Tuesday, May 31, 2011

Look What I Did!

What a whirlwind weekend!  I have a week's worth of posts all ready for you!  From Friday's school program to yesterday's Memorial Day BBQ!

Friday night was Lallie's end of year school program called Look What I Did.  Lallie is a Montessori student and this is the time of year when she gets to take us into her classroom and show us all her favorite work and activities.  They also engage the parents in the activities they do during the day such as singing and line time.

Don't you love our Lilly tunics?  Husband called us the "Tunic Twins."
Here's Lallie showing Daddy her world map.  It's not finished yet, but I'm amazed that she did this all by herself!  The teachers helped the students trace out the continents and then they spend all year talking about the different continents, their countries, climates and cultures.  They bring in food, music and art projects to help them learn about the world.  I'm amazed that Lallie knows all seven continents!  I'm pretty sure I didn't know that when I was 3 1/2 years old!  She even knows that we live in North America (granted, she thinks the grandparents live in exotic South American, but hey, I'm still impressed!)



Here's Lallie showing us some of her Practical Life work.  These are activities that help the children learn about everyday habits such as spooning, tying shoes, pouring and cleaning (such as using a broom).  Here she's using an eye dropper to place droplets in small containers.
And science!  And I'm proud of Lallie in this sense.  She's examining bugs, which quite frankly, shocked Husband and I as Lallie is NOT a bug person!

During line time, Lallie showed us her dance moves and how to spell "family" in sign language.  She was a little timid in the dancing (and thank goodness Husband didn't snap any pictures of me dancing like a robot!)

Afterwards, we headed out to eat as a celebration and Lallie had a HUGE M&M ice cream sundae!  She was a happy camper and was so excited to show us her school.

Happy Tuesday Y'all!

Sunday, May 29, 2011

Happy Memorial Day Y'all!

Happy Memorial Day Y'all!

We're getting to bed early in our good 'ole American attire, so we can prepare for the big American style barbecue we're hosting tomorrow!  

Can't wait to tell y'all all about it, from the recipes to the swimming and everything in between.  
 
All while we celebrate this grand country and everyone who is or ever has served in the military!

Have a great day tomorrow!  God Bless the U.S.A.!


Friday, May 27, 2011

Lilly Added to my Closet

Yesterday, I made a trip to C. Orrico down in Hobe Sound.  They are getting read to close the store May 31st for "off season" (a/k/a snowbirds fly north for the winter).   

*For those of you that don't know, "snowbirds" are generally retirees that live in South Florida for 3 to 6 months during the winter and go back north to their other homes in the summer.*

Since they were closing up shop, they didn't have a large selection, but what they did have was 20% off entirely!  So if you're nearby, stop on in!

I tried on the Sullivan Dress in Starburst Yellow Stamped. I love this dress and have been dying to try it on.  I went with XS first as that's what I would normally wear and I could NOT get it down over my hips.  It stayed stuck at my waist (and after doing 33 pushups on my toes earlier that morning to work on said waist, I was a disappointed shopper). 

So I tried the Small and the top part was too big with the hips a little snug.  It just did not look right and I was quite disappointed.   She suggested a belt with it, but I'm not a belt person, so I just passed.  Sadness. 


I also tried the Clare dress in Worth Blue Pressed (I think).  I can't remember because if it fit, I would have ordered it in Hotty Pink First Impression, not Worth Blue.  It fit perfectly....except I'm not a ruffles girl and didn't like the look.  I still think it's adorably cute for those of you that do love ruffles and the dress is ultra-comfy.


So, what DID I actually buy?

The Caroline Cable Knit Cardigan in white (as a girl can never have too many cardis and they can be pared with anything, professional, casual, even a day out on the boat!)


And a Boatneck Hipster Tee in what else?  Hotty Pink! Lilly's tees are SO comfy and hold up so well!  I have some tees that are two or three years old that even though washed many times....but also lined dried, look as good as the day I bought them!  So Target Tee at $20.00 worn out in a few months or Lilly at $40.00 and it lasts for years?  I say Lilly!


And the Egan Tunic in Worth Blue Pressed (shocking, it's not pink OR green!)
I love this tunic and the fit.  Perfect with shorts, capris or long white pants like I'm wearing today.  I'm loving the look of the yellow shorts in this picture.  Something to think about for the future.


Now, to what do I owe the pleasure of getting some fun goodies?  Husband and my anniversary is coming up June 15th (9 years ladies!).  Husband was in Hobe Sound for a business meeting, drove by C. Orrico and hesitantly called me to say they were having a sale and to go pick out some things for our anniversary.

AND, it forced me to "summer-ize" my closet (I know, I know, how does one "summer-ize" a South Florida closet).  I'll show you next week (once I finish cleaning said closet as it's a little embarrassing right now!)

Happy Friday Y'all!

Wednesday, May 25, 2011

Big Fish

When I was a young child, other children considered me strange.  I had a vivid imagination and would broadcast these stories to anyone who would listen, including my not-so-strange classmates.  I would tell them about my owning castles in England and about other adventures I had made up in my head or dreamt about and then believed they were real and actually happened.

*To this day, there are some stories I still believe happened due to my vivid dreams and imaginations as a child.  I would tell the story to Husband who would verify with my parents to which they would say, these things never happened*

Sometimes stories were real, like seeing the world's first airplane at Kittyhawk or seeing
America's oldest tree (which I still hold against my history teacher for not backing me up when the kids made fun of me during summer story-time, because in fact, my parents had actually taken the family to these places to visit). 

Think of the movie Big Fish.  Things that really happened and became
embellished in my child's mind's eye.

Eventually, my dad bought me a poster as inspiration.  It was a picture of Albert Einstein with the quotation:

"Imagination is more important than knowledge."



And ever since, I've been able to let the world laugh WITH me and not at me (yes, it took some time and adjusting and it still is a challenge sometimes).  And thus, when  family and friends stand around telling "Jennifer stories."  I don't mind one bit.  I just think that I'm glad I can bring five minutes of joy and laughter to a world that doesn't have enough laughter these days. 

And, so here are some of my favorite Albert Einstein quotes amongst pictures from the movie Big Fish.  If you haven't seen it, I suggest you do.  I guarantee you will find it enlightening and moving.











 Happy Wednesday Y'all!   

Tuesday, May 24, 2011

Blogger vs. Wordpress: Blogger Fails Again

So, it appears blogger is having issues AGAIN!  Last week when our posts were removed, we lost comments and couldn't read or post for over 24 hours, it was okay, no big deal.  Just the wonderful numerous comments y'all left on Pat and Jess' wedding....gone forever into oblivion.

No big deal, we can handle it right?

But today, I can't post comments on any blog that requires me to select "Google Account."  It just says I'm anonymous and then makes me sign in over and over again.  Sorry Hannah and Sweet Southern Prep and NOLA Girl and Sweet Tea Diaries.  Y'all won't be hearing from me today (and I did have good things to say about your adorable children, food and weekend happies).

Blogger Fail.....Again
 (a/k/a they are totally missing the ball lately)


These are just a few of the issues I have had with blogger.  There are many more that I won't go into here.

Over the past few months, I have been looking into converting to Wordpress, but haven't had the guts to do it.  I'm afraid my content and followers won't transport (and thus, y'all wouldn't be able to find me) and I really need somebody professional to do it for me. 

It's not just the blogger issues, but I'd like to be able to format my pages a little better, make them a little more readable.  I want to re-start my shopping and book review pages, but blogger's setup is just way to cumbersome and not attractive at all. 

I'm more about the content then design which is what Wordpress promotes.  You want a killer design?  Stick with blogger.  If you want to concentrate on format and content, go with Wordpress.  That's the news anyways.

I'm just scared to do it by myself.  I mean, it took me 7 days to figure out how to re-route my blogspot address to my now URL...slpreppystyle.com.  I did it by myself but it took days!  And that was with LOADS of trial and error.  I'm not sure that I will have the trial and error chance with this transfer.  I'm afraid that once I start I can't look back and there are just too many risks.

What are your thoughts?

Have any of you made that change and was it successful?  I'm sure I won't receive too many comments as a majority of you are on blogger anyways.  But I thought I'd put this out there and hope that someone might have some insight (or might offer to help!  :-) 

Happy Tuesday Y'all!


Monday, May 23, 2011

Misc. Mon.: Swimming, Garnet Hill SCORE, bookclub, food and JEEP Update

1.  Lallie graduated from swim lessons Friday.  She had completed this same one week course last year and did great!  However, with the lack of swimming for four months due to the cold, she had forgotten and re-gained her fear of the water. So, we signed her up again.  And now, we have a diving, jumping, sliding, swimming little girl and she (and we) are loving it!
Lallie loves her '70's style bathing suit.
Learning backstroke.
So excited to learn to swim by herself to the side of the pool!
Taking breathes and all!

2. This week, I'm having this Mediterranean Veggie Bowl from Love, Sweat and Beers . The idea is to make one huge pot of it on Sunday's and then eat through it the entire week. We'll see #1: If I like this recipe and #2: if I don't mind eating the same thing five days in a row. I'm topping mine with feta cheese.  (I hope she doesn't mind, I stole her picture!)


3. I won a giveaway from Garnet Hill!! Yes, I did! I entered Growing Up with Garnet Hill's facebook Summer Fun Giveaway and I actually won! This is just perfect for Lallie considering we are heading to the Keys in July. The shoes I posted on Lallie's Garnet Hill wish-list the other day HERE.  She is so excited and can't wait to get her package in the mail!  The contest is still running, so there is still time to enter! 

Via - Patagonia Bathing Suit (in Sixties Poppies - the red/pink) - Retails $55.00
Via - Patagonia Boardie Shorts (in Cerise - solid red) - Retails $39.00
Via - Patagonia Hoodie (in Rhubarb - solid red) - Retail $39.00
Via - Native Perforated Shoes - Retails on Sale - $14.00

4.  The JEEP SOLD!!!!!  It was the blog post, what can I say?
If you have no idea what I'm talking about.....click HERE.

5.  I attended my Junior League's monthly bookclub on Friday.  Normally we have more people however, with the end of school and vacations beginning, we had a small group.
We read Weird Sisters by Eleanor Brown and it received mixed reviews.  BUT, everyone said that I must finish the book (yes, I actually did not complete the book assignment, surprising considering how much I read!)  So far, I'm liking it and the more I read, the more I like it.  Though the characters, I must say, are really mixed up.  Read it, you'll understand!

That's all for now!  Have a Happy Monday Y'all!

Friday, May 20, 2011

What's In A Mongram and Gift Ideas

After yesterday's post, it seems that several people have struggled with monogram gifts and when appropriate to use initial monograms versus name monograms.

Well, let's set the records straight, shall we (at least from my point of view)? We're going to use the names:

When they get married, they will be:

For a woman, the single monogram would be:

and when she becomes married, it would be:

Of course, there are times when it's appropriate to use the single first name letter "I" and the persons full name.

And there are times when it's appropriate to use the married couple monogram, which is the woman's initial (small), then the last name initial (large and in the middle) and then the man's initial (small).
For the man, it really depends on WHAT you're monogramming as to whether you use SBH or sHb.  And for the young male child, it should always be sHb until they are older (say high school graduation) when it would be changed to SBH. 

Even then, when that child is older, it still depends on what you're monogramming.  Other than cufflinks, I don't think I've ever seen much for a male monogrammed with their first initial only. 
 Now, for families with or without children, there are always the choices of the single last name initial or the full family name "the Handsomes."  Of course, you have to deal with the apostrophe is such cases.  If it says only "The Handsomes" then no apostrophe is used.  But let's say you purchase a plaque for the front door that says "The Handsome's Home," then you would use the apostrophe as  you're implying the house belong to more than one Handsome person.  Make sense? 

I'm not sure I would purchase anything with the couples monograms if they have children (except for master bedroom pillow cases and maybe guest bathroom hand towels, those sort of items).


___________________________________________________________________

THE GIFTS

Whew!  What a lot of information.  But now that we've got the technicalities out of the way, we can move onto the fun part.  The gift ideas!  Ladies first of course!

For a single woman, NOT nearing a marriage proposal, I use the original monogram, iBr.  If the person IS nearing marriage but not there yet, I will use either a single "I" or the full name "Ima" for longevity of the gift.

Let's take Stephen Bonanno Sandals.  Here I've used married monograms.  This is a great idea for a close friend or family member (as they can be on the expensive side) to give as an engagement gift (not to be worn until after the wedding of course!)


Let's take Ashleigh's bag that I bought her for her birthday, I used her full name as I'm assuming she is nearing a marriage proposal and now she'll have a bag she can use for life.


Now, for items such as engravable compacts, jewelry charms, bath wraps, stamps and/or embossers etc., I think it's best to use a single "I" monogram (as some of these items can be used for years after marriage).

Via

Via

For items such as hand towels and glassware that are either displayed or used by more than one person, it's best to use the single last name initial.  This can get tricky for those ladies nearing a marriage proposal, so it's best to save these types of gifts until after the wedding.

For a male, as stated before, young male children should use the monogram sHb for clothing, baptismal items etc. until approximately high school.  I like to think of the young male's first gift with a new SBH monogram as a leather bound portfolio for a graduation gift. 

Via
Via

Of course, even for the older male, the monogram still depends on the type of gift.  For luggage, portfolios, briefcases and shirt pockets, the monogram should always be SBH.  For cufflinks or keyrings, it is said you can use the younger male version of sHb or a single "H" initial however, I think I personally like the SBH full block myself and will likely continue using it in that way.

Via
Now, for the family, a lot of the same rules apply.  For hand towels, use the single "H" monogram or the couple's "iHs" monogram. 

Via
You can also use the couple's monogram for items such as pillowcases, bath towels or soaps.
Via
And for even more personalization, you could go with the Boat-and-Tote with the full name of "The Handsomes" or for personalized stationary "From The Handsome's Desk."  (Note the use of the apostrophe!) 

I would use the full name versions on a gift  if I know the person of family intimately as it's more personal.  This little plaque would be cute for my home, given our South Florida lifestyle.
Via

So, that' my little monogram tutorial, at least my personal thoughts on the subject.  What are your thoughts?  Is there anything you would change or do differently?  And, what is your favorite hostess, wedding or general gift idea?

Happy Friday Y'all!