Food, Friends & Baby Stuff

I have a group of girlfriends that like to get together.  Until recently, our "meetings" were few and far between due to busy lives and hectic schedules.  However, a few months ago, we decided we needed to schedule time for us, so we set a goal to make the meetings a more regular occurrence, happening every other month.   It's a nice excuse to get out, see each other and catch up on life... and we know the date well in advance so we can just schedule our busy lives around it! 

Some of our more recent "parties" have been a summer brunch at Christina's and dim sum at a favorite Chinese restaurant.   Holding with tradition, we decided to hold the next one in July - to coincide with baby shower time.

So, last night, Tamara & Christina threw a baby shower in my honor and invited many of our close girlfriends to attend.  It would be a relatively intimate group of ladies and that would guarantee some quality time with those important people. 

To be perfectly honest, I'm not a huge fan of being the center of attention... which was why this kind of shower appealed to me.  I knew it would be "about me" to a certain extent, but it would also be another fun night of catching up with friends.

Walking into Becky's house, I was excited to see all of the decorations.   The shower invitation was made to look like an adorable green onesie, a theme which was carried over to the shower's banner, table decor and prizes, as well.  Tamara even built a diaper cake, which served as a nice table decoration but will also come in handy once the Boy is here!  Christina & Tamara are both super crafty and have great taste, so the decorations were simple but perfect for this low-key party.

I'm not a huge fan of the typical baby shower games; call me weird, but I've never been a fan of guessing the flavor of melted candy bars in a diaper.   Knowing that, the girls planned three games that were much more up my alley.   Christina handed out a baby shower word scramble, which was a bit challenging but fun.  For the second "game", she handed out envelopes for the Thank-You cards; later, I was asked to draw out a card and that person won a prize.  The final game required one thing - a timer.  It was set as I started opening presents; when it sounded, the person's gift that I was opening was the winner.  Fun, easy and no sticking one's nose in a "messy" diaper... it was a good time!

After opening a wide array of amazing presents from these wonderful ladies, we spent the next couple of HOURS talking, laughing and feasting on sweet breads, fruit salad, cherries, shortbread cookies, fudge cupcakes and heavenly lemonade with fresh strawberry and orange slices.  Not until I glanced at my watch did I realized just how late it was - and I knew I wasn't the only one that needed to work or take care of children in the morning.  So, after some long goodbyes and a few more laughs, we all jumped in our cars and left for home.   

While we all may have been a little tired (and full of sugar) this morning, it was another awesome night spent with beautiful friends.