April 23rd, 2016: Collaboration Post with Anna of Just Anna

On April 23rd, 2016, She and her family were spending the day outside, soaking up the rays of sun. So what else was there to do but check up on my blog? But once I opened She's laptop, I noticed that it had not been shut down the night before like it usually is. Google Chrome was still in use, and I was not used to seeing this so I clicked on the icon. It was She's email! All of them had been checked over and either deleted or kept longer, some even from a year ago, for giggles or memories to look back on. But there was one message at the very top, highlighted in yellow, that had not been read yet. Squinting my eyes at the screen, I skimmed the words typed there, and noticed that my name, Elsa, popped up in the title. Curious, I frowned and clicked on the email. All that was enclosed was a simple file. It was from Anna at Just Anna, and I laughed, remembering that in my Quote of the Day Challenge, I had begged her to be my fake sister. Now she had accepted, and I was invited to the house in which she lived with MyLittleMegara. I was wondering how this series of coincidences ever came to be, and how on earth I'd actually managed to get to MyLittleMegara's house without She noticing, but I figured Anna had it all taken care of. After I had grabbed She's camera and took a picture of the, well, picture, I deleted the message so that She wouldn't find it later and get suspicious. Excited, I smiled and hopped off She's bed where the laptop lay. I was supposed to wear my best dress there, and I had just the perfect one. 

All of the clothes she had made and/or found for me over the years and months of me living here resided in an old empty chocolate box, from a Valentine's day long ago. I picked my favorite outfit from the folded pile inside and got dressed quickly. The dress was completely fresh, original, and handmade by both She and MyLittleMegara. It was something like movie Elsa's new green dress from the Disney short Frozen Fever. It was made of gorgeous, smooth fabric that was a dark forest green color, a sheer, glittery fabric for the cape in the same color, and whitish-blue mesh for the shoulder sleeves. The girls had done my dress up with rhinestones in pink, green, and orange, appearing to look like flowers. She had even made me new hair accessories to match, a set of pink and orange flower earrings to go in my braid and a pretty good replication of movie Elsa's flower to go behind my ear. When I was debating to wear my only pair of shoes or not (baby blue Norwegian slippers that clashed with the pretty dark green I was wearing) Olaf found me. We talked and I told him I was going to go away for a little while, but I would be in good hands. Olaf promised to keep house while I was gone with Loki's help, and it wasn't long before the phone rang. Olaf and I froze on She's dresser when She padded into the room, phone at her ear. MyLittleMegara's voice (at least I assumed it had to be her voice) was heard by us easy over the receiver. It wasn't long before She bought MLM's excuse to fix my hair and I was strapped into an orange backpack and packed into the car for a day out of the house.

Once the sickening car ride inside She's backpack was over, I was dropped off at a familiar-looking front door to a house and left by my own, unsure of what to do. Over the phone, the speaker had made an excuse that they would not be home immediately, so the best decision was to just drop me off on the front porch. I fidgeted inside of the bag, unsure if I was I supposed to get out myself or wait for the door to open and for someone to bring me in.

Taking a risk, I crawled out of my backpack and took three soft knocks to the front door.

On my third knock, I heard something on the other side of the door, and mysteriously, the door opened quietly, only leaving the right amount of crack in the doorway to let me slip through. I took a deep breath and stepped into the house, pushing the door open a little more.

I was immediately greeted by my host, which was Anna, and even though I had already heard and read so much about her on her blog, it was still like meeting a stranger for the first time. She was a limited edition Anna doll, with the classic movie Anna hair, two thick red braids with side swept bangs, and a little gold sparkly thread woven in for effect. She wore the dress that movie Anna wore at the end of Frozen when she is presenting Kristoff his new sled, with a shimmery olive green skirt, a grayish bodice, and baby blue sleeves that were detailed enough to die for. Anna had a very sweet and welcoming face, and probably the prettiest eyelashes I've ever seen on a doll. 

We shook hands. I was expecting nothing less than a hug, as I found out that most Anna dolls like to do from Nessarose back home, but instead I was given a warm smile and a few exchanged words and a friendly, casual handshake, which was fine by me. Maybe Anna would be more open to hug me later when we actually found out some more about each-other instead of what we perceive from the blogs. 

After our greeting, Anna asked me if I would like to join her outside for a tea party, which the humans had already prepared for us. I smiled and nodded. I had always wanted to have tea of my own. I was more than happy to follow Anna out the back door and outside, where a small picnic was already set up for us.

"This is lovely." I cooed, when I admired the setup MyLittleMegara had planned for us. There was the most adorable, and perfectly sized, I must add, tea set of pink and white, and made of ceramic material, I think. There were mini desserts that must have taken hours to create, including cookies and macaroons. Each one was different and personalized for both Anna and me. In the teapot was a light brown and fragrant drink that is probably English Breakfast tea.

It's an odd thing to say upon first arriving and just sitting down, but I feel at home in this strange place. It could be that I felt so welcome, or that my green spring dress blended in with the vegetation outside, or the fact that the food smelled so good. I wasn't sure, but I wasn't going to question it. I took my place at the table immediately and Anna and I once again dissolved into chatter, only more happy and relaxed this time around than the somewhat stiff and forced kind at the doorway.

Anna poured the both of us tea, which turned out to be chamomile, and then offered cream to me. I was surprised. Tea and cream in fancy pots and saucers. I felt absolutely pampered. What was next, a small dish of sugar?
Turns out, yes. There was. A small china bowl with a dainty lid on top, and after Anna offered me cream and I politely declined, she opened up the little bowl and we got to see what was inside. Tiny heart-shaped sugar cubes in the colors dark pink, light pink, and white. Anna was at first confused but then eventually joined in when she realized what I was squealing about. I can't help it... I love little food!

Even though I didn't want any cream, both Anna and I took some sugar cubes for our tea. I chose two light pink hearts to match my raspberry macaroon and jelly tart cookie, and I suggested Anna choose dark pink just because white was a boring color for sugar cubes.

I could feel us bonding over the tea and I decided to gravitate towards talking about our personal lives. I talked about the first two friends I had met when I was first found, Loki and Olaf. How Loki was a quiet, serious, take-charge kind of guy and how Olaf was exactly you would expect an Olaf to be; bubbly, sweet, and optimistic. The two of us laughed when Anna said that she knew an Olaf as well, one just as playful as the one I knew. She told me about Kristoff and Rapunzel, dolls about our size the only two other dolls she actually knew so far besides me. Anna expressed how excited she was that I could make it over today since sometimes home life can get lonely. I knew the feeling, even though it seemed like I was surrounded by friends 24/7. 

We finished enjoying our tea, and then it was time to dig into our treats. They had grown a little cold after being outside and neglected for so long, but they smelled just as heavenly. Once again, they were the perfect size. MyLittleMegara had given Anna the chocolate goodies, a chocolate cookie with pink icing and sprinkles, and a dark chocolate macaroon, which is basically a chocolate cookie sandwich with cream filling. I was chosen for the vanilla-flavored things, opting for a pink raspberry macaroon with white frosting in the middle, and a plain sugar cookie with vanilla glaze. I thought I preferred chocolate over anything else, but as a matter of fact, vanilla seems to suit my taste buds far better. The cookie was definitely my favorite.

"A toast!" Anna declared, when we were on our final treats. I had saved the best for last, which was of course my cookie. 

"A toast!" I echoed with a giggle, holding my cookie up high. "To delicious tea and wonderful treats!" 

"Indeed!" Anna 'clinked' my cookie with her own and crumbs erupted over the table.

"Okay, so that might have failed." Anna grumbled, brushing the mess off of her bedazzled skirt.

I laughed again and we had our treats, happy to be outside and spending time together with great food and drink and a possible new friend. I wasn't sure if Anna was a friend, yet, though. I guess I would have to wait and see how things turned out.

When finished with the tea party, we abandoned our place settings and decided to take a brief walk around the yard, marveling at how nice the sun was on our pale winter skin. My thin mesh cape blew in the wind, making me feel like there was not a single care in the world. After sort of a stressful week at home, it was nice to be free. It was nice to... let it go. *AHEM*
Anna and I mostly stayed on the stone paths that surrounded the house, as not to get our shoes dirty in the dirt or grass so She wouldn't suspect anything when I returned home. Somehow we made our way out front, which was dangerous being so close to the street and other human's houses, but Anna didn't seem to care if we were noticed. Wary of breaking the Code of Dolls, I mostly stayed in the shade to hide myself from the world.

Anna, however, wasn't pleased with my nervousness. She grabbed me by the arm and dragged me over to the flowerbeds the humans kept by the porch.
"Aren't they lovely this time of year?" Anna asked me, gushing over the pink, red, and orange tulips.
"Yes, very!" I agreed, nodding. My nerves slowly melted away as Anna and I played around in the flowers. She had brought a camera outside to take pictures for our blogs, of course, so we had a little fun experimentation in photography. I liked one photo so much that I used it for a blog header picture.

Now bored of the flowers, I ventured off and lay in the grass, spreading out my arms and legs like I'm making a snow angel. Anna came to investigate and ask what I am doing.
"She never lets me go outside, this is so nice!" I replied, rolling back and forth.

The sun was making us hot so we went up to the porch and sat on the glider, talking about Steve before I could stop myself. Anna was a very good listener, and I found that I enjoyed telling her even though it was such a personal story to me. I think I was starting to trust her as a really good friend.

When the conversation began winding down, instinct told me it was getting time to go, but we continued to walk and talk. I didn't want to leave.

But I think we both knew that I had to. Minutes after the sound of tires coming up the driveway, I heard She and MyLittleMegara conversing about my new hairstyle. (Cough cough) For some reason I wasn't as nervous as I was about humans finding us anymore. I turned to Anna and we said goodbye over and over, wanting to prolong the final minutes we had. But when the humans' voices began getting to the point of winding down, I knew it was time to go. We promised to do something like this again, and maybe sooner than we thought. It's hard to say now, but I'm almost certain that I have made a great new friend today.

Meeting my sister,

Queen Elsa

If you want to know Anna's side of the story, you can check out her post here.