Archives for May 2010

Essential Swimwear Review & GIVEAWAY {Now Closed}

May 5, 2010 By Michelle Barneck 129 Comments

I am so excited to be doing this review for Essential Swimwear. I saw them on Studio 5 and fell in love with their adorable tankinis. I was excited to be able to choose my own swimsuit to try out. Here’s the one I chose:

(Here’s what it will look like if you are white and freckled and your arm can only reach out so far to take the pic. Plus, there is no way I was putting a full body shot of myself on here. I get props for being brave right?! There, proof that I actually wear this suit.)

I adore the ruffles and love that the tank is long so I don’t have to worry about it creeping up while playing in the water with my 2 year old. Plus, if I am having a chubby day, I can scrunch it up and make it look like it has ruching. Ha!

They have tons of cute styles to choose from and did I mention the pricing?! You can get both pieces for just over $50! None of this $80-120 silliness!

So why do I love Essential Swimwear:

My suit fit right straight out of the package. Not an easy task when ordering online!
The suits are modest, but still super cute!
The top has cups sewn in. None of this showing the world you are cold. You will feel properly supported. 😉
The top has ties so it is adjustable, great for when you need a little more space up top if you are nursing and or preggo.
It is super long so I could even wear it as a maternity suit for quite a while.
There are no weird gaps around the booty of the suit. It’s snug where it should be.
The quality is high. It is not something that is going to fall apart after a few uses.
I can feel good that I am supporting a local woman run business.

So, now for the best part!

Essential Swimwear is giving away a swimsuit to one of our lucky readers! Just in time for summer you could win the suit of your choice!

To enter: Leave a separate comment for each entry with an email to contact you if you win. If there is no email or none on your blogger profile I will choose another winner!

Mandatory entry: Sign up for Essential Swimwear’s newsletter and leave a comment telling us you’re on the email list.

Additional entries:

• Fan of Essential Swimwear on Facebook and leave a comment telling us.
• Become a follower of Essential Swimwear’s blog and leave a comment telling us. (You’ll want to do this one so you know when they have the 20% discount!)
• Tweet, Facebook, or blog about this giveaway and leave a comment with the URL.

The giveaway is now closed, so you can have your suit for Memorial Day when all the pools open!!

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Wordless Wednesday-Who Needs a Padded Room?!

May 4, 2010 By Michelle Barneck 2 Comments

Linking up with 5 Minutes for Mom.

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May Visiting Teaching Handout-Conference Edition “Keeping Our Families on the Road to Him”

May 4, 2010 By Michelle Barneck 16 Comments

This month’s Visiting Teaching message is left up to us to decide. There were so many wonderful General Conference talks to choose from, but I saw a theme in many of them that stuck out to me. I decided to focus on our influence on the testimonies and strength of our children. There were so many delicious quotes, I could not help myself. Talk about a feast!

I could not narrow it down, so I decided to do a booklet for my Visiting Teaching Handout this month. It contains 16 quotes from five different April 2010 general conference talks. I called it “Keeping Our Families on the Road to Him.” Have a look see for yourself…

I love that it shares why it is important to help our children build their testimonies and learn to act, shows suggestions on how to do this and talks about the blessings for them, but also us as parents. I included quotes on young children too because we (myself, companion, and the fantastic woman I visit) all have really young kids (all boys).

Feel free to use them all, or pick and choose!

They were made as 5×7 so I could print two to a page on card stock, then cut them in half and attach with ribbon.

I am in love with this booklet and hope you like it too!

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Young Women Personal Progress Basket

May 1, 2010 By Michelle Barneck 7 Comments

This is an idea we started in YW last year to recognize those who are working on their personal progress. Each week we invite those who have completed an experience or project to come to the front during opening exercises and tell what they did. It is a great way to recognize those making progress and to motivate those who may not be as excited about it.

Those who stand up to report also get to take a “treat” out of the basket. It is full of things we find for under a $1 like, vinyl cutouts, nail polish, candy, notepads, shower gel, etc.

Each month we change the ribbon on the front of the basket to match the color of the value for that month. We used to coordinate all the gifts in the basket to match that color also, but have since given up on it so we could use up our stock.

I think the girls really like it and it is really fun to see what people have been working on. When girls complete the entire value they are presented with the new scripture marker ribbons too.