The Preppy Pink Pony

Happy Leap Day!

The Preppy Pink Pony is hard to miss when driving down Chain Bridge Road in McLean.  They are the only pink and green building in town!

The Preppy Pink Pony, run by Virginia Kennedy and her charming staff, has something for everyone in the family, from adults, to babies, to furry friends, as well as charming gifts and home accessories.  Virginia began her business in 2004 out of the trunk of her Mercedes wagon while at her daughter's horse shows with a belt rack, a few ribbon saddle pads and a polka-dot covered card table.  In 2009 she opened her storefront, which all of us are very thankful for!

The Preppy Pink Pony carries so many of my favorite brands such as Boatman Geller, By Paige, Eliza B, Ellen Allen, Queen Bea Studio, Collared Greens, Preston Ribbons, Just Madras, Fornash, Lilly Pulitzer Stationey, Scout, and so many more I'm forgetting. 

Lilly Pulitzer goodies

Endless options for new bundles of joy

Scout bags

Baubles of every kind, including many by blogging favorite, Fornash

An endless selection of ribbon belts

My favorite table in the store, the shoes.  Pink Monogram clogs, needlepoint flats, loafers and mules from By Paige and the monogram mocs I blogged about yesterday from Sweet Pete.

So many items in the shop can be personalized and the staff will work to make your monogramming dreams come true. :-)   I love stopping in the PPP as the colors immediately soothe me and I can always find something new.

Happy Feet

My new monogrammed moccasins arrived yesterday and I love them! 

The brand of shoes is Sweet Pete, distributed by Two Funny Girls, and I ordered them from the Preppy Pink Pony (more about them tomorrow).  I chatted via email with Kristy Crawford of Two Funny Girls before and after ordering the shoes and she was so helpful.


The shoes are available in three colors- pink, black and brown.  There are over 20 ribbon choices which make personalization options endless.  In addition to the ribbons above, pink with hot pink saddle stitch, I also got cream ribbons with light pink lettering.  Virginia, the owner of the Preppy Pink Pony, said her daughter switches the ribbon out depending on her outfit and often ties them in a bow.

The shoes are similar to a classic driving moc and feature chic loafer styling and are finished with a nubby rubber sole.  The leather is very soft and supple.  In short, they are super comfortable and I'll be ordering them in black, too.

President's Day Fun Shoot

On Monday, I shot in my first sporting clays tournament, the Bull Run President's Day Fun Shoot.  There are four types of shotgun sports - skeet, trap, five stand and sporting clays.  Sporting clays is the closest thing to actual field shooting of all the shotgun sports.  The sport dates back to England in the early 1900s when trap shooting used live pigeons.  With the introduction of clay targets, the sport began to take on the popular form known today.  Rather than using standardized distances, target angles and target sizes (like skeet and trap), sporting clays courses are designed to simulate the hunting of ducks, pheasants and even rabbits.  Six different sizes of clay targets give the participant the experience of actual hunting conditions, so you can see why the sport is so popular with hunters and sportsmen.

The National Sporting Clays Association (NSCA) is the governing body for the sport.  Each shooter is assigned one of seven classes - Master, AA, A, B, C, D or E - which are assigned based on skill level.  To move up in class, you accumulate a series of ‘punches’ based on your performance at NSCA registered events (not fun shoots).  Punches are awarded based on the number of competitors in each respective class at each event. The more competitors, the more punches and the deeper punches are awarded into the top finishing places. The most punches to be awarded in any one event are four and the lowest place awarded punches will be sixth place in an event with 45 or more competitors in that particular class.  It also takes an increasing number of punches to move from one class to another as a shooter moves up the classification levels. As few as four punches are required to move from E to D and from D to C but as many as sixteen are required to move from AA to Master.

Everyone starts out in class D.  Which goes well with my monogram.  :-)  After I shoot in a few more tournaments I'll ask to move down one level to E.  This way I'll compete against shooters who are closer in ability to me. 

Dave and I entered Monday's tournament with our friend, A.  He's a Class C, which is what Dave is.  They are both very good. :-)  Dave was the scorekeeper for our squad.

At Bull Run there are three stations that are under a pavillion.  No matter how easy the targets are set up, I never do well.  The echo of the shot against the roof of the pavillion really hurts my ears for some reason.  Dave always does well at these stations.

This is A.  He shoots a beautiful 12 ga Perazzi.  Dave and I have totally different tastes in guns.  For him it's all about the wood.  For me, it's the engraving.

I was very distracted by the squad behind us.  It was all because of this handsome guy.

As we came out of the woods, the sun really warmed us up and I took off my jacket.  You'd think the men on the course had never seen a lady in pink shoot a gun before.  I had so many people comment on my outfit. At least it wasn't muddy so I wasn't wearing my Joules wellies with the big blue grosgrain bow.  Can't imagine what the guys would have thought of that.

Dave did really well and we both had a great time.

I have a lesson with my instructor on Saturday and two more in March so I'll be ready for the Central Virginia Spring Fest tournament in early April.  And with warmer weather on the horizon I'll have more outfit choices as well. :-)

House of Lies

My new favorite show hands down is Showtime's House of Lies. 

It stars Don Cheadle as Marty Kaan, a highly successful, cutthroat consultant, who is never above using any means (or anyone) necessary to get what he wants.  Kristen Bell plays Jeanie Van Der Hooven, the razor-sharp and a bit neurotic engagement manager.  Other than Marty, my other favorite characters are Monica, Marty's crazy, pill-popping ex-wife, and Roscoe, his transgendered young son.

The show is based on the book, House of Lies: How Management Consultants Steal Your Watch and Then Tell You the Time, written by Martin Kihn, a former consultant at Booz Allen Hamilton. 

The script is hilarious and the characters seem so over the top.  One reason I like it so much is that in my job, I work primarily with consultants that we've engaged.  So I'm on the other side of the table from Marty and his team.  Since watching the show, I like to think that our cracker-jack partners are much more above board than their fictional counterparts from Galweather & Stearn.  But I am sure they have some similarities, too. :-) 

Needlepoint Pretties

I'm not a big fan of winter, but it does provide lots of time inside for one of my favorite things - needlepoint! 

I stitched several items the last few months and already received a few back from the finishers.

Tricolor CKCS ornament I donated for the Rescue auction

A dala horse for my aunt, who is from Sweden

Checkbook cover, pour moi.  Originally the crab was painted green, the border was yellow, and the gingham was shades of blue.  I changed it to match the checkbook cover.

Cavalier belt.  This is at the finisher now and I can't wait to wear it in a few weeks to a dog show I'm attending in Delaware.  Yes, I'm one of those people.

I used to work on just one project at a time (I'm reeeaaalllyyy anal), but I had to make room in my needlepoint cabinet for the new canvases I seem to accumulate every week.  Thus began my journey into having multiple projects going at the same time.  It  takes longer to stitch something since I don't work on it constantly, but when I get bored with one canvas I can put it away and take out something else.  These are the six!!! things I have going right now.

Three belts, two for me and one for Dave.  Dave's belt has woodland animals, or as I like to call it, cute little furry creatures he likes to hunt.

I hope to finish stitching this over the weekend so that I can send it off to be made into a pillow for Sissy.

A door hanger for my friend who's about to have her baby (guess I need to get started!!)

And this little iris, which I bought for an online class to teach me how to do needle-blending, a type of shading this stranded silk thread.  The neat thing about this is that it came with a wooden trivet that the stitched canvas will slip right into so I won't need to have it professionally finished.

One thing that keeps me organized is that I keep all projects that aren't on a frame (I use a frame when I'm doing decorative stitches) in project bags like these.  The bags hold everything I need and make it easy to throw a project in my purse when I'm running out the door.

I bought theses handbag and belt canvases last summer with grand plans to stitch over the fall and winter so that it would be ready come spring.  Well as you can see, I've gotten really far.  It's so intimidating because the purse is actually two identical canvases for the front and back.  And of course, I also need to do the belt. I need to just buckle down and start it because I know that I'll love it once I get started.

When I finally finish all these projects, I have many more in my stash that don't have threads yet.

All these belts...

Four flower canvases, that I plan to frame and hang, that is when I actually stitch them, which may be in 10 years.

And then these state canvases.   I have a good reason for not starting these yet- I haven't purchased the Georgia canvas.  I'm from Maryland, Dave's from Georgia, and we now live in Virginia.  My grand plan is to stitch these and unit them in the same mat and frame and hang them in our living room.  That will be in 15 years. :-)