surprise Archives - Popcorn and Pandas

Feeling Like Fall

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Top: J. Crew Factory – sold out but other colors here / Hat: J. Crew Factory / Denim: AG Jeans / Booties: Target / Lip: MAC Rebel

Friday night post whoooo! Maybe some of you are as lame as me and able to read this tonight…maybe not 😉 Either way, hopefully you get a chance to check it out at some point over the weekend haha.

I took these photos last weekend when it was truly starting to feel like fall and then we had a week of 80 degree weather!!!! LOL! Go figure! I scored this J. Crew top and hat over at the Factory outlet on summer vacation, and was excited to finally bust them out.

You may have gotten a glimpse of my crazy week over on Facebook, but things are looking up and trying to focus on the positive. Last weekend we had good friends in town and took them up to Bear Mountain for an awesome fall hike. We made it to the top, and I was incredibly impressed that my 3 year old did 95% of the hike himself! I carried the baby on my back which was an extra workout, and we had a great time catching up while enjoying the great outdoors. Tomorrow we are on the road to Maryland to reunite and celebrate a dear friend who has a baby on the way.

In other news, I have the BIGGEST popcorn and pandas giveaway of the YEAR coming up which I will announce here on MONDAY!!!! So make sure you come on back to see what it’s all about! 🙂

Happy Weekend!

XO,

Gina

P.S. I need a haircut. Any good ideas? Throw them my way! 😉

We’re in the NOLA, Baby

SURPRISE!!!!! 4 years of wedded bliss and a trip to New Orleans to celebrate! I booked the flights in January, and have been planning out our adventures for the past few months. Somehow, someway I was able to keep this trip a surprise for that long! Many thanks to my mother-in-law for coming up to NY to watch our little guy while we got a few days away to ourselves. Figured we needed a little mini babymoon before the new baby arrives and we are back to crazy town again. I definitely think it was worth it. The best part was being able to stay out and listen to music all night without worrying about getting up early in the morning. We were also able to meet up with great friends while we were down there and they showed us around. The culture, music, art, food, and the people down there really make you feel alive. Nola, you definitely have a piece of my heart!

Super surprised – On the way to the airport

The house where we stayed in the Bywater complete with a beautiful backyard garden. Thank you Airbnb and thank you Marie and Raphael!

Out to lunch at Booty’s – based on street food from around the world – located in the Bywater

Ready to hit the town!

Swamp Donkeys at Bamboula’s on Frenchman Street – so good!

Coffee at Satsuma in the Bywater

Morning stroll – love all the colorful houses!

Beignets at Cafe du Monde in the French Quarter – a tourist MUST!

Dinner in the Courtyard at Bacchanal in the Bywater – amazing ambiance, food, wine (I am imagining) and music

Mississippi River

I know we only spent three days/nights in New Orleans, but I have so many photos to share, that I am going to have to create another post to continue part 2 of our trip. What a wonderful experience to share with my amazing hubby. I know we will be back again someday 🙂

Hope you are all enjoying this Monday. As sad as I was to leave Nola, I was definitely happy to get back to my PiYo mat today and get a nice sculpt workout in as well as start up our Bikini Body Challenge with a crunch-less ab circuit. Nola is not famous for the healthiest of foods…so while it was PHENOMENAL, it was definitely a rare occasion for me to eat so much fried food! My belly was happy at the time, but my body is now craving some healthy eats! Today it’s all about the fruits and veggies!

Lastly, today is the FINAL day to shop my online trunk show with Stella & Dot. Make sure to snag those goodies and a chance to win pieces for free or at 50% off!

Happy Monday!

XO,

Gina

Nico’s Little _______ !!!

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. 🙂

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

Baby Gender Reveal Ideas {Canadian Family}

Remember our gender reveal for Little Monkey???

Photo by: Justin Goldberg of Eudora Video Solutions

Well, apparently Little Monkey is quite the popular one. Online magazine, Canadian Family has included our gender reveal in their latest article called 8 Exciting Baby Gender Reveal Ideas. I am so honored to be included in their post. Head on over to see my mention as well as 7 other fabulous ideas for mommies and daddies-to-be!

Curious, did you do anything special to find out your baby’s gender? How did you tell your family and friends?

XO,

Gina

It’s A………….!!!!!

I interrupt the Guilty Jean jewelry series for a very special announcement!!! The hubby and I went to the doctor on Friday for our anatomy ultrasound for Little Monkey. We opted not to find out the sex of the baby that day. However, we decided to plan a little surprise reveal for ourselves. We had the nurse write down the sex and place it in a sealed envelope along with the ultrasound photograph of “the goods.” We then took the envelope along with a large empty box to Hallmark and asked them to fill the box with either pink or blue balloons depending on whether Little Monkey was a girl or boy. Yes…the Hallmark employees knew before we did! They wrapped the box up beautifully, and when we opened it…SURPRISE!!! Our friend, Justin, was gracious enough to spend the day with us and document this special moment. We are so thankful for the many photographs he took and time he spent working on them. I think they turned out fantastic. Scroll down to see the big reveal for yourselves!

8626424952_98cc2ddcfa_b — Boy…or Girl???

8626924023_36442d17b4_b — Opening the card with ultrasound from the doc

8628977139_13bfaccf24_b — Proof of “the goods”

8626905787_134c6cf259_b — So excited for our Baby Boy!

8628783810_3f6420d5bf_b — So in love and so excited for the newest addition of the Notes Family to arrive!

Photography by Justin Goldberg of Eudora Video Solutions

Were you surprised? Or did you “know” already?

As you can see by the photos above, Zack and I were clearly shocked! It was such a magical day, and I’m glad we decided to do something fun and a little different to reveal the sex of Little Monkey. We are so excited for our little bundle of joy, and cannot wait for our Baby Boy to get here in September. I already ended up buying him his first onesie today at Brooklyn Flea. I mean, come on. There was a panda on it. You can’t blame me.

We had such an amazing weekend, and it is definitely one we will remember. We are so glad we have these photos to capture our surprise and excitement of this day, and I look forward to showing them to our Little Boy one day.

Hope you all had a fantastic weekend!

XO,

Gina