Best Videos of the Year - 10 Top Viewed Videos

It's time for another end of the year round up! 2017 was an interesting year for our family, and we went through a lot of changes! One thing that didn't change, was some of our most popular videos! Which ones carried over from last year? Check out our 10 Top Viewed Videos of 2016 to find out!

Here were our best videos - view wise - for 2017! And I'll try to follow up in a future blog post with my favorite videos of 2017, which may not always be the same as the highest viewed! Check out my favorites of 2016 here!

In reverse order working down to number 1... here are our top viewed videos of 2017!!

10. Magic Kingdom on Halloween (2015)

This video would probably make it into my top 25 video favorites that I've made too. From our second year going to Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween Party at Walt Disney World. This is one of those neat videos that didn't make the Top 10 Viewed videos last year, and is actually an older video from a 2015 trip... but it "took off" in the middle of this year, as I call it when an older video picks up speed after being more dormant for a while and started garnering more views in the middle of the year. Especially right before Halloween. We had a great time that night! I love seeing how little the girls are too!

9. Kid's Road Trip Boredom Busters!

I love when I can make videos that people find helpful and I think this one hit that mark - Kid's Road Trip Boredom Busters - where I shared some of (many) activities that we use while traveling to entertain and this one made it into our top ten videos this year!

8. MagicBand 2.0 Review and Comparison

Ok, so this is a cool one. We did a MagicBand review on the new style MagicBand 2.0 bands that came out in 2017, with a comparison to the old style and showing both styles side by side on the girls wrists. I figured it would be a helpful video to many, and I think it was.... but, to toot my own horn for a minute - I found out from a friend that DISNEY actually was using my video internally and the developers of the MagicBands themselves were using a clip from my video at conferences... uhm, HOW COOL?!? Not just that they were using a clip from it - but that they had seen it at all!! The imagineers of the bands themselves!! Definitely a Disney geeking out moment for me!!

7. Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique in the Castle Experience

This is such a fun one!! Our 2016 Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique experience, where the girls both had their hair and makeup done together for the first time! This is probably one of my favorite Disney memories too, and I'm looking forward to them doing this hopefully at least one more time together! (Before they are too cool for school and all that good stuff!)

6. American Girl Shopping Surprise! 

We took a quick trip to the American Girl store in Michigan where I surprised Natalie with the trip there, and shared it in a Shop with Us video. We used up some gift certificates and rewards certificates we had for American Girl. It become our sixth highest viewed video of the year!

5. Christmas morning 2016! 

Our Christmas videos have started becoming some of our higher viewed videos, and Christmas morning was our 5th highest viewed video for the year!

4. Walt Disney World & Disney Cruise Surprise!

Everyone loves a good surprise! Last year we surprised the girls with the news of going to Disney Social Media Moms Celebration 2017 with a big surprise box! It was a lot of fun, and also one of our higher viewed videos for the year! Since I started squealing in the car when I got the email invitation back to 2018 and they were in the car (while we were AT Walt Disney World on our October trip, none the less!) - they already knew about our upcoming trip... so no surprise box at Christmas this year. Sorry guys! I was really excited when I got that email!!

3.  Disney Dream Embarkation Day

Our very first cruise aboard the Disney Dream continues to garner views and new viewers find our videos from that trip every day!! We are especially excited to be going BACK on the Disney Dream in February 2018, for Disney Social Media Moms Celebration 2018! It is a beautiful ship, and I'm excited to have the opportunity to do and see some things that we missed on our previous trip - mainly a trip down the AquaDuck waterslide and dinner in the Enchanted Garden restaurant!

2. Natalie's 5th Birthday

The second highest viewed video of the year was Natalie's 5th birthday video! I think especially our younger viewers love seeing what the girls get for special occasions and seeing them open gifts. Our birthday videos have become quick favorites!

1. American Girl Surprise!

WOW!! Coming in again at #1 this year - American Girl Surprise! was our top viewed video for the year! Accumulating 563,683 additional views in 2017, it did slow down a bit from its previous year's view count... but for a video that I couldn't have guessed would take off THAT much, it has been a huge boost to my channel these past three years. I'm so glad that so many people enjoyed it! Will it still be #1 for 2018? Can't wait to find out!

Thanks for watching this year! And I hope you have a happy and safe new year!

** This was not a sponsored post. All opinions are my own.

Disney DIY Craft: MagicBand Wreath

You went, you had a magical time, you have all of the pictures and memories... now what do you do with all of the MagicBands when you get home?!?

MagicBands from Walt Disney World

MagicBands are the magical "keys" to the world when you're at Walt Disney World. They open your room for you, you can charge to them, and you swipe them to get in the parks and use FastPasses. If you're anything like us, you enjoy getting a different color MagicBand on each trip - but with a family of four, the total number of bands starts to add up fairly quickly if each person choses a different color band for each Walt Disney World trip!

I took part in a collab with Jen, from Happily Organized Chaos, and we each did our own DIY. Check out her Disney DIY Craft for a Mickey lighted topiary!

How to Make the Wreath

This may be the easiest wreath you'll ever make!

All you need to get started is:
- Wreath base, I use the wire ones from Hobby Lobby
- Twine
- Pretty ribbon, mine is again from Hobby Lobby
- Safety Pins
- MagicBands

To start, I'm just wrapping the ribbon around the wire frame to cover the wires. You do not need to use the loop wreath technique that I use for my burlap wreathes, although you could definitely make a  MagicBand wreath that way - this way is truly great for any beginner or someone who has never made a wreath before. Just wrap the ribbon around!

From there, you're going to position the MagicBands on the wreath, I suggest using safety pins through one of the holes to hold it in place! Then make a pretty wreath bow - and viola! You're done!

Check out how easy it was to make in my video:

And be sure to stop by and tell Jen from Happily Organized Chaos "hello" as well!

If you want to know more about MagicBands, here's my review comparing the "new" style bands, to the "old" style bands! 

** This is not a sponsored post. All opinions are my own.

Disney Cruise Planning: Countdown to our next cruise aboard the Disney Dream

83 days... but who's counting? Well, we are actually! We were excited to learn while we were at Walt Disney World in October 2017, that we were invited back to Disney Social Media Mom Celebration 2017. (You can check out a recap of our 2017 Disney SMMC experience HERE.) And after the initial squealing died down... the planning began!

2018 Disney Social Media Mom Celebration

The 2018 Disney Social Media Mom Celebration will again be a land and sea adventure, with three days at Walt Disney World and three days at sea, aboard the Disney Dream! Our family was especially excited to find out we would be cruising again, as we have had such a great time on our past cruises! They are a wonderful relaxing vacation for the whole family - and the kids love it because they get to feel very independent by getting to chose how much time they want to spend in the Kid's Clubs onboard and at Castaway Cay.

Cruise Prep and Planning

This will be our third Disney cruise, and our second cruise aboard the Disney Dream! The exciting thing is, they've added a number of wonderful new things, like the Beauty and the Beast stage show (our YouTube friend Allison just got a chance to get a sneak peak of the show, you can check out her review HERE), and we will also get another chance to catch things we missed on our first voyage - like the AquaDuck, believe it or not! And eating in the Enchanted Garden restaurant. (We had reservations at Palo on the night that our rotation went to that dining room.)

I'm planning on sharing a detailed Cruise Packing List, coming up soon... with some suggested items that we always like to bring along, and also what I've seen suggested that I found we could leave at home. What does planning look like at 83 days out?

Here are the things I'm focusing on right now!

Fish Extender

This will be our first time participating in a "Fish Extender" aboard a Disney Cruise. These started out as a fun  exchange between a few people aboard an early sailing, and turned into a mass organized thing that has become somewhat tradition with veteran cruisers. On our previous cruises, I didn't sign up for a Fish Extender Group (yes, I said "sign up" - there are typically Facebook groups for each sailing on a Disney Cruise which we join and within in those, they generally host or have a link to a "Fish Extender Group" that divides and then pairs people up with whom to exchange gifts) - I felt like I wanted to just focus on the cruise itself. Which was more than enough, I promise!

Now that we've been on a few cruises, I thought it would be a fun extra thing for the girls to take part in, to bring along small gifts for fellow shipmates, and in return potentially receive surprises back in our Fish Extender. The actual Fish Extender, is the hanging bag that is left outside a hook by your stateroom and can hold mail or other fun things left for you. These are completely optional of course, but a fun thing to participate in just like decorating your stateroom door.

Fish Extender Planning

At 83 days out, my plans for the next few weeks are to get our actual fabric bag, "Fish Extender", ordered from an Etsy vendor - so that it will arrive in plenty of time before our cruise. I've also already spent time researching fish extender gifts and have started narrowing down our choices with those. So I will as begin ordering those items, so that I know those things will be here in plenty of time before we leave as well.

My goal is to leave half of a suitcase available for fish extender items, although most things that we will be bringing along won't be too big or bulky. It never hurts to have extra room for souvenirs too though!

Disney Vacation Planning - What Else Will I Buy?

Since we've been on other cruises before, I don't have too many other items that I need to purchase pre-cruise. I will stock up on Bonine and Kid's Dramamine, preventative sea sickness medicine to bring along "just in case". I'll check our suntan lotion to make sure it is all well within the expiration date, and make a little travel wellness kit, with items such as bandaids, ibuprofen, sinus medicine, and other frequently used medicinal items. I'll also start taking note of what kind of travel items we may be running low on or need to replace, like special lotions or body washes that we like to have in travel size


Clothing wise, since we live in a warmer climate now - we are pretty covered for warm weather clothing. I may pick up one or two special outfits for the conference portion, and an extra Disney shirt or two for the girls. One thing we do tend to do right before a Walt Disney World trip is buy newer tennis shoes and spend a few weeks breaking those in at home before we go, so we have newer shoes with good support - but not brand new, along with a few other specific planning items to going to Walt Disney World. I'll save the rest of those tips for a Walt Disney World planning post though.

Seeing Good Friends

Planning aside... One of the best parts about getting to go to conferences like Disney Social Media Moms Celebration, is seeing the friends we know in the social media community! Our friends from Jones Family Travels will also be at Disney SMMC again this year, and we're looking forward to meet up with our fellow YouTube buddies! They are also avid cruisers and own a travel agency, so they KNOW travel! They also are easy going and love to have a fun time, so we always have fun when we get together!

Check out some of their cruising videos here:

All in all, it will be an awesome vacation, with lots of awesome people. I'm looking forward to sharing our preparation process and experience that we have while we are there! Disney Social Media Moms Celebration is truly a unique event with lots of surprises along the way, and I can't wait to see what they have in store for us this year!

** This post was sponsored. All opinions are my own.

Sequencing back to work... Stay at Home Mom to Working Mom

The beginning of a great new journey? I took a new job in October 2017 and plan to work full-time, continue with my YouTube channel and blog, travel commitments, as well as attempt to fulfill my "mom duties".

Sequencing Back into Full-Time Work

Sequencing... that's what they call this apparently. After 7 years of being a stay at home mom and being home with my two girls (currently ages 5 and 7, both off to "big school"), I decided to jump back into the full-time work force and "sequence" my way back into working. It makes sense, I suppose, where the name sequencing comes from... we have been on a different schedule and different wavelength for quite a bit of time, and now we need to realign our "sequence" with something more "mainstream".

It's a mixed bag of emotions. Nervousness about whether or not I quite remember what it's like working full-time. Anxiousness about a whole new set of issues to contend with, kiddo pickups, drop-offs, school times that they need to be there by, after school activities they need extra snacks to bring. A bit of sadness because those snuggly baby days are over... there's happiness too though. A happiness of doing something again that is my own, something of my own making.

It is a bit odd, after being in the stay at home mom community for seven years, some of my best friends are career stay at home moms or housewives - which I completely respect by the way, it's a bit job - you kind of get in this mind set that it is just "what you do" and you kind of completely forget that there are women out there working full-time that have been all along. At least I did anyways. And then it hits you, that they have a seven year head start on you jumping back into working - and that makes you break a sweat just a little.

Biggest Challenges of Sequencing 

Happily, I can say that the adjustment on my side has gone fairly well. Not without it's hiccups, but the type of job I took is fun (social media marketing, i.e. I pretty much do at work, what I am sitting here doing right now while writing this article - just for a different company!) and it keeps me busy. The days go fast and I think that really helps, when you're doing something you enjoy and you have full days that are dynamic.

It hasn't been without challenges though, the girls are ages 5 and 7 right now - Natalie is soon to turn 6. Bella has been off at "big school" for 3 years now and has adjusted fairly well to having two working parents. They both go to an after school care and either my husband or myself picks them up when we get off of work. Bella will bound up to us and is excited to see us. It's cute to see her maturity in the situation and she has been doing well.

Adjusting with style!

Natalie, has had a lot of big adjustments this year. We moved across the country into a different culture. She started "big school" going 5 days a week, all day long for the first time for kindergarten this year. And she has been put in a lot of situations where she is meeting new people and making new friends, which luckily is her forte. It's not without it's challenges though, she's young. It's a long day, waking up to go to school at 7:00am and then being at after school care until 5:30pm or beyond. Some days she's cranky, other days she's excited to tell us about her day. As time goes on, I think it will get easier and easier though.

Changes Ahead

All in all, it has gone about as smoothly as I think it could and the transition going from being a stay at home mom to a working mom has been "fine". Only a few weeks into our transition, the few pieces of advice that I would give to anyone considering making the change would be to:

  - Research childcare options and costs that will work with your potential new schedule so that you can factor those into your future salary.

  - The week before you start working, run through the time schedule you will have to be on and "practice" dropping the kids off at school, driving to work, and making sure the timing you anticipate actually works with the commutes.

  - The first week, just focus on getting into the time routine and don't stress about household duties.

I also plan to do some things for myself, like hiring an in-home cleaning service at least once a month to keep the house going, and also allow ourselves to have takeout a bit more than we usually have. I think cutting yourself some slack during the transition helps to not feel stressed out. Since I'm a member of the 2017-2018 Chick-fil-A Moms Panel and it's one of our favorite places to eat, with a kid's play place too as an added bonus for the kids - it will definitely be a favorite that we stop by at least a few times a month!

Chicken Tortilla Soup with Hot Sauce! Yum!

All in all, it's gone well and I'm interested to see what the future holds! I'm glad I took the leap and it's also working out okay so far for me to keep up with my YouTube Channel and also working during the day. I'll do some videos coming up in the future as to how I am juggling it all!

Check out my announcement on YouTube here:

** This is not a sponsored post. All opinions are my own.

Fall into Fitness Giveaway!

Thanks to Hanes for sponsoring this giveaway on Being Mommy with Style! All opinions are my own.

All New C9 Champion Line at Target

If you've stopped by the fitness section in your local Target lately, you've probably noticed the Champion brand has an all new look! Champion has been one of my "go to" workout brands for a number of years, for my yoga and Zumba classes! After our move, I took some time to get settled in before adding additional things into our schedule, but the new C9 Champion line available at Target is perfectly timed! I've just been looking into Zumba schedules in our new area the past week to find classes that work around our schedule here, so it's a perfect time to add some new workout gear into my collection!

Hanes sent me this super soft C9 Champion Tech Fleece Full Zip sweatshirt, available in sizes XS through 2XL, which will be great to put on over my workout gear for getting to class! The color shown is Fog, and these are available at Target for $32.99.

Another item that I've been loving and actually picked up when there was a 25% code on Cartwheel (don't forget to check the app while you're in the store for additional savings!), I picked up a few pairs of the C9 Champion Freedom Capri Tight pants! These capri workout pants are perfect for yoga and Zumba class, and also work great for lounging around the house as well! I like that the Duo Dry + fabric holds its shape and that there's a hidden pocket in the waistband. These are $24.99 at Target and Target.com.

Fall into Fitness

Hanes wants you to "Fall into Fitness" and what better way to energize your workout than with some new C9 Champion items! Enter below to win a pair of C9 Champion Embrace Run Tights and a $50 Target Gift Card, that you could use to add some new C9 Champion workout pieces into your rotation!

Giveaway begins on Saturday October 21, 2017 and will run through midnight on Thursday October 26, 2017! Full details on how to enter are below!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

You can also "Fall into Fitness" with the new C9 Champion line available at Target Stores and on Target.com. They have a huge new selection and I'm loving the set up in the athletic clothing section at Target! Comment below with your favorite items from the new C9 Champion line at Target!

** This is a sponsored post. All opinions are my own. 

Wellie Wishers: Garden Fun App + Giveaway!

Thank you to Mattel for sending us this app to test out and share with our viewers!

Wellie Wishers: Garden Fun

Our family is excited to share our thoughts on an all new kid's app from American Girl developed by XCube, "Wellie Wishers: Garden Fun"! It releases on October 4, 2017 and is available through the app store for iOS and Android. This new interactive game lets you go into the world of the Wellie Wishers and play games in the garden!

The app was designed with ages 6 through 8 in mind, and my girls had a great time testing it out! Natalie is 5 years old (soon to be 6 in November!) and Isabella is 7 years old, and the Wellie Wishers have been a big hit in our household since they were first introduced! We own all five dolls - Willa, Ashlyn, Camille, Kendall, and Emerson, and the girls enjoy changing their outfits, putting on plays on the stage, and having tea parties with their dolls. 

Now, in the new Wellie Wisher: Garden Fun app, the fun can be on the go with us! And they can change the outfits on the Wellie Wishers, take care of Carrot the pet rabbit, have a tea party, and complete hidden treasure games that are interwoven with fun storylines within the app. 

Isabella's favorite part of the app was the "Find Hidden Treasures" search and find games, and collecting the acorns to unlock new areas and animals. Natalie loved the personalization and playing dress-up in the app, she especially enjoyed putting different costumes on the characters. 

The app is free to download with in-app purchases available. There were occasional ads that popped up during game play for other American Girl apps, and these could be clicked down by hitting an "X" button in the corner. The full play pack to unlock all of the games and features is $9.99, and you can also purchase just portions of the dress-up packs or search and find games for prices as low as $2.99.

This app will be great for our upcoming travels and the girls really loved how interactive it was, especially since we have read all of the Wellie Wisher books and many elements from the storylines in the books were seen in the app as well.

Check out our video review of Wellie Wishers: Garden Fun!

Look in the app store on your mobile phone or iPad, and the Wellie Wishers: Garden Fun app is available for download now!

Enter to win a Wellie Wisher

To celebrate this new app being released, I've partnered with Mattel to bring you a fun GIVEAWAY! Enter below to win a Wellie Wisher doll chosen at random. One winner will receive a Wellie Wisher doll! 

a Rafflecopter giveaway

If you've been loving the Wellie Wishers as much as we do, this app is sure to be a hit in your household as well!

** This post was done in collaboration with Mattel/American Girl, some items were received complimentary for purposes of testing. All opinions are my own.

Holiday Decorating with At Home Stores

Thanks to At Home Stores for giving my house a festive makeover for the holidays!

Holiday Room Refresh

Now that the holiday season is quickly approaching, I've started thinking towards not only how I'll decorate, but also figuring out what type of decor works best in our new home, refreshing certain rooms in the house on a budget, and fun ideas for teacher or hostess gifts!

To get started for Fall, I found some great pieces to refresh our dining room, and create a table centerpiece that will be perfect for Thanksgiving! I also love that the tray is versatile and can be reused for other purposes in all seasons!

The LED lighted lantern was $14.99 and the ceramic pumpkin was $7.99. The wood tray was $24.99 and I will reuse it throughout other seasons as well!

You can check out the Fall centerpiece being put together on YouTube!

Winter Decor

The Christmas season is one of my favorite times of year, and decorating my home is a big part of that! This year I'm planning on continuing on with a whimsical gingerbread and snowman theme for our smaller tree. On my trip to At Home, I found all kinds of wonderful holiday decor items that would go perfectly with that room!

Throw pillows are some of my favorite items to pick up to refresh a room, and At Home has a great selection of pillows at every day low prices! I picked these two holiday pillows to make our couch more festive, and each were only $14.99!

I thought the snowman pillow was really unique because of its vertical orientation, and if you'll notice I even reused the Thanksgiving centerpiece tray from above, to become a great coffee or cocoa tray during the colder months!

Gift Giving

Giving gifts is another fun part of the holiday season and one that I look forward to finding special items that I think friends and family will love. I found a great selection of hostess or teacher gift items at At Home for really reasonable prices - everything I picked out was priced at $9.99 or less!

They have such a large selection of gift items that the options really are endless! This year, I gravitated towards more whimsical items and also especially loved their Winter Garden line! I even managed to find a mug, with one of my favorite holiday sentiments on it!

These ornaments and small signs are also great to use as hanging tags or to give as a small gift!

Check out my picks for hostess and teacher gifts under $15 on YouTube!

I'm looking forward to the holiday season and I love everything that I found at At Home to begin preparing for Thanksgiving and Christmas! Check out At Home's website to find the store closest to you!

** This is a sponsored post. All opinions are my own.

Halloween Mantel Makeover from At Home Stores #AtHomeFinds

Thanks to At Home for giving my mantel a Halloween makeover! 

The holidays are upon us once again! We are getting settled into our new home and this will be our first holiday season decorating our house in Alabama! I have been looking forward to the holidays and I always enjoy seeing a bit of festive decor around the house for Halloween, Thanksgiving, and December.

This year, a big project was to tackle the mantel on the fireplace! It is a more traditional mantel than we've had at the past few houses, but with it being a smaller size than our previous fireplace settings and not taking up the whole wall - I wanted to make sure it sparkled and had plenty of its own personality!

Before

Decorating with At Home

I found everything I needed at At Home for this awesome mantel transformation, and we are all ready for Halloween hosting now!

After: Halloween Ready!

At Home has a variety of decor pieces in all sorts of styles, at everyday low prices! So you can refresh an area of your home, without breaking the bank! I made over this mantel for under $75 and I think it totally changed the feel of the room. It feels festive and fun now!

Prices ranged from $1.99 for the spider webbing, $8.99 for accent decor, and $12.99 for the Haunted House Ticket pillow!

What I Used

I already had a burlap wreath base made from previous Fall seasons, that I used to affix the "Flying Lessons" sign onto the top of it - to become my mantel centerpiece. I thought this sign was great - and reminds me of Harry Potter for some reason!

To go along with the flying lessons theme, this sparkly orange broom jumped right out at me in the Halloween aisle, and I knew I had to incorporate it into the decor somehow! I wanted to add some color to the bottom of the mantel area, since the hearth is at the floor level and darker, the broom worked great to bring the eye down to the lower level. The orange pillow also works great against the black tiles on the fireplace!

I added in two types of garland across the mantel to brighten it up - a purple, orange, and black flag garland hanging from the front and a glittery beaded garland laying across the top.

Check out more of my At Home Halloween mantel makeover on YouTube!

You can browse through more great At Home Finds, locate the store nearest you, and more - at At Home's website. I'm loving the space and we are now Halloween ready at our house!

** This is a sponsored post. All opinions are my own.

Back to School in Style!

Back to School in Style

It's back to school time! One of our favorite things to do around back to school is to freshen up our wardrobe! The girls each have their individual style, and they love to mix & match pieces on their own to come up with unique outfits that really display their personality!

Natalie tends to be more girly in her dressing, while Bella has streaks where she loves dresses - but then other times likes to be a little sporty as well!

This X-Temp raglan tee is perfect for Fall days as they start to get a little brisker but you still need to keep cool while being active, and just by coincidence happens to be Alabama colors!

Staying cool and comfy has definitely taken a higher priority here in the Alabama heat, and since they have recess every day, durability is important too! When we are freshening up our wardrobes for the new school year, I like to get a few "special" outfits, this year were our Eleanor Rose dresses, some great play wear, like tops and skorts from Cat and Jack at Target - and comfortable undergarments that will last throughout the school year, like our favorite Hanes socks and underwear.

Our family has used Hanes undergarments for years and we recently tried the Hanes X-Temp line,  our whole family has found something to love. The X-Temp socks work great for my hot natured feet, and Bella really likes the sporty hipsters. My husband has worn Hanes tagless tees under his work shirts for years, and Natalie's favorite socks are her heart covered ComfortBlend socks!

Check out the Giveaway

Comfortable undergarments, durable enough to last through PE, recess, and after school play are key! Our family love Hanes undergarments and X-temp products - and we are excited to partner with Hanes to bring you a giveaway to go back to school with style AND comfort!

Enter to win a Hanes Prize Pack that includes:
 - $50 Hanes Visa Gift Card
 - 3 Back-to-School styles from Hanes in your size

a Rafflecopter giveaway
Styles may include selections from Hanes X-Temp and FreshIQ technologies which help to keep you cool and fresh all day long!

Hope you have a great start to back to school and don't forget you can enter to win daily until September 8, 2017!

** This post is sponsored by Hanes. All items included in giveaway will be shipped directly from Hanes. All opinions are my own.

Celebrating our Anniversary with Family Fun!

August is our anniversary month and this year my husband and I will be celebrating 12 years of marriage together! We enjoy celebrating with the kids and doing fun family activities that will be memorable for them as well, to commemorate dates like anniversaries. This one is a special one, because we are planning on returning to the Opryland hotel in Nashville where we were married and showing it to the kids for the first time ever! Excited is a complete understatement!!

Opryland in Nashville, Tennessee, Photo courtesy: Opryland

Due to my husband's work travel schedule and the Great American Eclipse (which is happening the day after our *actual* wedding anniversary and happens to pass right over Nashville!) - we were originally planning on booking a stay at Opryland closer to our anniversary date but then realized that planning for a weekend that there wasn't a once in a lifetime solar event which caused hotel rooms to be twice the cost, probably was the more feasible way to go. So we now are planning our overnight stay for the beginning of September! That's alright though, because it gives me more time to plan!

We did take the kids up for a quick day trip to the American Girl store in Franklin, Tennessee for the first time since that is something we said we would do that in August, and they got a chance to check that out. We will also have some school activities over the next few weekends in addition to my husband's work schedule keeping him busy, so I anticipate the next few weeks will fly by!

Check out a video of our first trip to the Franklin, TN American Girl store here:

When we do go on our road trip to Nashville, we are hoping to not only check out Opryland - which if you've never been there is a super cool resort hotel with restaurants, entreatment, waterfalls, and even a river - inside the interior of the resort... but also take the girls to see some sites around the Nashville area. We haven't been to their zoo before and there are also a number of cool landmarks and buildings in downtown Nashville to see as well.

Since it's our anniversary, I would love to get pictures taken on the same Delta Landing that we had our wedding on, and be able to recreate that with the girls as close as possible. That has been a goal for the past few years to get that photo of our entire family in the same spot that we were married in and I would love to have that framed in our new home!

Also, to encourage some family bonding time, I'm bringing along a game on our anniversary trip that was sent to us to try out called "Personalogy", which is a family fun card game which is a great discovery game for the entire family! When it arrived, Bella was interested in it right away, immediately opened it and started asking questions! She loved hearing everyone's guesses as to what her answers would be, then she found the adult cards and they took turns guessing what my favorites as a child were!

We've already had a number of laughs playing Personalogy together and I'm looking forward to bringing it to Opryland with us to celebrate our anniversary as a family while discovering more about each other at the same time!

Personalogy is available on Amazon and is a great travel game the entire family can play!

You can check us out playing it in a day in the life here... I also figure out how to clean the pool for the first time ever on my own!

This may turn out to be one of my favorite anniversaries ever, since we are finally returning to where my husband and I were married and will be able to share it with the girls! I'm excited to share their reactions and will be sure to vlog the entire trip!

** I received compensation and complimentary products shown in this post in return for posting a fair and honest review. All opinions are my own.

Back to School... Fashion for Moms!

It's back to school time again, and moms everywhere are running around getting last minute school supplies, planning new school year schedules and freshening up the kids' wardrobes! It isn't just the kids that should add in some new style for back school though, I know I've always loved adding in some new pieces for Fall during back to school season and even now as a Mom have continued this tradition! I wanted to share some of my favorite pieces that I've been loving for the early Fall and back to school transition time period!

These pieces can take you from late summer and through Fall, I love pairing them with wedges or boots as the days get chillier. And they are versatile enough to work with leggings, skinny jeans, or capris!

1. Bobeau Split Neck Woven Blouse at NordstromRack.com, $24.97
 - Bobeau is one of my favorite brands to find at Nordstrom and Nordstrom Rack. You can even find it at Marshall's or TJ Maxx sometimes as well. I have this tunic blouse is a different print and I love the long length and light weight material, it makes it perfect to transition from warmer months to cooler months. The tassels give it a bit of great detail as well!

2. Felicity Striped Dress at CharmingCharlie.com, $19
 - I have this dress in navy and have gotten tons of compliments on it, both in person and in videos! It is available on the Charming Charlie website in the red color. It is easy to pair with accessories and also would look great with a cardigan put over it in the cooler months!

3. Bobeau Embroidered Tank at NordstromRack.com, $24.97
  - I love the neck detail on this one and I've found over the summer that these long tanks with a bit of detail are so easy to wear! You just toss them on and instantly feel put together!

4. Tom's Stella Wedges at Zappos.com, $55.99
  - These are great basic wedges that I've been eyeing for quite some time - and they are now on sale at Zappos.com! The color would transition nicely into the fall and is a great natural tone that goes with everything!

5. Bryn Camera Bag, RebeccaMinkoff.com, $275
  - I'm very excited about my upcoming trip to a Beaches Resort in the Turks and Caicos islands, and as I mentioned on my YouTube channels - one of the main speakers at the conference will be Rebecca Minkoff! I've collected her items for years and love her classic styling with a bit of its own edge, because I feel like it has great personality but is very wearable for years to come. I've been looking at her recent releases for possibilities for my upcoming trips, and I really love this Bryn camera bag! Lots of room to store all of my... well, camera supplies! And stylish enough to transition between different types of events I will have to go to at blogger events. 

6. Cole Haan Elsie Cross Wedge at Zappos.com, $79.95
  - This are an easy to pair wedge in the Acorn color, that would go with a variety of outfits and occasions!

7. Long necklaces at Dillards.com, various prices
  - I shared in a recent blog that I've been loving a number of long necklaces that I found at Dillard's! They have had some great sales recently, and I found some beautiful long necklaces to wear with dresses and tunics. If you don't have a Dillard's near you, they also have a great selection online!

8. Rebecca Minkoff Adventure Awaits Passport Holder at Nordstrom.com, $45
  - Love this shimmery passport holder by Rebecca Minkoff and I think it would be great for my upcoming Caribbean trip! The phrase "Adventure Awaits" holds so much extra meaning for me, with all of our recent life changes! I'm ready to get out there and see what is waiting for me!


I hope this has given you some great ideas of pieces to add in your own Back to School wardrobe! These are some of the things I've been loving recently and shared in recent vlogs!

** This is not a sponsored post. All opinions are my own.