He Got Me.

My sweet, thoughtful husband managed to pull together a surprise baby shower for me and baby Lucas on Saturday.

I was shocked, touched---and incredibly grateful. I even cried.

With the help of my parents and younger brother (otherwise known as "Marcus" Stewart or "Benny" Crocker for his culinary and presentation skills) an intimate group of our very best friends were gathered together at my parent's house.

How did Charm City Daddy do it? How did he get me! I am so thankful that he did. It was nice not to have to think about anything--the nursery redo and toddler room have been enough.

We were headed to my parents' house on the premise that he'd watch the NCAA tourney games with my dad--and I'd likely pay Homegoods a visit with my mom and O in tow.  Right before we left, he asked what I was going to wear--hinting that I looked cute at a friend's shower the weekend before and I should wear my brown riding boots again. To that I said a big-fat "HA! I'd rather be comfortable" and I remained in my gray sweatpants and driving moccasins-a decision I later regret as CCD had a friend photographing the shower. Nice.

I admit I am a hard person to surprise and plan around---but he did it. Pics to come as soon as we get them.

For My Fellow Paper Lovers

I love stationery. Moreover, I appreciate the time people put into selecting thank you notes, invitations, birthday cards, announcements, and holiday cards. In this day of email, spam, junk email, and text messages, a postage stamped piece of stationery is among my favorite things to receive. It's  like a little unexpected surprise gift in your mailbox.

One thing using real paper requires that e-vites, e-cards, and email do not is lots of planning ahead to allow for production and mailing time as well as a considerable investment in a large quantity of stamps.  I suppose that could be the reason many people give up and go the cheaper, faster electronic route these days.

So when I heard about Paperless Post, a eco-friendly, cost-effective way to still send a fabulous stationery statement electronically I immediately signed myself up. The site is still in its beta phase but what a wonderful idea! In my opinion certain events and messages should remain on paper but what a lovely alternative!

Birthdays and Bedrooms on the Brain

image care of TomKat Studio

With less than 80 days until Olivia's first birthday, I can't stop thinking about how we will celebrate this first year of her life.  Although she slept through most of it, we had a great time hosting her baby clambake--except for the wet weather.

Nonetheless I have visions of a smaller, intimate, detailed event for our closest friends and family (like less than 15 people, hopefully). I've been enjoying party inspiration and ideas from Kim at  TomKat Studio blog as well as Martha Stewart.

TANGENT: Speaking of Martha--I can't be the only working mama (or SAHM for that matter) with a love-hate relationship with Martha Stewart. Sometimes I feel like Martha's pure GENIUS---even when I know she has had masterminds like Eddie Ross  (and I love me some Eddie!!) working his creative magic behind the scenes.At other times, I can't believe that woman has built an empire teaching us things as simple as how to load a dishwasher!  Okay, I'm hatin'. Hateration over. Love those tissue paper poms, girrrrrl!

 another Tom Kat Studio image. Do you also wish you could hire her?

Also on my mind is Olivia's next bedroom. When we decided to start our family, the plan was to always keep the small bedroom by our master bedroom as the nursery. That's why I decorated it mostly gender neutral--so we could just rotate the babies through in keeping with Charm City Daddy's Grand Master Baby Manufacturing Plan to get me to birth FOUR babies. (sigh) Hey, one down...

Anyway, Olivia's 'toddler to tween' room is next on my plate and since her nursery was a bit bold and gender neutral I want to give the new room some softer, girly touches. And yes...more inspiration from Martha Stewart--DAMN her! 

both images care of Martha Stewart Living

 Stay tuned for another roller coaster ride of low-budget, piecemeal interior design a la Charm City Mama. I will post  the 'before' pictures soon of the room under attack for this project. This one should be interesting.

Charm City Mama's Holiday Gift Pick #4

Anyone that has been to my home knows that I am a candle lover. In fact, I used to be a regular at Candles Off Main when I worked in Annapolis and would visit their downtown boutique on my lunch break. Yep, that bad. They have REALLY good stuff though and it's a great place to get educated on candles.

Anyway, one of my favorite brands of candles is Voluspa. If you have every smelled their distinct, sophisticated, and "powerful fragrance throws" you know why people are loyal to the brand.  I buy the Voluspa three wick tins all of the time, but last year around this time, I bought the Voluspa Basic Black Votive giftset with the intent to actually gift it, but then I couldn't part with it! Ah! I decided to keep them for myself and I travel with them, put them in our guest bedrooms for our guests to enjoy and take with them. These candles are so powerful I keep the box in my closet and it smells up the place better than a sache.

I suggest you get the gift set for a friend (and yourself). That way you can decide which scent(s) you will become addicted to from the assortment and can then commit yourself to purchasing them for the rest. of. your. life.

And while you are in scent shopping mood--have you seen these?

Lampe Berger (pronounced in your best French accent) is another creation Susan at Candles Off Main introduced me to a couple of years ago.  Apparently these lanterns were used in Parisian hospitals back in the day to kill airborne bacteria and neutralize odors. I love my basic clear glass one, but there are many ornate lamps to choose from to match your home decor. I suggest starting with the starter kit which basically includes everything in the picture above. Susan's web site explains how to use them beautifully with an instructional video as well.

Okay..technically that was two gift picks. I promise to pick a men's gift next!

The Baby Clambake

It rained. It poured. But not even a forecast with an 80 percent chance of thunderstorms could deter us from celebrating the arrival of Charm City Baby.

Here is the clambake...in pictures.
 

Plenty of alcohol calls for plenty of water. (I used leftover wedding ribbon for a finishing touch.)

The Raw Bar...

..was a hit!

The Cupid Shuffle makes everyone dance.

But my parents would dance to anything.

It runs in the family (my niece).

the hosts...(check out the rain on CCD's blazer).

And OF COURSE...the guest of honor, Charm City Baby!

with MIL and expression of "what the heck is going on?"

Ironically, Olivia slept through most of her own party, only making three appearances. Luckily I had the foresight to create a DVD of the hundreds of photos I've taken over her first two months of life including the momentous hospital arrival. So, our guests enjoyed the slideshow set to Maxwell's Pretty Wings in our living room until the guest of honor made her appearances. It worked out rather well, I must say.

It will be a while before we do another one of these 6-hour bashes, but I see lots of house parties on our parental future.

Did I Tell You...?

Did I tell you that baby Olivia nearly has full neck control? I mean she came into this work with freakishly good neck strength (according to her doctor) and now she's nearly stabilized and freely rotating that bobble head around. I'm so proud.

Did I tell you that the baby's almost sleeping all the way through the night too? She's always been a good sleeper but last night she crashed at 9pm and woke up at 4 am this morning. Yes sir! The night before that she fell asleep at 7pm and work up at 3 am. We are soo close we can taste it! The pediatrician said 14 pounds seems to be the magic number for sleep training. Almost there!

Did I tell you that it is going to RAIN on our Baby Clambake tomorrow? Our backyard is tented within an inch of its life right now to preserve the paaaarrrtaay. The band seems to be okay with the rain. We'll see what happens.

Did I tell you that my mom is feverishly cleaning my house right now (to make herself feel better) in preparation for the party tomorrow? Allow me to define "feverishly" for you. She emptied my fireplace ash chute yesterday---all 15 buckets. Did I ask her to? nope. Are we burning a fire anytime soon? nope.

Did I tell you that I love my husband? I just love him. That's all.

Mocktails Book for Moms-to-Be

Remember my post about mocktails? In browsing through my blog roll yesterday, I read about Preggatinis!

And they have a featured drink recipe every month that you can steal. This month is the "Mamarita!" Mmmm... you had me at limeade. (Btw, I've been on a lime kick for some time now).

These recipes look delicious and are a great idea if you are still planning summer soirees, baby showers, or just nursing.

Cheers!

A Charming Shower for Charm City Baby

About 50 close family and friends joined us to celebrate the pending arrival of Charm City Baby this weekend!

The weather was lovely, the food was incredible (lobster mac n' cheese anyone?), and best of all we were surrounded by our friends and family.

Here are a few scenes from the day...

My go-to style for every occasion...the maxi dress!

Checkout the knockout beside me...Needless to say, I immediately grabbed my belly for this pic!

Highlights of the shower included...

watching Charm City Daddy undergo a cloth diaper challenge!

And taking pics of my niece who LOVES the camera. At age 2 she already understands that she needs to change position with every shutter. This is just one one of her many creative poses.

We had a great time and can't thank the two planners (Mom and LaShon) enough who put aside their busy lives and schedules to plan a first-class event for our growing family. Love you ladies!

Ready-Made Shower Packages?

As my team rigorously plans my baby shower-- I can't help feeling guilty and want to help them in some way. Sorry, it's the busy-body in me (side note: You know its bad when your husband says the sound of drill reminds him of me-hehe).

I ran across the Social Couture website today--and what a great idea and lovely timesaver for folks throwing intimate baby showers! Basically the company packages your entertaining, party, decor needs all in one place and places them in little convenient party packages.

Our shower will be less of an intimate, frou-frou sit down and more of an informal collection of friends, but there are some good ideas here.

So if you have generously offered your time party planning for others (or know someone that has) you can also partake in this resource and look like a the fabulous, put-together planning champ that you are!

I know I am getting ideas for Charm City Baby's first birthday party already! Just have to figure out who would actually come to a one-year old's birthday party other than her parents. ha!

Cocktails and Mocktails...

I really don't miss drinking...until I'm around drinks. :)

Charm City Daddy has been great and gave up drinking along with me which has helped a lot. We don't keep much in the house--just wine/beer for guest in the basement. Btw the savings has been incredible on our restaurant bills.

I ran across this article today and it got me thinking that I could share my post on my favorite "mocktails" of choice since getting knocked up.

My favorite drinks come in the form of spritzers like:

-cranberry and club soda w/ lime

-pineapple juice, lemonade, club soda w/ lemon

-pineapple juice, orange juice, spash of soda w/lemon

There are a million possibilities. It's silly but I find the addition of the lime on the glass ( a fancy glass) really makes me feel included when others are drinking.

Hopefully I don't sound like a alcoholic saying this but I really miss having a beer along with my crabs or steamed shrimp. Something about the salty/spicy splendor of the Old Bay mixing with the beer is indescribably Maryland and delicious. It is going to be a looong summer without the beer/crab combo, but I'll just have to add it to the growing list of things I will binge on when baby is out!

While we're on the topic, another favorite summer time fav cocktail of mine is Corona-Lime Juice Punch. Just take a six pack of ice cold Corona's and dump it into a pitcher. Then add a single can of frozen concentrate lime juice. Stir and serve immediately. Delicious!

Okay..I'm working myself up. I need to stop talking about the alcohol. Back to my ginger ale.

Dinner Party Success!

Our inaugural dinner party was great!

The only thing I forgot to do was take a pic of our lovely table setting to share with you (and mom).

I dashed in from work 20 minutes before "showtime" and CCD had already picked up the floral arrangements, the house was clean and smelled like food (the caterer had arrived), so all I had to do was freshen up! Perfect! All my table staring, list making, and mental "play-by-plays" definitely paid off.

CCD was a great help getting ready AND cleaning up (whew!) despite the fact that he injured his big toe playing basketball Saturday and has been limping around on major prescription pain meds. Poor baby.

I see many more "dinner and dialogue" parties in our future--with crying babies in the background, no less.

Bring it!

I had a birthday...

I'm 28!

I had a birthday Friday, and as my sister reminded me--one of my first sober ones in a while. Thanks sis. Gave me an idea for a future post, though---my growing list of prego cocktails!

Although it was a "birthday weekend," I spent most of it preparing for a 10-person dinner party that Charm City Daddy and I planned for this Monday.

We love getting friends together for "dinner and dialogue" as we call it, but we always always always do the planning backwards!

First, it must be said that CCD really started this whole thing. Come to think of it, it's always his idea. He conjured up the scenario--found a vegetarian caterer and left all of the nitty gritty details to me. Thanks Babe!

So in a matter of 2 weeks--(who are we kidding) this weekend--I did the following:

-pulled together everyone's calendars,
-sent out invites,
-ordered 4 additional dining chairs (that were discontinued and came from 3 different locations around the country),
-picked up sticks and leaves in the yard that have been buried under snow,
-cleaned and declutterd CCD's home office,
-counted stemware (bought more) and flatware,
-washed all the china, flatware, and stemware(ok--I threw it in dishwasher),
-ordered and hung new drapes for three rooms,
-prepared all of the table linen,
-polished my silver,
-ordered fresh flower arrangements,
-made countless runs to 5 different stores,
-obsessed over seating assignments,
-let my mom obsess over "pre-cleaning" my house before the maid comes Monday morning.

To CCD's credit--He drove me to all of the stores. He arranged for some minor plaster repair work to be done around the house that hadn't been done since we had A/C installed in November. CCD also had the same guy redo CCD's bad paint job in the guest powder room. Bless his heart. CCD knows he is not a handy man. He is ,however, a whiz with numbers and fantastic at hiring the right people and getting them to a reasonable price. THAT is extremely useful.

CCD also carved out time for us on Friday to do dinner and a movie (He's Just Not That Into You)--which we both enjoyed.

We are a good team. Although I am exhausted and spent most of my weekend staring at a set dining room table over and over again--I wouldn't have it any other way. And hey, I don't have to cook! Thank you LORD! My guests would thank You too if they knew any better.

Plus, everytime I get tired I think--what would my mom or Candy (super hostess and supportive wife of Dr. Ben Carson) do? And the answer is---have a kick ass, comfortable event that looks effortless. So that's what we will have. :)

I only wish I could have ONE glass of reisling for relaxation. Ahh well....in due time.

Happy Birthday to me.