2018 In Review

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2018 was a busy year! From pregnancy, a super fun reveal, adventures, maternity workouts and clothing, prepping Nico and Luca for a new sibling, welcoming our sweet Baby Knox, and adjusting as a family of 5, there was a lot to celebrate all through the year. There were a few scary moments in time with illness in the family and a pregnancy scare, but happy to say 2018 ended well! Not sure yet what 2019 will bring, but here is a look back at the past year…

Hit my 4 year health and fitness coaching anniversary at the end of this year helping others get healthy and strong, and helping women start businesses from home. I am so incredibly grateful for what this opportunity has given me from being able to have freedom and flexibility to work on my own time from home, spending more time with my kids and family, while earning and income and building toward an income I am proud of. I am accepting new challengers and new team members for my challenge groups and coaching mentorships for the upcoming year, so please don’t hesitate to reach out if you have some goals to crush this year!

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Our little family announced there would be a new addition coming to The Notes Crew!

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Nico tried and loved gymnastics for the first time

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I really dove into matcha during my first trimester (because coffee made me feel yucky), and I became super curious about crystals and sage.

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I surprised Zack for his birthday and took him to the Alesso concert in Brooklyn which was probably not the BEST place for a pregnant lady to be and we realized how “old” we’ve become because we couldn’t last the whole night, but it was hella fun!

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I finally learned how to poach an egg…even better, I learned from Vanderpump Rules, because I figured if fricken Tom Sandoval could poach an egg, then so could I!

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Survived a week of HELL when we got back scary blood test results telling us that our baby’s chances for Trisomy21 were much higher than normal. We did further testing to reveal that he didn’t have this genetic disorder and these were my tears of relief after finding out.

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Became obsessed with dragonfruit. It’s seriously delicious!

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Continued to exercise all throughout my pregnancy and documented the growing bump on Instagram!

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Fulfilled my dream of making pasta from scratch on a date night with the hubby. We made ravioli and fettuccine!

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Found out we were having a 3rd baby BOY!!! Shots captured by Scratch Studios.

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Zack and I celebrated our wedding anniversary on a Spring Break trip to Charleston! Thanks to my parents for watching the kids!

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I gained a sweet new nephew!! Here he is with his older bro.

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Nico had an amazing year at Pre-K for his first year in NYC Public School. Luca completed his first year of school with a 2’s program, and while it was a tough transition, it truly made a world of a difference for him and school has been a breeze this year in  3’s!

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I traveled to Indianapolis for the first time to meet up with these fabulous ladies as we learned how to grow our coaching businesses together at our annual Summit. This was my 4th Summit, and it’s an event I never want to miss!

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We headed to Cape May for family vacation with my husband’s side of the family, and had an amazing time! We then hopped over on the ferry to Rehoboth, DE and continued the fun with best friends and some family! I also had a record breaking week with my business while we were away!

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Sissy and bro-in-law came up to Brooklyn and we took them to Coney Island for the first time to celebrate our birthdays. Even though I felt like I was about to pop, we had a total blast!

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Nico turned 5 and Luca turned 3 with a Firefighter themed backyard Birthday Bash

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We welcomed Knox Gannon Notes on 8/19/18 and officially became a #partyof5.

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While it was a beautiful and happy time, the first six weeks post partum were also rough with tongue tie issues causing painful nursing problems, sleepless nights, borderline post partum depression, and hormonal tears. I honestly thought three would be a breeze, and we were thrown for a bit of a loop in the beginning, but we had been through two kids before and we knew there would be a light at the end of the tunnel which kept us going. Happy to say even though there are still some crazy days, the fog has lifted.

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Took the boys upstate to go apple and pumpkin picking at Fishkill Farms. We also attended my cousin’s beautiful wedding down in Maryland for our first official event as a family of 5! They learn to travel young in this fam! LOL.

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Had an EPIC Halloween dressed up as a family of TROLLS this year!

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Started exercising again after having Baby Knox and starting to see some progress, though it’s also been even more beneficial for my sanity and clarity to be cleared to move every day again!

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Had such a wonderful Christmas season visiting our favorite NYC sites like the Bronx Botanical Gardens Holiday Train Show, the Dyker Heights Christmas lights, and roaming Manhattan. We also had such a memorable season with our family and friends down in Maryland.

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2018, that’s a wrap! You’ve treated us well. We’ve grown as a family and grown with even more love to give. Looking forward to seeing what’s in store for us in 2019!

What were your favorite memories of 2018???

XO,

Gina & the Boys

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Baby Notes #3 Reveal

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Oh my gosh, you guys. The reveal day is finally here!!! I have been waiting to share (and find out myself) for so long! Lemme tell you, holding onto that envelope for 2 weeks while Zack was out of town was not easy! Haha. But our props finally arrived, Zack came home, and Saturday was go time. We headed to Prospect Park with Tyler Lyons on Saturday evening around sunset to capture our reveal and our reactions along with the news. It was a beautiful evening, and we are so happy for our little Baby Notes on the way!

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Your guesses on Facebook and Instagram massively skewed toward girl. I honestly went back and forth each trimester thinking something different. Of course, I found this soccer ball reveal prop on Etsy, and I just HAD to use it being a soccer player and now that my boys love the sport as well. My neighbor was the first one to find out since she purchased the soccer ball for me to use for this shoot. Okay…keep scrolling to find out if you guessed it right!!!

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It’s a BOY!!!! Another Brother! #boysonlyclub

Oh my gosh. You should have seen poor little Nico’s face. He was CERTAIN it was going to be pink, and he was in SUCH a state of shock. I felt a little bad that we hyped up this reveal a little too much, because apparently he really got into it! He was hoping for a sister…That said, one day later, and he was back to being super excited again about his little baby on the way!

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So I had an extra ball ordered, because I wasn’t sure how easy they were going to be to break open, and I was a little nervous myself or one of the kids would break it before we actually got to take our photos! LOL. I will say that this thing was STURDY as a rock. I had to kick is really hard (and my foot actually hurt haha), so I don’t think buying two was necessary. But that said, we had an extra one, so we let Nico throw it down to take a few more photos once we knew we were having a little BOY! It took him about 4 throws before he could get it to break, but he finally got it!

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The official sonogram pic that the sono tech had put in an envelope for me. Yup. No doubt about that anatomy haha.

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Can’t believe I’m gonna be a #boymom for life!!! Wow! Another little monkey will be joining this crazy crew in August!

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Thank you Tyler Lyons for capturing this special family moment for us! It was so much fun!

Tyler also snagged a video for us from his phone, and I edited a little something together as well if you want to watch the action.

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Thank you all for your patience! I know I was driving some of you crazy making you all wait this long to find out haha. One person even said they thought we were having twins because of all the hype hahaha. NO. I guess I have always just loved a big production. 😉

To see the reveals we did in the past for Nico and Luca you can check them out here (Nico’s) and here (Luca’s).

Thanks for all the love and I feel so incredibly blessed right now! <3 <3 <3

Wishing you all a wonderful week!

XO,

Gina

2015 in Review

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A lot has happened in this past year…

I embarked on a new career as a health & fitness coach last January and I have since been able to help over 120 challengers to reach their goals and 8 coaches to build a business of their own. I am continuing to help those who want to make changes in this brand new year.

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I found out I was pregnant with our second child in January, and we did a fun little photo shoot in Prospect Park to find out we were expecting a BOY!

Baby Notes 2 Announcement

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I felt a little bit tougher this time around during my pregnancy and made my health and fitness a big priority for both myself and my family.

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We took a trip to Tulum, Mexico as a family and it was a crazy fun adventure.

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I rocked a two piece dress during my pregnancy which Lord knows I never thought would happen! I also rocked a bikini.

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I came up with a post all about exercises during pregnancy which many of you read and loved…I call them pregercises.

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I had some fun collaborations with both Stella & Dot and Irresistible Me…I have to say I am obsessed with Stella & Dot jewelry, and I can now FINALLY use a curling iron without butchering my hair!

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Before &amp; After

I surprised my husband with a trip to the NOLA for our 4 year wedding anniversary.

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We had an adorable family maternity photo shoot with my phenomenal cousin and professional photographer Misa Me.

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We took our annual lake trip over the summer…this time we landed in Seneca Lake in the Finger Lake region of Upstate New York.

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I also traveled 8 months pregnant to Nashville for the annual Beachbody Summit, and met my fabulous team of coaches in person to share a phenomenal life-changing experience. I also broke it down on the CIZE dance floor. (yes I was the awkward dancing pregnant lady)

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My beautiful baby Luca was brought into the world and our world was forever changed for the better. This kid is the smiliest, happiest baby I have ever met and we are so in love.

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My Nico Bonzo turned TWO this year with a TMNT b-day party. He started preschool, has become so independent, is making friends, and having full conversations these days. He astonishes me daily with how much memory he can retain in that little brain of his. I know he is destined for great things.

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I started my own 21 Day Fix journey to get back to my pre-baby, healthy, active self again, and so far things are going really well. I told myself I would not wait so long like I did with my first babe to get back into shape, and I have stuck to my word.

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We have celebrated many beautiful friends getting married this past year and wonderful holidays together with family. We are so very lucky and I am thankful for my blessings each and every day.

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Misa Me Family Christmas

(Photo by Misa Me Photography)

I look forward to what 2016 has to offer, and I am wishing you all a happy, healthy New Year!

XO,

Gina

Nico’s Little _______ !!!

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Happy Monday everyone!!! I know I have been driving you all crazy with the anticipation of our gender reveal for Baby Notes #2!  The photographs are in, and today is finally the day!  Zack, Nico and I went to the doctor on Thursday for our monthly appointment.  First things first, everything is looking good so far for a HEALTHY baby, which is most important!  We are so very lucky and blessed.  While at the doc, we opted not to find out the sex of the baby in the office, rather as you may remember from Nico’s reveal two years ago, we had the doc write the gender along with a sonogram pic in a sealed envelope.  Let me tell you how difficult it was not to rip open that envelope for those two agonizing days!!!

We purchased a pull-string piñata in both pink and blue confetti in advance.  Our trusted neighbor, Tammy, stepped in to help us with our operation, and she was actually the first to know the baby’s gender before anyone, including us!  She opened the card in secret and filled the piñata for us with the correct color confetti.  She also placed the sonogram photo inside so we could have it for later.  We headed to Prospect Park on Saturday early evening with our other neighbor and photographer, Cara Kantrowitz George, to document the big reveal.  We pulled the string and SURPRISE!!!!!!  Take a look at what unfolded below. 🙂

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Photography by: Cara Kantrowitz George

Piñata by: LaLa’s Party

What a special moment in our lives!  We are so excited for Nico to have a little brother!  Little boys are so much fun, and I’m hoping they will be the best of buds, just like Zack and his brother are.  I still sometimes can’t believe that our family is growing so quickly, but this moment definitely made it feel like a reality!  We are so grateful to have such amazing neighbors to help us creatively document this wonderful surprise.  We thank you Tammy and Cara for taking the time to make this day so special!

Hope you all had a fantastic weekend!

XO,

Gina

Happy 1st Birthday to Popcorn and Pandas

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Would you believe that today marks one whole year that I decided to make the change to my little ole blog, popcorn and pandas?  I know, I can’t believe it either.  It’s been a crazy year full of adventures and travel, fashion and fun, pregnancy and now a new baby.  It’s been wonderful and therapeutic to have this creative outlet to share with you all, and I am completely grateful that you all have chosen to follow along for this past year.

Below I have reflected a bit on some of your favorite posts this past year:

My first two outfit posts with the amazing photographer Marisa

Reminiscing a Rockin’ Summer

Reminiscing Rockin Summer

Summer Stripes

Summer Stripes

Lettered sweaters were my jam

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Sported my favorite Halloween costume

Hunger Games

Rang in the New Year in Winter White

Winter White

Foxes became super trendy

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I had some ups and downs, announced my pregnancy, and did a cool photo shoot with Justin to find out the sex of our Little Monkey

It's A BOY

I added some Flair to my wardrobe

Flair Promenade

Craved everything peplum

Navy Peplum and Black

Felt a little Guilty

Guilty Spring

I ate my first mangosteen

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Went to Arizona and saw the Grand Canyon

Desert Florals

Grand Canyon

I made some waves with Waveborn

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Made fresh homemade tomato sauce and pesto from the garden

Tomato Sauce

Pesto

Enjoyed the sunrise on Branch Lake in Maine

Branch Lake Sunrise

Watched as my belly grew larger and larger

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Retro Rainbow

Electric

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And gave birth to a beautiful baby boy

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It’s been such a great year, and I am hopeful that this year will bring even greater joy.  Thank you so much for following my adventures.  Would love to hear any feedback that you have of things you want to see from me in the coming year.  What you like/don’t like.  What you want to see more or less of (outfit posts, lately posts, shopping posts, personal stories, photography, baby stuff, etc…)  I have less free time on my hands, but hopefully I can make things happen!

Happy Friday everyone!!!

XO,

Gina