{giveaway}

Thank you to everyone who entered my giveaway!

The winner of the Mamma Mia & Twilight dvd's is.....

Belle from Life of a Southern Belle !!! 

Belle, please e-mail me your mailing address to PetuniasParadise@aol.com!

{p.s. ~~~  Don't let anyone fool you tomorrow!  Do any of you have any good ones planned???  hee hee!}

{milly}

I loooove this Milly dress from the new collection!  The purple/brown collection didn't do a lot for me, so I'm glad to see a new direction for Spring & Summer.  Milly and aqua blue--two of my favorite things--can't wait to see it in real life.  

In the April issue of my favorite home magazine, Traditional Home, there is a surprise article about Michelle Smith, the designer of the Milly line.  On the second page of the article she is wearing the aqua dress!  Click to enlarge!

BTW--I also noticed that Saks has my favorite Milly jacket (below) on clearance right now.  It would be a great buy for next winter.  I was surprised that I got a lot of use out of it this Fall and Winter & definitely had fun with it!

weekend update

Thank you to everyone who entered my giveaway!  It ends tonight at midnight and I will post the name of the winner ASAP!!

Lil Petunia was in her school play Friday and Saturday evenings so we have been quite busy this weekend. 

I wore my new Lilly tunic for the first time yesterday and loved it!  It will look better with white pants, but I felt that it was still a little early to break out the white!

Hope all of you are having a fun weekend!

{goodbye shabby chic}

I had heard a few months ago that Shabby Chic was closing a couple of their stores due to this awful economy, but I just found out that now ALL of the Shabby Chic stores will be closing!  I am so sad about this!  

I have always looked forward to the day that I could visit one of these gorgeous stores in person, but living in FL I have just never gotten around to it.  I have all of the books and DVDs which are just chock full of beautiful images.  So lovely.  

The Shabby Chic line for Target will continue but while beautiful, it's just not the same.  Sniff... 

I would not say that my house is decorated in the "Shabby Chic" style but there are slight influences for sure.   My overly floral decor days are over, although I still like the look when I see it in a cute cottage.   Actually, come to think of it, all of my Shabby Chic sheets and pillow cases now reside in Lil P's room. 

Have any of you been to a Shabby Chic store?  Did you pick up any beautiful things?

Do you think it is totally due to the recession, or is the Shabby Chic "look" just not popular any more?

{happy birthday Lil P!}

Happy Birthday Lil' Petunia!!!

This is the first thing that Lil Petunia saw when she came to breakfast this morning!  I bought these Party Pom-Poms thinking that I would just have to open the box & pop them open.  HA!  They came with detailed instructions!  Actually if you are crafty (...Lisagh?) they would be pretty easy to make on your own with a stack of colored tissue paper and a piece of wire!  The tissue paper came in a rectangular shape with about 20 or so very thin sheets all in one stack.  Then you fold the stack of paper accordion-style.  The only thing is--the ends of the paper are scalloped--not sure how you could do that.  Here is the box with included directions:

P.S.  ~~  {Don't forget to enter my giveaway in this post HERE!!!!}

birthday giveaway!

{These are Lil Petunia's birthday party invitations!}

Tomorrow is Lil' Petunia's birthday!!!  In honor of her birthday I am hosting a little giveaway!  I have been so fortunate to meet so many sweet and generous people through blogging, so I wanted to give a little something back and I've been waiting for a particular something to be released!  

I am giving away my two favorite movies of the year!  Well, technically it is my favorite movie of the year (Mamma Mia!) and the movie-version of my favorite book of the year (Twilight) (YUM!)--in a 3-disc special edition!

The giveaway:

Just leave a comment on this post by this Sunday 3/29 at midnight if you would like to be entered.  There are 3 ways to enter, so just let me know how many entries you are in for! :

1. Leave a comment on this post for one entry.
2. If you follow my blog you will get 3 entries.
3. If you also make a post on your blog about my giveaway you will get 5 entries.

I love this movie!!  So fun--it always makes Lil Petunia & I get up and dance!

This book series was incredibly addicting.  Good soundtrack on this one, too!!!

Tissue Rolling Ruffles Tank

   I loved seeing Lauren Hutton model in the latest J. Crew catalog.  As soon as I got it I bookmarked this look below.  The ruffle tanks in dark charcoal (and slate) arrived a few weeks ago & are now sold out, and the first Merino Crewneck Cardigan in Dark Charcoal that I ordered had a minor flaw and had to be returned.  

Did you know that if you order something from J Crew and you find that you need a different size /or  it has a minor flaw then all you have to do is call and they will resend the item to you with complimentary shipping?  

The replacement sweater finally arrived today.  So, here she is-- the lovely Ms. Hutton--my muse for this look!  Below is my attempt to recreate it (although I didn't like the blue capris with this look, so I substituted medium-dark jeans).

Her sweater falls a bit lower than her tank.  Maybe I should order the next size up??  Hmmm.

  Do you like the rolling ruffles tank?  Is it a keeper or not so much?

Oh, terrific!

The one piece of jewelry that I can pull off at J Crew is their pretty Butterfly Bauble bracelet above.  I tried it on in my store and loved it.  But, again, not at full price.  Why buy it when you know that eventually it will go on sale?

Well, today The Palm Beach Post decided to publish a Lifestyle cover feature on jewelry.  The Banana Republic and Target pieces that they featured are actually pretty cute!  And what else do they brilliantly decide to feature?  MY BRACELET (that I haven't bought yet).  Fabulous!!  Now there will be no Butterfly bracelets left in Palm Beach county.  Pooh!     ;-)

{spring fever}

Thank goodness for Spring!  This is my favorite time of year for many reasons--one of which is that I am finally able to go shopping and find items that are appropriate to wear down here in Florida.  The Fall and Winter collections are pretty useless to me because I need very few turtlenecks and corduroys when the temperature rarely reaches below 70 degrees.  Anywho, I have been having a fun time perusing the latest collections.

J Crew has these bib necklaces that are so pretty!  But, again, they are waaaay too huge and look ridiculous on my frame, so I have been trying to find something similar but smaller.

J Crew (this one looked crazy huge on me at the store--even the SA said "Um, no.")

J Crew (again -- huge)

I found this pretty one at Anthropologie & thought it would look pretty with my Rosette tee in Shell--the beads are the same peachy color as the rosettes.

Unfortunately when I put it on it just seems to disappear into my skin.  Boo-hoo.  I think this one is going back.  Drats--and it was only $38 compared with J Crew's $150.

Lilly~love!

The leader must aim high, see big, judge widely, thus setting himself apart from the ordinary people who debate in narrow confines.

Charles De Gaulle

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Lilly Pulitzer clothing is not just about the shift dress. Actually the shift dress can be a Lilly-lovers version of throwing on sweats and a tee shirt. (I don't actually own any of the true shift dress styles because they do not fit me well, but I wanted to give an example of why someone might wear one.) You want to be daytime comfy, not sexy, and just run some errands or pick up the kids from school. There are many other Lilly styles and looks.

Here are some of my favorites:

Many of Hubby's patients are women fighting breast cancer. They love it when he wears his Lilly ties--yep--some of those ties are pretty bright and crazy! It has become his signature look. For some reason Lilly makes a lot of people happy. Good for them that they have found something that puts a smile on their face if only for a moment!

And--I'll let you in on a little secret--most of us rarely pay full price for our Lilly! If I fall in love with a particular dress or other piece, then I will pay full price rather than take the chance of it selling out in my size (which does happen). But to be quite honest--I buy a lot of my Lilly at anywhere from 20% - 70% off. Just like J Crew, Banana Republic, etc. there are always promotions and sales once you start paying attention and getting on e-mail lists! ;-)

Here we are on family vacation last Summer. I'm in my hot pink Teagan dress and little Petunia is in her Lilly as well!

{bijoux}

Do you like the jewelry trend of layered necklaces, long necklaces, or clustered pearls or beads?

  I do like it on the models, but a lot of the pieces that I see at J Crew etc. are just too big and chunky for me.  Also, I prefer to wear my real jewelry most of the time, so when it comes to costume jewelry I do not want to invest a lot of money--especially if it is trendy.

I found two necklaces today that I really like.  I think they will look cute over a casual tee shirt or under a dressier jacket.  I found them at a very surprising place--American Eagle!  I like them more than many of the pieces that I have seen lately because the metal is not that shiny gold or overly shiny silver.  And the prices were unbelievable!!!

The one above was on promotion at 50% off.  I spent a whopping $7.75 on it!

It has just the right amount and size of pearls--I don't feel like Barbara Bush or a grandma with it on.

This double strand long necklace was full price at $15.50.  It reminds me (okay--just a little bit) of a Chanel costume jewelry necklace that I am currently drooling over which costs $1295.  Haha!

Both pieces together for length comparison.

My take on the J Crew look

J Crew:

J Crew:

I like the look of casually rolled up jeans as seen in the past few seasons' J Crew catalogs, but have never worn my jeans this way before.  This is my new JC jacket and top -- with my old jeans:

Or do you prefer it the traditional way below??

Crew Girl in Canada recently asked a similar question and I'm still undecided about the rolled look, although the SA at my store does it and she always looks great (AND she's probably late 40's to 50's).

{happy st paddy's day}

What my family (and hundreds of other people) will be drinking today in the Irish Channel in New Orleans:

Parasol's Block Party

2533 Constance St., New Orleans, La.  504-899-2054

The annual bash where the green beer flows begins 11 a.m. Tuesday, March 17, and ends at 7 p.m.

Happy Happy!

{favorite Lilly prints}

I have several favorite Lilly Pulitzer prints!  One of my very favorite's is the whimsical "Shrimp Cocktail".  It features drunken little shrimp just partying it up in our favorite pink & lime green!

I love this skort so much that I cannot wear it!  It's true!  I would freak out if I ruined it so I just don't wear it--isn't that nuts?!  I recently had photographed it because I am toying around with the idea of listing it on Ebay (horror!).

What should I do???  Sell it and let someone else enjoy it, or keep it in the "museum".  Haha!

Look at the cute little shrimp slurping on straws in daiquiris and margaritas!!!

Can anyone find the hidden "Lilly"???  I see a few!  ;-)

{islamorada}

Some friends of ours from Israel have come to visit.  They want to get married on the beach in the Keys like we did 8 years ago, so we have taken them to Islamorada.  Our favorite place to stay when here is Cheeca Lodge, but the resort is closed due to devastation from a fire & is due to reopen this summer.  We had to make reservations at someplace we had never been to before, and the little cottage we are renting is a pleasant surprise.  Clean and renovated, 3 bedrooms and a full kitchen and living room.  I love a clean white hotel bedroom:

Last night the group of us went to Lorelai--the local outdoor restaurant and watering hole which always has a live band.  They were playing a mix of reggae and rock!  Hubby loves to dance and couldn't resist.  He got a little crowd to get up and dance with him.  Notice the little one clapping for him in the background:

I gave myself a new spring pedicure for the occasion!  

(p.s.  These new flip-flops from ON are just like Havaianas--same exact feel and actually fit better! They are so pretty & are highly recommended--come in lots of colors and metallics!!)

Tonight at sunset the intimate wedding will take place under the palm trees outside!  Then we'll be off to Pierre's for a fabulous dinner!

{matchy-matchy}

Remember these Emma monogram Stephen Bonanno's that I got several months ago?  They coincidentally are a perfect match to my new handbag.  Woo-hoo!  I love it when this happens!

{sandhill cranes}

There is a pair of Sandhill Cranes that stops by our house to visit on rare occasions.  They are always together and they are very gentle.  The picture above is Lil P and my niece feeding them last summer.

Lil Petunia saw again them the other morning and went out to feed them.

Then word got around somehow and soon dozens of birds wanted to visit Lil P!!!

LOVE THIS!!!

Wow!! This is a must-see video! I love the song and it is probably the most creative video I have ever seen. Oren Lavie is an Israeli who studied in London , then lived in New York, now living in Los Angeles. He is the singer, songwriter, producer, and choreographer of this video (and yes that is him in the video). Watch it in Full-Screen Mode! There, don't you love it???!  Now I want to buy the CD!



Here he is on Jimmy Kimmel performing live--SO CUTE with the muppet loving on him the whole time!!!  Awwww... :

{heavenly}

I ran to the mall today after work to return/exchange a couple of things to JCrew that I had purchased last weekend for Hubby.  (It's easier to bring the mall to Hubby than to bring Hubby to the mall.)  I had on my old blue scrubs and disgusting old tennis shoes and had total hat-head after a day of working in the operating room.  I had my old grungy purse(my work purse) because I have to shove it into a locker where it gets scratched and abused all day.  I looked pretty pathetic.  I felt self-conscious when the mall security guard was walking behind me at one point because seriously I thought he might think I was some kind of bum--haha!

Before I knew what had happened--I fell in love--with a new handbag.  I wasn't prepared for this in my quick little trip to the mall.  But, it is perfect in every way.  Not a flashy kind of perfection, but the subtlest quietest kind.

The saleslady went into the back and came out with a cloth bag.  She opened up the bag and.........suddenly I heard angels singing!!!  

Sigh....the Epi Leather Passy GM  in Ivoire:

*Muah!*

do not take your iPhone canoeing!

This:

plus this:

equals this:

Hubby took the kids canoeing yesterday with his iPhone in his pocket.  Then the canoe tipped over and he fell into the water.  with his 5 month-old iPhone.  which is now dead.  Oh, don't worry--everyone is alright because the water there is only about 3 feet deep!  Haha!  

My stepson's iPhone lasted 4 months before someone stole it.  I'm the only one left here with an iPhone.

A new iPhone costs $400.   Yep, they are only cheap when you are first signing up for a new contract.  There is no available insurance for iPhones--so when anything happens you must buy a new phone at regular prices.  So, the men around here are back to regular phones.  :(