We had Ingrid’s actual eighteenth birthday, and the party for the extended family. Now it’s time for her party with her friends. This one will be a festive brunch, tomorrow.

This is not the first fancy meal that Ingrid invites her friends to, but it will be on a different level. She has been collecting ideas, and then tableware and decorations, for months. The theme for the decorations is sort of romantic in pink and light green, with flower-patterned vintage plates and champagne flutes and candlesticks and slender, elegant vases.

Yesterday, after she finalized the menu, we went shopping for groceries and flowers. Then we cleared most other furniture out of the living/dining room, so that Ingrid could decorate the room and set the table. Ingrid has no school on Fridays this year, so she planned for a full day of baking and food prep today.

I hope her friends have the sense to appreciate the effort that’s going into this!