**Stella and Dot Giveaway!!** CLOSED

**This giveaway is CLOSED**


Good morning sweet friends!! I reached 200 followers last week and boy was I excited!!!!!! When I started this blog, I wasn't sure if ANYONE would follow me...much less 200 people! I'm in awe of how many wonderful people I have met and great friends I have made. Thank you all so much for being so sweet!!! Of course this calls for a CELEBRATION!! A celebration in the form of a giveaway!! I put a lot of thought into what to give away and I needed a little help from a friend.

I am delighted to tell y'all that the wonderful Jules at Chic & Pink has agreed to donate this AMAZING necklace from Stella and Dot for my giveaway! She is such a sweetheart! I have seriously been drooling over this necklace since I first saw it. I know y'all are excited...I was so excited that I wondered if I could possibly enter my own giveaway. ;)

 Boca Necklace with Bee Brooch - Coral/Gold

Set them abuzz with this whimsical brooch dotted with glass beads. Worn attached to the glass bead necklace on hand-knotted silk thread, it's the bee's knees. Mix it up with the Starfish Brooch and Bloom Flower Brooch (not included). Length ranges from 59.25" to 59.75". Lobster clasp closure.

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Here are some other great pieces from Stella and Dot.

Cortez Bib Necklace - Brown

Josephine Cascade Earrings - Silver

Selma Brooch Cuff

Bloom Flower Ring

La Coco Brooch Necklace - Ivory/Gold

I could sit here and post about a million of their beautiful items...but I'll just let you visit their website and take a look at them yourself. There isn't one item they sell that I dislike!! Make sure you use Jules as your stylist by clicking here!!

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Here's how to enter:

Mandatory Entry: Become a follower (or let me know you already are)

Extra Entry: Become a follower of Chic & Pink (or let me know you already are)

Extra Entry: Visit Stella and Dot's site and tell me your favorite piece from them!

Extra Entry: Follow me on Twitter (or let me know you already do) Same_Sweet_Girl

Extra Entry: Blog about this giveaway on your blog and leave me a link to it.

The giveaway will end on Sunday July 18th at 10:00 PM EST. I will be announcing the winner on Tuesday July 20th. Good luck y'all!!!!

Be Wise With Your Money

Good Monday morning after a long weekend! I hope you all had a great Fourth of July holiday! I spent time cleaning, organizing, resting and spending time with great friends!!! Now it's back to work unfortunately. I'm also back to trying to get all of this financial aid appeal stuff filled out. It's harder than the placement tests! LOL

How did y'all do with The Love Dare this weekend?? I know it's hard but as long as I'm conciously thinking about it, it makes it much easier. I think we have developed a habit of being impatient and it will take time to make being patient a habit. We can do it though!! I'm so glad y'all are doing this with me!! :)

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Be Wise With Your Money

Where money is concerned, the Bible teaches us that we are to:

1. Save for a rainy day. "There is...treasure...in the dwelling of the wise. But a foolish man squanders it" (Pr 21:20) Learn to live within your means and teach your children to do the same. Instead of maxing out your credit cards remind yourself that you can live happily without most of the stuff advertisers are peddling. Before you make another purchase, pray.

2. Sow in the time of famine. The Bible says, "Whoever sows generously will also reap generously" (2Co 9:6). You say, "But times are tight for me right now." Don't withhold because you are afraid of not having enough. Give God a seed to work with and He'll make sure you have a harvest when you need it. God's ability to provide is not limited by the world's economy. When God tells you to give, give in faith, confident that at the right time, in the right way, and in exactly the right places, you will receive!

- The Word For You Today

Money...sigh. It's one of the main and actually the only things that me and my husband fight about. It's what makes us all worried, happy, excited, jealous, stingy, mad...I could go on and on. It seems this world revolves around money these days instead of the important things in life. I am a culprit. I love to have nice things and I love buying new things. I am also very selfish with my money. This post helps me remember that it isn't MY money. I really have to remember to PRAY before I  make purchases because it would save me so much. I hope this post helps y'all too!

Happy Fourth of July!!!!!

Good morning!!! I hope y'all are all having a great weekend and I hope you all have a safe and exciting day today! :)

I am extremely lucky to be guest blogging today over at Misty's blog, The Queen Of My House.

Check it out!!! I'll be explaining how I made these yummy treats!!

A Blog With Substance

This award was given to me by Tiffany @ On Love, Faith and Family. Thank you Tiffany!!!! I'm so honored that you thought of me for this award! If you haven't visited Tiffany's blog, you must do so!! She is a very sweet girl!! She is 38 weeks pregnant with a baby boy and just celebrated her one year wedding anniverary! Congrats girly!! :)

Here are the rules -

1. Thank the blogger that gave you the award.

Thank you Tiffany!! :)

2. Sum up your blogging philosophy, motivation and experience in five (5) words.

Helpful, interesting, inspiring, thankful, friends

3. Pass it on to other blogs which you feel have real substance.

1. Shannon @ Webbisodes

2. Kate @ The Cow Jumped Over The Moon

3. Andrea @ Life in Dawleywood

4. Danielle @ A day in the life

6. Elle @ E l l e S e e s

7. Amy @ Tomorrow's Dust

8. Jordan @ This Is My Now

9. Amber @ The Survival Guide for the Young, Fabulous and Newlywed

I know most of y'all are relaxing today or spending time with family! I hope you are all having a wonderful weekend and be safe tomorrow!! :)

Root Beer Float Cupcakes

Sounds delicious right?? Well...they ARE! These cupcakes taste AMAZINGLY like root beer and the frosting tastes just like vanilla ice cream. My friend LOVES root beer so I knew I had to make these for her birthday. I had quite a time trying to track down root beer extract for the cupcakes but I finally found it at a beverage brewing warehouse. I talked with the guy selling it to me and I ended up learning all about how to make soda! Very interesting stuff!! They had every kind of extract I could think of!!! They had all soda extracts but also liquor and beer extracts!! It was crazy!!! Now my husband wants Jagermeister cupcakes. LOL! Okay on to the recipes!!!

Root Beer Cupcakes

1 cup of Root Beer soda
1 teaspoon of apple cider vinegar
3/4 cup of sugar
1/3 cup of canola oil
1/2 teaspoon of vanilla extract
2 teaspoons of root beer extract
1 1/3 cups of all purpose flour
3/4 teaspoon of baking soda
1/2 teaspoon of baking powder
Pinch of salt

1. Stir the Root Beer soda and vinegar together and let it sit for about 2-3 minutes.

2. Add in the sugar and oil, whisking vigorously for a couple of minutes. It should look frothy.

3. Stir in extracts.

4. Sift flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt together, stirring in about 1/2 cup at a time. Do not overmix!

5. Fill cupcake liners 3/4 full and bake at 350 F for 18-20 minutes. (Makes 12 cupcakes)

Vanilla Bean Frosting

1 1/2 cups of confectioner's sugar, sifted
1/2 cup of butter, room temperature
4 teaspoons of vanilla bean paste
1 tablespoon of milk

1. Beat the butter until you get a smooth consistency.

2. Beat in the vanilla bean paste.

3. Beat in 1/2 cup of confectioner's sugar at a time.

4. Beat in the milk until all ingredients are completely combined.

Doesn't that look YUM-O!!!!!!! I could have eaten the whole bowl but that wouldn't have been very good for my waist or my cupcakes...but I did find another GREAT use for this frosting!!

Yep! Good ol' Teddy Grahams!!!! I haven't had them in YEARS but when I saw them at the grocery store the other day I had to get a box for old time's sake. They were as delicious as I remembered and even better with the vanilla frosting on them!!! :)

Here's how I brought my friend her birthday cupcake!! Isn't this box adorable? I found them at Hobby Lobby and they work perfectly!!!

So now I need y'alls help!!! I can't decide what cupcakes to make for my friend's Fourth of July party on Sunday!!!!! I was thinking about making a plain buttermilk cupcake but with red, white and blue marbled cake. I can't decide what frosting! Or maybe I can do plain white buttermilk cupcakes and then have fancy frosting...? I want it to be a cupcake everyone would like so that rules out my watermelon or pink lemonade cupcakes I've been wanting to make. What do y'all think??

Day of Silence

Send Love to Cohen

Some beach...Somewhere...

Well, as some of you may know...I will not be traveling to Alabama tonight like originally planned. :(  They have rescheduled the Jimmy Buffett concert for July 11th. I was pretty bummed at first...but that gives me more time to plan and we actually found a great condo on the beach in walking distance to the concert...so that should be pretty awesome!!

I had an amazing time at the beach last weekend. It was very laid back and relaxing. I had some great seafood and enjoyed spending time with our friends. It was little Olivia's first time to the beach so that was quite an experience!! I think I was possibly just as excited as her mom and dad were. Here's some pictures from our trip!!

We visited Wilmington while we were down there too. Such a beautiful place. I hadn't been since junior high school. We had quite an eventful day. We decided to go on the Fort Fisher Ferry so we set it in the GPS and by the time we got there we realized we had DROVE to where the ferry was going to take us instead. I really wanted everyone to see what the ferry was all about. It's so much fun feeding the seagulls and riding the boat. Maybe next time!

So what's on y'alls agenda for this weekend??? Excited about the Fourth?? I love this time of year!! It looks like the weather is going to be great here on Sunday!!! 90 degrees and not a cloud in the sky. :)