I love throwing parties. I especially love throwing parties when hosting alongside others whose strengths fill in where I am weak. Add in a guest-of-honor who truly deserves to be celebrated and appreciates all those tiny details that make me come alive, and it’s a perfect storm.
Today was one of those perfect storm kind of days. When I found out my long-time friend Ashley was pregnant — and with a girl! — I immediately volunteered to be a part of her shower hostesses. Her best friend, Megan, was heading up the effort, and so I had a moment of honesty with her. I told her that I could handle invites and flowers and desserts, but when it comes to things like actually feeding people real food or having time to craft detailed decor, I wasn’t going to be much help. (That whole E.V.-just-turned-two + having two kids thing, yeesh!) Thankfully the other hostesses’ strengths were my weaknesses, and between all of our well-suited talents, we were like a well-oiled machine!
The baby mama of honor, Ashley, is a woman of God, pure of heart, full of joy and a very genuine person. Her little girl, Ginny, is truly one lucky baby! For her shower, I knew that the invites and subsequent party decor/vibe had to be very “her,” and so when I put together her shower invitation, I told Megan that I was “channeling my inner-Ashley.” :) I was thankful she trusted me completely! The result was colorful, girly and fun, and I think that the party reflected that personality as well. Megan (who is also a blogger over at M for Love, so check her out!) was a total rockstar, fluffing FIFTY tissue paper pom poms (I feel her pain!), making a bajillion tiny felt flowers from scratch and handing all the shower logistics. Natalie and Melissa effortlessly came up with a food table spread that almost made me abandon my Whole30 obsession — but instead I just took a million pictures of chicken salad to satisfy my desire to defect. :) (I wish I had that gift to feed people, but it’s definitely not my strength. Clearly, though, it’s Natalie and Melissa’s! Jeeeeealous.) As for me, I went crazy for flowers because the wholesaler randomly had a bunch of $5 David Austin roses (those of you who know what I’m talking about, please pick your jaw up from off the floor) and TONS of celosia in stock, which pretty much never happens. Plus, because it’s very “Ashley,” I had to throw in some gerber daisies and, of course, ranunculus. (Who doesn’t love ranunculus, right?!?) I also went crazy for desserts, living vicariously since I’m currently “off” sugar. (Is that a form of self-loathing or what? Who doesn’t eat sugar but voluntarily takes on the dessert table? This crazy lady.) Overall, we had it covered, and the end result was what we had all hoped for: An environment that reflected Ashley well and hopefully made her feel like the special, beautiful lady she is!
Here’s the shower in pictures…lots of pictures…of flowers…and of cake. ;/
