Several years ago, the Fab Five travelled to Chicago for a bit of food and fun. One thing you should know before you read any further is that our dear Wendy loves shopping. No, she L-O-V-E-S shopping with a capital "L". Pretty much any type of shopping but she REALLY loves shopping in Chicago...and she REALLY ESPECIALLY loves shopping in Chicago at Crate & Barrel. So somewhere along the way we decided that since Wendy's birthday was coming up, we would all go to C&B...follow her around...get ideas of what she would like, then buy stuff on-the-sly and ship it back to her house for her to open on her birthday. It was such a great plan and was going so smoothly up until we actually entered the store. Wendy's mom had informed BJune (prior to our leaving for Chicago), that whatever we did, we needed to keep Wendy from buying a set of 12 white Crate & Barrel buffet plates, because she had already purchased them for her as a Christmas gift. Okay...so, how hard could that be? Rrrrrright. We weren't 2 steps into the store when right smack dab in front of us was a huge display of...you guessed it...those stupid buffet plates. Of course our little Wendy spotted them immediately and literally floated over to them and said, "This is what I want...right here. These buffet plates. I really want these. I don't care about getting anything else except these...I want these." We all laughed nervously, tried to ignore her comment, shuffled in different directions, sent furtive glances across the store to each other, until finally three of us voted that Momo should have a heart-to-heart with Wendy...because well...Momo and Wendy are cousins...and, well basically the rest of us were chicken and really didn't want the responsibility. So the conversation went something like this:

Momo: Wendy, you can't have the buffet plates.

Wendy: But why, I really want them.

Momo: Wendy, I can't tell you why, you're just going to have to trust me.

Wendy: But that's all I want.

Momo: Wendy, you can't get the buffet plates. Do you understand?

Wendy: No. I don't understand. I want the buffet plates. Why can't I get them?

Momo: Wendy, you will (nodding) get the plates sometime. You just won't (shaking head) get them today. Okay?

Wendy: No. I don't understand why you won't let me get the buffet plates.

Momo: You're just going to have to trust me, that's all I can tell you.

Wendy: Okay. But I really want them.

Wendy finally backed off the buffet plates, even though she still didn't understand, and we all heaved a collective sigh of relief...well, except for Wendy. Her sigh came on Christmas day when she cracked open that signature black & white box and unwrapped every one of those lovely-blasted-stress-inducing buffet plates.