pre-party blathering

This weekend is Sara and Aubry's visit. I'm SO beyond excited about that!! We are going to do a 6 course luncheon in instead of the useal buffet/fingerfood affair. I'm tired of the same old decorations and food. I would never attempt such a thing on my own (because I have already tried it and it is impossible to cook, serve, hostess and be in costume at the same time!) but Dad really wants to be a chef for the day. I love having a Dad that thinks this is a fun way to spend his weekend. I've been trying to not feel guilty about taking advantage of him, instead I have been teasing him that I'll be refering to him as Chef Blanc-de-Blanc for the day. :>

Doing a proper luncheon opens the feild to lots of yummy food possibilities to play with. I'm determined to make a cake, although the cake I really want to make is probably too ambitious, especially since cakes are my weak spot. But it would be so awesome if I can pull it off!

Another fun thing about doing a luncheon is that we recently got a few more pieces of my great-mother's china, silver and such. There is a particularly stunning silver vegetable serving dish I'm dying to use - I keep picturing asparagus with hollandaise in it but that isn't a very practical dish to make in costume (which I would have too since hollandaise shouldn't sit). So we'll see, I'll use it for something. I'll take any excuse to use the "fancy stuff" in the house.

Party plans are also progressing nicely too. I would never attempt such a thing on my own (becssue I already have and it is impossible to cook, serve, hostess and be in costume at the same time!) but Dad really wants to be a chef for the day. He is so funny. I was teasing him that he should be called Chef Blanc-de-Blanc.

Of course most my guests have no idea what they are walking into. We didn't decide to do a "luncheon" until a few days ago and I just haven't mentioned the change in plans to most of them. Hopefully it will be a good surprise! :>

Now if I can just pin down those last RSVPs so I cn get the seating arrangments perfected...

a showering of blessings

This past Saturday I co-hosted a baby shower for a dear friend. I'm so glad I wasn’t on my own this time as it turned out to be a large affair. We ended up with over 50 guests! I kept joking that weddings are smaller than this shower. Still it was a blessing to be involved in something that held so much love - it really was a special event for a very special lady.

My co-host and I started planning the day we found out she was expecting back in March. Our reaction we pretty much "Oh congratulations, you know we are throwing your shower right? When do you want to have it?". All the advance planning and prep was probably a good thing since our friend and her husband wanted the gender of the baby to be a surprise. I had NO idea how gender specific the baby shower industry is. Dude does everyone find out their baby's gender ahead of time? Of course we worked around it but it did take a bit more effort and our choices for things were rather more limited. So those of you thinking of hosting a he/she baby shower, you have been warned!

Of course we had way too much fun planning and keeping things from the Mom-to-be. The decorations were a big chunk of my responsibilities and I was so pleased when they came out better than I expected. The nursery’s theme was Jungle so that is what we went with, but in brighter, more primary colors. The space we were renting was a great price but a little white and cold so we went for COLOR! The tables had with multi-colored plastic tablecloths, zebra bandanas as toppers and were decorated with fresh flowers (the Mom-to-be's only request), framed art for the nursery (drawn by me in crayon, based on the fabric of the nursery), an assortment of toys and small items off the gift registry, votives filled with crayons, bright paper cups filled with M&M's & Skittles and of course confetti. 'Cause it's not a party without confetti.

The use of bright colors, mixed with a little black, was continued in the tablecloths/toppers of the cake table, food buffet, photo/guestbook table and the gift area - with lots of balloons and streamers everywhere to tie it all together.

For the seat of honor we stole he Mom-to-be's rocking chair (with permission!) and surrounded it with a quilted wall hanging (a gift we were told about ahead of time) and my father's rocking chair holding a stuffed lion guarding the all-important box of tissues. The lion holding the in my rocker was my favorite part of the room. :>

Thanks to all the planning and some luck the day went off without a major hitch. The decorations came together better than I'd hoped, the food was super yummy (a group effort), we were right on schedule (no mean feat with that many gifts to open!) and clean-up was a breeze. I still came home feeling like I'd been hit by a truck but it was totally worth it! Now we just have to wait a little longer for "Monkey" to make his/her appearance!

More photos from the shower cane be found here

picnic of pink

On Monday after a lovely if brutally hot few days with Katherine, Megan, Aubry and other costuming friends in Williamsburg, we all made the trek back up to Fredericksburg for my Picnic. Despite being late afternoon by this time it was still ridiculously hot outside, although slightly cooler and less humid than the 107°F (with the heat index) temperatures we'd endured the day before. There was also chance of thunderstorms but after a pow-wow the vote was to risk rain and suffer the heat for a little while. We really wanted to be out on the green lawn if only for a little while. I'm so glad we stuck to the original plan as the rain never came, only a stiff breeze that keep us cooler (and outside!) longer than expected. Yay!

So we helped Aubry whip up a batch of lavender scones, set up the table, plated the food (all which I had made before I left for the weekend or bought that morning on the way home) and got dressed in our cool summery frocks.

After a few quick photos we filled up our plates and picnicked under the shade of the trees.

By 6pm the temperature had cooled down enough for us to play a rousing game of badminton. That was super fun, especially Katherine's flying face plant in pursuit of the birdie. It really was a priceless moment.

We then played a game of Speculation and spent some time inside the house to paw over the extant garments Isabella had brought before venturing back outside for sparkling lemonade toasts, party poppers and sparklers. So much fun! Poor Megan and Stephanie couldn't stay out very long because the mosquitoes were very fond of them, in spite of bug spray. So they had to watch through the patio door, which made for playful teasing on both sides of the glass.

The party ended back inside with more chit-chatting, laughing and other friend goodness. I probably won't attempt a costumed picnic in late June again (It's just too hot!) but I'm so glad I did this one. Despite the heat and the sweat and the bugs I wouldn't have missed it for the world. Something you just have to do things that are a bit crazy - life is too short to always be practical, right?

Playing badminton at the picnic - part 1 Playing badminton at the picnic - part 2 More photos from the weekend: Jenny-Rose! Katherine Aubry