freshly picked moccasin review

Ever since my kids were born, I've been a fan of Freshly Picked. I remember I started following them on instagram, and would get excited when Susan would post a picture of someone famous with their kids wearing FP moccs. A female entrepreneur who built herself up starting with some scrap leather she bought at a yardsale? Yes, I can get behind a lady like that! Then when I saw she was appearing on one of our favorite shows, Shark Tank, I just knew this would be her tipping point. She signed a deal with Daymond, and watching from my living room I felt so happy for her. Is that creepy? Haha, whatever... Since then she has expanded her line to include carryalls, clothing, and even crib-sized moccasins (adorable!!).

cutest packaging ever!

My kids had a BLAST with the emoji stickers that came in the package. They were a huge hit. At one point Henry and George both teamed up against me and covered my back with emojis. I have to admire their teamwork ;)

Because I wanted a pair of moccs that would match almost anything George wears, I got a pair of Swimmin' With The Sharks in a size 4. They fit George perfectly and have a little bit of room to spare in the toe region. The elastic design at the opening makes it simple to put on his feet but also stay put, all while not cutting off the circulation to his fat little feet ;). 

The leather is both soft and durable, and George has even walked around comfortably in the desert of Arizona in them. No stickers or "pokies" even made a dent or scratch on the sole!

Overall I've been very pleased and impressed by this pair of moccs! I will say I've owned a suede pair of FP moccs as well and while they are still very durable, the material developed a scratchy look rather quickly, and the original pattern is hardly visible. If you are considering buying a suede pair, I'd just save them to be used as a dressier pair of shoes (if you want them to stay in their original condition).  These leather ones have been used for some serious playing, and I'm happy to report they still look pretty close to perfect! 

I know for a fact that you will all be seeing a lot more of George in these fabulous shoes. Also, almost everything in her shop today is 20% off for Cyber Monday! Go check it out! Also, keep your eyes peeled on my Instagram account, because I will be hosting a giveaway for one lucky person to win moccs of their choosing!! Happy shopping friends, and I hope to see you tomorrow on IG :)

eShakti dress review

Spring has sprung! And to celebrate, eShakti was kind enough to send me another dress to review! They have a whole spring clothing line, that is filled with fresh, springtime clothes to welcome the new season!

I decided to go with a knit green dress that is both spring-y and will be comfortable while I'm pregnant. While it is basic, it is still cute and perfect for the season. And sometimes basic pieces are the best because you can add more elements/accessories to the outfit, it acts as a great building block to your outfit.



Go check out eShakti to see all their wonderful new pieces. And remember, they offer customization for a mere $7.50, if you want to tailor your look--and the first time you order customization you get it free! And the nice thing is that eShakti offers sizes from 0 to 36w. Holla! Anyways, they are worth checking out. I have only had wonderful experiences with them so far!

eShakti dress review



I was contacted by eShakti to do a product review. After looking into their company and at their clothing selection, I [excitedly] agreed! eShakti is an online clothing store, with the option to customize your purchase so it will not only fit you, but all the preferences will be to your liking! Have you ever looked at a piece of clothing online and thought "oh, if only that had [fill in the blank]" - longer sleeves, a different neckline, a different length, etc. - "I would totally order it!" Well...this website offers that. This customization allows you to alter a piece of clothing to match your size, shape, and style! They have sizes from 0-36w, so there are styles for every type of woman!

Now, tailoring can be very expensive. Basic tailoring can start at $50. So you may think this service could be very pricey. However,  with eShakti, the customization only costs an additional $7.50. That is amazing!! Also, they have an incredibly fast turnaround. After I ordered my dress, I got it in the mail within a week. I was very impressed.

I ordered the Ruffled tiers chambray dress, and had it customized. I added a short puffed sleeve, and I love the way it came out. Here are some pictures so you can see how adorable it is in real life :)

how the dress is shown online

and how it looks on me

i love it!

you even enter your height, so when you say you want it to hit knee length, for example, it will actually hit at your knee!

Henry approved

he was also happy he got to be in some pictures with me :) haha

 

he also loved my shoes ;)



The verdict?? I think the dress is fabulous. It hits at the perfect length, so when I'm going to church and Henry is climbing all over me, it won't ride up and show things I don't want to be seen haha. I love the sleeves, and I love the collar. I don't have a lot of dresses, so this is a wonderful addition to my wardrobe.

I definitely recommend this website, and I am very pleased with my dress. I love the customization options, and I think it is a unique, yet needed, feature. They have a great selection, so go check it out right now! Thank you eShakti, I had a great experience :)

healer's destiny

so GUESS WHAT!? my awesome, adorable, amazing cousin Julee Page wrote a book. whaaaat!? YES. wrote and published a book, titled "Healer's Destiny". i couldn't wait to read the book and immediately bought my own copy!


this fantasy/adventure book is gripping from the very start. the main character is Eliana, a daring girl with special abilities. as she is growing up, she is unknowingly training to fulfill her destiny: end the terror of the evil magician who has waged war against humanity. her strong character, heritage, and bravery guides her through this challenge against all odds.

i don't want to give too much away about the book, but it is an amazing story. the plot is detailed and exciting, and the characters are introduced in a way that makes them really come to life. while a lot fantasy/adventure books nowadays are often predictable, and the endings foreseeable, this story unfolds in delightfully unexpected ways. it manages to always keep you wanting more.

fantasy books are some of my very favorite genres, and this book did not disappoint. it also leaves the ending open for a second book. lets just say i can't wait!! i may or may not start pestering my cousin non-stop until it comes out haha. :) i definitely recommend this book, especially if you like fantasy/adventure books. so go read it immediately!

where can you buy it? barnes and noble; as a nook book; amazon for the kindle; and from the publisher: createspace!!

csn review

with the move and everything, i did this csn review on some items for our new home. i finally got everything installed yesterday, so now i can do my review! these are the items i got:

Cleo Shower Curtain
Curved Rod and Curtain Set (in rubbed bronze)

here are the final pictures:




the shower curtain arrived quickly and was beautiful. yeah, we might need to iron it or something, but we're lazy. the material is fabulous and the colors are great. i love it. we bought gray towel sets to go with it, and it looks awesome (you'll see the whole bathroom when we do our home reveal eventually...).

the shower rod arrived 3 days after the estimated arrival date, but i think weather issues might have been a factor in that. it took us longer to put it up, because a power drill was required in its assembly (so we bought one). yesterday i finally got it installed. the directions were a little bit confusing, and they didn't say what size drill bit was needed. the anchors that were required to put in the wall were cheap, and the instructions didn't really cover their installation very clearly. after struggling with them for a while and actually breaking one of them, i decided to not install the anchors. i screwed in the end pieces with the power drill and went on from there. while some of the pieces seemed kind of cheap, and the directions weren't amazing, i think that the product actually had good overall value for what the price was. most shower rods like this are around $60+, and this one even included the vinyl shower curtain liner and the curtain rings. once everything was installed it looked really good.

because i couldn't get the anchors in, i told josh if he ever slips in the shower, he better not grab on to the rod, because who knows if it will hold him!! haha. the ends seem pretty sturdy with just the screws though, so i think we're good. it looks really professional and classy, and i LOVE curved shower rods because it makes your shower feel that much bigger.

if you want to update your bathroom on a budget, i would recommend buying this curtain rod. if you are more handy than me, the installation probably won't be that hard. if i can do it, anyone can do it. :) and of course i love the shower curtain, so if you want to be cool like me than i would recommend it as well. it's high quality and looks fabulous.

thank you csn!

why indie biz is...

a waste of money.

there, i said it.

[disclaimer: if you are not associated with crafty blogs or etsy, etc--you can skip this post. if you are a craft blogger, dont hate me, and please hear me out. thank you]

last year, as some of you may know, darci and i started our partnership of our etsy shops [here and here]. i had heard about indie biz on the blogs and whatnot, and i looked into it some. i thought it could be helpful to us, since we were just starting our business together, and i thought additional help/guidance could be beneficial. so i paid the money ($75) and started getting excited about it.

as the weeks went along and the lessons came out, i started realizing that maybe this was a mistake. instead of business lessons, they seemed to be "lets try to make you creative" lessons. instead of lessons on how to do your taxes or obtaining business licenses or EINs, they were how to craft a "business card keeper", how to make an "office inspiration board", and embracing trends. EVERYTHING they "taught" us is either common sense, can be found for free on the etsy forums, or is present in blog land.

i will say i got one good thing out of indie biz, and that was the networking. i met a lot of cool people. HOWEVER, if i were more involved in blogging, etsy threads, twitter, flickr, etc... i would get that exact same amount of networking (or more).

that is why i feel indie biz is a waste of money. thankfully i was able to write it off on my taxes this year (since i took an actual entrepreneurship class and learned how to do that).

ps: indie biz also spammed me recently to let me know theyre doing indie biz 3, and that they would give me a discounted rate if i wanted to do it again! instead of the new price of $90, it's available to me (an alumn!) at only $50. what a deal!!! what did i do? i promptly deleted the email and rolled my eyes.

pps: dont hate me :) thanks!

CSN helps me decorate my house!

so, as you all know, we are in the process of buying our first house. while i am excited out of my MIND, i'm a littttttle bit overwhelmed at the idea of decorating. well, CSN graciously offered to let me do a product review, and i think it's perfect timing! they have fabulous wall art and decor, furniture, kitchenware, and more!

now the only problem is deciding what to choose!! with so many amazing products, i might be spending a lotttt of time perusing through CSN's items (they have over 200 stores!).

have you bought any home items from CSN before? what did you get?

csn review...

ok, so you know how i was going to get boots from csn? well, the ones i wanted were all sold out. and i didn't really want any other ones, since my heart was set on those haha. then i realized csn sold ink (because they sell everything!), so i started looking at that since our printer has been out forever. THEN i was like...wait! i've been wanting a printer/scanner combo since ... forever! i got this beauty by lexmark which is an all-in-one printer. the shipping took just a few days, it was awesome. it didnt take very long to set up, and had very clear instructions. it also has a 1-year warrantee, which is always handy.


i absolutely love csn, they literally sell pretty much everything you could use/need in your house, and they are SO helpful! i had to call them about a question, and i got right through to a person in customer support who was really smart and helpful. now that i work in a call center i notice everything when i call into a company now. i was very impressed with csn's customer support, and the girl was extremely nice and willing to help me out. [i've noticed that in my previous experiences with csn as well.]

overall, i only had 2 problems with this experience: 1) it was shipped right in the printer box. and it was very clear it was the printer, not a box used to put something else in. so i'm glad my doorstep isn't open to the street and that i have honest neighbors, otherwise i might not have gotten this printer.. and 2) it didn't come with the usb cord that attaches the printer to your computer. i'm not quite sure if one was supposed to come with it, but there wasn't one w/mine. i took ours from our old (ghetto) printer though and it worked just fine. now that i think of it, this might be standard for printers... i think we had to buy our previous one separately... ?

besides those 2 things, the whole experience was great and i love the printer. i made copies with it and printed, and it worked fabulous! it works fast and it's super easy to use. it's been so helpful, because we had to make copies for something and i was worried we'd have to go to kinko's or some expensive place like that. then the printer arrived and voila! i absolutely recommend this printer, and i'm so glad i ordered it! i know it's nerdy, but i love this printer. i feel like a cute little secretary making my copies! haha ♥

we love colors

i collaborated with we love colors to provide a little photoshoot for you all to enjoy. all photos taken by sarah. we did this editorial style, so have fun (click pics to enlarge):

zebra tights

splash metallic tights
[come shop pink lemonade]

fishnet thigh highs

as you may know i love bright colors, and i love tights! so it's only natural that team up with we love colors, right? i love all of these tights. i wore the metallic splash ones to church on sunday and got tons of compliments. thank you sarah for taking the pictures. and a big thank you to we love colors for providing such lovely tights (with over 50 colors to choose from with dozens of styles of tights)! go check them out asap, you will love what you see!

thank you betty

last week i made cookies. they were delicious. oatmeal chocolate chip, a la betty crocker [oh,and a la csn]. i got a silicone baking mat from them because i was really intrigued by the one my mom had. this one was only $9, and was awesome. it was delivered within a day or two after ordering it. the cookies baked evenly and perfectly, and slipped right off the mat. when i was all done i threw it in the dishwasher, even though the only stuff that was left on it was some melted chocolate chips. it came out perfectly clean and i was so happy!

the baking mat fit right into the cookie sheet, and was awesome. i hate washing cookie sheets so it was awesome that this could be folded up and thrown into the washer. and the cookies were DELICIOUS! i swear they were all gone in a 24 hour period.


ALSO, i have been doing better at making dinner. tonight i wanted to go out to eat but instead we stayed in and i made something for the first time [by myself]: french toast. yummmmmmm! the funny thing is, it's one of my all-time favorite meals. yet i always rely on others to make it for me. so finally tonight i got it together, and me and betty put our heads together and came up with this:

yum! it was delish. while i was still cooking some on the stove josh was preparing his french toast. he was adding powdered sugar and this was the conversation that followed:

josh: mmmmm, do you understand how good powdered sugar is!? whoever invented it is genius. it's like heaven!
me: umm...i know. when i was younger i would sneak into the pantry with a big soup spoon and eat it out of the bag.
josh: well well well, jess did start young!

hahaha. it's true. happy weekend!! ♥

cupcakes! ♥

remember how i told you i was going to do a csn product review? i got a few different items so i'll probably be doing a couple other posts about csn items in the upcoming weeks but these were the first items i have used. ok, so everyone loves cupcakes, right? i mean...duh. they're all the rage right now, and with good reason (they're delish of course!). i saw these little beauties online: le creuset baking cups. they come in packs of 6 and have a bunch of different colors. i literally got these pink and green ones THE DAY AFTER I ORDERED THEM! i was shocked. so these are silicone baking cups and they are currently on sale for $9.95. the picture shown on their site for the pink ones looks a little purple to me, but they arrived in a very pretty light pink color, as seen below:

these things are awesome. i had never even heard of them, so i was a bit skeptical at first. i thought they might be a bit on the pricey side, but if they worked it would be awesome. and they did! my main draw to get these is that they are reusable, which means less paper being thrown away! my main [read: only] beef with cupcakes is that the paper can't even be recycled because they get all gross from the cupcakes, so you are always wasting something when you eat them. so hello, reusable, eco-friendly cupcake/muffin liners!!!

these babies are flexible and non-stick, so you can just pull away a perfect cupcake from them. they are oven, microwave, fridge, freezer, and dishwasher safe. can it get any better? oh...yes. you don't even need a muffin tin to bake them: they stand up all by themselves. i was the most worried about that part because i thought cake batter would be oozing all over the place and i'd have a big mess. but nope! they worked fabulously. the bottom of the cup is sort of slip resistant too, so in moving the cookie sheet into the oven they don't slide around or anything either.

i baked 12 in the silicone ones, and 9 in regular paper liners. this (^above^) is how they came out of the oven.

look how big and fluffy they are! perfection!

bottom line: these are awesome. i think they are worth the price because they are reusable so you will have them for a while, and they work really well. overall i was very impressed. the cupcakes just popped right out of the liners with no mess or fuss. the transaction with csn went smoothly and the shipping was super fast so i was very pleased. go check out csn stores to find these and thousands of other great products!

i heart csn

remember our lovely friend csn? you know, the awesome online stores that offer EVERYTHING from dining room furniture to pet furniture to rugs, etc! yes, i heart csn. to switch it up, this time csn offered and i chose to do a product review.

the last time i went to visit my parents, i saw that my mother had this amazing piece of bakeware. it was a silicone mat that she could bake cookies on, throw it in the oven with the cookies on it, have the cookies slide right off when they were done, and then rinse the mat off with warm water. i was amazed. she said nothing ever sticks to it or burns. ever since i saw that i have been wanting one. DUH, of course csn has the answer. i found a few different silicone baking products i want to try out, and i will let you know if they measure up!

stay tuned for a future post that holds my csn product review(s)!

REVIEW & GIVEAWAY: Corioliss hair straightener from misikko

GIVEAWAY CLOSED. THANKS FOR ENTERING!

guess what? i have ANOTHER awesome giveaway for you!! ever heard of misikko? they have professional hair straighteners and the best hair dryers. they carry a variety of brands, including these lovely ones that you may recognize: chi, paul mitchell, hot tools, and of course: corioliss.

misikko generously sent me one of their top sellers: a Corioliss Classic 1” Black Flat Iron to review, and offered to give one away! yippee! when i came back from camping, the hair straightener was waiting for me at home. i was sooooo excited. when i opened it up, it was the loveliest packaging i have ever seen for any kind of hair product. it also included a couple free gifts, as well as a heating pad you can place the straightener on when it's hot (before this i was using a sushi plate to keep mine on...classy i know...). it also included a little booklet explaining the corioliss line, product information, and even a how to guide w/pictures.

so, i wanted to take some before pictures so you can see what my hair does naturally. it gets kiiiind of crazy. if i hadnt put my product in it before it dried [naturally], it would have been worse. so this is what i was dealing with:

awesome, huh? i told you so. ok, so i sprayed my hair with heat protectant first (a must do!) and then went at it. at first i didnt have the heat up high enough for my craz-o hair so i was worried and thought "oh no! i dont like it!" but then i realized my problem and turned the heat up a bit. then it was perfect. the plates are longer than my last straightener so it can handle more hair at a time and get it all straight. it heats up in record time, which was awesome. when i was finished i got this lovely end product:

cute, right? by the way, the adorable shirt i am wearing came from the etsy shop come shop pink lemonade. you should definitely go check her out and snag one for yourself!! now back to the review: i would highly recommend this hair straightener. it also comes with a 2-year guarantee, just in case something goes wrong. 2 years? hollaaa! it works great and as you can see it straightens like a dream.

how do you get one?* well, you can buy one here at misikko (valued at $200, currently on sale for $89!), or you can enter this giveaway! here are the rules:

1. [MANDATORY] Leave a comment telling me how you usually style your hair everyday (1 entry)
2. Follow my blog and leave a comment saying so (1 entry)
3. Follow Misikko on Twitter and leave a comment saying so (1 entry)
4. Blog about the giveaway on a personal website & leave a link to it in a comment (2 entries)
5. Join Misikko Newsletter and leave a comment saying so (3 entries)
6. Tweet this: "@yourstrulydear is giving away a @misikko corioliss hair straightener! enter here: http://yourstrulydear.blogspot.com/" (1 entry)

that is a total of 9 possible entries. as always, be shameless (you know i would be). enter away, and good luck! Also, please leave an email address so I can get ahold of you if you win!

*this giveaway is [unfortunately] only open to the US or Canada since this particular iron is not dual voltage. so so sorry!

GIVEAWAY WILL END @ MIDNIGHT (mountain time)
FRIDAY JULY 2.

GIVEAWAY CLOSED. THANKS FOR ENTERING!