a “berry sweet” afternoon indeed

helping to plan the old lady’s baby shower was so much fun because it was being thrown by rock-ell and the bean.  rock-ell had a lot of great ideas, and with the mommy-to-be’s stamp of approval on the “berry sweet” strawberries theme, we went to town on figuring out all the party details.

i was more than happy to provide the cookies for the favors, of course.

for the centerpieces, the old man’s mom volunteered to assemble little berry baskets filled with flowers.  the vision involved placing three of those baskets on each table and then using tall clear vases filled with those clear water beads and fake strawberries.  the beads would give the illusion of the berries floating in air.  we managed to find some at michaels to do a test run and see if it would actually work (it did), and then ordered more beads in bulk from amazon.  when they arrived, the beads were tiny - smaller than a grain of rice - and the instructions said to hydrate small amounts of them in a gallon of water.

i knew we needed at least ten vases of them and really had no idea how many beads we’d need, so i just kind of winged it and filled a bunch of random containers.

it didn’t take very long for those beads to suck up the water and expand to their full size, and i definitely ended up with far more beads than we needed.  oops.

but we were super excited when we assembled a sample and added some childhood photos of the parents-to-be.  it turned out pretty much exactly as we’d been picturing, so yay!

no special occasion is complete without a cake from our favorite bakery.  look how cute it turned out:

walgreens to the rescue for the welcome sign that we placed at the entrance.

i’d seen an ad somewhere for a really cute guest book idea - they send you an OG rotary phone to place on a table.  guests pick up the handset, wait for the tone, leave a voice mail message and then hang up.  after the party, you send the phone back and the company transfers those messages onto a flash drive, with an option to have them pressed onto a vinyl record.  super cute, right?

there was a table to collect diapers that guests brought for the diaper raffle.

and we’d had a fun outing to l.a. earlier in the week to pick out candy in bulk for the candy bar.  because is it a party without a candy bar?  i think not.

the gift table was set up nearby.

and next to that, the balloon arch and backdrop.  gotta have a photo op, amirite?

we’d printed out all of the materials for the games we were going to play, and to save time we went ahead and placed it all at each table setting along with a cute pink pen and the cookie favors.

with a good amount of time to spare, we finished the setup and the mommy-to-be finally got to see it all.  i knew she was probably feeling some anxiety because she’s really not one for being the center of attention.  she’d opted for a co-ed shower though, so at least the old man would be there to take some of the pressure off.  she was more than happy to share the spotlight with him.

guests started arriving not too long after that, and it was nice to see everyone come out to celebrate the new family.  i was happy that i’d been allowed to invite my friends, who are all super excited to be aunties.  or maybe they’re grannies, heh.

i was super amused watching everyone play the silly games we’d set up, and my friend trish absolutely dominated the candy bar diaper game, winning a gift card to taco bell.

even funnier was the blindfolded diapering game.  it was total madness in there.

and then in an effort to keep everyone interested during the typically boring gift opening segment of the party, we put out baby shower bingo cards to play.  

it was a really lovely party, and they received lots of awesome, useful gifts for the little miss.  we’re so grateful to everyone for coming out to celebrate with us, and for their generosity and thoughtfulness.

getting ready to meet baby delovely details

the old lady and i were super excited to head down to irvine this weekend to celebrate our friend delovely details at her baby shower.  she'd told me in a very sneaky way this winter - we managed to meet up at disneyland for a quick hello and while her husband was "taking a photo" of us (which turned out to be a video), instead of saying "cheese" she said "i'm pregnant!" and so of course my stupid face came out to play as i absorbed the news and threw my arms around her in excitement.  they'd been hoping and praying for a baby for quite awhile, and so the news was more than welcome.

the shower was being thrown by her very best OG BFF, and the venue was a cute little restaurant called north italia:

i didn't really take a ton of pictures because i was distracted and just focusing on taking it all in and having a great time, but trust me - it was beautiful.  their baby girl's name had already been announced awhile ago:

and these were at each place setting.  so cute!

along with those, everyone had a pretty floral crown to wear.

sangria and strawberry lemonade was served with these sweet stir sticks:

and everyone took an instant photo to place inside a guest book with well wishes for baby and mommy & daddy.

there were also these to fill out.  you wouldn't think it was difficult to fill in the blanks, but i struggled a bit to find just the right sentiments to put in mine.  and the old lady totally cheated, asking me to just add her name to mine.  hmph.

lunch menu:

house salad.  i'm not typically a mixed greens kinda girl, but this was tasty.

i opted for the grilled chicken sandwich, served with crispy potatoes:

and the old lady went with the burger.

tiramisu and a salted caramel budino were our dessert options, and of course we went with one of each:

and before we left i got a photo with the glowing, gorgeous mommy-to-be.

after a somewhat challenging pregnancy, we're all excited to meet baby evelyn when she makes her entrance into the world sometime in the next four weeks.  i'm keeping everything i have crossed for my friend to have an easy labor and delivery after all of the struggles she's been through over the last 35ish weeks!

elephants for monkeys

six years ago, i was beyond blessed to share an afternoon with the SFAMily...my wonderful friends who threw me the most beautiful baby shower on the history of the world. since then, we've gathered countless times to celebrate the impending birth of more SFAM 2.0 members. the group has grown quite a bit, and it's been really fun to watch my friends transform from beautiful brides to fantastic moms.

this weekend, we assembled at amber's lovely home to shower one more new mama with love: our dear weezermonkey, due to introduce babygirlmonkey next month. 

taking our cues from a photo of some wall art that weemo had instagrammed awhile back, lilcee and amber and i cobbled together a party theme and colors. 

early the day before, lilcee and i hit up the flower market to pick up supplies for the centerpieces. 

she put together some seriously gorgeous arrangements. man, i sure wish i had even a fraction of her talent:

she'd also sewn together a bunch of those colorful circles to create garlands that she hung up in several places in our party rooms:

my only contributions to the decor were the clotheslines of baby gear. 

well, i may have also done a little baking. 

as the guests began to arrive, there were lots of hugs and laughs all around. 

and as usual, there was a crazy smorgasbord of great eats. you can always count on this crowd to bring it in the food department. 

we set up a guest book table with the teen's instant camera to make a fun keepsake for weemo. i still pull mine out now and then and looking at the pictures and messages never fails to make me smile. 

our friend 10years was all smiles with her fabulous new chanel bag. i may have petted it as it sat with the other purses during the party. 

we had such a great turnout for this shindig, which was even more pronounced as we formed a line at the buffet. 

i don't think i could've fit any more onto my plate. actually, i know i couldn't - because i tried. 

i ate every last bite of that, too. heh. 

after stuffing ourselves silly, it was present time. as per our usual, we'd thrown in together to buy gifts as a group and had them shipped directly to weemo's house. there were also a handful of physical gifts for her to open, too. 

amber had worked her magic to create a box full of gorgeous handmade items, including a plush blanket, burp cloths, and a tunic with - get this - baby jeggings. 

we took it outside to get a group photo. lilcee took one with the insta-camera, and then we switched spots so i could snap one with her in it. 

while we were out there, i took the opportunity to get a picture with my friend cocoaellewoods. 

oh! check this out - nanette brought a little something to pass on to babygirlmonkey. under that disney bag is the very same bumbo seat that the bean had used when she was a wee one. we'd passed it on to nanette's em, and her little sister has outgrown it now too. 

it was so funny to reminisce about how weemo'd had absolutely no idea what thing was for way back when. and now it's going to her house for her own baby! full circle indeed. 

another picture with more of our friends before the party broke up. 

and a little fun during cleanup. 

watching my dear friend as she glowed and basked in the love and happiness during those few hours brought back so many great memories of my own shower so many years ago. it was just so sweet to see how happy she is, and i am so damn excited for her and mr. monkey. they're going to make such awesome parents, and i can't wait to meet her baby girl. 

we love you, weemo!