OK, it’s just not cool to mention a party unless you also talk about the food.
Because it’s the most important part! — or at least one of the most important parts, right? I mean, who wants to leave a party ravenously hungry? Shoot, not this girl. Huh uh. Not me.
Luckily, there were some pretty epic moments involving food at the baby shower on Saturday, like this lovely spread of Italian- and Filipino-inspired nommage…
Almost everything was homemade (some of my friends and their spouses are great cooks!).
I’ve been craving Italian food lately (actually, I’m always craving Italian food), and there were those cute little tea sandwiches with the crusts cut off, along with some caprese salad-style appetizers and a cheesy tortellini pasta salad dish that was DELISH.
And then my mom brought lumpia (sort of like a Filipino eggroll) and a Filipino noodle dish called palabok.
Oh, and then there was this cake…
OMG! It was a light, airy chantilly lace cake with almonds and berries (I believe it came from heaven/Whole Foods). I almost floated away right there…
CAAAAAAAAAKE!
It was one of those clutch-your-pearls, melt-in-your-mouth cakes. SO GOOD.
Yes, I did splurge a little (OK, a lot) on the sugar front, but I’ve been pretty good about watching what I eat because of the gestational diabetes. I just allowed myself a bit of a cheat day, though, because it was a special occasion.
We also played a game, too. Before the party, my friends emailed El Hub a list of questions about me and the pregnancy, and then asked me the same questions at the party — things like, “How often did she [me] get morning sickness?” (Answer: I never barfed, but I was almost constantly nauseous.) and “What smells could she not stand?” (Answer: pretty much everything strong.)
Overall, El Hub did pretty well. Most of our answers lined up. One of them was about food cravings, and my answer was frozen waffles with peanut butter and raisins, and he got that one spot on, word for word, LOL!
That one was probably easy for him because he was the person who made all of the waffles, haha.
Speaking of peanut butter…
Too Faced has a new eyeshadow palette coming out called the Peanut Butter and Jelly Eye Shadow Collection ($36, coming soon exclusively to Ulta), and the name sounds quite yummy right meow.
The palette was inspired by Peanut Butter, which is also one of the shades in the Too Faced Semi-Sweet Chocolate Bar.
They took that shadow, Peanut Butter, and built a mini-palette with nine powder shadows around it. The pans are arranged into three color-coordinating rows, but of course you could also mix and match them however you want. Really, all of the colors look like they go together well.
I’m wearing the palette today…
Overall, the tones are warm, and the matte browns (as well as the copper and purple shades) contain a noticeable amount of red, which can make for tricky colors to wear sometimes, depending on your skin tone.
If you like the way you look in warm reddish or orangey browns (think MAC Soft Brown, MAC Saddle and MAC Swiss Chocolate), this could be a great palette for ya, and/or if you have blue eyes, I bet the orangey red tones would look amaaaaaaazing.
Oh! — before I forget, my friend Jen brought what could possibly be the most helpful baby shower gift in the history of the world. She put together an awesome basket of really handy, practical things, like…
And she even included some post-labor things I never thought about, like this support band and, um…some stool softener.
I know that’s TMI, but whatever!
It says a lot about a person when they can give you stool softener for your baby shower, OK? What a very thoughtful gift (thanks, Jen!). One of my other friends took a picture of it to remember for the next time she goes to a baby shower.
You don’t even have to wrap it. Just stuff everything in there. It’s still super cute.
In other news, happy Monday and first day of February to you! How’s your day coming along?
Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,
Karen
The food looks so yummy and the palette looks like it could be a lot of fun! I love the basket idea. I actually bought the boogie wipes for myself when I have a cold. It’s quite nice and refreshing and keeps your nose from getting all dry and nasty.
I had no idea those wipes existed! Next time I get a cold I’m gonna get a pack for myself (I get dry skin around the nose, too).
How have you been? I feel like it’s been forever! Hope that you, Tulip and Jazmine are doing OK!
We’ve been doing well. Tulip and Jazmine wanted to let Tabs know that although he might not get as much attention when the new baby comes he will definitely get more attention as Baby Girl gets bigger. Tulip and Jazmine use to be afraid of my nieces when they were babies. Now when they come over all they want to do is pet them. Sometimes she’s playing on her Ipad and the cats are on her lap being petted. Also she feeds them lots of treats! She knows where they are hidden. Tabs should have a column where other cats give him advice on the arrival of Baby Girl 🙂
I hadn’t planned on getting the pb&j palette but the swatches look amazing. And what a lovely & practical gift basket. And I agree, anytime a friend gives you a stool softner, that’s when you know you have a friend, indeed! Let the countdown begin!
You could rock this palette! It’s quite warm but I can see it on ya. 🙂
How was your weekend? Did you do anything fun?
Nope, kinda low key weekend. Although I did walk/run 3.7 miles on the treadmill- if you call that fun. It took me exactly one hour & I rewarded myself with a green smoothie from Tropical Smoothie. I’m training to run a half marathon in April. Heaven help me ’cause I’m gonna need it. Who knows? This palette may be my next treat from me, to me, with love 🙂
Girl, you know that’s my idea of a good time. I miss running! 🙂 I’m so excited for your half marathon in April and I will be with you in spirit when you do it. Have you worked on your music playlist yet?
Great question! I’ve got a “workout” playlist but after Saturday’s workout, I realized I need to add MORE MUSIC. That’s on my agenda. And I’ll need you with me in spirit during the marathon. Holy moly, batman. What have I gotten myself into?! ?
All that food looks so delicious! Sounds like you had a great Saturday!
That postpartum support band!!! Yes!!! Wish I had one of those after I delivered. You’ve got a good friend there.
Pretty palette, especially Jammin.
Hi Tatiana,
I have absolutely NO idea about the postpartum support band. Seriously, I’d be lost without her.
I hope you had a nice Monday! How was your weekend? What did you do?
Yeah, you are definitely going to like that support band after baby girl is born. It takes a while and a bit of work to get those stretched out ab muscles back to what they once were. It just feels good to wear something snug and compressing after the birth. Or at least I thought it did. YMMV.
I got slaughtered by my personal trainer in the gym this morning. But I can already feel how much stronger I’m getting because of him.
The rest of the weekend was laid back. Hanging out with Nora kitty as the DH is in Tokyo for business and DDaughter joined a new dating group and is suddenly going out on a lot more dates. 🙂
Karen-
It’s Jen, your former Novato girl here. When I was at SFSU in the “last century” I worked at The Emporium at Stonestown Mall in SF. (Do you remember The Emporium? I still miss it, could always find something there. Miss I. Magnin’s more.) I worked in the “Foundation Dept.” (Yep, I am a trained bra fitter! Actually I’ve been to several bra-fitting schools. Most ladies are wearing the WRONG BRA & the WRONG SIZE. If it doesn’t have seams in the cup and your are over a B cup, get rid of it! It’s not doing you any favors.) This being Stonestown we had a large clientele of European immigrants and immigrants from elsewhere, too. All these ladies, post-partum would come in and buy a girdle one size too small to help things “shrink back to size.” So said garment your friend gave you should be helpful. Looking forward to BG! I think “Jennifer” would be the perfect name for her!!!
-Jen
Looks like a good party! That’s a great game, I usually hate baby shower games. And I love Sandra Boynton, her board books are all so good.
I’m actually unable to eat peanuts / peanut butter, sadly. They’ve gone from causing me indigestion (for years and years) to actually making me have a vomiting type reaction to them. Super weird. I’m not allergic where I’d worry about dying but I can’t eat them without terribleness. Plus, because of that, even the smell kind of sickens me. I eat tons of almond butter though.
It was a fun party. Super chill and just what I wanted. 🙂
I like almond butter, by the way. Do you have a favorite brand? I think the only one I’ve ever tried was the one from Trader Joe’s.
I don’t have a favorite! I like them all and buy whatever is available.
Ahh ok. Sometimes when I put almond butter on toast I like to sprinkle a little bit of maple syrup and some sea salt on top. It sounds weird but the contrast between the sweet and the salty is very yummy.
Oooh! I’m not a salty-sweet fan except for caramel, but I can see where that would be good!
So glad you had a great baby shower Karen! The food looks so good. And you were blessed with lots of thoughtful baby gifts!
Hi Denise,
I’m still drooling over the thought of the food (and that cake!). How have you been? Did you do anything fun over the weekend?
My pro tip: saturate (and I do mean saturate) a pack of baby wipes with witch hazel. Put in fridge. Take one or two into the bathroom with you each time, post-partum, to wipe with, for about a week or two. Heaven on your lady bits. I would also recommend putting a box of mega-absorbency pads into the freezer for post-partum use. TMI? Maybe. Refreshing? Oh my glob yes. Invaluable.
Hi Janet,
Both those things sound wonderful! Thank you for the pro tips. If you have any more, I’ll take ’em!
I was wondering why there was no mention of the food in an earlier post today other than about the cake, which does look amazing.
The eggrolls and wings look delish!
I completely forgot about stool softener, although I don’t think I ended up taking any because I ended up having a c-section.
If I don’t say it now I’ll forget, I wish you a relaxing, safe and joyful birth experience. 🙂 🙂 🙂 Speaking of, does hub have instructions to send out a tweet?
Hi Jennifer!
Thank you for the well wishes! I’m hoping for the same things too, so I’ll take them. I haven’t thought of the actual announcement quite yet… Maybe I should put that on my list of things to do, LOL! I swear everything is happening so fast but yet at the same time it feels so slow. It’s very strange.
I love lumpia! hihi. Fun baby shower! Did anyone give you baby hangers?! Those things are so important! Haha!
OHEMGEE THAT CAKE!
Happy love month! <3
Yes, my mom-in-law gave me some tiny little pink hangers. LOL!
Oh my, my kids and I LOVED LOVED LOVED Barnyard Dance and all the Boynton books. My son’s whole room was done with the Boynton barnyard animals, and it was so darling. He’s 22 years old now. *sigh*
I can’t wait to meet your Baby Girl!
Hi RedWeatherTiger,
I can’t wait for you to meet her too!
That’s so sweet that your son’s room was decorated with the barnyard animals! I bet those 22 years went by so fast (that’s what everyone tells me). Is he your only child?
Can I have your friends because they make one yummy spread! Looks like a fun day, and I think this palette is so cute!
Hi Ashleigh,
They do make a yummy spread! And they’re a lot of fun, too. I got really lucky.
What did you this weekend? Anything fun? Oh and this is random but a while back we talked about NARS Isolde. Did you ever end up picking it up?
Hi Karen,
We had a pretty low key but nice weekend 🙂 The only thing of note was attending a BBQ/party that one of our local bars put on that serves a lot of craft beer, so the boy got to try a bunch of good brews he wanted to try and I had some fancy pants “anise cider”. 🙂 And no I still have not, it lurks like a sad, beautiful jewel at the very bottom of my Sephora loves list, sitting there for I think YEARS now, lol! One day I’ll snag it up 🙂 Hope your week is going well!
Looks like a great party, and you deserve it! I am SO excited for the Peanut Butter palette!!! Peanut butter is one of my top fave eyeshadow shades! Love the way the neutral Browns are complimented by the “jelly” pops of color in the purple shades! These palettes from Too Faced are among the eye palettes I gravitate towards most in my collection, and I anticipate this being a new favorite!
Hi Heather,
This palette has “everyday workhorse” written all over it. I really like that they included some mattes! Yay for matte transition shades. 🙂
I hope you had a wonderful weekend!
That’s how you know it’s a good friendship 🙂
Stool softener brings people together, LOL!
Ohhh that postpartum support band is key, especially if you end up having a c-section. And the stool softeners, oh boy! It’s a serious necessity. The first time I went (maybe 7 days post-partum), I felt like I gave birth to poo. Lol!
Hi Arianne,
I honestly had no idea that the postpartum support band existed! Seriously, thank goodness for girlfriends in the know!
And oooh boy… I gotta start mentally preparing myself for the aftermath NOW!
Look at all that lovely loot! How exciting! Yay for the practical people in your life. My cousin’s baby shower was Saturday as well & though she received 10 boxes of diapers, I was the only one who included wipes as well.
I love Sandra Boynton’s books; they’re ones I collect for my nieces & don’t mind rereading them ad nauseum. She rereleased one recently for adults called “CHOCOLATE: The Consuming Passion”.
The PB&J palette is adorable! I’m thinking I’d have to swatch it in person to see how the shadows look on me. I’m fair-skinned with cool tones but I have dark brown hair with a touch of red & dark green eyes so I suspect I could wear them.
I’m finishing up laundry tonight for my trip to Arizona on Wednesday. I’ve been less concerned with packing clothes than I am with curating makeup & selecting books. I haven’t made the transition to an eReader & I rather wish I had one right now.
Looks like you had an awesome party Karen. The food looks so good, especially that cake. I can’t resist a good cake. My favorites are Tres Leches, Dulce de Leche, and Strawberry Shortcake. Idk if that counts but I love it so much! I am really excited to hear what name you picked!
Btw, when are you announcing interns for your blog? I am excited to see who you picked!
I love that you’re a Filipina living in the Bay Area just. like. me. I miss palabok!
Anyway you rock. Keep keeping on. Congrats on the baby shower!
Wow Jen thought in everything, she is going to be your fairy godmother in terms of motherhood.
All the food looked so yummy *needs to search in the fridge*. I haven’t heard before about that game of questions, instead here in Mexico they have games like trying to put a diaper to a baby doll blindfold or measuring the mom’s belly with toilet paper. They also play bingo but instead of numbers they use baby products.
The food and the palette look yummy! To be honest, I’m not loving the color scheme of the palette, but I kinda have to have it because peanut butter and jelly is one of my favorite things to eat. It’s like my comfort food.
Loving the color Jammin! I have a lot of neutrals already, so I hope they would release Jammin in a single compact.
Your baby shower looks like it was a lot of fun. Jen’s gift is definitely very thoughtful!
That palette looks awesome although I’m not sure I could pull it off!
All the food sounds delish! Such nice gifts, too. Trust me, you’ll be grateful for that stool softener. 😉
I will be getting the PB&J Palette if it doesn’t smell super-strongly of PB. Strong PB smell usually makes me nauseous. I hate PB except 2 or 3 times a year when I want it twice a day for a week or so. I absolutely loathe PB and choc unless it’s Butterfingers or Whatchamacallit. I know, I’m weird.
I LOVE LUMPIA TOO! IT’S SO DELISH :3 (I’m Indonesian)
Hope you had great fun at the party Karen.. I am sure you are so ready for the baby’s arrival. All the best for your delivery 🙂
These gifts really will come in handy, and yes, it is a great (and experienced) friend that gives you stool softener.
I am suddenly craving peanut butter, so I am off to the kitchen to get myself some…
It looks like you guys had a great time – I’m so happy for you! 🙂 You’re going to love all Jen’s gifts, and you’ll be happily surprised about how much use you get from some of them. The boys sometimes still use their hooded towels. The food looks fabulous, too. I’m glad I didn’t see this post yesterday afternoon or I’d have been trying to eat my screen. HAHA! PS I love the pose-down pic; is that baby bro peeking around in the background, clutching his heart? He must be so excited about being an Uncle! 🙂
LOVE love love!! Thanks for sharing about your baby shower. It looked lovely. LOVE those swaddles by the way — it doesn’t get any cuter!
Your baby shower looks like a wonderful time. 🙂
May I be a creeper and ask which guy is El hub in the pic? ? I’m trying to decide what baby girl might look like!
The So Lovely onesie and the tutu are so cute!
I legit do not at all need the Peanut Butter & Jelly palette, but I think I kinda really want it. But I’m going to hold off! I already spent all my Ulta points as it is!
Awww, so fun, looked like it was a really good shower! 🙂 The food looked soooooo yum! I ALWAYS crave Italian food.
Pretty eyeshadow palette by the way, the colors are so fun and happy.
Thank you for sharing this with us.Those are wonderful and very well-thought-of gifts. It makes me almost want another baby LOL.
Enjoy the last couple of weeks till B-day and get as much rest as you possibly can. The end of your pregnancy is near and so is the beginning of a wonderful (but exhausting) new phase in your and El Hub’s life.
The love, happiness and beauty is palpable in this post! I love everything !!!
Lumpia and I are best ftiends, and I’m freaking craving it now!
So many of my favorites here – Boogie wipes and California Baby products are the best! You look radiant Karen, hope you’re resting as much as you can. Lots of love!
it wouldn’t be a filipino party without lumpia & palabok .
yummmmm !
how cute is that tutu ?!!
the pb&j palette will be my first palette from too faced .
i’m OBSESSED with warm tones , so it’s right up my alley . the pops of purple are a plus .
Another thing to stock up on if you haven’t are super absorbent overnight pads. You’ll probably get some to take home from the hospital, but the bleeding lasts weeks so it’s nice to have your own stuff at the ready at home too. 🙂 And you want to start taking that softener right away basically, ask the nurses if they don’t offer it. I also got the witch hazel pads at the hospital and took them home, very helpful! And while I wasn’t that uncomfortable with my first despite a major tear, I could barely sit after my second without Tylenol and Advil around the clock. Also helped with the after pains (cramps from your uterus shrinking back to normal size).
I was constantly nauseous, too during both pregnancies but I never barfed. Ugh, I don’t know what’s worse really cuz if you do barf isn’t there some temporary relief? I should give you all my extra swaddling blankets – Izzy didn’t use all of them. I love the gifts you got – yes, very practical.
I may have to check out that PB&J palette but honestly I think I may like the chocolate collections more.
California Baby makes great stuff! They will give you some crazy stool softeners at the hospital, you might want to ask for a take home bottle.
As for PB&J it’s a bit warm for this cool toned pale gal.
BTW, I’d cut a b*tch for some lumpia with banana sauce… or banana lumpia… OMG…
Wow! Lumpia and palabok! Yummmmmm!!!!!!
Thanks for the PB&J swatches. I’m adding it to my list.
Karen, thanks so much for sharing pics of your special day. The food looks fantastic (and oh! That cake!), the gifts seem so thoughtful (that tutu is too-too cute) and it’s clear that love is radiating all around you. What a wonderful world awaits BG!
That PB&J palette…I swore I didn’t need it…I *don’t* need it, I’m awash in neutrals…but gosh, how pretty! Those colors seem just right for this pale, blue-eyed blond. I’m sure my other Too Faced palettes would welcome a little peanut buttery friend.:-D
You did a great job with that pallette! All of those colors look so lovely on you, especially the bright purple.
Also, that baby shower feast looked like it was amazing. Food is usually at least 75% of the reason I go to parties, honestly, so I’m definitely in agreement with you there.
How thoughtful of Jen to give you all these practical things!
And, I know it’s probably the least practical thing of the bunch, but that pink tutu skirt is so adorable!!!
I feel like I need to get the Peanut Butter palette just because I love peanut butter. Kudos to Too Faced marketing, LOL!
wow that palette is interesting, a cool mix of colors. i bet i could dupe ’em all though. your eye look is so sweet today. i must replicate soon!
looks like a great shower party. i’ve never heard of stool softener before. great invention.
I love swaddled up babies, they look so cute! I want that palette thouuugh
You look gorgeous!
That’s a great pallet I have to say. Love the colors. The jelly is likely one of the best purples I have seen in a while for sure 🙂
And thanks for doing a list like that for us girls that don’t have children it’s good to know stuff to get for baby showers for sure. when I go to baby showers I try to find a gift for the mom to, as much as opening gifts is super fun and the joy of expecting a baby I always feel like they deserve a little something for them too.. I’ve never seen someone else do it but I will keep doing it lol
Love this! What shade of lipstick is that?