showering love

Most of the people who actually keep up with us through this blog know about my dear friend, Stacy (aka--Aunt Stacy to my boys). Stacy and I have been friends since the 8th grade, and even though she has been living in Charleston for years now, modern technology has made it easy for us to remain the best of friends. She owns Lady Fingers Confections in Charleston where she makes these amazing cakes and desserts. My waist line benefits from the fact that I live far enough away that I can't just stop by her shop every day!

Anyway, our other friend since the 8th grade, Kara, along with Stacy's sister, Jenny, and another friend, Heather, all hosted a baby shower for Stacy last weekend at my house. We had SO much fun! Below are pictures of the grand event that some of my friends who were not at the shower were interested in seeing. As you can see, we had a ball helping Stac get prepared for Miss Vivien to be born!

This is the table setting. The centerpiece is a storage box with the word "BABY" on it, and inside is Ms. Hattie, the frog in a pink gingham dress, and she is flanked by two pink potted flowers.


This is the dessert station. My mother makes the best vanilla-almond pound cake ever, so she made one for the party. We wanted a homemade, southern dessert in keeping with the theme of the shower (A shower for Vivien Lee who will live in Charleston....). We served the cake with fresh strawberries and whipped cream.

Here is an old-fashioned baby carriage that has the party favors in them. We made lemon cupcakes and coconut cupcakes and boxed them up, tied them with the ribbon we used throughout the shower, and put a printed label on them which read, "Your gifts and your presence have blessed Stacy so, Our token of thanks is this sweet treat-to go!"

My philosophy on throwing a great party is this: Love. Do whatever you can to make your guests feel loved, like they are blessed to be in attendance. And I believe love is in the details. On the back of the placecards which indicated what each dish was, we put baby Vivien's monogram.

Look at the stash! Stacy is well on her way to being fully prepared for Vivien's arrival.

When guests arrived, we had them place their gifts on the screened-in porch where there were drinks waiting for them. We served mimosas garnished with an orange and a yummy pink punch, in honor of the baby girl.

Here are the shower hostesses with Stacy and her three nieces. The following photo is the "three amigas"...is there anything better than (almost) life long friends? One of life's greatest gifts, I think, is to have a friend who has known you forever.


The hostesses gave Stacy a laundry basket (with a LOT of help from Julie, Stacy's mom) that was lined with a pink toile fabric that Stacy is using in the nursery. We gave her all kinds of things for the baby, all attached by a laundry line and clothes pins (which had adorable flowers glued to them....again, it is the details that matter!) Here our guests all hold the clothes line and ooh-and-aaahh over the baby girl stuff.

I love parties like these. They remain forever etched in your memory because they are commemorating such a special time in someone's life. Vivi will be 25 years old, walking down the aisle with her dad at her side and her groom before her, and I will still recall this party and think, "It seems like just yesterday...."