oooh oooh, a giveaway!

I was recently contacted by Victoria of The Dahl House, who asked if I might be interested in hosting a giveaway for you, my lovely readers. I had a look at their website, and immediately said YES PLEASE! Just look at these lovelies---

They have the most precious hand-painted frames, stepstools, waste bins and tissue boxes! How sweet are they?! I love the bows and am wishing I had a little girl to buy one for!

They do monograms, polka dots, nautical, animals, southern charm and so many more! I love them all, I think. Yes, all. They also have stationary!

So, for you! Victoria and Whitney, the owner of the dahl house, are offering one of you a 5x7 picture frame of your choosing! Also, if you'd like, you can have it personalized with either a name or a three letter monogram!

Giveaway details- in order to enter, please go to the dahl house website and have a look around. Come back and tell me what your favorite item is. Do you like the monograms? Sugar and spice? Stars and stripes? Come let me know. For a second entry, feel free to tweet about this giveaway, including the link to this post and make sure you include the @lexilooo, so I see it (you are following me already, right?!). For a third entry, blog about it yourself, and leave the link here for me to see. This giveaway will run until next Friday, March 4, and I will announce the winner the following Monday.

Also, as a great bonus, Whitney and Victoria are offering my readers a 20% discount on any purchase they may make! During checkout, in the "how I found you" section, cite "Tea and Crumpets" and you'll get a little extra off your order!

I'm so pleased that the dahl house has found me and my blog and reached out to my readers in this most generous way! They've also offered me a discount for hosting this giveaway, and I can't wait to pick something out!

brotherly love and all of that

You know the amazing company called Living Social, right? They are in cities all over the world and the send out daily emails with amazing deals ranging from restaurants, to hair/nail salons, to fun adventures and nearly anything you can think of. I've bought certificates to stationary stores, clothing stores, restaurants, nails, etc. Usually they are at least 50% off the price. Example- last week, I paid $25 for a parafin mani AND pedi at a local nail salon. Whats not to love about that?! Exactly. Nothing. It's amazing.

I get emails for Baltimore and Richmond too, since they aren't too far away, and this morning, I signed up for Philadelphia, which is really only about two hours away, same distance as Richmond! Today's daily deal in Philly was this- wine and dinner for two at GiGi restaurant in downtown Philly. This restaurant is owned by Stephenie LaGrossa, who was on Survivor three times. I'm such a dork, but I love Survivor and she was one of my favorites of all of the seasons that I've watched, which is most of them! I'm sure she isn't there often, but I'd love to see her there! I thought this was too good a deal to pass up, and I've been wanting to take a little road trip to Philly anyway. I've really only been there once, in college, for like four hours (long story, maybe I'll tell you another day), and there is so much to see there! In fact, my crazy boyfriend drove to Philly last night because Donald Rumsfeld was doing a book signing there! He left at 4pm and was home at 11pm! Yes, he's insane.

I'm excited about this though, and yes, I know I am insane too :)

Is Living Social (or its competitor Groupon) in your city? What deals have you bought?

babies, babies everywhere!

I may or may not have mentioned this, but I feel like everyone I know is expecting babies right now, and it is so exciting! Several friends and acquaintances are having babies, along with loads of celebrities, though I don't think I will be invited to their showers ;)

One of my good friends from college is having a little boy in May and I will be the godmother. Her mother and I are throwing the shower together, in NJ, where she's from (she now lives in the DC area, which is nice, of course, since I'll get to see the baby often!). I've thrown one shower before, for my best friend and godson's mother. That was at my parents house in NH, and I will admit, I think my mother did more of it than I did, since I was here and she was there. Speaking of my best friend, she is expecting a SECOND baby in August! So, so exciting! Of course, I love and adore my godson, but I am hoping for a girl this time!

I am in charge of the invitations for M's shower, which will be in early April. Her mother is doing all of the food. She is not into the silly games much at all- maybe shower bingo, she seems to like that one, but nothing else. Frankly, I am not much of a fan of the games either, so I don't mind at all! One thing that I will do, that I did for my godson, is ask each guest to bring a copy of their favorite children's book, to help start the baby's library, and everyone loved that and we talked about why we loved it, etc. I will do that for sure. Like I said, she doesn't much like games, so any other fun ideas? I don't want it just eating, opening presents, oohing and ahhing, etc. I've really only been to a few showers at this point, as the friends who have had babies, were either far away, or I couldn't go to because of a schedule conflict, or they didn't have a shower! Also, it would be considered tacky to include registry information with the invitation, right? I think so. When people call me to RSVP, they can ask and I can give them the places, but I don't think it should be mentioned with the invitations. Am I wrong?

Have you been to many baby showers? If you've had one thrown for you, what did you love the most about it? Any great and creative ideas you are willing to share with me?

on vitamins

When I was a little girl, I took a daily vitamin, as most children do, I think. It was some sort of chewable, and fruity flavors, and shaped like a little bear. I liked the purple bears the best. As I got older, in college,etc, I got out of habit of taking vitamins, but am getting back into taking them. It is important, right?

I wonder though, if I am taking too many! The vitamin isle at the pharmacy is overwhelming and sometimes I feel like I should be taking everything that they offer. I mean, they are good for you, right? Right. Right?

I take the One a Day Women's, a "complete multi-vitamin, plus more!" It supports bone health, heart health and healthy girl parts. I also started taking a Super B-Complex (with vitamin C and folic acid), which helps convert food into energy. Also, a Super Omega-3, with fish, flax and borage oil, for heart and circulation support. Also, a zinc supplement and an acai supplement, which is an antioxidant. Also, this is not a vitamin, but I've heard about oceanic silica supplements and how they can aid in hair growth, so I am trying those out as well. My hair grows painfully slowly.

I do eat pretty well, I think. Of course, I am far from perfect and definitely indulge at times, which is important to do (don't deny yourself anything!), but I eat plenty of fresh fruits and veggies, etc, and make sure my meals are balanced. I will admit though, that I usually fail to eat breakfast, but this is something I am working to improve.

Maybe I should speak to my doctor about the vitamins, as she'd know best, of course. Those seem like the best to take, in my very humble opinion, but maybe I am wrong, and don't need to take them all!

What about you? Do you take any vitamins? Am I fooling myself, thinking they are doing good things, when in reality, they aren't doing much at all?

on bridesmaids

This is a post that I wrote in September, but for some reason, it didn't get published. I just noticed it, and thought I'd post it now.

Over the weekend, I had three of my favorite girls in town for a visit. It was wonderful, in many, many ways. We studied together in Krakow, Poland and shared some really amazing experiences. One of the girls is in Boston, one in Philly and the third recently married a Scottish guy, had a baby and is living in Glasgow! Our lives are very different from the simple carefree days we shared, but we are forever linked by our memories of that incredible time.

We spent the weekend laughing and eating, for the most part. We had plans to visit some VA wineries, but ended up just hanging around the city and it was perfect. We talked about everything under the sun, looking at photos of Krakow and just laughed laughed laughed.

One of the girls told us about a wedding she attended in San Diego recently, for a college friend of hers. The friend is our age (30-31) and had seven bridesmaids. My friend seemed to think that this was a bit much. She said something like "now that we are in our thirties, it just seems silly to have that many bridesmaids."

Do you think this is true? If you are married, how many bridesmaids did you have? If you aren't yet married, how many do you think you might have? How many bridesmaids is too many, and does your age make a difference?

tasty tuesday- roasting a chicken

Happy Tuesday!

One day last week, I decided that it was a good day to roast a chicken. It was cold and gloomy, and we were expecting snow, so I thought it was a perfect night to do so. I found a few recipes that I liked, and didn't follow any one of them to the T, but used a good portion of Scarlet Thread's recipe, which can be found here.

I stopped at the grocery store and picked up a small whole chicken, about four pounds, I think. Also, Kosher salt (I was out!), a few lemons and then some small red potatos. I had everything else I needed at home already.

I opened the chicken and cleaned it, though I really just had to rinse it, as luck would have it, the giblets and other grossness were nowhere to be found! So, I rinsed it inside and out, and then let it airdry for a few minutes. Once it was dry, I took a stick of butter and rubbed it all over, inside and out (yes, slightly icky!). Then, I took a lemon, cut it in half and squeezed the juice all over it, again, inside and out. (tip- roll your lemon back and forth on the counter a few times, to get it juicier!). I took some herbs (rosemary, thyme and oregano, but you could use whatever you want) and sprinkled them all over it. Also, the salt and garlic pepper. I took one last lemon and poked a few holes in it with a fork and stuck that inside the cavity of the chicken.

I put it in the oven and it raosted at 350* for a good 45 minutes, though longer, I think. I checked it often and poured more of the lemon juice over it, to keep it juicy. Also, about halfway through, I took the small red potatos and cut them in half, and added them to the pan, to roast along with the chicken, and they got all herby and lemony too!

It was really delicious, and Steve loved it, so I think that this will move into a regular dinner rotation. Also, for some reason, I thought that roasting a chicken was much more difficult than it is, and it is such a satisfying dinner!

My newest Scarlet Threads apron, the Aubergine, named by yours truely :)

Come back later this week...I'll be giving away another Scarlet Threads apron! Can you guess which one it will be???