Showers, Hats, and Plates (Oh My!)...

Who knew July 25th was going to be so jammed packed full of fun?

My two best friends and college roommates are getting married. Not to each other, after all, this is Eastern North Carolina and we just aren't that progressive 'round here. No, my two best friends are marrying two perfectly lovely gentlemen and because of these joyous events, today just happened to be day for two perfectly lovely showers.

The first shower, well actually it was a brunch, was a hat-themed soiree and in honor of the girl with the polka-dot and feather hat on, Cherish. I've known Cherish for almost as long as I've known my husband (they are first cousins). The first time I met her was at a family gathering. I've always been a picky eater and during the salad course she noticed that I wasn't 'digging' in. As the plates were cleared for the next course, she quickly switched my half eaten plate for her completely empty plate so her grandmother would think I liked what she had prepared. I knew right away that we would be fast friends. I lucked up with a perfect roommate when she decided to attend the same college as me two years after that family gathering. Her wedding is planned for December.

I had never been to hat themed party before and I was very excited because 1) I love a good excuse to wear a hat--I went through a Blossom phase growing up and I have never really out grown my love of hats (I even joined the United Daughters of the Confederacy when I found out hats were sometimes involved) and 2) I think brunch is the most perfect meal of the day. And who doesn't love a good egg dish at 11:00am?

The second shower of the day was a Christmas -themed pottery painting extravaganza, and hosted by yours' truly in honor of the girl wearing the brown and pink hat, Olivia. Olivia and I were both psychology majors in college and even though I knew of her long before I met her, we bonded over Freud, Jung, and a shared loved of talking about 'tacky people.' By our senior year (which really was a semester as we both graduated early) we were roomies along with Cherish, living it up in a beautiful four bedroom home just outside of campus.

Olivia is getting married in October and she had mentioned she would really love a Christmas shower... so what's better than a Christmas in July shower? I can tell you, painting Christmas-themed pottery in July with your closest friends and Olivia's most talented relatives in July is better!

For Olivia, I had Santa Hat invitations printed up. I spent the better part of yesterday making chocolate-covered pretzels, placing them in little clear baggies, tying beautiful green ribbons in bows around the twist ties, and to top things off, putting the baggies in little red tin buckets-- these were the favors. I even went so far as to wrap the forks in red and white striped napkins and green ribbon and whipped up my famous homemade cheesecake. Take that Martha Stewart.

Pottery painting is fun and therapeutic. Even if you can't paint good (as we say down this way) they have this handy-dandy little machine that makes stencils, so even your least talented friends can join in. If you can color, you can paint pottery. Luckily, we were all pretty versed in painting. In college, we three plus a couple others instituted "international nights." These nights, we'd cook something Italian and drink cheap wine and later decorate a beer koozie. We were crafty girls with hot glue guns.

So we had some major hat hair, but nevertheless, we loaded up and took ourselves down to Goldsboro, NC to celebrate the upcoming marriage of our dear friend Olivia.

In total our group made four salad plates and four dinner plates in complimenting Christmas style. I love the little "S" initial that Olivia chose for the dinner plates to commemorate her new last name. Once these plates are glazed and fired, they are going to be FABULOUS!

Olivia brushing up on her cake-cutting skills.