She's home; safe and sound!

I came home from work tonight and the first thing I saw was a large cardboard box on the coffee table. I knew immediately what it was - the only thing it could be. Exercising all the restraint I could muster, I put my coat and shoes away before allowing myself to break open the tape. The box was full of crumpled pages from a Chinese newspaper, and tucked safely in the middle of them was another, smaller, cardboard box which I opened to reveal yet a third box - this final one was decorated in a cheery plaid print and contained my new doll.

If you've never bought a Blythe before, let me tell you that taking one out of the box is an experience to itself. Getting the doll out wasn't such a huge problem once I undid the twist-ties and cut the tape holding her head down. At that point all I had to do, really, was slip the protective plastic off her hair and poke and prod at her a little bit before freeing up her extra clothing and accessories. The Piccadilly Encore doll comes with a lot of stuff; black pleated skirt, red jacket, white button-up shirt, sleeveless printed shirt, black newsboy cap, two pairs of tights (red-and-black striped, and sheer super-shiny white), two pairs of shoes (red loafers, and navy pumps with orange heels), two belts (red with a white buckle, and black with a silver buckle and painted-on silver studs), a bracelet (matches the belt), a silver pendant on a chain, and a large red bag. Besides the few items she was wearing, each and every one of these was in its own plastic bag and held to the box (and sometimes everything else) with tape. Honestly, I have never seen so much tape in such a small box in my life!

Anyway, I got her out and tried on all her clothes (just to see how they fit) and then put her back in the box. It's late, and I had to work early today and need to go to sleep. I'll take some pictures tomorrow, hopefully, and introduce her to you properly.