Beach read

I ran by Barnes and Noble tonight to grab a book to read on the cruise. There were so many good choices, but I ended up with Dixieland Sushi by Cara Lockwood. It's about a girl who grew up in a small southern town and moved up north for work. She then gets an invite to her cousin's wedding and discovers she is marrying her former love interest. She realizes she must find a fabulous date for the wedding and and invites a friend from work who just so happens to have a girlfriend who is her friend as well. They head down to Dixie and sparks fly. Along the way, Jen discovers and comes to terms with her heritage, her love life and herself.

     Sounds good to me! 

I have also read this book by the same author. It was a cute one! 

Has anyone else read these books or any others by Lockwood?

** Countdown begins til I'll lay beachside with a book in my hand and my toes in the sand!!! :)

Pretty toes!

I leave in just a few days for the cruise and I'm definitely overdue for a pedicure. There's nothing like kicking off a vacation with freshly painted toes! I am thinking bright and tropical. 

I love this flamingo pink color: Feelin' Hot Hot Hot.

A neutral for my nails: Sand in my Suit. 

The beachy names make me excited already for some fun in the sun!! I'm sure my toes and nails would love to be sporting these colors.  

{Images, opi.com} 

Arnold Palmer

In honor of the Arnold Palmer Invitational at Bay Hill Club and Lodge in Orlando this weekend, here are Arnold Palmer cupcakes! I am a big fan of the drink - half iced tea, half lemonade - so I bet these lemon and tea infused cupcakes are delicious as well. 

Ingredients:

1 cup milk

5 black tea bags

1 cup unsalted butter

2 cups sugar

4 large eggs

1/2 tsp grated lemon zest

1 tsp fresh lemon juice

2 1/2 cups flour

3/4 Tbsp baking powder

3/4 tsp salt

Frosting recipe to follow

In a small saucepan over medium heat, heat milk until hot to the touch. Place tea bags in hot milk and let steep for 15 to 20 minutes. Remove and discard tea bags. Let milk cool. 

Preheat oven to 350. Line 2 12-cup muffin pans with liners. 

In a large bowl, beat butter and sugar at medium speed with an electric mixer until creamy. Beat in eggs 1 at a time, beating well after each addition. Add 1/2 cup milk and tea mixture, lemon zest and lemon juice. Mix well. 

In a medium bowl combine flour, baking powder and salt. Gradually add dry mix into the wet ingredients. 

Spoon prepared batter evenly into muffin cups. Bake for 20 to 22 minutes. 

Arnold Palmer Frosting

1 cup unsalted butter, softened

2 cups confectioners sugar, divided

1/2 cup reserved milk/tea mixture

1 tsp fresh lemon juice

In a large bowl, beat butter at a medium speed until creamy. Gradually beat in confectioners sugar alternately with tea/milk mixture slowly. Beat in lemon juice until creamy.

Paula piped the frosting on hers and stuck in a pink straw. Too cute! A lemon slice or even a gummy candy that looks like a lemon slice would be cute to top the cupcakes with as well. Enjoy and have a fabulous Saturday!

{Recipe: Paula Deen. Image: foodnetwork.com}

Lucky girl!

Thank you SO much for all the Happy Birthday wishes!! You all are too kind and I am overwhelmed by how sweet and thoughtful you all are. Thank you thank you for making me smile!!

   I had an absolutely wonderful birthday!!! T. and I had the best time at Disney and it was so fun to be carefree and young at heart for the day. We went on just about every ride and saw the majority of the shows. A good friend of mine is one of the featured dancers in Beauty and the Beast and I was so exited to see her dance! She came out afterwards to say hi and I was just thrilled. I also got to go on my favorite ride, Rock 'N Roller Coaster, three times and had a wonderful birthday lunch at Brown Derby (the BEST cobb salad) and a birthday dinner at the Sci-Fi Diner. Both were fabulous and I got yummy desserts. We topped the day off by watching the fabulous Fantasmic lights/fireworks show. Yay! Here are a few shots of us at the Sci-Fi and in front of Mickey's sorcerers hat.  

It's just like a drive-in theater and you sit in cars!

The best surprise of all was my present from T. I'm going on a cruise to the Bahamas next weekend!! I am SO excited and cannot wait! I found out before yesterday so my mom and I were already shopping away last weekend :)  I am such a lucky girl! I also got such fabulous presents from my parents as well. I am truly blessed and so thankful to have such wonderful people in my life. Yay for 25!

25 on the 25th!!

Happy Birthday to me!! I am 25 today. And guess what! I'm going back to Disney to celebrate. I decided to take advantage of the get in free on your birthday offer and am off to be the birthday princess at Hollywood Studios. I hope the other princesses don't mind ;) My boyfriend is going with me and I can't wait for a day filled with fun, laughter and sunshine. I just love birthdays! I am off to celebrate being 25!!   

Tuesday musings

It is a busy day in the office dear readers! Later this afternoon I'm headed to the Boys & Girls Club and then off to a Junior League meeting tonight. I do enjoy being busy! The best of all is that tomorrow is my birthday and I've taken the day off work. :) 

I'll leave you with this quote I have on a magnet in my cubicle:

Live with intention.

Walk to the edge.

Listen hard.

Practice wellness.

Play with abandon.

Laugh.

Choose with no regret.

Continue to learn.

Appreciate your friends.

Do what you love.

Live as if this is all t here is.

— Mary Anne Radmacher

I hope this encouragement adds a little sunshine to your day!

Fun weekend!!

Hi and happy Monday! I had a fabulous weekend with my mom. It was just too fun! We had a great day at Disney on Friday and went to Magic Kingdom and Epcot to see the Flower and Garden Festival - what gorgeous things they had on display. Saturday and Sunday were filled with pool time, enjoying the resort, a movie and lots of shopping. It was a great girl's weekend and I was sad it flew by so fast. Here are a few pictures of the flower and garden festival.  

Aurora (Sleeping Beauty) and her prince

My mom and I in front of the castle.

I'm wearing the birthday button they give you :) 

The adorable ostriches and their pretty pink bows.

These are for you Muffy!

All in all it was such a fabulous pre-birthday celebration and more to come on my real birthday Wednesday. My mom is the best and so good to me. I can't wait to go home for Easter to see her again and my dad and sister! 

Have a great start to your week!!

Pre-birthday celebration!

My birthday is next Wednesday so my mom is coming to visit me for the weekend to celebrate a little early. Her flight gets in tonight and I cannot wait!! We are going to Disney tomorrow and will spend the weekend enjoying the pool, shopping and other fun things. I am very excited!

We are staying here: The Swan and Dolphin. Our favorite! It's great because you can walk to the Boardwalk and you can even walk to Epcot and Hollywood Studios. 

I'm taking a break from posting while I'm on this mini-vaca. Have a great weekend! See you real soon! Just like Mickey says :) 

Award time!

Thanks so much to Pink Maple Design and Pink, Green and Southern for passing along this award to me and making me smile. Be sure to stop by their fabulous blogs!

7 Things I Love:

1. Pedicures in a bright spring color

2. Junior League

3. Spring and all it brings - sunny days, my birthday, Easter

4. Reading fabulous books

5. Disney World!!

6. Cupcakes - love 'em

7. Sundresses & headbands

Since many of you have already received this award, I pass it along to anyone who hasn't. Have a fabulous day and I'll be back later!

Bunny love!

Growing up, I had such a love for Beatrix Potter and Peter Rabbit. Loved that bunny! I still have my Peter Rabbit tea set and other cute items. My mom has always had a love of bunnies as well and we have lots of bunny things at my family's house. I get excited around Easter when I see them and their cute fluffy tails! I have always loved Easter-time, especially because it's usually around my birthday and it means spring is here. Of course it means so much more too; what a special time of year. Here are some fabulous Peter Rabbit and other bunny items!

The Peter Rabbit items are from Pottery Barn Kids and the Easter egg plates and ceramic bunnies are from Pottery Barn. Too cute for an Easter celebration!

{Images: potterybarnkids.com, potterybarn.com}

Wear green!

Happy St. Patrick's Day!! I hope you are all wearing your green. I sure am. Have a lucky day and hope you find that pot of gold at the end of the rainbow!

Here is a little green craft for you. Using a heart-shaped rubber stamp, create shamrocks on anything from cards to napkins or even fun placemats. Draw the stem on with a colored pencil or marker. Pictured here are swizzle sticks made out of cardstock cut into little stickers and glued onto a skewer. Perfect to stick in a drink or to jazz up fruit kebabs. Stamp shamrocks onto napkins as well and whip up a fun St. Patrick's Day meal. Thanks Martha!   

I will leave you with this Irish blessing:

Wishing you a rainbow

For sunlight after showers

Miles and miles of Irish smiles

For golden happy hours

Shamrocks at your doorway

For luck and laughter too

And a host of friends that never ends

Each day your whole life through

- islandireland.com

{All images, marthastewart.com}

P.S. A big thanks to everyone for the happy 100 wishes!! Thanks for making me smile! Sorry for being MIA - big deadline at work and will post when I can. Have a great day!

100!!

Happy 100th post to me!! Since starting up the blog this past November, I have really loved being a part of this amazing community, "meeting" you all and sharing all the fabulous things that make us smile. Thanks for reading and joining in on my adventures.

XOXO,

The Pink Tutu

P.S. A giveaway will certainly be in the works soon!

Let's toast!

Let's raise our glasses to the Lilly Pulitzer 50th Anniversary celebration on the Martha Stewart Show today! A key lime mojito to be exact. I am wearing a Lilly dress today in honor of the show and I am there in spirit in my pink and green. The delicious recipe is posted here. Have a lovely Lilly day! 

{Image, lillypulitzer.com. Recipe, Essentially Lilly}

Yay Elon!

While reading my Elon University magazine I discovered that Lisa Goldstein, who plays Millicent on One Tree Hill, is an Elon grad!! How exciting! She was a senior when I was a freshman and I probably came across her at some point - small school and the theater majors, which she was, had to take dance classes (dance was my minor). I was excited to find out that she was the co-founder of Sweet Signatures, an amazing all female a cappella group and she was Nemo in the Finding Nemo musical here at Disney, so I probably saw her in that as well. I think she does such a great job playing Milly on One Tree Hill. Small world!  

A week of JL!

How fast the weekends go! I must say it was a good one. I spent Saturday in Winter Park volunteering at a Junior League event. My chapter does a Fit-and-Fun Fest on behalf of Kids in the Kitchen. It was great! There were booths set up having to do with all kinds of things like kids nutrition, fun exercise for kids, cooking demonstrations and all those good 'ol kid things like face painting and hula-hoop contests. It was the perfect spring day in the park. I also had a chance to finally see He's Just Not That Into You. I thought it was too cute and funny! I liked how everyone was connected. I spent Sunday helping T and his brother fix up their house and topped it off with a visit to the hot tub last night. 

   Tomorrow night I have my second provisional meeting. I am excited to see what we'll be doing! Wednesday night I'll be going to the Ronald McDonald house to serve dinner to the families there with my provisional class and Saturday I'll be getting my hours in at the Bargain Box, which is a thrift store my chapter runs. What fun what fun, I am loving Junior League! 

Perfume Tag!

The ever lovely Queen Bee Swain has tagged me to share my favorite perfumes. What fun! Here are four of my favorite scents.

Last summer I picked up Missoni Acqua. The variety I have is the above refillable purse spray that also comes with a refill. It is the perfect size to throw in my purse or travel bag and I don't have to worry about it breaking. It has a wonderful scent! 

It is described as dewy greens - fresh grapefruit, vibrant bergamot, juicy melon, sensual narcisse, sparkling blues - crisp muguet, velvety violet, blue freesia, voluminous peony, and crystal turquoise - tuscan iris, petaly jasmine and sole. 

Their quote says it all - "A Missoni Woman lives with passion - for style, for love, for family, for life." 

This Christmas I was so excited to open the Lilly perfume in Wink!! I absolutely love it and it smells so amazing. I am hoping to add the other scents to my collection as well. 

"Wear pink and make the boys wink." Enough said.

Another favorite of mine is Stila Jade Blossom. The bottle is adorable enough on its own with real hand-pressed dried flowers and the scent is a lovely floral. 

It is described as a fresh crisp blend of green tea, cucumber and lemon verbena.

And last but not least is Burberry Brit. 

It is described as a classic blend of Italian lime, icy pear, sugared almonds, white peony, green almond, amber, mahogany, vanilla, and tonka bean.

Their quote says, "The Brit girl embodies the playful British spirit of individuality. She's outrageous, but always charming."

  I tag whoever wants to play. Fill us in with your favorite scents!

Wheel of Fortune tonight!!!

Tonight my coworker is on Wheel of Fortune!!! It's at Sea World this week. How fun! If you watch, his name is Eric. I hope he wins! He's a writer so he should do well :) I will definitely have to tune in.

Take me away . . .

How cute are these makeup/traveling bags from Sephora? So perfect for a tropical getaway! Things have been so super busy with work and other things. I have not forgotten about you dear readers! I could certainly use a tropical getaway though and would happily pack my things in these bags.

Sephora Brand Moroccan Sunrise Gold and White Bags

Sephora Brand Moroccan Sunrise Brush Set

**Have a wonderful day everyone!**

Pretty in Pink

If you can't tell already, I am so ready for spring. It is my very favorite season! Easter bunnies, pastels, flowers blooming, warm sunny days — I am ready. Here are some gorgeous pastel pink items from J. Crew. The cotton candy-colored sundress, double-stranded pink necklace, pink and green bow clutch and gorgeous pale pink bag are all calling my name. I guess it's a good thing I have a birthday coming up in March (the 25th), right after spring's arrival :)    

{All images jcrew.com)

A quick update

I'm back from my quick trip to Chicago! Thanks so much for all the good luck wishes. I had a difficult time getting there, was supposed to get in at 7 and unfortunately the plane did not arrive until after 11. I had a couple hours delay before leaving, but then once on the plane a 2 1/2 hour flight turned into a 4 1/2 hour flight. Not fun! I felt so trapped. After that I had to go pick up my rental car and try to navigate myself to the hotel, late at night in a strange city. Of course I forgot my directions so luckily my parents saved the day and looked them up for me. And of course the morning of the trip I woke up sick and am still fighting a cold. It was an adventure for sure! 

   Despite the initial trouble, the actual work part of the trip went fabulous! Beth Daniel was so nice and I had a great time interviewing her and meeting other people at the press conference. I also got to see snow flurries while I was there. Yay! And lucky me, my flight was perfectly on time on the way back. I only wish I could have seen the city. Next time for sure. That is all for now in the adventures of The Pink Tutu! Catch ya later . . .