Baby shower of the century!

Yup, in my humble opinion this weekend Mama pulled together the most amazing baby shower ever. The party was thrown in honour of my girlfriend Rolanda and her baby London (and that little girl most definitely came out to party...as much as a 2 month old can rock it out!)

My theme was a pink and green candy shoppe...super sweet fun for an even sweeter little girl.

The weather was hot and gorgeous outside and the white peach sangria was cold and delicious!

{The baby of the day, Miss London with a giant pink flower}

{Dessert anyone? Macaroons, chocolate chip stuffed raspberries, red velvet cupcakes and fruit kabobs}

{White Sangria with fresh peaches, strawberries and green apples- and a whole lot of Sauvignon Blanc and peach schnapps...Yum!}

{Mommy Rolanda opening her gifts and it wouldn't be a shower without at least a few cheesy shower games...}

{Lots of sweet treats to take home}

{Party blooms (pompoms) for a pop of fun and color}

{I'd rock a tutu too...if I could}

 {fresh flowers make Mama happy}

It was beyond fun putting this shower together...and even more fun getting together with all of Rolanda's best girlfriends. 

Babies are so special and they deserve to be celebrated as much as possible!

Planning only the most amazing baby shower ever...

So my best girlfriend in the whole wide world surprisingly found herself preggers last October and after 9 quick months (I can say that because I wasn't the pregnant one), her precious little girl "Miss" London arrived this past July. I had the honor of acting as her birthing partner/coach and you better believe I sweet talked that little girl out into this world. What an experience...but that's a story for another time!

It's only logical that since I cut the umbilical cord I should also be the one to throw her a fabulous "welcome to this world" celebration in the form of a baby shower.  

{Custom Pink Lollipop Invitation from Red Letter Design}

I'm beyond excited and have a million party ideas. The theme is a pink and green candy shop full of lollipops, gum-balls, sweethearts, cotton candy, macaroons and cupcakes. Considering that my own sweet tooth is absolutely non-existent I think I'm being mighty creative!  

But of course because Mama is hosting this party there will be plenty of fruity sangria, sparkling pink champagne and boat-loads of spiked punch.

Here's what I've pulled together/plan on having so far...

{Custom Party Blooms from whimsypie}

{Via Hostess with the Mostess}

{party accessories via letsPARTYon}

Good Lord how cute is this stuff!? I can barely handle it. I'm so impressed by the creativity of these ladies...and myself -what what!

It's going to be challenging pulling it all together and I'll have to channel my inner Colin Cowie, Mindy Weiss and Martha Stewart - but I'm up for it.
I'm so excited to shower this sweet little girl with all the love, attention and gifts that she and her mommy deserve. It's not taking place till the last week of September but I'll be sure to update you with mountains of pics. 
Can't hardly wait y'all! 

So what else should I do to make this party special, throw me some more ideas girls!
What would you do to make a baby shower fun or original?

V-day miracle. For real.

We've all heard of Christmas miracles but on Monday a Valentine's Day miracle happened. 

Husband brought home flowers. 

I just about fell out of my chair when he walked in with these.  Yes they're boring super-market roses (probably $19.99 from Safeway) complete with tacky Baby's Breath but who cares. He actually bought flowers.  Swoon and sigh, he loves me.  

Ooooohkay, of course it does take more then flowers to demonstrate his love but the fact he took the time to buy these proves that he's not completely clueless on Valentines day.  I may have to retract my last post.

{ Photo evidence is always required when documenting a miracle}

We went out for a romantic Valentines Day dinner to a local restaurant called LeVilla.  We inhaled enjoyed several deliciously decadent courses including Saffron Seafood Chowder, Duck Breast and Arugula salad, Oysters Rockefeller, Enoki Mushroom Risotto, Lobster with Black Truffle Hollandaise, Filet Mignon and then dessert (since we apparently weren't completely full yet.)

 And of course we enjoyed several bottles glasses of an amazing Sauvignon Blanc. 

 It was all obscenely calorific.  Yum.

Ingeniously after a few glasses of vino I completely forgot to pull out my camera to snap some pics of our meal.  However I did take a pic of the heart shaped pizza I ordered for the kids from Boston Pizza. They thought it was the coolest thing they'd ever seen and it totally made up for the fact that they weren't allowed to join us for our adult-only dinner.

 {Who orders over priced heart shaped pizza on Valentines Day? Mama Does.}

I hope all you lovelies enjoyed your Valentines Day with the ones you love the most and that you were gifted with something pretty...like a super-market bouquet of flowers.

You don't bring me flowers....

Babs and Neil Diamond couldn't have sung it any better.  Husband does not bring me flowers.  Not now or ever really. It's just not how he operates.  Valentines Day is around the corner but it'll be another day without flowers or gifts or any other symbolic gesture to reassure me that the love is still there. To be fair I suppose it's because giving gifts isn't his "Love Language."  If you've never read the 5 Love Languages by Gary Chapman you're missing out on some basic, honest to goodness relationship  5 Cent psychology. But it's good stuff cause it's pretty much totally accurate. 

"— everyone has a love language, and we all identify primarily with one of the five love languages: Words of Affirmation, Quality Time, Receiving Gifts, Acts of Service, and Physical Touch."

Let's just say that Acts of Service (vacuuming the living room floor for Mama), Quality time (he has to actually be at home occasionally right? Husbands work schedule prevents this), Words of affirmation (again, see "quality time", the person must actually be present), Receiving or Giving gifts, is seriously NEVER going to happen. So I suppose Husbands "Love Language" is Physical Touch.  Like isn't EVERY man all about that?   

{not that I want this tacky shiz anyway...much}

 So it falls on me to make reservations to go out for dinner on Valentines Day because otherwise NOTHING would happen. It's just another made up non-holiday as far as Husband is concerned. He really doesn't give a hoot.  And I can't help but feel a little deflated by this.  It would be nice if he put a little bit of effort into things at least some of the time? To be fair though it's not like I didn't know what I was getting into, he's never been any good at being romantic or thoughtful. 

I'm blown away when I hear about big elaborate, creative marriage proposals, or secretly planned romantic getaways that are sprung on unsuspecting wives or girlfriends. That stuff impresses me. 

Even the little things like a simple bouquet of flowers on my birthday or on Valentines Day would be really appreciated but I know it's not going to happen. (At least it's highly unlikely.)

  It's not like Husband isn't a great guy. He IS...but he really falls down when it comes to thoughtful gestures and romance.  

Tell me I'm not the only wife or girlfriend who's lives with this? I'd like to wallow in my self-pity with someone who understand me?!

Par-tay!

It was Kid #1's 5th Birthday on Saturday and I decided a while back that it would be a good idea to have a simple, old school style birthday party at our house and invite all his friends from school.  (Does no one have simple kids birthday parties anymore??, there's always clowns, magicians, exotic or expensive locations and apparently you have to drop at least $500 bucks. I say no, this kid is ONLY 5.)  If I'm going to pay through the nose for a party I'll at least do it when he's old enough to remember it!!

We I chose to invite boys only to keep the numbers down...it's not like I'm encouraging gender segregation at an early age, just trying to make things manageable. And believe me 12  five year old boys was MORE then enough for Mama to handle. Fortunately my two besties were able to help out with the pandemonium party fun!

{Kid #1 is five today, whaaat!?!?!)

We had a Sponge Bob/Hawaiian party theme (since Kid is still in love with Hawaii after our holiday in Oahu this winter). The kids ate pizza, plenty of candy and chips, we had a limbo-stick game and a pinata to attack for prizes inside. Good times right?,,,if you're five I guess!

Later that night since my friends were in town to celebrate my birthday too and we really needed to drink have some fun, we went out for dinner to a cute little Italian place downtown, had a couple bottles of red and continued on for drinks at a place called Mercury. 

How do you spell post kids-party relief?!  W-i-n-e.

{Wine = self portrait time}

{ Toothy-grin shot} 

The nice "gentlemen" behind us were kind enough to buy a round of vino...thanks boys, laterz!  Use them then lose them I say!!

Pretty things...

 Here are a few pics I took of things that caught my eye in Vegas. How could they not...everything is over the top fab!

Floral arrangement in the Lobby of Wynn. Lurve them!!!

The lounge - "Down Parasol"  So colourful!

The lobby at the Wynn

Gardens outside

A gorgeous window display for Manolo B. This pic doesn't do justice for the glittery stunner on the top right!

(and yes that's a black patent pair of MaryJanes on the left!)

And of course my all time fave thing in Vegas, err... person - Husband!