Update Time! (Both for the Blog and Life)

HELLLLLOOOOO MY FRIENDS!!! How are you? I hope you are doing well! As you can see, I have returned lol!! XD Now, believe it or not (and I definitely would not blame you if you didn't, considering the extreme lack of posts lol!) I actually haven't been gone, not truly anyway. The truth is, I've been sneaking around the background, like a ninja, or a squirrel with a saltshaker of glitter, if you will. Just sprinkling some stuff here and there, giving a much needed and deserved update to good ol' ADU. I also have some life updates to share, but that's not as fun so I'm gonna save that for the end LOL!! XD

   So, what exactly has changed over here? Well, not too much has necessarily changed, but some stuff has been added. The biggest (and longest overdue) being...

The completion of the Meet the Dolls Page!! 

(I would set off a confetti canon here, but I don't actually know how to do that?? Like, I think you just twist it but I don't know, I'm confused 'XD)

Now, I should clarify, it's mostly completed, lol! I have purposely left some bios partially incomplete for photo story spoiler reasons (photo stories? what are those? We haven't had one of those in 82 years!), but I will add those in once I get those dollies into play here on the blog. I have literally been writing bios since JANUARY!! It has been a long time in the making but I'm really happy with how it all came out so please check it out if you'd like! I'd also love to do some About the Dolls posts where I take a deeper dive into specific dolls, how I got them, where the inspiration for their names or personalities came from, etc. So if you see a doll you'd like to know more about while you're there please let me know as well! :D

Another thing I added in this update is a Welcome Page! This is something I've wanted to do for awhile, especially since we have a lot of new people over here (sup, new people!) from when I won one of the Adventures Awards over on Regan's blog. This page is where you can find all the helpful things to help you get to know us better and how this blog operates! You can also find how to subscribe to All Doll'd Up over there as well, just in case subscribing through Blogger doesn't do it for ya (which is completely valid, I don't like Blogger Reader either, lol!).

I do have some other small changes sprinkled around as well, but these are the major things so I'll leave the rest for you to check out on your own :)

(Small sneak peek at the vacation pictures I didn't get around to posting last year LOL! XD)

Now, for some life updates. As you probably know from my last post, I have been having some health issues that forced me to move back home a grand total of a week and a half after moving out lol! It has been an interesting adventure indeed, lots of doctors visits and dealing with weird symptoms. But unfortunately after all the of tests and doctors and traveling, no one was able to figure out what's wrong with me. This has been probably one of the roughest years of my life, if not the roughest, which is pretty dang impressive because I've had some WILD years in my relatively short time on earth XD Life has been pretty unclear for me, which has been hard since I felt like things were so clear before if that makes sense? Thankfully nothing life threating is going on with me from what we can tell and from what all the tests say, but it's still pretty rough dealing with symptoms at times and just the overall emotional effect this has all had. This year has been one of kind of just relearning life in a new way and taking things as they come and navigating stuff the best I can. I have no idea what I'm going to do from here currently or what the future holds, but I'm doing my best to trust God in this time and at the end of the day I know He's got a plan and knows what He's doing :)

On the bright side though, I'm dancing again!! Which is huge deal to me as, with my health effecting my balance and such, I wasn't sure if I'd really be able to again. I've missed dance so much, it's harder to do now as it does indeed trigger my symptoms lol, but goodness I'm so glad to be back to it. I'm going to be performing with my charity soon in a throwback music themed show! I'm going to be dancing to Time in a Bottle by Jim Croce and en pointe I'll be dancing to Smooth Criminal by Michael Jackson (finally, my ability to moonwalk on pointe is going to payoff! I'm becoming too powerful ;) ). I've been dancing so much, look at my ballet shoes, they're barely hanging on, sorry shoes... not sorry enough that I'm going to stop using you but sorry nonetheless XD

I've also had a lot of time to read this year, which has been very fun! I've finished over 40 books thus far, and completed 4 book series! I also read Robin Hood and was absolutely destroyed NOBODY WARNED ME ABOUT THE ENDING??? (Granted, I don't know anyone who's read the original Robin Hood, but I'm still upset I literally cried XD). I'm currently working on a crochet blanket that has a square for each book I read this year! I've been making the pattern grids myself based on the book covers, here's the finished square I made for Tenney's third book :)

I got to do a few craft shows over the last few months as well, which was pretty fun considering I didn't expect to do any more after I moved. I did pretty well at the first one at least (not as great at the second one but I was pretty much the only crafter who sold anything from what I could tell so I'm still grateful), and I even had time to make these cute sweaters for two of my newest dolls, Caroline and Aspen!

Another exciting thing, IS THAT THE DOLL HOUSE IS BACK!!! (Still can't figure out those darn confetti canons -_-) Yes indeed, this will make posting so much easier for real. Plus, I just missed having it around. I still got some decorating to do, but I'm so happy to have it back for future posts!

Last but not least, I got this really cool crown from Goodwill for $3.50. Does that affect the blog or my life in any way, shape, or form? No, no it does not. But it makes me feel cool when I wear it so I decided to show y'all anyway, lol!! XD

Well my friends, I guess that's just about everything. I'm so excited to get back into posting for our Blogaversary month *cough*a giveaway to celebrate*cough* and, one of my favorite traditions on this blog, Disney Villain takeover month!! But, before I go, I just want to thank you all so much for your kind comments, messages, and patience in this time. For real I'd get comments on the last post and would literally cry lol!! You guys are amazing and your kindness has a bigger impact than you could ever imagine. I hope you enjoy all the new stuff and I can't wait to see you around the blog! I love you all so much, God bless, my friends! I hope you have an amazing day!! <3

-Katie :)