Middie Monday is a feature that is published on the first Monday of each month! A guaranteed monthly post on Blythe’s little sister – Middie! If you have any suggestions for a future Middie Monday post, please send me an email or use my Suggestions form!

A couple weeks ago I wrote about being content with the Blythes that I have, but then the promotional photographs of Melanie Ubique Girl (an October 2015 release) came up. And despite the horrible name (ubique – really???!), although “ubique” is an actual word (for the curious, it is Latin for “everywhere”). But Melanie Ubique Girl’s older sister is Margo Unique Girl and it would have been a touch more fitting if the Middie was named Melanie Unique Girl (MUG 2.0). She is an adorable doll with super cute ash blonde hair and bangs (I’m a big fan of Middie dolls with bangs). And while I may not be in the right situation to buy a new Middie right now, she is super cute and I’d love to add her to the dolly family one day! (Plus – those shoes! the socks! the sunglasses!)

Do you think Melanie Ubique Girl would fit in well with Lydia (Yellow Marshmallow) and Kitty (Jackie Ramone)? And while I really was content with the dolls that I do have, now I’m jonesing for a new dolly. Maybe it’s because she’s super cute, or because I really love MUG 1.0 (but will never ever be able to afford her or justify buying her), or because I just really miss the whole aspect of continuously and obsessively checking tracking online.

Boots. Beautiful sparkly red glitter boots. Oh yes! I recently got these from Reallusion Photography, who was destashing these boots at a local Blythe meet. Score!

These boots are by Jemgirl Creations – I have other shoes from Jemgirl as well. They are made out of poured resin, and are delightfully glittery, very evenly mixed. Very sparkly, and it’s eye catching. I love them! These are quite possibly the most glittery, sparkly doll shoes that I own! There’s also some amazing detail that Jemgirl was able to get from the original boots, the lace detail is subtle with the busy glitter design, but it’s a fun detail to have in a quality pair of boots.

Tiny Shoe Love is a feature on BlytheLife.com to showcase and share doll shoes that grace Michelle’s picky dolls’ feet. We love tiny shoes in this house, and we hope you do too!

A 365 challenge does seem simple in its concept: take one photo every day. But thinking about it and doing it are two different things. Then there’s actually the act of remember to upload them. So far I’ve managed to do 30 of the 365 days with Eden. Eden’s adventures are being stored in a Flickr album on my account, if you want to follow along there.

Only 335 to go!

It’s a bit of an odd question, isn’t it? Especially when you consider the fact that if Kenner Blythe dolls were never in existence, then the Blythe dolls that we know and love that were produced by Ashton-Drake Galleries and are still being produced today by Takara would not be around. But there are some people in the Blythe community who do not like Kenners. I am, obviously, not one of those people.

Kenners can be a bit of an acquired taste. There can be so many issues with them – cracks, missing hair plugs, cloudy eye chips, missing pull strings/pull rings/eyelashes, chewed fingers or toes, knees that won’t hold position, or legs that fall out. I can understand when people think out loud “Why would I spend $800 on a doll with so many issues?”. That’s a good question – $800USD can buy you a lot of other nicer, mintier, dolls, if you’re inclined to look for a new-in-box, or a translucent, or a customized Blythe with an amazing alpaca or mohair reroot.

But there’s something amazing about Kenners – but I am a little bit biased though.

Do you like Kenners? Do you own any? (If no, do you have any plans on getting a Kenner Blythe in the future?)

Sometimes I try to remember what life was like pre-Blythe for me. I got Sophie in 2009, when I was 19. I was in university at the time (I was in post-secondary for a long time – eight years!). I had hobbies before Sophie and before Blythe, but I have a harder time trying to figure out what I filled my time with.

I think part of it was because I chose to attend a university that was different from the majority of my friends from high school. Many of them opted to attend one closer to home and didn’t have as long of a commute. Looking back, I still struggle to figure out why I decided to go to that school. It was an hour and a half to two hours of public transit commute each way versus the 30 minute commute (one way) commute for another school. I was spending a lot of time on public transit, I was going to school without people I knew (granted, I did make friends), but it was hard for me at the time. It wasn’t the same when I decided to pursue another degree at another school (a little bit older, a little bit wiser?).

Blythe was a happy shining light in my life at that point, because I needed something simple, something that wasn’t complex and didn’t require as much as energy and time and attention as school needed. I played with dolls a little bit as a child, I had a Barbie, but nothing quite to the level of commitment as I somehow ended up making with Blythe.

There’s just something about Blythe that makes me smile. She came into my life at a moment when I needed a little bit of happy. Having something that I enjoy is a great thing, the beauty of Blythe is that each person sees Blythe differently. Everyone enjoys Blythe in their own way, and that’s the wonderful thing about this hobby.

The best thing I’ve gotten out of this hobby is the fun of Blythe, and the wonderful people that I wouldn’t otherwise have gotten the chance to meet and interact with. Life is better with a doll.