How perfect is this floral bow dress for a bridal shower or summer wedding? It reminds me of one of my favorite J.Crew dresses that I sadly never bought and now is on final sale.
Catching Fire
Are you as excited about this as I am?!
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The Lip Slip
I’ve mentioned The Lip Slip by Sara Happ before (see here). It’s universally flattering because it doesn’t really have a color but somehow manages to bring out the natural flush of your lips plus adds a bit of iridescence (read: not glitter) plus it’s shiny but not sticky and makes my lips feel super soft and lovely. After I became obsessed myself, I got it for all my lovely lady friends for Christmas one year in my own version of Oprah’s Favorite Things, though it by no means compared to Oprah’s (sigh…), especially because I think this was all I got them. But hey, out of all of my favorite things, I chose this one thing. That’s saying something!
The little tub of magic comes delightfully packaged in a darling gold box that’s perfect for gifting, and while it’s not cheap if you think about it like a lip balm, it’s not too expensive if you think about how often I use it (every day) and how long it lasts (a long time). I leave my little pot of Lip Slip out on my vanity so I can smear some on every morning but having something a bit more travel friendly is always nice. Say hello to the Lip Slip in a tube! It’s absolute perfection! I just ordered from my favorite site Soap.com (in the beautybar.com section but same checkout, same website…super convenient) and it arrived two days later. Can’t beat that. Unless you use one of their awesome coupon codes. Then it’s better. Also, it’s made locally in So Cal. Good, pretty stuff. I love it.
Do you have a favorite lip gloss/stick/balm you wear every day?
P.S. I tried leaving a review on the BeautyBar website and it’s not showing up. Seriously, I never leave reviews (ain’t no one got time for that, right?) so I’m a bit disappointed because this is my all-time favorite beauty product. End of rant.
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Birthday Books for Dad
My pops is a hard guy to shop for. The one thing that never disappoints him is shirts with pockets. Sounds simple, but the man has spent his life in pursuit of quality shirts (the right cotton weight, good stitching in the crew neck, appropriate upper arm coverage by way of long enough sleeves) and while there are many makers of fine tees, finding all of that plus pockets is a bit like a really anticlimactic treasure hunt for my family. So for his birthday this year I decided to ditch the shirts and went for something I know he’ll enjoy: dogs. My dad’s two dogs are like children and he dotes on them a lot like Mumbles and I do with Baxter.
I found this awesome book Maggie on Things via A Cup of Jo. And I’d heard of the Underwater Dogs photos but I was delighted to find they’d been made into a beautiful coffee table book. It’s so goofy and fun and the whole story about how the author found fame and his calling — very cool. I think it’s awesome that both books were never intended to be books at all – they were just a collection of photos on a blog or on a website. How reaffirming it must be that the thing these people are most passionate about or find simple pleasures in has found a place in the hearts of so many others. Just captivating!
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A Spring Green Bridal Shower
A few weekends ago I had the great privilege of helping put together a bridal shower for a dear friend I’ve known since elementary school. I had just finished BlogShop when her sister and I were deciding the details and I was a little mood board obsessed (still am). I found these invitations (via Minted) a long time ago that I was dying to use, and since the bride lives in Omaha, I thought the idea of throwing a linen shower to keep all the gifts light for transport back on the plane was a brilliant idea. Turns out, though, that the idea of a “linen shower” had some guests very confused and wondering if they were supposed to bring a towel or their own towel or what linens were. Ha! At least there was a little suspense surrounding the shindig — makes it all more interesting!
I found a lot of great decor on the Ikea website and surprisingly, didn’t really need much else. We were able to reuse green plates from our wedding,the bride’s mom had some darling hot pink champagne flutes from another party, and I scored some awesome green tablecloths on clearance at Target. Plus, I found a bunch of ways to use washi tape (via cutetape.com) to keep with the modern green theme from wrapping the utensils, decorating the plain white cups, and covering the clothespins.
I’m not usually one for shower games, but the bride’s sister came up with a clever way for everyone to play without any humiliating moments — guess the celebrity bride. Everyone received a printout of photos of celebrity brides and grooms with the faces covered up. One point for the bride and another if you could name the groom. It was really fun.
The favors were little dishtowels with a little notecard that said “All you need is love. And dishtowels” secured with one of the handy clothespins in keeping with the theme on the invitation. And we even used dishtowels, potholders and oven mitts to create cute little backdrops on the food table and mantle. For brunch we had a yogurt bar with add your own fruits, nuts and granola toppings, mini quiches, pastries and sausage balls, and for dessert a cookie platter made by my mom and cakes from Nothing Bundt Cakes. Yum!
Stick Girl JAM 