My People

I co-hosted my BFF's baby shower last weekend. Not only is she my BFF she is Lily's godmother. So I was super stoked to find out the Alden's were expecting a little one. See they have been waiting so patiently. Until just the right time. Craig has been finishing up his MBA and after many, many, many, many years of school and residency Meg became a full fledged Pediatrician two weeks ago. Mini Alden is due at the end of August. Perfect timing eh? 

I got the idea to throw a circus themed shower from non other than Meg herself. See her nursery is gender neutral because they decided not to find out what they were having. Going old school. And although I cannot say I am not highly irritated to be able to spoil this child rotten prior to his/her birth it is kind of exciting. To hear "It's a ____!" in the delivery room. How classic is that. It makes me want to light up a cigar right now. 

Just for the record I know it is a boy. I just know it. 

Point being their marvelous nursery is circus themed. No not freaky clown circus but classic toile circus in fabulous colors and patterns. We went a little brighter with the shower decorations. 

Another goal of the shower was to be as green as possible. Well this was my private goal. Unbeknown to my co-hosts. Pretty much every decoration I made was not only handmade but usable. From the Lollipop wash clothes to the bib cupcakes. I handmade the banners out of scrap paper. I used mismatched glass dessert plates for the serveware. The only disposable item we had was the punch cups (which I found out were left over from my shower three years ago!)

I can honestly say it was a hit! The decorations were adorable. The food was yummy. The company was priceless. 

So a few credits. The Red Velvet cupcakes were from Red Velvet in DC (a special treat from Michele a fellow co host) supplemented with Wal-Mart cupcakes. The popcorn boxes borrowed (but from the Target dollar spot). The cupcake picks straight from Etsy. The favor boxes we found online at icestandards.org. A lot of my handmade lollipops and cupcake ideas also came from Etsy. The chicken salad from Raleigh's famous Tookie's Grill. The diaper cake, decorations, and banners all from yours truly. The time, love, ideas, and genourosity all from the lovely women below. From Right to Left: Jenna, Brooke, Meg, Me, Michele and Lily below. No child labor laws were broken during the shower. Lily was part of the decoration.

It was a small shower. But Meg didn't mind. We just sat and talked for hours. And ate. And ate. And drank some fabulous Booster Club Punch (pineapple juice and cheerwine. Try it. Love it. I promise). 

We all brought baby books and gifts. We opened them and cooed over the cuteness. 

Lily was a champ through the whole debacle. Which included hauling an Acadia full of decorations and presents from Raleigh to Winston-Salem with four of us riding along. Rushing through set up because we threw the shower at the Alden's house. We set up while they attended their birth class. But we were an hour late getting there thus we were quite rushed. It stormed like crazy the whole way there. People pulled over on the side of the road. My other cohost coming from Charlotte called me panicked because even she was too scared to drive through it. Which is saying a lot. It is like all the forces of nature were working against us that day!

But you couldn't tell by Lily! That child ate enough to feed a small country that day. That may be why she was so good. She had food in her mouth the entire time. After her one cupcake she kept on and on about wanting more cake and how it was her birthday and she needed cake. Meanwhile she has a mouthful of cheese and is saying through the cheese "I want cake!" It was quite entertaining.  

I had to take this picture because: A. I love owls. B. I did not buy the owl which shocked all of our friends. and C. This picture proves that Meg totally does not look eight months pregnant. I give her a hard time for going to much. Go go go. But little does she know nothing makes you slow down like a new baby. Well slow down in some ways and run around like a wild banshee in other ways. She was complaining about how sore she was because she just up and decided to run three miles on the treadmill the day before. Um yeah eight month pregnant running can do that to you girl! 

Meg being super surprised she got the swing from our friend Brooke. I don't know why she was surprised. We have the most generous friends a Mom to be could ask for. Always have. Believe me I know. I was talking last week to Michael about how lucky we were to not buy many big items when I was pregnant. We were so worried. Worried without need. We had to go back and add more big items to our registry between the love of family and friends. We are so blessed.

See these are my people right here. Actually this picture shows them all in one shot. This is a rare shot. This is my family away from family. They each hold a special, different place in my heart. None of them are alike in anyway. Each one fills a different need in my life. A different area of my heart. 

It makes me happy that we are together to celebrate such important times in each other's lives. But it makes me sad we are not together for all the little ones. See we have all been separated by jobs, school, family, kids, and just life in general. And these few occasions we are all together make me burst with happiness. They are few and far between for sure. Too often we go way to long without a phone call. Way to long without that hello email. Most of the time when we do call it is like "oh I just remembered you had X going on...did I miss it? " But it is okay. No one gets mad, or hurt. We just gab away like we haven't missed anything and we will see each other that weekend for dinner. But we all know that is not the case. Just planning a night out together is an ordeal these days. Traveling, babysitters, free time. I think Michele and I talked more over the planning of the shower than we had in three years. And I talk to her more than others! It makes me long for those weekends that nothing was going on but we just sat on the porch and talked over a glass of wine. Or just met to go to the mall because we were bored. Life isn't that easy anymore. 

So that day I can sit and say I was really happy. Hell it wasn't even my baby shower and I was beaming. Meg later told me she didn't feel like she got to talk to me that much or visit that day. Perhaps she is right. I was too busy sucking up the moment. Looking around and thinking how awesome it was to be together again.  Observing the laughing, the chit chat. Just us. Just us and a doe eyed two year old. My people. Not everyone can say they have people. I can say I have photographic proof. 

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