Pink and Green Spring Bling!

I tend to wear a lot of gold and/or pearl jewelry in the fall and winter,

but in the spring I break out the bright colors and my pink and green jewelry.

Here's some pink and green spring bling I'm loving...

I LOVE this bracelet and wear it with a pearl bracelet and a gold chain link bracelet.

source

Lilly Pulitzer Earrings...great with my Lilly dresses for spring and summer!

source

Loving this necklace from KEP designs!

source

Fornash Geko Bracelet...love to stack pink and green enamel bangles with this!

source

And if I had an unlimited accessory budget, here are a few lovelies I would add....

These are lovely and would be perfect to wear to a spring wedding.

source

Gorgeous!!!

source

Beautiful!

source

Do y'all change jewelry with the seasons?

What's On My Birthday List?

My birthday is in a couple of weeks!

The best thing about my birthday is having my family together...

so we rarely celebrate my birthday on my actual birth date

because it's almost impossible to have everyone available at one time.

I'll probably wait until Easter to celebrate this year so that Caroline will be home too!

I usually have a hard time coming up with birthday and Christmas lists,

but this year I had no problem!

Here's what's on my birthday list....

Butterfly Prints

This is one print in a set of four,

 and I would love to have the set of four to hang in our upstairs hallway.

Green Chinoiserie Ginger Jar

I am decorating our master bedroom and would love to add this beautiful

ginger jar to my collection of bedroom accessories.

Moss Topiary

I would love a pair of these for my master bedroom as well!

Green Provencial Personalized Frame

I love anything Marye-Kelley makes, but I especially love her frames and clip boards!

Again, I would love this frame for my master bedroom!

Can you guess my master bedroom color scheme?

Patagonia Fleece

OK I know I already have several of these fleeces, 

but all of them are in "winter" colors...I would love one in the pineapple yellow

to wear in the spring and summer...and it would be perfect for USNA football games!

LL Bean Gingham Shirt

I would love to have this cute kelly green poplin shirt

 to wear with my pink sweaters this spring!

Longchamp Le Pliage

No birthday or Christmas list would be complete without a handbag or tote!

Would LOVE to add this Longchamp in the color Lagoon to my handbag collection!

Soooo...kind of a random birthday list....

but all things I would love to have!

Baby Baby....gift ideas!

I'm at a stage in my life where I'm not buying many baby gifts.

Most of my friends are well past the "having babies" stage,

and my own children are not anywhere near the "having babies" stage...
in fact I thank the Lord above they are NOT having babies right now.
I do, however, have a new niece....
my BFF sorority sister has always been an "Aunt" to my children,
and a few months ago my BFF sorority sister adopted an adorable baby girl.
It's her first baby and she will be one at the end of this month!
Of course Aunt Christine wants to spoil her new niece.....
I want special things that say "special girl"
soooooo.....what to do?
Well here's what I've been doing...

Baby Lilly Shift Dress

Be still my heart....my own baby girls wore these!

Fancy Pants Diaper Cover

These are a "must have" for every Southern baby girl....

I had my niece's monogrammed in pink!

MacKenzie-Childs Toddler Dinnerware Set

This set comes in several different patterns and arrives in an adorable decorative gift box.

Pluff Mudd Designs Baby Girl Print

They sell these darling prints at the gift shop where my daughter Caroline works,

and they will add a monogram to the bottom of the print....PRECIOUS!

They have them for boys too!

Goodnight Moon Board Book

I loved reading to my children when they were little,

and I put together a basket of board books that were my children's favorites.

The titles include Chicka Chicka Boom Boom, Guess How Much I Love You,

Five Little Monkey's Jumping On The Bed,

Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See?

and Goodnight, Gorilla. 

Do y'all have a "go-to" baby gift that you traditionally give?

I want to start collecting ideas!

  

Beall's....A Florida Institution

My visits to Florida are not complete without a trip to Beall's with my Virginia mom.

Have y'all heard of Beall's?

It's pronounced "Bell's" and my Virginia mom and I love to shop there!

It's sort of like Kohl's goes on vacation...

tons of "resort wear" at very reasonable prices.

It seems like they have an "extra 20% off" sale every other week,

and many of the regular sales are 40-50% off.

You can find name brands such as Nike, Sperry, Columbia, and Jones of New York,

but they definitely specialize in "Florida-fashion" and carry a lot of their own brands.

Here are some of my Beall's favorites from this season...

Chambray Shirt

This shirt actually looks better in person...it's a little more" fitted" then the picture shows.

I bought one and it's very similar JCrew's chambray shirt,

but the fabric is much softer and it's a fraction of the price.

Anchor Shorts

These are just ADORABLE....pink twill Bermuda shorts with white anchors embroidered.

They also come in kelly green and navy blue....LOVE them!

Columbia Knit Skirt

This navy and white skirt hits just above the knee,

 and I plan to wear it with a simple white t-shirt and my navy and white Jack Rogers...

perfect outfit for work this spring and summer!

Sperry Topsider

These were on sale and my Virginia mom ended up getting them for me for FREE

with her "Beall's Bucks" which is the same thing as "Kohl's Cash"

if y'all know what that is.

Pink Flower Statement Necklace

This is also similar to JCrew's flower statement necklace

and it comes in many fun colors.

They had a MILLION different statement necklaces, which I don't wear but my girls do!

Anchor Print Shorts

These are similar to the ones above, but the anchors are printed on the fabric,

and these have a shorter inseam....they also have a hint of stretch!

They also have a skort in the same print but with Nantucket red anchors...

I couldn't decided between the two...so I got both.

The prices are SO reasonable that it's easy to go crazy in this store....

If you are looking for some fun spring and summer things at bargain prices,

Beall's is a good place to shop.

They also have home decor, beach accessories, kids clothes, menswear, luggage...

it truly is a department store.

They do have a website so you can order online,

and they have many locations all over Florida.

Have y'all ever heard of Beall's?

What I'm Reading....

I just finished this fun book...

The Next Thing On My List

Total chick lit.....no substance here...

but a cute and a really fast read...

as in a "I read the entire book in two flights and a layover" read.

The story is about June, a thirty-something young woman

who is the driver in a car accident that kills her passenger,

a 24 year old acquaintance named Marissa.

 Marissa had made a list of things she wanted to do before she turned 25,

and June found it after Marissa's death.

The book chronicles June's determination

to finish all of the things on Marissa's list before Marissa's 25th birthday

in order to honor her memory.

Of course June learns a lot about herself throughout this process,

and the book is fairly predictable...

but if you're in the mood for a fun and mindless read,

this is a book for you.

The other book on my reading list is one that Lauren from Simply LKJ recommended last summer...

I downloaded it to my Nook in August and FINALLY got around to reading it on vacation.

Unglued

This book was written for me.

I am having a particularly difficult time with my twin boys right now...

hormones I suspect...

theirs, not mine...

and I find myself losing my temper with them,

frequently,

which then makes me feel horrible.

Her book is easy to read,

she uses examples from her own real life

that I can certainly relate to,

and it's spiritually based and quite enriching.

(which happens to be one of my New Year's resolutions)

I haven't finished it yet, but it has already spoken to me.

GREAT read if you are a mom and run short on patience at times.

What a blessing to have such wonderful blog friends like Lauren,

who share everything from good books to good bargains!!!

What are y'all reading right now?

To Paint or Not To Paint.....?

Cabinets.

I'm talking about my kitchen cabinets.

I have a FABULOUS kitchen....

if you are into 1990's kitchens.

Realistically, we are not going to have the money to completely gut it for quite some time...
with two kids currently in college and six more right behind them,
any kitchen remodel is going to have to be on a serious budget.
I am talking SERIOUS budget.

If I had an unlimited budget, 

here are a couple of pictures of my dream kitchens...

Swoon....

source

and another...

be still my heart...

source

I don't want white cabinets, but I want light ones...

and I want it to have a slight French feel to it.

With topiaries on the counter....I LOVE topiaries.

My kitchen is fairly small and there really isn't any logical way to change the layout...
taking the island out would make it seem more spacious,
but we use the island every day and I don't want to lose the extra seating...
but I would love to change the cabinets, appliances, counter tops, back splash, and sink.

Here are a few pics of my kitchen as it is now...
and I mean now.....as in backpacks on the table and shoes on the floor now...

D and I met with a kitchen designer just to get a ball park of what a kitchen re-do would cost us.

We only looked at replacing the cabinets and counter tops...

didn't even consider the back splash or new appliances...

and that alone would be a chunk of change much larger than we can afford right now.

Sooooo...

I started thinking about painting our existing cabinets.

More specifically I thought about HAVING them painted professionally.

I am far too much of a perfectionist to try and do them myself.

While I probably would not pick the same style of cabinets I have now,

I don't hate the style and they do have a slightly "French" look if they were a different color.

What do y'all think?

So I started searching the web for pictures of painted kitchen cabinets

 and I found a fabulous blog, Evolution of Style

with wonderful pictures of her gorgeous kitchen

after she painted her cabinets.

These photos are from her Kitchen Reveal...

source

source

Before

source

After

source 

Look how nice and smooth the finish is!

source

Jenny painted her cabinets herself and she truly did a fantastic job.

She has a great tutorial on her blog, Evolution of Style

if anyone is contemplating painting their own cabinets.

I know my limits, however, and would definitely pay to have mine done professionally.

There is one small issue about painting them however....

See the lovely microwave above my range?

(yes I am being sarcastic)

Well this lovely microwave is on hospice...

and I cannot find any manufacturer that makes microwaves this size anymore.

Any new microwave we purchase will not leave enough space

between the cook top and the bottom of the microwave.

So once our microwave has moved on to appliance heaven,

I will have to get a counter top microwave, not have a microwave at all,

or get a new cabinet custom made to match our old cabinets

in order to accommodate the new larger size microwaves.

I am not loving the idea of having to custom make a cabinet

to match cabinets that we may get rid of some day.

Thoughts?

I REALLY want a gas range....

you know....one like this....

Drooling....

source

I digress....

that is for another post.....

when I win the mega millions.

Sweet D is less excited about having the cabinets painted...

he really wants to hold out for a total re-do

 but I am thinking along the lines of 

"something is better than nothing"

and then we could get the counter tops and back splash done after the painting...

and come in at a reasonable budget.

I am thinking quartz counter tops...

subway glass tile back splash...

stainless sink...

Do I want to live with my lovely 1990's kitchen for another 10 years?

Nope.

Thoughts?

Have y'all painted your cabinets or seen a kitchen where they were painted?

New appliances are out of the question....

so what do y'all think about light cabinets with black appliances?

I think I'll scour Pintrest and Houzz for pictures with that color combination.

I'll get back to y'all...

Post Vacation Blues

If you follow me on Instagram,

then you will know we just got home from a FABULOUS week in Florida!

The boys and I visited my Virginia parents (who winter in Florida) for a week of sun and fun!

It was a much needed break from "real life"

and although it was not spring vacation for the boys,

they took their homework for the week with them and only ended up missing two and a half days of school 

because we had a snowstorm in Richmond last week and their school was closed!

Here are a few vacation pics...

Lido Beach....we walked out the door of our condo right on to this beach!

View from my mom's cabana...we spent every morning at the beach and every afternoon at the pool!

Out to dinner on St. Armand's Circle....they clean up well!

My baby boys are taller than I am now! 

Virginia parents with us!

Virginia mom and I at dinner....was happy to be sporting my Lilly summer colors!

So I mentioned to my sweet husband how frustrated I was that I had forgotten my Clarisonic 

because I was going to be slopping buckets of sunscreen on my face all week

and I had no way to deep clean my skin....

so sweet D took it upon himself to surprise me and mail it to me.

Unfortunately, after a brief discussion about the mail, he discovered that he mailed it to the wrong resort.

So my Clarisonic took a side trip to Cuba (not quite, but close)

and finally arrived to me on Wednesday.

I love D....he thought I would be mad when I discovered it was on its way to Cuba,

but all I could do was laugh....I didn't care if it was lost forever at that point.

Sweetest gesture...always doing things to make me happy.

Best husband ever.

Teddy trying to prove he is MUCH taller than Jack....these two cracked each other up all week....

which I did not particularly appreciate at 1:00am.

Boys.

Rented a boat for the day....both boys played skipper.

Teddy and Virginia dad bringing us in....

...to catch lunch at the Tiki Bar!

The only cloudy day we had!

Virginia mom and I made the most of it and went shopping! 

You can see for yourself how cooperative the boys were when I wanted to take pictures!

My handsome boy Teddy....

I had to bribe them for this picture....

My baby boy Jack....by one minute that is.

LOVING my Vineyard Vines fleece I posted about here 

I may have to get one in navy blue too...

Can't believe how big my boys are getting....

Katherine did not stay home in Virginia while we were in Florida...

she went to Mardi Gras in New Orleans!

Louisiana Daughter had the entire week of school for Mardi Gras,

so Katherine opted to visit her for the week instead of coming to Florida with us.

Looking forward to Louisiana daughter visiting this summer!!!

Silly girls....they are more like sisters.

As hard as it was to come home, 

we have lots to look forward to this spring...

and it IS spring FINALLY!

All of the snow from last week has melted,

and it is going to be 72 degrees tomorrow in Richmond!!!