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It never hurts to celebrate Saint Patrick’s Day for an extra bit of luck. Today I’m wearing the Tippi Sweater in Kelly Green, J Crew Factory Midrise Toothpick Jeans and J Crew Cece Ballet Flats. The blazer is a knit blazer I received for Christmas a few years ago and is Cynthia Rowley (JCF and Old Navy, Charlotte Russe).

Official Springtime is almost here. We are finally starting to see a change in weather so I hope to be ditching the heavy sweaters and grab my button-downs and blazers. 
Happy St. Patrick’s Day!

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Here are just a few things MamaBella always told us to do at New Year’s.
1) Eat some black-eyed peas.
2) Eat 12 grapes, one for each month of the year for Good Luck. But the catch is you have to start at midnight and have one for each toll of the clock. I’d rather kiss Husband at midnight without a mouthful of grapes so I eat them at some point on New Year’s Day.
3) Wear something red. I usually choose red lingerie.
4) Wear something new.
5) Clean house. She would say that whatever state your house was in was how it would be all year. I try to at least straighten up and have almost all the laundry done.
4) CALL YOUR MOTHER! Of course she’d say that. Haha!

Here are a few other New Year’s traditions.

Have a Great New Year!

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We’ve been invited to a New Year’s Eve party and the dress requested is “Black and White”. You might as well have told me to wear a potato sack. I know it’s classy and can be chic but for someone who likes color and who already had her outfit picked out I am in a bit of a dilemma.

Here’s what I’ve put together on my Stylebook app of items I already own. I have some dressy wool black J Crew shorts but Husband nixed those so pants it is.

1) J Crew Schoolboy Blazer in Black, J Crew Stretch Perfect Shirt, Talbots Satin Pants, Sloane Velvet Crisscross Pumps, Grande Crystal Drops Necklace

2) J Crew Schoolboy Blazer in Black, J Crew Tipped Silk Tee in Windowpane, Talbots Satin Pants, Sloane Velvet Crisscross Pumps

3) J Crew Sequin Shawl Collar Sweater, J Crew Ruffled Rhinestone Top, Talbots Satin Pants, Sloane Velvet Crisscross Pumps

4) J Crew Schoolboy Blazer in Black, Kate Spade Shannon Top, Talbots Satin Pants, Sloane Velvet Crisscross Pumps

So I need your help. Which outfit should I wear? I haven’t put any of these on together so the Schoolboy Blazer may not work with the Satin Pants or the Satin Pants not go with the Sloane Velvet Pumps. 
Do you have any other ideas for Black and White outfits? I have the Scalloped Dress in Black and the Fluted Skirt in Double Crepe in Black but would definitely wear tights with either of them. Of course, my original outfit was built around the Gold Stripe Mini Skirt. 

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Summers are when we do most of our entertaining. We love to share our big backyard, outdoor living space and pool with our friends and family. On the 4th we had a few folks over and I made my amazing Big Red Ice Cream. If you’ve never had Big Red it’s a tasty Red Cream Soda unlike any other (see info here and here) and mostly found in the South. It goes great with BBQ and yummy in an ice cold glass bottle. 
Ingredients
– 1 quart Heavy Whipping Cream
– 2 cans Sweetened Condensed Milk
– 32-36 ounced of Big Red Soda
– 1 pint of frozen Strawberries or use Fresh Strawberries
– Milk
– Large mixing bowl

I start with adding the Big Red to the bowl first as it cuts down on the fizz. Then I add the remaining ingredients (Heavy Whipping Cream, Condensed Milk, Strawberries) and mix it all up so the Condensed Milk is not sitting at the bottom of the bowl.

I then transfer the mix to my Ice Cream maker. I have a cheapie one from Target that works well and makes about 2 quarts of ice cream. I add enough Milk so the mix reaches the fill line on the container. It usually comes out to about 2 cups. My mixer also stops when the ice cream is ready. Each mixer will be different.

All mixed up and ready for the freezer.

The finished product will come out more like Soft-Serve Ice Cream so I transfer it to another container and put it in the freezer until it’s time to serve. This hardens the ice cream making it easier to scoop.

Oh so yummy and ready to eat!

This is always a hit whenever I make it and there are never any leftovers for The Boy. I’ve had to start stashing some away in separate smaller containers just for him. If your ice cream maker yields less adjust the amount of ingredients. Honestly, the Big Red and Condensed Milk make it very sweet so cutting back on those items may not necessarily be a bad thing. 
Hope you had a great 4th!