Thoughts on Life at 33...

Tap tap... Is this thing on?

I can't believe I haven't written a post in over 2 years... 2 YEARS! Life just happens... And I feel like a million and one things have happened within those two years. I've gone from having a newborn and leaving my 9:00-5:00 job (last blog post) to having a toddler and a baby in my belly, to now having 2 children. Family unit complete!

There's been happy, sad, stressful moments. Friendships that have drifted apart and more that have grown stronger. Family drama, friend drama... Trips, travels and love in between. I've learned a lot... A lot about other people, but even more about myself.

Club 33... Someday 

Today is my birthday and I'm feeling 33 is a weird age... If we all have the life expectancy that we hope you reach 100 then that means 1/3 of my life is over... If it ends before that then it's even more over. The effect this is having me is just... "Girl, time to get your shit together" 

I feel so different since Chelsea has been born. Having a daughter has made me look at things a lot closer. A young girl can be very impressionable. It's making me examine the kind of influence I want to be on her, which has made me examine myself a lot more.

I've realized in the last 2 years I lost a bit of myself. Perhaps I was just caught up in new mommyhood, but I feel like I lost a piece of me. I used to be a confident person and maybe to some still appear to be one from the outside looking in. Somewhere along the line I put myself last and got a little lost. Where did my self confidence go? When did I become such a people pleaser? When did I start letting peoples negativity affect me so much? These traits coming forward are not something I want my daughter to see. I want her to be confident... I want her to be respectful and motivated to make her own way in this world.

I will definitely say being pregnant again was not a confidence builder for me. Who's body is this? Am I supposed to be comfortable in it? I've said it all along and I will til the end... There are people who love being pregnant... And those that can't wait til the end... I'm the latter not glowing preggo. While I do count my blessings that I was able to get pregnant naturally with both of my children and there are those that are less fortunate... I'm so happy I never have to do it again. 

I feel like now that the part of my life where we're building our family is over, it's time to get back to "Girl, get your shit together"  

Sooooo let's get my shit together!

I'm going to ease back into blogging, I miss writing here. I've come up with a basic structure that focuses on things going on around town and spotlights on local artists so stay tuned. 

I'm going to be rebranding, redoing websites, logos and renaming everything. This blog, my vintage shop and maybe even Green Cycle. I bet no one even really knew I had a vintage shop... You will soon :)

I feel like I'm shedding a layer of skin, blossoming, shit if I was a bird I would be molting. Ha! I can't take any of this old stuff with me. Starting fresh for myself feels so great. No more negativity... No negative people, no negative feelings, only onward and upward.... If I could just get medical clearance to start yoga again that would be grrrrrrrrrrrrrrreat (office space voice) :)

So! Now it's time to put up or shut up... And let me start here....

Last year, (before I knew I was preggo...actually I think I was pregnant in the photos and didn't know it) I was involved in Self Revealed: The Naked Photography Project. I can only count on my one hand the amount of people that knew I did this. Self Revealed is a photography project in which women of all ages, sizes and color have the opportunity to express & validate their beauty on their terms. It's about body acceptance. No matter what you weight, size, color or creed it's about loving yourself and the skin you're in. Over 100 women had their photos taken.

I did it... And holy shit was it liberating!

I didn't share this with very many people as I was too concerned about the judgement or thoughts from other friends and family. The me now is like wtf were you thinking! This is absolutely ridiculous! I'm so proud to be a part of this project! The exhibit will run at Gallery 2014 into April

So I end this blog post with my photo courtesy of the amazing Elizabeth Sanjuan at Gallery 2014. Love to all!

Our Disney trip in photos....

We had such a blast last weekend in Disney! Staying in the Epcot resort area and being able to walk into the park was such a treat, I don't want to experience it any other way again. We walked in and were in England... Right up my ally :) 

Without further adieu, I give you.... The weekend in pictures -

Pulling up to the Dolphin!

The view from our room, lake view with a balcony!
That's the swan in the background - Swan Lake anyone?

Nerd Alert at the fountain in the lobby!

Dolphin!

Heading to the empty Boardwalk for dinner

Yum! Flying Fish Crab Cake!

When you don't make reservations,
you're forced to sit in front of the grill - At least we were able to give
the chef the thumbs up on our steak and scallops!

Napkin... Let the Memories Begin!

Andy on the Boardwalk...

Dolphin at night... 

Drinks at Todd English's BlueZoo

Saturday at Epcot!

Spaceship Earth anyone?

Welcome to Our Future!

Andy and I in our solar powered Jetsons mobile

Character Breakfast at the Swan...

Mmmmmmm... Mickey waffle!

Cari and Goofy... can't tell which is which ;)

Keith, Sam and Casey warming up to Goofy

Just a little chipmunk tail action...

That's a good note to end on... A little Chipmunk tail :) 

Been to Disney lately? Going soon? Do tell!

We're Going to Disney World!!!!

Woohoo!!! We're going to Disney World!

The GCD shop will be open for the weekend, 

but orders placed will be shipped out on Monday.

See you then!

Currently Obsessing Wednesday....

In an effort to place some sort of structure on this blog one day of the week at a time, I've decided to make Wednesday the day of the week I get to share with you the latest and greatest things I'm obsessing over.

Since the day IS Hump day, here are the things I would like to hump share this week:

1. Viggle -

A big huge thank you to Mr. Dennis Tagliarino for getting my hooked onto this one. I say that in a semi-sarcastic, but very appreciative tone. I'm almost halfway to a free Kindle Fire! Yes ladies and gentleman - FREE! Viggle gives you rewards for watching TV, plain and simple. Think Shazam for TV shows. Log into the app, let it listen to your TV and get points. That's it! You can also watch ad's or play trivia games to earn points. While my Kindle Fire is 375,000 points you can redeem at 7,500 for $5 gift cards to Chili's or Starbucks. Have an iPhone? Download the free app here. FUN!

2. The artist SHAG -

I swear I live in a teeny tiny little bubble sometimes.When Andy and I went to Disney in February, we came across this amazing piece at the Disney Fine Art store. We were so disappointed that they were sold out of the prints and failed to write down the artists name. So for months we tried to track down the above print and were in luck last week when Andy finally found it! Shag (Josh Agle) does the most amazing retro vintage inspired artwork. Back in 2010 he did an entire collection for Disney World, Land and Cruises. From original pieces, to prints, to coffee table books and so much much more check it out - There is even a Shagmart for your purchasing pleasure!

3. This Anthropologie Dress -

Couldn't you just die? I die. At $248 I'm try try trying to make it til it goes on sale... Unless Sara lets me use her birthday coupon :) Jk, It's just sooooo me, I mean click the link - it's GORGEOUS! You know you need it when you've been obsessing over it for days and then your best friend Mrs. Doopiemoo (who doesn't even know you're obsessing over it) forwards you the anthro email saying "I think you need this dress"

Yep!

Weekend in Orlando...

This past weekend Andy and I made the trip up to Orlando for his best friend's wedding and a little side trip to Walt Disney World!

We went up on Friday morning and headed straight to the Magic Kingdom - We had a deadline and had to be back at our hotel for the rehearsal dinner so we did a crash course in MK which included all the best rides of course!

She said, "Hold him like you really love him"

The funniest thing that happened would have to be the fact that we were stuck on Splash Mountain for 45 minutes. It's never a good sign when you're in the next log to go out and a siren goes off and all of the workers run to the back.... LOL. So we sat and sat and sat and sat... A guy came out and tied a washcloth to the front of our log... Were we the guinea pigs?! We made it through alive and on the way out were handed some pretty cool fast passes good for ANY RIDE in the park... Sweet!

So we left and headed to our hotel - Bahama Bay Resort. It's located just a few miles outside of Disney and all of the wedding festivities were held there.

It was beautiful and really reminded us of the hotel that we stayed at in Grand Bahama for our wedding - Pelican Bay. The wedding went off without a hitch at the beach on the property and the ceremony was held after at the Tradewinds Restaurant and Bar. They had an awesome photo booth for us to play in too - Such a great day!

Eric & Jenny Grossman

After the wedding we were off to Epcot!

Epcot!

Champagne in fake France....

 
We decided for Day 2 that would we just do the World Showcase and take our time. A completely different experience when you try to slow yourself down and get out of "Disney mode". We kept catching ourselves... "No, slow down! We stayed until about 6:00 and went back to the hotel to hang out with everyone.

Day 3 (our final day) we spent in Epcot as well - we love us some Experimental Prototype City Of Tomorrow! It's by far our fave park. We had lunch at Teppan Edo in Japan which we came back to after our last Disney trip because it's so yummy! We also spent a tiny fortune in the Japan gift shop - they have the coolest stuff!

Cheers from England... Well, fake England

After a day filled with drinks and fun we were ready to drive back home. So that was our weekend! You can check out my Yelp's on Bahama Bay Resort & Teppan Edo by clicking the links!