Shower time!

I just went to my 3rd of the five showers I plan to attend this "season." I say season because it seems all of my friends celebrated the end of summer by getting themselves impregnated by their adoring husbands, so the season of baby is upon us. Just like the birds and the bees, my friends are bringing on the babies this spring so it's time to set up the list of MUST DOs when it comes to future showers. Here are my top four:

1. Plan your menu ahead of time and remember, you're serving a meal for adults, they're hungry and if you have any wine on the menu, people will need to eat!

That baby's not here yet folks so that means your all adult guest list is going to be hungry for adult food. Leave the peanut butter finger sandwiches to junior and let's get some real food on the table. If it's a late morning, early afternoon event, quiche and salad, with fruit tarts and fresh berries and yogurt is perfect for your group. That plus mimosas equals full bellies who are ready to face the day. If you're doing a lunch or mid-afternoon shower, try a caesar or Greek salad with chicken salad sandwiches and salmon tarts, cupcakes and champagne cocktails to satisfy lunch hour. Or if you're one to shower at night, try something a little more substantial, crab cakes and mini beef wellington pastries, or have some fun with cheese burger sliders and pulled pork sandwiches with crisp cilantro slaw. Finish off your menu with decadent flowerless chocolate cake slices and spiked coffee to start your evening off right. Finally, by all means, cater the party if you're not one to cook! I for one know it's hard work to make it all yourself, but it was worth it for me and I had the time and desire to do it. That being said, it's a great idea to order from your favorite restaurant and see what they would suggest for your group.

2. Decorate with fresh flowers, they go a long way.

Not only do they fit into any color scheme, flowers offer the perfect "final" touch element to your home or table. Mini roses and babies breath make perfect accents to your table and they can double as prizes or favors should you choose to offer them to your guests.

3. Have games as an option but don't stop the party to play.
If your shower is trucking right along, people are eating and drinking, having a great time, then by all means, let it continue. Sure, games can be fun, but nothing kills a shower or a any get together for that matter like someone stopping the fun to guess how many safety pins are in the jar. I like the idea of setting up stationary games on a table and having guests have the option to play or not play. Guess baby's birthday, Guess how many _____are in the jar, and Baby madlibs are great for getting guests in the baby shower spirit without making them feel like they have to participate in an "active" game. Trivias and baby bingo are great ways to get people settled in once they've gathered to watch gift opening activities. It incorporates the guests and allows them to get excited over baby bottles and countless receiving blankets.

4. Open gifts, but maybe just a little.
Everyone knows that the purpose for showers is not only to celebrate the excitement and joy of new parents welcoming baby into their lives, but also to shower them with the many things that they are sure to need for their upcoming addition. However, opening breast pumps, bottle sterilizing racks and receiving blankets by the dozens can be a yawn for guests, especially if you have a larger shower and there are piles of gifts to open. I recently saw a shower where guests were asked (via the invitation) to bring a book for baby's first library or momento for the mom to be, and that is what she opened in front of her guests. Any gifts that were purchased from the registry were sent to the parents' home so that they could start setting up their nursery for baby. It seemed like the perfect way for guests to personalize a gift and helped keep it a little interesting for all to see.

This is of course, just a start to what can help make a baby shower a must attend. The final to do is to have fun. It's a time of celebration and joy, so clink your glass of champagne against their glass of pink tinted lemonade, and help them set off on their epic journey as parents. They might just extend the offer to hold your shower in the future.

Paper please

I’m a list person. I like to sit down with a notebook, write my to dos out neatly and then cross them out with black marker so that they can disappear from my sight forever. In a somewhat related reveal, I also write checks. Sure I check my account balance online just like everyone else, but I also keep my checkbook balanced and written on that little ledger. Why bother when our banks are doing it for us? Why write a list when you can just pop it into your smart phone and then hit delete? I do this because I’m holding on to the last days of paper.

I’m mourning the days when books and magazines, coloring books and post-it notes were the vehicle for the words and thoughts of others. It’s not that I don’t partake in the varieties of the world wide web, it’s just that, I’m not ready to release my beloved print into the cold dark night.

I often say that the reason I became an English major was because I loved to read. This is true enough, but the real reason is that I loved books. I dreamed of having my own personal library with floor to ceiling shelves filled with books, a ladder to carry me to the top where the precious treasures of first editions could sit out of harm’s reach (aka my destructive paper loving dog, Bailey), a comfortable, well-lit place to read, with a fireplace, or at the very least, a very powerful space heater at my disposal. I’m filled with nostalgia at the thought of the many books I’ve read to the point of having to tape their sad, hardback covers. I am saddened to think that one day children will not know that the stories they love were not always backlit on mommy’s new kindle, but rather, they once lived inside the musty hardback book on her shelves.

The funny thing is that I am describing the very reason why people are embracing online, or downloadable media. Who has the storage anymore for boxes of books? I myself cried as I dropped off 10 boxes to my local library when I realized I couldn’t possibly move them cross-country let alone store them in my new one bedroom apartment. (I have since learned about media mail and moved into a bigger place so my sorrow runs deep as I think of the books I sacrificed to the Sanford Public Library.) Who wants to spend their nights propping up a 1000 page paperback that will tear and no doubt give you “mommy’s wrist” as you cradle it in bed? Why comb through the shelves of a bookstore searching title after title for something you might like when Amazon will kindly put together a list of “things you might enjoy based on your recent searches?”

I do. I want all of those things. If only because it reminds me that there was a time when the art of writing was treasured. To own a book was a privilege not a chore. I want a place for my lists and my checkbook, and I hope it’s next to my very worn out copy of “A Tree Grows in Brooklyn.”

Dinner for 12?

I love a good dinner party. I am that person who registered for china knowing very well that I would use it with gusto and would build upon it as the years go by. My only obstacle as far as I can tell is t not having a dishwasher, but I’ve been willing to work through that in exchange for Vera Wang on a freshly pressed white tablecloth.

I was raised by parents who loved to entertain. My parents hosted dinners for 4 and parties for 50 both with relative ease and I tried to teach me that keeping things simple is the way to go when you are inviting people to your home. Truthfully, I break that rule on a regular basis. I love to go a little overboard (fresh sprigs of rosemary in hand-folded napkins anyone?), but I think it's fun and if I have the time to bedazzle your name card, I will. For me it's an experiment in how over the top I can successfully be while still getting everything on the table looking great, tasting fantastic and with all a general sense of calm.

I like to pretend that I have my own show on the Food Network. I comb through recipes and cook books for the my favorite bits and pieces to serve and then lay all of my ingredients out on a table for the invisible cameras to see. I can almost feel Ina and Giada next to me as we exchange witty banter over how amazing my blueberries look and how lucky I am to live in a city where they make delicious sourdough for my croustini. For me it's a game and why not, it's fun. Getting your friends and family together to gather around a pot of something delicious is as old as time. It's a time to be creative, inventive and with pre-washed lettuce available it can be so simple.

I'm an hostess. I want to make you dinner, create a pretty place for you to sit, and make sure your wine glass is full. I want you to laugh and tell stories. I'll ask you to bring nothing but yourselves and promise to do all that I can to make your time enjoyable. Just don't crack my teacups and we'll get along just fine.

When you’re not a writer…– 1/9/12 NGB (the beginning)

I am not a writer. This is something that I’ve decided. Actually, I lied. This is something that was gently pounded into my soul and brain by one professor in college. He declared it to the class as a backhanded compliment – “Nicki can not write, but she understands what the author is saying…” there is more to that story, but why dwell on the past. His words were harsh, but more to the point, they were only half true.

I was an English major; bogged down by papers dedicated to subjects that only half interested me. I cannot and do not write papers, well. I run out of words, I run out of thoughts, I run out of interest! 20 pages about anything is too much, so I suppose, I’m not an essayist. I’ve decided that I will be a columnist. I will jump back into my journalism roots and find the short and sweet words to comment on what is going on that exact moment. Professor T beware; I’m going to challenge your idea of who you thought I was and prove that I may not be able to keep up with you in the classroom, but when was the last time someone needed to read an essay on The Tempest? Challenge taken. – NGB 1/9/12