Baby Shower - & the Non-Meltdown

 A little over a week ago, I threw my great friend, Tiffani, a baby shower.  I enlisted the help of many - Lois (Tiffani's grandmother-in-law) hosted it at her home, & Kirsten, Robin, Lindsey, Catherine, Stephanie, Tammy, & Ellie helped with decorations, games, food, etc.  The party turned out beautifully!

Catherine, me, Tiffani, & Kirsten

I took charge of the menu & Catherine helped by making the salads & an Oreo dessert thing (which was very good).

The day before the shower, I got a message on my voicemail from Lois, wanting to know the plans for the following day.  I told her the menu I had planned - bowtie pasta salad, spinach mushroom salad, orange rolls, & Asian chicken salad sandwiches - & then she asked, "What's for dessert?" (When we had first talked about doing the party at her house, I had asked if she could make some fruit tarts that Tiffani really liked, & she had said she would love to.  So I was kind of surprised when she asked what the dessert was going to be.)  I reminded her that she was going to make it & asked if that would still work for her.  She told me, however, that she wouldn't be able to because she thought she had broken her tailbone, & it would be too strenuous a job.  I told her no problem & that I would take care of dessert. 

I also forgot to mention that earlier this same morning, a friend of Tiffani's emailed me to let me know she couldn't make one of the salads because she was in the hospital in labor (I don't know why she couldn't just tell the baby to wait a few days ;).  So I hurried & called Catherine to ask if she'd be able to make both salads, & then my friend, Tammy, came over to help me assemble the sandwiches (quite a big process).  I also had her bring as many cookie sheets as she had & her Bosch mixer, so I could make cookies for the dessert.  Tiffani ended up calling when she heard what happened & came over for a bit to help out (bringing even more cookie sheets with her). 

If all of this had happened to me any time before January (when I was very unorganized & was easily paralyzed by fear of imperfection), I would probably have been on my kitchen floor in the fetal position, crying & thinking "Wo is me!" but instead, I thought to myself, "baby steps" & "keep calm & carry on."  When Tiffani came over, she kept looking at me, waiting for the meltdown, but it didn't come - it wasn't even on the threshold!  I was actually enjoying the fact that I could be calm & successful with last minute changes & really didn't care in the least that my workload had suddenly doubled. I felt like I could accomplish anything, especially since I had such wonderful friends to help me out. At the end of the day, Scott & I even invited Andrew & Tiffani over for dinner, & I thought it would be fun to try making German apple pancakes. Hey, why not? So with all of the "catering" stuff packed up & ready for the next day, we were able to enjoy a really good dinner with our friends.  When Andrew & Tiffani were leaving, however, I realized I still hadn't baked the orange rolls.  By this point, I was exhausted - the "I can do anything" buzz had worn off, & it hurt to stand.  I ended up baking two sheets of rolls, made the glaze, & while the third sheet was in the oven, I sprawled out across the family room floor & was out.  Scott finished the last two pans for me, & then woke me up to go upstairs.  What a day! 

orange rolls, dessert, & Asian chicken salad sandwiches w/ Japanese seasoned sesame seeds along the side (in the background)

bowtie pasta salad & spinach mushroom salad (I'd forgotten how much I love this recipe)

the dessert: Catherine's Oreo, chocolate covered ball things (back left), & I made peanut butter cookies w/ peanut butter cups in the middle, chocolate chip cookies, & jam thumbprints.  Lois made some really good chocolate mint cookies as well.

We all ate our food & socialized for a while, & then we played some fun games.  Then Tiffani opened her presents - she got some really great ones!

 Stephanie, Tiffani's mother-in-law, made a bunch of beautiful clothes, some quilts, & decorated wood letters spelling out "Caitlin." This is one of the many things that she made for Caitlin - I really loved it.

I'm so excited for Tiffani & was so happy I could throw her a party celebrating her soon-to-come baby girl. And thanks to everyone else for all of the help!