipper is looking after her as well as her nieces and nephew. At least she has Rikki and Hari to keep her company. Sometimes the two of them lapse into talking in Japanese to each other since Hari’s English isn’t as good yet as Rikki’s is. Skipper feels very left out when that happens. She thinks Hari is pretty cute but doesn’t want to feel jealous of her best friend.
Back at the George, Yvette is struggling to keep up and hopes Kevin will hire someone very soon. And who’s this blonde that Tommy’s got his hand on? Something fishy there! We thought he was seeing Mira!
At every party, no matter how fabulous the atmosphere in the main room, there are always those who must congregate in the kitchen. Francie, Sutton, and Sam are chatting away while Midge talks to Sandra and Steven. Everyone is surprised to see Sandra arrive with Steven. Can she have finally succumbed to his persistent pursuit of her? Or did she just have nothing better to do on New Years Eve?
Nick’s luggage has never arrived and he’s feeling somewhat desperate for lack of clothing. He’s also still struggling with jet lag and offers to look after the children while their parents are downstairs. He’s starts off by reading a book to Viviane and Sasha but soon becomes very tired.
Sasha and Viviane are gleeful when he falls asleep in the chair; now they can stay up until midnight!
Nick manages to stir himself long enough to stagger to the bed and lie down, “Just for a minute,” he tells himself.
Next door in the yoga studio, Luna and the Dolls are playing in an alcohol free party for the younger dolls. Merida has joined her sister to sing and the band is rocking the house down. Of course, Kurhn and Jenny are there to hear their boyfriends perform, and Hari, Skipper, and Rikki are dancing the night away. Lottie begged to go too, and promised she could definitely stay awake until midnight, so Lara and Josh have brought both their daughters. Lottie is dancing away and Alexandra is watching shyly.
Of course the George is full of activity tonight. Yvette is fascinated with Marcelo, who arrives in quite the outfit. She can’t stop checking out those abs. But what’s up with Kevin? He’s gesticulating angrily and looking very perturbed.
Oh, that’s why! Despite the fact that there are three single beautiful women dancing wildly behind him, Liam has singled Kevin’s wife Steffi out for his attentions. Steffi is happy to be out for a change, and finds it amusing that Liam is trying to flirt with her. She would never dream of cheating on Kevin, but he pays so little attention to her that having someone act as if she is attractive is just a little bit fun.
Yuki is the DJ tonight and after a long heart to heart with her best friend Momoko, she’s borrowed one of Mo’s outfits to wear tonight. She’s not completely comfortable with how revealing it is, but Mo assured her that Pierre wouldn’t be able to take his eyes off her when he saw how sexy she looks in it. Unfortunately, it doesn’t seem to work as planned.
Pierre doesn’t seem to be able to keep his hands off Nicole.
Yuki is gobsmacked. Pierre hasn’t even glanced her way. She’s feeling more and more miserable as the night passes.
Midnight comes and 2017 arrives. The parties begin to break up and Emma and Midge go upstairs to pick up Viviane and Sasha. Although Midge is not very pleased to find Nick sound asleep, Emma thinks it’s a bit funny. Midge had forgotten that Emma was Nick’s girlfriend when they were at university together with Lara. Lara was doing medicine, Nick was doing veterinary medicine, and Emma was doing design. The three were inseparable – until Emma met Marvin.
Nick is about to be rudely awakened because the pub has closed and Kevin and Steffi are having a major row underneath him in the front room. Kevin is furious because she didn’t brush Liam off when he was flirting with her. Steffi loses it, shouting, “So what? So what? A man finally pays attention to me! How awful! My husband can’t be bothered to ever come home, or ever pay attention to me when he does. You’re lucky I don’t have an affair!” The shouting goes on and on.
Nick finally wakes up as things begin to quiet down throughout the house. He realises that he’s feeling quite hungry and decides to head down to the kitchen to forage.
As Nick opens the refrigerator door, he notices that there is a woman sitting at the table, sobbing softly. It’s Yuki.
They hit it off immediately. Yuki stops crying and she and Nick start to talk. Nick can’t believe how easy it is to talk to her. Not only is she beautiful, but intelligent and perceptive as well – she isn’t even bored when he tells her about his PhD research! Now that’s a change. She actually seems interested! And she’s an artist, a student at the same university where he is doing his degree. The hours pass until dawn. Then Nick is completely staggered when Yuki asks him if he’s using the bedroom upstairs. When he answers yes, she says, “Do you mind if I sleep with you tonight? Well, I guess it isn’t night anymore. Don’t worry, I don’t want sex, I just don’t want to be alone. I have a nightgown somewhere. Please let me stay with you.” What can Nick say except yes?
Eventually, Nick just gets up and sits watching Yuki sleep, thinking that he must be dreaming. When she finally awakens, she thanks him for his kindness and then asks him if she can kiss him goodbye before she goes. Nick doesn’t hesitate for a minute.
Yuki can’t believe how different it is to kiss Nick than it was to try and kiss Pierre. He always seemed so cold and uninterested no matter how she tried to entice him. But Nick is another story.
It looks as if 2017 is off to a flying start for Yuki and Nick. But what about the rest of the West Enders? Don’t miss the next episode!
Yuki can’t believe what Pierre’s response is! He has nothing to say except to tell Yuki that this isn’t the time or the place for this conversation. And then he joins the queue for the food.
Jenny helps him put it on.
I think Jake likes it. At least one romance in the doll house is going well!
Stay tuned for our next episode, when we spend New Years Eve with the dolls. It’s always a night for romance – but for whom?
Pierre is embracing another woman, someone Yuki has never seen before! Yvette sees Yuki’s shock and explains. “That’s the famous American singer, pet, Nicole Bernstein. I think she and your boyfriend must be good friends.”
To add insult to injury, the bathroom is right next to the nursery and Sasha, Layla, and even one of the cats are spectators to Yuki’s distress.
A few days later, it’s the first night of Hanukkah and Midge is having a little get together for herself, Sam, and Sasha. Sasha wants to open the presents immediately but Midge has told her over and over again that she can’t open the packages until sundown when the first candle is lit. Midge has invited Nicole as she wants her to feel at home in the house and knows that Nicole is Jewish. But she is completely gobsmacked when Nicole shows up with Pierre! Isn’t Pierre seeing Yuki? What is he doing here with Nicole? But she says nothing and listens politely as Nicole explains how American Jews traditionally eat Chinese food and go to a movie on Christmas. This isn’t the case in the UK, but Midge is intrigued when Nicole tells her that Mira is throwing a party for all the Asian students and friends in the yoga studio. Nicole tells her that she and Sasha should come along and have fun instead of sitting at home on Christmas day.
Not only is it the first night of Hanukkah, but it’s also Christmas Eve. The youngest children are tucked all snug in their beds, but it looks as if Evi and Layla are still awake instead of dreaming of sugar plums!
The older children, Lottie, Alexandra, and Viviane, are in bed while Viviane’s cousin Monique reads them “The Night Before Christmas.”
Poor Yuki! Little does she know that Pierre is right next door at the Hanukkah party!
In the meantime, the party at the pub is rocking
Don’t miss the next episode when we’ll find out how the dolls spend Christmas day. Is Yuki set for heartbreak? And will we get to know a bit more about our new residents, Nicole and Nick? We will get to meet another new resident, Hari Takara, Jenny’s brother, who has also arrived for Christmas. Stay tuned!
It looks as if they had a pleasant night together since they are now playing in the snow in the garden along with Sasha Sherwood, Midge’s younger sister. She looks a bit terrified at the sight of her older sister and her new boyfriend throwing snowballs over her head. Midge has had the care of Sasha since their parents died a few years ago. While the Christmas season in the doll house is quite secular, focussing on Santa Claus, shared meals and sweets, it presents a problem for Midge, whose parents were adamant that their children be raised as Jews. Midge, although not religious, is determined to make sure that she honours her parents’ wishes and that Sasha retains her Jewish identity. She has even ordered a beautifully crafted menorah from Israel for Hanukkah. She just worries whether it will arrive in time. The fact that Christmas Eve and the first night of Hanukah are on the same day is almost a relief as it means that she and Sasha can have their own special celebration while the rest of the children wait for Santa. The fact that Sam is not Jewish would have upset her parents so despite missing them desperately around important holidays like Rosh Hashanah and Passover, Midge is glad she doesn’t have to explain her relationship to them.
The Lamb-Cuthbertson family also love to be outside in the snow. Lara Lamb is the local GP at the Medical Centre. Her husband Josh Cuthbertson is a singer and songwriter. They have two daughters, Lottie and Alexandra, who could not be more different. Alexandra is very like her parents – calm, serene, and not easily ruffled. Lottie is unlike both her parents in being exuberant and emotional – “bouncing off walls,” as they say. She loves sport and is hardly ever still. Sometimes Lara and Josh laugh and say that the fairies switched their real daughter with Lottie at birth – she’s a changeling. They adore her, however, and wouldn’t trade her back for the world.
The last group of characters I need to introduce are the band – Luna and the Dolls – and their friends. Luna is Merida’s sister and is the lead singer. Robin B. Gee is the drummer in the back and to either side of Luna are Dexter Delaval on bass and Jake Blake on guitar. Dexter and Jake are quite young – just eighteen – and are still at school. They attend Sixth Form at one of the local schools. Although under a lot of pressure from their parents to go to university, they are bewitched by the idea of going on the road with Luna and becoming stars. They’re sure they’re going to make it. Dexter comes from a “posh” Northumberland family while Jake is a working class Geordie lad, but they are best friends and inseparable.
Both Dexter and Jake have found love with fellow students from abroad. Jake’s girlfriend is Jenny Takara, from Japan, on the left, while Dexter’s is Kurhn Lee, from China, on the right. Jenny and Kurhn are also best friends and inseparable so the four of them are together constantly. Jenny has always planned to go to university to do dentistry and has done work experience with Esmée, but lately she’s found a new passion in photography and wonders if she should do an art course of some sort instead. Kurhn’s parents have very high expectations of her. She is doing all the courses required to go to medical school but she hates the idea. She wants to be a singer. She’s sure that she could be the next Chinese pop star if only she didn’t have to waste so much time on biology, chemistry and maths. She and Jenny love the fact that their boyfriends are “in a band.” Unfortunately, they aren’t old enough to be able to accompany them to most gigs, as neither has turned 18 yet.
Momoko Moto and Ryan Williams are two young people passionately in love. Momoko is a university student from Japan, best friends with Yuki Yukimura, who we met in the last episode. She’s studying fashion design. Ryan is an interesting character. After finishing university, he felt a bit lost and went began wandering around the world trying to figure out what to do with himself. He discovered Tibetan Buddhism and meditation and became certain that this was his path. He took refuge with the Buddha and then spent some time in Scotland at Kagyu Samye Ling monastery and Buddhist Centre. He was convinced that he should become a monk but at the last minute, decided to take one more trip into the secular world and travelled to Newcastle. There he met Momoko. It was love at first sight for both of them. Ryan has had a difficult time getting his head around his feelings – from almost monk to lover seems pretty daunting to him. He’s had some long talks with Mira about the Buddhist view of sex and marriage. So far, he and Momoko have a chaste but loving relationship. But the passionate desire between them is hard to ignore.
Dirks' Dolls 