My Baby Shower

My sister and Betsy hosted a gorgeous Moroccan themed baby shower for me and Baby Lau Spina. It was a truly collaborative effort where nearly every touch was cozily personal, handcrafted by a caring friend. Shout outs in the event details at the bottom of this post.

Walking into the room for the first time was one of my favorite parts of the day. It took by breath away! The entire room was swathed in gorgeous jewel tones, flowers were arranged everywhere, there were paper lanterns strung about, Moroccan music was in the air and my girlfriends were ready to embrace me with warm hugs. I had collaborated on the theme and chose the invitations but was not privy to much else. I knew the "team" had been working really hard for weeks and it really paid off.



Guests left sweet and encouraging messages for me on homemade water colored cards, which were hung in a beribboned window decorated with photos of me in baby/childhood. Jenny even managed to put up messages from invitees who couldn't make it to L.A. Nora, Sergio's mom, sent an especially thoughtful message.



Jenny made a beautiful, touching speech that had everyone in tears.



We had a delicious lunch of homemade Indian food.



We played three really fun games.



The most hilarious was the belly measuring game where people had to guess the circumference of my belly by cutting a length of yarn. I think my mom was the most inaccurate of them all! She was over by nearly a foot! And my sister Jenny had second guessed herself and even added an extension to hers! Ha.



We cut into an incredible Moroccan inspired cake and then opened gifts.



They even managed to find Italian themed Chinese take-out boxes for the favors. I mean, how apropos is that?!?



I will cherish these memories! Thank you ladies for welcoming my baby into this world with so much love and beauty.

Full set of photos here: http://flic.kr/s/aHsjE7zwsU


The Details
Decor: Pom Poms - Jenny, Jennie, and Alpna. // Homemade paper lanterns - Liz. // Authentic Saris - Alpna's personal collection. // Floor cushion covers - Mom and Mo Ching. // Flower arrangements - Caitlin. // The location, real silverware and china - Susan. // Watercolor message cards - Diana D. // Low tables and cushions - Jennie // Diaper cake and generous use of her height to hang all the saris - Betsy. // Serving ware - Caitlin, Alpna, Susan. //
Games: Who knows Mother to be best? Guess the belly circumference. Baby animal names. - Betsy and Jennie
Food: Homemade Indian. Also her personal Masala Chai tea recipe! - Alpna with Jennie as sous chef.
Cake: Homemade Moroccan inspired orange blossom cake with fresh squeezed blood orange custard and MY NEW FAVORITE CAKE EVER! - Rebecca.
Favors: Nan Katthai (indian biscuit with cardamom) - Alpna
Photography - T. Nicole Photography - Sponsored by Amy

I'm sorry ladies if I missed anyone or anything! I'm going off memory here and it really isn't all that reliable these days.

Boy oh boy!

A tiny story:

The little boy had an idea. He stole a spool of thread from his mother's sewing supplies and raced to the second story window. He tied the end of the thread to a plastic bag, and let it float into the blustery blue sky. He watched with glee as the bag soared and the entire spool unraveled. His makeshift kite flew so high, so far -- all the way to town.

As Sergio was telling me this story, I could see he was reliving the joy of that day. "It was so high!" he kept saying. His voice was so excited, his eyes shone and in a flash I could see him as he must have been in childhood. So curious, so clever, and brimming with big ideas. I laughed and said, "I wish I could have known you at that age. You must've been a fun little boy." (Via some magical time travel solution, of course.) And I thought, it would be so amazing to have a little Sergio of our own someday.

He told me that story months ago.

Yesterday we hosted a small cake-cutting party to reveal the sex of our baby. The big reveal would be made to both our friends & family and ourselves! We asked our ultrasound technician to not reveal the sex to us but seal the results in an envelope, which we then dropped off with the amazingly talented Sara Tso of Matchbox Kitchen who we hired to bake our custom cake. The entirely frosted caked would be either blue or pink on the inside depending on what was in the envelope. Cutting into the cake would reveal the results!



It was an amazing moment. And we couldn't be happier. I can't wait to meet him, our little boy.

P.S. Thank you Sara! The cake was delicious and perfect. I can't wait to order another one of your creations.

Baby shower for Liz and Kaelyn

A couple weeks ago, we celebrated Liz and her soon to appear little one, Kaeyln Rose, with a beautiful tea party baby shower hosted by Rebecca. It was a one of the most fun I've had at a baby shower with the sweetest personalized touches throughout.









Rebecca thought of everything! She also made most of the food, including the amazing, showstopping cake!



I little tricky to slice but she did it and it was delicious!

Party - like it's 1988!

A few months ago, we dressed up 80's style in honor of Lior's big 40th birthday bash. The awesome crew over at Urchin totally hooked us up. I think we looked FAB. Don't worry, I had black pumps to go with the leg warmers and socks.




I wish more people hosted themed parties. Dressing up is so fun. If you host a theme party and invite us, we will DO IT UP.

Two Parties, One Day

Yep, that's my moms in the funky sunglasses.

It was a fun day yesterday. I boogied down like nobody's bidness!

Betsy's Baby Shower part deux

We're all expecting Betsy's baby to arrive any moment now. In honor of that, here's a look back at her beautiful baby shower, two months ago. Her photographer friends, Maggie and Amy, posted some gorgeous photos on their blogs. Click on the photo to go to their respective sites.

Via Maggie's blog, Making Me Cranky.

via Amy's blog, Those Crazy Schuberts.

Can't wait to meet Elora!

Betsy's Baby Shower

Betsy's baby shower was last Saturday! It was so beautiful and fun. There was a lot of love there for Betsy and her little Elora! Guests came from all over. There were a few teary moments - especially with grandma to be. The weather was perfect. It was such a happy day!

The theme was fairy princess - the old fashioned woodland kind.



Unfortunately, I didn't take very many photos and those I did take didn't turn out very well. Nearly none were in focus! (Hangs head in shame.) I must've had too much champagne. *sigh* There were many cameras out so hopefully they were more on the ball than I. ;)





Caitlin hosted the party at her house in Venice.



Kathleen, Krissy (B's sister), Meghan and I all helped.



We all had different jobs -- I was in charge of the party favors and signage.





We even did the flower arrangements! Cait made these gorgeous dangling crystals that we hung on the branches and around the tent.



Sergio helped put fairy wings on B's baby picture, and also helped make all the fairy seals to tie everything to the invitation.



I did manage to catch one of the games on video.



We cannot wait to meet you Elora!