Category Archives: bebe shower

Spring lines are disappointing

I keep asking myself, why doesn’t Anthropologie or J. Crew carry maternity lines. I am so disappointed with Gap Maternity’s spring lines. There are no bright colors or flowing maxi dresses at all. A majority of the dresses are shirt or wrap dresses and the prints are quite matronly. I was hoping to find a maxi dress in a yellow or aqua color like this one

I love the flowy-ness of this dress and the color but at $395 and not my size, it’s not gonna happen. I did find this guy for a mere $20 from Old Navy. The fabric and color make it look cheap to me but maybe I can accessorize the hell out of it.

It comes in a blue shade and I could buy these hair clips from Bando in yellow.

Another $20 Old Navy dress but not so sure on the fit as it’s not maternity dress.

I would most likely wear my gladiator sandals but I am not sure how comfortable they would be in 2 months.

I wonder if blue with yellow accessories would match too much with the shower decor. I suppose by April Gap will have their summer line out and I’ll find a preggo maxi dress that I love.

Thursday night is date night

So Antz asked me out on a date 8th grade style and of course I accepted. He took me to a Thai restaurant close to his job that he went to on Tuesday and could not stop raving about how great the food was and how chic the place looked. It was pretty impressive and the waitress was super nice. The food wasn’t my absolute favorite but the shrimp pad thai was yummy and the chicken satay was so-so. I would try it again, take my Mom.  

After dinner I had a sudden and urgent craving for almond cookies. We walked along Brand Blvd stopping in chinese restaurants with no luck. I called my Mom and she said try Whole Foods or Gelsons, so we went to Silverlake Gelsons. Boohoo, they didn’t have them but I happily bumped into my new pals Joice and Hlynur *he’s Icelandic* and they suggested a Chinese place around the corner. Antz went to check while I used Gelson’s potty which is the nicest public restroom I’ve seen.

So when I finished tinkling, Antz had a small brown bag filled with goodness. They were 10 for $1.50, how could such yumminess be so cheap? As I am blogging I am munching my sweet cookies.

No major nursery updates, still waiting for my Sasquash poster to arrive. In baby shower news, I was having guest list issues, I was trying to keep it at 4 tables but one table had 14 guests and it only seats 12. So if I had to add a table, it doesn’t make sense to just seat 2 people so I added 4 more guests and I’m back to 5 tables and 48 guests. It’s actually better because I can invite my old friends and not feel guilty and my seating chart is perfect. Most of my favors, supplies and decorations come in packs of 48 so I won’t need to make any additional purchases. My budget has now increased by $250 but there’s plenty of time to figure it out. So sadly I am 3 weeks behind on my preggo portraits so I’ll have to get busy this weekend. I have been having a pain in my right rib and today while cleaning I felt faint so basically, I’m trying to come up with excuses for looking awful and not being in a photographic mood. I’ll have to endure some wardrobe changes but this weekend I’ll catch up on my weeks. Don’t tell Olivia her Mommy is lame!

It’s curtain time in the living room

Today was Christmas because my curtains arrived via UPS!

I was worried I would miss them because I went out to have lunch with Antz, Story, Dave & Warren. My UPS guy didn’t ring my bell as he usually does but he tossed the package over the fence which sucks because he could have broken Olivia’s owl bank. Luckily it’s all in tact and my curtains look like they will improve the room greatly. They are too sheer so it looks like the mini blinds may stay put. Maybe tomorrow I’ll give the windows and sills a good scrubbing.
This morning Antz and I somehow woke up before 8am without Lola throwing her regular feed-me tantrum. It was a sunny morning so we wandered around the backyard. Antz used our new fruit picker on the lemon tree. As I was looking at the upper patio, I was trying to mentally see how the tables and chairs would fit. Antz keeps assuring me that it will fit and he suggested I buy a black linen cloth for our table with the umbrella hole since Pico Party Rents doesn’t carry them. He also suggested that we ask our gardener to trim down the orange tree that is blocking part of the yard.

I need to take the measuring tape out and confirm that a 60″ round table and 9 chairs will fit on the patio with enough room for a 5ft table for the food and a gift/games table. Antz thinks we should put the gift/games table downstairs so guests can drop them off and it won’t be so tight on the patio but I was considering opening the presents so that may not work. He assures me once we have the tables and chairs he will make it all work out so I trust him. He did mention something I completely spaced out about, but that’s because we are not coffee drinkers. He said we should serve coffee with the desserts, Starbucks is the best deal for $12 for 12 servings.

So cute, we are having caffeine and non-caff and it includes cups, stirrers, sugar, and cream. We also took another look at the linen swatches and decided that royal blue is much too dark and we’ll choose turqouise.

I’ll have a better idea when I get the feathers. I am still having guest list problems because I want to keep the total at 45 but I want to invite 4 more friends from Antz job and that means I have to cut 4 of my friends even though I don’t see them often. I am also $218 over budget.

Let’s get Cooking!

What a lovely Monday. I went to see Gilli, my acupuncturist, I let her know I was having a pain in my right rib and she said it was common and needled me up. She gave me a pretty awesome massage and I slept like I had been drugged for the hour. After that I stopped by Pico Party Rents to see if I could negotiage the price of the chiavari chairs but the best they could do was 10% off. That sounds good to me, any discount works. Next on my errands was Target, I don’t know why I chose the Target in West Hollywood but of course it was packed like a Saturday afternoon. Maybe I was hoping to bump into Neil Patrick Harris or someone but no luck. I did luck out on new pots and baking sheet for under my $150 budget.

So now that I have pretty new pots and pans I need to get cooking! I have made a list of receipes I want to try out.

Shrimp/Chicken Pad Thai Noodles
Lasagna
Banana Nut Bread
Cajun seasoned fried chicken and biscuits
Turkey or chicken pot pie
Dutch apple strudel pie
Southern mac & cheese
Sesame Shrimp Skewers
Sweet and sticky rice
Apple Crisp
Homemade pesto sauce for sandwich dipping
And hopefully traditional Thanksgiving dinner this year

I have a Real Simple receipe book that I’d like to start using. I am completely novice when it comes to cooking but now that we are having a little one, it’d be nice to be able to make more than cereal for her. I am excited to learn how to cook basics, for example I went through 6 eggs before I could make one successful sunny side up. Even then by the time I finish cooking eggs, the bacon and pancakes are cold.

Suffice it to say, this month is looking good afterall.

At first I was bummed out about February, I know the most *romantic* month of the year. But after being married for 7 years, it’s not that my hubby is no longer romantic, but we are over the whole make a fuss over cupid thing. If we do anything we may go to a dive restaurant *nowhere fancy, that requires reservations months in advance* and we have a casual evening. So bah humbug Valentine’s day I say and boo to this crazy Los Angeles winter. I have never had to wear sweaters and keep the heater on in my house before. Almost every week has been rainy and cold, I have absolutely no warm clothes so this further bums me out as I typically wear dresses/shorts and freeze my ass off. Another bummer about this month is playing the waiting game for my husband’s annual bonus *my bebe shower salvation* and I grow anxious counting down the days until the 26th. So overall this is not my most favorite time of year and I was hoping to hold my breath and close my eyes and breeze through till the wonderful March *my birthday is in March*. Seems today things have turned around for Feb. I have a flurry of lovely events coming up that I’m looking forward to attending. Tonight my good friend Nic and her bf have invited us to a Pre-Valentine’s day Mexican wrestling/burlesque/comedy/bar. http://luchavavoom.com/
I have always wanted to go to one of these shows so I think it will be super fun. Hopefully I will be able to take pics *there will be midgets*. This weekend is my hubby’s art show opening which we are bringing his mother to and we are going to Olvera Street *historic Mexican shopping and food* to search for christening favors and a rosary for Liv. We’re also taking her to check out the hospital and buy a Year of the Tiger charm from the giftshop and lastly stop by St Andrew’s Church to get info on the chistening classes and show his Mom the church. Busy, I know but there’s still more! Sunday Leslie and Stephen *future Godparents* are having a Valentine’s Day brunch at their house. I said I would bring fruit so I’d better go shopping soon. Before you know it, it will be the 16th and our next doc appt. So I have a change of heart and I will not be so hard on February anymore. This seems to be an exciting time and I’ll be patient *my worst virtue* and enjoy these cold days. Besides, this Sunday is a new season of Amazing Race so that will help me through! Still have the bebe shower vs garage repair dilemma but once I know what his bonus will be and go to our tax appt on the 23rd, I’ll have a better perspective. Last night I had a *tearful* conversation with Antz about the bebe shower budget. He is so wonderful because he tries to reassure me that the shower will be everything I want but I know he would rather make home repairs and doesn’t want to spend so much on a party. I made my resolution to spend money more wisely and get some long-needed improvements done but not at the expense of my dream shower. I wish someone would understand my reasoning. To be honest with you, not even I can agree to this logic *of lack thereof*!

Shower rentals, photo booths and favors, Oh My!

I am engulfed in bebe shower planning. Yesterday I arrived at my acupuncturist a bit too early so I decided to check out a place nearby called Pico Party Rents. Total score! Not only do they have the black/black cushion chiavari chairs but their delivery charge is only $50.

The place I was originally going to use told me it would be $100 for delivery *extra if they have to bring the chairs upstairs* They will drop off the tables and chairs on Friday and pick them up on Sunday, so we’ll have to get something to cover the chairs so the morning dew doesn’t make the cushions wet. The prices are a bit higher than the other place but they seem more reputable and have much more selection. That is definitely a relief however I am still concerned with the tables and chairs in the grass and fitting everyone in such a tight space. I completely forgot about the tree that is on the patio, that may block the table I was planning to set up for the older guests so they wouldn’t have to walk in the grass. 🙁

The darn obstructive tree. Ten guests will be seated on the patio and the food and dessert tables will be set up there too. Since it’s a buffet, there has to be room for people to line up. I need to make a floorplan. Antz suggestion was to cut down the tree…sigh. I also have to figure out a way to put up a canopy over the food table so we can keep the flies out.

This is our patio furniture and I want to use our table/umbrella  *to provide shade for the older guests* but finding the right size linens is a problem. I don’t want to use our chairs but I’m trying to figure out how to seat 10 people at a 6 person table. The next issue is our yard. It’s L-shaped and I need to put 4 tables *2 will accomodate 11 people, 1 will hold 10 people and 1 will hold 6*. I think there is enough space but the tree will block the guests on the patio from the table in the grass.

The sad state of our lawn now. The rain has helped a bit but hopefully by April it will look like this again.

This is how our grass usually looks. We’re relocating the hammock to the top near the lemon tree

Hopefully, this is what the yard will be transformed to.

I’d like to put some pom poms in the lemon tree.

Another great find is a new photo booth rental company. The first place was priced the same but they are only offering 3 hours of service and the new place offers 4 and brings props.  We can fit at least 8 people in the booth and we are going to do 2 hours of color photos and 2 hours of black & white.

We are keeping our fingers crossed I don’t go into labor before May 15th and it doesn’t rain the weekend of the shower. I’ll upload the floorplan later. So I have been trying to convince my acupuncturist to be my labor doula. She told me that she was planning a trip to New York the same week of my due date *tears* she said she would help train Antz to be my substitute doula and she’ll help me with everything until she goes out of town. I guess I can live with that but I really want her to be present during the birth and help me remain calm and focused.

Bebe, bebe, bebe shower

It somehow just dawned on me that I completely forgot about shower game prizes. I am thinking of something that’s not bebe related and not super lame like a candle. The only thing I could think of feels unimaginative but $5 gift cards from Starbucks and In & Out may seem nice. Today is such a lazy day, it’s been raining all week and the sun came out for a few hours but there are dark clouds looming so I’m sure it will rain tonight. Just missed taking a picture of an awesome rainbow.

All this rain is giving me the blues and I am dreaming of heading south for the winter to the Bahamas. Lilsugar just did a feature on the Atlantis Paradise Island resort and I want to go soo bad!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This Mayan Temple water slide may look familiar as it was featured on the Amazing Race where a contestant tried to force his girlfriend to go on the slide dispite her extreme fear of water. Oh well, they ended up eliminated, just wonder if they are still dating. It was rated very high for family vacays. There is a huge water park and kids club that offers cooking lessons. I’m sure Olivia will love that. Hopefully we can go in 2014 but who knows. I am cringing because March is fast approaching and I have yet to make reservations for our Montreal bebemoon 🙁  With all this rain I may have to forfeit our bebemoon in favor of getting our garage repaired. I am oddly excited to see the Winter Olympics next week *nerd!* Johnny Weir *even though he wears fur* and the girl’s figure skating are my faves.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I am DVR-ing them but my DVR is almost full so I’ll have to delete some movies I love like *The Long, Long Trailer starring Lucy & Ricky* Did I mention the Imaginarium of Dr. Parnassus was quite amazing! Visually stunning, well cast although I wasn’t so fond of Jude Law and Collin Farrell’s performances. The director, Terry Gilliam is a genius, I had to wikipedia him and I knew he was afflilated with the Monty Python bunch but I didn’t know he renounced his American citizenship. Interesting, I have always dreamed of becoming an expatriate in either London, France or Sweden. Don’t stop believin’!

5 Days to go! 120 Hours but who’s counting?

I can handle 5 days right? Time will fly by, I will keep myself preoccupied and not constantly ponder if we will have Olivia or Parker in our lives. Wow, us having a kid, trippy! I totally eat Häagen-Dazs ice cream bars for dinner, how will I provide nutritious meals for my growing child? I spend a majority of my day surfing the web for bebe furniture and reading home improvement blogs, how will I keep a routine schedule that provides stability and be productive? Not only am I plagued with these questions but Antz hit me with a dose of reality last night when I was talking about the bebe shower plans. As it stands, I have the shower budget set at $4,000.89. Antz mentioned the leaky garage, new stove and the small DIY projects I’ve been saying I would do if we had the budget and I keep saying how I’d like these things completed before the bebe is born, well, it makes it seem crazy to spend that much on a bebe shower and not take care of our house first. My resolutions are biting me in the ass because now it feels like it’s bebe shower vs home improvements *badly needed*. Grrr, I hate responsibility! I have been dreaming of having the most awesome shower ever since I attended my first shower 10 years ago. Antz sister had a shower at his Mom’s house and it was fun but poorly planned. There were no decorations, no music, no seating, it felt like a large family get-together rather than a baby shower. I knew then, I would have a shower that would blow everyone away. I cannot stop bragging to friends and family about how amazing it’s going to be. I am only having one child and after the expensive, exhausting 3 years it took us to get pregnant, I feel like we deserve a huge celebration. How can I do both without sacrificing either budget? I also have to figure out a way to come up with another $4,000 for our bebemoon in March. I was confident my hubby would get a ton of freelance at the end of the year and I would have no worries. The economy has made it very difficult for him to make supplemental income. I can’t just rely on his company bonus because it’s not a guaranteed deal. I don’t want  to accumulate any additional credit card debt.  I honestly believe I used up my lifetime supply of good luck when I won the Price is Right in 1997.

Part One *if you look closely you can see Anthony in the audience*

Spinning the Wheel

The Showcase Showdown *I was so nervous I thought I was going to faint!!* How much do you love that after I win I run my ass off the stage while Bob was talking to me *Oblivious!*

I totally miss the good ole days when Antz company would fly us places all expenses paid. It makes it that much harder to spend $600 on airfare and another $700 on a hotel. I need this bebemoon, I haven’t travelled since 2008. I suppose that’s what prompted me to play the Lotto today, you never know.

So Many Things, so Little Time *and money*!

I have a long list of things to do this year. Number one besides having a healthy bebe, is put together the nursery and fix some things around the house. Second is planning our coed bebe shower. Last night my darling hubby put together the rough draft of our invites. I am so happy my husband is an artist because it would be very costly to hire someone to do them.

These are the front and back views. I cannot wait to have them printed. Next is making the wishes for bebe cards, the bebe quiz and the match the bebe to the celebrity.

Here is the font we are using to address the invites, we are using black envelopes and white ink.

Rather than the traditional bebe advice *which I wouldn’t follow anyways* we are getting wishes for the bebe. We decided to have the food catered from P.F. Chang’s because it’s close by and works with our budget. I put together a yummy menu and I am buying these take out containers for the guests to take leftovers home.

Here are some other party favors and supplies

This will be the centerpiece for the games and music table

Paper Parasols for the guests to stay out of the sun

Normally I despise paper plates and napkins however, I am renting a photo booth for the shower and to offset that expensive I have to cut down on costs where I can. Besides, these are very chic and what would we do with 46 plates after the shower is over?

These poms are going to hang from the lemon tree. I love the contrast in colors and they come in different sizes and shapes.

A must have for the shower, Sprinkles cupcakes for dessert

I found this guy at Ikea to cover the dessert table *shoo flies*. We may try to paint the banners to match our color pallette but I’ll leave that to Antz.

This is an idea I am super stokked about. Originally I wanted to buy chocolate mustaches but they are quite pricey and they have to be kept in cold temperature. So here’s the less expensive and less messy alternative. We are going to make these and use them as placecards for the guests to use in the photo booth. It may not be French Circus but it is turn of the century-ish and I love it.

I am 99% planned for everything, the biggest obstacle we have now is finding black Chiavari chairs and I’m worried about setting up the chairs in the grass. I don’t want the tables to wobble. Hopefully everyone will wear flats. Our guest list is maxxed at 46 with 4 people on the secondary list, sheesh!

Wish I May, Wish I Might

All I do is surf bebe websites and create wishlists. I am always dreaming of lovely things from Anthropologie or etsy. I have been registered for bebe shower gifts since 2007. 80% of my friends and family do not purchase gifts from registries, they are more of the grab something out of my closet that can pass for a gift type or at the last minute $20 giftcard. In my dream world here are some shower gifts I’d love to see beautifully wrapped sitting in my living room.

1.  Tiffany & Co. Elsa Peretti Wave Baby Brush *hand engraved*

 

 

 

2.  Design Within Reach Eames Molded Rocker Chair in White

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

3. Bundles of Burpies in Various Design from etsy.com

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

4. hello tree! felt pillows from etsy.com

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

5. Monkey Jungle Mobile by Buttercream Baby

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

6. Little Lion My First Year

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I need to just keep on wishing. The people I’m dealing with shop at Toys R Us and Walmart. Not talking anyone down but they just aren’t the creative, order online weeks in advance type of folks. I even have to request no clothing on our bebe shower invitations  just to spare myself from the pastels, typical insert-sports-team-here baby attire. My sister-in-law offered to throw a baby shower for me, I had to internally snort. She has been invited to 2 weddings this year, the first bridal shower she completely flaked and the second one, she showed up late. Her heart is in the right place but I couldn’t trust her to show up on time to her own funeral. I have been perusing the blogasphere and I am baffled by all the amazing nurseries I have seen. Not only that but they somehow keep the furniture on a tight budget. I have been planning our nursery since we bought this house in 2006 and I can’t keep in under $8,000! I am not shopping at Neiman Marcus either. My ultimate goal is to have our nursery featured on ohdeedoh. Ambitious, I know but my secret weapon is my artist, imaginative and more practically-minded husband. Well, tonight is finally movie night. I have been talking about Where the Wild Things Are for so long I hope I don’t end up disappointed. Oh well, if anything I will get some inspiration and I like Karen O. so I will enjoy the soundtrack.

Chanel wishes on a Coach Budget

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Hasta la Pasta