Sister Party

Annette, hanging up some Decor Elements. She's good!

Tamsin, Katie and Annette during our Facial Fiesta! Aren't they glowing?



Loene, Jennifer, Ava, Annette, Katie, Tamsin, Emma

I love a Sister Party. I grew up with three older sisters, Loene, Annette and Linnea. Oh, I have one older brother, but that's an entry for another time. Anyway, I shared a room with Linnea, so we were always buddies. Being just two years older than I, she was wise and very street smart in my eyes. Loene and Annette shared a room also. Theirs was a mysterious lair with teenage girl stuff that I both feared and envied. I'll spend more time on the sibs later-this is all about Sister Parties.

We began Sister Parties by taking short trips together. Now we simply take advantage of any long weekend and put it to good use. A Sister Party for us entails a whole lot of nothing. No schedule, no expectations, no obligations. We read, sleep, eat, watch movies, shop, laugh, and repeat. Not all components have to be present-some Sister Parties are heavy on the reading and light on the shopping. Others are full of sleep with the occasional outing just to breathe air outside of the house.

Oh, I should also explain you don't have to be a sister to join a Sister Party. Many years ago after my sister Linnea died (another blog for another day), we invited my brother Alan to join us. He pretended to have fun, then asked that next time we had a sister party maybe he could just come to the eating part. Funny, funny Alan! Loene's sister-in-law has partied with us; so has Annette's twenty something son. Oddly enough, outliers tend to only attend one party. Hmmm. Most notably, the sister party includes nieces. The most consistent non-sister attendee is my niece Tamsin. She became an honorary sister after Linnea moved to the great Sister Party in the sky.

This particular Sister Party included Annette, her daughters Tamsin and Katie, Tamsin's daughter Emma and, for one fun afternoon, my sister Loene, her daughter Jennifer and granddaughter Ava. We did pedicures, manicures, facials (thanks to Cathi-yay for Cathi), read, shopped, saw the newest Harry Potter movie, went out to breakfast for a rather pathetic gluten free meal at Marie Callenders (they've changed their menu-no more yummy cheese and bacon laden hash browns-dang!), watched So You Think You Can Dance, spent an entire afternoon running errands that resulted in one failed attempt after another to find a perfect gift for Emma's upcoming second birthday, rented some shows On Demand, and just enjoyed being together. The gang is staying for church today-a real treat-before heading out. It's been a great weekend and I'll miss the noise and bustle of family after they leave.