Banana Puddin'

Happy Christmas Eve Eve everyone! Only one full day left to get that last minute shopping and Christmas preparation done!

Today I thought I would share with y'all a delicious recipe for Banana Pudding that is a tradition to make in my family for Christmas Eve dinner after Mass. This recipe is not that different from the regular recipe because the only thing we changed this time was the vanilla wafers. Instead of wafers, we put in Pepperidge Farm Chessmen cookies. We also usually add cream cheese to the mix but I left that out this year.

What You Will Need:
1 can of condensed milk
3-4 bananas
1 box of vanilla Jell-O mix
8 oz. Cool Whip


First things first; make the Jell-O like it says on the box(so just mix the Jell-O with 2 cups of milk). After the Jell-O is mixed together, add in the condensed milk. Instead of beating or stirring, I just whisk it all together. Then, a spoonful at a time, I whisk in the whole tub of 8 oz. Cool Whip. It took me awhile to do this today because the Cool Whip was not very soft. It should not look chunky like it does in this picture. I was in the middle of whisking my Cool Whip in!!

Once you have the pudding all mixed together, take your 9x13 dish, or whatever you prefer, and line the bottom with the Chessmen cookies.

After lining the bottom of the dish, slice up a banana and layer them on top of the cookies.

You can make it as pretty and full as you wish. The next step is to simply pour the pudding on top but just enough to cover the bottom.

From then on just repeat the steps until you either run out of room or ingredients. I only did two layers because my dish was small but I made two dishes. 

This is what the finished product looked like! Before I added the cookies on top, I added another layer of just Cool Whip and then I added the cookies for decoration. My mouth is watering just typing about this post and I cannot wait to eat this tomorrow night! 

What are some of y'all's favorite holiday dishes??

Night On The Town

Good morning Y'all! Christmas is just around the corner so I hope everyone enjoys their winter vacation by doing that last minute Christmas shopping!!

Last night, my family and I had nothing better to do so we all decided to get all dolled up(casually) and visit downtown. So we all got dressed up real cute and made the 30 minute drive to downtown. Our favorite place to go when we go downtown is the Peabody Hotel because it is the most beautiful hotel I ever did see. It has so much character and reminds me of an old hotel back in the twenty's or something. If any of y'all ever visit Memphis, you must go to the Peabody Hotel. It has a very elegant and classy taste to it.

This was the view from the rooftop of the Mississippi River. It was such a beautiful day and the weather was fantastic. Views like this really make me love my city.

I also took a picture of the lovely Peabody Hotel sign to show y'all. This sign really adds character and charm to the hotel!

Here is a picture of my sister and I on Beale Street(i am on the right). I love Beale street during the day because it also has so much charm to it. It is all about Elvis and rock n' roll down here and I love it!

Here is a lovely picture of the Peabody that I got courtesy of Google. This really shows the charm and magnificence of the hotel. 

After spending some time downtown, my family and I traveled to East Memphis to the Belmont Grill where we dined on some exquisite hamburgers. I think that I definitely started off my winter break right! 

Have any of you visited Memphis before? Let me know!

xox, Katie 

My Favorite Blogs

Good morning everyone! This morning I woke up, made my usual cup of coffee and sat down to read my favorite blogs as if it were the newspaper(which I do read second). While reading the blogs, I thought that it would be a great idea to share with y'all my favorite blogs that I read weekly. So I am just going to list the ones that I absolutely adore and tell you a little about what I like about them.

Summerwind41490 is one of my favorite blogs ever! Sydney, who writes this blog, is always putting out fresh posts to read everyday. Her blog never fails me and with each post I learn something new! Now I warn y'all who do not like preppy things to not look at this blog. Sydney is quite the preppy girl and that is what I love so much about her and her blog.

PreppyEmptyNester is another one of my favorites which is unusual for me. Katie, who writes this blog, is an older woman who lives at home with just her husband because her two daughters are away at college. Now this is unusual for me because it sounds like it would be a boring blog to such a youngster like me but she is always posting about her dogs and her home. I love the way her home is decorated and arranged and she gives me inspiration for my home when I grow up and have a house and husband of my own. She has two house tours on her blog that I tend to look at often and they are just perfection! One is from her old home in Texas and the other is the one she currently lives in in Massachusetts.

ClassyGirlsWearPearls is probably my all time favorite. This blog is run by the infamous Sarah Vickers who is the fiance of Kiel James Patrick. I love this girl to death because whenever she posts, it is filled with pictures of her and maybe some of her friends or her fiance, Kiel James Patrick. The pictures they take are almost too perfect to be true. While she never really says anything about the pictures, she does say what they are wearing in each post. But if any of y'all like to look at pictures of the most perfect couple with the most stylish clothes than y'all should check this one out.



These are the ones that I visit daily but there are definitely more blogs that I check every so often but did not feel the need to write about them just yet. I hope y'all have a fabulous day! What blogs do y'all like?
                                                                               xoxo, Katie.

Cyber Monday

Hey y'all! I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving weekend and is gearing up to go back to school/work tomorrow! Tomorrow is also Cyber Monday!!! If y'all did not get a chance to get out on Black Friday this year and like to shop online(like me), this is your chance to do so to get some awesome deals! Just to make it a bit easier for y'all, I compiled a list of stores that I usually shop at with Cyber Monday deals.
Bloomingdale's: 25% off regular and sale items
Old Navy/Gap/Banana Republic: 40% off sitewide
Vineyard Vines: 20% off when you spend $200 or more
Kendra Scott: 15% off and free shipping w/ code BFCM2014
Tobi: 50% off site wide w/ code THX
J. Crew: 30% off full price, 40% extra off of sale items using code HOLIDAY
L.L. Bean: 10% off using code THANKS10
Kate Spade: 30% off entire cite with code CYBER30

I hope y'all can get some great deals out of this list! If there are any other websites with awesome Cyber Monday deals, leave me a comment letting me know!!!
xox, Katie.

Recent Purchases

Good Evening everyone! Long time no talk but no worries because I am back today with a very exciting blog post! This weekend my mother and I went shopping to see all the stuff out for the Holidays and of course I could not resist buying something.

The first thing I bought, I had no intentions of buying. When my mom was looking in the night gown section at Dillard's for a birthday present for my grandmother, I was just browsing when I saw the cutest night gown! (here) The one I linked is not the exact one I got but it resembles it. Mine is red and white striped and the most comfortable thing to wear to sleep.

The next thing I bought was actually online. For the longest time I had been looking at the J.Crew puffer/excursion vests but I never bought one. Well I just recently bought my first vest and must I say that I love it! I have worn it three times already and it works with everything. It's such a versatile and I really think that it is a must have staple for the Fall/Winter time!!

What have y'all bought recently that you love?? xoxo, Katie.

New Obsession

Good afternoon y'all! I hope everyone is having a lovely day on this fine fall afternoon. I thought I would talk about my new obsession today on the blog. So last December, I received my first Lilly Pulitzer phone case that also doubled as a card holder. Ever since then I have been in LOVE! They are not only cute but have a little slot on the back of the case that holds up to 2 cards like student ids, credit cards, licenses etc. I used it all the time but sadly they aren't protective cases. The best thing about these cases though is that they are cute and fashionable but they are not bulky.

I just recently ordered a new one online at Nordstrom Rack for only $15!! They usually retail around $25-$35 depending on where you get it from. When I tried to find a new one at the my local Lilly store, they didn't have anymore because the lady claimed they had stopped making them. So ladies, if you want one, I would buy them all now before they go out for good!
XOXO, Katie.

Intro

Hello all! Welcome to my blog!
This blog I made is for me to share my style with anyone who reads it. From time to time I will add in other things and not just clothing. I thought I would start off this blog by telling y'all a little about myself.
Well my name is Katie and that is all the personal information I will tell for the time being. Just know that I do live in the south and live a very southern lifestyle. I'm all about southern hospitality and pearls and I do love to visit the beach often. My family and I travel down to the beach at least three times a year which is not enough for me.
Some of my favorite books are the Harry Potter books, the Twilight books, the Great Gatsby, and a few John Green books and who doesn't love John Grisham??
I am all about Lilly Pulitzer, Vineyard Vines, J Crew, Target, and a lot of local boutiques around here. These are obviously just a few of the many stores at which I like to shop. Well, I hope y'all enjoy this blog. I will talk to y'all later!
-kSo