Happy Friday!

I am so excited for the weekend! But then again when am I not excited for the weekend? I have another busy weekend ahead as usual and it's noticeable by my lack of posting. I tend to fall behind when I have a lot of pictures to "edit".

I wanted to share an October recap (which in my head I was going to write about last Saturday the actual start of November). Since May, I've been trying to do a photo-a-day project but I tend to fall short by two days, every single month. And it's already happened for November.

But by the looks of things we had a pretty awesome month. I'll have more to share... as soon as I finish editing.

Have a great weekend!!

Happy Halloween!

Halloween has been so much fun this year. With my little guy getting more and more into it, the Halloween celebrations have gotten more and more fun.

I have been debating for over a month now as to what he was going to be. I had come up with three really good choices for him and just needed to narrow it down and choose one. Shortly after I published that post someone asked my son what he was going to be for Halloween and he replied. I initially didn't think anything of it. I thought he just gave a random answer and went on about his merry way. That was until someone else asked him and he gave the same response. So I thought, he might really have a clue and may have chosen his own Halloween costume.

I will admit, i was slightly disappointed because I thought my choices were good. I mean really good. But, I wanted him to be happy and begin to exercise his opinion. And just for good measure I asked him one more time before I purchased his costume and he stuck with his answer.

The day before Halloween our city had their first annual Halloween parade. I was super excited because I thought it would be so much fun. I wanted to make a little variation in his costume just for variety and so it wasn't the same exact thing two days in a row (not that there is anything wrong with that).

The day of the city's parade, I registered him the costume contest. I did it on a whim and didn't actually know that I was doing it- I thought that I was more so just registering him to walk in the parade. They had 7 categories, 0 to Pre-K, K to 2nd grade, 3rd grade to 5th grade, 6th grade to 8th grade, 9th grade to 12th grade, family, and group. Within those seven there were prizes for cutest, scariest, and green (made from recycled materials). It was a lot of fun seeing all the costumes people came up with..



 And guess who one first place in the in cutest category in the 0 to pre-K age group??!!!!!!

I was so excited! He just wanted to eat all the candy. And to think I didn't even know there was a costume contest. I think this turned pretty well considering this is not what I had in mind for his Halloween costume. He just wanted to be Superman so I obliged. At least I did get to have a little fun with it.

Today, he went on to school and marched in the school'sHalloween parade as Superman. He's just so darn adorable in his cape!

I can't wait to take him trick-or-treating tonight. He's been asking about it for a while. My husband and I will have to tag team. Our blocks get very very busy during Halloween. Most of our neighbors just sit on the porch and hand out candy because there is no use going inside. It'll be cold (and probably snowing *gasps*) but you don't really have a choice, People drive in from all over to drop their kids off plus we have a lot of little ones on our street. Our block stays jumping for about 1.5 to 2 hours full of trick-or-treaters. Despite the madness it's actually kind of fun! I hope to get some good pictures too. Our plan is for me to take our son up and down one side of the street and hubby will stay home and hand out candy, then we will switch. 

Hope you all enjoy the rest of your Halloween!!!!

Halloween PJ party linkup

Today, I'm linking up with Darci, Ashley, Natasha, and AP for the Halloween PJ party. I participated last year and it was too cute so I had to do it again. This year I was on point with picking up some PJ's for him. last year- not so much. My son has really been into the fall festivities this year which has been really fun for us. I can't wait for his Halloween Parade on Friday!

WW: Monkeying around

Weekend recap: Beach fun

While everyone was out enjoying their fall festivities we snuck away to the beach. Yes, I know- it's not ideal beach weather but we have to seize the opportunity when we can. It was our first and last trip to the beach this year.

Loading

Most people are going apple picking, to the pumpkin patches, and gearing up for Halloween. Not us. We finally made it to the beach!

View on Instagram

A friend of ours invited a group of us down for the weekend- there was no way we could pass up a beach house on Cape Cod! We arrived first and made the most of our time while waiting for the rest of our friends. Last year when we all met up we were the last to arrive so this was a nice change of pace.

My plan was to have breakfast on the beach but we were so tired that we all slept in! So instead we had breakfast at the house then headed out to the beach.

We still had a great time. There is something to be said about a not-at-all-crowded beach, even if you can't get in the water. My little guy enjoyed running in the sand and collecting seashells. But his highlight was digging. It's the first thing he asked to do as soon as he saw the sand!

After a few hours of building sandcastles (that didn't look anything like a sandcastle so I'll spare you those photos) we headed back to the house for lunch. We had to stop at the grocery store to get food. It's funny how we all agreed that going out to eat just wasn't part of the agenda, we much preferred to enjoy simply being at the beach house.

My favorite thing about New England is the seafood. I am a lover of all things seafood (well mostly all seafood) and I was so excited that hubby made lobster rolls. Because of my gluten strike I had lobster lettuce wrap but it was sooooo good. I wish I had another one right now. Also, I'm going to work on my food photography.

Our friends arrived not too much longer after lunch and that's when the fun began. And clearly there was some fun going on because I didn't pick up my camera again until it was time for us to leave. I did get a few pictures of our next day digging adventures but I thought I'd rather leave you with this.. Our attempt at a family picture on the beach. Clearly we need to work on our timing... 

PAILRD

Ok, seriously... today sucks. Not just for me but for thousands of other women who are coming together today in honor of PAILRD.

October 15th is Pregnancy & Infant Loss Remembrance Day.

Weekend recap

Since I just shared my first cruise experience with you, I'm piggy backing on that with another sea excursion.

A few weekends ago my Dad decided to treat us to something really special. He chartered a sailboat and we went sailing on the Hudson! This was originally meant as a date for just my mom and dad but I'm so happy he decided to let us tag along. It was so much fun and different from what we normally do on weekends. Initially, I was worried about the weather for this time of year but it was perfect- not too hot, not too cold, and the sun was just right!

Our captain was nice, personable, and accommodating. he even let me "drive" us out of the marina! Check out my boat navigating skills. It took some getting used to as it doesn't drive exactly like car (duh! 'cause it's a boat!) but I didn't crash it! However, if you let my husband tell the story you would thought I sunk the Titanic.

I did get a little help from one of the deck hands :)

While we were out at sea river... it got me thinking

Five on Friday: Anniversary edition

Today, Hubby and I celebrate 6 years of marriage. 6 years!! I honestly cannot believe it's been that long. This past summer we celebrated our 10th dating anniversary- whoa! I mean when someone says 10 years ago, you think "that was a long time ago!"

Anyway, for the past 3 of those 6 years I haven't done much of a anniversary post here on this little space of mine. Until now!!!!

For our first anniversary we celebrated by taking a cruise. I remember this trip so well! I was excited to get away and have some fun in the sun! We flew from Jersey to Miami and cruised out of Miami. This was my first cruise and I didn't know what to expect. Initially, I was inappropriately dressed for the occasion because it was cool back in Jersey. No one told me that

What to wear: School pictures

If you have school aged children, you've probably already gotten their school pictures back or will be getting them back soon. So, this post is coming a little late for you and I'm sure you were in my shoes not too long ago.

This year my son's school is doing pictures and I am so excited!! I love to capture him in photos and I think his pictures tend to come out better when I'm not behind the camera- he gives me such a hard time. I've been completely slacking (which is unlike me) on his 3 year old photos so this will suffice in the meantime!

Now this means I need to figure out what he's going to wear. Actually, by this time this post goes live I would've need to have done that already because his scheduled picture day is today! I know these photos are mainly head shots so I don't have to think too hard, but the class picture will likely be at a wider angle and therefore, there will be a chance that his entire outfit will be photographer.

I put together a few looks I'd like to see my little guy in. Sorry girl mama's

MTM: cubby update!

Happy Monday y'all.

It's that time of year again! That weird time of year when it's freezing when you leave in the morning and sweating when you return. We are getting into the season of layers, layers, layers!

If your child attends school/daycare or is cared for outside the home- It's time to update your child's cubby! 

I usually keep a bag with a few sets of change of clothes in my son's cubby at school. That way it's there when he needs it and I don't have to worry about sending another set of clothes right away if he uses it. 

Here a peek inside his bag:

Five on Friday: Party edition

I'm so glad this is back! These types of posts allow me to get out all sorts of random ideas I have floating around in my head.

My son turned 3 last month. And as I have always maintained we don't do big parties every year but rather small, intimate celebrations for the birthday person and I kind of like them that way. But alas, the party planner in me have some sort of idea of what I would do if I would've thrown him a party!

The cake most often seems to be the show piece of the party. If someone can't stay for the whole party they will likely say "I have to go after they cut the cake". No? Am I the only person who know people who does that? Cake has evolved so much from decorated sheet cakes to show stopping 3D structures. It makes me wonder if some of these cakes actually taste good. When I got married, I was actually more concerned with the taste of the cake and ask the baker to do a separate sheet cake so I could have the type of frosting that I wanted because you can't decorate with whipped cream. We didn't actually do it (cause it would've been way too much cake left over) but I gave it serious thought. I wanted something nicely decorated but I don't quite care for the taste of fondant. Anyway, we took cupcakes to my son's school but I still wanted it to look like a cake. The top collage is my inspiration photos and the bottom pics is the outcome. I was pleased with it and my son LOVED the decorations.

Halloween

Halloween is in exactly one month and I need to get my butt in gear. Growing up, "We" did not celebrate Halloween so to speak. I can recall a few times when we dressed up and went trick-or-treating, but eventually the children on our block moved away, the residents got older and older and sadly, no children came down our street anymore. And that was that.

I thought I was going to resurrect the Halloween spirit in sort of Christian manor during my time as the youth director at my church by hosting a "Holyween" party for the youth. But there is nothing harder than planning a party with little to no help and even less money.

Then my son was born.

THREE!

How many times have you heard a parent say "I can't believe s/he is ____!"? Well, I'm no different and I honestly cannot believe it. Seriously- where has the time gone? Not too long ago I was bringing my little chubby bunny home from the hospital and now....

Summer of swim

I'm officially ending my 3 month summer hiatus. Well, kind of. 

I haven't gained any additional time to blog but I decided to jump right back into it. I was hoping to have a few posts planned out but that's not happening and that's ok. 

We've had a pretty good summer. And although I don't consider summer officially over until the actual end of summer, I think pool season might be over. Sadly. My son has become a fish over the course of these past three months and I don't blame him! There's something about the pool that we just couldn't get enough of! I'm dubbing it 'The Summer of Swim'.

Here is a short little recap of our summer of swim and I hope to be back soon with some more.

Thanks for not abandoning my little space here on the 'webs. Be back soon!

Event Planner, Photographer, Family girl

I have a decision to make. I hate making decisions.


First, let me say that I value my time with my friends and family. I lead a relatively busy life and always welcome the joy and laughter that comes with gathering with people I enjoy being around. It's one of the reasons why I quit medicine. I just couldn't be at the beck and call of a hospital... not, when cousins are graduating, babies are being born, and my older aunts and uncle go on to become ancestors.

On a slightly unrelated note, I also have a love for planning a great party. Maybe it's the design, or the decor,  or maybe it's the good times that a good party can bring. You can tell by the effort that I put into my son's first birthday party- I like to do it up for a shindig.

Earlier this year I was asked to work on a party for a close family member of mine. She was turning

Mommy tip Monday

I intended to post this a few weeks ago- therefore this tip is a little late but still useful nonetheless.

It's time to update you child's cubby! If your child attends school/daycare or is cared for outside the home it's time to update their belongings. 

I usually keep a bag with a few sets of change of clothes in my son's cubby at school. That way it's there when he needs it and I don't have to worry about sending another set of clothes right away if he uses it. 

Here a peek inside his bag:

Mother's Day re-cap

Ahhh! Mother's Day weekend. Am I the only persons who celebrates "Mother's Day weekend" as opposed to just Mother's Day? I'm not trying to be selfish or anything and extend the celebration- but over the years Mother's Day has become a weekend celebration for a number of reasons.

1. Sunday's are hard to deal with. We are regular church-goers and so we spend most of the morning there. Then we have a tendency to "end" Sunday's a little early because you have to get ready for Monday- be it getting lunches together or just going to bed at a decent hour in an attempt to be well rested- Sunday evening aren't really for celebrating. Unless you have a three day weekend then Sunday's are for partying!

 Anyway- back to my point. 

2. We have also come to celebrate throughout the weekend because my family has grown considerably since I got married. Instead of just celebrating my mom and aunts, I now have my Mother-in-Law and Sister-In-Law to celebrate as well! The more the merrier :)

Momtography Monday

We've been having amazing weather around these parts. I just do not want it to end! These days are what I love most about warmer weather months. We spend evenings outside on the deck, eating anything that can be grilled, and enjoying life. We also get to bed later because it stays light out longer and it's pretty deceiving. One night I looked up and couldn't believe it was already 8 pm- it only "seemed" like 5 pm!


I shared this picture via Instagram and thought it captured the moment perfectly! My son loves bubbles- so much so that we bought a bubble machine. It keeps you from passing out while blowing bubbles the old fashion way.

But I can't tell you the number of photos I had to take to actually get the shot. This was taken with my phone as I am committed to doing a photo-a-day project (even if the duration is only a month).

This makes me want to take my big girl camera back out and get on with my momtography.

Goodbye April!

It's been quite awhile since my last post.  26 days to be exact. And honestly, not much has happened since then except a whole lot of nothing.

There was some celebratory hanging out for the new found warmer weather.

I must admit, I was really happy to see 60 degrees. It was completely disheartening when it started snowing again a few days later.

There was some shopping for new play things.

Okay, not really. But this boy is obsessed with all things transportation including

Oh Google

That time Google pulled an April's fools day joke....

If you follow me on Instagram you may have seen this picture posted as a birthday shout out to my brother. I have my photos backed up to my Google account. Well with this feature also comes with auto-enhancements (if you so choose). And the photo above is their idea of an auto-enhanced Aprils Fool's Day joke. I think it was pretty #hoffsome.

Disney: part 3

So after we spent literally ALL DAY in magic kingdom we were spent. We all slept in so late that we didn't even bother with any theme parks the next day (much to my dismay). We needed some "recovery time". So we spent the day lounging by the pool... I always underestimate how much relaxation is needed in life.


And when I say we spent the day I really mean we spent the day! We started at breakfast. Although it technically wasn't breakfast time- it was merely our first meal of the day.

Pastries and fruit always taste better by the pool!

Magic Kingdom in Pictures

I'm sure I've already bored you with all sorts of details that you honestly didn't care about. But I'm thorough and someday will look back on that and use it as reference. So today, it'll be Magic Kingdom in pictures.

I absolutely adore the top picture. I'm probably going to have it framed for his room or on our family gallery wall. The bottom picture is such a true depiction of his personality.

Day 2: Magic Kingdom

Because my son loves "MeeMee" I figured our first stop should be Magic Kingdom because that where Mickey lives!

But let me back up a bit first. I had the genius idea to get our plane tickets out of the major airport by my parents house.

Disney: part 1

Well let me start by saying we had such an unbelievable good time and I cannot WAIT to go back! I know even my little guy had a blast even though he's so young. I've heard people say they don't take their small children because there's nothing for them to do or they won't remember it. I'm here to tell you that wasn't our experience at all and I would do it all over again in a heartbeat.

I have so much information I want to share and so many pictures that I'm not sure how I will break up the posts! I know I definitely don't want to do a "how to do Disney with your baby post' because there were so many resources where I got my information that it would just be redundant. Instead, I'll just point you in the direction as to where I got my info. I will say this- a TON of planning goes into pulling off what could potentially be an expensive vacation but it is soo sooo worth it! But for real- check out my Disney Pinterest board because there are links to things like the number of visitors on Disney property in one given day. So you can choose a good weather week but low volume of people thereby reducing crowds and long wait lines for rides...genius!!


I knew we were going a year ago so this gave me TONS of time to prepare.

WW: Shopping fail

No worries- no children were harmed in the making of this shopping spree.

Thursday's thoughts

1. My son will be 2 and a half on Sunday. I've kept him alive for 30 months!!! I cannot believe how far he's come. He sings, talks, dances, and is a smart as a whip! (how smart is a whip...really?) I think I am going to schedule a photo shoot. I'd like to do a cute theme but I have no ideas. Here is a shot from his 1 and a half shoot. I love these pics so much!

2. I am currently having a really bad allergic reaction to something. It's bad. My upper body is itchy, red, and swollen. I've become best friends with Benedryl. I have an appointment with my allergist for next week but if this doesn't die down by tomorrow I am going to ask if I can come in before then.  3. I have a crap ton of posts in drafts just waiting to be finished. Only I can't find the words. 4. I am out of storage on my phone again. This is becoming annoying. I realize that I am probably the only person who doesn't dump the pictures from their phone but it's because I don't have the heart to delete them. I have them backed up to multiple places but still. I feel like if I deleted it I am going to need it and won't be able to access it quickly enough. I am slowly getting over that though. Here's a few that's not making the "oh I simply cannot delete that!" cut.

My son hi-jacked my phone and decided to take shoe pics a la Bey & Jay

He's so cool. You can't tell him anything!

Eating Miso soup like a champ! He's loves when we go eat at a hibachi restaurant. And you see that empty bowl of salad next time him? He devoured it. 5. At the end of next week we will be going on another road trip for a work conference for hubby. It is at that point that I will recap last year's conference trip... Oy! 6. It's almost Friday!!!!!

WW: Markers

Read Across America

Happy Birthday! Dr. Seuss!

In honor of his birthday the National Education Association declared it National Read Across America day.

I grew up reading his books and I like how they just aren't cutesy rhyming words. They are books with a message easy enough for children to read and more importantly that they can learn from! Of course my affinity for Dr. Suess's books has presented itself by way of my son's first birthday party decor.

Although Dr. Suess's birthday isn't actually until Sunday, Read Across America Day

Do you know what today is??

Who remembers that song?!

 I know that song is more about a couple celebrating a romantic anniversary but it immediately popped into my head when I thought about my blog's special day today. It's my blogiversary!!!

Valentine's Day love

I wanted to share a cute and quick project I did this week. I can't believe I had to time to do a cute and quick project.

At one of our staff meetings last month my co-workers and I decided as a staff to exchange valentine's. It started out as everyone just bringing in a dish to share and then escalated into a full fledged Valentine's day celebration. We even decided to include our 'interns' and they were so surprised this morning when they found out what we did. The exchanged was supposed to be something small and nothing meant to stress anyone out (although it did stress out the over thinkers).

I found a version of this on Pinterest and decided to replicate it because the Pinterest link led to nowhere (as this sometimes happens) So here the inspiration:











And here's the final product!

I loved how this came out despite giving myself a small second degree burn (i haven't used hot glue in well over a year). My son's school did not do V-day exchanges this year so I am glad I got to do something.

I hope you all had (are having?) a wonderful Valentine's day. I did have a particular dis like for the holiday up until recently (which I will share some other time). I am so excited because my parents are driving 3 hours (and probably through some pretty crazy weather conditions and are going to baby-sit for us tonight!!!!! If I make it back to this little space on Monday- I'm sure it will be with a crappy iPhone picture update.

And in case you missed it check out our love story which include a brief summary of why I don't particularly care for this holiday.

Happy Valentine's Day!!!!

Friday

Sorry, but I have another fluff post today- you know sometimes you need that. I am going to link the post up to Five on Friday cause well- I like meeting new bloggers and what better way to do that then with a link-up!

First, I really wanna talk woman to woman with you guys. I doubt that there are any men (beside family) who read this whatsoever and it's time for some girl talk. But you know how long winded I can be so I feel like it's going to take too long to write it all down then I get discouraged and then I go two weeks without saying anything an then I'm back where I started... sigh

I'm a little angry at myself for missing this opportunity this year. I have a picture from 1/9/2014 but it's not anything comparable to the two years prior. And this disappoints me. I know in the grand scheme of things it's not that big of a deal- but it kind of sort of is to me. I didn't set up either of those shots so it's no big 'light bulb' moment that I don't have one for this year but it's too late to recreate it cause that date is long gone!

My blogiversary is coming up next month and I've been reflecting on that.  Should I take a hiatus? Should I revamp? Should I not worry about it and keep doing what I'm doing? I see so many successful blogs take off in no time and it gets me thinking- what defines a successful blog, why haven't I obtained "that", do I even want "that"? I do know that I want my Wordless Wednesday's posts to be more about my photography. I lost the battery to my big girl camera back in October and I finally gave up hope that I would find it 2 two days before my son's first Christmas play and went out a spent a fortune on another. I haven't picked up my camera since Christmas day, so we see how that plan is going.

Then it got me thinking about what type of goals I wanted to achieve. I attempted to make a 30x30 list and not only could I not think of 30 things but I done think I finished half my list. Is there anything wrong with that? I mean aren't we always a work in progress?

I have two parties to attend next month (one of which I probably won't actually be able to attend) and the host from both the parties asked me for some party planning help. I was honored and excited to help! Which brings me to two more points- I started writing a post of party planning tips (because I love it that much) but never finished it. I miss my days as a wedding planner intern (why have I never shared this with you guys?!) Sadly, I don't think I could ever make a full fledged career of it mostly because I don't like working weekends and I don't know that anyone would fully trust me to plan an entire event for them start to finish.

I know I really need to have more Faith in myself and find some confidence from somewhere.

I am committing to doing this in 2014. But I'm doing mine in reverse. I am going to start with week 52 and work my way up (or down depending on how you look at it). I think my money will gain more interest this way.


Hope you guys have an amazing weekend!!!