Stephanie's Crowdtap / Old Navy Shorts Sample Share

If I haven't bragged about it before now, Crowdtap is a pretty awesome website - you sign up, answer questions, and get free Amazon giftcards or even free stuff! (If you wanna sign up based just on that, here's a link!)

The most recent sample share I joined was for Old Navy shorts. I expected to get coupons for free shorts, like the ones I'd gotten in the past for jeans. Wrong! The coupon was for not only free shorts, but also a free shirt AND accessory! Wow! I was super excited to participate in this one, since the coupon didn't limit me to a certain style of shorts like previous shares.

What are those ruffles??

Old Navy's summer collection left a LOT to be desired, unfortunately. There were a lot of shirts like this with weird ruffles that looked like the manufacturer was trying to use up leftover scraps. Some had this ruffly stuff down the front, as if to accentuate your boobs (??) or around the sleeves, where all it would've done is make flabby arms look bigger. :( 

We went up and down the aisles several times looking for shirts that weren't atrocious! There were cardigans - for summer? Here!? It was 100 degrees the day we went shopping! - in the UGLIEST colors - like silver or gold, with metallic thread--they felt like Barbie clothes. Bleck.

For our shirts, we both chose basic tank tops - mine a cami with built-in bra, hers a plain white one like this.Old Navy tanks are always in style, and definitely a staple in my wardrobe, so I was glad to get a color I didn't have!

Shorts were tough, too. Lots of fall colors. We're supposed to be wearing bright colors and light fabrics, not orange plaid disasters. So many were also really short, or had unflattering butt pockets - which might be fine for smaller sizes, but not necessarily for us. 

We were happy to find a few styles of Bermudas. Tamera can wear shorts this length to work, so she snagged this brown pair, while I got denim ones. Unfortunately, my Old Navy was out of stock on the lighter color. Boo! I have them on right now - they're a good weight for cooler days, but not so much for the reeeally hot ones. The stretchy material makes them thicker than you'd want on a 100+ degree day..

Last we accessorized. I was hoping to get a good belt, but the coupons also said we couldn't get anything that was on clearance - drat! The thicker belts were all marked down; I guess those were all for spring. I ended up getting a cute hat, similar to this one. I wore the hat today while working in my garden - it was nice to have the sun off my neck while I worked!

Tamera, though? Totally scored! She found this great pair of sneakers - in her size, one of the last pairs left! They were much cuter in person, don't worry. She said they weren't something she'd normally have gotten for herself, but since they were free, she decided to try them!





The best part of the trip was DEFINITELY check out! We handed over our items - mine came to about $35, Tamera's to over $65!!! - and didn't have to plunk down our credit cards! Free stuff is always the best! I haven't heard back from the other two friends that I gave coupons to, but I'm sure they'll be just as thrilled as Tamera and I were to get such great stuff! Thanks, Old Navy and Crowd Tap!

----

I gave one of the coupons to a friend of mine and she had this to say, after her shopping trip and reading my report:

I totally agree about the frills and ruffles - what's with the 80s being back? Guess everything old is new again. I did pick up this shirt, though, which is made of a super soft fabric - definitely good over a tank or a bikini by the pool! The colors were really fun and cheery, which was nice to see when some of the other clothes were dreary. 


I got some flip flops with a cute pattern and Bermuda shorts like you guys did, because the length seemed better :) Thanks so much for sharing!!! I'll definitely look at joining up with Crowdtap!

Ideas brewing

So I have this lame idea. Well, I don't think it's lame.

Anyway, if you've been keeping up with my book "review" posts, you have read about how much I adore George R.R. Martin's A Song of Ice and Fire books (the ones that have given rise to the amazing Game of Thrones series on HBO). The world Martin has created is SO detailed. Books three and four include listings of all important living/recently deceased members of each house...

Along with drawings of what their sigils look like. Martin also uses the sigils as buttons on his website, as seen here.

Inspiration!

A quilt, four blocks long by three blocks wide, each block featuring the sigil and the words of one of the major houses: Arryn, Baratheon, Greyjoy, Lannister, Martell, Stark, Targaryen, Tully, and Tyrell, as well as three minor ones, like maybe Tarth... or a block, solid black, for the Night's Watch, with their oath embroidered?

Their oath goes like this:

"Night gathers, and now my watch begins. It shall not end until my death. I shall take no wife, hold no lands, father no children. I shall wear no crowns and win no glory. I shall live and die at my post. I am the sword in the darkness. I am the watcher on the walls. I am the fi re that burns against the cold, the light that brings the dawn, the horn that wakes the sleepers, the shield that guards the realms of men. I pledge my life and honour to the Night’s Watch, for this night and all nights to come."

(source: http://gameofthrones.net/houses-of-westeros/40-independents/336-the-nights-watch.html)

It will come down to artwork, I think. The sigils on Martin's website are detailed but tiny; the ones that HBO has provided, like this one for House Tully, are simpler, but perhaps not as accurate as I've envisioned:

So we'll see. I like the idea, myself, but I'm a nerd. :)

Sorry, can't share!

I'll admit - I've been kind of bummed lately that I haven't been able to share any finished projects! I've got one...two...three...four...five...SIX quilts in the works now - four as Christmas gifts, one as a wedding gift, and the last for us!

I've been trying to mix it up, working on different parts of each project - I've got one that I've started **hand quilting**, another that I'm piecing together. Three are still in the planning phases - one I know which pattern / design I'm going to do, but the other two, no idea!

I have a gal pal who wants a mug rug made, though, and she's coming over this afternoon, so I'll have her pick some fabrics out and then I'll have something quick that I actually CAN show off! :)

Apologies

I got an apology from my mother today for forgetting to mail me a card or call me or do anything civil for my graduation from college last May. (As in 2010, not this one that just ended).

I also got an offer of airfare for both Jeff AND me for my cousin's wedding in August.

I'm looking at the bright side - my mother knowing she made a mistake, and trips to the Smithsonian and the Maryland Zoo and to see my favorite aunt in Delaware and maybe some old friends.

Hm.

Books 22, 23, 24 - A Storm of Swords

So as I discussed in yesterday's post, I've been reading monstrous books. Huge hardcovers worthy of being called tomes, really. Last night I finished A Storm of Swords, the third A Song of Ice and Fire novel (tome!) by George R.R. Martin.

As with the previous two novels, it keeps getting better with each re-read, aided in part by the fact that I now have a degree in English Literature and plenty of experience analyzing tomes like these. Character development that I hadn't noticed before is now coming to life. With the aid of Tower of the Hand (a sort-of ASoIaF wiki), I'm noticing comments and major, overarching plots that I hadn't noticed or considered before. It helps that Jeff's read the novels, too, and apparently picks up on this stuff way more than I did the first time I read the novels (I was 15 or 16 when Storm of Swords came out, gimme a break!).

Anyway, so as not to spoil it for friends who have gotten the books but not yet read them, I won't go into plot detail. Suffice to say that this is an amazing third novel - or, in my case, three novels (the books are actually published as multiple volumes in some places, so I feel justified making this choice!). Characters that used to be my favorites no longer are, in favor of others who are proving more cunning and sophisticated. In the words of Petyr Baelish ("Littlefinger," master of coin, in the novels), some people are much better at playing the Game of Thrones than others are.

And that's what the whole thing is about, really.