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The end of The Bell Tree Fair 2024 is fast approaching! Most events will be closed on Sunday night EDT, so be sure to get your last minute entries in before the weekend ends.
Dollsgrave as it was didn't make us (its residents) happy anymore so it is currently undergoing a serious makeover. Part of this new chapter in our lives is to also black out the old pages of this diary.
As of right now, if you dare to dream about our home, you will be taken to Dollsgrave as it used to and no longer will be. A rather tacky Dollsgrave of the past. Its new incarnation will be very, very different and yet we are trying to preserve what makes it Dollgrave.
So what excactly is this place?
It was advertised as an deserted island. Soon upon arrival, we realized that that hadn't always been the case: the ruins we discovered showed that once upon a time Dollsgrave must have been a paradise of beauty and riches. The animals who had originally moved to the island with me are long gone and since then I have made it my mission to find likeminded souls who care to restore Dollsgrave to its former glory. As mentioned above, we thought for a while that we had succeeded, but the version we had come up with eventually turned out to not meet standarts.
We want to revive the beautiful gardens from ancient times, recreate the dark and beautiful atmosphere of the past and discover the exquisit riches that have been lost in the ruins of fallen queens and kings for far to long – as from now on, we are Dollsgrave's queens and kings!
It’s been so long since I sat down to write in my diary … With all the demolition and construction happening on Dollsgrave, it is hard to catch a breath. Since the place is still very much a huge work in progress, I want to focus on cute and enjoybale moments with my neighbours that I want to remember.
However, a while ago we had a heavy storm and I took the opportunity to take a picture of what a visitor first sees when they step out the airport:
At this point, a few trees have grown around this arrangement, but I think that the rain just makes it look especially lovely.
So it was the 30th of March that I finally left October 2020 and arrived in the present.
I knew we were going to have a special visitor that day, so finding him was top priority.
It was a beautiful and clear night. Zipper, the the lovely bunny who is apparently wearing a meat suit, had awaited my arrival in a rather remote area of the island. To celebrate the occasion, I had chosen to dress up as a cute little bunny myself.
Later Zipper dared to come a bit closer to where the animals a living. A shooting star welcomed him.
The second big event of the night was the birthday of my dear friend Felicity. I was very happy to attend her little gathering!
It was a very exclusive party, only ladies with a certain kind of haircut were invited, so of course Felicity’s sweetheart Olaf, who is neither a lady nor has the right haircut, was excluded from the event. I was briefly worried, but the next morning I realized that everything seems to be fine between the island’s power couple:
I love them!
Speaking of Olaf, I have given him a new pullover and I think that it suits him just perfectly:
He looks absolutely stunning in the soft colours and of course it helps that for the picture he had positioned himself right in front of this gorgeous statue which is between his house and Felicity’s.
I took the liberty to take a picture of his butt when he wasn’t looking, simply because anteaters sniffing flowers are the cutest thing in the world and his soft pink fluffy tail is super adorable!
I also took a picture of Groucho when he wasn’t looking. A goal for the future is definitely to include this lovely bear into pictures more often.
(We have not decorated specifically for Bunny Day, I hope that this little topiary on the right of the picture is subtle enough to be usable all year.)
One of my neighbours, Tabby the peppy kitten, is known to not exactly share my point of view when it comes to fashion and I shall refuse to stain my diary with photos of her wearing her hideous instant muscle suit. However, yesterday I came across her in the shopping district and was very pleasantly surprised that she was wearing this pretty dress that I gave her:
Sometimes I feel like she just needs a little nudge into the right direction – when she moved to Dollsgrave, her décor choices were terrible and I was especially worried about the prominence of the toilet in her room, but after giving her a couple of plants and fish, she really managed to turn that mess into a very charming home that still has a very personal touch.
(Needless to say that the dress she is wearing in this photo is also one I gave to her.)
Like I said before, a lot of work needs to be done on the island and I feel like I often miss the charming things my neighbours are doing because I’m busy improving our little paradise.
From the distance I caught a glance at Chops working out in front of his house which I thought was quite entertaining and yet so inspiring.
Once darkness ascends, I usually feel calmer and more interactive. I even took the time to listen to Lucky serenade to Gloria and me.
Have I actually mentioned that Gloria has me wrapped around her wing entirely? She is just so, so cute! Sometimes she wears reading glasses and a little black bow and I could just melt. Here she is, accessorized to the tens with the aforementioned articles, wearing this lovely lacy dress that I gave her:
But back to Lucky. After he had finished his little song, he sat down on a bench to enjoy a lollipop.
Seeing him so at peace with himself made me realize that he is totally at home here and that it’s been almost a year that we know each other. Feeling all sentimental, I sat down next to him and a shooting star leaped through the sky. It was a truly magical moment.
However, it wasn’t only Lucky with whom I spend some quality time that night.
After finally choosing a new spot to move my home to and wanting to commemorate the event, Olaf kept photobombing.
To make him happy and because I was done with work for the day anyway, we went to the little picnic spot in front of Annalisa’s house and sat down for a while. Of course we had to talk quietly, because it was late and Annalisa long asleep.
Recently I had to face the soul-crushing reality that if you drop by your friend’s place unannounced past midnight and she happens to have her boyfriend over, they may not be appropriately excited to see you.
After everything I do for our little community, is it really too much to ask that Olaf and Felicity give me a little moment of their time in the middle of the night to take a few pictures?
At least Felicity made an effort to be friendly, but Olaf totally ruined all of my shots by side eying me in the most annoyed fashion.
I get it, you want to be alone. But after all the talk of how I’m your “bestie”, I feel like I deserve a little more respect.
Perhaps he was just in a bad mood because Gloria had snapped at him earlier that evening.
I don’t blame her.
The thing is, sometimes it is hard to find someone to pass time with during my hours of insomnia. Since Felicity and Olaf were busy, I tried to see if Olivia was still up. She was – sort of.
She probably would have been graceful enough to entertain me for a little while, but I simply woke her up and made sure she went to bed to get a proper beauty sleep.
I feel like I hardly ever see her these days – ever since we started rebuilding our island, it seems like I only run into a small handful of my neighbours.
So I was pleasantly surprised to meet Cherry out by the heart ponds. As always I grabbed my camera and I think that Cherry didn’t realize right away that she was being photographed:
Look smart, Cherry!
She probably wouldn’t appreciate to find out that I took and am keeping this picture. I also took one of the two of us to which she consented and I think it turned out quite nicely:
To be fair, I believe none of the animals would exactly love it if they knew just how many pictures I take of them. Except maybe Chops, with him I’m sometimes feeling like he actually wants to be photographed all the time; why else would he constantly insert himself into the most beautiful backgrounds and lighting situations?
The other day we sat by the beach together and he clearly didn’t mind me wanting to take a picture at all. In fact, it seemed to me like he put on a face that looked just a little too relexad to be authentic:
(I know, neither of us is dressed for the beach, but it is early spring and therefore cold. Furthermore, both of us prefer to look formal and I guess Chopsy is even more pompous than myself.)
Perhaps I should just make copies of all of the photos I ever secretly took of him, put them in an envelope and mail them to him. Anonymously, of course, just in case he won’t be as excited as expected.
Chops isn't the only attention seeker on Dollsgrave - there is also Tabby. I recently found her sitting in the archway leading to the pumpkin patch and thought to myself that the moment just needed to be captured.
I suppose I wasn’t exactly careful and right when I had taken her picture, she got up, placed herself right in the middle of the arch way and started singing!
At least Chopsy is somewhat subtle with his love of being the centre of attention.
But enough about my terrible habit of taking pictures of innocent animals.
Recently Bunny Day took place. I myself did not participate in the event, but I dressed up as a bunny again in order to appropriately greet my friend Zipper. Too bad I was entirely outshone by Annalisa:
You just have to be a certain kind of cute in order to pull off a hat shaped like an eggshell and I will happily admit that Annalisa is just all kinds cute.
I think it was that moment that I realized how rarely we spend time together these days which is truly devastating considering that Annalisa is my dearest friend of all.
Since I didn’t feel too great in the red bunny getup anyway, I invited all of the ladies out to try on some dresses and just have a lovely time catching up.
We all looked absolutely stunning and some of these dresses will definitely find themselves being wrapped up in Dollsgrave's finest black wrapping paper and each be given out to a very special queen.
I especially love how Cherry pulls off this lovely dotted dress and the kimono Annalisa is wearing looks just divine on her. And Felicity in this gorgeous white silk dress!
Speaking of Felicity being gorgeous, I think I’ll end this entry with this beautiful shot of her taking a sunset stroll on the beach:
Did she know that she was being photographed? Probably not, but since she and Olaf were so utterly ignorant towards me the other night, she owes me many, many pictures.
Today there is no time for a detailed record of what the friendly neighbourhood animals are up to. In fact, today I have to work especially hard because today ist he first year anniversary of our amazing community that is Dollsgrave!
The island itself is obviously much, much older, but it has been one year ago today that I arrived on its shores and decided to restore it to its former glory.
This is the first picture I ever took here and as hard as it is to believe, this used to be my home:
We have come a long way since then, but sadly Dollsgrave is not yet as beautiful as the animals and I deserve; just last night I realized that neither the shopping district nor the campsite are up to our standarts.
Regardless, to celebrate Dollsgrave’s anniversary, I chose a few scenic shots that I think represent its spirit and the overall direction we are taking with beautifying it.
By the way, our longest standing citizen besides myself is Groucho. I sadly did not write down the exact dates of when all of my little dolls arrived, but I think that Groucho should celebrate his first anniversary of living here in about ten days from now.
He went through his own little arch of being quite miserable when I first met him on a deserted island to being content and happy with himself. He even dares to sing when someone's listening, something he never used to do within the first months of him living here. Furthermore, doesn't he look absolutely dapper in this red jacket? I honestly didn't think he would like it since he doesn't care much for fashion at all, so I am just the more exhilarated to see how much he enjoys wearing it!
Though I am usually not someone who documents their works in progress, I came to the conclusion that perhaps it isn’t a bad idea to do so. Within the last two days I have put a lot of effort into beautifying our community and though I may not be totally satisfied with the results, I think that hard work needs to be acknowledged.
Furthermore, it is still cherry blossom season and everything just looked so lovely in the light of the descending sun, that I simply had to go and take a few pictures of today’s and yesterday’s labor.
Like I said, I’m not someone to document every stage of a work project, therefore I do not have any pictures of what these areas looked like before, but the new improved versions are definitely a huge step up.
First of all I came to the conclusion that Lucky and Cherry did not have the kind of living environment that they deserve. After all, they were nice enough to agree that I’m allowed to put their houses very close together even though they themselves are not particularly close with one another. I mean, they are friends and get along just fine, but it’s not like they are “besties” (I can’t believe I’m using this word – Chops, Tabby, Olaf and Felicity are a bad influence on me) or even lovers, but they are both dogs of darkness and their houses look similar. I was thinking about having them moved, but for now I have made due with what we have and this is how it turned out:
Cherry’s house is on the left, Lucky’s on the right.
While I tried to maintain some symmetry and aimed for the houses to look thematically connected, I also wanted both of their personalities to shine through. (It is almost funny how I am the only one ever making any efforts to decorate not only our island as a whole, but even the animal’s yards.)
I think that from this angle it looks just fine, but viewing it from a less flattering perspective makes me think that it is not yet what it could be.
Next up was the shopping district which used to look terribly out of place.
Long before either of us have been alive, Dollsgrave must have been like one beautiful garden. I decided not to bother restoring the garden aspects near our general store but instead leave the spot somewhat less groomed and therefore more natural. I only added a few easy to maintain potted cypress plants.
This is the place in the golden evening light:
I had already worked on it yesterday and the moment the construction site barrier was taken down, Olicity couldn’t restrain their curiosity and checked out where their future shopping tours will take place.
I swear they are colour coordinating their outfits these days and I'm surprised their purses aren't matching.
While I was at it, I also tried improving around our tailors. Just like with the dogs’ yard, it is a matter of perspective whether the place looks fine or not and I think that this is the area I’m the least happy with.
Luckily happiness doesn’t only come from pretty places and décor. Since I had realized that Annalisa and I seem to be growing apart, I made sure to take lots of breaks yesterday and spend some quality time with my dear friend. I caught her having a doughnut in the picnic spot in front of her house around brunch time.
Seriously though, as adorable as Annalisa is, looking at this picture made me very sad because I realized that she deserves something better. She already has her own little heart shaped island, but the way it was decorated was nowhere near fit for Dollsgrave’s anteater queen, so today I took some time and tried to improve it:
I think it turned out quite cute. Perhaps I should get two more bamboo trees for the back of the island, but the way Annalisa's little tea spot looks now is already a huge improvement from what she had before.
Last up is something that came to me very unexpectedly. Usually, Annalisa’s island is the only area on Dollsgrave that is decorated in pastel pinks these days, but the cherry blossoms just made me yearn for more.
We, all of the citizens, have agreed that we want to mostly have cedar trees on our island. But while I was busy working on Cherry’s and Lucky’s place and the general store, I realized that we could utilize the space between those two areas for a little sitting area with a fireplace. And since I was absolutely in awe of the cherry blossoms, I decided to surround this little sitting area with hardwood trees.
It is not quite done yet, but I have a feeling that it will be turning out nicely.
Isn’t the soft pink just so beautiful in the evening light?!
I know that very soon these trees will look boring and dull, but Dollsgrace used to be very much dipped in pastel pinks at some point and we all got sick of it rather quickly. That way with the hardwood trees, the pastels will be a seasonal thing; something to look forward to and be over with before anyone could get tired of it. Furthermore, in autumn the leaves of these trees will turn red and that will probably make the fireplace look extra inviting.
Tabby's a cute kitty!
(Probably one of my most adorable shots yet.)
So all that I built the other week? I tore it down. All of it. Well, not all of it, the general store is still in the unkempt environment I placed it in, but pretty much everything else did satisfy neither myself nor the my little dolls.
So I separated the houses of Lucky and Cherry (they really don’t mind) and moved Cherry’s where the tailors used to be. The tailors are now in the old spot of where Lucky and Cherry used to live and poor Lucky has a temporary home by the beach until we can figure out the perfect space for him. In the meantime he is being a perfectly patient little angel.
I think that Cherry has most likely found her permanent lot. The moment it was empty, it was like an invisible force spelled her name in the air above it. So I helped her pack up her birds and her pretty parasol against the pesky sun and we moved her across the bridge, closer to the more urban part of Dollsgrave (which really isn’t that urban at all.)
The tailors, being the only source for high fashion we have on our remote little island, got a long overdue glow-up.
Obviously they are now located in a rather underdevelped area, but at least now after a long shopping spree one can take a break there and enjoy exquisite refreshments in the form of cake and tea.
Did we go overboard with the lace?
Maybe; if you believe that there even is such a thing as going overboard with the lace.
This is how the general store and the tailors including their little tea area connect.
Chopsy’s lot got a makeover, too. It was a bit of a hassle to convince him to tear down the hill we had initially built his house on – he wanted to have his place elevated so he could really feel like the king that he is, so the thought of moving it to the ground level made him so sad that he even considered leaving the island! Luckily I managed to comfort and convinced him to stay, the poor sensitive soul. I don’t think he will regret finally giving in and letting me work my magic.
(On a side note, hasn't it just been the most beautiful of gloomy nights to take pictures?)
The “town centre” a.k.a. the area around Resident Services has always been one of my favourites, but that doesn’t mean that there wasn’t any room for improvement. I moved some flowers here and some décor there and the Red Satin Lounge, which has never really looked how I had once envisioned it, suddenly turned into something that I quite enjoy:
I hope that the animals will start utilizing it now. The only one I’ve ever seen there working her vocal cords is Gloria, but since she used to be a professional singer at a night club, it would be a surprise if she could ignore a microphone and spotlight just waiting for whoever is brave enough to take their chance. Sadly I didn’t manage to take a picture of the one occasion she stepped up and sang – as much as she probably still loves singing, her career deeply scared her and I do not think that she is ready to have an audience again.
Although I have already done so recently, I went ahead and tried to improve Annalisa’s heart shaped island even more.
How does one say? “More is more.” Yes, that is a sentiment I absolutely subscribe to and I hope that my dear Annalisa agrees with me.
(Dollsgrave always looks strange to me in the garish light of day.)
So the only animals that haven’t been moved to their permanent lots yet are Lucky, Groucho and Olivia, everyone else seems well settled.
Location wise, I have a very vague idea of what I want to do with Lucky and an even vaguer for Olivia; however, when it comes to Groucho, I’m at a bit of a loss. I guess it is best to just wait and see how the other half of the island will develop and perhaps I shall stumble across a lot that screams “Groucho” just how it recently happened with Cherry’s.
The main issue is that even though there is a lot of uncharted land left, I would rather restore Dollsgrave to its former beauty from ancient times instead of cluttering it with modern houses and structures.
Sometimes it is a bit of a balancing act to figuere out what to prioritize - Dollsgrave itself needs to be treated with the utmost care, but obviously all of my adorable dolls need and deserve homes of royalty.
It was my birthday today and my little dolls proved to be such lovely and thoughtful friends!
First thing in the morning, Cherry came to safely get me out of the sunlight. She led me to her place and even though I had expected no less, I acted surprised when I was faced with the party she had organized.
Obviously, Dollsgrave's most notorious spotlight huggers had made sure to put themselves on top of the guest list, and dear Cherry had absolutely outdone herself.
There was vegan cake and music and even a pinata filled with vegan cupcakes so I had something to hand out to the rest of my friends.
We had such a great time!
I was especially happy with the birthday-sign Cherry gifted me. As shown in the photos, it was very colourful at first and therefore needed a few tweaks, but now it is really cute and whenever someone has their birthday in the future, I plan to put the sign near their house. Next up is Cherry and, needless to say, I simply have to make sure that her birthday is going to be extra special as a thank-you for all of the hard work she put into organizing mine.
All of the other animals gave me quite lovely gifts as well, I can’t even remember if last year’s gifts had been equally charming.
I know I called him a “notorious spotlight hugger” before, but credit where credit is due: Although it was Cherry who had organized and hosted my birthday soiree, sweet Chopsy put a lot of effort into showing me what a great friend he is and I love him for it.
Not only did he send me the sweetest card …
He even serenaded my favourite song for me, despite usually not being one to sing in public (apparently even Chops has his insecurities.)
Olivia sent me a lovely card as well:
To end this day on an even more special note and since Cherry didn’t have the space to host all of my darlings in her humble home, I invited them all off the island to have a romantic starlight gathering on a far away cemetery.
Due to the sheer amount of landscaping I have done on Dollsgrave recently, there wasn’t much time to socialize.
One evening during sundown I had a cool drink with Cherry (or rather, Cherry had a cool drink) by the bonfire I recently built, but that was pretty much it when it comes to spending quality time with my little animals.
The good news though: It is almost done. A few little saplings still have to grow in and some parts of the beaches and several cliffs still need a little more work, but for the most part, Dollsgrave is very close to reaching some sort of final form.
It is very rewarding to see my animal friends stopping and smiling at a cute torch here or an enchanting skeleton there – seeing them happy assures me that I chose the right dolls to build a community with.
Who doesn’t love to meet a happy friend on one of their full moon cemetery walks!?
Olivia really knows how to make my heart melt!
Here is another photo of her and Groucho being adorable and showing toebeans:
Speaking of Groucho, he calls me “peanut” now. Isn’t that sweet? He was so excited when he came running up to me, asking whether he could refer to me by that petname he had come up with, I just couldn’t decline his plea. Besides, he is taller and older than me, so I think it is appropriate.
Now, why have I allowed Olaf to call me “peanut”, too? Because I simply cannot say “no” to any of them. Their adorableness will be the end of me.
One thing I have said before and I am still not sure if it is adorable or not, but dear Olaf, I don’t know what you think these glasses accomplish! They do not make you look any smarter and, by the stars above, there is no way they make you see any better just sitting on your trunk like that!
They do, however, make him look older. I don’t know whether that is what he aspired to.
But why do I get concerned about my neighbour’s fashion choices once more while there is actually something very exciting going on?! I mean, I can’t be sure, but my suspicions keep on growing.
Cherry and Tabby … Tabby and Cherry … I have seen them talking to each other a lot recently and while that by itself surely does not mean anything, Tabby told me something that seemed … well …
Perhaps Tabby is the one who needs a diary!?
Regardless, I am very intrigued! What will it be? Terry? Chabby?
With Cherry being quite level-headed and down to earth and Tabby being an attention seeking airhead, their dynamic is definitely more spicy than that of ever lovey-dovey Olicity, so I am very much looking forward to see how (if at all) this is going to evolve. I probably shouldn't get too invested, though, otherwise I might set myself up for disappointment.
I’ll close this entry with this cute group photo we took a while back:
Some of us (yes, that includes myself, but like I said – they are too adorable!) still have some work to do when it comes to mastering the perfect blank stare, but I think that all of us together look amazing regardless.
I love our black flowers! Black lilies, black tulips, black cosmoses and, of course, the queen of them all, the velvety black rose. They are beautiful and they fill the air with a sickly-sweet scent when used excessively. Also, their perfume is great to cover up the smell of decay that still lingers in Dollsgrave’s darkest corners from the olden days!
However, they are just never enough. No matter how many times I have felt like we had plenty of flowers, they always ended up being too few.
It is my own fault that it has come to this – I neglected them in favour of putting up all of that exquisite décor that I had imported. I neglected them and in an act of sadness and despair they stopped spreading.
So done are the days of blissfully placing statues and candles all over Dollsgrave – it’s back to flower breeding!
On the upside, I get to spend more time on the things that really matter: My appearance and my animal friends.
I can’t believe it took me over a year to finally come up with the most obvious solution for protecting my porcelain taint from the sun:
This hood had been in my wardrobe for a long time and yet I had never touched it. Even though it shall now be my go-to day-time attire, as all brilliant ideas, the thought had come to me after dark and therefore I had to try out whether or not I liked wearing it in the middle of the night.
(Hood or no hood, sometimes day-time encounters seem somewhat awkward.)
I think it goes well enough with my gorgeous dresses and also gives me a somewhat mysterious aura – a fact that wasn’t lost on dear Cherry, as it was that night that I first tried out the hood when inspiration struck her and she proposed a wonderful petname for me:
So mysterious, almost ethereal – thank you, my puppy doll!
Of course there is still the issue that Groucho, Olaf and Annalisa (yes, her, too!) all call me “peanut” and I really only appreciate Groucho referring to me as such, but obviously fragile little soul Olaf, who is not exactly proactive when it comes to having and enforcing his own ideas, immediately went along with what he seems to believe is the new trend:
(The fact that he was eavesdropping the night before isn’t lost on me thanks to the picture I took where you can see him lingering in the background.)
It is actually quite funny. The last animal before Groucho who had come up with a petname for me was my sweet Pate who has been gone for a good whole year now. Until very recently, Groucho still referred to me by one of the two nicknames (she was both creative and affectionate!) Pate had made up, and the other animals have kept it very formal for many months until now. I'm happy that they are trying to be more affectionate in their language.
But enough about that – a rather urgent question is of course: “What is going on with Chabby?”
The only piece of information I was able to collect was a tiny little snippet from a conversation with Cherry:
But I already knew that!
Cherry wanted me to deliver the gift, but obviously I told her to - what do the kids say? - woman up and do it herself.
Adorable, to see this usually rather tough lady be all flustered.
I mean, Tabby really is quite the catch. I know I said that I would never soil my diary with pictures of her wearing her worst shirt (which happens to be my foe), but the other day she made me laugh, so I’ll make an exception.
However, I have to digress a little in order to provide context.
Recently I have gotten into interior photography.
For example, I took this picture of my new antique chest that I have decorated with lovely flower arrangements:
And this picture:
Gloria had charmed me into selling this dreadful traffic cone to her and threw out her gorgeous vintage street organ just to have the space for it. I applaud her, though - strategically placing this potted plant next to it (she charmed me into selling that to her, too), she actually managed to make the whole arrangement look somewhat chic.
Unrelated, but here she is doing yoga in front of her house:
Anyway, so I also wanted to take interior pictures at Tabby’s place. The kitty was busy lifting weights, so I thought I’d seize the moment and quickly snap a photo of these cute fish she placed on top of one another. Tabby, being the terrible spotlight-hugger that she is, obviously had to step into the limelight. She ripped off the workout jacket she had been wearing to walk right into the frame and show me …
…this.
I have seen it many times before and I hate it, but I am convinced that that moment Tabby hoped that I would think that instead of at a hideous shirt, I would be gazing upon the fruits of her workout. Sure, Tabby, it looks very natural.
I wonder if Cherry pretends to believe it. Maybe it’s a thing. To each their own, I suppose.
