Derby Day 2010

What's not to love about Churchill Downs and the Kentucky Derby?

Good food, good company, excitement, big hats, pretty preppy sundresses, beautiful horses and mint juleps!  Oh and crazy hats, too!

I LOVE betting on horse races.  And w. no educated method to my madness, I'd say I do pretty well.  As ridiculous as it sounds I base my bets on 3 things; the horse's name, the jockey's silks and how the horse actually looks.  And I rarely pick the favorite. 

So who's my winning horse for the 2010 race?

Noble's Promise

Here's to good southern food and good times! For you all you VA'ns that are headed to Gold Cup tomorrow, have a fabulous time!

cBv

New Man

Did you hear about Sandra Bullock's exciting news? There's a new man in her life.

She's the proud mama to this beautiful baby boy, Louis.  Good. for. her. 

Take that Jesse James!

cBv

Steals and Deals

Life hasn't slowed down a second...yet.  Real quick, here are a few good sales you may want to take advantage of.

J. Crew

Monogram Chick

Buy 2 get 1 set FREE on all personalized recipe cards!  Ends FRIDAY!

I totally took advantage of this sale! 

Old Navy

15% off any purchase.  Enter code ONGET15 at checkout.  Ends Thursday!

One Kings Lane is featuring Waverly {through Thursday} and Three Designing Women {through Friday}!

How cute are those!

Some seriously good steals on stationery!  If you need an invite to One Kings Lane, email me!

Made this last night for dinner and once again Gina didn't dissapoint.

Cilantro & Lime Shrimp

Hope y'all have a happy hump day!

cBv

Quickie

Bullets seem to be a popular way to go lately as I seem to have limited to no time to do anything that is leisure or fun.  Despite the gloomy forecast that was supposed to loom over NoVA all weekend it turned out to be quite an unexpectedly nice weekend.  Here's a quickie.

• Met the hubby for an early Mexican dinner at one of our favorite neighborhood spots, Mexicali Blues.  Ate outside and enjoyed an overdue pina colada, good conversation & nice weather.
• ignore the random dude
• Fat and happy I went to bed, by choice, at 9:40pm on a Friday, while watching RHNY.  It. was. amazing!
• Saturday - ventured to horse country, aka Leesburg, to do some shopping.  It was a huge success and I managed to get lots of cute things for myself and some things for Mr. CPA.

• Was pleasantly surprised to learn that Banana now offers organic cotton.  Is this new or did I totally just miss the boat?
• Saturday night we ate sushi at another favorite place and then checked out a new hangout in the 'hood. 

• Yesterday, we did boat loads of laundry, played tennis and I actually got some sun(!) and then I made a yummy delicious and nutritous new recipe, Baked Chicken w. Dijon & Lime. 

photo courtesy of Gina

For such a crappy forecasted weekend, it sure did turn out nice. Did anyone run the GW 10-miler yesterday?!?  Nashville pics are coming soon, I promise!

cBv

Cameras and Bling

Last week Mr. CPA and I gave in and purchased a real mamma jama camera.  I decided to settle (ha!) on this as my early anniversary present with the hopes that maybe, just maybe, the Lilly Cruiser will be waiting for me at the beach.  Hey, a girl can dream, right?!

After exploring our options we felt that this baby was the one for us.  We also seriously considered the Canon EOS T1i.  As newbies to DSLRs, our trip to Nashville provided plenty of opportunities for pictures of memories made on our trip.  The camera also was quite beneficial when we arrived in Nashville and I was surprised with tickets to Paula Deen's book signing (!!!) at Davis-Kidd Booksellers.  I. was. ecstatic! I not only met Ms. Paula but I also met Michael as well.  The hubs certainly knows how to make me smile.  Pics to come, gotta figure out how to upload them!  Our trip to Nashville was definitely a trip to remember!

Does anyone have a DSLR or Nikon?  I'd love to hear any tips or tricks for mastering this fine piece of  machinery and the secret to achieving gorgeous photos. 

On a side note, Banana Republic is offering 40% off their jewelry for TODAY only!  Enter "BRBLING" at checkout.

Also, Tervis Tumbler extended their sale through TODAY and is offering $2 off individual tumblers when you buy 4 or more.  Code: EARTH.  (Doesn't include sets!)

Happy Tuesday lovelies!

cBv

I'm Back!

Well, I survived my Board meeting and made it back from Nashville, I'm actually sad I had to leave!  I have a ton of blog reading to catch up on and I look forward to sharing my trip with y'all.  Lots of exciting things happened in the past week, including meeting a Southern icon!  Stay tuned!  Hope you're having a fab Monday!

cBv

Tennessee State of Mind

Have you seen Lady A's (Antebellum) take on Easton Corbin's single I'm a Little More Country Than That? I must say I was digging the original but I'm also loving Lady A's preppy rendition.  

I love all kinds of music but my go to is county. Afterall, you can take the girl out of the honky tonk but you can't take the honky tonk out of the girl. Surprised? If you haven't checked out Lady A's new cd Need You Now, it's A-mazing!  One of my favorite tracks is Hello World.

Happy Thursday!  I'm out enjoying Music City and sipping on some sweet tea before my boring meetings begin!
cBv

ABCs of Me!

I needed a mental break from work but didn't have much time to write a real post so I thought I'd enlighten you to 26 random facts about moi.  I stole this from Brown Eyed Belle! Thanks lady!

A. Area Code: 540 - cell phone, residence - 571

B. Bed Size: Queen

C. Chore you hate: Cleaning le bain

D. Dog’s Name: Still begging & trying to convince the hubs but when the time comes his name will be   Zappato

E. Essential “start of the day” Item: Hot Shower

F. Favorite Color: Navy & Pink

G. Gold or Silver: 90% Silver 10% Gold

H. Height: 5’7
I. Instruments you play: I played the piano by ear and quit (so mad at myself!)

J. Job: Event Planner, Philanthropist
K. Kids: Not yet but the magic number is 3 and I pray there's a set of twins!

 via

L. Living Arrangements: NoVa craziness in a way too cramped condo!
M. Mom’s name: Annette
N. Nickname: Dear, C Bear, Willis
O. Overnight Hospital Stay: Never
P. Pet Peeve: pot holes (there's more holes than pavement around here), being called sweetie or honey by girls that are my age or younger!
Q. Quote from Movie: "We elves try to stick to the four main food groups: candy, candy canes, candy corns and syrup."

R. Righty or Lefty: Righty
S. Siblings: 1 younger sis
T. Time-you wake up: alarm is set for 6:40 but I snooze until at least 7:10
U. Underwear: Victoria's Secret
V. Veggie’s you dislike: lima beans
W. Ways/reasons you are late: I have nothing to wear

X. Xrays you’ve had: dental x rays & a bone scan
Y. Yummy food you make: Ribs, chocolate chip cookies (thanks to K. Belleicious)
Z. Zoo animals you like: monkeys

Brilliant me just checked and found out that there's a Hobby Lobby in the Nashville area. I'm most definintely making a special stop.  Hopefully it lives up to all the hype!

Gap.com is having a 2 day sale and offering 25% off sale items.  Checkout code is GAPSALE25.

cBv

Why Am I Complaining...Please Pray!

I've been grunting and groaning since last week because work totally sucks right now prepping for this Board meeting in Nashville I have later this week (thanks to stupid staffers who can never meet a deadline!).  Then the hubs got violently ill so I played nurse all weekend. Seriously though, why am I complaining?

I love when things are not going exactly my way God reminds me just how blessed I am.  A childhood friend of mine's baby girl has been having trouble breathing since last week. Bless her heart she's been in and out of the hospital and they still aren't sure what's wrong. Why am I complaining?

Isn't she the cutest thing you ever did see!?!

Please say a prayer for Miss Sutherlynn Grace's quick healing and for her parents!

I hope all of you lovelies have a fantastic week.

cBv

Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straight. - Proverbs 3:5-6

Anniversary Gift

12-14 hour days at work have not been conducive to faithful blogging.  I leave for a huge meeting in Nashville on Tuesday.  The stress and craziness will officially end on April 18 and it can't come soon enough.  In the meantime, I'm overdosing on lots of Starbucks, Dunkin Donuts egg white english muffins {which are delicious, who would have thought?!} and drooling over eye candy. 

I'm thinking the hubby should forego traditional fruit and flowers for our wedding anniversary in May and instead treat me to one of these limited numbered beauties.  It's the perfect gift since our anniversary is 3 days before our beach vacation and it still ties in the whole flowers thing.

Lilly Pulitzer never ceases to amaze!

I hope you're all having a much slower, less stressed week!

cBv

It's About Time I Show My Face

I had no intention of being MIA for a week but life got crazy.  Time to play catch up.

Artini was fabulous!  We had a great time catching up w. friends we hadn't seen in a while.  Here's a few pics. The cocktails were absolutely out of this world with creativity, deliciousness and absinthe (insert Edvard Munch's The Scream).  And of course, the Corcoran's architectural beauty never dissapoints.

Should have listened to the hubs when he said I needed to go tanning...

Work has been crazy, I'm knee-deep prepping for a meeting in Nashville (T-12 days).  But I did manage to get my hair did, indulge in a piece of heaven

(pineapple shake from THE best place to get ice cream)

make 1,259,349 trips to Tarjay to complete Easter baskets, take full advantage of outdoor dinners w. the hubs at fabulous restaurants and even win an award(!).

Much love to Pippy for thinking of me and spreading the love!  You're too sweet, gotta love warm fuzzies, thanks lady!

1. Who is your style icon?

2. What is your favorite socialite lit. book?

Social Climbers by Beth Dunn

3. Favorite party theme?

via

4. Go to halloween costume

me, myself and I

5. Extravagance you can't live without

6. Living person you admire?

my parents

7. Greatest fear?

my mom leaving this world before me

8. Traits you deplore in yourself?

not being outgoing enough

9. What talent would you most like to have?

the ability to sing

10. What is your greatest achievement?

Running the St. Jude half marathon

Passing the love onto these fabulous ladies

Kitchen Belleicious

Brown Eyed Belle

A Classy, Southern Bride

Sweet Simplicity

Southern Cinderella

Short Southern Momma

Imperfectly Beautiful Life

If I Can't Wear Heels...

Barefoot in the Park

Monogram Chick

I hope all of you lovelies have a fabulous Easter weekend!  Thankfully my office is closing at noon so I get to start my weekend early!

cBv