Goodies

Nothing makes me more excited than coming home to find UPS deliveries :)  Maybe having 3!!!  I almost feel like it's wedding time again :)

My excitement was almost dampened by James seeing all of them when we arrived home from Florida... I got the "why did they get delivered when we were out of town?" talk followed by the "why did you need to order three packages?" talk.  Tell me I need to clean my car & I'll start seeing my dad's face.  Obviously I need better planning next time.  Challenge accepted.

Birchbox !!!
Love me some Birchbox.  This month was themed "little tweaks" to living healthy.  I think my favorite part was a 6 month subscription to Women's Health magazine!  And I'm super excited about the eye cream, for some reason (who am I kidding? let's blame my big veins & thin eye lids) I am having bad dark circles & my favorite Kate Sommerville is on E.  This one is StriVectin-SD Eye Concentrate & it's half an ounce.  On the downside, I didn't realize I had to worry about anti-aging hair care products!!!  Now I guess I do after receiving Nexxus Youth Renewal anti-aging elixir.  I can't have old looking hair!!!

Sephora !!
I have been dying to try Wen forever (especially after watching the infomercial James mocked me for recording) and had heard bad things about ordering online (like they sign you up for automatic refills, no thank you) and was excited when I realized Sephora sells it!  Furthering my quest for the perfect dry shampoo I decided to also try Drybar Detox Dry Shampoo.  It got awesome reviews.  I really wanted the Southern Belle Volume mousse because the name was fabulous, but it didn't get good reviews.  Sad day!  I also got some samples I'm excited about, more from Drybar, Origins, Bumble & Bumble.

Silver Superstore !!
I have been dying to get some more things monogrammed around here, when I was drowned by Southern Living's pinterest, magazine, blog, etc. everything Derby I realized that silver mint julep cups were the perfect hand-me-down item to monogram!!!  It is also very difficult to photograph a silver monogrammed cup.  Sigh.

Treasure Coast

I love going new places!  This weekend James & I spent in the Treasure Coast!  Florida is amazing.  Honestly it wasn't much different than vacation in St. Lucia.  Or maybe I'm not high maintenance enough... but it was beautifully sunny, warm, great caribbean food!

James had work meetings Friday & then we got to play the rest of the weekend!

 Thanks Southwest!!!

 Target... as God & Kristina intended.

 This is Jensen Beach, wish we had more time to stay! 

 Lovely

 This was AMAZING caribbean food!  This was my blackened fish taco.

Yes, singular.  It was one giant taco.  

Roger Dean stadium ~ spring training home of the Cardinals!

I promise James was with me :) Even though I took more pictures of food than him! :)

Seester's Wedding

It is difficult to put into words sometimes when utterly amazing things happen.  My sweet little Seeester got married, you could tell they were so happy & in love, it was beautiful, perfect for her.  I am so happy for her & the new chapter in her life of marriage.

Here are some photographs of the wedding at Sandals in St. Luica!

Rehearsal Dinner ~ James & I

Rehearsal Dinner ~ the new family James, me, Dad, Mamma Kay, JJ & Tim

 Gorgeous!

Seester & I at the reception :)  A&W

James doing his thang.

Taking full advantage of a flight to the Caribbean... James & I decided to stay an 4 extra days :)  Thanks to Living Social we had a pretty sweet 2 bedroom villa to relax in!  Here are some of our vacation pictures after the wedding was over.

I found my favorite type of RUM CAKE!!!!!! 

When we were going through customs I had to declare "rum cake" and "rum balls," the guy looked at my intake form & said "Really?"  haha

 Gorgeous beaches! 

 I can sure appreciate a good rum punch :) 

 Segway tour! aka James' favorite part of the trip

 Don't I belong on the beach?  My skin doesn't get to vote.

 My vacation obsession!!!  I seriously drank these the entire time!!

On the way to the airport home.  Please note James' vacation beard.  Ew.

Penelope Love

Penelope is my iPhone's name.  I didn't switch teams :)

Not that appreciating "things" is important in life... but when you are traveling for 12+ hours (and counting) you really appreciate smartphones.  Or at least I do.  Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, folder of all shopping-related emails, Ebay...  Plane delays won't get me down Delta!!!  

Right.  It was miserable.  Thank goodness for distractions!

Saw these fun posts... thought I'd share :)

I love 15% off!!  I really really really want to try Wen, maybe this is the time!!! 

These look HILARIOUS!  I wish I had them at the airport :) 

Oh and James (who usually is accusing me of being too proper / not fun) wouldn't let me take pictures of various "people watching" opportunities at the airport.   Really?  Who's boring now!  Not me, I've seen Law & Order SVU: I know how It works. 

We Lost a Great Lady

Rest In Peace Lilly Pulitzer

There is a great article about her Biography & Obituary on Vogue UK.  And the Lilly story is also told on the blog Lilly Pulitzer: Our Story.

In addition to gorgeous clothing I really admired the Lilly story.  I am most impressed by women entrepreneurs who take something feminine they love & turn it into a great business.  More so than women who just succeed in a man's world.  That's why there are so many "how to succeed in business" books for women.  I think you're wired for the aggressive business world of typical corporate America, you force yourself to be someone else during the work day, or you recognize the value in what you love and create something amazing with it.  Something those men at the top would not even think of.  I hope to become like Martha Stewart who made a successful career out of baking cookies!  Or Julia Childs who re-taught us how to cook & appreciate real French foods!  Or Lilly who started a juice stand & realized she needed bright prints to hide the juice stains!


Thank you for bringing such beauty & happiness in all your designs!

Photo taken 4/7/13

Dinnertime

One of my "Daily Goals for a Fabulous 2013" is to eat more dinners at the table.

I looooooooooooove eating proper dinners :)  And I got James to use a placemat!  Baby steps.  Maybe someday we'll get to use the aubergine cloth napkins we got for our wedding.

Spaghetti, homemade red sauce, Italian sausage.  James' signature French Bred.  Red wine :)