And now I can breathe!

Ahhh... too big major exhales! The shower on Saturday went off without a hitch, and I also finished this really big project at work I've been hammering out the last several days. I had to come in to the office yesterday to crank through it and I wrapped it all up in a nice bow early this morning. Now that I'm over those two humps, I feel much more relaxed. Work is still crazy busy - our last two major deadlines of the year are approaching, but I got that one big monkey off my back now, so I'm feeling purty good.

Did y'all have fabu weekends? We didn't make it to the game of course since we were in shower mode all day Saturday. We just had Larry Munson on the radio while we got la casa in tip-top shape. Belly and Charlie got shipped off to grandma and grandpa's for the day and Gertie stayed for the festivities. She is a spaz around her brother, Charlie, but when she's alone she is totally chill. And she's the only one of our three that doesn't try to jump on people. So she was the lucky girl who got to stay and hang out for the party.

I was actually rather calm all day Saturday, despite my long-ass to-do list. I usually have to down glass of wine about two hours prior to any hosting duties to prevent freaking out, but I was pretty darn relaxed for whatever reason. No wine required. MIL and FIL came in town for the shower (the groom is a childhood friend of the hub's, so they were on the guest list). It was great to visit with them even though it was less than 24 hours. Here are a few pics of the setup...



The wine station - a rather popular spot. You just never know who's gonna drink what. Especially at a shower because it's really the bride and groom's guest list, not yours. We just did beer and wine. Neither the hub nor I drink beer so I never know what kind or how much to get. I always consult my beer-drinking friends. But this crowd turned out to be wine people, so we have a bunch of Bud Light in our fridge now with nowhere to go. And it'll sit there till someone else takes it because it sure won't get consumed in my household.




My food table turned out nice... I'm so darn picky with the setup. I think I switched it up some more even after taking this pic... I'm extremely anal about how the heighth of everything balances out. I suppose it's the libra in me. That or the crazy.



And my cutie favors were a hit! Most of them were taken, but the good girl that I am saved my Wally World receipt and I'm totally returning the leftover ones. I gotta check their return policy... anyone know if they'll take back candy like that? They're those movie theatre size candy boxes.

I had several other cute little extras I wanted to do but as I mentioned earlier, time just didn't allow. The hub had altered some popular movie DVD covers with the bride and groom's faces. (It was a movie-themed shower, remember.) We were going to print those out and display them, but yeah... didn't happen. I also had planned on displaying some funny movie quotes around the house, giving the food funny names - spoofing titles or actors and whatnot... oh and I was going to do wine tags with movie couples' names (like... Sally Albright and another for Harry Burns). Oh well... mopping the floor was higher on my to-do list.

The funniest thing about the shower though was the mix of people. Don't know if I mentioned it earlier, but the bride's family is huge. She's one of 8 kids, so in a family that big, there are bound to be some freaks. I had met some of her fam back in July at their engagement party, but not all of them. So the eldest (I think) brother came to the shower along with the bride's parents and as SOON as he came in the door I could tell that he was high as a kite. The hub actually answered the door and I was back in the kitchen, but I could see the front door. Well bride's parents do the normal obligatory small talk with the hub at the door, but brother (who I think is 40ish?) immediately darts (and I do mean DARTS) for the kitchen. There are several of us hovering around the kitchen island (the wine station - I told you it was popular), but he just kind of maneuvers his way around us to grab some cheese and crackers and then jumps over to the wine and starts rummaging through it to see which one he wants. Hurriedly pours himself a very full glass and then takes off. Like seriously didn't say a word or make eye contact with any of us in the kitchen. No "pardon me" or "hey, I'm so-and-so" or "oh, this looks good..." Nothing. Never seen this guy in my life. It was beyond weird!

So five minutes into his stay we've already figured out he must be the black sheep. Oh dear... He didn't cause any trouble but it was pretty entertaining, to say the least. I believe he had two entire bottles of wine all to himself over the course of the evening (thank God for 2-buck chuck). And I think he hit on every unrelated female there that moved. I was busy playing hostess, so I really didn't catch any of that - thank goodness. He was apparently very interested in seeing my SIL (who was also there) "later." As in later that night? It was all very odd... and I totally didn't notice this during the shower, but afterwards we were all talking and apparently, black sheep brother, bride's parents, and one of the sisters mysteriously disappeared out the front door for 15 or 20 minutes mid-shower, and then came back in the house in a much more mellowed-out kinda mood! OMG! I find this just hilarious given that my sheltered self has never ever seen an illegal drug in life. And here we have party guests getting lit in my front yard. Too freaking funny... I suppose you've figured out by now that the bride's parents are total hippies. They are perfectly nice and loving people, but yeah - total hippies. And it's even funnier because the groom's parents are ultra-conservative. Oh this wedding is gonna be awesome!

Yeah so entertaining if nothing else... the shower was great. We were all pooped, including Gertie... It is hard work being a party girl, you know!


Alright... there's still work to be done, so I best get to it. I will pop back later with my party menu and my total budget. I stayed on budget and the food was so fab and easy to do, so I will share. Hope your weeks are off to a great start!

:: One year ago today ::