Old Navy beach bum bash!!

I am a member of Crowdtap, and a member of the Old Navy Style council on crowdtap. As part of this, I occasionally get to try out new Old Navy clothes with my friends! This time we got to try out Old Navy's beachwear accessories! I got to take 3 friends and each of us got a pair of flip-flops, a beach bag, sunglasses, and a beach towel! We met up at the Old Navy at Sooner Fashion Mall. At first we thought we got any flip flops, so we spent quite a bit of time checking out the adorable flip flops! Unfortunately we were told we could only get the 2 for $5 kind! Oops! But if you are looking for adorable fashion flip flops, Old Navy has so many to choose from! Seriously adorable stuff! So we ended up with these 2 for $5 pairs, which are also way cute, very comfortable and able to wear with anything. And perfect for a day at the pool or beach! Next we hit the beach towels! I had already decided after looking online that I must have the zebra print one! It is adorable! So my bestie and I both ended up with that one! And my sister in law, Tara and my friend, Jessica got some cute old navy print towels that are adorable! We found the beach bags and I had also already fell in love with one online. The pink floral hobo bag! Oh my word this bag is adorable! And so versatile! Since getting our bags, I use mine as a casual day diaper bag, it fits everything I need, and I can push the wooden holders down to close the bag too! My bestie uses hers as a camera bag, she got the adorable green and khaki one. And Tara and Jess use there's as purses! It's the perfect summer time accessory! Next we hit the sunless tower! So many adorable styles to choose from! We had fun helping each other pick out the best pair for each other. I went with the big glamorous glasses, and everyone else picked out their best pair. We had so much fun! And we left with some seriously adorable beach accessories we will be using all summer long! Head to your local old navy and check out their beach accessories, and check out crowdtap.com!

A dress adventure!

I am a member of the Old Navy style council which means from time to time I get to do sample shares with them. This sample share was for dresses and I decided to take my bestie! I was so excited to be chosen! I absolutely love shopping at old navy, and last year I bought an adorable maxi dress that I rocked all summer. It was cozy enough to wear around the house and stylish enough to wear out anywhere. So I was very excited to get a new dress for this summer! I adore old navy dresses!


So we went on a Saturday and my bestie picked me up and we hit the mall. We took a shopping cart and filled it with dresses of all styles to try on. Here are our favorite Old Navy dresses!





I have the red asymmetrical Jersey dress on. This one was a little clingy to all of the wrong places on me. I had a baby a year ago and I am still not in shape. I think this dress would be way cute on someone who hadn't had a baby or someone in better shape than me! My bestie has on one of the cotton striped ruffled dresses and it is adorable on her. She felt it showed a bit much and didn't like it.




I have on the rainbow plaid cotton ruffled dress. I loved it! It was just a bit too short for my liking but I do love it and I think with a cardiac it would be adorable. I may go back for this one sometime.This is the maxi dress that Chelsea ended up getting. I love the colors and how cozy and cute it looks!


I absolutely love this dark brown ruffled chiffon dress. It was so soft and so pretty! I really
want to go back and get this one and wear it on a date with my love!




This dress. I love everything about it. It was the dress I had been admiring on the Old Navy site.
I love the length and the sleeves and how light and airy it is. It feels pretty on. Now I didn't leave the store with this one. But when I got home and was looking at the pictures I missed this dress! So I had to go back for it.





These were the winning dresses! I fell in love with the bright yellow color and how fun and bringht this dress was! And my bestie loves her cute and cozy maxi dress! We had a great time in the trying on and picking out dresses it was a blast!

I had also luckily won a free adult best tee a few nights before we went shopping and told my bestie about it and she got one too. We decided to get tees for our guys. I got a light blue v neck for Jared and he loves it. And Chelsea got a darker bright blue tee for Mike.

When we went to the registers the cashiers were in awe. And everyone in line was writing down crowdtap's website! As always the employees were spectacular and nice. A great shopping experience! Thank you so much Old Navy and Crowdtap!!

A year of breastfeeding!

I made it to my first goal! I'm barely hanging on supply wise, so right now it's more half and half breast milk and formula, but she is a year old and still drinking mommy milk! And the first six months she was exclusively breastfed. I have relaxed a lot on my pumping schedule just for my sanity's sake, being up every 2-3 hours was a little absurd. So I usually don't get up over nifty anymore, and i pump every 3 hours when I am awake. It is so much easier this way. I can't wait until I am done because I am going to set this double electric personal pump on fire. Oh not really! I will pass it on to some other poor mother who has decided to torture herself. That pump is the most loved and hated material object in my house. I love that it gives me the chanc to do what I wanted to do for my daughter that I couldnt do myself. I hate it, well dairy cows only get milked twice a day I'm just saying. I love that we still have this little bond between us, I will be very sad when it's over I am sure. I want a trophy....a big one! And a cookie...please?

Old Navy bundle up bash!

I am a member of the Old Navy style council on Crowdtap. I had the pleasure of getting chosen to do the Old Navy bundle up bash in store party where my self and three of my friends got to try on clothes, snap lots of pictures, and take home a sweater, a pair of pants, and a winter accessory! I took my sister in law, and my best friend! I met my bestie at the mall a little early. We grabbed a soda and headed to Old Navy to check out the store. We were a little underwhelmed at the selection of sweaters at this particular store. All of the super cute ones were either on clearance or only available in extra small. I am sure it was mostly because we were shopping so close to the holiday season! They had some very cute sweaters to choose from still. The accessories were my favorite part! I decided on my accessory on my first time around the store, I had noticed this scarf on a mannequin, it was the last one in the whole store,it was beautiful! I had to have it! I asked the saleslady to get it for me, and she got her step ladder and got it down for me. I passed several ladies who were eying my scarf and one even checked the price tag while I was in line! I had to hold on tight to it! As for jeans I am a flare jeans kinda girl, always have been. You won't catch this girl in skinny jeans. They don't flatter me. But for some reason all the flares were on clearance! I was so bummed. Only slightly because it meant I couldn't get a pair eith my coupon, but mostly because....does this mean flares are out of style again!!? NOOOOOOO! My sister in law saved the day by offering to use one of her other old navy coupons to get the flares for me. I decided to try on the cords, and i loved them. I normally hate the way corduroys fit, but these are so flattering and comfortsble! And so soft and cozy too! My sweater was the hardest to decide upon! There were a lot of cute options, but some were clearance, and some were only in extra small. And i wasn't really a fan of the cropped sweater look, which narrowed it down a lot too. I'm a tall girl and cropped just doesn't look good on me. So on my bazillionth time through the store, I somehow found a table that I had somehow missed with the softest coziest turtleneck sweaters ever! And i spied two super cute pink ones on a bottom shelf hidden away, I snatched them up and took them to the dressing room! And this is the sweater all of us ended up getting! My sister in law and i got the pink ones, and my bestie got a white and brown flecked one. My sister in law got the trouser jeans, they were super cute on her! And my bestie got the skinny jeans to wear with her winter boots! And we all got scarves! They were just too cute and cozy!

This is Chelsea in a cute cardi and jeans, and Tara in a cropped sweater and her trouser jeans posing with he daughter Abigail and the mannequins!

And Myself in the turtleneck sweater I ended up with and some flare jeans I couldn't resist!

Chelsea in a cute cropped sweater and jeans with a bucket hat!

Tara in a cute cozy sweater and flares with the bucket hat!

Myself in a sequined cropped sweater and trouser jeans with the bucket hat!

All three of us! I am in the cute cropped fuchsia sweater and the flaw jeans my sister in law got for me and my amazingwonderfulawesome scarf! Tara in the sweater she ended up with with the scarf she ended up with and the jeans too! And Chelsea in the scarf and jeans she ended up with, and a cute cozy sweater!

This is my final outfit that i got with the coupon! I absolutle love the whole thing! The cords fit great and are so cozy! The sweater is so soft and warm! And the scarf! Ah, the scarf, I am in loves!

Tara in her final outfit! She loved the sweater and the scarf was super cute with it, and the trouser jeans looked great on her!

Chelsea striking a silly pose in what she thought was her final outfit. She loved the scarf, well almost as much as i loved mine! And the skinny jeans to go with her boots, but she grabbed the cozy turtleneck sweater on the way out instead of the cardi!

We all love our new clothes, and we had so much fun shopping together! Thank you again Old Navy and crowdtap!

My dad.

The holidays are a hard time of year for me. It is always a reminder of the things I am so desperately missing in my life. A piece I have been missing forever is my dad. When I was a little girl, I was the biggest daddy's girl in the world. I thought he was the coolest person ever. But what I didn't know then all makes so such sense now. The awful smell on daddy's breathe, the late nights, all of the different girlfriends. Then he met Laura. I love Laura now she has cleaned up and is doing great. But back then my dad and her dipped into some horrible stuff that made them terrible people for a while. They did every drug I am pretty sure. I walked in on people shooting up in our bathroom. My dad would get violent with Laura, the cops were a staple at our house. Dad was always in and out of jail. But every time he got out he would go right back to it. We were so broke. I was told to steal from stores, I went door to door to collect money for "charity", we begged for food from our neighbors, all while our parents were selling our food stamps to get a fix. We begged churches for food, we would dumpster dive, we even picked receipts out of Mcdonalds trash cans to take to the manager and tell them our order was messed up, and we drove off with gas all the time. Once I won a bike from a church for bringing the most guests, my dad told me I had to pawn it to be able to buy the whole family food or my brothers and i would starve. So I did and he promised to buy it back, and he never did. My life is full of those promises, you'd think I would learn the pattern, but I never did, I always wanted to believe in my daddy. I would sit on my aunts porch for hours, even after I was told he wasn't going to make it, again, just hoping. Every single time he got out I fell for the never again promise. I am going to be a good dad to you and those boys, Ashley. Lies. Every single time...I believed. This last time was the hardest. It was the longest he had been locked up I believe. I really believed him. When he got out I was pregnant. He came to my baby shower, he was so nervous, but I just loved that my daddy was there! And sober! I was the happiest girl ever. And then a few days before I had the vs the got locked backup, but not for doing drugs, it was a parole violation or something. I had the baby and he called me when he got out a few weeks later and was going to come and meet my daughter. I was so excited for her to meet her grandpa. And then I don't hear from him for. A while. And I read on my aunts Facebook that he is on dope with some girl. Makes me sick. I don't know how to mourn the loss of someone who is still alive. Someone that I still love and care about, who just doesn't care. He only wants to get high. It's breaking my heart, all of my life he has been breaking my heart. The one man you are supposed to be able to trust. I hate it. I don't have a dad to walk me down the aisle at my wedding. Peyton doesn't have a grandpa on my side to be all of the things my grandpa was to me. The only things I have to remember my dad, letters and pictures sent from prison!! I don't have any more hope for him. He is as good as dead to me. Peyton will never know the heartbreak he has caused me. She will learn from his mistakes, as that is the only good lesson I ever learned from my dad is a long list of what not to do! And I will just carry on with this huge hole in my life I guess. I still hope one day he will sober up and be a better person. But for himself, I don't need him anymore, nor do the boys or anyone else. We have all found our way somehow. There is so much love and so much hate I have for him. I just have to let it all go though. And i do, only this time of year am I reminded of the dad I never really got to have.

My little family

I love them both. More than I ever dreamed possible. He is my best friend, the love of my life, and the most amazing man in all the world. He loves me. And I never have to doubt it for a second. He makes sure I know. He makes me feel beautiful. I have never been jealous for a second because I don't have to be. He is mine. I know this is forever and I can not wait to be his wife. He makes me laugh. He makes me smile even when I don't want to. He is a man of God, and when I'm a little lost in my walk with God, I can always count on him to help me. He is beautiful with our daughter. He sings songs to her, plays daddy games, and makes her laugh. It is so great to watch. He is the best daddy in all the world, and I am so glad he is my Peyton's. She is the little puzzle piece that I never thought fit in my life, that suddenly completed the whole thing. She makes my heart all warm and fuzzy. I love her so much. She makes me smile with all of her beautiful cuteness. She is the sweetest loving baby ever. She gives hugs and kisses. She has to hold her mommy mostly all day! She naps on me in our rocker and she is the coziest little thing ever! I can and absolutely can not wait for the future now. I am treasuring every single little moment, I love her babyness. But I am so excited for all of the things that we will do together as a family. It makes me cry because I never had any of this. But I will show her what the most loving mommy in the world is like even though I have never known such a thing. She is so beautiful and so perfect and all of my dreams come to life. They together are more than i could ever ask for. I am so blessed to call them mine.

How I get freebies and make money online!

I am always being asked this, especially after an awesome score! I am sure I drive my mailman crazy! I get something almost everyday! I have 10 or so magazine subscriptions I get for free ( don't worry I recycle them!)I have bunches of trial size samples and even quite a few full size products! I am a member of the old navy style council, and have twice been given free clothes for myself and friends! And I never buy diapers, I do surveys to pay for them, and usually even have a little spending money after! I have went through all of the scams, so now you don't have to! I have wasted hours on survey companies that pay squat, or give you points that add up to nothing. And signed up for countless freebies, only to get bookoos of junk mail and no freebies. This is my list of things that work! I know because i use them daily!

MTurk- Www.mturk.com- This site is run by amazon and has tons of tasks you can do to earn
money. The secret is to finding tasks that are worth your time. It is not worth spending 30 minutes to earn 10 cents. I do a search for "survey" that pays over ".50" that I am qualified for. This narrows the results greatly! Now I still won't spend more than 15 minutes on a 50 cent survey, it is just not worth it to me. Be sure to read the descriptions, they tell you how long each survey is. There are busy days, and there are slow days. And the really good paying easy surveys get snatched up really fast. So I check several times a day to see if anything new is in. I make anywhere from $2 to $10 a day on this site. After you have been a member for 10 days ( I think?) you can cash out at any point, no matter what your balance is. I turn all of my payouts into Amazon gift cards. You can get a check as well, but it takes longer. I also am an Amazon mom, so I save 20 % on diapers by doing the subscribe and save option, and then just delaying the deliveries until I need them. I also wait until there is a coupon on Amazon for Huggies. So the box that costs $37 I usually end up getting for $23 delivered to my door for free!

Crowdtap- http://bit.ly/iS9wVk- This is a referral link, it is still in beta and is invite only right now! I have been a member for a few months, I am fairly active, and today I just cashed out $11.50 in Amazon gift cards, and I am fixing to host my second Old Navy sample share with 3 friends! My first sample share I got an activewear outfit for free, and another outfit for a friend. This time I get to take 3 friends, and I am not sure what we are getting yet as I haven't received my coupons yet, but I am sure it will be great! You can win a lot more money by being super active in the discussions and giving thoughtful responses. Also I have applications in to host a The Smurfs DVD party, and ABBA Just Dance Wii game party, so fingers crossed for even more freebies! Crowdtap is really fun to me, I love it!

Free Stuff Times and Hunt4Freebies - these are both websites that list all available freebies. There are tons of goodies there. Also if you want the really great freebies that only go to a limited number of people, follow them both on Facebook! Their updates will appear in your news feed, they update as soon as a freebie is released, so you have a great chance of getting it! This is where I get all of my samples and my magazines!

Paidviewpoint-http://paidviewpoint.com/?r=wl28sf - this is one I just started. It is new so it really slow, but if it ever picks up I think it will be great. I've been a member for 3 days and I have 1.76 in my bank. You cash out via Paypal at $15. Seems like it may take me a while to get there. But it is super easy and not time consuming.