A Celebrated Arrival - Photo Shoot

 Hello friends!! I'm back, just as I promised I'd be, huzzah!! 

Goodness this photo shoot was a STRUGGLE to make happen, the weather was not on my side for a single moment of it (it knew if I actually posted in August I would become too powerful), our weather has been so strange this year I truly am baffled by it 'XD And I knew I wanted this photo shoot to be somewhere grassy and a bit different in scenery from home, but goodness for the life of me I could not make everything line up, either I'd be going somewhere with scenic stuff nearby but no time to take pictures or it was raining so much I was questioning if I missed the ark or something. And I really wanted this shoot to be special! This is my childhood holy grail doll that I genuinely thought I'd never own, and her purchase was in celebration of something so huge to me. Finally, the opportunity arose when my family decided to go on an outing to a nearby lake (something we were going to do back in June or July but also got canceled by, you guessed it, rain XD) it seemed like the perfect opportunity! It got moved twice due to... well, you already know -_- but at last I gathered my things, got the dollie all ready, drove out and then along the way found out that the lake is currently almost nonexistent. WE'VE HAD SO MUCH RAIN THE LAST SEVERAL WEEKS HOW IS THAT EVEN POSSIBLE?!?! Apparently all our lakes are more or less like that right now, I have a friend who works for the game and fish department and he'll be talking like, "Yeah so I was at *insert name of any lake around here* Puddle the other day..." and it's like MY BROTHER IN CHRIST I KNOW IT'S BAD SHUSH XD Must be a wild experience to move across country to do work largely involving lakes only to find we essentially don't have lakes this year for some reason... 'XD Anyway, sorry, getting sidetracked lol, we couldn't go to the lake. Then it started raining at our first photo location, so we switched locations like three times lol! So please excuse the constant change of scenery and lighting! I also kept switching between my phone and camera because I never know which is gonna work better on any given day (both are starting to have problems but they're trying and I respect that), so there's a sprinkle of both in this post. There's also an absolute TON of pics because of the multiple locations and I'm bad at narrowing down pictures so you guys are basically getting all of them, sorry in advance LOLLL XD

Okay, I've been waiting so long to share this new addition to the ADU fam with you all, so let's jump in (to the post specifically, no jumping into your devices or anything, this is unfortunately not Jumanji)! Definitely let me know your guesses about who the doll will be and if you were right!

Got your guesses ready? Feel pretty good about them? Will you battle til the bitter end for them? Perfect! Then without further ado, allow me to introduce to you....

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CECILE REY!!!

Y'all... I cannot even BEGIN to put into words how overjoyed I am with her!! Cécile was my absolute dream doll as a kid (after Molly, of course LOL!!) but I just knew I'd wreck her hair if I got her back then (might still but hopefully not 'XD).

I love her outfit against the yellow flowers!! So thrilled to have found a location with so many!! :D

Now, I should probably clarify, this isn't a real Cécile, but a custom Gabriela with Cécile's eye color and wig? I'm not 100% certain on the wig honestly, every picture I've seen of Cécile her wig color and pin curl style seems to vary? I don't know I'll have to keep researching it but she's close enough LOLLL!! She is 100% Cécile in my heart so it counts XD

I wanted to do pictures of her laying in the flowers so bad but I was so scared the plants were gonna pull her curls into a big mess *-* Thankfully it ended up find and didn't mess up her hair at all which I'm grateful for.

I've been keeping my eyes on this Cécile for MONTHS, she was originally about $180.00 USD if I remember correctly, which feels insane for a doll that is damaged (she's missing her toes) and isn't actually Cécile, but customs in general are expensive so idk, either way she was way out of my budget lol.

Then low and behold, she was dropped to $75.00 USD!! I was so insanely hyped, I knew this opportunity would never come again, the chance to have my childhood dream! There was only one issue... $75 was still out of budget for me LOLLL XD

Side note, I LOVE a good log shot lol!!

Anyway, back on topic lol, I wrestled with what to do for a day or two, and the listing did not budge from eBay. Finally I decided to put in an offer for $60 and pray that it wasn't insulting to ask that of the seller after they already dropped the price so much. And you know what? THEY ACCEPTED THE OFFER WITHIN AN HOUR GWBSBKSNISBALOWSNDN AND NOW I HAVE CECILE I COULD CRY Y'ALL OH MY GOSH <3 <3 <3

Y'all have no idea how overjoyed I am about her! Once again she is a bit different than a true Cécile (such as the newer Sonali molds have much closer set eyes than they did in Cécile's time), but she is truly a dream come true for me. And I love how she photographs so much! :D

Off topic again but wouldn't this be a stellar location for a Winnie-the-Pooh lyric shoot? I've been meaning to do one of those for a long time now...

I adore this AG bracelet!! :D Does anyone know if they're currently selling anything similar? I use this thing all the time but I feel like AG made one set of them then just never did bracelets like it again 'XD

My favorite doll shoes for real :D

Also whoever made her replaced her zip-tie (as I assume she had, if she's a Gabriela) with a blue ribbon and forgot to tuck it in for like 85% of the pictures -_-

Annnnnnd location change! Absolutely loved how this railing complemented her outfit :D

Like I mentioned earlier, I decided to buy Cécile as kinda a celebration thing, as my health has finally improved enough that I was able to stop going to doctors and getting tests! And the thing I mentioned in the last post (that I wanted to finalize before sharing), I was offered a job at the church I go to and decided to accept! I'm going to be a co-leader, activities director, and outreach person for the young adults group I'm apart of! I'm so scared and excited!! I'll be moving before the end of the year to be closer to work, which at the start of this year was unimaginable so I'm so beyond grateful. God is good y'all <3

I almost did a Christmas dance in that gazebo, by the way LOL!!

This top is so very pretty, I got it in a doll wardrobe I thrifted awhile back and just think it's so stunning!

Mini Cécile <3

You know, usually if I don't have the 18" doll that matches the mini, the mini goes to one of my other dolls, then if I get the 18" variant the mini gets passed along to them. But Mini Cécile has been Emily's doll for such a long time that it feels kinda wrong for her to belong to anyone else at this point lol! XD Idk, I'm kinda stuck on what to do about it...

The Céciles :)

Same friend who works for the game and fish department was telling me he passed this weird brightly colored ranch/western type place on his way to one of the lakes (like I said, he's not from around here) and how strange this place was. It took the longest time for me to figure out where he was talking about but when it finally clicked I laughed so hard lol!! I grew up around these parts and it really never occurred to me how weird or out of the ordinary this place would look to someone not from around here XD

Also please ignore the weird shine mark I forgot to remove from under her eye before shooting -_- 

Another change of scenery lol! This wasn't too far from the gazebo though.

Angle looks kinda funky on this one to me?? I don't know why though XD

Once again, bracelet ;)

Annnnnd the final location, we finally have a lake! YIPPPPEEEEE!!!

(Though it is a man-made lake, and there were dead fish floating around aways off from where I was shooting, but we won't talk about that...)

I worked so hard on her hair y'all I was so scared but I did it anyway like a brave little bean and it didn't come out too bad in my opinion!

Thought this one came out super cool! :D

I took so many pictures of her hair I'm now realizing LOLLLL!!!

Bio pic maybe? When I actually write all of them lol?

(Not a four leaf clover but close enough)

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And that's the introductory shoot of Miss Cécile!! I hope you all enjoyed it, so sorry again that it came out so long lol 'XD I'm so very happy to be adding this girl to my collection, I'm still kinda piecing together her personality though, like I know I want her to be confident and classy type vibes but I don't know what her interests are going to be other than that I think she'd really like The Great Gatsby and I really don't have a good explanation for that XD Idk sometimes their characters click into place immediately and sometimes it takes forever for me to figure out.

Anyway, how have things been for y'all since the last post? Life has been chaos over here honestly, trying to juggle the new job (more emotionally than anything else, it's been awhile since I've been able to work a normal job so there's a lot about it that scares me lol 'XD) and preparing to move, crocheting Christmas and birthday gifts early in hopes of having a more chill December, getting back into dance and prepping for Christmas charity stuff,  and working on doll post stuff all while very stubbornly trying to force reading and bible study time in is absolutely swamping me XD I'm a bit overwhelmed and I fully recognize it's by my own doing but I'm also not willing to cut any of it out of my schedule so I guess we're rolling on prayers and a ridiculous amount of stubbornness lol! I am realizing though that with everything going on and in trade to still make Villain Takeover happen, I'm not going to be able to make a Blogiversary post this year. I'm so sorry, friends!! I'm so bummed about it, but I did want to take a moment to at least thank y'all for an INCREDIBLE 9 years!! This blog has seen me through so many stages of life and so many of you have gotten to grow up alongside me which is so cool and crazy at the same time! Not to be dramatic or anything, but I don't know where I'd be right now if it wasn't for this blog, a lot of the people in my life currently I probably would never have even met if not for this blog which is insane! So thank you all so much for everything and for being here for the ride, and I can't wait for many more years of ADU fun! (Planning how to set up a doll room when I move as we speak lol!) I also have a pretty fun giveaway planned for our 10th year, but that's a conversation for another day... ;)

Now that I've thrown out all the overwhelming stuff going on lol, there's been some fun stuff too. I went to go see Spider-Man Brand New Day with some of my friends which was honestly the best!! I even crocheted accessories to wear to the theater!

I made this belt thing, which was originally supposed to be the only thing I was making for it, but as someone with poor time management skills and absolutely no chill, I also made...

A Spider-Man beanie,

Spiderweb gloves that I'm obsessed with lol,

And this little Spider-Man to dangle from the belt web!! 

Here's the full outfit that I almost didn't wear because I started chickening out at the last minute lol!! XD In all seriousness though I really did have such a blast, probably the highlight of my August honestly. Did any of y'all go see that one? What were your thoughts?

I also had some pretty cool thrift finds recently!! Including a Pleasant Company Molly and Kirsten's bed which was INSANE!! I could have cried not even joking XD

Also got these the same day from Hobby Lobby because I have no self control lol!! The tumbler is for Tenney and the mug for Janet :)

I also got stuff to paint jeans recently (as if I needed yet another hobby lol 'XD), so I'm pretty excited to try that! I have no artistic ability really but should still be fun hopefully? XD I'm also working on a very interesting doll project that I'm in WAAAAAYYY over my head with, so that's been a wild adventure so far lol!! Can't wait to share more with y'all on that soon :)

Well, here we are again, the end of my rambling, the end of the post. I hope you guys enjoyed the photos and that Fall is gently invading your life (I'm so desperate for Fall guys I'm so done with the heat I want to take Fall doll pics). Definitely let me know what y'all are currently up to and who your holy grail doll is!! (And if you have any Fall reads tell me about those too, I'm getting ready to read Legend of Sleepy Hollow again for like the 50th time lol XD) The next post should be a Villain Takeover post, which I'm super excited about and I hope y'all are too! :D Can't wait to see everyone in the comments! And once again if you want to see more content like unboxing videos, definitely give our Instagram a follow! It's private so if I don't accept your follow request within a day or two just shoot me a DM so I know you're from the blog and I'll permit you entry into our second corner of the internet ;D

Until we meet in the comments, Instagram, or the next post, my friends! I love you all and hope you have an amazing day!! <3

-Katie :)

P.S. Kinda off topic but I wore my white combat boots and end ended up feeling kinda matchy with Cécile because of her white top and black combat boots lol, does that count as matching?? Idk but either way I just thought it was cool and wanted to share because it made me happy. Also we're not talking about the scuffs on the shoes I just got them at the thrift store recently (for $2.00 USD no less! :D) and I've been looking for a pair for forever and haven't gotten the chance to clean them but still wanted to wear them lol XD