Baby Shower success and recap

The shower that we've been planning was held last Sunday and was a great time.   Now that it has happened, I can post descriptions and some pictures.  I didn't want to post details before because we wanted to keep some surprises for our momma-to-be and as I said before, she is one of my loyal readers (hi D!)

The whole shower was a group effort -- the only way to throw a shower since you have ideas from multiple people and can draw on many skill sets. Its also fun to plot and bounce ideas off each other.  We also talked each other down, we're not full time party planners and while some ideas are great in theory we'd make ourselves crazy trying to pull them off!

I was finally able to actually make use of Pinterest - I've had an account for a while but mostly just pin recipes I'll probably never make.  I really liked the 'shared board' so we could more easily keep track of ideas and share them without having to dig through tons of emails and we could get ideas for items and use them as inspiration.

The general theme was Owls and woodland friends, to go along with the nursery theme the parents-to-be have picked out.   We went with earth tones and colors from the nursery bedding (greens, blues and little bit of red).   We took an approach of 'less is more' and made some things do double-duty, for example using door prizes and small gifts for D as decorations.   We also decorated with some large tissue balls and banners made with scrapbook paper and ribbon.     To go along with the woodland theme we scattered pine cones and stamped out leaves around the tables and also made a bouquet with branches (free in my yard!). A kind of silly touch that I loved was a feather boa for the guest of honor - feathers, to go with the owls.

Everyone wrote words of wisdom for the new mom and as take-away gifts my very crafty friend made scented sachets (home grown lavender!) stamped with owls.

The menu went with the theme as well, down to the eating utensils.

The food included a fruit tray and a veggie tray, crackers and cheese balls made to look like pine cones.  We also had deli spirals, nuts and caprese k-bobs.

For desserts we had two kinds of dessert -- owl cupcakes (chocolate) and the cutest mushroom cupcakes (vanilla) I've ever seen!

Serving dishes didn't really go with the theme, we had to pull out probably every dish I own -- we made good use of them all, we did have the plates and napkins coordinated - brown (like they were the ground or a tree).

We had clear cups for the drinks so you could see the birch straws that we'd found - guest of honor had actually found and showed them to us and they were TOO perfect not to use!  

For beverages we had mocktails - sangria and bellinis, and even had some champagne and wine in case a guest wanted a real cocktail (guest of honor insisted).

 We had a great time visiting, and played a few games (my favorite: celebrity baby names - where do they come up with those?).   She received many wonderful gifts, hope she can get them all home to Atlanta.

It was a wonderful day and I cannot wait to see baby girl M!

Kevin had a very important job that day too -- getting Smokey out of the house.  They spent the day with Smokey's grandparents (K's parents) and I know he had fun -- he had not one but TWO walks and was so tired that night, I know he had a great time.   He even got hold of a cupcake that night (my fault).

weekend recap

We had a great weekend!   Saturday we dyed eggs with our niece and nephew, a first for them and the first

time in many years for both of us, so much more fun than plastic. The colors were more vivid than what I remember, but the technology hasn't changed, that little metal tool to dip them still works NOT AT ALL.   Big slotted spoons worked MUCH better.     I think they turned out really well, and how they looked was less important than the fun we all had in making them. Thanks to my mom-in-law for providing the eggs, dye and her house for potential mess.

That evening, Kevin and I attended our very first MLS soccer game, and had a great time.  Our seats were really close to the field, we could see all the action. We even got to see goals! All the goals were on the other end of the field, which for the second half was a GOOD thing since it was our goalie that was near us.    The home team won!

I spent Sunday with my dear friend, getting ready for another friend's baby shower.  No details yet since we want to keep some surprises and the mama to be is one of my loyal readers.  We had a great time, and each time we get together we say ' we really must do this more often'.

Hoping the rest of this week is just as fun as this weekend.

Sunglasses review

I am always reluctant to get new sunglasses, just ask Kevin.   I still wear my old scratched up ones even though I bought a replacement quite a while ago (I still liked the old ones better than the new ones).  This time when I decided I needed sunglasses - I've been spending more and more time outside with the weather warming up -  I wanted to be sure to get a pair I would really like.   I decided to buy them online, I do most of my other shopping that way, so why not and I got a pair through Firmoo. 

 

Shopping for the glasses was really easy; instead of trying on pair after pair at the store I just browsed the website and selected a pair that I liked.  Here is the pair I chose.  I did have to create an account, which I will most likely not remember (that’s what ‘forgot password is for!) and easily went through to checkout.   I received email updates about the status of my order – confirmation, processing and shipped, and had a tracking number so I could see where they were.   I knew they were in my mailbox at least a day before we took the time to check the mail.   All told, I had them in about a week.

I’ve been wearing the glasses for a couple of days and like them already.    Here is my best movie star pose self portrait - it is nearly impossible to get a picture of sunglasses without reflecting whats in front of you!   They feel sturdy, which is great since I tend to be hard on my glasses.   Also, they sit really close to my face so light doesn’t come in from the top/bottom/sides like some glasses I’ve tried and the legs are tight enough that they’ll sit on my head and not fall off.  They even came with a case to protect them and a tiny keychain screwdriver and screws which could come in handy for repairs on any of our glasses.  Surprisingly, someone asked me not too long ago if I had an eyeglass screwdriver, I didn’t but now I always will, on my keychain!

The glasses are a little larger than I thought they’d be, but I like them and isn’t that the style, oversized?  The website has a virtual try-on that you can use so you know how they’ll look on your face.

I will definitely purchase from them again, and can recommend them if you need sunglasses or regular glasses (prescription or non- prescription).  They even have a first-pair free program, all you pay is shipping and you can get a refund/exchange if you don’t like what you select.

They have a full selection of prescription and non-prescription clear glasses too.  My prescription is so specialized I don’t think I’ll ever order my prescription glasses online – I had to go back several times to the eye doctor to get my current pair just right, but if you have a simple prescription they’d probably work fine. 

I can offer the first 6 commenters a $30 voucher code for glasses from Firmoo; simply leave your email address so I can send it to you.

Disclaimer:  I was able to receive the sunglasses free (including shipping), and all opinions are mine.

dishwasher adventure

too funny not to share with you.  if you follow my facebook, you already saw it. thought we'd die laughing last night. Smokey was poking his head into the dishwasher (he tries to lick the plates -- and gets in trouble for it constantly) and the bottom tray goes flying across the floor (with dishes in it). Only thing we can figure is his collar caught on something and he tugged back and took it with him...scared him, and freaked us out....only one casualty - a bowl. one more reason he needs to stay out of the d/w. thank goodness Kevin saw it, he wouldn't have believed it otherwise!

Kevin to the rescue

We had such a busy weekend, its Tuesday night and I still feel like I'm recovering!

Our sis-in-law turned 30 on Friday and so we made a quick trip to Austin to surprise her on Saturday.  The surprise party was successful even if we were a little late -- our arrival was still a surprise.  Why were we late?  too much construction in Houston.   It was a small party and whether or not it was a surprise had been off and on since we weren't sure if she'd have to work that morning or not - keeping a party a secret and making sure the guest of honor is there is tough!

We enjoyed the day, visiting and went out to eat.    The birthday girl got a karaoke machine as a gift and we ALL made great use of it all evening!!!   The music selections were pretty wide ranging - country to rap to Spanish love songs, it was quite a night.    Youtube has a ton of karaoke songs available!

Sunday was going to be pretty laid back.  We decided to stop off at a Renaissance festival on the way out of town to enjoy the outdoors (the weather was beautiful).  We'd only ever been to the huge one near Houston, this one is much smaller but very similar and larger than I was expecting (its only 4 years old!), much less crowded which I loved.  It had a great falconry show - I'm in love with a little owl named Widget (picture Harry Potter's owl).   During the show, I got a phone call -- my sister's boyfriend had car trouble and they were stuck in Austin.  She had to be at work the next day so we headed back to Austin to rescue her, thankfully her boyfriend's schedule was flexible and he could stay in Austin to wait on his car.   Very happy that we could help her out, it was actually K's second rescue of the day - he'd used his jumper cables to help a guy at the gas station that morning.   We got home after the Oscars were already on, I barely watched any of them, just sort of zoned out and then we went to bed. 

From this trip and the one over the summer we've realized that Austin really needs to be a 2 night trip....hopefully we'll remember that next time.


I kept our hotel keys the kind that look like a credit card when we checked out.   I was telling K why, and he said I should start a blog to give travel tips - he's joking of course, but I'll try to tag posts with travel tips.

Why should you keep the keys?   Your credit card is attached to them and if the hotel re uses them its possible your credit card could get charged for someone else's stay.  Someone told me this just recently, I'm not sure if its true but better safe than sorry.  So keep the keys and cut them up yourself...