Birthday Tea

So today I took my mom and grandmother to tea in the city! It was sooo much fun!  We went to The Rittenhouse  and the food was amazing!  We had a traditional high tea with finger sandwiches, scones with strawberry preserves, lemon curd, devonshire cream, and a selection of tarts, pastries, and chocolate covered strawberries! Yum!  We also got to each pick out a type of tea, I had the Traditional English Breakfast Tea...sometimes the classics are the best :)  If you're ever in Philadelphia I definitely recommend checking it out!  Rittenhouse Square was the cutest little part of Philadelphia--I hope to explore it more next week when Katie comes to visit!! :)  

 

 

Fabulous Giveaways!! :)

I'll be back later tonight to post about my fantastic day I had today!! But in the mean time, check out these great giveaways! :)

College Prep 

Lauren Nicole Gifts

New York! New York!

Ok, so my best friend and I are planning a trip to the Big Apple a couple weeks from now.  I've been a couple times in the past year, but am looking for some fun things to do in the city that aren't too expensive!  We'll have just been to the Lilly sale and I'm sure our pockets will be nearly emptied after that.  Any good suggestions on places to eat or shop?  

Here's a few pictures from the last few weeks :)

My [not-so] little brother's junior prom :) 

Mom and Grandma on Mother's Day! :)

My little brother and the boy

The boy and I: 

Charlotte :)

Finally the puppies love each other :)

xoxo,

kbl

And the winner is....

KRIS ALLEN!!!! :)  

so excited. 

Ohhh Kate

So one of my favorite ladies, Kate Spade, is having an amazing sale!  I just adore everything that she makes!  I've been on the hunt for a good summer purse--something small that I can carry around when I'm at the beach...While on my search I came across this amazing sale and I thought I would share it with you all.  Most of the following pieces are on sale, the others are not--but I just couldn't resist adding them in!  Enjoy~

I think this fantastic little clutch would be perfect for an evening out with my Best in our Lilly shifts to a beachy restaurant!

This clutch has the cutest scalloping! :)

Now, this isn't exactly the smallest bag in the world, but the colors are just absolutely amazing!  I think that it would go with just about everything!!  

This is a tiny little one, but I just love the pink! 

Of course I had to add this little classic in!  While it's not on sale, I think that it is probably my favorite design by her!  It just goes with everything and I know that it would be an amazing addition to my collection!  Maybe a back to school present? Or Christmas? haha

This dress isn't on sale, but isn't it GORGEOUS?? The pinks & oranges with the beading are to die for!  Perfect for any occasion! 

Such a fun little summer piece of jewelry to wear with anything! 

These would be perfect with a Lilly dress or even just with shorts and a cute top! 

So these are just a preview of my wish list for the summer! As I'm sure that most of them are just a dream, maybe one or two will become my reality. :)  I hope you're all having an amazing week! And again, sorry for my lack of posts! I'm trying to catch up with everything! :)

P.S. Sorry for the weird layout...I can't figure out how to center it all :/  and Idol is starting right now so I gotta go!! haha

xoxo,

kbl

So I guess I'm officially the Worst Blogger ever...

So, let's just say this this has been the busiest week ever! Who knew that even when you're not in school things could get so hectic?!  Hopefully things are starting to slow down a little bit so I can bring you guys back up to date on my life.  Unfortunately the day after I posted last Ginger passed away.  We had to take her to the vet on Tuesday night because we could tell that she was in a lot of pain.  But with that sadness comes a bit of joy because we spent that night looking at puppies online to distract ourselves.  My mother, brother, and I spent hours on the couch--each with our laptops-- searching for little lab pups.  We were looking for another yellow lab, which come to find out are quite the commodity.  We found very few--and the ones we did find were either $2,000 (master sire hunting show dogs--not quite the family dog) or at what we found out were puppy mills.  Not wanting to spend that much money on a dog...nor wanting to support the puppy mill we continued our search.   We knew that there must be at least one yellow lab out there somewhere!! Finally my mom found an add in the classifieds of some random paper listed online and we immediately called them up.  The man on the other end of the phone explained that he did in fact have quite a few female yellow pups left (it sounded way too good to be true)  and then continued to say that he was located way out past Harrisburg on a farm.  Not sure if she wanted to drive that far, my mom said that she would call him the next morning to get his address when we were on our way.  We called about 15 more people--all of which had already sold the last of their females//yellow puppies.   We thought about it over night and finally made the decision to drive out to Harrisburg (3 hours!!!)  to get the puppy.  When my mom went to call the man she realized that we didn't have the number anymore!! It was lost somewhere in the mix of phone numbers that we had called.  It took us an hour and a half just to find the website on the history of her computer.  But after all of that we were finally on our way!  After the drive to the MIDDLE OF NOWHERE, PA  (we're talking about an hour and half drive AFTER you get off the highway.)  We arrived and were greeted by a little Amish family.  We played with a few pups and then finally decided on this one: 

Isn't she just darling? Next came the battle of the names!  It literally took us 3 days to agree on a name for this poor little puppy.  Mother and I had decided we wanted to call her Charlotte, but for some reason my little brothers hated the name.  After the 3 day long battle mother and I won, of course.  She sports a little pink collar and she really couldn't be any cuter.  Lucy (my other dog) took a few days to get used to her, but finally today has begun playing with her.  Charlotte absolutely adores Lucy and it's so cute to watch her prance around in Lucy's shadow out in our lawn.  But anyway, needless to say, this little puppy is the reason for my lack of blogging this week!  A puppy is a 24-hour long obligation...she has to be constantly watched, taken out, and played with.  I'll be back tomorrow with more posts about my week and more pictures of baby Charlotte. :) 

xoxo,

 kbl

Life's A Beach

Today has been such a busy day!  My mother and I took the dogs to the vet.  I have two labs, one of which (Ginger) has end stage liver cancer and was given 2 days to live 3 weeks ago.  Needless to say it's been a very sad past 3 weeks, but we are glad to have been given this little bit of extra time with her.  If you know my family, you know that our dogs are not just pets but are actually PART of the family.  Lucy, the youngest of the two, has been a little sick lately so we took her to the vet just to make sure everything was okay.  We wouldn't want to lose both of them at once!  But luckily everything was fine with Lucy and Mom and I spent some time talking to the doctor about whether or not it was a good idea to get another puppy right away or if it would be better to wait.  To our surprise the vet said that it would be best to get another dog immediately. He said that it would help distract Lucy from the depression that would ensue right after Ginger passes.  It's bittersweet news to us; on one hand we can't imagine ever even thinking about replacing our beloved first dog.  On the other hand it's always exciting to bring a new member of the family in.  But I know that this new puppy will be just as important to our lives as our dogs are now.

I was talking later to a friend about my life, and he asked if I had any stress in my life.  I told him about my dog, and about how my dad was away for the summer and how hard these things were on our family.  He then said, other than that is there anything that is constantly causing stress?  And it got me thinking about how my life could be so much worse.  Even though my dog is sick, it's a dog.  What if the news had been about one of my brothers? Or one of my parents?  I think Ginger's leaving us is giving my family a lesson to be grateful for our health and happiness.  Even though these two things seem stressful now, I have an amazing family, a loving boyfriend, and the best friends in the entire world.  I'm doing well in school, and I have an amazing summer planned ahead of me!  I finally saw the website for the Lilly Pulitzer Warehouse Sale today and it got me SO exited!!  My best friend Katie is coming to visit Philly and the Outer Banks and we will be attending the sale AT LEAST one day--(that may change to 2/3 days now that I see all of these special BOGO deals!!) Anyways, needless to say...Life's A Beach and I LOVE it!! :)

xoxo,

kbl

What a Beautiful Mother's Day!!

Happy Mother's Day!  Today is the most beautiful day since I've been home!  The birds chirping outside my window woke me up early this morning so I decided to go get fresh fruit and salad from our local market for my Mom and Grandma.  It's beautiful and sunny outside and it's about 85 degrees out.  We spent the morning pulling weeds and planting flowers---my favorite :/  but the yard does look beautiful!  After we were finished we laid out in the back yard on the beautiful brick patio.  It's just the most perfect day! Mother and Grandmother loved their gifts.. lots of Lilly, J. Crew, and even a new David Yurman pendant for my mom!! (needless to say that I am very excited to be borrowing that often!)  I'm so glad I got to spend today with my family, as my Dad will be leaving tomorrow to begin a long stay in St. Louis//Seattle for a promotion he just got.  He'll be gone for most of the next year--he gets to come home on some weekends.  I know it's going to be really rough on the entire family so I'm just glad that we got to spend today so happy!  I hope you all are having a fantastic Mother's Day and acknowledging all of the hard work that our loving mothers do for us every day.  

My First Blog!

So after months and months of reading all of your blogs I've finally decided to start my own!  I began my blog obsession last November when I was trying to find more information about the Lilly Warehouse sale.  Ever since I've found myself surfing the blogging world for different tips on decorating, preppy gifts, and shopping! I'm so excited to begin my own blog. It's the start of the summer which means I will be able to spend more time blogging and less time on school work! :) 

Finals ended just over a week ago and this break has already been wonderful!! After two LONG days of packing up my entire life--that is my dorm-- the boy and I made the 16 hour long drive up to Philly from Orlando.  It was a very stressful drive--at 3AM we hit something and my poor car barely made it up here!  Luckily we arrived safe and sound.  I was so excited to have the boy visit with my family for the week-despite all of the rain we had.  We toured downtown Philly and enjoyed lunch at JONES!  It was fantastic!  Later during the week we made it out to King of Prussia, my favorite, to do some major Mother's Day shopping!  I found this great dress for Mom at J. Crew! It was on a terrific sale, so I just couldn't pass it up! My mom has recently lost over 100 lbs, so we've had so much fun picking out new clothes for her!  I'm so proud of her, and so insanely jealous of her dedication! 

Anyways, the boy had to leave today, so that was very sad. I've been used to seeing him every day, but since I'll be spending the summer up North I won't be seeing him until late August! :( But I have so many things I'm looking forward to this summer that I'm sure the time will fly!  My best friend visiting, the Lilly Warehouse Sale, and my first summer job at the Outer Banks!