Emmie's Baby Shower

Last Sunday, Catherine, Leigh and I hosted a baby shower for Emmie Park. Emmie is married to James' fraternity brother and former roommate, Alex. In October, Alex & Emmie will have a sweet baby girl and become a family of three.  Little Eliza Blair will be the first baby in our close group of friends and something tells me she is going to be spoiled rotten. I mean how can you resist sweet baby girl outfits and accessories?

Adorable little outfits

My favorite of the bunch. Love the baby chevron print

Can you guess how many clothes pins?

Baby Park Punch

Measure the bump game

From left to right me, Leigh, Emmie and Catherine

Congrats Alex & Emmie! Can't wait for Eliza Blair to make her entrance into the world!

Jashley's Couples Shower

Last weekend we hosted a couples shower for our good friends Jason Perry & Ashley Miller (Jashley).  Jason is one of James' fraternity brothers, and he and Ashley have become wonderful "couples friends" of ours over the last few years.  We are so excited for their wedding this October! Together with Jason & Ashley's friends, Laura & Kyle, we hosted a fun back yard bbq to celebrate their upcoming big day. 

We could not have asked for better weather for an outdoor event in the middle of August. We had planned on renting 2 large fans to keep the back deck comfortable for our guests, but we only ended up renting one, thanks to the weather.  To keep things simple and easy, we had the party catered by Fox Brothers barbecue.  We dipped into my never-ending supply of burlap to make a few small touches, including a burlap matted frame of the invitation and burlap wrapped mason jars for the drinks. 

Laura has a mason jar beverage dispenser, which worked perfectly with our theme.  We ended up making a punch and named it "Perry Punch".

Remember this post about my monogrammed beverage buckets? Well, when I ordered our acrylic monogram stickers, I went ahead and ordered an extra one, knowing that we would likely host a shower for Jason & Ashley.  We had Jason & Ashley's beverage bucket on display at the shower and it took Ashley a second to realize it was their monogram. I guess our monograms are only one letter apart from being identical...

The spread

Drink Table

Mini Strawberry Shortcake Deserts

...and brownie bites

And finally a picture of the hosts with the bride and groom-to be. 

Spring Showers!

In addition to the Monograms and Mimosas shower in February, there were three other wedding showers this spring. On March 13th, my flower girl, Lila and her mom Linda threw a kitchen shower in my honor. I have known Linda for years. She and her husband lived across from my parents house as newlyweds and I went over to hold each of her three children as they were born. Growing up, I babysat for the Grass kids and they all feel like family to us. Here is a picture with the sweet hostesses and a few more pictures from the lovely kitchen shower/bridal tea at the Grass's house:

The next shower was a couples shower on March 19th. The shower was St Patricks Day themed and it was so much fun for James to get the whole "shower experience". Although I would say the couples shower was much more of a party than a shower--either way we had a blast! The shower was hosted by some of our closest friends and was held at James' friend, Fareed's, house in Virginia Highlands. Here are some pictures from the St. Paddys Day shower:

The fourth and final shower was hosted by my Aunts Mary Ellen and Dee Jay. This shower was a bridal tea, and the theme was "Tea and Tiaras". My extremely creative Aunts made little tiaras for everyone to wear and a special bridal tiara for me. It was definitely a verryyy girly shower, with a good time had by all. The shower was the first time Lydia and Lila, my flower girls, got to meet each other. At first Lydia was a little shy, but in no time, her and Lila were in the backyard playing on the swing set. It was so adorable. Here are a few pictures from the tea and tiaras shower:

And now, for the scariest picture of this blogs history thus far....

Can anyone say crazy eyes? James is so lucky that in just 20 short days he gets to wake up to this face for the rest of his life...

Monograms & Mimosas

This past Saturday a few of my sweet bridesmaids and my friend Sara's mom hosted my first wedding shower. From the moment this adorable invitation arrived in the mail, I knew this was going to be the perfect shower:

You see, I might have a slight obsession with all things monogrammed. The shower was so much fun and I got so many adorable gifts. The shower was at my MOH, Sara's, parents house and everything was so perfectly decorated and planned--from framed pictures of James and I to the cutest little favors with heart shaped soap inside. Here are a few pictures from around the house:

The gifts were a good mix of monogrammed items and non-monogrammed items. I can't wait to start using the monogrammed gifts after I make the official switch from ADC to ACO!

I am so thankful to the sweet hostesses for bringing the shower together--it was perfect!