Old Navy Activewear

Well, I should probably change the name of this blog since I'm using it to review all the products I get to try...but I digress.  Right before Christmas I got to try out Old Navy's new activewear line.  Perfect sample and share for me, right?  Just lost the baby weight and my 12th half marathon training started a few days ago...so it was the perfect time for me to get some new workout clothes.  I did a sample and share of Old Navy's activewear last year and wasn't too impressed...I'm happy to say that I liked everything much better this time around.  There was a pretty good selection - half zip jackets, full zip jackets, fleeces, t-shirts, long sleeved shirts and tanks!  Then there were capri pants, yoga pants, and other long pants.  I liked that there were some different colors...I'm tired of black, grey or dark blue pants so I was excited to get a pair of heathered purple capris!  I'm a big fan of thumbholes too and I was excited that the grey heathered jacket I got had them!
   I've worn both already and overall I was pretty happy.  Unfortunately I don't think Old Navy activewear pants are for me.  The pants I got last year and the purple capris both don't stay up!  I tried the purple ones on a run and at a step class at the gym and both times I found myself yanking them back up, so that was a little annoying...maybe I'm just between sizes?  It's a shame because I like the style and the material.  The jacket I had much better luck with.  I went for a few runs in it already and the weather has been in the 30s and 40s and it kept me warm with only a tank top underneath so that was great!  It was comfortable too...big fan!  And the gray will go with everything!  Here's a picture of the pants and the jacket I got...(they also had the opposite of what I got - grey pants and a purple jacket...but I liked the purple pants - can you tell?)  I also tried on a black fleece that was SUPER warm!  I don't think I would've been able to wear it to exercise because I was sweating just trying it on!  Would probably make a great jacket though!

The outfit I went home with

The super warm black fleece jacket!

Swagbucks

Healthy Choice Baked Entrees

As a member of CrowdTap I was invited to try Healthy Choice Baked frozen meals.  They sent a coupon for $1 off (if you'd like to try them yourself here's the link for the coupon http://bit.ly/12bA4Te) so I figured why not?! I bought a the fettucine alfredo type and cooked it up for Derek one day for lunch.  He's always looking for things he can bring to work for lunch so he was the best person to try it.  I've never been a fan of any meal that goes in the microwave so I think I would've been biased!  Anyway, Derek had it one day for lunch and thought it was pretty good.  It definitely wasn't big enough to eat for dinner, but it would make a decent sized lunch.  I don't think these are something we'd buy on a regular basis.  Both my husband and I eat more substantial meals so the portion size wasn't ideal for us.  For Brayden (my 3 year old son) it might be a good meal, but he's more into peanut butter and jelly and mac and cheese ;)  Derek said it was exactly what he expected - he would've been disappointed if he ordered this at a restaurant but having been a taste tester he said it tasted like microwaved pasta...which by the way, I don't think there's really a way to make pasta taste great when it's microwaved.  Anyway, overall we give this particular dinner a 5 out of 10.  There are some other varieties but I don't think we'll bother trying them.  I'm not really into buying frozen prepared meals...I enjoy cooking and would rather prepare a meal from scratch.  I think a lot of frozen meals have a TON of sodium and when I cook I can control what goes into the food my family is eating.  Call me a control freak, but I like having that power.  At any rate, here's a picture of Derek enjoying it...and Brayden had to share it too because it was daddy's!

...And we're back!

Well, it's been a busy few months!  I'd kinda taken a backseat with Crowdtap because I was upset about not being able to redeem all my points for Amazon gift cards.  I also didn't have the time anymore because my sweet Avery was born in August.  I decided to keep a low profile for awhile to see if anything fun popped up and then came an Old Navy sample and share for dresses!  How could I say no to that?

Since we haven't been in Virginia Beach for that long, I didn't know who to bring with me so I ended up bringing Derek's co-worker's wife.  We had a blast trying on all the dresses and overall we were pretty impressed!  I was a little hesitant to go get a dress right before winter because dresses are something I associate more with summer, but I was impressed with the longer sleeves and heavier fabrics.  The only thing I would request of Old Navy is that they make some of these dresses in a tall size.  I have a pretty long torso so some of the waists were higher than they should've been and I would've liked the dresses to hit at or below my knee and most were above - but on my friend, the dresses fit a little better because she's not as tall as I am.  Either way, I found a few dresses I liked and as always it was hard to pick just one.  Here were my two favorites!

I ended up with the purple print dress.  I think Derek will have to take me out on a date night now so I have a reason to wear it!  Thanks Crowdtap and Old Navy!!  

Woolite

So the latest thing I got to try via Crowdtap was Woolite special care dark. We were supposed to get the samples at the end of June which would have been great because we rented a beach house for my 30 th birthday and there were 10 of us in the house so there was lots of laundry...but the samples did t come until the end of July. Since I'm 30+ weeks pregnant and can't really go anywhere the people I got to share the samples with we're limited to neighbors and friends I saw. I only gave samples to 5 people because I wanted each person to have 2 (each sample was enough for 1 load) because I don't feel like you can judge a product based on only one load of laundry...honestly I don't think you can judge on 2 loads either, but whatever! We worked with what we were given. I also think summer wasn't the best time to test it...with 100 degree temperatures I didnt have much denim or dark colors in my laundry.  Fall or winter would have been better timing so we could see how it worked o. Our jeans...I may save a sample until then.  Overall, no one hated it but no one was rushing to the store to replace their current brand.  I would've liked a better scent but it seemed to do an ok job cleaning the clothes which I guess is most important.

Madagascar 3

Well, I had every intention of throwing a Madagascar 3 party but the odds were just not in my favor.  When I first scheduled the party I had to cancel because my son had a high fever and was pretty sick.  I rescheduled for a few days later but at that point I had gotten whatever he had and was feeling awful so I had to cancel again!  On top of being sick, I tried everything to get something from the kit to print but all I kept getting were blank pages.  I reinstalled Adobe reader, saved the link to my desktop and tried opening it several different ways, but I just didn't have any luck.  Beyond frustrated, I decided to just take my son around town and promote Madagascar 3 to him doing any activities we could involving the movie.  We made Mac n Cheese shaped like Madagascar characters, we went to Lowe's for a Build and Grow program where we built the monkey powered plane (which he brings with him everywhere now) and we watched the first 2 movies at home (we have the first one on dvd and the second one has been on tv lately so we recorded it).  We also played around with the rainbow wig app on my phone and he got a kick out of taking pictures of himself with the different characters and putting a rainbow afro wig on himself...pretty cute :)  We took him to see the movie on Saturday and he really enjoyed it...so did I, for that matter.  I always appreciate when an animated movie throws in some adult asides every once in awhile to keep us entertained :)  Anyway, overall I was pretty disappointed that I couldn't get anything to print from the digital kit, but since we both ended up getting sick, we made the best of it and had fun anyway!

Here's Brayden building the Monkey powered plane - I can't believe how good he was with that hammer!

He loves the mac and cheese simply because it has a Madagascar picture on the box!

We took this one at the movies - hot outside, nice and cold in the theater!

Splish Splash

So it's bathing suit time of the year again...but this year I don't have to worry about having a flat belly because I'm already 6 months pregnant!  That makes it infinitely easier to shop for bathing suits, so this Old Navy bathing suit sample & share couldn't have come at a better time!  I set up a girl's night that fell through and since Derek was heading out to some Navy school I had to take him and Brayden with me to go bathing suit shopping.  An extra opinion is always a good thing!  The girls night that didn't work out also enabled me to share my other free coupon with Stephen's girlfriend, Joanna.  She's been working out hard lately and lost more than 15 pounds so I figured this would be a nice treat for her!  Plus, this is the first girl he's dated in YEARS that I actually like so I might as well enjoy it :)  So I went to a store here in Virginia Beach and to be honest, I wasn't that impressed with the bathing suits.  Since I'm pregnant I've got more up top than usual and I felt like I was spilling out of most of the bikini tops and that makes me super uncomfortable.  I like coverage and support, especially since I'm chasing Brayden around at the beach!  I don't need any wardrobe malfunctions.  I saw a one shoulder tankini on-line that I fell in love with and although I wouldn't have been able to wear it this summer it would have been great to see a one shoulder bikini top...I LOVE the one shoulder style.  Not sure why, I just do!  Here's the 2 suits I was between and Derek picked the bandeau top as the one he liked best, so I took his opinion.  I also didn't like that the fasteners in the back of the bikinis was made of plastic.  I feel like those snap too easily - I would've preferred metal but oh well :P

Joanna went to an Old Navy store in NJ and tried on a couple bikinis but ultimately decided on a super cute one piece.  I know she wore it after her and Stephen ran a 5K the day after she got it, so I'm glad she got one she liked!  Thanks Old Navy and Crowdtap for letting us go crazy in the store finding a new bathing suit for the summer!  Although I've mentioned a lot of things I didn't like, I did appreciate the huge selection of colors and patterns!