EmpowerMoms

PV Body exercise clothes subscription-review

Posted on December 11, 2012 by EmpowerMoms

I am so excited to tell you about this new company I found a couple weeks ago!!
Its called

and its a monthly exercise clothes subscription!!

How cool is that??!!
I was so excited to find this company and even MORE excited when they said I could become an “abassador” and offer discounts to my friends on facebook and here on my blog. I will also get a small commission for anyone who buys through my specific link.
I did some research ahead of time because I don’t want to be representing or spreading the word about a company that I don’t know anything about. They are just starting up, but so far so good in regards to customer reviews.

So, How does it work??

First, click on my specific link…
http://pvbody.com/try/craftsnfitness
then…

IT’S EASY AS
1 – 2 – 3

Take the quick quiz and create a personal pv.body style profile.
Our experts will put together a personalized outfit for you.
We ship your outfit to your door for free!

So, for $49.95 every month you can get a shipment of one top and one bottom shipped to you for free!!

First, shipping is expensive, so thats awesome they aren’t charging extra for that.

Second, in your profile style you indicate what sizes you wear and what kinds of workout clothes you prefer. If something doesn’t fit, you can contact them and exchange it for another size!!

So, are you ready for the best part??!!

I can offer you a 20% OFF DISCOUNT on your shipment box if you click on my link above!

So the total of the box would be $39.96!!

If you have ever gone shopping for GOOD name brand exercise Tops and Bottoms, you know this is a STEAL!! What do you have to lose? You aren’t tied into monthly shipments-you can cancel at anytime! You can decided to get one shipment, you can decided to get one every other month-its super easy!!

I got my first box last night, so I wanted to post pictures for you all to see what I got!!

It came in this super pink mailer envelope which is so cool because it felt like I was getting a gift and I couldn’t wait to open it! My top and bottom were wrapped separately in tissue paper.

First, I opened the bottoms. They are gray size Large by American Apparel-performance sportwear collection. They are super soft and stretchy. I was kinda worried because they are “leggings” but the fit was perfect when I tried them on! Its important to me for my clothes to be form fitting when I’m exercising so I don’t have to keep pulling them up around my waist. And the length was perfect-not too long which is great because alot of yoga pants and leggings are too long for me. (I’m 5 feet 4 inches)

I googled American Appearl online and found this link

http://store.americanapparel.net/product/index.jsp?productId=rsaak300&c=alloy

which I’m pretty sure are my exact pants pictured above, and they retail for $48.00!!

Next, I opened my shirt which was by NuxUSA in size medium. The fabric again feels very soft and super stretchy! When I held it up, I seriously didn’t think it would fit me. It is snug but my husband reminded me that it will fit perfect in the spring because I keep losing weight and a large would have been too big. (Isn’t he sweet?)

I googled NuxUSA and found the link to their camis and tops.

http://www.nuxusa.com/index.php/tops/cami-and-tanks.html

I didn’t find my specific top, but its safe to say that this top retails between $50-55!

Here’s some pictures of me wearing my set! I’m going to wash them and wear this week to see if they wash well and roll up or bunch while I exericse. I don’t anticipate I will have any problems.

I know in my picture it looks pretty snug, but the leggings are ment to be tight (size large) and the top (size medium) will fit be better in the spring.

So, if you want to try out this super cool subscription notice, click on my link below to save 20%!!!

http://pvbody.com/try/craftsnfitness

Overall, I was very pleased with the customer service, fast shipping (I got it in one week) and the quality of my pieces. I won’t have to return anything and I feel like my pieces are well worth the $49.95!! Let me know if you have any problems with placing an order and I’ll help! Let me know if you give them a try! Will post again when I get another box!

Posted in Uncategorized | 1 Comment

Athena Book review! book 4 of Newport Ladies Book Club series

Posted on December 3, 2012 by EmpowerMoms

Athena is book 4 of the Newport Ladies Book Club. Like the other books (Olivia, Daisy & Paige) they follow the same time period, but they don’t have to be read in order to understand the series or characters.

At first, I found the book a little slow and hard to get into the story line, but realized the character herself, Athena, is “boring” at first because she has allowed her life and schedule to be the same thing day after day. She works alot so she rarely has any opportunities to do anything else. When she decides to make some changes in her life, like joining a book club and reading books based on a strangers (Grey) recommendation, the book gets more interesting.

I also liked that this book seemed to have less of the other characters involvements (probably because Athena kept more to herself) so you don’t read a lot of events that are mentioned in the other 3 books of the series. In other words, you don’t feel like you are reading one of the other books all over again.

I liked that this book showed Athena’s struggles to change and to understand her parents’ marriage and illnesses. I can’t even imagine trying to take care of a sick parent, especially one that could be violent or not even remember you!

Heather Moore did a wonderful job of expressing Athena’s emotions and struggles. Although I couldn’t relate to Athena’s experiences like I could with some of the other characters, the book itself and the emotions was very well written!!

I cannot wait to read the other set of 4 books, to be released in 2013. The other set of books will not cover the same time period, so the characters we have come to love in the first 4 books will be mentioned and we will see how their lives have changed!!

Posted in Uncategorized | 1 Comment

International Digital Scrapbooking weekend!!

Posted on November 1, 2012 by EmpowerMoms

It’s that time again!!

It’s International Digital Scrapbooking weekend!! whohoo!!

This is the time to get lots of freebies and play lots of games. Last year was my first year, and I was so surprised how big of an event it is!! I thought it would be one day, but it ends up being an entire weekend!! In fact, some designers have even started celebrating today, Thursday Nov 1st!

Make sure you check out the MyMemories Facebook page starting tomorrow thru the rest of the weekend.

First up, I want to tell you about a MMS blog train that starts tomorrow. You can also go to the facebook event page here: https://www.facebook.com/events/125981480888094/

to view more specifics.

It will start at CatDesignz.com page (which happens to be the designer I work with) and continue on to 25 plus other designer pages!! wow thats alot of freebies!!

Second, I want to tell you about a 20% off sale that CatDesignz is having on her new Little Jesus series- Nativity set. It is so cute!! Check out the link below to see the layouts we made using this kit. (including mine!)

http://catdesignz.com/little-jesus-my-beautiful-nativity-series-is-20-off-til-midnight/
This kit is great for christmas layouts, animal layouts and invitations!! Don’t delay or you will miss this special price.

Happy Scrapbooking and enjoy your weekend!!

Posted in Uncategorized | Comments Off

Sparkle Skirts product review

Posted on October 23, 2012 by EmpowerMoms

As you can see from my post below, I was recently in a night trail race.
I decided it would be lots of fun to get dressed up since it was sort of a Halloween race and as I was searching, I came across SparkleSkirts on facebook!!
They are made in Florida-The USA!! I had heard great things about them on my disney priness half marathon facebook group.
Well, last saturday they had posted a picture of an awesome orange SparkleLight skirt. I thought it would be perfect for my upcoming race and also maybe even my turkey dash next month!! I immediatly emailed Leah sunday night with my size and whether she could get it mailed to me in VA by friday so I could have it for my race on Saturday 20th. I got a response on monday that yes she could and later that day even got a shipping notification!! What prompt and speedy customer service!!!!

On wednesday-2 days later-look what I got in the mail!! I was super excited and my toddler loved touching the shinny fabric!!

I was really impressed with the speedy shipping and the fact that I didn’t have to pay for super fast shipping. The skirt was wrapped in nice tissue paper with a couple business cards and a hand written thank you, which was impressive.

I was also very impressed with the quality of the skirt. The black band is soft and stitched very well. It even has a mini pocket in the back for something small like a tissue, dollar bill or key. the hemming of the skirt was very nice and there didn’t appear to be any loose or crooked stitching or strings. I hate getting something “hand made” and it looks like it took 5 minutes to put together and looks sloppy.

Definitely use the size chart on their website (http://www.sparkleskirts.com/) because my waist is smaller than my hips/butt. I got a size medium and it fits perfect and should even fit next year! I wish my butt wasn’t so big because it would have looked better, however I feel like it was the perfect length that it would be flattering on any size body-seriously!!

On race day, I wore my sparkle skirt over top my Target racing capris.

I didn’t even notice wearing this skirt during the race which means it wasn’t itchy or irritating which I think is important when racing. The last thing I need is my wardrobe getting on my nerves!! It was so fun to wear and made me feel special. 🙂

Overall, I give this company full stars and a big thumbs up for their customer service, fast shipping, great quality, a good prices!!

My SparkleLight skirt was $32 (usually they are $30 but the orange was considered a special edition) which isn’t unreasonable for the cost of fabric and the time to make it! Plus it’s made in the USA!!

I’m hoping that later on, I can buy a Sparkle Tech skirt, which has built in jogging shorts underneath that are Guarenteed not to rid up!! I can’t wait to try that out!! How awesome does that sound???!!They are alot more expensive, being priced at $65 so maybe I can get one at Christmas…

Just as a side note, I was not asked to do this product review. I paid for my product and was really pleased so wanted to share this company with others! Let me know if you have tried them out and what skirt you bought.

Happy Running!!

Posted in Uncategorized | Comments Off

Run into the Darkness Night Trail Run on Saturday

Posted on October 23, 2012 by EmpowerMoms

This past Saturday was the 4 mile (ish) Anthem “Run into the Darkness” night trail run with my 10 year old son and husband.
I’ve been “training” for the last month or two for this specific race. I was a little worried about it because two weeks ago I did a 5k trail race for Mercy Ministries and it was HARD!! scroll down a couple posts to read about it.
This past Wednesday I decided to do a trial run of the race, and jogged around my neighborhood in the dark with a flashlight. I was really pleased with my time and I only had to do my inhaler once. It was a little creepy running around in the dark by myself. I was really hopping that I would have more fun on saturday.

This is a screenshot from my Iphone using the app “runkeeper”. Its free and I love it!! It appears to be pretty accurate against my FitBit.

I got ready Saturday afternoon for the race. I had a light dinner of a Luna bar (love them!!), banana and water. I was really nervous and didn’t even feel like eating but I knew I would feel sick if I didnt.

Here I am still at home, getting dressed for the race. I got a new Sparkle race skirt in the mail, so I was really excited to try it out for this race. (separate blog post on my skirt later!) Note, I am still loving my Pink laces from Fit Approach website!! 🙂

Here I am right before the race after I got my racing number, jacket and racing belt (no its not a fanny pack!) on. It was starting to get really really cold!! We hung around for a while, put on our glow jewelry and walked around to warm up.

My husband was in the first wave-called racers-so he started right at 7pm. My son and I stayed in the back because we didn’t want to get run over my intense joggers. Mountain Junkies LLC announced this was their 6th race year and they had over 500 people attend!!

I started my fitbit a little early because I thought we would start jogging, but I don’t think we actually went until 7:10 or 7:15. We hung out in the back and I was amazed by the sea of people up ahead of us, bobbing up and down with flashlights. We jogged for a couple minutes before heading into the woods. From then on, it was a trail race in the woods.

Through out the race, they had markers and signs and cute little halloween things like ghosts and pumpkins around. Very family friendly.

As we continued to climb up and down this trail, I’m pleased to report that Steven and I were able to maintain and keep a good pace through out the entire race without stopping. However, because we were in the back group of people, as we tried to pass the slower people going up the trail, there were several times we got stuck for several minutes because (1) it was too narrow to pass them or (2) they were rude and purposely wouldn’t move around for someone to pass. That was by far the most annoying thing!! We tripped several times on the trail because there were alot of loose sticks and rocks so it was hard to get a great pace for this race because of that and it was in the dark. It made me very nervous a couple of times with looking down some steep drops in the trail, but thankfully we didn’t get hurt.

At one point there was a photographer on the trail that was taking pictures of people. Here is a picture of my husband, me and my son on the actual trail.

It was hard to figure out how much farther the race was in the dark, although I had my iphone RunKeeper app to tell me how far we had gone. I was a little bummed when we hit the 60 minute mark and it seemed like the trail was going forever. Then I heard my husband shouting my sons and my name and to keep going. I couldn’t see him but I heard him so we started picking up our pace again and did some jogging. We passed a couple more people and started heading up our last hill. My husband Mike came back for us to cheer us on and to help encourage us up our final stretch. My son passed me with super light speed (because he wanted to be first LOL) and I was struggling to keep up with breathing but we finally did it!!! WHEW!! Took me a couple mins to catch my breath so we could take final pictures.

Here is a iphone screen shot of when I passed thru the finish line. As you can see, it was a little short of 4 miles.

This is my FitBit screen shot. You can see how many steps and calories I burned!! WOW!!

After we took pictures and stretched, we went inside a building for some water, pasta and yummy pumpkin bread!! We didn’t win any door prizes or age group prizes, but that was okay.

Here are some stats from the race:
Mike placed #62 out of 513 people and 9/33 in his age group.
Steven placed #482 and 25/27 in his age group.
I placed #485 and 35/38 in my age group.

http://www.mountainjunkies.net/Into_the_Darkness.htm

Some final thoughts about the race:
* Glow Jewelry was fun to wear
* I must remember to bring gloves and a hat for next year
*Don’t get stuck in the back with the “even slower than me” people because it will make me very aggitated.
*Jogging with a racing skirt and hand free hydration bottle was awesome
*Most impotantly, bring a “cheerleader” with you to the race!! My husband was my hero because he truly helped me get thru the last 5 minutes of the race cheering me on, gave me his gloves for the race, and brought me a jacket after the race to keep me warm.

Although it was a hard trail race, I feel like I keep doing better and getting stronger; so this will probably be a race that we do again in the upcoming years!!