adventures Archives - Page 4 of 29

Turning Two With Turtle Power

We celebrated Nico’s 2nd Birthday a little early this year due to the fact that his birthday is two days away from my due date. So as not to add any additional stress or a possible last minute cancelation, we decided a month in advance would be appropriate to make sure he got to have his cake and eat it too. We settled on a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle theme…not because he watches the shows, because to be honest, the only thing he pretty much watches is Sesame Street…but I thought it was cool, and he was really excited about the turtles when I bought him a TMNT t-shirt one time. So there you have it. Two = Turtle Power for the win. He seemed to get into the theme, so I think it worked out well. I had a lot of fun crafting a few things in advance for the party. My husband might disagree as he had the task of crafting 12 turtle masks of out felt, which we then failed to photograph. Sorry, honey. They looked great! And apparently some of the kids are even still wearing them at home, I swear! It was a beautiful day with friends and even some family was able to come up for it (namely Nico’s godfather, which was awesome!) The kids had a pool and a water table to keep them occupied, and the parents had food and supervising children in the pool and at the water table to keep them occupied. The best part is that Nico was in a great mood the entire day, and I could tell he really enjoyed himself having everyone over to celebrate. He even asked us to sing “Happy Birthday” to him again privately later on during the party. It was kind of adorable. We are so grateful to everyone who came out and showered him with love on this special day!

*Cake from Betty Bakery*

Now he still has a couple more weeks until his ACTUAL 2nd Birthday, so pending on my labor schedule, you will probably get a sappier birthday post around then. 😉

Hit the 37 week mark yesterday, and we made tons of headway on the house over the weekend including a new office space for Mama. SCORE! We are pretty much ready for baby’s arrival when he is!

Hope you are all enjoying the week so far. Make it a good one!

XO,

Gina

Weekend Vibes

Top: H&M / Pants: Motherhood Maternity / Pineapple Shoes: Brickyard Buffalo / Head Scarf: American Apparel

*Photos taken at 35 weeks pregnant*

The hubby took me out on a date night to celebrate my 31st Birthday two weekends ago. We headed to the movies to check out the new flick, Southpaw, (which was totally worth it btw!) and ended with dinner at Bijan’s in Brooklyn. With my growing bump, I wanted to keep my look casual and comfortable for our night out, so I donned this black and white combo. Added the pineapple sneaks for a little pop 😉

This coming weekend, we are hopefully going to get the finishing touches done with the house and prepping for new baby’s arrival. We have moved and reorganized most of the furniture, but we still need to install the car seat, bust out all the old baby gear, put together the new crib, and get things set up so we can relax until he makes he grand entrance. I seriously cannot believe I will be full term (37 weeks) on Monday. These last few weeks are seriously FLYING.

Hope you all have a Happy Friday and a great weekend!

XO,

Gina

Discala Gala

A few weeks ago, we were fortunate enough to spend good times with great friends at the Discala Wedding watching the beautiful couple, Nick and Alie, tie the knot. The outdoor ceremony was just gorgeous with the sun going down, we enjoyed the amazing food, and danced the night away. Yes, even me with my prego belly. Congratulations to the happy couple! Wishing you a lifetime of love and happiness together!

What a night to remember!!!

This past weekend we celebrated my son’s 2nd Birthday about a month early (because my due date is 2 days after his REAL birthday), and we had a blast. I will be sharing photos from the event soon, so stay tuned. I hit 36 weeks of my pregnancy on Monday, and we are headed to the doc today for our check up to see how things are going. Cue the psycho nesting mode right about now as we need to get this house organized and ready STAT.

Hope you are all having a great week!

XO,

GIna

7 Day Push Up Challenge

It might be the end of summer, but there is one work out that you can take with you ANYWHERE! On the beach at vacation, on your office floor, in your living room, Saturday in the park…no matter where you go…you can take your PUSH UPS with you!

Join me on Monday August 10th for a FREE 7 Day Push Up Challenge! Strengthen and tone that upper body with one simple exercise each day for a week. I promise you are stronger than you think!

I will share proper techniques, and no matter what your skill level or athletic ability, you should be able to participate. I will also be sharing modifications for beginners, and for the advanced, there will be tips for making your push ups more challenging. Our push ups will increase each day and we will motivate each other to get through the week one day at a time.

So who is ready to PUSH YOURSELF?!?!?!

Comment below with your email address for more info or email me at gina.notes26@gmail.com to get in on the challenge 🙂

Hope you are having a great week!

XO,

Gina

Finger Lake Adventures

Wanted to share some of my insta-photos from our time at the Finger Lakes over the 4th of July weekend. We went with the best of friends and this was an area that none of had explored before. We like to check out a new lake spot each year, so this was the next one on the list!

The first pic is our first night on Seneca Lake. So serene!

Cheers to our first night on the lake! (with sparkling cider for the pregos)

Because my workouts come with me wherever I go 😉 Hooray for Beachbody on Demand!

Hiking at Watkins Glen State Park. We honestly did not even know this was minutes away from our lake house. We stumbled upon it, and couldn’t have gotten luckier. This is seriously a MUST see place to visit. It was absolutely stunning!

Hiking with our friend Rai Rai in the woods.

Just breathtaking.

Boys trip out on the lake.

All dressed up for a dinner date with the crew. Heading to Hazelnut Kitchen, which was SUPERB farm to table freshness, by the way.

My 4th of July morning breakfast.

Gettin’ down on that watermelon. That’s my boy!

Spent the holiday at the Americana Vineyards (on the Cayuga Wine Trail) for their 4th of July Celebration complete with wine and beer (for those who could partake), BBQ, ice cream, 6 live bands, a dance floor, and an awesome firework show.

Last day on the lake.

Overall, it was a trip full of both adventure and relaxation. We love our annual lake trip, and next year we will actually have THREE kids joining us at the lake, which is crazy to believe! (My bff Erin is pregnant too!) Nothing better than being pregnant with your best friend 🙂

Hope you are all having a great week so far. Guess where I am going tomorrow? NASHVILLE! Whoo hoo! I cannot wait!

XO,

Gina

{34} Lately…

Lately I’ve been…

reading Caught up on some Health Magazine at the beach yesterday. Love their tips for healthy eating and exercise.

writing Lots of e-mails, and catch up on blog posts before heading out to NASHVILLE on Thursday! if anybody has any good recommendations for while I’m out there, please let me know!

listening The Coffee Shop (Ch. 31) on Sirius XM Radio. Puts Nico to sleep every time and he loves it.

thinking That I need to get things together before this new baby arrives. I am 33 weeks today. Holy guacamole! I delivered at 38 weeks with my first babe, so it’s crazy to think that it’s less than 2 months before we will be a family of FOUR.

smelling The yummy mocha that I treated myself to this morning.

watching Finally saw the movie, Wild, starring Reese Witherspoon. The movie is based on the book by Cheryl Strayed with the same title. Being an outdoorsy person, I was a huge fan of the book as it depicted a woman hiking the Pacific Crest Trail for 3 months. I thought the movie did a decent job of portraying the book, but I definitely preferred the book over the movie. Although, I must say that is generally the case with me!

wishing A very Happy Birthday to one of my favorite people in the world, Erin, who we spent the 4th of July weekend with at Seneca Lake. Her bday was yesterday, and I know it’s going to be an amazing year for her! Love you butt buddie!

hoping For the internet to keep working. I have wasted a ton of time today hopping from cafe to cafe around the neighborhood and it’s like the internet is not working anywhere!?!?! What in the world is going on? Came back home and hoping it will stay on here so I can actually get some work done today!

wearing Living in lots of dresses, maxis and flip flops on these hot summer days. Whew!

loving Speaking of these hot summer days, I actually love them…because that means BEACH TIME! Since we won’t be able to attend our family vacay to the OBX this year, I am going to try to soak up as much local beach time as possible this summer!

wanting More space in my apartment! We are going to be doing lots of furniture rearranging in the next few weeks to make room for our new little roommate. Why do such tiny humans need so many things? lol.

needing To finish planning Nico’s 2nd Birthday Party. We need to have it early this year, because his birthday is two days away from my due date. So I finally picked a date and ordered the cake. Now it’s time to figure out the food and decor. I seriously cannot believe he is going to be TWO.

feeling SUPER excited for my upcoming trip to NASHVILLE for the Beachbody Coaches Summit! Excited to finally meet my team in person and for all the amazing events, workouts, and trainings that I get to be a part of. I’m sure it’s going to be an incredible experience that I will never forget.

craving All the sleep I can get. Starting to get a little more tired again in this last trimester. Trying to get as much sleep as possible, because I know there are some all-nighters coming up in the near future again. Yikes!

clicking On this adorable blog by Amaris, both mama and fashionista. Her outfits are chic yet casual, and her baby girl is sucha doll!

Hope you all have a great week! I started off my morning with a Banana Chia Pudding breakfast, a Turbo Jam workout, and a walk around the neighborhood. Time to buckle down now and get crackin’.

HAPPY MONDAY!

What have you been up to lately?

XO,

Gina

Seneca Summer

Dress: Target / Sandals: Dolce Vita (sold out, but similar here) / Earrings: Stella & Dot (similar here) / Sunglasses: Vintage / Watch: Michael Kors / Bracelet: Baublebar / Lip: Revlon Hydrangea

As I mentioned yesterday, we spent the Fourth of July Weekend up at Seneca Lake with some close friends. I have more photos of our adventures to share later, but first I wanted to share the outfit I wore on our nice dinner out to Hazelnut Kitchen. It was about a 30 minute drive from our house, but totally worth it as it was completely delicious farm to table freshness and goodness. I would definitely recommend it if you are ever in the Ithaca area.

Today I am heading to the beach/aquarium with my little guy today. Trying to soak up as much one on one time as humanly possible with this little fellow before our family grows at the end of the summer and I’m trying to balance being a mama of two.

Hope you all have a fantastic weekend!

XO,

Gina

Meant to Be

We attended the wedding of this beautiful couple in Upstate NY/Bronx a few weeks ago. I went to high school with the groom, Marcin, and we continued along similar paths heading to the University of Maryland for college, and eventually New York City in our early 20s. It was so nice to have a friendly face from home when we (my now husband and I) first moved to the Big Apple. We didn’t know how long we would stay, but it’s crazy to think we all just came upon our 8th anniversary here. I was so honored Marcin and his fiancé (and now wife), Dana, asked me to be a part of their ceremony by doing a reading at the church. I couldn’t have been happier to support this couple as they spoke their vows on that beautiful day. Not only have I remained close with Marcin and his family throughout the years, but it’s been a blessing getting to know Dana as well as Dana’s incredible family. To see two amazing families unite is truly a wonderful thing. Marcin and Dana make each other so exceptionally happy and you can just tell from these photos how much they light up when they are around each other. From day one, I could tell these two had a strong bond, and I know they will continue to be blessed and happy together for many many years to come. Congratulations Marcin and Dee…you are truly meant to be!

These photos bring me back! What a great day and night it was…and you can truly see the love!

Hope you are all having a great week. I have been playing a lot of catch up…both with work and with home life (laundry, grocery shopping, etc. – you know all the fun stuff). We got back on Monday from a trip to the Finger Lakes for the 4th of July holiday. We spent some time on Seneca Lake, in the Ithaca area near Cayuga lake, and exploring around the outdoors. I have a lot more to share from our trip, so stay tuned to the next couple posts to view our adventures!

Make it a great one!

XO,

Gina

Summa Summa Summatime

Summa Summa Summatime!

It’s mid-summer and I am looking for 5 more women who want to commit to the next 3 weeks of healthy eating and fitness! There is still time to feel confident in that summer bikini, at that summer wedding, or at your family reunion, ladies. It all starts with you and your decision to change and make a difference both by being active and making smart choices in the kitchen.

My next round of the 21 Day Fix is starting up on July 13th, and I would love to help you reach your goals! It will include:

-A DIFFERENT workout each day of the week to keep things interesting
-An EASY to follow nutrition plan complete with portion control containers to map out what you should be eating each day
-30 MEALS of Shakeology – a super healthy drink packed with vitamins, nutrients, and super foods
-MYSELF as your personal coach and motivator
-3 week SUPPORT group full of other challengers like yourself where we will share inspiration, motivation, tips, recipes, etc.

Don’t let a busy schedule hold you back from making a change! Some of my best challengers with the most rockin’ results are busy moms, busy professionals, and have full plates. *30 min a day is only 2% of your day and anyone can make time for this program if they are ready to make a change.*

COMMENT below with your e-mail address if you would like to join the party or if you would like more information. You can also e-mail me at gina.notes26 {at} gmail.com if you want in!

Make it a good one!

XO,

Gina

Easy Breezy

Tribal Palazzo Pants: Target (sold out, but similar here) / Tank: Old Navy / Sandals: Dolce Vita (sold out but similar here) / Sunnies: Vintage Kenneth Cole / Necklace: c/o Stella & Dot /Earrings: c/o Stella & Dot / Bracelets: Guilty Jean, Stella & Sparkle, Vintage / Watch: Michael Kors / Lip Gloss: Smashbox Savvy

Can you believe today marks 31 weeks of pregnancy! WOWZA!!! The 2nd half has been flying right by! I delivered at 38 weeks the first time around, so I am starting to get a little nervous about everything we have left to do before baby’s arrival? Now you might be thinking, what could they possibly have to do? They already have everything they need, and they are even having another boy! Well, trust me when you live in a small Brooklyn apartment, you need to figure out how you are going to go from fitting a family of three to a family of four! Haha. We spent this past weekend getting our TV mounted on the fireplace so that we can eventually get rid of our entertainment center to make room for the rocking/glider chair that we will have to move OUT of the nursery (through the window, because it won’t fit through the door mind you), so that we can then fit crib #2 into the nursery. Whew! Just thinking about it makes me exhausted already.

I found the most comfy palazzo pants at Target during the spring time, and as soon as I saw that stretchy waistband, I thought they would be perfect during my pregnancy. I could not have been more spot on! At 31 weeks, these (non-maternity) pants fit me with room to spare! And they are SO incredibly comfortable!

We are gearing up for a 4th of July trip to Seneca Lake this Thursday…but not before I check in with the baby doc on Wednesday. Fingers crossed for a good appointment and a good trip to come!

Make it a great week everyone!

XO,

Gina