Quick Trip to Chicago: Our Pics of the American Girl Store!

So this weekend we hitched up the horses, jumped in our wagon, and headed to Chicago for one night in the Park Hyatt by Water Tower Place - yep, our destination was the American Girl Place Chicago!

We went intending to buy a good deal of loot - which we will share pics of with you soon. Our purchases include "something" that will allow us to start up the next big Photo Contest with a doll as a first prize. Woot! So stay tuned for that. :-)

But first we start with pics of the store -- our fastest Facebook friends responded to our inquiry that they wanted to see store pics first. So here we go!

Brief thoughts on our hotel for those of you thinking about going to Chitown: We really loved the Park Hyatt - it was very close to where we wanted to go and very posh. It is not inexpensive though and we didn't really see families there - just one, with older kids. But it was nice and we would recommend it to anyone wanting to stay right in the middle of the action on the Magnificent Mile.

AGPC was easy to find .. it was just across the plaza and to the left from our hotel. It is located in this building pictured below.... where AG and Macy's are the two anchor stores. Water Tower Place has seven floors of shops, cool elevators, and even a LEGO store. ;-)

Front of the AG Store... It has two floors, and while compact, the store does have a lot of space.

We buzzed through the store taking pics of everything we could, while trying to avoid taking too many shots of peoples. Haha. There were a good amount of people there this weekend -- not crazy crowded -- it was nice to see people enjoying the store. At AGPLA and AGPNY we usually have the store to ourselves for some weird reason, so this was a big difference.

Here are three Youtube slideshows of the store and the displays. We didn't take pics of everything but we tried to get as much as we could. And they aren't all fantastic photos, haha. We tried to use flash at first, but then we'd get a lot of glare and we were blinding people since our flash is so bright. So we went sans flash and many of the pics are a little yellowy from the overhead lighting. Then we wrestled with them in Photoshop, but we didn't always win. Oh well. We tried. We tried.

First part of first floor of store...





Second part of first floor of the store...

Second floor of store...






(Two of them you might have to watch through the Youtube link because I like to use music Youtube doesn't want me to use. :-P)

Also, a BIG shout-out to Ingrid Argueta - Personal Shopper at the AGPC. We didn't make an appointment with her since we didn't know if/when we'd actually be going to Chicago. But she stopped us while we were on the floor picking out dolls and asked us if we wanted her help.

We probably looked like we were having problems carrying all of our loot in the shopping bag by ourselves (haha) - so she invited us back to the Personal Shopping room and helped us figure out what we still needed to find. Then she went out to the floor and picked up the things we needed. And as special frosting to the cake she gave us a bunch of extra goodies! She was totally awesome!!!

We were like - "We thought we needed an appointment to work with PS." She was like, "No you can just walk in here and find us if you need help." Which is also awesome!

So if you are going to the AGPC and want help, ask for Ingrid Argueta. And if you want to make a PS appointment before going there, ask for Ingrid Argueta. If you are there and just want to meet her, ask for Ingrid Argueta. Or if you want to talk to a PS over the phone, call 312-288-2816 and ask for Ingrid Argueta. :-)

It was very nice to be helped and get extra goodies even though we hadn't made a PS appointment -- Thank you Ingrid!!!

Have questions about the store or the products or anything? 

Let us know in the comments below!

New Videos: AG Store Exclusives Mix and Matched!

And of course, today is the last day to enter our April Photo Contest so be sure to send us your photo today if you are interested in a chance to win the black fashion tee and white scarf capris you see in the videos.

So here are two videos featuring the AG Store Exclusives mix and matched with a variety of other handmade clothing. The places where we got the clothing are noted in the video, as well as the AG SKU numbers for the Store Exclusives if you wanted to call up the store and order them for yourself.

Enjoy!

American Girl Place Los Angeles Video and Two Days Left!

Yep, that's the first thing to think about: Two days Left to Enter Our Winter 2011 Doll Giveaway! Eek! Winner will be announced on April 7th. Ooo!

Today we are sharing pics of the AG store in LA @ The Grove as a Youtube slideshow. :-) Some of the pics aren't that good, but eh, we will include them anyways. Warning: Video is like 6 mins long, just so you know what you are getting into. Heehee. And I give a long "intro" below... heehee again. ;-)

We have now been to two stores - not many given the degree of our AG addiction. We have been to Dallas and Atlanta, but didn't manage to get to AG while there. Maybe we should make a pilgrimage to all of the AGPs? Haha. Probably not a good idea for the wallet.... though it would be nice to see more of the country. ;-)

So when you walk into AGPLA you see the bookstore on your right, the lobby with cases on your left, and a big multi-screen display right in front of you. (You can see these things in the slideshow below).

On the first floor you will find the Concierge, a Check-Out station, the Hair Salon, some GOTY stuff, a lot of MyAG stuff, and as mentioned previously, the bookstore. There is a map on the wall as you go to the escalator that shows you all of the AGP locations (even the two coming soon in Washington, DC and Washington state).

On the second floor of AGPLA you get off the escalator to find more GOTY stuff before entering a large historical section. Much larger than at AGPNY. Lots to see. Tons of stuff we have only seen in the catalogs. At the front of the historical section you see the LE mini holiday dolls and their display shelf. It says that for September and October they will be releasing 2 minis per month.

Felicity and Elizabeth only have a display window left, their whole section has been taken over by Julie stuff. But it will probably be shifted to this year's new historicals eventually. We tried to take as many pics as possible -- but there was almost too much to photograph.

The historical section opens up into the Cafe lobby with a ton of store exclusives lining the wall. We got some pics of those things as well as an empty Cafe (it was closed, but lucky for us the doors were still open, haha.)

And then moving to the left there was another large section of MyAG stuff and then store exclusives as you made your way back to the escalator, and of course, the GOTY cases. Oh and p.s. the current Purchase-with-Purchase is Chrissa's Meet dress. So since we already have that pink horror, we didn't get it. The cream sweater coat and hat are no more.

At the register a Dad was buying Kanani stuff for his two little girls and he asked us if we were buying all the AG stuff for ourselves or someone else. Haha. He wasn't so surprised it was for us, but he was surprised at our answer when he asked how many dolls we have. We discussed how it is a special kind of "crazy." Heehee.

Overall, it was a really nice store - smaller than AGPNY - but yet it seemed bigger - maybe it is? And even though we were there on a Friday evening when it is open late -- the store was really not crowded at all. And the staff was really nice, even though there was only one girl downstairs checking out a lot of people on her own. She seemed stressed, but again, was still nice. :-)

Enjoy the video/slideshow!

ETA: It may take awhile for the vid to "load" onto Youtube... so it is a bit glitchy right now (as of me posting this) -- patience, grasshopper it should work eventually. Right? Haha.

LA Box Arrived: A Special Photo Contest Begins!

That's right friends and neighbors, like many other blogs, boards, and Youtube channels-- we are having a photo contest. Yay! And no, this isn't an April Fool's joke. :-)

Our box from American Girl Place Los Angeles arrived today via the Fed Ex man, and inside are two things we purchased for a future giveaway. But then we thought, why wait? We could have a photo contest and these things could be a prize. Something different than our monthly 25th Anniversary Giveaways- and hopefully fun!

So we are going to run a photo contest this month as a test to see if we could do a larger one for our Spring 2011 Doll Giveaway. And before some of you worry, our other seasonal doll giveaways won't be photo contests. Just the spring one - so don't panic. ;-)

Here are the prize items for the April Photo Contest: the winner will receive a black tunic top and white capris. The pics below show ours next to the winner's items. Heehee.

What type of photo contest am I talking about? Well anybody can enter -- but if you are younger than 18 please get your parent/guardian's permission to participate, and if you are younger than 13, please get your parent/guardian's help with participation.

So here is the plan....

1) You take a photo of one of your AG dolls in your favorite dolly outfit. It can be anything - modern, historical, handmade, AG, something you created, a mix and match to show off your style. Anything. As long as your doll is wearing clothes. Haha. The idea is to show off the outfit in one great, creative shot. (And no humans in the photos please -- remember: privacy is important!)

2) Email that photo to me at nora.demington@gmail.com on or before April 15th. That gives you about two weeks from today. We will not use your email address for anything other than this contest. We will not publish your email address on the blog. And we will never sell anyone's email address either. If you are younger than 13 have your parent/guardian email the photo to us (remember: internet safety is important!).

3) Once we get everyone's photos we will post them here at The Doll Wardrobe - so make sure your photo is something that you don't mind if the whole world sees it. (Again, this is why you and/or your family shouldn't be in the photo.)

4) Then readers will be asked to vote for their favorite photo. Voting will be done by email -- to vote you just email me at nora.demington@gmail.com and say something like "I vote for photo #8." Everyone will have a week to vote, from the point when we post all of the photos.

5) Once the week of voting is up, we will tally the votes and see who has won the outfit. Then we will email the winner for her/his shipping address (this is why it is important you have a parent/guardian's permission to enter if you are under 18).

Any questions? You probably have some -- so feel free to ask.

And as the bonus for today's post, here are photos of the box and goodies inside - including an introduction to our two new dolls, Beatrice Ingleton and Elizabeth Royall!

The cat investigates the package....

The package is opened....

Dude, you are ruining our photo shoot....

The dolls are examined; they have had a rough ride from LA, particularly Beatrice (#35)....

Final pic!

So start taking photos for the contest readers, email them to me at nora.demington@gmail.com, and be sure let us know if you have any questions. We hope you are excited for this contest! :-)

ETA: We made one of those animated movies on Youtube for this April Photo Contest (we probably have too much free time on our hands)...

Store Exclusive Re-Mix

Here are zee pics of the AG store exclusives that y'all talked about seeing on different dolls! There is Adanya in the red dress and red coat, Arista in the red dress, and Lira in the red dress. And the red dress is shown with black tights and black boots, as requested. Nothing much more to say--- no deep thoughts from me today. ;)

If you want to learn more about these AG store exclusives, please see the posts from the last five or so days. :)

Just around the corner is a surprise secret post... not the Sweet Melody mix and match that we promised a week ago. That will come after the surprise. What do you think the surprise secret post is???? Hmmmm, though I guess since I told you a surprise is coming.... it's not so much a surprise anymore.... oops. ;)

Final Store Exclusive!

Well here is the final store exclusive which we received in our recent shipment from AGPNY. Our next posts will be some updates on the exclusives: the red dress with black tights and boots on Lira and/or Arista, and the red quilted jacket on Adanya. :)

So today we show you the white bubble skirt! Woot! This skirt is pretty awesome. It is the same design as the deep pink bubble skirt we purchased at the beginning of 2010. This white version has been in the stores for a little while already and is said to be on its way out. So if you are interested in this white skirt, I'd order it or pick it up in the store sooner rather than later.

We paired the skirt up with a purple sequined tank top from All Dolled Up Doll Clothing over a white tank top from Liberty Jane Clothing. The ensemble is being modeled by my twin sister, Ellie Demington. Her shiny teal shoes are also from Liberty Jane. We love those flats Cinnamon sells!

Please enjoy the pics!

Happy Fourth of July! Plus Another Store Exclusive!

It's the Fourth of July! Already?!?! Yep.... where is 2010 going? Flying by fast. Very fast.

So Happy Fourth of July! Hopefully y'all are getting out today to enjoy some cookouts and fireworks. But if you're not, I'm still here posting about doll clothing for your enjoyment. ;)

So here is another AG store exclusive: the Star Flower Dress. To us, it appears to be more of a beach cover-up than a dressy dress--- so we used it as a beach cover-up. In the pictures below Cassie is wearing a bathing suit from CJs Little Boutique-- which you can see a little bit of underneath the Star Flower Dress. We haven't showed you that swimsuit yet here at the blog--- but that post is coming soon!

The Star Flower hoodie dress has attractive ruffles on the shoulders, sparkly star embroidery, and both a zipper and tie belt. Overall, it is a very cute look, especially on Cassie. She looks so good in red with her blonde hair. For her beach tote, we wanted to get the new AG store exclusive tote-- but it wasn't available in AGPNY yet. So instead, we show you a tote we purchased from LittleMissMatched. They are currently available from their website for 4 bucks (sale ends today), in four different colors. LittleMissMatched is also offering mini backpack messenger bags now too: clicky here to see those.

So enjoy the pics of Cassie in this new dress and again, Happy Fourth of July!

More AG Store Exclusives!

Me again! With more of the new AG store exclusives!

What do we have today? A pink skort! Rebecca is wearing it with a sparkly black tank top from Liberty Jane Clothing.

Yes, the skort is pink. And so was the knit set we showed you on Thursday, and several other new things we have here---- even though we don't tend to buy pink things. Le sigh. You can't really avoid pink things when you are looking for AG store exclusives. But we thought the fun of showing you all of these new things outweighed our typical need to avoid pink. Plus even though Penny doesn't like pink, that doesn't mean all of us dolls agree with her. ;)

So as you can see in the pics below--- the skort is both shorts and a skirt. Tada! Hence, skort! Heehee. And it also features an embroidered red star near the waistband. The hot pink looks pretty cool with the black of Rebecca's top. In a way it looks both sporty and dressy. :)

Enjoy the pics!

Another AG Store Exclusive!

It's me! Yes, me! And I am modeling the new AG store exclusive red quilted coat. Yippee! My outfit also consists of blue jeans and a black tank top made by Liberty Jane Clothing, as well as red plaid chucks.

Like my new jacket? I think I look pretty cool in it..... though it is kind of more useful for October than July.... same with that knit set and those jeans from yesterday.... Hmmmm, I guess AG is trying to get us ready for fall as early as possible, eh? ;)

Special Delivery! AG Store Exclusives!

We interrupt our previously scheduled programming to bring you some pictures of the new AG store exclusives--- a special delivery from AGPNY that we just received! These new store exclusives were released last Thursday.

We have a whole bunch of pictures, so we'll just do one slideshow a day for a five days, as we don't want to overwhelm one post with five slideshows. ;) The last slideshow will be of a store exclusive that isn't brand-new--- but we hadn't gotten it yet. Then we will return to the tricked out Sweet Melody outfit.

Today we start off with the knit set and star logo jeans being modeled by Kaya. As you can see below, the knit set is pink and red, with embroidered white stars. You get a beret, scarf and mittens. The new jeans are a deep blue, feature an embroidered red star on the pocket, and fit pretty well. Though Liberty Jane jeans are (in our opinion) far better because the fabric isn't as thin--- Liberty Jane jeans feel like real jeans instead of just doll clothing. Still the new AG store exclusive jeans look pretty cute on Kaya!

Enjoy the pics and come back in about 24 hours
for the next AG store exclusive reveal!