Merry Christmas!

Husband and I (and Santa, of course!) wish each and every one of you a very, merry and joy-filled Christmas.

When we recall Christmas past, we usually find that the simplest things - not the great occasions - give off the greatest glow of happiness.  ~Bob Hope

A Crazy Fortnight

Today begins a bit of a crazy fortnight.

Tomorrow is the internment of Husband's grandpa and grandma who passed 7 years ago and 3 years ago respectively. They were cremated and never interned. My MIL secured a site for them at Jefferson Barracks in South County, as Peepaw served in the military for many years. The Husband's cousins are coming in for Thanksgiving and it was a good time to have the ceremony when most everyone is here.

We have a luncheon scheduled afterwards so we can spend some time with his extended family since we won't be here for the holiday.

Because after the luncheon, we head to the airport for a flight to DFW! I am so excited to see my family for Thanksgiving even if we may end up eating out instead of cooking a big fancy dinner. I still want to stuff my face with desserts when I get the opportunity.

Not sure about the Black Friday shopping - lounging on the couch in my PJs with a hot cider and shopping via my iPad sounds like it might be more my speed this year for some reason. {Side note: who AM I that I'm not psyched for shopping?! I am getting old.}

We come back home on Sunday evening and spend three days doing laundry, cleaning my house, setting up Christmas decorations (I hope) and then head to Walt Disney World on Thursday morning!

Yup, it's another trip to the House of the Mouse with only me and Husband. We're staying in one of our favorite resorts, Port Orleans French Quarter and have tickets for the Christmas party and the Candlelight Processional, neither of which we've done before. It's five days and four nights of a vacation that we've been looking forward to since April - he passed the bar and we decided this would be our celebration.

So for those keeping score, that's December 10 when we are finally back in town and ready for Christmas. We are hosting our first holiday in the house - with my mom and brother and his family - and there's some major decorating, tree buying and setting up, plus menu planning and executing to do.

How's your next fortnight shaping up?

Adventures in House Tours, part one

Welcome to our new home!

Since we closed on our first house back in July, we've been slowly getting the place in order. Unpacking boxes, moving furniture around, hanging pictures and slowly removing every single decorative flower in the house. The woman who owned the house before us had a thing for pink tulips and they manifest themselves everywhere - in the sidelights next to the pink front door, wallpaper and its borders in multiple rooms, window dressings, shower curtains and even toilet seat covers. It's quite impressive, actually. I have a whole collection of soft goods in the basement if you're interested!

I promised a house tour and I finally had part of the house clean enough to take pictures last weekend.

I can see lots of fun decorations on our front door in the coming seasons! However, that mauve pink on the door and the shutters will be going away next spring, I hope. Now, to choose a color!

When you walk in, the dining room is on the right hand side. The painting of Paris has been with us since our rental house a few years ago and we love it. It makes us want to go back every time we see it!

The dining room has a cut through into the kitchen. The wall with the painting on the right has the garage on the other side of it.

The dining room table and chairs, with the cabinet, came from my in-laws. That has been their dining room set for years and now its ours! Lots of memories with this furniture. The china in the hutch is also from my in-laws - so excited to have service for 12 now! I loved the Noritake pattern we chose for our wedding but we only have service for 5 in that one, and not nearly all the pieces. I hope that we can grow that pattern over the next few years because it would be great to have two! The blue china from our wedding would be amazing for Christmas, with blues and silver.

So when you walk in with the dining room on the right, this is the stairs to the second floor and the hallway to the back of the house, with the sitting room, powder bath and master suite.

If you turn left instead of right, that's our living room.

Complete with our family shrine - I am pretty sure that between the pictures displayed on the cabinet on the left and the table on the right, we might have everyone represented.

This is a good look from the corner of the living room across the whole front of the house. We love the double windows in both rooms and the great light it gets. We installed black out blinds in the living room so we can close 'em up and get it nice and dark for movies on the couch. It's the best.

One thing the old homeowner left behind (besides the window treatments and pink tulips everywhere) was this picture. It's an ink drawing of the house when it was about 10 years old. We absolutely love it! It's hanging in the main hallway and I think we'll leave it there until it's time for us to sell the place. Then, it will be there for the next owner. It's a really nice touch.

At the end of the main hallway, we have a small cabinet and more pictures. There's a castle cutout with the quote "To all who come to this happy place, WELCOME!" My in-laws presented me with this at our housewarming. I definitely cried.

Around the corner from the cabinet above, and in the back of the house is our yellow sitting room. I'm in love with our white fireplace that was like that when we moved in! We left the window treatments and decorated around them.

This is where our books live and the chairs from Weekends Only makes it a perfect nook for hanging out. It also opens into our kitchen which is exactly what we wanted.

Not quite as much counter space or cabinets as we would have hoped for but with those stainless steel appliances that were bought for the house before we put our offer in, how can I complain?!

The kitchen also has an eat-in kitchen. Love!

The door to the left is a double French door that leads out to the back patio.

We haven't done a lot to the outside, other than our small patio furniture and Hubs' new grill, but we will.

We've noticed that there are a ton of leaves that gather due to that big tree in the middle. It was so beautiful when the leaves turned but they fell so fast I couldn't get pictures. There's always next year!

There is plenty of space back here for expanding the patio or installing some kind of garden. We are really excited about the space!

The bedrooms and bathrooms are next!

Adventures in New iDevices

It's been a week without my iDevices and I'm going through withdrawal.

I mean, it's only a phone, right? It's only an iPad? What's the big deal?

It's a major #firstworldproblem and then some, I understand. But every time I come back to my desk and reach for my <fill in the blank iDevice> I am reminded all over again that someone came into my space and took something that wasn't theirs.

I spent the week updating the new phone, changing passwords, answering questions from the police and providing them with serial numbers, and borrowing my husband's iPad so I can watch Drop Dead Diva on Netflix from the comfort of my own bed.

Even with the office's new security policy and the increased awareness, it's still like someone broke into my home. And now I'm back at the desk every day and wonder who in the world could have stolen from me.

The police have used the word "victim" a few times when referring to me and my co-worker. I realize that that word technically does describe me now - a victim of petty theft. But it just seems that they're talking about someone else when they use that word. It almost makes me cringe. I never really thought of myself as a victim and I don't want to be.

Whatever they call, whether they find the stolen property or not, we're moving on. Nothing to be done - no Find My Phone feature to be activated - so we are pressing forward. We're working on the house, I'm running my events and getting excited about the fall and all the holidays. Life does go on, with or without iDevices.

Adventures in Stolen iDevices

With such a great weekend with my cousin and his wife in town, I was feeling pretty good on a Monday morning. I started the day with a good physical therapy session for my strained sacroilic (SI) pain that I've been experiencing in my lower back for the past few months and even was able to get coffee on the way into the office. Meetings went well, and then lunch at Pappy's Smokehouse with my cousin on their way out of town. All in all, good stuff.

I was back in the office for an event debriefing and was feeling pretty good about the productivity level of the day. Had even texted with the husband and confirmed some fun house shopping items for the evening - namely, a programmable thermostat and light switch plates! Awesome stuff, really.

When I got back to my desk, I noticed that my iPhone 3 in its pink silicone case was missing. It wasn't plugged into the headphones that were still lying on the desk where I had dropped them an hour before, pausing my music and headed into my 2 pm meeting.

I thought that was strange and started looking around. It was then that I noticed my iPhone 5 in its green and white polka dot case wasn't on the stand where I had left it. So I called it from my office phone but it rang and rang and went to voicemail, without me hearing the familiar "In the big, blue world!" from Finding Nemo the Musical at Disney World.

Huh. Maybe I left it in my cousin's car? I found his number via Google contacts and gave him a call from the landline. He and his wife looked throughout the car and it wasn't there. I called the smokehouse and no one had a lost phone there either.

I started to panic a bit. I opened every drawer around and enlisted my intern for help. Was it in the board room where I just was? The coffee closet? My car? The downstairs bathroom for some reason? Did anyone turn it into the front desk? No, no, no, no, no.

It was when I was describing to a co-worker what to look for when I realized my iPad in its purple stand up case wasn't on the carnival tickets I had purchased for this weekend's event and dropped on my desk this morning.

Three iDevices were sitting on my desk and all three were GONE. I called my phone number again and now it went straight to voicemail. Someone had taken it and turned it off, tired of the ringing.

Losing your phone is awful. Having it stolen truly is a violation. I feel like my arm has been cut off. I've lost about 500 photos since the last time I backed up and I've been working all afternoon to change every password I can think of.

We suspended the number and went to the AT&T store this evening to get a replacement. The store manager was able to approve a new phone for me, even thought I have a year left from being eligible for an upgrade. I had to sign up for the Next program, but even thought it's more per month, I can get a new phone in 12 months and go back to the 2 year contract if we want. But I have *MY* phone number. That's what I was most worried about. I've had this number for over 10 years and so many friends, family and event planning vendors have that number! When the customer service lady on the phone said I couldn't get it back without the physical phone, I freaked. Thank goodness for the store rep who set me straight and got everything set up.

Now I have to go back it up and reinstall things... so how's your Monday going?

Adventures in Warming a New Home

My new home is very, very, very warm. :)

We had our housewarming party yesterday and saw so many wonderful friends and co-workers happy smiling faces filling our new home. I feel very loved.

Everyone came bearing gifts - which I totally did not expect! We have a great supply of wines of all colors, little Disney knick-knacks to decorate our mantle and bookshelves, gift cards to the home improvement stores, and a very sweet set of things that might seem incongruous, but with the poem really made me cry.

Blessings for a New Home:

Bread - that this house may never know hunger.
Salt - that life may always have flavor.
Wine - that joy and prosperity may reign forever. 

There of course was bread and salt in the bag, and the biggest magnum of Riesling wine I'd ever seen! Along with those things, there were fall-themed kitchen towels and a pot holder. To add to it, she gave us a fluffy blanket to "warm" our new home. 

The blessing is from It's a Wonderful Life which I guess I should go watch now, huh? What an incredibly sweet present. I think I might end up making this my go-to housewarming gift.

P.S. I promise when my house is cleaned up after the party, I will take pictures and show you the new place!

Adventures in a New (to me) Decade

Today is a very exciting day.

At 10:57 p.m. this evening, I will have been on this earth for exactly thirty years.

30.

That seems like a huge number. It's a new decade. There's a new bigger number at the start of my age. I am no longer in my 20s.

A few weeks ago, I was apprehensive. People kept asking me what I wanted for my birthday (I never know) or what we should do to celebrate (I never have any ideas, even as event planner). The big 3-0 seemed to be looming and I didn't know what to do about it.

Growing up, I think that everyone looks to the ages of their friends parents or cousins or what have you and you imagine where you'll be at their age. 30 seemed very far away. But then again, I feel like I just turned 21 and made some really bad choices by accepting the Humphrey's birthday plunger that evening and then having to make it home up the hill outside the Laclede garage. ;)

I don't quite know where I thought I would be at 30. I always thought I would be married and perhaps I thought we might have kids at this point.

But in 30 years, I have had some amazing adventures. I've met the love of my life, traveled to Europe and Africa and all across the U.S, discovered my absolute obsession in Disney. I've been planning events (the ideal job for me, even if I didn't know it growing up) full time for almost six years. I've been a small business owner planning weddings for a year and a half. I've put a husband through law school and seen the joy in my love's eyes when he comes home happy from his day at the office. I bought a house.

Who knows what the next year, ten years, thirty years, sixty years holds? I know that I want to enjoy it. I want to travel the world with the love of my life. I want to expand our family. I want to end a day and actually complete all my to-do list.

I think I can make that happen.

Adventures in Disney's Missouri

It's been a crazy few weeks, but what's new?

After the funeral in northern Missouri, we were driving home on the state highways and saw the above sign. We knew we were close to Marcelline, but I had no idea where exactly it was! One of my mom's grandparents actually moved from the farm near the cemetery to Marcelline back in the day. So of course it would be relatively close and not clear across the state.

With my in-laws following behind us, we had to stop by the original Main Street. I had read a few blogs and heard some podcasters talk about their Marcelline experience. Even though we were having sort of a somber day, we had to stop by!

There's actually a museum right in town, a few blocks off the original Main Street. That was our first stop and there was a photo op (obviously!)!

The museum wasn't huge but started with a tour guide who gave us a brief overview of why a museum in the middle of Missouri and why Marcelline is important in the Disney story. The rest of the museum was a self-guided tour. 

For a Disney fan like me, I actually knew most of what the tour guide and the placards said. But still, a bit of Disney in Missouri?! I'll take it any day. 

The connections to the trains was really fun. The museum is situated right next to the tracks and over 70 trains per day come through! A few came barreling by while we were on our tour. One interesting fact? If the conductor is a Marcelline native, you'll hear additional train horns beyond the standard four that have to be given when coming through a town. If there are any more 'toots', it's a conductor saying hi to mom and dad! Isn't that fun?

 

After the museum, we drove the few blocks down to Main Street. This view really says it all. It's much wider than I anticipated but it does kind of feel like the one in Disneyworld! I can see the inspiration, definitely. Can you see the Uptown Theatre towards the middle and beyond the mini van? So neat.

 Such a fun view!

Zurcher's was the inspiration for Walt's Coke Corner or Casey's in Disneyworld, I believe. Behind this newer building, there was a Victorian facade that was there during Disney's time. 

What a road trip!

Adventures in Normalcy

Getting back to normal is hard.

But is there ever really a normal?

We've had a hard weekend. Saying goodbye is never easy.

Flowers sometimes make it easier. We spent at least an hour at the florist's shop on Wednesday choosing the right blooms to have at the funeral. Mom picked the purple gladiolas and the florist added the eucalyptus around the base of the vase that really showed it off well. My cousin and his wife had the purple and white arrangement in the upper left corner and with their selections of flowers it was just perfect. I picked the lower left arrangement with some lilies that were also in the casket spray.

We ended up taking the casket arrangement's flowers up to the internment the next day. Just like for my grandmother's funeral, we placed flowers on top of the urn as it was placed in the ground. We each took a handful of dirt and tossed it in along with the flowers. My aunt had done just that same thing at her mother's internment so there was symmetry there.

We did have some fun looking through family photos in preparation for the funeral. This might be one of my favorites. That's my aunt on the left, my brother is the little one in front (probably not older than 6), my cousin behind him. My dad is the one with the gun (which is hysterical because he was so not a gun toter), then my mom and a 12 year old me. My brother was very unhappy with the whole picture taking operation, so that scowl is not just for the character of the picture! It's him being really annoyed with us.

What I love about my family is our roots. Both of my mom's parents are from northern Missouri, from very small towns. Our family cemetery is up there, about three hours north of Kansas City. There's something soothing about going to the same place where my ancestors are buried. My grandma's family actually homesteaded the county back in the 1880s. There are members of that family going back to that time, all buried here. It's very neat.

We talked about purchasing more plots near our family plot, because they're only $20 a piece! Can you believe that? We might end up doing it sometime. Because the idea of all my family being in this one place, so peaceful, so quiet, up on a hill in northern Missouri, surrounded by farm land, just seems right.

Adventures in Having a Small Family

 

This is my family. My mom's mom is seated in the middle of the photo and her husband (my step-grandfather) is seated next to her. Then in the back row, from the left, is Husband, me, my little brother peeking out from behind me. Then my only cousin (on this side of the family), his wife, then his mom (my aunt and mom's only sister). My dad and mom are on the end on the right.

We've had a lot happen since this photo was taken in Kansas City for my grandma's 75 birthday in 2008. 

The house that the picture was taken in is still there, and has been since my mom and aunt were raised in that kitchen. The booth around the kitchen table is gone (wasn't in this picture actually) but the clock is still on the wall and booms on the hour and wakes me up, since I'm not used to it when I stay there.

But the people in this picture have changed. We've now lost three of them - my dad in 2010, my grandma in 2011 and now my aunt.

Families ebb and flow - we lose parts of our family and gain others. My cousin's wife has been with us through a lot and my husband is as much a part of the family as I am. But with such a small and tight knit family, the loss of any part is felt keenly.

                                           

On Monday afternoon, around the exact time she had the stroke four years before, my dear aunt passed into the fullness of Eternal Life. The chaplain of the nursing home was there, praying with her, and read her a verse from Revelations about the New Jerusalem.

Then I saw “a new heaven and a new earth,” for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and there was no longer any sea. I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Look! God’s dwelling place is now among the people, and he will dwell with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. ‘He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death’ or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.”

The chaplain told her, "These are your promises, Nancy..." She took another two breaths, and then was gone. It was as peaceful in the end as we had hoped it would be. 

We grieve not for her, but for ourselves. I tell my cousin this, but it doesn't ease the pain of losing your parent. Nothing really can, except for time. I can be there for him, I can drive to Kansas City this afternoon to be with the family, and I can make arrangements for the funeral music and for the reception afterwards. Those are the things I'm good with and that's what I can do at this time. 

When we were on hospice watch a few weeks ago, I was sitting in her room with my cousin and we debated which was harder - losing a parent quickly to an embolism (like I did with my dad) or watching a parent slowly fade away (like he was experiencing with his mom). 

We decided that both really suck.

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Thank you for all your prayers and kind words. More of the same is always appreciated. Hug your loved ones tight and tell them you care. Because that means the world to them.

Adventures in Unpacking

I had intended to do a long post today about the beautiful new home that we moved into earlier in the summer. However, there are boxes everywhere, the laundry is piling up, and wouldn’t you know it, this house is getting dirty just like the last one! I actually had to swifter the bathroom floor because of the weeks of me doing my hair on a tile floor. I shed a lot, apparently.

There are a few things I’m loving about the new place…

There is enough room in the kitchen to have a TON of boxes… and we were still ok to move around. Sort of. All of these boxes are gone, thank goodness!

I don’t quite love this part – the master bedroom closet came crashing down the day after we moved in. My dear husband went to the home improvement store (our home away from home now) and bought some additional support and was able to reinstall it. We need to do the same for my side of the closet.

 

Husband and I actually eat together at our kitchen table! There’s a dining room table as well, but this is in our breakfast nook in the kitchen. It’s the perfect place to keep the bananas, even though there aren’t any in this picture. The picture frame was from the townhouse and we used it to hang up our keys when we walked in. Not quite sure where it will end up in the new house, so for now, it’s actually leaning against the wall. Just like all the other artwork in the house. It’ll go up eventually.

My brand new gas stove. I love cooking with gas again! I always seemed to burn things on electric.

And of course, my favorite place – the coffee spot. It’s got a place of honor right on the counter, around the corner from our master bedroom. I’m in love.

 

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So we are getting settled, still unpacking boxes and trying to remember where we put a certain thing when we end up needing it. I was organized in the townhouse but it’s hard with so many more places that things can go. It’s a good problem to have, but I need to reinstate my organizing system in the new place!

Adventures in Knowing Your Own Email Address

Apparently, I'm an awful blogger.

I started this blog five months ago and have been blogging away, albeit a bit sporadically. I thought it was awfully quiet, and wondered if anyone was reading anymore. So strange.

When I logged in this morning to post something, I saw that there are 50 comments dating back from the first blog here that were awaiting moderation. For my previous blog, I had comment moderation turned on so I would get an email whenever someone commented here! That way, I could approve it and then answer back and it was a great way to connect with blogging friends!

Um, whoops.

I entered the wrong email into the comment moderation page and so some random person who has "wanderingadventure" at Gmail has been getting your comments.

I am so sorry!

To make up for it, here is a video of a penguin being tickled. Please giggle as much as I did last night when I saw this on Facebook.

Adventure to the Emerald City

In the spirit of awesome ideas, right in the middle of buying a house, Husband and I decided to go on vacation.

Well, we had been planning this vacation since February. And I say "planning" with many air quotes. Because other than picking the time and booking the flights, he and I did nothing but get on the plane to go visit our friends in Seattle.

M and D moved to Seattle in February after D got his dream job. D is Husband's college roommate and best friend, and M is a good friend of mine. They bought a house in South County and we spent many a night of law school, and then the boys' MBA school, over there. We grilled, we watched silly television (see: the Asylum movies [http://www.theasylum.cc/] and FAIL videos), we watched the boys build things. You know, the usual.

So when D got the awesome job that was perfect for him, we were so disappointed they were moving away. Who would we spend our Sunday nights with? Who would build random things with Husband? How could we get along without them?

We are getting along, spending time on our new house of course, but we knew when they moved we would want to go visit them in Seattle. Neither of us had been out there and it seemed like a perfect way to celebrate Husband's 29th birthday in July. We had no idea that it was going to be such a crazy month in our life.

Four days, and we accomplished a ton! M did an amazing job planning out our trip... we didn't lack for any activities! We even did things that other friends who used to live in Seattle said they had never done. This was so much of a success, we are already planning on next trip. There will be whale-watching on the next go-around!

But seriously, this is all we did in four days, with some pictures thrown in for good measure!

-Seattle Underground Tour

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

-Theo’s Chocolate Factory Tour

 

-Visit to the Fremont Troll

-Tour of D’s office

-Dinner at Din Tai Fung (dumplings house) to celebrate Husband’s birthday

-Top Pot Doughnuts

-Boeing Tour

-Visit to the Flagship REI store

-Shopping in Bellevue

-Sunset on Alki Beach and view of Seattle skyline at night

 

-Space Needle

 

-Pike’s Market (Flying fish, first Starbuck’s, gum wall, etc.)

-Dinner with family friends

-Cascade Pass day hike (7 mile round trip, 1800 ft elevation gain)

Before…

During…

At the top…

 

 

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Insanity. But so, so, so much fun. :) We already miss M and D... when can we get that next trip planned?!

Adventures in New Housing!

 

 

We are now homeowners. 

 

They gave us the keys on July 2.

And now I know where every paycheck and bonus are going to go for the foreseeable future. My new house. With which, I am in love.

I'm still working on taking pictures, so I will be doing a proper before and after picture recap. But for those who follow me on Instagram, you have seen the crazy week that we've had - with removing wallpaper that is even more than glued on and trying to paint over it. We're getting there, and the pros are probably coming in next week to help finish the job.

The movers come July 22 to take care of the heavy stuff, and hoping that many boxes will be moved over there before hand.

I think we've rearranged the room assignments a few times and we haven't even moved in yet!

We have a four bedroom, 2.5 bath in a one and a half story in a suburb of St. Louis. There's a great yard and as soon as the wallpaper comes down and our colors go up, it will be amazing. There's a large living room and dining room right off the foyer and a sitting room off the open kitchen and breakfast nook. The master bedroom and bathroom are on the first floor and the walk in closet is huge. It's pretty much why I bought the house. ;) Upstairs, we've got three bedrooms and a bathroom so Husband will get an office, I'll get a craft room with open shelving and there will be a guest room next to the guest bathroom.

It's pretty much perfect. I'm in love!

P.S. Did I mention that he carried me over the threshold on Tuesday afternoon, once we got the keys? It was pretty darn adorable.

Adventures in Surprise Wedding Showers

Warning: the people you are about to see are professionals. Don't try this at home.

I would NEVER suggest that anyone do what I'm about to tell you I did last month. Seriously, only highly trained professionals should attempt this particular feat.

I'm an event planner. I work on non-profit events for my day job and weddings for my side job. I do LOTS of events each year. And I love them! Give me some time to create a timeline, set up some decor items, and I'm a happy camper. It's fun!

However, what I don't love is the last minute nature of events. I've learned over 6.5 years to go more with the flow, because you have to be flexible in my line of work.

When my mother-in-law told me her longtime friend asked her and me to plan a last-minute wedding shower for her future daughter-in-law when the couple was in St. Louis over Memorial Day weekend, and oh by the way, it’s a surprise, I was a little worried. Well, a LOT worried. I had lots going on… like another celebration I could mention here.

But an evite sent out, a timeline created, cover story concocted, and supplies purchased the day after the graduation party, and we were set. A surprise wedding shower with Cardinal touches was a go. 

Baseball cookies from a local grocery store. So much easier to pick these up instead of making them ourselves!

Gus’ Pretzels makes fabulous pretzels in crazy shapes – including the Cardinals’ logo!

Popcorn in individual containers.

What’s a wedding shower without mimosas? Strawberries just completed the red look.

The sister of the groom made chocolate covered strawberries which were yummy!

The dessert table.

The mantel was decorated for the occasion.

Baseballs and peanuts!

Cracker Jacks and centerpieces.

The bride-to-be was VERY surprised. She thought she was coming to my MIL’s house for beer and pie.

The couple with their gifts. He left pretty quickly after this picture to hang out with my husband while we had the party.

The bride-to-be with her adorable flower girl.

The planner and the bride-to-be!

Other guests…

And with her maid of honor.

 

While she was very surprised, I think she truly enjoyed herself once she was handed an adult beverage! She received some beautiful gifts and we had a lovely time hanging out before the wedding this past weekend. It was a great celebration.