Hey blog readers! As some of you may have noticed there are a few changes taking place here at Design by Kendall. I am slowly but surely getting the site upgraded to help make it more interactive and user-friendly. Some of the first changes you can see are in the sidebar on the right. There are two new sections meant to help you connect more with me and my site. Please bare with me as I do have a full time job. This means you’ll more than likely see the site upgrade in small phases instead of one big launch. Here’s the low-down on the updates and a sneak peak at even BIGGER site changes to come!

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Last week I entered a giveaway to win bar ingredients from Stirrings at one of my favorite entertaining blogs, Celebrations at Home. I can’t believe it but, I won! Just wanted to give a quick shout out to Chris and encourage my readers to check out her blog!

One of my Pi Phi Alumni Club friends, Camille Jacobie, works at Irma Rangel Young Women’s Leadership School in Dallas, Texas. Please see her message below and take a minute to help these young women win a prom!

“Our school, Irma Rangel Young Women’s Leadership School has our first graduating class this year! We are so excited about this, and one of the big things that goes along with Senior Year is Senior Prom! Our girls have been doing their best to raise money, but it has been a struggle. While they are continuing to raise money, there is a chance this might not happen, but there is a possibility.

One of the prom distributers is offering a free prom for one high school in each state. I don’t usually ask for favors, but I would appreciate it if you could vote for this…our girls would appreciate it too!”

Thank you,
Camille

To vote, go to the Stumps Proms Across America contest page. Scroll down to the bottom right and click “Vote Now.” Scroll down to Texas and select Irma Lerma YWLS – Dallas. Vote! The contest ends March 13 so please vote now and pass this along to your friends!

Friday before last was like Christmas all over again! When I got home from work I was greeted at my door by six huge Crate & Barrel boxes full of the prizes I won from the Inspire Me! Holiday Entertaining contest. At first I tried to keep things neat and tidy, putting the bubble wrap and paper back into the boxes as I unwrapped all my new entertaining goodies. But I just got too excited!

Seriously, I think I have all the “entertaining essentials” I could ever need! (Or at least that could fit into my tiny kitchen!) Among my favorites are the Serving Set, Dizzy Cocktail Glasses and Appetizer Plates. My mom is also happy about the two-tier serving stand, since I can now give her back her three-tier stand that I borrowed for a few months. I can’t wait to throw a party with all my new party items!

Also among the loot were two C&B gift cards totaling $1,250. I could hardly wait to go shopping! Saturday afternoon I ventured out, gift card in tote, to the Crate & Barrel at Knox-Henderson to meet my mom for some “simul-shopping.” Simul-shopping, as she likes to call it, is when we both go to the same store – her in Austin, me in Dallas - so we can scope out deals together. My first purchase was a big one. I bought this fabulous Avalon Extension Dining Table.

While I love my current table, it was thrift store purchase and every time I want to add the leaf I have to turn the table upside down and unscrew all the hinges to make them fit. There was nothing quick or easy about it and often times I’d reassemble it wrong. I opted out on the chairs since I don’t really like matchy-matchy things. I’ll keep looking for chairs, but in the meantime I love the poppy-back antique chairs my mom helped me paint black. I picked up  my table yesterday and set it up! It is so cute and fits perfectly in my dining room. It will make serving six so much easier and more fun! I promise to post pics when I get them off my camera!

I honestly think I’ve been more social in the past week than in the entire year of 2008. Not that I wasn’t social before, but I’ve been as busy as a bee with parties to host, football games to watch and work to finish! In the past week and a half I have hosted three parties including a tailgate at the Cotton Bowl , a Bachelor viewing party and a sorority alumni club wine tasting/drinking party (pics to come). I also attended a NYE party and a bonfire. Seriously, I’m partied out!

For today’s post I am taking a much-needed break from Photo shop and posting my New Year Resolutions. Also enjoy the pic above of me and some girlfriends from New Years Eve. Here they are:

• Two new passport stamps (at least one to a country I’ve never been before)
• Send more handwritten notes (keep up to date with birthday cards)
• Find creative name for and redesign my blog
• Go to the gym more often
• Take more bubble baths
• Take a class to learn a new or improve an old skill  (ballroom dancing, photography, yoga or something)

See this post from Hostess with the Mostess:

Let’s Eat Cake, an amazing fundraiser hosted by the equally amazing Melissa Margarita-DiStefano, is coming up quick: Tuesday, February 17th at the Plaza Paramount Hotel! Let’s Eat Cake is a cake decorating competition with all proceeds going to the St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital. Learn more about the fundraiser right here.

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The results of the Inspire Me! Holiday Entertaining Contest going on over at Hostess Blog were posted this morning.

I can hardly believe that my entry took first place! Thank you to everyone out there who took the time to vote for me; I am completely overwhelmed! Congratulations to the second and third prize winners, Erin Godbey and TDL and the rest of the finalists! I was truly inspired by everyone’s entries and can’t wait till next year to start hosting some of these fabulous parties! A big thank you to VIVA Diva Café for sponsoring the contest! I’m super excited about the paper towels…And especially a thank you to Jenn at Hostess with the Mostess for hosting the contest. I knew it took tons of work and lots of late hours!

Honestly, thank you to my Grandma for helping me put together my entries and letting me use her garage (i.e. “Christmas wonderland workshop”) as a staging area! And to my sister, Bailey, for teaching me to use her camera and helping me put together all the different concepts for my entries. Mom – Thank you for helping out, encouraging me, and for being my model hostess J I can’t wait to see you all over the holidays!

Voting is now open for the Holiday Inspire Me! Entertaining Contest! going on over at Hostess with the Mostess. My entry – Whimsical Christmas – was selected as a top 10 finalist out of over 400 entries! The final decision is being left up to Hostess Blog readers! So please visit hostessblog.com and vote for me! Voting closes on Friday at 12:00pm EST.

Thank you all for taking the time to vote and good luck to all my competitors!!! Everyone did a fantastic job!

This is my frantic attempt to get a blog online in time to post some pictures for the holiday season. I am  frantically photoshopping all the pictures I took for the Inspire Me! Holiday Entertaining Contest going on over at Hostess with the Mostess to try to get them online by 11:00 pm!

I am so excited by this contest. Not only at the chance to win all the amazing prizes (Oh boy could I use some white serving platters!) but also the chance to get a gallery full of new ideas from fellow HWTM readers.

Everyone be sure to go on tomorrow and vote for my entries! I’ll be back posting them soon!

- Kendall