Telestrations House Party!

I've been selected to host another House Party. This one is for Telestrations Board Game. If you haven't signed up for House Party yet you should! It's free, you tell them a little about yourself and select the products/categories you are intersted in. And if selected they send you enough products for you and 13-14 guests!

I am so thankful I saw Kim Beiswanger Heyne's blog post on House Party. I love House Party! This will be my second House Party.

My Party Pack!

They sent TWO games, a box of tissues because you will be crying you are laughing so hard, 14 "Mr. Bendie" characters, balloons, coupons, and facemaks.

Telestrations tagline is "The Telephone Game Sketched Out." I remember playing the telephone game. You stood/sat in a line, whispered a word into someone's ear and then that person whispered the word into the person's ear next to them and so on. Then the last person blurted out the word they heard which was not the word you started with. This game is the same. The first person chooses a word and draws it and passes it onto the person next to them. Then person #2 guesses, and writes down the word they think person #1 drew. Person #2 passes it to person #3 and he/she draws what person #2 wrote. Does that make sense? If not check out the Telestrations website they show you how to play the game.

I'm really excited to get my girlfriends over, have some drinks and see what kind of drawings/words we come up with!



Wardrobe Essentials!

My senior year of college my mom took me shopping to get some of the business attire essentials. Blazer, pencil skirt, kitten heel pumps, trouser pants in various colors, classic white button up shirts, etc. When I started my job I dressed up everyday matching accessories to my outfits and then slowly over time fell into my office's more casual attire.

I don't know if it is my new stylish new boss, the fact that I went to NYC last week and will travel for work next month to Vegas, or the fact that it is the summer and  I want to dress cute. Either way I have been bitten by the stylish bug and want to start dressing to impress again! I think this super cute clothing blog- J's Everyday Fashion is helping! She finds clothing images and then trys to re-create them. She also shows you where you can buy similar items for reasonable prices. She is super cute and I love her photos.

Here is a photo from her website.

Photo on the left the one she tried recreating.

So as I was saying- What are Business Attire Essentials every woman should have?

1. A simple flat-front black pant

2. A straight skirt hemmed just below the knee is flattering

3. A dress, fitted and sleeveless, that can be worn with a cardigan

4. A fine-knit sweater; try a bright color that suits you

5. A cardigan: Black is always chic and easy to wear

6. A shell, perhaps in a neutral color

7. A crisp white shirt always looks smart

8. A coat: Stay classic with this item and go with black or gray

9. A classic shoe: A black pump with an elegant heel will go with all of the above

10. A black bag: With black shoes, it's best to go with a black bag; look for a simple style that's not too oversized.

Read more: 10 Work-Wear Essentials - Marie Claire

----- I was going to post photos 1. Of my cute outfit today, and 2. The Essentials everyone should have in their wardrobe but I've been told I've gone over my 1GB of photos. Has this happened to anyone else? No photos? What will I do with my blog?! -------

I would say I have all of the essentials besides a black bag. I now need the fun accessories and and a few pieces of pop and color to make things fun.



New York Was Amazing!

I wanted to share some of my photos with you as I'm trying to catch up at work, and at home.

The hotel we stayed at for the week.

My king size bed!

Today Show!

Kenny Chesney performing for "Toyota Summer Concert Series" at the Today Show.

Times Square

View from the Manhattan Penthouse

Chez Josephine Restaurant

Central Park view.

Project Runway Love! Parsons School for Design

World Trade Center site.

My Last Post...

Until June 25!

Don't worry I will be back. I will be flying out to New York on Monday for work. I can't believe it is here already! I will be there Monday through Friday. Monday we get in around 2:30 and we head over to set up our booth for the HBA Global tradeshow. It sounds like my co-worker Sheila and I will go out for dinner just the two of us that night. Tuesday we work the Trade Show and go out to eat Tuesday night with the owner of CIS-Frenkel. Wednesday we work the Trade Show and then leave a little early so I can help set up for our CITY Awards dinner. We have guest Speaker Janet Gurwitch, founder of Laura Mercier Cosmetics. Thursday we work the Trade Show and pull it down around 3pm and then we will go to a Musical and out to dinner. Friday I'm hoping to cram in as much site-seeing I can before flying back to Chicago. Saturday I'm heading home to Wisconsin for the Relay 4 Life and then drive back to Illinois Sunday. Phew what a week!

I will post all about my amazing trip when I get back!

Flyper

Spa Day!

Yesterday was team building/spa day for my work. We went to the Hilton Spa in Bloomingdale, Illinois for a girls day. I had a stress relieving massage and a mimosa. Vance and Lisa got a facial. Pam, Cathy and Sheila got massages and Marilyn got a mani/pedi. We then all met in the pool to unwind with more drinks and appetizers. Sheila told my boss Pam that I used to swim so she challenged me to a butterfly race off. She won- but only because I was losing my swim suit! Rematch in New York Pam! Next time I'm bringing my racing suit. I then said we had to put together a medly race (back stroke, breast, fly, and free.) Pam and I were captains. Since we were an odd number Pam volunteered to go twice. Pam chose Sheila and Lisa. I had Marilyn, Cathy and Vance on my team. I got everyone in place and Pam called out the ready, set, go. I pushed off real hard to get a nice lead for my team and once again my bikini bottom almost fell so I failed at getting us a lead. There was a lot of cheating, but we managed to win! We then cooled down in the hot tub.

We got dressed and then went to the restaurant attached to the hotel for more drinks, appetizers and salads. It was really great to get to know my co-workers in a different setting other than work. I had a wonderful time and can't wait until next year's team building exercise!

Donate For A Cure!

Good Morning Blogging Friends. Today's post is about Relay 4 Life. My family and I will be walking June 23rd  for team Walgreens, my brother and my mom's friend Marylou. We are walking at the Wisconsin Heights high school track in Black Earth, Wisconsin. If you would like to join us or donate you can visit Torey's page.  Torey has a goal of $100. We will be there all day/night so if you are in the Madison area stop by!

It is crazy to think it has been a year already since we walked. This was my post on it last year.

Torey's progress: Torey had his 6 month checkup and is in remission. He won't have to go back to the doctors until December! Thank you for your support!



I Did It!

Can you believe I have been blogging for a year?? June 6 last year was my first blog. I knew I started blogging in June but couldn't remember the date and sure enough I hit my year mark last week! Thank you to everyone who has continued to click on my page and read my post. I feel like I started off pretty good really trying to fill my blog with a mix of art, marketing, books I was reading and flowers. I feel like I quickly became more busy and had less time to blog so my posts became more of what I liked and what I was finding. I guess I will spend this week really debating if I want to continue blogging and if I do how often and what I really want this blog to be.

What do you think blogging friends should I continue with my blog? What posts did you like best?

TGIF! Graduation Weekend

TGIF! It is going to be a gorgeous weekend! Are you ready? I will be driving straight to Wisconsin after work today. I am looking forward to a weekend back home. I feel like it has been MONTHS since I was home last. When it was actually only one month. I'm hoping to grill out tonight, tomorrow doing a little shopping for my NYC trip for work and then my cousin Taylor's Graduation Party in Stoughton. I should look for outfits ideas.

The items I have:
-Black Blazer
-Black Pants
-Black Skirt
-White Pants
-White Skirt
-Brown Skirt
-Khaki Pants
-Pink Sweater
-White Sweater

Ok things to buy/match with my items:

Hmm Blue Blazer?

The Budget Babe

Pink?

A Lucky Fifth

Haute Off The Rack

Gorgeous!

Polyore

I love this one too although I'm not sure I could do all of those ruffles.

Polyvore

I'm not sure I have a gray skirt.

Polyvore

Professionality

What I Would Love To Be Doing Today!

Kayak.com

Ahhh doesn't this look amazing. Where would you like to be today?

Recipe: Smores!

Easy Baked

I found this image yesterday on Pinterest called 'Frozen Smores" and I just knew what my recipe blog post was going to be on! Smores! :) The pudding and crumb bottom are making my mouth water. I may have to make this for dessert this weekend while I am back home at my parents!

INGREDIENTS:

• 18 graham cracker squares (9 sheets)
• 1/3 c. butter
• 1/2 c. milk chocolate chips
• 1/4 c. whipping cream
• 2 c. mini marshmallows
• 1 1/2 c. cold milk
• 1 box (4 servings, 3.9 oz)instant chocolate pudding
• 1 (8 oz) container of Cool Whip (thawed in fridge)
• 1/4 c. mini chocolate chips (as topping)

DIRECTIONS

• Crush graham crackers into fine crumbs.
• Melt butter and add to graham crackers, mixing until well combined to make crust.
• Prepare pan by placing disks into the bottom of each cup.
• Evenly divide crust mixture into all 12 cups, saving about 1/4 cup to use as topping later. (I used a Mini Tart Shaper to press crumbs firmly into the bottom of each cup).
• Place milk chocolate chips and whipping cream into a small bowl and microwave in 30 second increments, stirring in between, until melted and smooth.
• Spoon chocolate into a zip top bag, cut a tip off and evenly pipe chocolate into the center of each cup, on top of the crust.
• Divide Marshmallows among cups.
• Mix cold milk with pudding on medium speed for 2 minutes. Fold in 1/2 of the Cool Whip container (the rest will be used as topping).
• Spoon filling into a large zip top bag (and ZIP it or you might have a mess!) Clip a corner off and pipe pudding into each cup evenly. Try to pipe it in between the marshmallows so that the whole cup is filled. I did have a little left over (which was really tasty straight out of the bag!)
• Use a knife to smooth the tops level with the top of the pan.
• Freeze for at least a couple of hours.
• Allow the pan to warm just a bit before popping each dessert cup out. Poke a finger up through the hole in the bottom of the pan and grab that s’mores cup by its crust. Remove the disk from the bottom and you are ready to add topping.
• For topping, I just piped a little bit of the left over Cool Whip on each dessert using a decorating tip. Then I sprinkled the remaining crust and mini chocolate chips on top.
• Serve cold right away– or put them in a sealed container and freeze until you are ready to serve.

Source: http://easybaked.net/2012/03/15/frosty-smore-cups/

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Smores Bar by Inspired By Design

Hostess

Smores Cupcakes by The Beachside Baker

Smores Parfait by About.com

Wedding Invitations Inspiration

As my college friend's wedding is fastly approaching you will probably see more wedding posts from me. She has asked me to help her come up with ideas for her wedding invitation. She is having a small outdoor wedding August 25th Irvine Park in Eau Claire, Wisconsin. Her colors are granny smith apple green and brown. With that in mind let's see what we can find for wedding invitations:

Invites Designer

M.Z Designs

This one is fun with all text.

Invitation Crush

Do-It-Yourself Invitations

Invitations Flash

Paper Olive

Paper Olive

Oh So Beautiful Paper

4 My Brides

Ok Julia does this give you enough to get started?

Apparently I am feeling the botanical/plant look! But that shouldn't really surprise anyone.