The food shop here too.
While it is mostly a chore I do actually get a bit of a giddy feeling looking at my fridge full of delicious food that I have bought with money I earned as a real Genuine Adult™ and not a carton of disgusting rice milk in sight.
And if I want cake for breakfast and pizza and ice-cream for tea i can have it. So it did live up to expectations.
My mum is a nurse and I always thought her uniform was very smart and grown up. Now I also work in healthcare and have a uniform but it's a total pain in the arse, mostly because it creases if you look at it funny and I hate ironing. I have been glad of it quite a few times though when other people's bodily fluids have been involved.
I also thought perfume and make-up were very grown up and sophisticated. My extensive perfume collection can attest to the fact that the right one can really put you in the right frame of mind (have one for work, every day, nights out, days out etc). Not a fan of the make-up though.
I thought going to work looked fun too, with special 'work clothes' (df is a scientist, chemistry, so I thought his lab coat and safety goggles were the bees knees) and interesting stories to tell when I got home. I learned very quickly how much that depends on your job. Luckily I am now one of the lucky few who actually loves their job. The pay isn't great but it's very satisfying.
Adulthood has its downsides but I don't think I'd want to be a kid again. Yes there is more responsibility (and far more cleaning than I consider reasonable) but there's also so much more freedom.
It's infinitely preferable to being a teenager which feels like the worst of both worlds.