Toot Toot!

Guess I was just ahead of the curve. Look what was posted today on Style Me Pretty:

http://www.stylemepretty.com/2009/05/28/dessert-buffet-by-amy-atlas/


How awesome!! Style Me Pretty is amazing website for all those that are in the midst of planning of wedding or party for that matter. I used to read this blog every day when I was planning mine and totally drool over all the amazing pictures, ideas, and wedding related things.

That reminds me, my wedding was suppossed to be featured in a wedding magazine, but this stupid bride was too lazy to fill out the questionnaire and send the editor the pictures. So dumb!! I still don't even have my wedding albumn completed. What is wrong with me?! I think after planning for 1.5 years, I'm just wedding-out. Unless that is until Anne get's engaged. Then it's on! :) No pressure. hehehe

T-minus 2 days now. Something special arrived today at work and I can't wait to unveil it on Saturday.

Shout Out!

Just wanted to give a little shout out to my friend Anne and the amazing blog she's putting together for Amy Atlas events (http://www.amyatlas.blogspot.com/).

If it were 8 months ago and I was in the midst of planning my wedding, I certainly would be trying to hire Amy Atlas. Or if not hire her, certainly trying to imitate her designs and ideas (sorry, I know that's plagiarism, but I didn't get married in NYC or anywhere near NYC). If you live in the NYC Metro area and are planning a wedding, party, baptism, bar mitzvah, or anything of the like, you must check out her website. One look at these goodies and you're sure to swoon.

Big shout out to the Cotton Candy Girl! :)

The Weekend Roundup

The weekend was awesome! Why the heck don't we have 3-day weekends more often? I would be a much more productive, happy person if only I could have more 3 day weekend. Mr. President, are you hearing me? You really need to sign this into law. I imagine there would be a whole lot less crime if people didn't have to work so much.

Anyway, I won't totally bore you with everything we did this past weekend, so I'll just give you a brief synopsis:

1. Had dinner Friday night in Shirlington at Aladins. Love, Love, Love their hummos chicken plate. Came home to another Mabel chewing disaster. Will explain later.
2. Slept in A LOT. I've been fighting some kind of something since last weekend and I definitely think the combination of vitamins, sleep, and water this weekend has helped immensely.
3. Went to Westwood to the pool. Twice. But B only lasted 10 minutes the second time. I didn't bring enough "toys"with me to keep him occupied. Yes, I know he sounds like a 5 year old. I assure you, he will be 34 this year.
4. Had dinner and drinks in DC with K&S (our friends/neighbors) and their house guests. Amazingly surprised by the food at Fados! Will definitely be returning soon for more corn beef and cabbage. And had a great time hanging out at Rocket Bar. Unfortunately, unable to snag the skee ball or a shuffle board table. Next time.
5. Slept some more. B golfed while I slept.
6. Puppy play date!! More below. CUTENESS ALERT! DO NOT MISS THE PICTURES BELOW!
7. Re-organized our bedroom by getting rid of a dresser. Looks fantastic now and a whole lot less cluttered. Although I did have to give up 7 whole dresser drawers. it was tragic. but i'm getting over it. And returned a whole bunch of crap to Pottery Barn and Home Goods we didn't need. Felt good about that.
8. More hanging out with our neighbors and our new friend/other neighbor, the Cop. This time outside on the sidewalk between our condos. It was such a beautiful night. B claims, he's back into red wine now. Mabel and Taurie played the entire time with us outside. Also adorable.
9. Italian Store. pizza. subs. tiramisu. Need I say more?
10. Afternoon margaritas and Mexican at Guapos. What could be better than a margarita at 2 PM on your day off?! Nothing.
11. And managed to bake some banana strusell muffins.

All-in-all a pretty freakin' fantastic weekend. Couldn't have asked for a better weekend. And next weekend should prove to be much of the same. T minus 5 days until the big anniversary surprise! :)

Without further ado, here is the cuteness I promised earlier. The dog that looks like Mabel is her Mom, Phoebe. Mabe; and Phoebe were adopted the same day from A Forever Home (we exchange email info. with her parents) and her Mom, Margaret put together the puppy play date. We got together at her flower shop, Gathered Stems, in McLean. She has a fantastic grassy area behind her shop for the pups to play.

Phoebe is about 1.5 to 2 years old and it's thought that this is her second liter. She was rescued out of a West Virginia kill shelter when she was pregnant with Mabel and her six other pups. The pups were born in a foster home and than separated from Phoebe after a few weeks. The black and white dog is one of Mabel's sisters, Midge. Midge was adopted first and was the runt of the liter. She has such a different coat than Mabel, but has a similar body shape and the same eyes. All three of them instantly bonded on Sunday and spent 2 hours running, rolling, and frolicking around. With some humping threw in between (phoebe really took to mabel!). We can't wait until the next puppy play date and to hopefully meet more of Mabel's brothers and sisters.

Mabel's in front and Phoebe's sitting in back.

Midge's Mom and Dad gave Mabel a new toy. She LOVES it and has been playing with it constantly ever since!

Midge came to say hi to me! She's super sweet and super friendly. Mabel didn't get this particular trait. She's still afraid of strangers.

Hope you all had a happy Memorial Day and took some time to reflect on and remember all the service men and women who have put and are currently putting their lives on the line to protect the freedom's that we as Americans enjoy every single day. Can't thank you all enough for what you have and continue to sacrifice for us.

RueLaLa I Heart You

I'm a slave to my computer between the hours of 11AM and 12:15ish. Why? Well, it's because RueLaLa and Hautelook opens it's boutiques at 11AM EST and Gilt starts at noon EST. Duh.

All three of those sites are invitation only fashion and luxury brand sales at prices up to 70% off retail. AMAZING! I originally heard about RueLaLa on DC101 and Elliot in the Morning. Elliot was complaining about his wife constantly buying things on RueLaLa. As soon as I got into the office that morning, I immediately had to find out what the big deal was. A few days later, I had my invitation and I was off to the races. Soon, I had invited all the girls in the office and it became an obsession.

Soon after, I also joined Gilt and Hautelook. I also belong to Ideeli, but don't frequent that one as much.

A few weeks ago, RueLaLa had a Lilly Pulitzer sale. I don't normally like Lilly's stuff. It's just a little too loud for me I guess. But they had this super adorable navy, nautical-themed tunic dress that I knew would be perfect for work, shopping, and wearing out to dinner. And I have the perfect straw wedges to go with it. So I quickly snagged one up! You have to be quick on all these sites, because stuff goes really really fast. I still haven't been able to snag anything quick enough on Gilt!

It arrived on Monday night and lucky me, it fits like a glove! :) Here are some pictures of my newest and most favorite purchase thus far on RueLaLa (it even has little pockets on the front!)

Unfortunately, I wasn't so lucky with my aforementioned straw wedges. Mabel got into the closet and felt that Mom didn't need those shoes anymore. Here's evidence of the closet break-in (this wasn't the only pair she ruined that day mind you)
This one actually isn't that bad compared to the other shoes she's eaten, but I'm still not sure if it's fixable. Hopefully it's nothing a little super glue can't fix! :)

If you're interested in receiving an invitation to either RueLaLa, Hautelook, Gilt, or Ideeli, email me @ lschwartz531@gmail.com and I'll email you back an invitaiton with an access code. Each one sells men's, women's, and children's clothes, accessories, and jewelry, and also has home goods every once in awhile.


Happy Shopping!

Puppies Behind Bars

It's no secret, I L-O-V-E Oprah. I would give my left arm to go to Chicago to see her show. B thinks she's brainwashed me. But he clearly just doesn't understand her show. He thinks it's all about "women's topics" like bras and clothes and losing weight and yada yada yada. But what he doesn't understand is that she does have really interesting and eye opening topics on her show that I otherwise would have known nothing about had I not watched her show!

I actually TiVo Oprah everyday so I'm able to see every single episode. YEAH! But I have to watch them when B's not at home. Usually on a weekend morning when he's at work. But occasionally, he'll watch an episode with me. Especially if I see one that I think he'll be interested in then I make him sit down and watch it. Like last week's episode about Amazing Animals.

I was sitting on the couch Saturday morning with Mabel still in my pj's eating breakfast when I turned it on. The first story of the episode was with Glen Close sharing her experience with Puppies Behind Bars, an organization that I had never heard about before. In a nutshell, prisoners in an up-state New York prison are given 8-week old puppies to take care of and train so that the puppies can be service dogs for injured soldiers returning from Iraq and Afghanistan. The puppies not only provide an amazing service to the wounded soldiers, but they help the prisoners by providing unconditional love and support and give them a purpose for leading a better life.

It truly was a remarkable story. And as I was sitting with Mabel on the couch watching this, I couldn't help but cry thinking about the emotional bond that my puppy has provided me. The love I have her and the unconditional love she's provided me is something I can't even describe. And watching the interaction between the prisoners and puppies makes you realize that they're humans too. Even though they've done horrible things in their past, they're just like you and me. They want to feel loved and needed. And the puppies provide that love; unconditionally!

It's amazing the healing power that animals provide. And in this case the healing power is two-fold. Not only are the prisoner's healed in a way, but so are the soldiers.

You can read more about Puppies Behind Bars and donate to this amazing cause @ http://www.puppiesbehindbars.org/

And $2 from every sale of the Chewy Shoe goes to help fund the training for these amazing pups. Log on to http://www.fetchdog.com/ and purchase one now! I bought mine before the episode was even over! :) Better get your chew toy before they're gone!

Things I Did This Weekend

1. Made a new dinner recipe on Friday night courtesy of Pioneer Woman; Baked Lemon Pasta. Such a simple, delicious recipe and B loved it. Next time, I think I'll add some grilled shrimp for a little extra kick. *photo courtesy of pioneer woman

2. Went to Home Goods looking for a rug and pictures for the guest bath. Found three beach-themed shadow boxes that I thought would be perfect. Not so much. All three will be going back. Along with the runner I bought for our entryway.

3. Dinner and a movie Saturday night. B&I went back to Astor for dinner (B had the souvlaki and i had the gyro. Both amazing!) and saw Angels & Demons. B slept through the first half. I enjoyed it but it was super predictable. Especially if you've read both of Dan Brown's books.

While we were sitting in the theater waiting for the movie to start, we checked out Rotten Tomatoes' review (on my new super cool toy). The movie has a 39% Tomotometer. Out of 193 total reviews, 118 are rotten and only 75 fresh. Not good. Should have snuck out at that point and saw this instead.

At least Chris Pine would have provided some eye candy :)

4. Baked a new recipe I got from King Arthur Flour's Baker's Banter; Cheese and Sausage Biscuits.

It was a total flop. I don't think was enough liquid in the dough, so my biscuits fell apart and then burned in the oven. Such a disappointment. I think I might call their Bakers' Hotline and find out what happened and try again next weekend. BTW, how cool is it that they have a baking helpline?!

My friend AC gave me a King Arthur Flour cookbook a few years ago and I've been hooked on them ever since. Do yourself a favor and read their blog and sign up for their catalog. They have the most amazing things in it!!

5. Went out to Leesburg to the outlets. B needed new polo shirts and dress shoes. We definitely accomplished task #1 at Lacoste, but failed on #2. Although the highlight of the trip was finally getting a living room rug. Crate and Barrel was the only store to carry rugs in 4'x6' and we found the perfect one! YEAH!

Rain, Rain Go Away

All I want to do this weekend is sit at the pool (even though this bod is not beach bod ready in the least bit). That's all I'm asking for. Just some face time with good ol' Mister Sun.

But it looks like, Mister Sun is going to disappoint me again. :( The Arlington weather forecast for Saturday:

Clouds and sun with a thundershower, mainly later; humid.

And Sunday.

Rainy times in the morning; otherwise, mostly cloudy, breezy and not as warm.

Come on! These pasty-white limbs need some sun before the Prom on June 6th!!

Yes, you heard me right. I'm going to the Prom. This time I'll have a better date, a better dress, and I won't be sober. hehe. Westwood is throwing an "adult" prom on the 6th and it sounds like an awesome time. They're closing the restaurant that night and turning it into an all night adult party including food, booze, a DJ (hopefully a good one), and even late-night karaoke!

B of course will wear his tux, but the verdict is still out on what I'm going to wear. I have a new, long black dress I purchased on super sale this winter knowing we have a black tie wedding this summer that I might wear, but I might also wear a short, cocktail dress. I love the idea of wearing a long dress since I rarely get to wear one, but I just don't think they're very flattering on me. Maybe I'll have to have B take some pics for me so I can see how it really looks.

Because I've got to good in that Prom picture! Maybe if I'm lucky, I'll be crowned Prom Queen this time around. Oh, that reminds me, I better order a boutonniere for my date!! :)