Stitch Fix: My First Experience!

As I posted on Facebook and Twitter, I signed up for this neat website called Stitch Fix a couple weeks ago. The concept of this website is that you pay a $20.00 styling fee and fill out a "style profile". You give your height, weight, sizes, and style preferences. You tell them if you like your clothes form fitting or loose fitting, if you like gold or silver, and if you don't want to wear certain fabrics or prints. My favorite part is that you can include a link to your Pinterest STYLE board and they will use your pins to pick out clothes for you...awesome! You can also choose what price range you're looking to shop in, because that's important!

You select the date you want your "fix" and then wait for your box to show up in the mail. When mine came it looked like this in my driveway...and it felt like Christmas!

I went inside and opened the box to find a pretty tissue paper filled box with my clothes, a card, and my big postage paid return envelope. In addition to those items, each piece of clothing has a little card on it with outfit ideas for casual or more dressy situations. That's a neat idea!

Each "fix" comes with 5 items for you to try on. My "fix" included a cardigan sweater, a sweater, black leggings (not pictured), a blue/black zig-zag shirt, and a gold statement necklace. I found that the sizing was a bit small on the sweater and cardigan, but the blue/black zig-zag shirt fit well and the leggings were good, just a little long (which is normal for me haha). The necklace was a neat design, not something I'd pick up at the store to try on.

I tried it all on and it was really neat to be able to pair it with clothes that I already have in my closet. I immediately ruled out the sweater and cardigan because they were too small. I considered the leggings, but I already have a pair, so I decided not to keep those. I loved the blue zig-zag shirt, so I decided to keep that one for sure. I went back and forth on the necklace before finally deciding to send it back. The prices were pretty standard, the least expensive item was $28 and the most expensive was $68. I threw my unwanted items in the postage paid envelope and dropped it off this morning at the big blue mailbox in front of the post office.

I then got on the Stitch Fix website, filled out the survey about my "fix", and completed my order for the shirt. On the survey, you can leave comments about what you liked or didn't like, and choose whether it was too expensive, fit too tight, etc. I liked it so much, I signed up for monthly "fixes" and I'm excited to see what they send me in the future!

Here's the link again if you're interested in signing up: http://stitchfix.com/sign_up?referrer_id=3151312

& Now We Run...

Finish Line / Pacemakers 5K

It all started with a late-night conversation about the Fodderstack 10K, an annual race held every  April in Rappahannock County, VA. Alex & Kris were planning to run it for the second year in a row and asked me if I'd be interested in running it with them. I've always wanted to be a "runner", but I've never been that awesome at it...of course, I've never been one to back down from a challenge so I said yes.

A few weeks later, Molly's Irish Pub in Warrenton posted the information for their annual Wearing O' The Green 5K. We thought it'd be a good idea to test the waters with a 5K before we ran a 10K, so we signed up. We showed up and ran the whole thing, which to experienced runners I'm sure is hilarious, but to us we were pretty excited. A couple of weeks later, we found an 8K in Charlottesville...so we woke up at 5:00am to get down there for it and we ran that whole race, too. By this point, we were getting pretty addicted to this racing thing!

After that it was time for the original race - the Fodderstack 10K. First off, this course is no joke. It's almost all hills (one of which has an ambulance waiting on top...you know, just in case!) but it has some of the most gorgeous views. The Fodderstack 10K begins in Flint Hill and ends in Little Washington. We ran it with respectable times and even won a couple door prizes! We also have two friends that ran with us at Fodderstack (Jon & Troy - father/son team!) and Troy joined us again for the Bodies in Motion race. Troy has been training and he gives us all a run for our money! Phil came out and ran the Pacemakers 5K with us and has since taken up running again.

Since Fodderstack, we have run another 10K and two more 5Ks, and have more on the calendar. The last 5K we ran was the Fourth of July 5K in Culpeper. Alex set her personal record at 29:00 minutes!



Pacemakers 5K/10K



When we started, we had no idea it would turn into something we loved doing so much! It's like a constant competition against your last race, always trying to better yourself. It's fun to train for it and it's fun to have two awesome girlfriends to do it all with. We made a team name (Pretty Little Pavement Pounders) and we even have super cute t-shirts that people love taking pictures of at races haha. We went to The Running Store and had the analysis done and bought the shoes that were perfect for our individual running styles. Running in the right shoes makes a huge difference!

The big event we are excited for now is The Color Run in Richmond in September. We're making a weekend out of it and it's going to be a BLAST! That will definitely make the blog...


My Running Shoes

Fodderstack 10K 2013

Our Team Shirts

Pantene Pro-V Beautiful Lengths

SO, this blog is a little late coming considering we did this in May...but I'm catching up on things now! I've always thought about donating my hair when it was time to cut it, but I was never sure when I'd be ready for the big chop. I had heard a lot about Locks of Love, but while looking into that I came across Pantene Pro-V's Beautiful Lengths program. They are alike in that they accept hair donations, but almost everything else is different.

Pantene Pro-V will accept donations of 8" or more, while Locks of Love requires 10". Through my research I found stories that Locks of Love sells wigs to some patients, while Pantene Pro-V gives the wigs to patients at no cost. Locks of Love focuses mostly on children, while Pantene Pro-V focuses on women. There are other things that I read, and while it may not all be 100% accurate, it was enough to make me choose Pantene Pro-V. Though I have respect for both organizations, and anyone who chooses to donate their hair to either one!

Danielle wanted to cut her hair as well, so I made us appointments for Saturday afternoon. We were both a little nervous going in...our hair was pretty long! I had already told my hairdresser in March that I was planning to donate soon, so she was excited to be the one to chop it all off. I was suprised at how relaxed I was once she started cutting. I was afraid I'd instantly second-guess myself or wish I hadn't chosen to donate so much, but I felt really happy about it.

In the end, I donated 14" and Danielle donated 11". My hair hasn't been this short in 6 years, but it's SO light and refreshing! Plus, knowing that my hair is going to a woman who has lost her hair makes it so incredibly rewarding. I look forward to being able to do this again in the future!