Tuesday, January 20, 2009

Houston 'House'-pitality

As I said before, everyone was excited to celebrate our engagement. So I flew down south with Mama Peep Toe for my first shower. Even though the City was just recovering from Hurricane Ike, we both got an amazing introduction to Houston 'House'-pitality!!

My future in-laws, including Mr. Peep's Mom, sister and two Aunts hosted an beautiful afternoon lunch at Grotto Ristortorante. I'd highly recommend it to any Houston Bride looking for a place to host a lunch or dinner!



Here I am with Mr. Peep's family. I was so happy for the few faces that I knew, and I felt so lucky that women I had never met had come to shower me with love!

Each attendee was instructed to bring their favorite recipe and they were given recipe cards to fill out and decorate. A few of the recipes I received had been family secrets for generations!! Yummy!!

Future Sister Peep crafted this amazing recipe box with old cutouts of 1950's ads. I love it!! I am getting such a crafty Sister In-law!


After lunch, we played one shower game, which I actually loved. FMIL and FSIL Peep wanted the ladies to get to know Mr. PT and I better, so they asked me a bunch of questions that Mr. PT had answered the night before! Even though I was hyped up on cough medicine with codine (I was so sick the week of the shower, I am still amazed I made it to Houston), I thought I did pretty well. Here I am laughing that Mr. PT knew my favorite dessert!!



And finally, the most terrifying part of any shower-- Opening presents in a room full of women that you barely know. There were times when I couldn't remember who was who, and had to ask FSIL Peep to tell me who to thank. I think by the end I knew everyone's name. My in-laws really do have the sweetest friends!! Growing up in LA-LA-land, I have always been suspicious of overly friendly people, but by the end of the shower I realized that these women were honestly the most gracious people I have ever met.

And what shower isn't complete without a Mixer. Yes, my future in-laws went above and beyond and got me my green mixer that I LOVE!! The best part- they shipped it directly to our house so I didn't have to worry about getting it home!

But my favorite present of the day was our Crate and Barrel Compost Pail. The women who gave it to me said she had to meet the Bride who registered for this item:



It now sits on our counter and collects all of our food scraps for composting!

I thought being the guest of honor at a shower would totally overwhelm me, but really what was overwhelming was how genuinely excited each women was about our pending marriage. Plus, the weekend gave Mama Peep and I a chance to get to know Mr. Peep's family better, and let me tell you- I can't wait to call them family!!

I also have to say, I left Houston that weekend with a better appreciation for Southern Hospitality!! You ladies in the South, are the most genuine people I've ever met!

How did your first shower experience go? Did you have to fly out of state or to another region of the US for it? Did you know everyone who was on the invite list?

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