A Parisian Affaire...and a Kidnapping

I won't lie. I've had my baby shower planned down to the last detail for the last 6 years. Since I can't throw my own baby shower (lameski) I hoped and prayed that good friends would come along, indulge me in my Parisian themed vision, and make all my dream come true--Laverne and Shirley style.

Luckily, I have those very friends. I love-love-loved my entire shower. Take a looksi!

Le Invitations--tres chic, no?

It was an outdoor shower with a Parisian theme. We served savory crepes and sides, and sparkling lemonades in gorgeous crystal goblets.

My lovely hostesses made a special tray of gluten free crepes for the celiac crowd.

On the menu:

Ham and gruyere crepes

Sarah's Salad--Recipe at bottom of post

Fresh fruit kabobs and berries

Gourmet coffee cakes

After the first course, we played a little trivia game titled "New Parents on the Block." I was secretly hoping this would involve D-Dub jumping out of a gluten-free cake to surprise me, but that never happened. Oh well, a girl can dream.


Everyone hard at work trying to guess the answers. Glad to know that non-blog readers now know I want to suck down fumes and eat chalk. Recent discovery--I am also into the smell of leather, coffee, and chlorine.


After the quiz, it was onto the next round of delicious food--the sweet crepes. We had a spread of crepes with lemon, sugar, chocolate, strawberries, and nutella. It was just like I had dreamed it would be.

The lovely guests enjoying the fine weather and even finer food

Jake The Dog gets a special mention because he managed to steal a crepe from the table. Logan would be proud.

Onto the stack of presents! The ladies were oh-so-generous in their gifts. I am a lucky girl! I got most everything off my registry--Mini is geared up and ready to go.

Opening the loot

My friend Candace sewed this wrapping paper out of the teaching materials from school. Funny stuff.


You knew there had to be something Twilight related in that stack, right? Lance can't shake a fist at this one--I didn't buy it. Blame Alyssa!

I received 2 amazing and fabulous quilts that match Mini's room perfectly. I love them both. My friends are not only generous, they're also unbelievably talented!

After the gifts, I got to mingle with the guests, and enjoy the beautiful summer day.

My Aunt Lana

I love this picture of me bumping bellies with Kristine

Miss J and her fancy dress. She's Mini's Honorary Older Sister. It's a role she takes quite seriously. She plans on helping with feedings, diapers, and clothing. She is also planning on teaching her manners. She tried 'teaching' me that girls like pink and purple, but it fell on deaf ears.

Here is the Dream Team that made it all happen!

The tireless crepe makers...

And the team of friends placed in charge of making my dreams come true!

Thanks to everyone for all of your hard work, and amazing shower. It was absolutely perfect!

Okay, on to the kidnapping. It's sort of our thing. We've done it for all of the girls over the years, sometimes in the morning at the crack of dawn, sometimes at night. I should have been prepared, but I kind of forgot all about it until I heard a knock at my door on a random Friday night. I heard my friend Heather's voice, but I thought she was there to give me her canola oil before she moved to London. She cleaned out her pantry, and was trying to unload all of her stuff. I thought about not answering the door because I already had canola oil...but I'm glad I did.

It was my turn to be kidnapped! Sarah had family in town, so it was just the three of us ladies hitting the town.

Surprise--not what I looked like when they banged on my door. I got gussied up.


This is our homage to Sarah, who always manages to have her eyes closed in about 75% of photos. I would have hated to be her wedding photographer.

We went to our Vietnamese standby, Zao Noodle in Palo Alto. After dinner, we stayed out waaaay too late eating cheesecake down the street.

Thanks for the fun, ladies! I'm truly going to miss kidnapping your future offspring now that you're both gone. It's still sinking in how much I'm going to miss you. Maybe we will show up in North Carolina or London to kidnap you. How's that for a serious surprise?

My Baby is Making me Weird

Or, weirder I should say.

I've gone my whole pregnancy without any weird cravings or food aversions. I eat Indian food 2-3 times a week, but that's not unusual for me.

That was before I was a certified huffer. Now, I feel an intense desire to pollute my lungs with the following smells:

Exhaust-I discovered this a few weeks ago when I was driving behind a huge semi that was spitting out noxious exhaust. I couldn't get enough of the smell!

Freon and Coolant--I can't be trusted at Costco or 7-11 alone. I will pretend to look over eggs and ice-cream so I can keep my mug buried in the freezer. Shameful.

And, worst of all, I cannot get enough cigarette smoke! Totally gross, completely sick...but it smells SO GOOD!! Thankfully, everything in California is smoke-free, so Mini hasn't become addicted to cancer sticks while in utero.

Not to be outdone in the smell department, my weird body has also decided that chalk looks like a good snack.

Not "rob an Office Max in the middle of the night" good, but enough of a craving that it became annoying at school while teaching. I must admit I gave in and took a teeny, tiny nibble of chalk to see what the fuss was about before spitting it out. It turns out I'm craving the gritty, chalky texture--not the chalk itself. Now I pop a few Tums every day, and this makes it all better.

My mom waited until I was 8 to tell me I was making her crazy, but Mini totally has me beaten to the punch. I'm already crazy--thanks, kid!

One Last Hurrah

My friends are abandoning me for greater and greener pastures. Their departure is bittersweet. I'm so excited for their exciting new adventures, but sad that said adventures are taking them to London and North Carolina...and away from me.

Our group started out years ago as a chance for us to get together for dinner once a month, but it turned into so much more. We logged what seems like a million hours over fondue pots, cheap eats, high-end restaurants, hot chocolate, and ice-cream shops.

If our fondue pot could talk....

We planned one last (sob!) trip up to SF to enjoy the good life before the girls take off to their respective destinations.

Lancer loaned us the Benzi, so we could cruise up in style. To quote Hayley: "We are a really good looking bunch of girls." True dat, girl. Proof below.

We dined at Betelnut, and then headed back to our luxurious room. I was waiting for the well-documented hotel drama that always accompanies us on our city excursions: skunkweed rooms and dead bodies at sub-par hotels. Though we didn't have any serious meltdowns in the maiden voyage, a quick look at our hairdos shows that we really did have problems, we just weren't aware of them.

To our surprise, we checked into our room and no one threw up, no one went into labor, no one had to make angry calls to the manager, and we quite enjoyed ourselves for the remainder of the evening.


After a night of good sleep, we hung out in our jammies, and then gifted Sarah with her very own fondue pot to take to North Carolina, where she can forge new friendships over cheese and chocolate. Although, let's be honest, the new friends will never be as awesome as we were.


On to breakfast @ Sears, a long-standing tradition of pancakes and bacon. This place always hits the spot in the morning. I highly recommend the fresh-squeezed oj.

After breakfast, we headed out for some shopping. Actually, Hayley shopped. Sarah won't shop because she doesn't want to haul anything else along in her moving truck, and I can't shop because I'm tired of only buying shoes and purses. I want my totally cute wardrobe back.

We rolled back home to our real lives in the late afternoon. Lance asked how it was, and I told him that it was fun, but sad. Our lives intersected at a time when we all really needed each other, and I will always be grateful for all of the fun and laughs we had over the years. I love you guys. No amount of distance between us will ever change that.

Plus, I plan on reconvening with all of you in London next spring, so how sad can I be? Heather, I hope you find some food in London to feed us, because I'm coming, and I'm always hungry.

Ta-ta until then, girls!