Wednesday, January 25, 2017

A Busy Week!

We have been mostly uptown, trying to get our new property ready for business. Sadly, we have to wait for the Business License section to finish updating their certificates in order to properly certify us for "Short Term Vacation Rentals" with the updated license. Our paperwork is done, we are just waiting for them. Ugh. We also had to meet with installers for cable, internet, & phone. So, I spent my whole Tuesday at our studio waiting for them... Not fun. It was completed though. Click here if you would like to see our vacation rentals.

Even today, I went back up there to finish setting up our router. Whew. Slowly, but surely its coming together... So, I checked the mail and here's what came in...

 Cute ceramic deer couple on a bench, made in Japan, 1960s, I believe. Missing their umbrella. I will add these two in my shop. Maybe their new owner can find a replacement umbrella or balloons?! Oh an idea!
 Love their big eyes! Adorable.

I received another Rushton crying bear, I was able to find this cutie from Yahoo Japan. Cheaper than ebay prices for now. Whew.   I cleaned him up a bit and added blush, repainted his eyebrows and nose too.

 I may go back in and add some more blue eye shadow? Added a hot pink ribbon, may change it to yellow.

Then, I saw a really cute star lamp from Retrokids.com and they had kawaii faces on them. So, I decided to add a cute face to my LED color changing star light. Sara joined me and created the one on the left, her star light. She is just as talented as her siblings! We definitely had fun doing them.

Thanks for looking! ~ ggsdolls

Friday, January 20, 2017

Amazing Recent Finds...

After the holidays, I was doing my usual searches through the internet, and a couple of amazing finds arrived in the mail today! I am still awaiting a few more goodies, teehee!

 MerryBee had this larger tin canister with cute Meyercord repro decal on it. I just couldn't resist and decided to get it. Now, I have two!
 I may repaint the lids to match?

 Just too cute on my wall cabinet too. My other find was these two hard to find outside of France, ceramic cat and rabbit wall scissors holder. I saw them up for auction via ebay France. Sadly, they ended with no bidders, what?! No way! So, I was able to contact the seller and she was kind enough to sell both to me. Yay!
 Just too adorable to pass up too. I will keep the cat and add the rabbit to my shop.
I've seen them hanging on the walls of my fellow IG collectors of kitsch. This one does have a place to put string through.

The bunny is different, it has a place to put the scissors, but not the string?
Still cute and a great addition to any kitsch wall decor or hobby room.

One of my favorite finds, is this lovely vintage ceramic cup, mug with the cutest face! My favorite and will be displayed with my other treasures on my dresser...
 I just became friends with a fellow collector Jessica on IG. She had so many cute vintage items up for grabs, including this one. I was surprised at first no one, snagged her? So, I checked with Jess and it was still available.
 Isn't it just the cutest mug ever! Doing the happy dance right now...
 Definitely a lamb, the mug has a pattern all the way around with no cracks, or marks that I can see. In lovely condition.
 Sticker at the bottom. I wonder if it was part of a set?
So, thrilled. Thank you Jessica, I love my new mug!!

Thank you for reading! ~ ggsdolls

Wednesday, January 18, 2017

Happy Mail Today!

Here's what came in Today's mail...
 I won a few items through Yahoo Japan, a retro fluffy red and white dog, a baby coin bank, and a Takatoku furniture set.
 This cute retro bobble head dog, has rabbit fur and mohair on its body. He's slim and cute. I needed to brush him out and now, his fur is a lot nicer.
 I'm still deciding on whether to keep him or add him to the shop. He goes nicely with my tiger gift from Milbee.
by boomerang.

 This cute baby coin bank, was just to sweet to pass up. By Sumitomo Mitsui Bank. I've already added him to the shop!
 I found this cutie, through etsy JustZipity. Nice and fluffy, she will be added to my ceramic collection.
 I've always wanted to get one.

 I was able to get these cute retro hair clips on IG from The Traveling Button. Handmade, these are cute clips. Then, I got my rement set from Fairytale Tea Collection. Since finding the vintage ceramic versions, I just had to get the miniature too!
 Baby chick with its mini me, and Baby duck with its mini me. LOL

This cutie by Goebel Hummelwerk Charlot BYJ "SURPRISED" Baby Girl Doll, I got from ebay. I have seen her twice before, both on etsy. This cutie I was able to get, and for a lot less than most were selling thru etsy. Yay!
 She is such a cutie, I know her facial expression may freak out some, but I just love her squinty blue eyes and her vinyl hair. She has two ponytails all rubber, no actual synthetic hair, and her original tag.
 I know she is made in Germany about 1968, according my friend diepuppenstubensammlerin on flickr. Even her body is quite unique. She is heavy like a baby, definitely beautifully made. I can imagine a child placing her into a stroller to take her along for walks or pretend Mommy duties. She will be added to my collection.


 My prize find of the loot from Yahoo Japan is this amazing mint in box, Takatoku Brand Petier Living Room furniture set.
 I have actually been collecting these cute miniature furniture pieces for some time, but honestly, only now sharing?! I wanted to make sure I had my collection complete before showcasing any piece.
 Complete and gorgeously mint, Yay me! These types of furniture pieces remind me of Lundby dollhouse furniture sets. But these were released in Japan. There is no dollhouse that I know of that goes with it, only furniture pieces, like a sink, cabinet, fridge, etc. I will probably try to do a post about them soon...
 Thank you for looking! ~ ggsdolls

Sunday, January 15, 2017

Our Two Day Stay in Narita Japan...Part Two

You can read Part One here!

I woke up by about 10:45pm, on Saturday evening. I looked over at the girls, both in a deep slumber. Instead of falling back to sleep myself, I decided to use the bathroom, and then try to go back to sleep. But, it was not as easy, as I had hoped. Instead, I checked my emails and the usual facebook messages, just in case my husband was trying to reach me... He did leave a message and all was well back home. I had to force myself to sleep, and luckily, I worked.

By about 5am, Sara was the first to wake up, then I. Taby was sound asleep. I was surprise, we all didn't get up at 2am from sleeping at 6pm the other evening. LOL

We started to do the usual ritual of washing our faces, breakfast bentos, etc. By about 7am. We were figuring out our plan of attack for the day. I told the girls that maybe we should check out, leave our bags with the Concierge, and take the shuttle bus to the mall? or pay for a late check out, then mall and check out upon returning to the hotel? We decided, nah, we'd just check out and go with the first plan.
 I took this shot Saturday night, when I woke up. I wanted to show, the house is a bar or restaurant I believe in the evening.
 After checking out, we left our bags, and decided to explore the grounds a bit before taking the shuttle bus to the mall. We saw the Koi pond, Sara and Taby were enjoying the brisk morning air and seeing their breathe. LOL

 The area by the pond was very zen. There was one huge orange Koi, as big as Sara's leg. Wow!
 I didn't take too many shots of the hotel inside, I even forgot to take some of our room?! Brain not working properly. Ha. We headed back inside to wait for the shuttle bus.
 By the gift shop, was a row of Gatchapon machines, we saw panda toys, bug toys, anime keychains, "Fantastic Beasts", desserts, and a few others. Ugh, forgot to take a pic. We bought a few toys from them, and checked out the gift shop. Nice and simple, a few souvenirs, bentos, and toiletries. But we left the gift shop not buying anything.

We waited, and finally, we caught the bus to the mall. Sadly, we waited awhile, because we misread the schedule, and that the shuttle bus was captioned with a circle. So, it didn't come til' 2 hours later. We should've just stayed in the room a bit longer... oh well. Live and learn. On the City bus, it was quite loud, mostly foreigners talking loudly about where they were going, as people were telling them about what to see or enjoy. After a drop off at the JR station, our stop was next. About 30 minutes later we arrived at Aeon Mall by the Daiso shop. We exited and made our way to Daiso first...

 But, Taby saw the shop next door to it called, "Book End". It had DVDs, Mangas, vintage toys, figures, etc. She was like Mom, let's check it out?!
Taby and Sara taking a quick pose for me. Anime toy heaven, similar to one of the shops we saw back on our trip through Akihabara.
 
 I was a bit hesitant at first, but, then I saw the vintage stuff!! OH MY GAWD!! If you didn't look carefully, you might miss some of the vintage treasures... There was Mahou no Mako-chan coloring book, and Attack No.1!
 I was going to get the Candy Candy memo, but told myself, I needed to limit my spending and be frugal, Gigi. So, I was being good. Haha. Love seeing the Monkey bank, I know its from a vintage anime, just can't think of the name at the moment.
 Some vintage dolls. Not too big of a selection, but still it was like finding a treasure, you didn't even expect too.
 I was tempted to get the little rubber bunny necklace, but having to go and get someone to open the glass, eh, it's okay, I really don't need to buy it. So, I took some sneak shots for the memory instead, free too.
 I spy an Ultraman vintage toy figure. A shelf filled with Kaiju figures, Awesome!
Sara said, "Hey Mom, your name!" Yup, I'm premium too. LOL  Taby bought a figure from the shop and then we headed to the Daiso. Yes! There were so many goodies I wanted to get, but we just decided to get some treats for Sara's teacher, and some treats for ourselves. I wanted to buy some of the succulents I saw there, but, I don't believe we could bring them through customs on Guam. Darn.

We then, headed into the mall itself. Sara was complaining she was hungry and rightfully so. It was already 1pm. We went to the food court and ate. It was very crowded. We found a place to sit, which wasn't easy. After eating, we decided our plan was to go to Claire's because Sara wanted the foxy plush she fell in love with the other day, while Taby wanted to check out some shops she saw earlier. There was one particular shop that caught my eye, when we went through with Shizuka, called, "1 Chome, 1 Banchi". She told me it is an address of vintage or retro shops from long ago, that sold candies, sweets, etc. growing up. There were many young and old in the shop, looking, buying and picking the candies, and snacks they remember from their childhood.
 Oh my...
 There were all kinds of sweets, even I remember as a child, and also new one's I've seen on Oyatsu Cafe, etc.

Remember these? They are chocolate candies, you can find them even as a toy Rement. They're almost like M&M's chocolate candies.
 As I made my way towards the back of the shop, I looked up and saw some vintage toys!! OH MY GOODNESS, I spied a Takara Miss Take dress fashion, ET, Moncchichi, Doraemon coin bank, a few vintage dolls, Candy Candy, etc. Sadly, they were not for purchase, but, rather a part of the nostalgic decor. Darn.
 As I made my way out on the other side of the shop, I did find these vintage looking rubber boy squeaks, Moomin character toys, and Kewpie dolls of all sizes.
 I wanted a memory of my visit here, so I scooped up a few things and you can see them at the end of this post...
 Robotic information desk. By the time we were done seeing the places we wanted to check out. We decided on dessert. We headed to Baskin n Robbins. I ordered this yummy Pop Soda drink. Taby got a vanilla ice cream with chocolate brownie crepe, and Sara a strawberry ice cream crepe.


 Mine was quite unique and delicious, Blue Hawaii flavored soda, with ice cream that had pop rocks inside it, along with these cute star shaped fruit jellies, yum! Very refreshing too.

It was close to the time we had to catch the next shuttle bus back to our hotel. But just before doing so, Taby wanted to try the crane machine at the game place we saw on the way in. It was her lucky day too and she won a Star Wars: Rogue One robot K-2SO! Wow, lucky girl. Of course that was after a few tries. Still she won it for a bit less then actual price.
 We sat outside facing the sun just to keep warm while waiting for the bus. We made it back to the hotel, got our bags, and waited to take the shuttle back to the airport. In the end, we made it safely back home, and it was definitely an amazing experience for a quick trip to Narita. Though one may think there isn't much to do in Narita, there is actually a lot more you can do and see there. We hope to take another quick trip soon, when its a bit warmer to check out what else Narita, Yokohama, etc. has to offer. A great memory, from another awesome adventure...

My loot from our two day trip.
 I bought these cute polka dot ribbons from Daiso.
 These cute gatchapons from the airport machines, "Little Forest Fellow", Minnie mouse, and Pompompurin bag tag.
 These gatchapons were from the hotel machines, "Fantastic Beasts" locket, and strawberry shortcake rement.
 From the "1 Chome, 1 Banchi" shop, I couldn't resist getting the boy in green, rubber squeak toy, a tiny kewpie, and my fave, the coffee beat large box candies.

This rubber cutie, is not vintage, and Made in China. But, I love his coloring, so nice an bright and new. Nicely priced too. He will be a souvenir of my visit to that cool candy shop...
Until my next adventure... Thank you for reading! ~ ggsdolls