Casey Cartwright- Greek

Casey Cartwright- Greek by annalise23 featuring platform shoes

Beach Bag

Beach Bag by annalise23 featuring strappy shoes

In Love With Lilly!

Okay, I am seriously obsessed with Lilly Pulitzer at the moment. I think I will make this my new background soon!

Prep

Prep by annalise23 featuring leather slip on shoes

Mother's Day Gifts

Mother's day is coming up! I love this holiday because of the fancy brunch, and because I love any opportunity to go gift-shopping. Here are some gifts I think would be perfect for any Mom out there!

By pasting on pressed leaves, you can easily jazz up plain candles! (Hint: try buying earthy scented candles for this)

A spa basket. This is my go-to gift for my Mom on Mother's Day, and she always loves it.

Serve her some spa treats with champagne. Fruit skewers, coconutty-mango slices, strawberries, and honey-yogurt dip.

This is a great one if your Mom is a tea-drinker (mine is!) Line up some assorted tea bags in a nice box

Home-made bath fizzies! You can make these at home with citric acid, baking soda, cornstarch, sugar, and any essential oils.

Therapeutic monogrammed slippers. These also would work for a dad on father's day!

One of my favorites! You can easily make these cute tea cup candles at home.

If your Mom is the gardening type, I couldn't think of a better gift than this! 

My Dad actually gave me a present like this for my eighth birthday with things like, "A free ice cream at Baskin Robins!" and "Lets go on a movie date!" This is a really thoughtful, fun gift that you can personalize for your Mom, and make the loving spirit last long after Mother's Day.

Just take some simple spritzing bottles, and fill them with water and some cucumber, lavender, lime, rose petals, or whatever else you can think of.

So... I hope you got some inspiration this random post! Love you!

xxx

Abby ♥

Future Dreams

I am a huge planner, and I like to have everything all planned out. Surprises often bother me because I have no context for knowing what is about to happen! Call me weird, but it just relaxes me to know everything that is going on. Sometimes when somebody announces they've got 'news', I have to ask them a., if it is good or bad news, b., if it concerns me, and c., the general category the 'news' falls into. (because I need to know what they are going to tell me before they actually say it. Many times I daydream about my future, and plan out how the rest of my life is going to go. Here is what I have so far :) (I could seriously write my autobiography in advance!)

Now, I'm not saying these goals are realistic, but c'mon, a girl can dream. After finishing eighth grade at my school (which I want to say the name of but can't for safety reasons!) I want to get into Phillips Academy Andover. Yes, I know, it is one of the best boarding schools in the country, and hard to get into. Luckily, the school I currently go to has a good reputation too, and has made me a smarter person today, and more likely to get into that school! (Yay for straight A's!)

At Andover I want to join the debate team (which I am already doing at my current school), hence my aspiration to be a layer. After finishing school at Andover (preferably in the top 3% of my class) I want to go to Harvard, and continue on to Harvard Law School. Like I said before, A GIRL CAN DREAM! I seriously doubt it, but if I keep studying hard, there is a slim chance I may get into Harvard.

After that, hopefully I will get engaged (to Taylor, of course. We'll prove that middle school relationships can last!) and live in Greenwich with two kids and a dog. I'll be a lawyer, and he'll be a professional lacrosse player.

And we will live happily ever after.

The End. :)

Happy Cinco de Mayo!

Today has been a busy day! I started my HW early in the morning, and got it finished by 10:00 am. Afterwards, I had tennis practice, then grabbed lunch with Taylor and a couple of friends. Then we all went to a concert in the park and got frozen yogurt afterwards. I am now home blogging and prepping for my Cinco de Mayo bash!

My friends are going to be here any minute, and we are going to eat, dance, gossip all night! I am wearing a gorgeous airy white blouse with pretty embroidering, just paired with dark skinny jeans and kitten heeled sandals. My uncle has a catering service, so we got free mexican food from him. The dining room is loaded with quesedillas, nachos & toppings, tacos, faquitas, and stuffed egg rolls.

Oh, the doorbell just rang! I bet it's Grace. She is always fashionably 'early'. Ha, ha. Talk to you later! :)

xxx

Abby ♥

Spring Concert + New CCA Book!

So, today was the Spring Concert at school! I love singing, and it was really fun to get on the stage and belt out tunes on stage with my friends. It was also fun to get all dressed up, and almost all of the girls (including me) wore Lilly Pulitzer frocks, cashmere cardigans, and strappy sandals. Here is the dress I wore!

After the concert there was an art gallery and ice cream social the gym. We got to choose from chocolate, strawberry, or vanilla ice cream, and pile our fair share of toppings. Oh my god, there were so many! Chocolate syrup, strawberries, whipped cream, cherries, sprinkles, marshmallows, toasted coconut, M&Ms, Oreo crumbs, cheesecake pieces, ah.... I am STUFFED, and I didn't even have room for dinner afterwards.

Something else VERY exciting... the new Canterwood Crest book came out! I absolutely love those books, and I can barely stand the 6-month wait in between the release date of each one. It is certainly an occasion when one does come out, and I am kind of scared to pick it up because I know when I finish the book there is no more for me to read! Then Canterwood goes on hold for another half-year. :'(

I ordered it on amazon a couple days ago, and I can't wait 'till it gets here!

That's all for now. I will blog more tomorrow, but it's time to say 'farewell'!

xxx

Abby ♥

P.S. Did you notice how my current wallpaper for this blog is actually an old Lilly Pulitzer print? Ha, ha. I just noticed that. :)

Yummy (and Healthy) Foods!

Hey world!

Today I wanted to do a post about health foods. I am the worst eater in the world, and I love to pig out on candies, chocolates, fried things, and fatty foods. I have been super lucky, and never really gained much weight, but I know it will catch up to me one day when I get older. When I started modeling, I knew I really had to watch what I ate! Here are some relatively healthy recipes I have been eyeing.

A light salad with white corn, avocados, bell peppers, and greens. 

Acorn squash stuffed with cuos-cuos, cilantro, crumbled feta, and chopped walnuts. 

A poached egg with arugala on avocado toast.

Kale and avocado salad (Again with the avocados I notice...)

Sweet peaches with brown-sugared yogurt,

Simple & tasty brushetta.

Prosciutto and brie sandwich with fig jam and spicy greens.

Grilled shrimp and orzo.

Smoked Salmon BLT (They should have these at Subway!)

Asparagus cheese tart

So, what do you think? I used to never think I could find something both healthy and nutritious! I think for breakfast tomorrow I am going to have a poached egg with arugala on avocado toast. BTW, avocado toast is the best thing ever! Try it when you get the chance :) Hoped you got some healthy inspiration!

xxx

Abby ♥

Living 'da Life!

I'm living it up at the Greenwich Country Club today, with my friend Amanda! Our dads are really good friends, and they have been chatting about football and playing golf all afternoon. Me and Amanda have just been hanging by the pool and playing tennis. Right now I am sitting at the snack bar with my MacBook, blogging and instagramming! Instagram is my latest obsession. I have turned it on private though, because there are creepy stalkers out there! LOL

I am just realizing now, my outfit looks identical to the one Courtney wore on the Bachelor.

Weird! Anyways, I'm so glad that it's the weekend, and I cant wait 'till Monday! (Correction: Tuesday) Usually Mondays (Tuesdays) suck, but this Monday (TUESAY), the new Canterwood Crest book comes out. I love those books! Lauren, the main character, reminds me so much of myself. The books are about these girls at an equestrian boarding school. There is a generous serving of boys and drama! You should really read them if you get the chance. I know they may seem a bit kid-y at first, but they are really good.

I am so excited!

I Ran Into Blake Lively!

This was the same outfit she was wearing when I saw her!

Yes, you heard me right! I live in Greenwich, but a couple days ago I went into New Canaan to go shopping with some friends. First we hit the J. Crew store, then we went into the Whitney Shop for a while. Right outside the window, I saw a woman that looked strangely like Blake Lively. Some people around us were taking photos of her. I then realized, OMG, it was Blake Lively! I almost fainted right there. Ryan Reynold was right next to her, and they were window shopping RIGHT NEXT TO US!!!

I didn't want to seem like a creepy stalker-ish fangirl, so I breezed by and didn't ask for her autograph or anything like that. If I were a celebrity then I would want to relax when I could, and get away from a bunch of screaming fans! There was even an article in the New Canaan Patch about her and Ryan. They were buying a house somewhere near here, and were looking in a bunch of home decor places (like The Whitney Shop). She and Ryan eventually bought a country home in Bedford.

All I can say is Wow! A lot of famous people live in Greenwich, (because it is super-close to the city, but not as busy), but not once have I actually seen one before! I was like, two yards away from her. Wow, I am so starstuck! When we got in the store, all I could say was OMG for five minutes straight. No joke! ha, ha. I still can't believe it!!!

New Puppy!

I am so excited! As an early birthday present, my parents are getting me a new puppy! The picture above is not the picture of the same dog I am going to get, but it looks EXACTLY like the puppy. One of my mom's closest friends is a dog breeder, and I got my other dog from her as well. My other dog, Bella, is a Cavalier King Charles Spaniel just like the new puppy. They are the cutest, sweetest, softest dogs ever!!! Watch this vid, and you'll see why I love them so much.

Yeah, sorry. There was a problem with copyright issues or something like that. You can go watch it in youtube if you really want to! I am so excited, I can hardly stand it! I am the biggest dog lover in the world :). I won't dessert sweet Bella for the new puppy though, because I don't want her to feel left out. Now I need to start thinking of names... hmmm. I know barely anyone reads this, but if you want, help me out here and comment your suggestions! Thanks :)

xxx

Abby ♥

P.S. Thanks for 400 page views! I know that it not a lot, but to me it feels like a million!

Random Things I'm Loving!!!

I have noticed myself being drawn to certain things over and over again, and I thought today as I was pulling up my blog, why not do a blog post on all of the items I have been craving! Buckle your seat belts ladies and gentlemen, and prepare for a wild ride!

The most addicting game since Doodle Jump. I still love Doodle Jump, (My high score on Doodle Jump is 789,330! Sorry, I couldn't take up this chance to brag. :P) but I love Temple Run more! I have never gotten into Angry Birds though, no matter how hard I try to love it :/ Oh well, at least I still have my beloved Temple Run!

Recently, I don't know what it is, but I have become a huge tea-drinker. Whenever I am feeling a little under the weather, I grab a cup of tea. When I need a little caffeine boost to get through my HW, I grab a cup of tea! When I am feeling chilly, I grab a nice warm cup of tea. I love my tea :)

I have a couple pairs of Tory Burch reva flats, but have never worn them that much. Since spring in here, and the weather is warming up, I have been pulling these out out my closet a lot, and wearing them more then just occasionally. I now have eight pairs (EEEK!) and I love all my Reva flats to pieces!

I love Nutella! I have it with literally EVERYTHING. This morning I has it with french toast, and it was beyond amazing.  I know this is kind of gross, but I sometimes just like to eat it out of the container with a spoon. Yesterday I tried it with my bacon and fruit at breakfast, and it tasted SO good. The best things, in my opinion, are Nutella crepes. My mouth is watering just thinking about it!

My new favorite nail polish color! I am straying away from my regular french manicures and pale pinks, and trying out this mint color. It makes my skin look much tanner, and just looks really pretty, especially for spring. Love, love, love!

Birthday Party Planning

My birthday is a little less than a month away, and I'm so excited to get planning my party! I LOVE planning parties, and I help my friends whenever I can. We have made reservations for the Greenwich Country Club on the 19th of May (My b-day, yay!!!)

Here are some photos I found found for inspiration! A lot of them are from the website Cupcakes and Cashmere. I got tons of inspiration from Emily's bachelorette party.

We'll have a blast swimming at the pool! I can just picture myself sitting in the hot tub... sipping a cool drink... ahhh

I'm sure I'll also play plenty of tennis! One of my favorite sports next to swimming.

One of my favorite parts of summer: pinna coladas. The non-alcoholic kind of course.

This looked like such a delicious snack! Gourmet grilled paninis. Perfect.

Sweet, salty, savory... bacon covered figs. Mmm.

A gorgeous cake! Vanilla-raspberry ombre.

The prettiest party decorations! I know my party room will be filled with these.

I. Can't. Wait! Counting down the days 'till I finally turn 14!

xxx

Abby