8.31.2015

Lowcountry Boil Birthday Party

Hope everyone had a great weekend! As you may have seen on Instagram, last Wedensday was Robbie's 30th birthday and we celebrated this weekend with a Lowcountry boil. It was the perfect chance to have some of our friends and family over to see our new house, now that we've had some time to get unpacked and decorate a little bit. Since we moved into our house in July, we knew that Robbie's birthday would be the perfect time to host everyone!

Since we had plenty of time to plan the party, I started collecting ideas on my secret Pinterest board from the get go. I first thought it would be fun to have a burger bar with all different toppings but then we decided a Lowcountry boil would be perfect for our crowd! I knew I wanted to make some apps to enjoy while the food was cooking so I was found a few of my favorite easy recipes to so the inspiration board was born!


I'm all about a good theme so since Robbie loves to fish and we were doing a shrimp boil, I figured a fishing/nautical theme was perfect- plus we already had a lot around our house that would fit the theme perfectly! 

The night before I started my favorite sangria (similar recipe here) and soaked the frozen peaches and mango and fresh strawberries in white wine. The next day I added ginger ale and more white wine to fill up our drink dispenser. This sangria is always a hit and so easy to make for parties! 

We cut celery, carrots, peppers, and cucumbers into sticks and placed them into cups of ranch for easy veggie cups like these.

I cheated a little for the pimento cheese and used mostly our favorite Palmetto cheese but added in some freshly grated cheddar cheese and our (not so) secret ingredient, pickled okra!

One of the most popular recipes was a taco dip that I made based verrrry loosely on this recipe. Mexican dip is something I'm pretty sure you can't mess up so it was fun to get a little creative with this one. Instead of ground beef, I cooked ground turkey with my own taco seasoning mix. I'm not sure where I found the recipe for the seasoning but it was essentially a mix of salt, pepper, garlic powder, chili powder, cumin, and paprika. The meat was the bottom layer and then next I added a can of refried beans and then plain Greek yogurt instead of sour cream that was mixed it with a can of diced tomatoes and more seasoning. Next, some delicious fresh guacamole and some extra lime juice (because I'm convinced lime juice makes everything better) then some fresh cut cherry tomatoes and last but not least a layer of Mexican shredded cheese.

For dessert, we served ice cream cake and these mini key lime pies- that are definitely a new favorite recipe in our house. I found Keebler mini graham cracker crusts at the grocery which made this so easy to make and the perfect little size for dessert!

I found these DIY fishing bobbers on Pinterest, which was a perfect cheap and easy craft to make. 

Another thing I knew I wanted to make was this 30 in pictures. I had seen this on Pinterest and decided it couldn't be too hard and would be a fun and personalized thing for the party and the "milestone" birthday.  Cutting the cardboard numbers was a little more difficult that I had expected but in the end, I think it turned out great! I printed out a ton of black and white photos of Robbie from all stages of life and it was so hard to choose which ones to use. I tried to include all of his friends that I knew would be at the party but also had to figure out which pictures would fit the best! I had gotten a gold pen for his friends to sign but didn't remember to get it out until towards the end of the night so we just had a few signatures but it's still a fun way for him to remember his 30th!

All of the snacks and apps set up on our porch. We had the drink table out here too with the sangria and peach iced tea. 

Robbie and his friends cooked 40 pounds delicious fresh caught Georgia shrimp, corn, sausage and potatoes! We were excited to have some leftovers after the party and feel like we spent all day Sunday eating them up!

Overall, I think our first party was a success and we can't wait to host the next one!

STAY IN TOUCH!

8.28.2015

Bar Cart Inspiration

Happy Friday! What better way to get ready for the weekend than with some bar cart inspiration?! 

I have this bar cart (which is sold out online but I've seen it in stores!) that I've styled before in my apartment in Charleston but now have found a new spot for it in our house. We actually have a great little bar setup in our kitchen with cabinet space for a lot of our fun glasses,  pitchers, and drinks so I've been using the bar cart as kind of the "spill over" to display some of my favorite decorative drinkware. I'm still working on getting it just right so I've been in search of some serious bar cart inspiration and wanted to share some of my favorites! 

Finding the perfect bar cart is the first step, so I've found some similar styles to the ones shown. I've also heard that searching your local antique or consignment shop is another great place to start!


Get the Look:



Get the Look:



Get the Look:


Get the Look:



Get the Look:



Get the Look:



Get the Look:



Get the Look:

Other Bar Carts:



STAY IN TOUCH!

8.18.2015

After the Party Is the After-Party

 

Were y'all able to pick up anything in the Lilly Pulitzer After Party Sale yesterday? If not, you still have one more day though things are selling out quickly! I was able to get online pretty early and get in line to get some of my favorites. Now, just the anticipation of waiting for them to be at my doorstep! :)


Now, just in case you weren't able to log on to the sale in time before your favorites were sold out- there are lots of other options! I've gone through some of my other favorite online Lilly retailers and found that they've marked some items down, but don't delay because they likely will only be on sale through the end of the day today! So get ready to shop the after party's after party!


** Updated at 4pm! **

Dresses:



Tops:



Sweaters and Vests:


Bottoms:



Accessories:


Swim:



Don't forget, there are plenty of other local signature stores that have sales in store and online as well!




STAY IN TOUCH!

8.16.2015

Lilly Pulitzer After Party Sale

Good morning!! Today is the day for the Lilly Pulitzer After Party Sale! If you haven't yet, read through my tips and tricks from yesterday's post to prepare for the online sale. Don't forget, even if you strike out on your wishlist on Lilly's website, there are plenty of signature stores that are participating in the sale as well.

Because Lilly is using an online queue system this year, it seems to be pretty difficult to get on to shop but I guess we'll just to be patient! Get in line as soon as you can because waiting time is at least over an hour now!









STAY IN TOUCH!

Lilly Pulitzer Sale Tips and Tricks


Tomorrow is the big day! Lilly Pulitzer's big summer sale starts tomorrow morning at 8am and I am ready to go with my wishlist and quick links- and here to help everyone else out too with some tips and tricks that I've learned from shopping the sale in the past. 

 1) Make an account on the Lilly website
If you've ever shopped this sale before, you know that they key is to check out as quickly as possible because the items in your cart aren't guaranteed until the order is processed. Go ahead and make an account with your shipping and billing info, and be sure to sign in before you shop!

2) Find your favorites first and don't be afraid to place multiple orders
Again, the key is to shop as quickly as possible! Take note of what items are at the top of your list and check out right away. Lilly offers free shipping during these sales so don't be afraid to place multiple orders. Your mailman may think you have a crazy Lilly obsession when you get multiple pink and white pretty packages but it will all be worth it! ;)

3) Be prepared for the site to crash
As hard as they try, the website often crashes because of the crazy amount of traffic it gets all at the same time so be prepared and don't get too frustrated if that happens. Be sure to follow along on Lilly's Facebook and Twitter for updates through the day.

4) Look for flash sales
Once you are following along on social media, you'll see that Lilly often posts flash sales on their Facebook page every hour. 

5) Shop local
Don't be too bummed if your top item sold out within the first minute of the sale because there are plenty of local signature stores that sell these same things and are usually having great sales at the same time! Anyone who has read my blog before knows I love the local Palm Avenue store in both Charleston and Savannah but you can check out the store locator on the Lilly website to find where Lilly is sold near you! Other stores like The Pink Palm have their own website to shop as well!

And a few more tips from the Lilly Pulitzer website:


Good luck shopping! I'll be checking it out right at 8 a.m. tomorrow with links to my favorite sale items and my wishlist!

STAY IN TOUCH!

8.14.2015

Sweet Savannah

print by Evelyn Henson

If you've been following along with me on Instagram, you've seen that I recently made the move from Charleston to Savannah! This move has been in the works for a while now, starting from back almost a year ago when Robbie was offered a new job down here with a great company. He moved down here first to start with his new job and lived with a friend while we spent the months leading up to our wedding house hunting.


We both have rented and moved so much the last couple years and we agreed that we ready to purchase our first home together. It didn't come easy, but about a month and a half before our wedding (right as we were almost ready to give up and just rent somewhere month to month) we found our home! Sure there were plenty of places that would "work fine" but when it came down to it, this was the biggest purchase either of us have ever made and we wanted to make sure it was the right thing. This house has all of us our "must haves" and more, and the timing was just right since the owners had already bought another house and ready to move out as soon as they could. We closed on the house 30 days later, had the whole interior painted (plus my blue crab front door) and moved on in when we returned from our honeymoon!


We still have a lot of work to do... some boxes that still need to be unpacked (that's what I really should be doing right now) and plenty of furniture that needs to be purchased, but for now we're just enjoying being together every night- something we never had when we were dating! I've loved cooking dinners (like this quinoa salad, zucchini noodles and shrimp, caprese skewers, and sesame tuna salad)  in our kitchen, something I've been looking forward to for so long!


Before I moved, I was so concerned that I was going to miss Charleston SO much since I had fallen so in love with the city. Now, I do miss it but luckily its so close to go up for a quick visit. Also, I'm quickly starting to love it here in Savannah! Robbie grew up here so he has plenty of friends and already knows his way around so it has made it an easier transition for both of us. We love spending our free time by the water and the area we live in is surrounded by marshes and rivers and as much Spanish moss as you can dream of! I think I'm going to love it here in sweet Savannah!


Since I'm still somewhat of a newbie here (and we've been major homebodies) I would love any recommendations for places to eat, shop, or see if anyone would like to share!

STAY IN TOUCH!

8.02.2015

#NSALE

The Nordstrom Anniversary Sale has been going on for a couple weeks now and I snagged up a few things for the home right away, but of course now that I've had some time to look over everything else I wanted to pick up some things for the fall since they're at such a great price.  Unfortunately today is the LAST day of the sale before prices go up again tomorrow, so today's the day to finally pull the trigger!

I have a Nordstrom credit right now and am just dying splurge on these tall black boots, though these are very similar for a quarter of the price! As always, I'm a big fan of blue and white and think this top and this top would be a great easy top with jeans and flats or boots in the fall. 


JEWELRY

CLOTHES

SHOES

WORKOUT

LOUNGEWEAR