Mornings with Mini Me

J Crew Cardigan
Lilly Pulitzer Dress
Old Navy Flip Flops

Meet Me At the Peach Pit!

I'll be having a milkshake with Slater, but just to make Zack jealous.  (Woah, chill out, preppy!)

J Crew Painter Boatneck Tee

J Crew Seersucker Suiting Skirt

Seychelles slides

DIY necklace and ribbon/belt

CJ is rocking the tye-dye (field trip shirt!) and the peace sign today for her field trip to MLK Jr Park.  

Pink and Polka Dots

J Crew Jackie Cardigan in Neon Azalea
Banana Republic Factory Blouse
Ann Taylor Polka Dot Crops (these are obvi not "crops" on me but I like them as skinny pants)
Katie and Kelly Slides

Two For One!

The kids wanted me to try out some new poses.

Monday:

J Crew Dress

J Crew Jackie Cardigan

Tory Burch Reva Flats

Tuesday:

Anthropologie Dress

J Crew Jackie Cardigan

Steve Madden Flats

Feed USA Tote (background)

Coach Purse (background)

Necklace courtesy of my lovely sister-in-law Amy from 3 Christmases ago (maybe more?)

Day Five

I really cannot find anything cute or fun to title this post.  I am tired and vaguely annoyed.  The Taiwanese kids I am teaching are adorable and super-smart and great at debate but there's a lot going on around me that makes me wanna smack someone, then bang my head on the desk in frustration till I pass out.  So, you know, normal camp experience for me, basically.

J Crew Jackie Cardigan in Neon Azalea
J Crew Perfect Tee
J Crew Jardin Skirt (this color might be called "Jazzy Purple")
Coach Poppy Bow Flats

Nautical Is Fun!

J Crew Maritime Anchor Dress
Tory Burch Reva Flats

Obviously talking to Tom in this photo...

A Show and a Meeting

On Friday, CJ had her end of school sing-a-long/extravaganza.  She's a bit of a diva, so she gave it her ALL during the first half of the show and then walked off stage for the second half.  Look out, Gaga.

J Crew Anchors Aweigh Scoopneck Blouse  (cheaper in store plus 30% off...)

J Crew Double Serge Pencil Skirt in Sea Salt

Aerosoles slingbacks in ivory (though they read as nude, because let's face it, look how "ivory" my legs are...)

CJ's outfit is by Gymboree

We are both wearing our Little Mae Designs necklaces--mine in coral, hers in variegated pink/purple/ivory with butterfly charms.

Had a positive meeting with the Academic Dean about the debate tournament we host in January!  (That's why I'm dressed up in this picture, probably would have gone to just the show a little more casually dressed but had to head to work straight after.)  Have to have more meetings in August but there were no problems at this one so I'm hopeful there will be no problems at the next one.  

So a Grape Walks Into a Party...

J Crew Boatneck Perfect Tee
J Crew Jardin Skirt
Havianas Flip Flop

Went to a neighborhood party this afternoon--celebrated my husband's birthday along with some neighbors.  Did the "sock bun" that is all the rage, though I did mine with a hair donut (because my hair is red so a black sock would be kind of a contrast, whereas if this peeks through it basically matches my highlights anyway).  Tutorial here by the same lady who did the cute scarf tutorial I have below.

Got rid of almost all the art auction leftovers so that's good!

Pre-Art Auction Outfit

J Crew Jackie Cardigan

Kate Spade Thea Dress

Aerosoles Shoes (in silver, though I have the same ones in taupe)

Balloon courtesy of CJ via my mother...because life at our house is just one constant party.

Balls, y'all!

Today I made 50 red velvet cake balls and 100 cheesecake balls.  I actually formed 90 red velvet balls and only dipped 50 of them because the cake was crumbling into the candy coating and didn't look too good.  I should have dipped them all in chocolate because chocolate (which is what I did with the cheesecake ones, which are OMG SO GOOD) hides all sins.  Instead I tried to be festive and dip them in yellow.  LESSON LEARNED.

Here they are chillin' in my freezer.

Here are some of the finished product.

Here are some of the rest.

The red velvet ones can be stored on the counter, loosely covered, but given the amount of dairy product in the cheesecake ones, I felt better putting them in the fridge.

"Danielle dear, your refrigerator is full of balls!"

Yes, Mrs. Hudson, and we like it that way.

Saaaaaaaaailing...Etsy Edition

(You'll be singing that for the rest of the week, so you're welcome.)

Nautical themed Etsy Treasury here.

Don't feel like clicking over?  Here are my favorite-favorites.

Rosies Vintage Art  

Totally want to buy this and put it in my office.  

Lovencollection  

(Broke free of the May shopping ban with the yellow/blue colorway, here)

Also coveting the hat, though I would clearly never wear it, because I never wear hats, I just buy them and hang them up in my closet and think about wearing them and then chicken out at the last minute.

Pink Twig

You can't really tell but it's pretty tiny--perfect subtle accent.

SummerSariah

The rare hair accessory I can share with my 4 year old.

Tomorrow's plans include making 100 red velvet cake balls and 100 chocolate dipped cheesecake balls for CJ's preschool's art auction on Saturday night, so wish me luck!  (Yes, slight deviation from the earlier plan...but these looked fun and somewhat easier to make because there's no wrestling with the lollipop sticks, so hopefully less cursing will be involved.)

 

Pics via Bakerella

And the chocolate chip cookie dough truffles are looking pretty good too, so maybe if I get ambitious...

Quantico Bound!

Not me, obvi!  Congrats Molly, I know you'll do great things!

J Crew Mirabel dress
J Crew Bouquet cardigan (I think the color is "putty")
J Crew earrings

Marine Corps dress uniform!!!

How to Wear a Scarf

Maybe you're tempted to file this one under "no duh" (um, around your neck?), but I have a wall full of scarves and never wear them because I can't figure out how to do it without looking like I was headed for a toga party but left my sheet in the dryer for too long.

Like this but worse.

So this youtube video was actually super-helpful, though somewhat repetitive...also kind of cute.  And there are no words so you can mute it if you find the music to be kind of annoying (I did).

Because as this little dog points out:

Movie date!

CJ spent the weekend at my parents' house--they were just back from Poland and in need of some grandkid time.  So Tom and I headed out on a date (OMG WHAT?  What does that word even MEAN?) on Saturday night, even though I had like the worst early-summer cold ever.

J Crew cardigan/jacket (it's sort of in between both, best described as a lightweight knit jacket)
J Crew Perfect Tee
Citizens of Humanity Kelly Jeans
Tory Burch Reva Flats (my new shoe-session)
Expression courtesy of my husband mocking me for wanting to go see Snow White and the Huntsman.  Which we did anyway because I do what I want.  First we went out for Lebanese food (OMG YUM).

The movie was...better than I thought it would be.  Kristin Stewart cannot act her way out of a paper bag.  The point of the movie was that "inner beauty and being a good person could trump outer beauty", bla bla etc.  So it probably would have helped if K-Stew could act like she was a person, any sort of person, instead of a high-tech but emotionless robot sent from the future to destroy us all.  However, Charlize Theron chewed the heck out of all scenery in this movie and stole all scenes she was in and some she wasn't, and also Thor (Chris Hemsworth I guess?) as the titular (tee hee) Huntsman looked eye-candy-licious.  I was doped up on cold medicine and thus found the movie even trippier than I usually would have, but the last 10 minutes or so I thought I was having a seizure from the wobbly crazy camera work; Tom confirms this was not because of the cold meds, it was hard to watch for the non-drugged as well.  The movie also suffered from what I call the "SHUT UP AND KILL HER ALREADY" problem--if Evil Queen Charlize would have stopped explaining to Snow Expressionless WHY she was going to kill her and just eaten her heart already, or later on not made her watch as the Huntsman and some random young nobleman (William?  Something...) almost got killed and just gotten it over with, Charlize would still be ruling the world and Kristin Stewart could have spared us all her non-acting in the Twilight movies.  Anyway, 1.5 thumbs up for the solid trippyness.  I advise taking a DayQuil before viewing though.