Don't ya just love TJs?

June was a wonderful month of budgeting for me. I don't know how I did it or how it happened, but it did. Perhaps it was the incessant news mentions of saving money, 3 months worth of expenses stashed away, recession, world's ending, who knows. But I must say, I was quite proud of myself and my tiny nest egg. If you know me, you know this is BIG. So..... I decided July would be a month of rewards! :)

So, tonight T.J. Maxx and I had a reunion of sorts. And thank goodness, because he had some wonderful things tucked away for me. Remember these shoes by Kate Spade? Well I found these fabulous Nine West ones that look oh so close. I haven't found a pair of shoes at TJ Maxx that I like in quite sometime. (To be hones, I was actually getting quite worried.)

In addition, I found some wonderful Christmas presents. (I always shop for Christmas presents. Makes the holidays a bit more enjoyable/less stressful.) And, I found this preppy madras purse. J.Crew had one almost exactly like this last summer. Patience is a virtue!

I WON!

Look what arrived today....

It's the beauty products I won from Alyssa at Coterie. See all the fab things I won here. Thank you Alyssa. I can't wait to use all of these beauty products...especially the Bobbi Brown lip and eye palette.

A Few of My Favorite Things

1. Origins Ginger Incredible Spreadable Scrub and Souffle - enough said.

2. Lilly on Facebook! The best part is, you can download cute Lilly desktops. Now, I see Lilly every time I close a window on my otherwise dull work PC.

Image courtesy of Food Network

3. Barefoot Contessa, can we be friends? I just wish I could go visit her in "the barn" (have you ever seen a barn look like her barn?) and she'd cook for Jeffrey and me. I recently became a fan of hers on Facebook. Does that count as being friends?!

4. Izze Sparkling Blackberry - oh so de-lish-ussss. Without restraint, I could easily guzzle three of the these yummy drinkns in a day. I've also tried Sparkling Grapefruit, but Blackberry is still my favorite. I just found out on Izze.com that they have a Sparkling Blueberry!

Big Beauty GIVEAWAY at Coterie

You can see the list of all the fabulous swag she's giving away and post a comment to register here!

Addtions, Big and Small

Hear ye, hear ye: New additions have been added to the household!!

I found this needlepoint pillow at a local antique shop in Homewood. I liked it so much, I even paid the price listed on the price tag. How often do you find all of your favorite colors in one pillow, and a needlepoint pillow at that?


Now, I am extremely excited about this piece below as it marks a monumental transition for me! This piece found me while I was shopping with Mom in Crestview, Florida. (For those of you who have never been, you simply must - it has a wonderful Main Street type area with lots of antique shops.) For quite sometime, I've been on the hunt for a well-priced, good looking secretary....a furniture piece that is, not an assistant. I have never been one for functionality. Beauty, in my mind, always trumps functionality. However, this piece has them both. What a rare, rare occasion. I simply had to have it! Thank you Mom for this wonderful birthday present!


These dessert bowls below were also a birthday present. Pedestals, Tiffany blue and fringed edges, oh my!

The return of spring was accompanied by the return of my green thumb! I opted for white mandevillas this year rather than pink. White may just become my signah-ture colah, dahling.

This addition was a much needed one. While I loved my dropleaf table dearly, I do like this one much better. And Mom and I found it on the side of the road for $10! Yeeeee hawwww. Now, if I could only find four chairs that cheap.......... I suppose that gives me a new search project!

Birthday Pics

As promised, I am posting pictures of my wonderful birthday. I walked into work and found my cubicle like this:

I love the Chinese lanterns. They are battery operated, so no ugly cords or wires to fuss over. As Barefoot Contessa would say, how fabulous is that? You can get them here.

That evening, I opened my front door to see these beautiful pink peonies - my absolute favorite - and a bit difficult to find in mid-June in Alabama.

This is my birthday cake from Piggly Wiggly. What can I say, the icing is phenomenal. I love the Tiffany blue flowers! Tiffany & Co meets Piggly Wiggly. How often does that happen?

Update

What can I say, summer just makes for bad blog updates! Here's the elevator version of what May and June have entailed.

1. Mom and I enjoyed a wonderful Mother's Day weekend together in Sandestin, Florida. A weekend full of delicious food, endless shopping, and beach time. To clearly illustrate just how much shopping occurred, I've included a picture of the car on the return trip home.

(In regards to my previous post, the fortune cookie was wrong. Those next few days were not a lucky time for me. I took a chance, and I did not, in fact, win the lottery. Shucks.)

2. For Memorial Day weekend, I drove home to beautiful Lake Martin and enjoyed some much needed time on the water with friends.

On our way home, I spotted this lone sail boat. I snapped a picture so I can paint it in my next life.

3. In mid-June, my boss and I did a Tour de South so to speak for our event site visits. My two favorites places were the Ritz Carlton Amelia Island and the Sandestin Grand. The first picture is the view of the ocean from my room at the Ritz. Every room has an oceanview and balcony. Gotta love the Ritz. The second picture is Brian and me at the Sandestin Grand Resort.

So, that sums up my May and June. I can hardly believe June is almost over!! Oh, and I almost forgot - I celebrated my 25th birthday! I'll post pictures as soon as I can upload them.