My beautiful baby shower in California

Another weekend, another baby shower! Wow! I’m so grateful for all of the people who have truly showered me/us over the last week on both coasts in both of my homes. This past weekend, I had a baby shower here in the Bay Area, hosted by three of my girlfriends.

And in case you missed it, the weekend before, my wonderful Momma and future sister-in-law hosted an absolutely lovely baby shower for me at my parent’s house in Florida, with all of my dear friends, whom I’ve known for years, in attendance. So fun!

(In love with my shower dress for the day and with this little “ahoy” cupcake!)

The three girlfriends who hosted this shower, Jen, Kylie and Clare, are all part of our East Bay of San Francisco rotating dinner group of couples, who basically adopted Dave and me when we moved out to the East Bay from the City more than two years ago. They are the sweetest, and we all live within five minutes of each other. We hang out pretty often, and they are always my dates to all of the Golden State Warriors home games that I attend, so you probably recognize their faces — two of them are also fellow Warriors wives.

(The ladies! Kylie, Clare, Jen and me.)

A few months ago, they offered to throw me a little shower here, and I was so excited and surprised, because I wasn’t entirely sure if I would have a baby shower in California at all. Well, I did. And it was awesome!

The party was held at Rustic Tavern in downtown Lafayette, which is a beautiful restaurant just a town over from Walnut Creek. It was a luncheon, which started around 11:30 a.m. and lasted a couple of hours. 

(These adorable and delicious cupcakes were from Nothing Bundt Cakes, and you’ll see my personal favorites of carrot cake and red velvet thrown into the mix. Of course cream cheese frosting had to make an appearance!)

There were 13 ladies in attendance, some of whom I met shortly after moving to San Francisco, who still live in the City, three family members, including Dave’s little sister and my cousin, one of Dave’s coworkers and a bunch of my East Bay lady friends, who all reside in or around Walnut Creek.

(My beautiful cousins — Karen, who lives in Mendocino and Kayla, who lives in SF.)

(My little sister-in-law, Dave’s sister, Gwena, who lives in Santa Cruz.)

We had a big area of the restaurant reserved for us, and the table was decorated with bright sunflowers and lots of navy nautical elements. I happen to love the nautical theme, and it was carried throughout, all the way from the adorable invitations, to the favors, to the cupcakes, to even the “wish cards,” which all of the ladies filled out. Kylie is super talented with design (among other things) and handled all of the printed elements, with her usual amazing style. So classy and just my taste!

(AHOY! Ashley is having a BOY!)

We all sat around the table chatting, and most of the ladies had mimosas (not me, sob sob) as we shared a ton of delicious appetizers, like bruschetta, hummus, salad, veggie sandwiches, truffle fries and of course, cupcakes. The food just kept coming! And I mean, truffle fries? Yes, please.

(Can you see the favors? Blue-toned OPI nail polishes, with a card that said, “mani thanks.”)

I sat at one end of the table with a few friends whom I don’t get to see all that often, and it was great catching up with them.

The majority of the group included ladies who already have one or two little babies, so they were quick to share some advice and talk to me about my questions and concerns, as well as share some funny stories about all things pregnancy. (Hey want to hear what you really need to know about childbirth and raising a baby? Check out this post with advice from real moms!)

After eating and hanging out for a couple of hours, I opened some presents. I got a ton of cute baby boy clothes and quite a few things from my registry, like this baby bath tub, this bouncing chair and this Rock n’ Play too and even a gift certificate for a pre-natal massage. So much awesome loot!

Before we wrapped up the celebration, we went outside to take a group photo, and I’m glad we did, so we could capture all of the beautiful ladies in attendance.

This shower was just perfect. It was a little smaller and more intimate than my Florida shower, and was absolutely the perfect way to hang out casually, with the added festivity of a celebration. Loved it!

I can’t thank the sweet hostesses, Jen, Clare and Kylie, enough for making it such a special day for me and for all the other gals who came too. 

And now Dave and I are so incredibly outfitted with baby gear that all we need to do is get it organized and unpacked and then pick up a few more essentials before we’re ready for the Baby Goes West’s arrival in less than two months! And no, our nursery is nowhere near complete, so stay tuned for more on that.

After these two showers, the special events are over for me until the big day comes. However, Dave is lucky to be having a dad-chelor weekend with a bunch of his guy friends, so he’ll have an entirely different kind of party to look forward to in just a few weeks. While he’s gone, I’ll be home nesting, resting and eating sweets and wishing I had a chance to wear this dress just one more time. Maternity clothing with extra room for the belly is really starting to grow on me … 🙂 

I hope you had a wonderful weekend, my friends! That’ll do it for today!

Check out all of my other pregnancy-related posts here. And I’ll see you back here soon!

Pictures and fun from a beautiful #babyshower in the East Bay by @apstyle ... Click To Tweet

Questions of the day

How was your weekend?

What’s the most memorable favor you’ve ever received from a party or shower?