We Got a Dog!

Exciting news- we got a dog! I think I’ve officially gone insane but we are now a party of 7- baby Hailey, 3 cats, the dog, John and me! I was blissfully content without a dog right now, but somehow the timing felt right and Lexie became a part of our family! 

Some backstory on me and dogs: allllll my life I wanted a dog. I would ask my parents non-stop and I even wrote it on the grocery list a few times. Even though I begged for one any chance I got, I didn’t get my first dog until I was in college! I still lived at home but I dropped out for a semester and was feeling incredibly lonely. So, I decided to browse around and found a really cute dog on Craigslist named Cody. My parents were extremely hesitant, but they fell in love with Cody and I finally had my dog. When I moved out, I had a tough break. My parents didn’t want me to take the dog with me, and my husband (boyfriend back then) didn’t want him to come with us. Cody shed a lot and barked a lot, plus was only wee wee pad trained. We were getting a small apartment which didn’t have room for that plus a litter box. I decided it was in Cody’s best interest to stay with my parents, and eventually we went from having just one cat to three cats. 

Let’s fast forward. We bought our house and I didn’t want a dog yet because we were at work all day long and I felt bad. Cats are ok alone all day and since we have 3, they have each other. I knew a dog would want attention that I couldn’t give it, so I didn’t get one. I still wished for one though, and last Christmas (2017) John almost got me a dog as my gift. I got really excited but in the end he didn’t get one. I still remember crying on Christmas Eve because it felt like the Cody fiasco all over again. I was always this-close to having a dog but couldn’t quite make it happen. 

In January of 2018 I got pregnant, so all dreams of having a dog were put on hold. I didn’t care much for anything new besides my baby, and even the blog fell to the wayside! I knew I’d get to the point where I couldn’t bend down to pick up poop, and the nausea was in full gear that first trimester and I didn’t want to tempt it. Plus, I was imagining how needy a baby would be and how big of an adjustment that would be, so I didn’t want to add to the stress.  

Now Hailey is a little bigger and actually a really good baby, sleeping through the night, happy.. all around wonderful beyond my wildest dreams. I didn’t think we needed a dog right about now since everything was so perfect, but my husband was really big on Hailey having a dog so that they could “grow up together”. John’s mom got a dog a few months before he was born and they literally grew up together. I’m also home all day erryday so it did seem like a good time to be training a puppy. Much to my surprise, I gave in and started to get excited about getting a dog. 

We went to North Shore Animal League and found little Lexie! She originally went by Tess, although I didn’t realize that until we took her collar off and saw it scribbled inside. She was the only dog that wasn’t going wild, or barking and licking people as they came by. Instead, she was quiet and sleeping at the back of her cage. Even when we took her out to play with her, she seemed shy and overwhelmed with all the hubbub. They told us that she’s a terrier mix, came from South Carolina and was only 2 months old. Poor little thing traveled a great distance and lived in a cage, so it’s no wonder she was so frightened! I fell in love with how sweet she was so we put in an adoption application and hoped for the best. The adoption process at NSAL is pretty long- you’re there for hours waiting to hear any news. We headed to a Starbucks and relaxed while we waited, and I began to think about a name. I thought about naming her Charlotte (our second choice for Hailey’s name!) but then I thought to look at names of cities in South Carolina for a cool name. I saw Lexington, which is also a popular street in Manhattan and it seemed like fate. It’s a name that shows her adventure from South Carolina to the suburbs of the Big Apple. We call her Lex or Lexie for short. 

It’s been just over a week since we got Lexie and I’m happy to say that she’s starting to find her place at home. She was really scared at first and wouldn’t move past her wee wee pad, then only up to the couch, and finally around the kitchen and dining room. She’s 50% wee wee pad trained and we plan to train her outside once it warms up and she gets her shots. She sort of knows her name, kinda responds to “no!” and is pretty good at playing fetch! But she’s also a professional toe biter, cat food thief, and scavenger hunter who finds the most random pieces of garbage on our floor that we didn’t know existed. I find myself wondering why I decided I wanted a dog in the first place sometimes, but seeing her run around with a ball in her mouth playing fetch or napping next to me as I blog at night makes it all worth it. 

I’m going to do a separate post about navigating life with a puppy along with a 4.5 month old baby (and 3 cats!), because it’s been pretty crazy! Just know that when people tell you it’s like having 2 babies, they aren’t kidding! Although it’s more like a baby and a rambunctious toddler you’re trying to potty train ;) Keep an eye out for that post and be sure to follow along on Instagram to see when it drops, plus get behind the scenes footage of Lexie via my Instagram stories! 

I’m super excited to make Lexie an official member of our family and create DIY’s for other dog mommas out there! Stay tuned for even more fun on the blog as the Cardona Circus evolves and grows.  For now, you can find the DIY pom pom collar here.

2018- The Year In Review

Happy 2019! Every year, I like to recap what happened the year before and outline the posts I did. This year, I’d like to do something a little different and more meaningful. (You can see the 2017 recap here and 2016 here)

2018 was an amazing whirlwind of a year. I transitioned to working part time at my job since everything seemed to be going well at the end of 2017. I had some sponsored posts, an e-course client, and a brand partnership. By January of 2018, I had none of that stuff (of course! It’s how life works!) and I basically had to start from scratch. But before I could even start a plan on how to make that happen, life said “Nope! Not this year.”

It all started on Jan 31 when I found out I was pregnant. The blog post has the whole story but let’s just say I was shocked and thrilled when I found out and literally everything changed after that. For starters, I was exhausted the first trimester and some days I could barely get myself to do anything besides watch tv on my days off. I also felt nauseous, so it was pretty hard to do anything... let alone blog work. I think I did the fewest blog posts EVER this year and in the end it was ok. I had a lot of time to think and made some amazing mindset changes. More on that later. 

By the end of spring, I was starting to feel better (and, getting bigger!). I found out baby was a girl and I created the best blog post about it, in my humble opinion.

Despite feeling better, the attic was such a mess and I was out of the posting loop for so long that I kinda gave up blogging. I was seriously going through a funk and going on social media and seeing everyone else’s posts really bummed me out. I wanted to create blog posts more than anything, but I’d sort of lost the spark. 

Most of the summer was spent with me getting bigger and bigger by the day. I spent most of my time working on my photography e-courses and getting them ready to launch. When they did, they totally flopped but I learned SO much from the process. Including the fact that all this time, I wasn’t really honing in on what I was doing in the first place. I was doing EVERYTHING under the sun to see what stuck and -shocker- nothing did. But, I really enjoyed creating the e-course and being able to teach the skills I’ve learned. I’m revamping the free course now so that it’s even more helpful for everyone! 

One of the things I started (and never completed) in 2018 was cleaning up my house. I started doing it around March but then kinda got sidetracked doing “all the things”. And yet, nothing at all. Everything felt like a race against time before Hailey came, and I was trying to do so much that, in the end, absolutely nothing got done. 

Fast-forward to September 28, 2018 and sweet Hailey Irini made her debut. It was one of the hardest and easiest things I’ve ever had to do in my life. The best and worst moments. The post-partum blues are no joke and they knocked me out for a few weeks. But I suddenly started to get immense clarity after Hailey was born. It was like the fog had lifted and I could finally see everything in a new way. I saw my faults, my strengths, my purpose, and where I wanted my life to go. It was absolutely astounding and of course, it didn’t come all at once. But I guess spending a lot of time reflecting will do that to ya. It almost felt like an entire year of reflection. 

The word of 2018 probably would have been growth.

There was plenty of it. Physical growth, as my body stretched and nourished my baby. Spiritual growth, as I began to ponder the meaning of my life, and what I wanted it to look like in the future. And family growth, as we welcomed a new member. And overall, I felt the love grow. Love from our family and friends, from myself to my baby, and a new love for my husband. 

By the end of 2018, I felt like I knew exactly what was holding me back and what needed to change. 

In the past, I felt like I did everything “just because”. Nothing had a real purpose. I couldn’t tell you why I did things or where exactly I was going. But now, I feel like I really know what I need to do and what’s important to me. I hopped off that work-work-work treadmill that was getting me nowhere. I finally understood that busy does not equal productive. I’m pushing for financial growth this year, because I’d really love this blog to be my primary source of income. I also want passive income, because I don’t want to live project to project, paycheck to paycheck. It’s not a sustainable method for my life. 

In 2019, the word I’d like to guide me is intention.

My goal is to know exactly why I’m doing the things I am, not just doing them because some guru told me to. Having faith in myself to create my own path, and knowing exactly where it’s taking me. I’m getting off that tradmill- this year, I’m really going places.

So, what’s in store for 2019? Well, I’d love to refresh our home. I want to update our decor and tidy up (FYI- I liked the KonMari method before it was cool). I want to DIY things with a purpose- fun home decor, crafts for the baby and things to wear. I think one of the biggest things that I’m excited about is improving my photography. It’s something I’ve been working on for the past 3+ years now and I’m ready to go from hobbyist to “pro”. I mastered my blog and DIY photography but now I want to get into more lifestyle photography, room setups, self portraits, etc. 

I think the biggest change I have going into 2019 is an unshakable faith in myself. For so long, I thought I needed someone else to help me succeed. I bought courses, listened to others tell me how to run my business (I mean... what?!), looked for every secret trick and surefire way to success. And I failed miserably. For 3 years!!! Simply because I wasn’t looking at the one and only person that could bring me success- myself. Maybe it was the labor and childbirth, or the fact that I’m raising and (almost solely) responsible for another human... but I finally feel like I can do anything. I don’t need someone else guiding the way- I can figure it out for myself and get help as needed. I’m not a lost cause in need of saving. I won’t let anyone else steer this ship. I have faith in myself to get to where I need to be. 

There are probably going to be some changes around here, but they may not be that noticeable to other people. I’d like to see it as the blog growing up, sort of like I have. DIYs are here to stay, since they’re my favorite. New, fun topics are coming too. And I’m going to spend time teaching and giving back, as much as I can. Another big change is coming that I can’t talk about quite yet but I’ll share more about it next week. Overall, life is good and I’m ready to take on 2019!

Hey Girl: Ryan Gosling Gender Reveal

This just in: we are having a GIRL!!!! Holy poop you guys, I am seriously shocked. I was CONVINCED we were having a boy, but I also knew I was going to be wrong. I told John many times "I think it's a boy, but I also think they're gonna tell me it's a girl and I'm gonna be wrong." But I was so sure baby was a boy I made them double check. Hah! Nope... she's a girl! Hilarious, because I’ve had two dreams about the baby’s gender and both times it was a girl. And both times I asked the person who told me in the dream “are you sure?!” I really thought the baby was a boy! 

Now, let's talk about this quirky gender reveal! My friend at work was on vacation and wanted a fun "gender reveal" after my appointment so I searched for "girl" on my memes keyboard (my favorite add-on, by the way!) and Ryan Gosling came up. So, I thought that was pretty funny and I sent it to her. She loved it, so when it came to telling everyone at work, I made these delicious cookies (in pink, of course!), and added a picture of Ryan Gosling next to them. And that my friends is where I got this genius idea for a party!

This theme is absolutely perfect for a gender reveal where at least one person knows what the gender is (especially the mom) but I also think it would make a FANTASTIC baby shower theme!! At that point everyone knows the gender anyway, so it wouldn't ruin the element of surprise. It's definitely never been done before, so your friends won't be bored of the same old, same old!

*Note: This post contains affiliate links

Free Printables!

I created some unique printables for this party (inspired by these awesome invites!) that you can easily download and print to decorate, invite people, etc. The best part is that they're totally FREE! Not many things you can say are free these days, but this would actually be a super affordable baby shower. To get the free printables, just fill out the form below!

The Party Setup

Let's talk about this super easy setup! I gathered up alllll the pink items I had around my house to make this an affordable party. I used some leftover plates from New Year's Eve, as well as some super cheap frames I had on hand. These were from Walmart but you could honestly use any frames from around your house to save money, or buy super cheap ones and give them out as favors. I know I have Ryan Gosling's photo up in my office now! I mean, he's wearing a suit so it's super inspirational for success, right?

I bought a pack of white card stock and used it for all the printables. I made the small circles 1" and the large ones 2" so you can use paper punches to quickly and easily cut these out! I have this and this paper punch and they worked perfectly. Then, I used a paper cutter to cut out the invites and other straight-edge things so they were nice and neat. Although it may seem like a silly expense, I've used this paper cutter countless times. I guarantee that if you own it, you'll find tons of uses for it! 

For the place settings, I kept it super duper simple with black and white striped napkins and a printed postcard on top. People can tape this postcard up in their house, take pics with it at the party, or just recycle it afterwards. Easy peasy! To create the cupcake picks, all you need are those paper punches I mentioned above and a toothpick. You can either tape it on, or glue it. You can make it single-sided or double-sided. You can also arrange them in a line with skewer sticks for a cake topper, or add them to drink stirrers or straws like I did. They'd also make great embellishments for a favor box or with a tiny hole punched into them as a gift tag for favor bags!

Part of the fun of the "hey girl" quote is what comes after it. I had a little fun and created a letter board message about my sweet little daughter. Honestly can't even believe I can say that! I'm going to have a daughter. Pardon me while I go wipe away these tears... 

Affordable cupcake stands are super easy too! I had these plastic cupcake stands left over from my ornament making party and I turned them upside down to hold these tiny cupcakes. Btw- these are store-bought cupcakes. I scraped off the frosting and piped on my own tinted store-bought frosting! It took a couple of tries and they clearly aren't perfect, but honestly they did the trick. I just recommend getting some new cupcake liners to go over the old ones, because they do kinda separate off the cupcake for some reason. These mini pink "stands" are actually just paper baking cups that I've had forever and never used. They were too big for these teeny little cupcakes, but they were great as stands!

Now, let's talk about those cookies! The recipe uses cake mix, so they're super soft and fluffy. I made them for work and everyone was raving about how good and different they were. Best of all, they're super cheap and easy to make! I just used store-bought white cake mix and pink food coloring. I piled them up on top of a cake stand that, again, was left over from a blog post!

For another easy decor piece, I used my lightbox sign and added a sonogram of my tiny girl. I know some people find sonograms weird and creepy (um, ok...) but I think that when it's your child it's the most amazing thing. Like... she has the cutest up-turned nose and you can even see her teeny little heart! Pure magic.

To decorate the area above the table, I placed a bunch of paper fans I had laying around. I really thought I had more pink ones than I did, but most of them were a dark hot pink since they were for Halloween and Christmas posts. Had I realized, I probably would have ordered a set of pastel fans to have a nicely mis-matched set!

Either way, I’m so excited to finally know more about this little baby and to buy some baby clothes. Now that I know, I can’t wait to get started on the nursery and some fun DIY projects for baby! Plus endless matching “mommy and me” outfits.

Don't forget to download your printables and create your own Ryan Gosling themed gender reveal or baby shower! It felt very "teenage stalker obsessed with a celebrity" as I was creating the party setup, but it's so much fun. 

So, what do you think about this idea for a gender reveal or baby shower? Now I want to do a whole bunch of amazing, uniquely-themed baby showers. What weird theme would you do? Or is this JUST what you were looking for? Let me know in the comments below!

Introducing Gret-Chin: My Double Chin

Ok guys, things are about to get very silly, and very real over here. Despite the fact that I’m fairly thin, I have some things about my body I’m insecure about: my belly, my underboob, and my double chin. I generally have a very round face, a baby face if you will. But it’s the double chin that makes its debut when I least desire it that kinda drives me crazy. It’s the one thing I can’t really hide, because it’s literally my face (or, well... right under it). 

After my sister lovingly teased me about it several times, I decided if this double chin really wanted to come around, I’d better name her. She’s like a stray cat you can’t help but love, or at the very least accept. So, I decided to name her Gretchen. Or as I like to call her, Gret-Chin. Aside from being an amazingly hilarious play on words (if I do say so myself), it’s also a Mean Girls reference. And we all know I love those. 

Related: Polly Pocket Iron-On DIY

This means that if there’s a pic of me with a double chin, she gets a shout out. If anyone teases me about it (lovingly or otherwise) I won’t care, because I’ll simply tell them “that’s Gretchen”. And seeing my double chin in pics doesn’t make me feel bleh anymore, because it makes me laugh. Oh, that Gretchen... 

She’s like that one friend that always makes a silly face and ruins an otherwise nice photo. She’s also like that friend that occasionally shows up even though she wasn’t really invited, but you accept her anyway. She’s the Pillsbury Doughboy, Phoebe’s Smelly Cat and the Stay Puft Marshmallow Man all in one. 

If you’re looking to name your double chin, I have some suggestions. 

-Felicia (as in, Bye Felicia) 

-Vin-Chin-Zo (like Vincenzo)

-Neck-ole (like Nicole)

-Flab-ulous (because it’s fat and fabulous)

-Cather-Chin (like the amazing name Catherine- I’m not biased at all) 

When it comes to the things that bother us, we can either dwell on them or we can accept them. I’ve chosen to accept my flaws, and to also work to improve them. Hatred never really helped anyone, and I think that by acknowledging my flaws, I’m able to move on from them. Because at the end of the day, I have much more important things to worry about than the occasional double chin. And you do too!

So, what do you think about this idea? Am I straight up crazy, or will you be giving your flaws funny names to accept them? Let me know in the comments below!

We're Having a Baby!

Omg you guys, we are having a baby!! 

John and I have been talking about having a kid forever, but we wanted to wait until after the wedding. We had only been trying since about November but for some reason, ever since I was in high school, I thought I would have trouble conceiving. I have a few minor medical issues, but for some reason I had convinced myself that getting pregnant would be really hard, if not impossible. I’ve literally cried at the thought of not being able to get pregnant. I don’t know why I felt this so strongly, but I did. So imagine my surprise that after only a few months of trying, we got pregnant! It’s truly a blessing and something that I know I am so lucky to experience. Although I may have complained about being tired or nauseated, I know this is truly the most amazing gift anyone could ever give me and I am so happy to experience it. 

*This post contains affiliate links

Sources: baby onesie from Colorado souvenir shop (baby's first trip!), similar train, pink board, blocks, honeycombs

Finding out:

I was at work and wasn’t feeling 100%. Two of my coworkers that I’m friends with started looking at me funny. “I don’t knoooooow, maybe you’re pregnant!” Well, I knew I wasn’t. After all, I had bought ovulation strips and they told me I was not ovulating. So although we tried, I knew I hadn’t been ovulating when we did. They teased me about it so much that week that I figured I may as well take the test the next day. 

All night I had dreams about taking the pregnancy test.  I was so nervous that I would forget to take it that it seeped into my subconscious and my dreams. There was never a result- just me in about 5 different dream scenarios with a pregnancy test. I woke up at my usual 5am that day, right after John had left for work. I went to the bathroom, plonked down on the toilet, and peed on the stick. I put it on the counter and watched it flow through to do its magic. One pink line. Yep, as I suspected. Then I look over again and a SECOND PINK LINE APPEARED. I was in disbelief and kept saying, out loud, “is that a second line?” I was tired (it was 5am after all!) and kept blinking and making sure I was really awake. I was. And I started to cry SO HARD. I recorded a video for John so he could see my reaction, since he wouldn’t be home for hours and I didn’t know how I’d be when I told him. The video wasn’t pretty, but it really captured my emotions. Snotty tears, shaking hand and all. 

I literally spent the rest of the day crying tears of joy while waiting for John to come home. 

Telling John:

I already knew how I wanted to tell John, so I did a second pregnancy test juuuust to make sure before telling him. I went to CVS and got a digital test this time, peed on the stick, and waited for 3 of the longest minutes of my life. I was so nervous that it was a false positive or something! When I finally saw the “YES+” indicating that I was pregnant, I started crying all over again. And recorded a second video for John. 

John came home hours later, since he had to work overtime. I tried to get him home earlier, but I didn’t want to tip him off. He didn’t even know I was taking the test! I brought him up to our room, and sat on the bed. I pulled a small Mets onesie out of my drawer and showed it to him. He looked at me confused, like “ok...?” I realized at this moment that I’m so crazy that my husband thinks I would buy a onesie without actually having a baby to wear it. Anyway, I pulled out the pregnancy test and he’s still confused so I told him I’m pregnant. Then I start crying (again) and say “we’re having a baby!!” He’s literally in shock and just home from work, not expecting this at all. So he says something like “are you pranking me?” And I’m still crying and saying no. It was like our engagement all over again! Obviously he was so happy, although cautiously so- he wanted to make sure it wasn’t a false positive. He soon realized my symptoms definitely confirmed it- I was pregnant! 

The first exam:

We had to wait 2 long weeks before we could go to the doctor to get my first sonogram. I was so nervous the whole time. What if something was wrong, or what if I had an ectopic pregnancy? I knew 3 people that had gone through that, and it was both saddening and risky. I was hoping everything was ok. We went into the sonogram room and the tech inserted the camera and moved it around. Lo and behold, there was our baby! She showed us the heartbeat and I started to cry because everything was ok. It was such an amazing experience to see. 

Telling our family:

We decided to wait until after the first doctors visit and sonogram to tell our families. We wanted to make sure everything was ok before we did. We bought everyone a frame and made copies of the sonogram. John’s mom is a huge Mets fan, so she got this Mets frame. My parents are cornballs, and amazing parents, so they got this grandparents frame. And my sister likes to keep it simple, so I gave her this plain frame. We invited them over for lunch and gave it to them as a “Valentine’s gift” so they wouldn’t suspect anything. I wanted to tell my sister separately first, so I brought her up to my bedroom. She opened the gift and got so excited she was jumping up and down! And I’m there shushing her so the parents don’t hear! We go downstairs and give the other gifts to my parents and John’s mom and tell them to open them at the same time. John’s mom suspected, so when she opened it she started to cry. My parents are oblivious so they’re opening the gift, confused, and wondering what John’s mom got that she’s crying so much. They finally figured it out too, and they were so excited! We told John’s siblings as well, and they were both really happy. 

About the Photoshoot:

I have to give my sister a special shout-out. She did the whole shoot for us! I'm very picky and the poor girl tried to make sure everything was well-framed haha. We started with the baby food shoot, which was so gross. John refused to take another bite of his beef and beef broth. He said it was like eating dog food, and swore our baby won't be eating that. Also, can we talk about how big my belly already is?! I'm wearing maternity jeans, and it was becoming impossible to hide at work. It's not so obvious from the front but as soon as I turn sideways, you can see it! I'm so happy about my growing baby bump.

Ahhh! We are beyond excited about our little bundle of joy coming in September. I'll be doing some fun baby-related blog posts in the next few months, including maternity clothes, nursery, and a gender reveal! We won't know until Mid-May, so we are anxiously awaiting that appointment. If you have any maternity advice, I want to know! It's been hard not being able to share the news and get advice. I'm so relieved that the cat's out of the bag now!