Fashion

What I’m Into – December 2013

December 30, 2013 by Amy 26 Comments

I’m linking up once again with Leigh Kramer to talk about what I’ve been into this month. It’s a great opportunity to talk about all the little things I got excited about.

Family and Friends

My Christmas break is officially over. We made a short Christmas bucket list and marked them off through the month, but mostly we hunkered down and spent a lot of time at home. I enjoyed a full week off with the family and man, was it what I needed. We had a great Christmas week and I’m so thankful for another year with family and friends.

Julep Nail Polish

After hearing about it many times, I finally broke down and subscribed to the Julep Maven box–a monthly beauty subscription service–when a friend posted a coupon for a free box.

In my free box, I got two Julep polishes and wow! I was super impressed with how well the polish went on, how shiny it was and even how long it lasted. I’m not sure how many Maven boxes I’ll actually get, but you can count me in as a definite fan of the polish.

Get your first box with the code FREEBOX!

TimeHop App

My friend ohAmanda introduced me to the TimeHop app and oh, it is so fun. Every day it shows you what you posted on your social media accounts that exact day in any previous year. You can’t see any day except the day you’re on.

For example, on Christmas, it was so fun to relive those Christmas mornings again. I have tweets from 6 Christmases ago!

You also unfortunately get to see some rather embarrassing moments too. Like, 5 years ago I don’t think I posted anything that wasn’t related to Twilight for a few months. Sheesh. Sorry, folks.

The best thing is it’s free!

Wedge Tennis Shoes

These wedge tennis shoes are way out of the norm for me but I found them on Clearance at JCPenney’s on vacation and I just couldn’t say no.

They are so comfortable and unlike many wedges, they make my feet look smaller instead of like small boats. Does anyone else think they look like the high-tops in Back to the Future?

Mary Kay Skinvigorate Cleansing Brush.

I just got this for Christmas so I haven’t been able to do any long-term testing but I’m definitely loving my Mary Kay Skinvigorate Cleansing Brush. Everyone raves over the Clarisonic but the price point was just a little high for me.

I can’t compare them, but I really am enjoying the Mary Kay cleansing brush. And at $50 retail, you really can’t beat the price (especially when you’re a consultant!). It doesn’t feel too rough, but it leaves my skin feeling super smooth.

Shameless plug: If you need a MK consultant, I do ship anywhere in the US.

Miche Bags

Speaking of consultants, my mom is a Miche bag consultant. She’s been trying to get me into the bags for years, but I’m a one-bag-at-a-time-and-for-years kind of girl. Seriously, the bag I had up to this month I’ve carried every single day since I bought it in March 2012 in Georgia.

My aunt gave me the mid-sized bag and a few shells for Christmas and y’all? I kind of love it. Like, really love it. Even though no one probably cares, it’s fun to swap out the shell in just seconds to a shell that compliments my outfit. It sounds so trite but it really does make me happy!

Books I’ve Read

Contrary to how I thought my month would go, I read fewer books this month than any this year. I spent a ton of time on the house (and Netflix—see below) and very little time reading. In fact, I only finished one novel: The Misremembered Man.

This novel was billed as a romance but it was so much more. Set in the 70’s in rural Ireland, it’s the story of a man who was abused in a Catholic school as a child and then adopted. The reader comes into the story just as he decides he needs to get married in his early 40’s.

As someone who is trying to adopt a boy from DSS, this was a little gut-wrenching, particularly at the end, but it was just such a work of art. I couldn’t speed read through the Irish accent in much of the dialogue and the vocabulary was rich. The characters were just lovely (well, some of them) and a surprise (and GOOD) ending left me satisfied this was the only book I read all month.

At only $3.99 for the Kindle version and free to borrow for Prime members, you shouldn’t pass this one up.

I spent the Advent season reading through The Greatest Gift. If you’re on the Facebook page, I hope you enjoyed the snippets each morning. I was pleasantly surprised by how much I loved this book. If you haven’t read it, don’t hesitate to read it at any time of the year.

TV I Watched

What Not to Wear holds a very special place in my heart. I started watching the show when it first began in 2003. I was in my early 20’s and still trying to figure out my style. I learned so much from them and really, feel like I relearn it all every time I watch. I haven’t watched it in years and years, but they put the last two seasons on Netflix. The girls and I were goners.

I’d heard the buzz online about White Collar. Tiffani Thiessen from Saved by the Bell AND Hilarie Burton from One Tree Hill are on the show so you would think I’d be all over it. For some reason I never took the time to get into it.

When my parents got into it recently on Netflix and insisted we did, we took a peek at it one night and we were sold. We buzzed through the first season in just a few days. Great law enforcement drama, great characters, good humor and all around great show.

*While we’re on law enforcement dramas, I should also note that Scott was WAY into the series on Netflix called Flashpoint this month. I watched a few episodes with them and even though it wasn’t something I was into, he was. If that’s your sort of thing, you should definitely check it out as well.

So with that, we’re staring down the end of 2013. I’ll be back tomorrow with a year in review post.

In the meantime, anyone want to share any Christmas gifts they’ve been loving?

What I’m Into – August 2013

August 30, 2013 by Amy 17 Comments

It’s time to share all the fun things from the month that I’ve been obsessing over.

Monogram App

So we’re here—I’m getting app recommendations from my kids’ friends. I saw Emma’s friend use the Monogram App to create background and lock screen images for her iPhone and fell in love. The combinations are endless. I’m very sure there’s something better I could have spent $1.99 on but I did it anyway.

South Hill Designs Locket

I’ll be honest, I wasn’t sure these lockets would really be my thing. But listen, after I picked out all these charms, I was, well, charmed. In my locket I have a coffee cup, a sparrow (his eye is on the sparrow), a typewriter, a camera and a little girl with my girls’ mutual birthstone. I’m sure my rep (and friend) JoAnn would love to hook you up with a locket of your own.

FlightTrack App

It’s not new to me, but earlier in the month when I was flying, I was into my FlightTrack app. You can check times of the flights, status, and even maps to watch the flight path as it travels. While you can totally travel without it, I liked being able to check my connecting flight as we taxied in from the first. (That doesn’t sound pretentious at all).

Man Woman Wild

Man Woman Wild is our latest Netflix find. An ex-Green Beret and his British wife get stranded in different locations each week and have to survive for three days on their own. It’s totally staged but still fascinating.

Good Natured Potato Chips

These are really fantastic potato chips. They’re not thin and greasy but thick, crunchy and tasty. The kids don’t care for them and that just means MORE FOR ME. The Cheddar Cheese flavor is my favorite.

HootSuite

I’m a self-professed social media addict and I just now started to use HootSuite this month. Honestly. I’m a little embarrassed to admit it.

I’m able to pull in my Twitter and Facebook accounts and monitor them all from one screen. More importantly, I can post to all of them—and schedule the posts—all from one location.

Sandals

So, 34 is the age I bought my first pair of shoes for the sole purpose of comfort <—see what I did there. And it turns out all those ladies were the smart ones. These sandals are SO comfy. If you’ve been paying attention in my WIWW posts, you’ll see I wear them ALL THE TIME. I can wear them all day and no pain whatsoever. And wow, Aerosoles has all kinds of cute shoes. I think I’ll just take my cardigans and Aerosoles and retire now, thankyouverymuch.

Tangle Teezer

Now, for one of my favorite finds. This is a brush called the Tangle Teezer. Lexi used one at a sleepover and just raved over it. The family had gotten it on a trip to England. We were in luck, though. The same family made a trip back there this summer and bought one for us to save us shipping. It is fantastic. Lexi has such a sensitive scalp but this Tangle Teezer somehow makes it easier to brush. Score! You can get it online here.

Alrighty, those are some highlights from the month. What has captured your attention lately?

This post is linked up with LeighKramer.com

Stitch Fix #6

July 11, 2013 by Amy 21 Comments

It’s been about 6 weeks since my last Stitch Fix.

For those just checking in, with Stitch Fix you pay a personal stylist $20 to send you 5 hand-picked items. You then have 3 days to decide which to keep, if any. If you do keep any, your $20 styling fee goes towards your purchase.

A paid return envelope makes it super easy to return any items but you do lose your $20 if you choose to send it all back.

I felt like this was a great fix but unfortunately when I splurged on the jeans and necklace on Fix #5, I used up all my credits. We’ll have to be really blown away by these to keep them!

Red Printed Flutter Blouse

Well, I just love this shirt. There’s not really anything I don’t like about it and I can definitely see it in heavy rotation in my shirt-shorts-sandals summer uniform. My only concern is the length. Is it long enough?

Lace Button Up Tank/Bead Necklace

This white lace shirt was pretty, it fit perfectly but there just wasn’t a wow factor there for me.

I popped on the necklace from the fix. It’s pretty but I don’t think that I’d wear the style or color.

Embroidered Pink Cardigan

I almost didn’t even try on this cardigan. It seemed too cutesy for my taste, it’s small and I’m not a huge fan of the color combination or print. It did look a ton better on but this definitely didn’t wow me either.

Green Pin-Tuck Blouse

If you know me, you know I love green. I love the color, the necklace, the sleeves, the length—it’s a winner for me.

The green and red blouses are definite contenders as keepers but the price tag at $45 a piece is holding me back. Since I’ve already paid my styling fee, I will probably keep at least one since I like them so much.

You guys totally changed my mind on my last fix and you guys were RIGHT. I wear both the necklace and jeans all the time. So, should I keep both blouses? If I pick only one, which should it be?

Check out my other fixes here:

If you’d like to try out Stitch Fix, I get $25 credit to keep having fun with these Stitch Fix posts. Thanks for supporting the site!

5 Summer Beauty Tips

July 9, 2013 by Amy 2 Comments

I’m so happy to have Cyndi at my blog today. Cyndi blogs about fashion and beauty for ladies over 40. But let me tell you, I’m just in my early 30’s (at least for another week) and adore her style and never miss a post. You’ll love her fashion sense, her writing style and HER!

Hi! I’m Cyndi and I blog at Walking in Grace & Beauty. I’m so excited to be guest posting for Amy today!

I spend a lot of time over at my blog talking about fashion & beauty so I thought today I’d share my 5 Summer Beauty tips with you.

Summer is here! We all spend a lot of time outside but hot weather can do a number on our skin. It’s important to take some extra precautions to keep our skin looking it’s best.

Here are 5 Summer Beauty Tips that will help you battle the season’s elements:

1. Exfoliate- It’s important to remove all those dead skin cells. I usually exfoliate my skin once a week. I use a coconut oil body scrub that I make at home. It’s easy and will leave your skin feeling smooth! If you’d like to see how I make it, go here.

2. Moisturize-Exfoliating is important to remove dead skin cells but then we need to moisturize to infuse skin with moisture and protect against the sun and other elements. One of the best ways I’ve found to keep my skin looking great is to use coconut oil. I keep a jar in my bathroom. Coconut oil contains fats that moisturize and smooth your skin without leaving it sticky or feeling oily.

3. Hydrate-This is one of those things we all know but drinking plenty of water and eating foods with a high water content help keep our skin looking great. Steer clear of foods with a high salt intake and too much caffeine which dehydrates our bodies.

4. Use a Self Tanner-We all want to have a healthy glow in the summer but tanning beds and hours in the sun will damage our skin. I use Sun Labs Self Tanning Lotion {Disclosure: This is an affiliate link}. This is the BEST tanning lotion! I use it every 3 or 4 days to keep a healthy glow.

5. Inner Beauty-Lastly, I believe beauty begins on the inside. For many of us, summer means we have a little more relaxed schedule but don’t forget to spend time in God’s word every day. As we begin to look more like Christ, our true beauty will shine! This summer I’m doing this study, Meet Jesus. It’s a 13 week bible study on the book of John.

These are my 5 Beauty Tips to help you look your best this summer! Do you have any other tips to keep your skin looking it’s best?

Thank you Amy for letting me introduce myself to your readers! Have a blessed day!

What I Wore Wednesday 07.03.2013

July 3, 2013 by Amy 4 Comments

It’s Wednesday when I share my outfits from the week.

I pair my outfits with inspirational photos. Read more about that here.

Email and RSS readers need to click over to the site to see the inspirational photos.

Today I have a few more outfits from vacation.

Last week I talked about how I picked up some colored shorts. Scott picked these pink ones out from The Limited last week. I love them. I saw this navy and pink combination on a WIWW post a few weeks ago so I was excited to try it.

We went out one night to PF Chang’s so I took the opportunity to wear this dress my friend Dani gave me. I felt like maybe I was overdressed but as I told my kids, “I’d rather be overdressed, than underdressed!”

Along with the shorts, I picked up the shirt and belt at The Limited too. Oh, and I love these shoes from the Nine West outlet. They are gold and sparkly and are very uncomfortable on burnt feet. Yeow!

Let’s connect! Like AmyJBennett.com on Facebook. Follow me on Pinterest, Instagram or Twitter.

Linked with:

The Pleated Poppy’s What I Wore Wednesday

Sunday Style at Plane Pretty

What we Wore at Suburbs Mama

What I Wore Wednesday 06.26.2013

June 26, 2013 by Amy 8 Comments

It’s Wednesday when I share my outfits from the week.

I pair my outfits with inspirational photos. Read more about that here.

Email and RSS readers need to click over to the site to see the inspirational photos.

Just one outfit for you this week. Last week we were still dealing with the water leak debacle while trying to get ready for a week in Florida. You did not want to see my outfits.

Since arriving in Florida, I’ve basically been living in a swimsuit.

I’ve had some colored shorts on my radar for a few weeks and I found some great ones here at The Loft Outlet and The Limited. We went out for a bit of shopping after eating dinner in Tuesday night and I wore one set of shorts.

Hope y’all are having a great week!

Let’s connect! Like AmyJBennett.com on Facebook. Follow me on Pinterest, Instagram or Twitter.

Linked with The Pleated Poppy’s What I Wore Wednesday

What I Wore Wednesday 06.05.2013

June 5, 2013 by Amy 12 Comments

It’s Wednesday when I share my outfits from the week.

I pair my outfits with inspirational photos. Read more about that here.

Email and RSS readers need to click over to the site to see the inspirational photos.

Linked with The Pleated Poppy’s What I Wore Wednesday

Stitch Fix #5

May 31, 2013 by Amy 13 Comments

My latest fix from Stitch Fix came Thursday while it’s still SO exciting to get, I admit my expectations were a tad lower going in this time.

By the last fix, I was disappointed that I hadn’t yet hit the Stitch Fix jackpot and wanted to keep all five items. But I have to say, I was pleasantly surprised by this fix.

This is first fix where I legitimately could see see all of these items in my closet. The color and style were spot on and it’s buoyed my hopes for future fixes.

Let’s get to it!

3/4 Sleeve Blouse

First up was this red 3/4 sleeve blouse. The color is even more gorgeous in person. I was instantly drawn to this first.

The style and color are just perfect but the problem is I got completely lost in it. It’s even more prominent straight on but basically it looks super boxy. I’d belt it but I look horrible in belts. I’ve had so many people try to say I should do belts but no. Belted shirts just do not work on me.

I usually love blouses like this and even have one or two similar in style but I don’t know, something just isn’t working.

Pink Pointelle Shirt

Next up is this pink pointelle shirt. It has this great tribal pattern and is perfect for spring. I like the style and the fit is great.

But listen up, it is already summer here in the Carolinas and I just wouldn’t get any use out of this for months. Certainly a contender but maybe not what I’m looking to spend my money on right now.

Bubble Necklace

I admit I was disappointed at first to see a jewelry box in my fix as I’m more the $5- jewelry-at-Forever 21 kind of girl but I have to admit, this bubble necklace is just gorgeous. I suppose it is NOT gorgeous with this shirt but the jewels are so pretty in person and the color would be really versatile. I like this a lot even if it is more than I would spend. And oh look, my earring is about to fall out.

Striped Maxi

Stripes and maxis. Sigh. I love them. And this one with the detail at the neckline is just gorgeous. I wish you could see the neckline better but it is REALLY cute in person.

This is one of the priciest item of the bunch so I’m going to super picky here. First, I already have a striped maxi so that doesn’t help. I think the horizontal lines are a bit droopy from the front and it’s not entirely flattering but I think that might just be this picture too. We didn’t get any great ones from the front.

I also feel like it’s a tad short. I wouldn’t be able to wear any heeled sandals.

But if you look at this picture you can see it has a cute racer back and I think the stripes are fine from the side. My other issue is I feel like it might be too fitting around the middle. Scott really loves it though (imagine that) and my friend even took a look and assured me it was not too tight.

Skinny Jeans

And finally, the last item was a pair of skinny jeans. These jeans are hard to get on but are super stretchy and comfy when you do. The color is great and the length is perfect for flats or would work well with boots. As far as jeans go, I think these are a winner. But again, I’m not sure if I want to drop any money on jeans at the start of summer.

So, the jeans and red blouse are out but I’m really considering between the other three. I basically have enough credit to cover one of them. Is the maxi or necklace worth the cost or should I pick up the pink shirt and just wait to wear it?

If you’d like to try out Stitch Fix, I’d love for you to hop over with my affiliate link where I get $25. If you’d like to see my other fixes, here ya go: