hellobeautifulcreatures

And if you were a nine-year-old girl at any point during the last 30 years, you are almost certainly familiar with American Girl. It very well may have been an essential part of your nine-year-old girldom. From the beginning, from the time it was a mere kernel of an idea scrawled on a postcard, American Girl was engineered for nine-year-old girls. It all began when Pleasant Rowland, who was working for an educational publishing company at the time, took a trip to Colonial Williamsburg. Rowland had had a varied career; she'd been an elementary school teacher , a TV news reporter , a textbook writer. History and education were her passions, and while she was in Virginia, inspiration struck. She sent a postcard detailing her plan to her friend Valerie Tripp , a children's author. As she recalled at American Girl's 25th anniversary celebration , it went something like this: "I've been down in Williamsburg this week and had an idea. What do you think of it? A series of...

At a brand new building in O'Fallon, Illionois boutique owners are unlocking their inventory and rolling out the well.. metal carpet for shoppers. "We have boutiques coming from Waterloo, Columbia, St. Charles, Missouri, O'Fallon, Lebanon, Nashville, Iliinois," explains Amanda Oelze . Boutiques at the Plex is a one day event with 49 boutiques from a 40 mile radius under one roof selling all sorts of stuff. "Fashion, home decor, your vintage markets, children's, gifts, soap, jewelry we have it covered."  It's the brainchild of Amanda Oelze, the owner of Vibrant Vida Boutique in Lebanon, Illinois. "It's very important as a small business owner to collaborate with other small businesses to highlight basically our shops and what we offer to the communities," Oelze adds. Christina and Jason Keck are literally rolling into the Mckendre Metro Rec Plex with Evolution of PXP. "So the truck gears more towards a little younger, hi...