Hipster Baby Shower

Welcome to the 2nd installment of Over-Sharing About My Parties Week. 

As you already know, I have a beautiful grandson who was born in August. His name is Asher David-Edmund and he is a gorgeous creature that we are all head over heels in love with.

Behold the besotted grandparents:

Before he arrived, we had a really fun Hipster Baby Shower (of course!) in honor of him and his mama, which I want to overshare with you today. It was Amy who dubbed it The Hipster Baby Shower. I think because we had really different from your usual baby-shower-type decorations and food. Read on.

The Invitations

The theme for the baby's room was foxes and owls, so I created an invitation with a sweet owl design. For the life of me, I couldn't come up with a cute fox that made me happy, but that's not important right now.

I chose the tan, green and brown colors because that seemed woodsy and owlish to me. I used Photoshop (which I always do) because I like that I can add drop shadows to add a bit of dimension and texture.

Our original plan was to have the party outside in my happy backyard with all the festive flags and things. However, it happened that that particular Sunday turned out to be The Hottest Stinking Day of 2014 here in Southern California with not a breeze in sight. 

So at the last minute (as in that very morning!) I made the executive decision to bring the party inside. Yikes! Freakishly small cottage-like house, remember?

But gratefully I have a very willing and understanding staff (ie. my family) and they quickly moved furniture and set up tables and things indoors while I was in the kitchen making delicious things.

The Centerpieces & Decor

I have seen baby shower decorations that are a banner-like clothesline full of baby clothes which I love because not only is it adorable, it's quite practical for the new arrival. But I wanted to do something slightly different for this event.

Also, I had a dream before they even knew that the baby was going to be a boy.

*Insert trippy dream sequence music here*  

In my dream, a little guy in denim overalls toddled up to me and I said to him in surprise, "You're a boy!" And he responded with, "You're my Wella!" And then I woke up. And I knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that this baby was going to be a boy. Also, you may now call me, Wella. (FYI: Abuela is the word for grandmother in Spanish. It works.)

I had a brainstorm. 

"What if..." I asked Lucy and Amy, "We got slightly larger, toddler-size clothes and stuffed them? Also, I really, really need to find some denim overalls."

They both agreed that it sounded a little crazy, but they decided to trust me. So off we went to shop for toddler boy things. And can I just say...is there anything cuter? Beside toddler girl things? (Notice the overalls, please.)

Lucy created a Welcome Asher Banner using my Silhouette Cameo.  

We added summer flowers to add a pop of color and, of course, baby's breath. (See what we did there?)

The Menu and Recipes

• BBQ Chicken Skewers
• Mini Grilled Brie Cheese Sandwiches
• Beef Empanadas
• Spinach-Strawberry Salad
• Chicken & Waffles

The menu was fun and varied and everything still tasted good at room temperature, which made me happy. (This is where some of the Hipster vibe comes in.)

I pinned most of the recipes from Pinterest. I'll add the links.

BBQ Chicken Skewers

Mini Grilled Brie Cheese Sandwiches

Beef Empanadas (I used the same recipe as my Cuban Picadillo Pies® and cut them into 4 inch rounds, folded in half.)

Spinach-Strawberry Salad

Chicken and Waffles. Yes. I said Chicken and Waffles. I know. Shut up.

• Chicken nuggets from Chick-fil-A
• Eggo Mini Waffles
• Maple Syrup

I placed 2 Eggo Mini Waffles in each disposable cup. Added a chicken nugget to each one and filled a squeeze bottle with syrup so that guests could add their own.

They were the hit of the day.

Because it was The Hottest Stinking Day of 2014, we just served ice-cold lemonade which was totally perfect.

Both our families showered the new parents with love and awesome gifts. And everyone agreed that the afternoon was a great (and delicious) success.

Look at how adorable all my girls are!

The Desserts

A friend of Alysha's made the gorgeous fox & owl cake pops. How cute are they?

Because I had already cooked everything else, I opted to keep the desserts simple. 

We picked up an apple pie from Costco because that just sounded like a fun dessert. Amy ordered some mini bundts from Nothing Bundt Cakes in assorted flavors. (I know. Great name, right?) Also, we offered some tasty Madeleines, because who doesn't love Madeleines? Am I right? 

All this took place in my freakishly small cottage-like yet air-conditioned home. (Win!)

The new parents felt loved and blessed and maybe just a little bit more prepared to welcome sweet Asher into their lives.

Also, call me, "Wella." 

That's Entertainment!

I feel like I owe some kind of explanation about my lack of usual blogging over-sharing here in this space.

So here goes: I'm tired.

Just plain tired. Deep-to-my-very-bones tired. Or, to borrow a great Cuban phrase from my mom. Estoy agotada. (Which is awesomely descriptive. It means completely wrung out. Like a sponge. Not a drop left. Thanks, Spanish Language, for perfect descriptive words when I need them.)

There. I said it. In English and in Spanish.

Don't get me wrong. We've been having a blast for the past six weeks. We've been non-stop entertaining pretty much every week since school got out.

And I'm all funned out.

I think the crazy started back in May when we had the entire fam over for Mother's Day.

Then, once school was out, the kids started having their friends over for Outdoor Movie Nights.

Which really can't begin until after dark, which means that with these long summer days, they don't commence until 9-ish, which further means that Outdoor Movie Nights pretty much turn into Very Late Movie Nights.

Of course, there's always food. And on movie nights, we have our own "concession" stand. With the girls' favorite: Popcorn and M & M's. (It's kind of magical, really. The juxtaposition of the sweet and salty is pretty amazing. You're welcome.)

Did I mention we've hosted multiple birthday parties, too?

With most of the extended family present.

With lots of Cuban food, of course. (Of course!)

Oh! Did I mention that rehearsals for the last Improv show were held here? Of course they were.

And the first Outdoor Movie Nights were so much fun that they led to more Outdoor Movie Nights, which have now become Every-Sunday-Outdoor-Movie-Nights-at-the-Darbys (but that's not important right now).

Which means I've been feeding teenagers pretty much every week. Every. Week.

And sometimes on Monday nights, too.

All that to say this: I'm tired. Agotada. And I have been too tired to even write about my life because that whole living-my-real-life thing has been keeping me hopping. (Which, I admit, is a really good problem to have, but that's not important right now, either.)

I haven't had much energy to do much more than clean up from the last group that was here and prepare for the next party, which may or may not have included karaoke. (That's Miss Lucy in the orange dress.)

And celebrating my son's engagement to the lovely Stephanie. Which meant we also had house guests for about a week.

So, you see, I've been entertaining. With a capital E and an exclamation, like this: Entertaining! A lot.

And I'm just a little tired. Or, muy agotada. Demasiado agotada. Agotadisima! (<--Is that a word? Never mind....)

Hello, my name is Marta and I Entertain. ("Hi, Marta.")

I promise to write about all these wonderful things we've been doing and sharing how elaborately we decorated (There were flags! And colored lanterns!) and the food we served and all of that in great, gossipy detail. Very soon.

But right now, I need to go make a menu for next week's dinner party. I know. Shut up.