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).

Last of the curtain projects complete!

This past weekend, I finally finished a project I'd had in mind for the last 6 months and had started working on a couple of months ago.

Our media room has french doors with glass panels. We've been wanting to get curtains for the doors both to block out some of the light when we watch a movie and to give privacy since it doubles as an extra guest room when my family comes to visit (a queen size air mattress fills up most of the room).

We thought about buying some but quickly saw they were more expensive than we were willing to spend, so we had the idea to make some.

I took measurements, picked out fabric (and then I made a second trip to the store since I'd bought only enough for one panel, not two). I do not own a sewing machine nor do I know how to sew very well (my experience is with sewing on girl scout patches and those didn't turn out too pretty), so I was lucky that I was able to get my friends Jay and Gwendolyn to help. Gwendolyn is the craftiest person I know, and the two of them made a beautiful art car so Jay is crafty in his own way.

I went to their house on Saturday and got their help to make them (read: they made them for me). Their experience with sewing (and her mom a phone call away) was invaluable. I had the fabric pinned, but they gave great suggestions of making another fold so we had finished edges, and so we pretty much started over, with the ironing board and a bunch of pins. Jay can sew!
Added bonus: I got to spend much of the day with both of them and their 2 cute kids. Advice to Stella - find a man who can sew and who will kill bugs, just like your daddy!

That night Kevin and I hung the curtains - they are on tiny cafe rods and they block the light really well for the movie watching and really make that corner of the room look much more complete.

Thanks Jay and Gwendolyn!

Here is a before and after shot (I actually remembered to a take a before picture!)

Mr V's Journey to Recovery

I know that my blog has a very small readership. If you read this and know my college roommate and friend, Delena, I wanted to share with you a blog she created to track her dad's recovery. He was in a very bad car accident last Thursday and is in the ICU of a hospital in Houston. He is a fighter, and has a long road ahead of him.

I've known Mr. V for over 12 years, since Delena and I met our freshmen year of college. He is a wonderful man and a loving husband and father. Whether or not you know her and her dad, please keep them in your prayers as they embark on this long road to recovery.

Welcome to the World

Welcome to the World Gabriel!


My good friend (and college roommate) Gwendolyn and her husband Jay had their baby on Monday. Congratulations to both of them on becoming parents! If you'd like to see photos, please follow this link to their blog. He's so tiny...hard to believe all of us start out that small.

I am still in disbelief sometimes that people I know are parents and have little people who are completely dependent on them. I am not sure if I could do it. For now, I'll stick with taking care of my four-legged 'kid', who barely listens to me but is fun to play with and a great companion to both of us.

Congratulations again and I can't wait to meet the little guy.

Happy New Year

Happy New Year! Time flies, I couldn't believe it was Christmastime and now it is 2009! We had a great New Year's Eve. Kevin and I hosted a party at our house. We've done a lot to improve the house over the last year and have a nice set-up for parties, so wanted to take advantage of it. We had good food, and a lot of it since everyone brought something. The food included: Texas chili, shrimp gumbo, cheese fondue with dippers, fruit and veggie trays, and brownies for dessert. We had quite a feast, and though the food was really different, it went really well together. We also had spirits for all tastes - alcohol with mixers, wine, and champagne at midnight.

It really is true that the heart of the house is the kitchen, everyone was in the kitchen for much of the night, that's where the food is and so even though we had chairs set up elsewhere everyone stayed in the kitchen to chat and eat. I had a great time getting to visit with everyone and since it was a smaller group I really did get to visit with everyone. We are all so busy that it is a treat to get to spend an evening together.

After everyone had eaten, we spent the rest of the night playing Rock Band. It is a fun game to play, especially with a big group and I think its even funnier for those watching when you don't know the songs, Kevin is hilarious when he ad-libs and does 'shout-outs'. None of us missed our calling as rock gods, but it is so much fun to play. I love to do the singing, and usually do it badly. In my house is the closest I'll get to karaoke.

Everyone had a good time, everyone but Smokey. Our dog is spoiled, and doesn't like it when his routine is upset (no animals do) and is very vocal to let us know it - he also doesn't like the loud sounds of the game, so he had a stressful night with so many people in his house and being up later than usual...but we'll get him back into his routine and he'll love 2009.

We had a wonderful 2008 and I hope that 2009 is as good to us and that it is a better year for our nation. I do not know what all that this year will bring, but already know we'll have at least two babies to welcome into the world! We can't wait to meet Baby Johnson and will have a new niece or nephew in the summer. Happy New Year to everyone and I wish you health and happiness this year.

Patio work

This has been a busy, but good, weekend. On Saturday, I helped to host a surprise baby party for Gwendolyn & Jay. The party went well, they were surprised and we all had a good time eating and visiting. We even had a pinata! Preparing for it, I got some cooking pointers from Delena. I now know how to properly roll enchiladas (tighter the better) and will try it next time we make enchiladas at home. I also made the 7 -layer dip, its mostly just assembling more than cooking, but I'm still glad it turned out well. We had a fiesta feast.

We spent much of the weekend resealing our patio. The tiles are slate so they need to be sealed each year to protect them from the elements. We cleaned it off on Saturday - blew it off with the leaf blower (easier than sweeping), rinsed it off with water, and also worked on the rust spots with acid wash. The acid wash worked really well to get the rust off, better than I thought it would. We did the first coat on Saturday afternoon and I did the second coat this afternoon. We used our mop to spread it. The sealer looks milky on the tiles, but dries pretty quickly with the sun and the low humidity (shorts in November, that's Texas...and this is after the "cold front"). It took a couple of hours to dry completely, so I moved my car beforehand so I can get to it without walking on the patio. I'm good at not mopping myself into corners, but seem to always need something that I can't get to across the wet floor when I mop. The sealer makes the patio look like new again!

This evening after we put the furniture back on the patio, Smokey ran and jumped on the wicker table and it slipped (the sealer makes the patio slicker) and he fell off, it was hilarious. He is okay, it just surprised him because he's used to being able to run all over the patio and onto the furniture without it slipping out from underneath him. He didn't like the project because it meant he had to stay inside so we didn't take a chance on him walking on the patio or worse licking the sealer.

Its very satisfying to see the patio that we worked so hard on last year with my parents. Kevin and I have mixed results with "do-it -yourself" projects, so its great to see something that we did well and that we're still enjoying a year later and for years to come. Above is a photo from last year. All of the photos from the project are here.

Whirlwind weekend

This was the busiest weekend in quite a while. I felt like I needed a weekend to recover from my weekend. My friend from college, Stacy, was in town for her 30th birthday, so we hung out on Friday night, had a BBQ at Delena's on Saturday, and brunch at my place on Sunday. The brunch was to celebrate Stacy being in town but also a surprise baby sprinkle (smaller than a shower) for our friend Gwendolyn. She and hubby Jay are expecting their first baby, congrats! We did a great job at surprising her and had a good time hanging out and watched them both open gifts. Gwendolyn was my college roommate, hard to believe that it was 11 years ago we first met and I don't even know how long I've known Stacy since we actually went to elementary school together.

During the day on Saturday we went to see Kevin's grandfather (Paw-Paw). He lives in Bridge City (near Beaumont) so he was evacuated for Hurricane Ike to Paris, TX (any connection to Paris, France? - still not sure) and was just now able to return home. Kevin's aunt Danise put together a 'welcome home' party for him, a really great idea! While we were there we went to see PawPaw's house, where Kevin's mom and sisters grew up and all the grandkids spent time over the years. Driving through Bridge City was like a war zone, there were piles of stuff everywhere (carpet, all sorts of household belongings, and appliances - including taped up refrigerators). We even saw some people still adding to the piles. Danise described it well, saying it looks like a giant flea market, with stuff outside of all the houses. We drove over to PawPaw's house, and nearly every house in the neighborhood has a a POD storage unit outside (for what they could salvage, or my guess for tools and supplies). His house had had 4 feet of water inside. Kevin's parents had been there earlier and said that it now looks better because the pile outside his house was there, but much smaller. We walked into the house and it is stripped down to the studs. The only things that make you realize it was a completed house are that the ceiling fans are still there, and there is one place between the kitchen and living room that has finished wooden vertical bars (amongst the studs), aside from that and some remaining linoleum it looks like a house under construction. Very surreal to walk around and see whats left of the house he lived for 40+ years. Thankfully he still has a place to live, but its devastating for him and so many people on the Gulf Coast, it will take some so long to recover and as our lives are largely back to normal its easy to forget.

Dog Show and Rice Village

Saturday we went to the dog show, and had a great time. We watched the agility and frisbee demonstration, and also wandered a lot around the grooming area. It is ridiculous how much time and effort goes into getting the dogs ready to show, people with hair dryers and flat irons are working on the dogs’ fur to get them picture-perfect. I am sure they get more primping than I do, even on my wedding day....oh well, it makes the owners happy to do this and the dogs are pretty well cared for I'd assume. Now the puppy mills that operate to provide purebred dogs, thats another story for another post. We were about to leave the show and saw a sign for "flyball" so we went to check it out. The best description I can give is a relay race for dogs, complete with a referee and lights that remind me of drag racing. It looks like controlled chaos. The owners hold the dogs back then when they let them go they fly to the other end, jumping over small boards, grab a ball and come back, and the next dog goes into the jumps just as they cross the line, for a total of 4 dogs on each team. I saw one woman with a rope to entice her dog to run back to her and he'd grab it and she'd pick him up with it - so it worked as brakes too! We videotaped it, but need to see how it turned out. Some of the dogs even had little sweatbands around their wrists (I guess that’s what you’d call it – just above their front paws). We bought Smokey a green camouflage bandanna from one of the Lab Rescue groups – their booth was featuring “war dogs”, I had no idea that dogs had worked in each foreign war the US has been a part of – as tunnel dogs, bomb sniffing, mine sniffing, etc. But they are treated as equipment, or were at one time, so when the US pulled out, they left the dogs in Vietnam! So sad.

Later that night we went to meet Sharon at Two Rows. She was in town for the weekend from Colorado. She is a Cubs fan, so had tickets to the Sunday game against the Astros, but we watched the Saturday game at the restaurant. She and her brother were the only ones cheering when the Cubs did something good or the Astros did something bad. I really don’t care one way or the other, but feel like I should root for my hometown team. We had a great time visiting, and even stuck around to go to the Bronx Bar. Poor Kevin drank one drink then saw something in his drink, he had something in one of his ice cubes, eww! They replaced it but then charged us for the replacement drink, so when I called them on it they offered a free shot. I was driving so I couldn’t take it, and K wasn’t sure but then Sharon said she’d do one with him, so they each got a shot. It had been quite a while since we’d been to Rice Village, and was good to go back with friends.

Emily and Daniel's wedding

We had a very busy weekend, so it'll be in two posts.

Saturday we attended Emily & Daniel’s wedding. I worked with Emily at UST and also had several grad school classes with her. We’ve known each other since before we met each of our husbands, so it has been fun to see her relationship blossom and to hear about her wedding planning since I’ve heard about Daniel ever since they had their first date. It was a beautiful wedding and reception. The ceremony was at St. Anne’s, and it is where her parents and grandparents were married. Her three nieces were the flower girls and they all looked so cute. His nephew was the ring bearer, he walked up the aisle really quickly and then started walking back down the aisle, the flower girls actually had to raise their arms (since they were holding hands) to let him pass back by. Emily made such a beautiful bride, she was glowing as she walked down the aisle and during the entire ceremony. Their priest did a great service, and even got a couple of laughs, especially when he said that since E&D planned everything, if it went wrong we were to blame them...nothing went wrong, but Emily had to halt real quick when her train was caught on her sister's shoe.

Their reception was at La Colombe d'Or, right near UST. We had drinks and hors d'ouvres while waiting for the newlyweds to arrive, and then moved into the reception in the Grande Salon. It is a restored French ballroom, with oak panels carved in 1715! We had a good time at the reception. I was able to introduce Kevin to some of the people I worked with at UST, and enjoyed good food and good company. Emily and Daniel were very busy making the rounds and seeing everyone and both looked so happy :) When they first arrived they did the first dance and were out on the dance floor quite a bit – they are quite the dancers! The groom’s cake was so cute, it was decorated to look like a dart board – they met when he was playing darts at the bar where she goes for her dart league. Here is a photo of me with the happy couple.