100 days left of 2015

In 100 days our news feeds will be flooded with resolutions, goals, ideas and things people want to accomplish in 2016. With 100 days left in 2015 I want you to not dread on the weight you've put on or the things you haven't accomplished in 2015.  Instead take a look back at what has happened leading up till now, the adventures you have done, the goals you have accomplished and the memories you have made.

For me personally 2015 has been a pretty good year. Some years are filled with more bad than good but this year was a very positive one for me personally.

Entering 2015 I was a recently engaged women to a boy I fell in love with back in 7th grade. Also entering 2015 I was a mother to 2 beautiful, healthy boys.

In the first few weeks of 2015 we welcomed our newest nephew Emry Zane into this world and I was honored to be there to witness it all.

Shortly into 2015 we announced our wedding plans which included a pre-ception party in Michigan (in 4 days!) and a destination wedding to follow in 2016.

I set goals ideas in my head of what I wanted to do and see before I turned 30 next year. I'm happy to report these things are coming along nicely too!

We were able to do some projects around the house while still staying on our budget. Our main bathroom got a face lift, as well as our kitchen, with a dressing room update coming soon!

I lost some weight, gained muscle and found confidence back in myself that was hiding for some time.

I shared stories of my personal motherhood journey, ones about eating out at restaurants with kids, about living in the now, about how hard motherhood is but the hardest post to write was about loss.

We took engagement photos that revolved around us and not the family. I talked about mine and Jerek's relationship as unwed parents.

I bared my 'mom bod' in a bathing suit on the internet and had a great reaction.

We took a family vacation over to West Michigan, went to multiple beaches and splash pads and over all had a fantastic summer!

Skylor turned two, Tracen ended preschool and started Pre-K and I cried a whole lot of nights.

I also posted light hearted things like my daily outfits, and easy and affordable makeup options.

More importantly I captured all of our life on video as well as filmed my first wedding! 2015 has been hectic but exhilarating, hard but rewarding. My hopes for the next 100 days are to enjoy the craziness that is about to happen.  Try not to succumb to the stress that overwhelms me with the holiday's closing in or the traveling I will have to do for work. Look forward to the weekend full of family and friends celebrating our wedding, to Halloween with friends and Thanksgiving with family. Hayrides and pumpkin picking, apple crisp making and birthday party planning. To the gift of giving and the start of a new year. But for now, lets live for today and for the days left of 2015.

Here is to the last 100 days of 2015!

Life Lately

Hi hello, how are you? I'm still here, I promise, just ask Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, Snapchat, Etsy, Pinterest or YouTube. EFF, that's so much social media, Jerek's probably rolling his eyes...Anywho, you basically can never truly miss me because I'm always posting a picture of the boys or a video that I think is funny online, somewhere. But if here is where you like to find me I apologize, I've been off livin *insert big heart emoji eyes*

Life has been so glorious lately from the weather to the beach trips to our new family long board purchases, I've been taking so many photos and videos but haven't been blogging much of anything! The end of summer is always so bitter sweet for me, hell, most anyone in the midwest I'm sure it is! I know I'm getting sick of wearing next to nothing and still sweating like a man and am ready for this heat to rest for a bit. I've been jonesing for that PSL, over-sized flannel and some apple picking. But just like that, instantly I'm sadden as the sun is not up when I get ready for work anymore and the weather app is telling me that hell is coming.

Life has been hectic lately too. I've been bugging reminding people on Facebook that I need RSVP's for the pre-ception (12 days away people!) which might not be proper protocol but really, when do I follow proper rules anyways? (The answer is never people!) Thankfully it didn't take me long and I got all of the RSVP's in, (thanks to my tactful reminders) and was able to confirm the amount with the catering company. I've been staring at my spreadsheet, reminding myself who needs to be paid, when and getting excited for all the video and photos to come. I still need to gather up hours upon hours of music (leave some suggestions below if you will!)

Life at work has been non stop. If you follow me on Instagram or Snapchat you'd know I was in Charlotte, North Carolina for work last week. My snaps consisted of food, not being able to sleep and editing video's, exhilarating people! I'll be back there the week after our pre-ception to continue the project I was working on and then back to Mexico and Portland the following month. After that I should be done traveling for awhile because then it's thanksgiving, Tracen's birthday, Christmas and New Years! OUI!

I went to Chicago a few weekends ago and am almost done editing my girlfriends wedding video and I realized how much I love shooting other peoples special moments that I want to do more! Also being there, watching everyone get ready got me so excited for my own wedding. It also reconfirmed that having a destination wedding is really the best plan for us. I loved everything about their wedding day but it didn't make me wish we were doing ours here in Michigan or differently by any means. I'm happy I had those feelings too, because I was scared I would come back to the room, crying to Jerek, saying we made a big mistake. Alas, I didn't and I'm even more excited for Mexico, for the beach and for our family!

I've been vlogging the past few weekends but you might not know since I haven't uploaded in a bit but I've been spending the weekends by some type of water by day and snuggled up on the couch watching Breaking Bad with Jer (we're on season 4!) at night, so the only editing I've been doing is Alexa and Matt's wedding video to be honest! The other night I finally compiled a bunch of lost/random footage into a video. It's not my normal editing work but if you want to see what we've been up to lately, take a peak here or below!

I have so much planned in these new few months it's about to get crazy here in blog and YouTube world! If you ever miss me here on the blog, you can always find me over sharing on one of the million other social media outlets I mentioned above. I'm obsessed with, Instagram or Snapchat lately so daily postings can be found on there. Both names are @eastwillowgrove and leave yours below, I love seeing new faces!

Cheers and here's to Tuesday, which is almost Wednesday, closer to Thursday and even closer to Friday, which is pretty much the weekend. Love ya'll!

Back to School- First day of Pre-K

Holy cow. Trace starts Pre-K and my nephew starts Kindergarten tomorrow, shits gone mad!

If you missed Tracen's first day of preschool here it is and the last day of preschool is here.

I can't believe how fast time is flying. I feel like I'm going to blink and he'll be in 3rd grade. Begging to stay over at his friends house and not have pizza party Friday with us. I've said it before but I'm really happy that his birthday is in December and he's not starting Kindergarten this year. He wouldn't be ready and neither would I.

The pictures below are from this last year. Last year at this time Tracen was crying in my arms at school, begging me not to leave, pleading me to stay home with him and just 'play.' I remember crying when I left last year, explaining to Jer that I don't know how it's going to get better. That I'm never going to get to work on time and that my heart is always going to ache because of how bad I felt every Monday and Friday leaving him. But it got better. Every day got better. And some days were even spectacular even. Days that when he jumped into my car he couldn't stop talking about Henry, Eli and Marco. How he got to go outside TWO times that day and had ice cream for afternoon snack.  Trace has transformed his whole outlook of daycare/school now, while he still dreads leaving us in the morning he's made friends and is learning SO much!

Tomorrow I'll be on a plane headed to Charlotte, North Carolina for work for the next three days. I'll be up and gone before anyone is getting ready for school and work. I'll be sneaking out of our bed from the foot of it, this way I don't disturb the man on the left, Jerek, and the boy on the right, Tracen. I'll sneak into Sky's room and stare at him in the dark and whisper I love you, I'll be back soon and give him a kiss on his forehead while I slip out into the dark somber morning, headed towards Metro Detroit airport.

I'm missing the first day of Pre-K for Trace and also his first soccer practice. (I had to take these pictures Friday because I didn't want to leave that up to Jerek. No offense Jer, you're great and all, I'm just a freak of nature and didn't want to have to send you a bajillion texts asking if you took pictures and if they were good.)

I know there will more practices and more first day's of school but deep inside me I feel bad. It's not something I could help really, it's just part of my job and the project's I'm working on right now, but I feel bad. I know Trace won't remember it years down the road but but the whole time I'm gone I will.

If you're little ones are starting school or even daycare today, good luck, that shit is hard! 

5 Motherhood Hacks

A common question I get asked is 'do you ever sleep?' The answer is, yes, but I don't really require 8 hours like some do. I actually function worse on too much sleep, weird, I know. Don't get me wrong, there are days where I desperately need that 8 hours but 90% of the time I'm good on 5-6 hours a night and pretty peppy in the morning too! However, try hanging out with me past 10 pm and I can barely make it, especially if the lights are off and a movie is involved!

While I may not require a ton of sleep to get through the day, I have come up with a few little tricks, habits, or hacks, whatever you want to call them, to make motherhood easier in hopes to gain back some free time for myself! You may already do some of these things but if you've found something new to try, you're welcome!

BEDTIME/ ALONE SHOWER TIME // Putting Tracen to bed is a routine but one I have down pat. However, sometimes there are nights where I don't want to wait till he falls asleep to take a shower because that cuts into my time I want to spend with Jerek. So about once a week I'm completely selfish and I let Trace watch a show on my phone in bed. Yup, guilty "bad mom" move.  I then race off to the bathroom and take a quick 5-10 minute shower. I will also whiten my teeth and sometimes even self tan if I can squeeze it in before his 25 minute show is up. I don't do this every night and sometimes I don't do it every week but it saves me a good 30 minutes and I can go straight downstairs and snuggle up with Jerek and our beloved Netflix!

NETFLIX + EDITING // How do I manage to squeeze in watching shows on Netflix, Blogging AND editing for YouTube?! I literally do it all at once. I'm currently writing this post while watching Breaking Bad as well as uploading footage to edit for a video I filmed today after work. BOOM. Just like that, I'm one bad ass multitasking betch!

BLOG + YOUTUBE TIME // Similar to the above, I multi task while at work. I won't lie and say I don't do any other things at work, other than work! I mean who doesn't pay their bills and do personal things while at their 9-5! My usual routine is I come in, go to a few meetings and get a few hours of work in before I then take my 15 minute 'smoke' break. While those losers are killing their lungs, I'm working on some blog posts, editing some photos or even catching up on YouTube videos. This helps break up my days and gives my mind a rest from everything I'm stressing about. If I'm really busy or in meetings all day, then I save the personal stuff for lunch or at home. [Sorry if I called you a loser but seriously people, PUT DOWN THE WHITE STICKS, as Tracen would say!]

PLANNER // I'm old school when it comes to calendar and to-do organization. Occasionally I use the notes section in my phone to write things down when in a pinch but I don't rely on the calendar app, I use my good old paper planner! Next week I'll have a whole video on how I stay organized with kids, work and wedding planning so keep your eyes open for that!

WORKOUTS // I believe I've mentioned this before but my 'go to the gym' schedule is Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday. I then try and do something active the other days IE: bike rides, walks or an at home workout. How I have it worked out is I go on Tuesday's and Thursday's usually at 745/8 pm while the boys are unwinding and watching shows with Jerek. I am then home right at 9 to start Tracen on his bedtime routine. Saturday's I usually sneak out by 8 am, if not earlier, while everyone is just waking up and watching cartoons in bed. I've tried many other days and times and this is what has worked SO SO well for us!

Hope you got a little glimpse into how I manage to squeeze in my fun stuff among the everyday mom stuff! But remember, I'm not super mom, I don't have 10 hands or more hours in a day than anyone else, I just try and use my time wisely. Know that there are weeks where I'm "barely" on social media, I forget to respond to emails or miss out on opportunities because I'm busy being a mom and fiancé. I'm not a full-time blogger. I blog and do YouTube for fun. Like all hobbies or things we do for ourselves, I've tried to figure out a routine that works well to make sure that my family is first before anything else.