New Segment: "Jessie's Piperlime Pick of the Week"

Okay my dear Readers (I just had to resist the urge to call you Lucky Stoners, hah! Doesn't quite sound right.), first and foremost I must thank those of you who wrote such encouraging comments on yesterday's post about the fashion show. I got to see them all via my blackberry as I was getting my hair and makeup done, and they really made me smile! I am sorry to say that I won't be posting any pictures or video here today because I'm still doing some editing, but I promise that you will get a full recap sometime next week.

For today's post, I'd like to introduce a new Lucky Stone segment called "Jessie's Piperlime Pick of the Week."

Why, you ask? Easy. Piperlime.com has fabulously chic shoes (you know I loooove me some shoes), a huge selection of styles, FREE shipping (whoooaaa, Nelly), FREE returns (are you kidding me?), a rockin' PR department (shout out to my Shoe Guardian Angel - WOOT WOOT!), great sale prices, and in my experience, have been the world's perfect example of what retail customer service should look like.

Since I like to shop (a LOT - like, I'd probably be living in a tiny cardboard box with a really BIG cardboard box to hold all my shoes and clothes if I didn't have a husband and animal-babies to support), and due to the fact I would go bankrupt in approximately two days if I bought every thing my little heart desired, I am going to present YOU with some pretty little picks on Piperlime so that YOU can buy them and I can live vicariously through you... get it?!?

Starting today...

Kenneth Cole Reaction "Lucky Duck" - $56.99 SALE!

You'd be a lucky lady to snatch up this pair of dark brown leather t-straps!

(Note: T-straps = My FAVE!)

A great choice for work or night, these puppies would transition nicely from the office to happy hour. I'm envisioning them with a navy, high waisted pencil skirt and a blousey white top. Finish the look with a dark brown belt, and some layered gold accessories and you've got yourself a saucy little ensemble!

... I'll Do My Little Turn on the Catwalk!

Nathan's spectacular sketch

The past several weeks at the office, I have been working with a few of my favorite coworkers on a very fun (and very out-of-the-ordinary) project. The architectural/interior design firm that I work at was invited to enter a local fashion design fundraiser (- think Project Runway).

Our fabric + pictures of our vision for make-up/hair

We had to put together a team of four (I'm the model... Work It!) and were paired up with an interiors company who supplied us with our materials. Ours happened to be wall coverings/upholstery fabric, but some teams had to use carpet and even tile! The organizers of the competition assigned us the colors that we had to use (see ours below), but other than that, we have had free range in designing and creating our piece. I think we did a pretty great job, I mean we're not Christian Sirianos, and we probably could have used a little help from Tim Gunn, but overall it turned out to be a fierce little number, and I think we'll probably make it work (Guinness Book of World Records - most PR references used in one sentence EVAH)!

The beginnings of the woven bodice

The actual event is tonight and since I am assuming that everyone is finished constructing their designs, I am going to go ahead and post some fun pictures of our creative process. Just a sneak peak of the final product! I'm hoping we get some great shots tonight at the show, because I can't wait to share them!

A close-up shot of the finished skirt

I'll be taking the afternoon off to go do my modeling duties...

(please say a prayer that I don't pull a Carrie Bradshaw)

...and I hope everyone has a lovely, fashionable day!

Sipping Summer

"Little Pitcher" Original Painting by Etsy seller Polly Jones

Everyday, I think about how incredibly excited I am that Summer seems to be so rapidly approaching.

Long, warm, sun-filled days... bright citrus-y sunset-y colors... and possibly my favorite indicator that the cold winds have finally passed - dining al fresco!

Eating outdoors is one of my greatest pleasures in life, and I can't wait to start entertaining (small groups at a time, of course) on our tiny little balcony. One of the ways to best kick off an outdoor dinner party, is by serving the perfect outdoor-cocktails, of course!

Yesterday, I came across some really fantastic-sounding drink recipes (on an absolutely smashing blog that I read regularly called, In(side) the Loop) that I just couldn't help but share.

Pitcher of Pimm's
"Pimm's No. 1 is Gin based with hints of citrus and spice that's almost impossible to mess up. Take one bottle of Pimm's No. 1 and pour into a pitcher. Add a few mint leaves, cucumber slices, orange slices, sliced strawberries [or any seasonal fruits], and a few squeezes of fresh lemon. Add ice and finish with ginger beer or ginger ale. Perfectly refreshing for a backyard BBQ."

Pitcher of Lillet Blanc
"Lillet is a French Aperitif made from a blend of wine, liqueurs, fruits and herbs. One bottle of Lillet, one glass pitcher, one sliced orange. Soda or ginger ale optional. Instant party!"

They sound absolutely delish! Can't wait to try these, and if you get to it before I do... please fill me in on how it goes!!!

My Weekend in Pictures

The weekend began with us putting on our most Dorothy-worthy-shoes we could find (and drinking a pitcher of Sangria) to help us brave the incredible storm on Thursday night. We were SO excited to watch The Office together, but it had to wait until the next day because of all the severe weather alerts. There were windows rattling, 85 mph winds, tornado sirens blaring, dogs blowing away (not mine, thankfully)...

Of course, the next day was beautiful and sunny and we shopped all day! I got to show Sara some of my fave shops in KC - Good Ju Ju (great treasure hunting), Arizona Trading Company (kind of like Buffalo Exchange), and the best: Bon Bon Atelier!

By the time we headed home it was 3 or 4 and we hadn't eaten since breakfast! After a quick stop to PetSmart for little Remy's treats, we were seriously tempted to start scarfing them down (ok, to be fair, they are made of blueberries and some sort of sugary goodness, and they smell amazing!).

Fashion show for G!
(After living together for four years, we can FINALLY buy the same items and not have to worry about an embarrassing roomatey-match-match situation.)
Vests and shirts by Sarah Jessica Parker's Bitten @ Steve and Barry's

Saturday was our All-Day Shopping Marathon 2, on the Country Club Plaza.

Sunday after church, we all walked to the park for some much needed S-U-N!

Mill Creek Park - a great place to run, read, relax and a nice path from our house to the Plaza.

Sun-bathing. (I promise I'm wearing a shirt.)

Frolicking around in the grass = happy dog and husband.

BBQ pork sandwiches, broccoli, caprese salad, and white wine.
A delicious Sunday night, outdoor, spring-time meal.

Ok, I couldn't resist this one... after seeing Baby Mama on Sunday night, we came home to play the emotion/situation game (we put the camera on self-timer and at the last second, someone calls out an emotion/situation to convey). This was my favorite picture... I yelled out, "Remy and Zoe fighting," and this is how it turned out. Ha. (Also, please excuse my dirty, gross foot.)

Thanks so much for coming to see me, Sar. It was the best gift ever and I already miss you MUCHO! I can't wait to come see you in Portland, and here's to many more years of laughing, loving, shopping, sipping, sighing, hugging, tugging, reading, texting, relaxing-to-the-maxxing, driving, dancing, all-around-prancing, and just generally being friendsies for life.
LUUURVE YOU!

I'm baaaaack!

The Sara+Jessie Weekend was FABulous and I can't wait to share photos of new outfits, funny faces, and treasure hunting finds!

In the meantime (while I make up for missing work) I have just GOT to show you these videos that Sara showed me on YouTube.

Absolutely adorable.







I could seriously watch these over and over again. (In fact, I have.) If I ever see this little boy on the street, I'm kidnapping him and keeping him for myself.

Mothers of cute children... you better hold on to your kids!!!

Have a great weekend!

I am taking a very VERY important blogging hiatus this weekend (starting this afternoon) because my best friend from college, Sara, is coming to visit me in KC! HOORAY!

Sara is flying out from Portland and will be landing here in a few short hours! G is going to pick her up from el aeropuerto, and then they are going to come and get me from work. We have so many FUN things planned for the weekend and I can't believe she is going to be here for a whole 5 days/4 nights... we haven't seen each other since G and I left San Diego in August!

I think I'll leave you with a few beautiful-and-perfect-for-springtime fashions to tide you over until I'm back to blogging next week (probably with lots of pictures and hopefully stories from the weekend).

Michael Kors - photo courtesy of Harpersbazaar.com.

This dress is just the right amount of vintage and modern. I love the belted high-waist and the fabric? Ohhhhhhh, the fabric! (I am SUCH a sucker for patterns, especially florals.) I've really been loving purples and lavenders lately... never used to be very fond of them, but here the colors are total perfection. Oh, and you can't forget the shoes! I have been searching for the perfect pair of nude (patent leather, perhaps?) pumps. This pair is a tad too pointy for my taste, but they do a great job of completing the overall look.

Diane von Furstenburg - photo courtesy of Harpersbazaar.com.

I would never think to put these two colors together if I saw them by themselves, but MAN do they WORK! Hot pink shirtdress? DARling. Dark red sleeveless-over-thingy with belt? HOT. Put them together?! A. Maze. Ing. I'dlikeoneinmysizenowplease.

I think these two images will be the perfect inspiration to take with us when we go treasure hunting this weekend!!!

Ok, must get back to work now. Have a fabulous weekend, everyone! We're going to be kicking things off with happy hour at my favorite tapas restaurant for some yummy food and sangria, so I will be sure to have a glass in honor of ALL OF YOU!! MWAH!

A Modern Day Shoe-Lovers Miracle

Angel Silhouette Print by Etsy seller Gothicrow.

You are NOT NOT NNNNNNNNOT going to believe this.

I cannot not not not even believe it.

The blogworld NEVER ceases to amaze me, and today, it has gone beyond meeting new friends across the globe, beyond networking to better your business, and beyond the catharsis of writing about our likes/dislikes/inspirations/successes/failures.

Today, the blogworld has renewed my faith in the shoe-loving, shoe-selling, and shoe-eating-breathing-living.

As you may have read on Monday of this week, I posted about a hotter than hot pair of green leather flats by Bandolino (which were available on my new favorite site of the century... PIPERLIME.COM). I made the mistake of posting about them before I actually had the chance to buy them, and they were practically snatched up before my very eyes. When I went to place my order on Monday night, my size was gone. You gotta be kidding me.

I updated that days post with some (overly) frustrated words... oops... and lo and behold, may I please tell you what was waiting so patiently for me in my email in-box this morning? Actually, I don't think I can do it justice, so you'll have to see for yourselves:

Hi Jessie!

I found your blog when searching for our company name through Google. I read your post about the green Bandolino shoe and wanted to let you know that we have ONE pair in a size 9.5 available on our site. I am holding the shoe for you until Friday so if you still would like to purchase it, please email me and I’ll release it for purchase on our site.

I hate to see a women not get the shoes she loves!!

Take Care-

Your Shoe Guardian Angel** | PR Manager | Piperlime | Gap Inc.

Um... are you kidding me? I cannot even tell you how I excited I was when I read this. I don't know why I am freaking out so much over a pair of shoes (well, ok, I have been known to freak out over less, but these are spectacular and I reallyreally wanted these for skipping around the summer).

So, there you have it. Just when I thought my day could not get ANY better (you'll find out the other reason it's going to be great in a few hours), something like this goes and shines it up even brighter. A big, happy, glowing thanks to my Shoe Guardian Angel!

** Name changed to protect the inncoent.