american girl DOLL

american girl DOLL

...and a freebie.

I should have know as we arrived in Atlanta, and my eyes focused on the glitzy pink wall on the outside of the mall, carefully engraved...AMERICAN GIRL boutique and bistro...I should have known.

I was in over my head.

There were plenty of parents coming from the clear double doors   holding the precociously hot pink bags.

We were surprising Miss L for her 6th Birthday, and as of this point she has had a love indifference relationship with any of her dolls.

{FLASHBACK} I can still remember the faint plastic smell that came from my favorite blonde haired doll.  I would curl her hair with a little  plastic curling iron that was solely powered by my hot breath.  I loved her. {END}  

The look on the persnickety little Miss L was enough to send you over the moon.  I have been blessed to have what people call in laments terms...a girly girl. (a term I believe deems being italicized and written in pink...don't you agree?)  

She indulged her whimsy as she continuously jumped up and down squealing in glee inside the glass doors. 

The greeter, a woman that resembled a sweet grandmother, welcomed  both Miss L and The Superhero (which I might add, although he was happy to have been in on the secret of Miss L's Birthday surprise, had a little hesitation being engulfed in hot pink!)with stickers that they both accepted more than willingly.

The store is certainly a feast for the eyes and in an overwhelming way was filled with dolls, from Felicity to the doll that we picked (or perhaps it picked us)and everything in between.

There were tiny...

clothes

shoes

earrings

beds

pets 

and

grooming products.  

It really was too much.  We are avid Disney World guests and this was still overwhelming.  And as inconceivable it may sound, I had actually known very little about this American  Girl doll phenomenon that I was embarking on.

Once we picked our doll.  Miss L insisted in the dramatic way that 6 year old girls often do, that Lily HAD TO HAVE her ears pierced.  {of course she did!}

Promptly, we were escorted to the back of the store where there was a tall counter filled with little girls waiting for their new BFFs to be done with their beauty services.  What we were looking at here people, was a solon that accommodated the most particular of customers...the dolls.

We waited as Lily was very carefully measured for then, with the most graceful and lightest of touch, had her tiny ears were pieced with sparkling silver ball earrings.  {it was a sight}

After picking up a few more necessities for the newest member of our family , we  headed to our hotel that just happened to be affiliated with the American Girl establishment as well, but more on that at a later time :)

Miss L has been smitten with her mini new friend.  There is hardly an opportunity that we are not joined by Lily.  So this tutorial if for her.  

click on pattern for download:

enjoy!