It’s official: Summertime is here! Time for summer dresses and shorts, and time for delicious slices of watermelon! We Whimsies have combined the best of Summer and put it all together in one glorious Fashion Show for you! So let us begin.
First, here is our Group Portrait, all of us hanging out on our snazzy Adirondack chair, about to dive into the aforementioned delicious slice of watermelon. As you well know, we Whimsies are very fond of Sugar, and while we usually prefer the more elaborate treats of pastries, candies, cakes and cookies, every once in a while, we like to indulge in Sugar in its most natural form. And what could be more natural than a slice of watermelon in the middle of Summer?
You might notice that there are four of us and only one slice of watermelon, but that is no problem, as Whimsies love to share with friends! And besides, we are very small, and in comparison, that slice of watermelon is actually quite HUGE, so after the photo shoot, when we cut it into four very perfectly distinct wedges, it turned out to be just enough fruit for each of us.
It’s often been said that Whimsies have “watermelon smiles,” and we really do, if you think of a full half slice of watermelon, as seen here. Maybe one of the reasons why you can’t seem to wipe those watermelon smiles off the faces of any Whimsies is because we are always dreaming of the next time we might get to eat a delicious slice of our favorite fruit!
Tootsie in particular could not bear to part with the watermelon when it came time for our individual Portraits, and insisted it be incorporated into her photo. For all the world I would say it looks as if Tootsie is just about ready to devour this whole slice of watermelon by herself! At least that faraway look in her eyes seems to indicate that is what she is daydreaming about.
And isn’t this the most appropriately Summer-themed outfit in which to be eating watermelon? The red bandana print of her dress, with a shirred top and tie-straps exemplifies the best of everything you associate with Summer.
The only thing more summery, perhaps, is her hat. It might be hard to tell from this photo, but on one side, her hat is a delicate white cotton eyelet, but on the other side, a white terrycloth, such as you might have for a beach towel. We Whimsies have of course never been to a beach, but we have seen plenty of pictures of it on The Internet, and of course seen it in movies such as one that Mr. Russ and Miss Chrissy watched just a few weeks ago, called Where The Boys Are. This is a 1960’s movie, from the decade in which us Whimsies had our beginnings, when everything in the world was so much simpler than it is today. In this mostly frolicsome romp (yes, we watched it with them), a bunch of boys and girls leave their colleges in the snowy north and go to Fort Lauderdale Beach, hoping to have some fun and maybe find somebody to marry. At least some of the girls are thinking about getting married. But now I am getting way off track! I can say this, though: while it’s true that we see a lot of the beach in this movie, from what I remember, we don’t see anyone wearing a terrycloth/white eyelet hat like the one Tootsie is sporting in her Portrait. And I also don’t think we see anyone eating watermelon. So, you know what? The more I think about it, the more I have to wonder how accurate this movie actually is…
But let’s move on!
After prying Tootsie and the watermelon out of the Adirondack chair, Trixie stepped in for her photo shoot. As you know, Trixie is Whimsieville’s #1 Fan of the color PINK, so she rummaged through the Wardrobe especially looking for Summery items in her favorite color, and ultimately paired together a very casual short-sleeved shirt with soft pink shorts. But the pièce de résistance, as the French like to say, is her little pink ruffled hat, with a brown flower adornment on the brim. Generally you would not think a brown flower would sound very attractive, but brown is generally such a complimentary accompaniment to anything pink, and in this case, it works out perfects, wouldn’t you say?
I guess I’ll go next, in my flowery green outfit that fits somewhere right between Spring and Summer. You may have noticed that Tessie was wearing this very same outfit a couple of months ago when we did our Fashion Show Complete with Dinosaurs. At the time, I very much admired how bright and lovely Tessie looked in this outfit, so I kept it in the back of my mind that someday I wished to give it my own spin. And that’s what I’m doing here with a little green stretchy cap on my head.
Since everyone else was also choosing to wear hats, I didn’t want to be the oddball, so I searched for just the perfect headpiece to accompany my green and flowery outfit, and tried on several from our Wardrobe, but in the end I decided, as they say, to “Keep It Simple, Stupid!” Now, I’m not saying I’m stupid, or anyone else is stupid, that just happens to be the saying. And the meaning of the saying is that in the end, the simplest solution is very often the best solution. And so, here you see me, in simple green pants (which just a touch of drama in a ruffly hem), a simple green hat, and big expressive flowers all over my dress.
And now at last we come to Tessie, looking positively adorable in aqua! Like Tootsie, her dress has a shirred top and thin straps, as well as a ruffled hem. The juxtaposition of pale pink and pale yellow accents in her aqua dress make for a fabric that simply screams of all the hazy, lazy joys of Summer. With those large armholes and open neckline, I would imagine that no matter how hot it might get, Tessie will be staying cool in her choice of Summer dress.
But we must pause for a moment to talk about her hat. To the naked eye, it appears to be a simple aqua cap. But in fact…it is not! Tessie is in fact practicing a bit of Fashion Deception on you! (And I say Deception in the nicest way.) You will notice from this photo of Tessie and Tootsie waiting on the side for their chance to be sit for their Portraits, that Tessie’s hat actually has a cleverly disguised secret! It is NOT a pure aqua hat, but on one side, sports a sporty orange and yellow Hawaiian flower pattern! 
Very nice for some outfits, but this would not do at all for the gentle aqua plaid dress Tessie had chosen. So, rather than appear in something so jarring to the senses, this clever little Whimsie simply made the decision to tuck the entire brim of her bucket hat up under the “bucket” and simply pretend this was a completely aqua hat.
Sometimes you have to think on the fly, and that is exactly what Tessie has done here, and I applaud her for it. And I just hope I have not offended you too much by showing you this “behind the scenes” photo of her crazy mixture of gentle plaid and mismatched bright Hawaiian flowers! If I have offended you, I apologize. But I think you will get over it. Because it’s Summer, and everything is so relaxed, nothing to fret about. Go have yourself a delicious slice of watermelon, and before you know it, you’ll be feeling quite yourself again.
Miss Chrissy has been very busy lately, so we had to be patient, but at last she made it over to the Thrift Store Boutique and was able to find us a few new items for our Wardrobe! So we have three new items to model for you today. Miss Chrissy actually picked up a couple more things as well, but you will not see in this post, because when we looked at all this new clothing, it immediately came into our minds that there were two very specific photo shoots that were in order. So we will show you these new clothes now, and the rest of the fashions at another time in the future. Because, it’s always good to have the anticipation of yet another Fashion Show, don’t you think? Really gives you something to look forward to!
Tillie is wearing some soft gray jammies, trimmed in red, which actually have been seen before in Whimsieville. These jammies are not new, but it has been so long since they made an appearance that they almost feel new! And since these jammies do not have “feet,” Tillie tops them off (or is it “bottoms them off”??) with a simple pair of gray socks.
Now, let’s head off in a different direction and take a look at me and Trixie. Hmmm…what is the theme of this photo shoot? Well, the obvious answer is: GREEN! Miss Chrissy bought up TWO very cute tops in the color green. Not only the color green, but both a very bright and vibrant green that simply screams Springtime! 
But look at me! My pretty top with big white and yellow flowers has sleeves so short, it is practically “sleeveless”! I found some pale green pants in our Wardrobe which don’t quite match, but do compliment the colors of my new shirt. And because it is, in fact, not quite yet Spring, I’m carrying a simple white sweater to put on, in case the weather is still a wee bit cold.
And later on…it did indeed feel a wee bit cooler, so I had to put on my sweater, and now I am feeling quite cozy! And even though I am dressed for a day outside, I feel as comfortable as if I was hanging out at home in a pair of dinosaur jammies!
The weather has been crazy here lately! Ferocious thunderstorms, followed by days of sunny weather. Sometimes it’s in the 70’s, but at other times, it dips nearly into the 20s! And then, just the other day, our ears perked up when we heard the Weatherman say that magical word: “Snow”! 
(I know I’m mixing metaphors, but you get the idea…)
Santa was exceptionally good to all of us here in Whimsieville this pass Christmas, and even though Christmas is now at least six weeks ago, Tootsie can’t seem to stop thinking about Santa Claus! (Personally, I think she has a crush on him… I’ve suggested she could write something about Santa in the “My Favorite Boyfriend” section of our blog, but Tootsie is still just too shy to even imagine doing something like that. So for the time being, you’ll just have to trust me. Santa Claus is Tootsie’s Favorite Boyfriend.)
Our old-fashioned ideas about yellow were quickly obliterated! In other words, we now have NO PROBLEM wearing yellow! So on this evening, Tessie was the one wearing the yellow jammies with the adorable pink ladybug.
Finally, let’s take a look at Tittle. Tillie looks sort of silly, if you ask me, because she is SO bundled up in her white fleecy pajamas featuring a polar bear on her chest. Tillie herself sort of looks like a polar bear in these jammies, don’t you think? And as if she didn’t already look like a polar bear, you might also say she looks like an Eskimo, so bundled up, so on top of all this, Tillie decided to wear a pink and white fleece-lined hat that also covers her ears quite well. 
Now, one more thing, before I wind up here. You’ll notice in the pictures above that we are all sitting on a very colorful background, which happens to be a hand-crocheted blanket Miss Chrissy recently got when she and Mr. Russ went on a trip for a Family Reunion, and Miss Chrissy’s sister offered her this blanket. It seems that Miss Chrissy’s grandmother, Violet, once had a sister named Wanda, who LOVED to crotchet, even when she was very old and beginning to go blind, and so she would crochet and crochet lots and lots of blankets, and there are several of these beautiful items floating around in the family, and Miss Chrissy was so delighted to be able to bring this one home. All the bright colors in this blanket sort of remind me of the days way back in the 1960’s, when we Whimsies were much younger, and everything was so groovy! Wouldn’t you agree with me that this beautiful blanket, in addition to having a rich family history, is also “groovy”??
So, as everyone knows it’s January, and that means Winter is in full force. Now, I am happy to report that Whimsieville is in that portion of the country where the weather gets cold sometimes, but it very rarely gets so FRIGID that you can’t even move because it’s simply too uncomfortable. No, our kind of cold in this part of the country is the kind that makes you glad to turn on the fireplace 
and dress up in your warm winter jammies, and have a nice cup of hot cocoa while sitting in front of The Weather Channel, watching the wall-to-wall coverage about the blizzard currently attacking our neighbors to the North. Oh, we do feel so sorry for those poor people up there, who may lose their Electricity, and their Heat, and will have to stay bundled up in more than simply Winter jammies just to keep from being so terribly uncomfortable. 
First of all we have Tessie, and it appears she has found the comfiest jammies ever stitched together! As you can see, she is all in white fleece, like a little lamb, and not only that, but she’s also wearing a hood to keep her head and ears warm! And not only that, but her hood has little ears on top so she does in fact look somewhat like a little lamb, doesn’t she? I asked Tessie and she said the hood in no way impedes her ability to hear the television coverage of the storm, and she does so enjoy looking like a little lamb, so she’s just going to keep on wearing that hood, even though with the fireplace going, we are nowhere cold enough to actually need such a thing. But that’s Tessie; sometimes she’ll get an idea in her head and just go with it.
Now! If you want to talk about getting an idea in your head and just going with it, you should take a look at Tootsie! This past Christmas Tootsie found these adorable red Santa Claus pajamas, which she wore all during the holidays, and now she barely ever wants to take them off! Tootsie has decided that “red and white stripes” is her new favorite fashion motif, and she looks for stripes in everything she sees! Santa Claus was exceptionally good to Tootsie this year too, this being her first real Christmas in a long, long time, so she’s exceptionally fond of the big man with the large white beard. As everybody knows, I have my own favorite superheroes (Thor…Hulk…) and now Tootsie has hers too.
Since Tillie is Tootsie’s very best friend in the whole world, she’s supporting the Christmas madness by also choosing a pair of Christmas jammies. Tillie’s jammies are pink, though, and covered in multiple images of Santa Claus. The very best part of this outfit, though, if you ask me, is the Santa Claus feet! How darling! Tillie’s outfit does not employ the “red and white stripes” fashion motif seen in Tootsie’s outfit, but I think I detect a red and white polka dot theme around her collar. Well, 
whichever way you go, red and white are the colors of Christmas, and while we all had a wonderful Christmas, and there’s absolutely nothing wrong with wearing Christmas jammies all year long, if that’s what you like, I’m thinking once the weather begins to turn, Tillie too will turn her fashion sense to something a little more “season appropriate.”
