Communicating With the Other Side

 

I realize this is a very controversial subject to some but I saw a medium on Wednesday evening. I know some of you may not believe in this and I completely respect that and I ask that you respect the fact that I do believe in it. Do not get me wrong I know there are countless hacks out there but I believe there are a few who can truly communicate with the other side.

I have been to a few psychics in the past but never a medium. Unfortunately, I have several people on the other side that I wanted to communicate with, my nanny, my papa and my best friend, not to mention several of my husband's relatives. And they were there!! I knew this because the medium called them all out without asking me anything first. 

I honestly, do not want to get into all the extremely personal details of my reading but here's a few things I would love to share. Apparently Joe and I will be having three children and the next one is going to be a boy. And we are going to be pregnant pretty soon. We shall see!! And supposedly we will eventually have a home in Pennsylvania, not anytime soon but one day. 

They emphasized the fact that Olivia is brilliant, not just smart but brilliant and will have a future in the medical field. Possibly a doctor or veterinarian. She is so advanced they expressed that she might have a problem in school because she is so bored. I hope she can thrive in school and love the fact that she may be a future doctor!

I have a few words of advice if planning on visiting a medium. Do your research or go off recommendations. I found this woman through people I knew and they told me how accurate she was. Don't have any expectations. Although, everyone I wanted to communicate with was present, they were not all extremely vocal. My nanny was the dominating presence. I had hoped to hear more from my best friend but as the medium explained sometimes not everyone communicates but at least I knew she was there. Lastly, be prepared to hear some things you may not want to hear. Within the first 30 seconds of my reading I got extremely heart wrenching news. It was difficult to hear and I still have a knot in my stomach. I knew what I was getting into though and would still go back.

I would love to hear your psychic/medium stories. Please comment below.

On The Go Giveaway

 Enter to win this collection of great gear every child needs for on-the-go!

Prize Package Includes:

• Yummi Pouch Brights - 2 sets of reusable food pouches ($30 value)
• Diono RadianR100 car seat ($259.99 value)
• Tivoli Couture Luxury Memory Foam Stroller Liner in Emerald. ($49.99 value)
• Imagine Baby The Shade ($39.95 value)
• yoomi - 8oz Feeding System ($37.50 value)
• líllébaby COMPLETE Organic Carrier ($135 value)
• Buttons Diapers 3 cloth covers and 6 daytime inserts ($54 value)

Total Value = $600+

Yummi Pouch - Reusable Food Pouches

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Yummi Pouch Brights - 2 sets - Retail Price: $30

Yummi Pouch Brights (Set of 4) combine style and convenience in an eco-friendly container you can fill with homemade smoothies and blended snacks! Easy to fill and clean through the top zipper opening and enjoyed by drinking from the side spout, Yummi Pouch reusable food pouches are great for kids taking healthy snacks on the go. Includes set of 4 assorted patterns. For more information visit yummipouch.com.

• Set of 4 Yummi Pouch Brights reusable food pouches
• Dishwasher and freezer safe
• BPA and phthalate free
• Great for on the go snacks!
• Hold up to 6 ounces each
  

Diono

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Radian®R100 Car Seat - Retail Price: $259.99

The Radian®R100 Car Seat offers the adaptability you need to keep your child's car rides safe and comfortable for years. From birth to booster car seat, the RadianR100 fits children in the rear-facing position weighing from 5 to 40 pounds and children in the forward-facing position weighing from 20 to 65 pounds. With longevity in mind, this model converts to a booster seat for kids up to 100 pounds.
Dedicated to giving families safe and enjoyable travel experiences, Diono has more than a decade of experience producing award-winning products. Diono car seats, stroller and travel accessories continue to gain high ratings from industry experts, media and families worldwide for their unique functionality, safety innovations and thoughtful designs. For more information visit us.diono.com.

Tivoli Couture

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Luxury Memory Foam Stroller Liner in Emerald - Retail Price: $49.99
Tivoli CoutureT specializes in Practical LuxuryT solutions for strollers, car seats and baby carriers.
Tivoli Couture stroller liners are unlike any other stroller liner on the market today. Tivoli Couture is the original inventor of the luxury memory foam stroller liner! Our memory foam stroller liners have been evaluated and recommended by a Chiropractor to help with proper spinal alignment and support. We chose memory foam padding because of its orthopedic qualities. Memory foam is known to relieve pressure points and help promote circulation - an important feature for children sitting in their stroller for prolonged periods of time. Tivoli Couture stroller liners also help cushion the ride and help absorb stroller shock; they double as tummy time mats and changing pads - just perfect for busy parents on the go!

Our stroller liners are super trendy and are available in a number of modern designs, colors and prints. They are reversible for style, versatility and year-round comfort. For more information visit TivoliCouture.com.

Imagine Baby

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The Shade - Retail Price: $39.95 (car seat not included)
The Shade by Imagine Baby is an award winning infant car seat canopy that protects baby from outside elements and germs. It also provides baby with a shaded place for napping when on the go. Made from a soft, stretchy micropoly/Lycra material The Shade provides baby with UPF 50+ protection from the sun's harmful rays and fits easily on most infant car seats. For more information visit imaginebaby.com.

• UPF 50 + sun protection
• Water resistant
• Year round use
• Breathable
• Flexible fit on most infant car seats
• Easy care - machine wash cold, line dry
• Fits into any size diaper bag

yoomi

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8oz Feeding System - Retail Price: $37.50
Yoomi was created by Farah and Jim. A mom and dad whose experiences of stumbling around the kitchen in the early hours and begging waiters for hot water when out and about inspired them to look for a better solution. The combination of Farah's inspiration and Jim's engineering skills, together with expert advice and help from friends and family, has resulted in yoomi, the bottle that warms baby feed in just 60 seconds. For more information visit yoomi.com.

lillébaby

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líllébaby® COMPLETET Organic Carrier - Retail Price: $135
The future in babywearing is here! Compare the líllébaby® COMPLETET with any baby carrier and you will see why it deserves its name. COMPLETET in function, comfort, and style, this carrier grows with your family. It includes every carrying position and ensures your baby is positioned ergonomically correct in every setting. It's all about options - it's COMPLETET!
Resonating the Scandinavian values of quality of life, honesty, and a love for nature's beauty, líllébaby strives to make baby products that bring this functional style to parents, anywhere. We wish parents to attain the simple luxury of keeping their baby close while building a natural bond, in perfect comfort and style. Soft, luxurious organic fabrics for treasured moments. Made with 100% soft-brushed organic cotton and lined with luxurious, 100% organic sateen cotton.

Designed with the unsurpassed functionality and comfort of the líllébaby® COMPLETET baby carrier line. The perfect baby carrier For more information visit lillebaby.com.

Buttons Cloth Diapers

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3 cloth covers and 6 daytime inserts - Retail Price: $54
Tangerine, Lavender, & Apple

Buttons Cloth Diapers were born at home. As a husband and wife team, we designed our diapers to be easy to use and affordable for everyone - the way it should be. We believe in keeping our lives simple, even when it comes to diapering.

Buttons Diapers feature soft, leak-proof, and durable diaper covers. The double-gussets around the legs keeps the mess in, so your little one can run, jump, climb, and sleep while your mind is at ease. Elastic at the back and tummy makes a custom fit. The durable snaps allow the covers to adjust to fit any baby (approximately 9-35 lbs.). And, they come in many adorable colors! For more information visit buttonsdiapers.com.

Enter to Win this Fabulous Set of Prizes!

One Winner will be selected October 3rd. Have fun and good luck!

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Weeeeee! It's Fall!

It's officially my favorite time of year. I love the weather, I love the activities, I love Halloween! We wasted no time in getting into full swing of the season this weekend. We went to Finks Country Farm in Wading River, NY and had a blast. They had lots of fun activities set up, including: a corn maze, bouncy house, corn crib, moo moo train, pony rides, pig races, a petting zoo and of course a pumpkin patch.  I love these types of festivities but more importantly little Olive had a blast.

Olivia roping the demonic looking sheep thing

My loves!

Pig Races

Moo Moo Train

 We have a few other plans to hit up some fall festivals and pumpkin farms and I cannot wait! Speaking of not being able to wait... Instead of doing what I should of done last night, my hubby, my sis in law and myself decided to have a practice run at carving and painting pumpkins. Can you tell we love this time of year?!

So my hubby and sis in law carved some pumpkins and here are their awesome creations:

Hello Kitty with a moustache by Alise

The hubby did Swiper for my girl

Since I cannot carve I decided to paint a day of the dead skull freehand. It was a valiant effort considering I was using crappy brushes and paint from the dollar store. It's hard to get precise lines when bristles are falling out of your brush. Haha. I cannot wait to get the proper supplies for next time.

Caption This!

I went to the park today with my hubby and baby girl and as we walking backing to the car we heard this squirrel groaning and he was grasping onto the tree like this. So no this isn't in an action shot. He was in this position for a good 5 minutes and counting when we finally went to get in car. What in the world was he doing?! Captions please...... Go!!!!

Happies And Crappies

I am super excited to link up for my first Happies and Crappies!! This is a super cool link up and I am pretty sure I will be joining from here on out. Here goes....


Happies

* This is the first weekend in a long while that we have NO set plans and I couldn't be more ecstatic!  Guess I am becoming an old fart. I hope to do some kind of fall activity. Maybe apple picking. We'll see!
*I have found quite a few cool bloggers to connect with this week. I am hoping to form some everlasting blogger friendships. Gosh, that makes me sound like a loser. I swear I have a lot of friends in real life...Heehee..
*All my businesses are thriving. I have tutu orders galore with Halloween coming and I have several photosessions booked for next week.

Crappies

*Olivia has been up at around 3am for almost everyday this week. And I mean up for the day!! Yikes!! I cannot even see straight at this point. 
*Feeling down about being a chubby tubby. I used to be so thin so I feel like it's even harder on me. I want to diet but I LOVE food.It's a tough battle. I will look like I used to. I am making that promise to myself.

Think Ahead And Save On Your Poof

Okay, so I know Halloween is over a month away but you should start thinking of costume possibilities NOW!! Last Halloween I was inundated with so many tutu orders that came in that I needed to cut off orders around mid October. Don't let this happen to you!! To encourage people to order their tutus early I am offering 15% off until Sunday 9/22. (Originally sale was to end today but extending through the weekend).

How to order? Go to my shop: Oh So Pretty Designs and enter coupon code: EARLYBIRD15 when ordering. Don't see the tutu you need? I make custom tutus as well. Simply message me!! Cannot wait to see what everyone comes up with!!

Update And A Giveaway

Happy hump day!! I have been actively working on a new project and that is setting up an online accessory boutique. I have several different Etsy shops because I love making my own jewelry designs but I wanted to branch out and find distributors of fabulous accessories that I can offer to my clients. This would allow me to offer a greater variety and yes, make more of a profit than I do from my Etsy shops but I am definitely hitting some bumps along the road.

I have decided not to initially order in bulk so I could check out the quality of every item before I order tons to have in stock because I knew not every item would live up to it's photos.  I didn't realize that I would be so disappointed in so many items so I only have a handful of items I would be proud to sell. I wanted a November 1st launch and I feel that would be an impossibility at this point. I am not giving up but I might need to take my boutique in a whole other direction.

On a lighter note, I am giving away one item that I received that I do love. A beautiful owl pendant. (See photo below.) This is a fabulous accessory for your fall wardrobe! Along with this pendant I will be giving the winner 30 days of FREE VIP ad space on my blog! I hope you take a second to enter my little giveaway.

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A Planes Themed Birthday

My nephew's birthday was two weeks ago but we had his family party yesterday. My sister did a great job creating a "Planes" themed party for him. You can see how fabulous things looked in the photos below.

 An easy cost effective way to keep things cohesive but within theme is to buy a few items that are actually from the theme. Here it was "Planes" and then buying everything else in solid colors that match. My sis bought a few planes mylar balloons and a bunch of blue and orange ones that match. She bought "Planes" table clothes and centerpieces and got solid blue bowls.

The kids had a blast trying to open the pinata!! Although after all the stings were pulled it wouldn't open so we had to break it open for them. This was funny to me because the pinata we had gotten for my daughter's first birthday, it split open when first string was pulled.
 

My sister inquired about having an actual planes cake made but the cost was insane so she settled for a sheet cake and added the toy planes on top. A good compromise!

 

The cake above, my sister made all on her own! I think she did a great job! The whole party was a success and looked great but most importantly my nephew had a blast!

 

Meet Sarah!!

 Meet Sarah from Back Home Blue. She has been hanging out on my sidebar this month and I wanted everyone to get to know her a little better. I figured a good way to do that would be to ask her a few questions and hear what she had to say. So here goes!!

1-Tell us a random fact about yourself that we may be surprised to learn..

When I was six or so years old, I told everyone I wanted to be a British Monkey when I grew up. Not an artist or a chef or a firefighter or anything a normal kid would say - a British Monkey. My babysitter's mom was from England and I was obsessed with how she had afternoon tea and talked with such a cool accent so the British part makes sense. I couldn't tell you where the monkey part came from though!

2-What made you start your blog?

I've always loved writing. I wrote 'books' when I was little - really just a punches of pages with a word or two and a picture stapled together, my mom still has a bunch of them! - and whenever I got computer time in school. I'd write stories in Word, usually either retelling a Disney story or coping a story I found in a book. I was so original. 

In college, I was a journalism major and my curriculum really pushed an online presence. I had some friends that blogged too and so the summer of 2009, I decided 'what the heck' and started my own blog. But I'd been running a country music website and blogging for that for a while before this thing, which was called 'Wears Inappropriate Shoes' back then, was born.

3-What do you like to do in your spare time?

What's spare time? Ha! I'm a provisional in Charlottesville's Junior League and have already taken on a leadership role so I spend a lot of time doing Junior League activities - social and volunteering! I also spend a lot of time writing, reading, having Netflix binges, baking or else exploring Charlottesville. And of course playing with my precious puppy Knox!

4-Where would you like to see yourself in a year? Any particular goals you want accomplished?

Hmm... (Well, I wouldn't hate having a boyfriend... Anyone got a brother? Nephew?) I'd love to see my blog traffic double in size. Now that I've really put my effort into it, things are going well and I'd like that to continue. I'm also hoping to write for other publications. One of my ultimate goals is to have a story published in Garden & Gun. To me, that magazine is the epitome of both Southern life and a quality publication.

5-If you were stranded on a deserted island what three things would you have to have?

My puppy, my iPhone (pictures! music!) and coffee. I'd never survive without coffee. 

I already had become a fan of Sarah's blog but after reading her awesome and sincere answers to my questions, I cannot wait to learn even more through her future blog posts. I highly recommend heading on over to Back Home Blue and checking it out, you are sure to get hooked.

Fall Fashion Shopping Giveaway

Happy Thursday!

School is back in full swing and fall is coming upon us quickly - so why not have a Shopping Giveaway so that one lucky winner can stock up on some Fall Fashion. Marquis from Simply Clarke and friends have teamed up to Giveaway a $175 Gift Card to J.Crew and a $75 Gift Card to Target. 

Enter below to Win and make sure to give all the sponsors some love and thank them for the giveaway!

Simply Clarke / Bell Bliss / The Dwelling Tree / Fueled & Aflame
A Girl Smitten / Dog Hair Is An Accessory / Stay Crafty My Friends / Well Worn Soles
Classy Living / All That Glitters / A Beautiful Exchange / Just Bri
Denim & Daydreams / Bonnie Cribbs / Dancin' With A Dolly / Till Then Smile Often

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Never Ever Ever

I decided to link up this week for Never Ever Ever with a bit of an emotional post for 9/11. So here goes...

Never Ever Ever...

Will I forget where I was when the first plane hit the twin towers. I am a New Yorker. I live an hour from NYC and spend tons of time in my city. Although this tragedy affected the whole nation. New Yorkers felt it even harder. My dad worked in the city and was supposed to be in the building across from the towers that day. By the grace of God, he was home from work that day to get stitches out from a previous accident. His coworkers saw people fling themselves from out the windows of the towers and I am sure forever scarred. I am crying as I write this. Being from Long Island everyone knew someone who lost someone that infamous day. I was at college that day and all the guys in the guard were running frantic, saying they were activated. Desperate to find out what happened, students flocked to TVs around the campus and found out about the attack. Everyone was in tears and hysterics trying to reach those they knew in the city. As panic continued, the school announced it was being evacuated. I drove home in tears wondering what it all meant. My innocence was gone.

 

Why Oh Why?!

Hello everyone! Hope you are having a good start to the week. I spent the morning trying to find a leotard in 24 months for my daughter who will be starting dance school on Wednesday morning. Exciting I know!! One thing I noticed today was that every store I went to the baby department was on the second floor. Wtf?! The poor women pushing babies in strollers have to find and walk to the elevator which is usually in a back dark corner to get their little ones to where they need to be. This just doesn't make logistical sense to me. But then again who am I? Just a mom looking for a little convenience. ;)

Now that I got that rant out of my system, I am so excited for Wednesday morning. I hope Liv loves her class and I hope she will wear the tutu I made her in the dance academy's colors. Well, at least long enough to snap a photo. I will definitely touch base with you guys Wednesday and let you know how it went and share some photos.

A Truly Happy Friday!

Proud to say I took this photo...

Happy Friday everyone!! I enjoyed this Friday and hope you did as well. It was actually kind of crisp out this Long Island morning so I took the baby out for a couple mile walk. Then after playing for a while my daughter actually cooperated and went down for a nap around noon. That was perfect so I could get ready for this afternoon's maternity session.

I took photos  for  one of my friends and she is the most gorgeous pregnant person ever..Ugh! So jealous!! I looked quite frumpy and she looks like she stepped right out of a magazine. Good for her! Here are a sampling of the photos from today.

Stunning right?

The happy couple

Aww!

The tree is prego too!!

How cool is that photo above?! We were leaving the park and saw this tree with a "baby bump" and we had to snap a photo. Too cute!!

After my fun photoshoot I met my friend for dinner so she could tell me all about her trip to Europe and how she got engaged while away!!! So exciting! And now I feel I must bid adieu because I am still in a food coma from all the baked ziti I stuffed my face with. Goodnight!!