50s Housewife Inspired - Wardrobe Wednesday!

My parents just celebrated their 63 Wedding anniversary, and a dear old friend sent them some home movies of their neighborhood in the 1950s.  They lived in St. Louis on Harold Drive.  My dad had recently retuned from the war, and they were booming with babies.  We sat for hours mezmorized at the period (and how young our parents/grandparents looked).  One thing I noticed: babies were brought home in their mother's arms (not even in car seats or with seat belts) - it was a real blast from the past.  My mother was goregous in her younger socializing days (still is today!), and had a wardrobe that puts mine to shame.  My sister and I used to dress up in her fun dresses.  Here is a little nod to the time when we could all wear full skirts and not worry about the size of our hips!

Macy's

AGB Shirtdress, Short Sleeve Belted
Reg. $54.00

Sale $32.40

Macy's

Anne Klein Shoes, Kalei2 Peep Toe Pumps

Reg. $79.00

Sale $38.99

JCPenny

Mixit® Yellow Statement Necklace

Original $30.00

Sale $19.99

Total: $91.38

Enjoy,

Mrs. Justice

Scenes from my Spring Birthday Party!

Here are some pictures of stuff we did on Sunday to celebrate Spring and my 28th birthday!  Luckily, I woke up this morning, and I still feel the same as when I was 27.  Phew!  As I approach 30...I don't want the ole' body to start falling apart. Enjoy!

My girls and I had a great time dyeing eggs and drinking Olde Savannah Sweet Tea Wine (you can get it at World Market - you shouldn't spend the summer without a glass!) with Peach Fresca.  After everyone left, I opened a gift from my mother-in-law and it was a Pug Birthday Party Statue (thank you, Janet!).  Maggie was nice enough to "pose" with me while chewing her raw hide.  

My birthday cake was inside these flower pots - lemon and vanilla cake with strawberry ice cream and berry gelato and crushed Oreo dirt!  YUM! I got this recipe from Pioneer Woman's recipe - great for Easter!

Happy Birthday to all of us born on March 30th!

Mrs. Justice

Every little thing it does is MAGIC! - WINNER!

When we were preparing to move into our dream house last summer, we uncovered all sorts of marks on the wall that made the rooms look rough.  After living in a house for 8 years, alot of things may tend to go unnoticed because the surfaces are all clean.  ANYWAY, as we were preparing to sell the house, I thought we were going to have to re-paint everything. However, we started using magic erasers to remove marks on the wall, and it saved us a bunch of time and money.  I am sure most of you have tried them, but if you haven't and you have kids who tend to be little artists...they remove crayon, marker, and some scratches.  BE careful, too much rubbing can actually take off your varnish or paint.

It surprisingly makes a big difference on the cleanliness factor if the walls are clean!

Thanks to Kelly's Korner for her Show Us Your Life: Cleaning Tips Post.

In honor of my birthday, I will be sending a set of Magic Erasers to one randomly selected reader!  Just become a follower (if you are not one already) and leave a comment by 3/27/10 at noon (central)!

THE WINNER IS
(From Random.org)

Min: 1


Max: 5

Result: 1

CONGRATS TO BETH McC.

Beth McC. said...


I love the Magic Eraser, its a staple in my house!


Thanks for sharing! Happy Friday

Please email me with-in 24 hours to claim your prize!


AND because I can't just send Magic Erasers, I am also sending Beth a pair of animal print cleaning gloves!  That should make cleaning a little more fun!
Thanks for entering!

Wardrobe Wednesday...uh Thursday...My Birthday Outfit!

I had this Wardrobe Wednesday Post for my birthday party on Sunday, and suddenly it got deleted.  I don't even know how. BUT, it doesn't matter because that outfit was not realistic for my backyard Spring birthday party.  This one is not only realistic it is REAL because I bought it at Target with some of my birthday money (YEA!)  I also want to wish Becky a happy birthday!  We have the same birthdays, March 30th!

All From Target....because I like a stylish one stop shop!  It came to $113.00, but most was on sale and I really have been wanting a pair of those converse slides.  They will come in handy in the Fall during football season (if I haven't worn them out by then)!

Enjoy,

Mrs. Justice

Top 10 things I like to do on my day off...

1. Time to drink my coffee out of a real mug - not a travel mug.
2. Eating chocolate with reckless abandon...no husband to give me the evil eye.
3. Going to the gym, and beating the crowds.
4. Going shopping in my gym clothes (I look like one of those fancy stay at home moms).
5. Getting to drink a margarita mid day.
6. Getting to clean the house after drinking a margarita. Makes it less painful.
7. Getting to spend an hour in the garden just looking at stuff and pruning stuff. I even get to spray my rose bushes with fungicide. 
8. Getting to iron my shirts for work, so, that I look like a professional.
9. Catching up on movies.  Just saw "Whip It" with Landon Pigg...see my Landon Pigg pic to the right...he is coming April 10th!
10. Catching up on the blog world from the comfort of my kitchen table. :)

I hope you all are enjoying this gorgeous weather today!

Enjoy!

Mrs. Justice

Irish Cream Brownies!

I thought I would share my sweet recipe for St. Paddy's Day after the fact. However, these are so good you can make them this weekend and no one will know that it was a "themed" dessert.  I wanted to slim things up because of all of the wonderful and fattening recipes I have been reading over at Tasty Kitchen.  St. Paddy's fell on a weekday this year (like five years in a row), and I needed something fairly easy, quick, with only a few ingredients, and did I mention - healthy?!

Irish Cream No Pudge Brownies

 

 Ingredients - only 3:

1. No Pudge Fudge Brownie Mix (found at almost any grocery store)
2. Low Fat Coffee Flavored Yogurt (any variety)
3. and 1/2 cup of Nestle's Dark Chocolate and Mint Morsels

The key to the No Pudge mix is that it is FAT FREE BROWNIES...nuf said.  However, you have to mix the mix with only the cup of yogurt and not stop until....

...it looks silky like this...oh yum.  (I also put a few tablespoons of coffee in here, but don't brew a cup unless you want one.)  Stop licking the spatula.  Seriously.  Put it down.  Then pour it in the pan and bake as directed. 30 minutes @ 350 degrees.

Then get out your pink knife that your husband bought you for your birthday, and let's chop up the chocolate.  

This will help it melt quickly (actually I just made that up, I just like to chop things with my pink knife). Stop eating the delicious chocolate bits.

Then I stopped taking pictures.  When the brownies are done (do the toothpick thing), sprinkle the chocolate and mint over the top of the still warm brownies and put them back in the hot oven for about a minute.  Then use a spatula and spread the melted chocolate evenly over the brownies.

Then pack them up, and head to Girl's night where they were completely devoured by hungry girls who were very happy that they were almost fat free...and about 100 calories per serving. 

The end.  No breadcrumbs were wasted in the making of this post...I found my way home from Girl's night all on my own. 

Enjoy!

Mrs. Justice

Wardrobe Wednesdays - The First Ladies Luncheon, Easter, and Oh the formalities!

My friend Meredith asked me to help her come up with a few ideas for the First Ladies Luncheon she is attending (with all of those politicians and lawyers) in April.   In Texas, April is gorgeous.  Usually, we still have some cold mornings, and I can remember a few youth sunrise services for Easter where we were wearing coats...and maybe bunny slippers. Hey, it was Easter and it was EARLY.

So, I decided to raise the dollar amount of today's Wardrobe Wednesday to $130 (usually the limit is $100) because I figure this outfit could be reworked (or not) to also serve as your Easter outfit!  I hope that is ok with our host, Channa, who started Wardrobe Wednesday over at Life as a Coaches Wife. 

We could even go as far as to suggest that this could also be worn to the Kentucky Derby on May 1st with the addition of a hat!  Now that I work in the city with all of the big entertainment venues (Grand Prairie), we have Lonestar Park, where each horse racing season has about 60 racing days. I digress...as per usual.

#1 White House Black Market

(Mrs. Justice's favorite store...hint hint, Mr. Justice...birthday coming up)

Embellished Sweater Jacket for $49.99

with

Ruffle Ponte Skirt for $29.99

with

Pearl Dust Heal

Add a white button down or a shell under the jacket and some pearl jewelry that you probably already have (if not see below).

Total for Outfit #1 - $129.97*

*get on their mailing list and you can save $25 for every $100 you spend!  That would take this outfit back down into regular price territory! Also, until April 4, you can use discount code 9032 to get 20% off your entire Full-Price purchase!  Most of this stuff is on sale, but still a deal is a deal!

#2 From JCPenny

(my second favorite store...Mr. Justice)

A pearl cluster necklace for $29.99

You probably already have a pearl jewelry assortment.

So, you could save and use something you already have. 

with

Leather Dress Shoe - $34.99

And the crown jewel of this outfit, the First Lady inspired dress from JonesWear $59.99.

Add a white cardigan and you are good to go for only...

Total for Outfit #2 - $124.97.

and what about that derby hat...just for fun...

by Mary Ann Koch of Couture Creations

This is called the Delaney, and it will run you about $315. Most nice hats are a little bit expensive, but Mary Ann is a true Milliner.

How fun and girly!

Let's hope we can do a hat give-away in April!

Happy Shopping!

Mrs. Justice

Quick gravy = yum!

Quick Gravy....

So, last night we were cooking in the kitchen (pictures coming soon, I promise) and towards the end of the cooking process, my husband turns to me and asks if we have gravy. Hmmm.  Unplanned and out of stock.

I started to think how could I make some homeade gravy quickly...

I grabbed my better than bouillion paste (which is a lifesaver and delicious!) put a teaspoon in some warm water until it was dissolved.

Added it to the pan (we didn't have meat juice) put a little flour dissolved in water and started stirring.

Added a tablespoon of Kitchen Bouquet (same packaging from the 70s - thanks to my mom for this great kitchen secret!)

kept stirring....and DELICIOUS!

Spring has Sprung! - UPDATED!

To see photos of recent development...please see my Flickr Photo Stream!

Growing up there was a gorgeous house down the street.  For years, I would drive by slowly and look at all of the fresh flowers growing in their yard.  It was the most perfectly manicured yard. They were wrapping their tree branches with Christmas lights before everyone else was doing it.  Anyway, I digress.  One of the most stunning seasonal displays each year was their tulips in Spring.  Magically, they knew just when to plant them, so that on Easter weekend, their yard looked like a field in Holland.

So, this year I decided I would like to plant some tulips for our first Spring and Easter in our new house.  It is a pretty scary thing to plant tulips which come from bulbs because, personally, I have had no luck with bulbs.  I mean, why go to all of the work to plant tons of bulbs for nothing to actually bloom? I mean they grow like crazy, but no flowers.

Well, this year, I didn't think about it too much.  I just dug some holes and put the bulbs in....and look what happened?

Already, I can see little pink blooms coming out from the stems.

 I also mixed some blue Hyacinth in with the PINK tulips!

 Our neighbor's tree has bloomed too.  So, pretty.

I will keep you posted as Easter gets closer.

I will let you know how my timing worked with planting the bulbs.

Happy Spring!

Mrs. Justice

Wardrobe Wednesdays and Vacation Day Dreams!

My friend over at Life as a Coach's Wife, Channa, does Wardrobe Wednesdays.  She is linking up today....so get your creative juices flowing...internet window shopping does nothing to the checkbook...just make sure you don't check out!

We have had a sneak peek of the gorgeous weather that will be heating up the Texas region soon.  This made me think about Spring Break next week which I don't get to celebrate anymore because I am no longer a student. But I can day dream, right?

I might get to go to Arizona in about a month for work.  Although, I would actually be wearing business casual - perhaps even a polo with our company logo - I like to imagine myself on vacation at one of the plush resorts with golfing and pools.  So, here is my spring resort wear outfit day dream...

From Old Navy

From White House Black Market

(side note...my legs look nothing like this...thank goodness for the tunic!)

Also, from White House Black Market. (Mine are last season's with no snake print)

These give you a little more height and lengthens that leg for the legging!

Now, add a gorgeous scarf to tame your hair and chunky bracelet...and you are ready to jet set!

Now, BACK TO WORK!  :)

Wardrobe Wednesdays...and Celebrate Texas this weekend!

So, I know I am a day early, but you never know what tomorrow will bring...


This weekend is the big Celebrate Texas show at the Uptown Theater.  We are bringing in some pretty big indie/country music artists: Jon Dee Graham, Darrell Scott, and Guy Forsyth.  I have been waiting for the concert because I will be debuting my new boots that I was able to purchase at Dillard's for 70% off.  They happen to be Coach's Selena design, but the fact that they are Coach was just a bonus because they surprisingly fit my big calf just fine.  The ones shown are tan, but mine are dark brown.

I am thinking about pairing these boots with a fun and flirty dress that won't break the bank.

Here is my favorite example from Old Navy.

Of course you need some colorful Turqouise and Gold necklaces...

and this

Thoughts?