A Little Girl's Best Friend . . .

On Saturday, on the Cozy Chicks Blog (where I post on Saturdays), I wrote about my new cover for the large print edition of Bookplate Special.  You can read the entire post here.

One of the things I like about the new cover is . . . Barbie, sitting at a table inside a stylized version of Angelica's cafe, Booked For Lunch. 

I got my first Barbie when I was about five.  My Aunt Sunny bought it for me and I was absolutely thrilled!  I also got at least one outfit, too, Solo in the Spotlight (as per the photo on the left).  My Barbie was a brunette--like me!  I loved that doll, who was the first of several Barbies I've owned over the years.
My parents gave me my next Barbie.  She came in a gold and white lame one-piece bathing suit, with molded dark hair, some kind of triangular kerchief, and three wigs:  blonde, brunette, and readhead. The thing is . . . I almost never put the blonde and brunette wigs on that Barbie.  I liked the red wig best, maybe because it made her look a little like Marlo Thomas (That Girl!)

There weren't many little girls in my neighborhood, but I'd play with Donna and Jeannie and they had a LOT more Barbie clothes than I did.  Their mothers had Barbie clothes patterns and made them up.  (Jeannie's mother was either a better seamstress or Donna and her sister Karen were a LOT harder on their Barbie clothes than Jeannie.)  My mom tended to knit Barbie clothes.  I remember my Barbie had a yellow and white knitted skating outfit, and a red sweater that my mother made on the same knitting needles she used to knit my father socks.
Donna and Jeannie both moved away when I was about eight.  After that, I had no one to play Barbie with.

Bummer.

After that, my folks bought me Barbie's little sister, Skipper, and her friend (or was she a cousin?) Scooter?  Both were redheads.  And then Barbie's Cousin, Francie.  Along the way I had a Penny Brite, a Tammy (and her little sister Pepper), and Libby Littlechap, but Barbie was my favorite.
I used to play Star Trek with my Barbies and my brother's G.I. Joe.  (He had a Gemini Spacecraft!!!)
But then . . . I moved on. 

That wasn't the end my relationship with Barbie.  About 19 years ago, before I got married, my friend Anne, who was (and probably still is) a BIG Barbie fan, got me interested in "them" again.  I bought yet another brunette Barbie (a cheapie), and started accumulating more Barbie clothes--including a wedding dress.  (Doesn't every little girl want to wear a "Barbie" type wedding gown?)  About the same time, I found a blonde Skipper doll in almost mint condition . . . except.  The poor thing was naked.  She and new brunette Barbie have lived on the top of my closet ever since.

And still . . . that wasn't the last Barbie I bought.  I was shopping at Toys R Us for my young nieces, and found Star Trek Barbie and Ken--and on sale!  How cool was that?

I probably won't buy any more Barbies.  Okay, I will occasionally look a the Barbie aisle if I'm in a toy store, but I haven't seen a brunette Barbie in years.  I collect enough things, I don't need any more Barbies. 

But that doesn't mean I'm still not interested. 

How about you?