Thursday, June 28, 2012

Sunny Day Special

As I said we LOVE the 4th of July at the Grove.  Mini K cannot wait for the annual egg toss and water balloon toss at the club with her Daddy and Baby C has yet to meet an ice cream cone he doesn't love!

Summer has officially arrived and we feel like celebrating.  In honor of Independence Day we are taking $5 off the price of ALL of our sunglasses.  If you have been waiting to order I can tell you this sale won't be back until next summer!  From now until July 6th all personalized sunglasses are $32.50!


The sale price applies to NEW orders only and please remember to enter in your FULL NAME and we will arrange your initials in the correct order depending on the font style you select!


Wednesday, June 27, 2012

Catch Up

I did a double take when I saw the date of my last post.  In some ways it feels like that long since I have sat down to type, in other ways I do not know where the time has gone!

While the cast is off my foot and I no longer have pain, my range of motion is NOT back the way I thought it would be and the top of my foot looks like I am carrying an 8oz bottle of water in it.  I probably expected too much too soon as it has only been 8 weeks, but I will admit to you that I am little afraid it might not come back.

Grove Gal E is about to celebrate the 2nd anniversary of her 39th birthday and deciding what to get her has proven to be harder than I thought.  In the end I decided to have something made for her and am hoping it arrives in time as her birthday is fast approaching.

Mini K had her second dive meet tonight.  For those of you that have a diving team past, she did the pencil and a forward dive.  I love watching her concentrate as she goes into the water and the huge grin that emerges as soon as her head gets above water.  I don't think I could jump, dive whatever off of a diving board at 6 with 100 pairs of eyes staring at me and total silence.

We are slowly getting used to our new summer nanny.  I should say Mini K is slowly adjusting.  Baby C adores her as does half of the neighborhood, myself and Mr. G.  I am just realizing that Mini K was more attached than I thought to Miss J.

Between my existing job during the day, setting up my new company at night and trying to add new products to the Grove, I confess I have turned into a work hermit.

We are in New York for a bit of a family emergency until Sunday and I am hoping that I can catch up on some blogs, start a new beach read and watch a couple of episodes of the new Dallas.

I know this blog is usually more fun, but tonight I just needed to post a vent for my mental health.

I will also drop a little hint, the Grove will be doing something is has NEVER done tomorrow so you might want to check back!  We LOVE 4th of July in the Grove and we start celebrating early.  Let's just say this surprise will save you from crow's feet and leave you enough for a venti Starbuck's.  With that....I am off to dreamland.

Monday, June 18, 2012

Get A Rope...It's Monday

By the end of today, I wanted a margarita, or let's be honest 4-5 of them.  I settled for a Market Pantry lime margarita drink packet in my water bottle and a 50 minute therapy session on the elliptical while watching Emily hand out an extra rose on the Bachelorette.

I will confess at 3 o'clock this afternoon I was thinking I needed a rope to lasso in the day.  While I didn't have a cowboy rope I was surrounded by rope of the pretty, bauble kind.

Don't worry we have rope baubles for the minnies too!  I love these bracelets and so does Mini K and her friends!  The multi-strand ones are $35 and the single rope styles are $30.




If you know me in real life then you know I am ALWAYS losing my keys!  I love these fobs!  We just had a customer today put a hostess basket together for friends who are loaning them their house in Nantucket complete with 2 fobs for the mom and dad, 3 bracelets for the kids and a dozen of our beach themed sugar cookies all wrapped up in one of our carryall bags monogrammed with their last name!  So cute.

Sunday, June 17, 2012

Sunday Steals For Kids!

Had to share some of these with all of you, because it seems that our mailbox is full of summer birthday party and cookout invites.  It won't surprise you that I like giving personal gifts, items that I think people will love, but wouldn't always purchase for themselves.

I usually keep a stash of these in the gift closet, but with construction about to start, the gift closet has become plastic tubs in our storage POD in our driveway.

The best part about today's finds is that all of them can actually be purchased through Ebates and we all know how I like a good deal!  You can join Ebates HERE and TRUST me it is worth it!  I usually end up getting around $100 cash back each quarter.

Mini K has three friends that LOVE owls!  Two of these girls are having swim parties at the end of July.  It was perfect when I found this adorable owl backpack on Zulily today.  I ordered two and will have them both monogrammed in time for the party!  You can find the backpack HERE.


Our high school babysitter plays lacrosse so when I saw this, I knew I had to get it for her!  I plan on having her name and number embroidered on it!  Such a fun gift and both the bag and the monogram will still be way less than paying full price for the bag!  You can find the bag HERE.


Mini K was given an Oreora necklace for her birthday last year from a friend of mine in London.  She has the globe that has a crystal where the United States is located on a silver chain.  We have gotten a ton of compliments on it, but I have never seen the brand at a store.  I was thrilled to see it on zulily today and we purchased a chain and cupcake charm for her cousin M's birthday in August.  The charms are all $9.99 and the 16" sterling chain is only $9.99.  You can find the jewelry HERE.


If going through Ebates to get 3.5% cash back and the half price deals on these items on zulily is not enough of a deal for you, use code:  COUPCABZU685 and take an extra 10% off your purchase of $50 or more!

I can hear Mr. G and the kiddos coming back from their Father's Day walk to get donuts!  We have a full day of tennis for Mini K, then a father daughter ince skating trip while I push Baby C on my daily walk (so ready to be cleared to run again next week!) then we are all meeting up to watch the big kids swim meet.

Happy Sunday!

Thursday, June 14, 2012

New Products!

I am just realizing that if you look at the products I added tonight it appears I go from the pool to a cocktail party and I can tell you that is not the case.  Today consisted of still trying to overcome the soreness from Crossfit, 6 conference calls, 4 meetings, Baby C's test at ISR and packing up things I don't trust the movers to pack.

I will admit that I was sporting my Socialite Sunnies as soon as the sun came out this morning!


I finally got our new evening bags on the site and the Chevron Clutch has been our most popular until today!

The Classic Clutch has become a big hit with our brides for bridesmaids gifts.  Who doesn't need a classic black clutch and you can customize the monogram color to go with your wedding colors or stick with a classic silver, gold or white.


Wednesday, June 13, 2012

Nothing

I feel like I should have something exciting to post...it's summer after all, and well as Mini K would say:  I've got nothing!  That is the response we hear a lot when we ask how was your day, what happened at school, etc.

I have spent far too much the past two nights researching ranges, new kitchen fridges and convection microwaves.  I think we have finally selected everything for the time being and I can now return to regularly scheduled life.

Mini K is mastering her dive and I love watching the HUGE grin cross her face as soon as she comes up from an attempt.

I never realized how much I missed my exercise routine after my surgery until I started back!  I went to Crossfit this week for the first time in 7 weeks and I am beyond sore, but so happy to actually feel like I am sweating for a reason other than the temperature!

Before these exciting things (NOT) and work travel, life if moving along.  I promise a more exciting post tomorrow, but you know I believe in keeping real and sometimes life is just one big list of projects and I am okay with that!

I will share a couple of deals that I have seen cross my inbox today:

One of Mini K's favorites:  Pink Chicken is offering 30% off all purchases through June 20th with code: pre30

Horchow has marked their monogrammed Ralph Lauren towels down 25% and if you purchase $50 or more, your order ships for FREE with code:  HCFSJUNE.  Want to sweeten the deal?  Shop Horchow through EBATES and you can get 3.0% cash back on your total purchase.  You can join Ebates HERE.  I am big fan of giving monogrammed towels as wedding and graduation gifts.  For weddings I usually do 3 bath towels, 4 hand towels and 2 bath mats of white towels with a white monogram.  For high school or college grads I do white towels with the school color as the monogram color or plain white.  When you are just starting out, I think nice plush towels are one of the best little luxuries!

Monday, June 11, 2012

Manic Monday

It's almost 9 o'clock and I am finally home.  A long day of meetings, my first Crossfit workout in 7 weeks,  insurance and a printer secured for my new "day job", 3 birthday presents secured, a new baby gift mailed and I am done!

Mini K is enjoying her first "school night" of the summer and staying up late with her Daddy to watch the Kings win the Stanley Cup...or at least that is what she thinks they are going to do!

Since today has been crazy, I thought I would share some finds and deals that I am just now catching up on!

Small Business Owners
48 Hour Print is now on Ebates.  They are giving 7.5% cash back on all purchases and if you use code ROCKIN20 you get 20% off your total purchase and FREE shipping.  I think 48 Hour Print is the best place for business cards, letterhead, postcards and banners.  They allow you to select rounded corners at no charge and I love me some rounded corners.  If you haven't joined Ebates, you can HERE.


Towels
Maybe it's the constant summer showering after tennis, swim and dive practice or the thought of 2 new bathrooms and an upstairs laundry room, but I am a sucker for a thick white towel with a monogram.  Horchow has a great selection, doesn't charge for a monogram and now participates in Ebates.  This means I can score a power play (triple play for the non hockey fans!):  I can get Incircle points by paying with my Neimans card, no charge for monograms and 3.5% cash back in my Ebates account!

Snacks
So Baby C is all into snacking and the entire Grove house is a big fan of popcorn!  I blame it on the fact that we are all Red Sox fans...how can you have baseball without popcorn?  I am constantly trying to find new brands to try for family movie night and discovered Bentley's popcorn.  It is so good and an even better deal when you can get it for $19 instead of $39, and save an additional 20% with code:  PDBDAY!    Order it HERE and you will have it in time for your next movie night!

GOH
This stands for Gift On Hand!  I always like to have a couple of non-personalized items for when friends need a little pick me up and baked goods, dinner or wine won't do!  Scarves are some of my favorites because they don't take up a lot of space and every woman I know loves them.  You can get one of these infinity pashminas for $15, plus an extra 20% off with coupon code:  PDBDAY HERE!

That's all I got for now!  I am off to snuggle with Mini K and teach her how to needlepoint, because these days won't last forever!

Sunday, June 10, 2012

POD Packing

Mini K is officially a first grader!  The POD arrives this week so we can start on our remodel.  Please forgive my lack of posts these past few days as I have traded in cello and grosgrain ribbon for packing paper, packing tape, boxes and plastic tubs!

I will be back tomorrow, but for now, it's back to packing I go!


Thursday, June 7, 2012

Field Day Color War

I cannot believe that after tomorrow Mini K will be in 1st grade, but today was FIELD DAY.  The great blue vs. white color war.  Mini K is on Team Blue and she takes great pride in knowing that because she is on Team Blue, Baby C, if he goes to her school, will also be on Team Blue.

She insisted we decorate a white a t-shirt and come up with all of the Blue team spirit we could muster.  I promise I will post a photo of her shirt, but she decided that since it said GO BLUE it needed to have a blue car painted on it, well, because cars GO.

My mom was always great about making even the small events important and I really want to try and pass that on to Mini K.  After seeing my mom battle cancer for the third time this past year, you realize that each day is a gift that we sometimes take for granted.  The question became, what besides a fabulous sapphire bracelet, earrings, ring (okay maybe that was my list) would celebrate her first year on the BLUE team.


That's when I discovered the Color Wars bracelets from Rock This Jewelry!  I ordered a GO BLUE and 4 days later it was in my mailbox and Mini K was over the moon to celebrate field day with a little bling.  These bracelets are not your typical thread friendship bracelets, but stretchy and adjustable.  Did I mention they are only $16?

Rock This also sells bracelets that you can customize with a name, zip code, school name or camp name.  Mini K has already picked out a few more for her wish list.  I guess that means that arm candy isn't just for adult wrists!


I wanted to share in case some of you were looking for something special for camp, end of the school year or planning ahead for stocking stuffers.

Mini K is now a big fan of Rock This and I am too!  As for those pesky new rules, I was NOT compensated for this post.  I share the products that I love or have found with all of you, because time is always in short supply!

Tuesday, June 5, 2012

3 More Days!

First, my apologies...I had two other posts that should have gone up while I was gone last week, but I scheduled them for AUGUST and not May!  I will master this scheduled post option.

Last week was a whirlwind, but we had a great time, well everyone except Baby C.  Let's just say that is NOT a fan of being away from his big sister for a week.

This is Mini K's last week of kindergarten.  I am already in denial that she will be a first grader in a matter of 3 days!  I have also given myself a deadline of this Friday night to have our new products available on our website.  I may not have been posting for a week, but the Grove has been busy getting our new products ready.

Since I read many of your blogs, I know that those of us that plan tend to be attracted to each other.  There has been a lot of talk on both twitter and Facebook (and my inbox too!) of recent engagements or party needs.

So........from now until June 12th ALL save the dates, wedding invites, shower invites and wedding announcements are 25% OFF!  Just enter code BLISS25 at checkout!  I have always loved THIS shower invite.  Simple, classic and oh so chic.

Speaking of chic, I will give you a sneak peek at some of our new products.  Our wayfarers have been a HUGE hit.  We were determined to find a good pair of polarized tortoise glasses, monogrammed of course, for a great price.  Since most street vendors sell their non-polarized glasses for $25, I think we did a good job.  For those of you that have been emailing asking if we would consider another style, we can now say YES!  Our Socialite Sunnies will soon be on our site.  We channeled our inner Jackie O., made the lenses & the monogram BIGGER (everything in Texas is bigger after all right?) and kept the price the same $36.50 that you all love.



Since we already channeling our inner Jackie O., we kept going.  The result is a classic bag evening bag, with a dash of sparkle and a monogram of course!  We love the look of this classic black beaded clutch with a silver monogram.   You can select any two colors you want.  Our other favorite is the silver bag with the gold monogram.  We had a bride who ordered these bags for her bridesmaids.  She is going to fill them with blotting papers, Chanel lip gloss, Altoids and tissues and then have us wrap them all up in cello with a big bow in her wedding colors and use them as place cards at her Bridal Luncheon.  How cute is that?

We will also give you a DEAL ALERT:  ALL baby shower invites and birth announcements will be 30% OFF (yes 30%!!) from June 16th-19th.