Made In Paris - The Intro.

"Tabitha, I had a moment.  What makes me think I deserve to be somebody's mom?"

This was the topic of a tearfully excited conversation between me and one of my very best in the whole-wide world friends, Sheena.  Just a few hours before this conversation, we walked in a restaurant and prepared to meet with 2 of our bridal clients to further discuss the details of their upcoming wedding.  It was time for our meeting to begin, our clients would be seated at any moment and HERE's how the discussion went:

Sheena: "Girl, all this water.  I'm gonna have to use the bathroom."

Me: "You drinking more water than before?"

Sheena: "That's my life here lately..."

Me(giving the side eye): "What?  Are you--?"

Sheena(sips water while nodding her head with her eyes closed).

Me(eyes full of tears and face turning bright red): "I can't.  How am I supposed to-- You?  Why didn't I?"

Sheena: "OMG. Go to the bathroom and get yourself together we have a meeting!"

I was a mess.  We had talked about babies for 2 years.  Sheena is a planner in every sense of the word.  She knew DOWN TO THE DATE when she would begin to grow her family - no surprises.  I knew when she stopped her birth control but, as anyone who's ever "tried" before knows, you just don't ask.  It hadn't been THAT long had it?  She had been normal, RIGHT?! Focusing on our clients and work, I wasn't even CLOSE to expecting this news...

We conducted the meeting. I couldn't even look in Sheena's direction but as soon as the meeting concluded, I could burst -- into tears, into laughter and into excitement.  After all, she's my business partner, my diary, my sanity, my friend.  We've stayed up all night pulling together floral designs, we've stood together at reception entry doors against the masses, she's been my sounding board for every aspect of my life, we've made miracles happen and we've planned it all. Together.  Sheena is one of those friends who has morphed into a sister... I knew she would make an amazing mom... How'd I know?  DUH! She is that kind of family in your life by choice. The kind you trust with things because she only has your good intentions at heart...  The kind of person who wants to do for others simply because she can.   THAT's how I know.

Family... Sheena's family is in Rochester and her husband's family is in Philadelphia.  Both families hosted showers in their respective home towns.  For the friends and co-workers in Virginia, I was honored to spoil my {play} niece-to-be :)

I set to planning! 

According to calculations, baby was conceived while the couple vacationed in Paris!  I've always wanted to do an Ooh LaLa event and knew this was the perfect opportunity.  I waited on the other hostesses to finalize their plans before I finalized the VA shower's theme. You can imagine my excitement when I was able to finally start...  Here's one of *like* 10 sketches where I tried to document my thoughts:

I wanted this event to be a girly, feather-y, frilly, fabulously decorated party with crazy-fun activities that the co-ed audience would appreciate and remember! 

Stay tuned to see how I pulled this shower together; I've got loads of tutorials, pretty pictures and fun coming your way :)