Pearls at the Beach

I always leave my jewelry at home when we're heading out on the boat to the sandbar and beaches.  Lallie, on the other hand, refuses to take off her pearls as she wants to be just like me.  How sweet is that?  (These are not great pictures, I couldn't see the camera as the sun was so bright!  I wish I had the thought to at least push the hair out of her face).  No worries, these are costume jewelry pearls, she does not have real ones yet.  She does have a strand of Stella and Dot pearls that she wears on special occasions, but even those were only $25, I think.  

The picture below is at a section of beach that can only be reached by boat (unless you walk and really LONG way).  It's nice because only the locals usually come here.  Can you see the orange tape in the background?  The sea turtles have been laying their eggs so it was a great opportunity to tell Lallie about the baby turtles. 

Lallie almost always falls asleep on the way back home.  She had just woken up and deccided to lay down for a little rest while Daddy put the boat on the lift.  Still wearing her pearls.

 Happy Thursday Y'all!

Lusts: Summer, Mint & Pink

I am adoring mint and pink this summer.  Though I haven't jumped on the colored jean bandwagon yet, I did stop by the Lilly store Sunday and took a look-see at the Skinny Mini Worth jean and loved them.  I think I'll be jumping on that bandwagon sooner than later!  Here are some other mint and pink loves and my summer skincare and nail polish favorites.

{1.  Tunic}  {2.  Lilly Skinny Mini Worth}  {3.  Bridier Baubles}  {4. Lilly Pulitzer Goldie belt}
{5. J. Crew sunglasses}  {6. Kate Spade Imani}  {7.  Chanel Mint Chevron}

{8. Bare Minerals: 7 Layer Cake}  (9. Sunscreen}  (10. Pur Minerals Under Control}
{11. Maybelline Age Rewind}  {12. Essie Pink-A-Boo} {13. Cetaphil Lotion}

Happy Wednesday Y'all!

Lallie Didn't Quite Understand the Water Balloon

Good morning y'all!  How do you like the new blog design?  Thank you Ellie over at The Usual Mischief!  Ellie is actually a friend of Ashleigh's up in Kentucky which is how we met.  Go check out her blog!

Be sure to check out all my new little icons on my sidebar as well!  Follow me on Facebook, Pinterest and Twitter!

One other little bit of business....BLOG SALE!! Click here to view some jewelry and a handbag.  New items will be posted later this week.

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Saturday my mom arrived to take care of Lallie while Husband and I work this week.  She's out of school and summer camp doesn't start until next Monday, so this was the perfect opportunity for her to come down to visit and spend some time with us and Lallie.  

My mom recently moved to North Florida from Kentucky and was in need of a closet makeover.  She's traded in her job as a microbiologist for over thirty years for a part-time management job at a book store.  Retirement is treating her well but the heat of Florida and the change from a very cold hospital to a very hot environment demanded a change in clothing.  So we went shopping....for two days straight!  We went to the Palm Beach Gardens Mall on Sunday (my absolute favorite place) and then hit the outlets yesterday.  I was very good.  I bought one white pencil skirt for work and a refill on my MAC Marine Lightweight Moisturizer.  Mom....she went a little crazy.  I actually had to stop her!  She purchased several things from Ann Taylor LOFT, I.N.C., Tommy Hilfiger, J. Crew, Jones New York and Bass.  She also purchased all new bedroom linens and duvets for her master at Pottery Barn.  We had fun for sure!

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Yesterday evening, Husband introduced the water balloon to Lallie.  She knew we were going to fill the balloons with water but didn't quite understand what you're supposed to do with them after you fill them.  Well, Daddy being the practical joker and all had a sharp piece of mulch and popped the balloon right as Lallie was reaching for it.  Here's the chain of events:

Filling up the water balloon with daddy.....

....and not quite understanding what happens you play water balloons with Daddy....

....results in severe pouting half way across the yard.

Don't forget the blog sale!

Happy Monday Y'all!

Friday Misc.: Lallieisms, Sweet Valley High, Organization, Photo Book, Eye Makeup Remover

Lallie

When I picked Lallie up from school yesterday she had a paper clip.  This was the third day in a row she had shown me a paperclip, so I asked her teacher what this was all about.  She said that Lallie had been bringing them home since at least January to which Lallie responded "Yes, I have a box in a special place at home, for my paper clip collection" (pronounced co-lack-tion).  So, somewhere in our house is a collection of paperclips.  We had no idea.

Lallie also sees my preserved wedding dress in my closet.  She asks consistently is she can wear it when she gets married.  Last night, she told me this.  "When I get married, I want my girls to wear rainbow dresses and crowns so they can be like princesses.  But I'll be the queen."

Gosh, we love that kid.

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Sweet Valley High

Recently, I came across this book.  It's about Jessica and Elizabeth Wakefield, the gorgeous identical twins of Sweet Valley High, ten years after the conclusion of the high school series.  I had completely forgotten about the Sweet Valley series and had never even read many of the books.  I was more of a Nancy Drew girl, but I do remember others reading the series.  So when I added Sweet Valley Confidential to my Goodreads, I said to myself "I can't read this book without knowing the back story!"  

So enter my latest ebay purchase.  Yes, that's 51 books.  I've already read the first four and admit that I am loving them (and I'm not a series girl....at least, not long series books like this one).  

Is this shameful?  I feel embarrassed to even admit this.

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Organization

Here is my organized life:

• the check register on my work computer
• my blog ideas scribbled on a notepad in my purse
• my passwords on Evernote
• my favorite websites on a pad of paper on my desk
• my schedule half in my outlook/half in a bound calendar
• the summer schedule on the fridge
• meal planning - no such thing (though I've tried)
• Auto maintenance - in the cars (I think)
• Home inventory - nonexistent

Get the drift?  Now, raise your hand if you're just like me.  Enter Iheart Organizing.  She has adorable customized printables that you can download day after day, year after year, and keep all in one binder.  I can't wait for mine to be finished so I can get started on getting everything together.  And in one spot, for both myself and Husband if he ever needs anything for any reason.  I'll let you know how it works out!  Check out her shop HERE.

 

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Pictures

Speaking of organization, Lallie's pictures are a mess!  I have them here and there and everywhere.  Some on my iphone, some in shutterfly, some on two or three different laptops.  Madness!  

I was good about her first year, I even made an adorable scrapbook (back when I still had time to scrapbook) and I did print all her first few months of pictures and label them into an album.  

After that....nothing.  

A couple nights ago, while Husband was a church council meeting, I organized all the pictures onto our external hard drive, which we affectionately call "The Brick."   It really does look like a brick....a grey one.

My plan is to take the best pictures for each year of Lallie's life thus far and put into a photo album.  I ran across THIS  photo book review website which led me to MixBook.  I love the automix feature, where you can pick your pictures and then MixBook will automatically format and drop into the sections for you.  I'm going to try out one book and take a look at the quality.  I'll let you know how that turns out too.

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Eye Makeup Remover

Last but not least.  Eye makeup remover.  A few days ago, a ran across a blog about eye makeup remover not working (I canNOT remember the blog, I wrote down the recipe.  If you're reading this, let me know so I can give you proper credit!).  I haven't needed eye makeup remover for some time (see THIS post) but since I started wearing eye makeup last week, I've noticed I do need the remover.  My poor rubbed and red eyes desperately need it.  Anyways, she had a homemade recipe that she tried and loved, so  I made my own version.  After all, I already had all the ingredients and she's right, it works great!  Just mix 1 cup of water with 1 1/4 tsp baby shampoo (tear-free) and 1/8 tsp. baby oil or olive oil (I used olive oil).  Let me know if you like it too!

Happy Friday Y'all!

Lallie and A: When They First Met

For those of you that enjoyed Lallie and A's graduation pictures, here is the picture of when they first met.  It was love at first sight! :-)

Of course, it's unlikely they'll end up together, they're more like cousins (and after a couple hours together, they can fight like brother and sister).  But it is cute and fun to speculate!  I'm sure a lot of parents with young children close in age speculate.  We as parents certainly have a good time with it (while they're still young, that is!)

Happy Friday Y'all!

Y'all, Meet Country Bumpkin

I'd like to introduce y'all to my brother-in-law's wife (though we just cut straight to the chase and call each other sisters-in-law).  Her name is Jessy LIT (or Jess to us) and you can find her over at Country Bumpkin!  Jess and her Husband live back home in the great state of Kentucky, right near my in-laws and they love country living!  You might remember their wedding.  I've known Jess for as long as I've known Husband.  She and Patrick were best friends even in middle school so, in my mind, Husband's family has always included Jess.

Jess now works full-time and her Husband is an attorney.  Until they're ready to have kids (hint, hint), they spend their time cooking, shopping, crafting, decorating, hunting, building, traveling, gardening, Kentucky basketball....you name it!  And Jess blogs about it all, including fashion (my favorite subject)!  One thing about the two of us....we both love to craft, decorate and shop while the men love to build, hunt and fish. 

The only real difference between us is that she cooks....and actually enjoys it! Me...not so much.

If you recall, a while back I posted about my MASSIVE recipe collection.  No, I do not enjoy cooking, but I do LOVE to read and collect recipes.  It's an obsession really.  I have cooked a few of them.  After all, I do enjoy eating and feeding my family (actually, it's kindof a technicality). 

For Christmas, I copied the entire recipe book of over 600 recipes and then left it at home.  Woops!  I FINALLY mailed it out to her a couple weeks ago and being the super crafter and even more organized than I, she went right to work putting her collections into a neat little binder.  Hers is much prettier than mine.

I think Jess has given me a little direction and inspiration on how to spice up my collection.  Now, where do I get a laminating machine?  Hmmm....

Please hop on over and check out Country Bumpkin.

Happy Thursday Y'all!

Graduation Day!

Yesterday was Lallie's big day!  We had so much fun at her Pre-Kindergarten graduation and I have to admit, I did get a little teary-eyed.  She's growing up WAY too fast. 

Here's a few highlights from her day.

Lallie waiting in Circle Time for the silly awards next to her classroom bestie, Luke (in the red shirt)!  In the class yearbook, Luke's favorite thing about Lallie was that she chases him on the playground (we have a feeling she's going to break some hearts one day.  How on earth are we to prepare for this?)

Lallie received the Cotton Candy award for being the sweetest and kindest friend in the class!  How sweet is that?  She received a little bag of cotton candy from her teacher and another award for super book reading.  I didn't even KNOW my letters until kindergarten and Lallie's already reading!  Progressive!  This school is the best in our county/district and every child received 100% on their Kindergarten skills exams.  They only had to know 5 letters for the exam.  Here, every kid knew at least 95% of their letters and were reading them in capital and lowercase form.  These teachers are AMAZING!

Here's Lallie walking in with her best friend A.  These two have been inseparable since birth.  A is exactly 8 months older than Lallie (we found out we were pregnant the day A was born).  A's mom and I had actually put them in the same PreK class but when they spent ALL last summer together and not with other friends, we both thought it would be better if we separated them, for social growth.  We're now kind of hoping they end up in the same Kindergarten class (yes, they will attend the same school too!)

So, how fitting that they got to walk in hand in hand.

Singing "His Banner Over Me is Love."  Lallie went to a Christian pre-school this year and we have just LOVED it.  A's grandpa is the Pastor of the church and he's also Lallie's Godgrandpa, so Lallie was especially loved here (okay, all the kids are especially loved, but we just felt so happy and comfortable here)!

Let me tell you about this school....one would be extremely humbled when in the middle of a little spat or heated discussion, your four year old walks in quoting scripture. 

Be kind one to another.  Ephesians 4:32.

Receiving her diploma!  Yay Lallie!

LOVE this picture, except I had to crop out the bottom half.  I love this Lilly dress but it is not great for picture taking.  I looked like I was pregnant and I am NOT!

Family picture.

A and Lallie.  Are these not the cutest little preps in the making?  Right before this picture, A had his arm around Lallie and was holding her so tight with the BIGGEST smiles.  They so love each other.

Quote:  "I love A.  T thinks she's going to marry him, but she's not.  I am.  And I kissed A in the tree house on Easter.  Mommy and Daddy didn't see."  I confirmed with A's mom this morning that he still says he's going to marry Lallie too.

Ahhh.  Young romance.

He better not break her little heart!  :-)

Tomorrow, I'm introducing you to my Sister-in-Law, Jess!  Stay tuned!

Happy Wednesday Y'all!

Favorite New Beauty Products

It's that time again for my current favorite beauty products.

The Wanderlust Beach makeup collection from bareMinerals.  I LOVE this stuff.  Y'all know I'm not a big makeup person.  Skincare, yes!  Makeup, not so much.  I wear powder, blush and mascara and that's all I've worn for years.  I have received compliments on my very natural look and certainly enjoy the two-minute makeup routine each morning.

But, with my aging skin....it's time to branch out a bit and draw attention away from the aging areas.  At my last trip to ULTA, I picked up this kit thinking I could pull off the beach look.  Despite my lack of knowledge in using eyeliner (and therefore, the many wandering lines created with the eyeliner), I finally completed this new look.

I love how the green coupled with the sparkly cabana (brownish) color brightened my eyes and the eyeliner really defined them.  The powder added a little sparkle to the cheek line as well.  The lip gloss is a very neutral and natural tone, which I love (I never wear lipstick and rarely glosses outside of the natural or light pink tone).

The only downside....it now takes ten minutes to do my makeup.  Hmmmm......

Insert awful picture....but you get the drift of the makeup look.  I'm still practicing the eyeliner part.

Next up.  Where have you been all my life and why have I been holding out????? 

The Chi flat iron.  My frizzy, naturally curly hair, after years and years of dealing with Florida humidity is finally straight and not frizzy!  I am in LOVE!

But with all that 375 degree heat, I need a little extra protection.  In conjunction with my still favorite leave-in straightening conditioner from Garnier, I'm using the Chi Silk Infusion.  It not only protects my hair from the extreme heat, but gives it a beautiful shine (yes, I've already noticed in just a few applications the extra little shine) and it smells SO good.

I was seriously thinking about cutting my hair short again like below (close your mouth dear Husband who wants my hair to be as long as possible....no worries).  Now that I found the Chi, I'm not so ready to cut off my untamed hair.  In fact, I'm actually loving it!

Excuse the over zealousness of the Lilly below.  I took this right after my boss looked at me and said, "Could you possibly sport any more Lilly?"  This is just how I was thinking of cutting my hair again.

Last but not least, the Mario Badescu Super Collagen Mask.  I've used this three times and already notice a tightening of my skin and reduction of redness (in my cheek areas).  My pores also feel and look cleaner.  It really does what it claims to do.  It does say to leave on for 20 minutes but I have a hard time with leaving masks on that long after they've dried.  I do not like the dried skin feeling at all.

That's it on the beauty front for now!

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Now only Monday Mishaps.

Seriously not happy.  The fax machine / printer combo leaked ink ALL OVER my Ann Taylor slacks and Ann Taylor leather shoes.  The shoes are fine, my pants....not so much.  Oh, and my toes are stained black, not even nail polish remover would get it off.  And where it leaked onto my legs through the pants, I look like I have some crazy bruising.  The ink went all the way up to my knees!  What a way to start off a Monday!

Graduation pictures of sweet little Lallie coming tomorrow!! 

Happy Tuesday Y'all!

Our Little Graduate

Tomorrow is Lallie's Pre-Kindergarten graduation.  Here's a look at her five years with us thus far!

2 hours old

5 months old

1 year old

14 months

16 months

18 months

2.5 years

3 years

3.5 years

4.5 years

4.5 years (will be five at the end of July)

We are so very proud of you Lallie and we love you!!

Happy Monday Y'all!