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!

$15 Happiness: Glass Pumpkin Purchase

I'm not really into spooky Halloween decorations.  I think it's a much better idea to decorate with items that can carry you through Thanksgiving because it saves money and limits your decoration storage needs.  I've restricted myself to a few items that work from September to November, which include this really pretty new gold painted glass pumpkin from Home Goods which cost a whopping $12.99!

Isn't she pretty?  I put out a couple fall decorations this past weekend and I love this new addition!  This pumpkin perks me up for a few minutes every time I walk through the door, even after a long day at work!  If that isn't a $15 Happiness, I don't know what is. 

Wine Review: Cloud Break Pinot Noir

I don't know about y'all, but when I'm throwing a party or having people over for dinner I like to serve a nice bottle of wine...but wine doesn't have to be expensive to be good!  The wine store can be really overwhelming and intimidating if you don't know where to start.  Fortunately, I have a fool proof wine to suggest for y'all today!

Cloud Break Pinot Noir
California
$8.99
Image Source: Total Wine

Mr. 3 and I found Cloud Break Pinot Noir over a year ago at our local Total Wine store.  We picked it out based on the price and the fact that it was a California pinot noir which always seems to appeal to both of us.  Not only did we love it, all of our guests have as well!  We had a wine tasting party where everyone bought a bottle of pinot noir under $15 to share and we voted at the end on which one tasted best and this wine was chosen by our friends as the top pick!

Total Wine describes Cloud Break as: Elegant, Strawberry, Cherry, Medium-bodied, pairs well with salmon

I'm not fancy pants enough to identify 100% of all the notes in a wine, but I can say that it pairs well with just about everything, is very mellow, and super drinkable!

As for using it for parties or taking it as a hostess gift, the label artwork looks nice and the price is even better!  We bring this quite frequently when we are invited to dinner at other people's houses. Sooo, if you are in need of a go to wine that won't break the bank, I highly recommend Cloud Break for your next event!

***This post was not sponsored by either Total Wine or Cloud Break. We just like to share our ways to make your Posh Purpose lifestyle easier!***

Picnic Essentials

Picnic Essentials by poshpurpose

Picnic basket / Lunch box / Water bottle

I blogged recently about a super fun picnic basket I spotted at C.Wonder. The price tag at $128 was not so fun.  If you plan to head to any outdoor movies or concerts, you might instead consider the Oh Joy! line from Target.  I found these three great items that will be perfect no matter what summer event you have to attend.  The bento boxes make it easy to separate out your food and the picnic basket has three compartments inside, which will make it easier to keep your wine glasses from falling.  Although the picnic basket doesn't come with any extras (like plates or silverware), I would suggest using paper and plastic so that you don't have to carry around a pile of dirty dishes which would just yuck up your basket anyways!  The price points also can't be beat! The picnic basket is only $25, the bento box is $18, and the water bottle is $10.  All items can be purchased online or in store.  The bento box is by far my favorite!

Weekend Plans

Briana is off to Ohio to visit J's family for the weekend.  I think she plans on doing some thrift store shopping and also checking out some fabric stores (she informed me today that she is seriously lacking in options in her town).  Besides hittin' up zumba class and gettin' my hair did, I'm hoping to get over to Home Depot to grab some pots to plant mint, basil, and hot pepper plants for my summer "garden" on our patio.  I probably won't get around to planting this weekend, because I've got some ideas to spruce up your typical terracotta pots (stay tuned!).  I'm also planning on making my first angel food cake of the season in my new pan for Bible study on Sunday if I can find decent berries or peaches (yay for fruit season!).  I also have an urge to go thrifting, so I'm going to see what is close by in D.C. that might be worth checking out.  Other than that, I think my allergies have finally subsided enough for us to enjoy some outdoor weather and go for a walk or sit outside for dinner.  Hope you do the same!  Have a great weekend everyone!  Let us know what fun plans you have going on this weekend!

Vacation Recap: Country Music & Pretty Horses!

Mr. 3's dad is a lifetime member to the Kentucky Derby and a Kentucky Colonel to boot.  Ever since Mr. 3 and I started dating, I've been invited to attend all the fun.  This year, Mr. 3 and I had enough of the 11+ hour drive from D.C. and we decided to make two part trip.  After some intense Google map searching, I found cheap tickets for flights for us to Nashville which is only 2.5 hours away from Lousivlle.  We left D.C. on Wednesday night after work and spent Thursday checking out Nashville before heading out to Kentucky on Friday morning in time for the Kentucky Oaks races.  We stayed about 45 minutes away in a hotel in Indiana and drove back to Louisville for the Kentucky Derby.  On Sunday morning, we headed back to Nashville for a fun afternoon and flew out on Monday morning.  The trip was a whirlwind and not what I would call a relaxing vacation but we had the best time.  If you were following me on Instagram (and you should!) you got to see some of the highlights, but here's a few more photos and a list of activities and yummy places to eat if you find yourself in the Nashville-Louisville-Indiana area.

Nashville

Nashville is a great city and you can see a lot in a few days.  That said, it's not a walkable city so be sure to rent a car unless you are planning on only staying and seeing downtown.  It's also still a bit "gritty" so you be careful if you decide to take public transportation or walk.  Overall, the food is awesome and the people are so welcoming!  You can always find someplace to listen to a live band (there was even someone playing at an airport bar!).  I highly recommend driving through the residential areas to check out the adorable craftsman style and bungalow houses.

Place to Stay

Loews Vanderbilt Hotel

Breakfast

Pancake Pantry

American - OMG.  This place had a line out the door on a Thursday morning at 10:30...and with good reason.  The sweet potato pancakes and bacon were delicious.

Loveless Cafe 

Southern - OMG again.  I had a pimento cheese and fried green tomato biscuit, cheese grits, and bacon.  Mr. 3 had the pulled pork biscuit which was to die for.  Everything was delicious.  Just to be really egregious, I had a slice of coconut cream pie that was so good I bought the restaurant's cookbook so I could have the recipe.

Heaven on a plate.

Lunch & Dinner

Pinewood Social

Southern - I've never had pork belly in a salad, but it was a tasty treat.  Mr. 3 also enjoyed the beef tongue reuben.  There's also a retro bowling alley that looked like tons of fun if you have the time.

Dessert

Jeni's Splendid Ice Creams

I sampled a ton of flavors (Savannah Buttermint, Black Coffee, and Banana French Toast), but I wound up with the Goat Cheese and Cherry and a scoop of the Brown Butter Almond Brittle.  Mr. 3 had the Brambleberry Crisp (there were bits of pie in it!) and the Askinosie Dark Milk Chocolate.

Happy Hour/Drinks

Mason Bar

Southern - The crab corn dogs are AMAZING.  I also recommend their spicy margarita. 

Things to Do

Hermitage

Home of President Andrew Jackson

Ryman Auditorium

"Mother Church of Country Music" - the original Grand Ole Opry

Larry Gaitlin performing.  Sorry for the grittiness. My camera phone doesn't come with a telephoto lense.

8th Avenue

Lots of antique shops

12 South

Fun neighborhood with Jeni's Splendid Ice Creams and local shops

White's Mercantile @ 12 South

Corsair Distillery

Small bourbon distillery operation.  It's a cheap way to spend an hour or two ($8 for the tour).

Good grains with your booze.

Rippy's

Awesome honky tonk bar spread across three levels with a different band on each floor.  No cover charge.  Try to find a seat on the third floor which has a great view of the strip and is open air when it's warm enough.  The bands were awesome!

View from Rippy's 3rd floor.

Louisville

Louisville is a crazy city during Derby weekend.  Unfortunately, we don't usually get to check out much of the city other than a couple of restaurants since we are at the races all day on Friday and Saturday.

Breakfast/Brunch

Harvest

Farm to Table - Order anything and it will be wonderful....but if you just can't decide go for the "biscuit and gravy."  It only comes with one biscuit, but it is huge.  Harvest also has a huge bourbon selection and you can order flights to get a sample of what you like.

Chilly weather = pants.

New Albany, IN

We like to stay in New Albany when we can find the rooms.  It's only about 20 minutes from the racetrack and it is a really cute town that is going through some revitalization.  The people here are friendly and the houses are adorable.

Breakfast

Toast on Market

American - If they offer a bourbon champagne cocktail, order it!  I also highly recommend the bread pudding pancake.

Dinner

River City Winery

American - The pear and gorgonzola pizza is awesome and be sure to get a glass of Riesling.

Seymour, IN

This year we stayed a bit farther away because we found a Hampton Inn cheaper than we could find a hotel in Louisville (a Day's Inn can go for $300 or more!).  There wasn't much going on in this town, but if you find yourself passing by, this Mexican restaurant is awesome!

Dinner

El Nopal

Mexican - Awesome prices and great food - try the churros!

We had an awesome time and as you can probably tell...ate waaaaay tooooo much!  I'll have at least one other article on our Nashville trip...so stay tuned for more details of my fun adventures!

2014 Goal Updates

It's that time again where I publicly proclaim how well (or not so well) I am working towards my 2014 goals.

Beauty: I have not tried anything new recently in this category. Oh well, maybe next month?

Health: Still love zumba, still love fresh produce! J bought half a 5 gallon bucket full of juice oranges (for $4) so I made fresh citrus chicken and asparagus one night. It was really yummy! Summer is very quickly heading towards Florida, so I won't have as many locally grown options in the coming months but I will still make an effort to eat lots of produce anyway.

Finance: Our company has grown a bit, which is great news! We are very quickly covering our living expenses for the year, but that also means we are considering increasing our spending habits a bit. Obviously not by too much, because business owners don't have a guaranteed pay check. By the way, I had to rely on spell check to get "guaranteed" right. Perhaps I should reevaluate my intellectual goals. On that note, I am learning quite a bit about accounting through using quickbooks and google searching everything before I input. I never considered accounting as a career, and I certainly don't regret that decision. This task is one of the things that will be passed on to a more suitable person if we ever expand to the point that I can't input our monthly data in less than an hour.

Spiritual: I went to church last Sunday! Of course, it was Easter so practically everyone who has any inkling to attend church was there on Sunday.

Creative: Did y'all notice I actually finished a project? Like for real, it is 100% done (minus a slight repair - don't let things roll around in your back seat). What is done, you ask? My thrift store lamp! It would make me so happy if y'all checked it out and tossed out a few compliments (or not so complimentary opinions, I don't offend easily). Maybe if I get enough positive reinforcement I will tackle some of my unfinished (i.e. unstarted) projects. On another creative note, Melinda has been making her own flower arrangements using grocery store flowers so I feel like I am more creative through her endeavors. That's how this cousin thing works. My favorite arrangement so far is when she used her low vase.

Intellectual: I have lost count of how many books I have finished, but it is more than one per month. Yay! I used to read so much but I have a lot less time now that I am not 12 years old. I am also continuously learning from my dad about how to run a business. So much goes into every decision! He will be going on a sailing trip for a few weeks this month, so I will be making lots of decisions on my own. Very exciting! I am also working on my photo editing skills. Could you tell? There is quite a bit of room for improvement.

Blog: Melinda came up with a new series called $15 happiness and I just love it! The idea is that sometimes little things are all it takes to brighten your day. While we don't believe material things can make you truly happy, Melinda and I both find enjoyment in a new bottle of nail polish. And as always, I love writing about thrift store finds. One day (when I don't live in this teeny tiny apartment) I will photograph all my furniture and source each item. I predict over 50% will be thrifted while 5-10% from Restoration Hardware. The rest, who knows?

Weekend Activities

Hey y'all! Even though I don't dread Mondays, I find that I appreciate my weekends a bit more now that I go into an office in the afternoons. I have also learned that since I am not at all a morning person (as Melinda learned while hosting me for a summer), I have to devote some of my weekend time to chores. It is almost as if I am a real adult or something. 

Despite my groundbreaking realizations and the mountains of housework that had piled up, J and I managed to have some fun. We tried out a local restaurant Cang Tong for the first time and it was wonderful! The menu had both Chinese and Japanese dishes and sushi as well. Sometimes ethnic restaurants can't make it in our more rural setting but I was happy to see that there was a long line when we left.

J also squeezed orange juice. So yummy! Our local farm was selling juice oranges by the bucket, but we were able to grab half a bucket's worth for $4 - more suitable for a two person household. We still have over half the oranges left, too. By the way, that monogrammed glass pictured is part of a set my sister Kimberlee gave me as part of our wedding gift. She found a set of 9 at a thrift store and knew I would love them.

 It was prom weekend in my town, so I got to do my niece's makeup. She was so pretty! Of course, I snapped a picture of her with the awesome sunglasses I gave as a birthday present, so you can't see the eye makeup.

Normally, my two older sisters and I take turns hosting everyone for Sunday lunch. This month is a bit busy so we decided to skip until May. My sister Bekah organized a Taco Bell event Saturday night so we could still all get together. After eating out two nights in a row, J and I were in serious need of a healthy meal. I made hummus, chicken, quinoa, along with a variety of cut up vegetables.

One of my favorite parts of this meal is getting to use one of my Anna Weatherly platters. So overall, great weekend! Did y'all do anything fun/new/exciting? Make sure to come back tomorrow for my exciting DIY project that I actually completed! 

2014 Goals Update

Since March is officially over, it is time for me to reflect on how well (or poorly) I have been working towards my 2014 goals. February's update was decent, not great. Turns out March wasn't much better.

Beauty: I had a 1960's style bouffant in March. That was fun, but it also took me five days to get all the tangles out.

Health: Zumba is fun and we have been eating plenty of fresh produce. J got a little carried away with unhealthy meats since March is his birthday month, but we are back on track now. We stopped by Costco and picked up ground turkey at a wonderful price and will be making turkey burgers tonight! Yum my favorite! I have to bribe J with promises of fresh mozzarella and basil. Looking forward, April should be a pretty good produce month as well. My local farm has giant cabbages for $1.50 each. 

Finance: We totally went over our budget for March, but that was mainly because we ended our AT&T contract early to switch to T-Mobile. The math made sense and we should be making back the early termination fee over the next few months. Our grocery bill was also more than I like to spend because we went to Costco, but again we will make up for it in April. I don't expect to buy meat until the last bit of the month. As for our businesses, we have seen steady growth. We invoiced far more than our living expenses in March! Of course, we are still waiting to receive payments for a lot of it but since J worked so hard to save since graduating, we aren't dying for those checks to come in. It is so wonderful that we aren't in a position where we are stressing about a client's net 30 or net 60 terms.

Spiritual: J and I went to mass with my parents. My dad was raised Catholic and Mom decided to try it out. I haven't been to church other than that, though.

Creative: I made arrangements to start a sewing class with the family friend who always alters my clothes. We tentatively scheduled for May and I am very excited! I have also made progress on one of my Habitat projects! I hope to finish a major step tonight after Zumba.

Intellectual: I finished Hound of the Baskervilles, another Sherlock book, and downloaded Benjamin Franklin's autobiography. I also started another Sherlock book, so lots of reading going on. I spent quite a bit of March researching software for my paint store and learned a lot about POS systems. 

Blog: I have been keeping up with thrift store finds, which is still great fun for me. Melinda and I also decided to include a bit more personal posts about how we spend our weekends and such. I also want to do some more in depth budgeting posts since I have learned so much over the past year.

Great Weekend!

I had a wonderful weekend. This Saturday was the Ladies Tea at my church. The theme this year was decades, so volunteers teamed up to put on a fashion show demonstrating styles of the past. Mrs. Loveless, a family friend and wonderful seamstress, asked me to be her model for the 1960s. Of course I said yes - I can't resist playing dress up!

Mrs. Loveless made a minidress for me in the style of what she wore in high school during the 60s. She made all her own clothes during that time and also did updos for all her girlfriends. I was totally up for having my hair styled huge and I was not disappointed by her talents. Shockingly enough, the updo only took her 15-20 minutes! I wonder if she would do my hair on a weekly basis..

during my model walk for the tea

hair aftermath - J takes blurry pictures

Yesterday, I met up with two of my sisters and their kids (plus a brother-in-law) for a lake day. I am so sorry for those of y'all still suffering through winter; spring is happening here in Florida! The younger kids played in the water while we sunned ourselves. I eventually had to move into the shade to avoid burning (pretty sure my back still got burnt), but I am definitely less pale than before!

my nephew playing water chauffeur for his sister and cousin

baby J is still figuring out hills but managed to not drop her cracker

bunch of monkeys in the tree, poor baby J couldn't figure out how to join in

"Let's take an awkward selfie!" - Caroline, after snatching her sister's phone

J and I also had fun visiting Lowes. We had been discussing future appliances (read more about our house hunting list) and he thought a 2.2 cubic foot washing machine would be plenty. I disagreed because our bath sheets take up quite a bit of space. We solved the issue by looking into a floor model of that size and guess who was right? Me, of course. I prefer to do small loads of laundry, but the washing machine needs to be at least 3 cubic feet for our larger things. While I typically support locally owned stores, I think only our chain stores sell appliances in town. Regardless, J and I have no reason to purchase those sorts of things now, but it is always fun to discuss!

I also tried a new recipe today, totally made up by me (with help from J). I thought we had chicken defrosted, but it turned out to be small strips of pork tenderloin. J normally cooks pork in this household, but since he was working late I had to figure it out. I ended up coating it in a flour mixture (garlic powder, salt, cumin, black pepper), cooking it in olive oil and my cast iron on the stove top, and serving it with rice, greek yogurt, vinegar soaked cucumber, and black olives. Odd to some, but I loved it! J said I did not dry the pork out, which makes this my first successful pork meal - only took over a year of marriage.

Melinda and I have decided to make an effort to include more personal updates on Posh Purpose. We really enjoy reading these types of posts on our favorite blogs, and we hope you enjoy ours too! Did y'all have great weekends? I know Melinda's was busy but in a good way.

Collect App and Scrapbooking

I am terrible about taking pictures. J and I spent a whole weekend in San Francisco last year and I think I took four pictures total. My sister Bekah loves pictures; she is the one who took pictures of me and made scrapbooks of my childhood. She also introduced me to this awesome new app called Collect. It is apparently only available for iPhones right now, but hopefully they will expand to android soon.

Basically, the app reminds you to take a picture every day. It also formats the pictures into a square and prompts you to add a caption. The app also keeps track of the date the picture was taken, which prints out below the image and above the caption. The best part is that you can fit two picture/date/caption sets onto a regular 4x6 print - be sure to use Ebates to get 4% cash back from your Walgreens photo purchase AND wait until they have specials on 4x6 prints! The size of these pictures work really well with the Project Life pages.

Here are a few screen shots of the app on my phone. I started using the app February 27 and have only missed one day (March 3) so far. Of course, that is only 83% at this point but the app has encouraged me to take far more pictures than I otherwise would have. You can also upload previously taken pictures that are in your phone's photo gallery. The app pulls the date they were taken from the photo data and places them on the calendar accordingly. Collect also stores any new pictures taken through the app to your phone's photo gallery, which you should upload to Dropbox or another free cloud storage service for safe keeping.

Overview of February

Overview of March

The picture below is a screen shot of when you tap on a picture on the calendar above. I had taken the picture of J grilling before downloading the app, and using an iPhone filter. By the way, those are a ton of fun so play around with them if you have an iPhone. The picture will not have the blue buttons at the bottom when printed out, or the T- Mobile, wifi, time, and other phone status icons at the top.

Bekah is using Project Life and Collect app to do a 2014 picture of the day album for her family. I am trying to put together an album for J and myself using what pictures we have taken since getting married. I still have to upload a ton of pictures to the app so I can have the dates and any captions I may think of, but I am slowly making progress. At some point, I am sure I will print them out and put them into a scrapbook so that we can enjoy looking at these pictures away from the iPhone screen.



This post contains affiliate links and brand suggestions based on our Posh Purpose experiences. We are only compensated if a purchase is made through our links. However, we always encourage our readers to find the best deals in their area even if that means not using our affiliate links. Happy shopping!

2014 Goals Update

Since March just started, it is time for me to update how February went for my 2014 goals.

Beauty: I have been not been doing much with my hair, but I have been shading in my eyebrows with dark eyeshadow! It is my new favorite makeup habit. I just tried using corn starch as dry shampoo this morning (more on that later), but since it is March I suppose that technically doesn't count for this update.

Health: Still going to zumba and enjoying Florida produce. J grilled onions the other night that were grown in the strawberry fields. They were sweet like a vidalia, but the flavor was a bit different. I don't know how to describe it, but you should take an opportunity to try the onions if you can.

Finance: J and I had enough income to cover both February's living expenses and the expenses in January that we did not yet cover - very exciting! His company now has two long term projects along with a few short term prospects. This is great news for growing the company, but it also means J is a lot busier with work. We will still continue budgeting carefully but we are very optimistic.

Spiritual: I'm pretty sure we didn't attend a Sunday church service once in February. Oops. And we are already off to a bad start for March since we skipped yesterday as well.

Creative: I bought a lamp from Habitat for a new project, but I am actually making progress on this one! I have purchased some supplies and the lamp has been dismantled. My gallery wall is still coming along slowly; I keep adding to my frame collection almost every time I go thrifting. I have also recruited my niece to help out with the chairs, but we are notoriously late about everything so I won't count that as progress at all.

Intellectual: I posted about my February reading already, but since then I finished another Sherlock Holmes book. I haven't started the next one yet, but I will this week. I also am learning accounting and how to use Quickbooks for the companies J and I have. Accounting is not much fun, but it is important for running a successful business. My dad has been a ton of help in getting our system set up and answering all my questions. Google is also an awesome resource for both accounting and Quickbooks itself. Yay internet.

Blog: I am still keeping up with sharing my thrift store finds. I also reorganized our post categories to be more concise and appropriate for the direction we are taking Posh Purpose. You can find them on the right hand side, under Popular Posts. Melinda and I have a few very important topics we want to blog about in the future. We hope to get a lot accomplished during our spring break!

Want to read about other months? Here is the January update!

What I'm Reading

I have been making progress in my reading goals for 2014. So far I have read two Sherlock Holmes novels - A Study in Scarlet and The Sign of Four - and am about half done with The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes. I love a good mystery, and really only watch mystery TV series, so it is a wonder I have never read the Sherlock Holmes series. I am so glad that I decided to start it. The story lines are great and Sherlock never fails to impress. The depiction of women is to be expected considering the time period, but of course it amuses me more than anything else. For those with stronger feminist sentiments, find consolation in that the only character to stump Sherlock in what I have read so far is a woman. I wish I had a glamorous/bookish picture to share with you of my growing pile of read books, but I have been reading via iBooks on my phone and laptop and I just don't think a screenshot would have the same appeal.

Are these stories the highest rated literature I could have chosen? Definitely not. But they are enjoyable and easy to pick up every few evenings. It is a lot of fun to compare my reading imagination's version of Sherlock Holmes to the many current depictions of the character (Elementary, BBC's Sherlock, Robert Downey Jr Sherlock movies). If you share my love of mysteries, I strongly recommend Agatha Christie's Miss Marple and Poirot stories. Miss Marple has multiple novels while Poirot is of the short story variety. I personally prefer novels but the TV series with David Suchet playing Poirot are amazing. You should watch them just for the art deco styling and costumes.

The current plan is to continue reading Sherlock Holmes until the end, but I may pick up something else instead. I started For Whom the Bell Tolls on my honeymoon** because I have always thought I would love Hemmingway's style. I was correct in my thinking, but the book never got unpacked from our move back to Florida. I am going to try keeping up with my goodreads profile to track my progress and future reading whims. Feel free to add me! I would love to see what y'all are reading.


**I started the novel after finishing Animal Farm. That's totally normal honeymoon reading, right?

Big City vs. Small Town

Reading Melinda's Valentines Day plans in D.C. and writing up my plans in our small town got me thinking about the pros and cons of each situation. I even made a very pink image to summarize these differences to practice using photoshop.

One major annoyance that I experienced while living in Boston was extremely limited parking. Even if you were happy to pay for parking, finding an open spot was still challenging. Now that I live in my hometown, parking is never an issue. The spots on the street in front of our restaurant on Valentines Day were taken, but there was an entirely empty parking lot less than a block away. Yay small towns!

D.C. has a ton of really exciting options for special occasions, from things to go see to interesting foods. Small towns tend to have a small number of restaurants and entertainment venues, which means your choices are few. Usually, those restaurants are more regional and less likely to have exciting ethnic foods like North African or grape leaves of all varieties. Boston has both.

And of course, cost is very different depending on your location. J and I spent less than $30 on our Valentine's Day meal. That includes two entrees and an appetizer but not drinks because their coke machine was making flat soda, so we switched them out for water. If J had ordered a beer and I had kept my coke, it would still have been less than $35. Melinda opted to dine in and go out for dessert to avoid the high prix fixe menus that start at $75 per person. J and I never had prix fixe menus in Boston or Las Vegas for Valentine's Day, but we also never had a $35 date at a real restaurant.

Both big cities and small towns have their pros and cons. Big cities are more expensive and difficult, but the attractions make it worth fighting for a cab or parking while spending more money. Small towns are more easy going and you can get a really good meal without spending a ton or waiting forever in lines because you didn't call four weeks in advance to make your reservation. Regardless of your situation, Melinda and I believe that it is best to focus on the positives (Melinda with her Ritz chocolate after dining in and me with my delicious and reasonably priced hamburger) rather than pining after what you don't have. That being said, I really do miss my Boston grape leaves!

2014 Goals Update

At the beginning of the year I shared some goals for 2014. Now that we are solidly into the year, it is time to give a quick update. Perhaps if I make this sort of post a monthly event, I will achieve more than I have so far.

Beauty: I said I would try out new hairstyles regardless of my hair cleanliness. I have not really done this yet. I have been trying out varieties of my normal high bun or scarf wrapping techniques, but the motivation still comes from extending the hair washing one more day. This limits my options for hairstyles so I will try to do better in the coming months.

Health: I have been having so much fun at my sister's zumba class! And we have been eating a lot more citrus and strawberries, along with locally grown rainbow swiss chard (did you see Melinda's instagram picture?) and mushrooms for J. Yay fresh and local produce!

Finance: J and I earned 78% of our living expenses for January, beating our goal of 75%. His consulting business is growing extremely fast all of a sudden so we expect to earn back the deficits from a few past months this February. This means we are working towards our goal of restoring our bank account to the pre-move number! I do have to say that budgeting for food has been a bit trickier now that we both leave the apartment for work. Planning out meals really helped keep the spending down and sometimes we end up purchasing lunch because we did not have left overs to carry with us. However, we are still under our $400 monthly food budget.

Spiritual: I am pretty sure we have been to church for the majority of the Sundays in 2014 so far, but I am not sure if we met the goal of 75% attendance.

Creative: I have not broken out the sewing machine yet or finished my Habitat chairs or end table. However, I have hung my thrift store art and started working on a picture gallery wall. That counts, right?

Intellectual: I am halfway through a novel and picked up my copy of Anna Karenina from my parents' house, which is almost like reading it. At the very least, it is a step in the direction of finishing one of the Russian novels I have started over the years. I didn't mention this in my original goals post, but I am learning a lot about running a business by working with my dad every day. I have taken over managing the manufacturing and shipping schedules along with learning about other responsibilities. It has been a lot of fun so far and I don't even have to wake up before 9 AM! Keep in mind, that is a huge part of it being fun.

Blog: I have written at least three thrift store finds posts so far. These posts are my favorite because I can share the wonderful/wacky things that I find without having to purchase them myself. J is thankful because we really have no more space for more furniture, regardless of how awesome it is. As I mentioned earlier, I have made no progress in fixing up my current thrift store purchases but I am definitely thinking about those projects. Lots and lots of thinking. I do think that my pictures have improved, ignoring the ones taken inside my thrift stores. I don't even bother with those pictures because the lighting is hopeless and there is no good way to stage vintage furniture on icky old carpet.

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?

Bridal Shower Weekend and Amazon Registries?

I am so excited! Melinda's bridal shower is this weekend AND I will see her today AND I am going to her fitting AND I am checking out a favorite bridesmaid dress option for my wedding. Big weekend, I know :)

I'm flying into D.C. and riding over to Charlotte with Melinda and Mr. 3. We haven't seen each other in forever - hopefully Mr. 3 is in a good mood so he finds it easier to deal with a Melinda and Briana reunion during the long car ride. Melinda mentioned that he might leave us behind at a rest stop, but I am confident he loves her too much to leave her and she definitely loves me too much to leave me. We plan on chattering, crafting, and planning the entire way.

We are meeting up with my little sister in Charlotte which will only add to the (possibly only our) fun. She will be our bridesmaid model for the dress. Last time I had her try on bridesmaid dresses, she seriously looked good in everything.

Instead of sleeping, I have been redoing my registries every night for the past week. Crazy person.. but I made a huge discovery! Amazon is an authorized retailer of my flatware, sells it for less than Bloomies, and it is available with free amazon prime 2 day shipping. Bloomies gives a 10% discount after the wedding, but Amazon is still a better deal, especially for the hostess set. I will definitely have to check out my other items like my formal china and amazingly luxurious sheets :) Amazon now has wedding registries. Have any of y'all used it? I am tempted but I don't want to make one just for flatware, so it will depend on what else I find.

J and I may have some big news in the near future, so stay tuned!

Ordering Dresses!

I am so excited! I just placed my order for my bridesmaid dress for Melinda's wedding :) Her shop is so accommodating and helpful to ship my dress in the same box as my sister's (assuming she ever gets around to filling out her form), which saves us $15. If you have a group of bridesmaids living in the same location, consider having their dresses shipped together to cut down on costs.

We have been so busy with our wedding planning that we have neglected the blog! Melinda has a big weekend ahead of her but I'm sure she will fill us all in over the next few weeks. I am still wading through bridesmaid dresses and have grown to hate them almost as much as I hate stationary. Melinda deals with the wedding decisions with stress, I with hatred. I calm her down, she makes me have fun. I'm so glad we are planning our weddings at the same time! It also helps that we are loaning each other wedding decor pieces ;) Cousin love is only made stronger through the sharing of mercury glass and tiered trays.