MissAmy |

Time for another swap party.  Good times!  First, the food:

Rasberry butter for bread (in process)

Herb butter for bread (in process)

Cupcakes – a few friends came over early & helped frost these.  For the record – use the mixer when making cake mix out of the box.  I was lazy on the red velvet batch & you can tell!  They came out super flat.

Chocolate & potato chip toffee – one of the favorites of the night!  Delicious – it was both sweet & salty – I couldn’t stay away!

Double dipped strawberries.  These were so easy, pretty & tasty.

Greek salad on a stick – assembled by my awesome friend Jolene.

There was even more food since people brought lots of goodies: biscotti cookies, hummus, chips, salsa, fruit, etc…

Next, the friends & fun:

My friend Mel.  Also, some of the goods in the background

Jolene & Stacy

Jean, Jennifer, Chrissy, Corinne

It was a really fun party & we each got many, many good things.  We also ended up contributing a lot to Goodwill.  All the bags of stuff filled up my hatchback (with the seats down)!

The morning of the 4th I was up early to walk a 5k.  My friend Jo volunteered to walk/run with me the whole way & was very gracious about how slow I moved.  She did encourage me to run a bit & it helped me run more than I would have on my own.  We still managed to magically skip a lap though because of bad signage so we beat a lot of the runners.  This is the second time I’ve done that & it’s a little dispiriting.  But anyway, at least I got up, I got some exercise & got to spend some time with friends.  Next one I will be signing up for is in September so I have a good couple months to train.  Yay!

Anyway, we went home to relax & then reconvened for some 4th of July fun!  We ate out at IHOP – which is just such a decadenet treat!  Then on to Venetian Village to mosy about & play photo shoot. 

Steve Madden flipflops, Old Navy cargos ($4, thrifted), ? tank (TJMaxx), Calvin Klein tee ($3.5o, thrifted), Adidas backpack

Then we scored some Ben & Jerry’s to take to the beach with us, got a great parking spot & watched the fireworks.  Then went to her place & watched You, Me & Dupree – neither one of us had seen it in a while & it was really cute.  Love that Owen Wilson!  Good times.

Us in our adorable red, white & blue leis.  Aren’t we cute?

First, let me say, I had a fabulous Friday night!  I had a nice dinner out & then coffee with a very good friend before going to the SATC2 event.  I skipped a photo of my outfit because it was so close to another I’ve worn before it would’ve been silly. 

I met a different friend at the venue & checked in.  They gave us complimentary wine & popcorn.  The theater it was held at is quite possibly the ONLY theatre I will go to from now on despite the $15 price per ticket.  You can buy a bottle of wine to take with you into the show!  ‘Nough said.  Also, I’m irritated I forgot my camera since everyone was so well turned out for the event.  The dresses!  The shoes! So much fabulous all in one place!!!!  I couldn’t contain myself.

We chose seating the was not marked as reserved.  The top row for the best view!  While I was in the bathroom one of the women working at the event (she was wearing a white dress) told my friend to move.  Apparently she was really bitchy about needing the seat for a group of 10 that were running late and wanted to sit together.  When I got back my friend told me & so did the people in front of us that heard the whole thing.  They thought she was horrible!  My friend hadn’t moved & the eye-witnesses said the lady in white was down at the other end telling the other women in the row they needed to move since my friend wasn’t.  When I got back she asked me & my friend’s names.  Well, she disappeared for a while & came back.  The guy in front of us (that saw the original situation) got up & walked to the other end where she was talking to the other women in the row & started telling her off!  Oh. Em. Gee.  He was all, “Leave these ladies alone.  They all paid the  same price for their ticket.  If that group wanted to sit together they should have gotten her earlier….”  etc…, etc…  Of course, I’m paraphrasing – I can’t remember exactly what he said but it was along those lines.  He was all over it!  Loved it!  I wanted him to be my new best friend.  Could it have gotten any fabulous-er?

I really liked the movie, thought it was really cute.  Like they said before it came out – it was a “romp”.  I also thought the consumption was toned down a bit from the first movie.  Carrie & Big are in a smaller apartment, there wasn’t as much shopping, the clothes weren’t as much the focus (but were still fabulous!)  T Lo have a totally different opinionif you want to read it.  I appreciated their view as well & it kind of made me realize how ridiculous the issues were in the movie.  And the solutions LOL.  It was still just good girly fun.  It was like hanging out with your fab-best girlfriends.  Everyone in the theater was fun too.  I would attend another event like this.  It was a blast!

After the movie we hit the after party at Pure.  Meh, we pretty much grabbed our gift bags, met up with another friend & made a beeline to The Pub (which I’m beginning to think of as our hangout LOL).  The Pub was good fun.  I had another drink, some deep fried pickles (yum!) and trademarked the phrase “architecture for the breasts” (TM).

I got home & was in bed by 1:30am.  That was lovely as well.  Sleep, wonderful sleep.  I could actually use more right now!  I’ve been a little over scheduled lately.  Night night!

Oh wait, one more thing – gift bags!  They had a bunch of discounts for local businesses & Saks, a copy of the latest Gulfshore Life, some “lickable spray for intimate places” that smells (and tastes!) like caramel, a hair product sample size, a bumper sticker that reads “Got Film” (Naples International Film Festival was the main sponsor) and more.  My absolute favorite was the Nars lip gloss!  I don’t know if I can ever go back to drugstore lip glosses.  I swear there’s a difference!

We did a girl’s night out this past weekend to Pure Urban Oasis at Mercato (warning – ambiance music!)

It was a blast, as usual! The place is super gorgeous & hipper-than-though.  My favorite!  Because they can’t tell me I’m not cool enough – even though I feel like they should!  I had the tasting spoons with different flavors of ceviche & (I believe it’s called) carpaccio.  Also, snails.  Or escargot if you want to be fancy.  Afterwards we grabbed dessert at The Pub.  I had the Tipsy Laird which is this totally decadent pound cake in custard with alcohol infused berries on top.  I’ve had a total sugar hangover since!

I wore a simple black outfit.  I ended up ditching the belt before I even left the house (for comfort reasons) and went without the sweater most of the night.  The top is a colorful, tie-dye with major sequins on the bib neck.  It’s super lightweight & worked pretty well in the muggy weather we’ve been having. 

BCBGirls wedges, Target jeans, Kenar top, DKNYC sweater, GAP obi belt, onyx earrings

My friend Angie had Game Night at her house last weekend.  It was tons of fun – there was lots of yummy food & drinks.  We rocked out on Rock Band, played Scattergories, Balderdash & Taboo.

Also, Chrissy (again!) brought her magic, bottomless boxes of makeup to share.  SUCH an awesome night – good friends, great conversation, awesome refreshments, kick-ass games – oh & free stuff!  I had soooo much fun!

Here are some pics from the party:

Angie’s “how awesome is this!” face, Jean & Colleen

Chrissy – the makeup master

Angie posing & Jean

And here is my booty I brought home with me:

Some rad (!) nail polish colors, a few new pencils

Lip gloss, shimmery saturated blush & a pinkish-neutral palette
(I love my all-in-ones as much as I love capsule wardrobes!)

Thirteen ladies showed up to my annual swap party & we had an excellent time!  There was plenty of good food, good drinks & good conversation, as well as some excellent shopping.  I’m pretty sure that everyone left with something that made them happy.  For myself it was LOTS of things

I had a LOT of fun prepping for & putting on the party.  Here are photos of the aftermath I took the next morning, since I forgot to take any during the night:

My husband also thought of a couple teenage girls that live with their Grandma (who he knows from work).  They got to come over Sunday morning & do some shopping too.  It was a great morning treat & I got to get out all the desserts from the night before & share those too.

Now all the rest of the goods are folded & ready to go to a charity.  We would love to donate to Haiti but we’ve gotten mixed messages about donating clothes.  I still have to do some research (but quickly!) to determine where these goodies will go.

Here is the one dish I made from scratch:

Choco-Nut Triangles – so so yummy (and pretty)!

I suppose I’ll share what I ended up with but I feel very greedy!  I ended up with a whole new wardrobe plus a ton of new makeup (thank you Chrissy!).  Two of the ladies had just dropped weight & it just so happened that they used to be my size.  Almost everything from them fit perfectly!  Amazing!  Anyway, here’s what I got:

From the bright pink leopard print scarf all the way over to the grey bottoms on the right!

Loads of new makeup!  I’ve already tried the blush/highlighter combo (love it!) and the Revlon Age Defying foundation (very nice!).

Again, thank you Chrissy for bringing all the brand new makeup.  It was a major treat!

This is a really fun way to shop without spending money!  I highly recommend it as a great way to get people together & have a fun time.  It’s really easy to have a party like this.  The food doesn’t have to be extensive, just have everyone bring a small dish.

A couple things I learned this time around:

• Have a full length mirror in a main area or in the bathroom/fitting room.  I had to send people into my master bedroom & my mirror is only for a very short person (me!) so I hope it wasn’t too difficult for them to see themselves in it.
• Also, next time I will organize by size.  I had signs for “Clothing”, “Accessories”, “Housewares”, etc… but the clothing was pretty much a heap since I wasn’t more organized with it.

We attended the 2nd birthday party for our friends’ dear, dear daughter over the last weekend.

It was a fun day despite the cold temperatures here in Florida.  We got to catch up with friends we don’t see often.  Plus there were hot dogs & cake & loads of other goodies!

Plus these things always provide lots of entertainment of the people-watching variety!

Anyway, here is some of the pretty that I grabbed from the day:

The theme of the party was Tinkerbell – way cute!

I know it’s weird to buy a 2-yr-old a gift certificate but it’s never too early for them to enjoy shopping!

Also, found the really cute Princess & the Frog necklace for mommy.  I just thought it was too cute not to give to my frog loving friend!

Such a great photo.  It reminds me of very simple drawing you might see in a children’s book.  All those pastel colors & simple shapes.  I see rectangles, triangles, circles, an octozoid (I just made that one up), etc…

How perfect is this photo?

Is this the cutest cake, or what?  See Tinkerbell flying over the big flower?  LOL

There were actually 2 more cakes plus cupcakes too:

Lucky girl!  I’m not sure which was my favorite.

I wore this to work & then out with the girls for coffee.  It was another meet-up night, which was fun.  Again!  I don’t know if I trust this to keep up LOL.  I’m amazed at how many unique & independent & interesting (would you believe it?) women I’m meeting at these gatherings. 

This time I met a chick who is a First Mate on a boat that brings us oil from Alaska, a French girl who lives here but works for a seed company based in France, an interior design assistant, a lady who is starting completely over & going back to school, another woman who was married at the Vatican – the freaking Vatican! – also this other really cool girl who has killer fashion sense.  Those were the ones that were new to me. 

I remembered all their names again too!  It must be the coffee LOL – caffeine must boost memory or something.  Right.  Right?

LizFlex heels, Nine West jeans, Tryst tank (thrifted, $2.99), BCBG sweater (BCBG outlet, $30), thrifted necklace & American Eagle belt, brown necklace that used to be purse handles

I visited my friend Polly this past Saturday.  She’s the one that taught me how to make homemade tortillas, if you recall.  She lives downtown so we walked around the neighborhood & enjoyed the sites. 

I used to love walking around downtown & going into all the galleries when I first moved here in 1997.  I was dreaming of being an artist back then.  I used to live a lot closer to it but have since moved to a very rural area. Therefore, I don’t get down there at all anymore.  It was nice to play tourist a little bit on our walk & take pretty photos.  I got my exercise, that’s for sure.  And then we grabbed lunch at a little cafe & took it back to her condo.

Palm trees – how do they grow so tall & skinny?

The Naples Pier (above & below) – I haven’t been in at least a couple years.  It’s so beautiful looking out over the water!

Fountains on 3rd Street (above & below) – the horses are my favorite!

Entrance to a store – I didn’t catch its name.

My husband worked on Saturday & forgot his phone at home.  Being the long-suffering wife that I am, I popped out & took it to him on my way to do some errands. 

I ended up having the nicest visit with the lady of the house where he was working.  Very interesting woman.  She ended up teaching me how to make several dishes, one being corn tortillas – from scratch.  It never ocurred to me to learn but she made it sound very simple.  On my grocery outing I picked up the corn flour I will need to make them. 

I’m invited back next Saturday so I’ll probably try them this week & report back on how it went.  She also had me try the yogurt she makes herself.  I’m tempted to do it for us now but we don’t eat a lot of yogurt, so I’m not sure how worth it that would be.

They are obviously a very self-sufficient & levelheaded couple.  My husband really likes both of them & I only met the wife, but she was lovely.

Here’s what I wore.  It was wearing the typical errand running outfit, but I added the DIY vest to make it a little more interesting.  It turned out a little sloppy, but hey, it’s my day off.

I added sneakers & ditched the vest for my visit to the grocery store – one must be comfortable!

 Steve Madden flip flops, Old Navy cargos, Target tank, DIY vest

UPDATE: I tried the homemade tortillas last night & they were DElicious as well as easy to make.  Maybe I’ll do a tutorial soon!  Anyone interested?