Celeste Turns Six At American Girl Place

I love the City of Los Angeles. I love it's new/oldness. The buildings - how the old architecture is tucked in between the new beautifully designed buildings. I love how in between, the plain but cool '50's and '60's buildings sit with their plain boxiness, atomic age wrought iron railings and spiky landscaping.

The mish mash of architecture is distinctively dotted with the signature palm trees. Green consistently accents the stucco pinks and greys, the glass and marble, the frescoes and bas reliefs.

The people are not unlike the architecture. There's the old world - the Hasidic Jews taking a Sabbath stroll. They add to the beauty of the city, with their wool coats and hats. The women, in their tailored outfits, shepherd lovely children and push shiny strollers filled with fat babies pink cheeked in the icy air.

The new world weaves their way among their peers. The young studio execs - making deals on their cell phones. Gorgeous tall homemakers pushing their shiny stroller while exasperated hubbies carry mountains of packages from J. Crew and Pottery Barn.

In between are the immigrants from nearby 3rd world countries. They came to the U.S. to get a better life, and it is clear that they have gotten just that. They walk happily, shepherding their tiny childen, pushing theirstrollers smiling at eachother with white teeth contrasting strongly with their suntanned skin.

Thiis is what I savored on the way to The Grove where American Girl Place can be found. We celebrated Celeste's sixth birthday there. It's a little girl's dream palace. A place out of a Shirley Temple movie. Escalators here, elevators there. Rooms dedicated to each historical member of the AG Family. Little wish cards that girls can collect and place in miniature folders. Just as good as shopping.

And when you get hungry - there is the American Girl Cafe. The food is wonderful. Dessert is served in tiny flower pots filled with mousse or peppermint ice cream topped with a silk daisy. The peppermint ice cream is pink and unexpectedly delicious. At the end of our meal, we checked to make sure no one was leaving a speck of ice cream behind. Not to be wasted! Every flowerpot was cleaned out.

The Cafe presented Celeste with a big cake shaped like a luxurious white gift tied with pink ribbon. The candles were placed higgeldy piggeldy in the center. I wondered how they stayed stationary. The candles were lit, and we sung to Celeste on exactly six years to the day of her birth. A day that marks one of the happiest of my life.

Toward the end, one of Celeste's very good friends Grace announced "Now that's what I call a party!" Amen, Grace!