It's All In the Details

The hour is getting late, and after a very late bed time last night (1:00 a.m., I have no idea why I was up so late and could not fall asleep even after I went to bed!), I'm going to try to turn in early tonight. I have a LONG day ahead of me, and will be on the road for a deposition at Wake Forest University in North Carolina...my flight leaves in the 8:00 hour tomorrow morning and I will get home at MIDNIGHT. What a day, what a day!

I did want to share a few pictures I took this morning of our office and the building in which our office is located. The building was built in the late 1800s and has so many beautiful structural details, I tried to catch a few. These pictures will be featured on our new website which should be up and running in a couple of days - very exciting!







I just love this bright and colorful horse that sits across the street from our office - I think he was part of the Gallopalooza display that ran in downtown Louisville a year or two ago.



Before turning in for the night, maybe I'll give myself a few minute to try to scout out some finds on Craigslist. I've been itching to get some pieces for a steal and make them over. What wouldn't I give to be able to turn a piece like this:


and this:


Into something lovely like this, just with the touch of a paint brush and a little bit of beautiful fabric:


This is the beautiful handiwork of Tobi Fairley, an interior designer who is featured regularly in Traditional Home - I love her work! This great desk and chair rehab can be found here on Tobi's blog.

Mean Girls

Thanks for all of the well-wishes for our dear friend's thoroughbred ... please be sure to cheer on Mission Impazible at this year's Kentucky Derby!

Unfortunately, I must interrupt my usual lighthearted fare with something that has been weighing heavily on my heart since I heard it on the Today show this morning while getting ready for work.


This beautiful girl is 15 year-old Phoebe Prince. After months of being tormented and bullied by a group of real life "Mean Girls", Phoebe committed suicide on January 14th. Even in death, this beautiful girl could not escape the wrath of this young group of teenage women, who left nasty, hate-filled posts on a Facebook memorial page created in Phoebe's honor. The bullies have now been criminally charged. One of the mothers of the accused is now telling the media that Phoebe brought this all upon herself. According to the Massachussetts District Attorney pursuing the case, teachers at the school where both Phoebe and the "Mean Girls" were students knew about the bullying but turned a blind eye.

Within a half hour of the segment on Phoebe, the Today show ran a segment on teens who have undergone plastic surgery to avoid the teasing taunts of fellow students. The segment can be seen here.

I thought long and hard about this the entire day, filled with so many emotions. Grief, for the loss of a beautiful young life that was obviously filled with such pain and sorrow in the last several months of her time here on Earth. Sadness, for these teens who are called terrible things until they feel they need to resort to plastic surgery. Anger, at the bullies of the world, who take on many different forms but all spread the same message of hate. And finally, frustration, as to how we stop this terrible problem that seems to have been around forever but has reached epic proportions in the past few years.

I looked in the rearview mirror this morning at my beautiful little toddler, and sent up a silent prayer that she never face the wrath of a bully. I know I can't protect her forever, but stories like those I heard this morning just make me want to wrap her up in my arms to shield her from any hurtful, disparaging taunt she may receive in life. Realistic? Of course not, but stuff like this really brings out the "mama bear" in me...

Run for the Roses

While Kentucky's loss of its Elite 8 game to WVU was definitely the low point of the weekend, we were beyond excited to share this weekend in the thrilling news of some dear friends.

Since my husband, Ryan, was a very young boy, his best friend has been Ricky. I've always been amazed by the fact that Rick and Ryan have maintained such a close friendship for 30 plus years - everyone should be so lucky! Rick and his sweet wife, Natalie, live in Houston with their three beautiful children.


Here's Ryan and I celebrating with Rick and Natalie at our engagement party back in 2005 (the goofy but lovable guy on the left is Andy, another one of our dear friends who also grew up with Rick & Ryan).

Rick is one of the owners of a gorgeous thoroughbred horse, named Mission Impazible. Here is Rick with his pride and joy:


Mission Impazible might sound familiar to you, and there's a good reason why - this beautiful horse won the Louisiana Derby on Saturday!

Here he is in the paddock area:


And here he is coming down the final stretch:


I don't think I've ever heard Ryan yell so loud as he did when Mission Impazible passed all of the horses in the final stretch to win the race. Of course, winning the Louisiana Derby is a huge honor in and of itself - but the win also means that Mission Impazible will be racing in the Kentucky Derby! This is a tremendous honor and truly a once in a lifetime opportunity.


Congratulations Rick! We are so very excited for you all, and cannot wait to cheer on Mission Impazible at the running of the roses on May 1st!

Hand Me Downs

Were you the recipient of many hand me downs as a child? My younger sister and I were the 3rd and 4th of 6 female cousins so we got our fair share of clothing passed down by the two oldest girls. Sometimes there would be hits, and sometimes there would be misses - overall, I recall being happy when I reached the age where hand me downs didn't land on our door step. I chalk that up to wanting to be able to express my own style and individuality...or maybe I was just looking for an excuse to hit up the mall. Since becoming a mom myself, I have learned the value of hand me downs as kids grow out of clothes in the blink of an eye!

Just one more advantage of working in an all-female law firm comprised of very stylish individuals is being deemed the recipient of some hand me downs. One of our partners recently went through her multiple closets and gifted myself and one other attorney with a TON of clothes that she no longer had use for, and in some cases had never even worn. Seriously, I walked away with armfuls of Banana Republic and Ann Taylor shift dresses and suits, some BCBG tops and a never worn silk Tory Burch shell that is gorgeous.

I haven't been the only lucky one - with stylish ladies come stylish children. My sweet co-worker Janice has a little girl that is a few years older than Alexandra and brought in these beautiful clothes earlier in the week for Alexandra to have. Her little girl is 6 so my girl won't be able to wear most of these clothes for a year or two, but I cannot wait until then because they are the cutest:




Really, check out that cute smocking on that last pink outfit:


Isn't that adorable? I love smocked clothing for little kids - we Southern girls loves ourselves some smocking, almost as much as we love anything monogrammed!

My absolute favorite outfit has to be this one (Mommy would like to have herself one of these in adult size, please):


Yes, my child now owns Burberry and her mommy does not. Something is very wrong about that statement. Really, I'm not kidding when I say that my daughter is FAR better dressed than I am!

Janice also threw in the cutest pair of Lacoste slippers:


Needless to say, I was speechless when I saw all these cute things! I consider myself lucky every day to be surrounded by such wonderful women - they are as kind and generous as they are intelligent and motivated. Can you tell we are having fun??

Speaking of hand me downs, I spied the following at a local well-run children's consignment sale for only $4 and I couldn't resist:



As you can see, we are starting Alexandra out young as one of the many faithful of the Big Blue Nation (sorry for the poor quality, these were taken with my iPhone):



Tomorrow night's 10pm tip off against Cornell is a wee bit late for baby girl, but hopefully she will be sporting this pretty little blue number this weekend as the Wildcats advance through the tourney. GO CATS!

Derby Wear

I'm not quite sure how it happened, but somehow readership of my blog has crept up over 100! When I started this blog a couple of years ago, I had no idea that 10 people - much less 100 - would ever be interested in reading my random thoughts. Thank you to all of you who make it a point to read Southern Comfort and share your very positive feedback through comments. I really appreciate it!

With the first day of spring this past weekend, you can't help but get excited at the thought that warmer temperatures and more time spent outdoors is right around the corner. For those of us who are Kentucky residents, we also have the Kentucky Derby to look forward to - if I've said it once, I have probably said it a million times on here but you must go to the Kentucky Derby at least once in your life! The scenery, the fashion, the horses, and the hospitality of our great state make it a necessary item on everyone's bucket lists.

While on the computer tonight, I started looking at some Derby hats and stumbled upon this beauty:


Isn't that a fabulous hat?? It was designed by the fabulous folks at Dee's in Louisville who always do amazing things with hats - check out more of their work here. I typically do not like orange - at least on me, I do not have the coloring to pull it off. Orange seems to be a pretty hot color, though, and this hat is so lovely that I thought it would be fun to see what kind of looks I could design around it.

Here are a couple of dress options:


The dress on the left is a Milly and is definitely more my style, but I cannot seem to pull my eyes away from the Kate Spade on the right. You definitely have to have a lot of confidence to pull off that bright color! The Milly dress can be found here and the Kate Spade dress here.

Here are some great accessories that continue with our orange theme:


(From left to right, wristlet from Etsy seller Judianne, orange cocktail ring from Max & Chloe via ShopStyle.com, and clutch from Etsy seller Briana Edelman Designs)

There is a LOT of color going on here, so I thought I would round out the outfits with a great pair of nude heels from Cole Haan.


These have the Nike Air cushioning technology - because you are going to be on your feet alot that day and you won't look quite as fashionable in your great hat if you're limping from foot pain.

Enjoy!

Deals & A Steal From Home Goods

On a side note which has nothing to do with the title of this blog post, wasn't today just beautiful?! I think it hit about 70 degrees here in Louisville with gorgeous sunshine. These beautiful flowers in my office just added to the euphoria I was feeling from the weather.


Aren't they lovely? The variety of colors are just beautiful and perfect for spring. This beautiful arrangement was waiting for me when I returned to the office yesterday afternoon - they are from Ryan's uncle, aunt and cousin for the recent passing of my grandfather. Thank you Monty, Carolyn & Tyler - the flowers are gorgeous and made my week! Let's take a look at those pretty stems again, shall we?



Alright, back to the subject of this post. On Monday, I was asked to head down to Nashville the following day to attend the deposition of an expert witness. Of course, I said yes - my first thought was, "Great billable hours!" My second thought was, "I wonder if I would have time to stop anywhere and shop?"

Yes, my mind will always find an excuse for a good shopping experience.

I have somehow managed to parlay my last 3 trips out-of-town for work into some decent shopping. When I was in Chicago in February, I made off like a bandit at Filene's Basement and H&M. While in Indianapolis a couple of weeks ago, I stopped at the outlets on the way home (I exercised some restraint and only bought a handful of summer outfits at Carter's for the little one - I somehow managed to avoid the temptation of the J. Crew outlet). So when I found out I was headed to Music City, I knew I could probably find some shopping success...and did I ever!

I'm constantly reading on a few different design blogs the great finds that can be had at Home Goods. We have a Home Goods here in Louisville, but it is technically part of the TJ Maxx and it can be hit and miss. So I decided to stop at a Home Goods just north of the city in Hendersonville ... and it did not disappoint.

I picked up four giraffe print placemats for our kitchen table ($10):


These beautiful Waverly print boxes will go great in our master bedroom ($20):


This next one is definitely the "steal" of the bunch. I was walking down the clearance aisle and I spotted this pretty in pink Chinese garden stool that had been marked down to $22:


Yes, you read that right, $22! The cheapest I have ever seen these go for was on Overstock and I think that was $120! If it had been red or green, that would have just been beyond perfect for our living room. Fortunately, with a little girl I can always find room for something pink so this sweet little stool is now sitting in Alexandra's nursery.

I saved the best for last...

With the warm temperatures we've been experiencing lately, Ryan and I have started working in earnest on beautifying our outdoor living area. Last year we purchased a pretty outdoor love seat, 2 chairs and coffee table from Home Depot. The cushions are a subtle brown print which I love, but the throw pillows that came with the set were this heinous purple print. I picked up some outdoor fabric in a pretty green medallion print at a local interior design shop, and my crafty mom re-covered the throw pillows. You can see a couple of them in this picture below, which I took last summer of one of our dear friends and her cute little girl:


In addition to this furniture set, we have a black wrought iron table with four chairs that my inlaws so generously handed down to us. Since last summer, I knew I wanted to find some comfortable cushions to sit in those wrought iron chairs.

Well, look what I lucked upon!



Can you believe that Home Goods had four chair cushions that fit perfectly in the same exact print?! Really, what are the odds of that happening?

I think I'm going to be looking for some more work trips to Nashville, just so I can hit up this great Home Goods store again!

Spring Has Sprung

Happy St. Patrick's Day! Truth be told, I've never done much to celebrate the holiday, and often forget to wear green (including today). It's kind of surprising that I typically fail to wear green since it is my favorite color. Oh well, chalk it up to being one additional detail that this tired woman can't seem to remember one day in March each year.

At least I remembered to put Alexandra in some green today.


I picked her up a little early from daycare today and found that while they didn't have a party (a first, they seem to have parties for every holiday), they did celebrate the day by making green shirts covered in shamrocks, and each little one had a shamrock-shaped sugar cookie surprise in their cubby.


Speaking of surprises, Alexandra sure had one for me. Each morning, I give her a little box of raisins to munch on during the drive to daycare - the child loves raisins and would eat them for every meal. Here's Exhibit A:


Totally caught in the act - I rest my case.

Anyway, after Alexandra finishes her morning snack, she usually throws the empty raisin box down in her car seat(or so I thought) and I pick them up and throw them out. Well, apparently she has been throwing them in other places. Look what I found underneath the seat by the floor board....


Yes, that is a dozen empty boxes of raisins I pulled out from underneath the seat! Interesting that the SUV just got detailed a week or so ago and these weren't found!

After disposing of all of the boxes, we decided to take advantage of the beautiful sunny day and take a little walk.


Everyone in the neighborhood loves Pearl, kids and adults alike. It seems we usually get stopped at least once on a walk by some of the neighborhood kids requesting to pet her - she loves the attention.


Alexandra sat on the edge of her stroller seat, taking everything in, but occasionally she would glance back to make sure mommy was still there.


After our brief jaunt around the neighborhood, we had a little play time in the backyard, which mostly consisted of Alexandra climbing up and down the steps to our deck a good 20 times.



Before we knew it, it was time for dinner - Alexandra feasted on the typical kiddo favorites of chicken nuggets, cheese, corn and her sugar cookie from daycare (I had to throw a little green in there somewhere!).


Dinner time was entertaining to say the least. It came complete with music (countless requests for mommy to sing Itsy Bitsy Spider followed by an ecstatic "Yeah!" by Alexandra when the song was finished), lots of counting to 10, and Alexandra showing me "the Bird," a move I can only guess she learned in her music class at daycare.


Obviously we didn't have a crazy St. Patrick's Day full of green beer (like I might have enjoyed a few years back), but it was a lovely day nonetheless.

Happy St. Patrick's Day!