Palm Tree & Lilly Tuesday

Bottles & Brushes last night was super fun. They have all the little easels, paints, water cups, etc. all set up at each 'station', so all you have to do is show up, throw on an apron, and pay attention.

The 'teacher' stands at the front and paints with you - instructing you on which colors to use, how to mix the colors, and where to paint what. So you paint and sip on the wine you brought.

Here is the teacher's painting - a.k.a. what it was supposed to look like:

And here is my painting, not an exact replica, but I like it nonetheless. It's very much my style and will look great in my beach-themed condo! :) What do you think? Check out my tervis tumbler Clemson wine glass on the left!

So tonight will be Christy Birthday Week celebration #2 - sushi and wine with the girls at Bambu, followed by Eat Pray Love the movie. I can't wait! I'll let you know how it is.

And I bought myself some birthday presents today...

...and I shouldn't even mention this in order not to jinx myself... because we all know I have had horrible luck with Lilly Pulitzer and sales. :(

So..... who participated in the Lilly sale this morning? What a nightmare! Evidently Lilly was not prepared for the onslaught their Web site would get with this sale - their servers were overloaded and no one could make orders or even get the sale to load at times. I was in the mess and it was maddening! A quick glance at the Lilly Pulitzer Facebook page and the wall posts will give you an idea of just how frustrating it was for everyone.

I almost gave up... but that stuffed shells dress I so badly wanted was one of the sale items. So I kept fighting the errors and the "service unavailable" and "your cart is now empty" until I somehow, miraculously managed to purchase three things I wanted -- one of them in a different pattern than I originally wanted, and the other in a size too large.

But... I got the stuffed shells dress! It's the one in the size too large, but I figure I can easily have it altered, right?

The other two dresses I managed to snag...


Now...I'm not holding my breath and I'm not even assuming that I definitely will get these items - even though I've gotten my confirmation email. There is no telling with the mess that was this sale that I for sure will get my items. Besides, I will be less crushed if I get the 'item not available' email or more joyous when the package actually shows up on my doorstep if I just pretend that I dreamed this whole sale and purchase thing.

And work today has been a typical "everyone is getting on my nerves and I can't get anything done" day... I'm just staring at the clock, willing it to be time for me to leave. I've waved the white flag of surrender to actually being productive today.

And it's still raining.

Must think positive... after all, it IS my birthday week. Sigh.

Miscellaneous Monday

It's another rainy day in Charleston and I'm trying to stay focused at work with little success. It seems like everyone in the office is on their phone, on speakerphone, etc. and I cannot focus at all - it's like a hundred different voices swarming around me. I want to stand up on my chair above all the cubes and yell "BEEEEEE QUIEEEEETTTTTT!!!".

It's Monday.

So last week I finished listening to the audiobook of The Carrie Diaries. I'm a big Sex & The City fan, so I was really excited about this prequel that follows Carrie's senior year in high school.

It was... ok.

To the book's credit, it is targeted towards a preteen/teen audience, so I think if you're in high school, you can relate to the trials and tribulations of being a teenager. The greatest conflicts in the book are whether or not to have sex with a guy, girlfriends stealing boyfriends, and getting into college. Yawn. So for someone who is way past her high school days and actually wasn't a fan of high school when I was there - I didn't like being reminded of how much high school can stink.

And I think listening to the audiobook for this one was a bad idea as well - the narrator of the book was obviously trying to sound very 'Carrie' like, which was cool at first, but then just became really annoying. Ok, we get it.. you're trying to sound like SJP.

And finally, I didn't like the way Candace Bushnell created Carrie's high school persona - it didn't feel like Carrie to me, I had a hard time connecting this Carrie Diaries character to the Carrie in the show and movies that we've all gotten to know and love. So that bothered me as well.

The biggest redeeming quality of the book, however, is the very, very, very end. The very last sentence. That's really the only part I really liked.

Now I'm listening to The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo and so far it's captured my interest - it's pretty good so far, but I have to pay attention - it's filled with a ton of characters with foreign names.

I've started using one of my new Lily journals I got in the Rue La La Lily sale to track what I eat each day. I don't eat bad, but I have crazy portion control issues - so I'm hoping by tracking what I eat, I'll be able to manage my appetite better. I've also started loosely tracking weight watchers points to see if I'm staying within the daily points level I should be maintaining.


I almost hate to write in this thing...it's so darn pretty and cute. I feel like I'm ruining it.

Speaking of food...I grabbed a turkey sub from Subway today and lo and behold SunChips has a new flavor! Monterrey Jack and Sundried Tomato. It was actually very good and contained a lot of fiber. The taste reminded me of the Pizza Chips from the 90's - anyone else eat those? :)

And just in case you want to mark your calendars...my birthday is this Saturday. And in true Leo fashion, I'm celebrating all week. Tonight my best girlfriend and I are going to a place called Bottles & Brushes in Mt. Pleasant. You bring a bottle of wine and you get to paint a picture... this is the picture we're painting tonight - perfect for my beach themed condo.

So, how is your Monday going?? Is it as (un)eventful as mine??

Nevermind...spoke too soon!

My post from earlier today must have jinxed myself....

Just got an email (AGAIN) from Rue La La - this time, the Stephanie print dress is 'unavailable' and has been removed from my order.


Are. you. freaking. kidding. me.?

What's the point of even waiting thirty minutes before 11am, watching the clock, and racing like mad to purchase these items that sell out in seconds if a week later I get these emails that my most coveted purchases have suddenly 'become unavailable'.

There are no words Rue La La. Not sure another $20 credit will really fix this now that my two fave items from my Lily purchase have been snatched away from me.

WTF.

Has this happened to anyone else who purchased is last week's Lily Pulitzer Rue La La sale??? Why does Rue La La insist on punishing me this way? I've spent a LOT of money with them before - this is the payback?

Grrr.

Rue La La made amends

So on Friday I vented about my recent loss of a gorgeous Lily dress from Rue La La due to mysterious circumstances...

And because of my tweets and because of my email, Amy from Rue La La contacted me by Twitter, email, and voice mail to set things right.

She said that something was wrong with the dress, that it didn't meet their quality standards, so they couldn't send it to me. (Part of me wants to ask what was wrong - if it was a small stain, rip, one sleeve longer than the other, etc. - I think I still would have taken the dress!)

They credited my account $20 - which is pretty cool.

P.S. Thanks to everyone who left their condolences and suggestions in the comments on Friday's post - definitely helped with the pain. :)

So while I'm still a little upset over the loss, at least - after some whining on my end - Rue La La made amends.

And Rue La La's loss from what I would have spent on the Lily Peacock dress is Anthropologie's gain - somehow in my backwards, trying to cope, retail therapy induced mind...I felt that I should hurry up and spend what I would have spent on that dress on something else I adore... because I had already committed to the cost of the dress, right? So... it wouldn't hurt to go ahead and spend it on something else, right? And having something new - even if it isn't THE DRESS - would definitely make me feel better, right?? :-/

So I bought this lovely ivory cardigan from Anthro - and I can't wait to get it! It has stellar reviews, and I can see myself wearing this with just about any dress I own, paired with some adorable boots, this Fall.

How was everyone's weekend? I'm hoping for a productive week this week, followed by a lazy, beach bum weekend.

Oh yeah... and happy 08/09/10....does anyone else feel like this year is flying by? I need a pause button please, thank you.

Rue La La ruined my weekend

So remember when I posted Wednesday about how excited I was to get some great items from the Lily Pulitzer sale on Rue La La? Including this beauty of a dress that many of you commented I was lucky to have gotten?

Well... I was excited about this dress...ecstatic, because I LOVE peacocks and come on..it's gorgeous!

So, imagine my surprise when I opened up my email today and saw a lovely little email with the subject line, "Information regarding your Rue La La order". I open it and this is what it says...

"We are sorry to have to tell you that the merchandise listed below has become unavailable, and has been removed from your order.

1 Lilly Pulitzer "Sandpiper" Peacock Silk Dress

Before sending merchandise out to our Members, we take a close look at everything in the shipment. On rare occasions like this, an issue arises with an item and the order cannot be fulfilled. We've removed the merchandise in question from your order and, of course, you will not be charged for it.

We know how disappointing this is, and we sincerely apologize. If there is anything further we can do for you, please write to us at AtYourService@RueLaLa.com or call us toll-free at 888-992-LALA (5252). We will be glad to answer any questions or to assist you in any way that we can.

Thank you so much for your understanding, and for being a Rue La La Member.

Sincerely, Your Rue La La Concierge"

Um....

WHAT THE @$%#$%#$%!!!

First of all... that's all the explanation I get? That's all I get for a sale they know sold out in minutes, for a sale they knew was very, very popular? All I get is "has become unavailable"? What...did one of Rue La La's employee's sister's friend's nurse's aunt's cousin want the dress and they took it away from me to give to her??

And to top it off - to make it right and make me feel better about this huge loss, they offer me "we sincerely apologize". Oh. That makes me feel better. >:(

Rue La La, this would have been preferable for your email:
"We feel awful about this because we know you were one of the lucky ones to snag this dress - so in return, we have put you at the top of a waiting list - so if one of these dresses is returned in your size, it's yours - and at a $25 discount to ease your emotional distress.

However, if we do not receive a dress back in 30 days, we are giving you a $50 credit to your Rue La La account to make up for OUR mistake with your order. We know that when you got the email 'Your order is confirmed' that was a contract that we promised you that item - so we're making up for it with the $50 gift."

Seriously. Where is the customer service Rue La La? I know it's just a dress..but...you saw it... that wasn't JUST a dress. Ugg. I don't know if I'm more upset about the fact that I've lost this dress or upset about the way Rue La La handled it.

So I emailed them back and explained how disappointed I was in them... you know, because when your mom told you, "I'm not mad, just really disappointed", you felt worse?

I also explained that I was shocked at how poorly they handled it - by giving me no explanation and nothing to "make it right". I think I may have even mentioned that I was "in tears", which I'm not, but it definitely adds a dramatic effect to it, right?

While I'm sure Rue La La will feel so badly to hear little 'ol me is in tears and will rush to give me the dress or a credit... ha, right... I didn't think it could hurt to send them an email and let them know just how I feel. I have a feeling my email might be the "Hilarious and sad customer email of the week" at next week's Rue La La staff meeting.

But little do they know that I'm blogging about it right now - and hopefully this post will be the third or fourth (or 1 millionth) search result when someone Googles 'Rue La La'.

I AM really disappointed - because I've always been a big fan of Rue La La, over Gilt, Ideeli, etc. But now I'm like...should I continue to shop with them? What if this happens again? Can my soul take the emotional toll again?

So I'll keep you posted if I get a response. I might get three more emails telling me the rest of my order items have 'become unavailable', but at least I stood up for myself! :*(

Maybe I should email Lily herself! I'm sure she would want to know about this monstrosity involving HER brand.

FINE PRINT: In case you couldn't tell, this post is laced with sarcasm - I'm not that materialistic...but I am VERY upset...understandably, right?

Did this happen to anyone else with their orders??

Well if I wasn't a fan of Lily Pulitzer...

...I must be now. You should have seen me...sweating, stomach hurting, anxious...my finger on my mouse button, my mouse pointer on the browser refresh button, my browser on Rue La La... my eyes staring, not blinking, at the clock on the bottom of my computer. 10:59 AM. "Come on...come on...come on..."

Lily Pulitzer on Rue La La today.

11:00 AM.

Refresh..... nothing. Refresh.... nothing.

Refresh........ still nothing. "Come on!"

Refresh.......... Lily Pulitzer Boutique - open.

Click on Lily image, click 'View All', scroll down and find my goal.. this beauty...

Click dress. Click size. Click 'Quick Buy Now'. Move mouse pointer with speed and dexterity to 'Purchase'... Click...........................

"We're sorry this item has sold out". Seconds people, seconds. Seriously. "Waaaaah!"

No time to sulk! Must. buy. other. dresses.

Click. Buy. Click. Buy. Click. Buy. Click. Buy.

I took on Rue La La's Lily Pulitzer sale like someone who was buying for her life. I also took it on like I evidently have a bazillion dollars...which is anything but...sigh.

Here's my treasure trove of Lily I luckily snagged today.... thoughts?

And maybe I have immature taste, but I really wanted some of the little girl styles... how cute are these dresses and skirts?? A 20-something could totally pull these looks off, right? right? Oh well... it's not like I hovered over the largest size of one with my mouse, almost convincing myself I was petite enough to squeeze into it {eyes dart to right with look of guilt}.

Did anyone else shop the Lily sale on Rue La La? What did you get? Did you get the dress I originally wanted and now you want to give it to me out of the kindness of your heart? ;)

A Lilly Giveaway on Sunshine and Summertime!

The lovely blogess at Sunshine and Summertime is giving away one of these adorable Lilly agendas - you get to pick which print you want! It's her very first giveaway.



She gives you several ways to enter so you can have multiple entries. I hope I win - if I do, the Koi (dark blue) print will be my choice.

Visit her blog and enter!!

I want, I want, I want!!

I have not typically been a Lily Pulitzer fan - mainly because of the prices. I love the Lily prints, but I sometimes feel like they are way overpriced... but I think being in Charleston is having a Lily affect on me. I'm tempted more and more to get some Lily lovelies. This year I bought two Lily dresses and a bag on RueLaLa.

But now I'm really in love... I first saw this dress when The Company She Keeps posted a photo on her blog (she owns it...jealous!). I love the colors, the beachiness, and I could so see myself wearing this all around Charleston... I mean, it's calling to me...

...but $178 for one dress. Ugg...I just can't. I found a size 4 on Ebay for $158...but that's still pretty high for me for just one dress. If I had a special occasion to wear it to (and if I didn't already own 5 billion dresses that a quarter of still have tags on them) then maybe...just maybe... I'd take the financial plunge... but I just can't justify this one. Sigh...

I guess I need to get on that lottery hobby I've been meaning to take up.

Friday Fancies: Summer Chic - Beach Wedding

Going to a beach wedding tomorrow and this is what I'm wearing (courtesy of Rent the Runway)...I have the same Lilly clutch, but mine has a gold gator on it instead of the flower. For jewelry I'm wearing silver hoops and a silver chain bracelet from Tiffany's I got for Christmas from my fiance several years ago. And of course flip flops - good ol' reliable silver ones from Old Navy. :)

Summer Chic: Beach Wedding by CharlestonGirlBlog featuring flip flop shoes

Happy Friday!!

National Wear Your Lilly Day

Wearing an old Lilly Pulitzer blouse with my new Lilly Pulitzer cardigan to work today... I honestly didn't really go out of my way to do this - I wear this blouse A LOT to work because it's so comfortable and easily pairs with navy or khaki... so it was easy to wear today which just happens to be National Wear Your Lilly day. :) Wearing it today with a navy skirt from Anthro.

Are you wearing Lilly today?

My wallet hurts...

I think I will be staying in and eating Ramen Noodles all weekend after this week...

Tomorrow is a confirmed BIG sale at Anthropologie - biggest one in months.

Friday is Lilly Pulitzer sale on RueLaLa.

Doh!

Easter Recap

This Easter was a very special one for our family...

My niece was baptized during the Easter service on Sunday. She wore a dress my mom's friend had handmade out of my mother's wedding dress. The bonnet was the best part! This dress will now be worn by every grandchild, great grandchild, etc. in our family when they are baptized.

My mom and my grandfather on her wedding day.

My niece was over all the pictures...lol, poor thing... but here she is in the dress and bonnet made from my mom's wedding dress. It was beautiful. I wish I had a better picture so you could see the detail.

The same friend who made the dress had also recently returned from a trip to Israel. She brought back for my mom a thing of water from the River Jordan where Jesus was baptized. My mom had our minister add a little of the water into the baptism water. So my niece was baptized with that water... very cool.

Afterward we celebrated with a big lunch with family and friends at our neighborhood country club. Then it was back to our house for Easter pictures in the backyard. My fiance and I were stuffed from lunch, packed up the puppy and made the long 7+ hour trek back to Charleston...and on top of that we lost an hour from changing time zones... We didn't get home until midnight.

Blurry photo of me and my niece - stupid camera. I look like I'm squeezing the heck out of her.

Me and my fiance.

In other news... our engagement photos are this coming weekend. We're doing a vintage shoot in downtown Charleston and then a normal shoot on the beach on Sullivan's Island. I'm looking forward to them, but I'm also nervous because I'm hoping for good weather, a good hair day, good makeup day, a skinny day, etc. etc. etc. Again, I would love any tips on how to make the day the best it can be... :)

Here's to another great week! Cheers!

F21 does Lilly P

What is everyone wearing on Easter? I can't wait to see all of your blog posts with photos of your Easter outfits.

I've got a new Lilly dress packed...not one of the ones I just got off of Rue La La (they still need to be shortened, etc.)...but one I found randomly on a sale rack in the local Belk for only $40! Even the lady who checked me out at Belk said, "Wow...I've never seen a Lilly Pulitzer dress that cheap!"

I don't know the 'name' of the dress, so I don't have pictures...but I'll post some after this weekend. You'd rather see me in it anyways, right? :) Lol...

I just picked it up this week from my alterations place (along with about four other dresses). I'm always in there with more dresses to be hemmed and taken in around the chest and the waist. The owner gave me 10% off this time..and I said, "Oooh, thanks! Guess I am in here a lot aren't I?" And she said, "Yes! Nothing ever fits you!"

Ha... I guess that's what you get when you're short, big hipped and flat chested. Sigh.

On a random note, I was browsing Forever21's dresses recently and came across this dress...

I'm no Lilly expert or anything, but it instantly reminded me of a Lilly Pulitzer dress -- the style and the pretty floral fabric. I'm not sure it could compare to an actual Lilly dress, but for only $22.80 it's definitely a more affordable Lilly-esque option. Ok, who are we kidding, a LOT more affordable compared to Lilly's prices.

The pattern is a pretty, pastel floral.


I think I immediately thought this looked like a Lilly dress because one of my friends wore a Lilly dress on Sunday that was in this same cut/style.

What do you think? Lilly knock off or not even close?

Oops...Rue La La did it again...

So yesterday I finally got my Lilly Pulitzer goodies from last week's Rue La La sale... and like everyone else has been saying in their blogs and on Twitter, "Wow, that was quick shipping!".

I'm going to preface this post by going ahead and telling you that yes, I got a LOT of stuff. I'm also going to tell you that I had a pretty significant Rue La La credit (due to previous returns) that helped me out, so don't go thinking I'm a bazillionairre or anything. :)

I didn't want to blog about what I bought until I had actually received my items because of my Rue La La Lilly Pulitzer sale history - when it comes to Lilly on Rue La La, I have had rotten luck. Last August I almost lost my shiz when items I purchased were all of a sudden 'unavailable'.

Read here, here, and here.

I will say that Rue La La took responsibility and credited my account, and (which I didn't blog about because it happened later) sent me a $50 gift card to Lilly Pulitzer to help ease the pain I was caused. So I appreciated that immensely...and did so with continued purchases from Rue La La... let's just say I have an Order History with them of about two pages (which is probably why they were quick to make amends with me).

But I digress.

So last week I was a buying machine with the Lilly Pulitzer sale - I bought....a lot....and I think mainly because of my previous Lilly Pulitzer sales experience... I think somehow in my head I justified that probably half of the items wouldn't make it to me, so the more I bought, the more chances I would have to end up with more in the end. Here's what I got for myself....
I also bought my best friend Jtay an early birthday present (a bag and dress she really wanted) because she's a Lilly fan like myself and as a teacher, couldn't get on the sale to get anything. I also bought her another dress that she was going to pay me back for.

"Get to the point!", you say.

So I got my items yesterday and like a kid at Christmas I ripped open the box and pulled out each Lilly item one by one.

But something was missing... {insert expletive here}.

Checked the packing slip... it was on there. Checked online - received shipping confirmation email for it, had 'shipped' status on Order History of Rue La La site.

Hmm..maybe I just overlooked it somehow in the box.

Go through box again, even check in cracks of box (for realz). And it wasn't a big box, lol.

{insert another expletive}

Email Rue La La and (seriously) ended message with "Help!" I tend to get overly emotional about these things. You're like "Yeah, we know...we read your blog."

This morning I got a response from Rue La La that went something like this: "We're sorry you didn't receive your item. We've credited back your order and have given you a $10 credit."

IT HAPPENED AGAIN!!! {insert a few more expletives}

The worst part of all about this? It wasn't even my item...but my best friend's dress!!

Worst part was having to email her and let her know... I'm so glad she'll still be getting her b-day gift from me though..but super bummed this dress fell through. I know it's not my fault (Rue La La!), but I still feel really guilty about it... I wish it had been one of my crazy amount of dresses I had bought for myself instead.

The good news is that her and I can share clothes and I have already told her she can wear ANY of my dresses whenever she wants. So... hopefully that will help ease the pain.

Rue La La was very responsive and sympathetic to me on Twitter - the poor girl who runs that account probably sees my tweets and then inserts her own expletives. "Not HER again!"

Maybe Rue La La will make sure not to mess up any of my future Lilly orders and then I'll leave them alone! :)

I'd like to have a chat with the Rue La La employee in shipping who 'forgot' to put that dress in my package -- She's probably wearing the dress right now!! Or his wife is wearing it... I think there needs to be an investigation! I can see the headline now..."Group of Rue La La employees run Lilly Pulitzer black market by stealing items from customers orders, sell dresses on Ebay for twice the price."

The only other item that wasn't in my order was the "Lillie" sunglasses...

...and I'm dying until I get them. I NEED them...and the Twitter Rue La La lady assured me that I would get them, that they ship separately... so you witnessed this. So, fingers crossed, we will see... but until I'm physically holding them, I won't get my hopes up.
I still need to try all my dresses on and make sure they fit - I did the 'hold up to your body' test and I'm pretty sure they will be ok, although I already know I'll have to get most of them {if not all of them} shortened because I've got such short stubby legs.

It's expensive being petite.

So...if you actually made it through this long post, kudos to you. How is your Wednesday going? Let's hope it's better than mine!

P.S. Sorry if "Oops..I did it again.." by Brittany Spears is now stuck in your head thanks to my post title... it's stuck in mine if that's any consolation. :)