2019 Review | Top 10
If you have read any of my monthly review posts, you know I am a huge advocate for reflection. I think it is even more important now that I am a mom, because on a daily basis, I literally have 800,000 things going through my head in regards to babies, daycare, do I need milk? cheese? What do I need to follow up on at work? Did I respond to that email? Dangit – did I feed Lola (side note – Sullivan aka Mr. Independent has started feeding her….) I forgot wipes. Did I make that appointment? When can I squeeze in a work out? And it goes on and on and on; therefor I LOVE taking time at the end of the month to reflect back on the events of the month, clean up my photos (another side note – it took me a really long time to understand that I do not have to keep every single picture of the twins. If I have 50 pics of the same pose and there is only 1 where they are both looking and smiling, it is ok to delete the others. I still kind of struggle with this, because I feel like it is deleting the memory, but as long as I keep some of the “good” ones, and the ones with Sullivan giving the major side eye, then I’m ok. I also started to realize that I could never find the picture I wanted because there were so many it was too overwhelming.)
To be completely honest, I’ve gotten away from journaling. I use to be so diligent at it, but now I only have about 2 hours in the evening after the twins go to sleep before I got to sleep, and I need to eat, shower, work on blog stuff, read, and watch whatever series I’m into. That’s not a lot of time, especially if it’s a hair wash night. With that said, it is one of my goals for the new year to pick up journaling again. I find it to be an extremely helpful tool to use to write down ideas, thoughts, reflections, questions, bothers, and things that excite and scare you.
Spending the last several days combing through pictures, analytics, and old blog posts has been very eye opening. My voice via text has changed, the style of my posts has changed, and my pictures have a different feel than at the beginning of the year. I finally feel like I am somewhat growing with my blog, and am so thankful for all of your support along the way. I look forward to 2020 being an even better year and have so many goals that I plan on sharing with you after the new year.
Staring off my yearly review with……
Trip to Scottsdale
When one of your college besties moves to Scottsdale and Southwest happens to have a pretty cheap flight there, you take advantage of it! This was the perfect weekend getaway for Anna and me to visit our dear friend, Meredith. We had lunch at The Montauk, hiked Camelback Mountain, went to the pool at Hotel Adeline, and ate at Sushi Roku. Other than having serious issues with the time change resulting in getting about 4 hours of sleep because I was WIDE AWAKE at 4 am both mornings, it was such a fun trip. It’s always good to get away with girlfriends to reconnect, relax, and just relive the good ol’ days. It’s funny how when you are with close friends, you just pick up right where you left off. As if we were just walking out of cheer practice and headed to a frat party or to 6th street.
1st Mother’s Day
My first Mother’s Day was very special. I treated myself to a Mama’s Night In the night before complete with a bubble bath, skin exfoliation, and candles. Yes, as I’ve stated many times, my favorite bubble bath is the Honest bubble bath that is for the twins. Sunday morning we went to church, followed by brunch at First Watch, then home to photograph the twins for their 9 month old birthday. The following Monday morning, the daycare had a special celebration for all the mamas, complete with orange juice, muffins, and fruit. It was truly a special day.
Twins’ Baptism
The twins were baptized by Father Michael at St. Philip’s in El Campo, TX. Afterwards we had a reception at my grandparents’ house, complete with a cake, petit fours, sandwiches, and other small snacks. For the special occasion, I decided to wear this beautiful white Rachel Parcell dress. The dress is even more beautiful in person – the pics don’t do it any justice. Amen to that!
Nursery Reveal
For the full post with more detail and product links, click here.
I loved putting together the twins’ nursery. It was very stressful, but so exciting, and I loved the way it turned out. The neutral whites and greys with the small hints of light pink and blues made it very appealing to the eye and calming. It was probably the best room in the house to sleep in due to the black out curtains!
Accepted to RewardStyle
In June, I was accepted to RewardStyle. RewardStyle is a platform that allows influencers to monetize their social channels and/or websites. As a consumer, you most likely have heard of LiketoKnow.it, which is the app the platform is shared on. It offers analytics for influencers so they can know how they are doing, keeps you in the loop on sales, and also has it’s own special shopping days. One of the easiest ways to know if your favorite blogger is using the RewardStyle platform is by the little heart with a circle around it on the bottom right of the picture, known as an overlay. Influencers are very proud of that overlay (which by the way is a totally optional thing – your pic does NOT have to have it 🙂 ) Also, in my blog posts, when I share links to products, I am usually sharing a RewardStyle link, which means when you shop and purchase an item using that link, I get credit for it and receive a very small commission.
Click here to check out my LiketoKnow.it page.
Below are just a few of the outfits/pictures I’ve shared on LiketoKnow.it and published on Instagram.
Port Aransas Trip
Y’all. My mom has been trying to plan a family trip for a few years now, and this year, it happened. Trying to work around work schedules and other vacations was somewhat tricky, but in the end, we found a weekend that worked and got down to Port Aransas. We rented an air bnb house and had so much fun. It was seriously the first time we had all been together in so long, and definitely the first vaca in YEARS – like probably since I was in high school. There was eating, working out, beaching, more eating, more beaching, and some pool time. Oh, and gymnastics on the beach.
Twins’ Birthday
The twins turned one this year. ONE. O-N-E. How is this even possible? I feel like I’m going to blink and they will be 18 and off to college. They had a fun filled birthday party at Pincher’s in El Campo with plenty of family and friends. It was a One Fish, Two Fish + Sprinkles + Pink and Blue theme. I wore my favorite jumpsuit of the season from Loft. You can read more about it here. Oh and did I mention it was like the HOTTEST day of the year and it was supposed to be an outside party – that is why you may notice the smash cake is actually melting – it was that hot.
Try Ons
I started something new this year, too. I started doing try ons. To be completely honest, I have such mixed feelings about doing them. At first, I loved them. I would go to Old Navy, Loft, Target or order from Amazon and gen out 10-15 new outfits. And I loved doing them at first. Then, it became such a hassle when I got home, trying to find all of the products, link them, remember what size I wore, etc. And, I cannot tell you how frustrating it is when I cannot find something on the store’s site. Like, the whole point of me coming to this store today was to show my viewers new ideas and outfits and share how they can purchase them, and then you don’t even have them on the website yet? It’s actually been a while since my last try on session, but look for more in 2020.
Here are a few of my try on posts – here, here, here, here, and here.
Featured in Voyage Houston
This was so exciting. Voyage Houston is an online magazine and they reached out to me to do a feature story. I felt so official and legit, AND they even sent me a print copy of it! To read all about it, click here!
Birthday Dinner in Austin
Natalie and Anna took me out to dinner for my 34th birthday in Austin. We stayed at the JW Marriott and went to dinner at Jacoby’s and then literally ran across the street to Grizzelda’s. As I mentioned earlier, when you are with your best girls, it’s like you just pick right back up. We are all working moms with super busy lives, so it’s so important for us to get together every now and then. Thanks, ladies, for a fabulous night!
Well, friends, as we enter into a new decade, I wish you all the best – from health to prosperity to happiness.
Cheers – MP
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