Modbe swimwear at Downeast Basics

Some of my favorite swimsuits are from Modbe, a company that recently went out of business (or so I thought).  I was pleasantly suprised when I received my latest DownEast Basics catalogue to see that the two companies have teamed up in the swimwear department.  Hooray!  The Modbe and DownEast line of suits are both super cute.  Too bad I really have no need for any new bathing suits -- a couple years ago I got at least five new ones (all from Modbe and Shade).  These are pretty tempting though, and they are all on sale too!  Enjoy!

Mother's Day Prints

A friend of mine from high school (actually, my good friends sister), has a pretty terrific blog, Hue and Hum.  Caitlyn (a.k.a Hue) is an artist, and her husband (a.k.a Hum) is in a real live rock band. 

 On a side note, her husband's band, Fictionist, is in a contest to be on the cover of Rolling Stone.  Pretty cool!  Anyway, Caitlyn is an artist, and she periodically offers "pay what you want" print sales on her blog.  This Mother's Day she has introduced a new print just in time for this special holiday.  Her stuff is really amazing, and for the "pay what you want price", you really can't go wrong.  This could make a really special present.  Love it!

Read the cute story behind the "Mothers" print here.
Image via the Hue and Hum blog.

Giveaway Winner!!

A huge thanks to everyone who entered our Locket Giveaway. We are so excited to announce the lucky winner!!
Drum roll please....

Congratulations to Vanessa Lopez!

Please email us at theprettypoppy@gmail.com within 24 hours to work out the details of your gift. A new winner will be selected if no contact is made by 11:30am PST, Wednesday, April 20th.

Thanks again to all of you!!! Stay tuned for more fun giveaways we have planned in the near future.

Sunday is the last day!

Don't forget to enter our giveaway for a Vintage AdaElle locket of your choice!  The giveaway ends Sunday at midnight, PST.

Also, if you're hoping to finish Mother's Day shopping early, take advantage of our 10% discount code as well.  Follow the link in the righthand sidebar to find more information.

Have a relaxing Sunday!

Wisteria

I absolutely love Wisteria!  They carry some of the best decorating accessories.  These are just some of my favorites.  There is so much to look at so you really need to go check out their store. 

I have been really wanting to buy some beautiful organizing accessories.  Something that looks beautiful, but also serves a very important purpose...hiding all of my junk!  This store is perfect.  I especially love all of their metal baskets.  They have so many styles to choose from.  If you love the books pictured above, they also have many different colors in those.

You really do need to look!

Where have you been Ikea?

I have been wanting a new area rug for some time because I really just hated the one I had.  I hated it so much, I decided to throw it in the trash when my husband was out of town.  This would not have been possible if he was present.  BUT, since he wasn't, it was gone before he arrived home.  Please don't think I'm telling you to go behind your husband's back to get what you want.  It was just necessary in this situation.  Anywho, Heidi reminded me that we have a great, inexpensive, gigantic store just 1 hour away that I completely forgot about.  Ikea.

I had not stepped foot in an Ikea in over 3 years.  My middle child, who is now 6, was not even potty trained the last time we went.  This was his first experience in the childcare and I was bummed to find out that they no longer allow for 2 hours of childcare.  Nope, just 1 hour.  How is it possible to get through there in under an hour?  It's not.

I went to Ikea for one item.  This great area rug pictured above.  I think my husband was a bit concerned when I showed it to him, because he would not help me pull it down and put the huge roll in the cart.  That's quite alright, because when I want something I'm perfectly happy doing it myself!  This is now neatly placed under my antique coffee table in my front room.  I love it!  The feel of the entire room is so happy!  I think my husband is on board too.  If you need a little happiness in your room, check out Ikea's area rugs.

My favorite present for young girls

Do any of you have "go to" gifts? I am a creature of habit, and I often find myself migrating to the same items in the toy section when it's time to pick up a birthday or Christmas gift. One of my regular gifts is certainly these B. Pop-Arty Beads. I love them! I get them almost every time I need to buy for a 4-8 year old girl.  In fact, I couldn't resist picking up a set for my daughter (planning to give it to her this Christmas -- yes I know it's April!)

I love them!  Essentially, they are a bucket of colorful beads that can be "popped" into place to create different necklaces and bracelets and I think rings.  There are lots of interesting shapes and textures.  They can be taken apart and put back together over and over again.

Super fun!

P.S.  Don't forget to enter our locket giveaway!  It, along with our 10% Etsy discount code, ends Sunday!

Lockets, a Giveaway, Discount Codes and Facebook!

Happy Monday!

We hope you had a wonderful weekend.  To start this week off on the right foot, we have lots of exciting news for you!  To begin, we are excited to introduce our new product line...

Lockets!



We've been catching glimpses of lockets everywhere we look, and were inspired to create our own collection.  Expect to see even more designs to appear in our shop in the upcoming weeks.  To celebrate, we'd like to give away a locket to one of our lucky readers!  The winner may select their favorite design! 

To enter:

Becomine a follower of our blog if you aren't already AND like our page on Facebook (see the link in the right sidebar).  Once you've done both of those things, leave a comment telling us what your favorite locket is.  It's that easy! 

Contest will end Sunday the 17th at Midnight.  Winner will be announced on Monday morning.

To further celebrate, we'd like to offer all of our readers a 10% discount to our shop this week.  Mother's Day is coming up, and this would be the perfect way to get a jump start on the shopping!  To redeem, enter "poppy" when checking out.  10% will be deducted from your order.

Thank you for all of your support!  We really do love our readers, and we love to reward you with fun things when we can!  We are excited to be on FB now -- expect even more fun things in the near future!

Fundraiser

On Wednesday, February 2nd, Laurie, my cousin's wife, was told that she had Hodgkin’s Lymphoma. We were relieved to learn that there was a great chance that Laurie would be cured from this type of Lymphoma.  Although it was a relief that it wasn’t another, more deadly type of lymphoma, we knew that this wouldn’t make the chemotherapy treatment any easier.

After finishing her 2nd treatment of chemotherapy Laurie's hair had begun to fall out and she decided it was time.  After watching this video I was inspired by Laurie's strength and courage.  The act of shaving off all of your hair is simple, but the emotional courage it takes to actually do it is another story.  I was amazed at how composed she remains and realized that this is a great example of who Laurie is.  She is strong and she will beat this!  Our thoughts and prayers are with you Laurie.  If you would like to follow and support Laurie through this journey you can visit her blog at: http://www.laurieandskyler.blogspot.com/

Her friends and family will be holding a fundraiser for Laurie on April 16 at 7:30 p.m. (until who knows when) at the Kaysville Sportsplex.  There will be a carnival with auction items and basketball contests.  They will be asking for a donation at the door and everything will be included in the cost, i.e. carnival events and food.  If you are in the Salt Lake area and can make it to this event it should be a lot of fun and supports a great cause.  If you have any further questions just leave a comment and I will answer as soon as possible.

French Macarons

You know I love these -- I've posted about them before, see here and here.

Lynsee and I have dreams of opening a french macaron bakery in the Phoenix area.  A store filled with delicious and pretty cookies --- ahh, heaven.

In the meantime, it looks like I can get my fix by ordering through Etsy.  Who knew!  Maybe we'll have to perfect our recipe and open up a shop of our own!  ;)

Image via sparkleskitchen on Etsy.

Round Tables -- Advice

Hello blogging friends.  I am on a hunt for a round, wood dining table for our breakfast nook (newly converted from a playroom.)  I have all my Tolix chairs purchased, as you may remember from an earlier post.  The table has been harder to come by.  I have searched craigslist (I actually bought one that I ended up reselling because it wasn't what I thought it was), websites and stores.  No luck.  I'm looking for a table 54-60 inches in diameter, darkish wood, with a rustic feel.  Solid wood would be nice.  Nothing really shiny and fancy (i.e., nothing you would find in a formal dining room.)  I really like this table from Horchow.  I love that the top is parquet.  I would love to buy this table, but unfortunately, it's just out of my price range.  Does anyone know of a source for round dining tables?  Or should I throw in the towel and go for a rectangle?

Thanks in advance for any help/advice offered.