Beautiful Happy Package Arrived

Thank you so much College Prep for the Summer Giveaway I received today. It was a delight to open the colorfully wrapped tissue and find three beautiful handmade items:

a set of Lilly Fabric Shift notecards

a pink picture frame with green palm tree (and monogram!)

a Lilly Lovers 2009 calendar for desktop display

College Prep will be opening an Etsy shop soon, so stay posted to soon be able to get your own of these items. Congratulations, College Prep, and thank you!

Tucker Blair Flops

I just love Tucker Blair's new flip flops. You can get them in red with nautical flags, yellow with crabs, or blue with lobsters! They're incredibly comfortable and versatile for both women and men. Go here to purchase your pair. The most wonderful part about this needlepoint company is that every product is 100% handmade, so you're getting a very unique product of the utmost quality. 

In the fall, they will be coming out with dog collars! Perfect for your pooches, be they grande or petite. I can't wait to see how they look on my white two Bichons, Daisy & Chloe. 

Lauren Nicole Giveaway!

Lauren Nicole is offering this cute littly Lilly wallet as a giveaway, and the deadline to enter is tonight! Right now I'm wearing my favorite white long-sleeve t-shirt I got monogrammed by Lauren Nicole with my pink initials. My little sisters in my sorority and I all got them with our initials for revelation night last pledge season, so our whole lineage could match. I absolutely love it and highly recommend them!

It's June, and the Washingtoniette is Back!

"And what is so rare as a day in June? Then, if ever, come perfect days; Then Heaven tries earth if it be in tune, And over it softly her warm ear lays."

After taking a hiatus since early May, I'm excited to be back blogging now, sharing the joys of June with all of you. The past month has been a bustle of memories and happy occasions, during which time I graduated from Cornell and have moved back to Washington. The Washingtoniette is back! 

I've dearly missed my readers, and I'm sorry to have not posted for so long a time. Thank you for all of your warm wishes and sentiments while I was away. Though I was not posting and commenting, I was stopping by your blogs a lot and have been very much enjoying all of your wonderful posts.

I'm looking forward to meeting up with with those of you who are in the DC area this summer - We must plan a get-together!

There is so much to catch up on, I hardly know where to begin. May Day, Memorial Day....I hope you all had very happy May celebrations and a warm welcome to this long-awaited summer season. 

To begin, in this post will be a few photos from graduation weekend:

Friday:

 Beautiful dogwoods blooming for graduation! 

We had the most amazing dinner on Friday night at the Aurora Inn, and we bumped into the lovely ladies from Mackenzie Childs on the porch beforehand. 

Saturday:

With my mom, dad, aunt, and uncle at Buttermilk Waterfalls (Tory Burch shift dress :))

Sunday:

 I got my dress (Lilly Jubilee) from the Madison Ave store at the Lilly-Martha Stewart party!

Ambling the Vineyards at Sheldrake Point Winery before dinner on graduation evening. 

Thank you to those at Simply Red Bistro at Sheldrake for the most perfect graduation dinner!

I adore your 2007 Gewurztraminer, and the Summer White too, always is a favorite. 

Congratulations to everyone else who graduated this month! I've loved seeing your photos, and I hope to hear about all your exciting new plans for this summer and beyond. 

Good night everyone, and see you tomorrow!

xoxo

MelyLil

Happy Derby Day!

Happy Derby Day to all my readers! It's off to the races! I hope each and every one of you gets to enjoy something minty this afternoon. I adore the concept of a mint julep - from the mint sprig to the silver julep cup (I use one for my pens & pencils), but I've never learned to like the taste of Bourbon. I think I will be sipping a mojito instead, as well as some mint-infused iced tea. My father passed along his recipe for a traditional mint julep, so I thought I'd share it with you all. The recipe was given to him when he played a concert one spring with the Lexington, Kentucky orchestra! It follows: 

One Mint Julep (Lexington, KE Orchestra Recipe)

Chill silver julep cup. 

Place 4-5 mint leaves in cup. 

Muddle with

   one tsp. powdered sugar

   one tsp. water

Fill cup with crushed ice.

Pour in 1 jigger of bourbon whiskey.

Stir energetically until ice has dropped 1 to 2 inches and frost appears.

Then fill remainder of julep cup with crushed ice, and pour in 1 jigger of bourbon whiskey.

Decorate the julep with springs of mint leaves dusted with powdered sugar.

Slip very slowly!

Fabulous Blogs

Thank you to Southern Gent for the lovely "Your Blog is Fabulous Award!" Southern Gent, your blog is simply fabulous as well! I hope you're getting excited for Derby Day. The rules of this award are to recognize the blogger who bestowed the award and then nominate ten other blogs you admire. I hereby pass along the award to the following fabulous bloggers:

The Preppy Pearl

The Monogrammed Sailor

Nautical by Nature

Lou Lou in Lilly

Little Bow Prep

Horse, Hound and Home

Preppy Little Dress

All Things Southern and Preppy

Etiquette with Miss Janis

Landlocked Mermaid

Lilly Pulitzer Colorful Cause at Bloomingdales NYC

I wish I was still in the big apple! I just returned from NYC yesterday, and if only I could have stayed two more days I would get to attend the launch party for the Lilly Pulitzer Colorful Cause Collection. The event is tomorrow evening April 30 from 6-8pm, and Elizabeth Hasselback will be there to present the celebrity designs at the flagship store. I feel sure it will be a very exciting event! Monograms & Martinis, you must be going, and if so I hope you can fill us in on what happens! Fortunately, there will also be a Jubilee Exhibition displayed in the Lexington Ave windows all the way through Mother's Day, celebrating 50 years of a colorful life! 

On a side note, I ate at a fabulous new tapas restaurant the other night called Pera. It's in midtown on Madison Ave, and the entire experience was delightful, from the menu to the interior and atmosphere, to the wine list and the adorable waiter who was ever-so-accommodating and gentile. I highly recommend it! A fun spot. (pictured below)