The perks of raising the world’s most perfect flower child is that she knows when anything zen-y and cool is happening in our area! Mercado Segrado in Topanga Canyon is an artisan goods and healthy eats event that happens annually and we’ve turned it into a family tradition. Full of organic food options, art, and hand crafted goods, if you love festivals than you’ll love this one. We especially love supporting local artists and eating from locally sourced venues!
This year, the background for the event was the grounds of Paramount Ranch in Agoura. It’s an old western set, with open spaces, barns, and buildings that look like they came straight out of a John Wayne film. The festival in past years have been held in Topanga Canyon but each year it becomes larger and this location didn’t disappoint!
We had a few favorite vendors that we kept popping our heads into to check out, Earth + Element being one of them! She makes some of the most beautiful ceramics you’ve ever seen, a ’boutique with a conscience’ <3 Their Moon Mugs are out of this world beautiful, check them out if you love ceramics like we do. And DL Skateboards– we couldn’t get over the craftsmanship and admired their boards throughout the day.
Each skateboard is handcrafted from a single piece of solid oak wood, they’re gripped with sand from Topanga Canyon, and the wheels and hardware are all made with parts from right here in California. How awesome is that?! If that weren’t convincing enough for you to go check them out, you should know that they also believe in the bartering system! Yes, you can barter for a board lol that’s the damn best! If I had a military issue canvas tent (ahem dad send me one from your basement!) to barter with, it’d be for the Deep Sun board. It’s my favorite, the colors just make me happy!
And of course, no travel post of ours is complete without a food photo! Pictured here is mango sticky rice. Made to perfection, this was one of many eats and treats featured at Mercado Segrado and we would’ve ordered another one if the line weren’t so long, it was one of the most popular dishes!
Pro tips: Wear comfy shoes- you’ll be walking around on unsteady rock all day, bring a hat and sunscreen- it’s an open space and you’ll want to explore the grounds, and get there when it opens- it’s nice to visit each pop-up tent and vendor there, and then have a seat to listen to one of the live performances take place. Take it all in it only happens once a year.
Do you have any local events near you that you HAVE to go to each time they come around again?
I want to wish all the dad’s out there a very HAPPY FATHER’S DAY! For us, today we get to celebrate how incredible Joe is and what an amazing man and influence he is in Corrine’s life and in mine. Today we’re making him breakfast in bed and spending some quality time as a family and I can’t wait to share with you what we did today!
I hope you’re able to celebrate that special man in your life today and if you’re scrambling for some last minute gift ideas, here are my favorites!
1. Camping gear– if he’s an outdoors kind of man, he will love anything you gift him to use on his next camping adventure! There is always a need for more stuff whether it be a bigger tent, a portable kitchen, or hiking gear! Top it off with a note saying where you’re taking him on his next camping trip!
2. Fishing kit– when I was little my dad’s favorite thing to do was to go fishing! I think something you can get dad this holiday is some new fishing equipment and a mini kit for the kiddos so they can enjoy his favorite sport with him! My favorite thing was putting the bait on the hook for my dad, sounds gross but I felt like a warrior doing it lol
3. Grooming kit– whether he’s a burly man or enjoys a close shave, one of my go to’s is an all in one grooming kit. Dad will appreciate the upgraded razors, the nice smelling after shave, and even if he doesn’t admit it- he also likes the nifty bag that it all comes in!
4. Gin kit– wine, beer, spirits, whatever his choice of liquor is, dad will really appreciate his next sip of his favorite drink thanks to this home brewing kit! Home brewing kits are quickly becoming the next ‘it’ gift because they come in so many forms and flavors. Dad’s a hands on, mr fix it, guys’ guy and he can totally get down with brewing his own beverage!
5. IOU- you can’t go wrong with a special iou! Whether you write it out or get a fun coupon book that you and the kiddos fill out for him, giving him free passes to 1) not do the dishes tonight 2) a man cave time out or 3) a ‘family washes the car’ day, you’re sure to put a smile on his face when he reads all of the special things you and your family want to do for him to show your love and appreciation for the father that he is.
Father’s Day is a day to show dad how much you love him and how special he is to you and your family, and that doesn’t always necessarily have to be in gift form. Gifts are wonderful, but acts of love like family time, him time, and breakfast in bed, all make one of a kind gifts.
What are you doing for Father’s Day! I hope your weekend is beautiful and Happy Father’s Day!
Easily titled one of the most special holidays of the year, Mother’s Day is next weekend! I love Mother’s Day, not just because I’m a mom but because it’s a day to celebrate all moms, and the dads who take on mom duty full-time, I’m looking at you!
As a single mom I really appreciate all of you guardians, care givers, single dads, and anyone else stepping in to take on the ‘mom duties’! Lucky for all of us, on May 8th we get to celebrate you all!
So today I’ll share with you my personal take on gift giving, what it means to me, and the 3 easiest yet most thoughtful gifts you can give to mom!
#1 ARTS & CRAFTS!
I will forever cherish hand-made gifts from people who I love, especially the little ones! I remember when Corrine would make macaroni necklaces for me for holidays, or paintings, or finger painted musings for the refrigerator. I miss those little things, but this year we made ceramics together for my birthday and I couldn’t think of a better gift to give someone than something you make with your hands. It’s so sweet and original, there won’t be another like it anywhere.
#2 I OWE YOU!
What may seem like a cop-out or an easy gift idea is actually pretty brilliant if you ask me! An I owe you for an hour of alone time, or breakfast in bed, or for you to do the dishes for the entire day?! Yes please!!! I’ll take all the IOU’s I can get! These are special because you’re giving mom what she wants and what you know she’d really like and appreciate. Never underestimate the power of a good IOU 😉
#3 A PERSONALIZED GIFT JUST FOR MOM
Last but definitely not least, giving her a personalized gift is personal and especially special because it’s unique and again one of a kind <3 Taking this back to those macaroni necklace days, it’s nostalgia meets new memories … and old ones. You can personalize jewelry for mom, or mugs, or a tee-shirt for her even!
Corrine and Joe surprised me by customizing necklaces for me from Jevelo, a fun and user-friendly app where you select a photo from your camera roll or take a photo and import it into the design page and create your own custom jewelry! You can even design necklaces around a drawing or idea you have so long as you can take a photo of it. I actually had Luna design a necklace for the two of them also because Mother’s Day is about family for me. A day to celebrate family and not just me … but the me part is pretty special too 😉
Jevelo were so awesome to send us these necklaces for my our special day and even hooked up our audience with 20% off, just use the code 3SA4E6 at checkout!
No matter what you get your mom for Mother’s Day, I promise she will love it because it really is about the thought behind the gift, the intentions of making her smile and making her feel loved and appreciated. I hope you all have a beautiful Mother’s Day, don’t forget it’s next Saturday, May 8th!
Happy Mother’s Day to all my fellow mommas out there, the guardians, the caretakers, and the dads pulling double duty! My hat is off to you all <3
What are your plans for this Mother’s Day and what’s the most special gift you’ve ever given someone you love?
Our little family did a Mother’s Day surprise video on my channel! Check it out here and please Subscribe if you haven’t already xoxo
When Corrine was little and we were really poor, no matter how much money I had or didn’t have – I always made sure she had her holidays. I made sure of that because, tradition. Not to start this post off all heavy and serious, but that was my life. It’s still a struggle being a parent sometimes but in different ways.
Holidays will always be special to us and it doesn’t take a lot of money or resources to make a day remarkable. Today I wanted to share with you our lil family’s Easter tradition!
” … it doesn’t take a lot of money or resources to make a day remarkable”
I should totally put that text on a teeshirt or mug 😉 So I texted Corrine on Easter morning (because ya know, millennial mom over here) and told her, “come out to the kitchen I have a surprise for you”. I’m like so cool right?! I placed this creepy yet super yummy bunny-shaped pancake on her plate with butterscotch candies for its eyes and mouth, and a cinnamon candied nose. She also got a bowl of fruit, a glass of milk, and a chocolate bar. Happily my lil angel face came to the table and merrily ate her lil pancake because we’re all 4 years old in this house!
I usually stay up late the night before Easter to tuck fake green grass under Corrine’s door and bunny prints that lead from her door to the living room, which guide her to a huge basket full of goodies. This year we were super busy so while I was making bunny pancakes, Joe ran to the grocery store to get candy and fruit! Team work makes the dream work! We did it and our girl was a happy girl!
We dyed eggs, we ate yumminess, and then we took Corrine hiking to a spot she wanted to explore! It was full of rolling hills and poppy flowers, though we missed the poppy field part thanks to California’s drought. Then we ended the day with Taco Bell and ice cream because as grown up as my Corriney is, she’s still a kid at heart, my baby forever- and she eats pizza and ice cream about 3-4 times a week! I love it! Oh to have the metabolism of an 18 year old!
I love establishing traditions with the three of us because it used to be just Corrine and I. It’s a beautiful thing to bring Joe into our day to day and especially into our holidays. It’s really special to me, the memories that we’re creating together- as a family, and that makes me so damn happy.
What are some traditions that you have with your family or your friends? Or even your special someone that only the two of you do!
If you don’t have any traditions yet start one, and I hope this inspired you to do some team building activities with your loved ones <333
Let me preface this with ‘my’ truths, ha, thought I should put that out there! So I recently wrote an article about the conscious choices we make in regards to what we do and don’t share publicly about our lives. Much of our audience has watched Joe and my relationship grow, but from a distance as we’ve been very private about it. Well on Christmas Eve Joe proposed to me in front of his entire family and I ugly cried through it y’all. It’s been 5 1/2 years and I think we’re finally ready to open up about our future plans, why we haven’t been so open until now, and what we think about sharing your life with the internet.
People are either all for marriage or all opposed, or so I’ve been hearing, and today I’ll explore both sides of it. Personally however, I was somewhere in the middle, yes leaning more towards the “if you’re a bird I’m a bird” mentality, I mean I’m a hopeful romantic. But I’m also the girl who’s been married before so I’ve got issues with marriage whether you see them or not. When I was 18 I married Corrine’s father. That didn’t last forever and I’m a “make it work no matter what, marriage is forever” kind of person, so that was ouchy. After the dust settled though, I knew that eventually I did want to get married again. If the right man came along and changed my mind about this forever business I’d do it, besides, I’m a hopeful romantic remember? Regardless of my feelings, I also didn’t want us to feel pressured into getting married just because it was the ‘next step to take’, even IF I’ve wanted to marry Joe since our 1st date! *more on that soon*
So many people get married for the wrong reasons. You reach a certain age or you date someone for a certain amount of time, and all the sudden everyone and their mother wants to know when are you finally going to tie the knot- especially your own mother. Don’t get me wrong, marriage can be AMAZING, but the pressure to do so is not so amazing.
Here’s the ‘opposed’ side of me. There are people who get married because they think they have to, it’s all that’s left to do… shit or get off the pot kind of thing, or the ‘oh crap we’re pregnant’ kind of deal. There are also those kinds of people who marry for opportunity and those situations are too heated for me to touch on in just one post, so I’ll save it. Then there’s those who do it because they want that huge wedding that is for everyone ELSE except for them. So firstly, shout outs to all my happy couples out there wed or not wed, and secondly, through all the BS and past mistakes I’ve made myself, I wanted to get married because I’d finally found my person, who is my life partner, best teammate, biggest cheerleader, and ride-or-die best friend when we have it all or nothing left. You sure do learn a lot when you get it wrong the first time. If you can’t be best friends with your partner, what do you have after the buzz from the wedding planning and honey mooning settles off?
With my first marriage I learned a lot about myself. I learned that I needed to grow up (a crap ton), that I was co-dependent (a crap ton), and that I had ZERO clue about who I was or what I wanted outside of this other person (#baggage). Mind you, I had a little human looking up to me for life coping skills, all the while- I myself was trying to learn how to navigate through life.
Here’s the ‘all for’ marriage side of me. Today looking to the future, I can confidently say (17 years later whew) that I love the person I’ve become, I love the man I’m with, and I love how healthy our relationship is. No relationship is perfect, but I think we work because I’m the hot head and he’s the calm and logical one. I’m the loud mouth and he’s there to shut me up when I irrationally roid out. I can get down with marrying that! Also, when he’s having a crap day I can be the rock for him too, and lastly, (and this is a big one) we’re not allowed to go crazy at the same time! Rock Paper Scissors for that if you have to! Life is too short to fight and it’s also too short to be with someone you really don’t like as a person.
So if I could share with you one thing about being in a relationship; not just being engaged or getting married, but being in a healthy relationship- it’s that the only person you can control is you. No one will ever change just because you want them to, and when you aren’t a whole person (we all have baggage don’t we now) you can’t expect someone else to fill that void. Marriage is a big deal and it should be the happiest of moments, not a forced or uncertain one. Lets be real though, I’ve been putting the pressure on Joe for like 5 years! When ya know ya just know!
This post somehow turned into a self-help for the emotionally-unavailable/ rant on love, but the point is that your relationship and your kind of love, is nobody else’s to judge or weigh in on. So you do you and don’t let marriage posts (like this- oh it’s about to get lovey) or FaceBook updates, make you feel like you aren’t a cool kid or hurried into doing something that you aren’t ready for. Also the point of this post was to share with you that we’re ready to share! The pressure of having a big wedding is big (I write these for me too), but we’re going to do it our way and I can’t wait to show you!
We’ll be answering questions on my YouTube channel about our wedding plans soon! I’ll also be creating posts for you here along the way in reference to my DIY happenings, or mishaps you be the judge, and posting my tips on how to stay sane because planning a wedding can be a BIT overwhelming! So until then, here are some photos we had taken while we were in Yosemite last weekend. Pre-engagement photos if you will, that we did spontaneously with our new friend Karl who just so happens to be an uber talented photographer! Thank you Karl for hiking up hills with us during the blizzard! Ha! You guys can check out his work here and give him a follow on Instagram!
Just before the moment pictured above, I fell into a 3 foot pile of snow and then jumped out of it to have that photo taken <3
Awww, just a couple of love birds in a snow storm. That is the metaphor for our life!
I hope you’ve enjoyed this rant of mine about love and my thoughts on marriage and unity. My heart is full and I feel content in my life for the first time in my life, and I’ve been here before, in this marriage place. So if you’re going through hell, keep on moving. *thank you dear country song for that one*
Boy oh boy is writing therapeutic!
SO, is marriage something you’re for or against? If you’re currently married, what’s one secret you can share with other couples? If you’re neutral on the subject, what do you think the hubbub is all about, this whole woohoo we’re getting marries stuff! I got all deep about the pressure of it all, so lets hear it!
I’ll see you later this week with my first wedding “Pinterest DIY-not” post! Oh Lordy, here we go! Wheeeee!!! PS if you’re a bird I’m a bird. Whew that was a wordy one.
I was 16 and Pregnant. I have always been very guarded with what I share with the world and what I keep private for our little family but its time to tell some of my story. It’s a fine line to walk when you’re an online personality and you’re so open about your life. People almost expect you to divulge information that you wouldn’t otherwise share unless you knew them personally, but that just goes to show how much we openly share with our audiences. So I can’t be mad about it.
I’ve found though, that the things I like to share with people, help me to like those things too. Things that I dislike very much and that are hard to talk about like abusive relationships, toxic people, and what it was like being a teen mom. Not that being a teen mom was something I disliked, but it was something that was really hard for me, it still is.
Corrine only a few months old here, and me- I’m just a chola in a rocking chair lol
Some things you probably already know are that I’m a single mom, and that I was a teen mom. I had my daughter Corrine when I was 16 years old and she’s 18 now. She just started college this month, and last year she graduated from high school AND started her first job in the ‘real working world’. That was a lot for this mama bear over here to manage. Having my lil baby cub all out in the world being a responsible human and not being under my watchful and protective eye 24-7-365 is really hard.
Corrine and I are very close. We’re best friends, we grew up together, and I don’t know my life without her, I was 16. This isn’t me being dramatic like, ‘oh my baby is moving to another country woe is me’, but it is me sharing my anxiety over her moving out of the house. Even if that time isn’t in the near future. Like, what is my life without her *okay, THAT is me being dramatic*.
It’s crazy for me to reflect on her childhood because I was so young myself, I mean, how did they let me leave the hospital with that little baby?! It feels like a big huge blur to me. At that time I wasn’t doing it all on my own though, I had my family, I had her father’s family, and he and I were ok back then. Things change and we are where we are now. Perhaps one day I will talk about those things and what my life was like back then, but today I’ll talk about where I’m at today.
When I say that I don’t know what it’s like to be without Corrine I’m talking in daily life, in our day to day, routine life. Because in a way, we did grow up together … I’ve spent the last 18 years with her and it was far before I was even 18 myself. It was like an older sister raising a younger sister. We are so similar yet so different, but she amazes me every day. She sits on my lap at brunches, we hold hands in the street, she’s still my baby. Well now my baby is in college, yes a local one, but not for long. She wants to transfer to a University which won’t be any where near Los Angeles. *takes a moment to process that* So for me, I think to myself (and aloud, lets be real), “ok I can totally move to wherever she goes!” But how unrealistic is that?!
Corrine’s HS graduation in June 2015
Joe is incredible and he’s been so amazing, from day ONE. He met us when she was 12 and he’s really stepped in to be that positive, loving, father figure in her life. Oh, and he would totally pick up and move with me, we’re both nomads like that. But I can’t follow my child all around the world … at least I’m sure she wouldn’t want me to. I don’t want to become that over-bearing-stalker-status mom because no one likes the over-bearing-stalker-status mom.
November 3, 2015- Corrine’s 18th birthday
So therein lies my problem- I’m an overly attached parent who feels pretty freaking lonely at the thought of her daughter moving away. So what’s a girl to do? Well, I have to remember that just because I’m a mom doesn’t mean that that’s the only hat I wear. Though, it IS my most favorite hat and I’m really good at wearing the hat!!! *breathing* I have to remember that I’m a whole other person with hobbies and an identity all on my own completely separate from the ‘mom label’. Yes I’m a mom but I’m also Jess.
Jess is adventurous, loves to travel, and is getting married this year! *why am I referring to myself in the 3rd person, see I’m losing it already* I think I will get back to that part of myself this year, back to being creative on a different level, back to traveling a bit more, and back to being me without attaching myself to everything Corrine does. She needs space to grow and make her own mistakes, ugh can’t even believe I just said that.
So to all my parents out there, it isn’t healthy to identify ourselves only as parents and it isn’t healthy to just stalk our children. It’s a grey area for me about the stalking part though, not gonna lie, I’m obsessed with the kid! But as much as I’d like to be THAT mom, I won’t be that mom. I will however, be keeping busy doing other things. So keep busy! I have a wedding to plan this year, but bet your butt I’ll be stalking her every step of the way- dropping in to make her bed and cook her dinner! We also have to remember that it’s also a difficult transition for them too.
Our babies are forever our babies, and it’s ok to hold on to that. I know I will!
So tell me, if you’re a parent, are you going through this? Are your babies younger but this is something you think about? If you are going through this, help me out and give me some new hobbies to explore! If you aren’t a parent but your parents are going through this kind of thing, what as parents can we do to make the transition an easier one for you? And for us 😉
My baby when she was 2 or 3 and again at 16
I was 18 here and Corrine was 2. I got my first tattoo this day!
This is us today, going on mother/daughter dates <3
Thank you for reading this post, it’s nice to open up about things that people assume you’re navigating just fine with on your own. I’m open to your suggestions so type away, and if you have a little one at home, hug them extra! PS I talk like she’s moving out tomorrow, but it is something that we discuss all of the time- her moving out and where she’ll go. So I know it’s just me freaking out, I’m prone to freak outs. I still have some time to baby her and make her breakfast in the mornings, and I still have time to be the crazy yet, “I’m a cool mom” mom.
Here’s a video Corrine and I did in September and we’ll be recording a “How to survive college” video together soon! So stay tuned for that! I will be less overbearing with each passing post I promise!
