Announcing the Grand Prize Winner of the 9,000 Facebook Fan Giveaway! Link to the original giveaway blog post is HERE. Before posting the lucky gals name I want to Thank everyone who is a fan of Re-Lilly and for making it the BEST Lilly Loving Community on Facebook! Thank you to all who took the time to enter this giveaway, over 1,100 entries in this giveaway! I have started reading all the wonderful comments from entrants and have many more to read. I am new to using the Rafflecopter Giveaway widget and had hoped the comments would publish in the blog comments but they do not unless I have not figured that out yet. If any bloggers know how to do this please send me a note with instructions or tips.
We quickly surpassed 10,000 Facebook Fans and will be having another giveaway to celebrate so if you are not the lucky winner this time be sure to enter the next giveaway! The winner of the prizes pictured below is..........
The lucky winner is Entry #363jessica
CONGRATULATIONS JESSICA!
Winner was randomly selected by Random.org via Rafflecopter. Stay tuned for another giveaway soon celebrating 10,000 Facebook fans! Cheers!
Cheers to 9,000+ Facebook Fans! Welcome new fans! Thank you to all fans for continuing to make our Re-Lilly Facebook Community so special, successful, fun and the BEST place to buy/sell/swap Lilly!
I had to dust off this blog! It has been a long time since I have blogged! We skipped celebrating surpassing the 8,000 fan milestone as our family was in the middle of relocating from NH to FL, then came the holidays, then medical issues and here we are! For those who are interested below is some history on Re-Lilly and also a transparent account of why the new format was chosen. If you wish to skip this lengthy reading no offense taken, just hit "END" or "Page Down" to the end of the post to enter the Giveaway, that is the main reason you are here right? :-)
Re-Lilly History:
For over two (2) years now I have spent many hours (countless hours) running Re-Lilly on a daily basis. Why? Because I sincerely love the brand and sharing my love for Lilly with other Lilly Lovers. In December 2009, when I created Re-Lilly I never dreamed that we would be at 9,000 fans in 2 years! That is 9,000 Organic Fans, we have never had a referral contest on Re-Lilly to date (not opposed to having one, just haven’t felt the need, if you want this kind of contest let us know). We've had many other types of giveaways, contests and promotions but never incentives for recruiting fans, each and every person found their way to Re-Lilly on their own, by Googling, Facebook networking or by word of mouth.
I enjoy hearing stories from fans about how they heard about Re-Lilly. One of my favorite stories was from a Lilly Lover boarding a commercial flight dressed in Lilly who struck up a conversation with a stewardess, a fellow Lilly Lover, who told her she should “check out Re-Lilly on Facebook” and wrote it down on a piece of paper for her. I love hearing about stores referring fans and always intrigued when one of my husband’s colleagues or business associates (or their wives) are Re-Lilly fans yet had no knowledge that his wife runs Re-Lilly. How did you find out about Re-Lilly?
December 2009- December 2011:
For two years I have invested my time and money into this group. I have logged in every day, always dressed in Lilly, admittedly often in my Lilly PJ’s J I find happiness in helping small businesses, from independently owned Lilly Via/Signature Stores to department store brand/department managers to Esty shop owners crafting items from authentic Lilly fabrics, papers, etc. As a former small business owner I believe in supporting our economy and favorite brand through the small business owners whenever possible. I have made mistakes along the way and learned so much! I smile reading kind words that come from the hearts of fans/members. I think my dedication to Re-Lilly for 2+ years is a testament to the depth of my passion for Lilly.
I believe in living a colorful life every single day, a life without color is dull and boring and Lilly girls are the life of the party and often the most kind hearted people I have ever met. In life you can always choose to look at the bright side or the dark side and choose whether your glass is half-full or half-empty, for the record, my glass of pink lemonade is always half-full and the sun is shining on my pink lemonade :-)
January 2012:
Changes............I want to express my sincere thoughts and intentions with everyone here since some of my intentions are in question by some. Why the changes on Re-Lilly? Well, there is not a simple answer but a few big reasons for the changes and I will do my best to explain them. First, for a year and a half or longer I’ve received suggestions to take all the listings posted on Re-Lilly and organize them by size and categories in separate photo albums. I have always agreed with this request from fans and desired to do so but could not figure out a way to accomplish this within the confinements of Facebook. The only way possible was for me or admins to post every listing to sort them into albums. If only Facebook would allow fans/members to choose the alums they post to then we would not have arrived at this crossroad.
Unfortunately fans can only upload to the main wall album leaving everything in one huge album with no organization. To maintain some sort of organization and to try and keep the album up to date and fresh we requested sellers delete items when they sold and to wait 7 days before posting the same item for sale again. Too often sellers left those old sold items or posted the same items multiple times, (tons of such offenses are still being deleted from the main album. My helpers have been helping me plug away at deleting as time allows, in recent weeks over 3,000 photos were deleted 1 at a time. My helpers are generous gals, fellow Lilly Loving Re-Lilly fans who have families and careers and donate their time generously to maintain the integrity of the Re-Lilly community. Most admins/helpers in the last year have chosen by their own choosing to remain anonymous, to not accept any credit for their work and usually they chose to be anonymous to avoid the drama and bullying that they have seen me become a target of as the creator of Re-Lilly. I fully support their desire to remain anonymous but only wish I could publicly give them the recognition they deserve.
With the best intentions my helpers and I have posted reminders on the wall, sent friendly reminders and warnings to those breaking the rules (most commonly for not deleting old photos and for posting the same items multiple times, price haggling, etc) and too often were faced with a defensive reply and too often a rude message back that was undeserved and the behavior continued and the problems with the album escalated, the album became much less shoppable (Is shoppable a word?) and we often had sellers who follow the rules complaining about those who do not, this created a whole other issue. The other problem was the chronic rule breakers with their privacy options set to private, there was no way to politely ask those fans to read the rules & guidelines and please follow them. None of us liked to ban people and felt terrible for having to remove a few.
The amount of hours spent reading messages and emails with complaints about people breaking the rules with photos, price haggling, causing drama, buyer/seller disputes was out of control. Volunteers wanted to put in less hours and felt very unappreciated and asked for changes to the way Re-Lilly is operated. We put our heads together and brainstormed. There are only so many hours in the day and Re-Lilly was competing with my family (most of you know I have an active 4 year old Minnie at home), my school (attending full-time) and my medical issues. I became very ill. I’m not going to get too personal but will say I had a preexisting medical condition prior to Re-Lilly and developed another after starting Re-Lilly that has progressively gotten worse and currently recovering from surgery.
It became evident that at this crossroad there were 3 choices: 1. Shut Down the Re-Lilly Page (I didn’t consider this for more than a few minutes, too many have formed bonds here, made true friendships and visit Re-Lilly every few hours, this option would be so unfair) 2. Continue as is, allow the album to grow and chaos to continue or make changes. The vision I always had for Re-Lilly was becoming lost, unmanageable and consuming too much of my time. I can’t expect any of you to understand my position without walking in my McKims.
To sum it up, think of managing almost 9,000 fans in an online group on a daily basis, working every day for over 2 years while not receiving a paycheck. I don’t know many who go to work every day for free? To those who are full time volunteers my hats off to you! In the past I have held moderator and administrator positions for other Facebook pages, Facebook Groups and off Facebook websites and chat rooms and none of those were nearly as demanding or time consuming as Re-Lilly.
That brings us to choice # 3, change the format of the way Re-Lilly operates and institute a small fee for some listings to make it worthwhile or capable of paying someone to post and manage the albums. Obviously I chose #3 after the input from administrators, fans, family, friends, mentors and school professors. I never ever intended when I started Re-Lilly for it to be a business, career or in any way profitable, nor did I expect to be logging so many hours most weeks. I decided that if I (or someone else) would be spending that kind of time there should be compensation and or a way to make buying/selling/swapping more efficient and make it better for every single fan.
In no way will anyone get rich charging $1 per item to be listed. After PayPal fees the net is 67 cents (.30 cents per transaction plus 2.9%). That 67 cents is nothing compared to the time it takes to transfer listings from emails to listings by album and size and to perform album maintenance, that tedious and time consuming job of deleting the sold items in the albums. Not to mention all the other things it takes to make the page run successfully. The real winner here is PayPal (or their parent company eBay) who collects the fees on every transaction. Ebay was one of the reasons I originally created Re-Lilly on Facebook, as a PowerSeller I wanted to escape the high fees I was paying to sell my Lillys and other goods. As a Powerseller and eBay seller for over 9 years(never received a negative feedback from a buyer) I was not pleased with the new eBay changes so I can completely understand where some of you are coming from who dislike that Re-Lilly was 100% free and now charging small fees for some services. Re-Lilly offers a new format, giving you all what many have begged for, for a very long time, a more shoppable (there is that word again, is it really a word? My spellcheck says it is not) format with listings organized by sizes and categories.
I have received numerous emails and messages from both buyers and sellers giving feedback that they love the new format and how Re-Lilly is now operating. Sure, there are still minor things that need tweaking and wrinkles to be ironed out. We begged (sounded like a broken record) asking sellers to help with the task of marking items sold and deleting them but many ignore or choose not to. As my helpers have said they are tempted to call out names to show who is not deleting their photos but that is not the Lilly way. Surprising or comical that some of the worst offenders are now our biggest critics. It is also interesting and surprising that some of the biggest critics of changing Re-Lilly are those that have sold the most, sadly some do not appreciate the fact that they have sold hundreds of items without paying a dime in listing fees. Too many were taking advantage of my time and the volunteers time, selling items and not bothering to do their part with removing old sold items and contributing to problems by not waiting 7 days to repost or posting the same items over and over….and over and over.
In a perfect Re-Lilly there would be no rules but with growth the need for rules arises. Usually those most opposed to the rules are those most often breaking the rules. We try to keep them at a minimum and have far less than eBay, Craig’s List and other Facebook pages,one simple page here: https://www.facebook.com/ReLillyGroup?sk=app_7146470109 . Each rule and guideline was created in response to situations and needs that arose on Re-Lilly, no one was randomly making up rules just for fun. Just as I did not decide one day to just start making money off people selling on Re-Lilly.
To be clear we brainstormed alternative ideas, including but not limited to taking Re-Lilly to an off Facebook Discussion Forums/Chat Boards/Discussion Boards type of sites that are free, and the main reasons they would not work for the Re-Lilly are: the traffic is on Facebook, people spend many hours logged in socializing on Facebook through many networks and to drive fans away from the source of traffic and social activity does not make good sense unless a site off Facebook offered more than Facebook at no charge. A big problem with chatboards is spamming and people making habit of bumping their own listings to the top. The main problem with those style sites we looked at was the marketplace, there was no solution to making selling/buying/swapping Lillys easier or better, most made it more difficult due to lack of visual display of items. I won’t go deeper into the subject, just making a point that charging $1 an item on Re-Lilly to sell was not the immediate choice and came as a last resort.
There are many places to buy/sell/swap Lilly and each has its own unique qualities with pros and cons. eBay has incredible traffic with high fees. Craig’s List is free but not very effective for selling Lilly or clothing in general. There are other Facebook pages to buy and sell Lilly and other clothing brands all over Facebook, what is unique about Re-Lilly is that it is (to my knowledge) the first of its kind, Lilly ONLY and the largest concentration (9,900+) of Lilly Lovers swapping/buying/selling and socializing in one place. Selling items on Re-Lilly has a proven track record of very high success rates. When items are priced correctly (priced to sell) they sell quickly because there is a targeted audience seeking Lilly only. Without going too deep into numbers of social media tracking I will share that 1270+ fans are currently talking about Re-Lilly, this is far above the average for fan participation of a group this size! This didn’t magically appear, it is the result of 2+ years of hard work and dedication from those who have been running Re-Lilly.
Another question we have been getting in regards to the changes and $1 charge is, why not have more volunteers/administrators to help? Why not have them posting all the listings to albums to keep it free? I have been down this road with Re-Lilly and other online communities that I am a part of. This, in my experience, is not usually successful for a few reasons. Unless everyone has a vested interest usually it is not done right. Volunteers often quickly lose interest, and in the case with Re-Lilly we have had people lose interest due to the rule breaking and the feeling of babysitting. When you spend 2 hours deleting photos and message the people breaking the rules and ask them to please follow the rules it gets old fast.
We could certainly stop deleting photos and let album grow indefinitely but that is not the vision of Re-Lilly and wouldn’t really work, there were already too many complaints from buyers that they spent hours combing the album , sent in inquiries on items only to have the sellers respond, “that is already sold” or they were ignored. Most community members have expressed the desire and need for sellers to mark items sold, to remove sold items and to not post the same items many times. Even if we DID hire multiple volunteers who were willing to delete photos and maintain albums, send warnings, answer questions, etc, who do you think has to manage the admins and train them? Yes, that would be me, again, something I have done in the past but no longer have the many hours to continue doing.
So we arrive at $1 per listing, which offers the following benefits:
1.Items are placed into sized & categorized albums that are fresh, up-to-date and easier to shop for buyers. No need for time consuming scrolling the wall.
2.Sellers can more easily locate their items for sale.
3.Having Re-Lilly post your items for you keeps your selling business private and out of the newsfeed for your friends, family and colleagues to see, no worrying about managing different friend lists and privacy settings. No need for alias accounts that several fans have felt compelled to create to hide their selling on Facebook.
4.Re-Lilly is the most affordable place with the highest chance of selling your Lillys. We may not have the traffic of eBay or Craig’s List but your audience on Re-Lilly is close to 10,000 authentic Lilly Loving fans who all arrived on Re-Lilly without being solicited, that’s right, no marketing done! Fans came for the love of Lilly and the desire to clean out their closets or to add to their collections while socializing with likeminded people. Side note: Other pages with fewer fans are charging more per listing.
At this point the new process and format is a huge success. Traffic is higher, there are more sales, more fan participation and we gained over 1000 new fans in less than a month! The small group of chronic rule breakers and drama makers have left and it has been so nice for the community to be drama free! Sure some people got upset about the $1 charge. To anyone unhappy with the $1 fee I say this, we still love to have you, join us for socializing and shopping, you don’t have to sell your items with us, we will love you anyways J We plan to stick with the format and evaluate the success on an ongoing basis. If it continues to be a success then wonderful, more happy sellers and buyers and that will create the need for more help to post listings, if you are interested in making a little money for helping with this send along your name and we’ll keep it on the list of people who have already expressed interest in doing this.
We are well aware that there are new and old Facebook pages and websites trying to do the same or similar as Re-Lilly and often vying for the same fans, as I have often said, there are plenty of Facebook fans and Lilly Lovers to go around! No one needs to pick and choose and Re-Lilly would never make anyone feel the need to choose. It has been brought to our attention that some people have received messages asking them why they sell on RL or suggesting they leave and sell elsewhere......to this we say there is no control on our part of anyone sending messages or emails in response to any posts on Re-Lilly or any public page for that matter, if this has happened to you the only recourse it to report it to Facebook that type of behavior is against the TOS (Terms of Service) on Facebook and will get accounts shut down if reports are made.
I have also been made aware of gossip and vicious rumors being spread about Re-Lilly and myself. I do not respond directly to this type of negativity nor do I feel the need to defend myself or Re-Lilly to this type of untruthful, un-Lilly-like behavior. Of course there will be those who think they need to damage your success to further their own and there will always be jealousy. Look at any successful person or business and you will find a pack of haters at their heels. A person hates you for 1 of 3 reasons. 1) They want to be you. 2) They hate themselves. 3) They see you as a threat. A favorite quote: "Rumors are carried by haters, spread by fools, and accepted by idiots." ~Unknown The success of Re-Lilly and 2 years I have contributed should speak volumes about my integrity and character. Don't be fooled or get dragged into the mud.
I believe in a Free Market and the principles of supply and demand. We at Re-Lilly will never tell you that you should not list your items elsewhere, that is entirely up to you and your business, list anywhere and everywhere, whatever floats your boat! I was always taught in my career and business classes that you do not badmouth the competition. While I would not classify other pages and sites exactly as competitors we are aware that others have attempted to lure people away from Re-Lilly and there is much gossip and misinformation out there, if we can answer questions or clear up confusion feel free to send an email and you’ll receive an answer. Just remember the grass is always greener…………. frankly we are glad to see a few go........those who constantly started drama, posted the same items over and over and those who always complained, never said Thank you for providing a free place to sell all their Lillys, were always quick to criticize every little change but never offer suggestions or alternatives, yes there are some people who are just plain miserable in this world and some of those miserable people love Lilly. Please do not buy into any ridiculous gossip and if you have a question about gossip and rumors then send a private email, we’ll be happy to provide the facts. To be fair to loyal fans/members and to demonstrate the value of having us list your items for you into organized albums by size and category we posted all items for free initially and had incredible success and many emails from sellers excited that they sold between 4-10 items in less than 1 hour and often within minutes of us posting their listings.
We have had many emails from buyers saying Thank You, expressing love for the new Re-Lilly and have stated they have waited so long for this. This is who and what matters, not those few going around stating that Re-Lilly is greedy or spreading lies. If I was greedy I would not have given two plus years of my life to Re-Lilly and helped thousands of people sell and buy Lillys for free.I challenge anyone to go do the same and then come and talk with me in 2 years. I give up now politely explaining because a few have a sense of entitlement that is wrong and they just don’t get it. I chalk it up to age and maturity. This was simply addressed for any true fans who may have been confused. Anyone who does not like Re-Lilly is asked to ignore it and go elsewhere. I was taught to ignore the people and things I do not like. This commentary ends here. No more wasting positive energy on negative things. Re-Lilly will continue to be fun and classy, drama-free and only Lilly-like behavior is welcome.
BACK TO CELEBRATING 9,000 RE-LILLY FACEBOOK FANS! ENTER BELOW TO WIN!
One Lucky Grand Prize Winner will receive the following:
1. Preppy: Cultivating Ivy Style [Brand New Hard Cover Book]by Jeffrey Banks, Doria De La Chapelle, Introduction/Foreward written by Lilly Pulitzer. This book contains fabulous vintage Lilly Photos. Retail Price $45.00
2. New With Tags Lilly Pulitzer Women's Murfee Scarf in Multi Show Me Some Skin, Retail Price $118.00
3. OPI Nail Polish Laquer in Hot, Hot, Hot! A favorite pink shade of mine for matching Lillys. Retail Price $8.50
4. 1 Box of Keep Calm and Have a Cup of Tea, Retail Price $4.99
5. 1 package of Lifeguard Press Lilly Pulitzer Beverage Napkins in Limeade Floaters Print, Retail Price $4.95
Cheers to 7000 Facebook fans! Re-Lilly is really on a roll, it was less than a month ago that we celebrated the 6000 Facebook Fans milestone! Welcome new fans! Thank you to all fans for continuing to make our Re-Lilly Facebook Community so special, successful, fun and the BEST place to buy/sell/swap Lilly!
I hope everyone is having a fabulous summer! This is my favorite season and you will never hear me complaining about the heat! During the recent heatwave my Minnie & I spent the hot sticky days at the beach and stayed in the water most of time. Living in NH we appreciate the heat, it beats ten below zero temperatures, ice and snow. Ask my DH about the heat and he will say, "If I don't have to shovel it I love it!" What have you been doing to beat the heat?
For those who may have missed my post on Re-Lilly the Lilly Pulitzer Endless Summer Online Sale will be August 23rd-25th! If you can't wait for the online sale there are fabulous summer sales already in progress at many Lilly stores.
Don't forget to mark the Lilly Endless Summer Sale in your Lilly Agendas!
Haven't bought a Lilly Pulitzer Agenda yet? Hurry over to Purseladytooshe still has some and they SHIP FOR FREE! Take a peek below at the adorable Lilly stickers included in the Lilly Agendas.
I got the Large Agenda in the Luscious Print from PURSELADYTOO and LOVE it! I adore the Luscious print, so much that I am going to order the matching iPhone case from PURSELADYTOO today! I love my Droid but Lilly hasn't made a cover for Droids yet so I am switching to an iPhone! That's a good reason to switch, right?
Already have a Lilly Agenda? Still visit PURSELADYTOOto check out all the other goodies from Lilly Pulitzer, Jonathan Adler, Madras, Eliza B, Fornash and more!
The current Special at Purseladytoo is on one of my favorite brands of jewelry, Fornash! See below.
Save 15% on all Resort Jewelry!
use code: purseladytoo
Purseladytoo offers wonderful customer service, great selection of products and fast shipping!
Now for the WINNER from our last giveaway HERE to celebrate 6,000 fans. The lucky winner of this preppy wristlet purse is...............
Comment #6...............................(Chosen randomly using random.org)
Before the 6000 Re-Lilly Facebook Winner is announced I want to thank our generous sponsor,
Graceful Correspondence Totally Custom Paperiefor generously donating 2 Pens, 3 Fobs, a set of Foldover Notes & Door Tag! Visit Graceful Correspondence on Facebook to see all her beautiful items by clicking HERE.
Not only is our 6000 Fan Giveaway Winner getting goodies from Graceful Correspondence but also receiving this Lilly Pulitzer Loot:
The Lucky Winner is.......DRUM ROLL............
Lucky Number 136 is..............
CONGRATULATIONS BROOKE! Please contact me at relillygroup@gmail.com with your shipping address! Cheers!
Cheers to 6,300 Re-Lilly Facebook Fans!
Don't be sad if you didn't Win this Giveaway BELOW there is a NEW Giveaway and many more to come on this blog!
This new Giveaway is simple to enter and everyone will get 1 (one) chance to enter.
Does everyone LOVE Private Flash Sale sites like Rue La La as much as I do? If you do, here is a new one for you if you have not already been invited.
What is nomorerack.com? One of the hottest flash websites that offers 8 deals everyday at 1 HOT price! Remember these deals are ONE DAY ONLY! THE Place for favorite brands & hot items at up to 90% off!
ONLY $2 FLAT RATE SHIPPING PER ITEM!
8 NEW ITEMS EVERY DAY AT 12 NOON EST! 8 Different categories every day at "TOO GOOD TO BE TRUE PRICES"! PayPal is now accepted here! The operate with a similar cart system as Rue La La, items are NOT held up in other member's carts like on Gilt, here it is first to check-out basis. When you sign up you will not receive spam from nomorerack.com just the daily deals.
If you sign up using the nomorerack.com Link in this Blog you will get a FREE $10 Account Credit! And after you sign up you can start inviting all your friends and give them a $10 credit and receive a $5 credit for each friend that joins when they place their 1st order in addition to getting credit towards fabulous prizes!
Of Course I chose the Pink Check Wristlet Clutch Handbag! ONLY $8 each! These sold out fast!
Silverware/Utensil Silicone drawer organizers ONLY $5 each! Can you guess which color I chose? Of course the pink! I'm always trying to sneak more pink into this house ;-)
Today I purchased 2 of these adorable Pink & Green Check Wristlet Clutch Bags and ONE LUCKY Reader will win one! It is simple to enter, just sign up with nomorerack.com, confirm via email,then post a comment below letting me know that you signed up and follow this blog (via Google Friend Connect). All entries will be verified. Easy Peasy!
Everyone probably wants to know who won the 5000 Fan Giveaway right?! I'll get to that shortly! Sorry for the delays, seems to be the story of my life lately! I was delayed in posting the 5000 Giveaway while my Minnie was sick in the hospital and hoped to get back on track but haven't been able to do so.
I truly have too much on my plate!
We did make it to the June Lilly Warehouse Sale. I was nervous about traveling 7+ hours by car with Miss Olivia but her doctors gave the go ahead.
After 7+ hours in the car Olivia patiently waited in line at The Valley Forge Convention Center while we waited for a number for the Lilly Warehouse Sale. We saw some familiar Lilly Loving faces from Re-Lilly while we waited and made some new Lilly friends.
As you can see the wait line was very long!
Shortly after 6pm Lilly employees handed out numbers and we were #293, the highest number I have ever received, but still thrilled to have a number for the morning!
We then headed to Bahama Breeze Restaurant to meet up with other Lilly Lovers from Re-Lilly for dinner & cocktails.
We were thrilled to meet up with Re-Lilly friends. There was no Bahama Breeze in this near 90 degree heat and even though we felt like we were melting we had fun!
I wish we had more time to visit with these wonderful ladies! It had been a long day and we were tired and Olivia had started to complain her belly was hurting which scared me after the recent hospitalization. I tried not to panic and chalked it up to the long drive and the heat.
My poor baby was up sick most of the night with tummy issues so neither of us slept much. I slept about 1.5-2 hours as we had to be back in line at 4:30 am. I told Olivia we would skip the sale and rest and she threw a fit saying she felt much better so I told her we would try and if she wasn't feeling well we were going back to our hotel room.
So we got in line and enjoyed chatting with other Lilly Lovers and enjoyed reading these fun signs!
This was how the line looked at 4:30-5:00 am.
The line went quickly and we got through the doors shortly after 5:30 and and shopped until we dropped, literally!
We scored lots of great deals! We were a little sad we couldn't find more matching items but very pleased with all the beautiful Lillys we found.
After another long wait in line for the dressing room area we tried on a pile of Lillys. This is Olivia's favorite part of the Sale! She loves to try on new Lilly dresses and twirl! In the dressing area she was smiles and giggles while she danced and sang songs and modeled all the dresses she picked out. She received many compliments for being so well behaved and for being so entertaining and adorable. We have even received notes from Lilly employees that worked the sale to say how adorable she was in the dressing area. You never would have guessed this child had just been so ill. Unfortunately a few hours at the sale was enough and Olivia's tummy started to hurt again so I took her back up to our room where we laid down to rest.
She still was not well but said she wanted to try eating so we went for lunch at Nordstrom's Cafe (King of Prussia Mall- we love this place!) and then some shopping in the Lilly King of Prussia store where we found more Lilly bargains!
This photo was taken by Olivia at the KOP Lilly Store. She loves to take pictures! Not bad for 4 years old :-)
Here Olivia is modeling/dancing in the KOP Lilly Store window. She was having fun making faces through the window at Re-Lillyers (Andrea & her Mom), wish I had snapped a photo of that but was chatting with the sales associate.
My Tiny Dancer. While we were here I was asked by shoppers if she ever stops smiling and the answer is No! She is such a happy smiling sweetheart. My philosophy is that smiling makes you feel good. Happy girls are pretty girls. When we see someone without a smile we give them ours :-)
Olivia saying "Good-Bye" to the turtle and giving one last hug as we left.
After we left the store she started to feel ill again :( The symptoms she had when she was hospitalized returned so we quickly checked out of the hotel and headed back home. We were supposed to stay in KOP at the Sale through Friday night and also have her portraits done but I didn't want to take chances and be in PA on a Friday so far from her doctors/specialist so I put her in the car and raced for home. I won't go into details but having a child sick with stomach/intestinal issues in the car for 7+ hours was not fun! Trying to make Emergency stops was a challenge in traffic and she almost didn't make it while we were stuck in traffic coming through NYC on the GW Bridge. Through CT we hit very bad storms, took over 8 hours but we made it home. Poor DH was not so lucky and got stuck at the NJ airport due to the storms and flight cancellations.
We have followed up with Olivia's doctors/specialists and they thing she may have Ulcerative Collitis (UC) triggered by the e coli poisoning. I don't usually give a ton of personal information out on my blog but will share that I suffer from UC, not a fun disease, not curable but treatable. I try to look on the bright side and feel blessed it is not something terminal and I do my best to deal with it and minimize flares. I hope & pray that Olivia does not have it but she is at a greater risk because I have it and because of the e coli poisoning. So now we wait and see if she has more flare-ups like she had in PA at the Warehouse Sale and continue to get tests. Please say a prayer for my sweetheart <3 She without a doubt is LILYS BIGGEST LITTLE FAN! Miss Olivia is still upset with me for leaving the Lilly Warehouse Sale early, LOL. We look forward to the next sale and hope to meet up with Re-Lillyers again. The Bahama Breeze re-Lilly dinner was our favorite part of this trip.
NOW FOR OUR 5000 FAN GIVEAWAY WINNER!
The winner of this prize package is..........
DRUM ROLL...............................WE HAD OVER 500 ENTRIES....................
CONGRATULATIONS TO JANICE!
Random.org was used to select a winner!
Janice please send your mailing address to: relillygroup@gmail.com so I can ship your Lilly prize package to you! Cheers! xoxo
I quickly wanted to mention the Lilly Lovers 2011 Photo Contest. Please continue to VOTE for Olivia & I here: http://bit.ly/mdAbmA
We appreciate all the votes & support everyone is giving!
Only 4 Days Left to Vote! I won't be able to promote as much as I have been these final 4 days so I hope ya'll will vote for us every 24 hours! We would Love to finish with the most votes to show we are Lilly Pulitzer's BIGGEST FANS but even if we don't we still feel like winners with all the love, support and votes we have already received! We are so Blessed <3
It is hard to compete for votes with those in the Greek Sorority System and with voters posting they are giving other contestants 60 votes, 115 votes, etc., We never would have guessed we would have gotten this far with so many votes so CHEERS to all of you for sharing the Lilly Love with us!
It takes a lot of courage to enter a photo contest and essay/photo description and I commend every single person who entered this contest, it takes guts to put yourself out there. I thank all of you because we truly love to look at all the beautiful entries. This contest for us is about sharing the Lilly Love and we are thrilled to share our LOVE & Passion for the GREATEST BRAND IN THE WORLD with so many! Don't feel bad if we don't finish with the most votes because after voting ends all Top 20 entries with the most votes will be judged and have an equal chance. This was never about prizes for us, but proving our love for Lilly and sharing it with as many people as we could! We already feel like winners as our entry has held 1st Place for several days, received the most Facebook "Likes" and received the most comments so far! Please also visit the Re-Lilly event set up where you can see links to all the other beautiful ladies from Re-Lilly that entered, they would love your support too!
Last but not least I want to Announce that Re-Lilly has reached the 6000 Facebook Fan mark! I never would have dreamed that Re-Lilly would become such a HUGE success! Thank you for continuing to spread the word that Re-Lilly is THE Place to Buy~Sell~Swap your Lilly, find out about Lilly Sales & Lilly News, and to share your love for Lilly with other Lilly Lovers. I am amazed that we have gone from 5000 fans to 6000 fans in just a few short weeks! We have a very special community and I look forward to announcing some new improved changes coming soon!
To Celebrate 6000 Re-Lilly Fans we are having another Giveaway! ONE LUCKY WINNER WILL WIN ALL OF THE FOLLOWING PRIZES:
Lilly Pulitzer Key To Your Heart Necklace $48 RTV
Lilly Pulitzer Charmed Bracelet $68 RTV
Lilly Pulitzer/Lifeguard Press Hanging Around Thermal Mug $15.95 RTV
Lilly Pulitzer Car/Refrigerator Magnet & Lilly Wine Bag (note magnet has scratches/dirty from warehouse sale)
And last but not least:
Graceful Correspondence is generously giving away 2 Pens, 3 Fobs, a set of Foldover Notes & a Door Tag!
A little about our Sponsor, Graceful Correspondence...
Then (1999)
After countless visits to every specialty store within a 20 mile radius, I called my friend and told her we were out of luck; I just couldn't find exactly the right card for the combination birthday party we were throwing together for her son Connor and my daughter Grace. At midnight, that same evening, I decided to convert one of my fave photos to black and white; then, add color accents to create a sweet invitation that differed from the norm. Even at such a late hour, I was excited about my newfound craft! With encouragement from friends and family, Graceful Correspondence became an outlet for my creative side and knack with graphic design.
Now
Over the years I have enjoyed working closely with customers to create truly one of kind professional and personal products!
