by Guest | featured guests
Hello summer and hello Sunny Slide Up readers! Congratulations to the winner of the Melie Bianco Bag…..
It may be scorching out and sometimes that means it can be hard to find a cute outfit that you feel fabulous in, both for the style and the comfort! Summer fashion is all about keeping cool in easy, flowy pieces and of course, showing off some sun-kissed skin!
We love styling our customers in the latest and greatest fashion trends at both Apricot Lane locations in the Charlotte area. We have a store at StoneCrest in South Charlotte and one in Huntersville at the Birkdale Village shopping center. With styles straight from the L.A. fashion district and a personalized shopping experience, we’re dedicated to helping you look your best with celebrity-inspired affordable fashions! We have a wide variety of summer looks in store, and here are a few of our very favorites:
The Maxi
Maxi dresses are extremely comfortable and versatile! You can dress it down by throwing a chambray button down over it, or dress it up by adding some jewelry and wedges. Apricot Lane has maxis that offer details like cut-outs or a high-low hem. We have these flowy dresses in a variety of colors and on-trend patterns like floral, tie-dye, and stripes.
Summer Scarfs
Now you may be thinking, “Scarfs?…In the summer? Are you crazy?” Opt for a lightweight scarf that isn’t super bulky to add some color to an outfit on cooler days or evenings. Available in a variety of colors, prints and patterns, these airy summer scarves can instantly add personality to any look. Summer scarfs are also great for traveling as they can double as a shawl if it gets chilly, a sarong for hot days at the beach or pool, or a unique belt over a fabulous dress!
Boyfriend Jeans
These coveted, celebrity inspired jeans are perfect for days when it’s too hot for clingy skinny jeans. The relaxed fit and worn-out look results in a laid-back feel that can take you from day to night. We offer boyfriend jeans made to fit a woman’s body at a price far less than what celebrities pay.
Bright Tones
Summer is the time to let your style shine with bright colors! Whether you chose to be daring in a colorful dress, top or with accessories, you can’t go wrong with a bold hue. Don’t be afraid to mix several together for extra pop!
Be sure to connect with us on social media to stay updated on new arrivals, upcoming events, fashion tips and more! Check us out at Facebook.com/ApricotLaneCharlotte and Pinterest.com/apricotlanenc/.
And remember…
(image source)
XOXO,
Monica
(Monica Gerberding is the director of stores and senior buyer for Apricot Lane throughout North Carolina)
by sunnyslideup | featured guests, recipes
Introducing our guest blogger for today, Kseniya from in the Queen City – we are so happy to welcome a Charlotte girl!
Hello Sunny Slide Up readers! Hopefully the snow has melted where you are (and if not, I’m sending snow melting thoughts your way) and you are enjoying everything that is great about spring!
Spring brings with it warm weather, bare legs, and cookouts. My friends and I always look for a reason to cook out and celebrate, whether it’s the birth of a child or completion of a bathroom remodel. It doesn’t take much.
My personal favorite reason to have a cook out is Cinco de Mayo. You don’t have to twist my arm when there are fresh Mexican flavors and margaritas involved! Sharing is caring so I am going to share with you my favorite recipes that are perfect for a warm May afternoon.
No Cinco de Mayo cookout is complete without salsa. Sure, you can buy pre-made salsa at the grocery store but it lacks the fresh flavors that make salsa great. My recipe for the salsa is easy and takes less than five minutes to make.
Quick and Easy Salsa
Ingredients:
- (1) 14 oz. can of diced tomatoes *or 4 fresh Roma tomatoes
- (3) cloves of garlic
- (1) jalapeno**
- (1) lime
- 2 oz of fresh cilantro
- Salt to taste
Tools:
- Knife
- Cutting board
- Small food processor
- Handheld lemon/lime squeezer
*Tomatoes can be hit or miss early in the season so I prefer to use canned. If using fresh, dice the tomatoes prior to adding them to the food processor.
** Leave the seeds in tact if you want your salsa extra spicy.
Instructions:
- Rough chop the garlic, jalapeno, and cilantro and use a small food processor to do the fine chopping for you. If you do not have one on hand, mince the garlic, jalapeno, and cilantro.
- Squeeze the lime juice into the mixture using a handheld lemon/lime squeezer (or whatever other tool you have on hand, a fork works too).
- Combine the garlic, jalapeno, cilantro, lime juice, salt and (canned) tomatoes in the food processor (or blender) and pulse 3-4 times. You want your tomatoes to remain a little chunky.
- Pour into a serving dish and enjoy!
Spring also brings with it trips to lakes and beaches near and far for the next couple of months. The seafood is my favorite part of these trips… Other than spending time in the water, wearing summer dresses, and handing out on the boat and/or the beach.
But it’s not just any seafood, it’s freshly caught seafood!
My next recipe is in honor of bikini’s, drinking cervesa on the beach, and eating fresh seafood.
Shrimp Ceviche
Ingredients:
- 1 lb. of large shrimp*
- 1 small red onion
- 3 Roma tomatoes
- 2 jalapenos
- 3 limes
- 1 lemon (large)
- Salt to taste
Tools:
- Knife
- Cutting board
- Handheld lemon/lime squeezer
- Shot glass
Instructions:*This recipe works for both raw and cooked shrimp. You will need to chill the shrimp in an ice bath if you choose to cook your shrimp prior to using it in the ceviche. I prefer to use the cooked shrimp and defrost them prior to use in a bowl of cool water. You can use different sized shrimp as well. There’s no need to dice the small sized shrimp, just use them whole (minus the shells, of course)!
- Squeeze the juice out of the lemon and limes into a bowl.
- Undress your shrimp* by removing the shell (including tail) and veins.
- Chop the shrimp into small bite size pieces (you should be able to get 5-6 pieces from a medium sized shrimp) and place into the bowl with the lemon/lime juice and toss around until the shrimp is coated.
- Finely chop the red onion, jalapenos, and tomatoes and add to the bowl of shrimp.
- Season the ceviche with salt, mix all the ingredients in the bowl, cover the bowl and place it in the refrigerator.
Refrigeration time:
- Cooked shrimp: 45-60 minutes
- Raw shrimp: 60-90 minutes (the shrimp is “done cooking” once it turns pink)
Serve with tortilla chips, as a lettuce wrap filler, or with rice.
Variation:
Sometimes we add diced avocado right before serving the ceviche to “beef” it up a bit.
No Cinco de Mayo celebration is complete without margaritas! I prefer mine tangy, fresh, and strong.
Fresh Margarita
Ingredients:(makes 2)
- 3 limes
- 4 oz. Patron Silver tequila
- 2 oz. simple syrup
Tools:
- Knife
- Cutting board
- Handheld lemon/lime squeezer
Cut the limes in half and squeeze juice out of the 3 lime halves into each glass
Instructions:
- Pour 2 ounces of tequila into each glass
- Pour 1 ounce of simple syrup into each glass
- Add ice and stir (or shake) the drink prior to consuming
For a fun (and spicy) variation, add slices of fresh jalapeno to the margarita.
The final step is to dress in something simple and fun, like a breezy summer dress with a pair of wedges or flip flops (remember ladies, May is too late to aerate someone’s yard with your stilettos).
The Outfit
Ingredients:
- Flowy dress
- Wedges or flip flops
- Bright chunky jewelry
- Fedora Hat
Tools:
- A fun attitude and the love for sun!
Thank you for having me, Sunny Slide Up!
Cheers,
Kseniya
…in the Queen City
Kseniya is crazy about the Queen City (Charlotte, NC), loves going on foodventures, and blowing up everyone’s Instagram feeds with pictures of her German Shorthaired Pointer. She’s a social media junky so follow her on Twitter, like her on Facebook, and connect with her on LinkedIn.
by Guest | featured guests
Hey Sunny Slide Up Readers!
Shawn here of Shawn Hobbs Designs. Wow!! I’m glad you all like my birdhouses. I have so much fun creating them. I hope you get a chance to visit my website and see the many different styles I’ve made throughout the years. I am happy to announce the winner of the birdhouse giveaway…. JANICE P!!! (Please contact us with your shipping information so we can get you your birdhouse!)
My love of birds started when I was little. I was raised on a small farm outside Fayetteville, NC where we had many varieties of chickens, peacocks, ducks, and guinness. My grandfather, brothers and I would spend a lot of fun time building chicken coops, hatching baby chics, peacocks, and those dirty-teal duck eggs which were the rarest and my favorite to hold and look at. When I was little, my grandfather made birdhouses and placed them on light poles, fence post, and trees all around our 300 acre farm, so its a family tradition too. My personal birdhouse journey started 20 years later, when in 2009 I made my mom a cool two story birdhouse for Mothers Day. Her friends saw it and wanted one….then their friends saw them ….and well it moved on from there.
I make and design all kinds of artwork, as well as work in personal real estate, home and garden design and am a big lover of Mother Nature…… so it was no surprise to me that in making birdhouses it gives me the best of all those interests rolled into one and keeps me connected to nature which is my biggest inspiration. From a home design standpoint…..I feel like I’m designing a real house each time I make a new birdhouse. Which for a designer and artist the unlimited creativity birdhouses allow for really hits the spot. I’m also a big meanie greenie and environmentalist….and that’s where using recycled materials comes in. In life, work, and art I try to follow a passionate principle of recycling all things as much as possible. The journey of finding items, parts and pieces is the real fun though. I love traveling around to yard sales, thrift shops, and estate sales picking up cool and whimsical finds that speak to me …telling me what they want to become. An old metal flower pot may ask to be a birdhouse top. That’s how creativity works for me….. Im not sure if I think of the idea or if the idea finds me?!
Back to the real stars of my birdhouse story …which will always be the BIRDS!
Birds are the sound of Spring, a healthy backyard, and of Mother Nature in balance. Birds bring …love, life, colors, and sounds to our lives and yards that is so good for the mind, body, and soul. We’re all affected and connected I always say! Everyone loves sitting on their back porch or deck, listening to the birds sing, or under a big shade tree, or lying in soft grass looking up at the clouds with birds singing and flying all around. Birds are forever stuck in our minds as images of paradise!…you know that sunset with a palm tree with a bird flying by! Heavenly! Birds give us music, feelings of happiness, relaxation, contentment, and joy with their songs…..you instantly think and feel……”life is all good” right now…. It’s springtime after all!
In hiking and country living we have also learned that birds are great alarm clocks, season predictors, and a warning signs of things ahead. The relationship between birds and humans go back to the beginning of time. All great religions, cultures, kingdoms, and tribes use birds as symbols of peace, strength, hope, travel, love, family, and power! They are considered majestic, magical, and the messengers to and from the gods and the spirit world. They are the closest living thing to the heavens, so I believe they hold answers and bring good fortune …and without them ….humans would have little examples of hope and rising above our troubles.
Environmentally…. Birds, frogs, and bees are indicators and predictors of a healthy ecosystem. Scientist and experts agree that all three are in decline now and that humans won’t last long if birds become extinct. Birdhouses are now more important than ever! Deforestation has destroyed and chopped down 70% of old growth forest globally and are forcing birds to find homes wherever they can. So build or buy a birdhouse today, give another creature a home, and bring some goodness, love, and life to your home and yard. In other words…….give a hoot!
Thanks for having me on Sunny Slide Up! ~ Shawn
