Amazing Giveaway!

Lisa over at Fantabulously Frugal is holding an amazing giveaway! The prize is worth over $600 and includes:

*$50 Gift Certificate to BeautyTicket.com
*Warm Vanilla Sugar Triple Moisture Body Cream from Bath & Body Works
*Lint-On-The-Go-Sheets from GO-GIRL
*Gucci Buckle Sunglasses
*Voluspa Yuzu Rose Bubble Bath Candle
*Pencil case from Etsy seller Made by Hank stuffed with little goodies
*Paper Source note cards
*Gold leather Kate Spade passport case
*Gold Amrita Singh twisted hoop earrings


Enter it here and be sure to tell her that MRM sent you. :)

Happy Thanksgiving all!

Tomorrow night, as you all sit down to dinner with your families and get to answer questions from your family about when will you finally get married, why aren't you married yet, what's wrong with you that you don't have a boyfriend- are you a lesbian, when will your mother get to finally have grandchildren because she isn't getting any younger, should you really be eating that second piece of pie, are you sure that's the most flattering haircut for your face, and while your cousins are running around screaming and knocking things down and getting in your way, take a look around the table and realize that while they may have a funny way of showing it, these are the people who love you and will be with you and until the end, no matter what.

Happy Thanksgiving!!!


Always, always, always have that second piece of pie.

Lilly Warehouse Sale goodies

I had a fantastic time at the sale hanging out with Preppy Coastee and walked away with some wonderful finds at great prices. Here are pictures of them all. As a side note, I took them last night when I was feeling really sick and did not bother to make my bed, so please excuse the mess.

First up is this navy shift dress that I scored at the sample rack for $30! It is amazingly comfortable and looks great with a hot pink turtleneck underneath, and is one of the options for Thanksgiving dinner.


This next dress was a total steal. I got it off the sample rack for only $10! It does not even have a size label on it and has a few problems (the zipper sticks out a bit at the bottom) but it is overall a great dress at a price that I couldn't say no to! Again, this dress is amazingly comfortable.


I already own the Sabine shirtdress in one print, and was determined to get more! It is a wonderful versatile piece. I ended up going for it in this beige and white pinstripe pattern. This particular pattern was cut specifically for the warehouse sale so I was lucky to get one! Sadly, the picture does not do this one justice at all, and it looks wonderful on.


As many of my friends know, I am a huge fan of wrap dresses. I think that they are wonderfully flattering and versatile and own several Diane von Furstenberg wrap dresses and one Lilly dress. I tried on the Burke wrap dress at the sale and knew I had to have it. At $89, it was by far my most expensive purchase, still a steal by Lilly standards, but it was well worth it.


This next top I picked up because I love the colors and the print and it will be a fun going out top, or can be worn under a jacket.

A close-up of the print:


One of my other wardrobe staples that I always tend to gravitate towards are long-sleeved v neck sweaters and tops. I have quite a few of them. This was another one to add to my growing pile.


This next sweater was one that I had originally wanted to get when it first came out, but by the time I made my way to a store, it was sold out, so when I saw it in my size at the sample rack for $50 (it's cashmere!), I felt like someone up there wanted me to shop. I'm wearing this elephant today.


Sadly, there weren't too many polo shirts at this sale, but I did manage to grab two for only $10 each!



Lastly, they had some cute accessories right by the cash registers. I am not sure if these were made specifically for the sale or not as I don't recall seeing them before, but at just $5 each, I snagged a purse mirror and a card case. The card case is perfect for going out when you don't want to fit a whole wallet in your purse as it can hold an id, a credit card, and a Metrocard. I was actually in the market for a purse mirror, so when I saw it, I once again took it as a blessing from the retail gods.

Stationery Swap Partners

Thank you to everyone who signed up for the stationery swap. Below are the partners. Happy swapping!

1) me- Morgan
2) KMH (kristinmhuben at gmail dot com)- the Preppy Princess (thepreppyprincess at mac dot com)
3) Kate (NauticalbyNature at gmail dot com)- Caroline (Slingy7187 at yahoo dot com)
4) Sara Lang (saralang at gmail dot com)- KMB (kimbayma at gmail dot com)
5) Lis (LisLoves at yahoo dot com)- Carina (info at crowandcanary dot com)

Secret Santa

Thank you to everyone who's commented and emailed me about doing the secret Santa. I have decided to go for it and organize our Secret Santa. To keep all the Secret Santas/Hannukah Harrys a surprise, I will disallow comments on this post. To participate, please email me at whaleflipflops {@} gmail {.} com with your name, blog identity, address, and holiday of choice by Friday. I will assign all of the partners and will email you back your partner's name, blog identity, and address. Please spend at least $30 on your partner. You can have as much fun with this as you want and feel free to send your partner more than one item or in more than one package. Please post your items so that they can arrive by no later than December 23rd. I realize that it may be a bit too early to send out presents in time for the first night of Hannukah (good thing there's 8 of them!), so if you get a Jewish blogger, consider sending her a card for the occassion. (I am a firm believer in sending cards.)

Blogger Secret Santa

I've been thinking that it would be fun for us to do our own blogger Secret Santa and have tweeted with a few bloggers about this. I would love to do this, but have no idea how it would work. If you would be interested in doing this, or have any idea about how this would work, please leave me a comment on here. Also, you still have time to sign up for my stationery swap. Due to the high number of spam comments that I have been getting, I have had to disable Anonymous comments on my blog. If you would like to participate in either or just have something to share, please drop me a line at whaleflipflops {@} gmail {.} com. :)

all I want for Hannukah is

Hannukah is coming up so my mother asked me what I want. Those of you who have been following my blog for a while know that my mother getting me presents is always an ordeal. She always tries to guess what I want, and always fails miserably. This year, I am giving her a wish list and hoping that she actually picks something from the list. Fingers crossed. (Since I will be at the Lilly warehouse sale tomorrow, this is also serving as a premature favorite things post for tomorrow.)

I am pretty sure that I have posted this before, but I am dying for this pink leather jewelry box from Red Envelope ($179.99).



David Yurman Petite Albion Parasolite Ring from Saks ($590)



Some makeup brushes from Bobbi Brown. (Most of my brushes all need replacing.) The set pictured is the Basic Brush Collection for $175.


A pink Dell Inspiron mini 10v netbook (from $299).


A roll of 100 stamps. I go through stamps way too quickly.

There were a few other things that I remember wanting, but being the genius that I am, I of course did not write them down. Go me. If anything, I will end up creating a postscript to my wishlist.

What do you all want for Christmas/Hannukah/New Year/Kwanzaa/winter solstice/insert name of generic winter holiday here?

ETA: I finally remembered the other item on my wishlist- these pink flower earrings from KEP Designs, $55.

holiday card faux pas

This serves as a PSA on behalf of holiday card-receiving Jews everywhere.

Every year I have at least one friend who buys a big box of Christmas cards. Not "Happy Holiday" cards but ones that specifically say "Merry Christmas" on there. Instead of sending me a Hannukah or a generic "Happy Holidays" card, I receive a Merry Christmas card with the words "Merry Christmas" crossed out and "Happy Hannukah" written over them in pen.

Please, please, please for the love of all things that are holy, do not do this. It is so tacky and just shows that you couldn't take out the time to buy just one extra card for a friend. This year I have vowed that if anyone sends me a Merry Christmas card for Hannukah, I will return the favor by sending them a Happy Hannukah card for Christmas. (What? You mean you don't light a Menorah for Christmas?)

Happy Founders' Day Alpha Sigma Alpha

Happy 108th birthday to our wonderful sorority! Thank you to Virginia, Juliette, Calva, Louise, and Mary!

To fill my days with satisfying activity
To find dominant beauty in art, literature, nature, and friendships

To know the peace and serenity of a divine faith

To love life and joyously live each day to its ultimate good

This is my creed in Alpha Sigma Alpha.

Stationery Swap

As many of you know, I absolutely love beautiful stationery and cards and sending cards and notes to my friends. I send out several per week and keep all of the cards that I receive displayed in my apartment. (In a box in my mother's house, I have all of the letters and cards that I got going back to summer camp!) I read in a magazine that December is National Send a Letter to a Friend Month which got me really excited and put a big smile on my face!

I have decided to organize a stationery swap in honor of this great national holiday (well it should be one). Sign ups will run until Monday, the 23rd at midnight, and I will post the partners on Tuesday. If you participate, you must spend at least $25-30 on your partner and send her a minimum of two things plus a handwritten card or note. Please leave a comment on this entry to participate and tell all of your friends about it! If you would like to participate but can't afford to spend the minimum, please email me and I will see if I can pair you up with someone.

Happy writing!

trip recap finally

This trip was much more relaxed and not as fast-paced as my last one. I only ended up taking one picture from this trip (of the outside of Harrods all lit up with green lights) and we spent a lot more time just relaxing and playing Wii. (I am now up to level 30 on Cradle of Rome.) We spent a day on one of the bases and spent a few days in London. We went to go see Avenue Q one of the nights. I already saw it back when it was on Broadway a while ago and I wanted TLS to go see it because I knew he'd enjoy it. It is absolutely hysterical and very much not your traditional musical. If you have the chance to go see it, I highly recommend it. While we were in London, I kept on seeing posters everywhere for Love Never Dies which nearly broke my heart. When I first heard about this monstrosity, I had really hoped that Andrew Lloyd Weber would change his mind and stop the project midway. The idea that Phantom of the Opera could ever take place in Coney Island is downright upsetting. But I digress. TLS was not able to get leave for one of the days that I was there and had to go to work. I spent the day just sleeping in, playing Wii (level 30 of Cradle of Rome in less than a day), and cooking. I made sloppy joes for dinner with a homemade pumpkin pie for dessert. Being there actually gave me a better understanding of what life in Europe will be like. There are a lot of small things that you don't even think about. In England and the rest of the EU, the smallest bill is roughly $8, so naturally, people always have a lot of coins on them. TLS told me that I would have to get a coin purse, and I didn't really pay it much attention until I had to go to the store to buy some last-minute ingredients for dinner. All of the pound coins that we had would not fit into my wallet, so I had to put them in a ziploc bag. I was sure that the cashier was going to ask me if I robbed a 5 year old girl for the contents of her piggy bank, but she didn't bat an eye. Also, it was a bit weird for me being up for hours and it already being lunch time and reading everyone's tweets saying how they were only just getting up. Now I know how TLS feels every time we talk. Also, I am a huge Taylor Swift fan and just had to watch her host SNL. (I still have the monologue song stuck in my head. Who's with me?) Of course, we had to wait until Sunday to watch it, and since Hulu is not available outside of the United States, we had to download it, which took nearly the whole day. I miss England and TLS terribly and wish that I could go back before February.

Thank you to everyone who entered my giveaway. TLS was not expecting this many entries and I had to explain to him that yea, girls care about things like stuffed animals. As promised, he picked the giveaway winner, so congratulations to:
xoxo sarabeth!
Email me at whaleflipflops {@} gmail {.} com so I can get Rufus out to you in time for the holidays!

to help with your holiday shopping

Some more discount codes.

Bloomingdales Friends and Family Sale- 20% off through Sunday with code THANKS
Vineyard Vines Friends and Family Sale- 25% off your purchase through Monday with code GIFT
L.L. Bean- receive a $10 gift card with every purchase of $25 or more between now and 12/24/09.

cheerio

Just wanted to post a quick hello to all of my readers to say that I am having a lovely time here in England. TLS is sitting here with me and says hi. Today, we spent the day in London. We did lunch and then spent the rest of the day at Harrods. Afterwards, we rewarded ourselves with chestnut macaroons from Laduree. I absolutely adore chestnuts and all things made with them and wish they were in season more. The macaroons were so delicious, that right away, we went inside and got a box of 8 more! If you get the chance to go to London or Paris soon, you absolutely have to go to Laduree for a chestnut macaroon. You will not be sorry!

While we were at Harrods, I stopped by the bear collection to pick up the prize for my giveaway. We ended up going with Rufus, the Christmas bear.

If you haven't entered my giveaway yet, be sure to. You have until Monday at midnight EST to enter. I am off now. I just wanted to do a quick post to say hi to all of you.

x's and o's,
-MRM

leaving on a jet plane, don't know when I'll be back

Finally the day has come, and today I am off to the UK for one last time as my last hurrah while TLS gets shipped off to Turkey. I have been waiting for this day for so long and am so glad it's finally here. In about 7 hours, I will be on a plane sipping some rather questionnable Chardonnay. (This relationship has done wonders for my skymiles account.)

While it's not Friday, I did want to leave you all with a favorite things list. This week's list is just random. It is of all the stuff I have become obsessed with lately.
1) Gods Behaving Badly
I read about this book when it first came out and have been dying to read it, one thing came up, then another, then a third, another book got added to my list, and so on, and it took me roughly 2-3 years to actually get around to buying and reading this book. I was so happy when I finally did. It is absolutely hilarious and is a great read. When I was younger, I used to be obsessed with Greek mythology and art, so this one was right up my alley. Several bloggers have been emailing me asking for book recommendations, and this one is at the top of my list.

2) Bath & Body Works Twilight Woods Candle
I love scented candles and almost always have one burning in my apartment. This is Bath & Body Works' newest scent and when I was in there stocking up on antibacterial gel, I took one whiff and liked it enough to buy one candle. Since then, I have gone back to buy 4 more candles. The scent is very light and not overpowering and is just perfect in my opinion.

3) Softlips Coconut Cream Lip Balm
I am a lip balm/gloss junkie and buy more stuff than any sane person possibly ever should. I am a huge fan of softlips, and was very excited when I won a duo pack of Cherry/Coconut Cream flavor Softlips in a recent giveaway. This is so soft and creamy and again, the coconut scent/taste is nice but not overpowering and reminds me of a wonderful SPF lotion.
4) Prada L'Eau Ambree Perfume
This is Prada's newest fragrance and I smelled it when I was at Saks for the Friends and Family sale. I have never been particularly good at describing fragrances, so I won't even bother (words like musky, woody, etc. just mean nothing to me) but it is an amazing scent and I absolutely love it. If you are in the market for a new scent, I highly recommend it. $76 for a 1.7oz bottle at Saks.

5) Lilly Pulitzer Stuck on You Sticky Note Set
I did a pink and green theme for JMK's bridal shower and I purchased about 20 of these from the Preppy Princess as shower favors. These are so cute and just bring a smile to your face. The little tabs are perfect for flagging down pages in catalogs or magazines, and just last night, I used them to mark over 20 items in the Crate & Barrel catalog. At just $11.50, they make a great gift extra or a stocking stuffer.

6) Fuzzy Bunny Slippers
Since I am very much a kid at heart, I have been wanting fuzzy bunny slippers, but they were something that I could just never justify buying for muself. I put these on my birthday wishlist but did not get them. Fortunately, TLS decided to surprise me and these showed up at my office on Monday! Say hello to my two new friends- Muffy and Fluffy.

The picture does not do them justice- they have poseable ears, whiskers, and little cotton tails at the heels! They are super soft and comfortable and feel like you're walking on a cloud. They make an amazing gift (and conversation starter) and are another great gift item. ($29.99 at Runaway Rabbit)

November giveaway

My love affair with stuffed animals started at an early age when I got my Teddy as a gift the day I was born. From the tender age of too young to comprehend things, he became my best friend. He has been with me through two surgeries, several hospitalizations, and too many breakups to count. He never talks back, is always there to listen and give a bear hug, and is the best friend a girl could possibly ask for. I believe that you are never too old to cuddle with your teddy bear.

Since Harrods is reknown for its teddy bear collection, I knew that there was no way that I could go in there and not come out with a bear. On my first trip to England in 2000, I walked out with this one,

and in September, Harrod the teddy bear was added to my collection.


The website doesn't have an exact picture of mine, but he is a beautiful caramel color instead of the white.

Since I would like to share the love, this month's giveaway will be a stuffed animal from Harrods' collection. After spending more time than I would like to admit on the site looking at all of the bears, I could not decide on which one to use for the giveaway, so it will be a surprise. Whichever one looks at me with its big brown bear eyes and says "MRM buy me" will be the one that goes home with me.

To enter this giveaway, leave a comment telling me if you have a favorite stuffed animal that has stood the test of time for one entry. Become a follower for a second entry. For a third entry, blog about this giveaway. For a fourth entry, follow me on twitter and post about this on twitter (@whaleflipflops). You can also get one entry for every person who enters that you referred. This giveaway will run until midnight EST on Monday, November 9th. TLS will draw the winner and I will post it on Tuesday or after I get back.

Hannukah Card Fail

As many of my readers know, there are few things that I love more than sending and receiving nice hand-written cards and letters. I spend quite possibly more time and money at Papyrus and Kate's Paperie than I should and am always finding great cards to send to friends. The only area where this does not seem to apply is Hannukah cards. I have seen some gorgeous, funny, unique, nicely decorated, etc. cards for Christmas/the generic holiday season, yet I have yet to find a nice box of Hannukah cards. While there may not be anything wrong with them, they all just seem to be very generic and lacking that certain je ne sais quoi. For instance, I saw some lovely Christmas cards in Papyrus that had miniature cotton balls on them to look like giant snowflakes, yet no matter where I look, the Hannukah cards all look exactly the same- blue with a menorah on the front. These are the cards that I will be sending out this year:

Sadly, they do look much nicer and festive than they do in person.

Lots of times, I just stick with buying the generic holiday/winter cards, but there are certain people for whom I would like to send a Hannukah specific card. While I realize that Jews are in the world's minority, would it be so much to ask for a little creativity? Le sigh. Do I need to go into the Hannukah card making business?