Style Lush

Bargain Alert: Old Navy layering camis

by Emily

One of the things I've forced myself to do as fall approaches is go through my summer stuff and purge everything I didn't wear over the last three months. This is a different tactic from years past - I used to just put everything away and save the purge for the BEGINNING of summer, but it turns out that I forget what I liked wearing and what I didn't, so it makes way more sense to get rid of things now while the memory of not wearing them is fresh in my mind.

Part of that purge included all of my layering tanks and camis. I've had most of them for more than a year (several years, in some cases) and they're all graying and yellowing with age, and most of them barely hold their shape, making wearing them under things bulky and uncomfortable. So I bit the bullet and donated them all, every last one. And then LO AND BEHOLD, today I was walking through Old Navy to return something, and found an entire table of camisoles for the lovely price of $3.50.

There are not a lot of things that hold up well from Old Navy, but I don't actually care that much, if they're going to cost me $3.50. I snapped up a few in white (other colors available: black, coral, teal, among others) and the fit ended up being perfect. Not too long, not too short, and just clingy enough to stay place underneath cardigans or other layers - perfect now that the weather is turning cooler and crisper. They don't appear to be available on the Old Navy website, but the ones I found were pretty similar to these:

Women's V-Neck Layering Cami, $8

The ones in store are a similar shape (v-neck) but made out of a stretchier material, and they weren't quite as long. I'm really happy with the ones I bought and will probably go back for more.

[Photo credit: oldnavy.com]

Johnson's Buddies Easy-Grip Sudzing Bar: OMG LOVE

by Emily

People, this thing is a GAME CHANGER.

We've always been a body wash kind of family, but I kind of hate schlepping bottles of body wash along on long trips. You have to bring a big enough bottle to last the entire time (we're currently in the middle of an 11-day beach vacation, so travel sizes won't cut it), it always seems to leak, and I know it sounds picky, but my kids can't manage to open a big, slippery bottle by themselves in the shower and it leads to a lot of frustration for both of us. Ok, so that's the case at home as well as on vacation.

I stumbled across one of these Johnson's Buddies Easy-Grip Sudzing Bars in the baby toiletry aisle and it looked like genius. A bar of soap - an actual BAR OF SOAP - that won't sting my kids eyes! YES! And it's wrapped in a grippy soap pouch that makes it easy to hold onto and super easy to lather up.

Verdict: LOVE. The kids love being independent and washing themselves with it, and I love that it cost around $1 and can be tossed at the end of our trip so I don't have to shlep it home with us. I originally bought it because it just wasn't body wash, but now I think we'll be using these at home from now on. It smells great, and the pouch makes it extra scrubby without being rough - it works great on stubborn patches of marker or dirt.

[Photo credit: johnsonsbaby.com]

Best laundry stain pre-treater

by Emily

Something happened this summer. I don't know WHAT, exactly, but somehow I cannot do one load of laundry anymore without having had to pre-treat SOMETHING beforehand. This wasn't how it USED to be! Even after my kids stopped wearing bibs, they never ate anything so terrible/greasy/RED that it didn't come out in the regular wash, but lately that no longer holds true. My kids are getting food all over themselves. They're rolling in the grass and the dirt. My husband is grilling a lot more, and leaning against oily grates with his favorite t-shirts. I've been splattering stuff all over me when I cook. And we'd look like total slobs with stained, greasy clothes if it weren't for the magic of this:

That's the Oxyclean Max Force Pre-Treater Gel Stick and it WORKS. Oh LORDY, does it ever work. We've gone through TWO this summer alone, and I regret the two-ish weeks when all I had on hand was a stupid bottle of Shout, because it was responsible for the crappification of several beloved t-shirts that still have oily stains on them despite a vigorous pre-treating and washing process. DIE, SHOUT, DIEEEEEE.

I love that it works and I love that you roll it on, making it much easier to be very exact about where it goes on clothing. I do not care how much money you give me, I will not try another stain-removing product. I WILL NOT.

{Photo credit: realsimple.com}

My personal backpack strategy for a kindergartner

by Emily

My five-year-old is heading to kindergarten in September. (I don't want to talk about it yet.) We received a list of school supplies back in April at kindergarten orientation, so last week I headed out to procure them. I admit it, my first stop was Pottery Barn Kids. I AM A SUCKER FOR CUTE BACKPACKS. We already HAVE a PBK backpack, but it's a size small, and our school supply list specified that my son was to come to school with an ADULT-sized backpack.

I was mystified by this, but after speaking with the associate at PBK, I understood why: most teachers expect kids to able to fit folders (without bending them), school projects, and lunch bags INSIDE their backpacks - even kindergarteners. The size of your kindergartener does not change the fact that they need to bring home folders of papers and homework, even if an adult-sized backpack absolutely dwarfs them. She even went as far as to tell me that lots of parents purchase the smaller backpack (assuming it's all their kid can handle, size-wise) and end up returning them for the larger size after the first day of school. Even though the size of the kid is appropriate for a small backpack, NOTHING a teacher wants to send home can fit in it without being folded, smushed, or balled up. And forget fitting in a picture book from the library! (Can you see the light bulb going off in my head at this point? I GET IT NOW!)

But when I picked up a LARGE backpack at PBK, I almost fell over, too. Look, as adorable as they are, they're not ideal for a younger elementary school child. For starters, my kid is just not going to need a bunch of organizational pockets. He won't be bringing crayons and pencils home with him; he won't be needing a place to stash his calculator or his phone. I am pretty sure the school discourages all manner of TOYS being brought to school. And all the buckles and zippers and sturdy lining and padding starts to add up - until the backpack itself felt super heavy, even without anything in it.

I mean, HONESTLY, whose kid is heading to school with an iPad, for crying out loud? Are these the same people who use money as toilet paper?!

Anyway, so off to Target we went, where I went ahead and bought him what seemed like an obscenely large backpack (ADULT SIZED! ITS FREAKING ENORMOUS!) but lacked a lot of pockets and zippers and padding, or pretty much ANY bells and whistles... it's basically a big shell of a backpack, with one zippered pocket on the front. It might not be the highest-quality backpack, but I certainly expect it to last the full year, since he won't be dragging textbooks or other heavy items back and forth to school. And once he's a little bigger, I'll be HAPPY to invest in a quality, padded backpack from PBK or LLBean or Lands' End - one that will last us several years and be more of an investment than something we need to replace every year.

Anyway, just my take, from someone who did the comparison shopping for you.

[photo credit: potterybarnkids.com]

Book recommendation: The Bean Trees, by Barbara Kingsolver

by Emily

I'd read two of Barbara Kingsolver's books before stumbling on this one. I'd inhaled Animal, Vegetable, Miracle, as well as The Poisonwood Bible, and so when I was at the library a couple of weeks ago, I walked over to the fiction section and browsed through her other works on a whim, which is where I picked up The Bean Trees.

The Bean Trees was Kingsolvers very first novel, a fact that blew me away after I'd finished it. I absolutely LOVED this book. I loved the characters, I loved the setting. I loved the way Kingsolver can make characters seem SO REAL even when they're SO DIFFERENT from any kind of person I've ever met. I got sucked in FAST and I couldn't put it down; I actually stopped in the middle of reading one evening and tweeted that I was reading a book that I was DREADING having to see end. I loved it, beginning to end.

Look, I'm terrible at writing plot summaries, so here's the book description on Amazon.com: "Clear-eyed and spirited, Taylor Greer grew up poor in rural Kentucky with the goals of avoiding pregnancy and getting away. But when she heads west with high hopes and a barely functional car, she meets the human condition head-on. By the time Taylor arrives in Tucson, Arizona, she has acquired a completely unexpected child, a three-year-old American Indian girl named Turtle, and must somehow come to terms with both motherhood and the necessity for putting down roots. Hers is a story about love and friendship, abandonment and belonging, and the discovery of surprising resources in apparently empty places."

And after you finish it, there's a sequel: Pigs in Heaven. I already have it waiting for me on my bookshelf.

[photo credit: www.kingsolver.com]

Frommer's 500 Places to Take Your Kids Before They Grow Up

by Emily

I saw this circulating on Pinterest a few days ago and something about it totally resonated with me. I am the kind of person who makes lengthy lists - ESPECIALLY of activities and things I want to do with my kids. But I also tend to get shellshocked by the options at times... for example, although right now we love doing a week at the beach every year for our family vacation, I know there will come a time when we want to start introducing our children to the REST of the country, and yet, the idea of picking one place to start absolutely PARALYZES ME. I want to see it all! I want to DO it all!

I also want to KNOW it all, before I start doing any concrete planning. I love the idea of this book - it might not be the perfect end-all list of the best attractions in the country, but it's a start, and I plan to get my hands on a copy just to browse through and make notes in until the time comes when we decide to branch out a bit with our travel. There are just so many possibilities, and I think this might be a good way to start narrowing down our options.

[photo credit: frommers.com]

Reston, Virginia: WE HAD EBOLA

by Emily

I love love love my little suburb. Located about 15 miles from Washington, DC (and only seven from Dulles International Airport), Reston, Virginia is a planned community that has so many attractive extras - 15 community pools, a nature center with acres of untouched foliage and classes for the kids, streams and lakes and open fields, and 55 miles of paved trails to walk, jog or bike on (that are sometimes cleared well before our roads are when a snowstorm hits). I love the feeling of being surrounded by nature even though we're in one of the busiest, most trafficky metropolitan areas in the entire country. I also love that we have a lovely town center with awesome shopping and restaurant options as well as a zoo and a water park for the kids.

In 2013 we'll even be able to boast a Metro stop - meaning that you'll be able to climb aboard a subway train and be taken directly into the heart of Washington, DC without having to set foot in a bus or a car first - which is pretty freaking exciting in all manner of ways except for the one small thing about how our house is 1/4 mile from the station and I think traffic may simply EXPLODE right outside my door.

But back in 1990, Reston was probably most famous for hosting an outbreak of the Ebola virus in a monkey house (that has since been torn down, though I find it a little creepy that they built a daycare on the site a few years later). It turned out that the virus - though very deadly to macaques (a widespread primate species) - was pretty much asymptomatic in humans, which was a big PHEW to everyone living within 15 miles of the place... you know, except for the 500 or so primates that were infected or suspected of infection and had to be euthanized.

In 1994, Richard Preston wrote The Hot Zone, which profiled the Reston monkey house and outbreak. The virus has no known treatment and is classified as a Biosafety Level 4; not to mention it is highly infectious - in other words, there's a reason STEVEN KING, of all people, called it "one of the most horrifying things I've ever read." A few years later, the movie Outbreak came along and Ebola REALLY became a household word. GAH, you guys remember how TERRIFYING that movie was?

I mean, granted, it isn't the BEST thing about living here, but I do find it to be an interesting historical tidbit about where I live. I love knowing a bit of interesting history about my town (and I have a penchant for interesting medical trivia, too) - Reston is a wonderful place, but it wouldn't necessarily stand out against other suburbs like it. We don't have a lot of unique boutiques or independent restaurants or what vacationers and out of towners would classify as "charm" but we DO have a creepy story about a monkey house, and that feels like character to me.

(No seriously, come visit us! It's awesome here, I promise.)

(photo credit: wikipedia.org)

Summer time saver: Vaseline Intensive Care Cocoa Butter Body Oil

by Emily

Honestly, the number one reason I skip body lotion most often is because I just don't want to take the time to do it. I try to take a nice long shower; I usually don't have any extra time when I get out to do much else other than throw on some deodorant and face moisturizer.

In the summer, however, I simply moisturize WHILE I'M STILL IN THE SHOWER. This is a genius move, in my own personal opinion. I love this product - I usually put it on right after I've turned off the shower but before I dry off - the gel is thick, otherwise, and doesn't go on as smoothly. I find that about a quarter-sized amount moisturizes perfectly if I have wet skin - it doesn't get greasy or oily, and after I've rubbed it on, I simply pat my skin dry with a towel.

I also am 100 percent addicted to the summery scent of coconut and cocoa butter, and this product has just the right scent strength. I pretty much forego any other scent in the summer - I don't want it to compete with this! I find a bottle lasts a while, and I don't use it after EVERY shower... sometimes, it really is TOO HOT for an oil-based moisturizer. But I do love that it feels indulgent when I DO use it, and the price really can't be beat.

{Photo credit: drugstore.com}

Beauty steal: Clarifying shampoo for summer

by Emily

A couple of months ago (I cannot begin to tell you how relieved I am to be able to say "a couple of MONTHS ago"), I had the World's Worst Dye Job, remember? Oh, wait, correction: I had TWO OF THEM. Well, things are way better these days - my hair is just a shade darker than the roots now growing in, and I've sworn off hair dyes pretty much for the rest of my life, such was the traumatic nature of that experience.

I did a lot of Internet research during that dark (HA HA HA, GET IT?) time in my life, and one of the more surprising tidbits of advice I ran across was that hairdressers sometimes recommend a strong clarifying shampoo to help quickly fade a too-dark dye job. Specifically, they seem to recommend Paul Mitchell Shampoo Three, a clarifying shampoo that actually says, right there on the label, "Not safe for color-treated hair." WELL OF COURSE I GOT MYSELF SOME.

I'm not sure it really helped to fade my color any (though I've seen a lot of user reviews that back up that theory), but what I DID discover was a really great deep clarifying shampoo that does an amazing job removing buildup and makes my hair super soft and manageable after I've used it. I only use it once or twice a week now, but whenever I do, my hair seems to really take to the conditioner I use afterwards, and I NEVER (seriously, NEVER) have a bad hair day after using it. I imagine it's particularly suited to summer use, when hair gets regularly exposed to chlorinated water, salty air, sunscreens, and product after product that claims to tame frizz and prevent damage from humidity.

I've gone through a whole bottle in the last month and I'm about to buy a second. For around $9 at nationwide salons like Hair Cuttery, this is a true beauty steal. Get yourself some!

{Photo credit: amazon.com}

Easy kid room update with zazzle.com

by Emily

I don't have a normal three-year-old girl, if you go by what society believes is today's normal three-year-old girl - meaning, we don't have a house exploding with princess crap. Nothing against princesses, I swear! My kid just isn't into it (yet?); she prefers animals of all shapes and sizes. She plays with stuffed animals constantly and consistently, she colors roughly 85,000 animal pictures every day, and she refuses to wear anything but clothes with animals on them when she gets dressed.

She is also pretty much obsessed with Disney characters like Bambi, Lady and the Tramp, and Bolt. Sensing a theme, here? ANIMALS, all of them. But Disney stuff isn't particularly easy to come by unless you're a big fan of A) princesses, B) Cars, or C) whatever big movie is in the works (right now, that happens to be the new Pixar film, Brave, that comes out at the end of the month). Sometimes I come across a random t-shirt or coloring book to add to her collection, but they're few and far between. So when I wanted to put up a few fun things in her room, I had a hard time finding anything to hang on her walls that wasn't an expensive art print or, frankly, just... ugly.

Enter zazzle.com! I was able to order seven simple prints to hang on her walls to the tune of about $60 (that includes shipping). Here's what I really liked about zazzle: the prints I ordered were clean-looking and simple (tasteful, I guess is the word I'm looking for), and I was able to order them in whatever size I wanted. This meant that I was able to order sizes for wall frames I ALREADY HAD (I just spray painted a few that had been lying around). It also meant I was able to order two posters large enough to mount on some old canvases we were no longer using - I was able to basically just mod-podge the posters to the canvas after touching up the sides with some spray paint.

And what did we end up with?

(And a few others that aren't pictured and haven't been hung.) Lucy is loving them. She absolutely drove me BONKERS when she saw them and DEMANDED they go up on the walls RIGHT THEN, and then she giggled and pronounced her room, "Special!" I was pretty pleased too. I always thought of zazzle.com as a place to design your own coffee mug and not much more, but there are so many art options available. I chose the cheapest option for the prints I ordered (poster paper) but they are thicker and sturdier than I thought they would be, and I was super pleased with the quality.