Not Your Average GNO's . . .

I was invited to a GNO. For those not hip or not into Hannah Montana (that would be me on both counts!!), GNO is Girl's Night Out. Ok, who wouldn't LOVE a Girl's Night Out with your friends. Dressing up, having a cocktail and going somewhere chi-chi (not sure that's a real word but I really like the sound it makes plus, you get my point!). I was excited. However, this GNO had a twist. It was really for one of my daughters. There goes my cocktail! Would this include me watching kids run around the McDonald's playground? Do I have to go to Chuck E. Cheese and watch parents fight over tickets they can cash in for plastic teeth? While my daughter, Olivia, might think it a blast, I will pass. Well thankfully for me, this GNO was many, many many notches above those. So, what's the plan you ask? We decided on dinner at a historic luxury hotel, the Renaissance Vinoy. Built in 1925, the hotel has a timeless elegance to it but would it be still standing after our girls invaded it?? We met at 5:30 for an early dinner. The girls ages ranged from 6 to 10 so an early dinner would make sure all invited were in bed in a timely manner (mommies included). They had two tables set up, one for the six moms and one for eight young ladies. The girls looked great in their Sunday best and were excited to order for themselves. One mom was a hoverer but the rest of us just went with the flow. Olivia ordered off the kid's menu, corn dog, fries and taking advantage of mom not being there - a Pepsi! Little bugger! She isn't usually allowed soda, at least caffeinated ones, but this was her order on a special night. (On a side note: I did limit her to one. I need her to go to sleep as much as I need to go to sleep!!). She didn't want to try anything off the main menu and considering the kids' menu prices were $4.50 for dinner, plus drink and Jell-O, no complaints here! This was a fairly new group of friends for us, most of the girls go to the same school but the moms only knew each other at Shannon's mom or Ashlee's mom - now we actually have a name to go with the face! We ordered a couple of bottles of wine (I think I could really like this group) and got to know each other. The talk started with teachers, the school, PTA but then segued in to travel, careers and at one point, we were talking about literature!!! How did that happen?? It was nice to have meaningful adult conversation. Our girls sat like little angels and had their own conversations. We didn't eavesdrop (much) but did catch wind over what they were going to be for Halloween and the scuttlebutt on the new Gifted teacher (nice but a little bossy, in case you were wondering). After dinner and some pictures in the lobby, we took a walk to the park. This park is beautiful and on the water. The girls went a little crazy and ran around but they earned it. While there, the park has some beautiful Banyan Trees. In one of the trees, one of the little girls found a Geocaching box. The girls were fascinated by it. It's a box hidden throughout cities that you sign the little book and can take a trinket but you have to leave something of equal value. The girls were fascinated by it. After they all signed the book, they fell in love with a pink gemstone bracelet in the box. I figured someone would snatch it up but none of them wanted to part with anything they had so it went back in the box which went back in the tree. I was the lucky mom (because I am tall) who had the privilege of removing it and returning it back to the tree and I have the ant bites to prove it!! (If you want more information on Geocaching, you can go to www.geocaching.com). After a little more playing, telling of ghost stories (we had done a ghost tour with Girl Scouts the previous year) and running to our cars to add more money to the meters when we saw that little golf cart cop go by, we headed to the Gelato store. Before we knew it, the time was almost 9:30 and slowly creeping up on my bedtime! Time for this GNO to END. As we climbed into our car, my daughter told me she had a fantastic time and can't wait for her next GNO. I couldn't agree with her more!

Halloween is Just Around the Corner . . .

So, finally had a full weekend at home! I couldn't be more excited. I just love weekends in the fall (so to speak!). My kids have been anxiously waiting for Halloween so after much hounding from them, we decided to put our decorations up! Yeah!! Now my house can legitimately have spiderwebs hanging from the chandeliers and dirt on the windows and look "perfect"! I LOVE this time of year. I have to say, I take pride in my mantle every year. It is the main focal point when you walk into my house. This year, I hung a cheap mirror from Marshall's (the mirror itself is a little wavy). I added a red gel decoration on the mirror that reads "Stay Away" and looks like blood dripping down. I hung red cluster lights and then draped stained and torn cheesecloth over them. I also put some on the mantle like a mantle scarf. On top of that, I had some candleabras that have skulls on them. I put two dark red pillar candles on the top. I bought a HUGE bag of cheap plastic spiders. I put them all over the cheesecloth. It's so easy, the legs just go right though and attach. I think I am going to make an egg sac like I saw in Martha Stewart to hang from the fireplace screen. I just love the outcome. Cheesecloth stained in tea and torn up is a great and cheap decoration. I put it just about everywhere and apparently I am rubbing off on my kids. After they put their decorations up in their rooms, both wanted cheesecloth. I guess I am off to Jo-Ann's tomorrow to buy more for them! It's an exciting time of year for adults and even more so for kids. I truly love the fact that my kids love the holidays as much I do!!

Tailgating is NOT for Amateurs . . .

Just got back from a great weekend of college football - Go Gators! Yes, it is still ridiculously hot and muggy here even though Fall officially starts tomorrow. However, I have decided to build a bridge and get over it! So what did we do, throw a huge tailgate for a huge SEC game! Who know tailgating could be a competitive sport in itself!?!

Our tailgate consisted of a small RV, with tons of storage! Thank goodness because we did bring a lot! We found a great spot in the shade and right next to a bathroom. It's in a church parking lot and the $20 charge goes to help adopt orphans. What could be a better cause than that?? Our tailgate rolled out the red carpet. It wasn't literally red but it was a carpet. A good-sized TV to watch other games and College Game Day. Lots of tables for all the food. We bought plastic covered material from a local fabric store and cut to fit our tables. Perfect tablecloth with our team's logo. These are easy enough to wipe clean. Of course, all the serving dishes were themes as well. My favorite was a hand-painted chip and dip platter in the team's colors (orange and blue) painted for the mother by her kids. They dipped their fingers in the paint (they are young) and put their fingerprints and their signatures on it. It looked great and was loved by all the moms! We also brought all our goodies in a really great Gator picnic basket as well as using Gator platters. A couple platters were plain white but another favorite was a white plate you could put a ribbon through. I added a Gator ribbon found again at a local fabric store. The food was good and the presentation was flawless! The prize for the most creative food/drink goes to the Jell-O maker! She took small Celmentine oranges and hollowed them out. Filled them with blue Jell-O and vodka for some seriously styling Jell-O shots! Kudos and delish!

The men were fun to watch and very stereotypical, I might add. Three different guys, brought three different cooking contraptions, and cooked three different types of meat! I could hear them growling across the parking lot. Lots of testosterone, lots of flames and lots of meat!

All in all, it was a really fun weekend, topped off by a great Gator victory and an even better tailgate! One last tip, always bring extra food and drinks for after the game. We love to sit and visit once the game is over to recap the game and relax. This way, once we are done, pack up and leave with no traffic! Would you rather sit in traffic for an hour or sit at one of the best tailgates going on with good friends and great food?? That's what I thought!

Learning to Let Go . . .

Ok, this weekend we had my youngest daughter's 8th Birthday party. I was trying to talk her into having an American Girl Tea Party. I thought we could have a hair station for the dolls and girls, they could decorate a shirt for their dolls, paint a tea cup, fun, fun, fun. Well, my daughter, exercising her own opinion, decided she wanted a bowling party. Quick flashback to the 1970s watching my dad bowl in a league. The smell of stale cigarettes, the cardboard food, the matching polyester shirts and watching Happy Days and Laverne & Shirley. Good times back then but I now liken the alleys with the "Big Lebowski" and "Kingpin". Is that the image I want to portray to my daughter's friends???? But the truth is, it's not about what I want but what my daughter wanted . . . after all, it was her birthday. So I learned to let go. I had a really cute idea for a homemade invite. She said she wanted to make her own so she whipped up a flyer on the computer. I learned to celebrate the fact that she has really mastered the computer graphics with an adorable invite and not the fact that it didn't have a certain look or meet certain standards I put on myself. When we picked out her cake, I let go that it didn't "match" the bowling theme but looked like a giant hamburger (and by the way, it was THE hit of the party!!). And after we all bowled, ate bowling alley food and cut the hamburger cake, my precious little daughter gave me the biggest hug she could muster and thanked me for one of the best days of her life! With cardboard pizza sitting like a brick in my stomach, the biggest smile on my face and the warmest feeling in my heart, we left the bowling alley, hand-in-hand. Sometimes, learning to let go is just what a mom needs to do.

Still hot . . .

I actually think I may have the "vapors" (said with the most Southern drawl!)!! I need to find a fan, a glass of sweet tea and go sit on the front porch. In reality, I am drinking a Coke Zero, in air-conditioning while getting ready to clean the toilet! How I miss the "good 'ole days"!

A Southern Girl Yearns for Fall

Fall is in the air!!! Fall is in the air??? What air are you breathing? I am currently breathing a hot, muggy, dense air here in sunny Florida! Yes, I love going to the beach (a real tan rocks but not the wrinkles and fear of skin cancer). Yes, I love the Gators (the ones who wear orange & blue on Saturdays and not the ones in the sewers). Yes, I love wearing shorts in winter (but not looking at Northern tourists' pasty legs in shorts in winter). While there are many, many things to love about Florida (I can see Cinderella's castle from my backyard), I still need that taste, that smell, that look, that feel of fall.

So what's a Southern girl to do? Normally, we pack the car or jump on a plane to go where the leaves are changing. This year we can't. We are taking a Thanksgiving pilgrimage (more details in a future blog and not relevant to this one!) so our traveling dollars are spent and our weekends are accounted for (darn work and those pesky Gators again!!). So we hit the grocery store! We hit Yankee Candle! We hit JoAnn's! And we jacked down the air-conditioning! So while the rest of Florida is dealing with frizzy hair and make-up running down their faces, inside my humble abode, Fall has arrived! It's not much but it will get me through! We've got a pumpkin (not real, remember this is Florida!!) sitting on some books, a beautiful fall floral arrangement on the dining room table, pictures up from vacations of Fall past and the smell of fall in all the rooms (thank you Yankee Candle for the Buy One/Get One coupon, you saved my marriage!)

So while I won't get to see Fall happening this year with my own eyes (when our Palm Trees's fronds "turn" and fall to the ground, it just doesn't have that same look/feel and could really put an eye out!), I will think of all our Northern friends taking hikes in the brisk air and having outdoor fires and I will wipe the condensation off my heavily air-conditioned windows, drink my apple cider (with ice) and relive the Fall season this year with my Mac screensaver! The real beauty about Fall is there is always next year!

Send the Kids to School in Style

Send the Kids to School in Style
with our funky lunch bags, totes, & other sassy accessories!


Lunchbox Tips & Tricks
* Make roll-ups with turkey, ham, cheese etc, then place a thin pretzel stick in to hold them together.* Slice apples (mist with lemon juice if desired to keep them fresh) then mix vanilla yogurt with a little cinnamon to serve as dip. Kids love to dip anything! * Create your own lunchbox notes on napkins, etc, as a great way to let your kids know that you're thinking about them or to encourage them on their big test that day, etc. *Freeze a small water bottle to include in the lunch box. This will help keep the food cool while the drink will also be nice & cold when the lunch bell rings. Best of all, have the kids bring the bottle back home so you can recycle!
* Cookie cutters are the easiest way to jazz up a sandwich or cheese slices.
* Celery slices filled with peanut butter or cream cheese and then topped with raisins look like "bugs on a log."
* Use cookie cutters on tortillas or wraps and dust with cinnamon and a bit of sugar or something a little more savory & spicy if your kids like that.



Greetings!
The summer is almost over (where did it go?!) and autumn is just around the corner! That means It's time to get the kids ready for school and the dust off your tailgating gear. We have a unique assortment of lunch bags, totes, and game-watching gadgets to add style and flair to all your activities this fall.

In This Edition...
Lunch Bags
Lunchbox Tips & Tricks
Time to Stock Up on Tailgating Gear
Summer Give-Away Winner Announcement
Going, Going, Gone Items~ Up to 75% off!

Lunch Is On Us!
Well, not exactly, but we can help you be the envy of the school or office with one of our unique and colorful bags!

From black & white to pink & green and everything in-between, we have the perfect lunch tote in stock and ready to ship.

Shown Above: Murval Insulated Lunch Tote in Andalucia Pink & Green ~ $24

Shown Left: Scout "Doggie Bag" in Petallica Red ~ $14

Shown Below: Personalized Insulated Cooler Bag in 5 Colors ~ $19



Click here to see our entire collection of lunch bags and other totes to hold all of the kids' extracurricular activity items!


Tailgating Time!
Back to school also means it's football time...our favorite time of the year around Too Chic!

We've got the gear to make your tailgate party both simple and stylish. Best of all, it's all ON SALE!

We also recently added personalized resin pitchers, platters, & serveware to our collection along with portable party coolers. What a great way to thank your hospitable tailgate hostess!

Shown Above: Picnic Basket (choice of 6 southern schools)
Was:
$54, Now: $32



Shown Left: Handpainted Platter (choice of 6 southern schools)
Was: $34, Now: $26

Click here to see our entire collegiate & tailgating gear!


Too Chic Summer Give-Away Winner is Announced!
A few weeks ago we announced our Summer Give-Away winner, Marilyn Pruett from Huntsville, AL. Marilyn followed our easy steps and won a Too Chic Gift Boutique gift basket valued at over $60!

Here's a copy of the kind words she sent to us after receiving her package:

"The prize pack arrived today and OH MY GOSH! It's so cute! I'm leaving on Monday and that roll-up hat is going in my suitcase to protect me against the brutal July sun. I sent my sister, mother and best friends the link to your site. Thanks again."

Be on the lookout for our next Give-Away Announcement this Fall!




BIG SALE CONTINUES!
Stock up now on chic birthday, baby, hostess, & everyday gifts! We've just lowered the prices even more on many of our previously-reduced items! Don't miss out on these fantastic bargains ~ up to 75% off! We have very limited quantities so be sure to check them out before they're Going, Going, Gone!

Check out our entire Going, Going, Gone collection here!

Please let us know how we can help you find the perfectly unique & chic gift for all the special people in your life!

Have a Too Chic Gift Boutique month!
Kelly, Kristin, & Jennie
Too Chic Gift Boutique

Please visit www.toochicgifts.com to see our entire collection of gifts!

Do You Have A Unique Product to Sell?

Have a product that you think would be a great fit for our store or know someone who has a flair? We are currently looking to add new & exciting artists to create unique & fabulous gift items to add to our collection. Contact us at toochicgifts@aol.com for more information.

Shabby Blogs

I am so happy someone sent me to BonBon Rose Blog and I found Shabby Blogs and it is GREAT!!! It has added dimension to our BLOG!! Thank you Shabby Blogs!!!!

OH MY GOSH! Prize Pack

The prize pack arrived today and OH MY GOSH! It’s so cute! I’m leaving on Monday and that roll-up hat is going in my suitcase to protect me against the brutal July sun. I sent my sister, mother and best friends the link to your site. Thanks again.

Marilyn Puett