Mommiedaze

Girls Just Wanna Win Swag: Mika Rose

The winner of last week’s giveaway from Original Art By Jeanne Winters is Jenn S.

This week’s featured company is MikaRose. MikaRose is a clothing company that specializes in modest, elegant and fashionable dresses.

From the MikaRose website, “Our company’s idea evolved when the owners realized how difficult it was to find modest dresses in today’s market. We are sure you have had similar experiences when looking for a modest dress. After many frustrating outings, we formed MikaRose. Our goal is to provide an extensive line of modest dresses, without having to sacrifice style. You will be able to wear our line to a broad range of functions: from everyday events to corporate parties. We hope to not only meet the needs of women looking for modest wear, but all those who are seeking elegant dresses.”

MikaRose also offers a line of children’s dresses as well.

Win It!

MikaRose is offering one reader a $30 gift certificate good toward the purchase of any item in the store. To enter, visit the store, then come back here and leave a comment ON THIS POST with your favorite item. Comments not following the rules will be disqualified.

Earn an extra entry by posting about this contest on your blog, and linking to this post and to MikaRose. If you do the extra credit, let me know by leaving a separate comment with the link to your post.

Bloggers and non-bloggers may enter. The contest is open to residents of the US.

The contest will run until 11:59 p.m. EST Nov. 26th.

I’ll randomly draw a winner, and announce the winner on November 28th. There will be no Swag giveaway next Thursday since it’s Thanksgiving. Come back Dec. 4th for the next edition of Girls Just Wanna Win Swag.

The winner will also be contacted by email, and will have three days to reply. If the winner does not reply in three days, another will be chosen. You may also check Prizey Fetch to see if you’ve won.

Have a women-owned business you’d like featured in a Swag giveaway? Send me an email (see the side bar) and let me know.

Need a unique gift for a special occasion or to comfort a loved one or friend? Visit Cake and a Prayer, an online purveyor of delectable cakes and spiritually uplifting gifts.

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Girl Talk: Shopping Trip

My husband Dave gave me the best gift EVER a few days ago. He sent me out for a night of shopping ALL ALONE, and he even gave me some money to spend GUILT FREE! In fact, he told me I had to spend it all on myself. I absolutely was not to use it for anything else.

It was fantastic to actually be able to take the time to try things on, and with out a three-year-old whining in the corner of the dressing room about going home. And then to make a purchase, and not think, “I should be saving this for something else.” Oh the FREEDOM!

It really wasn’t an enormous amount of money. I’m sure many people wear shoes that cost more than what I had to spend. But it was a lot to me. Way more than I would ever think to go out and blow on myself. Because it is our money, and I try to spend it responsibly. And, well, because I like to be able to eat and heat our house and other frivolous things like that.

But Dave insisted, and I did even protest a little bit. In the end I decided this was one time I ought to just shut up and do what I was told.

I was determined to stretch my little windfall as far as I could, so I studied all the sales fliers in the Sunday paper. I even managed to find a couple coupons on line to use at some of my favorite stores. I had a list of specific items I wanted. Mostly things I decided I couldn’t live with out after watching What Not to Wear.

On the top of my list was a pair of wide leg trouser jeans. Just the thing, according to Clinton and Stacy, to slim my chubby thighs. I must have tried on 25 different styles at five different stores. I have a few things to say to denim designers.

1. Wider hips don’t equal longer legs. Why does the length increase by, like, half a foot when the waist increases by one size?

2. Most of us do not need sequins and fancy swirls and flowers emblazoned on the back pockets thus drawing even more attention to the span of our rear ends.

3. Can’t you all get together and agree on a standard sizing chart, so that I don’t go into one store and try on a certain size to find that it’s too big, then go in another store only to find that I can’t even get that same size past my knees?!

O.K. I feel better now.

Anyhow, I did finally find a pair of wide-leg trouser jeans that fit like a dream. And they do take off at least 10 pounds. Everyone — short, tall, fat, thin — needs a pair of these. Well, maybe not thin, because if you’re thin you should be wearing those skinny jeans. You’re the only ones who can wear those skinny jeans. If you don’t wear them who will?

So, as I was saying, these wide-leg trouser jeans create a slimming, straight line from hip to toe, and if you wear them with a nice pointy heel, you look like you have legs that go on for miles. And you can dress them up or down. These things are right up there with the skirted tankini as far as fashion advances for woman kind.

I love my trouser jeans. I don’t want to take them off. I wore them three days in a row. But I decided I should take a day off from fabulousness, and wash them before they get up and walk by themselves.

I also picked up a pair of shoes and a few tops, a jacket and even a foundation garment or two. And with my coupons I managed to add an extra $32 to my little wad of cash. It was a shopping success all around.

I had so much fun, and it was nice to have some time away. So thanks Honey for the treat!

Now I’ve got to go get those jeans in the wash, so I can wear them on Monday. I have to hang them up to dry. I mean, you just don’t put risk putting pants that fit that well in the dryer.

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The June Cleaver Experiment

June Cleaver was always dressed to the nines. Even vacuuming and dusting in pearls and high heels.

Can you imagine?

Well, I can’t. So I’m giving it a try.

I’m spending every day for a week going about my normal modern life, but doing it in a dress and June’s accessories.

Come by Monday evening Sept. 29th for the first daily update on my little experiment.

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Girls Talk: Shop ‘Till You Get Carpel Tunnel

Apparently Michigan now has a monsoon season. It poured down rain here for almost 72 hours. The deluge ruled out any outdoor activities, and made it miserable to even leave the house since just the dash from the front door to the car (attached garage too full of junk to park in) left us soaked to the bone.

That left me with lots of time to window shop on Etsy while David watched The Incredibles for the sixhundred-million-fivehundrend-thousand-fiftysix to the nth degree time. (That’s probably not a real number. I never was good at math.)

Anyway, I think I Etsyed for too long. My neck hurts. Not sure you’re supposed use a laptop while lounging on the couch.

But I did find lots of cool stuff. I was browsing through the clothes on Etsy. There are so many beautiful, unique designs on Etsy. You’ll definitely stand out from the crowd. Best of all, a lot of the fashions on Etsy are affordable.

So I started out searching for graphic Tees. I love the look, but most of the ones I see in stores are either inappropriate for a 33 year-old mom or sport skull and cross bones. I’m not a pirate wench, and I don’t want a shirt that says Flirt on it. Think the hub might not like that.

Rainbow Swirls has some of my favorite tees. I picked up this one for the bargain price of $12. (Shipping was only $3.) All of their items are reasonably priced.

I think it will look cute layered over a long sleeve Tee when it gets chilly.

I didn’t make anymore purchases, but I did find some other things to add to my wish list.

Vigilante Labs is a little more pricey, but they have some really fun retro-inspired clothes. They will custom make many of their designs to fit you.  I really like this A-line dress. I could see wearing it with a little button down cardigan this fall.

For something a bit more subtle, I like this Jersey Hoodie from Ellania Boutique.

Now everyone can use some cute PJs to snuggle up in. My SIL has a set for sale over on her blog. Custom made to fit, complete with matching slippers.

So there’s no reason to dress like the status quo this fall, or break the bank to look good. Now go forth and be fashionable ladies.

What’s your must-have fashion item for this fall?

Talk to me girls!

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Girl Talk: The Long, Long Saga of a Very, Very Bad Hair Day in Podunk

Click here for the Girls Just Wanna Win Swag Giveaway. This week: A $25 gift certificate from Soothing Rituals.

O.K. This is really long, but stay with me.

Saturday morning started out full of promise. It was gray and rainy outside, but I was excited about going to a swanky downtown salon in the “Big City” (Kalamazoo) for a haircut and some pampering.

I’d done a lot of research scouring the Yellow Pages and Internet for area hairdressers. This salon looked like it would be THE ONE.

You know.

The one where I get a haircut so fabulous that it changes my life, forever.

Choirs of angels come down from heaven singing.

Hollywood starts calling.

That kind of fabulous.

I wasn’t the only who wanted to get my haircut at this salon. There was a two week wait for an appointment.

I did my hair that morning even though I knew they’d wash it, because I couldn’t have the people at the salon thinking I went around with messy hair.

Why is it that your hair lays wrong for weeks because it’s too long, but when you do it right before going to the beauty shop it looks perfect?

Finished with my hair, I obsessed for 20 minutes over what to wear. You can’t just go to a salon like that in shorts and a T-shirt. The employees and other clientele were sure to be hip and fashionably dressed. What would not look like I tried to hard, and not like I spent most days cleaning up spilled milk and Legos? I settled on some flip-flops with a wedge heel, capris and a floaty linen top. It probably still said “Mom”, but hopefully “Mom with a Little Flair”.

While agonizing over what to wear, I used up the extra 15 minutes I’d given myself in case I had trouble finding the salon. I grabbed my Yahoo directions, and ran out the door. In the car I skimmed over them, pretty sure I knew where I was going.

As I entered downtown, I had a feeling I wasn’t quite in the right place. Looking over the directions more carefully, I realized I should have taken the business route rather than the freeway. I was on the opposite side of the city from where I needed to be. But the salon was located on the Kalamazoo Mall, a popular downtown destination. There was directional signage everywhere leading the way, so I followed.

I found the Kalamazoo Mall, a ONE-WAY street lined with shops. I turned right, the only way I could. And I drove and drove looking for a building number to give me a clue about where I was on the mall. Finally, I saw a number that told me that I was again at the total opposite end of where I should be.

So close, yet SO far away.

It was 9 o’clock. My appointment was at 9 o’clock, the same time the salon opened. I reasoned that it would be alright to be a few minutes late since they were probably just unlocking the doors and getting things set up.

At this point I would have parked my car at the wrong end of the street, and walked the four blocks in the other direction, except that it was pouring down rain, and I of course did not have an umbrella. The rain would have turned my oh so carefully selected white blouse into see-through tissue paper.

Traffic was light this early on a Saturday in downtown, and I weighed the risks of simply turning my car around on this one-way street and dodging the few on-coming vehicles.  But I decided against it, and went around the block to the parallel one-way street running in the opposite direction.

I was naive to think that the street ran parallel. For it curved. It curved so much that I ended up at the business route exit I should have taken in the first place. Now I was 10 minutes late. But all I had to do was turn around, and follow the Yahoo directions to my destination.

According to my directions I was supposed to turn onto Burdick street. I looked and looked for Burdick. I looked until I was a half an hour late.

I never did find Burdick.

Frustrated beyond the point of return, I headed toward home.

Why didn’t I ask for directions? At 9 a.m., on Saturday morning, in downtown, in a rain storm, there is no one to ask.

Why didn’t I call the salon from my cell phone? I forgot to bring the number with me.

What makes me a COMPLETE IDIOT is that this was the SECOND time in less than a year that I’d made an appointment to try a new salon in Kalamazoo, and missed that appointment because I couldn’t find it. And it’s the SECOND time that I’ve taken the freeway, instead of the business route, and gotten completely turned around.

On-Star, Garmin — I need some kind of help.

Let me just say this Kalamazoo. It would be easier for a girl to find her way around if:

1. You put address numbers on the front of your buildings

and

2. You marked your streets with signs!

I discovered later that I crossed Burdick three times. I didn’t know it, because there is no sign at that particular intersection.

The story could, and should, end here.

But it doesn’t.

If you are bored to tears this is a good place to stop and click over to the giveaway contest. If you want to know more, go to the bathroom, get a snack, then settle in for The Rest of the Story.

As I drove home the only thing holding back sobs of disappointment was the thought of how bloggable my misfortune was.

I had no idea it was about to get even better — or worse.

Back home, I stormed in the door making it clear to husband and son that I was in no mood to be bothered. I locked myself in the bathroom with the phone and Yellow Pages, determined to find some place to get my hair cut.

I live out in the country between Hooterville and Bedford Falls, with Mayberry just a stone’s throw away. There aren’t a lot of what I would call swanky salons close to home, but a well-designed ad made a salon and day spa in Mayberry look like a good choice.

I called.

Could I come in at 11:30?

Yes I could!

To get there all I had to do was follow a few familiar roads a short distance.

And there are NO one-way streets to deal with in Podunk.

I drove a little slower than usual, afraid that I was about to get in a car accident just because it was One of Those Days. But I arrived at the Mayberry Salon and Day Spa with out incident.

The first thing I noticed was that the building resembled a log cabin. Not exactly what I expect of a salon and day spa, unless maybe it’s in Aspen.

The second thing I noticed was that underneath the salon’s name on the sign were the words, “And Storage”. Glancing behind the log cabin I saw rows and rows of storage rental facilities. Odd, but by that point nothing was going to stop me.

I opened the door expecting to see lodge decor. I would not have been at all surprised had some kind of animal carcass been hanging on the wall.

Instead my eyes landed on zebra striped wall paper and hot pink trim. Over the load speaker Gwen Stefani was hollerin’ back.

The receptionist introduced me to my stylist, Charity.

Charity was probably born about the year I started high school.

I don’t have anything against younger people. When you’re looking for a hip hair style, it’s probably better to go with a young hairdresser.

It’s just that I am not used to people being younger than me. For most of my life, hairdressers, teachers, doctors were all older than me. Then they started being in my peer group. And now they are younger.

I will never forget the first time I encountered a doctor younger than me. I’d gone to my OBGYN for a pre-natal check-up. My regular OB was detained at the hospital delivering a baby, so he sent an intern.

I’m tellin’ ya, when Doogie Houser walked in that door, I almost went into labor right then. He looked so young. I was afraid that if he did a pelvic exam, I’d get arrested for some sort of misconduct with a minor afterward.

Fortunately there were no stirrups involved. I didn’t get arrested, and his innocence remained in tact.

Young Charity showed me to my chair, and I took my glasses off. My near-sightedness dimmed the wallpaper enough that it stopped hurting my eyes.

Charity tried to make conversation with me as she cut my hair. She told me all about her weekend plans to hang out at some hot night club downtown, where I had just been. (Should I have offered to give her directions?) Then when she asked me about my weekend plans, it became all too painfully clear how little we had in common.

I decided that, “This,” was too lame of an answer. So I tried to explain to her that with a three-year-old, weekend plans don’t really happen so much.

She just gave me a sympathetic smile. I’m sure she was wondering how I could stand to have such a boring life, and vowed right then and there to never get married and have children. I’m very sorry if I shattered all her illusions about Happily Ever After.

I have to say, Charity did a nice job on my hair. There aren’t any angels singing and Hollywood hasn’t called yet, but I like it.

I don’t know if I will return. There’s just something disconcerting about that much animal print in one place.

I am going to get in my car, go back to Kalamazoo and find that other salon.

Then I’m going to make an appointment there, under an alias of course, so that they don’t know I’m the women who blew them off when there was a two week waiting list.

And maybe I’ll buy a GPS.

O.K. If you stayed with me for the whole thing you deserve a prize, make sure you enter this week’s Girls Just Wanna Win Swag Giveaway.

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Girl Talk: The Evils of Bathing Suits and Win Some Swag

After a chilly spring and a cool early summer, the heat has finally kicked into high gear around here. It’s been 90 degrees and humid for days now. That’s pretty hot for us Yankees up in Michigan.

That means I’ve been spending a lot of time in the pool with my son, and a lot of time in my bathing suit.

Bathing. Suit. Season.

Three words that strike fear into the heart of many a woman be they short, tall, fat, thin, pear or twig shaped.

Oh, the horrors of searching for that perfect swimsuit.

It’s torture to try on suit after suit in a tiny little dressing room all the while scrutinizing yourself in one those evil three-way mirrors under fluorescent lights that create cellulite you don’t even have. You’ve got to find the right color, the right support, the right coverage.

For a few year now I’ve coveted one of those mix & match tankinis from Lands’ End. With so many different styles of tops and bottoms to choose from and a big range of sizes, they’ve got something for just about anyone. In fact, you can choose the customize option and even get a top in your exact bra size, with or with out under wire.

Alas, I can not justify spending over a hundred dollars on something that I’m just going to hang around my backyard in. But I also don’t want to scare the neighbors, and we do make a few trips to Lake Michigan each year.

In August.

When it finally thaws.

Oh, if you have not had the pleasure of swimming in one of our country’s beautiful Great Lakes, baby, you don’t know what cold is!

If it were up to me, I’d wear this to the beach.

I personally think the Victorians had it goin’ on when it came to swimwear. Modest, full-coverage, nothing to keep tugging back into place. It is the mystery of what is not reveled…

Unfortunately it’s the 21st century now.

I never was comfortable in a skimpy swimsuit. There were a few years back in my younger days I could have rocked a bikini, but most of the time I stuck to the one piece. And then along came the tankini. If that’s not one of the best advances in women’s fashion in recent history, I don’t know what is.

But since hitting, and passing, 30 and carrying a child for nine months my hang ups about exposing my figure to the world in a swimsuit have exponentially increased.

Well, I unexpectedly hit the swimsuit jackpot this season at, of all places, WalMart.

O.K. First of all, I know it’s a “mom” bathing suit, but I’m a mom. Get over it. I don’t wear mom jeans, so just let me have this.

I love this suit, which I think is technically called a swim dress. It’s so flattering, if I do say so myself, that I actually get excited about putting it on. I considered taking a picture of me modeling it, but decided that no matter how good it looks, a photo of me in a swimming suit just does not need to be out there on the World Wide Web.

The V-neck accentuates one of my better physical attributes while the a-line cut and princess waist causes it to fall away from the rest of my body, smoothing and slimming everything. The length is just right to hide my thighs, my biggest hang-up of all. In fact, it fits so well, I wish it were a real dress. I’d wear out everywhere.

I also happen to like the sassy little animal print. Not sure what it is. Giraffe, maybe? I don’t think that animal actually exists anywhere on earth, but it’s cute. And it’s brown, the new black, don’t you know?

Lake Michigan, here I come!

Just as soon as the glacier melts.

Talk back to me! Gotta swim suit story? Leave a comment and share.

Girls Just Wanna Win Swag

Girls Just Wanna Win Swag is a new weekly giveaway I’m starting next week in conjunction with Girl Talk. Each week I’m going to feature a different woman-owned small business that offers products for the “girl” in you. You’ll have the chance to win some swag from the featured company.

I’m really excited to help promote women in small business, and introduce you to some wonderful companies and products you may not know about. I’ve got several weeks of great giveaways lined up already. You don’t want to miss it. So come back next week for our usual chit-chat, and some great swag.

Have a women-owned business you’d like featured in a Swag givewaway? Fill out the contact form in my sidebar and let me know.

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Girl Talk: Isn’t that Cute!

Well, I missed Girl Talk last week because we were busy getting ready for The Fourth, and enjoying some family time since my husband was off work for a few days. Today we had the nicest summer weather we’ve had all season, and we were outside most of the day catching some rays and splashing in the pool. Tonight I need to spend some time on a project I’m working on for my husband, so this edition of Girl Talk will be pretty brief. Here’s a few “cute” things I found out on the web recently.

These Cupcake Bath Bombs from Sassy Pink Boutique look good enough to eat!

I found the Lil’ Evening Bag by Belle Bags at the Succulent Wife.

Liven up your next party with these Polka Dot Plates from Wrapables.

The Covet mary jane style shoe is part of Skechers line-up for fall. I need some new cool weather shoes, and these are definitely on my shopping list when sandal season comes to an end.

Poppies is just one of the unique women’s Tees offered by stellarocco. I may have to add this to the shopping list too.

Did you come across any unique or fun finds this week? Leave a comment and share!

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