Come On Barbie, Let's Go Party

Do you remember the first time you ever felt joy? For me it came about when one of my sisters had the very same Barbie pictured here when we were growing up. Sometimes she would leave it unattended long enough for me to play with, to imagine the magical event Barbie was going to, to think how special it must feel to be a glamorous lady at a ball. And the very best part about Barbie's dress?  The stars on the skirt glowed in the dark if you held it up to a light bulb long enough. Oh,  how Barbie must have been the envy of all her friends in that lavish velvet and nylon ensemble. Those rare glimpses into pretend elegance were heightened by the risk factor of an older sister discovering me playing with one of her toys and a sibling punishment being served.
I know it's a bit weird that i'm in my thirties and I love Barbie still. I think it's in part because as a child of the eighties,  I grew up enchanted by films of cheerleaders,  milkshakes,  crimped hair, and thinking i'd made it in life if I got chosen to tour the kitchen/freezer at a McDonald's kids party.
 Barbie lived that dream and I thought of her today as I walked back from coffee with a friend in town. The sun was shining, and the air was crisp but under my bobble hat I was sweltering with another hot flush.  I'd been telling my friend how more challenging than my spontaneous attempts to melt was the mood swings of out of the blue, irrational PMT like rages where I can be annoyed by nothing much but still want to bite the perceived perpetrator. Yes, I mean actually bite. Yes, I am well aware I am lucky for the time I live in and most certainly would have been institutionalised for being hysterical had I been born a hundred years or more ago. What a time to be alive.
While i'll always be less conventional than my first idol,  I love her all the same and quite often will still be playing with the girls collection long after they have abandoned the game. So with that in mind i've decided to celebrate our birthdays-we're all in the same week-with a Barbie and Ken fancy dress party. Who's in? And as it's not til August  I promise I will be less bitey more Barbie by then.