Category Archives: reviews

National Blog Posting Month, reviews

How I became a girl who wears boots to run all the errands

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“Buy a great pair of boots” has been on my mighty list for a good long time now. I’ve bought a few pair of boots since it’s been on there, but they haven’t been great boots. They didn’t fit quite right, maybe, or they weren’t quite as lovely as I wanted them to be. But they were OK, and they were not expensive, so I bought them. And I didn’t love them, and most of them made my feet hurt.

So why did I buy them? Because I am cheap and optimistic, I guess.

I’ve recently learned, though, that cheap and optimistic aren’t a good combination when it comes to acquiring a great pair of boots. Optimistic on its own is fine, but you have to be willing to spend some money.

Unless Country Outfitter asks you to review a pair of boots, in which case you feel like the luckiest girl in the world. And then you immediately start browsing the boots. I love the Old Gringo Sora boot and the Dan Post Blue Birds, but I ended up choosing a pair of Ariat boots called the Heritage X Toes.

And then I sat back and waited.

Last Monday was a busy one for me. We had co-op, Odyssey of the Mind and a few errands to do, so we got home a few hours later than usual. And guess what was waiting on the front porch for me? Boots! I opened the box and put them on immediately. And then I wore them around the house for the rest of the day. And I wore them throughout the next day, too!

I need to vacuum the car. Also, I was in the driveway for both of these pictures. No driving while trying to take pictures of yourself driving, kids!

Things my Ariat boots from Country Outfitter and I did last week

  • Dragged the trash and recycling bins into the garage from the cold, rainy driveway.
  • Washed the dishes a few times.
  • Made tuna-macaroni-peas salad. (Surely there’s an official name for this, but my boots and I don’t know what it is.)
  • Played Zelda and PacMan with Pete.
  • Took Poppy to a playdate; it was my boots’ first time driving.
  • Went to church.
  • Bought groceries.
  • Strolled through nearly every aisle of Toys ‘R’ Us.
  • Took pictures for this year’s Christmas card.

    • That’s a lot of boot-wearing, and I am so pleased to tell you that my Ariats and I are still happy together. Thrilled, even. They’re nearly as comfortable as my sneakers, and they’re one million times more attractive.

    They make me feel great.

    I want you to feel great, too, and so does Country Outfitter. So I’m giving I gave away a Country Outfitter gift card for $150! Yay!

    And the winner is …

    Butterscotch Sundae friend April! Congratulations, April!

    How to enter
    You must (must!) click this link and enter your email address to enter. For a bonus entry, please leave a comment on this post letting me know which Country Outfitter boots you’ll order if you win. Good luck! This giveaway has closed.

    Disclaimers & small print: Country Outfitter sent me a pair of Ariat Heritage X Toe boots in Vintage Caramel to review. After you give them your email address, Country Outfitter will occasionally send you marketing messages, which you may opt out of at any time. This giveaway is only open to U.S. residents age 18 and older, and it closes on November 30, 2012.

    reviews

    A Perfectly Simple way to maintain my tenuous grip on adulthood

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    In the past I’ve tried to limit us to one or two activities every week, but we’ve added some things this year. I’m beginning to suspect that I’ve over-scheduled myself for the fall. We currently have:

    • Poppy’s regular ballet class and an additional “Nutcracker” rehearsal class on Wednesday.
    • Piano lessons on Thursday.
    • Two soccer games on Saturday.
    • And coming soon: More “Nutcracker” rehearsals every other Sunday.

    Now, I know that a lot of parents do all that and more on top of ferrying the kids to and from school and holding down a full-time job. I’m 99 percent certain that the kids wouldn’t have any outside activities if that were the case for me. I’m an introvert and a homebody, and all this running around gives me The Stress, which I inevitably compound by neglecting to eat breakfast before we leave the house. And then I have to either tough it out until I get home or buy something on the go, and it is a scientifically proven fact that I make very poor nutritional choices when I’m hungry like a wolf and outside of my natural habitat.

    You would think that as a fully grown and responsible adult, I could figure out a work-around for this. Such as: Eat breakfast or Pack a snack. You would be wrong, though, because I continued to leave the house, get hungry and descend upon the nearest Ho-Ho for months — OK fine: Years, if you count all of that time before now, when I’ve done the very same thing since forever — until finally Zone Perfect stepped in.

    They sent me some of their new Perfectly Simple bars to try. Each flavor is gluten-free and contains fewer than 10 ingredients, which makes it a relatively “safe” thing to keep in my purse for snacking emergencies.

    The bars come in three flavors: Peanut Crunch, Cranberry Almond and Toasted Coconut. I’m the vice treasurer elect of the Coconut Fan Club, so I thought I was going to love the Toasted Coconut bar. I found it cloyingly sweet, though; I pawned half of it off on Rockford while we waited in line to see Tigger and Pooh at Disney World. He said it was “not bad.” The Cranberry Almond bar didn’t make my tastebuds sing, but it wasn’t offensive either. It was serviceable in the food-as-fuel category, which is sometimes necessary. Like when I’m at the ballet studio and my stomach growls so loudly it distracts the dancers.

    And then there’s the Peanut Crunch bar. A.K.A. my new BFF. The Peanut Crunch bar tastes like peanut butter. Really good, dense peanut butter. If you’re the type of person who occasionally indulges in a spoonful from the jar, you’ll like this bar. And I am that type of person.

    So while my schedule is going to stay a little bit chaotic for at least the next few months, I no longer have to deal with the repercussions of my own dopey decisions on the breakfast front as long as I remember to keep the Perfectly Simple pocket in my purse stocked with Peanut Crunch bars.

    Nichole received a few complimentary Zone Perfect Perfectly Simple bars for review purposed. All opinions expressed are solely her own.