How It All Began......

Hiya everyone!! Today, I am going to tell you how I came to know about AG and how I got my four BEAUTIFUL dolls. 3/4 of my dolls I was VERY LUCKY to get, and 2/4 I did not pay for.

It all started when . . . 

     In October 2009, when I was 6 years old, my mom, dad, and I, went to Minnesota to visit my older sister. During our visit, we went to the Mall of America, the largest mall in the U.S. While we were walking around, I saw a huge store that was filled with DOLLS!!!! Of course, when you're a little 6- year-old girl, who wouldn't want to go look at all those BEAUTIFUL DOLLS? I begged my mom to let us go look around, and she finally agreed. I do not remember much, though I do remember staring at one doll and wanting her. (I am pretty sure it was either Felicity, or Elizabeth). Of course, my mom said absolutely not, because she was $100 and I already had too many dolls. I remember on the rest of the trip, I wanted that doll, but sadly, I never got her, eventually I forgot about her. 

     Fast forward to September 2010. There was a Turkish festival in Washington D.C. and my dad wanted to go to it. So we went. After the festival, we were tired and hungry. While roaming the streets, looking for a place to eat, we spotted a Barnes and Nobles and stopped to get a snack. I managed to convince my mom to let me go look around in the children's section. Believe me, it was the best thing I have ever done in my entire life. I walked in, and there she was. Right smack in the middle of the whole place. It was love at first sight. She stood in a huge glass box surrounded by AG books. At the top of the box there was a sign that said: "You could win this doll!! Fill out a raffle ticket below and submit it in the slot for your chance to win this BEAUTIFUL AMERICAN GIRL DOLL!" I ran halfway across the store and dragged my mom over to the children's section. I was jumping up and down when I showed my mom. Of course, she refused. (My family have never been doll people). I begged, and I begged, and I begged some more.  Finally, my mom agreed to fill out the ticket grumbling about how I was never going to win anyways and she would be sitting down having her cup of tea. She did not have a pen or a pencil with her, so she had to go ask someone who worked there. Once we tracked a clerk down, we found out he didn't have a pen or a pencil either! Fortunately, he did have a BIG FAT BLUE SHARPIE MARKER and we filled out the raffle ticket with it and the writing was so big and squashed together that you could barely read it. We pushed it into the slot and it was done. It was the second best thing I have ever done in my life.

     All the way home I asked my Mom if she thought I had a chance of winning the doll.  My Mom, being herself, said "You have ZERO chance of winning that doll." I kept on, "Do you think I can maybe actually win that doll?"  "No." She answered.  I kept asking the same questions over and over and she kept her same reply over and over.  

     A few days later we went to Minnesota to visit my sister again for a few days.  When we returned there were a BUNCH of missed calls from Barnes and Nobles on our answering machine.  My Mom had just finished cooking dinner and we were sitting down to eat when the phone rang.  My Mom went to see who was calling.  "It's Barnes and Noble again!" she said in a frustrated voice.  She picked up the phone to tell them to stop calling and to leave us alone.  "Hello," she said in her most serious, gruff voice.  Before she could say anything the voice on the phone explained that they had picked my name from the drawing and I was the winner of a brand new American Girl doll!  My mom responded in a voice like honey, "Oh my!  That's lovely!  She'll be so delighted!"  She hung up and I asked her what the caller had said.  She turned to explain that I had won that American Girl doll from the raffle at Barnes and Noble!   I SCREAMED  with joy!  I just couldn't believe it.  

     The next day we drove for two hours in rush hour traffic to the Barnes and Noble to pick up my new American Girl doll. I named her June.  Stay tuned for the the stories of how I got my other AG dolls!

                                                    In a while!!

                                                          Aliah and June