wild excitement

Happy Monday!

Have you all seen those commercials for "The Shops" at Target? Those geniuses curated items from some of their favorite shops around the country and brought their merchandise to the stores. Clothing from Miami, candy from San Francisco, and house goods from Connecticut are just a few of the things they feature. The candy shop had me at hello because of their salt water taffy. (for more info, click here)

In other news, please tell me you saw the story of the lady getting mauled by the two cheetahs in South Africa. Just another reason why you DON'T TRY TO CUDDLE WITH FEROCIOUS BEASTS! The best part is, the husband doesn't help her, he just keeps taking pictures of the attack. Ridiculous. 

Alright, on to Instagram Mondays:

1-3: a little view into my work wear. yes, i do wear big necklaces a lot. deal with it.

4. obama was in richmond. word.

5. part of the rva skyline

6. first friday artwalk on broad street- glowing sidewalk awesomeness.

7. bands & spoken word a block or two away from our apartment.

8. yours truly back in the day. 

9. clouds rolling in to FINALLY break the humidity.

How was your weekend? 

(here's hoping there were no cheetahs involved)

pssst. follow me on Instagram HERE!
psssst x 2. tomorrow i'm sharing my strawberry basil lemonade recipe. tune in. 

xo, lp

You know what? I like y'all. A LOT.

    I have to say - you all are pretty great people. In case you are new to the blog, it was a Beauty & the Beard birthday weekend here in RVA! (Yes, our birthdays are a day apart. You'll hear that story someday, just you wait! ) We both worked on my birthday but did enjoy a day at the VMFA and a nice dinner at Cafe Caturra on Michael's big day.

Birthday flowers from the boy. Smart man, right?

   Thanks for all the comments, tweets, messages, emails, etc- it's funny how so many great people you've never even met celebrate along with you.

      To make my birthday even better, I was the LUCKY winner of La Petite Fashionista's ShopBop Giveaway! AH! I actually found out that'd I'd won while we were at the Village Cafe eating onion rings, and started doing a freakout happy dance in the booth. Let me tell you folks, no one deserves a gift certificate to ShopBop like the girl doing a happy dance with an onion ring in her hand. Yeah. Maybe I need a little work.

      I'm hoping you already follow Lauren's blog- but if not, make sure to make your way over there. She has an impeccable fashion sense (I do believe she could teach me a thing or two), and shares creative posts that always inspire me.  It was actually perfect timing, because I recently posted about wanting to get myself a new necklace as a  birthday gift to myself. Well, I love me some ShopBop jewelry, and there are a few items I've got my eye on:

1. This Gorjana Circle Diamond Necklace is so simple and beautiful. Originally I fell in love with the earrings that match this necklace, but since I always wear a simple pair of studs Michael got me- I was thrilled to find there was a necklace too!!

2. This House of Harlow crater locket is lovely. I'm a huge fan of lockets and this one is unlike one I've ever seen.

3. I know I'm not the first one out there to covet this Gorjana Pristine Bar Necklace. Simple. Elegant. Perfection.

4. Oh my. I'm not a pink person but this Adia Kibur Multi-Strand Neon Bead & Crystal Necklace kicks butt. I could handle a tight LBD and this necklace for sure. 

What do you all think- which one would you go for? 1, 2, 3, or 4? Leave a comment and let me know!!!

(and once again THANK YOU Lauren for the amazing prize!)

Work Holiday Party

Before I get into today's post- I've got to reiterate how easy and delicious the homemade caramels were from yesterday's post- if you haven't gone out to get the 5 ingredients it takes to make it-
GO! RUN! Do it now! Or at least after checking out today's post...

We had our holiday party for work the other night at my house- and I wish I could say I wore something this lovely. What I actually wore? Skinny jeans and a flannel shirt. Yep. You can take the girl out of Minnesota, but you can't take the Minnesota out of the girl. In my defense- the party was just a low-key shindig at my house- not a glamorous night at a fancy restaurant!

If you happen to be having a holiday party that's a fancy affair- try this outfit!

Work Holiday Party by beautyandthebeard featuring a slim fit jacket