Friday, April 29, 2011

Tales from TitlelessTess

 Remember Tessa from my "I love my crafty friends!" blog!  She is such a talented blogger and wayyyyyy "funnier" than me!  So, I asked her to write a little guest blog from our sporty Perfectly Perrywinkle photoshoot a couple of weeks ago!  If you haven't already become a follower of her super fun and witty blog, Titleless Tess, make sure you check it out!  I can always count on lots of "stomach hurting" laughs and big smiles everytime I'm graced with her presence! haha! 

Here's Tessa....

So, you already know that I love Perry of Perfectly Perrywinkle. But, I also love her blossoming little headband business, and I know you will too. A few weeks ago, Michelle Curl of Curl Photography hosted a photo shoot in Perry’s quaint and quiet Ballantyne neighborhood. Chris Brady Wolfe, my favorite red head, LPGA golfer, former cast member of the Golf Channel’s Big Break, and new mommy, joined us for the adventure.

Chris wearing "Plum Vineyard" and Perry wearing "In a pickle"

Perry, also a professional golfer, has recently been working on custom nursery art (I’m currently contemplating having a baby just so I can order one!) and Easter headbands that were specially made to match little girls’ Sunday bests. Oh, and by the way, Perfectly Perrywinkle has also been featured in the 2011 special edition of Golfweek For Her. Just saying. I kind of think she’s a big deal.

Top left to bottom right: Sugar Plums, Sweet Simplicity, Sweet Salin', Mardi Gras Madness, Shake n Bake, Great Barrier Reef

Perfectly Perrywinkle caters to ages 0 on up. Most of her headbands are made in youth sizes, but you can custom order for infants or big girls like us. And if it isn’t obvious, we think that Perry’s headbands are perfect for way more than just sitting pretty on Easter.  For example:


Please visit Perfectly Perrywinkle on Etsy to check out her full collection. Or, if you are local to Charlotte, you can find these pretties at Belly Elan in South Charlotte. And since Perry really loves you, she wants to give away a customized made-with-love headband! That’s right – a giveaway! Here’s how you can enter:

GOLFWEEK GIVEWAY

1)  Click on the “Perfectly Perrywinkle Facebook” link.
2)  “Like” Perfectly Perrywinkle on Facebook and leave her a comment with “Golfweek Giveaway” and the name of your favorite headband from her Etsy shop.
3)  For extra credit - I know you're an overachiever - you should probably become a follower of Titleless Tess as well. (Perry recommends this too, hehe)

*All entries must be submitted by midnight on Thursday, May 5th. The randomly selected winner will be revealed both here and at Perfectly Perrywinkle on Friday, May 6th. Perry will contact the winner via Facebook to get the ball rolling on your customized headband!  All other participants will receive a one-time use "buy one, get one free" on the Perfectly Perrywinkle Etsy Store to be used on any headband of their choice.  The additional "free" headband will be any of the headbands listed at $22.00.  Offer expires one month from the date of contest end, June 5th at midnight EST.

Thanks, Michelle, for giving us rights to these beautiful photographs.  Did we mention we had a blast during the shoot?  ("I have a ball.  Do you want the ball?")

Sunday, April 24, 2011

Easter Flashback

Thought I would share some old Easter photos I came across this week!  

I love my sister, Ashley!  Here we are in 1985 in our adorable matching Easter dresses!  Little did we know, that 26 years later my sister would have her own children's clothing line Lil Blue Boo and be sewing similar dresses for her little girl, Sienna!  Such wonderful family memories!  You gotta love the "bowl cuts" too!

 Ashley, me, and Swen on Easter with our Easter baskets.  Lake Wylie, 1984.  


I hope everyone has a wonderful Easter!  Jesus has Risen!!!!!  God bless you!

Thursday, April 14, 2011

Perfectly Perrywinkle hits the tennis court!

Just wanted to share a couple of pictures from the new Perfectly Perrywinkle tennis line!  We had so much fun on the tennis court during this shoot; if you could only hear our conversations about how "professional" we thought we looked! haha.  But then, if you would have seen us hitting tennis balls, you would gather very quickly that we are far from professional!  But...like my sister used to tell me after I had just lost an important golf tournament....well...at least your hair looked good!!!  I'll share an entire post about PerfectlyPerrywinkle on the tennis court very soon!  I might even be able to convince Tessa and Chris to share a few words as well! 


Tessa- best doubles partner ever!


Tessa sporting "Cherry O Cherry O"


Chris and Tessa....I love my friends!  Tessa wearing "Pucker Up Lime" and Chris is sporting "Wildflower."
Stay tuned for more fun on the court!


And me....rocking the "Saturday Night Fever!"

Tuesday, April 12, 2011

Get used to Michelle!

Sooo excited... You better get used to Michelle because I LOVE her photography!  She just sent me over a few pictures from our Perfectly Perrywinkle photoshoot last week!  She is awesome and can't wait to see more!   I love this vintage-inspired photo!

Tessa, Me, and Chris (trying to act like we are really having a conversation...haha)



You remember Tessa from "I love my crafty friends" blog!  I love this picture of Tessa modeling Mardi Gras Madness.   Make sure you check out Tessa's blog "Titleless Tess"...she's way funnier than me! (is funnier even a word?)


And here is Chris modeling Shake n' Bake, with her beautiful little boy!  He is growing up so fast!



Sunday, April 10, 2011

My Augusta Amen


    My family has never been one to give extravagant gifts.  We actually don't really exchange gifts at all...that is... material gifts.  As a family, at a young age, we actually decided to replace our Christmas gifts each year with an annual family ski trip instead!  I will be forever grateful to my parents for instilling this core value within our family. At a very young age, as my closet was cluttered with lots of things, things that were once exciting to own, but now just collecting dust, I realized that the greatest gifts are not physical, but the gifts of experience that last a lifetime!

    Growing up, our parents gave us the gifts of "irreplaceable life-long experiences."  From kissing the legendary Blarney Stone in Ireland, walking over the Swilcan Bridge at St. Andrews, sleigh riding through the snow to a cabin built in the 1800s, and flying through the Grand Canyon in a helicopter... to even the smaller things in life...eating dinner every night as a family outside and being able to push our dad in the pool in his work clothes (happened many times!), winning a participation ribbon every 4th of July in the ultimate Sand Castle Competition (we never did win), to our family tradition of eating hotdogs and beans for Christmas dinner (we'll have to explain that one in its own blog!) I wouldn't trade these experiences for even the most lavish gifts in the world!

    The best weekend of my whole life, "My Augusta Amen," was one of these irreplaceable gifts!!! Most every golfer dreams of one day being able to play at Augusta National, and my dad made this dream come true my senior year in high school.  A few years ago for Father's Day, in honor of my dad, I published a story about this magical weekend in Chicken Soup for the Woman Golfer's Soul,   "Augusta Amen."

    A spectacular moment during this trip...a hole-in-one at the prestigious 16th hole, to become the first female ever recorded to do so, will only etch this father/daughter weekend into my heart even deeper!



"Augusta Amen"  by Perry Swenson




Even with the small disposable camera we had...we managed to get a few good pictures!  Here I am with my dad on the Hogan Bridge leading up to #12 green! 


Here I am on #12 green fixing my ball mark!  I would go onto roll this putt in for a birdie!  (Did I mention, I played both Par 3s on the back in only 3 shots!!!)


My Dad, better known as "Rocky" or "Stormin' Norman" teeing off of #7!  I am so proud of him, as he is still one of the Top Ranked Senior Amateurs in the World!  


My hole-in-one at Augusta National #16


Here I am getting my ball out of the hole, after acing the 16th (from the back tees that is!)  175 yards, 5 iron....the pin was back right, sitting on top of the shelf!  I actually hit the ball perfect...still one of the best iron shots in my "mental" golf bag!



This photo reminds me of something out of Caddyshack!  My dad, me, our gracious host and member Jay Johnson, and longtime friend Dick Hill.


My caddy!  He warned me that the greens would be 5x faster then I could imagine!  I still managed to 4-putt the first green and then corrected him... 8x faster!!!


Mr. Hill, me, and dad.


 The narrow tee shot at the 18th!


A first hand glimpse at the Master's Trophy, which was introduced in 1961 and is the exact replica of the clubhouse.


And of course, couldn't leave out Clifford Roberts 


or Bobby Jones!


We stayed in the Fairway Lodge right off of the 10th tee!   




Dad,  I can never say THANK YOU enough!  I will remember this weekend for the rest of my life and wouldn't have wanted to experience it with anyone else, but YOU!

And for Augusta...til we meet again!

"If there's a golf course in Heaven, I hope it is like Augusta National!  I just don't want an early tee time!" -Gary Player











Thursday, April 7, 2011

Spring 2011 Photos Coming soon!

I'm so excited to share a sneak peak of some photos we took last week for the Spring 2011 Perfectly Perrywinkle Headbands! Thanks to Michelle of Curl Photography, I can't wait to post some photos this coming week!  Supposedly we took over 1000 pictures!


Also, for my Charlotte locals, Belly Elan Maternity is now carrying both Perfectly Perrywinkle Headbands and Custom Nursery Art!  This past week, Jamie of Photography by Jamie Lea, held a super cute photo shoot for Little Perfectly Perrywinkles!   Stay tuned...they should be up sometime this week!  Make sure to check for new additions on my etsy shop!