New Fall Look!

Hey girls! I just wanted to talk a little bit about my brand new look! My new look is focusing on fall, school, and functionality on my blog.


Fall
Enjoy my new background! I love the colors. I know it's taken me a while to post my new look, but I was waiting for the new background- and it came my way!
School
My header is focused specifically on school! If you looked closely, each of my American Girl dolls is participating in what they might call school. Kirsten is reciting a poem, something common in her day because not every school had enough books for each student, so they would memorize their lessons. Kaya is examining a leaf and learning about plants and the natural world, something many Native American children would learn in 'school'. Felicity is pouring tea at her gentlewomen lessons! Many of you know that wealthy families like Felicity's would often pay tutors to teach their girls properness- good manners, embroidery, and tea and music lessons.
Functionality
If you've noticed, my pages have been moved to my sidebar. This will allow me to add pages without having two page bars. Also, I have updated my poll- please vote!




I hope you enjoy my new look!
~Gabby

Oh. My. Gooseness.

Hola!

150 followers? Queso dip tonight? AND my Pottermore e-mail?
Oh. My. Gooseness!


Now before you correct me, on occasion I do sometimes say "Oh my gooseness!" You know, just for fun. :-)


Anyways, this post will mainly be about Pottermore, so brace yourself Harry Potter fans! (I'll go through each main component in Pottermore in depth.) 


Spolier alert!
Main Site/Main Components
Pottermore is a great site! I can tell J.K. Rowling worked really hard on it making it special! The website is really simple: each book chapter is transformed online in a digital version of the chapter. Throughout each online chapter, there are plenty facts- it's almost like an online encyclopedia! There are three types of 'facts':

They have 'From the Story' component where each character, object, animal or spell is described like it was in the book.

They also have 'J.K. Rowling's Thoughts' describes how she got many ideas for characters or object names or some of her first draft secrets.

And finally 'New from J.K. Rowling'. This is were the author regularly posts new info and secrets on her books.

Besides the wand and sorting quiz, it's really just facts. 

Player Interaction

Friends! It's nice that you can have friends, but you can't message them in any way- you can only send gifts or duel them. It's fun, but I'd like to 'get to know' my Pottermore friends better.

However, you can comment on any post or your common room's message board. Again, you can't talk with players, but I suppose it's possible to 'talk' with other players on the comment boards.

Wand Quiz

Wandlore is really cool! It's fascinating to learn about the different types of woods and cores used by Ollivander. The wand quiz is really simple. You answer the 7 same questions that everyone else does, so it's really easy (but rather pointless) to cheat. I knew before I started that I wanted a vine wand (Hermione has a vine wand!) with a  phoenix feather or unicorn hair core and about a foot long.  Luckily, I was gifted with the exact wand I had wanted- vine with unicorn hair, ten and 3/4 inches, hard. I am so pleased- Hermione Granger's wand is vine and also ten and 3/4 inches! Just remember, the wand chooses the wizard!

Sorting Hat

This quiz is very hard to cheat, but, if you answer honestly- it's won't be hard at all! I was lucky enough to be sorted into...

RAVENCLAW!!!!!

Yay! I am so excited- I wanted to be a Ravenclaw- and whop-dee-doo now I am!

I'll answer any questions on Pottermore- feel free to leave some in the comment section!

~Gabby

PS my user name in RiverQuill47. Friend me!

A Trip to the Library...

Hey girls! Today, I went to the library- something I do almost every week! Anyways, a lot of the time I end up checking out the children's section and checking out American Girl books! I actually ended up re-reading the Historical Characters series again and again because they are so good- and they are really great historical fiction. So far, I've read the Kaya, Felicity, Kirsten, Rebecca, Kit, Molly, and Julie series- I'm looking forward to reading more of them too. Besides being awesome books, I also needed something to tide me over until I can get Catching Fire. (As I am re-reading the Hunger Games trilogy and unfortunately do not own my own copies. )-: )


 Today, I checked out...

Secrets at Camp Nokomis, Meet Mia, The Curse of Ravenscourt, The Silver Guitar, Changes for Kirsten (I still haven't read this one yet)

But the real surprise was when they had Dolphin Tale posters and bookmarks! It may not seem like much, but Harry Connick Jr. is the father of Kate Connick, the young singer feature in the new issue of American Girl magazine and the singer of "A Lot Like Me"- the song American Girl is using to benefit the new Ellis Marsalis Center for Music. But, this movie also features Cozi Zuehlsdorff!

If you remember, she was featured in American Girl Magazine's July/August 2011 issue! She also mentioned Dolphin Tale in her interview. This is also great timing as Dolphin Tale premieres in theaters. I hope I get to see it soon!

~Gabby

American Girl Event at Michael's!

Hey! I was looking at some other blogs and realized that there was an event at Michael's for American Girl fans!

This is Next Saturday, September 24th. I hope I get to go!
~Gabby

Old or New: (yet another) This or That?

Hey ya'll! In these kinds of posts, I will post pictures of a new and updated AG item and then the older version. This time, I'm doing accessories! (You can view outfits and furniture here)!

Above is the 2008 Beach Chair and Bag and below is the Chair and Bocce Set. This or that? Personally, I like the Beach Chair and Bag- it's so cute and I love the beach items, as mush as I love the Bocce set, I don't know how well you could use the balls for anything else.

To the left is the 2007 Sleeping Bag Set and to the right is the new Cozy Sleepover Bag for Dolls. This or That? Definitely the Cozy Sleepover Bag for Dolls- I love the color combo- it's so cute!

Above is the 2007 Sleepover Food and Fun and below is the Sleepover Accessories. This or That? I love them both, but I think I will have to go with the Sleepover Accessories- I love Apples to Apples and it does include more items then the previous set. 

Above is the 2007 Sweet Treats Accessories and below is the Baking Accessories. This or That? I'm not a big fan of them both, but I think'll have to go with the Baking Accessories, the Sweet Treats Accessories look like a Valentine's Day thing.

So, This or That?

~Gabby

9/11

(please only read this if you fully understand the attacks on 9/11 or are 12+)

Life isn't fair.

This is something I learned and I realize that we can never change this fact. Not everything is going to go your way and we have to accept that.

But no one can accept 9/11. Especially me. It haunts me, like a nightmare, I wish I could tell myself that it never happened, but it did and I will spend the rest of my life trying to understand and appreciate the 9/11 attacks.

I don't personally know anyone who died that day. Some people say that 'somebody knew somebody' but not me, at least I think so. However, I feel like I know that people in the photographs, the people who died that day, or people who were heroes who made it out alive along with many more people they saved.

I am holding back tears as I am writing this, because to an average joe like me, it's upsetting. It's terrible to know that innocent people died, and worse, that foreigners would do this just to say, "You aren't as strong as you think you are." It's terrible and even more terrible that children died that day- those who were the planes going to visit grandma or go on a vacation. Those innocent lives changed, and they couldn't defend themselves, they couldn't call anyone or do anything, they just snuggled up next to their parents.

So God Bless, I hope all of the innocent are rejoicing and having a great time in heaven. I hope that they are in no more pain.

Before I finish this post, I want to talk about the failed attempt to crash into the Capitol. This was one of the bravest moments in American history, and I want to say thank you to the men who took on the foreigners and instead tried to land the plane in a Pennsylvania airfield. Still everyone's lives were lost, I just want to say thank to those men. And thank you to others who risked their lives to save others.

Thank you and God Bless,
Gabby

300th Post- 30 Questions Tag!

Hey ya'll to celebrate 300 posts on my blog, here's a 30 question tag- that I created- 15 questions are about AG, the other half is totally random! Enjoy!

1. What American Girl do you look most like? (please post photos to compare!)

Here's MAG 53.

And here's me! We aren't perfect twins (I mean me and doll, not me and the duck!), but we have the same hair and sometimes my eyes appear to be brown, even though they are green.

2. What InnerstarU avatar do you think you look most like? 

This is actually my avatar on InnerstarU- she's MAG 21. 

3. How many American Girl Places have you been to?

Well, I've been to the Minneapolis Place 4 times and the Denver Place 1 time.

4. Who is your favorite doll that you own?

I think Kirsten. I hate picking favorites, but Kirsten is my first doll and her books are great! She'll always be special. :-)

5. What AG doll outfit would you like to wear?

Well, I have to say, I would love to wear this outfit!

It's so cute- although I'd like to wear it- minus the InnerstarU logo.

6. What AG Accessory do you wish you had for yourself that was real?

Coconut. 'Nuff said.

7. What AG furniture piece do wish you had for yourself that was real?

Gorgeous! I love the look of this- it's awesome! :-)

8. (only answer this question if you are familiar with the Hogwarts houses!) Which doll (GOTY, HC,) do you think belong in each Hogwarts house (name at least one doll for each house)?

Gryffindor: I think Felicity for this one!

Hufflepuff: Kirsten. Hands down- she's very hardworking and brave.

Ravenclaw: Kit- she's very intelligent and uses that alot.

Slytherin: Well, I don't know, but I guess Sonali. She wasn't all that nice to Chrissa, and did try to talk her out of friendship with Tara.

9. What's your favorite AG online game?

Well, none of the games are working for me right now (thanks, AG!), so I'll have to wait, but I honestly am not sure- I like all of the games.

10. If InnerstarU was a real place, would you want to go there are participate in the activities and 'go to school' there?

Yes, but may not for my whole life or something. I think it would be fun for a semester, though!

11. What doll do you want next?

Cecile. She's so pretty and I'm excited to read her books!

12. If you could be any AG doll, who would you want to be?

Jess. She has such a cool story and I would love to go on all the adventures she has in Belize!

13. When do you make your first AG Christmas Wishlist?

Normally right after the Fall and Winter collections are released, then I start making my Wishlist!

14. What's if your favorite line of dolls (HC, MAG, GOTY, Bitty Baby/Bitty Twin)?

Historicals. I absolutely love them! <3

15. Why do you like American Girl?

I love AG because it has very high quality items and they focus on bringing out the best in girls- I really love that- and they put so much detail and love into their Historical Characters- that's my favorite part of American Girl.

16. What's book (series)?

Ahh... Look at the above picture- how perfect these books look- well compared to mine anyways, I'll show you a picture some other time.

17. What's your favorite jam/jelly? Please post a picture!

Crofter's Organic Strawberry Jelly. It's sooooo good!

18. If you could live in any other time period but your own, what would choose?

Well, I think I'd want to be a Greek princess in Athens or a pioneer on the prairie or an actress in the 1920s... :-)

19. Do you drink coffee? 

Not all the time. Mainly on trips I may have a McDonald's Caramel Mocha, but nothing regular. Although my uncle says that we 'Scandahoovians' (Scandinavians) need/should/want to drink coffee regularly. Oh well...

20. What's your favorite TV show?

Well, right now it's Monk, but Castle (shown above) premiere's it's new season in two weeks! Also, I like Design Star and Good Luck Charlie.

21. Do you think you're funny?

Yes, I can crack myself up anytime I want, but I don't think everyone thinks I'm funny... :-P

22. What are your family members doing right now?

Well, my dad is going to look at tools, my mom is making cookies, and my brother and my sister are doing who knows what!

23. Have ever watched a show made in a year before 2000?

Yes! I've watched The Brady Bunch, Charlie's Angels, The Cosby Show....

24. What did you have for lunch today?

Well, I had a cheese sandwich on goldfish bread and carrots, grapes, craisons, and yogurt.

25. What's your favorite snack?

Goldfish- they smile back at you! 

26. Who's your favorite actress?

Emma Watson! She rocks my wacky socks off!

27. Who's your style icon (c'mon- you must have one!)?

Kate Middleton- she wears the cutest coast and dresses! 

28. What's your favorite brand of popcorn?

Well actually, my family makes our own popcorn, so we only buy popcorn seeds, but I guess I like Orville Redenbacher. 

29. What's your favorite blogging platform (Webs, Wet Paint etc.)?

Blogger! 

30. Why do you like being a blogger?

I like the ability to rant and rave with people who might actually listen, or in this case read and to share my interests with the world!

Enjoy!

~Gabby

Doll Diaries Spotlight Site!

Hey! Yay! I am so excited- this week Char featured me as a Doll Diaries Spotlight Site! Whoop-de-doo! what a great way to celebrate my 299th posts! (my 300th will be my next post!)

~Gabby