Vineyard Vines New Arrivals

I got my new Vineyard Vines catalog in the mail yesterday and immediately started drooling over some of the new offerings :)

Summerland Scarf Dress

Margo Ruffle Skirt

Tenley Tunic

Seersucker Patchwork Shorts

Mallory Cardigan

(images from Vineyard Vines)

These are my faves, but, honestly, I think I would wear anything in that catalog! And I'm too excited about VV's upcoming women's swimwear collection! You know it's going to be fun :)

Lilly Pulitzer on Rue La La

(image from Rue La La)

I'm sure other bloggers have been sharing the news, but just in case you havn't heard yet, Rue La La will be hosting a Lilly Pulitzer sale tomorrow (Wednesday / April 6) starting at 11:00am EST. If you need a free invitation to Rue La La, you can click here (There are never any responsibilities to buy anything, ever; it's completely free). Good luck :)

Weekend Recap

The first weekend of April was a good one :) On Friday night Peter and I went grocery shopping after work and then came home and watched some TV (I've become a little addicted to the British mystery series, "Midsomer Murders," showing on PBS) while I baked "To Die For Blueberry Muffins" in anticipation of the arrival of Peter's brother, CEGC, and sister-in-law, LHC, the next day. CEGC and LHC live near Boston so we don't get to see them nearly as much as we would like! Before they arrived around 7:00 on Sat. night, I cleaned our apartment and then made dinner. I made one of my favorite recipes, Chicken Tortellini with Asparagus and Olives, from Southern Living for dinner. Peter requests this for his birthday dinner every year :) After dinner, we talked and talked and talked ... I'm really upset that I forgot to take a picture of the four of us that night. Oh well! I am taking pictures more frequently this year, but I still have lapses sometimes :) We all went to church together on Sunday morning and then to Jason's Deli for lunch afterward. After CEGC and LHC left to drive back to MA, we took a long walk around our neighborhood and then had leftovers for dinner. All in all a very relaxing weekend!

Happiness Is ...

Today I'm linking up with Virginia Belle for her "Happiness Is ..." post. This is a good motivator for me to take time and think of the things that I'm thankful for this week :)

A Great Read-Aloud with The Reading Connection

I volunteered last night with an organization called The Reading Connection. Volunteers read aloud to children in domestic violence or homeless shelters throughout DC and northern-VA while their parents attend counseling sessions, workshops, etc. Each child leaves the read-aloud with a brand-new book that they select to take home. The volunteers plan the night's theme and pick out books to read aloud, a craft, and games that center around the theme. Last night, my fellow volunteer, MM, picked a Spring theme so we read books about Spring to the kids and made collages of cherry blossom trees. Super fun!

Making Plans for our Second Anniversary Trip to Charlottesville,VA

(image from the National Trust for Historic Preservation)

I havn't been to Charlottesville since I was around 8, and Peter has never visited so we're looking forward to exploring. Trips to several vineyards, Monticello, University of VA, and Montpelier are already in the itinerary :)

Daffodils

The weather has been cold, gray, and rainy in these parts, but I've started to see more and more daffodils blooming and it makes me hopeful that warmer weather is coming!

Edy's Girl Scout Cookie Ice Cream

(image from Serious Eats)

I don't think this needs any explanation :)

Gallery Walls

As I'm hard at work finishing our wedding scrapbook, I've realized that we're going to have a ton of prints left over from this little project. Our wedding photographer took well over 1,000 photos on our wedding day, and I ordered, I think, about 400 prints of those photos. So what to do with the remaining images? Elizabeth Anne Designs Living featured a blog post on gallery walls a couple of days ago which has started me thinking about creating our own gallery wall (once I'm done with the scrapbook, of course!) I realize the gallery wall is sort of ubiquitous for newlyweds, but a mass of pictures fills up a wall really nicely and they are eye-catching conversation-starters. Visitors can't resist the lure of the gallery wall! And they also provide a place to display some of those 400+ prints that one ordered of one's wedding :)

I have some questions, though. Should all of the frames be the same color and style or should they be a mixed bag?

Love this statircase BTW! 

(image from Domino via You're So Martha)

 (image from Domino via JPM Design)

 

 (image from Elle Decor via JPM Design)

(image from Domino via The Beautiful Shelter)

Should the gallery incorporate a random assortment of time periods and family, friends, etc. or should it have a theme (i.e. our wedding day)? Artwork?

(image from Coastal Living)

(image from Blue-Eyed Bride)

(image from Pottery Barn via To Crave)

Or maybe incorporating shelves?

(images from Pottery Barn via Elizabeth Anne Designs Living)

I'm leaning toward something more like Blue-Eyed Bride's arrangement or the wall featured in Coastal Living. What do you think?

Southern Frock

I just received the April issue of Southern Living in the mail a couple of days ago, and they were featuring the new company, Southern Frock, in one of their articles. Southern Frock was founded by North Carolinian, Emily Newnam. Her first collection of knit sundresses debuted in April 2010. The collection is small right now, but this definitely might be a company to keep your eye on in the coming years :)

 This is the dress (Ruffled Scoop Neck) that was featured in Southern Living. I think the ruffles down the back are so pretty!

 You can't go wrong with seersucker in the summer :) And the shell as a button is too cute!

 Comfy caftan!

(images from www.southernfrock.com)

One month until ...

Wills and Kate's wedding!!! On April 29, 2011, at 11:00am, Prince William and Catherine Middleton will be married at Westminster Abbey. I love all things British so I'm very excited, to say the least, about the royal wedding! I tried to convince Peter that we "needed" to go to London at the end of April to give Wills and Kate our congrats in person, but he pointed out that we had not received an invitation in the mail and it would be rather impolite to crash their wedding :) So I guess I'll just have to DVR the ceremony and read People for the inside scoop on the reception.

If you're looking for other ways to remember Wills and Kate's nuptials, though, you definitely have some options. There's the commemorative refrigerator released by GDHA, a distributor for GE appliances in the U.K. Who wouldn't want to stare at the prince and princess while grabbing milk for cereal in the morning?

 (image from www.radaronline.com)

Or if you love a good cuppa tea, how about enjoying tea bags distributed by Pylones with pop-up Wills and Kate?

(image from www.pylones-usa.com)

Or show your Anglophile spirit with a very British cell phone from manufacturer Alcatel-Lucent. The initials 'W' and 'C' are embossed on the back in gold along with the wedding date, the home screens are loaded with wallpaper of William and Kate, and the ringtone is Mendelssohn's Wedding March.

(image from www.techmagnews.com)

The next two offerings are a little less over-the-top. Castle Rock Brewery has created a special wedding beer called "Kiss Me Kate" (kind of cute, huh?):

(image from www.castlerockbrewery.co.uk)

And butter London is now selling a new sparkly lavender (limited edition) nail polish called "No More Waity, Katie" (I actually think that's a really pretty color) :

(image from www.butterlondon.com)

I can't wait to celebrate the royal wedding! How about you?

(Thanks to Radar Online for the inspiration for this post! Check out their list of more royal wedding collectibles.)