Stitch Fix #2

August 2014 Stitch Fix

After such a great Fix the first time, I was excited to receive my second Stitch Fix box today! Here is what arrived:

I saw some great colors, and was excited to try stuff on! As I went through the box, I was thrilled to see that there were NO PANTS! I had requested no pants, since I am set with jeans and black pants and am glad they listened to that feedback.

I took each item out and the first thing I wanted to try on was a great asymmetrical zip sweatshirt. So, I threw some jeans on and tried it on. MAN WAS IT A DISASTER!! Nothing about worked for my body type. My torso is too short, the arms are too long, it only makes me look dumpy. The redeeming quality is that the fabric is FABULOUS. It just WAY didn't flatter me. RETURN

We call this my "REALLY?" face

Okay, that was a disappointment, on to the next item. I decided to try on the colorful tank next. This one I am not sure about. It's nice (and would look great with a cardigan), but I don't LOVE it. I like that it has colors I don't normally wear. I am not sure where the "color-blocking" is flatters me. UNDECIDED

Nope, I like it less when I see the photo!

 Okay then, just seeing that picture may have taken this from the undecided pile to the NO pile...

Next up was the blue blouse. It looked nice, but I kept a blue blouse from the first fix and this is almost the EXACT same color. So it was already starting a a deficit.

I tried this on with the feather necklace they sent. It's WAY not me, and not in a good way, in a NO WAY, way. Meh, the blouse is cute, but only okay. I might like it more if they hadn't sent me one just like it (in color) last time. UNDECIDED

Okay, last item and I am already kinda disappointed. It's a purple (good), wrap dress (good)... WOW! The photo doesn't do it justice. It's flattering. Low-cut without being ho-y, a little longer than I'd like, but school appropriate, it's a win. KEEP

I was reading some other blogs (trying to guess what item's I would get), and I saw that one woman never looked at the prices until AFTER she tried the items on. I thought that was a good idea. I have been guilty TOO MANY TIMES of buying something just because it was on sale and then never wearing it. Sure, this is kinda the opposite, but it works. Price might push something from undecided to no, but (hopefully) it doesn't push something from yes to no.

So, what's your feedback not knowing prices?? :-)

Items

Feather Collar Necklace: NO
Asymmetrical Zip Cardigan: NO
Abstract Print Colorblock Tank: UNDECIDED
Faux Wrap Tank Dress: YES
Tab Sleeve V-Neck Blouse: UNDECIDED


Sign up for your own fix!

Disneyland Vacation

How Can It Be A Vacation With Three Kids?

Classic Castle Pic!

It can't. Anyone with young kids knows that a "vacation" is just work! More work than usual since you're not eating "your" food and not sleeping in "your" bed. With three kids, 7, 7, and 5 we knew this wasn't going to be a super relaxing vacation, but we wanted to do what we could to make it as easy as possible.

Since I am going to be working full time (for the first time since the kids were born) this year, we decided we needed a family vacation this summer, so we could have some fun family times before our time was significantly shortened. Plus, since Zach has been on his Growth Hormone medicine, he's finally tall enough to go on all the rides!

Things We ROCKED (and would do again)

One of the hotel rooms

• Hotel: This was AMAZING. We stayed at the Anaheim Desert Inn and Suites and it was MOMENTS from the front Gates. It took us less than 10 min (with kids) to walk from the hotel room to the front gates. BUT, that wasn't even the best part. We stayed in a "family suite" and it was even better than I expected. There were two beds in each room and the "kid room" didn't have an exterior door, so there was no risk of them getting out, or someone getting in. PERFECT for our family. It didn't stop at the excellent location or room, the staff was super nice, keeping Zach's medication in their lobby fridge both before and after check-in/out.
  I would stay there again in a heartbeat.
• 3-Day Passes: We have been twice before. Both were not times for Disney, but because we were going to be in CA and decided to go. This meant it was a one day trip and because tickets are so spendy, we crammed everything we could into that one day. With three days we could go back to the hotel when the kids were tired and not feel like we were missing out on anything. The kids still got to go on all the rides they wanted (teacups, all they wanted to do was go on the teacups), but no one felt rushed.
• Food: Because of Zach's allergies I wanted to pack most of our own food. I am assuming because we had three kids, no one batted an eye when we came in with snacks (apple sauce, granola bars, pb&j, etc.), bottled water, and fruit. We still purchased food in the park, but having snacks available made it easier for us to stay longer and enjoy our time.
• SHOES: I know this is dumb, but my shoes were awesome. REALLY awesome. I bought these Keens, and I walked for three days straight in them loving every moment. I bought them months ago and have been wearing them most days. They were more expensive than I like, considering they are a "replacement" for flip flops, but they were absolutely perfect.
• Dresses: I saw a blog that said dresses were the way to go in the heat. I am not a dress person AT ALL, but found a couple cute ones at Nordstrom Rack and they were perfect and kept me cool. That was a great recommendation.
• Stroller: Our kids are older, but I knew Annabelle (5) wouldn't make it walking the whole trip. Plus, I wanted to pack a lot of food, and didn't want to wear a heavy backpack in 90 degree heat. We packed 8 water bottles a day (my kids have Portland-water-tastebuds and didn't like the tap water in CA!), and no one wants to carry that around. The stroller allowed Annabelle to ride and gave me a place to store all my junk.
• Packing Cubes: If you haven't tried packing cubes, you really need to. They are AMAZING!! I know it seems dumb and like it won't save you space, but IT WILL! I had a set already and ordered a set of the medium size. In each I fit everything for the entire trip for the kids. 5 shirts, 4 pairs of shorts, 5 shirts, underwear, socks, swimsuits, sweatshirt and a pair of long pants. The medium size fit perfectly in their backpacks with their coloring books, so I wasn't stuck hauling their clothes. We fit clothes and JUNK (including food) for 5 days in backpacks and two carry-ons. It doesn't get better than that.
• External Phone Charger: This is the one we ordered. I was eying a smaller/cheaper one, but we wanted to be able to charge both our phones at the same time. This was perfect and did a wonderful job. I might order a smaller one just to have for me, since this wasn't really "purse" size.



Logan and Zach as
Chip and Dale

• Dollar Tree Spray Bottles: If you know anything, you know that things at Disney are more expensive. The spray/fan bottles are $17!! WHAT!?!?!?! That's crazy. Well, maybe not crazy when it's 90 degrees, but I bought spray bottles are the dollar tree (put them under the stroller) and they were just as good and MUCH cheaper. Takes the sting out of the $4 diet coke. :-)

 

On to the rides!!

Having grown up in Southern California I have been to Disneyland countless times. I have not, however, been to California Adventure. I heard a lot of good things about the Radiator Spring Racers ride, so we decided to do a park-hopper ticket for the first time.

They were not strong enough!

I downloaded the Mousewait app and kept an eye on most of the rides the weeks leading up to the trip. Most of the "big" rides were about a 30min average (Space Mountain, Star Tours, Splash Mountain, Matterhorn, etc.) and I was surprised at how short many of the other lines were (Buzz, Dumbo, etc.) most of the day they were about 10min. The two things I knew would have the LONGEST waits were the Radiator Springs Racers (I don't think I ever saw it under 60min) and the Frozen Princess Meet and Greet (which was never under 90min, and was at a few points 180min!!!).

If you haven't been to Disneyland in the past decade or so, you may not be familiar with their fastpass, but it's the WAY TO GO when you have kids. You get a "ticket" for a one hour window where you get a much shorter line (like 10 min). They can (and do) run out of fastpasses for popular rides and you are limited to the number you can have. Usually I would send Aaron to pick up a fastpass for us (he held all the tickets) while I did an easy ride with the kids. Seven is the MAGIC age at Disneyland. They can go on rides by themselves. So, on Dumbo, the boys could ride together and I could ride with Annabelle. It made it doable to ride while the other adult was getting fastpasses.

RANT I understand that I am super sensitive to this, but I feel like at a place like Disney, they should be sensitive to kid's needs. The first time we rode Dumbo, Zach wanted to ride by himself. Perfect, the age limit is 7, we're good. THREE different workers came up and asked him how old he was and then the last one asked where his mom was (sitting right behind him watching it all unfold), and asked me how old he was. I get that he's small, but then they should have a height limit, not an age limit. Plus, if you are REALLY that concerned, don't send three different people to make my kid feel like he's done something wrong, ask where his parent is right away. </RANT>

Back to the rides. We started in California adventure where there was a 15min LINE TO GET YOUR FASTPASS for Radiator Springs! There was no wait for the Mater ride, so we started there. Last time we went to Disney Annabelle was 3 and CRANKY, she took forever to warm up to rides and didn't smile until we'd been there for HOURS. She was much happier this time.

Mater!

The Mater ride is like a jerkier version of the teacups, where you have no control. It was perfect, the line was short and the kids liked it.

After that we headed to the Luigi tire ride (air hockey bumper cars), where Logan asked where Mario was... Wrong Luigi! Pro-tip: While dresses are great for beating the heat, they aren't great when air is being sprayed up beneath you.

Once Luigi was finished we headed to the Radiator Springs Racers. The wait time was 45 min and I had never seen it that low, so we decided to get in our first long line. I grabbed snacks from the stroller and we began our line wait. One thing Disney does well is entertain you in line. There was lots for the kids to look at, which made the wait bearable. Of course most of our time in line was spent like this.

The ride started and both Aaron and I were like... uh... okay. Then you get to the fun part. An actual race, it was awesome. It was then we understood while people stood in line for this! One thing to take into consideration is that you should put your shorter kids in the back if you want a decent picture...

The bar in the front TOTALLY cuts off the faces of shorter riders. I also think they "rotate" (random, or alternating, not sure) which car "wins" the race. We went on the ride twice and won the first time and lost the second time.

Speaking of the second time we rode, we did fastpasses the second time and it was 15min to get on the ride, MUCH better.

The other thing that I knew would have LONG lines was the Frozen Meet and Greet. Seriously, 180 min? That's just insane. I love Annabelle about 60min worth at most. We could chill in line, read books, have lunch, but that was my MAX! The first time I went and checked (less than half an hour after opening) and it was 150 min... Craziness

So, we watched the Frozen float and that was that. Annabelle was excited and all I could think was that they don't get paid enough to wear all that heavy garb in 90 degree heat.














While we spent three days at Disneyland/California Adventure, we didn't even break the tip of the iceberg. We never made it to Toon Town, we didn't really explore California Adventure. The kids got tired and while we tried to take breaks to make our days last longer, the kids were all asking to leave because they were tired. I REALLY REALLY REALLY wanted to see Fantasmic with the kids, but it starts at 9pm and they never made it. (If you're going to do it, buy glow in the dark bracelets and necklaces at The Dollar Tree, significantly cheaper than Disney).

The kids favorite ride was the teacups. They really only liked us telling them we felt sick. I think that's the only reason they wanted to continue to ride it. Over... and over... and over... BARF! At least there was never a line!

First teacup ride

Third? Fourth? Ride

The other ride we couldn't get enough of was Buzz Lightyear. First off, I hate guns, and this ride let's them shoot stuff. The line is short and moves quickly, plus it's inside, so nice and cool!

To Infinity and Beyond!

Day one Zach was just CRUSHING us with his scores. More than 10 times what the rest of us were getting. Say what you want about "letting" your kids win, but Aaron and I went online and looked up all the tips and tricks I had seen online. Zach was not happy when I beat his score (A LOT), but I was pretty stoked. :-)

Finally a decent score!

All in all the kids had a great time, but they were ready to go home after three days. Maybe if the weather had been cooler they would have lasted longer, but they are also young and I can't expect that much from them.

Souvenirs

Lightsaber war! Grandpa has a "lightsaber" app (okay just a flashlight)

I read all the tips about hitting the Disney Store and buying items there, but my Disney store sucked. They had shirts and stuffed animals, but I wanted pins, autograph books, and they had none of those things. In the future I would order online. Thanks to Aunt Lizzie, the kids got to pick out a small souvenir on the second day, they each wanted small lightsabers.
 We also let them each get a pin on the first day. They wanted something BIG but we told them we weren't going to do that until we were ready to leave. In hindsight, maybe that's why they were anxious to go home.

On the last day they all decided they wanted a "build your own lightsaber". They were about $22, which was about what I was expecting to pay. I was afraid they would be much more expensive. Plus, they had purple, so even Annabelle was excited. For now. I am waiting for someone to get hurt.

Mom, someone hit me!
Uh, you're swinging a big stick around your siblings
and you're surprised someone got hit?

I saw this and had to buy it for Aaron!

  Ride highlights!

Big Thunder Mountain
Annabelle: THIS IS NOT WHAT I EXPECTED
She didn't ride it again

Star Tours
Logan: Ugh, why do we have to take a picture with C3PO?

Teacups
Zach: Mom, please delete that picture

Splash Mountain
Me: There's a couple small drops, a medium one and then a big one
Logan: And then we die

It was a good trip and for the first time, more vacation than work. I can only hope that holds true as they get older. we'll start saving now for another trip in 2 years.

Buttered Popcorn Butterscotch Cookies

Delish Cookies

I need a better name for these cookies! I adapted this recipe slightly from the Smitten Kitchen Buttered Popcorn Cookie recipe from her book. If you have followed any of my sweets posts in the past, you know she is my go-to for anything food related!

We returned from Disneyland yesterday. I am still working on that post, but as a thank you to our neighbor who collected our mail while we were gone, I decided to bake her some cookies. I have been wanting to try this recipe, so it was the perfect excuse.

Ingredients
Popcorn:
1/4 cup popcorn kernels (or about 4 cups popped)
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
1/4 teaspoon table salt + 1 pinch
1 tablespoon melted butter 
You could used popcorn from an air popper or microwave popcorn, in which case, you may want to adjust your oil/butter/salt levels.

Batter:
1 stick softened butter
1/2 cup packed light brown sugar
1/3 cup granulated sugar
1/3 cup butterscotch chips
1 large egg
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 1/4 cup all purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
Pinch of salt

Steps:

Make your popcorn!
If you're making it over the stove, coat the bottom of a pan with the oil and layer the kernels in a single layer. Cover the pan and heat over medium/high heat. Make sure you are constantly moving the pan to prevent any burning. Listen closely and remove from heat once it's finished popping.
You can either move it from the cooking pan to a bowl checking for un-popped kernels, or you can sift though the pan you cooked it in. Either way, you don't want to be mixing in un-popped kernels.

Pour your melted butter and salt over the popped corn and let sit
I found that the majority of my salt ended up on the sides of the bowl, which is why I adjusted the ingredients slightly to also add a pinch of salt to the batter.  I really wanted more of a "salt" flavor with the popcorn. You can adjust as you see fit


 Pre-heat your oven to 350 degrees

Prepare batter: 
Cream butter, brown sugar, granulated sugar, egg and vanilla together
If you have let your butter sit long enough, this shouldn't take long. On the off chance that you forgot you needed softened butter, try "grating" the butter with a cheese grater to soften it and make it easier to mix. Just be sure to use a little more than the recipe calls for to account for all the butter than ends up on the grater (and your hands).

Whisk together flour, baking soda and your pinch of salt
Once whisked, pour dry ingredients into your mixer and combine with the butter batter
By hand, mix in the butterscotch chips
By hand mix in your cooled popcorn

Once you pour in the popcorn you are going to think something is wrong. There is SO MUCH popcorn and, seemingly, so little batter. Don't worry, it will mix together well. Some of the popcorn will break while you're mixing, and that's okay!!

Spoon onto a parchment lined cookie sheet and bake for ~10min
If you are not already aware of the magic that is parchment paper, buy some at the store. Just this once and you'll be hooked. No extra spray is needed, cookies won't stick and clean up is a BREEZE (unlike wax paper, which is NOT the same).

The original Smitten Kitchen recipe didn't call for butterscotch chips, and I added the extra pinch of salt. If you want more of a popcorn flavor, I suspect that you could use microwave popcorn with more of a butter flavor. I want to try these with a good kettle corn, I think that would be even better. I think I would omit the butterscotch if I used Kettle Corn. Oh my, or caramel corn... The possibilities are endless!!

I think the biggest surprise to these cookies was the texture of the popcorn. I am not sure what I expected from them, but it was great!! Try them and let me know what you think.

Jamberry Nails

Jamberry Nail Review

We just got back from a family "vacation" to Disneyland. I had big plans to write up a blog post about all the things that allowed this to be more "vacation" than "work", three kids means that even a vacation isn't relaxing. However, that's going to be a HUGE post and I am way too tired for that tonight. PLUS when I arrived home today, I saw my Jamberry Nails in the mail!! I've been waiting for them for about 2 weeks and couldn't wait to try them.

Nail background: I used to bite my nails. For like 25 years, maybe more. When I was still biting them I often did acrylic nails, but then I would pick at them and they destroyed my nails. These days I paint from time to time, usually subtle colors since they chip hours after I finish. A few times a year I do a shellac. Usually around our National Qualifying and State Tournaments for Speech and Debate. That's when I get nervous for my kiddos and the shellac prevents me from biting my nails off. BUT, then I pick those off and it's not great for my natural nails. It's a lose lose.

When it comes to toenails, it's even WORSE!! I run a lot, so I keep my toenails REALLY short (or they dig in and cut me when I'm running). I love pedicures, but with the aforementioned three kids, there's not a lot of time for pampering. Plus, because I run, I need to keep my calluses so I don't blister, so paying for just polish seems like a waste.

Products I've Tried: I have tried a lot of the at home "peel and stick" type nails. Mostly the Sally Hansen Insta Gel Strips, and they are good, but again, I am a picker, so as soon as I see a lose edge, they are OFF!! I do like them for weddings, etc. because at least I know they won't chip. I have found them easy to use, but for whatever reason have only purchased them a couple of times.

Jamberry!

I (like many people!) got invited to a facebook Jamberry party. I love all the patterns, so I decided to bite the bullet and try them.

Pre-Impressions: These are spendy. At $15 a sheet, that's not cheap (more about this later)! Mine took about two weeks to get to me (10 business days, +2 Saturdays). I was hoping they would arrive pre-Disney, so I could test their endurance with lots of walking, but they didn't. I am not sure if you have any shipping options, but leave yourself a 2 week window if you are ordering for a special occasion.

COLORS!! There are so many color options! I did the buy 3 get one free deal, and was most excited to get the "runner" nails, because they are purple and a runner! WIN WIN!

I did the runner on just one thumb (for now). I was hoping to do these on my toes, but my toenails are too short. Maybe just my big toe!

Application: I do my own nails a LOT. That said, there was a good learning curve to these. NOT COUNTING PREP (removing polish, buffing, etc.) my toes took me over 30 min. I was completely unable to file them off. I have used the Sally Hansen ones and even with the buffer I was able to very easily get them to "finish off" on the end of my nails. FULL DISCLOSURE, I have never tried the Sally Hansen gel strips on my toes.

After the first big toe, I decided to screw the filing (which wasn't working) and just used cuticle trimmers to just cut the edges off. I also used them and some scissors to shape the strips of nails, so I am going to be able to get 3-4 applications per sheet, which TOTALLY cuts down the cost. I was originally thinking $15 per application, but now we're looking at like $4 each, which is more manageable.


Final Thoughts
After all was said and done, I think I know now what works for me and what doesn't. Because I would likely just do these on my toes, the busy patterns aren't the best (TINY TOENAILS!). I feel like the simpler pattern (the teal) looks much better than the busy one. I bought the "Fade To Black" pattern as well (the only one not shown here) and I have two thoughts about it... 1) I can't use it on my toes (the "fade" won't show) AND like the runner, I can't get 3-4 applications out of it, only two since the pattern is on each edge.

I'll have to do the fade to black on my fingernails, but I am not sure when I will get around to that! I will update for sure when I do!

 Final Results

I couldn't decide between my two patterns, so I alternated on my toes. :-)
The teal pattern looks much better on my teeny toenails where the busy pattern looks good on my big toe, but not so much on the smaller ones.

Would I buy again?

YES! I want to see how they wear, but I love all the patterns and now that I know what is going to work best and give me the most bang for my buck, I think it's a great option for me. I am running a big relay race this coming weekend, so if my toes can hold up after that, I am certain I will order some more!

I will be sure to update with wear and how long they last. I might get to that before I get to my Disney post!

 

Parent Meeting = Pastry

The real reason I run is so I can eat good food with little guilt! I volunteered to host a parent fundraising meeting, really just so I had an excuse to bake. If you haven't gathered by this point, I LOVE the Smitten Kitchen blog. LOVE. I can't count how many recipes of hers I have made, and they have all been delish!

This is the second time I have attempted homemade pop tarts. Both times they have EXPLODED. Not sure if I am using too much filling, or putting it to close to the edge or what. At least they taste good, but I need to figure out a way to make them prettier!

At least you can tell they are filled with strawberry!!

I forgot to take a picture of the chocolate cinnamon rolls before we devoured them. This is what was left. They are SO good and reheat incredibly well. I kinda want to go eat another one!

Pool Party!

Party Time

Today we are headed to a pool party. Okay, not a party, it's only two families. When each family has three kids each, it's a 10 person party! My all time favorite food blog is Smitten Kitchen. I have made many of her recipes and have never been disappointed!

A few days ago she posted a Bourbon Punch recipe and I was anxious to try it. This party seemed like the perfect place. As I read through the recipe, I realized that I would be squeezing a bunch of lemons. That made me think of one of my other favs, her Lemon Cake! I always have to zest a ton of lemons, and since I wasn't using the zest for the punch, this seemed like a win, win!

Lemon Cake

I halved the recipe (or I would have eaten it all). There were a few times that I forgot to halve something, mostly the lemon juice, so hopefully the flavors turn out correctly. This photo also reminds me that at some point I need to buy better serving plates.

Bourbon Slush Punch

This one, I had just been waiting for an occasion to make! I mixed everything but the ice and stuck it in the fridge. I am hoping to pour it over crushed ice when we arrive. Our fridge doesn't have an ice maker and I didn't want to buy a whole bag just for a few cups of ice. It was perfect poured over crushed ice and I can't wait to make it again! We drank all of it, or I would have taken pictures of the finished product!

The one thing I learned while making this (and the lemon cake) is that I really need a juicer. Even just a little hand one. I am doing it all just by squeezing and it's not efficient at all!!