my best friend's gender reveal

spoiler alert: my best friend is having a baby!
yesterday, while enduring a series of unfortunate events that will always coincide with this story, i (mostly) threw erika a gender reveal party celebrating her finding out what she and matt were having.  the days leading up to it i sharpied some chocolate bars, chalkboarded some drink jars and prepared some signs for everyone to cast their votes.  i ordered a cake that went with the "rifles or ruffles" theme from jaynee cakes that hid the gender in the filling of the cake.
the cake was perfect, with half camo and half ruffles. melissa with jaynee cakes was awesome and figuring out exactly what would fit our needs. she also did 2 dozen cupcakes to feed guests as well. loved them! plus, they were delicious!
this next one is my all time favorite, since you can see the excitement on both of their faces!
erika and matt were pumped that the baby is going to be a boy, and i couldn't be more excited for them. it has been a long journey to get to this point, and i cannot wait to see their new adventure as parents!
now, with the events of the day i'm sure you noticed that i "mostly" threw the party.
erika's mom helped with the food, but then as i arrived to set up, chaos happened on its own.
we went out to make sure the dogs were aware we were there and greet them, and then one of the dogs chomped down on my hand.  i was able to get away, got back in to the kitchen and started to run my hand under water.  while i was doing well, apparently my body decided otherwise, and i fainted... twice... my parents came and picked me up and then we drove to kaiser er (after 15 minutes with the advice nurse deciding what i should do).
got in, out, antibiotics and headed back to lincoln to make it to the reveal party right before the cake was cut and the excitement happened.  while i didn't get to fully set up, i am so excited i was able to celebrate with erika & matt and see them off on to the rest of their pregnancy adventure with their baby BOY :)
yes, i'm ok.
that wrap makes it look like my hand was ripped up, but i promise all my skin is where it should be, minus a few punctures.
i have no harsh feelings towards said dog.  crazy accidents happen, and this was a crazy thing.
she's been my best friend for 13+ years, its about time that i pass out in front of her :)

the bridal shower cross stitch collection

much like my quilting & sewing phases, my desires to cross stitch comes in waves.  though in this case, the waves are few and far between.  i don't know what gets me in the mood to do such things, but once i have an idea, i go for it.  in this case, i started off with one idea.  then two.  then i think it turned in to five or six before i finished my last one.  i wanted to add some nerdy themed/quote decor to the bridal shower in a way that could be used for home decor in the future without being to blah.  i had made aileen 2 cross stitch pieces in the past for various things, and so i decided for some reason she needed more.  i started with lord of the rings, then rolled in to star wars.  followed it up with a little binary & parks and recreation.  lastly, i topped everything off with a classic princess bride quote.  these all sat on a glass case, each in their own frame (as seen in the previous bridal shower post) with all the photos of ben & aileen surrounding them.  the positive responses were great, and absolutely made the time it took to make them all worth it.  half the patterns i found on etsy, while others just appeared on pinterest and i had to graph them out on my own.  without delay, here's the cross stitch parade!

aileen's nerdy bridal shower

the day that so much planning (and cross stitching) went in to has come and gone, and what an adventure it was.  i am SO glad i unintentionally got up earlier than planned and ran around like a crazy person on saturday, because if i waited until 1pm, NONE of this would have happened.  thinks were getting set up and written down to the wire when people were walking up to the front door of the train depot.  all last week was spent food prepping, decor shopping and paper cutting in order to prepare for the festivities.  i had great help from friends and parents wednesday through friday in order to make sure the food was good to go and nothing was lacking.  without further delay, here's a whole handful of photos!
> throughout the course of planning the food, i wanted to keep everything rather specifically nerdy.  it took some brainstorming, but i think we managed!  between star wars drinks, star trek cookies & lord of the rings elves, all potential bases of aileen likings were covered.
you'll notice she got a sewing kit... and it was NOT from anyone in the family!  i texted lisa this fact, and her response was "one of us! one of us!"  she has made pjs before, and i think a skirt.  so she's on the right track to earning her crafty carroll cousin membership card.
we didn't get to playing any of your typical bridal shower games (sorry erika) since so much went in to planning things elsewhere.  also, if you follow me on instagram, you'll have seen a few of the cross stitch pieces i did for this event. never fear, they are going to be in a post all to their very own later this week.  aileen was very spoiled by her guests who attended both physically and virtually (we were able to get lisa in on google hang outs just in time to see her gift be opened) and should be well prepared to bake her little heart out.  and apparently slow cook some things as well.  and be clean and showered.  i think we are all thankful for the last one.  just a few days shy of two months from now, and she'll be married off and out in to the world!  i'm thankful for all these people that like my sister enough to come celebrate her with us.  until the next bridal shower...
oh wait.
i only have one sister!
but now my friends have seen the madness i am capable of.  thankfully, erika & amy are both already bridal showered & done with.  that just leaves jenny...  MAAAAYBE i'll party hard again for jenny.

friday flashback

this kid is getting married in a little less than two months, and tomorrow is her bridal shower.
so don't mind me as i run around today like a crazy person before, during, between and after work trying to make sure everything is accounted for.
wednesday jenny helped me make cookies & pretzel rods
yesterday i wrapped pretzels, cleaned jars, put pictures in frames, and started boxing things together.
tonight, i make cupcakes and figure out the last few things needed for tomorrow.
oy.

friday fitbit

last week, i gave in to the crazy.

a week ago today, my fitbit flex arrived!
of course, i got the teal one :)

it has been interesting to get used to, but also entertaining to watch my steps get tracked.

it is currently set to a daily step goal of 10,000 - i think i've made it there three or four times within the week, but the journey continues on!

i like being able to track a little bit more accurately as far as calorie burning goes - though mine doesn't track heart rate - instead of just guessing to see what the myfitness pal app says i burned.  it adjusts things as needed should i burn more than what is listed.

i'm clearly no fitness guru at all, but so far, i'm enjoying having it!

i'll be walking around san francisco on sunday for melissa & jared's engagement session, so i'm sure i'll amp up a lot of steps on those hills!

and since no post is good without a photo, here's a few things i've shared over on 52quilter's instagram account this week.   i'll be there through sunday, and i've even cut fabric and sewed part of my disney mini quilt together.  talk about progress!