There were five of us from Malaysia, me, my mum, my aunty and my two daughters, all of us first timers to a doll show. Boy, was I nervous, I don't know anyone except for Sharon Meyer whom I've met before when she visited Malaysia. I felt like a child going on her first visit to the fair/Disneyland, LOL!

The photographs were taken with a digital camera set on the highest resolution which had been reduced to enable me to upload to the website. I also had a tough time deciding which pictures to be shown, which to discard as there were too many of them. Nevertheless, I hope you'll enjoy reading through my "diary" of events as much as I did. So read on …..

 From left : Aunty, Mum, Sara and Liza.

The Friday dinner event started slightly late due to some technical problem with the microphone/sound system. We sat at table no. 7 together with Lauren and 2 other ladies from Belgium. They were a fun trio, always ready for a laugh. 

 On the table were small Tyler-sized shopping bags that had tissue paper stuffed inside and Fashion Jane as the centrepiece. Jane (limited edition of 20) was dressed in "Shakespeare in the Park" and she thoroughly occupied my eyes. I was a bit surprised that she was there as she was supposed to be a club exclusive. Thank God she followed me home, else I would have gone bonkers trying to get one from Ebay.

Dinner went by in a blur of motions, I was too busy admiring the dolls that other conventioneers brought along to pay much attention to the food. The presentation was slightly delayed due to the microphone/sound system not working properly and in the end, Robert had to do the presentation minus sound system. Thank goodness the room and crowd was small, else I wouldn't have been able to hear anything!

 The great man himself, looking so dapper! His presentation of young Jane's exploits into painting and ultimately doll making was superbly done and I love the last slide whereby Jane was holding a picture of him on one hand and a stuffed toy on the other. It's rather adorable, wished I had the picture to show you.

And then comes the unveiling of Parisienne Sydney. My initial thoughts : Wow! A raven haired Sydney!!! I'm a bit disappointed with the outfit though, I wished it was a totally new outfit instead of a rehashed Holiday Gala in white.

 Sydney Parisienne (LE 150)

The following are some of the gorgeous dolls that the other collectors brought along. I don't know who the owners of the dolls were but if you do know, please e-mail me at rmerican@yahoo.com so that I can label the photographs accordingly.

After dinner we stayed behind to have our dolls signed by Robert and managed to have a few words with him, Meg Hunt and Tom Courtney. He said that he is working on a new Asian mould which may be introduced next year. What a fantastic end to a wonderful evening!

Click the following for more stories :

Madame Alexander Cocktail

Tyler/Barbie Main Event

Sales Room