NIECE WEEK

While I IMPATIENTLY wait to 'announce' my news that I am brimming on the edge of (I'm usually not a tease, it's just that I gotta wait a little longer, to my own chagrin)... I decided to entertain two of my three nieces in true Sun Follower LA fashion.

Sunday - "V" (8 yrs old) comes to spend the day with her aunt in the metropolis known as LA. My brother and sister-in-law hand her off and we make our way to the (ever-fabulous and very Christmassy ) Grove/Farmer's Market to catch a blockbuster - "Happy Feet." We got there with time to spare and decide to window shop and grab some fries and cherry cokes. The whole morning she'd been telling me how she wants this particular doll. On the escalator a little girl about her age was holding a doll and wearing the exact same outfit as the doll. "That's it!" she said excitedly. Then low and behold we ran across a store I'd never noticed before, the "American Girl" doll store - three full stories of dolls, racks of doll clothes and matching little girl clothes, a "fancy" cafe with lots of girls having real-life tea parties sitting at tables with their dolls and matching clothes. I'd swear we were on the set of a "Twilight Zone" episode and expected the dolls to RISE and attack at any moment. My niece, however, was in heaven. She picked a doll ($100 ea) and several outfits ($30-40 each) that I might want to get her if I was "needing ideas" for her Christmas present. When I finally got her out of there (no easy task) we sat and ate our fries and cherry cokes and perused the American Girl catalog. This American Girl thing is quite the cult amongst little girls, apparently. I heartily apologized to my Bro and Sis-in-law when I dropped V off - she's now officially obsessed.

Wednesday - "L" (just turned 19 yrs old) drives into LA (and didn't get lost on my directions!) and we went to the Museum of Tolerance (which I've been wanting to visit for some time - socially significant and important, but depressing as hell). She asked me to go with her as it was an optional assignment for her Psych 101 class (term paper to follow). My niece is an amazing young girl - so pretty and smart and sweet and so TOGETHER for a teenager! She's got a steady part-time job - has her own car - studies very hard and gets great grades - she plays soccer, basketball and surfs - she's interested in art and thinks she'll get into graphic design as a career - and she is planning to study a semester abroad, probably London. I am so very proud of her. After the museum we needed to 'lighten up', so we went to center of LA kitsch - El Coyote - for a late lunch and talked forever about being a college freshman - classes - college social life - schools she's considering transferring to - and traveling. Later we had vanilla lattes at Priscilla's and then met a couple of my friends and saw a Xmas play which we both totally enjoyed. She's such a great kid and will undoubtedly grow to be an exceptional young woman.

Being an aunt is one of THEE favorite roles I'll ever play in my life. I am so lucky to have these incredible children in my world - and the heartfelt pleasure of watching them grow and mature and develop into incredible adults.

So that was niece week... and don't even get me started on my nephews!