Monday, April 9, 2012

Adding some COLOR to your day!

As our weather begins to warm up in my part of the country, I daydream of hot and sunny days at the beach.  We are lucky enough to live 2 miles (at most) from the beach and live there during the summer months.  I just wish we could start a little earlier than Memorial Day which marks the official beginning of summer here.

As soon as the weather changes even slightly, out come the flip flops at my house.  I despise wearing shoes and LOVE the days I can slip on my favorite pair of Havianas.
If you are not familiar with Havianas...you are MISSING OUT.  They are THE most comfortable flip flops you will EVER wear.  They are imported from Brazil and they can be found at tons of different stores and online stores.   Here are a few of my favorites for this season.
And my favorite...
They range in price from $26 to over $200 for the extremely fancy ones.  I know even $26 seems like a lot for flip flops, but TRUST me....once you've worn them you won't want anything else.  They even have them for kids.  How cute are these?


I'm obviously in the market for some gold toned flip flops this year because they go with everything.   We'll see where I end up.  I just cannot decide.

Once the flip flops come out, it's also time for some pedicures to add some COLOR to my otherwise pale skin and toes.   I've become slightly obsessed with nail polish this winter since I finally stopped biting my nails after 20+ years of biting.  I'm loving the new accessory of painted nails!  Here are some fun new colors I'm loving for summer for both fingers and toes.

From Essie's Resort collection

"She's Picture Perfect"....so fun and has a little shimmer.

And a darker color...."No More Film"

From Essie's Luxeffects collection
"As Gold As It Gets"....LOVE!  Although, I'd like to see it on someone else first...lol

OPI's site is so cool.  You can preview what it each color would look like on someone's hand.  Fun and interactive!  And I love their themed collections.

My daughter is all about Nicki Minaj's "Fly" color.   

She had it done with none other than her favorite zebra stripes on her toes when I took her and her best friend for her friend's birthday.



And here were her friend's toes.  I love the pink and orange.
 alternating toes with white zebra.  You can really get creative at 10 years old.

I also love the surf and beach collections  by Zoya...
I'm going on Saturday so we'll see where I end up.  I'm leaning towards this fun Essie color "Watermelon".

Or Essie's "Bermuda Shorts".  What do you think?

I found some other really creative ideas for fun nails if you are more daring than I.  Check these out!







And my favorite....subtle.  I must have gold on my mind between the nail colors and flip flops.

I'd love to hear about some of your own ideas for fun colors or nail art...I need some inspiration!

Poshed Up

















Sunday, April 8, 2012

A Hoppy Easter to ALL!

We had a wonderful Easter with my in laws and our little family.   We had a great brunch of omelets, lox and bagels, bacon and of course TONS OF EASTER CANDY.  For this one day, and this one day only, I allowed candy to be a meal....well sort of.  My rule was that after breakfast it could be counted as brunch.   Crazy I know, but I remember myself getting an Easter basket full of candy and wanting to eat it all.

The best part is that once the sugar burned off...we had a great nap time this afternoon.  We had beautiful sunny weather and were able to have an outdoor egg hunt and spend hours playing outside with our new toys including a Power Rangers water shooter from the very generous Easter bunny!

Speaking of the Easter bunny...he was very kind to the little people of our house.  Here is the basket for the little boy of the house.  It's a good thing he can't read and see that the Easter bunny bought the Easter tablet at CVS...lol


And for the little lady...



Surprisingly, the toys were far more exciting than the candy this year...I guess I did well.  In previous years, they were ALL about candy and nothing else.   The Easter bunny sure scored this year.  My little guy is over the moon with his Power Ranger Zord (if you have a PR fan you totally know what this is, if not, you think I'm crazy that I do...lol) and my daughter was sooooo excited with the book.  So fitting for their personalities.

Here's what my little guy's basket looked like withing 5 mins....grass in garbage, eggs sorted and toys open. Oh, and of course right in front of the door for someone to trip over...lol


I did some simple table decorations this year because it was just a few of us and brunch, but I still wanted something pretty and festive.  I used an old hand-me-down tablecloth from my mom that was handmade.  I can't remember if she made it or my grandmother (sorry, mom that I'm not giving proper credit...I love it just the same!)  It has hand stitched purple flowers so I tried to tie in a little purple and green.

I used my light green and cream colored dishes from my Southern Living at HOME days...so basic and beautiful.  I mixed and matched them all together.



My favorite bunnies and sequins eggs from this post relocated themselves to the table and I added some tulip shaped crystal candlesticks.

Apparently I never found any new napkins since I cleaned out my hall closet and purged so many old ones...oops.  So....paper was all I had on hand and I had nothing festive because I was sure I had some.  Ooops!  So...I needed to add a little more color and I came up with these festive place cards.  They were easy.

Here's how to make your own.  Supplies - construction paper, glue, silver sharpie, fake gemstone.

Step 1: Cut out 2 flower shapes in two different sizes in the colors to work with your theme.

Step 2: Stack the smaller sized on top of the larger and glue.

Step 3: Cut out leaf shape and label with each name.

Step 4:  Glue leaf in place on side of flower and gemstone in middle! Voila!

I think they added a little color to our table!   They were a big hit!

I also wanted to do something fun for the kids.  Since I didn't have fabric napkins I couldn't make the cute bunny napkins I mentioned HERE.  So, I did the best I could with a paper napkin.

I also made the cute cups I mentioned HERE on a clear cup.

Cute kids' table setting.

After a wonderful brunch and some nice naps, we changed out of our "poshed up" Easter clothes and into some comfy clothes to play.  
Here's my favorite Power Ranger at play.


I hope you had a wonderfully HOPPY Easter with your family and loved ones.

Oh....and apologies for the poor picture quality.  They are all from my phone.  My new camera is supposed to arrive this week...I cannot wait!

Poshed Up

Friday, April 6, 2012

A beautiful Easter table...

I shared some fun ideas for some special Easter treats for the kids yesterday HERE...and I mentioned that I was going to share some ideas for decorating for the kids' table if you have one and I completely forgot.  So today....I will share some great ideas to decorate a festive Easter table for the kids as well as the big people table (as we call it at our house).

I've said it before and I still stand by it....food tastes better on a beautiful table.  Not sure why, but I truly believe it.

What kid wouldn't LOVE this festive place setting at their Easter meal?


This adorable place setting is actually from a "Peter Rabbit" birthday party, but it totally lends itself to Easter.

Look at these adorable bunny cups...

And these bunny and chick cups and bunny straws are pretty darn cute too...

What kid wouldn't be excited over these adorable chick and bunny juice boxes that my friend Tina made?  So darn creative!


And I just adore these...carrot cutlery!  There's even a tutorial if you click on the link below the photo.

I think it's fun to add some special treats to the kid's table to get them excited to sit and eat.  At our house the kids just want to play, play, play and need the incentive to sit still for a meal.  So here's some fun ideas...

These bunnies would be cute as place cards too...filled with small toys or candy.

Or these sweet little flower cups would be great too...

How about a super easy centerpiece just for the kids made from plastic eggs?   

Speaking of plastic eggs...these would be fun for the kids to play with.  
I love the idea of placing them back in an empty egg carton!

While we're on the topic of centerpieces, I found some really creative ideas for your main table or counter for Easter.  I love tons of color this time of year and pretty flowers would be just as beautiful.  I shared a few great flower arrangements ideas HERE too.

I love these ideas...

This one is super simple...plastic eggs, a vase, and either fake or real pussy willows or other branches or greenery.


The next few all have fresh flowers and either candy or something else decorating the vase.  The key to success with these is to use a vase inside a vase.

These look like real eggs, but of course you could use fake as well.

This is just fun...and super colorful and tulips and daffodils are crazy cheap this time of year.

As much as I hate peeps...these next two are a great use of them...lol


I love this candy topiary and imagine you could re-use it....afterall, it's just candy right.  That's assuming no one tries to eat it!

As I've mentioned previously, everyday food items make GREAT decorating ideas.  Mother Nature has given us so much natural color so why not use it.
How about this one?


Check out these gorgeous tables set-ups for an Easter meal.  Maybe you don't have to go all out like some of these, but I like to take ideas for different ones I see to create my own.

What I love about the ones I'm showing are:  use of Spring colors, the mix and match and the use of every foods and items to add color to the table (ie. eggs, flowers).

The little cups full of jelly beans adds just a touch of color.

Small touches of color...

The candles and use of the mirror for reflection are so beautiful.

Simple and pretty with flowers and eggs.

And I have to try these....so cute!


What table would be complete without some festive place cards?  

Super simple and homemade...right up my alley.  

Another cute idea for a peep since I'm not planning on eating them.

Simple and beautiful.

And I think this idea is BRILLIANT....chalkboard paint on eggs.  LOVE!

And lastly, a paper flower.

I hope some of these ideas inspire you for your big and little people tables for Easter.

Poshed Up