Party Twofer

This weekend seems to be flying by! Yesterday morning I met up with my friends Heather and Karla to drive up to north Jersey for a bridal shower. I had planned to get up early for a daybreak gym session, but Riker's sick again, the poor kid, and he's had a rough couple of nights. After being up half the night, I shut my alarm clock off in the favor of a bit more sleep before being gone all day. Once the gang was all up I got to work on breakfast, which came in the form of Van's light waffles with fresh strawberries and plain Greek yogurt.

It filled my belly up for the 2 hour car ride I had in store! Around 10:00 I grabbed some coffee for the road and met up with the girls to drive to the shower. I haven't hung out with these girls in a few weeks, so it was a lot of fun getting to spend the whole day catching up.

Our friend Vanessa met us at the party as well. She's about 3 months pregnant and is looking really cute with her little baby bump.

The bridal shower was in honor of Liz, who's marrying Matt's good friend Adam. She's a total sweetheart and I was happy to celebrate such a special day with her and her family. Can't wait for the wedding, it's going to be a blast!

The shower was held at Grillestone Bar & Grille, and her bridesmaids had decorated the party area really cute in purple and white.

I especially loved the party favors. Adam and Liz like to garden together, so we were each given a potted herb to take home, which I thought was adorable. I much prefer useful favors over nick-knacks that I just end up tossing out, so loved getting to take home a pot of oregano to grow in my kitchen. I snagged a pot of fresh basil as well. ;-)

After sipping on glasses of sangria, a buffet lunch was served. I loaded up one half of my plate with salad, spinach and steamed veggies, and the other half with carbs. The penne vodka was delicious, and I had to have a bit of rice and potatoes as well.

Dessert was pretty tasty as well. We were served plates of bread pudding cups & mini fudge brownies, and I had a half piece of both. The brownies were seriously fudgy and delicious.

Heather and I also split a chocolate ganache-filled cupcake made by Liz's sister. I actually skipped the frosting and cake and went straight for the ganache center, which was clearly the best part.

It was a beautiful shower and great day with the girls.

But the partying didn't stop there....

I got home from the shower at 5:30, and had just enough time to kiss my baby boy, change outfits and head out for party #2 of the day. Lindsay's husband Ryan was celebrating a 30-something birthday, and we would never miss a celebratory night out with this crew. Lindsay had made dinner reservations for us all at Harpoon Willy's, which you know I love.

A few appetizers went around the table, including the famous buffalo shrimp and some hot crab dip.

I had two shrimp (those bad boys are spicy!) and two pieces of broccoli dunked in the seafood dip, but I tried to minimize the snack intake so I was hungry for my entree. I ordered a special on the menu, Chilean Seabass with shrimp and artichoke risotto and steamed broccoli.

I love Chilean Seabass, it's so buttery and flaky. Honestly, though, the broccoli was my favorite part of the meal. It was super simple - just steamed with salt - but I couldn't get enough and ate every last floret.

Dinner was long and leisurely and I laughed almost the entire time we were there. Such a fun group of friends! After dinner most people stayed behind to have drinks at the bar and listen to the live band, but with a sick little one Matt and I cut the night early to pick up Riker from his grandparents so he could sleep at home. He's still not himself today so it's going to be a day at the homestead, which sounds perfectly fine to me.

Enjoy what's left of the weekend!