THROWING A CUTE BABY SHOWER.

Unfortunately I do not have a tons of pictures to share with you guys, my photographer canceled and I was busy entertaining. But I will still share all the cute ideas I found on Pinterest and through out the web. So if you are planning a baby shower you can follow the steps I did. I am completely clueless when if comes to these sort of parties... you know, kids and all... CLUELESS! Thank you to the internet gods, there is a shit top of information out there for such people as I to take advantage of.

So first thing first I needed a plan. Found a check list here that was helpful and gave me a general idea of what I needed. We picked a date and came up with a guest list. On to the invitations. Originally I wanted to make them from scratch to mail, but then, well, I didn't want to anymore. Evite it is! I was actually really happy with them and so was J (Jess). evite.com is a great source for sending out invitations. There are of course free versions but you can choose a premium one for just a few extra bucks, up to 50 invitations will set you back only $12.

I really loved my experience with evite.com, it was fun to create it, we've added a personal message to the registry that asked for old children's books instead of greeting cards→ . The mommy to be created the registry, gave me the IDs and it was very simple to link them to the invitation. Tracking RSVPs was my favorite perk. Track them through the site or mobile app, see who replied yes or no and see who viewed the evite but did nothing... Yes I see you bitches!

J asked me to make her a flower crown... so I made 20, for all the ladies to wear at the shower... So cute!! Hers of course being the biggest and baddest. Luckily Jo-Anns was having a 50% off on all the faux flowers, so I went ape shit... Glue gun, dollar general head bands and voila!

Dog helped me model the crown to J.

Next I've made goody bags. Super simple and adorable. I found a tamplate on Etsy for EOS printable favor cards. Use a 1.5" hole puncher to make a circle to incert EOS lip balm. I've also created Thank You tags for the bag. So cute, right?

GAMES

I went with a theme of games. Instead of choosing games with prizes for guest, I chose more of activity based games that involved making thing for the baby.

• ABC Book - Draw a picture for each letter of the alphabet. When done, we've created a personalized ABC book for the kiddo. Book template
• The sentence game - This is like broken telephone meets pictionary. Write a sentence about mommy to be and pass it to the next person. They will draw the sentence and then fold it over. The next person with write a sentence about the picture and fold it over. Very silly result at the end! Printable template
• Diaper decorating - just grab some permanent markers and go crazy. Baby will have personalized diapers and mommy will think of you every time she puts one on.
• Wishes for baby - This is a nice addition to the personalized ABC book. Found cute template here, you can choose from grey, blue, brown or yellow.
• Mommy advise cards - have everyone write their advise on a card and place it in a small box ( I used white index card folded in half ). Mommy to be can read it out at the end of the party.

Food and Drinks

Light and simple is always the way to go. I had fruit, a couple of salads, cold and hot horderves. The cake was made by one of our friends and her mother, who are amazing bakers. For drinks - can never go wrong with chilled pellegrino and mimosas. You can also look up a recipe for virgins mimosas for none drinkers.

I've decorated with blue and white through out the house. My favorite were white balloons wrapped in baby blue tulle. Lastly, I played smooth Brazilian jazz in the background, that set the mood for the party. And that's that, I threw my very first baby shower! ♡

Saint Petersburg, Russia

         Man, it's been a long time and I've got lots to tell you about... I've discovered some new amazing products, planned and threw a small but super cute baby shower and traveled to Russia and back. I'm crazy excited to share and talk about all of these things but now I'd like to open up and share something that is very dear to me... Saint Petersburg!!! A city of love, crazy adventure, breath taking beauty and most of all a place I grew up in and call home to my heart (don't worry Texas... I love you too... like a second born...).

 A bit of my background... I lived in Saint Petersburg until I moved to Texas at the age of 14. While in high school, I spent every summer there, however through out the years the trips became less frequent and shorter. The real life sank in and adulthood took over... Now going back to Russia is like going back in time into my childhood. Reconnecting with my bestie from second grade, bar hopping with my brother, roaming the streets like we were 18 again, not a worry in the world and feeling like we're taking over the city... I imagine that is what they call a euphoric state of mind...

Besides my brother and best friend, the city holds a very special place in my heart. It's funny how growing up there I took it for granted. All of the beauty, the parks, the archetecture, history and my own culture. It is so true how they say "You don't know what you have until you loose it". Now returning home after 8 years I trully felt like a damn tourist, running aroung with my fucking selfie stick like a wide eyed dweeb. I wanted to see everything like it was my first time there. I walked everywhere, walking the city is by far one of my favorite thing to do... Just walk, look and watch. Look at all the details of the city, the buildings, looking at colors and the way sunlight blankets the walls and reflects off the glass. I've spent a lot of time people watching as well, how they walk, how they interact with one another, what they were wearing. By the way the whole city seams to be on a grundge trend at the moment... Love it!!!

Brother and I spent the day together for his birthday. I truly love this person, he had a huge influence on my life. Taught me a great deal of lessons, including, how to fight for my self and how to give zero fucks about shit that doesn't matter.

     If I didn't hate flying so much and had more dollars in the bank, I'd go back all the time... Like month a month! Although I think my brother would get sick of me crashing on the couch. But seriously, If you guys are trying to figure out your next vacation spot, you have to see this city. Believe you me... you WILL fall in love with it. And the best time to go is late May to early June. #Whitenights What are white nights? It's exactly as it sounds... the night are white, the sun goes down for only maybe a hour or two and even then it is never dark. The city doesn't go to sleep.

Is there a vacation spot that you guys absolutely in love with. Let me know in the comments, I'm always looking for new places to visit.

Red White & Blue Strawberries

These strawberries are very quick and easy to make. All you need is... Strawberries, white chocolate, blue sugar/sprinkles, wax paper and a microwave. Only takes about half an hour to make!

Start by washing your strawberries, very important to let them completely dry before dipping them into chocolate. If they are still damp or if there are any soft spot on them, the chocolate will not stick. So, wash them, lay them out on a towel and leave them be for a few hours (if your strawberries came out of the fridge and are cold, they will take longer to dry). Well I have no patience, so I actually dried mine with a hair dryer on a cold setting. Melt your chocolate in a microwave for one minute, stir and continue heating in increments of 30 seconds and stir in between, until you get it to a nice smooth consistency. Lay out a sheet of wax paper. Now dip your strawberry in the chocolate and then into blue sugar. Although this is very pretty, I found that it is just too much damn sugar! So next time I thing I will lightly sprinkle it onto the chocolate instead of dipping. Place strawberries on wax paper and give them a few minutes for the chocolate to harden (10 or so).

Voila! You're done!

Now you can enjoy and share some very festive treats. I don't have much of a sweet tooth my self but totally scored some brownie (or chocolate covered strawberries) points with my BF and coworkers. If you guys make these, tag me on Instagram (@mashamv) with your end result... I wanna see!