Bloomingdales – 20% off and free shipping

Bloomies is having their friends and family sale, code FANDF gets you 20% off with free shipping on any order (the free shipping is great, I don’t think they had this last year). Check out their maternity offerings, here’s a few of my picks:

1. Splendid modal dress – $125 (before discount)
2. Splendid striped tee – $86 (before discount)
3. Spanx power mama shaper – $32 (before discount)

Rave for Gap Maternity

Gap’s maternity line is easily becoming my favorite. The styles themselves did not initially win me over, but the fit/cut/materials eventually did. It just works for my body shape and most of the pieces are so comfortable. So of course when I popped in today to return something, I was super eggcited to see that all of the sale items were an additional 50% off. Love these in-store sales! I got 3 dresses (I’ve been living in dresses and leggings for most of my pregnancy). Here they are:

This one will be perfect with tights and boots. The knit is very substantial, not see-through at all. It surprisingly ran small (I usually wear a small pre-pregnancy, but I tried on a medium as a small was not available, and it fit perfectly), but there is some stretch to grow with your belly. I was tempted to buy it in both the purple and the charcoal, but ended up getting the purple only, since I usually gravitate towards one more than the other when I buy multiples.

I would not have normally thought much of this dress. Nothing’s really wrong with it, but it just looked a little matronly to me on the hanger. However, I was pleasantly surprised when I put it on. Nice fabric (machine-washable polyester that surprisingly did not look cheap). It’ll be a good dress for the office with a little jacket or a cardigan over it. Not to mention, it was $8 and some change. Major score!

This dress is the ultimate comfy dress that doesn’t look too shabby. I was actually going to buy a jersey black dress from H&M before I had gone to the gap, but was glad that I didn’t as this dress is a lot more flattering and made of a better material than the one I saw at H&M. All three dresses totaled under $50. It was a successful shopping day. Very pleased with my purchases!

H&M 20% off a single item (in stores only)

I love shopping (actual and window) at H&M. I can’t wait until their online store opens in the U.S. (last I heard, was supposed to be available end of 2011 or early 2012). Anyways, save 20% on a single item in stores until Monday, September 26, 2011, by printing out this flyer (click for larger image):

By the way, if you didn’t know it, some of the stores carry H&M’s maternity line called MAMA (usually located in the kids section). You can see some of the items on their website just to get an idea. Here are some items that caught my eye:

Wide Awake

I woke up at 4:30 a.m. this morning (right now it’s about 5:20 a.m.) and could not fall back asleep. Now I usually get up at 6 a.m. for work, so it’s only an hour and a half earlier, but I slept later than usual last night, around 11:00 p.m., and have been exhausted from work lately, so I really should be up at this hour. I wish I could just go to work early (and thus, leave early), but I usually take the train to work and there are no bullet (express) trains this early, so it wouldn’t make sense to do that. Man, I hope this isn’t going to be a regular occurrence. I really need my rest! Dreading being sleepy and tired later today…

ASOS order review

I recently ordered a few things from asos.com (my first time!), mainly potential items I could wear to an upcoming wedding. The couple requested that the guests wear animal print of some sort, so this is what I ordered:

I literally said “whaat” when I saw the clutch. The website didn’t have the dimensions of the clutch and for some reason, I thought it’d be a similar size to my oversized clutches which I prefer to carry over my smaller clutches (I have too many things to carry). This is more like a wallet, not a clutch, only slightly bigger than my hand. Back it goes. Too bad, because I really wanted it to be my “animal print” piece, since I prefer accessories over clothing in animal print.

Now I know I just said that I prefer accessories in animal print over clothing, but I really really like this dress! This is not maternity, but I sized up in size US 8 (I normally wear a 4/6 pre-pregnancy), and it fits comfortably, maybe even a smidge big, but that’s okay, with a growing belly I prefer clothing to be a little more on the loose side. The material is substantial, cool, and very comfortable. There’s a nice swing to the fabric too. At this rate since I don’t have any other options, I’ll probably wear this dress with some black peep toe heels, a red manicure, and red lipstick.

This dress is from Asos’s maternity line, and I really wanted to like it, but it’s probably going back. There’s not really anything wrong with it, it’s a basic jersey dress, but I didn’t think it was particularly flattering on me. Maybe the color is to blame for why I thought it made me bigger than usual, which is true to what appears on my screen. I ordered a US 8, which seemed to fit fine (for some reason the leopard dress which is nonmaternity in the same size felt a little bigger, but I guess sizing just depends on the item).

Overall I was happy with my experience from Asos. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, I love online retailers that offer free shipping and returns. Plus I received my order in exactly a week from the day of my order, not too shabby at all.

Macys – 20% off online and in store

Use code VIP20 for 20% off online purchases or print the coupon to use in-store. Good through Sunday, September 18, 2011.

Celebrity Style Preggos

I have been casually collecting some photos of celebrities who are pregnant for tips and wanted to share some of them with you. Sorry, I know there’s a lot of Nicole Richie, but she is just so darn cute I couldn’t help myself.

And lastly, a nice little spread from the folks at Who What Wear:

Here’s some styling tips from I could gather from the pics:
1. belting or cinching right underneath the bust or upper waist area is flattering as it’s usually the narrowest part of the upper body
2. show some skin (arms, decolletage, legs, etc.) – don’t drown yourself in fabric, especially if the pieces are slouchy
3. if you’re wearing something loose, wear something fitted/streamlined elsewhere (baggy bottom goes with fitted top and vice versa)
4. black can be your best friend (it’s ALWAYS mine)
5. accessorize – jewelry, scarfs, sunglasses, etc.
6. I know this one’s tough, but maintaining nice hair and good makeup always helps, particularly when you’re not feeling the best about your body.

Have fun with it!

Baby Nightmares

I’ve been having a few nightmares regarding my baby. I read somewhere that dreams can seem more vivid than usual for pregnant mothers, partly because we have to pee so often during the night in which case you could be interrupting your rem sleep, and thus being able to remember your dreams better (and make them seem more vivid).

So my last nightmare was related to this rather common photo of a pregnant belly. The first time I saw this picture, I did a double take and freaked out when I realized what I saw. Let’s say that my feelings haven’t changed since then.

I’m not sure if others are just as disturbed by the photo as I am, or if most people find it cute and amazing and I’m just the unsentimental oddball here. Anyways, my dream was that I was pregnant with a good size belly, and every time I looked down at my belly, I could see my baby girl prancing around inside with arms and legs sticking way out covered in my skin (not just a foot”print” like the photo). Kind of like I was demon possessed with a crazy monster inside. I remember having mixed feelings (in my dream) of horror and guilt for being grossed out at my own baby and needless to say, I was relieved to wake up and realize that it was only a dream.

Gap Code – Up to 50%!

Check your emails ladies for a Gap code up to 50%. I believe these are one-time use codes, otherwise, I would have shared the code with you : ( If you aren’t already on Gap’s email list, I’d highly suggest doing so. I never buy full-price anything from Gap anymore because they’ve been having such great sales or codes for the past year or maybe even longer than that.

My code ended up taking an extra 40% off my items, INCLUDING sale items. I love when they do that. I think the extra % sales are more common in-store than online since stores have more pressure to get their stock moving, so I was eggcited to see that this code worked online this time.

I’ve been on a low-buy for awhile, but couldn’t resist snatching up these items for a total of $49 and some change. I was still able to get free shipping even though my total didn’t come out to $50+, probably because it was calculated at the price before the discount price was applied, woo hoo.

Skirt and dress are maternity, sweater is from the regular women’s line.

Hope all 3 items end up working out for me. I plan to wear the skirt with leggings (so comfy and a go-to outfit for me these days), the dress with some cute heels and bold accessories (depending on how dressy it is – the dress did get a lot of good reviews), and the drapey cardigan with pretty much anything.

*drum roll* it’s a…

GIRL! Well, we’re pretty sure it’s a girl. The ultrasound intern was initially sure it was a boy, and then 40 minutes later towards the end of the appointment, her instructor came in and told that actually, he thinks it’s a girl. So, unless we opt for an elective ultrasound or something (which we just might do to confirm before buying all of our baby gear), we’ll probably assume the baby’s a she. After really wanting a boy, Tim was pretty disappointed (and alarmed) to hear that the boy was actually a girl, but I was happy (I’ve always wanted an older girl and a younger boy), and I think Tim is slowly warming up to the idea of a baby girl. So long as it’s a baby dragon girl (lunar new year is on 1/23/12 next year, so depending on when she arrives, she’ll either be a rabbit or a dragon).

Time to finally go shopping!