Wear Your Lilly

So I found out yesterday that today is National Wear Your Lilly Day. It's funny because I was planning on wearing my Lilly dress today for a client meeting. When I found out about National Wear Your Lilly Day, I thought all the better. So this is the only piece of Lilly I own (clothing), so here I am in my Lilly.

The cardigan is from Loft. I always seem to wear cardigans to work, especially in the summer, because I typically freeze all day long at work. I actually got a ton of compliments on my dress today. Of course no one around here even knows about Lilly, they just thought it was cute.

Here is a close up of the pattern. They are little blue crabs, which I thought were really cute. I actually purchased this dress on Ebay, which is the only way I would have been able to buy a Lilly, and who knows, maybe someday I'll add to my collection.

Pink Saturday - 6/19/10

Hi everyone and happy Pink Saturday! I wanted to share a few fun things with you today.

I purchased this necklace on vacation in Hilton Head last month, and I have had so many compliments on it. My boyfriend even complimented on it twice, and even my boss, who is a guy, said "wow that's a pretty necklace." Anyway, the brand is VivaBeads, and I was shocked at how inexpensive it was. I think it was under $40. They are clay beads, with a variety of flower patterns. This one is called Southern Pink. I really would like to order a few more off their website in a couple of other colors. It's very classic like pearls, but a little funky and fun because of the pattern.

I also wanted to share some updates on my flowers. They are really starting to take off, and I just love having flowers all over my patio. It is so much fun to sit outside on my patio with colorful flowers surrounding me.

Pink geraniums -- which I love and remind me of my Grandmother's garden.

Gerber daisy -- which again is another favorite of mine. They just look so happy!

This is a little tiered pot of flowers. I got this idea from one of the Martha Stewart Living magazines (March or April I think).

One of my hanging baskets -- Begonias

I loved these double impatients. They look like little pink roses to me.

Hope everyone has a fabulous weekend. I will be going to a BBQ/Pool party later today and I am hoping for sunny weather. Right now it looks a little gloomy, but no rain yet!!

For more info on Pink Saturday, please check out our lovely host Beverly.

Pineapple Salsa and Homemade Tortilla Chips

So I have this recent obsession with making homemade salsa. Most recently I made a pineapple salsa, and I think this is probably my favorite so far. I also made some homemade tortilla chips which are easy, and so much better for you than store-bought chips.

Pineapple Salsa

-- 1 cup diced fresh pineapple (I used canned)
-- 1/4 cup diced red onion
-- 1/2 med jalapeno pepper, minced
-- 2 tablespoons chopped fresh cilantro
-- 1 tablespoon fresh lime juice

Combine all ingredients into a medium bowl.

Homemade Tortilla Chips

Cut flour tortillas (or you can use pitas) into about 8 triangles. You can then either brush olive oil, or I used spray butter, onto both sides of the triangles. Sprinkle with salt and bake at 400 for about 4 mins. Turn the chips over and bake for another 2-3 minutes until brown. Let cool and enjoy!

Show Us Your Life -- China Pattern

This week's Show Us Your Life, over at Kelly's Korner, is show us your china pattern. Mine is Brookhollow by Noritake. I just loved all of the flowers and it kind of reminded me of my mother's pattern which also has flowers on it. I was really into the princess/whimsical theme at the time (I was 22 years old), so I think this really reflects my personality at that time.

I would like to get a more sophisticated pattern, and since that marriage didn't work out, I have the chance to get even more china right!! But in all reality, my family was really generous, and I ended up with 10 place settings of my china.

I haven't used it in a couple of years, but would someday like to get a nice china cabinet to display it. Right now it is in Rubbermaid bins in the back of my closet, but I keep thinking I need to get it out sometime and just use it just for the fun of it! Maybe make a nice dinner for my girlfriends and set a fancy table. Or possibly even have a tea party, well and adult tea party!!

Amy Butler Birdie Sling & Scarf

I have always loved to sew, but one of my bestest friends introduced me to Amy Butler patterns and fabric and now I have a new love of sewing. Over Memorial Day weekend, I made this cute Birdie Sling (with a little help from my Mom, but I did about 90% of it).

Here is the Amy Butler Birdie Sling using Amy Butler fabric. I actually went to this really cool store, Sew to Speak, to purchase the fabric and my friend let me borrow the pattern (which I think she also purchased at Sew to Speak).

Here is a shot of the inside lining and pockets.

This weekend I used the left over fabric from the Birdie Sling project to make this scarf. I downloaded the free pattern from the Amy Butler website and found the pom-pom fringe at JoAnn's on clearance for $.97 cents a yard. Therefore this whole scarf only cost me $.97!

Here is a close up of the pom-pom fringe.

There are so many more projects I want to do. There are a couple of cute bags and I eventually want to make a dress and a quilt. My friend and I are going to start sewing together, and actually thought about starting a Stitch-n-Bitch group where we could get together with some other girls. We have a few in mind, so who knows what might happen.

Hope you enjoy my newest creations!!

Kentucky Derby Bridal Shower (Pink Saturday 6/5/10)

Happy Pink Saturday everyone! First off, I wanted to let everyone know this is my 100th post! I can't believe I have had 100 things to talk about!!

So on Friday we had a bridal shower for one of my good friends at work. She is from Kentucky, and is getting married in Kentucky, so we decided to have a Kentucky Derby themed shower for her. I was in charge of the decorations, and I also made a very special drink.

I don't know if I would necessarily say this was a complete Kentucky Derby themed party. Since the Derby is over, it was hard to find decorations in that theme, but I just ended up making up my own version of the Kentucky Derby.

Above you will find the table centerpieces. I actually mocked them up the night before to see how they would look. My friend LOVES peonies, and she is actually having white peonies for her wedding. I found some cute pink ones and used them for the centerpiece. I used silver continers because I thought they kind of reminded me of silver mint julip cups.

I also made some fun hats for the ladies to wear. These are just a few, but the large one will be for the bride-to-be.

I also made a fun mock-mint julip. I know it's not a traditional mint julip, but like I said, I wanted to put a twist on it. Everyone loved this drink. I actually doubled the recipe, and it was gone very quickly (and we only had about 15 people)!

Mock-Mint Julip

For 24 servings:

-- 3 cups of water

-- 3 cups of white sugar

-- 3/4 cups chopped fresh mint leaves

-- 24 cups crushed ice

-- 12 cups prepared lemonade (I used pink)

-- Fresh mint sprigs, for garnish

In a small saucepan, combine the water, sugar and chopped mint leaves. Stir and bring to a boil. Cook unti sugar has dissolved, then remove from heat and set aside. After about an hour, strain out mint leaves and mix with prepared lemonade. Pour into cup with crushed ice and garnish with mint sprig. Enjoy!

Hope everyone has a great weekend and be sure to check out Beverly's blog for more Pink Saturday.

Sex and the City II Movie Review

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Last Friday night one of my very best girlfriends and I got together to go see the SATC II movie. We loved the first one so much that we were very excited to see the second one. We started out with happy hour at Marcella's and enjoyed some delicious martinis (I love the Strawberry Balsamic Martini!!).

Spoiler Alert!!

I will admit, I liked the first one better, but there were some things that I really liked about this movie. First off, from the gay wedding between Stanford and Anthony (complete with Liza Minnelli singing Single Ladies), to the exotic and very luxurious trip to the Middle East, it was a little over the top, but really did you expect anything less?

I really liked Carrie in this movie the best, but of course she was always my favorite. I also love the story behind her and Big, and one of my favorite scenes is when she is lying in bed with him, after the gay wedding, watching a black and white movie. It totally reminded me of the scene in the first movie where she and Big were sitting in bed and Carrie was reading the book of love poems (one of my fav scenes from the first movie). Of course, poor Big totally strikes out when he tries to recreate the moment for their anniversary, but I think it was the thought that counts.

Another scene that I really loved was the moment between Charlotte and Miranda where they were talking about how hard it was to be a mother. You really saw a side of them that you wouldn't expect, and it was funny to see Charlotte get drunk.

My least favorite parts were Samantha's part. I felt like they made her a little cheesy and even more sex crazed than she was before. I just didn't feel like they had that good serious moment which really brings her story to life.

Overall, if you haven't seen it, grab your closest girlfriends and go see it. I think when it comes out on DVD it would be fun to have a DVD party and watch it again. We did that with the first one and its fun to be able to talk about the movie while you are watching it, which is something that is so hard to do in the theater.

Has anyone else seen the movie? What did you think?