Summer Evenings...

Now that summer has officially arrived, I have a strong urge to buyout the outdoor decor sections of Pottery Barn and TJ Maxx: an outdoor dinner party with twinkling lights and lanterns filled with candles is definitely on my mind. There is something just so relaxing about sitting outside on a hot summer evening, enjoying food and wine with friends and family . . .

I particularly love the new lanterns that Pottery Barn is featuring. Lanterns are nice because the candles in them won't blow out at the slightest breeze.

This DIY lantern project from Southern Living also seems fairly simply and so charming. All you need are jars, wire, and some embellishments to add some sparkle.

The Next Shopaholic!

I absolutely positively cannot wait for this book:


Sophie Kinsella's Shopaholic series is one of my favorites and I can't wait for this newest installment. It comes out September 21st here and September 2nd in the UK--I will definitely be buying it on my trip to England to read on the plane home!

Skirt Bargains...Take 2

Finally, I remembered to take pics of the other great buys I've found recently. Here is the the skirt I found at the Talbots clearance outlet for a mere $5.50!

And the Lilly skort from a local consignment boutique:

For some reason, I've been finding skirts every time I shop recently--it's kind of weird how that happens sometimes. For a while I was on a roll with finding dresses and before that it was shorts, now it seems to be skirts (meanwhile, what I really need are some nice new cardigans as my office is freezing now that the AC is on!).

Hope you all had a great weekend. Yesterday, I attended my first cookout of the summer; nothing beats a hot dog or hamburger straight off the grill! And tonight I'm gearing up for the series finale of LOST. I really hope I can stay awake until 11:30!

Skirt Bargains

On Mother's Day, my mom and I went shopping at the Derby Street Shoppes in Hingham, as her Mother's Day gift from me was a gift certificate to Beauty and Main, a small beauty boutique there. Derby Street is one of those new outdoor shopping centers that seem to be popping up all over Massachusetts. While there we stopped into In the Pink and they were having a fabulous sale! You might remember my post on skirts from October. One skirt I was coveting at the time was the Lilly Pulitzer Agnes Skirt --well I found it at In the Pink at 70%, what a great deal!

Although it's definitely too short for me to wear to work in the summer, I can't wait to wear it on the weekends. And I'm hoping that paired with black tights, I can make it work for fall at work (I find that you can go shorter with hemlines when you're wearing tights, don't you?).

I also recently found a super-cute Lilly skort at local consignment chain, Second Time Around. What is crazy is that both the skirts are 3 sizes apart, but fit me perfectly. It definitely shows you how designers having been changing their sizing in recent years!

8 THINGS

Beantown Prepster was nice enough to tag me with the "8 Things Tag" - I have been a terrible blogger and am just now getting around to posting. I'm going to do this tag in parts, so here is Part 1!

8 TV Shows I Like to Watch:
1. Lost
2. Gossip Girl
3. Vampire Diaries
4. Fringe
5. Burn Notice
6. Desperate Housewives
7. Ugly Betty (so sad that this is over!!!)
8. Plus way too many reality shows! It's a good thing they are all interspersed throughout the year! - American Idol, Amazing Race, Project Runway, Real Housewives (NYC is my favorite), The Rachel Zoe Project, Tori and Dean.
-My taste absolutely runs towards pure, escapist fun when it comes to television! I also used to be a daily watcher of General Hospital, but stopped about a year ago after getting too frustrated with the storylines. Although I have to say, I just finished watching The Pacific mini-series on HBO last night and it was really good. Certainly very violent and graphic, but incredibly moving and it really taught me a lot about WWII as I feel as though when I studied it in high school and college the focus was always on the war in Europe.

8 Favorite Places to Eat and Drink:
1. Parish Cafe in Boston
2. Cafe Lalo in New York City
3. Le Celler in Disney World, Florida
4. Legal Seafoods
5. Bertucci's - anywhere
6. Pizzeria Regina in the North End
7. Upper Crust and Fig's on Charles Street in Beacon Hill, Boston (are you seeing a pattern of pizza??)
8. 21st Amendment on Beacon Hill in Boston (just a little tiny pub that feels like you're stepping straight back into 1776! The food is typical bar food, but I like the cozy atmosphere.)

8 Things I Look Forward To:
1. Going to the Red Sox game this Thursday
2. Getting my hair cut this Friday
3. Wearing my two new Lily Pulitzer skirts
4. Finishing the book I'm currently reading, A Rather Curious Engagement
5. Summer's official arrival with Memorial Day weekend
6. My good friend J's move back to Boston in June
7. Going to Parish Cafe (a tradition amongst my friends!) when she returns
8. Visiting London in September

8 Things I'm Passionate About:
1. My family (Pink Maple Puppy included!!)
2. My friends
3. Reading - I can never get enough books
4. Shopping - I can never do enough shopping
5. Politics
6. Education
7. Art and architecture
8. Disney World!

8 Places I would Like to Visit/See:
1. Buckingham Palace (hopefully checking this one off my list this fall!)
2. Pompeii
3. The Faraglioni off of Capri
4. The Alps
5. Big Sur
6. Lombard Street in San Francisco
7. Cathedral of Santiago de Compostela in Spain
8. Fallingwater, a Frank Lloyd Wright-designed house in Pennsylvania

London Calling - Part 2

Thanks so much to those of you who commented on my last post with suggestions for London! I can't say enough how excited I am to go in September! The trip will be in celebration of my parents' 35th wedding anniversary and will be the first time any of us have visited Europe! Last night we booked our flight on British Airways and tonight I reserved our hotel - we decided on 51 Buckingham Gate, as they have nice suites that will be the perfect size for 3 people and seem to have gotten excellent reviews online.

And . . . while browsing online today, I learned that the Victoria and Albert Museum is having a special exhibit on Grace Kelly through the end of September (perfect timing)--including lots of her dresses and the ORIGINAL Hermès Kelly bag!! This exhibit is absolutely going on my trip itinerary!

LONDON CALLING

I am planning a vacation to LONDON for September and need your help! Have you been? - Do you have favorite hotels, restaurants, attractions, or shops to recommend? Please share! I'd love to hear any advice you have to offer. I will be traveling with my parents - making us a group of three, so our travel agent has recommended the Ascott Mayfair London because they have one bedroom apartments that sleep three, but we haven't book anything yet as we are still mulling things over.

p.s. We are planning to stay for 8 nights so we'll be venturing outside the city for daytrips as well, so suggestions for places to visit outside the city are also welcome!

Happy Mother's Day!
My mother and I will be spending the day doing what we love best, shopping!!


UPDATE: After MUCH searching online today I came across the 51 Buckingham Gate, which is a Taj Hotel - any of you familiar with London who have heard of it? I have to say it looks really nice and is one of the few hotels that seems to offer accommodations for a group of 3.

Perfectly Pink and Brown

I love this pink and chocolate brown kitchen! It's definitely a color palette you don't see too often in a kitchen. I also love the contrast of the dark wall with light cabinetry. (From House Beautiful.)

Happy Friday!

A Little Weekend Shopping, A LOT of Bottled Water

My work-appropriate cropped pants are in a bit of a sorry state. I have one black J Crew pair from two seasons ago and the rest are all 5+ years old. My first job after law school required suits 24/7 (so obviously no occasion to sneak in cropped pants and peeptoes!) and I started my current job last July so I felt like it was too far into the summer to invest in anything new - preferring to spend on new tops I could wear into the fall. So that leaves me now, in mid-May, with days of 70's and 80's with little in the way of warm weather work pants other than skirts.

So I tried on a few pairs in J Crew over the weekend and decided on these soft purple Skimmers. I like the fact that they are a color without being too bold.

I also had some great luck with bargains over the weekend. I found a skirt at the Talbot's clearance store for $5.50!! I also found a super cute Lilly skort at local resale chain Second Time Around. I will have to take pics later this week!

Hope your week is off to a great start! Here in the Boston area a huge pipe that carries our water burst over the weekend so we have been drinking bottled water and using paper plates and utensils since Saturday as we've been getting our water from our alternate reservoirs and it isn't up to normal standards of cleanliness. Millions of grumpy Bostonians who have been going without their morning Starbucks and Dunkin Donuts is NO fun!