Stationary Swap: Part Uno

Yesterday, I received the most wonderfully, bight swap package ever. Thanks to Lou Lou in Lilly for hosting such a fun swap, and my incredible swap partner Kate from Nautical by Nature for the AMAZING package!

The blog world never ceases to amaze me! Kate knew how much I love to spend time in the kitchen, entertaining, my favorite colors, and even incorporates Lilly into the package. Look at what all she sent!


On less a less fun note, you have probably noticed that I have been more absent that usual recently. I promise it has not been by choice! With the first day of April being tomorrow, I am in the home stretch of college. This semester is my last attempt to redeem my grades to be able to graduate cum laude. In order to do that, I must maintain a 4.0 in all of my 14 hours. Well, the stress of this situation has begun to take a toll on me. In past semesters, I would have been fine with making an 88 on a difficult exam. Now, I am constantly feeling inadequate about my work, unless it is perfect. In the long run, it probably will not matter whether I graduated cum laude; but it sure would look nice on a resume ;) Hopefully things will calm down very soon with school and I will be able to devote more time to my blogging. I just wanted to let you know why there has been a lack of posting and commenting. Thanks for understanding!!

Founder's Day

This weekend had been filled with both sorority and school. Yesterday, we had a lovely brunch in honor of our sorority's founders. Our chapter and alumni dined on breakfast casserole, hashbrown casserole, french toast, ham, muffins, bagels, fruit, etc. It made me realize how much I miss Sunday brunch after church! Not only did we reflect back on our heritage; but the seniors were acknowledged, as well as academic awards were presents. I was lucky enough to be recognized in both of those categories.

For the seniors, they had our little sisters get up and read letters from our parents. I thought I would share what my mother wrote. (Preface: I was rush chairman and my little sister was the recommendations chair, so we were able to get to share being in charge of recruitment. That was definately a bonding experience like none other!! Not only are we best friends, but our mothers and families are friends as well.)

Dear Lilly P. Wannabe,

Here you are at another milestone, your graduation from college. How proud Dad and I are of your many accomplishments in both school and [your sorority]! How I loved being with you and your sisters during Rush week 2 years ago! [Little Sister's Mom] and I sat on the cooler in the kitchen during the parties taking turns peeping out the shutters seeing you and [your sorority] shine! Enjoy Today!

Love,
Mom

Thank goodness my mother did not write one of the tear jerkers... I didn't wear waterproof mascara! The entire day made me look back on my experience and truly realize how special it was and how different life would have been without being in my sorority. It is also customary for the chapter to present the senoirs with gifts. We got monogrammed aprons!!! And the icing on the cake is that mine is accented with pink and green ribbon :) They know me all too well!


Lastly, they recognized the scholastic achievements of the chapter. There were 5 of us that receieved 4.0's last semester, and we were presented with our Lamp of Knowledge. I was so excited! It took me until the end of my college career to get straight A's. This little addition made me start thinking that I want to make a charm bracelet. I think I am going to get the charms for Rush Chairman and Recommendation Chairman (I was that the year before). Then turn my pin into a charm, and add the lamp of knowledge too.

I am off to read more legal briefs on execution (fun subject, I know!), and put my new apron to use. I am debating between making homemade (of course!) brownies, chocolate chip cookies, or cake during my next reading break.

P.S. Don't forget if you haven't entered The Pair Tree giveaway to do so before Thursday!

GIVEAWAY TIME!!!!

In honor of making it past 100 posts (today is actually 101), there will be a SERIES of giveaways within the next few weeks! So be on the lookout! Many thanks to Mary Ellen of My Pair Tree for sponsoring my first giveaway! The winner will receive one Pair Tree with her choice of the grosgrain pattern. Check out more about My Pair Tree at their website or where I blogged about them.

Here are the ways to enter:

1. Leave a comment here telling me your favorite type of flip flop = 1 entry
2. Blog about the giveaway = 1 entry
3. If you are a follower or become a follower = 1 entry

Please let me know about options 2 or 3, so that I can allocate the correct number of entries for you! Make sure to leave your email address so I know where to contact you when you win. Also, I will be drawing the winner on Friday April 3rd. That gives everyone plenty of time to get your entries in :) Good luck!!!

My Pair Tree

Now that it is flip flop weather, it is time to figure out what to do with all of those shoes that all us preppies are addicted to. I was using one of those plastic shoe holders from Target; but when I spotted this on The Today Show yesterday, I knew that I needed to own [at least] one! What makes this flip flop tree even better?! You get to pick out the grosgrain patten!! Look at all the choices...


Now, you should hop one over to My Pair Tree and grab one for yourself :) They are priced at $13.99, which holds 6 pairs of flip flops or crocs. By far, this is one of my favorite finds of the season!

I'm back from a 2 week hiatus

Oh girls, I am not even sure where to begin on filling you in!! The last that you heard from me I was getting ready to leave for NYC. It was by far one of the highlights of my life. G and I had an amazing time getting to meet you all that were there and we have many memories that will last a lifetime. We spent all 3 days painting the town pink and soaking in all the sights and sounds. My first time to the city did not disappoint. We made sure to stop by Dorrian's and Serendipity [thanks to Preppy 50 and Loving Lilly], hang out in Time Square and Rockefeller Center, all while shopping along the way! Thanks to Hopsy for hosting such a wonderful gathering! Now I can put so many names to the faces, which was quite a thrill for me.




The Martha taping truly felt like a dream! I have never been that pumped up about something. The Lilly and Martha teams did a wonderful job with the segments and our goodies. Too bad that the show hasn't reaired yet, but thank goodness for DVR! Seeing yourself on the big screen is shocking. All I have to say is I am heading to the taning bed and will be attempting to cut out the sweets ;) They do say that the camera adds 20 lbs?! I am not sure how much other bloggers have posted but here are some of the photos of the taping and following events...






After a wonderful time in NY, we had many difficulties getting back to school, so I skipped making it back to Knoxville. This was the point in time where I headed straight to the farm to spend the entire week by myself... ok well not exactly, I had 12 horses to keep me company! SB down at the farm was beyond relaxing. I spent some quality time with my favorite guys (the horses), and ate plenty of junk food (not like I didn't have enough of that in NY!). It was the best way to kick back and relax and I even got a little work done! On another note, Spring has arrived, and I busted out a few new spring pieces in the mix. We hosted a horse show yesterday and it hit 75 degrees which proved to be the perfect climate for both horse and riders. I was parading around in some J.Crew white capri and a cute Lilly tunic. But, here is a picture of the farm after some fog had settled in... I'm not going to lie, it was kinda spooky!


So now I am back in the real world, aka school. After having missed a week I have much catching up to do (in more ways than one). There are only 5 weeks of classes left, which means that I am on the home stretch of college! Now I need to focus on a test I am making up tomorrow and I am going to attempt to catch up on some blogging and see what yall have been up to.

Hope yall have a great week... p.s. this is my 99th post which means that I smell a giveaway coming :)

Was there a full moon this weekend?!

I had what I would like to call an "interesting" weekend. One night in particular stood out from the rest. On Saturday I decided to go out with one of the girls from my class to the annual fraternity boxing tournament. It is a HUGE deal. All the girls get really dressed up and the guys sit with their fraternity. Anyways, this was my first year to go because I have been out of town at horse shows, so I didn't know what to expect. I must say that I was disappointed, except for the fact that I looked really cute :) This was pretty much confirmed by the story that I am about to tell...

The night started out very normal. We went to grab some dinner and then made our way over to the tournament. I was amazed that people would pay $15 per night to get in the door to be miserably hot. Everyone in the place was sweating profusely which I found to be highly unattractive. The "fighting" was not even amusing at all. Yes, I had fun seeing everyone that I know, but still... it was disappointing.

Things really started to get interesting when we made it out to the bars. Yet again, I saw everyone that I knew, but since I was hanging out with a new person I got to meet some of her friends as well! We sat down at a table of 4 [very good looking] guys that she happened to know. It turns out that I was from the same hometown as 2 of them, so we had a lot to talk about. While I was sitting there talking to them, another [gross, hot, sweaty] guy came up to the table and start rubbing all over me! EXCUSE ME!? Somehow we managed to fend off Creeper #1.

I continued to talk to one of the [really nice, awesome] guys until the bar closed and it was time for us to head to our next destination. Now, Creeper #2 came into the picture during the first car ride. He flat out turned to me and said "so when are we going to make out?" EXCUSE ME!? Considering I had no clue who this guy was and didn't even know his name, that was not in my plans for the evening. I was polite and said "no thanks".

We hung out at a friend's house for a little bit, when Creeper #3 hit on me in the 2nd car ride. Want to know the best part of this dude... he is married!! EXCUSE ME?! No thank you! I am not a homewrecker.

So then to top off my weekend, I wake up with an unidentified rash... that has turned out to be something that I picked up from the boxing tournament! My pharmacist loved when I started out the conversation with... "Well, I went to this fraternity boxing tournament last night and I woke up with this?!" He laughed and gave me some cream. And I cracked my phone after having dropped it one to many times. Now I am going to have a ghetto phone until August when I get another upgrade.

After this whole long, drawn out post... I never heard back from the guy that I talked to all night, and I was definitely interested in hearing back from him, since he was the one, non-creeper of the entire night! Oh well, better luck next time :) I was still flattered by all the attention!

Martha/Lilly Sneak Peek!

A little birdie gave me some insight as to what we will be doing on the show! The Martha/Lilly Pulitzer Show will be featuring a special fashion show. As well as, we will be working on a vintage-inspired straw-flower craft and vibrant floral arrangements. What a fabulous line up for the show?!


Here is what the Lilly site says. "Ever wanted to see what goes into making a Lilly Pulitzer print? Then you must tune in to watch Martha personally walking through the how-to of our uniquely Lilly process! As if that weren’t reason enough to watch, we will be showing off some of our favorite must-run-out-and-gets from the Spring collection in a mini fashion show. "


If you are attending the show do not forget to sign up for the Lilly bus that will take us from the studio to the Madison Avenue event. That was beyond nice of them to provide transportation for us! Even if you are not attending the taping on Wednesday and will be in NYC, everyone is welcome to come to the party! The store hours are from 10AM to 6PM.

1020 Madison Avenue
New York, NY 10021
212.744.4620

Chocolate Lovers Only

I was in search for a fabulous new chocolate recipe to bake for a friend's birthday when I came across this goody. These cookies are absolutely scrumptious! Any chocolate lover needs to add this recipe to their collection. I added semi-sweet chocolate chips this time, but I am going to try it with white chocolate chips next! I altered the recipe that I originally found here. Just make sure that you have a cold glass of milk waiting!

Double Chocolate Chip Cookies

Ingredients:

• 1 cup butter, softened
• 3/4 cup white sugar
• 3/4 cup brown sugar
• 2 eggs
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 2/3 cup cocoa powder
• 3/4 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 2 cups semisweet chocolate chips
• 1/2 cup chopped walnuts (optional)

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
2. In large bowl, beat butter and both sugars until light and fluffy.
3. Add eggs and vanilla.
4. Combine the flour, cocoa, baking soda, and salt.
5. Slowly add the dry ingredients to the butter mixture until well blended. Mix in the chocolate chips and walnuts.
6. Drop by rounded teaspoonfuls onto ungreased cookie sheets.
7. Make sure to flatten the cookies to about 1/2 thick before placing in the oven.
8. Bake for 8 to 10 minutes in the preheated oven, or just until set. Cool slightly on the cookie sheets before transferring to wire racks to cool completely. [Note: mine took the entire 10 minutes.]

"Home of the Blues"

As previously posted we had a "Throwdown for the Hometown" mixer this week. I am amazed to see how many people from both my sorority and the fraternity were from the country! All that plaid and denim made my head spin ;)

Thanks to tray chic, I decided to dress as "the blues." My first plan was to go as a pig and be BBQ, but I thought this was much cuter! I had a sign that said "Welcome to Memphis: Home of the Blues" but it got lost as soon as we made it to the bar. Oops! All my sorority sisters danced the night away and sang karaoke. I didn't want to break any glass, so I stayed away from the microphone. Plus, I was too busy dancing!

The reason why I really wanted to go to this mixer was to talk to a guy from my class that is absolutely precious [is that ok to call a guy that?!]. I was hoping "liquid courage" would help me get up the nerves to talk about him. Nope... but he did sit next to me in class the next day!

Here is a glimpse of my outfit straight out of the dirty clothes hamper... ha!


I already had the dress and the necklace, so I headed to Walmart to find the accessories. They have a wonderful assortment of colors in these leggings right now. They were so comfy, and only set me back $5! Then I made the headband with the coordinating ribbon.


I promise I will post the instructions on how to make these custom headbands after I get back from class!!

Martha is One Week Away!

Today is the last chance that you can enter Lilly's contest for the pair of Martha tickets! So hop on over to this website and get you name in the drawing!


Also, I thought I would go ahead and unveil what I am planning on wearing to the show. I do apologize for the pictures... I promise the outfit looks much cuter on ;) I believe that the dress is circa 2004. I know that my grandmother purchased for me as part of my high school graduation trousseau (along with about 1o or 15 other Lilly pieces!). Thank goodness for a Lilly loving grandmother! This dress has been one of those "go to" pieces when you feel like your having a "fat" or "blah" day, I would wear this and feel better.


My outfit will be complete with the grosgrain ribbon accent cardigan from Lilly, gold flats, and pearls. I cannot believe that it is just one week away! Good luck in the drawing!

Winter Weather 2009

You know that there are some bizarre weather patterns when Memphis, TN gets 4 inches of snow! My mom sent me this picture that overlooks our deck and pool house, and I cannot remember the last time that we got that much snow at home. Too bad Knoxville missed out on all the fun! Hope yall are staying warm :)

What have I been doing?

Well, the better question would be "what should have I been doing?" I have a big paper due tomorrow and I have not even started it! I am the procrastinator extraordinaire. So after sleeping in, watching Father of the Bride Part I, eating lunch, browsing the internet, and blogging, I will finally be able to start this thing [hopefully].

Today is the first day of March, which means that I will be graduating in 2 months and 8 days!! It is so hard to believe. I realized that my moving date is in 2 months and 9 days! I have absolutely no idea how I am going to be able to furnish an entire house. All I know is that I am taking my bed from home and my TV and that is about it!

Browsing the internet, I was searching for ideas on how to decorate and furnish your first place. I found a website that a lot of ideas including furniture made out of Fedex boxes. Apparently, Fedex sent their lawyers after the guy that created the original website so it is no longer available, but here are some of the pictures.

[Bed]

[Couch]

[Desk]

Okay, so I am a pretty creative person. Even though I would never make my furniture out of boxes, surely I can come up with something?! Over spring break, I am going to go to some estate sales and start harrassing my relatives to see what I can come up with. Even if the furniture needs to be refinished or upholstered, I am completely capable of doing that. I cannot wait to see how it turns out!