March Madness (by Jessica)

 

Hey, Jessica here! Sorry we haven't posted lately! March has come and brought a way more hectic schedule. Between orchestra recitals, spring cleaning, shopping, homework, and more we haven't had time to do much anything! March has also brought warmer weather and basketball season! March 10th marks the day of the our school's basketball try-outs. So, during the first weeks of March I led a training club open to all AG Gossip dolls who wanted to be on the team. Felicity and Julie energetically signed up for my training club. Every day leading up to March 10th we exercised. I led the group in morning jogs, shooting hoops, and playing practice games. By the time try-outs came around, we were all well prepared. On the day of the try-outs, I packed a gym bag with a pair of gym shorts, a t-shirt, sneakers, and a bottle of water. The school day whizzed by and I raced to the gym as soon as the dismissal bell rang. Coach Mavis ordered the students to make a single file line in front of the hoop to show her our free throw skills. She would jot down notes while tightly clutching her clipboard, her face twisted in a scowl. After a little more than an hour, Coach Mavis dismissed the athletes. We were all sweaty, exhausted, and nervous. We all really wanted to make the team! On Friday, as soon as I got to school I dashed to the gym door, where the results were posted. A large group of students had already formed around the two lists. There were squeals of joy and teary sniffles. I hoped I made it. As I stood on my tiptoes to try and get a better  look of the list, I spotted Julie. She bounded towards me and shouted "We made it! All three of us!" I screeched with joy and hugged Julie tightly. Felicity was also excited but we didn't have much time to celebrate, practice started today! I was the first one in the gym, after school. Slowly, more students trickled in and joined me on the bleachers. Julie quickly located me and took a seat next to me. We wondered where Felicity was. Coach Mavis congratulated us on making the team. But she quickly warned us that we were in for a lot of work. The dark creases in her forehead suggested that she was not going to tolerate any nonsense. Coach Mavis had started to hand out neatly typed practice schedules when all of a sudden Felicity burst through the gym doors. "I'm so sorry I'm late!" she said out of breath. Coach Mavis scowled and said, "Let this girl be an example to everyone. I will not tolerate tardiness, if you are a minute late or miss a practice do not bother coming back because you will no longer have a spot on this  team." Felicity's face turned white and she opened her mouth in protest. Her eyes started to fill with tears, you could tell she was fighting an urge to cry. Before Coach Mavis could say anything I stood up and said, "It's not Felicity's fault! I asked her to turn in my composition for English because I had forgot to."  Coach Mavis narrowed her eyes skeptically and shifted her gaze to Felicity. "Is this true?" she snapped. Felicity quickly shook her head yes. "Fine. You can stay. Now go sit." Coach Mavis growled. Felicity scampered up the bleachers and slid next to us. Her eyes thanked me a million times. Coach Mavis droned on about rules, rules, and more rules. It was the longest hour of my entire life. We ran out of the gym when she dismissed us, it was extremely hard to listen to her that long! For that week we trained hard. Julie, Felicity, and I got to practice 10 minutes early everyday to avoid being late. Coach Mavis lead us through grueling workouts yelling at until we were at our very best. Our first game was on the 19th and Coach Mavis was NOT going to let us lose. After 5 days of running laps around the gym, shooting hoops, and other demanding workouts it was the day of our first game. Felicity, Jessica, and I had to be at the school earlier than the rest of the dolls, who were coming to cheer us on. We slipped into our red and white uniforms, laced up our tennis shoes, and put up our hair and we were ready to go. We arrived at school 30 minutes before the game, right on time. That extra time was spent by receiving a very uninspiring pep talk from Coach Mavis. She told us that we had to win this game and that we better play well because she was not afraid of cutting a few players. When it was game time the team looked very nervous and unconfident. Our opposing team had arrived which did not help our team's confidence. They looked like professionals in their navy and gold uniforms. I felt beads of sweat form on my forehead, even though I had not even begun to play. I spotted the rest of the AG Gossip dolls in the second row, they were all wearing our school colors. Kit even painted her face! They smiled and waved, making me feel a little better. The national anthem played and everyone sat back down.The game didn't start off too bad. Julie scored a 3 point shot right off the bat. But, things only got worse. By halftime the score was 18-31 and we were losing. The other team just kept scoring points, and our defense just couldn't catch up. Coach Mavis was surely making a scene! She was screaming and yelling at us and blaming the other team for cheating! Our school cheerleaders didn't raise our spirits. Even seeing Molly bounding around in the mascot didn't make me smile, like usual. After the third quarter, things weren't so bad. We had started to make a comeback. The score was 37-42. Even with Coach Mavis's screaming and threats, our team had never been more determined. Everyone ran faster, jumped higher, aimed better, and kept up good defense. The score was 52-53 and we were down by one point. There were 16 seconds left on the clock. Felicity stole the ball and was dribbling down the court with a member of the opposing team right behind her. It looked good for us! But then when she approached the net she collapsed on the ground clutching her ankle and yowling in pain. The audience gasped and all the players froze in shock. Then in an instant Felicity smiled, got up, and made a winning slam dunk! No one could believe their eyes. The crowd went wild and we cheered in victory. And for the first time ever I saw Coach Mavis smile. I couldn't believe my eyes! We all celebrated by going out for ice cream. All everyone could talk about was about Felicity's big stunt! She was a really good actress! Hooray for Felicity, the Hoop Hero!

Valentine's Day Scramble (by Chrissa)

The fourteenth was the loveliest day of the year: Valentine's Day! A day to show all your loved ones how much you care. At school we have a valentine exchange. We all make each other valentines and then the teacher passes them out to the class. As soon as we got inside the classroom, we put our creativity to the test and colored, cut, glued, and designed unique cards for each of our classmates. I wrote a short poem inside each of my friends valentines. Then, we headed off to lunch and anxiously hinted about each other's cards. Samantha longed to get a valentine from her secret love, Johnny. She blushed when Carely told us about the poem in her diary she found on the scavenger hunt! We all scurried back to class as soon as lunch ended. When we entered the classroom we were delighted to find piles of colorful valentines on top of our desks. I picked a card off the top of the large stack and began to read it. The front had a picture of a lion holding a flower. On the inside it read, "I love you, and I'm not lion!" I laughed because it was so cheesy. It was from Julie. I wondered why she decided to put a lion on it she knows my favorite animal is a dolphin. I liked it anyway! Just then I heard Kit shriek from behind me. I turned around and saw her holding a pink, heart-shaped valentine with the letters "S+J" on the front. She read it to me. "Roses are red, Violets are blue, It was love at first sight, when I laid eyes on you." "How could My dear Jimmypoo not know how to spell my name? Kit starts with a K not an S! I thought he knew me better," cried Kit. I found this amusing because whenever Kit is around Jimmy all she does is try to impress him with her corniest knock-knock jokes! Not once has she told him her name! I went back to my desk and continued to look through my cards. A lot of people seemed to not know me very well. People complimented me on my great singing voice, my mad cooking skills, and my flowing blonde hair...none of which I think of myself as having. I was very confused on the way home and couldn't think about anything else for the rest of the day. Even at night I had a dream that I was being kissed by a giant lion... Ew! The next morning I woke up early because I heard a noise I the kitchen. I sleepily walked into the kitchen and found Samantha hastily making her lunch. I asked her why she was in such a hurry. She grabbed a valentine out of her pocket. It had a heart on it with "J+K" in the middle. It read "Meet me by the lake tomorrow morning for a Valentine surprise." Before I had time to ask her anything else, she snatched her lunchbox, backpack, and her valentine and skipped out the door. Fifteen minutes later the rest of the girls were ready to walk to school. We decided take a short cut that passed by an apple orchard, around the lake, and to our school. We were all laughing and talking when we heard a scream. We ran toward the sound and saw Samantha standing next to Jimmy. Kit gasped. Then I realized something. I rummaged through my backpack and grabbed the first card I saw. It was a card from Josefina that said, "To the girl with the beautiful, flowing blonde hair, I wish you the happiest of Valentine's Days." I read it out loud to everyone and they all laughed. I asked Josefina if this was the card she had made for me. "That was Jessica's card!" she exclaimed. "See," I said "Everyone's valentines got mixed up!" As soon as we got to school, we all inspected each others valentines and gave them to their rightful owners. When I read my real card I discovered that I ended up being complimented on my kind heart, generosity, and creativity. That's more like it! My lion card was exchanged for an adorable card with two dolphins that said, "To an amazing swimmer and very sweet doll-fin!" Kit and Samantha's valentines had also got swapped, and they were very pleased with their actual cards! In the end we  learned what had happened, Ms. Johnson told us that it is a good idea to put people's names on their cards! Oops! Happy Valentine's Day from all of us at AG Gossip!

January Hair Styling Contest Winners (By Angela)

Hi everybody! It's Angela! We know you have been all waiting to hear the results of our January Hairstyling Contest. Well, after some very hard decisions, we came up with our winner. 

Congratulations, EMMA!

Emma's new do, The Floral Flip will become a new hairstyle at the snazz salon! To find the Snazz Salon page where the hairstlyes are, look at the links underneath our logo, and select the one that says Snazz Salon. We hope you enjoy this new hairstyle, and have fun creating your own fun hairstlyes for your dolls as well!  

The Floral Flip

1.  Put doll's hair in a low pony tail. (Leave two hairs in the front that are thick enough to braid)

2. Braid the two hairs. (Tie off with an elastic) 

3. Tie the two braids together with another elastic. 

4. Get a fancy pony tail holder that has a flower attached to it.

5. Use the flower pony tail holder and tie it over the elastic.

6.  Use a clip and clip the end of the two braids that are tied together to the back of the doll's head.

Enjoy!! We hope you enjoy the hairstyle as much as we did! In fact, we all ran over to the Snazz Salon to try it out! Here are some pictures of me and Marisol wearing our new Floral Flip!

Guess What? You can send in a photo of your doll wearing the Floral Flip, or any other Snazz Salon hairstyle to contest@aggossipblog.com. Your photo could be posted on the Snazz Salon's website!

Happy Chinese New Year! (by Julie)

Gung Hay Fat Choy! That means "Happy New Year" in Chinese. All of us dolls here at AG Gossip have decided to learn more about this unique holiday. After researching, we discovered some ways how to celebrate Chinese New Year. People hang wishes written in Chinese on red paper in their homes, write spring couplets, have extravagant parades, and eat large feasts with their families. We all tried to wear a piece of red clothing because the color red is good luck. I didn't have anything red, so I wore pink instead! Hey, that rhymes! Speaking of rhymes, the first thing we did was writing couplets. Couplets are short poems. Here is mine. "Chinese New Year shed your light, bring forth a holiday that's joyful and bright" I was so proud of myself! But, I wasn't the only one who was proud of their poem! Kit up and read hers out loud, "Fortune cookies, so many to pick...I ate too many and now I am sick!" We all laughed. Our next activity was making banners. Chrissa got out some red construction paper and Jessica printed out some Chinese calligraphy and we made banners saying wishes like "happiness" or "friendship". Then we hung them up all over the house. We even found some Chinese lanterns to help brighten the walls! After transforming our house for Chinese New Year we were starved! Luckily, Felicity walked in carrying Chinese takeout for us. She said it was almost impossible to find a Chinese restaurant that was open on Chinese New Year! We had a delicious feast. Of course we had fortune cookies for dessert! Everyone was careful not to eat too many, after hearing Kit's lovely poem. This is what my fortune cookie said, "Take time to acknowledge the achievements of others, you will find satisfaction." Sounds like we need to post the results of our hair do contest. Don't worry, the results will be posted soon! We finished of the day by parading around the house, doing our best dragon dance! We wish you lots of good luck in the new year. Gung Hay Fat Choy!

All Bundled Up (by Molly)

Hello, everyone! It's Molly! January is sadly coming to an end. That means the deadline for our hair styling contest is almost here! You still have a short amount of time to submit your entries. Remember to send us a picture of your doll wearing an original hair style by February 1st for a chance to have your style in the Snazz Salon! Brrr...it is surely cold outside. On Friday, we had a snow day and school was cancelled! We have spent the weekend playing in the abundant snow. I love the snow, making snow angels is my favorite! The only thing I don't like is having to put on so many layers, it is so annoying! Today was a beautiful day. There was a brilliant blue sky and white powdery snow, perfect for snow angels!  I felt motivated enough to slip on a turtleneck, a pair of snow pants, and a sweatshirt. I rushed out of my room excitedly and headed for the door. Before I could reach the door, Josephina stopped me. "Molly! You can't go outside like that, it's freezing out there. You need to put on something warmer!" She stepped in front of the door to guard me from getting out. Obviously, I was going to have to do what she said. I ran to my room and put on a light jacket, a scarf, hat, and a pair of mittens. Feeling a bit warm, I started to go outside again. Nicki and Carely were just starting to build a snowman! Then I heard a voice from behind me, "Where do you think you're going???" It was Josephina, of course. "I don't want you to catch a cold. You'll freeze out there!" said Josephina. I sighed, and again went back to my room. I put on a long-sleeved shirt, a sweater, and got another scarf for good measure. When I opened my bedroom door, I was startled because Josephina was standing there with a big heap of scarves shirts, hats, jackets, and who knows what else! "Molly, did you even look at the weather report for today?" she asked. I hadn't. I looked at the pile of clothes, and didn't even have to question where they were going. I heard laughing and screaming outside. They were already starting the snowball fight! "Fine. But please hurry!" I told her. Josefina threw some shirts at me, and I whipped them on in record speed! She piled on layer after layer after layer. Hats and scarves whizzed through the air, clothes were flying everywhere! I wondered when it would end! Finally, Josefina topped it all of with a bright red, thick, knit sweater.  Honestly, I was sweating and looked like a giant marshmallow. I could hardly move my arms! But I was glad because I could finally go outside and play! So, I waddled out the door and was immediately greeted by the dolls. A few were laughing at the sight of me. I did look pretty ridiculous! "So are you ready to make snow angels?" asked Kit. Just before I could say yes, I realized something. "Oh no!" I exclaimed. "What's the matter, Molly?" Rebecca asked. "I have to go to the bathroom!!!"

A Snazzy Disaster (By Marisol)

 Hi everyone! Sorry about the lack of posts! So far, 2011 has been keeping us busy with a variety of activities. I hope you are all working on your hairdos for our contest. We are all really excited about it! Since hair has been on our minds a lot, the Snazz Salon is busier than ever!! Yesterday, I arrived  at the Snazz Salon early to get ready for the day. My schedule was filled with appointments. First, decided to finish preparing refreshments for my customers. I took out the some long pieces of freshly made bread and a bottle of honey. I spread the honey onto the bread and neatly rolled them into a spiral. They looked delicious! I resisted my urge to try one and washed the honey off my hands. It wasn't long until my first customer, Nicki, walked in at 10:00. She asked me to curl her hair to give it some extra bounce. I got right to washing her hair. Afterwards, I wrapped her head in a towel and sent her to the waiting room to let her hair dry. I had just got out the curlers when Chrissa walked in. It was only 10:20 so she was a bit early. She wanted more of a change, Chrissa asked for some blonde highlights. What a nice idea! I grabbed some foil and dye from the supply room and got Chrissa in the stylist chair. I began dyeing her hair and wrapping it in the foil. Ding! Then, Felicity walked through the door. It was 11:00.  I was running behind schedule! I quickly finished with Chrissa. Felicity requested a new style for her hair. Her hair felt dirty, so I hastily washed her hair. I blow dried her hair, but it was still a little damp so she went to the waiting room while I went back to working on Nicki. I found the curlers where I left them. I rolled each curl up in a curler. Nicki was telling me some very funny stories, so I had to re-roll some of the curls. it is hard to style hair when you're laughing! After I finished, Felicity's hair had dried. I wanted to make her hair extra shiny and soft. I grabbed a bottle of honey-scented conditioner and poured a glob on her head. It sure smelled good! I became confused as I worked the substance into her hair. It seemed very thick and sticky just like...HONEY! Oh no! I had accidentally, grabbed the honey from my honey rolls! I quickly got her to a sink to wash her hair again. The honey was so sticky, even with my best shampoo it was hard to get it all  out of her hair. After 10 minutes of scrubbing and rinsing, her hair was finally clean. Felicity put her hair up in a towel and sat down. Nicki's hair was about ready, so I began taking the curlers out. As I started to unroll the first curler, I frowned when the hair tangled itself around the curler. I decided to try another curler, but the hair was knotted around the curler. I tried curler after curler but no matter how much I unwound, untangled, and yanked no curler would budge. Her hair looked terrible! I calmly told Nicki that I was going to try again later. I took a deep breath and smiled as Chrissa sat down, ready to get her hair washed. I couldn't wait to see how great the highlights looked! I took the tinfoil out and washed her hair. She sat down in the chair and I excitedly grabbed a blow dryer and began drying her hair. The blonde was looking great so far! There was just one problem, there was a little TOO much blonde. I kept looking for a brown section of her hair, but couldn't find any! I turned the chair around so Chrissa and I could see the final look. "AHHHH!!!" we both screamed. Chrissa didn't have blonde highlights, her whole head was light, bleach blonde!

I was in tears, Chrissa was just plain shocked. "I'm so sorry, Chrissa!" I was so upset, I broke down crying. I couldn't do anything right! Somehow, I had to fix everything. That is a lot of work for one doll! Then I had an idea. "I need your help," I said to my customers. "How would you like to learn to style hair?" Nicki, Chrissa, and Felicity's faces all lit up as they nodded in agreement. With my help, everyone chose a friend to fix and style their hair. After a tons of dyeing, untangling, brushing, and styling we ended up with three very happy and snazzy customers! Somehow, everything worked out. That day we all walked out of the salon with great hair styles and a very crazy story to tell!

Happy New Year! (By Julie)

Happy New Year everyone! We can't believe it's 2011 already! This year has just gone by so fast, but as they say... "Time flies when you're having fun!" To kick off the new year, me and my Bffs had a big new years bash! We started with our annual new years parade around the neigborhood. It was a lot of fun to be silly and delight the neigbors! Then, Kaya went up into the attic, and got down the old board games. We chuckled all through the old favorites like Monopoly, Twister, and Scrabble. Who knew how many made up words were out there? Or how many of us have never taken gymnastics class by the looks of it during Twister! The point is, it was a lot of fun! Then, we decided to do each other's hair. You should have seen some of the crazy hairstyles we came up with!

Do you think you could come up with a cool hairstyle? Well, here's your chance! Use your creative skills, elastics, and ribbons to dezign a new unique hairstlyle! When you're done, please send us a picture of your doll wearing this style like the ones we took of ourselves. Remember, we want to see what YOU can come up with! Not a professional hairstylist. Email your photos to

Admin@aggossipblog.com


All entries sent in will be showcased in a post, but the overall winner will have their hairstyle added to the snazz salon styles!


All entries to this contest are due by February 1st


(Please see our snazz salon section by clicking on the link that says snazz salon right under our AG Gossip logo.)

After the hairstyles, we were having so much fun that we didn't realize that it was almost midnight: time to celebrate! Marisol got the new years box from the garage, and we all had fun getting out the noisemakers, hats, and kit's favorite: the pots and pans!


5...4...3...2...1... Happy New Year!

The pots and pans clanged! The noisemakers boomed, and rattled with a sense of energy. And our screams could be heard all the way from China! The only dissapointment was when Rebecca's party cracker only had a plastic screw set inside... but we all thought it was fun! Then, we began to talk, each of us shared our new years resolutions.

Nikki went first. She decided to do the dishes more often when she was asked. Josefina resolved to volunteer at the animal shelter. Kit paused for a moment to think, but then resolved to stop taping dirty socks onto Josefina's prized lamp. Samantha said she would try to get a better grade in history. Julie decided to tend to her garden more often. Kaya decided she would learn to make the only dessert she didn't know how to make: Bannana's Foster baked alaska! Carely decided to guard her spatulas better, and not to let her best one be kidnapped by Kit again! Felicety decided to give free horseback lessons to the kids at the local orphanage. Rebecca resolved to do some community service and pick up trash on the highway. Molly plans on practicing her ukelele more often then once a year. Angela wants to get rid of her many nighttime water cups that haven't seen the kitchen (or the dishwasher) for years! Marisol plans to knit scarves for the needy. Jessica resolves to do her own laundry from now on insted of dumping her stinky clothes onto Kaya's pile. Kirsten plans to set up a fundraiser to help endangered White Tigers. She plans to raise 1 million dollars. Chrissa plans to swim 100 laps.

What are your resolutions or goals for the New Years?