Wednesday, June 29, 2011

Monograms and Madras

Nothing says "Classic and Preppy" more than monograms and madras. Both are must-haves for the prepster. This is the time of year I love to wear madras. Take a look at some of the pieces I wore recently...lunching and shopping.

The skirt and light blue cardi are by Lilly and the white tee is monogrammed in light blue.
I wore my Lilly blue thong sandals and carried a white Bermuda Bag. Along with my pearl necklace and stud earrings, I wore my Cartier rollring wedding band. My nail polish was 'Lovie Dovie' by Essie and my lipstick was 'Laser Pink' by Chanel. My ponytail was adorned with a white grosgrain ribbon bow and my fragrance of choice for the day was 'Wink' by Lilly.
These madras capris are by Ralph Lauren and the pink button down oxford cloth shirt is also by Ralph Lauren.
I wore the 'Loopy 50th Jubilee Pool Party' flip flops by Lilly and a blue pony cap by Lacoste. My earrings are gold script monogrammed drop style and I wore my 'Oyster Perpetual' Rolex watch along with my rollring wedding band by Cartier. My ponytail was adorned with a pink grosgrain ribbon bow and I carried my pink monogrammed Bermuda Bag by Lilly. Lipstick--'Laser Pink' by Chanel...nail polish 'Lovie Dovie' by Essie. I've now developed another obsession y'all...my beverage containers simply must coordinate with my outfits!!! Love this white tumbler with my monogram in blue...too cute!!!These madras capris and the white polo shirt are both by Ralph Lauren...comfortable and cool!
I wore my blue Polo flips flops, a navy pony cap monogrammed in white, and a white grosgrain ribbon bow adorned my ponytail. I wore these cute silver monogrammed earrings with the matching ring, my rollring wedding band by Cartier, and my 'Oyster Perpetual' watch by Rolex. My lipstick...'Star Red' by Chanel and my fragrance of choice for the day--'Lauren', by Ralph Lauren.

Southerners love to monogram their stuff! We put our own initials on everything in sight! I'll admit, I probably need to enter a Monograms Anonymous program, but who has the time? Showing off your monogram is a darling way to make your clothes, dinnerware, linens, stationery, jewelry, and almost anything personal.

Here's a few of my monogramming rules:

~Monograms may be used with the first/last initial only. I am not a fan of the single letter monogram because I don't think it is as personal as the full monogram.

~For a single lady--Janice Kay Sessums would use the first initial of her given, middle, and
family surname; i.e., Janice Kay Sessums---jSk.

~In the South, after Janice Kay Sessums marries Kenneth Craig Gibson, she drops her middle name Kay. Sessums would then become her middle name and Gibson would be her surname. Her name would then be Janice Sessums Gibson and her monogram would be jGs. (This Southern tradition of dropping your middle name after you have married and using your maiden surname as your new middle name, allows people to recognize your name throughout your life.)

~If Janice uses a joint married monogram for items such as crystal, china, linens, et cetera, she would use the first letter of her given name, the first letter of her husband's surname, and the first letter of her husband's given name--jGk.

It's important to remember that Janice Kay Sessums may still use the initials of her maiden throughout her life, even if she marries. I still have jewelry from my single days, with my maiden monogram.

~When monogramming clothes, men's monograms are usually small and women's are larger. A man's monogram is always on the left side of the shirt or the left cuff, in small block letters in the order of the names; i.e., Kenneth Craig Gibson--KCG.

A traditional monogram consists of three initials. Your surname is in the middle and larger. For example: Janice Sessums Gibson is jGs.

I love the interlocking tradition font, the circle font, and the diamond font.

The interlocking font...
The circle font...
The diamond font...
Is there anything you should NOT monogram? Right off hand, I can't think of a thing! I'm getting ready to have a window valance monogrammed! Can you every wear too many monogrammed items at the same time? Probably so and I'm certainly guilty of this all the time.

Make it personal y'all. Monogram it!




Monday, June 20, 2011

Keeping it Southern Y'all!

Last night we prepared pork chops on the grill. I served them with with fresh corn, green beans, and Mama's homemade potato salad.

My apron is red gingham with a skirt of little red flowers, trimmed in more red gingham! I purchased this from a street vendor at the Mt. Dora Spring Festival...

The red rooster bowl is the Country Living 'Feathered Friends' pattern, available at KMart!
Recipe for Miss Pauline's Potato Salad:

Potatoes
Eggs
Mt. Olive Chopped Sweet Salad Cube Pickles
Chopped Vidalia Onions
Salt & Pepper

Wash, peel, and cut up potatoes, then boil until soft. Drain the potatoes. Meanwhile, boil the eggs and chop. Add the chopped boiled eggs to the potatoes, along with Mt. Olive chopped sweet salad cube pickles and chopped Vidalia onions. Stir in the Duke's mayo; add salt & pepper. Serve warm!

You must use Duke's mayonnaise {never evah use Miracle Whip--that would be tacky}! Duke's mayonnaise is a must-use ingredient in potato salad and no other mayo was ever allowed in my Mama's refrigerator. Duke's Mayo is a longtime Southern favorite...whether it's spread on the sandwich bread of a BLT, used to prepare homemade pimiento cheese, cole slaw, or of course, potato salad.

The Bread and Butter pickles by Mt. Olive are the go-to pickles for Southerners. They are Picklicious y'all! These pickles are so tasty with potato salad. Of course the pickle/relish dish is a de rigueur item on the bridal registry of savvy Southern brides.

Keeping it Southern...Ladies in the South would never dream of serving potato salad on their good china--it's a very casual food y'all!

After dinner we watched the World Series of beauty pageants...the Miss USA pageant! Lots of Southern states were represented in the finals...Miss South Carolina, Miss Alabama, Miss Tennessee were some of my favorites. Congratulations to the new Miss USA 2011, Alyssa Campanella from California. She is very beautiful and her evening gown was absolutely gorgeous!

Thursday, June 16, 2011

Happy Seersucker Thursday


"Seersucker Thursday" is an annual tradition in the United States Congress in which Senators wear seersucker...a staple in the Southerner's summer wardrobe.
In 1996 former Mississippi Senator Trent Lott designated the 3rd Thursday of June as "Seersucker Thursday". Doesn't this group of politicians look perfectly preppy in their summer seersucker suits? This tradition brings a little Southern hospitality to our nation's Capitol.

Yesterday, I was out spending my birthday money..."HERE'S WHAT I WORE"

The skort is blue and white seersucker, by Lilly and has a cute pink grosgrain ribbon belt. The pink tee is also by Lilly.
I carried a pink Lilly Bermuda bag, monogrammed of course, and wore my pink Lilly mules. I wore my pearl necklace & studs, my rollring wedding band by Cartier, and my 'Oyster Perpetual' watch by Rolex. My iPhone cover is monogrammed in pink and my fragrance of choice for the day was Burberry.




I wore my Chanel sunglasses with the newest addition to my croakies collection... seersucker croakies, by Tugs. They have the cutest sunglass holders y'all!


From Easter Sunday til Labor Day, you'll find Southerners everywhere dressed in this light and preppy fabric...sundresses, skirts, shorts, suits, and...croakies!

Thank y'all for stopping by today!

Tuesday, June 14, 2011

Celebrating Miss Janice Day!

That's what husband calls it-- "Miss Janice Day"! It's my birthday and I'm celebrating...it'all about ME! Cards, presents, facebook birthday wishes, e-mails, texts, happy birthday tweets, a cute dress, a cute pocketbook, dinner, cake & ice cream...and pink champagne! Ooh la la! Everyday should be "Miss Janice Day"!

"HERE'S WHAT I WORE" My dress is the 'Carolina Cup' style designed especially for moi, by Annabelle Laroque.
The silk monogrammed sash sealed the deal on this dress for me!

I carried a 'Bosom Buddy Bag' available from The Pink Daisy. The pink and lime green sandals are by Jack Rogers. I wore my pearl necklace and pearl stud earrings along with my rollring wedding band by Cartier. My lipstick was 'Laser Pink' by Chanel, my pedicure was 'Lovie Dovie' by Essie, and my fragrance of choice for the evening was 'Mademoiselle' by Chanel. My iPhone cover was lime green and my ponytail was adorned with a Chanel barrette.
I first saw these precious pocketbooks in the March/April issue of Southern Lady Magazine and just knew I had to have one...the 'Bosom Buddy Bag' from The Pink Daisy.

After a fabulous dinner out, we enjoyed desserts with pink champagne!



The birthday-scape on the sidebar in the dining room...


Starbucks Birthday Cake Mini Doughnuts...Have y'all tried these yet? The are mini vanilla doughnuts topped with pink vanilla icing and white sprinkles...just the right size and so perfect with vanilla ice cream! And...they are so cute!


Little tiny birthday cake doughnuts! I declare:)

The polka dot dessert plates are by Rosanna...from a long time ago.
Feathered party hats scattered around...on the head after a couple of glasses of champagne!!!
Birthday toast...pink champagne served from Waterford 'Alaina' goblets...


Happy Birthday linen:)


My BFF Teresa Jane came through with some cute birthday loot:)

Lilly Pulitzer croakies in the 'Later Gator' pattern...






The most precious lunchbox ever by Lilly, also in the 'Later Gator' pattern...

A much needed laptop case by Lilly in the 'Floaters' pattern...


And...my own personal DVD of the "THE ROYAL WEDDING"! Okay, probably gonna be watching this again for 6th time this weekend!!!

Thank you for visiting with me tonight! I'm off to bed soon so that I may get up early and run...practicing for my race to the courthouse steps of the Casey Anthony trial!

Friday, June 10, 2011

YOU'VE GOT "CUTE MAIL"

Who doesn't like to receive "cute mail"? Presentation is everything, y'all! Today, I'm sending an envelope to my friend and using cute Lilly stickers and labels...along with my personal "Miss Janice" postage stamp.
I started with this cute pink & green Lilly mailing label...with an elephant motif.
The Lilly elephant sticker makes a cute statement on the front corner of the envelope. Remember that your return address should be on the back flap of an envelope for personal mail and on the upper left-hand corner of the front of the envelope for business correspondence.
Since this is personal correspondence, I placed this cute Lilly-fied 'Taboo' print address label on the back flap. You can find these darling labels here.

My own personal "Miss Janice" postage stamp will travel thru the postal system...just so everyone at the USPS knows who I am!
Love this book of Lilly mailing labels, stickers, book labels, and just fun & preppy decals! You can buy the book here.

These labels are great for your books...






Lots of cute Lilly prints are included in the mailing label designs...

Love the colors and prints of these labels...these would be cute on boxes, file folder covers, et cetera...


Cute preppy designs for round stickers...These are great to seal cello goody gift bags, a note card, or to accent a ribbon on a gift package.



Again...more cute preppy stickers...

Just looking at these cute stickers makes me think I need to order another book...NOW!

Square labels...great for jars, paper bag gifts, et cetera...let your imagination roll!

More pink & green label cuteness!



The Lilly labels & stickers coordinate well with colored mailing envelopes

Or with my preppy stationery wardrobe:)


My own "Miss Janice.com" postage stamps are a must...of course, they coordinate with my AshleyBrookeDesigns correspondence cards


When using my "Etiquette With Miss Janice" foldover cards, I also use my magnolia-motif "MissJanice.com" postage stamps...Matchy Matchy!

Thank you for stopping by today. I hope y'all have a fabulous weekend!