Shabby Apple: Gorgeous Dresses built to Flatter

In the midst of all of the craziness of last week, I received a package that I was SO excited to get. I have been a fan of Shabby Apple for a long time and often find myself window shopping on their website, oohing and aahing over their dresses. Shabby Apple is an online clothing shop specializing in vintage inspired dresses that cover in all of the right places while being chic and flattering. There is no need for camis, safety pins, or stretch shorts to maintain modesty; these dresses are made to hide what needs to be hidden while maintaining style and sexiness. It goes without saying that when I was contacted about reviewing one of their dresses I jumped.

One thing I love about the website is their Fit To Flatter tool which analyzes your figure and selects dresses which would flatter it. After answering a few questions I was given a large list of dresses to choose from, all of which I loved.

I decided on the “Frida K”. I have been eying it for a while, and was excited when it was one of my figure-flattering suggestions. Let me start by saying that the quality of this dress is superb. Anywhere that there is the remote possibility that a seam would show there is a French seam. The material is high quality and durable. This is a dress that is built to last.

And the fit! Va-va-voom!!! I am a Reubenesque woman who is quite busty and usually wear a size 16 or a XL. The dress was described as fitting loosely; I ordered a L. It fit in all of the right places better than any dress I have tried on in a long time. I was instantly transformed into the minxy Christina Hendrix version of myself, ready to take on Dan Draper and then attend the swank cocktail party after church. This dress is appropriate for work, dressy occasions, dates, and is modest enough to wear to weddings, church, etc. It would be difficult to dress down (although Shabby Apple offers plenty of dresses that fit into this category, too, as well as a great selection of aprons, swim suits, athletic wear, and accessories).

This gorgeous number ("Antiquated") is lace lined with stretch acetate.

I wore the “Frida K” to the funeral showing and I can't tell you how many compliments I got. I even caught a group of well dressed high school girls dissecting what I was wearing (accessories were my mom's vintage star burst broach and a pair of black pointy kitten heels) and received a big thumbs up. A dress that can take you from a funeral to cocktails to a hot date is a rare find, but the “Frida K” has it all. When I return to work, I fully intend to buy a large portion of my wardrobe from Shabby Apple. The prices are right, the styles are timeless, the quality superb.

The "Truman" is stylish, sophisticated, and easy to wear

Right now Shabby Apple is offering a 10% discount to Dropped Stitches readers. Shop from the site and at checkout enter code “droppedstitches10off“. Offer good through 6/26/11.

The Best Thing EVER!

I have been reading about the Robby Wash Ball for a few years in European magazines; just throw it in the wash and get clean, whiter, brighter clothes. I have been waiting to get my hands on one for an eternity, it seems - imagine my sheer joy when Oransi, the North American distributor of the Robby Wash Ball sent me one for free to review! I felt like I had hit the lottery!

The Robby Wash Ball is an environmentally friendly wash product which works by ionizing the water molecules to remove stains and odor from laundry. You simply throw the ball in with your 10 pound load of laundry and wash as usual. It is recommended that if you use a high capacity washer two balls be used. Also, if necessary, laundry should be bleached and rinsed ahead of the wash as the ball cannot be placed in bleach. The ball comes with a pre-wash stain stick that can be used instead of bleach. The Robby Wash Ball retails for $32.95 and will wash 12 months worth (an entire year's worth!) of laundry.

I've washed several loads of laundry with my Robby Wash ball and have been thrilled with the results. The first load was a doozy: it had been washed twice, the first time it smelled oddly of moth balls after being washed, the second time it came out with the lovely smell of a teenage boy's locker room. I can't tell you why, but I couldn't get this load to smell good. After I washed it with the Robby Wash ball, all of the unpleasant smell was gone and all of the whites were brighter. Not back to their original pristine white, but definitely noticeably brighter. I would recommend using a softener sheet in the dryer as the clothes were very staticy when I removed them.

You know how pillowcases can get an odd, bed head smell after a while? The Wash ball totally removed that smell. Nothing else I have ever tried did. The sheets were soft and bright, and there was no blue staining like I experienced with Oxy-Clean. The Robby Wash ball is a wonderful thing, especially when you consider that 100 ounces of Tide retails for around $10.00 and washes 64 loads (this lasts me about a month or two). A full year's worth of Tide would cost me $60 - $120 a year. And it's not an eco-friendly product. With the Robby Wash ball, you pay under $33 dollars, never measure detergent, wash your clothes for a year, and release nothing harmful into the environment. Seems like a no-brainer to me!

The Robby Wash ball can be purchased directly from Oransi and also through Amazon.com.

Book You Need To Read: A Word to the End Time Church by Georgie Newman

When Bring It On! Communications sent me a copy of Georgie Newman's "A Word to the End Time Church" to review I was a bit hesitant about the book. I will admit that I am not the biggest fan of end time theology, as the bible clearly states that no man shall know the time that Christ will appear. My hesitation was quickly wiped away as I started to read this wonderfully written, insightful book.

Georgie Newman is a layperson with no formal education in theology but she possesses an incredible gift for interpretation and teaching the Bible. The first section of her book, How Well Do You Know Him?, is a straightforward introduction and explanation of Christianity. Though this book is written for Christians this section is invaluable; the section on How to Hear God answered a lot of questions I have been asking myself for years. I was also fascinated by the discussion of the rhema and the logos (the two ways in which God can speak to us): logos is a systematically written or laid forth, like a sermon or the Bible while rhema is described as a word, an utterance, a pouring forth of a message from the Holy Spirit. It is those messages that we receive in our hearts and souls from God. There is also instruction on how to determine whether words that we receive are, in fact, from God, and what we should do when we receive rhema from God.

In the second section of her book (Are You Ready?), Georgie Newman challenges the reader to take a close look at their faith walk. While a case is made for the fact that we are living in the end times, this is not the theme of this section; rather, we are reminded that as Christians we are instructed to live our lives as if we are always living in the time of Revelation. The reader is asked tough questions such as "Are you standing on solid ground?" and "What do you really believe?" and given guidance if they find they are lacking in certain areas. This book probes all areas of the believers walk and implores the reader to make change where it is needed.

"A Word to the End Time Church" is a compelling, thoughtful book written by a woman who is clearly a messenger of God's word. I found myself unable to put it down and was forced to ask myself questions that I had been avoiding regarding my faith. It is a highly recommended book and one that I am sure I will be returning to many times in the future.

Book Information:
Title: A Word to the End Time Church
Author: Georgie Newman
Non-Fiction
150 pages
Suggested Retail Price: $14.99
VMI Publishers, published 2009
ISBN:1-935265-02-4

What Are the Odds? And a Giveaway!

Do you find it difficult to find good children's music that both you and your children will enjoy? You may be happy to know that Meredith LeVande of Monkey Monkey Music (a 2005 Parenting magazine pick) will be releasing a new CD on August 31. What Are The Odds is a blues infused CD with touches of 80's New Wave and a few lovely ballads. These are songs that you and your kids can sing and dance to, while at the same time learning odd and even numbers ("What Are the Odds?"), poetry ("Frogs Eat Butterflies" after Wallace Steven's 1922 poem of the same name), and unity ("Circle").

I really enjoyed this collection of songs, and found Tim secretly finger drumming to a few of the catchy tunes. Meredith's voice reminded me at first of the early girl group singers, like the Shirelles, but then seemed to morph into early 80's new wave pop sounds (Belinda Carlisle and Jane Wheadon come to mind). I tend to love the ballads, like "Willow Tree in the Wind", but also found myself bopping to "In The Garden."

Meredith LeVande is committed to writing children's music that is not only fun and catchy but truly kid appropriate. She says "I find it fascinating and somewhat disturbing that many parents are so conscious of their kids' nutritional diets, but pay very little attention to their children's media intake. I think there's a definite corporate movement to force kids to grow up quicker in order to turn them into consumers." These are great songs that one can find no fault with; I find it refreshing when an artist strives to keep our kids innocent and, well, kids.

Overall, a great collection of songs that both you and your child will enjoy.

What Are The Odds
Ages 2 - 7
Release Date: August 31, 2010
SRP: $14.99
Run Time: 46 minutes

Right now, Waldmania, the PR firm that generously sent me this great cd to review, is offering to give away a CD to a lucky reader! I will be choosing a winner by random number generator next Thursday, the 29th, at noon.

To enter:

1. Leave a comment below.

2. Become a follower and let me know in another comment (if you are already a follower, this counts, too!)

3. For another entry, blog about this giveaway and in a separate comment let me know and supply the link.

4. Tweet about this giveaway and leave the link in a separate comment box. One tweet per day = another entry (just let me know about it in another comment!).

Good luck!