Photos of New Monogrammed Dress for Beforever Kit

Wickfield on AGPT found leaked photos of an outfit which appears to be for the Beforever character Kit Kittredge on eBay and kindly allowed us to share her find here. No exact date for when the outfit will be released, though I'm guessing it will be either part of the fall/winter release later this year or next spring's release. It seems the Beforever characters will be receiving quite a few releases for almost all of the characters, which of course excites me to no end. ^_^ The auction is still ongoing so I will post the link to the eBay listing once it ends. 

Link to Master List of Leaked Upcoming Releases: http://lissieandlilly.blogspot.com/p/leaked-ag-releases.html

Original eBay Photos:

Front of Outfit

Wickfield found out that this outfit is based off a Butterick pattern for girls from the Sept. 1924 Delineator. That is a good decade prior to Kit's story but American Girl has always been pretty flexible by going up or down a decade in terms of their historical/Beforever line. You can view the image of the inspiration for this outfit on the Witness2Fashion blog (4th picture) here: https://witness2fashion.wordpress.com/tag/golf-and-social-class/

Honestly when I first saw the outfit, I assumed it would be for the 1914 Beforever character, Rebecca. However, Wickfield pointed out that the front of the dress is embroidered with "MKM", which fits Kit's initials "Margaret Mildred Kittredge."

Back view of dress

The listing shows the outfit shown with these silver flats. However, grey market sellers frequently pair random items together that they think fit, so it is very possible the actual shoes for this outfit will not look like this. At least, I am very much hoping these are not the actual shoes. XD

The outfit is really cute and I like the construction of it. It does seem out of place to me among Kit's collection however, and I would rather AG have picked an outfit from at least the 30s. Still, I love my Beforever historical outfits so this will be coming home with me for certain! ^_^

"Like" us on Facebook and Follow us to get notifications of updates, news, reviews, and more!

Link to Original eBay Auction: http://www.ebay.com/itm/Doll-Clothes-For-American-Girl-18-Inch-OUTFIT-/262550173718

Lissie & Lilly are now on Instagram!

After much hemming and hawing, Lissie & Lilly has finally signed up for Instagram! Follow us at:

@LissieLilly

Direct Link: https://www.instagram.com/lissielilly/

We'll mostly be posting general photos of the L&L crew and other dolls here though we may occasionally post news, sale notices, and store photos. If you have an AG Instagram account, please share it with us! Since we're new to Instagram, tell us what are some of your favorite AG Instagram accounts? What are your favorite filters? Favorite AG related hashtags? ^_^

"Like" us on Facebook and Follow us to get notifications of updates, news, reviews, and more!

Mini Josie prepares to leave Brazil

On some of the days that I didn’t go out of the house, I was able to listen to my host play the piano. She has been playing for about 12 years and she normally plays when she comes back from school in the afternoon to relax a little. It was great to listen to so many different songs and to learn a little about it!

While I was there, I met my host’s American Girl dolls, Annie (My AG #55), Felicity (the mini doll with glass eyes), and Maria (the Ruthie mini doll) along with her other non AG dolls. Although we didn’t take many photos together, I had an amazing time with them. They taught me a lot of the Brazilian culture, the Portuguese language, and thanks to them, I had a great time in Brazil.

It was very hard to say goodbye to them, but I’m very glad that I could meet them! They will always be in my heart!

As souvenirs, my host gave me the “pinhões” that we collected when we went on our nature exploration, the autumn leaf, a bonnet made by my host’s mom, and also a blanket also made by my host’s mom so I could sleep well and stay warm on my trip to my next host and on all of the other nights that I’ll be faraway from home. She also gave me some Reais coins, but they aren't shown in this photo.

This is my host. We had a great time together! I loved meeting her, her family, and her beautiful and amazing country. She also was super happy to meet me and very sad when I had to leave.

Many people have negatives thoughts and incorrect stereotypes about Brazil, but I think that if everybody tried to learn a little about this country, they would see how awesome and beautiful this country is! Just like other countries, they have a lot of problems and things to improve, but they face their hard days with a smile on their faces and so much positivity in their minds. I was super glad that I could come here and have an amazing time.

As they say there “Tchau!” (Goodbye!) 

-Mini Josie.

To see more of Josie’s adventures, click here to view her Travel Log!

Mini Josie wanders through 4 parks in Brazil

While I was in Brazil, I went to various parks. This one is the “Jardim Botânico” (Botanical garden). It has a greenhouse that keeps the plants from being damaged by the low temperatures in the autumn and winter.

This park has a lot of places to walk and a big lawn for picnics.

The other park that I visited in Brazil was the “Parque Tanguá” (Park Tanguá).

It has lots of fountains and spaces with water.

In this park there is also a waterfall, but unfortunately I wasn’t able to go see it. I loved to going here!

The penultimate park that I went was the “Bosque Zaninelle” (Zaninelle Wood). It used to be a quarry a long time ago, but now they turned it into a park. This is the entrance of the park. Super cool!

To see the part of the park where the quarry was located you have to walk on this trail in the middle of theses trees and plants. It was very humid in there but very beautiful.

Here is where the quarry was located! This park doesn’t have much to offer, but the nature there is amazing! It also has a lovely lake.

I really loved to going here and spending some time admiring this incredible view!

The last park that I went to was the “Bosque do Alemão” (German Wood). It’s a park to celebrate the German immigration. It also has a forest where you can walk and read the story of Hansel and Gretel (this story is called "João e Maria" in Portuguese).

At the end of the day after exploring all of these parks, we passed by a long street that had these typical autumn trees which lose all their leaves in the autumn. Since that day there wasn’t many leaves left, my host gave me a leaf that she collected a little while ago so I could glue it in my journal.

To see more of Josie’s adventures, click here to view her Travel Log!

Mini Josie gorges on traditional Brazilian Food

Can we pause just a minute to say how awesome Brazilian food is? I think I gained a lot of weight while I was there. This photo shows when I tried some typical breakfast foods (actually they love to eat this any time of the day). It’s a “pão de queijo” (cheese bread) made with manioc flour, cheese, and many other things. They exist in many variations and formats but the one in the front is the most common one. Very delicious!

On colder days, my host family loved to eat soup with a type of stuffed pasta called capeletti. It was very good and made me feel a little bit warmer.

This dish is called “mandioca”. It’s a tuberous root typical from the country that has been here since the time of the indigenous people of Brazil. It also goes by the names “aipim”, “macaxeira” or “maniva” depending on the region of the country.

While I was in my host's home I also ate something called “Escondidinho” (Hidden) or “Madalena” that is a food made from a layer of ground beef and a layer of mashed potatoes on top. Since my host doesn’t like to eat most meats, this dish was made with soy meat. In the same meal I ate sweet potatoes too. Here they exist in two types: one with a purple peel and other with a white peel. Very good!

The food in this cute bowl is “Sagu”, a dessert made with grape juice or wine, and small balls that are made from that same tuberous root called “Mandioca”. Aside from what I showed you guys in these photos, I was able to eat many other traditional Brazilian foods like “Arroz e Feijão” (Rice and Beans), “Brigadeiro” (a candy made out of chocolate, butter and chocolate covered by sprinkles that is very delicious), “Empadão” (a fantastic buttery dough stuffed with chicken or palmetto), “Paçoca” (a candy made from peanut), “Pé de moleque” (another candy made from peanut), “Doce de leite” (a candy made from milk that my host loves), “Doce de abóbora” (a candy made from pumpkins normally sold in the shape of a heart), “Pastel” (a fried dough stuffed with various stuffings) and many more! 

To see more of Josie’s adventures, click here to view her Travel Log!

Mini Josie collects pine nuts in Brazil

On some of the days that I was in my host’s city, I was able to explore some of the beautiful Brazilian natural landscape.

On the cold days, it is common to have something call “geada”. This weather phenomenon is when there is a thin layer of ice on the grass and other plants because of the low temperatures. When the sun rises, this ice layer melts and normally leave plantations, plants, and especially the grass burned. When I was exploring the outside, I was able to see the effects of the “geada”.

In this photo it looks like that there is ice in the grass, but is just the burn grass. Super cool!

I loved admiring all the nature, and all the different plants I saw!

Since it was autumn when I went to Brazil, I could see many leaves on the ground.

All these beautiful leaves are from one tree. It was like a leaf rug in the grass.

The view was so amazing that I just enjoyed sitting in the grass by the leaves.

One thing that's very cool about the cold weather in Brazil is that there is always still something green. In most places there is no snow even on the colder days, so many plants don’t die. This tree was super cool and green!

In some places of Brazil there is a tree called “Araucária”. It is a type of pine tree that has edible seeds called “pinhão” or in the plural form “pinhões”. They fall off the trees in the middle of autumn, so people collect them or buy them, and cook them. After they’re cooked, you peel the seeds and eat them. They are very delicious and nutritious! If you decide not to eat them, you can plant the “pinhão” and they will grow into another beautiful “Araucária”. However, it takes about 20 years for the tree to start to producing these seeds, and 40 years for the tree to reach maturity.

While I was there, I was able to collect these “pinhões”. My host said that I could take them as a souvenir and I loved the idea!

These “Araucária trees are so pretty and huge! Look how small I look when I hug the tree.

And this is how high they are. I became very sad when my host said that these trees are threatened with extinction. I loved to see these wonderful creations of the nature.

Another amazing sunset I was able to watch during my nature exploration.

When we finished the nature exploration it was late and we saw another beautiful “Araucária” in the dusk.

To see more of Josie’s adventures, click here to view her Travel Log!

Mini Josie keeps warm after arriving in Brazil

I’m super happy that I’m finally in Brazil. Brazil is the biggest country in South America and it has 8,515,767.049 km2 where more than 200,000,000 people live! Wow! The country is formed by 27 states that are very different in nature, culture, and climate. Here they speak Portuguese since they were colonized by the Portuguese people a long time ago. The country has amazing natural landscape and the people are super happy and warm! And another thing is that their money is called Real. Well, in this photo I show where Brazil is located on the map!

While I was in my host’s house I was able to watch her studying a lot since I came to Brazil while she was in the middle of her semester in school! One interesting fact about schools here in Brazil is that when they want to go to university, they have only two ways of entering: ENEM or vestibular. Both are tests and they only rate the student’s knowledge. Here they don’t appreciate other aspects of the students. The rest of the school and university years are very similar to the USA.

I also was able to help my host with her French homework a lot of times. This reminded me a lot of Marie Grace and Cecile. I miss my big sisters a lot, but when I come back home I’ll have so many stories to tell them.

The region of Brazil that I stayed at has defined sessions of the year. This means that they have a hot summer and a cold winter (it isn’t hot all year long like in some other places in Brazil). The seasons of the year are reversed here because it's the southern hemisphere: their summer starts in December and their winter starts in June. When I arrived it was oddly hot because according to my host this April they didn’t have such high temperatures. At least I can say that I enjoyed having a hot Brazilian day. When it was the end of April/beginning of May, it became cold. And when it was end of May/beginning of June it became super cold, especially in the night. In the majority of the nights during that time, the temperature reached below zero degree Celsius (freezing, 32 degrees F).

Most of these super cold days were gray days. I loved to spend some of my time on these days just looking out the window and enjoying the view.

I’m glad that I came to Brazil with cold weather clothes. These cold days were hard to bear with.

In those super cold days my host would study with the heater by her side and I took advantage of that and stayed close to it to stay warm.

As I wrote before, most of those cold days were gray days, but some days, the sky would be clear and blue without any clouds. When the sky was blue in the afternoon, the sunset would be amazing at the end of the afternoon.

The good thing about those days was that the sun made these days a little bit less cold!

Look at one of the amazing sunsets that I was able to watch! They were breath taking.

To see more of Josie’s adventures, click here to view her Travel Log!