If you don't already know me, you may wonder who I am, to be putting forth her somewhat snarky opinions about the doll world?
I am Kathy Notenboom and along with my husband Leo owned and ran Dolls and Friends, a retail store for dolls and doll accessories from 1994-2008. We just retired from the business at the end of 2008 after 14+ years.
Over the years we saw many trends, retail doll businesses, and doll manufacturers come and go. There's truly no teacher like experience. I'm using this blog to share some of that experience with you, for my own gratification, for fun and hopefully to benefit you, the reader. May my words give you food for thought, a reason to laugh and hopefully an opinion to share. If you have questions about the doll business I will try my best to answer them thoughtfully (notice I didn't say truthfully!). If you have a joke to share, please go ahead and do so.
Before I went from being a doll collector run amok to owning a doll store, I married Leo the computer geek, got my (useless) degree in history from the University of Washington, was an LPN for a few years at a big hospital in Seattle and then worked in a doll store in the very early 1990s. I was born and raised in Washington state and have also lived in Washington all my life. I would miss the green trees, the mountains and the rain too much to live anywhere else.
Retiring from the business will give me the time to play with my own dolls, travel, see my friends, read, shovel out my house (I did say I was a doll collector run amok, after all) and surf the internet.
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