a black and white shower for baby meyers.

this past saturday, my mom and sister threw baby meyers a sweet little backyard baby shower. the quite-possibly-most-un-baby-showerest-baby-shower ever. which, is precisely what i wanted seeing as how im just not into the typical baby shower routine. 

as always, my family never disappoints there was no pink and blue, no baby decor, no silly games, and no long, awkward present opening. since we dont know babys gender (and this is me were talking about) the theme for the party was black and white, with the main decor throughout the party being fabric buntings: 

square tablecloths, and dainty little flower arrangements (which my sister put together entirely from things that were recycled/from the local salvage fabric store): 

it was all so cute and perfect but also really simple and not distracting from the really important part of the party (the part that i, the pregnant woman, really cared about): the food. remember how my mom works at an olive oil store? (in case you didnt and you live in the los angeles area you really need to check it out), for drinks there was a sparkling water bar with fruit and flavored balsamic vinegars to make custom sodas: 

and a popcorn bar with assorted olive oils and fancy salts: 

(yes, we totally did the exact same thing at my birthday party, but the make your own fancy popcorn is ALWAYS a hit)

then once all the guests had arrived, we had lunch. which, again because this was me were talking about, was pizza. but keeping with the "make your own food" theme that kind of happened, it was build your own pizzas. my mom had par-baked a huge batch of individually sized crusts (and bought a few pre-made gluten free crusts for the few of us that required them), put out a huge spread of toppings: 

and then (why oh whyyyyyy do i not have a picture of this part?) GRILLED THEM ON THE FIRE PIT. as far as parties at my moms house go (which, are typically some very high quality parties) this was probably the best food to ever happen at one. 

since lunch was pretty exciting/ambitious, dessert was really simple, just cupcakes, BUT im putting this here to draw attention to the little flags: that i designed on illustrator to match the invitations even though it was really really hard to do without some kind of template:

ok, and i kind of lied about there being no activities. there was one activity. there was a gender pool, which my sister set up in the cutest way possible: 

heres how it worked: for $5 guests could place a bet on what gender baby meyers would be (hence the two jars, one for girl bets and one for boy bets), the bet slips also had a spot to fill in babys weight, and whoever guesses the correct gender AND weight (without going over, price is right rules over here), wins all the money bet on that gender. losing bets go to the house (in which case, is us and our soon to be endless need of diapers). 

now, i dont have much of an inclination (or preference, honestly) about this babys gender, so it was pretty amusing watching everyone discuss their theories about what the baby is and why, but... it DOES seem like the majority of the votes went into the "boy" jar: 

so, well just have to see about that. 

now, OF COURSE as soon as people started showing up i started to get super overwhelmed and distracted (it was hot, im nine months pregnant and i dont do well with parties, ok?), and i dont have any pictures of our guests enjoying the party (this is precisely why i am not an event photographer or professional journalist of any kind). BUT i do have some new family portraits of the three of us: 

and a few snapshots i stole from a variety of instagrams: 

via @mrswhitecandlesticklibrary

via @em.aee

via @sandsink

even thought the shower itself was short and sweet and mellow and fun, it was exhausting. but in the end, i (well, we) are very, very thankful. for my mom and sister for all the work they did to throw and host the shower, for all the friends and family (especially those that came from far away) who came to celebrate, and for the kindness and generosity that resulted in literally 908 diapers (among other gifts both thoughtful and practical):

ok baby, NOW you can be born...