Hosting a baby shower - Honestly JamieHonestly Jamie

Because you obviously have to throw a baby shower for your first LA BFF…

As I sat down to write this post, I decided that I wanted to link back to some of my old blog posts where I mention Nadine, one of my first friends that I made in LA, and as I went through (with a simple search of “Nadine” in my search bar) I started thinking “WOW, we have had a lot of FUN together” and a smile instantly popped up on my face.

Let’s back things up a bit. I “knew” Nadine via my former PR person life, and first emailed with her when I started as a beauty PR coordinator back in 2005. I remember the day she got outed/fired because of her blog, and I also remember thinking “wow, getting fired sucks but this chick seems AWESOME.”

Flash forward to 2009 when I decided to move to LA, knowing only two people who actually live in LA, and I emailed her to see if she wanted to meet up for a drink. We met at The Grove and I pretty much knew then that we were going to be great friends. Nadine, though obviously and understandably different now (due to marriage and baby) was the spontaneous free spirit friend that I desperately wanted to explore my new city with and, boy, did we explore/have amazing times together! Nights out at Chateau and Bar Marmont, New York City, Lilith Fair, Vegas, girl’s night at Drais, polo matches, random events, award shows/award show after parties, Catalina Island, birthdays, Miss America pageants!, even MORE events, a random spontaneous trip to Santa Barbara on Cinco de Mayo (of which I can’t find photos- probably for good reason) and, of course, joining together to honor a friend.

I’m tearing up a little looking at all these photos, guys. No joke. I’d be lying if I said that I don’t miss the “old” Nadine – the Nadine I’d text at 9:30pm on Wednesday and say “wanna go to Chateau?” The answer was almost always “I’ll be ready in 20,” which is yet another reason my initial read on Nadine back in 2005 was totally accurate. But, alas, things change. People change, people grow, people find their way and, hopefully, find their true happiness. As much as I still wish I might still get a random “want to go to Catalina TOMORROW?” text or email from my awesome friend, meeting Erik and being pregnant with Aurelia made Nadine insanely happy. This is the same person who also told me she wasn’t sure she even wanted to have kids, but when I saw a still-hiding-the-baby-bump Nadine at a FlyWheel event and she told me she didn’t know if she was going to have a baby shower, I was all “I’ll throw you a baby shower!!!”

I’m throwing a baby shower! How grown up is that sh*t?!

A few days later Nadine told me that our other friend Jamie (another AMAZING friend I met via Nadine) said she would co-host with me, and it got even better. I created a Pinterest board and we started planning away…I can’t believe this was almost a year ago. Just so you guys know, we had to wait to post about the shower because Nadine was a cast member on Bravo’s Newlyweds so we couldn’t “spoil” the pregnancy news until the show aired that specific episode.

Esterel Restaurant in the Sofitel Hotel graciously offered to lend up a dining area and even offered up some tartines and other goodies, which obviously made the experience that much better.

We had custom “A” (for Aurelia) gift tags made from Etsy and every guest got a little bag filled with two of Nadine’s favorite movie snacks – popcorn and Sour Patch Kids.

We ordered the cake from Ralph’s, yep, Ralph’s as in the California grocery store chain which has a surprisingly delicious bakery section that I literally never shut up about. We also ordered the custom “Aurelia” cake topper from Etsy…another fab Etsy fine (I’m also obsessed with Etsy, FYI).

My co-host Jamie had a really fun idea to have someone (thanks, Ashley!) photoshop Nadine’s face on pregnant celeb photos, and since Nadine is obsessed with all things royalty, Kate Middleton was an obvious choice. We also got these “Wishes for baby A” cards on, shocker, Etsy (!) so that guests could write a little note to Nadine, Erik and Aurelia.

Ladies brunching (and drinking lots of mimosas). And, of course, the Bravo TV film crew in the background! They filmed the party for Nadine’s show, Newlyweds, but it didn’t make air.

Make sure to also check out Nadine’s blog today for HER take on the shower 🙂