#1. Marley Lilly is the most fun place to shop online.

I am not sponsored by Marley Lilly, nor am I an affiliate. This does not make me any money to say this. I just love this place. You can order anything monogrammed from Marley Lilly, and it does not come all the way from China! This stuff is monogrammed for you, in South Carolina.

When I first found this site, I may or may not have spent quite a bit of time pinning and wishing.

This store has the CUTEST stuff!!!

I’m a wee bit obsessed with monograms:

It may sound silly, but frilly touches like my monogrammed initials on my jacket and my hand bag do help brighten my day!

I don’t think I had ever ordered a single monogrammed thing before I found online stores who do it. Why? Well, I love the look of it, but we move a lot, so I do not know the places to go anywhere I live to find services like this.

Also, it just looks expensive, you know?

What I LOVE about this online store is that you can find pretty stuff for good prices. Everything is so cute, completely affordable, and I can order it from anywhere, without leaving my house.

#2. Etsy shops are essential for finding things that are super personalized.

Let me show you a few of the other adorable things I found on Etsy!!!

#3. Yes, I use Amazon just as much as everyone else. It is less personal, but it is obviously practical.

Here are a few cute things currently for sale on Amazon. (December 2023) I actually am an Amazon affiliate, so I do collect advertising fees when you order from my Amazon links.

I like this watch. It is on a deep discount for Cyber Monday. Unlike Fitbits and Apple watches, you do not have to constantly recharge this good old fashioned watch.

Okay, and this one is my favorite Amazon find:SaveSave

Where are your favorite places to shop? I would love to have more ideas to find affordable things.

The post 3 Fun Places to Shop Online appeared first on Stories of Our Boys.

Have you tried Stitch Fix yet? Thought about it?

I’m on Box #5 here, so I’ll be happy to fill in any questions you have and give you a peek into what I received in my boxes. For the full down low on how Stitch Fix works, click on this post I wrote about my first one.

Normally, I schedule my fixes to come every 3 months. That works for season changes. However, from my May box I sent back 3 of the 5 things, and one of those was a tote-style purse. Plus, I was on a steep incline of weight gain for the past 2 years (I totally DON’T want to talk about it…Ask the doctors who told me to stop exercising. grr. We’ll address that on another blog post.)

So I found myself needing new summer pants, as in capris or cropped pants, which are my favorite. Who can find time to shop with 4 boys home all day in the summer??? It was just easier to go online and  request a box for July!

Why not just shop for myself online? Because I get overwhelmed, fill my cart up, then empty it and buy nothing. Do you do that?? Or is that just me?

Box #5

Stitch Fix Box #5 was spot on, and I’m keeping all of it. Plus, when you the entire box you get a 25% discount off your total price. Basically it makes the most expensive item in your box free, but only if you’re buying all 5 things.

Want to see what was in this box? I got ya covered.

My husband went on and on about how awesome I looked in this dress. So obviously, it’s a keeper.

Also, I didn’t like the shoes I wore with that dress, so I went to Payless and hit a STELLAR sandal clearance.

This outfit is very classically what I wear. Note the cute tote bag. That was from Stitch Fix Box #4. Since blue is my signature color, it goes perfectly with most of my clothes.

While the dress was my husband’s favorite, THESE PANTS were mine. They are cropped pants, but with my long legs they are almost capri pants, which is what I wear pretty much every day.

I don’t have a photo of the gorgeous Kate Spade earrings because……….this is so embarrassing to admit…. I wore them Sunday, and now I can’t find them!!! They will turn up.  This is the sort of mistake that I make regularly…misplacing earrings…but don’t worry.

You can see the earrings, which my stylist, Becca, chose in honor of Kate Spade, very clearly in this Facebook Live video below.

Also, I did not include a photo of the lovely floral print indigo-colored shirt from this box because it was too big. However, I did not send it back. Why? Well, the shirt was only $30, and by buying all 5 items, you save 25%, as I mentioned before. For this box, 25% off equaled out to be $70, which saved me much more than the cost of this one shirt, so it was cheaper for me to keep it. I’ll pass the shirt along to someone else.

Stitch Fix DOES do size exchanges. 

If you go online on the check out screen, you can also request a different size. Unfortunately, I didn’t know that until after I checked out. I could call and work this out, I’m sure, but I’m pretty lazy about returns so.. probably I won’t.

Want to learn more about Stitch Fix or order a box for yourself? Just go here.

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The post Stitch Fix Box #5: Love it or Send it back? appeared first on Stories of Our Boys.

***I was not paid to write this review. All opinions are my own.***

Living  in the South has ignited a passion in me for all things monogrammed, engraved, and personalized, so when I came across this locket that you can personalize online in 5 minutes with words AND photos, and order it right to your doorstep, I HAD to try it. Thankfully, I was able to get my hands on a free blogger sample. (Thank you picturesongold.com!)

Making the Locket on PicturesOnGold.com

I was a little nervous about making it. Usually places like this want an exact size of photo, or I goof up and order 3 instead of 1…..like I did with those Third Love bras…but that’s another story…

Y’all! It was SO EASY, and there were OPTIONS– like Subway!! Silver or gold? What should be on the front? Which font? Choose your left inside. Words or photo? Choose the right inside. Choose what’s on the back. How long of a chain? Which type of shipping?

Want to see what I picked?

All 4 boys on the left, Alan and me on the right

What made me the happiest of all was that the upload time was quick, and they automatically shrink it to fit the locket. Then I was able to slide the photo around on there to center and enlarge the photos the way I wanted.

For the front I chose engraved initials:

Love!

It goes with everything. I was so excited when it arrived in the mail only a few days later, but you choose your own shipping option.

What sold me was that when the locket came, it was ready to wear. I did NOT have to go searching the house for tiny photos to fit in it. They are permanently “photoengraved” in.

Reader’s Discount!!!

After the Black Friday and Cyber Monday sales are over, you can use this code, just for my readers: BLOG10  That will give you 10% off your locket order. I cannot guarantee that the code will work in conjunction with other discounts.

Just go here to see all the personalized gifts they sell.

And now for the giveaway!!! Whoo-whoo!!!!

Prize is a locket like mine from PicturesOnGold.com for you to personalize online.

***Open to US residents only.***

Log in using Facebook or your email address. Then select one or 2 or all of the entering options to complete your giveaway entry! Best of luck! Winner will be announced in a week!

Happy Thanksgiving!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

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The post Beautiful Personalized Gifts for Christmas with Giveaway! appeared first on Stories of Our Boys.

****Disclosure: This post contains affiliate links. When you purchase through my site, I do receive advertising fees.****

What is Stitch Fix?

Stitch Fix is a clothes shopping service. They send you a box of 5 clothing items. You buy only what you’d like from the box. You normally pay a styling fee of $20, but if you buy the items in your Stitch Fix box, they subtract that $20 from the price of your clothes.

If you buy everything in your shipment, it’s all 25% off!

For more information on the specifics, check out my First Stitch Fix Post.

Want to see what I got in my 2nd Stitch Fix Box?

This lovely necklace, which is navy and teal, so it goes with almost everything I wear!

These fuchsia pants! I paired these brightly colored trousers with a solid Lula Roe Irma top and the necklace from my box.

They do send you coordinating pieces, but the top to go with these pants was a sweater, and it was HOT that day. Here’s the sweater. It was finally cool enough to wear it this week:

Stitch Fix sweater. Note the fringe sides.

The sweater is so cozy I didn’t even wear a shirt under it, which is rare for me. I cannot stand an itchy sweater.

I enlisted John David’s help for this next photo, and he’s 4, so it’s a little fuzzy…

I’m a big fan of this top!

Here’s the selfie-non-fuzzy version:

Yes, okay, I own a selfie stick. Caleb bought me one at the Dollar Tree for Christmas one year.

My FAVORITE ITEM in this Fix was this dress. I received so many compliments on this adorable dress.

Yes, I pared it with cowboy boots….because who doesn’t love a good cowboy boot.

My helper

I can already tell you this dress will be something I wear over and over and over again because it’s cute, flattering, and comfortable. 

This is such a fun service, both for clothes lovers and the shopping avoidant alike. I once again purchased the entire box. Yes, I kept all 5 items. Wouldn’t you?  When you figure in the 25% off, it’s like getting the most expensive item in the box (the pants) free. Plus, there are no shipping fees, only tax.

Click here to try it out. Tell us about your Stitch Fix experience in the comments below and leave any questions you have.

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The post Stitch Fix Box #2 appeared first on Stories of Our Boys.

***Disclosure: This post does contain Stitch Fix ad links. If your purchase through these links, I do receive compensation. However, all the clothes were purchased from my own pocket, and opinions are my own.***

“Stitch Fix, yea or nay?” was a question I posed to my blog’s Facebook page a month ago. Before I even tried it out, I wanted to hear some feedback to know if I should bother. Most everyone seemed to think I should go for it, but I was warned that it’s not super thrifty.

For a few years now, I’ve heard my sister-in-law as well as my friend Hillary talk about how much they like Stitch Fix. I’ve seen my favorite blogger, Crystal Paine, do unboxing videos from her Stitch Fix shipments.

So what is Stitch Fix exactly?

It’s a service that provides you 5 new clothing or accessory items in each box through the mail. Each item is hand-selected for you personally by a Stitch Fix stylist. You decide how often you get the box. You can choose just once, every few weeks, every couple of months, quarterly, etc.

Clothes are something I LOVE, but I never actually signed up because I was afraid it would be a gigantic money pit. Also, since I do love clothes and shopping, I didn’t feel like I needed someone to do my shopping for me. You know what I mean?

How can we know they will choose affordably cute clothes and not just tease us with beautiful clothing that we cannot even afford and have to send back anyway??

Well, wonder no longer. I’m going to give you more information here than even Stitch Fix probably wants me to give you, so you can make an informed decision.

First, let me tell you about the Process.

Answer as HONESTLY as you possibly can!!! Telling them you wear a 10 when you actually need a 12 will help no one. This is not a fantasy questionnaire. hehehe! I’m only saying this because these are the things I had to tell MYSELF when I was answering these questions.

There are about 25-50 questions, but they are all multiple choice, so no need to panic. Halfway through, I realized I should take screenshots for you to know what to expect:

One time only!

You can’t see it in the above photo, but there is also an option to get a one-time box.

Tell them more about you!

They give you an option to tell your stylist more about yourself. Use this!!! I was very specific. I told her I needed more tops, that I love trouser-style pants, and I even got specific on the fact that having 4 babies left me with a pooch. Therefore, please no spandex-tops. Ha!! I even specified that I wear a smaller size shirt if it is super blousy or peasant style.

Also, include your Pinterest profile name if you have one!! You can go on Pinterest and create a board of clothes you like—any clothes at all that you like. It gives them an idea of your taste.

My stylist, Becca, not only viewed my Pinterest boards, but she actually referenced them in the note.

This was my note from my stylist:

FEES!!!!

Okay, let’s talk about the fees. Am I saying there is a service fee? Yes, I am. It’s $20. That’s  part of what kept me from signing up for forever!!!

But if only I had known! If you keep any of the clothes Stitch Fix sends you, they deduct the $20 from that item. Ohhhh!!! See, I did not know that.

My First Shipment

Don’t skip the note. (Like I did.) This note includes your message from your stylist and your style suggestions. The envelope also includes the prices of each item, as well as how much your total will be after your discount(s) are applied.

These were my outfit suggestions:

The item in the middle of each block is the item you receive. Then the items off to the sides are styling suggestions.

There was also a pair of earrings, which I will show you below (keep going).

Did I like everything I got in my box?

….Well, actually I did! It was a home run, but I did not expect that. Please don’t expect that you will love everything you get in every box. There’s no way.

My box was full of beautiful clothes that I would have bought for myself if I had found them at Kohl’s. Totally.

But did they fit??

Believe it or not……

And my FAVORITE part….

Okay, yes, it all looks awesome, sure, but…

How much did all of this cost???

In MY opinion, their prices are inflated to pay the shipping and the stylists. There is no shipping charge on top of what you pay, but there is still sales tax.

Was it affordable??? It was moderately affordable to me.

I could have gotten just the elephant shirt for $48, minus the $20, so $28.

Both shirts were $48 a piece, more than I usually pay.

The dress was actually reasonably priced, in my opinion. $68 is reasonable for a dress. If you were only buying the dress from this box, it would be only $48.

The earrings were $28. $10 to $20 would have been more exciting.

Like I mentioned before, you are also paying for the service.

The only item I felt was way over-priced was the pants, at $88, I was like “Whaaa???”

Oh!!! One more thing about the prices!!

When you answer those initial sign-up questions on StitchFix.com, they ask you your price range. I marked “as cheap as possible” for everything EXCEPT for pants. That may be why my trousers cost more. It’s important to me to have high quality pants. I can’t explain it.

So how did I choose what to get?

I could have bought 3 of these Stitch Fix items for $104, but that’s not including the dress. Finding dresses that fit me well is difficult, so I wanted to get the dress. That would have put me at $172.

4 for $172 (no pants)

or all 5 for only $190 (including the pants)……You can see why I chose to just buy it all! 

If you buy everything in your box, you get a 25% discount plus your $20 styling fee off.

I did the math, dispersing the discounts in my head where I so desired…

That made it like I was getting the tops for $38/piece, the earrings for $28, the dress for $68, and the pants for $18…..the way I did the math!! You could distribute the dollars however you want. I did it that way because if I sent anything back, it would have been the pants.

…So Stitch Fix? Yea or Nay???

I’m going to have to go with “Yea!!!”, BUT since I bought all of it this time, I had to move my next Fix further out. It was super simple to switch from “every other month” to “quarterly”.

This will be a special, quarterly treat that I will be looking forward to.

What about you? Do you need help choosing new outfits? Want to give it a whirl?

Click on the photo below to give it a trial run. Let me know how it goes!! Already tried Stitch Fix? Comment below to tell us what you thought!

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The post Stitch Fix: Full Review & How it Works appeared first on Stories of Our Boys.

My Wedding Dress…..and the Kiss the Bride moment. Yes, this is a photo of a photo. It was 2002.

Wedding dresses.

I won’t say I’m obsessed because I don’t think about them ALL the time. Instead, I would say I’m fascinated with wedding dresses. 

Pretty often I find myself headed over to Kohl’s (because I actually am obsessed with Kohl’s). Do you know what is super close to Kohl’s in my town?

David’s Bridal.

I pass it, and I want to go in. I want to go in, and try on all the dresses.

And it’s an unrequited love. You can’t just go into David’s Bridal and try on wedding dresses when you have no intention of buying one. That’d be a good way to tick off some sales ladies.

I don’t want to buy one, as I have no use for one.

But I just want to drool over them, try 10 or so of them on, and feel like the Queen of the Day. Is that so wrong?

I can’t just put on my own wedding dress. There was that unfortunate incident. We talked about that here. My mom and I lost our wedding dresses in the same fire.

Even if my dress hadn’t died (and yes, okay, wedding dresses are special enough to die), I would not be able to fit it. The thing was tiny. Shake my head. I was obviously not finished growing yet.

Even if I did have a reason to buy another one, for say a 25th wedding anniversary vow renewal or something, I wouldn’t want to. Have you seen how much they cost now? It’s insane! I paid $450 for mine, before alterations, way back in the day.

Why would anyone pay $5,000 for a big white dress to wear one day, when that could pay for a whole Disney vacation? (for 2 people) No, thanks. (especially considering I’m already happily married…)

And yet, I still just want to look at them and wear them. I love to watch Say Yes to the Dress. Over and over. (You should see the boys’ confused looking faces. “Why are we watching this? Why is she crying?”)

Yes, I enjoy that show. Sometimes I even CRY at that show. Is it ridiculous? Yeah. yeah. I can’t explain it.

my cousin, Amber, with her groom, Cale, so beautiful and happy

Family friend, Sarah. Do you remember the girls who used to help with the boys for days while Alan was in Afghanistan? They grew up!

So, I just want to say, for the record, my name is April, and I love wedding dresses.

I love to watch shows about them, drool over them in bridal magazines, and I day-dream about wearing them.

Who’s with me in my wedding gown love? Anybody?

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The post My Fascination with Wedding Dresses appeared first on Stories of Our Boys.

Plus, I’m paying for THREE private school tuitions, so do not even say the words “shop” to me. There will be no shopping.

Here are my options. The wedding is outdoors. I am told the groomsmen will not be wearing ties, and it all takes place at 4pm.

my personal fave. But I do realize it looks pretty casual.

Don’t you think it’s too much black?

I like it, but Alan says it looks like a Halloween dress (because it’s black and orange). Sigh.

That’s it, y’all. That’s all I have!

By the way, can I just say how excited I am for this bride???  I won’t spoil her privacy by posting her name or photo. (But if she gives me permission, I’ll show you pictures on Sunday!!)

So, okay, 2 things, no, really 4:

1. Please tell me which dress you think I should wear in the comments, or Facebook comment.
2. Do know that I’m probably going to disregard what everyone says and where what I want anyway….Why? Why do I even ask then??
3. In answer to #2, I don’t know. It’s a sickness.
4. Pray for me to stay sane and not lose it with any sweet little men this weekend because there’s going to be a lot of forcing them to wear nice clothes and sit still, and well, we’ve discussed that before!!! There are four of them. Take what two little boys are like, times it by two, and that’s what we’re talking about here…..at a wedding!!!  (But don’t get me wrong. My children are of course perfect angels from Heaven and would never so much as sneeze as this wedding, I’m sure. Especially the three-year-old, I am absolutely sure he won’t start crying because he bumped his finger and not stop until the whole wedding is over…) Oh, what am I even worrying about? I’ll spend the whole event half a mile away from it to keep everyone from being “distracting” anyway.

But I should look good while hiding, so tell me which one to wear. Thanks!!!

The post What do I wear to the wedding? appeared first on Stories of Our Boys.