Finding a Church

Mr. 3 and I went to a wonderful church in Northern Virginia.  I found them about 6 years ago and I loved everything about the church - the people, the preaching, and my wonderful small group.  Our previous Pastor was so so gifted and he married us two and a half years ago so we had a personal connection to him.  I've often sent Briana recordings for her to listen to in Florida, especially when the topics covered relationships and marriage.

Mr. 3 and I were really concerned about finding a church in Richmond that we could feel connected to the congregation and find a gifted Preacher.  We weren't interested in a mega church or a church with huge mortgage payment.  In our experience, the larger the congregation, the harder it is to make a meaningful connection.  The larger the mortgage payment, the less good works the church is able to do in the community and abroad.

We tried out a few churches in the Richmond area (one even met in a old movie theater with a great chandelier from the 1920s!).  I haven't "shopped" for churches in quite sometime and I was surprised to find that I had very strong feelings about what I did and did not want in a church.   Besides the mega church and mortgage payments, we went to one church where no one sang.  There was a band, but it seemed like not a single person was singing in the congregation.  To each his own, but I just felt weird about it.

I've been asking God to guide me to a place we could feel at home with the congregation and the Pastor.  After a fairly quick search, I think we've found one we want to stick with and start attending regularly.  Besides the above qualifications I've already mentioned which this church does meet, the music is wonderful, the people are so friendly, and I think the Pastor is gifted.   I'm so so thankful that we did not spend months and months looking for a church.

This isn't our usual Posh Purpose type of material, but I wanted to share with our readers (some of whom are my Bible study group members who have been praying for us to find a new church home!) that sometimes its not all home decor, parties, and the latest mascara.  Sometimes, it's about finding a place you can focus your faith and your life on God's plan which is greater than anything you could ever imagine for yourself.

Lilly Pulitzer Tech & Google

I recently made an amazing discovery for all of us Google Chrome users.  You can apply a Lilly Pulitzer theme to your Google search engine!  Gasp!  Now my researching/stalking can all start with a heavy dose of pink and green!  Here's how you can make your Googling a bit more fun:

1.  Go to google.com
2.  Click on the three red lines in the upper right hand corner (see arrow below)

3. From the drop down, click on settings
4. Under appearance, click on "get themes"
5. A new web page will open up giving you a search option to look through the Chrome Web Store
6. In the Chrome Web Store search bar, type "lilly"
7. Select the first Lilly Pulitzer theme and click on "free"
8. You should see the tabs across the top change to green background, but you will need to close and open the tab and go to the Google homepage again for the changes to apply.
9. Prepare yourself for this level of super fun awesome Googling!

Briana and I have both been able to use these instructions to install on Windows and Apple Products.  Having a fun (and FREE!) background is awesome!  I suggest you add it before you leave work today, so you have something bright and cheerful to look at Monday morning!  This isn't a download, so you shouldn't have to worry about pesky security firewalls at work.  Have a great weekend anyone!

Checking in from Richmond

Hey Posh Purpose readers!  We are finally ready to ease back into posting this week.  I'm about 85% unpacked and I've been working at my new job for two weeks now.  It's been a huge learning curve, but I'm really enjoying the people, the office environment, and working in a new field.  I've switched over from focusing on law enforcement issues to health care, but I think it is going to be a great change!

Mr. 3 and I are renting an apartment for a year while we get used to the area and consider what we might want for a house.  I'm already stalking the real estate listings and trying to find out more on the school systems (for future bambinos - way in the future mind you.).

Otherwise, we are enjoying exploring the neighborhoods.  I've found a ton of thrift stores, consignment shops, and cute boutiques.  The craigslist scene here is insanely good!  Briana has been getting constant texts and emails - she's pretty sure I could outfit an entire house through craigslist.  We've tried out two different churches, but we are still on the hunt.  We have also been to a few restaurants and haven't been disappointed yet!

Briana and I have been discussing what we are going to focus on the next year for Posh Purpose.  Of course, Briana is going to have her hands full with making her new house her own, but she still plans to continue other posts like Thrift Store Finds and makeup reviews to Posh Purpose.  I will probably be doing less entertaining this year because our Richmond apartment is much smaller and I'd rather put party money towards parties in a future house.  However, Mr. 3 got me awesome new garden shears for Christmas (among other things), so I still plan on doing flower arrangements for my own enjoyment rather than decorating for a par-tay.  I'll also be sharing all my exploring around Richmond including restaurant and shopping reviews and Thrift Store Finds.  We definitely have not changed our minds about the purpose of Posh Purpose and we want you to keep joining in on the fun!

Thanks for reading!

Update from Florida

I'm so excited for Melinda to start her new job soon! She mentioned that I have news as well. Right around the time her job prospects were looking good, I discovered an adorable house that had just went on the market. Things have gone well and now J and I are in the process of purchasing it!

Between house activities and tons of traveling for Christmas Eve and the Orange Bowl (thanks baby sister!), I haven't had much time to create new content for the blog. However, I will be able to post quite a bit more when we officially own the house.

This isn't the first time big things have happened so closely in Melinda's and my lives. We also got engaged a few weeks apart and planned our weddings together. Hopefully we will be moving around the same time as well. Please excuse us while we take care of the less fun bits like packing/unpacking/organizing/cleaning!

We're Alive!

Hey Posh Purpose Readers!  Briana and I are indeed alive and well!  We took an unintended break in December that was only supposed to be a few days, but then snowballed into about a month.  We're sorry!  BUT we have really good reasons!  I'll let Briana share her news with y'all at a later date, but I'm finally able to say that after much prayer, wishing, hoping, and hard work...I got a new job and Mr. 3 and I are moving to Richmond!

Part of the reason, I've been MIA since Thanksgiving is because this past month I've:

Cooked dinner for 8 for Thanksgiving
Went to Atlanta for work for 5 days
Studied, prepped, and had a 1st and 2nd round interview
Spend days in Richmond searching for apartments
Signed a lease on an apartment
Bought a new car
Attended various corporate and friends Christmas parties
Flew to NC to visit my parents
Drove to southwest Virginia to visit Mr. 3's parents

I can't remember ever being this tired (I've also had two colds)...and now I face a mountain of packing.  We are set to move on January 14th, but between now and then I've got to wrap up projects at my current job, go to a ton of doctor's appointments since I won't have sick leave built up at my new job for awhile, and say goodbye to all of my friends!

I'm so excited to be moving to Richmond and I know I can make it through the next few weeks, but it is coming up fast.

Briana and I have no plans to give up Posh Purpose anytime soon, so bear with us while we are making some transitions in our personal lives!

Happy New Year everyone!  2015 is looking really great for us!  Thanks for reading!

Bits from Behind the Scenes: Turkey Edition

On a recent trip to Whole Foods (aka Whole Paycheck) upon picking up a turkey to check the price:

Melinda: #$@%*! ....$85.12?!?!?!? For a turkey?  Did the #$@%*! thing lay golden eggs before it died?

~long pause to hightail it to the car and head to Safeway for their 88 cent a lb special~

Waiting for the arrival of a perfectly cooked and reasonably priced turkey.
Also waiting for all the wrinkles to naturally fall out of the tablecloth as I despise ironing round ones.  Despise.

Happy Thanksgiving to all of our wonderful Posh Purpose readers!  I hope you are filling up on something yummy and spending time with your loved ones.

Life and Blog Updates

Since I accidentally published my dream house/pinterest post the same time as Melinda's shower discovery yesterday we didn't have a planned post for today. However, my communication error gave us the perfect opportunity to write a brief "state of the blog."  

Have you noticed decreased consistency in our posting schedule? Melinda and I have been working hard to improve our blogging schedule while still sharing content that we find interesting (and hopefully you do too). We don't believe that filler posts will help us grow Posh Purpose readership. Starting last April, we decided to get serious by posting regularly and often. And we did! But recently it has been hard to find inspiration for Posh Purpose because our focus has been diverted.

Melinda is searching for jobs away from D.C. and I am desperately hoping to buy and move into a house. We both found it hard to embrace apartment living when Melinda hoped to be moving to a new city and I hoped to be moving into an old house with plenty of character. We have day long gchat conversations about all of our ideas for entertaining, decorating, building/renovating but little desire to put effort into our (wishfully) temporary situations.

All that being said, we are making a new efforts to enjoy where we are in our lives! Melinda is resuming her How to Host series since renewing her lease means she can fill her refrigerator again. I will continue emptying Habitat with my hoarding collecting skills. And perhaps I may finish another project? Let's be optimistic, at least for today.

Posh Purpose Pinterest Revamp!

Briana and I have been diligently working on reorganizing our Pinterest boards to make them more accessible for us and our Posh Purpose readers!  And by diligently...we are still having phantom pain in our poor fingers from all the clicking to repin and headaches from trying to classify a pin for furnishings vs. a pin for a living room.  Also, we discovered we like dessert and clothes more than anything else on the internet.

BUT we are finally finished and we think our revamped look conveys our personal style and overall design aesthetic for our readers, while providing Briana and me a way to better visualize and organize our thoughts on home decor, fashion, party planning, and weddings, as well as, highlight our favorite recipes and the ones we'd love to try!

If you aren't following us on Pinterest yet, please use our pin logos on the right side of the page to find us! Or, you can use the following links to add us:

Melinda: http://www.pinterest.com/poshpurposeblog/
Briana: http://www.pinterest.com/poshpurpose/

We can't wait to see what y'all are pinning too!

Happy 4th of July Everyone!

I'm headed to Lake Anna, VA with Mr. 3 and friends for some swimming and barbecuing for a long 4 day weekend.  Briana is going to St. Petersburg, FL with family for some beach action and sailing.

We hope y'all are having a safe, fun, and patriotic 4th of July!  We know we have other days to celebrate our military, but we want to say thank you to all those who have served and continue to serve so that we can remain independent and free...not everyone is so fortunate.  Our prayers go out to all the military serving overseas.

Image Source: Me!

Pinterest Personalized for You

I just discovered that Tech Crunch included this post in their review of Pinterest's personalization feature. After reading it, I realized I may have not been clear in my original post (found below). When I said I have no "personal interest" in the coffee body scrub, I simply meant I myself don't care to use it. The research I mentioned was performed because I wanted to make the scrub for my sisters-in-law. You may have already read about how I made that scrub. My overall point is that Pinterest prioritized many things that I do not spend much, if any time, searching or pinning.


I got a notification from Pinterest yesterday about a new feature. There is a new category for browsing called "Personalized for You" and is located with all the other categories like Popular, Weddings, etc. I have ignored Pinterest's previous updates like maps and whatever else they have done recently, but I decided to check this one out. For those of you who haven't seen it yet, I have included a screenshot of the page that came up for me. Please ignore my crazy bookmarks. I don't clean them up ever.

First thing I noticed was the coffee body scrub section right in the middle of the top row. I have no personal interest in coffee body scrubs, but I guess Pinterest assumed I do because I did some research leading up to making the coffee body scrub gifts and then pinned my own article (shameless self promotion). The second thing I noticed was the gloves section, which I suppose came from my beaded glove project because I have never searched for gloves otherwise. The thrift store section was interesting and more in line with my interests. I clicked on it and it just seemed to pull up a bunch of pins as if I had searched "thrift stores," so I am not sure it has added any value to my Pinterest experience. More exploring could change my mind, however.

I really am not a cocktail party, but my pin from my What to Wear to a Christmas Cocktail party is featured on the right side. The doily art is amusing to me, because I know it came from gift ideas research, as did the wine decanter segment. And I don't think I have ever searched for gold kitchens, but I know I have searched those words separately. Overall, I think Pinterest could improve their algorithms for this personalization feature but for now it doesn't add much to my life. Have y'all tried it out yet? We would love to hear other opinions!

Melinda's Easter Plans

Well, my Easter weekend is kicking off to a great start with the release of the Washington Post's Peep Show, which is one of my favorite Easter traditions.  Local contestants submit dioramas made of Peep chicks and bunnies for judging.  My favorite for this year was "Everyone Peeps."  Check it out, you'll definitely get a laugh out of some of the entries and I'm always amazed at people's creativity with chemical loaded, brightly colored, sugary treats.

Mr. 3 and I are dying Easter eggs tomorrow night for our date night activity.  I plan on making a bright batch to put out on our dining table which will be a great healthy snack.

On Saturday, I'm heading to Zumba in anticipation of all the yummy food for Sunday.  Later in the day, I'm baking key lime pie and a lemon coconut layer cake (my first attempt at a layer cake!).  I'm also going to devil up some non-dyed eggs and throw together some of my Mama's green salad (jello and cool whip kind...not lettuce and carrots kind).

Mr. 3 and I are going to our usual 9:30 AM church service and then heading home to host an Easter potluck at 2:00 PM for our friends.  I hope everyone has a wonderful weekend and makes it to church service!  I know I can't wait to see all the children in their dress up clothes!

Roadkill Rescue!

Do y'all remember that jewelry dish I monogrammed for my niece's Christmas present? Well, it was just featured on Roadkill Rescue today! I love that blog - such a great source of inspiration - and am so excited to see one of my projects posted there. Here is a link to their post about my jewelry dish.

If you haven't ever read Roadkill rescue, you should definitely check it out. All the projects are based around free items. For mine, the dish was originally given to me by my aunt when she was downsizing apartments, but a lot of people use things they found for free or things that were fixing to be tossed - hence the name Roadkill Rescue. Do y'all read similar blogs? Melinda and I love to see projects summarized and linked back to the original source. It helps us quickly sift through to the things we want to do now and save other interesting projects for later.

Let the Love Fest Begin!

Happy Valentine's Day!  I waited until this morning to type up this post, because I wasn't sure how badly the snow would affect my Valentine's Day plans with Mr.3.  Luckily, it looks like we be able to dig our car out so we can get around town to take care of our Valentine's Day plans.  As I mentioned before, I'm not a fan of the pricey dinners that D.C. has to offer, so we are heading to the store to pick up two lobsters, a bottle of wine, and I've already got the ingredients for my browned butter balsamic roasted asparagus.  After dinner, we are headed over to the Ritz Carlton for its chocolate buffet (which I'm SUPER excited about...although slightly appalled by the idea of white chocolate soup with lemon thyme ).  Tomorrow, of course, I will be heading to the gym for some post-gluttony calorie burning, but I don't need to think about that today!

I hope everyone is able to keep their plans despite the weather.  If you need last minute gift ideas, check out our Posh Purpose gift guides with our favorite candy picks, $25 and under gifts, and luxe and lovely presents.  We love our readers and hope y'all all have a great day!

Happy Martin Luther King Day

For those of you with today off, I hope you are thoroughly enjoying your three day weekend. Melinda spent her weekend preparing for and hosting a birthday party for her husband so today she should be relaxing. I don't have the day off, so today is just a normal Monday for me. However, I had a waffle brunch yesterday after church which was a lot of fun. We are excited to share both events with you in the upcoming days!

The Purpose of Posh Purpose

Briana and I get asked a lot about the blog's focus/theme and the meaning of the name.  We've done a little bit of explaining how we got into writing the blog in our About Us section and we've put an extremely short blog description in our Dear Readers section on the right hand side of our webpage.  However, we haven't really taken the opportunity to write about what drives us and Posh Purpose.

Women have so many demands on their lives - significant others, children, homekeeping, career - just to name a few.  Because of all these demands, we feel it becomes extremely easy for women to give up on living that glamorous and fun life that they might have imagined for themselves in their teens or twenties.

We don't believe that your dreams of a fantastic life have to be sacrificed in the face of all these demands.   Whether you love fine china, crystal, cashmere, traveling the world, or something else equally luxe and wonderful, we think it's possible to find a way to incorporate them into your life - even if only in small doses.  However, while living a posh lifestyle means not feeling guilty for the little luxuries in your life, it also means not making these luxuries the center of your universe.

We think everyone should try to find a purpose for their life.  For us, we believe that there is so much ugliness and negativity in the world that is outside of our control.  Concentrating on the relationships you have in life with your family, friends, and God is the most important purpose you could have.  That's why we choose to focus the content on Posh Purpose on making your home life wonderful and taking care of yourself spiritually, intellectually, and physically.

Our intent in this blog is to share what excites us, keeps us grounded, and makes us super fun women.  We may get it right and we may get it wrong, but we are always trying to live poshly and purposefully.

Briana and Melinda, July 2012
Getting ready for Melinda's wedding

Briana's 2014 Goals

Melinda shared her goals for 2014 this morning, and now it's my turn. She kindly came up with a theme (and all the categories!) that was not the stereotypical New Year's resolutions. Those sorts of statements don't work for me, but discussing short and long term goals is wonderful and should be done through out the year. We will definitely be keeping y'all updated on the relevant goals. And if you want to read another perspective, my sister-in-law wrote a wonderful piece on why she is also not a fan of New Year's resolutions.

Beauty: I am pretty satisfied with my makeup routine. I switch it up enough to not get bored, but I also have a set of basic steps that I can do to look presentable quickly. However, I never ever do my hair just for the fun of it. If my hair is dirty and I don't have time to wash it, I will put it up in a bun or a braid and sometimes I experiment with scarves. I would like to try out new hairstyles this year that aren't necessarily because I don't want to wash my hair that day. You can follow along with which styles interest me on my Stylin' Pinterest board.

Health: I will continue to zumba with my sister Rebekah twice a week. The other night I had a brief lapse in judgement and actually considered running. Haha no. But perhaps I should find another source of exercise? That one is still open for discussion. As for diet, we do a really good job of eating our vegetables but I want to take advantage of the winter fruit season in Florida. I will prepare and serve fruit to J and myself every day while the strawberries and grapefruit are being picked. Once citrus and strawberry season are over in Florida, I will research what other Florida fruits are fresh at that time. Summer here is really too hot for a lot of farming, so that may be tricky, but overall I want to eat more fresh produce while it is in season locally.

Finance: As you may know, J and I moved back to my hometown in Florida last May. We decided it was the perfect opportunity to start our own business. Right now we have two in the works which is very exciting, but of course owning your own businesses is not easy. I have really improved in budgeting our money since we have been mostly living out of our savings account (more on that later!). Our short term goals are to earn enough money to cover at least 75% of our living expenses for the next few months. We hope to break even by May and to restore our savings account to it's former number by this time next year. These goals are definitely attainable, but that last one will be a stretch.

Spiritual: My number one goal is to attend church more regularly. J and I go to the church I grew up in (and the church where our wedding took place) and we recently hired a new preacher. He is wonderful and enthusiastic about leading our congregation. Now I just need to wake up and get dressed! I'm shooting for three out of every four Sundays we are in town.

Creative: J's parents gave me a sewing machine for Christmas and I can't wait to use it! I took a sewing class when I was in elementary school and have played around with sewing from time to time, but I have no real training. I want to make a few skirts and actually learn real techniques rather than my traditional approach of just winging it (see DIY monogrammed gloves). I also will finish those Habitat chairs and my end table.

Intellectual: This one is similar to Melinda's. I will read more often in 2014, at least one novel a month and a handful of news stories every week. I actually already started working on this goal! After Christmas, I rediscovered iBooks on my laptop and read the first novel of Sherlock Holmes. The wonderful thing about iBooks is that most of the old pieces of literature are available for free download because their copyright has run out. If you have ever wanted to read Jane Austen's entire work, you should definitely check it out! This month I will finish the second novel of Sherlock Holmes. And my secondary reading goal is to finish all the novels I start. I have a bad habit of picking up books, enjoying them, but then taking forever to finish because I start reading other things. I need to finish Anna Karenina and Crime and Punishment. I see a theme here..

Blog: My favorite topic for the blog is Thrift Store Finds. I will be more diligent about taking pictures of cool/wacky things I spot in our many thrift stores and then actually sharing them with y'all. And since I can't help myself when it comes to buying interesting and cheap furniture, I will step it up on the DIY restoration blogging. Believe it or not, I am totally not an arts and crafts person. I don't love it like many bloggers do. However I am extremely particular. I came to the conclusion that I must get involved in crafty things so that I can have the look and style I want. Overall, Melinda and I want to continue providing interesting content about the Posh Purpose lifestyle but this year we will have better pictures (work in progress).

Melinda and I love writing this blog together and we hope y'all enjoy reading it. I am very excited to see how we improve in 2014. Now that the holiday season is over, we will be focusing on topics that are relevant to daily life, such as budgeting, housekeeping, beauty habits, and recipes. We won't forget the fun stuff, though! Melinda and I have lots of party ideas to try out and of course share with you. And I know y'all are dying to hear about my foray into sewing.


March update
February update
January update

Melinda's 2014 Goals

Briana and I have been discussing our goals for 2014.  Briana doesn't like the term "resolution," so I came up with "stuff we'd like to do before the year is out."  We tried to think up what we would like to achieve across different categories/concerns in our life.  Check back this afternoon for Briana's list!

Beauty: Learn how to curl my hair without burning off a chunk or looking like a china doll (my new curling iron is on its way!).  Continue the fight against wrinkles with increased use of facial sunscreen even in winter.

Health: Lose three pounds a month and get my upper body strong.  Even though I maintained my weight through the holidays, I have always, always wanted to lose more.  I find it's easier to set an exact small goal for weight loss rather than saying I'd like to lose 20 lbs at some point in 2014.  I also don't want to just lose weight.  I'm trying to work on my arms, so I don't get "the droop" later in life!

Finance: Pay off 40% of the remaining balance on my student loans.  Stick to my grocery, shopping, and gift budgets!  (We will be talking more about our financial goals later in the month.)  There will be babies at some point in the future, but not anytime soon.  However, I've determined I don't want to be making student loan payments at the same time I'm buying diapers.  Therefore, I'm taking an aggressive approach for the next two years to get them completely gone from my life.

Spiritual: Try a different volunteer activity.  Right now, Mr. 3 and I host a Bible study group for young married couples and work the newcomers table once a month.  I'd like to try a new church activity that helps the community outside our congregation.  Activities I'm considering: serving breakfast at the homeless shelter on Sunday morning, running a game night at the homeless shelter on a Friday, and tending the church community garden.

Creative: Make one new Vitamix recipe a week.  Mr. 3 and I L-O-V-E our Vitamix, but we tend to make the same wonderful recipes all the time.  I'd also like to make a scrapbook for 2014, because I realized that I have all these photos I never look at on my computer.

Intellectual: READ MORE BOOKS!  I used to be such a book nerd, but I have totally gotten away from that since leaving grad school.  I want to try to read a book a month and I think I'm going to try the online book club that A Beautiful Mess is hosting or look for a local DC book club to join.

Blog: Amp up our What to Wear and How to Host series!  I'm not sure exactly what this means yet, but I'd like to develop these two series for the blog so that we have better pictures and more thorough articles for all our fab readers!

I can't promise I will keep you updated on every single one of these goals (ex. If I burn a chunk of my hair off, I will tell no one.  Likewise, if I never get beyond Shirley Temple look, there will be no publicly available evidence.).  BUT, in addition to all of our other great content, I will be blogging about my experiences over the next year through product reviews for my beauty items, diet and exercise tips and tricks, recipes and sneak peaks at my scrapbook for my creative goals, book reviews, and continuously improving our signature series.  I hope you'll support us in 2014!  What are you working on this year?

Happy 2014!

Happy New Year! I hope everyone made it home safely and had a wonderful time celebrating the start of 2014. I am prepping myself for the traditional meal of black eyed peas for good luck. Southerners typically pair them with collard greens for wealth, but the ladies of this family just can't choke those things down. And before anyone asks about my new year resolutions, please refer to this Calvin and Hobbes comic.

Merry Christmas!

Melinda and I just want to wish all our wonderful readers a Merry Christmas. We hope y'all are enjoying your favorite traditions and staying warm! Tomorrow, we will take a break from posting to spend time with our families, but we will resume the regular blog schedule on Monday. Get excited - we will be revealing DIY Christmas gifts now that they have been opened! Even better, Melinda will give us a run down of how well her winter weight strategies worked.

Christmas Eve!

I hope everyone is got all their shopping done yesterday and is able to enjoy their time with families today! I've been enjoying some egg nog and catching up with my North Carolina girl friends (which I really needed time to do!).   I'm writing this post in the car on our way to lunch with Mr. 3's parents.  We have a few stops (no major shopping left!) to make after lunch and then it's on to church service with my parents.  We have an unusual tradition that's developed over the years and we will head over to town for a Mexican dinner post-Christmas service (salsa and guac = festive colors and super super yummy in my tummy).

If you are also headed to church tonight, be sure to check out our what to wear article.  We've also got a few recipes to try if you need some ideas for Christmas brunch.  If you are doing some last minute shopping, here's our guide on stocking stuffers which also make great last minute gifts.  Stay safe and enjoy your time with your families!  Merry Christmas!