Wendi's non-shower

I am slowly making my way to Christmas. A few more posts to go. What's been so great about the start of January is the lack of commitments on my calendar. So it's been nice to take my time editing all the photos (especially since my MAC and my internet are acting up), eventually doing a blog post, and post-date all the rest. With this arctic freeze that is setting in Houston, I have been a crazy lady in the kitchen for the last two weeks. My buddy Jenn put together a cookbook of 200+ recipes from all our friends and it arrived right before the holidays. I have been trying out all the soup recipes with this cold weather, and boy have they been yummy. I found out into the week of soups that Derek has always loved soups. In the 14 years of knowing the boy I never knew this. In the words of my favorite game, whoonu? This is the third cookbook I have been a part of with various groups of friends, and it sure motivates me to try a new recipe when I know the person backing it.

And speaking of friends, a few of us got together right before we all set off to the in-laws and various families' houses to celebrate the upcoming arrival of baby girl Georgia. I saw these wine labels on Kaki's blog right before this and knew I had to grab these to hand out as a small favor for everyone.


We weren't going to do an official shower, per se, but this group just can't help themselves. Especially when we have all these decorations just lying around. So, thanks to Tracy and her printing skills, we had a sugar and spice subtle theme going on.


Big thanks to Leslie for letting us borrow these.


And Jenn for the lollipop trees...


...and the banner for the sugar and spice.


I just provided the house. Since we were getting together literally 3 days before Christmas, we decided the Doha guest needed some Pei Wei during her Texas visit. My plate of food had never looked so monogamously yellow. Is that a word?


Jenn brought the recipe for a yummy cranberry drink and Katie made some delicious oreo petit fours. I made a peppermint dessert, but failed to find the energy to take a photo it.


J-Li, as Tracy fondly calls Jenise, got us all in the festive spirit with her Santa hat. We decided to add to the laidback evening by sporting our Christmas jammies for the evening. I am loving these events where I can wear baggy clothes! Anyone recognizing the onepiece outfit T-Hop is sporting?


Wendi surprised us all with a fun something from ole Fran...


...different earrings for each of us.


Us with the new ear-bobs - we were all laughing how Wendi truly got each person earrings that looked just like them.


Then it was time to shower with gifts for Baby G. Wendi, would you mind if we called her Baby G instead of Georgia? Probably not, right?


Some of us were mothers of just boys, so this display of girliness is still something I have to get used to on Wen. We are all so pumped to see this baby girl!


Luckily, my man returned so he could let us pose for the paparazzi.


Then we just got silly.


Even Derek got into the silliness - so silly, that he cut off Jenise in the last few photos. J-Li - you were there in our memories. And we are so glad you drove in from Victoria to spend the evening with us!


So much fun to reunite this group, even in the craziness of the week of Christmas. Though I had to quickly recover from the 1:30am departure time. We just couldn't get enough of each other. I miss all of us being together. Praying for that sweet baby's arrival in Doha in a few months. It's killing me that I can't be in that hospital room!