Lallie's Newest Outfit

What a week!  It's been crazy at work and my mother-in-law has been in town all week for Lallie's spring break.  I've been trying to rush out of work early so I can get home timely to relieve her (Lallie can be exhausting these days since she no longer naps).  Even though I've tried, I haven't been getting home as early as I like and actually, it's been later than usual.  Even Husband has been beating me home!  

Anyways, a couple weeks ago, I finished a new outfit for Lallie.  I made a couple of these in different colors and Lallie loves them (especially her monogrammed shirts).  She especially loves the pink and turquoise outfit and wore it to a birthday party last weekend.  She received quite a few compliments with a lot of moms asking if it was from Blessed Be the Name clothing.  That would be no, but that is certainly where I get a lot of my inspiration!  A few people asked for my email but I'm afraid I'm just too busy to sew much for anyone but Lallie right now, which is perfectly fine by me.  Maybe one day, I'll be able to sew more often.  Anyways, here are some pictures from the birthday party.  Enjoy! 



Gotta love shaved ice!  I was right there with a napkin for fear of blue and pink stains! 
Hey, at least the stains would match the outfit! 



"Seriously mom?  More pictures?"



I'm pretty proud of my little ones arms!  She has quite a bit of strength and whacked the pinata
pretty hard about three times. 

The cupcakes were served plain so the kids could decorate as they wanted. 
 I'm proud that Lallie actually ate the cupcake this time.  Ususally she only eats the icing and toppings.

And of course....the signature after-party crash.

PS - Lallie's Trike-A-Thon is on Monday!!  Thank you SO much to all my blog friends who have donated on Lallie's behalf!  I have to say that I'm quite surprised that so many did donate.  She hasn't made her goal of $800 but I'm super proud that she's raised as much as she did.  $325 (with a couple more checks coming in, including mommy and daddy's donation)....isn't a bad run for a four-year old if you ask me!  There's still time to donate if you wish!  Just click on the picture of Lallie riding her bike at the top of the page.  We thank you in advance!

Pre-Made FRESH Veggie & Fruit Smoothies

You  might remember one of my fellow Lilly-loving friends, Lindsey (on the left in the photo below).  This picture was taken at my Lilly Pulitzer themed Stella and Dot party a few weeks ago.  They are both wearing vintage Lilly!  How fun!

Anyways, Lindsey is also a fresh fruit and veggie lover but often can't find time to prepare and fit them in her own diet...much like my family.  On facebook the other day, she posted an ingenious way of getting all your fruits in veggies in your diet and in a VERY easy way!  Smoothies! 

Basically, you make pre-made frozen smoothies bags.  Then in the morning, you pull one out, add some orange juice and blend....that's it!  Here's how it works.

Buy all your fruits and veggies.  Cut, slice and dice and then separate into bags (I made 12 bags, each bag containing two smoothies).  My shopping list included:

• 1 bunch of kale, 1 bunch of spinach, 2 apples, 2 mangoes, 3 bananas
• 1 bag each of frozen raspberries, peaches, blueberries and pineapple
• grapes, carrots and a bunch of strawberries

Lindsey likes to add cucumber and celery, but I left those out of mine.  It's all about your preference.  I also added a clump of wheat grass to each bag  (not pictured) from Lallie's wheat grass crop.

Here are pictures showing how much I added to each bag....basically a little of each but again, your preference.

That should say "2 slices of mango" - I messed up and deleted the picture before I could edit!


Here are my smoothie bags all finished and put together (it took about 30 minutes to combine everything).

Lindsey also likes to add two ice-tray cubes of plain frozen yogurt to each bag.  I just added a couple spoonfuls of yogurt in the morning rather than freezing.  It's whatever suits you!  

Dump it all in, add a little orange juice (maybe 1/4 to 1/2 cup) and blend!

And here's my finished smoothie this morning!  It's not very pleasant to look at but it was tasty!  Like a combination of orange juice and berries.

And here I am enjoying my smoothie, in my newest Lilly dress thanks to Hopsy!  :-)  I didn't have anyone to take my picture, so I had to improvise!  Ha!  I'm not even wearing lipstick yet!

In other news, I shaved off an entire 2 minutes of my 1/2 mile running time at Body Back last night!  16 weeks ago, I was running it in 7 minutes.  I'm so happy!  Two years ago I would have never dreamed I would be able to run and my heart would be able to handle it but I am doing it and I'm thrilled!  Watch out 5K, here I come!!  (My goal is to run my Junior League's 5K in December). 


I also had my blood work run the other day and I'm fit as a fiddle! Yay!!


Here's my other Body Back stats.
35 push ups in one minutes
18 sit ups in one minutes
2 minute 15 second plank
1 minute side plank
55 squats in one minute
I can't remember how many bicep curls with 10 lb. weights - I want to say 34, maybe 24.


PS - Lallie is at $225 of her $800 goal!  Thank you to all my fellow blog friends who have donated to her St. Jude's Trike-A-Thon quest!  She is so excited to ride in the Trike-A-Thon in 10 days!


Happy Friday Y'all!

Everyday Lilly!

I had the pleasure of meeting Mary Lane, a HUGE Lilly Pulitzer fan, when I attended Lilly's birthday party in October.  She has a bright and lovely personality, which she shows not only her inside, but on her outside too by wearing Lilly Pulitzer nearly every single day!  She has a ginormous collection of Lilly.....she's never given away or sold a single piece!

Yesterday, there was an article on Mary Lane in the Winter Park / Maitland Observer.  You can read all about Mary and her brightly colored closet HERE. 

Via Winter Park / Maitland Observer

My closet is definitely not this colorful yet....("yet" being the key word here!)  I'm like Mary though.  Once I acquire a piece of Lilly, I have a very hard time letting go! I might have maybe 75 pieces between shoes, shorts, swimsuits, dresses and shirt....by Mary, she's probably in the 1,000's!

Anyways, this begs the question, which is MY personal favorite Lilly?  At least right this second?  It's the Anya Dress in the Pink Salmon Elite Status print.  You might recall that Sandra Lee wore this dress once on her show, Semi-Homemade.

I LOVE this dress!  It flatters my body type and I love the color with my pale skin and blond hair.  I always receive compliments that I look pretty when I wear this dress....so why wouldn't I wear it?  Who doesn't love a compliment and feeling pretty?!?!  I'm actually wearing this dress today!

What is your favorite Lilly outfit?

Happy Thursday! Y'all!

(PS - I have more pictures of Lallie from this past weekend, including a new outfit I made for her.  But I can't find my camera charger anywhere!  That is the reason for the poor quality picture above.  It's taken from my iphone.  I must resolve this issue. Ack!)

Don't forget to consider donating to St. Jude's Children's Hospital by sponsoring Lallie!  See the icon at the top of my blog page!

Bleeding Brakes in Lilly! (and Lallie's Trike-A-Thon)

 "Bleed the brakes" is a phrase I know all too well in the SLPS household.  Husband has always loved cars and working on cars.  He's always changed our brakes and when able, the oil and completed general maintenance.  This has become more of a hobby over the past few years as he so enjoys researching and working on cars, along with watching all the related television programs.

Well, one thing he can't do on his own is bleed the brakes.  I'm not 100% sure what this means, but I usually pump the brakes until they are tight and then the brake releases fluid at the wheel well.  This cleans the brake system out and makes the brakes work better. 

I was SO sore after Body Back class that pumping the brakes over and over and over and over again was starting to get tough!  So Husband taught me how to do the "bleeding" part.

So, here I am....in a Lilly top and pearls bleeding the brakes!  (I was wearing Stephen Bonannos, but changed shoes to not risk getting oil on them).

I am a mechanic-ress now! 

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On another note, Lallie is participating in a Trike-A-Thon for St. Jude's Children's Hospital later this month.  After talking with Lallie about the Trike-A-Thon and what St. Jude's does for children, she decided she wanted to raise $800.  Which means....Mommy and Daddy have their work cut out for them!  So far, she's raised $50!  (correction) $100!  Would you be willing to support Lallie and St. Jude's.....even $5 or $10?  I'd really love to see Lallie meet her goal!  :-) 

If yes, click HERE or see Lallie's icon at the top of my blog page to visit her St. Jude's page (for privacy purposes, I don't have her full name on the page but since it's through St. Jude's, you'll know it's legit!) 

Mommy & Lallie In Lilly!

Each season, I post a spread of my favorite new Lilly's and I canNOT wait to add some of these to my (and Lallie's) closet!  This season, I'm going to break the clothes up into categories.....work, play, Easter and Lallie!

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Work!

I LOVE the Julianna Dress!  Living in South Florida, I'm able to get away with wearing lots of color to the office however, I still need to look professional.  This dress I can wear with or without a jacket or cardigan and since it's sleeveless, I can pull off the cardigan and still look professional on those hot days.  Also a great day-to-night dress for a cocktail party or church. 

Millie Jacket.  Everyone needs a jacket for work or play!

The Sally dress has the same description as the Julianna dress.  I even LOVE the shoes and the bright pop of color in the necklace (though, knowing me, I'll stick to my pearls, as usual!)

For work (with a cardigan) or play, the Trophy Polo looks so comfy.  Perfect for a casual office Friday.

Same for the Allison top!  I can see this with a white pencil skirt and a pair of nude pumps.  Maybe a pink cardigan and a perfect summer, professional look (again, for South Florida anyways).  I'd love to see Lilly's take on a pencil skirt, wouldn't you?

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PLAY!

Yes, please.  I'll take this dress in each print!  I adore the Carolyn dress.  What a great weekend dress that you can just throw on and look great in while being comfortable.  Not much thought needed at all!

This has to be my favorite dress of the season.  The Adeline dress.  I love the ruffles and shirt dress type feel.  The Sabine dress is my favorite and I have it in multiple prints.  This dress reminds me of the Sabine, just sleeveless with ruffles for the summer!

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Easter!

I am in love with the Adelia dress.  What a subtle, gorgeous print!  I would were this for Easter service and then recycle it as a work dress.  Very flattering fit as well.

And what about the matching Florabelle Party dress for Lallie?  How cute!

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Lallie in Lilly!

Mini Callahan shorts for Lallie?  Yay!  Now Lallie can be the ultimate Mini-Me!  I mean, she already is, but add on her little Stella and Dot pearl necklace and she will certainly be her mother's daughter!  :-)

The Sand Bar Bikini.  How fitting considering we are always on the boat visiting our local sand bar!  Now she can have a bathing suit named after it too!

It's a little hot now for this tee, but if I had seen it sooner, I would have bought the Kat Tee for Lallie.  I have this print in the Ciara tunic and Lallie would have loved to have a matching top!

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Of course, there are always my favorite staples....the Callahan shorts, the Worth jeans (in all kinds of colors!), the Cassie tops and the Rebecca sweaters.  But I had to trim this post somewhere! 

Happy Monday Y'all!

Misc: JCPenny, Promise & Flower Girl Dress

Today's post is a hodge podge of things on my mind recently... Enjoy!

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JCPenny

Have y'all seen the new look of JCPenny's marketing?  I have and it's certainly caught my eye!  Their commercials are super cute and the look books they send out monthly now are bright and colorful.  I look how they are pairing outfits for quite inexpensvively which is great for out budgets.  I know Hopsy over at Monograms and Manicures has been loving on JCPenny lately and I think I'm going to have to join her in this love! 

Specifically, I'm loving the Worthington Pencil Skirts.  At only $20 in every color imaginable, I need to add these to my closet.  For my office attire, I'm a skirt and pumps girl and one can never go wrong with a pencil skirt!  I'm also loving the MNB by Mango dresses and tops, especially in orange and navy and the ruched stripes.  Too cute!

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Promise

So, after Tuesday's post, I have a question.  Does Starbucks count as a drive-through or fast food?  I mean, I only ordered a coffee, but it is techncially a drive through.

I always have my coffee when I get into the office however, this morning, I was out in meetings until 9:30, so I just drove through without thinking (to avoid a caffeine headache).  I was half way through my cup before I realized....did I just renig on my own Lenten Promise?

See, I think this is EXACTLY what God is calling us to do during Lent.  Be more aware and thoughtful of our everyday actions.  Giving up fast food and drive-throughs is so much more than just giving up the food.  It's practicing thoughtfulness in our everyday actions thereby, making God ever more present in our lives.

So, onto another day (unless y'all say Starbucks is okay!  :-)

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Flower Girl Dresses

They are finished!  I shipped Dylan and Sophie's little dresses to their mom yesterday and Lallie's is just about done.  Ashleigh and I couldn't be happier!  They are the cutest little flower girl dresses and the absolute perfect design for a beach destination wedding!  I can't wait to see some professional photos of the girls in them.  (note: Lallie is wearing Sophie's dress, so it's just a tad big).

Back ruffle view.

Happy Wednesday Y'all!

It's A Kelly's Kids Party!

 I LOVE Kelly's Kids!  If you've never heard of Kelly's Kids....I guarantee you'll fall in love too.  So, I'm having an online party (in hopes of getting a little discount to dress Lallie is their new spring fashions!)

Here are my favorites from the spring line, boys and girls!

The orange and blue?  Appealing to my Gator friends maybe?

I love the monograms on the boy's polos!

Gotta LOVE a man in pink!

Can't you just see Lallie (and your little ones) sporting these simply adorable outfits from Kelly's Kids?

Yes?!?!  Then, visit HERE and enter Party # 4825 at checkout!  This party will remain open until March 20th!  So buy, buy and buy and help moi dress Lallie!  Please and thank you :-)

Happy Thursday Y'all!