In my excitement about the earrings, I forgot to mention that I went to American Girl Place yesterday. A and I both went there while waiting for my earrings to be set, expecting to find the long-block-long line to enter we’d encountered on the 29th, but there was no line at all. Unfortunately we had already spent so much time in the Gotham Book Mart (including petting their large orange tabby, Pynchon) that we didn’t have enough time to look around AG Place together. We wanted to pick up a commemmorative shirt for Felicity and the corresponding outfit for Coconut, but the shirt we wanted was out of stock on the first floor. A went back to the jeweler while I trekked through hundreds of little girls and their families in search of the right shirt on the third floor (with a stop at the Coconut display along the way and picking up the Cupid accessories to give to A for Valentine’s Day). On the third floor, I waited while a cashier promised to send someone else to check in the back for me, and I waited and waited…but it turned out they didn’t have that shirt after all, so I had to get a different commemmorative t-shirt for Felicity. That was okay, and I headed back down to the main American Girl collection on the second floor. (Keep in mind that the store is overflowing with people, and it’s broiling hot in the crowds under the lights. Every move I made caused ten beads of sweat to appear on my brow.)

In the main collection area, I snapped up Josefina’s Christmas Outfit because A has been wanting it for a long time. I next went to the Felicity counter, which was much smaller than any of the other sections because she’s been not-quite discontinued by Pleasant Company. A has almost everything for Felicity, because her grandmother gave her the complete set many years ago and there haven’t been very many additions. I didn’t recognize the traveling gown, though, so I prowled the shelves looking for it, to no avail. Just as I asked an employee about it, a mother piped up behind me that she was looking for it too. The employee went into the back to check, and the mother and I chatted about Felicity - from what one of the sons said to the daughter, I gathered that the girl is only just starting to collect Felicity. The employee came back out saying she hadn’t found any, but somebody else was calling downstairs to check. I continued chatting with the mother, all the while thinking in the back of my head “if there’s only one left, it’s mine - I’m the one who thought to ask for it!” But the employee came back saying they were all sold out, and that they would be getting a complete merchandise shipment tonight and might have it then. (I think I’ll go back this morning!)

Dismayed, I went back downstairs to the first floor to seek out whatever I could find to make up for not getting the Traveling Gown I wanted so much. It turned out the only thing I could find was Coconut’s Kitty Costume, which is just adorable.

Okay, enough writing! Now I’m spurred to go back and hunt down that traveling gown. According to the Felicity page at the Complete Guide to American Girl Collecting, her stuff is very valuable so maybe I’ll try to pick up a few more things just for the resale value.