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Jaclynn Marie Blog Launch!
Hello, my friends!! *waves enthusiastically*
I am SO excited to announce the launch of my professional author blog – Jaclynn Marie!
If you enjoy my stories, you definitely won’t want to miss checking out Jaclynn Marie. I’ll be sharing snippets of my work, short stories, my writing journey, writing advice, and more! Be sure to head over and drop me a “Hello!” I look forward to seeing you there! 😀
~Jaclynn~
I May Be A Little Crazy…
- This is just a quick post because I’m basically surprised with myself, but SO excited!!
I kinda bought something… or maybe a few things. Or, maybe someone. Or maybe even more than one someone. It shall remain a mystery until the package arrives. ?
Post your guesses in the comments and we’ll see who’s right! ?
~Jaclynn~
AG Has Heard Our Voices!
YES, my friends, ’tis true!! American Girl heard our voices concerning the permapanties and packaging and just posted on their Facebook this morning that from now on, the dolls will no longer have permapanties, the old boxes are coming back, and the clothing will no longer be sewn onto the packaging!
Here is the original post so you can read it for yourself:
**An Important Update for Our Customers**
“We love and appreciate our dedicated American Girl fan community, and we take our role in listening and responding to your feedback very seriously. In recent months, many of you have shared your thoughts on how we can continue delivering the great products you’ve come to expect from us. We’ve heard you, and we will be implementing two changes as a result.
First, we will be reverting to the separate underwear design for all of our 18-inch dolls. Starting today, any dolls that are currently in production or any new dolls being developed will now come with removable underwear. Because there are dolls with permanent underwear already in the market, this will be a rolling change—meaning dolls that currently have the permanent underwear design will remain as is until the inventory is sold through.
However, if you currently own an American Girl doll with the permanent underwear and are disappointed with the design, we will do a one-time, free body exchange on the doll to create one with separate underwear and return the doll to you at no cost. For details on this offer, please click here: http://bit.ly/2rKyn0n
Second, we have made the decision to return to our iconic boutique box for our 18-inch dolls. Only the new 2017 contemporary characters, as well as some of our Truly Me dolls, will come in the current packaging until inventory is sold through. In addition, none of our 18-inch doll outfits will be sewn directly into packaging, with the exception of any existing inventory for our 2017 contemporary characters.
Thank you for caring enough to share your candid and heartfelt opinions with us, and we are sorry if we disappointed you in any way. Your feedback helps us deliver on our promise to create high-quality products, services, and experiences that nourish a girl’s spirit and help develop her strength of character.
Your Friends at American Girl”
ISN’T THAT AMAZING?! Guys, I am so, so, SO happy and RELIEVED! We did this together, my friends! We emailed, we posted, we sent letters – we told AG how we felt and they listened. This is a beautiful example of a company who values their customers and makes changes according to how they feel and also how voicing our opinions really does matter. With enough people working together, we can make a BIG difference! 😀
High fives and hugs and chocolate to everyone who helped to make this happen! And an extra big THANK YOU to American Girl for listening and valuing their customers enough to make this decision! <3
~Jaclynn~
P.S. Oh, boy, I miss posting on here. 🙁
Goodbye, My Friends….
Let’s see if I can get through this post without crying… But I don’t really think that will happen…
Before I go on, I want you all to know that this is not a joke. This isn’t some late April Fools Day prank. This is real.
I know I have always said that I’ll never leave. That I’ll always be posting on LHOAG. That I planned to be buying dolls and posting on here till I was an old lady. But time has changed things.
My passion for dolls and doll blogging has faded. At the beginning of the year I had written down goals for this blog and I was super excited about it. I hoped that this would be a big year for LHOAG, but as I’m sure you all can tell, I’ve hardly been posting here the past few months.
I’ve felt lazy to post. I’ve preferred doing other things instead of posting. And all the while I’ve felt super guilty about not posting here.
Each month I’ve been saying – okay, this month I’m gonna post more! And then I just don’t.
I’ve come to the realization after a long heart to heart talk with my mom that my passions have changed. Dolls are no longer my passion in life, though I still love them very much, they just aren’t my passion anymore. Writing is my new passion. I’d rather spend my time brainstorming, reading writing posts, writing, etc. than dressing up my dolls and taking pictures of them.
And I can’t tell you how much it pains me to say that. My dolls and this blog have been literally a part of me these past 4 years. I’ve learned, gained, and given so much through this blog and I can’t imagine what my life would have been like without it. In fact – my passion for writing really came because of this blog. So through an old passion, a new one emerged.
That’s okay, though. We can’t hold onto everything in life, no matter how much we may want to. People grow up, times change, and with that comes new passions, new adventures, and a new chapter in life.
So my friends, it is time for me to say it – I’m not going to be posting anymore on this blog. At least… not regularly.
I don’t believe that my days of photographing dolls and making photostories are completely over, so I believe that I will still come back here and post things, I just don’t know how often. It could be weeks, months, or even a year apart, but I know I’m not 100% out of the game just yet. So please don’t unfollow me – I’m certain I will still have more things posted on here, I just don’t know when. I’m only going to post if I feel the urge to do so.
Letting go is so hard. I feel like I’m saying goodbye to the last piece of my childhood. Like I’m ending one chapter and beginning a new one. This is really hard for me, guys. I can’t even begin to tell you how much I’ve loved this blog and the journey it’s taken me on.
And I love you all so much. I know that sounds like a lie, but I mean it. You all have made me so happy and have been such a huge part of my life. Because you mean so much to me, I feel so terrible to do this, but I know you’ll understand. <3
Thank you all for the love you’ve expressed to me and my blog. For your words of encouragement, advice, and support. Thank you for every like, every comment, and every follow. Thank you for being there for me through the good and the bad. <3
I’m not leaving the blogosphere. I’m still gonna be around, reading, commenting, and liking your posts. And I’ll still be posting over on Little Miss Fluffet, so please go follow me there so we can stay in touch. I don’t wanna lose you guys. <3 I post about my writing on LMF, fandom things, and will also be posting my monthly recaps there, so you can stay pretty much up to date on my life on that blog 😉 And rest assured this blog will always remain open and running!
I feel like I can’t end this post, cause it just feels so final and it’s breaking me. But I’ll be back. I will. Someday. :’)
With Much Love from Your Friend,
~Jaclynn~
House Cleaning!
*This post will be updated throughout the day to show my progress of cleaning out my dollhouse, so keep checking back!*
10:45AM
Hi guys! Today I thought I’d clean out my dollhouse so it doesn’t look like a disaster and I thought it would be fun to show you my progress throughout the day! 😀
This is what it looks like currently. Disaster, right? I’m so tired of it being like this, but alas I have been too lazy to dedicate a full day to cleaning it out. BUT TODAY IS THE DAY!! XD
I have the Beauty and the Beast soundtrack playing right now, so I am all set to get started on this! Bye for now! ;D
12:00PM
I removed all my dolls from my dollhouse…
I decided to work on the bottom floor first, so here is what the living room looked like…
And now it looks like this! I dusted the furniture and I’m trying to make the room look lived in with toys on the floor, a messy desk, etc. What do you think? 🙂
And here is what the bedroom looked like…
And what it looks like now! I’m not done with this room yet, but I’m starving and breaking for lunch! TTFN – Tata for now! ;D
1:30
Sooo, I ate spaghetti for lunch and then straight to work on the kitchen and – um – diner room? XD AND IM DONE!
Oh! And I added the finishing touches to this room, too! 😀
Now I just need to get some dolls changed, hair brushed, and arrange them in the dollhouse. Oh boy… XD
4:00PM
Currently FaceTime-ing Emma and dressing my dolls. Actually, I’m on an ice cream break. I’m going crazy. I just wanna be done already. *cries*
5:05PM
I AM DONE! It doesn’t look super nice, I know, but when you have like 40 dolls to place in 4 rooms it’s not gonna look as amazing as it did empty XD
I hope this was interesting for you to read! Let me know if you’d like to see some more posts like this in the future! 😀
*plops on bed*
~Jaclynn~
My Letter to American Girl
Today I sent in my letter to American Girl stating my opinions and how I feel about the terrible decisions they are making.
Here is my letter:
To Whom It May Concern,
My name is Jaclynn and I have been collecting American Girl dolls for 9 years now. I have 23 dolls, 3 sets of Bitty Twins (which are unhappily, not available anymore), one Bitty Baby, and one Wellie Wisher.
I also run an American Girl doll blog that I’ve had for going on 4 years now where I post photoshoots and stories with my dolls. I have a large following on there and I follow nearly 100 other doll blogs myself. And we are all saying the same thing; What is AG doing?
For many long years we have bought your products and poured our talents, our hearts, and our souls into them. Creating stories, capturing the doll’s personalities on camera, making stopmotions and movies – we have supported you and loved you all our lives, but now I fear that if you don’t revert to your old ways – you are going to lose hundreds of customers.
This is a list of things that are painfully upsetting to me and hundreds of your fans and customers:
1. Permanent underwear – What makes no sense to me is that on Facebook you asked for our opinion on this matter, but I’ve already seen images that you are doing it anyway, despite how your customers feel about it. Why on earth are you making the dolls have permanent undies? Is it too expensive now for you to make real underwear for your dolls? On the bottom of the doll it honestly looks like they have a lump of something in their “underwear.” It’s completely disgusting and so cheap of you to do this. Why even come out with a bathroom set when the dolls are going to have to sit on the toilet or bathe with their underwear on? In play – girls will want to remove the underwear and now they won’t be able to.
2. Squishy vinyl – I have also seen photos of your dolls now being squishy. How far will you go? For years the dolls have been firm and if they started to squish in that was bad and meant they were exposed to too much heat. So now, with this new vinyl – if they are exposed to too much heat, will they melt? Because it certainly doesn’t seem like they could squish in any more than they are already. This is beyond upsetting.
3. The packaging – The new doll boxes feel like you are buying a doll from Walmart and that is NOT a good thing. The boxes used to feel like you were buying a keepsake doll that was special – like it was more than a doll you were buying. But now it just feels like you’re buying some cheap doll from Walmart for over a hundred dollars. And honestly – some of the packaging on the clothes have left holes in the clothing. That’s awful.
4. Selling AG products in other stores – Kohls, Toys R Us, Sears – every time I see your products in one of these stores my heart sinks and I want to turn my head away. It feels so shameful for these products that used to be so special being sold in stores like these. I feel that you have taken away the specialness of your products.
5. Wellie Wishers – Although they are cute and I own one myself, these dolls don’t look AG. They’re like misfit dolls that look like a brand Toys R Us created and should only be sold there.
6. Discontinuing the Bitty Twin line – I was so sad when this line was discontinued. When I was younger, the Bitty Twins were a main part of my every day play. I have so many great memories with them and I always hoped you would make more – especially Irish ones with freckles. You can imagine my disappointment when they disappeared.
7. Getting rid of the Best Friend dolls – This one breaks my heart. The friends are such a huge, main part of the stories and you took them away. They were beautiful and important. And even when you brought back Samantha, you didn’t bring Nellie. Now you’re bringing Felicity back and not Elizabeth. Honestly – if you had brought back Nellie I would have bought her in a heartbeat. She was always one of my favorites, but I was so young when she retired that I didn’t have a chance to buy her before she was archived. And now, even though you got rid of all of the classic friend dolls that everyone loved, you are bringing in Tenney Grant and her friend Logan Everett and I’ve heard possibly also Tenney’s friend Jaya. You would make more sales bringing back the retired friend dolls than you will these – especially with the changes being made to these dolls.
8. The movies – Honestly, the movies are terrible now. I struggled through the Grace Thomas movie – the acting was terrible, there’s way too much singing and dancing now, and your 9 year old characters look like they’re 13. The historical movies are the best and made with real effort and quality. I wish you would make more of those.
9. Modernized historical clothing – Years ago, when American Girl was still Pleasant Company, the historical outfits were extremely high quality, well made, and really looked and felt historically accurate – and the outfits cost way less. Now the historical outfits are way too modernized, made with cheaper fabric, and cost more. We want the historical clothes back – the way they used to be. Please stop trying to make the historical dolls modernized when they are really from hundreds of years ago.
10. The pets – Why are the pets now creepy looking stuffed animals? It looks like they have oversized stuffed animals as pets instead of actual pets.
All of the topics listed above lead to one thing – I, along with many others, want you to stop changing things. You are only making things worse and will continue losing customers because of it.
Once you revamp the dolls to have permanent underwear and squishy vinyl I can tell you that I will no longer be purchasing your dolls. The money will no longer be worth it for me. And I cannot put into words how much it pains me to write those words because I had thought I would be buying dolls from you for my entire lifetime. I never in my wildest dreams thought this company I loved so dearly would come to this; that I would be forced to make such a decision or even to write such a letter.
I thank you for who you used to be – for bringing joy and fun into my life. Without you, I never would have created my blog and without my blog, I wouldn’t have made such great friends who loved AG as much as I did.
Sincerely Yours,
~Jaclynn~
~~~*~~~
Writing the end of the letter brought me close to tears. It was painful to say those words – to say that I wouldn’t buy anymore dolls from them. I love AG, the way they used to be, but not now. This isn’t AG anymore. 🙁
If you are unhappy with the changes AG is making and already have made, I highly encourage you to write them your own letter! They need to know just how many of their customers are unhappy with what they are doing and why.
~Jaclynn~
Lovers of American Girl – UNITE!
Once again, it is time for all of us – as lovers, long time buyers, and supporters of American Girl to unite.
For a while now I haven’t really been fond of what AG is doing. Discontinuing the Bitty Twin line, bringing in the Wellie Wishers (which, although are cute, do look like a Toys R Us brand), the new packaging, zip ties on their necks, and now get this – sewn on doll underwear.
I don’t know about the rest of you, but I am personally really upset in the direction AG is going – with the choices that are being made. The boxes we get our dolls in look so cheapy – it makes me feel like they’re something from Walmart. I’ve always loved their doll boxes and all their packaging – everything felt like a keepsake – like you were buying something super special.
Oh – and what I really can not stand – is that you can now buy American Girl products (dolls included) in Toys R Us and Kohls.
Now I know that a lot of people like that because they don’t have stores close by, but here’s the thing – AG is supposed to be special. I’d rather buy their stuff online than from a place like TRU or Kohls! Every time I see AG products in those stores my heart sinks. I feel like the special, keepsake, high quality of these dolls and products have died down.
And that is what I’m here to talk to you about…
American Girl hasn’t been the same for a long, long time. For years the quality has been leaving us, but I’ve never really thought about it all that much – until now. The historical outfits are too modernized, the packaging stinks (really, holes got in some of the outfits because of how they were packed), their movies are AWFUL now (seriously, where did their effort go? Samantha and Felicity are AMAZING movies!), they’re making their stories way too similar, and now we’re getting sewn on underwear?? Really??
I am going to be writing to AG – kindly telling them how I feel and asking for the quality AG to return.
I ask you to do the same. American Girl believes that girls can make a difference, right? Then let’s make a difference!
I believe that if we all work together that we can make a difference – I believe there is a chance that we can get quality AG back!
So please, send them a letter, write them an email – whatever works best for you! I only advise that you are kind in your letter – please don’t hate on them 😉
And once you have decided to help – I ask that you put this button on your blog with a link back to this post and also share this post all around the blogosphere (or even Instagram and YouTube if you have those!) – the more people that see this, the more people we’ll get to participate. And the more people we get to participate – the bigger the chance we have to make a difference. 🙂
Thank you all!
~Jaclynn~
I’ll Be Back Soon!
Hey there!
I’m sure you already know where this post is headed, don’t you? Well, yes, I am taking a break from blogging here, but just for 2 weeks (actually less since this post has been a draft for days… Proof of how busy I am. XD ), so I’ll be back soon! 🙂
Here are a few updates of what’s been going on lately:
1. I GOT A JOB!!!! *screams* Ahem.
Yes, I got a job and I’m SO excited!! It’s just one day a week in childcare at Emma’s church, but it’s so awesome! I get $35 a day, so that’s super exciting! I’m working with chubs at the age of 2 – CAN I DIE RIGHT NOW?! They’re SO CUTE!!! I seriously can’t handle their cuteness. O_O It’s pretty exhausting, but so much fun! I love being around them!
Don’t kids say the most hilarious things? I had a 4 year old boy come up to me and just randomly say; “I was a baby yesterday.” XD
2. Road trip!!!
(we ate soooo bad…. BUT IT WAS FUN! XD )
My brother, Jordan and soon-to-be-sister-in-law invited me and my brother, Jacob along with them to drive up north to look at some apartments and then we drove through San Francisco on the way back. WE WENT ACROSS THE GOLDEN GATE BRIDGE!!! It was so amazing, guys. The view was breath taking. I took TONS of pics!!
We had a blast! We left at 7AM and got to my gramma’s house around 11PM where we rested for the night. Then we drove 3 hours back home the next day. It was so tiring. I’m still recovering, honestly. XD (actually not anymore since it’s been a few days since I wrote this post, but ya know. XD)
3. Bachelorette Party!
Yep! Wedding is getting closer!! The bachelorette party is this Saturday! We’re going to The Rainforest Cafe at Downtown Disney for dinner – it’s gonna be fun! 🙂
4. THE WEDDING.
GUYS. HOW. My brother is getting married NEXT FRIDAY. O_O *screams* *cries*
This came up so fast!! I’m really excited for it, but I also know I’m gonna cry my eyes out. I’m gonna try to be strong, though!! *lower lip trembles* XD
I have my full bridesmaid outfit now!! *squeal*
5. My brother is moving…
….Six and a half hours away. O_O We don’t need to talk about that. And we especially don’t need to talk about them (Jordan and Aaryn) leaving next. Month. Just no, no, no.
I think that’s pretty much all the updates I have for ya’ll….
I’ll be back as soon as I possibly can! *waves* 😀
~Jaclynn~
Bloggers Are People, Too
Hi everyone!
I’ve been known to make some posts here about some deep-ish topics. Today is one of those days.
Over the past nearly 4 years of blogging, I’ve come to realize that people (in this case, our readers) tend to treat bloggers in a very rude way. They expect a lot from us. If we don’t follow through on posting something the day we said we would, we get mad at and/or yelled at.
This isn’t fair to us. We as bloggers first started our blogs as a fun thing to do. Like a hobby. It was meant to be something that we enjoy doing. It’s not supposed to be a job (unless that’s you’re goal for it). But over time, we come to really appreciate our readers and we tend to want to please them more than ourselves at times. So we make promises to make a particular post that they want and when we don’t follow through, they get mad at us.
To you bloggers; I know you know what I’m talking about. We’ve all experienced this at some point. The pressuring comments that never seem to stop asking “when will you post this?” or “when will you post that?” and even “Why didn’t you post this? You promised you would! It’s been forever!!” and then they might even sign their name as “a very angry__.”
It’s really hard to deal with this at times, at least it is for me. I know you all love Masquerade and I appreciate that more than I can say, I really do. But when I have people constantly asking me about it, it puts a lot of stress on me. And because I know how much you all want the next part, I keep saying, “Soon” or “This week!” But, guys, I never actually know for sure when I’ll be able to post it, but I’m always looking for an opportunity.
To you readers; I understand the excitement and the torture of waiting to read the next part or wanting the next episode in your favorite TV show. I’m a human, too, so yes, I understand these feelings. But guys, here’s the thing. We bloggers need you to remember that we are only human. We have lives outside of blogging and sometimes they get pretty hectic. When the busyness finally wears off, we just want a break. We need our days of rest without stressing ourselves out about making a post.
And hey, photo stories take an uber long time to make. I’ve spent entire days working on just one part. You have to get the dolls ready, find all the props, set up, find the right location/lighting you need, take the pictures, upload them, resize them, write the story, preview it – it all takes a huge chunk out of your day and by the end of it, you feel pretty worn out.
With Masquerade I shot out so many parts, one after another, and it was a ton of fun, but tiring. I not only got physically tired, but emotionally as well. I was tired of making photo stories. So I took a little break from that to post some photoshoots and what-not. I needed to post some things that I felt like posting. Because although we do post for our readers, we also post for ourselves. If we don’t keep up with also pleasing ourselves, then the fun of blogging is going to die away for us.
Basically all I’m asking is this, and it’s very simple;
Please, everyone, try to be a little more understanding. We (bloggers) have lives. We get busy. Life gets away from us, just like with anyone else in the world. So when photo stories suddenly take a break, try not to freak out. In most cases, it will be continued, but we just need a break.
And don’t only comment on posts asking when the next part will be. That’s not a pleasing question to read. It makes us groan and sigh and be like; “Ugh, I need to do this, but I’m so busy/I don’t want to right now…” And then we feel guilty.
That’s another thing. We do feel bad to make you guys wait so long. And we feel really bad when we can’t post when we said we would.
And I’m going to admit here, that I am guilty of putting this pressure on other bloggers, too, but I have tried extremely hard not to be that way anymore. Usually if I ever do that, I do it in a dying sort of funny way that’s super dramatic. Something along the lines of; “NOOO I CAN NOT WAIT OH MY GOSH HURRY AND POST THE NEXT PART BEFORE I DIE!!! XD”
Just an example 😉
Again, please, be more understanding. It would mean the world to me and I’m sure any other blogger out there! 🙂
I just wanna say really quick before I sign off that I am by no means trying to be or sound mean. This is an issue I’ve seen in the blogging community and personally experienced and issues like these need to be addressed before they get worse. I love you all so much and I don’t know what I would do without you! Your comments make my day and I do not want to discourage any of you from making comments. We bloggers thrive on comments. It’s why we’re still around. It’s why we still post. So please, keep those comments coming and keep them nice 🙂
~Jaclynn~
What Would You Name Her? ~September 2016
Hello, girls! Long time since I did one of these, right? Well, at least it hasn’t been a year. XD
I’m absolutely in love with this new doll, so I decided I needed to do a NTD with her! 😀
Now, you all know how this game works, I’m sure, but here are the rules just the same:
Comment below your favorite names for this doll – I’m going to limit you to choosing a maximum of 10 names only – this will make things easier for me when going through the suggestions later ?
I will choose my 5 favorite names out of the ones you suggested and post them here on September 19th for you all to vote for your favorite one. I’ll post the winning name on September 24th 
Now, get thinking! 😀
~Jaclynn~