That Everyday Mom Style

When it comes to fashion, I am ALL about the cute and trendy stuff but my outfits HAVE to be comfortable and versatile. Mom life is crazy, chaotic and super unpredictable as it is and while I consider myself a very talented woman, chasing after toddlers in 6-inch stiletto heels is not one of them. Most days my mom-uniform consists of anything athleisure-wear or the usual jeans with a basic tee look... but as plain as that sounds, my every day outfits are anything but plain.

Here are 3 examples of my "go-to" everyday looks featuring articles of clothing I received from PinkBlush:

1) The “Every Occasion” Top

The top that you wear to the grocery store, when you're running errands, or out to have dinner + drinks with your girlfriends! The top that goes with pretty much everything! This plum puff sleeve top is currently one of my favorite tops. The color is PERFECT for Fall. I get all kinds of compliments every single time I wear it out. I love that I can wear it with leggings, my favorite pair of dark denim jeans or a cute skirt!

2) The Maxi Dress

If you ask me, maxi dresses never go out of style and can be worn pretty much all year long. I loved 'em pre-baby, during pregnancy and even more now after having the babies. I have my moments where I want to get dressed up (but not too fancy) so I'll throw on a maxi dress and go crazy with the accessories. Headbands, jewelry, platform wedges, you name it - the sky is the limit. This navy blue striped maxi dress is the perfect piece to wear from day to night. Wear it casually during the day - just tie a knot at the bottom and slip on some sandals. Or put on a cute jacket or cardigan, some jewelry and some heels and you're ready for a hot date with the mister!

3) The Perfect Casual Top

Since we are in my favorite season, FALL, anything plaid or animal print is a staple in my wardrobe right now. I'm talkin' sweaters, tops, scarves, accessories, shoes... the list just goes on and on. And because I'm almost always wearing leggings, a cute casual top is the easiest to pair with the basic black legging. Like this heather gray plaid-sleeve top. It's lightweight, not too thick and not too thin. It's perfect for the kinda weather we're havin' here in SoCal right now (it's technically Fall but our weather seems think cool temperatures are made only for mornings and evenings ). It also goes well with a pair of jeans or some comfy jogger pants.

Which style best fits your every day style? I love 'em all but I can't always wear a dress especially on the days we hit up the playground.

Disclosure: This post is sponsored by PinkBlush. I have been compensated to create this post, however all opinions are my own. I only recommend products I’ve personally used and love! This post may contain affiliate links that earn me a small commission, at no additional cost to you.

Tags: #sponsoredbyPinkBlush #shoppinkblush #momuniform #everydaystyle #everydaymomstyle #momuniform #style #outfit #cutetop #maxidress #momfashion #fashion #momlife #motherhood #everydayfashion #plaidtop #puffsleevetop #womensfashion #readytowear

Kidless In San Francisco

Yup, you read that title right, folks... Daniel and I totally did a thing. We shipped the kids off to grandma's for 2 weeks and we took a mini vacation up to San Francisco. And it was AH-MAY-ZING!!!! What started off as more of a work trip for Daniel turned into a getaway for us... if you wanna call it an extended anniversary celebration, you totally can lol - since you know, we already celebrated our anniversary at Disneyland back in March.

We flew up to Frisco on Wednesday (May 29th) morning. We weren't able to check into our hotel early, so we left our luggage with the front desk and took advantage of exploring the city a little bit. We stayed at Hotel Zelos, which is in the heart of Downtown San Francisco, and there were SO many things within walking distance from us. The convention center was a 4 minute walk away (which is where we spent majority of Fri, Sat and Sun), Union Square and all things shopping was right there in our "backyard" (our hotel sat on top of Old Navy and Trader Joes), and every type of restaurant you could think of surrounded us.

Our first night there, we tried a mom + pop shop hole-in-the-wall restaurant called Tacorea which was a Mexican + Korean food infused joint. Then after that we went to a "secret" bar known on the streets as Speak Easy (AKA Bourbon & Branch) - which requires a reservation online. Once you reserve a spot, they'll send you the directions, house rules, and password to get in via email. This place is so "secret" that we almost walked right on by it. The GPS told us we were near it, but because this place doesn't have a store-front sign OR even a visible address on the building, it took a homeless guy to notice that we were lost and asked us if we were lookin' for Bourban & Branch. When we said yes, he pointed to a building with a single door. If he didn't tell us where to go/look, we may never have found it on our own lol.

"Secret Door" to Bourban & Branch

This bar sits on top of the original Speak Easy that existed back in the 1920s during the Prohibition era - when the sale and consumption of alcohol was illegal. The experience and ambiance of this place takes you back to that era. They serve drinks you won't find anywhere else and you definitely won't be able to order a cosmo or margarita here. One of their main house rules is: no cell phone usage while you're inside. If for some reason you need to make or take a phone call, they ask that you step outside to do it. So I have zero pictures of what it looks like on the inside or pictures of our overall experience. This picture right here is literally the ONLY "proof" we were even there. But I will say, the drinks I had were YUMMY and our entire experience there was a GOOD one so if you ever get the chance to go, you definitely should.

We did all the touristy things on Thursday. We bought a 1-day public transit pass to get around the city. We took the cable car all the way down to, what I thought was Fisherman's Wharf, but turned out to be the Port of San Francisco, which sits at the very beginning of ALL the piers.

Fisherman's Wharf was at the very end. Daniel had the bright idea to walk it because he said Fisherman's Wharf was just a couple of blocks away. The whole "couple blocks away" phrase became his thing our entire stay. And because he thought everything was only a couple blocks away, we did A LOT of walking that day and the entire trip. We walked past the Exploratorium all the way to Pier 39 where we had lunch and saw the sea lions.

Us at Pier 39

Then we walked all the way up to and through Ghirardelli Square to the bus stop to wait for the bus that would take us to the Golden Gate Bridge.

We probably spent an hour reading up on all the historical facts and taking pictures before deciding to make the trip back to our hotel. We took the bus back to Ghirardelli Square and walked over to the Street Car stop. Because ya can't go to San Francisco and NOT ride the street car! Yeah, we waited about an hour to get on it because there were so many of us and I think it was also a shift change for the guys that drive the Street Cars. But it was the coolest thing ever.

view from our seat in the Street Car

After we got back to our hotel, we freshened up and returned back to the Exploratorium for their After Dark event which is catered to adults (meaning they served alcoholic beverages and you could explore the exhibits while having a cocktail) and only held on Thursday nights. But because we were so tired from our long day (and also starving) we didn't stay long. We hopped back on a cable bus that took us back to our hood. And then we walked "a couple blocks" to get some pho because we were hangry! We didn't get back to our hotel till almost midnight.

The rest of the weekend was spent at the Moscone Convention Center and we hung out with a few friends who were also there for the same event. After "work" we attended after-parties and went bar-hopping. We had such a great time that we kinda didn't wanna come back to reality. But it was a vacation well-deserved. We hadn't taken a trip like this (just the 2 of us) since we had Ella almost 4 years ago so it was nice to be able to just enjoy and reconnect with each other.

Have you ever been to San Francisco? Have you been able to go on vacation (or stay-cation) with your significant other without kids? If so, where have you gone? If not, where would you like to go?

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Tags: #sanfrancisco #goldengatebridge #pier39 #ghirardellisquare #exploratorium #architecture #tourism #vacation #pier #bourbanandbranch #speakeasy #downtown #downtownsanfrancisco #minivacation #hotelzelos

Ramblings of This SAHM

Holy cow! Did anyone else notice I was gone from the blogging world for nearly 2 months?! I honestly did not mean to take that long of a break but geez... how in the world did 2 months fly on by?!

You're probably wondering what happened. Or maybe not. But even if you weren't wondering what happened, you're gonna read about it anyway because I'm gonna tell you. Just an FYI, this is probably going to be the most random thought-filled blog post I have written to date so just humor me and read along and tell me your thoughts at the end, k? Even if you think I'm too crazy for you... just give me some feedback!

Okay, so after my last couple of posts, I kinda developed writer's block. Which usually is no big deal because it happens to me all the time - life happens and my blog usually gets pushed to the side because priorities, right? Well that wasn't the case this time around. To put it simply, I was just feeling uninspired to write anything. I was definitely in a funk and I just couldn't get out of it.

This is pretty much how this particular case of writer's block would go for me...

The creative juices start flowing and the ideas would come to me while I'm NOT sitting at my computer. At the most inconvenient times. Like when I'm doing chores. Or when I'm taking a shower or even when I'm giving my kids their baths. I'd get my best ideas for blog topics while I'm doing the dang dishes. The "old" me would have stopped what I was doing to jot down some notes. Maybe even do it in outline form. Because I used to be such an annoyingly organized multi-tasker who enjoyed writing lists. With fancy pens on pretty stationary. Ok, maybe that's a lil bit of an exaggeration but seriously... the "pre-baby" me used to be effing annoying. Because "me" now? The "hot mess scatterbrained mom" me is less organized and is always trying to do a million things at once trying to convince myself that multi-tasking is NOT a thing, that it does NOT exist, and that people who believe it does? They are the crazy ones. When really, multi-tasking is just about making a mental to-do list in our head, then starting on project #1 and not fully finishing it before getting distracted with project #2-gazillion and before you know it, we've started a million projects with every intention of finishing them but not really. Because by the time you come back to tackle any of the projects on the list, you find that it's evolved into something else. Anyway, I digress. As I was saying... the "mom" me is always trying to hurry up to get some chores done before my stage 5 clinger (AKA Everly) realizes that she no longer wants to play independently or with her sister anymore and comes looking for me. Because who keeps pen and paper near the kitchen sink anyway? Apparently NOT me. Then I forget that mom brain really IS a thing (like every single time) and I think to myself "you will remember your thoughts. And you will write up this post when Baby's asleep because you're a badass and YOU GOT THIS." If I could insert an emoji right here, I so would. It would be this guy right here....

Because we all know that once I sat my ass down to hash out a badass post, nothing came to mind but a huge question mark. And then I'd just sat there hoping that it would all come back to me. Hoping that the blinking cursor would just start spitting out words. Instead it just blinked. And blinked some more. Until I couldn't take it anymore and ultimately I just gave up.

Sad but true.

I found myself searching for inspiration and motivation from other blogs. Instead I found myself comparing my content to theirs. Which then spiraled into negative thoughts and I began to ask myself questions like: "Do people actually like reading my blog?", "Are my pictures and stories appealing to my readers?" And then I started wishing for things: a better camera, a better wardrobe, a new house! It's so very easy to get caught up in the comparison game! Especially with so many awesome blogs out there!

Once I caught myself falling down that rabbit hole of nonsense, I just decided to step back and just not think about my blog for awhile. It was actually starting to stress me out and I just didn't want to deal with it until I was ready to write again.

So.... what exactly have I been doing for the past couple of months? Well, since I've rambled on a bunch, I'll give ya an update. The cliffs notes version goes something like this: In March we celebrated Daniel's birthday on the 11th and mine on the 13th. Our 10th wedding anniversary was on the 12th, and we celebrated that by bringing our girls to Disneyland. We're not annual pass holders yet (waiting for the girls to get a bit older to really enjoy going more often) but we took full advantage of purchasing the 3-day passes because there was a deal for SoCal residents. We went to Disney California Adventure Park at the end of March. April, we went from Winter to Spring to Summer triple digit weather within a span of 2 weeks because SoCal’s weather is bipolar like that. And that means we have been spending a lot of our time outdoors! We celebrated Easter and had a blast... and we're still kinda recuperating from all of that. I have been going to the gym as consistent as I can get - going anywhere from 2x/week up to 5x/week. I think I've only accomplished a 5x/week once in the last 2 months though. It's been more like 3x max per week most weeks. But at least I'm still going!

And now here we are. Already in May. And I’m back and super excited to get back into the groove of blogging again! Do I have some great ideas planned? Sure do! Will I have the balls to actually come through and execute these posts? Well.... I am definitely hoping I do! So I guess we'll just have to wait and see! I mean, I just renewed my blog’s hosting and domain fees so I’m committed! And probably a little broke but hey, it’s an investment right? 

Anyway, if you’re still reading this, bless your sweet little heart. I know it was a bit random and all over the place but I needed another outlet for my thoughts because I think my husband is kinda over my ramblings by now. And my 2 minions just don’t quite get it... so for me blogging was the next best thing. 

Tell me in the comments below what topics you’d like for me to write about! I’d love to hear your suggestions! 

Tags: #parenthood #motherhood #Easter #momdiaries #Disneyland #DisneyCaliforniaAdventurePark #momfashion #momstyle #todderfashion #toddlerstyle #lifewithkids #california