Doll Diaries: Spring at last!

Spring hit the snooze button this year, it seems. Last weekend we suffered through a painfully drawn out sleet-ice-snow system, and on Monday night into Tuesday, we got a few more inches of snow-into-ice. I was beginning to think I would have my first wintry birthday ever, but thankfully it was not to be. In true midwest-spring-roller-coaster fashion, we find ourselves suddenly in a world of dry, gentle breezes and 60 degree temps. I'm certainly not complaining! The bunny and chick stuffed animals in Mom's window seat don't look so out of place anymore. =^)

My personal favorite is Chickie, the big yellow chick on the far right in the back. <3

Also, check out these interesting spindly things that one of the succulents in her window has sprouted:

Not as impressive as the tiny flowers that that other rather unfortunate-looking one sprouted last year, but still cool. (That one still lives and sprouted flowers mid-winter, in case you were wondering, but it has grown so big that it spent the winter by a different window.)

My sisters and I have agreed to another round of our birthday flute contest. I get to start it off again, since my birthday is the first in the calendar year, as always. After all 4 of us have had our birthdays, we will again award the winners of various categories with premium companions as prizes.

They shall be:
- Fluted wild that looks the most like the horse of the day on Mom's calendar
- Fluted wild with the prettiest/handsomest profile artwork
- Fluted wild with the coolest avatar
- Fluted wild with best personality
- Fluted wild with the highest sum of stats for its breed
- Fluted wild with the highest total sum of stats

Let's get this contest started! Here is my birthday horse on Mom's page-a-day calendar:

Hmm, you can't really tell what color this one is. He/she could easily be chestnut, bay, seal brown, or black...

And here is my HI2 birthday flute:

Unfortunately, it doesn't matter what solid color my partial-silhouette calendar horse is, because I went and fluted a dapple gray! Drat.

Now let's see the profile:

Okay, now we're talking. My dude may not have a prayer on the stat front, but he sure is easy on the eyes! I love his dapples and markings!

We haven't gone and bought any new horses this past week, nor have we taken screenshots of any we just have to show you. I did want to mention the newest breed that has been introduced to the game, though, the Carolina Marsh Tacky.

Yay, another American breed! The breed developed from feral horses that roamed some swampy islands of coastal South Carolina. Because Spanish horses are believed to have been in their ancestry, the look breeders are going for now is "Spanish Colonial." Maybe it's just me, but I don't see much of that in HI2's Marsh Tacky artwork. The impression I get is more "stringy and foal-like."

Here are a couple of examples from the BBB: