The Preppy P

So now that I've struggled for the past month for christmas suggestions to give other people, I finally found something that I love and really want. It is probably too late and my husband is already sick of ideas for Valentine's day. (He has spent his limit already and I keep deferring my other ideas to the next gift-giving holiday)

I just stumbled across this on the Hostess with the Mostess Blog.



These are the coolest monogrammed coasters that I've ever seen. I love all of the patterns and monogram designs. It isn't a bad deal for $80 you get 125 coasters and the lucite tray or you can order just 125 coasters for $50.

So I am finally married and settled in, my most recent project from hell at work has wrapped up and I am ready to get back to blogging a little.

I've given the blog a bit of a facelift. I hope that you like it.

I'll be back soon to post pictures from the wedding, honeymoon, etc.

We leave at 6:55 in the morning for a few days in Mexico. We are staying at the Excellence Riviera Cancun. I can't wait to float around the lazy river with a fruity drink in hand.

We stayed here last year and it was amazing - minus a few issues with the power going out. As a result we got 3 free nights to go back. This will be a little pre-honeymoon for us to get away from the stresses of wedding planning. We both really need it.

We'll be back next week with pictures!!

Here is one from last year. It was so incredible. The backdrop almost looks fake.

So yep, I am officially in my mid-30's and not really liking this so much. I did have a great birthday. Mr. P started the day going and buying me Starbucks and flowers as well as filling my car up with gas (inside joke that I never have gas) We then went furniture shopping.

His parents are buying us this as a wedding present.



My parents are buying us this and a mattress:



After furniture shopping we got lunch and Cold Stone. Oh how I love their Peanut Butter cup Perfection, but alas on a wedding diet I am only allowed to have it on my birthday.

We later met up with my parents to go to dinner at Roy's. It was a nice dinner, not my favorite, but good family time. My parents bought me this with my new monogram on it and loaded the pockets with tennis related items: sunscreen, grips, bug spray, visor, tennis towel, etc. I also got a few other little things.




My sister bought me a few more straps for my switch flops. I can't wait until the kitten heels ones come out.





Mr. P had already bought me a Wii. I am now eyeing the Wii Fit. Hmmm I wonder if my new trainer will consider Wii Fit cardio. I doubt it though.

All in all it was a great birthday weekend. I also found out that I won the 25th Birthday giveaway from Life is a Marathon!!

I am sorry that I haven't been posting much, my life is a bit crazy right now and we are going to Mexico this weekend for a much needed escape and then I have back to back shower weekends. I'll try to keep up and post about everything soon, just bare with me.

I really, really want a seersucker dress to wear to my rehearsal dinner. I have a back up dress from Ann Taylor that I could wear, but I don't really want to. It is silk and we are having a large catered BBQ and silk is a bit dressy.

Here is the Ann Taylor Dress. I fits great and is even my wedding colors as if that mattered.



Here is what I really want (except this dress is way too expensive) But in Pink




Has anyone seen anything seersucker that is cute out right now? I really don't want to spend $300 to find one. It is only cotton seersucker after all.

Running Just as Fast as I can is coordinating a Summer Swap. I am very excited. As a newbie blogger, this seemed like a great way to get to know my fellow bloggers.

She posted these questions yesterday as a way to get to know our swap partners, but I thought that I would be good just to post my answers here as well.


1. Favorite preppy designers? Lilly, Lacoste, Vineyard Vines, JCrew

2. Favorite preppy accessories? My JCrew belts, My pink clutch bag, and my Pink Elephant Houndstooth Lilly bag.

3. Any hobbies? Tennis, wedding planning, cooking and learning Adobe Illustrator

4. Enjoy crafting, if so anything in particular? I do, but I don't do it often enough. I don't do anything in particular. What ever craft I see that inspires me I'll try. My mother is a fabulous crafter: quilts, crochets blankets, pin cushions, etc. I need to get her to teach me to sew.

5. Favorite books/magazines? I am a magazine junkie - you name it I probably read it - Marie Claire, Martha Stewart, Cooks Illustrated, Lucky, Domino, Blueprint(may you rest in peace), Bazaar, Women's Health, Shape, Everyday w/ Rachael Ray, etc. I love books, but haven't read much lately.

6. Any other favorite things? Anything with Peanut Butter or pink.

7. Collect anything? Not really, I do have a rather large collection of giraffes that I've gotten in my travels through the years. I am dying to get a bag made out of that pink giraffe print that is out right now.

8. Any kids/pets? Not yet :) We are waiting until we are married for both.

9. Any allergies? Nope!!

10. Favorite thing to do in the Summer? Have friends over for dinner and grilling out. We'll eat and then hang out on the deck with glasses of Limoncello.

11. What most makes you think of Summer? The beach, the sun, how green everything is right now, Michelob Ultra Lime beer

12. Favorite treat/drink? Reese's Peanut Butter Cups or M&Ms. Red Wine, Limoncello, and Champagne(not in the order or together though)

13. Anything else your partner should know about you? I currently am obsessed with my yard and planting flowers. It has to look good when all the future in laws and their family are in town for the wedding. I have started to buy flowers and have them inside lately too. Mr. P thinks I am going a bit far with all of the flowers :)

I have seen this on many blogs so I decided to jump on the bandwagon too.

Here are my 5 things lists!

5 things I can't live without under $10:
1. Any cheap hand lotion - I keep it everywhere: Car, desk, purse.
2. C. G. Bigelow Mint Lipglosses
3. Starbuck's Skinny Cinnamon Dolce Latte
4. Reese's Peanut Butter Cups
5. Magazines, right now Martha Stewart Weddings, InStyle, MarieClaire, Lucky and Women's Health are my tops - I am a junkie!!

5 Favorite Movies:
1. Indiana Jones - all of them and I can't wait until May 22nd!
2. Top Gun
3. Steel Magnolia's
4. Godfather
5. Recent Favorite - Iron Man - Robert Downey Jr. is so HOT!!

5 favorite girls' names I love but won't use:
1. Dayton
2. Emilia
3. Madison
4. Isabella
5. Sophia (Fiance had a dog named this and refuses)

5 favorite boys' names I love but won't use:
1. Parker
2. Jackson - Jack
3. Aiden
4. Connor
5. Riley

5 songs you could listen to over and over again:
1. All I want is you by U2
2. One By U2
3. Fix You by Coldplay
4. Angels by Robbie Williams
5. Everything by Michael Buble

5 things that stay in my handbag at all times:
1. cell phone
2. itouch
3. wallet
4. lipgloss
5. keys

5 obsessions I have right now:
1. Pandora online music
2. Finding a pair of pink formal shoes with 2 1/2 - 2 3/4 heel for my wedding.
3. Trying not to stalk my registry.
4. Jcrew's Bubble necklace
5. Getting a Clarisonic face cleaner

5 places I'd love to go:
1. African Safari - going in a couple of years
2. Ireland, Scotland, and UK - trip is in the works for next spring
3. Australia
4. Seychelles
5. Phuket, Thailand

I moved into my house about 3 years ago. I bought during early construction phases and picked everything out, customizing it to be perfect. I thought it was such a fun experience. It really is a great neighborhood, with monthly happy hours, summer picnics, huge Halloween parties for kids, but it is very couple/new family oriented. I was always odd man out at the events being single. Unfortunately, since I have been with Mr. P we always have plans during the last few picnics and happy hours. Hopefully, we'll start to attend these events soon as the newly married couple.

The house next door to us has been on the market for 2 years. The original owners decided to get a divorce 3 months after moving in. I never met them and never ever saw them. It has been odd not knowing or even seeing my neighbors. He even lived there while it was on the market and I still never met or saw him over the past 2 years. (yeah the market isn't great, but the house has an odd backyard too)

Well the house finally sold!! The new people moved in a couple of weeks ago, but being the bad neighbor I kept putting off taking something over and welcoming them until it really was too late. Thankfully, they stopped by yesterday to introduce themselves and find out about putting in a fence (Mr. P and I have talked about it, but if they put it in first that is just 1 less side we'll have to pay for :) ) They seem like such a great couple. She is expecting their first baby in about 4 months. We've planned to get together and grill out for dinner in a couple of weeks.

Hopefully, we'll hit it off and be great neighbors/friends. I sound like a silly schoolgirl, but making couple friends is kind of hard. And I've always wanted to live in a great neighborhood, where I know my neighbors and the kids hang out together playing.

Ok, I should settle down and not get so excited, but so far things are looking better than the last neighbors. I promise that I'll bring them dinner and a baby gift over when new baby is born.

I have been ogling the work of a particular artist for years. I discovered his work at a local coffee shop years ago and always tried to figure out where best it would work in my house. After getting engaged, I toyed with the idea of using his note cards as Save the Dates or as table names instead of numbers. Unfortunately, I came up with an equally brilliant Save the Date idea(I'll blog about that later) and then opted not to have assigned seats. I was still searching for a way to incorporate these art works into my wedding. I finally decided that since all but one of my bridesmaids have ties to Atlanta that this artwork would make great Bridesmaid gifts. I could have ordered them online here, but the artist was going to be at the Inman Park Festival so Mr. P and I ventured out in the pouring rain this past Sunday so that I could buy them in person.

My Bridesmaid gift may be a bit random, but they will be items that they will remember and will keep for a long time hopefully. I will be giving them these nice crystal bowls:



And these fabulous vintage styled prints of Atlanta landmarks framed.

Two of my Bridesmaid went to Ga. Tech with me. They will be getting:




One of my Bridesmaids grew up in Atlanta and is an old soul, so I thought she'd love this.



My final 2 bridesmaids will be getting the Atlanta one. My sister will be getting it just because it is a classic. My Future sister in law will be getting it, because if it wasn't for her brother's love of Atlanta, he wouldn't have moved back and we wouldn't have met, fallen in love and decided to get married.



I loved so many of these that I ended up with all of the note card sets and will be framing these for myself. Eventually, I will buy the larger ones when we finish the basement, but the smaller version will have to do for now. Even though I love so many of the prints, I will leave you with my favorite.

Through the process of wedding planning, I stumbled on the great resource that are blogs. I had heard of blogs and even read a few occassionally. I started slowly, reading a couple a day. Before long I was following about 20. Then discovered the wonder that is Google Reader. My blog reading has now grown exponentially. I work in the technology field and try to keep up with the latest, but don't know what took me so long to become obsessed with blogs. I really wonder how I survived without them. I now live vicariously through all of these amazing people, following their lives. I have made some fabulous shopping find. Many of my wedding planning ideas came from blogs as well.

As a result, I decided that I wanted to try blogging myself. I hope that someone else finds my blog interesting and useful, but if not I will at least use this as a way to document my engagement, newly wedded state, and hopefully on through pregnancy and raising kids.

Oh and any advice is definitely welcome. This is a new venture for me and I welcome suggestions and advice!!