First post of 2006

My bridal shower

(thanks for a great time girls!!)

It is April 18^th and Nickki threw a bridal shower for me today. She invited about 25 people including all the girls in our family, which of course is half the group, but Jessica Ritchie is the ONLY person that wasn't family that came. And only two people called and said that they couldn't make it. HOW EMBARASSING!!! It would have been almost better if Jess hadn't been able to make it so that i wouldn't have to feel so bad that I have no friends. It was a great little party and i had a good time but it was really really embarrassing that no one showed up. Nickki is such a good friend and i love her to death for doing something so special for me. And Jessica is a sweetheart too because she wanted to throw me a party as well and Nickki just started planning before she did. Anyways, Angel, Debra, Emily, Kaylie, Kim, my Mom, Nickki and I were the attendees. Austin came in half way through the party and joined us, as did Cohen when he woke up from his nap. He is such a happy baby, it's so cute to smile at him and have him smile so big that his eyes nearly close.

Nickki had the theme of the party as “Las Vegas” with colors of black and red for the suits of playing cards, and asked the guests to wear something either shinny, sparkley, or simply red or black. I chose to wear black pants with my brown rhinestone v-neck shirt with my sparkley heels that i got for my reception. My mom looked beautiful with her new flowing red shirt and black skirt. It was so much fun helping her shop a few weeks back. She stole the best outfit award looking so nice tonight. Nickki also had a few games prepared for us to play, the first game was a Las Vegas word scramble. She picked out about 10 or 12 words that people would associate with Vegas and had us all try to unscramble them, with the goal of course being the first one to complete wins a prize. Since I have been doing so many word puzzles in the past two years I blasted that game by solving all of the words first! I have to say that she did a very good job at scrambling the words and being inventive with the ones she chose. The next game we all played was “How well do you know Anne?” There were questions the girls had to answer about my favorite food, drink, animal, sport, color, season. Then a few questions that were more factual such as my first car, where i was born and how many times i have moved. Debra won that game with only missing two questions, which we all agreed could have been the correct answers. She guessed that my favorite food was BBQ sauce (i had written down chocolate pudding) and she said that I had moved 4 times and i think that we all decided that i had only moved three times. It's sort of funny how some people don't really know the little things and some people really pick up on that sort of stuff and remember. Actually I don't recall what we decided on with how many times I had moved.... But the important thing is that Debra got the prize for that game!

Nickki had also prepared little gift bags with little bottles of champagne and a few “Vegas” style things like a poker chip key chain, a money cover note pad, and a few loose poker chips. She also put numbers on the bottoms of each bag for a game to be played later, which was sorta fun as well. Nickki had made up additional prize bags and blew up some balloons with numbers on a little sheet of paper inside of each balloon. Then i got to pop a balloon and who ever had the matching number of the popped balloon to the number on the bottom of their gift bag got to pick another bag of goodies! I don't know where she gets all of these ideas for these parties, she is so creative.

OH! Didn't even mention the FOOD yet... or the decorations! She had prepared a seven layer dip with both tortilla chips and nacho cheese flavored chips to go with. There were little beef tortilla wrapped things that were baked, and for the life of me I can't think of what they are called but they were tasty. Jessica brought a fruit kabob plate with creme fresh e, these delightful little dutch cookies that had a gingery taste and they were sandwiched with a yummy filling, i think it was a cream cheese frosting. She also prepared a veggie plate of carrots, cucumber, pita wedges and hummus for dipping. Nickki baked chocolate cupcakes and had Shirley Temples out with little cherries. Later we broke out the champagne and orange juice. Some of us had mimosas and some just had champagne. It was a wonderful spread of food and i didn't eat that much but i was so full! I brought home a cupcake for Jason and i just might have to steal it from him!

The decorations that Nickki had around the house were so cute too. There were these streamers that she hung in various corners that consisted of the four suits of a deck of cards with money signs mixed in. She had little votive candles around set up in little groups. The dining room table was black and red with napkins, forks and spoons to match all set up in a lovely manner. She also found some balloons that were covered in cards and also had a few black ones in the mix as well. There was a vase of red tulips in the kitchen that were a nice touch too. She did such a nice job on everything, especially the invitations! My goodness, she hadn't sent me one because she had originally wanted it to be a surprise party and just figured that since i was the guest of honor that i would be there. Anyways I had talked to her yesterday and we decided that i would like to have one for my scrapbook or wedding album when i put something together. The invitations were hand made with heavy textured card stock of red and black. Red bigger than the black in blocks with a spade, heart, diamond, and club on the outside. They look very professional and nice. And on the inside it is ivory colored paper with all of the info inviting the person to my bridal shower. It had Nickki's address and contact info for additional questions if needed. I was very impressed by her today and her talents. She had become quite the party planner. She even gave me some scrapbook paper to use if I wanted for thank you notes for the reception. What a gal! Sometimes i get overwhelmed by how much Nickki does for everyone, it's like there is nothing that i could do to repay her or even come close to showing my appreciation for all that she does. She had become an amazing person, I'm very lucky to have her in my life and even luckier to have her as my best friend and have her call me the same.

On top of all the games, food, decorations and family that were there, Nickki, Jessica, Kimberly and my mom all got me gifts! Nickki gave me a visa gift card . Jessica gave me a gift card to Cost Plus World Market. Kim said that she didn't have time to go shopping so she gave me cash. My mom said that she is going to take me shopping for dishes! It's so amazing that i have these people in my life. I guess i don't need friends when i have a family like i have. As long as I have Jason and my family and my heart keeps beating, i will be okay.

Love, Anne