Never Too Old

When I was a girl, there was one thing I wanted with all my heart. Mostly because my best friend had one, but that's beside the point.

The thing I wanted was an American Girl Doll. Molly or Samantha, to be precise.

Samantha had prettier clothes.

But Molly had cooler accessories. 

Both of them had great hair and I would dream of the day when I'd have my very own doll to practice all my inventive hairstyles on without my best friend whining that she wanted her doll back. I never had to choose between them, though, because I never got one. Apparently, they're expensive or something.

Well, now I'm a grown up and my doll obsession is behind me. Or so I thought. My daughters are just the right age and, wouldn't you know it, there's an American Girl store within driving distance of our home. I've secretly been wanting to go ever since we moved here. And now, the time has come. A few weekends ago, I took Bright along with me to experience the American Girl Place for the first time together.

It was like a dream.

We arrived ten minutes before they opened and rushed upstairs to the hair salon as soon as they unlocked the doors. We were second in line. And no, we did not come away with fantastic new hair-dos. Bright's American Girl doll, Caroline, did. She sat in an itty bitty salon chair while a doll stylist tamed her tangled doll curls and put them in a fancy up-do. Caroline also got her ears pierced while we were there.

After our visit to the stylist, we stopped into the cafe for brunch. The cafe was, seriously, the cutest place I've ever seen in my entire life. Decorated in white, black and hot pink, it was like sitting inside an incredibly chic cupcake. Bright and I shared brunch while asking each other questions from a little conversation starter box on the table. Caroline got her own little seat, along with a teacup and saucer so she wouldn't get bored while the humans ate their food.

 

 

After brunch, we wandered through every inch of the three-story American Girl Place store. We studied the historical girl doll displays, oohed and ahhed at the girl of the year displays and exclaimed over cute outfit after cute outfit. Apparently, my obsession with doll stuff has not dwindled over time. 

But that's okay. My daughter and I had a truly fantastic day. We spent the next day giving her new doll (the one she'd saved up her own money to buy) a salon day complete with a spa pedicure and a temporary perm in her hair.

 (This is Caroline and Amy - Bright's dolls, and Kit - Plucky's doll)

Being a girl is so much fun!