The Ameri Brit Mom

Stitch Fix #3

It’s been a month and a half since the arrival of my last Stitch Fix and after such a successful second round I had high hopes for fix #3. It was Saturday afternoon and I had spent the day at several shops wrapping up my Holiday shopping. As I pulled into my driveway I spotted my Stitch Fix box on the front porch complete with the cute aqua colored box tape. It had been a rather long day of hitting sales and buying for others so I looked forward to opening something for myself with hopes that I may have acquired a new outfit for the upcoming holiday parties.

If you are unfamiliar with the way that Stitch Fix works please read my post, My First Fix. In this post I outline the benefits and drawbacks to the system and discuss my initial encounter with the company. Overall, Stitch Fix has been a positive experience for me and I will continue to use the service in the future.

This time around I opened my box and found a personalized letter from my stylist. She had spent some time checking out my Pinterest board and mimicked some of the styles that I had pinned.

One thing key about using this service is to set a budget for yourself before you even open the box. If you are anything like me limitations are a good thing because without exercising self-discipline Stitch Fix can be extremely pricey. I opened my invoice before unwrapping my clothes and saw that if I were to buy all five items that my total would be $150.00 on top of the $20.00 delivery fee. I saw that number and remembered how much money I had just spent on Christmas shopping before arriving home and knew that for this fix my limitations would be tighter than usual and accepted that before ever looking at a piece. I set my limit at $50.00 which I was able to stick to firmly.

The first item in my fix was adorable. A cute bangle bracelet, but for a girl who loves jewelry it was too similar to a bracelet I already own for me to really justify purchasing it. So, I slipped the bracelet right back into the return envelop provided by Stitch Fix.

Item #2 was a gorgeous sweater by Staccato. This particular sweater is called the Dinah Open Front Cardigan. I immediately fell in love with the colors and pattern. The sweater is both adorable and warm. It is also something I can see myself wearing dressed up at school or dressed down with jeans for a night out. I’m a cardigan lover so I decided to take the plunge and keep this piece. It was priced at $48.00. In case you are wondering it was the only piece from this fix I decided to keep due to the limitations I set for myself up front.

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The next item in my fix was Kut from the Kloth’s Jonathan Skinny Corduroy jeans. Although my stylist was excited about this piece I felt quite unimpressed. I’m not a fan of corduroy and I’m definitely not a fan of olive green corduroy. These pants were also unflattering to my figure as they were a bit long and made my legs look short and stout. The decision to fold these right back up and place them in the return envelope was not a difficult one.

Next, was the Pixley Greenich Striped Knit Top. Although this top looked like your average run-of-the-mill long sleeve tee it actually felt like it was made of durable material. Generally, I buy my t-shirts at Old Navy or Target and this piece was clearly of better quality than any tee I own. However, cute and durable had to take a back seat to budget and discipline so it was back into the envelope for this piece as well.

Lastly, I tried on the Skies are Blue Deon Stud Detail Button Down Top. Again, this style was a complete mimic of my style so much so that I already own an extremely similar top which I wrote about in my post, Fall Flannel. The piece from my Stitch Fix was of better quality than my Charlotte Rousse top, but if I was only able to purchase one item this time around this top would not make the cut.

In the end, I was proud of my ability to stick to my budget as I easily narrowed my purchase to one item. I still am enjoying the process of communicating with my stylist prior to the delivery of my fix and I look forward to future fixes. Also, next time around they won’t be delivered on the day that I’ve dropped a ton of cash on gifts and my budget will hopefully be a bit higher. All in all this was successful and I am at peace with the decisions I made.

If you are interested in the Stitch Fix service for yourself use this link to visit their site and be sure to give me credit for pointing you in that direction. Let me know what pieces you enjoyed from this fix!

The Ameri Brit Mom

*This post contains affiliate links. I may receive compensation as a result.

A Writing Contest

To those of you in my writing community I wanted to tune you into a writing contest opportunity that I am taking part in over the next three weeks. This is a short fiction contest put on by Joe Bunting, editor of the blog, the Write Practice. I find this blog and forum to be really helpful to my writing and experience as a newbie who enjoys writing as a hobby.

The contest is entitled Anniversary Contest. Here are some of specifics for those of you who may be considering getting involved:

The first draft is due by December 29th. It must be submitted to the workshop where other writers will have an opportunity to read, edit, and critique your writing.
The final draft is due by January 5th.
It is $20.00 to enter.
The theme is Creatives (your story must have a character who is a writer, painter, or poet who faces a major conflict.)
The length is capped at 1500 words.
All entries submitted via the workshop before the December 29th deadline will be published on the Short Fiction Break. Two runners up will receive $100 and the winner will receive $300.

If you are someone who loves to write and looking for a little motivation or if you are like me and want to be a part of a writing community be sure to check out The Write Practice and more of the guideline for the contest. I enrolled this morning and am looking forward to the opportunity to meet more writers and receive feedback from the community of people who share a similar interest with myself. Let me know if you sign up!

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Five Minute Friday: Reflect

This week the topic for the Five Minute Friday link-up post is Reflect. What is a link-up? Essentially a link-up is when you join other bloggers and write on a similar topic. You share your blog posts with one another and begin conversations via a host site. You can head over to Kate Motaung’s page to check out other entries from inspired bloggers. Here’s my five minutes of uninterrupted, unedited writing on this week’s topic:

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Back in March I published a post entitled, Stop Thinking, where I expressed the importance of periodically reflecting on life and the direction you are headed. With those same principles in mind I am going to challenge you to take some time this week and truly reflect on where you are and how well you have met certain goals set for yourself.

I know for me it can be difficult to find time to reflect, but it is essential to becoming better in every area of life. Reflection can also help us to re-prioritize a life that may be unbalanced. And since my blog is all about my balancing act (or lack thereof) I think it is wise to spend some time today in reflection of who I am. Thanks, Kate, for providing me motivation to slow down and reflect. I am going to be vulnerable and honest as I reflect on my faith, family, friendships, and writing progress.

Faith– When it comes to my faith lately I’ve been letting things get in the way of my time with God. I need that time like I need air, and so it is evident when I’m not taking time every day to pray and read my Bible. I never neglect that time intentionally, but I’m guilty of sometimes putting it off til right before I go to bed and then falling asleep before I get a chance to dig in. It’s time for me to take back my time with God and pick up my Bible and declare that I WILL spend time in the Word EVERYDAY! (Even if that means sacrificing a few minutes of sleep) I’m looking for a good Bible Study and a female companion to help hold me accountable to seeing it through daily.

Family– Things are going well with the family. Lately, we’ve been re-prioritizing and taking inventory of the things we have committed to by examining the motives in making those commitments. Every day I look forward to going home and spending time with my family. Arianna is at such a fun age where she has become a human sponge. She is growing and changing at such a rapid pace that I know some big decisions are coming up in the future. Pre-school is on the horizon and in order to make that work in our schedule some things will need to change. We are taking time now to pray and seek wisdom in several areas as we continue to grow and mature as a family.

Friends-Of all the areas I’m reflecting on I feel like the friendship realm of my life is where I’m lacking the most. It’s been hard to spend time with friends like I should with the distractions of the holidays and with being so busy at home. I love my friends dearly, and I hope to have time to reconnect with many of my friends over Christmas break.

Writing-As far as writing goes I’ve found myself in a bit of a funk. Things are going decently with my novel writing (only about four chapters left to go!!!), but I’m finding it hard to find time to write regularly each day. I’m in need of a jump start in the creative writing business. Oftentimes, I find that reading a good, motivational book helps out with that lack of creativity so I’m on the hunt for a good book. Please let me know if you have any recommendations.

The benefit of reflection is that it helps us to set solid goals for the future. Solid goals are those that hold you accountable to a timeline for achieving said goals. Based on these reflections I’ve set the following goals for myself:

Find a Bible Study and a female companion to study with by the end of the year.
Make a decision about pre-school for Arianna and send in applications the first week of January if the decision is to send her.
Schedule a time to get together with friends before the new year.
Start reading a motivational book about writing by January 1.

Giving Back This Christmas

As a parent it is scary how easily the Holiday season can become overwhelming. Between all the gift buying, family gatherings, and Christmas programs December can easily become a month void of free time and short of rest.

This Holiday season I am putting in extra effort to ensure that even as things get busy that I never lose focus on the purpose of all this mayhem. After all, if it wasn’t for the birth of Jesus there would be no crucifixion, and no salvation. That salvation, by the way, was the best gift I ever received. Much better than anything I ever unwrapped on Christmas morning.

So in light of the sacrifice made for me by my Savior I am in search of ways to sacrifice for others this season.

Here are some ideas if you are looking for ways to give back this holiday season:

Church gift drops: Every church who participates in a gift drop does so in a different way. My church usually takes part in the Operation Christmas Child gift drop, but this year we have shifted our focus to a more local organization out of Columbus, Ohio. My church is in a partnership with the Stowe Mission in downtown Columbus which is currently preparing to open a Crisis Pregnancy Clinic. They are in need of new items that come along with the territory and so our church is focusing our outreach efforts this Christmas in providing resources for this organization. If you are interested in giving to the Stowe Mission please click on the Stowe Mission link above for a list of materials needed.

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2. School Inquiries: Being a teacher I have heard many stories about people who have called into their local district and asked for any needs from families in the schools. Sometimes the school counselors can provide family needs anonymously. I’ve never actually served in this way, but I have a friend who does this annually and says it’s a huge blessing to know that she is meeting the real needs of a family in crisis. Last year she helped a family who had recently lost their home and belongings in a fire and gave that family hope during a very difficult time.

3. Cooking or Serving in a Soup Kitchen: When I was in youth group I remember serving alongside my peers in soup kitchens on various occasions. This is a truly humbling experience and gives you the chance to also meet a real and immediate need of members in your community. Depending on where you live many soup kitchens struggle to open on holidays like Christmas so if this piques your interest be proactive and get in touch with your local soup kitchen soon to offer your services.

4. Adopt-a-Family: This is another ministry offered mostly through churches, but occasionally school groups, clubs, and organizations will take part in taking up the requests of local families who are met with hard times. Adopt-a-Family programs oftentimes focus on gifts specific to child genders and ages so check with a local organization before purchasing anything.

5. Toys 4 Tots: This is a national charity with thousands of collection points around the country. They collect new toys to be donated to children in need. Check out their mission and link below for a list of drop off points or suggested items:

The mission of the U. S. Marine Corps Reserve Toys for Tots Program is to collect new, unwrapped toys during October, November and December each year, and distribute those toys as Christmas gifts to less fortunate children in the community in which the campaign is conducted.

My challenge to you this year is to find a charity or project that you can give back to this Holiday season. Giving back during this time of the year serves as a reminder to the reason behind Christmas and keeps us from getting too focused on ourselves and our schedules. If you are planning to give back this year I would love to hear about how and where you plan to do so. I’m always looking for new ideas for getting involved in the community whether that be locally or on a national level.

How are you giving back this Christmas season?

Scally on the Loose

This Christmas season has been exciting and full of surprises. Arianna is three and loving everything about Christmas preparations. She enjoys picking out presents for her family members. During the annual tree decorating she took charge and told us where to hang each of her special ornaments. Each day when I pick her up from the sitter she requests a jam session to the local Christmas Radio Station for the car ride home. And she has been absolutely tickled by our introduction of Elf on the Shelf to this year’s festivities.

Her elf made an appearance for the first time on the day after Thanksgiving and without skipping a beat Arianna named the elf, “Scally, because it’s short for Scalawag.” Okay, maybe we need to start limiting Jake the Pirate in this house.

That night, Scally left Arianna a note and explained that every night while Arianna is asleep Scally goes to the North Pole and reports to Santa about her. She will return just before the sun rises and then will be frozen wherever she is and fall asleep. All of us (mom and dad included) have had a blast keeping this little story alive for Arianna. Each morning she awakes with excitement and searches the house high and low for her new elf friend. I thought I would share some photos of what our elf has been up to.

There are some super creative ideas out there on Pinterest and I’m excited to get a little more crafty once I’m out of school for Christmas break. Two more weeks!!!

Five Minute Friday: Season

This week the topic for the Five Minute Friday link-up post is Season. What is a link-up? Essentially a link-up is when you join other bloggers and write on a similar topic. You share your blog posts with one another and begin conversations via a host site. You can head over to Kate Motaung’s page to check out other entries from inspired bloggers. Here’s my five minutes of uninterrupted, unedited writing on this week’s topic:

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I’m an Ohioan. All my life I’ve resided within a thirty mile radius of metropolis Ohio, but enough on the outskirts to enjoy small town Ohio life. One reason I’ve chosen to keep my feet firmly planted in Ohio soil is my love for the variation of seasons. (Family is the first reason why I’ve stayed close to home weather in no way trumps family.)

Every few months in Ohio we experience the miracle of the changing seasons. And, if we’re extra lucky sometimes we experience all four seasons in a week. Okay, that was sarcastic.

But I truly have grown to love the way the ice melts and brings forth flowers, the way that the trees shed their leaves as the morning frosts make an appearance, and the way it cannot be winter in Ohio without a few snow storms and the cancellation of school as a result. The different seasons are all beautiful in their own unique way promising something that the others cannot.

Today, I look at the calendar and see that it is December fifth and that we have yet to experience a flurry or any evidence that winter is on its way. Over the past week temperatures have been all over the place: Low 40’s with frigid wind; high 50’s with sunshine. Ohio weather is bipolar if nothing else.

Despite the unpredictable conditions Ohio still promises an impending winter. I am looking forward to the first snowfall, but I would be fine with a winter much milder than those of the past few years.

5 Reasons to Read Ray Bradbury

This week I wrapped up a six week unit on Fahrenheit 451 with my ninth grade students. Leading up to this unit every year I question whether I will be able to capture the interest of my students with the story. This novel is being categorized in the Classic Science Fiction genre these days which tends not to be the kind of stories students pick to read on their own. Not because they don’t enjoy it, but because it seems intimidating to them. Throw the word “Classic” in front of any title and you’ve lost many of my regular education students.

Each year upon the completion of the book, however, I am overwhelmed by the number of students who ask about recommendations of other books by Bradbury. Somewhere in the journey of complicated themes, verbose vocabulary, and metaphorical language the students begin to fall in love.

I do not have these fears prior to reading because I don’t think the students will be able to read his books, but I think I fear that they may shut down before Bradbury has a chance to WOW them with his art. I enjoy reading the many works of Bradbury for several reasons. Below are five reasons to grab a Ray Bradbury novel, screenplay, short story, or essay and allow yourself to fall in love as well.

Ray Bradbury is timeless. Although most of his works were done in the early 1950s-mid 1970s the stories are still relevant to popular culture today. Nuclear war, extraterrestrial life, and time travel are all common ideas in his writing. Today, if you flip through the channels of prime-time television or Netflix you will find an abundance of shows on similar topics. Bradbury nailed popular culture fifty years ago. Throughout the reading of Fahrenheit 451 I had to continually remind the students that the book was written in 1953 long before Bluetooth, automatic cars, and cell phones. It’s actually quite surreal how well Bradbury predicted technologies of the future.
Ray Bradbury is honest. I’ve read countless articles about how Bradbury was inspired to write based on his own fears. Growing up during the height of the Cold War caused Bradbury to voice some of his own fears and observations in the major themes of his books.
Ray Bradbury challenges the norms of society. Along the same lines of honesty, Bradbury looked at society through a critical lens and made predictions and assumptions about the direction it was headed. He exposed the dangers of censorship and blindly following the rules of society. He aimed at provoking individuality and questioning of the world. “She didn’t want to know how a thing was done, but why.” (Fahrenheit 451)
Ray Bradbury causes us to say “what if…?” As I stated above Ray Bradbury was writing during the height of the Cold War. Living in this time period caused many people to ask the question, “what if…?” of the future for mankind. Today we are faced with similar questions for our world. What if nuclear war were to break out? What if there really is water and possibility of life on Mars? What if we don’t stand up for our rights? What if the government has too much control? What if technology takes over our lives? Bradbury challenges his readers to be critical of the world around them and to dare to dream about how to solve the problems that we face in our age.
Ray Bradbury uses beautiful language filled with metaphors and figurative language. One thing I love about re-reading several works of Bradbury’s each year is that every time I read his writing something new stands out to me. Most recently I loved the way that at the end of Fahrenheit 451 that Bradbury compares society to a phoenix, a mythical creature which burns itself up only to rebirth itself from the ashes. As Montag stands outside of Chicago and watches it go up in flames, Granger, his new mentor, explains that the city is like a phoenix. It may be destroyed, but it was their duty to return to the city and help it to rebuild spreading the knowledge from the books that they possessed and had become.

photo credit: http://www.openculture.com/2014/05/ray-bradbury-on-zen-and-the-art-of-writing-1973.html

The Write Space

As I wrap up a month full of creative writing I am thankful for the writing space I have created for myself. Prior to this month I did a majority of my writing on the couch while my daughter played around me and with the background noise of television as a distraction. As I’ve grew to be a little more serious about writing I became determined to set up a routine that would be more conducive to a creative frame of mind without also robbing my daughter of precious time with her mother.

I created a small and simple office in the corner of the guest bedroom upstairs. It’s a room with natural light and full of possibility. However, instead of wasting my creative energy on making the room a perfect conglomeration of design and decor I opted for a simple space that provided all the necessities for fueling my creativity. Currently this room is fairly un-decorated compared to the rest of the house and I find that working in an environment of minimalism is best for me. This space is a perfect retreat when I need to think. With the door shut it can be as quiet as I like it to be. And I’m also not distracted by bright colors or loud decorations.

My routine of writing has picked up a bit. As I mentioned in my post, Novel Update, I am stepping up my writing game between now and January 1 so that by the turn of the year my novel is totally drafted (round 1). Although my writing is demanding a little more time I’m also stubborn and refuse to let that time affect my daughter in any way. I am conscientiously choosing writing times that coincide with naps and her sleeping schedule. I am able to be present in the beautiful moments with her while still getting the time I need every day to knock out a couple thousand words of my novel. It’s a perfect setup.

So today I am thankful for a family who supports me in my goals, the opportunity to work on creative projects, and the space I possess for getting lost in my story.

A Book Review: Eleanor and Park

The following is a book review by The Ameri Brit Mom. This post expresses the genuine opinion and experiences of The Ameri Brit Mom and is in no way endorsed by authors, publishers, and outside influences.

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Title: Eleanor and Park

Author: Rainbow Rowell

Publisher: St. Martin’s Griffin

Lately, I’ve been on a bit of a YA reading hiatus. Most of the books I’ve been reading have been about writing and novel production. However, over Thanksgiving Break I really wanted to quench my thirst for a good YA novel and I found that in Eleanor and Park.

Rainbow Rowell has recently become a big name in YA fiction. Some of her books like Attachments, Eleanor and Park, and Fan Girl have been chart toppers and favorites among my students so I decided to track down a copy of Eleanor and Park and see what all this Rainbow Rowell hype was all about.

This story of unlikely love was extremely addicting. From the very first chapter I was hooked to the characters, Eleanor and Park. The two lovebirds met on the school bus when Eleanor moved back to Omaha, Nebraska. Park was a Korean kid and although no one really messed with him he was not a popular kid by any definition of the word. On Eleanor’s first day of school the only empty seat on the bus was the one historically available beside Park. And it’s when Park moved over (at first reluctantly) to make room for Eleanor that a friendship began to form.

Eleanor and Park would bond on future bus rides over comics and 80’s rock bands. Park would bring new things to share with Eleanor each day because she was too poor to even own a pair of headphones. They both began to look forward to those bus rides, and one day it became clear that their relationship had moved from bus buddies to romance quickly.

Park lived a privileged life. His father was a war veteran who married a Korean woman and brought her home from war. His family was built around love and affection. Eleanor was one of five children who was forced every night to listen to the violence between her stepdad and mother. She didn’t have two pennies to rub together. But Park gave Eleanor an excuse to wake up every morning and a reason to look forward to school. They begin to spend all day and every evening together as Eleanor used Park as an excuse to avoid the inevitable at home.

As their relationship developed Park began to learn about Eleanor’s home life. He knew someone was bullying her at school, but when he discovered that she was bullied at home as well Park vowed to protect her.

This story is about how far two young lovers will go to protect one another. Full of heavy themes and real language this book was hard to put down. I really enjoyed this read and I look forward to some more Rainbow Rowell reads in the future.

Five Minute Friday: Table

This week the topic for the Five Minute Friday link-up post is Table. What is a link-up? Essentially a link-up is when you join other bloggers and write on a similar topic. You share your blog posts with one another and begin conversations via a host site. You can head over to Kate Motaung’s page to check out other entries from inspired bloggers. Here’s my five minutes of uninterrupted, unedited writing on this week’s topic:

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There’s something special about my dining room table. So many memories are made around such a pivotal piece of furniture. A couple of years ago I inherited my beautiful Ethan Allen table from my Great-Grandmother as she was moving into an assisted living community. Before the inheritance of such a treasured heirloom I had already formed fond memories of the piece. As a child I would visit with Grandma and we would share meals and snacks around the table. When I became a devoted coffee-holic in my teenage years we began to enjoy Starbucks Frappucinos and Fudge Doughnuts around that same piece. And now that I possess that legend of a table it’s becoming a permanent fixture in the memories of my household.

It was around this table that we shared our first pizza in the new house. Sitting in the chairs about the table we fed our daughter her first spoonfuls of baby food and before long she would graduate to solids. At this table we have shared many conversations, delicious meals, and made countless family decisions.

Before Thanksgiving with my family my daughter was talking to me while eating her breakfast at the table when she so sweetly said,”Mommy and Daddy, I am thankful for you because I love you.”

Nothing is more important to me than family and we have been blessed to share so many special moments and memories around such a special dining room table.

On a sidenotes, this is my 200th post! Yay for milestones :)

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