Featured Brand: Lilly Pulitzer

Lilly Pulitzer has become the arguably the most quintessential prep brand; especially for females. Designer and socialite Lilly Pulitzer (born Lillian Lee McKim) has even been dubbed the "Queen of Prep." Lilly McKim became Lilly Pulitzer when she married Herbert "Peter" Pulitzer, Jr., who is the grandson of Joseph Pulitzer (the Pulitzer Prize). They divorced and Lilly married Enrique Rousseau, who died of cancer in 1993.

After the marriage to Peter, the couple settled in Palm Beach, Florida. Peter owned several citrus groves, which Lilly worked at. She frequently would get juice stains on her clothing. In an attempt to mask the stains, she designed a sleeveless dress made of bright colors to wear while she was working. Customers frequently complimented the dress, so she made more of them and sold them at the juice stand. Before long, she was selling more dresses than juice, and focused on her fashion design career.

Lilly became president of Lilly Pulitzer, Inc. in 1959. The main factory was located in Miami, and fabrics were produced in Key West. In the 60s through the 80s, Lilly Pulitzer dresses were worn by many big names, including: Jackie Kennedy, and members of the Rockefeller, Vanderbilt, and Whitney families. In 1984, Lilly was not having as much fun as she used to, retired, and closed down the entire operation.

The brand was revived in 1993 when rights to the brand were purchased by Sugartown Worldwide, Inc. The contacted Lilly with their hopes of reviving the brand because so many of their mothers and sisters loved Lilly.

Today, Lilly serves as the brand's creative consultant, approving new designs, fabrics, collections, and products. The company has 75 signature stores, or "Via Stores," and is also sold in department stores such as Bloomingdales, Neiman Marcus, Nordstrom, and Lord & Taylor.

The company offers men's and women's clothing, home goods, accessories, sorority prints, and more. In 2010, the Bridal Collection was launched. Be sure to check out the Lilly Pulitzer website for more.

NCAA Basketball Predictions

Here is my bracket for the 2012 NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament. I'm usually much better at predicting football games, but we'll see how it goes. My Final Four is Kentucky, Missouri, Ohio State, and North Carolina, with North Carolina winning it all.

The Lorax

"Unless someone like you cares an awful lot, the world's not going to change. It's not." -Dr. Suess

From the end credits in The Lorax

Preps by Region: The Southeast

Here is the second installment of my series on preps around the country. Today we take a look at preps from the Southeast.

Family: The Southeastern prep will also come from "old money," but their family likely has roots in the plantation industry and the money came in from that era. Many of the families will still be involved in farming, raising horses, or some other agricultural field. The family will also spend a lot of time together hunting and fishing. This is the region that makes camouflage a preppy color.

Summers: Where do you summer when you live where the rest of the world vacations? The summer home of the Southeast prep will likely be at Hilton Head Island, the Outer Banks, or Sanibel Island. These places provide plenty of summer employment opportunities with all of the tourists, and plenty of nice weather to relax in on the days and nights off.

High School: While there are plenty of preppies in the Southeastern United States that do attend private, and boarding, schools, the majority will be getting their education at large public high schools. While in high school, the young prep will play football, playing quarterback, and play baseball as nice spring past time, while the girls will take up equestrian. If a Division I opportunity arises, he will take it, but DII and DIII just don't sound as appealing.

College: The SEC is the only way to go. Schools like South Carolina, Ole Miss, Kentucky, Vanderbilt, Auburn, and Alabama all scream their name. In the fall of their freshman year, the prep will rush and pledge a fraternity, or sorority. College highlights will always be the football games (tailgates), with basketball and baseball serving as time-killers when it isn't football season. They will wear their Sunday best (as long as it is their team's colors) to all sporting events because the Southeast is "God's country." They will major in a variety of academic subjects, but the real major will always be partying.

Career: Thanks to the connections made in Greek life, it is much easier for the Southeast prep to find a respectable job upon graduation. If they don't end up going to work for their father, or some other relative, a fraternity brother or sorority sister, will be there to get them an in somewhere. This is important because raising horses is expensive, after all.

*This article is meant to poke fun and laugh at stereotypes, and not meant to offend anyone.

Vineyard Vines Whalehouse Sale

Preps by Region: New England

Like accents, food, customs, and most other things, preps tend to vary throughout different regions of the country. This is the first installment of a series of posts that will take a look at some of the stereotypes of preppies throughout different regions of the country. Naturally, I'm starting with my personal favorite region in the country: New England.

Family: Most New England preps come from "old money." Somewhere down the line, an ancient relative helped found Boston, or some other trade of historical distinction; probably something nautical. They will be taught proper manners, but as life goes on, they will forget all about these lessons in everyday life, and only apply them at formal functions that they will frequent.

Summers: The New England prep will spend his or her time summering (yes, "summer" is a verb) down Cape (Cape Cod). The ideal spot is Nantucket, but Martha's Vineyard, or somewhere Lower Cape will do just fine. Block Island, in Rhode Island, or the coast of Maine also make acceptable spots for the family to summer.

High School: In the New England states, most preps will go to a prep school. The school may be co-ed, or strictly male or female, but it will more-than-likely be a boarding school. Phillips Andover (MA) and Phillips Exeter (NH) are two big ones with some very distinguished alumni. The preps are likely going to take a liking to sailing, soccer, ice hockey, rowing, and lacrosse. It is also common for the New England preppy to take a PG, or post-grad, year to get those grades up before college, or to look a little more appealing to college scouts.

College: Almost certainly, the prep will go to a small New England liberal arts school, or any Ivy League school. They will choose to major in business, communications, or pre-anything. He or she will also play for the school's DII or DIII sports team; whatever they were the best at in prep school--especially if that sport was hockey or lacrosse. Upon graduation, they will go to grad school, of course.

Career: Once grad school is complete, the New England prep will enter the workforce. The ideal job is in law, writing, medical practice, and finance. A career is needed that will pay well enough for the summer home on Nantucket, and to put the eventual two kids through expensive prep schools. They will undoubtedly find another prep to marry as they approach 30, and kids will be on the way in the mid-to-late-30's.

*This article is meant to poke fun and laugh at stereotypes, and not meant to offend anyone.

Featured Brand: Marley Lilly

Here's a first: a write-up about a store that is targeted at females. Marley Lilly is an online shop specializing in monogrammed and personalized gifts. Marley Lilly is online-only store based in Greenville, SC. Since they are strictly online, they are able to sell for less than their competitors without sacrificing quality.

Pretty much anything you can imagine, they have available for customization on their site. The list includes, but is nowhere near limited to: koozies, croakies, wallets, hats, flasks, blankets, jewelry, and even wayfarers...the list is seemingly never-ending. The only way to really get a grasp on what they offer is to head over to Marley Lilly and see for yourself.

Whatever the occasion, Marley Lilly will have a great gift idea; weddings, anniversaries, graduations, and birthdays are all perfect reasons to give someone a monogrammed, or personalized, gift. The website is set up very nicely, and shows an example of all the customization options, so you'll have a clear picture of what you're ordering.

In addition to running the online store, Marley Lilly also runs a blog: The Monogrammed Life.