And they told two friends and so on and so on

Last month, my sister and I (me?) were at a newsstand when I realized I'd never shown her the magazine. I asked her if she ever looked at Haute Doll and she said she'd seen it but never bought it. I flipped to the contest pages and showed it to her and said "Look at that!" and she, being a photographer, eyeballed the photos and said "Are these the dolls like you have?" without even reading the print. I said "Those ARE my dolls" and she was impressed but still didn't say anything. I realized that she thought my dolls were only the models so I had to use Mr. Index Finger and jam it at the print and say "Look! Look!" like a 4-year-old. THEN she lit up. She was very excited and impressed and bought a copy of the magazine to show her friends.

I was actually proud. Finally someone who knew me was impressed and proud of me for winning. Martalucci and her henchman were impressed, even though the henchman barely knew me,which was awesome and I had that to sustain me through the dark days of no one else giving a flying Wallenda.

My sister is funny. When I saw her over this past weekend, she told me she was going on a trip with her friend to Pechanga and wanted to bring along a Barbie to take some photos. She had shown her friend the Haute Doll and both felt inspired and so the friend was going to bring along a Barbie too. I almost died laughing. But I helped her dress her doll and included a change of clothes and shoes "for different situations" and found a carry bag for her.