So I have the most adorable dog in the world. Now that's a statement I'm sure all dog owners make about their dogs, but I'm like 99.9% sure it's true in my case. My dog is a French Mastiff named Odie and he's a sweetheart, wouldn't hurt a fly.
Now what I haven't told you is he's over 100 pounds and thinks he's the same size as a Pomeranian. This is not the case, but still I melt when he tries to curl up in my lap on the couch. Now you're probably wondering what my big, sweet dog has to do with fashion? Well I'll tell you, dogs are like an accessory, they say a lot about you, especially the way they look.
I've never been one to want a sweet little dog, quite frankly I find them just a bit annoying. But I will say one thing makes me very jealous of those that own little dogs, they get to dress them up.
I will say that ever since I got my dog I have wanted to dress him up in those sweet little outfits that they sell. I love them and think they are precious. When he was puppy I did manage to get him into a Batman costume which he looked adorable in. The next year though he didn't fit in it or any other costume.
What they need to do is create more cute clothing for big dogs. All there really is is bandanas and hats. Now I like those and they have a lot of variety but honestly they don't really fit my dog. Not in the sense that he's too big for them but in the sense that he's not a country dog. He's a city dog and I would like for him to look the part.
I want to put him in a cute coat in the winter or rain. He would look adorable. Plus he's got the perfect coloring for really any color. And if dressing my dog makes me look like Elle Woods then so be it because Bruiser was adorable, especially when he showed up at the Congress hearing in the second movie.
Anyway if I find any cute outfits for those canines that are a big larger than most I'll make sure to post.
Go take your four legged friend for a walk in the park today and remember how they look is a reflection of how you look, so make sure to keep them groomed and clean! They're man's best friend so make sure that you treat them like that. :)
XOXO Lea Mills
P.S. Follow me on twitter @leamills_; Polyvore info-leamills
Now I love clothes, absolutely love them. If there was fire, I would go back to save my clothes (my shoes too). Anyway, as much as I love clothes, in this current heat wave clothes are the last thing on my mind.
Honestly I can't remember it being this hot. Now I am definitely a summer baby - most of my wardrobe consists of summer clothing - shorts, dresses, tank tops, etc. My absolute favorites are my sundresses from American Eagle Outfitters. They're super lightweight and are really cute. Plus they have my favorite thing - pockets! Granted the pockets are not the most ideal - they sort of make the dresses drag down a little. But still, convenient if I'm just slipping a few dollars or my phone into my pocket - especially if I'm going out. These dresses are so easy to dress up or down depending on the situation.
In this heat especially, I just want to give a shout out to my dresses. They really are the best. I don't wear them just because they look super cute - although that is a major factor - I wear them in this type of heat because the idea of wearing more than just one item of clothing seems to be the worst thing ever.
Normally though in the summer I'm a pretty big fan of going to the shore or down by the water. Wear it tends to get a little cool - obviously not lately - but still it gets cool. In that case one of my favorite outfits is to wear a pair of shorts with either a hoodie or a cute long sleeve top with like a tank top or camisole underneath and a pair of flip flops. Add a ponytail and some light make up and you are ready to go.
Moral of the story is stay cool and beat the heat - by wearing as little as possible. Also go stock up on sundresses - the instant outfit maker!
Sunny days ahead!
XOXO Lea Mills
P.S. Follow me on Twitter @leamills_; Find me on Facebook leamills.fashion; Find me on Polyvore info-leamills! <3
Hey Everyone,
So it's Thursday night - which means 24 hours until it's the weekend. Everyone knows what a summer weekend means, food, friends, and fun. Usually that fun will involve something alcoholic - you need to unwind somehow after a hard week at work.
So I figured it's time to share some of my favorite backyard and beach drink recipes - there are links to them as well.
So first of all there's a classic Bahama Mama. Love this! So fun plus it gives you an instant nickname for someone. Here's the recipe I like - this is a serving for one so adjust numbers accordingly: http://www.ecurry.com/blog/drinks-cocktails-beverages/bahama-mama/
Ingredients:
- 3/4 ounce coconut rum (Malibu preferably)
- 3/4 ounce banana liqueur (Hiram Walker)
- 1 ounce spiced rum (Captain Morgan - of course)
- 1.5 ounce orange juice
- 2.5 ounces pineapple juice
- 1-2 tablespoons Grenadine
- 1/4 cup crushed ice
Directions:
Combine all the ingredients in a cocktail shaker and shake. Serve!
My second backyard favorite is Dirty Pirate Popsicles! So much fun! Feel like a little kid while doing something fabulously grown up. Here's the recipe and the link: http://www.endlesssimmer.com/2011/09/14/dirty-pirate-popsicles/
Ingredients:
- 2 1/2 cups Coke
- 1/3 cup Captain Morgan spiced rum
- 1/3 cup Kahlua
Directions:
- Place all the ingredients in a bowel or glass and stir. Pour into popsicle mold.
- Freeze for 2 hours then insert popsicle stick and continue to freeze overnight
- Run a little hot water over the mold to release the popsicles
- Enjoy!
For something relaxing on Friday as soon as you get home and into your comfies I suggest Lavender Lemonade. I'm going to post the pitcher recipe although the link will also give it to you by the glass. However, let's not kid ourselves - we all know making by the pitcher is the better option - time saving and efficient. Here's the link: http://www.designsponge.com/2009/09/behind-the-bar-lavender-lemonade.html
Ingredients:
- 3/4 cups vodka
- 3/4 cups Lillet Blanc
- 1/2 cup Lavender syrup
- 1/2 cup fresh lemon juice
- 1/4 cup chilled soda water for each glass
Directions:
Mix the first 4 ingredients with a spoon and pour into a glass over ice. Add the chilled soda water and enjoy!
So I love going to the movies, but I hate paying for snacks. Here's a twist on a favorite movie snack of mine - Drunken Gummy Bears! Invite the girls over for a slumber party movie fest and have these to play drinking games with instead of taking shots! Super cute! http://partyrehabb.com/post/14297788541/drunken-gummy-bears-what-you-need-to-make-them
Ingredients:
- Alcohol of your choice - I prefer Vodka
- Bowl
- Gummy Bears
Directions:
Put the gummy bears into a bowl. Pour the liquor into the bowl until it covers up over 3/4 of an inch above the gummy bears. You MUST place it in the fridge immediately. You need to leave them in the fridge for at least 5 days and stir 1-2 per day and so that they all get an equal amount of alcohol. Pop in a DVD and pop them in your mouth for fun times.
My next drink is for that classy girls night. Sitting on the back porch with some fabulous finger foods and gossiping about who's doing what and who's sleeping with who. It's called a Peach Melba Cooler and here's the link to this wonderfully refreshing summer night drink: http://www.chow.com/recipes/29746-peach-melba-cooler
Ingredients:
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- 1 cup water
- 1 medium, ripe peach
- 1/2 pint of fresh raspberries
- 1 bunch fresh lemon thyme
- 1 liter cold club soda
- Ice
Directions:
- Bring the water and sugar to a simmer over medium heat stirring occasionally until sugar is dissolved (about 5 minutes). Take off the heat and let cool to room temperature. Put this in a small container with a tight lid
- Halve, pit, and cut the peach into 1/8 inch slices. Put the slices in the mixture from step one and stir. Then seal the container again and refrigerate for at LEAST 4 hours but NO MORE than 3 days.
- When you're ready to serve it pour the mixture through a strainer over a bowl and discard the peach slices. Add half the raspberries and half the thyme sprig into the bowl. Then smash the raspberries until they release their juices.
- Put a strainer over a pitcher and pour the mixture from step 3 into it. Lightly press on the solids with a rubber spatula and then discard what remains in the strainer. Add club soda and ice to the pitcher and stir to blend.
- Gently crush the remaining thyme - but don't destroy it - and set it aside. Pour the drink into glasses and garnish with the remaining raspberries and the remaining thyme.
This final drink is a sneaky beach drink. Put it into one of those Simply Lemonade containers and you're good to go. No one will realize the reason you and your friends are having more fun than anyone else on the beach. http://peaceloveguacamole.blogspot.com/2010/07/simply-glorious.html
Ingredients:
- Water
- Country Time Pink Lemonade Mix
- Fresh Strawberries
- Smirnoff Watermelon Vodka - love this stuff (excellent for jello shots)
- Triple Sec
- Malibu Coconut Rum
Directions:
Wash out a container of Simply Lemonade. Using a funnel pour 4 scoops of the Country Time Pink Lemonade into the container. Then add a 1 cup of Smirnoff Watermelon Vodka, 1/3 cup Triple Sec, and 1/3 cup Malibu Rum (blend these together in a measuring cup before you pour it into the Simply Lemonade bottle via the funnel. Then use cold water and fill the rest of the bottle up to the base of the neck. Cut the strawberries and drop them into the container. Add a little more water to the top and shake the bottle to mix. Then stick it in a cooler full of ice and hit the beach!
These are just a few of my favorite drink recipes to get you through those fun summer weekends and help you forget about all the drama. Although some of them need a little prep time - just think of it as something to do with your Thursday night so you're Friday really is the kick start of the weekend.
Have an awesome weekend and Cheers!
XOXO Lea Mills
PS - Follow me on Twitter @leamills_; Find me on Facebook at Facebook.com/leamills.fashion; Polyvore.com info-leamills
Alright guys, confession time. I'm a little bit of a shopaholic. So much so that one of my idols is Becky Bloomwood from Sophie Kinsella's book - turned into a disastrous movie - called "Confessions of a Shopaholic". Honestly, if you haven't read it you must. It's hilarious and just plain fun if you're looking for some good summer reading. Plus it's got some creative ways to handle debt, and hiding credit cards ;).
I always admired that she wanted to be known as the "Girl with the Denny and George Scarf". It's true dedication to a brand and it also is something to be known for. Every girl should have a signature piece in her wardrobe.
She taught me that any purchase could be considered an investment - no matter how frivolous or expensive. That sequined top that you don't really need but is super trendy right now, although you think it kinda makes you look like a disco ball - buy it. You'll wear it a ton and everyone will get to know you by it. Maybe you don't look like a disco ball - maybe you'll take this trend and make it a unique bit about yourself. Maybe. Up until now I kind of believed that, but I still had my doubts. Now I realize - she was right. She was very, very right.
This summer I decided to buy a pair of flats. Not that I really needed them, but flats always come in handy. You can use them loads of ways. I can wear them from the Spring - Fall - it's an investment. Never mind that they're hot pink and patent leather so do you really want to wear them when it's 100 degrees out - or in the Fall when people are switching to darker colors. I saw them and I had to have them.
I've written briefly about these flats before - the Michael Kors "Odette" Flat. Originally $150 but marked down to the totally reasonable $100 (now marked down even lower - http://www.zappos.com/kors-michael-kors-odette-neon-pink) . I had to get them. They were a bargain. Plus they were so unique. I knew I had to have them - even if I only wore them once.
So I got them and from the minute I put them on I knew I had some life changing shoes. I went out to drinks with friends and they were the first thing anyone noticed. It was amazing. Soon enough every time I went out people noticed them more and more. Asking me where I found them, who they were by, or just telling me that I looked great while wearing them. It was like a whole new me and I thought to myself Eureka! I've found my signature piece. I'm now the Girl in the Michael Kors Flats.
Honestly, I never thought that would happen when I bought them. I thought they'd be cute and fun but like most closed toe shoes - unworn in the hot summer months. Now I realize that these shoes have become a part of my identity. Something that makes me unique.
So what's the point of all this? Not just to tell you to go out and buy these flats (you'll regret it if you don't - remember they are an investment), but to tell you to find your signature piece. Be the Guy or Girl in the Your Signature Piece here. Incorporate it into your daily life - make it like family. Don't over do it though - because people won't realize how fabulous it and you are.
Go find a signature piece and make it your own - you'll be sad if you don't.
Happy Hunting,
XOXO Lea Mills
P.S. Follow me on Twitter @leamills_; Also on Polyvore.com info-leamills; and Facebook http://www.facebook.com/leamills.fashion
Hey lovelies,
Well it's officially July and what I've always considered the kickoff to summer is coming in only 2 days....the Fourth of July!
Honestly I love this holiday. It's nice to go down the shore, have a BBQ, and watch the fireworks with the people you love.
Plus when else can you wear red, white, and blue and look like a total fashion plate? Also you can make some excellent red, white, and blue drinks. I love when things can be themed. Plus, it seems like this year more than most everyone is obsessed with the American flag motif.
Ralph Lauren has created some adorable bathing suits. My personal favorite is his Blue Label Deauville Stripe tankini and lace back hipster. It's got adorable nautical stripes in blue and white and a sexy little tie in the front that's red. The bottoms are a navy blue with a white tie up the back. These little touches give the suit some great depth. Plus with the detachable strap for the neck I can avoid one of my least favorite/most favorite parts of summer - tan lines. Here's where you can find it: http://www1.bloomingdales.com/shop/product/ralph-lauren-blue-label-deauville-stripe-midkini-lace-back-hipster?ID=610316&PseudoCat=se-xx-xx-xx.esn_results
Tan lines are fun - just to show off that you actually did go out somewhere - preferably the beach but pools work great too - but they also make it hard to wear things that are strapless because they just look so awkward sometimes. Plus if you're like me you don't like that many tan lines going on you end up getting a lot of the same suits because you don't want to have like a million different tan lines and an uneven tan as a result.
I also find that I have the hardest time getting an even tan between my back and my front. I feel like my front is always a lot darker than my back, but that could be because I don't really like laying on my front and getting sand all in my face from being on my towel. Then it gets in my mouth and I have that grainy, crunchy taste in my mouth for the rest of the day it seems. I will say though I love having a flip flop tan line - it's like the Rascal Flatts song "Summer Nights" ("flip flop tans, and some white sand I know the perfect spot").
Anyway I also love making delicious Fourth of July inspired drinks. One of my favorites and is a red, white, and blue sangria. This site has the recipe for it (but I'll reprint it here) as well as the recipes for other Fourth of July inspired drinks: http://www.punchbowl.com/p/red-white-and-blue-cocktails
RED, WHITE, and BLUE SANGRIA:
- Sliced Strawberries
- Blueberries
- Pineapple cut into stars
- 2 bottles dry white wine
- 1 cup triple sec
- 1/2 cup berry flavored vodka
- 1/2 cup fresh lemon juice
- 1/2 cup simple syrup
Combine in a large pitcher and stir. Refrigerate for 4 hours and then Serve :)
A pitcher of this and a some red, white, and blue jello shots and I'd say you're in for a very Happy Fourth of July!
I'll post pictures later this week of how I spent my Fourth! :)
Happy (Early) Fourth of July!
Lea Mills xoxo
