Guest From from Brown Eye Belle

Good morning Y'all!  I'm going to be out in the field most of the day today, so my good friend Julie over at Brown Eyed Belle has been so nice to post for me today (my very first ever guest post)!  You are just going to fall in love with Julie.  She is so much fun, an absolute blast to talk with and read about and of course, like me, she loves anything bright and colorful.  So, enough with me, on with the post!!

Happy Wednesday Y'all!

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 (via)

Hello there, preppies!! Happy summer and thanks for stopping by today! I'm Julie, and my blog home is over at Brown Eyed Belle. I blog about anything and everything- things I love, pretty things, preppy things, southern things, my goings-on, and anything else that makes me smile. Come visit! I'd love to have you.

So, when our sweet Jennifer asked me to guest post for her I was so excited! Isn't she a doll? We bonded recently when I gave her a little trick to making her blog button new and fabulous. We've been in touch ever since! I love how the bloggy world brings people together!

Anyway, she told me that I could post on anything. Now the question was what to post about? Since you and I are getting to know each other today I figured what better way than taking a look inside my bags! Purses say so much about a person, agree?

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Here is mine:

Clockwise from top left:

VB Sunglasses Case (Cupcakes Pink)

VB Wallet (Mod Floral Pink)

VB Pencil Case that I use as a pouch for my lip gloss (Limited edition silk print from several years ago)

Cell phone

Coach leather cosmetic case that I use for necessities like Tide pen, hand sanitizer, mini hair brush, etc.

Baekgaard leather envelope that I use for coupons

Car keys

Center: Change purse from Anthropologie

So, what do my bag and contents say about me??

1. I love COLOR! Color makes me happy! I apparently enjoy pink?!
2. I love Vera Bradley accessories.
3. I like to be organized. I have a spot for everything!

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I thought since I was doing a 'what's in my bag' it would be fun to also feature my pool/beach bag too! It is summer, after all!

What's in the bag:

Beach towel
VB plastic zip bag for sunscreen, lip balm, etc. (Cupcakes Pink)
  A magazine

Inside the zip bag:

Bath and Body Works cooling mist
Towel clips
Coppertone Sport SPF 30
Burt's Bees Lifeguard's Choice
Panama Jack Zinc SPF 30 for face

So, what does this bag say about me?

1. I like color, again. Lol
2. I want a tan, but not a burn. Coppertone Sport is good stuff!
3. I like to smell nice. The cooling mist is yummy and feels great when it's hot outside!

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So, what's in your bag lovies? Beach bag must haves? Do share!

Thanks for stopping by today!! Hope you had fun!

July 4th Dresses - Last Chance $10.00!!!

Okay ladies, I have four (4) Fourth of July dresses left.  I will sell them to the first four who email me at slpreppy@gmail.com or comment here, for $10.00 each plus $4.75 for priority shipping. 

They are all size 24 months and are 19" long.

 

This is only good through tomorrow as after that, they won't make it to destinations on time.

Let me know and I'll ship out tomorrow after payment!!

A Last Look at Lallie's Hair

....before we go chop, chop!

Sadly, it's getting to difficult to control and handle and it hurts poor Lallie's head :(  We did get professional pictures made though.  Still, it is sad :(

JL Conference and Meeting Miss Wendy

I had the fantastic opportunity to go to the Junior League Area III Conference this weekend in Safety Harbor, Florida.  I traveled with three other girls from my league and met several ladies from leagues in Florida all the way to the Carolinas.  We had the unique pleasure of listening to several wonderful and well known speakers including Vicki Clark and Beth Ramsey.  In addition to getting to know my own fellow league members much better, all the other ladies I met are just lovely people, inspired to do good for their communities with fantastic leadership skills.

But, the even bigger news is that I was finally able to meet a long-time blog friend!  Miss Wendy from Madras and Pearls became a follower back when I first started blogging around 18 months ago.  She's been with me since the beginning and we've gotten to know each other through facebook, email etc.  She is also a Junior League member and attended the conference, so it was a great privilege to finally meet her.  We've been waiting for this for weeks!

 There are not enough good things I can say about Miss Wendy.   She is a pearl and Lilly wearing interior designer who has a huge heart in caring for others.  Back in November, when I considered quitting Junior League, Wendy was there for encouragement, telling me to continue forward and become active.  Without her, I may have dropped out and not been able to experience the friendship and service that Junior League has to offer.  I thank her greatly for that.  I guess you could not only call her a friend, but a sounding board as well! :-) 

She is just an absolute pleasure to be around, lots of energy....lots and lots of fun...and of course, it doesn't hurt that we have TONS in common.  I can't wait to see her again, hopefully soon!  We've been texting and emailing back and forth since I left the conference yesterday! 

Happy Monday Y'all! 

Lots of Fun!

It has been a super busy week for us and since I can't seem to remember my camera, Lallie updates will just have to wait until next week!

I try to remember when I get home, but Lallie started a new school for summer on Monday, so needless to say, this week has been a little bit of a transition.  In addition, I am leaving for Tampa in a few minutes for  Junior League conference.

Anywho, I want to tell you how much fun I am having working on my blog.  I love my blog design, but I love to change things up a bit.  I've decided I want to learn how to do this all by myself.

I started with my blog button, which thanks to Brown Eyed Belle, I have a button I just LOVE!  She pointed me to a website called Picnik that is just unbelievably fantastic and then helped me with my code scroll box issues.  What took five hours of work in Adobe Photoshop for that simple little palm tree and word (okay, maybe not five, but it was a long time), took literally five minutes this morning!  Thank you so much Mrs. Belle!

I also ran across the blog, What's New with Kevin and Amanda, with very detailed (for us html illiterate) tutorials on how to make your own blog background, headers, signatures and guess what.....COLORS AND FONTS!!!  Yipppeee!  I've always wanted a blog with my own font and color (must I say it again...why on earth doesn't blogger have a proper pink color???  Google, are you listening?  Fix this ASAP!)

So, over the next few weeks (yes, it will take me that long), you are going to see some fun Southern Living: Preppy Style changes and I am super excited!

Have a great weekend y'all, I'm off to get dressed in my Lilly, head over to Tampa and have some Junior League fun (and meet a fellow blogger who was one of my first 10 followers over a year ago!  I'm so excited!) 

Pink and Green Thursday!

Happy Thursday Y'all!

I have been super busy today, so for Miss Trish's Pink and Green Thursday, I'll unveil my Pink and Green button!!

Yay!  I made it all by myself in Adobe Photoshop, I am SO proud of myself.  Now!  I need your help.  How on earth do I get a html scroll box?  I have tried and tried and all I get is my picture with a little code underneath (see side bar, that little "/< thingy, why is that there instead of a scroll box?).  I've tried and tried and if you've visited me today, you might have seen the actual code plastered on the side of the blog.  Hey, at least the code was plastered in bright pink (I got the color right!)

The button is a work in progress.  I really want it to be round with a bright pink border and maybe some dots and the ever popular Comic Sans font is so yesterday (in that everyone uses it)! 

I would love to download one of those custom made fonts for the blog posts and maybe even some custom colors since blogger lacks the proper color of pink (again, why is that???)

Eventually, I might even play around with my header a bit (I'm not so much a fan of the little icons anymore).

So, I know it's plain right now, but I love it and I'm proud because I did it all by myself.

Now I sound like my three year old "I did it mommy, I did it!"

Have a great Thursday Y'all!

Pink Day and Beouf Bourguignon

First, a few announcments:

1) Thanks to Maryland Pink and Green, I discovered that today is National Pink Day!!  Thankfully Lallie and I are wearing pink today as I had no clue!

I'm celebrating by wearing my Lilly Pulitzer Andover dress and pink McKims and sporting my fun bag (isn't it cute?  I love it)

When searching about National Pink Day, I discovered this Pink Celebration recipe.  Sounds pretty good! 

Rosangel Margarita

2 oz Rosangel

1 oz of Cranberry Juice

½ oz Premium Orange Liqueur

½ oz of Lime Juice

1/4 oz. of Orange Juice

Mix all together with ice and strain into a pink glass!

(I really wish blogger had a PINK font!)

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I have THREE snack bags made with Lilly Pulitzer fabric remaining.  You can purchase them on my etsy shop.  Click HERE!

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I have FOUR Fourth of July dresses on my etsy shop as well. They can be shipped immediately and are size 24 months / 2T.  If you email me at slpreppy@gmail.com (rather than go to my etsy shop), I will sell them to you for $17.50 (which I personally think is a deal compared to what some shops charge!!)  This is open to my blogger friends only! 

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BLOG SALE is still going on!  J. Crew, Forever 21, Cape Madras.  Check it out HERE.  There are some adorable J. Crew whale critter capris!

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Julia Child

(A segue from yesterday's post, which by the way, thank you thank you thank you for such wonderful comments!  I will truly take them to heart!)

This women fascinates me.  I really did not know much about her until I saw the movie Julia and Julia.  Since then, I've read up about her on websites and wikipedia.

Julia, until she married her husband, Paul, really knew very little about food, more specifically the finer palette and cusine.  Though like me, she very much enjoyed eating fine cusine.

The difference between us?  She enjoyed cooking and learning to cook.  She embraced it with her heart and soul, creating fabulous dishes which eventually inspired Americans to cook and experience French cusine like they never had experienced it before.

Mint Juleps and Magnolias, will you come visit me and make Beouf Bourguignon for me.....pretty please?  I have a pool and live near the beach (which thankfully, ours is not affected by the oil spill).

I would be much obliged.

Miss Julep (soon to be Mrs. Julep) has successfully made Julia's Beouf Bourguignon and I so desperately want to try it the recipe myself.  My mouth has been watering for Beouf Bourguignon since I viewed the movie and with my cooking track record, I'm wondering if I should even attempt such a dish!  That hunk of meat in her picture is tres intimidating!

Plus, I don't have a dutch oven.

Has anyone ever made Julia's recipe for Beouf Bourguignon?  Were you successful?  Should I even attempt to waste an entire Saturday over the stove and oven?

Normally, I would say no, but I REALLY want this dish.  Again, could someone just come visit me and make it for me.  I will wait on you hand and foot!

Happy Wednesday Y'all!

(I promise, I'll get to a Lallie post, I keep forgetting my camera!)

Cooking: Rather, the Lack Thereof

People think that since I'm crafty, I'm the ultimate domestic, full-time working, goddess.  This couldn't be further from the truth!  I clean when I have to and use harsh chemicals (gasp!)....

(I love Martha, listen to her on Sirius all the time, I am just simply no Martha, thus the picture.  Aren't you proud of my photoshop work though?)

AND....

I despise cooking.  This is no secret in our household.  There are a few dishes that I can create, and create well, but other than that, I just don't cook.  I don't enjoy it, I am stressed by it, the pasta always finishes 20 minutes before the bread (and thus cold pasta) and my brain has a mental block against meal planning. 

In addition, my hair frizzes in a hot kitchen.  Not cool. 

The only benefit to cooking, is the free facial I get when pouring pasta water down the drain.

However, I LOVE eating (thus the blog sale because I can't fit into anything anymore :(

I also LOVE collecting and reading recipes (does anyone else do this).  I don't cook them, I just read them.  It's sort of an obsession.

Here is my recipe book.  Filled with over 750 recipes (the highlighted ones I've cooked and liked).

They are all alphabatized and separated into categories (including an international foods section) and indexed at the front of the book by main ingredient (i.e. chicken, appetizers, pork).

Every month, I go through my magazines, pick out the recipes I like and add them to the book (I need to catch up in organizing). 

(Is blogger driving you all nuts?  What is with the sideways pictures?)

So, here's my dilemma....I need (emphaizing the word need) to start cooking healthy meals for my family for multiple reasons:

1) I have a growing child who needs all the heatlhy foods she can get

2) I need energy, stamina, stress-free foods that do not cause zits and bloated tummies (sorry to be blunt, but really....it's no serect the greasy foods make us feel and look like junk!)

3) I want to sit at the dinner table every single night and talk about our days.  Lallie is SO happy when we do this, she eats every bite of her food and is in such a good mood.  That in itself is worth it.

I need your help.  I am a working mom, so dinner on the table is a major feat, especially since Husband works later than I.  I need some quick, easy, few ingredient meals for a non-experienced cook that are healthy and fun for family and kiddos. 

**As a side-note, we love fresh veggies.

**Another side note:  I cannot plan a meal to save my life.  Could use help in that category.

I have plenty of crock pot recipes.  I don't need those.  I can't seem to get going early enough in the morning to get this together.  So, scratch those.

Got it? 

Good.  Now comment!  :-)

Happy Tuesday Y'all!

National Lilly Day and Lilly Snack Bags!

 Lallie and I had so much fun getting all dressed up this morning.  Here's what we are wearing today (sorry for the lighting on my picture -  the sun blazes into my bathroom in the morning).

I am wearing an older Lilly dress called Pink Tile Patch with spaghetti straps that tie on top, a pink Lilly cardi, pink McKims and my pearl jewelry.

Lallie is wearing an adorable little knit jersey dress that I've had forever and she is still barely fitting into it!  She wore it once in January when we went to the keys.  I just love it!

I made this adorable little snack bag to sell on my Etsy shop out of a Lilly oilcloth apron, but I only had enough fabric for one, so I decided to keep it!

I am, however, going to be making Lilly snack bags out of these capris.

They don't fit me well at all and I've been trying to sell them but no one seems to want them.  So, I am going to make snack bags/makeup bags/purse bags/crayon bags (whatever you want to call them).  I will have 10 available for $7.00 each + shipping ($1.50) - possibly 12. 

I will take orders now, first come first serve!  Comment (to be fair that it is first come, first serve) and let me know and I'll send you an email and a paypal invoice.  Please pay within 24 hours and I will send out thereafter.  I will be working on these tonight and tomorrow, so they'll be available almost immediately!

Tomorrow, weekend and Lallie update!

Happy Monday Y'all!

Kentucky Derby Pie Recipe

A couple of you commented and several of you emailed me asking about a Kentucky Derby Pie recipe.

I must preface this by saying....I AM NOT A BAKER!  In fact, my Bisquick biscuits?  They are hard as rocks on the outside and batter on the inside.  I.don't.bake.  If you are like me, you can order your pie from www.derbypie.com.

Husband on the other hand can make a mean peach cobbler, from scratch, in pure southern fashion.  I craved it during my pregnancy....3 times a week....and if we didn't have peaches in stock, I asked for the "cake part."

But, I digress.

Kentucky Derby Pie.

I made this pie once, turned out pretty good, so I'll give you this recipe.  It is called the "Museum Winner's Pie" out of the Kentucky Derby Museum cookbook.  I have added my own notes to the recipe for your knowledge and amusement.

1 stick butter

1 cup sugar

2 eggs, beaten

1/2 cup flour

pinch of salt

2 Tbsp. Ky Bourbon (ahem...Maker's Mark) or 1 tsp. vanilla

*Note: This is not Derby pie without the bourbon, so just ignore the vanilla part.

**Fun Fact: did you know bourbon is only made in Kentucky?  So if someone says they've had Tennessee bourbon, politely correct them, as they are wrong.

Again, I digress.

1 cup chocolate chips

1 cup chopped pecans

1 9-inch pie shell, partially baked

*Again, I am not a baker, but if you want an authentic pie, you should make the pie from scratch.....with lard!

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Cream butter and sugar.  Add beaten eggs, flour, salt and Kentucky bourbon (or vanilla....whatever?)  Add chocolate chips and nuts.  Stir well.  Pour into partially baked pie shell and bake for 30 minutes, or until center is set.  Serve with whipped cream or vanilla ice cream....or as I prefer....completely by itself!

Enjoy~!

Happy Sunday y'all and and even bigger HAPPY FATHER'S DAY to my Husband (who is cooking right now because, I don't cook), to my Daddy (my hero) and my Daddy-in-Law (my comfort)!!  Love to you all from Husband, Lallie and I!!

What to do with those tiny crayon leftovers

Melt them down and make bigger crayons!

(I have to attribute this one to my mom, who told me about it).

This is SO easy and quick.

Take all those little crayon pieces and place in a muffin tin, either in cups or line the sides of the tin with Pam.  Fill until the tins are half full.  Can be a large tin (for older kids) or small tin (for toddler hands).  Sorry the picture is sideways.

Next, place in the oven at 200 degrees for about 15-20 minutes, until just melted but not overmelted so that the wax separates from the colorant.  DO NOT STIR!

Let cool (about one hour) and then voila!  Big colorful crayons that your kids will love!

 

Have a great Saturday y'all! 

Back to Our Kentucky Roots - In Pictures

Above - Tobacco Barn on Mountain Parkway

Above - Kentucky Derby Pie

Above - My home town of Paducah

Above - Ashley Judd - "Tough girls come from New York. Sweet girls, they're from Georgia. But us Kentucky girls, we have fire and ice in our blood. We can ride horses, be a debutante, throw left hooks, and drink with the boys, all the while making sweet tea, darlin'. And if we have an opinion, you know you're gonna hear it.”

Above - My alma mater, Transylvania University

Above - Keith Whitley from Husband's home town of Sandy Hook

"When You Say Nothing At All"

Above - the Laurel Gorge in Elliott County

Happy Friday Y'all