Happy New Year from L&L! Coming up in 2016...

Happy (very belated) New Year! ^_^ 

Lilly: Lissie! Did you... cut the bottom half of your dress off?

Lissie: That's hootin' pafruitin' right lil' missy!

Lilly: Are those... tennis shoes?

Lissie: Your eye's ain't lyin' to ya! And they're glittery, might I add!

Lilly: And where are your gloves?

Lissie: Pshaw! How can anyone wrangle wild animals with those contraptions on?

Lilly: What wild animals? We're in a banquet hall! 

Lissie: You never know... You never know...

I know it's already over a week into 2016, but I still wanted to take a moment to wish everyone a happy new year and give some L&L site updates. I hope you all had a lovely start to your 2016!

First and most importantly, I must take a moment to very sincerely thank all of you L&L readers. This past year brought along a lot of changes and new things to the blog, and I am so grateful for our readers who stuck with us through the changes. We started posting leaks and news, added the Etsy Shop Features, hosted out first Postcard Exchange, and much more, and none of it would be possible with your support.

For the first time this past year, L&L had to deal with the problem of having our images used without permission, and we learned a lot from the experience, and have hopefully grown from this challenge for the better. Thank you to those who are looking out for us and letting me know when you see our images being used elsewhere. I am so deeply filled with gratitude for your help and encouragement!

Now, as we move forward to 2016, we have even more fun and excitement to offer!

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1) In the next few weeks, I will be reorganizing the "Sale History" and "AG & Site News" pages by year so they are easier to navigate and use. I didn't see the need to do this before since... L&L was only a year old, but now that it's been nearly 2 years, well... that makes all the difference right? :D

2) The wonderful Michele has shared her AG sale screenshots with me that go back all the way to 2008, and given me permission to share them here as a resource. I will be going through these files throughout the year, and watermarking and posting them on the "Sales History" page.

3) Since putting out a request for people to please share their old AG catalogs with me, I have been floored to receive over 100 separate catalogs from generous people. These have all now been scanned (definitely strained my shoulder and back muscles in the process... but it was worth it!) and I am now going through the slow, long process of editing and watermarking each of them. Originally I wanted to wait til they were done before posting the Catalog Scans page, but since it looks like it's going to take forever and a day, I'm going to go ahead and put up that page, and just update it as I finish each catalog. ^_^ Right now 10 are ready to go, so the Catalog Scans page will go live in the next few days. Along that note, there are still tons of older catalogs I don't have yet so if you've been accumulating a stack of these catalogs that you would like to contribute to this project, please let me know!

4) This past summer, the first ever Postcard Exchange was a great success! We had really lovely postcard designs sent in, and definitely enjoyed it very much. This summer, we'll be hosting the postcard exchange again so look forward to that. ^_^ Hopefully even more people can join in on the fun this year!

Kirren's doll Beckie showing off the fun postcards she received in the exchange!

5) When Maryellen came out last summer, I had a hard time making up my mind on whether I actually wanted her or not. In the end, I made a Dress Up Gallery for her, where I took photos of her in about 200 outfits from different historical time periods & the GOTY outfits to help me make up my mind. The dress up gallery was quite popular with many of you who were curious to see what she looked like in different outfits, so I am going to continue doing this when time allows. Right now I'm working on a Lea Clark Dress Up Gallery, which should be ready by the end of the month, and eventually I'll go through and do Dress Up Galleries for all of my dolls.

6) Many AG fans do not live in the USA and cannot order directly from AG without paying astronomical shipping prices and customs fees. I've been toying with this idea for a while now, and I am still working on some of the details, but this year I will begin offering personal shopping services for AG fans outside of the USA. The basic idea is if I am able to, I will be happy to purchase what you need and ship it to you. I have already been doing this for a few AG friends who are outside of the USA so I am more familiar with how the process works now.

7) The Etsy Shop Features have been quite popular and I will continue doing them this year. ^_^ There are so many lovely shops and not near enough time for me to review them all but I will do my best! Along that vein, there will be more giveaways coming up this year as well, when time in my schedule allows.

8) Mini Josie has now been traveling for 2 years and in that time she has visited 14 different states and 6 countries outside of the USA! Thank you to all of her generous hosts for taking such good care of her and letting her join in on all the fun. But that's not the end of the road for Josie, she'll still need to travel for at least 2 more years yet and is always looking for hosts so if you're interested in hosting Mini Josie, please send me a message through any of the 4 AG boards I'm a member of (AGPT, AG Dollhouse, AGFMB, and AGC), or through L&L's Facebook page. ^_^

Mini Josie's travel map! 

(Right click the image and pick "Open link in new window" to enlarge)

9) I haven't given up on the idea of making a page for Sawako Lilly's Kimono Chest with information about kimonos as well as a gallery of her kimonos. I don't know if this is the year I'll be able to get it up, or if it'll take more time, but I did just want to give people a head's up it is still pressing on my mind.

10) This blog started with the L&L Episodes, and they are still the heart and soul of the blog. ^_^ While I don't have as much time as I used to for making photo stories, there will be more coming up this year so please look forward to them. :D

11) I am unstickying the "Changes to L&L Due to Image Thievery by LADL Blog & Others" tab from the top of the blog to clear of some space. It was a serious issue for us but as far as I am concerned, the matter has been taken care of thanks to everyone's support and encouragement, and I no longer see the need to keep the post stickied at the top. If anyone does need to reference it, it is still archived in the "AG& Site News" page. Thank you to everyone for your help through this ordeal!

12) Last but not least, I wanted to give everyone a head's up that I will most likely be taking a one month hiatus from the beginning of May through the beginning of June. As a second year medical student, I have my qualifying board examinations in June and I am predicting I will need to go into serious lock down mode to prepare for this exam. I appreciate your patience and understanding! As much as I love AG, my education is more important to me and takes priority. :)

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Lissie & Lilly succeeds because of all of you taking the time to visit, reading our posts, and sharing your thoughts with us. I am a medical student and don't have the time to update as much as I would like, so I am incredibly thankful for readers who think of me and share information and photos, and allow me to share them here.

Please let me know if you have any suggestions on how I can continue to make L&L more fun and easy to navigate for people. Thank you all for reading and supporting us these past two years! ^_^

Lissie: Yee haw! Giddyup Sea Turtle! Take me to the underwater palace and gift me a box of immortality!

Lilly: Oh my goodness! How did- is that- but-! 

Lissie: Hurry up Lilly! Or this raging turtle taxi is going to leave you behind. Everyone knows there's no better way to kick off a new year than on a turtle back to lands unknown! It sets the tone for the rest of the year!

Lilly: I'm going to stop questioning you Lissie, and how it was even possible for a sea turtle to make it all the way here, hundreds of miles away from the sea, and up 10 flights of stairs, for you to wrangle. Let me grab my first aid kit and let's go!

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