Friday Favorites

Welcome to the first edition of Pearls & Frosting's Friday Favorites! Let's jump right in... here's a snapshot of things I've been loving this week:


Sephora cream lip stains. 
To be honest, I got this product in a beauty swag bag over a year ago, and had never really used it until recently. Just the name "stain" scared me and I have an irrational fear of showing up somewhere important with lipstick on my teeth (is there anything worse?). Most days I don't wear very much makeup to work (light foundation, blush and mascara), but I this stain really adds polish. Not to mention, it lasts so much longer than any of my other lipsticks! I have it in #60 but would love to try other colors for spring.

A Thousand Wishes fragrance mist.
I was about to type "body spray" but that so takes me back to junior high locker room days—so I'll just go with what the bottle says. I stopped into Bath & Body Works to stock up on soap today and had a coupon for a free travel-sized item. I think this scent (I always want to say flavor) is new, and I didn't take the time to smell it in the store, but it is divine! I look forward to keeping it in my purse to spritz on in the afternoons.

My silly kitty. Our sweet rescue cat Monty always makes me smile. His favorite thing to do at night is curl up on MY heating pad on the couch and "sleep" with his eyes open.

Steaming showers. It's been chilly in Atlanta lately and after getting up in the cold/dark wee hours of the morning to hit the gym, there's nothing better than jumping in a hot shower to get ready for the day. I got quite a few inches chopped off my hair last month, so it's cut my hair drying time by half, which makes me more excited to wash my hair! I love getting ready wearing my white waffle-knit robe (I got it for my wedding!) and getting dressed after my hair and makeup are done. (Similar here.)

Coven. My husband and I got the first three seasons of American Horror Story for Christmas, and we're almost done with season 3, Coven. I loved Murder House (season 1) and was too creeped out by Asylum (season 2), but I'm loving the group of girls in this one, especially Taissa Farmiga's character.

What are your favorites this week? What's making you happy?

Atlanta Snowpocalypse 2014

It's officially being called Winter Storm Leon, but on Instagram it's known as #snowpocalypse, #atlantarctica and #snowjam. When flakes started falling around noon yesterday, it was only a matter of time before chaos ensued. Not even the weatherman could have predicted the widespread gridlock that was about to hit Atlanta roadways.

Our office closed down officially around 1PM, but seeing the traffic from my window, I hung around until about 3:30 before the white accumulation in the parking lot started to worry me. Heading out, I slipped three times, cursing the facts that I had chosen to break in my new Tibi piper boots today and that my sedan (with Montana plates, nonetheless) had not a single snow brush or ice scraper in the trunk. Beginning the trek home, I checked Google Maps - my regular 20-minute, 10-mile commute home was projected to take 1 hour 40 minutes. As I pulled out of the parking lot and onto the quiet road, with flakes coming down softly and steadily, I felt my tires slipping and thought: Here goes nothing. Silent and spoken prayers went up for a safe trip home.

As it turned out, that nearly 2 hour commute was simply wishful thinking. More than 5 hours later, I had gone only 7 miles and was sitting in a gridlock. Cars were simply not moving - at all. Vehicles from pickups to buses to trucks were spinning out to my right and left, blocking lanes and not going anywhere. In a split second, I decided to pull off the road into an AT&T parking lot and walk the rest of the way home. Thank goodness I had a pair of flat boots in my car. I locked my car and made a beeline for home.

It must have been adrenaline that powered me through, because I ended up running almost all of those 3 miles in what seemed like 5 minutes. Derrick started walking from our house and met me near the middle, bringing me my hat and scarf (what a guy!). As we got to our street, an eerie silence had set in over the town. Cars had been abandoned in business driveways, at gas pumps, along the side of the interstate, in the medians and on random lawns. We watched as a police officer tried to help a woman in a BMW make it up our hill to no avail.

Happy to be home, warm and safe and together more than 6 hours after I'd left my office, we made quesadillas (thank goodness for hot, gooey cheese) and poured a few stiff drinks. Around 3am, I woke up and looked out the window at GA400 - still gridlocked. This morning at 7am, the news told the same story. I was horrified to learn that thousands of commuters had been stranded on roadways overnight, some for more than 24 hours. Emails came in from work that our office - along with the majority of Atlanta - was shut down for the day. Amazing what havoc three inches of snow can wreak on a Southern city!

Temperatures are forecasted to be in the 60s this weekend, so cheers to the big meltdown ahead - and prayers to anyone who's still stuck in their cars to get home safely to loved ones. It's days like these where I'm especially grateful for all my fellow media friends - TV and news reporters who are working around the clock (like the great team at WSBTV2) to keep us updated on weather and traffic conditions.

Monty helping Derrick work.

Monty is happy his humans are home all day!

{Event Recap} Great Taste: Shades of Desire, Ribbons of Fire

Room 1520 was ablaze with stunning pink and red ombre decor at Thursday's third annual Great Taste event. Guests were greeted with acrobatic dancers and fire throwers outside the modern venue at 301 N. Justine Street.

As any regular Chicago event-goer knows, an event designed by Debi Lilly of A Perfect Event is guaranteed to be a visual feast for the eyes. And Debi surely did not disappoint.