Tea Cake Factory

Do you know what a tea cake is?  I had no idea until my mom took me to The Tea Cake Factory in Sugar Land.  So wonderful!  They are not as sweet and sugary as a cupcake and not as heavy as a cookie. 

I had the coconut cake and a cranberry-orange cake.  Mom had the orange creamsicle.  So yummy and a must-try if you are in the area.  Besides tea cakes, they serve cake, cupcakes, pie, sandwiches, and coffee.  Their website also says they take orders for wedding cakes. 

Tea Cake Factory
2735 Town Center Bouleveard North
Suite N
Sugar Land, TX 77479

Free Sample: New David Yurman Perfume

Click HERE to learn more about the new Essence Collection by David Yurman and request a sample. 

Pre-Christmas Festivities

December has been such a busy month getting ready for Christmas, shopping, end of year hustle at work, fun celebrations and seeing our family all around Texas.  As soon as I stopped a few days ago, my body shut down on me!  I was describing to Jason yesterday that I felt majorly hungover...but I hadn't had ANY alcohol the day before.  I will call it my Christmas hangover. 

We had a WONDERFUL Christmas and still have one more set of family to celebrate with...how lucky are we?  Lots of posts coming to document all of our celebrations, but first I want to list all of the pre-Christmas festivities I had so I can remember this whirlwind month. 

Dec. 3 & 10 - Shopping day with Jason
So fun to spend the day with Jason, shopping for our family and getting in the Christmas spirit!  We even carved out some time to look at houses in the area. 

Dec. 4 - Cookie & Ornament Exchange with the Junior League girls
Adrienne was the hostess of the year!  She organized this wonderful idea to get all of the "waitresses" together to share our favorite recipes.  We had the best ornament exchange too.  Love the ornament I won (from Erin) that is a picture of us gals in Fredericksburg from our summer trip.  I brought Hello Dollies, a family favorite and so easy.  Recipe post coming soon.

Dec. 7 - Pi Beta Phi Alumni Ornament Exchange
Lauren hosted the annual Pi Phi ornament exchange in her beautiful home.  Best part was Darcy, our junior group President, bringing her "special" ornament from last year's exchange!  Why didn't I take pictures?

Dec. 15 - Christmas Lunch with Ashley
Ash and I accidentally made a new tradition of eating at Pei Wei every Christmas for our gift exchange...gotta love their kids honey seared chicken!  So great to see her and catch up.  She always gives the most thoughtful gifts...bows to be re-used included!

Dec. 16 - Shopping Day with Mom
Another favorite Christmas Tradition: Lunch and shopping with my mommy!  Such a fun day including lunch at Cheesecake Factory and a late afternoon treat at Tea Cake Factory (what was our deal with factories that day?).  We even managed to get in come Christmas shopping.

Dec. 21 - Christmas Lunch at work/Dinner with Grandma and fam.
Full day!  Lunch at our corporate office from Luby's!  That night Jason and I hosted dinner at our place since my Grandma was in town from Arkansas.  All of the "Townsend" family was there including Carter's dog, Zeke!

Dec. 23 - Tacky Sweater/Enchilada Night at Dad's
This will get it's own post later this week!

Dec. 24 - Church and Chinese Food with Mom and LE
Full post coming on this one too...

Tory Burch Tuesday

This baby is on my Christmas list this year...

Tory Burch Reva Clutch with removable gold chain strap. 

Hopefully I'm not on the naughty list and can soon add this to my collection!  I really want need a small black bag for nights on the town or running around and don't want a huge carryall.

Card Holder DIY

I'm not really into DIY projects because I'm not very crafty and my projects never quite turn out the way they were supposed.  I'm usually left feeling tired and disappointed. 

One project I knew I could handle was a Christmas Card Holder/Display I saw on Pinterest.  Pottery Barn had a great Holiday Card Holder, but $50.00 was way too much to spend on something I will only use for one month out of the year.  I already had some great ribbon I bought years ago, then I just went to Michaels to buy a bow for the topper (no, I can't even make good bows) and a pack of gold straight pins. 

Ta-da!  All finished, hanging in the hall by our guest bedroom displaying all of our friends and family!

Total project cost: $10.00

2011 Christmas Card

Our cards have finally hit the mail so we can post them online.  Jason and I started sending out family Christmas cards the year we got engaged in 2008.  It's so fun to go back and look at them and even more fun to open up your mailbox this time of year! 

This year, I used Minted.com to design our cards.  Minted is a little more expensive than my usual Shutterfly cards, but I love the way they turned out and the quality of the paper.  The site gives you so many options when designing.  We used our pictures from our "Pocket Shots" session with Robyn Arouty, pet photographer extraordinaire!

Front of card:

Back of card:

I'm linking up with Faith's Christmas Card Carousel 2011!  Thanks to Faith for hosting this!  Your Erin Condren cards are super cute by the way : )

Chelsea Lately

I couldn't resist! 

I'm finally back to blogging from a short break of well, needing a break.  I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving!  Jason and I had a great one.  We spent it with his family in his hometown, Corsicana.  We ate, slept, shopped a bit and played with Landon, our nine month old nephew who is the cutest!  I fell in love with this little guy...made Jason and me get the baby itch a little bit.

The week before we attended the Hospitality on Parade Awards Dinner which honors people in the hospitality industry in Houston.  Jason was nominated for the Sales & Marketing award and was a finalist!  The winners were announced at the dinner held at the Intercontinental Hotel and.....

Jason WON!!!!!

I am very proud of my hard-working, successful husband!  Hope you are having a great week.  Who is ready for Christmas?  I'm getting there.

XOXO,

Chelsea

Pronouncing Lulu

We had a debate going on in the family about how to pronounce "Lululemon."  I said it was pronounced loo-loo-lemon (just like the fruit).  I even asked a sales girl at the store to verify.  Jason was convinced that I was pronouncing it wrong and that the correct pronunciation was loo-la-mon. 

Leave it to my mom to go directly to the source...the corporate office in Canada!  The response she got is below:

"Thanks for reaching out to us with your question. I'm sorry for the delay in our response, the inbox has been swamped lately! Hopefully I can resolve this for you once and for all! Our name is pronounced lu-lu -lemon (like the fruit). There you have it! I hope this wins you a coffee, or something else fun."

Yippee!!!  I was right..I think this means that Jason owes me a new Lulu piece!

Weekend Recap

We had such a great weekend!  We were able to spend a lot of family time together which is nice since things are about to get CRAZY with the holidays right around the corner. 

Just a reminder that my blog sale is still going on!  Both pairs of shoes are sold, but there are lots of great clothes and a bag up for grabs.

Friday

After work, we had a wonderful dinner at Maggiano's and then met up with Lauryn and Rob for drinks.  I've known Lauryn since elementary school, but the best time we had together was as college roomies for 3 years!!!  We have been through so much together: sorority recruitment, exams, breakups, dorm life, and everything in between...hello, midnight madness!  Lauryn and her husband Rob have been living in Michigan for years, but recently moved back to Houston!!!  Jason and I love both of them and are looking forward to spending more time together.  I'm mad I didn't get any pictures of the evening!

Saturday

We were scheduled to take family photos Saturday evening so I spent the day prepping.  Since we were going to a pet photographer and the focus of the pictures was on Tucker, I gave him a bath, brushed his teeth, clipped his nails...he had a full spa day and hated every minute of it!

I decided to get a blowout at the new Do Bar at West Avenue.  The Do Bar is a "blowout bar" that only styles hair, no cut or color.   I bought a Tidbits Treats (similar to a Groupon) months ago for a blowout at this salon and figured this was the perfect occasion to use it.  I highly recommend this place!  The staff was super friendly (which you normally don't get in River Oaks) and the salon is just cool!  The hair dryers hang from the ceilings and instead of having magazines to browse through, they give you an iPad with magazines already downloaded to browse.  Plus, my hair looked great and my stylist was fast!

Our photo session with Robyn Arouty Photography went so well.  Fastest 30 minutes of my life!  I was so nervous because Tucker does not know even the most basic commands: sit, stay, don't bite people.  I had high hopes and low expectations.  My goal was just one good photo. 

I was blown away, by how awesome Robyn and her staff are.  I can't say enough great things.  We participated in a day called "Pocket Shots" where you buy a 30 minute session and the sitting fee goes to an animal charity!  Saturday's charity was the Texas Alaskan Malamute Foundation...oh the irony of bringing a chihuahua. 

Within minutes of arriving, Tucker was posing, looking in the right direction and being cute.  We did have one cringe worthy moment when he growled and nipped at the assistant, but was as champ otherwise.  We won't have all of the proofs for a few weeks, but Robyn posted these pics online! 

I found, both the red bow and Santa Hat at petco.com.  So happy I did!  And in typical Purifoy fashion, instead of responding to "sit" and "stay" Tucker only responded to "cookie" and "car."  We all have our weaknesses. 

Finally, we ended the day with sushi at Ra and drinks in Highland Village doing my favorite things: eating, drinking and window shopping.  We tried to have a drink at Up, but they were packed and we couldn't even find a space at the bar.  Not really our crowd either...we ended up at Smith & Wollensky and the bartender made me one of the best chocolate martinis I've ever had!

Sunday

I finally got a day to catch up on cleaning, laundry, and more closest clean out!  I'm trying to prep our guest bedroom and closests for Christmas Chaos.  Four Christmases here we come!

Tory Burch Tuesday

In honor of my sweet, little pup who is the latest PROFILE PIC for Robyn Arouty Photography's Facebook Page...

Today's Tory Burch Tuesday is for the DOGS!!!  Check out Tory's collars, leashes and jackets for our four legged friends.  Look at this sweet little face. 



Nylon Puffer Dog Coat, $95.00



Nautical Baby Shower

Two weekends ago my mom and I hosted a baby shower for our family member, Lindsey who is having a boy and due in January.  Lindsey is decorating the nursery in red, white and blue with a nautical theme, so we decided to use this as inspiration for the shower for Baby Maddox. 

Everything turned out great!  Since neither my mom or I are very crafty we used a few friends to help us turn our ideas into reality.  Please check out our vendor links at the bottom! 



Me, the mommy-to-be and my mom, Shelley



Vendor Love:
Diaper Cake - Bear Bottom Diaper Cakes
Flowers & Door Wreaths - Allison of Swish Productions
Invitation - Double U Design
Water Bottle Labels - Ashley from Ribbons & Rick Rack
Cookies - Paulies
Favor Tags - Ashley from Ribbons & Rick Rack
Custom Guest Book - Guestbook Store

Blog Sale

Hey everyone!  I cleaned out my closest this week and have a handful of things that are in great shape that I just don't wear anymore (or at all) because they don't fit, etc, so I thought I would hold a virtual "garage sale."

Just email me at chelsea {dot} purifoy {at} yahoo {dot} com if you are interested in purchasing or making an offer.  I'm happy to answer any questions or send additional pictures.  All transactions will take place via paypal. Shipping is flat rate of $5.00.

Happy Shopping! 

Ugg "Ultimate Short" Boots in Chestnut - Size 9 (Women's):  $50.00 - SOLD
LOVE these boots, but I purchased them one size too big so I never wear them.  When I did wear them it was only inside so there is not much wear and tear on these.  Regular price is $200.00 on these classic boots.  So comfy and warm!

Coach Brown Flats - Size 8:  $30.00 - SOLD
Worn only one time!  In great shape and so cute, but I have another pair of brown flats that I just like more so I don't need these.  I could not find these exact shoes on Coach's website (these were purchased about 6 months ago) but I found a similar pair that retail for $148.00.  This is a steal!

Coach Purse in Signature Fabric and Camel: $40.00  SOLD
Great shoulder bag with cute orange lining inside.  One zip pocket inside.  Adjustable strap.  The purse is about 6 years old, but has not been used in YEARS.  I have way too many purses.  Normal wear and tear on bottom corners, but overall in great shape. 

BCBG Max Azria Floral Print Dress - S/M:  $30.00
Worn twice.  The material is stretchy and so cool and comfortable.  I would love to keep, but since I've lost weight (mostly up top) it's just too big in the chest area.  Gorgeous dress, great neckline, and bra top!

Nicole Miller Collection Print Dress with gold embellishments - Size 8:  $30.00
Worn one time only!  The tag does not have the size on it.  I must have cut it out, but it fits like an 8.  Sexy low neckline.  So cute with strappy gold sandals.

 
Bigio Collection Animal Print Dress - Size 10:  $40.00
Wore twice, both times to weddings.  Stunning in person, pictures do not do it justice. 

Ann Taylor Cap Sleeve Dress - Size 10:  $20.00
Perfect work dress!  Pockets, looks great with long pearl strand and cardigan. 

Sunner via Anthropologie Print Dress with pockets - Size Medium:  $30.00
Worn once.  Cute with leggings and belted.  Dress has pockets too.  Regular price $168.00.

Back

One.September via Anthropologie embroidered fleur tee - Size Medium:  $15.00
Worn once.  Beautiful detail!

Black Anthropologie knit tee (designer not listed on tag) - Size Small - $15.00
Worn once with jeans, very soft!

Ann Taylor Creme Sweater with pearl embellishment - Size Large:  $15.00
Worn once to a Christmas party, the sleeves are off the shoulder, even though it's a large, it runs small and fits more like a medium.  Perfect for the holiday season!

Laundry by Shelli Segal print top - Size Small:  $15.00
Wore once with black capris

Karen Kane Lace Top - Size Medium: $15.00
Worn once with brown skirt, the straps are really pretty, brown cotton underlay, creme lace