For your reading pleasure...

Pamela tagged me in a little quizzie, so here are my answers. I love these things - you find out so much about a person!

1. Where is your cell phone:
On top of the loveseat, where Miss Emma and Miss A cannot get it. Although each time it beeps or vibrates, Emma runs to try get it for me. So sweet!

2. Your hair:
Is LONG and I love it.

3. Your mother:
Is about as kooky as I am.

4. Your father:
Is a jackass

5. Your favorite food:
Oatmeal and Raisin cookies

6. Your dream from last night:
Don't remember. I do remember waking up at least 5 times though.

7. Your favorite drink:
Sweet Tea - ahhhh

8. Your dream/goal:
To lose 10lbs, to make my ETP website slammin, to raise the most polite and beautiful girl ever, to be debt free (this dream is almost complete!)

9. What room are you in:
My office. My gorgeous pink and green office.

10. What are your hobbies:
Eating oatmeal and raisin cookies

11. What is your fear:
That my fear of not being good enough is true

12. Where do you want to be in 6 years:
Right where I am now, just with a smaller waist and more ETP customers and accounts.

13. Where were you last night:
The gym

14. Something you are not:
A pushover, despite what some people think.

15. Muffins:
Need to kiss my ass and give me my stomach back.

16. Wish list items:
A new coffee table, J.Crew terra paisley shift dress (CANNOT spend $225 on a dress) and a good education for Miss Emma.

17. Where did you grow up:
London, England.

18. Last thing you did:
Sweeped the kitchen floor. Yeah, so interesting.

19. What are you wearing:
J.Crew khaki cafe capris and a J.Crew lilac v-neck tee.

20. Your pets:
My husband.

21. Your friends:
Make life so much more bearable.

22. Your life:
Pretty darn sweet.

24. Your mood:
I'm tired, but I'm good.

25. Missing someone:
Pick up the phone, write an email.

26. Vehicle:
A beat up Honda Civic. We need a new car bad.

27. Something you’re not wearing:
Make-up, perfume, shoes and pride.

28. Your favorite store:
J.Crew (duh), Ann Taylor and Ann Taylor Loft.

29. Your favorite color(s):
Most pastels but pink and lilac are faves

30. When’s the last time you laughed:
Last night. Husband tells the most stupid and childish jokes ever, you have to laugh out of pitty!!

31. When’s the last time you cried:
Probably the other day and most likely over stress. I'm way too hard on myself.

32. Your best friend:
B, who just had the most adorable baby boy ever.

33. One place you go over and over:
The gym, the damn f**king gym.

34. One person who emails me regularly:
Myself (how sad). ETP orders from the site are sent to me from my own email address and I always email reminders from my blackberry. B emails me regularly too.

35. Favorite place to eat:
McAlisters for tea and soup, Cafe Caturra for cookies, Olive Garden for dessert, the Indian buffet on Parham and Broad for curry and this thai place in Carytown. Oh and Outback for Mac 'n' Cheese!

See, don't you know me so much better now?!

Lay me bang smack in the middle of this photo!

A sneak peek of the resort we are staying on/at in Florida over Spring Break! If I've not said it before, I am one lucky little ducky and my life is so bloody blessed (Florida resort or not!)

My bikini countdown has begun!

Oh and I finally cleaned out my closet and put a few things up on eBay. 3 up, what feels like 100 more to go! Ahhhhhh.

Woo Hoo - Disney here we come!

Spring Break is probably the WORST time to go to Disney world, but with Joe being a teacher and my Mother being banned from visiting America in the summer (too darn hot for her), we are booked for vacation with Grandma Easter week!!

Miss Emma is gonna freaking love it!

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

Miss Emma: best fairy ever!

Love me some shoesies (no no, make that bagsies!)

Pick yourself up some new shoesies today with this fabulous coupon:

I love me some shoes - cheap shoes, colorful shoes, way too expensive shoes. This coupon will satisfy my craving, even when I'm saving for Emma's Christmas presents!

Also, Old Navy is offering free shipping on any order (just like English Tea Paperie!!) with the coupon code ONSHIPFREE (expires 11/2). No code needed for English Tea Paperie.

OK, so I thought I'd get me some shoes, but when I went online, I saw this:

Thinking he may be coming home with me, if they have one in my local store. For $12.50, how can I not give him a good home?!

Ooh, this one too (on the left):

Doesn't he look a little like the Lexi from J.Crew (on the right)? Just a HECK of a lot cheaper. $7.50 in fact (with the 50% off)

Ahhhhhhhhhhh (sound of new handbags in my closet).

FREE SHIPPING!

Try out our new linen notes, pick up early Christmas gifts or simply restock your collection. This weekend only we are offering FREE SHIPPING on any order. Yippie.

UPDATE: We now ship to Canada and the rest of the world! Shipping is free to anywhere on the planet, this weekend only.

Police, Bargain, Baby

Is it me or do cops speed on the road more than anyone else? Unless their lights are flashing, I don't think they need to be going 15-20 mph over the speed limit. I see it all the time and it annoys me. One day if I'm feeling risky, I may just speed behind one and see what happens!

Yesterday I popped into Old Navy and they were running the 50% off of clearance promo and man, I scored. Look what I got for Emma for $16 and change. Seriously, I couldn't believe it!

(lilac ballet l/s tee, brown heart sweater, stone cord skirt, cute polka dot flats and a pink l/s onesie)

My bestie in the whole world had her baby boy on the 26th and he is the most gorgeous gorgeous little thing I've ever seen (aside from Emma!). Congrats B, you're gonna make a fabulous Momma! No picture, as I'm respecting their privacy!

That's it from me today, I'm off to do something I haven't done properly in a while and that's comment on the blogs I read. All 200 and something. I think it's time to edit some of those - I can't really read them all can I?!

Toodles.

Land of the Free? Let's ask the Government

Now this isn't a political post or anything (heck, I can't decide if I'm red or blue most days) but I just heard this commercial on the radio about how the "everyday people" sadly didn't get any bailouts from the government and it kind of stirred me up the wrong way.

From my experience, Americans don't exactly want the government to be involved in anything, as far as their paycheck goes, which leads to the whole "land of the free" thing. Yet this dude on the radio seemed to think that the government should be paying off everyone's debt.

Erm, sure, I get it, free money and all. But why should the government give you free money just because you decided to go out and have a good old time with your credit card or purchase a home for more than you could actually afford?

I'm sure this will cause a debate and I know my argument has flaws (the government takes all they can from us - I know this as I run a business and see WAY less of my profit than I should!) but seriously - I don't quite think "land of the free" stands for free money.

Everyone has debt of some kind, it's just the way the world is today, but if you want to pay it off, don't go running to the government to do so. That makes me mad. For example, I know someone that has a huge flat screen TV, several game systems, 2 cars, DVD players in every room, yet has debt collectors calling. Doesn't sound quite right, does it? Joe and I? No debt collectors, but a TV that is beyond ancient, 1 car between the 2 of us, a game system Joe wishes was newer, which also works as our DVD player. Do we think we are "poor" because of it? Heck no, we have everything we could ever need and some. OK, maybe another car would be good, but we make it work! Yeah, we have debt too, which sadly comes from immigration fees and medical - but we are paying it off, one month at a time.

Anyway, I wasn't meant to go off on a rant, but I had to write something because that commercial annoyed me.

What are your opinions?

Holiday Collection and Possibly Dying

I've been in panic mode the entire weekend. I even missed church today. I don't know what my problem is. For some reason, I have this idea in my head, that if I don't change over all ETP items to linen before November, I'll die.

For real.

OK, that's going a little to the extreme, but when I have something in my head for my business, I get stressed out if it's not done straight away. And in my world, NOTHING gets done straight away, unless it's a diaper change and sometimes not even then.

I wish I had an assistant. A free one.

Well, getting to the point, I worked my ass off and managed to get SOME of the holiday collection up. Hop on over to take a look. My personal fave right now - the Nutcrackers.

"May your Nuts have a Cracking Good Time!"
- I owe that one to my friend Kayrn. Love it.

Back to work I go...

IM139

My dear friend Katie has just started a jewelry business, IM139 (I helped with the name and it stands for Intricately Made 139, as in psalm 139) and on Thursday, I helped her out at the St. Mary's Marketplace here in Richmond, which was her first time ever showing her work. She did fantastic and I couldn't be more proud.

Here is me at her table:

Read Katie's post on the event.

Katie is working on getting items up in her etsy store, so please pop on over and show some support! Just click here. I love how each of her items has a freaking cool name and of course, my personal favorite so far is "Chloe: Damsel in Shining Armor". That item is not up in the store yet, but I have a version and it's lovely. Think pink and peaches. I'll take a pic (I say that with everything....!)

She's currently making me a lilac necklace....now doesn't that sound like something I'd want?!!

Wowza (green does not suit you, vicious ladies!)

I just found out about the pretentious musings blog post from the other week, that had comments of people slating me and my blog (I will not add the link as I personally do not want to encourage traffic to the site). Apparently, I claim to be preppy and there are people out there that think I'm not.

Interesting. I don't give a flying crap if you think I'm preppy or not. What fucking difference does it make?

I heard that people were insulting me because I post about my J.Crew purchases, which to this blog seemed wrong/unusual/lies/whatever because I'm a SAHM and "only" have a teacher husband. Well, people that read my blog regularly will know that I pretty much only buy sale items or stuff from the outlet. Oh and I'm not just a SAHM, I look after another little girl (which I get paid to do) and my business (English Tea Paperie) doesn't do too bad (no it won't pay the mortgage, but it does pay for all of the J.Crew I write about!) Oh and for the record, the most expensive thing I've ever purchased from J.Crew was a pair of shoes I wear pretty much every day, that cost $105. Oh crap, someone go report me to the Board of Education as they must be paying my husband way too much.

I have dealt with enough shit over my blog (yes SIL's, I'm talking about you two), so my post topics have kind of gotten a little crap of late. I apologize for that.

But - and this is the point of this post - if you don't like what I write about, if you think I'm pretentious, if you think the way I choose to spend my money (or lack there of) is crazy, then fuck the hell off.

Yes, I will repeat myself: FUCK. OFF.

I've been blogging since 2006 - if you still don't like my blog, you never will.

And that's all I have to say on the subject.

(yeah I know it's a bit late, the debate is over, blah blah blah, but seeing as I wasn't around to defend myself, I think I have every right to post my opinions on my own blog, right?!)

p.s - my pastor is going to kill me if he reads this with my foul language!

Chanel Goggles

I never did show you my Chanel glasses on, did I?! Well, it took forever for the opticians to put the lenses in. First time I picked them up, they had the completely wrong prescription , which was very annoying. Finally though (a month later), they are perfect...ta da:

click to enlarge

Who says Crewcuts is just for Kids?!

If you ever thought Crewcuts jewelry would be too small, think again my lovelies! I picked up this mini version of a regular J.Crew necklace (I'm sure they had one like this a while back) for $14.50. And it's pretty darn cute if you ask me! Buy a few, stack em up and you'll be a fashionista before you know it. Weeee.

Mine is the pearl version and I'm thinking of getting the dried orchid and barely peach now I know how cute they are.
Yes, I am kneeling on the floor - tragic!

Lilac Obsession

Well, I never called about that free shipping code at J.Crew because I got another one in the mail yesterday. To my maiden name again. Wonder if they'll notice I used it with my married name?!

Ah screw it, free shipping isn't gonna hurt them a smidgen!

I had ordered some J.Crew the other week, plus I just paid off the credit card, so I wasn't about to spend a bunch to save myself a few shipping bucks. Instead I picked up some basics. I have the below top in soft seashell which I love, so I went ahead and ordered the buff pink and misty lavender, along with The Laundress for J.Crew cashmere spray, to keep the sweaters I've just taken out of storage nice and moth free.

Freaking love these tops. I order them a size smaller and they are a much nicer fit than you'd think.

Anyway, I have this new obsession with lilac. Don't know where it came from, but all I've been ordering is this color. Most recently, some new VS jammies, the above top and the J.Crew short sleeve cashmere cardi. Who knows if the color suits me, I guess I'll have to have you guys tell me once I've taken a picture of myself in something!

Love me some lilac - it's totally soothing to the chronic fatigue my husband thinks I suffer from!

Weekend in NC

The fam and I headed down to NC this weekend, for my friends sisters wedding. We stayed at Joe's parents, so Miss Emma got to enjoy a weekend with her cousins and Grandparents, while Joe and I enjoyed an evening alone!

Here are some pics:

On our way to the wedding. I always question wearing black to a wedding, but the ceremony didn't start until 5.30pm, so I figured I'd be ok!

With the beautiful Holly: the brides sister/maid of honor, my own bridesmaid, Emma's Godmother and soon to be actuary. The girl wears many hats!

Eating yummy wedding cake.

The cheesy couple photo. Ahhh, so in love!

I'm exhausted, I hated getting home at 10pm last night, hated getting up at 5.30am this morning and hate the fact that Virginia is the coldest place on flipping earth right now, but other than that, I had a wonderful time this weekend and I can't wait until Thanksgiving, when we'll be back down in NC again!

J.Crew Shoesies Here + Bad Hair Day!

My J.Crew shoes arrived - yay! Now, although I completely and utterly love them, I can't help but be annoyed that (in typical J.Crew fashion) they are totally not the same color as seen on the website, nor are the bows as big.

Do you think they make things look lighter/brighter/entirely different on purpose? It's annoying.

On a different note, I went to get my hair cut last night. I paid for a package that shampoo's, treats, cuts and blowdries my hair. I know that I have long hair and I said to the stylist that if I needed to pay extra, I was fine with that. She said there was no need and that I would get the same service as anyone else. Well, when it came to blowdrying my hair (and lets keep in mind that the place wasn't at it's busiest), she basically dried the top layer and that was that. Erm, hello, you are letting me leave the salon with wet hair still, that has no style? I was peeved but with my "want to please everyone" personality, I said nothing. Came home looking like a puff ball. I ran upstairs and tried to do something with it. Not great, but better. The last one is me this morning. A little messed up with some body - ahhh, back to normal!

Shouldn't you leave a hair salon knowing that your hair looks great enough to go straight out to dinner or something?

Deery deery me.

I think I miss the 2 inches that came off...

Piano Playing Pair!

Give my girl a piano and she's in heaven!

Took Emma to the children's museum this weekend. Man she had fun. Can we discuss how cute her pigtails are?!!


Man I love my kid! Pictures were all for you Momma - hasn't your Granddaughter just grown up so much?!

Bummer

Did I tell you that I got a J.Crew catalog in the mail yesterday which had a coupon code for free shipping on any order?!

I thought I had won the lottery. Seems the coupon expired Sept 6th though.

Bummer.

Think if I call them, they'll honor it anyway - over a month later? I did only get the catalog yesterday. Yesterday people. It's October 9th!

Leggings = My Uniform Staple!

I'm about a year (or two) late with this trend, but leggings have totally become my new best friend. Seriously. I mean, they stretch, which is a mucho plus in my book (I have more "fat days" than I'd care to admit), they are cheap (current faves are $5 ones from Walmart!) and they work with ballet flats and knee high boots.

Why oh why did I not think of these stretchy wonders before?

Leggy lovelies (my new name for leggings!) in boots and ready for ballet flats. Perfect!

Terrible pictures, I know. Can I just mention that I have a folder on my laptop called "Me being vain" which holds all these outfit shots. I crack myself up!

Score of the Day

I just picked up these in the 20% extra off sale at J.Crew.

Shoes that sum up my entire character? Yeah these would be them!

Yummy yummy yummy!