Sara's baby shower

Soooo I figure I should make this post before my sister gives birth haha! Pretty much the second that Sara announced that she was expecting I said I wanted to throw the shower. Much thanks to Pinterest, it made planning easy. Sara and John do not know the gender of the baby, and I really didn't want to do the typical green and yellow type of shower. Sara and John both lived in France, and both still speak a little French. Sara mentioned a cute French cafe in downtown Cleveland, called Le Petit Triangle Cafe. This sounded perfect to me, as I would be planning from a distance, so letting someone else do all the cooking and cleanup seemed ideal. We set the date for Sunday, December 9th. This seemed like a good time because it was in between holidays and gave Sara enough time that if for some crazy reason she went into labor early, she'd have enough time to get everything together. :)
The planning began very early on, and being that it would be during the holiday season, we got an early jump start on the invitations. I found the CUTEST french invite on zazzle.com. It was exactly my taste, and Sara's as she got to be there to pick them out, haha! Sara and John had flown down to Texas in early October and so she just so happened to get to help with that detail. They said "un petit bebe" so it fit perfectly with having it at a French cafe.
I got started on the menu right away with the help of the Owner of the cafe, Joy. We decided a sit down meal would be best, as we were going to fill the room! We opted for fruit, cheese, and nut plates at each table, then choice of quiche and salad, and then of course some amazing crepes for dessert! Naturally, what is a shower without a little champagne, right? So we had a great champagne bar with bellini's, spritzers, and mimosas. Yum!
I then started thinking about table decorations and went to Pinterest for some inspiration. I found yellow hydregnas with cranberries inside the vases and immediately knew that was what I had to do-I had it-the colors would be yellow and red! Not your typical baby shower colors, but such a great combination! I have a friend down here in Texas that just started a company doing signs and banners, and she made a cute "bebe" sign to hang. It was perfect! Sara's sister in law Katie gave me the name of a great cake place that followed the theme and did a cool yellow cake with some twigs and cranberries for decor.
I also went to Hobby Lobby and got yellow card stock, and made menus for each place setting. It gave the table the extra little bit that it needed. Oh, and how could I forget the favors? OPI "Bastille my heart" nail polish! Who doesn't love a great red nail polish!? :) Everything came together so perfectly.
The best part by far was seeing how many wonderful women came out to celebrate Sara and their baby! Enjoy the photos!

Life as a Texan

So a few times I have posted on facebook about not wanting to be called m'aam. In Arizona and California it truely is like calling someone "old lady." I have many memories of my mom being called m'aam and she would quickly respond, "Who are you calling m'aam?! Don't you call me that!" Of course this was done with a smile on her face.
I am a big believer in that you need to adapt to your culture and "When in Rome, Do as the Romans do." For example, when I lived in Germany, I spoke German. By the time I left I was pretty fluent. Wish I could still say I was, but you forget if you don't use it...anyways, point being, in the South they commonly say "sir" and "m'aam" and I am learning how to adapt. Sadie is taught at school that she is to say "Yes, m'aam" to her teachers. I completely respect this. However, they have taught her to call ME "m'aam" as well, and this I am not a fan of! Haha! She now knows that she is to call me, "Yes, Mommy." :) One day I was picking her up from school and her teacher said something like "you say yes m'aam to your mommy." Sadie got upset and said, "I don't say yes m'aam to mommy, I say yes mommy!!!" I explained to her teacher that we don't do that in our house but that it is fine at school.
I thought I would share a short funny video of Sadie trying to get a rise out of me by calling me m'aam. Enjoy!

Some other funny Texas terms that I posted about is hearing people talk about the "light bill." I call it an electricity bill, as it is all encompasing, but being the perfectionist that I am, have to fight the urge to correct them and say, "don't you mean the electric bill?"
Sometimes people here have such thick accents that I often times cannot understand them. Friends in Arizona and California say that they can hear a little accent in me, which surprises me because most people here instantly know that I am not from the area from my lack of accent. It's interesting how that works.
Anyways, January flew by-how can that be?! I have a busy month ahead with lots of newborn shoots and a bridal show at the end of the month. Time is just flyin'!