a s t o n + s t e l l y n: family

Meg picked me up from the airport and we immediately headed to lunch at The Source (an awesome DC area Wolfgang Puck restaurant). I was sweating bullets because the plan was to have lunch at 1pm. It was only 12pm. This mattered because I was in on a little (actually HUGE) surprise with Megan's BFF Jackie Ray. Jackie now lives in the Oakland, CA area so she politely declined the invitation to the shower allegedly due to proximity of course but then wanted to surprise Megan and actually show up for the event! The plan was to sneak up behind her at lunch...and long story short Jackie made it shortly after we did and the sneak attack worked even better than expected...Meg.was.blown.away and I was so excited to witness...

It was a perfect weekend for a baby shower! It felt like spring was in the air so the "About to Hatch" Easter theme went off without a hitch. I stayed with Meg and Newman in their huge new house (well compared to the 700sqft they came from over 2000sqft seems mansionesque!). I haven't slept that well in years. Had the whole downstairs to myself...and no 4 legged or little 2 legged creatures to bother me. Newman and Meg were GREAT hosts...Newman always had the dishes done and breakfast made...

The morning of the shower Meg took us on a hilly 5 mile walk around her hood and through the nearby zoo...it could not have been more beautiful outside for a walk. We grabbed Mom and Chuck (they stayed at a nearby hotel) about a mile into our "stroll" (although at 8 months plus I'm not sure I could have handled this stroll) and set off through the Zoo but not before an egg sammy and some awesome coffee at one of Meg's favorite hotspots.

The shower was a mixed gender crew. Meg and Newman wanted to have a joint shower and housewarming party so all were welcome! The boys mostly drank beer and the girls mostly fancied the signature champagne with floating (or sinking) raspberries:). Jackie, Meg and I completely catered the whole event from Costco (besides a jar of ranch dressing and the cupcakes purchased elsewhere by Jackie) and we could not have been more pleased with the outcome:)...people ate, drank, chatted, laughed submitted baby names and then watched Meg open gifts much to her dismay...

Here's how it went down...