Wanted: Cute Sweater Dress

I have been trying to find a sweater dress that I really like for this fall and winter. I am looking for something that I can throw on with black tights and either my black boots or my black mary janes. The dress below is from Banana Republic and it's really cute, but I'd like to check out all of my options first. I think that I would prefer long sleeves also.

Any suggestions?



Banana Republic Wool-blend sweater dress

7 Random or Weird Things About Me.....

Thanks for the tag-Mrs. Preppy in Pink! And I can only write 7? I could probably come up with more. :)

First here are the rules:
1. Link to the person that tagged you and post the rules on your blog.
2. Share 7 random and or weird things about yourself.
3. Tag 7 random people at the end of your post and include links to their blogs.
4. Let each person know that they have been tagged by leaving a comment on their blog.

1. It doesn't matter what the temperature is, hot or cold, I always seem to be chilly. My boss had to get me a little heater to put under my desk to keep my feet warm.

2. I color coordinate my M&M's before eating them. But here's the catch, they are coordinated in reverse rainbow order, meaning brown first and red last. I know weird.....

3. I could beat anyone at Saved by the Bell trivia. I absolutely loved that show growing up and still quote it sometimes!

4. I would listen to Christmas music all year round if it was played (or my hubby would let me, and he definitely wouldn't).

5. I drink my Starbucks with a straw. It all started when I had clear braces and my orthodontist told me that even the littlest bit of coke or coffee would stain my teeth, so I had to drink them both with a straw. I wonder if that was really true....oh well he convinced me!

6. I fainted at the Madonna concert a little. I just got so excited and she has been my favorite for many years. I felt so foolish right afterward, but then I said "forget it, that''s Madonna, who cares!?"

7. I color coodinate my underwear with my outfit for the day. (I know, TMI, but it's pretty weird!)

I tag a few of my favorite reads: Tickled Pink, Preppy Mamma, Preppy Napkin, Tie the Knot, La Vie en Rose and Tres Poshe Preppy!

And I'm new to this, so if anyone can tell me how to link people's pages that would be great! I'm a rookie remember! :)

The Name Game

Thanks MMM for this fun Name Game! I just did this in an email a few weeks ago, and was cracking up!

10.WITNESS PROTECTION NAME: (mother & father's middle name) Sloss McGhie
9. NASCAR NAME: (first name of your mother's dad, fathers dad) Jack Jack (hmm, that one didn't work out too well)
8.STARWARS NAME: (the first 3 letters of your last name, 2 letters of your first) Lanla
7. DETECTIVE NAME: (favorite color, fav animal) Periwinkle Puppy
6. SOAP OPERA NAME: (middle name, city where you were born) Anne Atlanta
5. SUPERHERO NAME: (2nd fav color, fav drink, add "THE" to the beginning) The Red Daquiri
4. FLY GIRL/GUY NAME: (1st 2 letters of 1st name, last 2 letters ofyour last name) LaLa
3. GANGSTA NAME: ( fav ice cream flavor, fav cookie) Cookies & Cream Chocolate Chip
2. ROCK STAR NAME: (current pets name, current street name) Cash Persimmon
STRIPPER NAME: ( name of your fav perfume/cologne, fav candy) Romance Butterfinger

Yea for Crewmutts!

So I was doing my usual jcrew.com check and found their latest line-Crewmutts! I am so excited. And being a true scottish girl I just have to have the leather bound tartan collar and leash for my pups pictured below, Cash (left) and Trico (right). A little pricey really, but I'm sure my husband will understand, right?

Happy belated Thanksgiving everyone. I haven't been writing lately, things are starting to pick up at work. Not as much time to write anymore! Boo!

But I did make time this morning to complete a meme from Tickled Pink - one of my favorite blogs to read.

I give you money and send you into the grocery store to pick up 5 items. You can only pick one thing from the following departments.. what is it?
1. Produce: Gala apples
2. Bakery: Blueberry bagels
3. Meat: Chicken
4. Frozen: Pizza
5. Dairy: French vanilla creamer

Let's say we're heading out for a weekend getaway. You're only allowed to bring 3 articles of clothing with you. So, what's in your bag?
This one is tough!
1. My new Sevens
2. Ivory NorthFace fleece
3. My black leather driving mocs

If I was to listen in on your conversations throughout the day, what 5 phrases or words would I be most likely to hear?
1. "Hey, babe, could you do me a HUGE favor?"
2. "I'm just saying"
3. "Cash, quit it!"
4. "Any ideas for dinner?"
5. Followed by either "No, I'll go to Publix don't worry about it" or "I'll pick up the pizza"

So, what 3 things do you find yourself doing every single day, and if you didn't get to do, you probably wouldn't be in the best mood?
1. My morning coffee-mild with french vanilla creamer. yum.
2. checking my email, blogs and celeb gossip
3. Talking to my Mum or sister on the phone

What 5 activities might we find you doing?
1.Catching up with either my girlfriends or my cousin in Scotland and multitasking doing any of the tasks above or below
2. Watching my favorite HGTV show
3. Reading my People Style magazine or the latest J.Crew catalog
4. Trying to get my puppy to stop barking. It's nonstop right now! I can only imagine how much it annoys my neighbors.
5. Redecorating my kitchen, dining and living room. I am constantly moving bowls and centerpieces all over the place.

We are going to the zoo. But, it looks like it could start storming, so it'll have to be a quick visit. What 3 exhibits do we have to get to?
1. The tigers and lions
2. Polar bears
3. Exotic birds

You just scored tickets to the taping of any show that comes on t.v. of your choice. You can pick between 4, so what are you deciding between?
1. Ellen
2. Oprah
3. The View
4. Dancing with the Stars of course!!

You're hungry for ice cream. I'll give you a triple dipper ice cream cone. What 3 flavors can I pile on for ya?
1. BlueBell Cookies and Cream
2. TCBY White Chocolate Mouse (I know not ice cream but it's so good!)
3. BlueBell cookie dough

Somebody stole your purse/wallet…in order to get it back, you have to name 5 things you know are inside to claim it. So, what's in there?
1. Sunglasses in my Vera Bradley glasses case
2. Red wallet with pics of my nieces and nephews in it
3. Lipstick bag with entirely too many things in it
4. My planner
5. Way too many receipts

You are at a job fair, and asked what areas you are interested in pursuing a career in. Let's pretend you have every talent and ability to be whatever you wanted, so what 4 careers would be fun for you?
1. Kate Spade type- design, create, and write-you name it she does it!
2. J. Crew Marketing Director-the pictures in the catalogs are so creative!
3. Event Coordinator for a children's cancer charity
4. Television sitcom casting director

If you could go back and talk to the old you, when you were in high school, and inform yourself of 4 things, what would you say?
1. Be yourself and not worry about what other people think. Your real friends will like you for who you are!
2. There is no need for all of that trendy A&F clothes- it doesn't last and will most likely not be in style for decades.
3. It's not the end of the world if you are the only one without a boyfriend. Enjoy the time that you have with your friends and family.
4. Stay active. It's hard to get back into the gym after college.

Congrats to my friends T and her hubby K, they just had their baby yesterday! I'm going to see her tonight, I am so excited. Hope everyone is having a great week.

Head Start on my New Year's Resolution

Happy Friday, everyone! I am ready for the work day to be over. I always find the week before a holiday to drag....but this week has been bad! Thank you so much to those that left messages yesterday. I appreciate your kind words so much.

Throughout my wedding planning, I kept telling myself that once the wedding was over I was going to get back to my organized self. But for some reason, I feel like I can't catch up! It could be that I don't have my own desk at our house, and growing up I always had my own space to keep my papers, receipts and important documents. But I feel like my mind is all over the place. Which brings me to my question.....Does anyone have a planner that they love? Because I saw a planner that I really like, called the Mom Agenda, but I'm not quite ready for that yet. :) But I love how everything in that planner is pulled together. Any suggestions for something similar?

Thanks to everyone, and hope you have a great weekend.

C & L's Wedding Slideshow and a few details

I know that I have mentioned my husband a lot in my blog, but I have never really discussed my wedding at all. I am a newlywed-54 days today to be exact, and so far it's been wonderful. It's not easy, but I really love being married. It always helps when you have a great hubby though. :)

Like I've said in past posts, I kind of fell into blogging by using Google and inputting words that I thought were key in planning my wedding, like, elegant, preppy and posh. And from there I have come across blogs that I love to read pretty much every work day-shh, don't tell my boss. :) So, since a lot of my favorite blogs have been posting their wedding pictures (that are all gorgeous) I thought that I would do the same. Now, I was a little nervous about putting my picture up, but the pictures are on my photographers website too, so too late!! :)

I have to brag a minute about my fantastic photographer, Laura Stone. She is not your run of the mill photographer. She is such a wonderful person, and being in PR, I really love working with people who truly deserves my business, and there is no doubt that she does. It was such a relief to find a photographer that I could trust to capture the images that I wanted. It was one less thing that I needed to worry about on my wedding day! I just adore her.

I asked my hubby randomly after we first got engaged if he wanted to wear a kilt (half kidding, half serious) and he said yes! So we went for it. Down to every last detail-but don't worry he DID have something on under his kilt. (I know phew, I wouldn't want to see those pictures either) Since my hubby and all of the groomsmen were wearing kilts, I did everything else really simple, which really is my taste anyway. Bridesmaids in classic black, carrying variating shapes and sizes of ivory and blush colored roses. The ribbon was black watch to match the groom and grooms men's kilts. Same went for all of the flower arrangements-ivory hydrangeas, roses and stock. My pew markers where thistles (the flower of Scotland) and a white roses with Black Watch ribbon. Oh, I loved it all.

So below is my slide show of our wedding day. Laura took a ton of traditional pictures as well, but these images are meant to tell the story of our big day. And I definitely think that we accomplished that.

http://www.artstarphotography.com/Slideshows/Laura_Chip/index.html

And for more information on Laura Stone visit her website at www.artstarphotography.com

Hope everyone has a great rest of the week. Phew, that was a lot of blabbing. If you made it to the end of this post, Grey's tonight, I can't wait! Take care, LSL

Wanted: Birthday Present Suggestions for my Mum

Tomorrow is my Mum's birthday, and I can't decide what to get her! She loves Talbots, but I have given her a gift card there for years now! Anyone have any suggestions? My Mum is the woman who things that that has everything. After opening every gift, she says, "Oh, I love this bowl, you shouldn't have done that, I already have hundreds of bowls!" Just an example.

A little background, my Mum is a teacher, social butterfly, great wife and mother.....but I still haven't found anything. I'd love some ideas from you all! Thank you!

If I had a Million Dollars

Last week, my hubby and I watched a T.V. special on TLC profiling 4 different families around the U.S. that have won the lottery and how they spent their winnings. This got me thinking; why couldn't that be us? So on a whim, I stopped by the gas station on my way home last night to pick up our tickets. I completely overanalyzed, of course. It took me almost 10 minutes to chose my numbers, much to the annoyance of the guys behind the counter. In return, I promised that if I won, I would buy them anything (within reason) that they wanted. I figured it was good karma, and they deserved it! I passed them my credit card, and AFTER I had taken all of that time to pick my numbers, they only accept cash! But the sweet guys behind the counter donated their 2 dollars to pay for my lottery ticket. They said that they really believed that I would buy them a car if I won. I sure had them fooled! Kidding, of course.

After dinner my hubby and I took our dogs for a walk around the neighborhood. It was such a beautiful night in Georgia! And of course, our conversation turned into, "If I won the lottery, I would......" I was so impressed with my hubby, he said that if we won the lottery he would open a fund in each of our neices and nephews names. Then he wanted to buy my parents a retirement house in the mountains. So sweet. There are a few things that I would want to get, like a new car, nice purse (that's an investment, :) and a bigger house, but overall, I wouldn't really change my lifestyle too much. However, it would give me the freedom to do the things that have always wanted to do: travel, volunteer and give back to my family and friends.

Beware-this post contains A LOT of cheese....

Blogging is a new thing for me. And I have so enjoyed the time that I have spent the past few months becoming acquainted with my computer for more than just work. Blogging has given me the opportunity to reflect on what's been important to me, and finding great people that have similar interests! I have been so blessed to have a great family and friends, but sometimes its nice to have an outlet for the girly things-like my wedding, clothes and such. Just wanted to get that off of my chest and to say thanks to all of the inspirational bloggers out there!

Tonight, my hubby and I are going out for dinner with one of my closest girlfriends and her hubby. We have been girlfriends since the 6th grade, and T is one of those people that you feel like a better person having had her in your life. Growing up, T has always been a larger than life type person, with the most amazing confidence. She always had the most fantastic wardrobe and accessories, all of the girls at school were jealous of her. Now, that's definitely not why I have been friends with her for all of these years (it didn't hurt of course, haha). We always had great friendship chemistry-I could learn from her, and she could learn from me. Being the Sex and the City addicts that we were and still are, we always joked in college that we were the real life Carrie and Charlotte.

Life with T in it has been so exciting, and it's definitely heightened now that she is 2 weeks away from having a baby girl! I can't wait to meet her. It feels like just yesterday we were making up dances, having sleep overs, and now we're married and having babies? It's amazing how quickly time passes. But the great thing is, some things never change. As long as T's in my life, I know it will always be fun.

Hope everyone has a great weekend, and stays warm!

An Almost Denim Debacle

My sweet hubby bought me a pair of jeans yesterday. I worked at the GAP for nearly 4 years, so I have more pairs of Long and Leans than I know what to do with, but it's always really nice to have a few new pairs of jeans. One of my girlfriends swears by her sevens, and she looks amazing in them, so I have always wanted to give them a try. While shopping for sunglasses over the weekend, I tried on those jeans for almost an hour. And none of them would fit over my hips! It was pretty heartbreaking.....those sevens are tight! Oh, and are they long! I was breaking a sweat getting into those. I was getting quietly and pathetically emotional in the dressing room, when my hubby threw a few pairs over the top to me. And they fit!!!! It was quite a relief. And again, after working at the GAP for so long and getting such a great discount, it's really hard to pay full price for denim. But my hubby told me I was worth it, and got them for me as a gift. The color is just what I wanted. They are the Bootcut in the London wash.

Does anyone have any favorite brands or stores that they would recommend getting jeans ? I'd love to have a variety of different pairs, and it would be very nice to have a narrowed down list of where to go. And thanks to everyone for their posts recently, I loved reading them. :)

I can see!

For years I have been sporting cheap quality sunglasses that I pick up at either Walmart or a gas station for many reasons. First and foremost because, well I'm too cheap to spend over 30 bucks on them, and second because I could never find the right shape, size, frame, color, etc. Just thinking about all of my options made me stressed out. I truly knew nothing about sunglasses. So after nearly crashing my beloved Jetta into another car yesterday after staring directly into the sun, I knew it was time to take the plunge. After a few stops in the jean, shoe and of course bridal department in Macy's to check out my china :), my hubby and I made our way to find my perfect pair of sunglasses. That poor, poor sales associate. He had no idea what he was getting into. I must have tried on EVERY PAIR that they had in stock. After each pair, I said something along the lines of, "Is this too Kirsten Dunst?" "Do I look like an Olsen twin?" or "I don't think I'm a Top Gun type of gal..." And then I found a pair. They're comfortable, polarized (which still really means nothing to me, but my hubby the outdoorsman says that's a very good thing) and tortouise shell which was one of the things that I knew I wanted. They're made by Maui Jim in the Lagoon style. Now onto finding the perfect pair of jeans......

Mrs. LSL's Cookbook

Being a newly wed, I am still adjusting to making dinner for my hubby every night. I always sit back and wonder, what did I do before? While I was in college, I had 2 roommates so we would make dinner together most of the week or go out for a girls dinner. But now, in the "real world" as everyone keeps referring to it, we don't have the time or the money to go out to dinner as much as I used to. I have been looking everywhere for a great recipe book to hold all of the recipes that I come across and I haven't found anything that I really like. So, I have decided that instead of hanging them on my fridge with a magnet, I am going to create my recipe book! It's going to start out looking really amateur using a plain white binder and dividers, but I'll get fancy eventually. I am dividing them up into sections: 1. Dinner 2. Side Dishes 3. Desserts 4. Party Dishes And.....I can't decide on a 5th divider. Any suggestions??? Or any recipes that anyone can suggest?