Girls' Night In

My 14 year old niece and I just spent the evening together. Her mom and dad are out of town for the weekend and although she had the option of staying home with her older brother, she decided she would rather spend the night here.

Grant had a function tonight (which I suspect is actually a boys' night out, but no problem!), so it was Alana, me, the dog and the cat (who are also girls....hee). We watched a totally girly movie Now and Then, which is kind of the girl version of Stand By Me . It has a very young Christina Ricci and Thora Birch in it, as well as Rosie O' Donnell, Demi Moore and Melanie Griffith. A nice little movie. Then we watched part of Chicago together, ate popcorn and hung. Alana played with the dog and cuddled the cat. She's in bed now; so everybody (the dog, the cat and me) can relax a bit.

I am so flattered that she wanted to stay here, but it made me terribly nervous. She hasn't stayed here before, or even been here for much longer than an evening. I am entirely at home at her house, but she is still a bit shy around here, so I had to keep checking in with her to see if she had what she wanted to eat or drink or watch. Playing hostess for a kid is tough. I didn't want to seem like a total nag. But at the same time, I really wanted her to feel comfortable and have fun with me. I hope I struck a good balance, because it was nice to have a girl in the house!