Out of the Box: "Canterwood Crest" Breyer Horses

Reading Serenata's The Grand Summer Gymkhana post reminded me that I was planning to post about of a pair of Breyer Horse figures that I picked up recently.

When I was 10 years old, I remember going to a horse show and picking up a miniature Breyer catalogue from one of the sponsor booths.  I was fascinated by all the detailed models of different breeds and various famous horses and carried that booklet around with me for months. I never actually owned any of those models though, and I eventually forgot about them until I started reading reviews of them over on Traci's A Wild Review Appears blog.

Out of the Bag: Punisher & Green Goblin (Hasbro's Marvel 500 Series 1)

From the Marvel 500 line: Green Goblin & the Punisher

It seems like every month I swear off of mystery mini figures, and yet somehow every month I'm back with more.  But at least this time there's one difference: they're micro-mini figures!

The Marvel 500 series is a blind bag micro-mini toy line (they're about a third of the size of Funko's mini figures) that sells for around $2.50USD.  There are 24 figures in series one, and they're sold in single mystery bags.  The figures themselves are very basic - no articulation and limited painting, but for the size and price that shouldn't come as much of  a surprise. The two that I opened turned out to be the Punisher and the Green Goblin.

New Arrival: Caleb (Sasha Doll)

Back in June, I posted about being on the lookout for a new-to-me Sasha doll to add the the collection and to hold the place of the two (a Sasha baby and a Gregor Dark) that are in storage back in Canada (why I didn't bring them along, I do not know).  After several failed bids and negotiations on a few Calebs, a pair of Prince Gregors and a brunette Sasha, I finally snagged a Caleb last weekend - and today he arrived at the door!

Since the last time I received a new Sasha doll was 1985, I had a total blast of childhood nostalgia from unwrapping him.

Doll Clothing Review: Yoga Chic (My Life As)

American Girl Kaya in the "My Life As" Yoga outfit.

I was wandering through Wal-Mart's toy section the other day planning to take photos of a ridiculous Barbie (the subject for a future post), when I spied the "My Life as a Yoga Instructor" doll on the opposite shelf.  I was tempted to pick up the doll just for the mini yoga mat that was included with her, but saner heads prevailed and instead I picked up one of the tie-in outfits, called "Yoga Chic".

The "My Life As" is a line of 18" play dolls that retail in the $25-$30USD range.  They're similar in size to American Girl/Our Generation/Maplelea/and other dolls of that style.  The individual outfits are generally less than $10USD, which puts them in a significantly lower price range than comparable pieces from American Girl, so I was curious to see how they would compare.

Random Toy of the Day: Dragon Age MiniMates

Back in May, I posted about planning to unbox by new Dragon Age MiniMates as soon as a moved - I didn't quite get to them as quickly as I'd intended, but this morning I finally got around to it.

The Dragon Age MiniMates: Alistair, Morrigan, Varric & Leliana

As I'm mentioned a time or two before, I'm a fan of the Dragon Age franchise, but haven't always been happy with the tie-in products that they've released, and this set is no different.  I was looking forward to seeing characters from the franchise in block-figure form, and I wasn't disappointed with the details on the figures themselves, but the character choice and packaging were weak.

Tagged: Sisterhood of the World Blog Award

A couple of days ago I was tagged by Linda of Darkroom Dolls for the Sisterhood of the World Blog award, a question-answering tag that's been going around lately.  I always enjoy reading other people's answers, so I'm happy to join in on the fun.

But enough about that, let's answer some questions!

Climbing the Escarpment, 2010

The Texas heat has been putting me off of taking new outdoor photos, so in a moment of weather-nostalgia I starting sorting through some old photos and came across one particular set that I thought I'd share.

These were taken in Kerncliff Park in Burlington, Ontario.  Kerncliff is a trail-head on The Bruce Trail. The Bruce trail is an 800+km trail that runs along the Niagara Escarpment from Niagara Falls in the south to Tobermory in the north, and this particular trail head was less than a kilometre from my house during the 3.5 years that I lived in the area.

Back in the later summer of 2010, I packed up my Iplehouse YID Aaron and took him for a hike  (it's all photos from here):