Month: January 2020

A week in New York City with KidsEmbrace and Franco Dreams – What I’m excited for and my plans so far!

The following blog may include affiliate links. Please see my affiliate disclosure page to understand what that means.

Paw Patrol Super Blanky by Franco Dreams

Back in October, two of my favorite companies joined forces in a competition to crown the best content creator for their brands. The winning prize was a weeklong trip to New York City to attend the NY Toy Fair as a paid social media consult for KidsEmbrace and Franco Dreams. So many of us captured adorable photos of our kids enjoying their products over the holidays and I sincerely enjoyed scrolling through the contest hashtag to see what new photos popped up every day. Andy and I had a blast creating each of our photos and ended up in the finals with five other mamas! I worked so hard to promote our content and get the votes we needed and we ended up winning the trip to New York! It’s at the end of February, and if you know me, you know I live for planning trips. From Disneyland weekends to short day trips to the coast, my favorite thing to do is plan outfits, events, food, you name it! So what do I have planned for NYC? Read ahead to find out!

Carseat by KidsEmbrace

1) Time to myself

In our house, Angelo and I never have time alone. It’s always a combination of Andy and I, Angelo and Andy, or the three of us together. We don’t have date nights unless there’s a new Star Wars movie, and Andy never leaves our side. This trip is a mom only trip, and as much as I’m gonna miss my family and wish they were there every time I see ANYTHING — I’m also so excited to get to go do something as Sarah. Not mom, not wife. Sarah. I haven’t given her enough attention over the last few years and my biggest “resolution” this year was to pay more attention to myself. This is the perfect opportunity!

2) A chance to get to do the things we didn’t do in 2013

Angelo and I went to New York in 2013 for literally one day, and even then, most of that day was spent in Brooklyn. We saw Times Square but hardly had the time to explore it. This trip, I really want to take the opportunity to do something in every pocket of free time I have! I’m not sure how much downtime I’ll have so I’m not making any solid plans, but I do have a few things I know I want to try to do! At the top of my list — taking cute photos in front of the Times Square Disney Store and the Gershwin theater – home of Wicked the Musical. Just strolling down Broadway in general. I was a big musical theater kid growing up and I wanna go see it all for that little girl inside of me. I’m sure that I won’t have the time to actually catch a show (I wish, but tickets are like $$$$), but seeing the outside of the theater is good enough for me. I would also absolutely love to visit Ground Zero. We didn’t get to in 2013, and it’s been heavy on my mind ever since. I want to see Radio City Music Hall, and also want to re-visit Herald Square. One of my favorite memories is sitting in Herald Square with Angelo eating Ben & Jerrys. I hope to check off at least some of these!

3) Food. All the food. Every single bite of food.

My collaboration nation team leader Nikki is going on this trip with me, and all we’ve been talking about is the food and how we’re both wearing stretchy pants. Hot dogs, Pizza, Steakhouses, more pizza, did I mention STEAK?! Oh, and coffee. I’m going to drown myself in coffee this trip. Definitely expect some food content from this trip because when in New York, eat like every meal is your last. Is that a saying? because it is now.

4) The NY Toy Fair 2020

Now, the entire reason I’m even going on this trip is to be a paid social media consult for KidsEmbrace and Franco Dreams at the NY Toy Fair. What does that mean you ask? If you’ve seen my @HoJoAnaheim takeovers at Disneyland, it’s going to be similar to that, but I’ll be showing you all around the toy fair and checking out all of the super cool exhibits that each toy brand have built (and getting PAID to do it! WHAT! Dream job!) I will be representing KidsEmbrace and Franco Dreams as part of their team, which is pretty cool because this Toy Fair is closed to the public so I’ll have a cool little exhibitor badge and everything. This event isn’t open like comic-con or a D23 expo. It’s closed only to exhibitors and retailers that want to buy from those exhibitors, kind of like NAMM – the musical instrument expo that comes to Anaheim every year. I’m excited to see what new toys are coming and hope there’s some cool insider things I can show you all!

5) Going out of my comfort zone with fashion

Now this one is totally uncomfortable for me. We all know I’m a leggings and baggy t-shirt mom. If I’m wearing jeans, it’s a good day. This trip, I’m really stepping it up and actually “trying” with my clothes. I’ve picked a color palette of mustards, wine reds, and creams/blacks. Why? I’m gonna be taking a bunch of photos this trip as well as actually having the time to get ready each morning, so I figured why not! This is an Amazon shopping list I compiled for myself to use as inspiration and so I can save the things I want to get for later when I can afford them!

Olaf hooded blanket and Pillow Buddy by Franco Dreams

I can’t wait to bring you all along on my New York adventure! Thank you to those of you who voted me through the finals. & thank you so much to KidsEmbrace and Franco Dreams for believing in me! I literally could not do any of this without any of you! Let me know in the comments below or over on my instagram of things I should add to my to do list! See you in NYC!

5 things I want to accomplish in 2020!

The following blog will include affiliate links. Please see my affiliate disclosure page to understand what that means.

2020. The beginning of a new year. The start of a new decade. Of course, that means the masses are adopting the “new year, new me” mentality for the first couple of months this year. It really made me think – do I really need or want to change physically? To answer in short, no. I don’t feel that a new year means I need to change myself if I’m happy where I’m at right now! I’m proud of showing the reality of being a tired Disney mom. A better approach for me is to make a list of 5 things I want to try to accomplish this year! Being an avid planner, I definitely have more than 5 plans for my future, but these are just ones that really stick out to me right now, or ones that feel the most attainable!

1) Take more trips with my little family!

You, of course, will see us take a few trips to the happiest place on earth. That is a yearly given that I would be sad without. I do, however, want to expand our travels this year! We already have a Valentine’s Day family trip planned to Reno, NV! I’m happy to say that we are working with Circus Circus and The ROW this February to show you how to make a not-so-family destination into a fun experience for all ages. I’m very excited for that trip. We also want to check out Knott’s Berry Farm, LEGOLAND, and Universal. Whether those happen this year or not, I’m not sure, but I do know they’re definite possibilities!

2) Clean or tidy one room a day

I like to keep it real on here, and I’ll be the first to say I SUCK at keeping my house clean. It’s not like, disgusting, but It’s very cluttered and there’s definitely more toys on the floor than, well, floor. I want to make it a constant goal to fight against the mess that is my house this year. This one is going to mentally be the hardest for me because having a toddler does not increase the chances that my house will stay clean for long! But again, I am definitely making it a constant battle.

3) Post consistently and realistically

This goes for both my blog and instagram. I want to stick to my roots. Too many times have I seen people stray from why they started to blog because they got caught in the influencer mindset. I found myself get caught in that this year and I really hate that, so I’m going back to my roots of posting the real, raw, square one version of us. I pride myself on showing the ugly side of taking kids on vacation. The sweat, tears, blood, tantrums, time outs, sweet smiles, giggles, and love. Being a toddler mom is hard enough at home where you can throw them a banana and slap their favorite ABCmouse game on the screen so you can escape to the bathroom to cry and breathe for a second. In Disneyland, in the middle of the Tomorrowland bottleneck, you can’t really take a mom cry break. I like showing those moments because EVERYONE WILL HAVE THEM. Disneyland is not just some place you go to pose in a cute skirt and toss your hair while your kid holds your hand next to you like an angel holding a churro and smiling. That’s cute, but 99.999999% of kids are hot, tired, overwhelmed, they wanna go on small world when you wanna go to the tiki room and MELT DOWN because you said no. Toddlers are monsters, y’all. Don’t let the model babies fool ya! Stick to my socials this year and I promise to keep my posts real.

4) Take better care of my hair!

This December, I started using Monat. (Moe-Nate, if you didn’t know how to pronounce it like me LOL) Before you run away screaming “NO, not another MLM”, Please hear me out! I don’t sell it, but a good friend of mine does! This is a real and truthful review that I am not being paid to post. I have a friend, Stacy, who sells Monat and over the last year she and I have become very good friends over instagram. She even has a disney instagram as well that is completely adorable! One day, before I even knew about her business, I was talking about how I wanted to take better care of my hair and how I had all sorts of issues with it. (Dandruff, Breakage, Thinning) She explained her business and had me take a little “hair quiz” to get to know my hair better and to suggest products that I should try. She mailed me a little care package and I was already hooked by how cute the sleek sample packages were! She even sent me a little printed up instruction sheet but invited me to ask her anything I needed and she’d help me. I tried the shampoo and conditioner she sent on Christmas Eve and LET ME TELL YOU. First off, the smell is great. You know when you go get your hair done at the salon and they use the really expensive shampoos that smell great but you’re like “man, I can’t afford these products” (No? Just me? LOL) This shampoo smelled even better! It rinsed out very easily and didn’t leave any residue and somehow my hair felt more stripped (in a good way, best word I could think of) and clean than it had with my regular every day shampoo! The build up of products was completely gone. I’ve had a dandruff problem ever since I had Andrew, and this left my scalp feeling moisturized but not greasy. I let my hair dry naturally to fully soak in the product, and then I styled it. It styled really easily for just being washed an hour prior. I was really impressed. Since using it, my hair has seen less breakage, less buildup, and more shine/volume than it ever has, and that’s not me overexaggerating for the blog. I actually swear. I plan on continuing use with the full sized products ASAP. Overall, I highly suggest the company, and Stacy as a retailer. She gave me some extras that I will be giving away on my instagram stories in the next couple of days, so keep an eye out for that! Monat also carries skincare and so many other products, so please check her out here! You will not regret it!

5) Get fully ready at least once a week

Thanks to anxiety, I’ve fallen into the habit of literally never getting ready for the day unless I absolutely have to. Even though I KNOW it makes me feel better to get ready and looking cute boosts my confidence, I can’t get myself to take the time to do it. I’m lucky to shower regularly and brush my hair these days. I cancel friend dates, rearrange plans, never instagram story, and avoid face to face contact with the outside world most days because I honestly just feel so gross and not put together and I really want to start making myself do it. I want to learn how to do things with my hair, I want to better my skills with makeup, and I want to dress a little more my age/body type. This one will be an uphill battle because it relies on the state of my mental health, but I’m determined to accomplish this one this year!

I hope this blog has inspired you to make your own list! What are some of your to-do’s this year? Is there something really important to you that you want to do this year? This decade? Let me know in the comments below or over on my instagram! I’ll talk to you guys soon!