Saturday, March 4, 2017

Stitch Fixing: ReFixed (also Books!)

So I contacted Stitch Fix after my last post to say that I wasn't going to keep anything, but I'd like to try again. They waived my $20 styling fee for my re-do, I updated my profile, and my box arrived last night. On first glimpse, it's much more what I was looking for. Cute, fun, different summer clothes.


Item 1: Kut from the Kloth Lonnie Frayed Cuff Denim Short (Size 2), $68


Let's get this out of the way. Hard no. I hate that length of shorts always and being wrapped in a long sausage casing of denim sounds terrible in our 100+ degree summers. The fit is nice and I will keep it in mind if I ever bargain shop that brand. But no on this iteration.

Verdict: RETURN.

Item 2: Loveapella Madras Embroidery Detail Knit Top (Size XS), $48


This is very cute and I like it very much. The fabric is super soft but not thin and I like the embroidery a lot (and I am normally not an embroidery person).

Verdict: TBD; if I'd loved everything and could get the 25% discount I'd keep it, but probably won't for $48.

Item 3: Renee C Jensine Split Neck Blouse (Size XS), $48


I really like this top. Love the colors, the print, the uniqueness, and the length. This is the kind of thing I want from my stitch fix.

Verdict: TBD; like the top above, if I could get the 25% discount I'd keep it for sure.

Item 4: Gilli Tahj 2fer Knit Maxi Dress (Size XS), $78


I really like this too- super soft, great colors, flattering neckline you can't really see in my picture... only downside is it's too short. Like basically everything that is supposed to hit my ankles, it's floating about 2" too high. For the price, I can't keep it.

Verdict: RETURN, but reluctantly.

Item 5: Bay to Baubles Jerry Open Filigree Drop Earrings, $28


These are cute, but I have earrings that are similar and I rarely wear them. Not unique enough to keep for the price.

Verdict: RETURN.

~ ~ ~

And so I reach the problem I just continue to have with Stitch Fix. Unless I were to love everything and get 25% off all the prices (a dream long held, but never fulfilled), it's hard to justify when I know I can get cute things that are much cheaper. Especially when I have enough time to occasionally shop, and I don't hate shopping for the cheaper things. As much as I LOVE a box showing up at my door for me to try on- and I do! it's so rare as an adult to be truly surprised with a gift (even if ultimately, it's a gift from yourself), I just can't justify keeping many of the items.


Because I picked up these shorts at Target for $15 each (25% off $20) last week and they fit perfectly and they're cute and colorful and fun. Are they as nice as the $58 shorts I got in my last Fix? Maybe not? But they are 95% as nice. And that's all I really need, given that I can only wear shorts on the weekends and 50% of that time I'm in a maxi dress or swim suit and someday I'm going to have to grow up and wear shorts longer than 3" so these aren't exactly a long term investment. I'm wearing the mint and black pairs in my pics above. And the grey ones below are really nice- they're a slightly different fabric and honestly feel the same, if not better, as the ones I got in my last Fix.


(This polka-dotted style is also really cute. I could just only justify keeping so many shorts.)

I also ordered this Target top, which I love with the yellow shorts (that are honestly maybe a shade too yellow, but maybe not too yellow for $15. I'm keeping the tags on in case I decide they're too big bird), but I took it back because I didn't think the knot in the front was very flattering.


Maybe I was wrong? I've now been looking for basically the exact same top without the knot and have not been successful. I expanded to any black/white stripe cute top and still haven't found my replacement. I want something that is black with white stripes in some sort of cute, non-purely-horizontal compilation. Google doesn't like my phrasings and won't find me anything.


This is the floral top I linked to in the last Stitch Fix post from Express (40% off too!). I love it. Our winter is pretending to be spring, so I feel like this brings the two together.


And I love the work-appropriate-with-a-cardigan cut outs. They have it in a ton of colors; I already owned the teal. It's such a great top, esp. when purchased on sale.


And, after ordering 6 pairs and saving a ton of options to various shopping carts scattered throughout the interwebs, I found the perfect white jeans! And of course, they're from Old Navy. I even finally took a deep breath and almost ordered a $100+ pair from Nordstrom, but the $20 perma-on-sale Rockstar Skinny Jeans from Old Navy are perfection. No matter how hard I try to be fancy, I was made for these jeans, and Old Navy is the only member of the Gap family to still carry longs for smaller sizes. I still wear my Rockstar dark denim skinnies purchased in 2011 more than any other pair of jeans I've tried to love; when they finally wear out, I'll just buy another identical pair. I also got this super cute floral tank to go with them. Adorable yes? Sometimes Old Navy surprises me.


And I've just proven why Stitch Fix, though I think it is a genuinely brilliant idea and encourage anyone who doesn't like to shop or doesn't have time to try it out (referral link), just doesn't work for me. I'm more excited about the jeans and this top than I am about anything in my fixes and combined they cost me $36. My body is meant for cheaper things.

(Also, don't forget your eBates if you buy any of these things online! I just cashed a $200 check from my Christmas shopping, which probably says terrible things about my online Christmas shopping, but $200 of "free" money in February is a beautiful thing!!)

Speaking of cheaper things- someone asked on my last post where I get all my books, and the answer is: our public library! My sisterfriend Jenny told me about this a few years ago, that most public libraries subscribe to a digital online lending library, usually run by Overdrive. With your library card number you can log in and check out up to 10 books and place holds on others if they aren't available (I've never had to wait more than a week for one to become available; there's usually multiple digital copies). It's so great. I'm sure there's some limit to the books available, but every book I've ever wanted to read has been in there, and since I read anywhere from 2-4 books a week, this has saved me HUNDREDS and has let me read as much as my little bookwormy heart desires, whereas before I would cut myself off after a certain number of Amazon purchases a month.

As for what I'm reading now- I've gotten on a dystopian/YA fiction tangent thanks to a work colleague with similar taste. He recommended Red Rising, Legend, and The Three Body Problem. Luckily, he hadn't actually read The Three Body Problem when he recommended it to me; otherwise, all his future recs would be suspect because that book was NOT my favorite. It's an interesting concept and I wanted to want to read it, but omg it was like homework. I felt obligated. I sighed inwardly every time I clicked on my kindle app. It sat on my phone for 8 days and I was only 22% through and I finally quit. I have never taken 8 days to read a book. Clearly it just wasn't happening. The dialogue was so stilted I just couldn't handle it. Make whatever crazy world you want with whatever rules, but I need the characters to sound like they're actually talking to each other and not reading from cue cards. Luckily my coworker, who had the same criticisms, is more OCD than me and has to finish the trilogy, so he's filling me in on all the plot I'm missing. I've quit reading maybe 5 books in my life and I do not regret quitting that one.

We'll take the others quickly:

~ Legend trilogy: LOVE. Fun, fast reads. Great character building, I was very sad it ended and almost dipped into the world of fan fiction just to let me stay with the characters longer. Has anyone read Marie Lu's other series, the Young Elites? She's a beautiful character writer, so I'm curious.

~ Red Rising: I'm 30% through book 3; highly recommend the series. It's denser and darker (and much broader/more complex world building) than Legend, but I like it very much and recommend it too.

~The Queen of Tearling: another co-worker recommended this and I'm next up to get it from the digital library; has anyone read it? Thoughts?

~ Burn for Me: my beloved author duo, Ilona Andrews, wrote this book a while ago and when I read it I didn't realize it was part of a temporarily abandoned trilogy without its companion books. Luckily, they've started it up again, re-releasing this book (currently $1.99 on Amazon!) and releasing both books 2 AND 3 later this year. I'm so excited; anything Ilona Andrews writes is my favorite.

~ Kresley Cole is another author I still actually buy instead of check out because I love her books and re-read them so much. She just had a new one out in her Dacian spin-off line from her Immortals After Dark series- Shadow's Section, that I haven't read yet because I'm trapped in the above trilogies. She has a new book coming out soon in IAD later this spring (Wicked Abyss) AND a new Arcana book coming this fall (Dark Calling). I can't wait. These are the books I download at midnight Tuesday when they come out and read until dawn.

~ Echoes in Death, #44 in J.D. Robb/Nora Roberts In Death series. I still love these. I wouldn't pay for them- they're like cotton candy (super murdery cotton candy), but I love the characters, they're always fun, and I can never put them down. If you haven't read the series the first 12 or so are really fantastic and I've honestly enjoyed every one. They're like episodes of House- a self-contained murder story (the lead character is a lieutenant in the murder division of a futuristic New York Police Department), but multi-year long character arcs that grow and develop as you read.

And that's what I'm reading now (in addition to a fun dip back into Elizabeth Philips for an update in the Stars series and Iris Johansen for some classic medieval and Regency romance). The Court of Thrones and Roses series is on my list, as well as the Throne of Glass and Red Queen trilogies. Any others? I like pretty much anything not based in fact. Nothing that will make me think very hard, ponder my own life reflectively, or is based in our reality.

25 comments:

  1. I really really enjoyed the Queen of the Tearling! Unfortunately, the second and third books in the trilogy were borderline terrible.

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    1. I've heard that from so many people! Terrible enough that I should get intrigued by book 1 and then want to know where the story goes, even if it's a terrible place? Or can book 1 be fairly stand alone? Does it end in a cliffhanger?

      I felt this way about Divergent. I really liked the first book and thought it was well done. Book 2 was barely mediocre and book 3 was so terrible that I was furious when I finished it and wrote Amazon to demand a refund. It's the only time I have ever done that and I still feel it was justified.

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    2. I think the first book is worth a read. It ends in a bit of a cliffhanger but I think it could stand on its own. And the second and third books, while not great, are nowhere near as bad as the 3rd Divergent book. I was angry I wasted time reading that one too!

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  2. I recommend Sabaa Tahir's Ember in the Ashes series. Also, the Finnikin of the Rock series by Melina Marchetta (anything by Marchetta actually.) And Graceling and Fire by Kristin Cashore are great too. Love your writing!

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  3. I like the tops and agree, worth it with the discount but too spendy without it. I've had some luck selling my rejected fix items in a fb sf bst group, but then it messes with the algorithm. I did get a 5/5 for myself once, so they do exist somewhere!

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  4. Oh, you've got some good ones on your list!

    Unfortunately I didn't like the Young Elites series- it was dark and I wasn't a fan of the main character. The Tearling series was OK- it started off strong, but book 2 was terrible. Book 3 helped, but there was a lot of wasted potential.

    I'll second the Ember in Ashes rec- that was a fantastic series! If you're looking for a fun, light series the Charley Davidson series by Daryda Jones is great! Kelley Armstrong's Casey Duncan series is absolutely fantastic. A complete departure from her paranormal genre- these are more in line of Jeffrey Deaver's thrillers. JR Ward's Blood Vow as the best I've read from her in a long time!

    Can't wait to hear your thoughts on the Red Rising trilogy- I really think book 3 was about a perfect of a finale as can be!

    Are you on Good Reads? I live by it- you can see all I've read lately here: https://www.goodreads.com/review/list/7323517?shelf=read

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  5. The Red Queen series is insanely incredible. I was hooked from the beginning. The third book just came out last month. So good!

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  6. Love the shout out for the public library! This is exactly how I came to love the library - I read so much as a kid that my mom refused to buy me books. Instead we just went to the library all the time! I don't know what I'm going to do when my time on the library board is up - it is a group that I just love to support so much because it truly is a place for everyone!

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  7. Returning to add that I also love the library and use our local library's e-book connection through the Overdrive app on my phone to check out kindle and audiobooks. It's fantastic!

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  8. YA is the best!! I Third the Ember rec! The series is in the middle though, which can be frustrating. Leigh Bardugo is a must read - Grisha trilogy and Six of Crows duology. That should be your next read! Couldn't make it beyond the first Tearling book... but it's very popular. As is Sarah Maas/Throne of Glass, but also not a fan. Red Rising is one of the best series in recent years - seriously addicting. If you like the space/colonization part, the Illuminae series isn't as well-known, but such a fun format (great audiobooks too.) Marissa Meyer's fairytale series is so fun too (Cinder, Scarlett, Cress, Winter.) It's a standalone, but Uprooted is great YA. Anything by Rainbow Rowell is great (she writes adult books too, but her YA is the best.) If you're OK with gay romance, her Carry On is the best play on HP fanfic known (and IMO possibly the best YA book in the past few years. I can't speak highly enough of it. But this is coming as a YA, HP and gay romance fan, so it was basically written for me :)) And speaking of HP, the Lev Grossman Magicians series is for a bit older than YA, but great reads as well.

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    1. Awesome, saving all of these recs to my list!

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  9. In fairness to Ilona Andrews, my understanding is the second and third books in the 'Hidden Legacy' series got bumped because of her overall production schedule. The good news is we get one in May and one in June. I'll also recommend her 'Innkeeper Chronicles' series. I got the first two books from my library via Overdrive and caved and bought the third book because I was on a hold list. It's a little more high fantasy than her other's, but I ended up loving them. No surprise, because Kate Daniels and Curran are basically my favorite.

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    1. I read on their blog that they got bumped when they changed publishers a few years ago. I'm not mad at them, I just didn't know when I read the book, which ended like it was clearly meant to be part of a series, that it didn't have the rest of its series and I was sad. And I *adore* the Innkeeper series. There isn't a word they've written that I haven't read, including all their blog posts, etc. Love love love them and their imaginations, dialogue, slow-burning romance, and the best sword fighting scenes I've ever read. When each next chapter of Innkeeper #3 was being posted on their blog on Fridays I could barely get anything done I was so busy checking their site. I loved the serial (and free!) publishing, but it did terrible things for my productivity...

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  10. More love for library overdrive! My local library has a pretty small online selection, but the library in the county where I work has pretty much everything I want to read. I pay $65/year for a membership to that library since I'm not a resident of the county. I estimate it saves me around $300-400/year. My mom and I share that membership, as well as the membership at her local library so between us, we have 3 library memberships. The only time we've ever had issues was when I was trying to read a recent Lisa Kleypas book and my mom kept deleting it from the "Holds" section because she had already read it and didn't realize that I was the one putting it on hold!

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    1. That made me lol. And which Lisa Kleypas? I just put her new Devil in Spring on hold - I didn't realize it was out! I love her writing, it's so fun and easy, but with a beautiful depth to her characters that my fluffy/regency romance authors don't quite hit.

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    2. I was trying to read Cold-Hearted Rake. I almost gave up and bought it, but decided that for $7.99, I could wait 2 weeks... Until 2 weeks turned into 6 because my mom kept sending me to the back of the holds line! (Devil in Spring was worth the $7.99 to read it the second it came out, "grown up" St. Vincent AND Westcliff!!)

      I have to thank you for my LK addiction. You recommended the Wallflowers years ago and I quickly devoured everything she's ever written. Same for Julia Quinn! Have you read Sarah MacLean or Tessa Dare? MacLean comes close to LK in creating characters that I want to be friends with.

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  11. total library overdrive fanatic over here! Also you articulated perfectly why I keep signing up for stitch fix and similar despite near-constant disappointment---I like surprises and presents are my love language, yet no one in my life right now is indulging me, so these services appeal to me! (I have a trunk club haul coming soon and the prices made me nearly die, I don't think I'm keeping anything but we'll see once it arrives)
    also, I made those turkey burgers & persian salad---we ate the burgers on buns because carbs, and mixed the salad with orzo because more carbs and everyone ate it!!! it was a miracle! Thanks for sharing that recipe, it'll go in our rotation.

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    1. Yay, I'm so glad to hear that about the burgers! (And "presents are my love language" is precisely me too; I just love a little surprise!)

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  12. Okay, that settles it, I just checked and my library uses Overdrive too. I'm GOING this week to renew my card and get set up with that. Exciting! And so handy since I don't have to actually GO to the library (after this) to check out a book! Thanks for posting that little detail. :)

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    1. Yay! Love love Overdrive and the library and so happy to pass it along! I'm forever thankful to my friend Jenny for doing the same.

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  13. Totally on board with your love of the library. I love mine for e-books and real books and have been reading more since I joined the past year. I have to ask, how do you read so many books? Do you just keep one near you at all times or are you a speed reader? I'm working on finishing two a month and I love to read. What is your secret?!? :-)

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    1. A bit of both I think :). I'm a really really fast reader- I always have been (which I think is how I got through school with really high grades and very few study skills, something that smacked me upside the head in law school), but I also always have my book nearby. I switch between my Kindle when I'm at home and my kindle app on my phone. If there's a line for something, if I'm riding in the elevator, if I am not otherwise engaged at any time- I'm probably reading :). It's my one true addiction.

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  14. As a librarian, I SOOO appreciate all the library love. The Overdrive App is a huge cost savings for me, too! Do you read the Smart Bitches Trashy Books blog? I've found a lot of good recommendations there, and through an iBooks promotion in February discovered Lucy Parker's first book "Act Like It" which I highly recommend.

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  15. I love checking out books from the local library on my Kindle! It's perfect for traveling, too, since you don't need to lug around one (or three) books but still get to read as much as you want. I also really like the floral top you linked to-- gorgeous! I like the black and white striped tank but agree you can find something more flattering. It's frustrating to know exactly what you want and not be able to find it!

    Your blog is a refreshing read and I love your balance of work and kids and friends. Thanks!

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    1. Aw, thank you Kate! I so appreciate hearing that!

      I too suspect that the black/white tank is not as flattering as it could/should be, I just love the opposite diagonal stripe so much (and the $25 price tag) and wish I could fix the knot bump situation. I'm still searching- maybe if everyone is looking one of us will find something!

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