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Happy New Year!

The past year has been a bit of a roller coaster. My family has suffered a lot of loss, but we have also shared in a lot of joy. There have been changes in my career, trips across the country, exciting wedding celebrations, babies born, and interesting adventures. Watching my son grow this past year has been the most amazing part. He turned one in August with a nautical birthday party, and he has been soaking up knowledge like a sponge. He amazes me every day with the way he communicates and how much he can remember. He is sweet as pie and shows so much love and affection. I feel incredibly blessed and lucky.

I also feel extremely lucky to have so much love and support from all of you. Thanks for sticking by me this past year through the good times and the bad. There were moments when it was tough to find the time or energy to continuing blogging and creating, but this is always a place I love to come back to, and I appreciate you all coming back here as well. Some of your favorite posts from this past year included the beautiful fairytale wedding of Melissa and John, some creative ideas for engagement gifts, and when I tried out these fabulous new hair extensions. I also heard from a lot of you about how I survived the first year of motherhood and the gear that got me through. As always, please let me know what types of posts you would love to see more or less of in the coming year.

I can definitely say I am excited for what 2015 has to offer. I’m going to jump into a P90X program starting TOMORROW, and I am so excited to get back into shape again. I have always been athletic having played soccer and basketball my entire life through college and beyond. After having my child, I have struggled to find the time and the energy to get into a regular workout routine. When I was working outside of the home, I quite frankly hated to spend my free time away from my son. Now that I am home most days, it’s tough to even have free time! I received the P90X DVD program a couple years ago as a Christmas gift. It was on my wish list and also on my bucket list as something I wanted to complete as a challenge to myself. Although the program is still in the shrink wrap, it’s something I have not been able to let go. I despise the feeling of not being in shape anymore, and although I have lost all of my baby weight, I do not feel like my healthy, energetic self anymore. I plan on joining an online challenge group to keep myself motivated on this journey, and I am looking forward to feeling good again and setting a good example for my son. If you are also interested in joining me in my fitness journey, please let me know and I would love to give you more information about the group.

Aside from getting fit and healthy, I am setting my sights on a family vacation to Tulum, Mexico! I have never visited, but I have heard so many amazing things. Our itinerary is completely open, so if you have any ideas or suggestions on where to stay or what to do while we are there, please share!

The photo above is from New Year’s Eve on my friend’s rooftop in Baltimore, MD. We had a blast on our trip, although we are now trying to recover from the yucky sickness we managed to catch while away. Poor lil guy has the croup plus a fever! We have finally unpacked all of our Christmas goodies from the car, took down our tree, and put away all the decorations for the season. I’m always sad when Christmas is over, but I am excited for a fresh start in 2015.

Hope you all had a wonderful year, and I am wishing you all the best for a happy, healthy new year in 2015!

XO,

Gina

Farewell 2013

I can’t believe it’s time to say farewell to 2013. It’s been a crazy year, but also a really fun one. I want to thank all of you for continuing to check out my posts every day. Your comments and kind words definitely keep me coming back here to this little blog of mine. Your favorite post was when I announced my husband and I were having a boy! That little boy sure has changed our world. You also liked my recipes for garden fresh tomato sauce and homemade pesto. Who knew I could actually be crafty with my DIY Nursery Letters, which you all also seemed to enjoy. And your favorite outfit post was this winter white number.

Now here is a little photo reminder of my trip to Maine, which is perfect for today’s celebrations. I will most likely be in bed before the ball drops this year, because when you have a baby, you can’t stay up until midnight anymore. Instead of drowning yourself in champagne and singing Auld Lang Syne while staring at the blurry fireworks…you sip some sparkling cider, cuddle your little one, put him to bed, and then climb into your own bed to catch up on sleep. The difference in Brooklyn is that us parents postpone celebrations for a chic daytime party with other parents and babies in the neighborhood at the local bar (which I am looking forward to by the way). So we will still be celebrating tomorrow, just during baby-friendly hours. 🙂

I am wishing you all the most wonderful New Year for 2014!

XO,

Gina

Cyclones and Princesses

We ventured out to Coney Island a couple weeks ago with friends to attend our first Brooklyn Cyclones baseball game. I have to admit, a majority of the draw (aside from the lovely company) was the fact that it was Disney Princess night complete with fireworks to Disney tunes! I am a sucker for anything Disney, so this event was right up my alley. We had a lot of fun enjoying the game, the views, and the bright lights.

We’ve been hunkered down in the city waiting for our little boy’s arrival and getting some things done around the house. We hung out at Rockaway Beach on Saturday which was a gorgeous, relaxing day complete with arepas at Caracas…my favorite! We also met up with my sorority Grand Little who was in town from Boston for an amazing pizza dinner at Grimaldi’s. It was my first time there, and I will definitely be returning! Sunday, we completed a small DIY project at the house that we’ve been wanting to do for a while and created some fun artwork to hang up in the garden.

Hope you all had a great weekend, and wishing everyone a Happy Monday!

XO,

Gina

Acadia and Bar Harbor Adventures

Happy Monday everyone! Just wanted to share some more photos from our Maine adventures. The first is from a hike we did in Acadia, followed by photos from Sand Beach, the top of Cadillac Mountain, and 4th of July fireworks in downtown Bar Harbor. It was such an amazing trip, and I cannot wait to go back there again sometime.

This past weekend we had an awesome trip to Maryland celebrating my bff, Teri’s bridal shower, taking maternity photos with Misa*Me Photography (hope to have those to share soon!), and celebrating the pending arrival of our Little Monkey! It was amazing, and I am completely exhausted! We are now back in NY, and it’s go-time for getting this nursery put together. I am so grateful to my family and friends for making the event so wonderful, especially to my Mom, Sister, and Aunt for putting so much time, work, and effort into making everything so great. Little Monkey is a lucky little guy! And he is either going to LOVE or HATE monkeys when he gets here. Haha.

Hope you all are off to a great start this week!

XO,

Gina

Bar Harbor and Mount Desert Island on Dwellable

Maine via Instagram

Blueberry pancakes with fresh fruit and blueberry syrup thanks to the homeowners of the lake house we stayed at

Pretty much ate blueberry everything…also the popovers here were fantastic!

meanderinmaine — Me and my Munchkin at Jordan Pond

A little Fourth of July manicure – Essie Forever Yummy and Set in Stone

Homemade blueberry pie from Gale…found her through a local inside tip!

30 weeks pregnant smoochin’ my honey – this photo by Rai Pollard

Wow!! What a trip! Well, here is your first sneak peak into our Maine adventures! While I took many photos with my “real” camera on the trip, sometimes it is just easier to run around with your iPhone instead of lugging around the big heavy camera all the time. If you follow me on Instagram, you may have already seen some of these photos, but you may want to read on if you plan on visiting Maine. If you haven’t planned on it, you should still read on, and you may want to afterward!

We picked up our friends Erin and Rai from the airport in Boston on Tuesday morning and started our journey to Maine. Along the way to our lake house in Elsworth, we decided to take the longer scenic route through Camden, a town we had visited for a wedding a few years prior. I have to admit, another main reason for taking this route was for the amazing lobster rolls at Red’s Eats! We ate here last time we were in Maine, and it’s absolutely amazing. They pile on the lobster, add some drawn butter, throw it on toast, and it’s ready to chow down. Although, the lines here are typically and famously long, we have gotten lucky both times and have arrived with no line. The first was at closing time, and this time it was for opening. We arrived 30 minutes before opening and were the first group in line. Not 2 minutes after we arrived there was a ridiculous following behind us. Talk about perfect timing!

After Red’s Eats, we continued on to Camden, where we drove to the top of Mt. Battie, picked some Maine blueberries, walked along the water, and ate blueberry ice cream. It was the perfect little day time stop through on our trip.

We eventually made it to camp at the Branch Lake house, Shaw Cottage. We met the owner there who gave us the grand tour, and we found out that we were actually the first people to ever rent the house! He even left us blueberry pancake mix with blueberry syrup as a little welcoming gift. How sweet was that? We stocked the house with groceries for dinner and breakfast and played Cards Against Humanity while we cooked. So fun!

The next morning, we hung out at the lake, took the motor boat and kayaks out for some fun, went swimming, and had a ball. That night, we gussied up and drove down to Bar Harbor (which surprisingly seemed closer than it did on the map) for dinner at Havana. It was an adorable little spot with fantastic seafood and Latin cuisine. And of course we got ice cream after at Mt. Desert Is. Ice Cream. Yum! After returning to Branch Lake, we did another one of my favorite Maine activities, which is looking at the stars. I don’t know whether it’s lack of pollution or being closer to the top of the globe, but the stars just look amazing in Maine. I could literally see the Milky Way Galaxy outline; it was unreal.

Day 3, we started off the morning bright and early (and I mean early) around 4:13am to watch the sunrise. I cannot wait to actually share these photos with you soon. Zack and Erin went kayaking to check out the morning sights and the sunrise from the water, and Rai and I stayed behind to capture the view from our floating dock. I don’t know if I have seen a sunrise so beautiful! It was picture perfect. Once the sun was fully up, we were actually still exhausted so we went back to sleep for a few hours before really starting our day.

Once we were fully up, we headed down to Acadia to check out some easy hiking trails. Unfortunately, we ended up “hiking” by a golf course and the side of the road for an hour instead of on a “real” trail. That was kind of a bummer, and it was super hot out, so we decided to then hit up Sand Beach quickly before lunch. Sand Beach was really beautiful and had gorgeous rocky cliffs on either side of it. The water was so cold, I don’t know how people were actually swimming in there, but it was at least refreshing to dip my toes in. After Sand Beach, we headed to Jordan Pond, which was a really great restaurant within the State Park. We treated ourselves to their famous popovers, lobster stew and sandwiches while taking in the views of the water and mountains around us.

That night, we headed into town at Bar Harbor for their Fourth of July fireworks show! We have seen fireworks in Manhattan for the past couple years, which are always fantastic…but there is something about sitting on a big lawn overlooking the water with the band playing patriotic tunes that just makes you feel good ‘ole American on the Fourth of July! We were all really impressed with the pyrotechnics, and we headed back to Elsworth that night with big smiles on our faces.

Our last full day in Maine was spent lazily enjoying the peaceful lake. The early morning and the hustle and bustle of the previous day made us all exhausted, and we wanted nothing more than to relax and enjoy the serenity. We kayaked, sunbathed, took multiple swimming dips in the lake, read books and magazines, and had long chats on the floating dock. I think we each had a little nap that day as well. We ended the day with a delicious tapas dinner at Cleonice in Elsworth, although I have to warn you, there is no AC there, which was pretty brutal! Luckily, the food was good enough to make it worth withstanding the heat.

We definitely wish our trip to Maine could have lasted longer. We had a great time with great friends, and a trip back is definitely in our future! Stay tuned for the rest of my photos next week from the “real” cam.

Happy Friday ya’ll!

XO,

Gina

Mid-Coast and Islands on Dwellable