Lilly Pulitzer Backgrounds

My mom and I have been preparing for our trip in less than a month, and not just by reading guide books and booking tours.  We've jokingly been preparing our stomachs too.  This trip has become the perfect excuse to start drinking more Italian coffee, include more pasta into our meals, and indulge in yummy Italian desserts. If you are ever in the Ottawa area, you must make a stop into La Bottega in the downtown market.  They have a wonderful cafe in the back in which two really sweet older Italian women cook all the food in an open kitchen. If you sit at the counter they'll talk to you while they cook. The food is phenomenal and you get so much food for your money (like a huge balsamic chicken sandwich on a fresh focaccia and a salad for $9) . The actual market has everything you need too - cheeses, sauces, pasta, homemade biscotti, and tons of prepackaged Italian snacks.  And most of their store brand products are also so much better and cheaper than what you'd find...

If you haven't heard Adele's newest album, you better get on it asap!  Her voice is unbelievably powerful, and it's amazing that she managed to channel her bad experiences with ex-boyfriends into such soulful and powerful songs that make you want to just get up and conquer whatever demons you're facing. My personal favorites are Rolling in the Deep, Rumour Has It, and Someone Like You. They also make for great sing-at-the-top-of-my-lungs while driving songs. She's on tour starting May 13th, and holy moly do I wish I could attend one of her concerts, with her incredible voice engulfing and mesmerizing the room.  Until I'm lucky enough to see her live, I'll be blasting her music in my car and putting the album on repeat on my ipod.   xoxo,

So I thought I would be able to post more frequently, but the last couple of weeks have been ridiculous, mainly because the issue with my co-chair escalated to unbelievable proportions.  The week before our conference (we hold an annual young women in leadership conference for local 7th and 8th grade girls) she disappeared.  As in stopped answering phone calls, bbms, texts, emails, and facebook attempts.  Yup, just ceased all forms of communication.  Of course, she also failed to tell the principals from the schools from which the girls visit about the event, and never turned in the permission slips either.  So three days before our conference, we find out that no one outside our committee knew about the event.  And she didn't book the rooms we needed either.  So we had three days to convince the principals to let the  girls come, get them permission slips, plan the rest of the event, coordinate a workshop (since she also neglected to book a speak...

I haven't been sick since last semester.  Thankfully I remained healthy through my midterms and spring break, but as soon as I finally relaxed after a hectic last week, my body finally gave up!  I woke up yesterday sick, and have been dealing with a cloudy head, runny nose, and sore throat since. So not fun!  My ideal sick day situation has me in a comfy bed full of pillows, wearing warm pajamas and slippers, sipping delicious tea, eating my mom's home made chicken noodle soup, watching old Audrey Hepburn movies, and catching up on back issues of my favorite magazines. Instead I'm frantically planning a conference for 7th and 8th grade girls for Friday, while my co-chair (the person with whom I'm supposed to equally share my responsibility of our organization) is mia.  As in skipped our meetings, isn't answering any form of communication, and pretty much hasn't contributed anything to this conference. Thankfully I have two amazing girls from my committee who are...

Last week was horribly stressful - I had two really difficult midterms to study for.  It would have been easier if the materials overlapped, but unfortunately they didn't relate at all.  I started Friday with an 830am German Architecture exam, followed by an Italian Renaissance exam after lunch.  What did I do after my last exam?   I went home and passed out, sleeping from 4 in the afternoon to 9 am the next morning.  Apparently my body was tired!  It was so wonderful to finally open up blogger after a bit of a tech break to see so many entries and new bloggers! So, without further delay, the winner of the Lilly-inspired art is (after entering all the entries into a spreadsheet and then using a random number generator) .... CDS !  I love this talented artist and new mother from Miami.  She always posts such great outfit drawings and some sneak peeks at some of her work.   CDS - I'll email you shortly! Thanks so much to everyone who entered an...