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Ready for the weekend and the best weekender bag ever!

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This post is sponsored by Lily Jade but as always all opinions are 100% my own.

Do you need a weekender?

I know I do. Mama needs a break! This summer has been good but the last few weeks before school starts always seem to be the most exhausting. The count down has begun for sure!

If you desire a weekender like me, you definitely could benefit from the perfect bag. Trust me on this one because I’m the gal that was always trying to shove all my belongings into my biggest purse! Honestly, it never worked because let’s face it, that’s really not the job of a handbag, is it?

However, the Lily Jade AnnMarie weekender is just perfect! And, let me tell you, I have had my eye on it for quite a while too. This weekender is a perfect size and so, so, gorgeous! My hubby calls it my Mary Poppins bag because it literally holds it all!

Working with Lily Jade has always been a favorite of mine because they make a great product and they help make mommin’ so much better!

I own several of their diaper bags and they are beautiful, functional and something you will want to continue to use even when your little one is out of diapers! The quality of the leather is so pretty and soft too.

Besides all the amazing details the variety of carrying styles is truly my favorite. Most of her bags allow you to carry like a backpack, shoulder carry, and several ways with the weekender bag.

Our wedding anniversary is coming up this month and I am really hoping to pack up this beauty to take on a little romantic weekend just the two of us! If we can swing it probably will do something like a fun staycation in town. Fingers crossed because I can surely use a little R & R after the summer break!

xx, Nicole

What we did on Spring Break -2019

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Are you on Spring Break?

Do you need some boredom busters or ideas for family time during your Spring break?

Honestly, I think this might be the first Spring Break in years we had a good plan! We were super behind on a few pediatric well checks and dental visits, so that was first on the list. After that it was grandma time!

My mom is the best grandma I could ask for. She has an entire room dedicated for when the girls come over! I know it is her guest room but really it’s her grandkids room! She even decorates their Barbie dreamhouse, I mean it’s beyond! I love it and they love it!

Spring Break may be for kids but believe me Kevin and I also take full advantage of a lighter schedule. Waking up every morning at the same time gets really old so it’s nice having a lighter schedule for the week. Another thing I really enjoy is spending time together as a family.

We were invited to The Butterfly Wonderland in Scottsdale and it was so much fun. This was not our first time visiting but it was for Holland and she had a blast! They are celebrating the 50th anniversary of Eric Carle’s The Hungry Caterpillar and it was so fun finding the pages of our favorite book. The exhibit will be open until August and I highly recommend if you are in town.

Playdates. I’m not sure how you feel about them but I can tell you I really love them now that Clara and Luci are older. Whether the girls are playing outside with friends riding bikes or going to a friend’s house for the afternoon, it’s GOLDEN! I love family time but holy cow mama needs breaks too!

And last but not least what we love the most about Spring Break is the beginning of spring and sunshine. The girls broke in their new suits from Appaman. The pool was freezing believe me because I was in it to get most of these shots LOL! On the other hand, the baby pool and Jacuzzi were perfect.

Shop our Spring break style!

Looking forward to summer break.

Happy Spring : >

xx, Nicole

Girl’s matching Easter dresses -2019

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Easter is a little less than month away can you believe it?

Seems like we were just putting away Christmas decorations, which reminds me I still have a box in the garage to organize. Most likely I will get around to it right after Easter, haha! I love most holidays especially ones surrounding our Savior, Jesus, and any reason to dress up!

The girls love to dress up too!

This year we were given the opportunity to collaborate with Pippa and Julie. Since Clara and Luci are growing up super fast, I am taking every opportunity to twin! Holland doesn’t have as much say quite yet. Everyone loves matching each other and with mommy, so hey, it’s my dream come true! Taking all the advantages over here and hoping it lasts a little while longer.

Pippa and Julie have such a fun and girlie Spring-line it was hard to choose but I do think we chose the perfect, matching, Easter dresses. My girls love to wear dresses but they also love to wear their kicks. Always their first choice next to a pair of flip-flops LOL!

Honestly, I think these old school Adidas pair so well with their high-low dresses, don’t you? Plus, we do so much running during our photo shoots as you can see so this worked out really well.

Since we do A LOT of running during our shoots, life with a two-year-old, I went with an urban location. This pink, sometimes peach wall is one of my favorite places because it is sandwiched between two buildings and limits ALL THE RUNNING, therefore making these adorable shots so much easier!

Besides dressing up for Easter, we enjoy going to church, reflecting on The Resurrection and spending time together as a family. Thinking about putting together a neighborhood Easter egg hunt this year too. The girls are already making lists for their Easter baskets, can you believe it?

Do you celebrate Easter? How do you celebrate?

xx, Nicole

50+ favorite, last minute Christmas gifts

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Are you Feeling last minute or need a little help when it comes to buying gifts this year?

We got you covered with our favorites, just in time for Christmas!

Wow, where did December go?  Seems just like yesterday we were sitting down to eat turkey! Since the countdown has begun, I thought I would put a quick favorites list together for you.

Most of everything you see here are things we love and use every day. The Instant Pot made it on our favorite list for the second year in a row, highly recommend it for easy cooking!

My mom recently bought me Yves Saint Laurent Mon Paris for my birthday and I love it! Another fav is Urban Decay’s Naked Cherry eyeshadow palette. 

A simple no stress gift guide for you…

For her, for your mama!

For him, for daddy!

For the traveler

Kiddos and family time

For the hostess with the mostest!

Happy  Holidays and hopefully I made your last minute search a little easier!

xx, Nicole

Christmas cards made easy with Parabo Press

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This post is sponsored by Parabo Press and as always all opinions expressed are 100% my own.

I honestly can’t recall the last time we mailed out Christmas cards, can you?

Well, I have a really easy and affordable solution for you! Parabo Press offers several beautiful options to make personalized Christmas or holiday cards with just a few simple steps.

There are five different designs and I really love this one because it’s simple and compliments our photos so nicely. Also, you can choose a flat card like this or one with a fold. Some of my favorite holiday cards over the years were a simple flat card so it was an easy choice!

The print quality and weight of our card are really nice too. I’m giving this an A+ for all the above and for the price! 24 cards with envelopes cost $20, that’s .83 cents a card! I mean, right? You have no excuse to not send out Christmas cards haha!

This year we opted for a family photo shoot and yes it was stressful but that’s life with little’s, isn’t it? In the end, we had a lot of fun and Holland kept us on our toes and made us all laugh! Lot’s of fun memories were made! One of my most favorite things about photography is capturing special candid moments and how a picture can capture so much personality.

Please don’t think you have to do a family photo shoot because any collection of your favorite photos would be just as beautiful on a Christmas or holiday card. And, if sending out cards isn’t your jam Parabo Press has you covered with so many other great print and gift options. Another Favorite of mine is making a photo book. They are fun to put together and now we have something to always remember our family photo shoot by. 

Definitely check them out this holiday season because they offer so many beautiful print options for such an affordable price! Remember to use this code, LIL30 for 30% OFF your entire order until December 13.

And if you are local my friend Maria always takes the best photo’s. 

 

xx, Nicole

Breakfast at Tiffany’s mommy + me photoshoot

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Breakfast at Tiffany’s will forever be a classic just like the lovely Audrey Hepburn.

Clara and I were given the special opportunity to channel our inner Audrey’s with these beautiful Holly Golightly from Breakfast at Tiffany’s costumes! As soon as we tried them on I knew I had to hire a photographer. I’m so glad I did too.

We also picked the perfect location to have our Breakfast at Tiffany’s moment. I can’t say we are standing in front of an actual Tiffany’s jewelry store. More on that in a minute but I love how this photo shoot came out. The Tiffany’s in Scottsdale is in an indoor mall and I didn’t think it would capture these moments. So, I chose an outdoor jewelry storefront instead.

I’m really happy how everything turned out and can you believe this photo shoot only took thirty minutes? Honestly, I take pictures all the time and usually I get about ten minutes before everyone completely falls apart! In all fairness, thirty minutes seems short but it’s an eternity for a child lol!

Our lovely Breakfast at Tiffany’s gowns complete with accessories was given to us by Utopiat. Clara even wants to wear her little black dress to school!

Each set includes:

Black dress

Tiara

Gloves

Necklace and earrings (Clara’s are clip-on)

Cigarette holder

Complete with a Tiffany blue box to store all of it

Of course, we had to grab a couple coffees and croissants to complete our look too!

So much fun, I just had to write about it and let you see all the full-length photos. Maria is such a gem and I love her as my personal photographer! Take a look at her page because she is amazing!

 

 

xx, Nicole

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Oh, the things I have learned-Two year Blogiversary!

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Wow, two years since I wrote my very first blog post! And, just like that, the end of December marked my two-year Blogiversary!

Blogiversary: The yearly anniversary of someones web-log (blog)

–Urban Dictionary

Let me just say this first, even as I write this, I am apprehensive about sharing my feelings. Mainly because I feel deeply about most things and I’m not very good at putting them into words.

I know kinda strange for a blogger, someone who writes for a living and maybe even over shares for some? I dunno it is strange but it’s because I always want to say the right thing.

When I write about myself its one thing but when I write about my children I am cautious. As a third-time girl mama, I take my role as mama bear very seriously and I never want to share anything that could potentially harm them. This is difficult sometimes and poses some challenges for me but I have to look at the bigger picture.

Hopefully, I will never hear one of my daughters say I hurt them because of something I published. My two oldest are still young at seven and six and the most they complain about is all the pictures I like to take! 😂😂

Since, I began this blog my focus has always been and still is to be genuine, truthful, and heartfelt about the things I share. My family is my first priority and sometimes it means blogging life gets put on hold. Honestly, I don’t always like this and I wish I could do it all. Blog fulltime and be Supermom!

So, what have I learned in the last two years?

Well, quite a lot. Like anything in life, it has been good and bad.

THE GOOD:

  • I am a creative, always have been and always will be. Being creative is my happy place.
  • Photography has quickly become a passion and I so enjoy learning more and more about taking great pictures!
  • Blogging is like journaling in a lot of ways and I have learned so much more about myself and my lil’ family.
  • Collaborations. Now, this is not why I started blogging, but it is a lot of fun working with companies and I pride myself on working with ones I love!
  • Learning it’s not about me it’s about others. (I know it’s a good one tho.😉)
  • Making new friends!
  • Hearing someone say they read a blog post and loved it.
  • I have gained more confidence and feel so much more comfortable in front of the camera.

THE BAD:

  • Time is not always on my side to write or curate a post.
  • SEO. Stands for search engine optimization and it helps to improve your google rating but often is a thorn in my side!
  • Analytics and social media and feeling less than.
  • Comparison, thinking the grass is greener on the other side!

#newyearnewdo

As you can see, the good far outweighs the bad which is why I will keep going. Thank you so much for all of you that follow along, it means the world to me. If there is something you would like me to write about please drop me a line in the comments.

 

xx, Nicole

 

 

This year’s Christmas family wishlist 2017

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Wow, where has this year gone? I am freaking out Christmas is just a month away now!

This is my favorite time of year though. How about you?

When it comes to buying gifts for Christmas or any occasion, I am all about less is more. We all love giving and receiving and opening presents but we don’t put a huge emphasis on buying lots of gifts for Christmas. 

Instead, we make wishlists and buy a few things from each list. My hubby and I don’t always buy for one another. However, he always seems to break this rule! Definitely not gonna complain lol! 

The girls have lots of nice things and with three girls now, there is a lot of cross play and hand-me-downs. If they have big items on their lists, we often pick one or two big gifts to get them for Christmas. Anything left over we usually get for birthdays. Last year, Clara had an iPod and headphones on her list and Luci had a keyboard piano on hers. These were both big gifts and they still love them almost a year later.

Plus, this year we rented a cabin in Northern Arizona so this is a huge gift in itself! Looking forward to lots of family time, hopefully playing in the snow and long walks in the pines. Making memories is my favorite gift of all!

Another big thing in our home and something we all strive to keep number one in our lives is Jesus. We do believe He is the reason for the season and we have formed so many fun traditions during the Advent season.

Our Christmas family wishlist is a combination of items we already own and love along with some of the girls wish list too! Hope you enjoy and let me know what you are wishing for this year.

 My wishes:

Daddy’s wishes:

Home wishes:

Clara’s wishes:

Luci’s wishes:

Holland’s wishes:

 

xx, Nicole

 

3 holiday looks with Berkshire tights

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This post contains some affiliate links and I received legwear from Berkshire in exchange for this post.
As always all opinions are 100% my own.

Do you love the holidays?

How about dressing up for the holidays?

Can you believe Thanksgiving is in just two short weeks and Christmas is less than 45 days away (gulp, can you believe it?) I love this time of year! My entire being lives for it! Everything from cooler mornings and evenings to spending time with family and friends and of course dressing up for all of it!

Last year I was preggers, like really preggers and I was not feeling the inspiration to dress up. Instead, I lived in leggings, lol!

This year is a whole new game for me and I’m really enjoying dressing up again especially for the holidays. When Berkshire reached out to me to write a holiday post it totally inspired me. Berkshire has a complete line of women’s hosiery and tights and besides beautiful legwear, they are one hundred percent made in the USA.

I had so much fun picking out these outfits for you and let me just say, I only spent $91 on all three outfits! For a great holiday look, it doesn’t need to break the bank! Plus, if you’re like me, you may only wear a holiday dress once.

This first-holiday outfit is perfect for Thanksgiving I think. I’m wearing Berkshire fishnet tights and they are so comfortable with my OTK boots. Here’s a little secret too, this dress is two years old! But it is still very much in fashion with its boho-style and bell sleeves. My purse is two years old as well, got to love that! Total spent on this number is only the price spent on my OTK boots and they were on sale!

My second-holiday look is all about red velvet while rocking another pair of Berkshire tights. Besides fishnet, a diamond print like this screams holiday to me.

The skater skirt flare with the tights make me feel girly and my suede, fringe, booties and leather jacket make me feel a little edgy.

Lastly, I finally own a sequin dress! This little number is so fun and the color reminds me of champagne! Also pairing this look with another pair of Berkshire tights. I chose to wear their slimming tights to keep those sleek lines and to feel even better in this dress!

What do you think of these holiday looks?

xx, Nicole

Friday favorites: fall edition

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Yay it’s Friday or I like to say, it’s Friyay!

Fall has finally arrived for us Phoenicians and I am sooo happy because it is my favorite season of all. I mean it’s our shortest season, like three months worth but never the less my favorite.

This post contains some affiliate links. These links help me to provide better content along with earning a possible comission. Clicking on links does not cost you a thing. -xo

I have been crushing on a few things lately and I thought it would be fun to share with you. After all, this is really what my blog is all about, sharing my favorite things.😍

First up on my favorites list is the over-the-knee boot. For some reason, I have been afraid of this iconic look in the past. But I finally tried on a pair and it was instant love!

the over-the-knee boot

Balloon arches

Holland just turned ten months old and as much as I want to be in denial she will already be one in two short months! I am already planning the festivities and pinning away on Pinterest and I am in love with these balloon arches.

They range from simple to elaborate.

image: Pinterest

 

image: Lauren Conrad

Kale ya!

Another thing I was afraid of, kale. I mean it can be gross in my opinion but the health benefits far out way all of that.

So, you know how I fell in love with kale? Smoothies. I am obsessed with Salad and go’s kale and banana smoothie! It is so good and it makes me feel good too. Another favorite of mine is a finely chopped kale salad. Something about a fine chop makes the texture way more palatable. Once I master my own version I promise to share.

Last on my list is velvet. This is such a pretty look for fall and perfect for the holidays.

Actually velvet = holidays in my book. 

Velvet everything head to toe

 

xx, Nicole