I highly recommend hiring a professional photographer for a gender reveal session. These 10 months fly by and anything you have to remember the time will be cherished down the road. The gender reveal videos are so fun and for SURE a great way to share with your loved ones, but I suggest doing photos too!
So, if you are going to hire someone, you should take advantage of the time you have and the professional quality and shoot a couple different looks. I know, not everyone is a fashion blogger like me, but you will appreciate it later. Trust me. Plus, who doesn’t love an excuse to buy new things and get dressed up?!
Even though we have known the gender since December, I knew I wanted to do a studio photo shoot to commemorate and to, of course, share online.
Because we chose to do the genetic testing on our embryo, the lab was able to tell the gender before it was implanted. We asked our IVF doctor to get the results for us and put them in an envelope that we could share with someone once we figured out how we wanted to do the “reveal” to ourselves. My birthday is the day after Christmas and we decided this would be the perfect chance to find out. So we had a delicious bakery in Charlotte, Suarez bakery, make my birthday / gender reveal cake to cut together on my birthday in Highlands with my parents and best friend.
See the video here of us finding out we are having a baby girl. I was ELATED. I had a gut feeling I was carrying a girl and even referred to her as “she” but would have been thrilled either way. Or so I thought, lol. I think my scream in the video tells you that deep down, I really wanted a baby girl.
My new skincare routine with clean skincare brand Follain.
FOLLAIN REALLY KNOWS THE CLEAN BEAUTY GAME.
Follain was founded in 2013 with founder Tara’s mission to curate a store that sold clean beauty. Products with none of the bad stuff in them. She was on a mission to lead a clean lifestyle and along with eating clean, she was determined to do the same with the products she put on her body as well. She quit her corporate job and spent time researching the best beauty options for people and the planet! For years, they curated the shop with clean beauty brands like Herbivore Botanicals, ILIA,Indie Lee, OSEA and Ursa Major.
In addition to these fabulous brands, they also created their own clean skincare line. In addition to being free of toxins, cruelty-free and dermatologist tested, their in-house Follain line is affordable. I know for me, I have always wanted to indulge in the best options for my skin but that can be cost prohibitive. And they knew that. SO! This new routine that I have adopted is truly affordable and it works. I have seriously sensitive skin and have had trouble in the past finding an entire skincare line that works for me. I was excited to give Follain and chance and even more excited when each of the products worked for me.
HYDRATING CLEANSER – This creamy gel cleanser cleanses the skin without drying it out. It is a refreshing start to my day and perfectly removes makeup at night.
INDIE LEE BRIGHTENING CLEANSER– I alternate the Follain cleanser with this amazingggggg product. It makes my skin SO SO soft and it smells amazing. The combo of the two has my skin seriously soft and hydrated even during the winter.
ULTRA HYDRATING MASK – If you have dry skin like me, especiallyyyyy during the winter, this is a must! I obviously do not use it after cleansing each time, but I have been using it once or twice a week during these dry winter months. You can leave it on for just 20 minutes, or if you are like me, you can leave it on for a few hours and forget, getting that extra hydration 🙂
Here is a photo diary from our January trip to Steamboat Springs, Colorado.
SHEESH time is flying. It has been a month since we went to Steamboat and it seriously seems like yesterday and last year all at the same time. This seems to be the theme of my pregnancy.
I LOVE STEAMBOAT. But, I was a little nervous about going and not being able to ski at 12 weeks pregnant. I love our Colorado trips, though, and didn’t want to miss the opportunity for a trip out west so we planned the trip with my parents knowing I might *hopefully* be pregnant. As we got closer, I was really excited for a few days to just relax, take in the views, eat some good meals and spend a couple of days with Johnny and my parents. A true vacation. And that is exactly how it went!
Please give me a little grace here with my ramblings, stream of consciousness and overall disorganization. This is the best I could do 🙂 Here are some tidbits, hard things, good things and things i used and loved during my first trimester.
I am writing this at 15 weeks and really kicking myself for not writing it sooner. Honestly, I spent so many days doing nothing during my first trimester, why couldn’t I have just written down some more notes? But alas, GRACE. Must give myself grace.
It has been a while since we posted a regular OOTD, but this outfit felt like it warranted its own blog post, it is that good.
Helloooo, good old outfit post! It has been too long.
We fell out of the routine of posting outfit photos on here, because we thought that might be limiting. Over the past few years we have been doing more “round-up” style posts. AKA Black dresses for winter. The Best Cowboy Boots. Faux Fur Coats and Statement Outerwear. You know the drill.
But when I was going through the looks from my recent trip to Steamboat, I thought that this post would make for a good old piece by piece outfit post. It will of course include a round-up of faux fur coats within the post, because I’m me and I just can’t help myself. But, lets talk about the other parts of the ‘fit first.
These sweatpants are worth the price tag, trust me.
I consider myself something of a sweatpants connoisseur.
If you take one look at my instagram, you will see. I have been living in sweat suits over the past few years. Stylish sweat suits, Mayfair Group Sweatsuits and fancy sweat suits but sweats nonetheless.
Like any non-millionaire shopper on REVOLVE (probably), I have been wondering if a $158 pair of sweatpants were worth it. I decided to take the plunge and try out these Pocket Joggers by Lovers and Friends and DANG, they are amazing. I packed them for our post-Christmas trip to Highlands and wore them every single day. Seriously. I am also wearing them as I write this blog post.
Here’s a guide for how to mix interesting velvet and sequin pieces into your holiday outfits.
When Catherine and I were planning for this shoot, for once we were super organized. We planned out at least four looks as we wanted to maximize our time in the studio space! Cath had the idea of us each choosing a stand out piece and building two different looks with it. She chose the sequin top and I chose the velvet dress as both felt super festive for the holidays!!
While both of these pieces are sold out, we wanted to encourage you guys to create some interesting looks this holiday season by layering and pairing unlikely items together to make fun ‘fits.
Here are some great sweater dresses from Amazon Fashion for you cozy up in this winter season.
TIS THE SEASON TO BE COZY
I recently jumped on the band wagon and started shopping on Amazon. Specifically, I tried the Try Before You Buy feature to test out some of their sweater dresses. I gotta say, I was so pleasantly surprised. Maybe even blown away! I figured Amazon stuff was cheapy and wouldn’t be soft or comfy. I was WRONG!
Here are four of the dresses that I 100% approve of from my Amazon order. I am wearing a size small and am 5’4″ 120 for reference 🙂 These would all be great for your holiday parties and gatherings of any type! You could dress them up with heels and a blazer, or dress down with jeans and sneakers.
Shirt jackets or “Shackets” were allllll the rage last year, and I am happy to report that they are alive and well and all over your favorite retailers again this year! It took me a few failed purchases last year to finally find the right shacket (above), but once I did, I was fully in on the trend. I tried a few that were itchy, not flattering and too expensive. But if you find the *right* one, trust me, they are a great piece to have in your closet!
{Like I said in my shacket post from earlier this year} The great thing about the Shacket is that it is not quite as heavy as a coat, but it will keep ya warm and add a little extra dimension to your winter look. It is also light weight enough for continued use for the Spring, when it is just cool enough to need an extra layer. I am literally wearing one as I write this, inside, and it doesn’t feel bulky or *too much.*
