Let the new year ring with plenty of bling - Juliana W. Jewelry giveaway!

I am always amazed at the talented artisans I stumble across on Etsy. It amazes me how much work people put into hand-making beautiful jewelry, because I know creativity like that is a gift. And it is absolutely one that I've not been blessed with.

Which is why I'm so excited to announce this giveaway. One lucky reader will win this gorgeous pair of Olive and Turquoise earrings from Juliana W. Jewelry!

Olive and Turquoise faceted earrings.

These beauties will go with so much! Dress them up, dress them down -- you can do it all.

And Julie the creator Juliana W. Jewelry, is just about as nice as anyone can be. A true gem to work with. And humble as ever. A little mit more about her from her Etsy profile.

I am a mother of two sweet and very rambunctious toddler boys and the wife of an amazing man who is incredibly supportive of me and my endeavors. In my spare time, I am thinking about, shopping for, and working on my crafts. I love using beautiful papers to make something new. I make tiny bowls or ring dishes, plates, and jewelry. It is very exciting to find a new print or jewelry component that I love and then and turn it into something I can wear or use. 

How she finds time to juggle not one, but TWO toddler boys and still make this beautiful jewelry amazes me, but I'm sure glad she does it.

Some of my other favorites from her Etsy shop:

Here are the perfect pink earrings to add just the right amount of feminine flair to all of your outfits. They'd look exceptionally perfect with your Lilly outfits. *wink wink*

Cherry Quartz Chandelier Earrings

You can also do them in an amazing aqua:

Aqua Chadelier Earrings

Be the life of the party! Let these fun, festive gems inspire you to have a fun night out on the town.

Orange and Pink Earrings

This NC beach gal fell in love with this beautiful necklace. Perfect to wear with sundresses in the spring/summer or when you're on a cruise in the fall. It's dainty enough to work with almost anything, but you can also use it as a statement necklace with a simple, solid-colored dress. Check it out:

Peach Coral, Coin Pearl, and Starfish Beach Necklace

Want to know how to enter and win the earrings? Just use rafflecopter below for entries. The only one you have to do is leave a comment with your favorite item from Julie's store. The rest are all bonus entries.

Lilly Murfee Extravaganza

So for the past 36hrs I've read so many Facebook/Twitter posts about Lilly Pulitzer murfee scarves being on sale at TJ Maxx's across the country for $39.99. A GREAT reduction from their $118 retail price.

Of course, when in my main TJ Maxx yesterday, I saw nothing. But tonight I felt adventurous, and decided to trek a whopping 4 miles down the road (in D.C. traffic that was about 20 minutes, so it did take some effort) to a TJ Maxx I've never been to before.

Lo and behold, murfees galore.

Being the loyal Lilly fan I am, I decided I was at a random TJ Maxx. One that traditional Lilly-lovers would NOT be going to. Surely their clientele wouldn't appreciate the find like my Perfectly Preppy Resale or Twitter gals, so I snatched them all up. All 18 of them that is. So what if the guy at the counter thought I was crazy buying 18 scarves, many in the same prints. I was determined to pick them up for all the other Lilly lovers out there without them at their local stores.

A few have already been spoken for, but here's what's left. If you're interested in one, just email me at DCGOPGIRL {at} GMAIL {dot} COM or tweet me @DCGOPGirl. I'll update this list as they go. I'm asking $47 for them. I have no idea if that covers cost/tax/shipping/paypal fees, but I think it's about right. If you calculate all that for me otherwise, you can let me know if it's less. If it's more, shhh, you've got a deal. ;)

Multi Stemina - 2 available, 2 gone

Lilly's Starfruit Yellow She's a Piston - 2 available

Lilly's Pink Perfect Paradise - 1 available

Multi Show Me Some Skin - 2 gone

Lilly's Turquoise Purrfect Paradise - gone

Lilly's Pink This Blooms for You - 1 available

There are a few others that I was dead-set on listing when I bought, but looking at them now I half want them. So dangerous. That said, I'm gonna try to will myself to add a few more here in a bit, but this is at least a start. That's what I'll tell myself anyway.

UPDATE: Some of you ladies are SMART. And resourceful. Consider me impressed, because you saw which prints I was talking about keeping on Twitter and asked for them directly. Good call, because I'm parting with them. :)
  

Shopping Sunday

You know how there's "Wordless Wednesday," "Pink and Green Thursday," and all of those other themed blogging days? Well on DCGOPGirl.com, and anywhere else other would like to participate, there's now "Shopping Sunday." Now this doesn't mean you have to go shopping on Sunday, though you can, it's now the day to share all of your great shopping finds, etc. At least it is in my head...

I was inspired to start this because so many people ask me where I find certain pieces in my polyvores. Where my best deals come from, so I figured I'd start sharing. Because, I assure you, while I LOVE shopping, I HATE paying full price. My closet is filled with designer labels, but I'm seriously a bargain shopper.

However when it comes to shoes, heels in particular, I refuse to by cheap, poorly made brands. For one, I can wear out a good pair of shoes traipsing around the city like a champ. Beyond that, 9 times out of 10, cheap heels tend to hurt -- Blister inducing heels. Fall apart soles. No cushioning -- yeah, all things awful. So I've learned if you invest a little bit more in shoes, you tend to get your monies worth. That still doesn't mean you shouldn't find a good deal.

click to check out some awesome shoes

Which is where Heels.com comes in. It's one of my favorite shoe shopping sites. Designer shoes are like 50% off all the time, there's free 2nd day shipping and free returns. Now that right there is good enough for me on most days, but they also have awesome sales ALL the time. So if you're not already a fan of the site, be sure to check it out.

Right now, I'm digging:

Ivanka Trump - Ciry

Talk about some gorgeous shoes. You can obviously wear them dressed up, but you can throw them on with a cute, casual skirt too and it'd be totally fun. And why yes, I had to buy these. 

Guess - Lava pumps

If you don't already own a pair of bright pink heels, run, don't walk, and get these gems now. Every girl needs a pair of Barbie pink pumps. They're so versatile and fun, and they truly make you feel so wonderfully feminine! You'll see me don look-alike pumps on polyvore all the time. So fun.

Michael Antonio - McMahon

Booties are a must-have. Dare yourself to wear with everything from jeans to cute dresses. They're so versatile there's no reason not to have a least one pair in your closet. My first pair was black, but you can never go wrong with a good neutral brown.

And because I've been a super sleuth today, I've found out that the Groupon of the Day in Atlanta is a heels.com deal. *No, I didn't know this when I started, just happened to find it when I was looking for extra coupons today. But if you're a shoe-a-holic like me and salivating over this groupon, please feel free to help a girl out and get it through THIS LINK!

So...

• For $25, you get $50 worth of designer heels, boots, and shoes.
• For $50, you get $100 worth of designer heels, boots, and shoes.

Oh, and this deal is good through Wednesday. So don't wait too long before you indulge. 

Until next time,

GPBC Gals (and anyone in search of a GREAT read), next month we're reading The Hunger Games and the movie comes out in March. Get your copy for less here:

these things don't matter at all

I'm a bit all over the place in my head these days. Funny how that happens from time to time. Life overwhelms us a bit and we don't quite know where to let the dust settle. Don't get me wrong, the other day was AMAZING. I'm not negating any of that. But things are still topsy-turvy in the world of DC GOP Girl. A lot has happened. A lot is happening. Waiting to see what happens next... next exactly my favorite thing in the world.

Segue, without an actual segue. Unless of course we count saying "segue" as an actual segue itself. Which I suppose, we can.

Tonight I watched The Beginners. And indy flick I somehow missed at my beloved indy theatre (AMC at Shirlington for all those around the Alexandria-Arlington-DC area - definitely worth seeing things there every now and then). It was one of those bittersweet, evolution of consciousness kind of movies. It's about fresh starts, a changing self and life-changing experiences. It's sad though. Melancholy. Not quite a perfect film, but it kept my attention. Enough.

Yeah, not much of a review there, but the movie quoted The Velveteen Rabbit at some point.

I imagine most people have read the story. Are familiar with it if nothing else.

It's poignant. Heart-warming. Touching. It was one of those stories that I appreciated as a child, without fully understanding the depth of all of the words. And now as an adult, it still sticks with me. It was filled with wonder, beauty and love.

That's hard to forget.

Which brings me to the quote from the movie. Or most the quote anyway:

"It doesn't happen all at once,' said the Skin Horse. 'You become. It takes a long time. That's why it doesn't happen often to people who break easily, or have sharp edges, or who have to be carefully kept. Generally, by the time you are Real, most of your hair has been loved off, and your eyes drop out and you get loose in the joints and very shabby. But these things don't matter at all, because once you are Real you can't be ugly, except to people who don't understand.” 

― Margery Williams Bianco, The Velveteen Rabbit

Thinking about that.

Awakening.

So I'm gonna steal a good chunk of this from my Facebook, so bear with me if you've read any of this there... but this is much, much more...

The dictionary defines "awaken" as:

1: to cease sleeping
2: to become aroused or active again
3: to become conscious or aware of something

Awakening. It feels like an almost magical word right now.
Awakening. That's what happened tonight.

Tonight I went to DC Metro Church for the first time. What a life-changing evening.

It's no secret I've been out of the church for the past 10 years. I can't even remember if I've talked about it here or not, because... I don't even know. Heck, I don't even really know how to put it all to words now. How I've been able to stay out of church for so long. How I've known God to BE REAL, and yet deny Him so many times. To go out of my way to stay out a church, just so my mother wouldn't "have her way."

But after months of just talking about it. After having almost talked myself out of going throughout the evening. Tonight I walked in the doors of the church.

Emotions. Overwhelming. Overflowing. My-heart-spilleth-over style. Immediately. As I'm first sitting down, I can barely hold back the tears. And I pray so vehemently that God can "stop embarrassing me" and let me just sit there like a "normal person" and get through the service. But He clearly had other plans for me.

I'm not kidding when I say it's been 10years since I've gone really gone to church on my own accord. Sure I go (sometimes) when I'm home at Christmas, but even this year it was begrudgingly. Tonight I think God was determined to make clear to me just how broken I was. Because He broke me there in that place. He wasn't going to let me walk out another church door without overwhelming my heart and forcing me to acknowledge Him.

Tonight God was working HARD on my heart.

I can't really walk you through the emotions and everything that happened next, but it's suffice to say that He truly works in mysterious ways.

Tonight His grace overwhelmed my brokenness.

Lots of tears, praying and praising later I renewed my faith and was baptized. *and boy did I look like a cold wet rat with mascara EVERYWHERE afterwards - I didn't plan a spiritual awakening tonight after all*

Even as I write this now, I'm sobbing like a baby. Running nose, red eyes, overjoyed heart.

And all I can say is, thank you God for never giving up on me. Thank you to my parents who have prayed tirelessly for me to find a church and be humbled to a place of brokenness and awakening. And thank you DC Metro Church for opening your doors to someone who really, really needed a church to call home.

 

This song was sang during tonight's baptisms - I wasn't the only one God was working on.
How beautifully appropriate.

Until next time,

Before meet after.

Ah yes, it's been correctly "guessed" DCGOPGirl.com was in the midst of a makeover last night. Nothing major, in terms of layout, but there is a new banner, buttons and color scheme. I'm not one to let things "stay the same" around here for too long after all.

Before. Look around to see after.

A few things are still being tweaked, but all in all the transition has been made.

That said, I wanted to say a special thank-you for all the prayers. Your comments and emails have meet so much to me during this trying time and I sincerely do appreciate them.

Well, I'm keeping this one short. Back in with the doctor in a few, but I'm hoping to have a "real" post tonight. Polyvores and all.

Until next time.