A Special Day, for a Special Friend

This past Saturday, I traveled up I-71 to Northern Kentucky for the wedding shower of my best friend, Christa. At first I was worried I wouldn't be able to make it up there - Louisville got a few inches of snow and I figured Cincinnati probably got hit much worse. Imagine my surprise to learn that they didn't get one flake of snow! The hardest part of my trip was just getting out of my neighborhood - from there, it was smooth sailing all the way to NKY.

What a lovely shower it turned out to be! Christa's mom and aunt did a wonderful job coordinating everything. The shower was held at the Tousey House, a beautiful historic home that has been renovated and is now a restaurant. If you are in the NKY/Cincinnati area and are looking for a neat place for a shower or other gathering, this is your place. About 20 women attended, many of whom have known Christa since she was a little girl. As her friend, it was so wonderful to help celebrate Christa with women who love her and adore her just as much as I do. We had a wonderful day, with lots of laughter and just a few (sweet) tears.

Speaking of sweet, the dessert consisted of 3 cakes from The Bon Bonerie - hands down the BEST bakery in all of Cincinnati. My personal favorite is Chocolate Opera Creme cake, and it tastes as divine as it sounds!




Before we dug into the cake, we played a couple of games - I'm not usually a big fan of shower games, but this one had me rolling! We divided the ladies into 4 teams, handed them a roll of toilet paper and a roll of tape, and instructed them to pick a model and design a "wedding dress" in 5 minutes. I loved recording their frantic dress construction!




The beautiful bride-to-be, enjoying the game:


After time was called, we held an impromptu runway show - I'm sure the other individuals dining in the Tousey house just LOVED this!





We enlisted a couple of the men who worked at the Tousey House to serve as judges (who got a little help from Christa's aunt!).



In the end, they picked Bride No. 1 - I think the strategically placed silver bow was the clincher.


Christa received some very lovely gifts, including a very special poem written by a kind woman who has known Christa since she was a very young girl. There were a few tears, particularly when Christa read the poem, but there was also some silliness:


This is how I looked a good portion of the day, trying to capture everything:


I took this picture to capture some of the beautiful historical details of the home, and ended up capturing myself as well in the process! Can you spot me?


A couple more pictures of the day...here's Christa with her aunts...


Donna, Christa's sweet and beautiful mother:


Christa, I can't wait to serve as your Matron of Honor at your wedding in just a few short weeks! And finally, there's one belated gift I owe to you, dear friend....

At one point in the shower, Christa opened a card from one of her aunts that included a photo of a Valentine's card Christa had given to her when she was 11 or so (and how sweet that her aunt kept that card all these years?!). Well, I might have gotten a WEE bit carried away in my laughter when I saw the picture. I thought it was adorable, of course, and Christa looked as beautiful back then as she does now - it was just I couldn't get over her bangs! In retrospect, though, I thought that I probably shouldn't have laughed quite as hard as I did and have felt terrible about it ever since - I would rather walk across fiery hot coals than cause one ounce of pain for my good friend. I felt it only right that I share my own embarassing photo since I know Christa will read my blog - and of course I am sharing it on the world wide web! I called my mother and asked that she pull up one of my awkward and embarassing photos from my pre teen years for my father to scan, and they did not disappoint. This picture is hands down the least favorite picture ever taken of me for a variety of reasons, take your pick:
(1) Baby weight
(2) Bangs I cut myself
(3) The fact that my sister and I are holding hands like we are in some cheesy prom photo.

So without further adieu....Christa, honey, this one's for you!


AGGGGGHHHHHHH!! I'll never live THAT one down!