August 2015 | Andie Ibanez
Truth be told, I've found myself a new obsession. I'm $25 richer after using the an app last week and I'm pretty stoked about it. If you know me at all, you know I love a good deal and I love saving money. Recently I've found myself a new iPhone BFF and it's called Ibotta... Have you heard of it?? If not keep reading and you'll be saving money in no time!! 


It's kinda like old school coupons, but it's all electronic, and you get money back into a paypal account (or gift cards if that's your preference)! The thing that drives me crazy about couponing is the organization. You have to categorize your coupons as well as periodically go through your stash to make sure you don't have expired coupons taking up space... The good thing about this app is it takes care of your chaotic mess in a cute little app that takes zero counter space. 

Like I said, the app is catagorized for you. They break it down into groceries, apparel, electronics, babies, etc. 


You can choose what category you're interested in saving money in, and then browse by the stores you're interested in going to.


Click on whatever store you'd like and you can instantly see all the rebates you can use at the store of your choice!! 


Most rebates are about a dollar, but there are certainly some for more and a few that are worth less than that. Now, in order for you to actually get the coupon, you'll have to do some quick tasks. Usually they take about 5 seconds and range from a multiple choice questions to providing you with a recipe to use. (The videos take a tad longer)



After that you're good to go!! I usually go through my phone the night before to see what coupons I'm interested in using and 'unlock' all the coupons I could possibly need. That way, when I'm at the store, I can just pull up my Shopping List (accessible on the side) and go to town! 

As I go, I like to verify my product barcode to make sure I don't have any negative surprises after I check out. You can do this by just taking a quick photo of the barcode and Ibotta will instantly tell you if that's the same product they were referring to. 

Once you're done, you'll check out with your items, scan each of them one last time to add them to the list of items you purchased, snap a photo of your receipt and boom! free money! They obviously have to send it to the corporation to make sure it's legit, but that usually only takes about an hour for them to get back to you. 

Couple other things... Have a specific item you want to see if Ibotta has a coupon for??? Easy, just scan the barcode and search for a coupon! 


Feel like saving more money?? You can also use normal coupons and manufacturer's rebates at the same time as Ibotta!! On Saturday Isaiah and I bought some ziploc bags from Costco since they were having manufacturer's rebates on them, we stacked them with my Ibotta app and saved even more money. Cha-Ching!!  

Like I said, you can get your money sent to your PayPal account or in the form of gift cards, the only specification is that you have to transfer at least $10 at a time.


Overall, I'm loving this new app discovery! I don't mind the extra time I take scanning in barcodes and I've actually loved some of the new products I've tried. 

Last thing, they're constantly finding ways to give you an extra dollar here and there. You can join a team and make more money as you and your team uses the app! Wanna join my team?? Use the referral code: bkjahcr  or click on https://ibotta.com/r/bkjahcr 

That way we can both make extra money as I spend way too much time using this app!! Do us all a favor and download the app so that the next time you buy milk or ziplo a, you can add a little money to your spending account!! 

Xoxo, Marie 
Have you ever contemplated hosting a clothing swap?? Well the idea popped into my head a few weeks ago and after running it by Andrea and a few other friends, we knew it would be an absolute blast!



We decided to call it a "Sip & Swap" since that allowed us to grab drinks and few other treats while we shopped through each other's clothes. It was a total hit and as everyone left, they felt like they had hit the jackpot with their newfound clothing items. Although there are about a bazillion different ways you can host a clothing swap, we absolutely loved how ours turned out so we will spill all the details with you!!

First things first, we made an invitation and sent it out to the ladies in our area who were interested. A lot of blogs stated that the best way to swap is to have only 6-8 people, but in my book I was totally fine with extra work as long as everyone was invited! We ended up having about 15 people come to the actual event. It was a lot of babes, but totally worth it!! Here is a look at the invitation we sent out...


We asked the ladies to drop off their gently used clothing/accessories to me throughout the week before so that we would have time to organize and arrange everything by Saturday. That way the ladies weren't walking into a crazy, chaotic mess when swap time came. 

I believe one key to a successful swap is being on the same page as your girlfriends on what you are donating. Our goal for donations was cute/trendy items that just didn't get as much wear as they used to, or items that we liked but wanted to switch out for a different pattern/style.  That way we weren't giving each other clothes that we thought were hideous, but more so giving our loved closet items that just weren't getting the use they deserved. 

Andrea and I decided to set up the Friday before since we knew it would be a lot of work and a tad time consuming trying to get everything organized. We tried to organize items into sweaters, dresses, tees, accessories, belts, pants and skirts. We also tried to sub-organize each area by size so it would be easier on Saturday Morning. 

 We decided the fairest way to go about the swap was to give each person stickers with their initials on it, to put on items they wanted to take home. We made sure to correlate the number of stickers they received with the number of items they donated the week prior. This way we wouldn't have someone who donated a bunch of cute items only walk away with one thing and vice versa. 


We realized that a lot of cute items would have multiple stickers on them. Because of this, we also organized a raffle system. After everyone had finished placing their stickers on their desired clothes, we grabbed the items with multiple names. We then went through and did a quick raffle to see who would get to go home with that item. The raffle took a bit of time since there were lots of items with multiple stickers, but it was totally worth it to ensure things were as fair as possible!

In the end, I walked out with 2 Banana Republic skirts, 1 top from The Loft, a pair of Kork Ease flats, and a cute pearl bracelet. I was absolutely stoked! Although I donated more items than this, I was so excited to walk away with 5 items that I actually loved!!

One part of this swap that I loved was the soda bar, it was perfect for the quick shoppers to be able to grab their drinks and relax as they waited for the raffle to begin. It was also fairly inexpensive to grab a couple drinks and treats! 




Moral of the story?? Host a Sip + Swap!! Its an amazing excuse to throw a part and such an easy way to recycle your wardrobe!!

Xoxo, Marie




The little white tee.
Its a staple in any closet. Its a must have! But its totally underrated!

The beauty of the little white tee is that it pretty much goes with anything and everything. I like to think of it as a plain white sheet of paper that you can turn into whatever you want! And the best part is you can always wipe your slate clean each night and create something new and beautiful in the morning. I've used my little white tees everywhere from my corporate life, to GNOs! All you really need is a little creativity and a few accessories.
 For today's ootd I decided to go with one of my many comfy white tees. Obvs.

 I got this one from Forever21. Their tees are SO comfy and SO affordable! You can get the same one here for $3.90!! 
As for the rest of this outfit:
This blazer was a TJ Maxx find but you can get a similar one from Nordstrom, here.

The heels were a gift from my hubby. He definitely has good taste!! I haven't been able to find ones exactly like mine but you can find a similar style at Nordstrom, here.

I got this skinny braided belt from J. Crew a while ago but you can get a similar one from Tilly's, here.

And these trusty (and stretchy) Forever21 jeans are always between $8-$10. Umm, I'll take 5 pairs please! You can get the same pair, here.

This look is totally business casual with emphasis on the casual. If I take off my blazer and switch to colorful flats - boom! I have another outfit. Its always a win-win with the LWT!
Someone once told me that its hard to mess up when you're cooking a crockpot meal. I think that is even more accurate in reference to the little white tee. You really can't style an LWT wrong. Let it be your BFF and celebrate it! Just make it your own! Be comfortable and confident, and more importantly... be you!!

Xoxo, Andrea

You can read this post over on Lucky! 

Any of you moms out there ever look for the perfect shoe??


Well, I have spent my fair share of hours trying to find my little Annabelle some cute shoes that actually stay on. Belle is currently 11 months old which means she will do anything and everything she can possibly think of to get her little shoes off. Recently, we have discovered our saving grace... Freshly Picked Moccasins

Not only are they absolutely beautiful, but they are by far the most well-made shoes I have ever put on Belle's feet. They are made of genuine leather and they have already shown they can stay beautiful through crawling all over the floor, being chewed on, and pretty much every other thing you can imagine. The trick along with the genuine leather is the ingenious design. There is an elastic at the top, inside the leather, that raps around her ankle keeping those shoes securely on while still being comfortable and not bothering her ankles. 


Okay, so lets get onto what us mommas really care about. These things are freaking beautiful!!! They come in about a zillion colors (69 to be exact) and every single color is absolutely gorgeous. I literally sat in front of my computer for about an hour trying to decide which color to purchase for Belle because they all looked like they would compliment any outfit of hers. After purchasing the gold moccs, I was amazed with how high quality they were as well as how beautiful each cut in the leather was.


Now lets chat about their customer service and delivery. This company is so easy to work with and incredibly quick at getting back to you regarding questions or concerns. Throughout the years, this company has built up a remarkable reputation and from the first moments of working with this company, I could see why. They were sweet, fun, and basically a blast to work with. When it came time for shipping, their delivery was incredible. I received my moccs FAST. Considering they were shipping out of Utah and coming all the way out to North Carolina, I assumed they would take about a week, but I was shocked when they ended up at my door within just a few days.


Now here is my favorite part about this whole post... We are teaming up with Freshly Picked to give our readers an incredible giveaway!!! Within the week, our giveaway will start for a pair of Freshly Picked Moccasins (a $60 value)!! If you can't tell, I'm kinda obsessed with mine so this is a giveaway you MUST be apart of!! Details will be coming to you within the upcoming days, but for now all you need to know is to keep your eyes peeled on our instagram because this is one giveaway you don't wanna miss!!

Xoxo, Marie

Raise your hand if you love online shopping!

One of my favorite things to do is create wish lists at my favorite online shops. Daniel likes it because it makes buying presents for me so much easier. Its also pretty great therapy! Some of my favorite "nights in" consist of online shopping with Daniel and some Taco Bell by my side.

You also know how much Marie and I LOVE good deals. Well, we found this site that is similar to AliExpress (which we blogged about here). It's called Dresslink! They are all about cute, trendy clothes and accessories for an amazing price!  Aaaand we're all about that!
So we thought we'd share two of our favorite things from our Dresslink wish list with you!

1. THIS bag!! 
So classy and adorable. Oh and its only $6.99! Um, yes please!
I'm loving it in every color!
 This purple is seriously perfect!
 And this black one is so classic!
You can buy it here.  For $6.99 I really need one in every color!

2. THIS skirt!!
Marie fell in love with this gem right away!
This midi skirt is the perfect length and color! 
Its an all around winner! So cute!!

You can buy the same one for $10!! Did I mention the skirt ships for free? I know you want one now! You can buy the same one here. 

 There are so many other cute clothing and accessories on their site! You could spend hours creating your perfect wish list! So trust us on this one and check out Dresslink.com!

Happy online shopping!

Xoxo, Andrea

This week's necklace of the week is this little floral number...


I chose it because not only is it super inexpensive, but I think every girl deserves to have a cute floral bib necklace. I love the versatility of this necklace and the playful look it adds to any top. The way the gems and rhinestones play off of each other is perfect and pink was the perfect color to go with my wardrobe. 

Here's the truth... I got my necklace off of amazon for $3.19 with free shipping. The tricky thing is, Amazon has a super fast turnover so they are currently sold out. On the upside, I found the EXACT SAME necklace for you on forever21. They're selling it in peach and yellow... but charging more... but if you're wanting this exact one without having to wait to see if Amazon restocks it, here it is!!

Xoxo, Marie


Here's a few amazon pieces I currently love...








Hi my name is Andrea and I'm a Target-holic.
I was reading this fun listicle on Buzzfeed called 15 Signs Your Love or Target is Spiringly Out of Control. Yikes... so much truth.

So this Doggy & Mommy Ootd is brought to you by Target! Because I have finally surrendered. You win, Target. You win.
I bought this dress for $8 at Target. Wait. Let me repeat that... E-I-G-H-T  D-O-L-L-A-R-S!!!
Its super comfy and the lace is just beautiful!
Its on sale right now at Target. You can buy it here. As adorable as the model is, I think it looks a lot better on you and in person...
I wore it to my sister's Sweet Sixteen party. In which I totally DJ'd! Whadduuup!
Don't get the wrong idea. I'm definitely not legit. But teenagers love me (I think?) and I had them dancing and laughing all night! 
HBD, little sis. Oh and hi mom!
Squad: Family Edition

So the Med School Program Daniel is in is having a mixer this evening at the famous Duke Gardens. What a fun event to wear this number again!
Now to Milo. I know, he's the real star. Milo is rocking a blue and white striped t-shirt. I don't remember the exact price, but it was only a few dollars. Their pet apparel is always on point!
Target isn't selling anymore of this kind but you can get a similar one at Overstock.com, here or here.


Sooo if you don't have plans tonight, a trip to Target is always fun! It's time to just accept your fate...
Xoxo, Andrea

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