Callie's Baby Shower, Cake and Cupcakes

This weekend I had the pleasure of attending the nicest baby shower I've ever been to in my life.  My friends know how to do it!

Callie is a good friend of mine from college.  She went to high school with my other great friends from college, Miranda, Kiesha and Annie.  She moved to Colorado with her husband a couple of years ago, and is now pregnant with their first child.

Miranda, Kiesha and Annie, along with Callie's sisters, mother and another good friend threw her this shower on Saturday.  They asked me a while back if I would make a cake and cupcakes for the shower.  Of course I agreed!

Friday was actually the birthday of one of mine and Josh's best friends, Derek.  Derek was a great friend of mine in high school and on into college.  When Josh and I started dating in college, he and Derek became good friends and wound up living together for a few years with another good friend, Jordan.  So we went out to eat with Derek, Jordan and a couple others for Derek's birthday Friday night.

After dinner, I dropped that crew off at a bar and headed over to Miranda's house, where Callie's shower was taking place the next day.  She and a big group of girls were out to dinner as well, so she left me the code to get into her house.  When I walked in, it smelled fabulous.  I went into the kitchen and discovered the source of the wonderful aroma.  The most beautiful flower arrangements topped her island.  Oh, they were right up my alley.  The arrangements were nothing but green and white - white lilies, white stock, and gladiolas.  Beautiful.  I had white and green at our wedding with a touch of lavender.  Lavender tulips.  But other than that, it was white lilies, stock, gladiolas, bells of Ireland... white and green.  I love that.

I made myself comfortable in Miranda's guest bed and looked forward to waking up to a house full of great ladies (Miranda's husband and twin girls spent the night away so us girls could take over for the weekend).

So the next morning I woke up at 7am.  Thank goodness, I heard Miranda talking to someone in the next room.  I hate being the first to wake up when I'm not at home.  I don't really want to get up, 'cause I don't live there and can't do too much, but then I hate lying in bed awake.  So I got up and went into Miranda's room where I found her, Callie and Callie's friend Emily all piled up in Miranda's king bed.  Miranda was laughing at the fact that the ones that were up so early were all the moms (Emily has two children).  It's a curse.  Even when you get the chance to sleep in as late as you want, you can't.

We enjoyed some coffee, cinnamon rolls, yogurt, cottage cheese, fruit... Miranda always has it covered.  And we got to work.  I wasn't actually a hostess, so I didn't know what all was going to be taking place.  I soon found out that lunch was a sit-down meal that was being catered right out of Miranda's kitchen.

Miranda had all her furniture moved out to make room for the guest tables that were set so beautifully.

The beautiful flowers that I already mentioned, fine china and sterling silver, and for our napkins, Miranda made all these different burp cloths for the baby.  They were all different and so cute!  Some were monogrammed, some had the baby's name (Lillian), and some were just adorable fabrics.  So the napkin at each place was a handmade burp cloth.

Let me tell you, I felt very wrong bringing that thing to my mouth to wipe it!  And I wasn't the only one having that problem.  We didn't want to mess them up!

This is the guest of honor, Callie, with her mom and grandmother:

For lunch, we started with mimosas and an incredible cheese plate, hummus (oh my gosh, I could eat my weight in that stuff), dried fruits, nuts, dolmas, and grilled shrimp skewers.  Then we had salad with grilled chicken or salmon and roasted vegetables.  Everything was so good.

The cupcakes were a hit too.  Callie's sister is the one that I spoke to about doing them.  She sent me a couple pictures and told me that the colors were lavender and gray.  She said Callie didn't care what kind of cupcakes they were.  I decided on red velvet with cream cheese frosting and devil's food with almond buttercream.  It turns out that red velvet is Callie's favorite.  :)

We made these little birds that were going to be attached to a limb to make a mobile that will hang in the baby's room.  Some were definitely interesting!

Callie got lots of nice things.  I made her a tag blanket with her colors, lavender and gray, along with a box of necessities (diapers, wipes, baby wash and lotion).

I had to leave shortly after the gifts were opened - I had two (or three) boys waiting for me at home.  The girls were still planning on casting Callie's belly, but I couldn't stick around long enough for that, unfortunately.

It was a very, very nice shower and I had such a nice time visiting with the girls.  I wish Callie and Eric all the best with their first little one, Miss Lillian.

April Fools! (just kidding)

Well, I thought about writing a post that said I was pregnant and then at some point tomorrow posting a big fat "April Fools!" Josh said it was too late, and that if I posted it now no one would see it until tomorrow. April 2nd. Not April Fools day. No good.

That made me remember that my friend, Lisa wrote a post last year saying that she and my friend Dustin had broken up. I was totally distraught over this news. I love them as a couple! They cant break up! Then came the big "April Fools!" Whew! They totally got us. I cannot believe that was a year ago! Are you kidding me?!? It seems like just a few months ago, at most. Weird.

Okay, different subject, completely:

I now officially know what it feels like to have your child be super sick and not be able to do anything about it. I won't give too many details, because some of you may be still digesting your dinner, breakfast, 3pm snack, whatever. But, he basically spent the whole day Sunday throwing up. 5 times total. Lots of outfits changed. Me, him, Mama, Josh. It was so not fun. Poor baby. Then Monday all he wanted to do was lie on our chest and sleep. All day long. Bennett is so not the kind of child that will lie on your chest for any amount of time. He'll hardly even sit next to you. He is constantly moving. Squirmy, squirmy little booger. But Monday was nice. Well, I say it was nice because for once, Josh and I got to enjoy him lying his little head on us and either watching Sesame Street or going to sleep. It wasn't really nice though, because of why he was doing that. Yesterday was okay; he actually ate a little bit and was less tired and whiny. Today he is a champ, but all the residual sickness is coming out in his diapers. Whoa, buddy. Sorry, the digesting, I know.

So, he's all better. Yea! Me no likey stomach bugs.

She's Crafty!

It's a Beastie Boys song. I'm not tooting my own horn.

Anyway, I just wanted to share with you the results of a recent bite from the craft bug. One of my girlfriends is having twins this summer, and I recently attended/hosted a baby shower for her. We were supposed to bring gifts for the mommy-to-be, but I refused. Sorry, but she's about to have TWO babies. At once. She needs stuff for those little ones! I did include a little something for her, so as not to disobey my fellow hostesses completely, but the majority of the gift was for the babies. I wish I had gotten a picture of it. It was a very large oval basket filled with tiny little size 1 diapers (about 300 of the suckers.) Then hanging out of the front were two tag blankets that (Mama and) I made. *Thank you to my sister-in-law, Lauren, and Margaret at Le Jardin Blanc for making me aware of these great little things. Bennett adores his that Aunt Lauren made for him.*

Long story short, one of the girls at the shower (who is due any day now) saw the blankets and asked if I could make her one. Hmm... did I want to do that? Let's see, the shower was on Sunday. Monday I went to Southeast Yarn to get the fabric and to Michael's to get the ribbon. Monday evening they were all pinned and ready to go. Mama brought her sewing machine over Tuesday and several minutes after that, they were done. What do you think? Yeah, I think I was more than happy to do it. Sewing is fun! Well, maybe it's not so much the sewing, but the coordinating that I really enjoy. But the sewing is fun too. I bought enough fabric to do a few blankets, and I can't wait to pick out some more ribbon and do a couple more.

I didn't get a picture of the ones I made Miranda, but here is the one I made for her friend, and a couple extras I made:

The other thing I got to do was my niece Elizabeth's first birthday cake. Cici (her mom) brought over the invitation about a week before, and Mama and I matched the icing colors to the colors on the invitation. I always get really freaked out when I start doing these things, worried that it's going to look terrible, but they always turn out just fine. What really makes me nervous is the writing. Ugh. I stress so much over that. Mama forgot to bring over her little script "Happy Birthday" imprint thingy that you just press into the cake and then just trace icing over, so I got to freehand it. Nerve wrecking. What made feel a little better was that the next day, she was going to bring over her alphabet stencils and at least I could do Elizabeth's name in block letters using those. Guess what? She forgot those, too. Ahh! So, while I think the "Happy Birthday" turned out alright, I'm not real happy with the "Elizabeth." And the colors are a little off, but we did our best. And Josh pointed out that the little polka dots look like hard boiled eggs. They sure do. Oh well.

Now that I have thouroughly critiqued and criticized our own handy work, here is the final product. Oh yeah, Mama made cupcakes out of the left over batter, and we decorated one of those for Elizabeth to chow down on. And boy, did she ever.

She ate the ENTIRE thing. Icing and all. And she didn't get sick! At least not before she left our house yesterday...

Of course Bennett got to enjoy some, too. He definitely enjoyed this one more than he did his own in December.

What? You don't make your kids eat off the floor?

Oh. Oh well.

So that's what I've been up to. That, and working on the everlasting Money Pit / Green House. We're almost there! I can't wait to post the final pictures of that house. I so, so, so want to move in. I was kind of joking when I first started saying that, but now I find myself visualizing our furniture in there, like, "Will that fit over there, or would we have to put it against this wall?" It is so nice! And I'm really tired of being on two levels. I hate it. But our house is amazing, so I know I'm nuts to even be saying this. Anyway, look forward to a post SOON! Well, is three weeks soon?

Soon enough.

Girls' Night Out

A much needed girls' night out, I might add.


I went out Thursday night with my good girlfriends from college, Miranda, Kiesha, and Annie. Annie's birthday was Friday, so we celebrated by treating her to dinner and drinks at Eclipse Di Luna and then to see Wicked at the Fox.



We ran late getting to the theater, so Miranda and I let Kiesha and Annie out on Peachtree and went and parked the car. We didn't want Annie to miss any of the show, it being her birthday treat. If you get there after the show starts, they make you wait ten minutes before you can enter. So, we parked the car, oh, about 5 blocks away. Not too bad.



Unless you had just worked out the day before for the first time in about 2 years and were incredibly, incredibly sore and you had to run - literally run the 5 blocks to the Fox in high heels. And then once you finally make it to the Fox and go in you realize that you are sitting in the very last row. THE VERY LAST ROW. You wouldn't mind that you were in the very last row, unless it meant that you had to climb, say, about 6 flights of stairs and then once actually entering the theater climb a couple more unusually steep and shallow flights of stairs before arriving at your seat.



Yeah, that would have made it bad.



Needless to say, I was worthless all day yesterday. I felt like an 80 year old woman. I hobbled everywhere I went. Every time I sat down I had to bend at the knees and slowly lower myself before falling to the seat. It's not all from the exercise soreness, though. My knees are pretty much shot. Someone said that breastfeeding does that to you - makes you ache all over. Which I do, but my knees are by far the worst. Sitting in that tight space at the Fox that night, not being able to straighten my legs for 2 hours (I was able to get up and hobble around at intermission), did not help their condition in the slightest.



So, I guess the point is, I got to go out and have a nice, enjoyable evening with my girlfriends, but I couldn't escape the fact that I am now a mom and a woman pushing 30 who needs to exercise more.