Monday, September 30, 2013

Did YOU Win the Big September Giveaway??!


The Bubby and Bean Big September Giveaway Winner

Thank you to everyone who entered the Big September Giveaway!  As always, the winner was randomly selected via random.org, and that Bubby and Bean reader is...




CONGRATULATIONS JAMIE! You are now the official recipient of a $300 prize package from Gaia Conceptions, Maiedae, Private OpeningRoots & Feathers, Little Tree, and Bubby and Bean Art(Please contact me at bubbyandbean {at} gmail.com so we can discuss getting you your prizes.)


Thanks again to Bubby and Bean's September sponsors for contributing such great prizes.  And if you haven't yet, be sure to enter our current giveaway for a chance to win a $50 gift card to LilyEmme Jewelry

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I've Got the Power (of the Peanut)




If you're reading this, I can only imagine your expectations after seeing the title.  Yes, this post does, in part, have to do with peanuts.  But mostly, it has to do with positivity, motivation, confidence, and harnessing your own internal power.  And believe it or not, a peanut actually does a pretty amazing job of delivering this message (and in a hilariously awesome way, as you'll find out later in this post). 

For me, the biggest challenge after getting pregnant was finding my motivation.  When you're constantly exhausted and sick (as I was in my first trimester), you just don't feel like doing anything.  On top of that, you're hit with the realization that your whole life has changed.  If it's your first baby (like it is for me), you are suddenly hyper aware of the fact that it's not all about you anymore.  Serious fatigue combined with feeling overwhelmed with how to balance my work and life with a new baby in the future caused me to lose my motivation for a while.  I doubted myself, and I even felt a little powerless. 

After a couple of weeks though, I woke up one morning and felt different. I'd done a lot of thinking the night before, and it hit me that I wasn't powerless at all.  In fact, only *I* had the power to find new ways to motivate myself.  I couldn't eat the healthy foods I was used to eating because they made me sick, so I had to experiment with different healthy foods.  I couldn't exercise like I had in the past, so I tried walking a couple of miles a day instead.  And it felt great!  I also gave myself a break, and allowed myself time to rest if I felt too tired or overwhelmed.  This was a different way of doing things for me, but to my surprise, it helped me to feel more motivated than ever.  I was motivated to work, motivated to get ready for baby, and motivated to find new ways to fit these big life changes into my routine for the present and future.  It seems like such a simple concept, but sometimes we really do need to remind ourselves that ultimately, each of of us as an individual is the only person who has the power to make healthy, positive changes in our own lives.


In the short video above (called 'The Personal Peanut'), Planters' good ol' Mr. Peanut talks about how people doubted the fact that he was full of protein and all sorts of healthy goodness.  He talks about surviving and thriving and preaches 'the power of the peanut.'  He encourages us to to discover how we all have that power inside of us, and that each of us has the ability to truly harness that power.  Yes, it's a peanut talking, so it's pretty funny.  And the audience reactions are priceless.  But it's a great message.  And it's exactly the same way of thinking that helped me get out of my rut to feel confident and motivated again. 

(I also have to add that funny enough, peanuts have been one of my biggest cravings since getting pregnant.  They're the perfect quick + healthy snack for me, and one of the few foods that never made me sick.  Score!)

Have you found yourself in any ruts lately?  What have you done to harness your power and make positive changes to get yourself back on track?


Thank you for supporting Bubby and Bean by allowing me to post occasional sponsored content. All sponsored posts feature products or services that I genuinely feel would be of interest to you. 
I
was selected for this opportunity as a member of Clever Girls Collective and the content and opinions expressed here are all my own.


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Friday, September 27, 2013

GIVEAWAY // Win a $50 Shop Credit to LilyEmme Jewelry!


Win a $50 Gift Card to LilyEmme Jewelry from Bubby and Bean!

This week's giveaway comes from our September featured sponsor, LilyEmme Jewelry.  You can read more about Valerie, the talent and brains behind LilyEmme (and see more of her stunning work!) in the interview I did with her a couple of weeks ago.  I am a huge fan of her organic, minimalist designs, which are individually handcrafted from recycled materials and ethically sourced gemstones.  And I'm very excited today to be able to announce that Valerie is giving one lucky Bubby and Bean reader the chance to a $50 credit to her shop to pick out whatever jewelry pieces you like!


This giveaway is open to Bubby and Bean followers/subscribers (through GFC or Bloglovin')
To enter, just visit LilyEmme, then leave a comment below telling me your favorite item.  That's it!


Once you've completed the mandatory entry above, you can also gain one additional entry for each of the following.  (*Please put each extra entry in a SEPARATE comment in order for it to count.)
  • Like LilyEmme on Facebook
  • Follow LilyEmme on Twitter
  • Tweet this: Enter Bubby & Bean's Jewelry Giveaway to win a $50 gift card from @LilyEmme & @MotM_EcoFashion >> http://bit.ly/GzrS8L
  • Follow LilyEmme on Pinterest 
  • Pin the top image from this post to Pinterest 
  • Post the top image from this post to Instagram and tag it with the following:  Visit bubbyandbean.com to win a $50 LilyEmme gift card from @bubbyandbean & @valeriemakesjewelry #bubbyandbeangiveaway
  • Subscribe to the LilyEmme Newsletter 
  • Like Bubby & Bean on Facebook
  • Click the Facebook Like button below to like this post on Facebook

This giveaway is open through October 3rd.  The winner's name will be randomly chosen and announced here on the blog shortly after. (Please make sure you check back to see if you won and/or leave a way to reach you in your entries.)  Thanks again to Valerie for offering Bubby and Bean readers the chance to win some of her beautiful jewelry!  Valerie is also offering you guys a special coupon to use at LilyEmme through the end of October: just enter code BUBBYANDBEAN2013 for 15% off.

GOOD LUCK!


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Thursday, September 26, 2013

Getting Ready For Baby // My Favorite Pregnancy Goodies


10 Pregnancy Essentials // Bubby and Bean
1. The Belly Book (for saving pictures of your growing belly and journaling), gift from my friend Sara  //  2. Gentle Baby Essential Oil (for calming anxiety and gentle massage), gift from my friend Rhonda  //  3. Organic Peppermint Essential Oil (for relieving headache pain naturally), Now Solutions  //  4. Bellybuds Sound System (for baby to listen to music and recordings of daddy's voice when he's on the road), c/o Bellybuds  //  5. The Girlfriend's Guide to Pregnancy (for hilarious, straight-to-the-point tips and truths), gift from my friend Heather  //  6. Origins (for learning about how the 9 months in the womb shape life after birth), gift from my friend Cara  //  7. Compression Socks (for relieving aching feet/calves and prevention of spider and varicose veins), Zappos  //  8. Cocoa Butter (for amazing moisturizing and possible prevention of stretch marks), Now Solutions  //  9. Pregnancy Pillow (for sleep support), c/o Bump Nest  // 10. The Pregnancy Journal (for tips and daily reflections), gift from my mother-in-law 


A month ago, I posted a baby goodies roundup of things that we'd gotten so far (purchases and gifts) for our baby-on-the-way.  Today, I thought I'd do the same, but for pregnancy items.  I mentioned in the baby goods posts that we've really been making a conscious effort to keep things to a minimum and focus on necessities and just a few fun goodies.  This same 'rule' has also applied to my pregnancy.  There are so many products out there catered to pregnancy, but up to now, I've only purchased one item (aside from prenatal vitamins, of course) specifically made for pregnancy: a maternity top that I've worn once.  I am considering getting a maternity belt for extra support, because I walk a couple of miles everyday, and this growing bump is starting to create some serious back aches and round ligament pain.  But other than that, each item that I've personally bought has been something not technically made for pregnancy that I will be able use post-baby as well (like #2, the peppermint oil, which is amazing for headaches, or #8, the cocoa butter, which is an incredible moisturizer).  I have been lucky, however, to receive a few goodies made specifically for pregnancy as gifts, all of which have been wonderful surprises and fun treats that have genuinely added to the experience for me. (Like #4, the Bellybuds. I've been playing music for baby girl everyday, and she instantly responds with kicks and movements. It has specialty speakers that adhere to the belly too, so I can play her songs while I'm working and doing other activities.  Pretty bad ass.)

I hope that this roundup is helpful to those of you who are pregnant, planning to get pregnant, or have pregnant friends or family members.  And if any of you have suggestions for other items that are worth buying or any especially fun goodies that you recommend, please let me know!  I still have three months to go. :)

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Come Be A Part of Bubby and Bean in October!


Come Be a Part of Bubby & Bean in September!

In just a few short days, September will be over.  That means it's time for the official October sponsor call here at Bubby and Bean.  Next month means fall goodness galore, Halloween, and the very beginning of the holiday season, and we've got a ton of great posts and projects planned for the blog.  If you have a shop, blog, Etsy store, or small business, I'd love for you to be a part of it!  A Bubby and Bean Sponsorship is an affordable, effective way to promote your brand to several thousands of interested people every single day.

In addition to promoting sponsors through their ads on all pages and posts here at Bubby and Bean, I work one on one with each advertiser to ensure that they are given optimum exposure through the blog and our social media channels.  For more information on our various advertising packages, current stats, press, and pricing, visit our sponsor page right here. You can also book your ad space there directly in one click.  The is currently a handful of spaces open in each size for October (except for XL, which is booked through the end of the year).  All ad spaces are first come, first serve. 

Have questions?  Feel free to contact me

Wednesday, September 25, 2013

My Fall Fashion Wishlist


Fall Fashion Wishlist // Bubby and Bean
1. Riley Jacket, Spiegel   //  2. To Big Sur With Love Cardigan, Modcloth  //  3. Dark Washed Jeans, Zara //  4. Striped Knit Dress, Mango  //  5. Ponte Stripe Dress, Target  //  6. Drape Front Crochet Cardigan, Spiegel  //  7. Jacquard Dress, Zara  //  8. Barney Waves Skirt, Joy the Store 


In reality, my 6+ month pregnant body couldn't possibly squeeze into the majority of the items I've chosen here.  But in a way, doesn't that sort of go along with the whole wish list thing anyway?  You usually don't get everything you wish for when it comes to material items, but that's okay, because it's the dreaming up/window shopping part that's often the most fun anyway.  All of that said, I sure would love to be decked out in any of the gorgeous fall fashion pieces you see above this season.  And I'm pretty sure I could even make a couple of them work great with the baby bump - especially the cardigans from Spiegel (which is on sale for half off right now!) and ModCloth.

Are there any particular clothing or accessory items on your list for fall?  What's your favorite items from the picks above?

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Tuesday, September 24, 2013

25 Weeks Pregnant // Changes, Panic Attacks, + Thoughts on Sharing


25 Weeks Pregnant Update // Bubby and Bean

About 5-1/2 weeks ago, I posted a big 20-week pregnancy update.  It felt good to share the first half of my journey with you guys after holding 'the secret' in for so long.  It also felt good to get to read your stories in the comments.  Despite all these good feelings, I still feel like I need to keep reiterating the fact that this is a lifestyle and design blog with some personal moments thrown in - not a mommy blog or pregnancy blog.  I know that many of my readers don't have children, and I don't want to bore those of you who just aren't interested.  But truth be told, being pregnant is a huge part of my life these days.  I've moved (many, many times) all over the country, I've been lucky to travel the world, and I've gone through major moments (and changes) in my career.  I've been the mommy to several fur babies including the love of my life, Bubby dog.  I've made wise decisions and major mistakes.  I've been through a divorce in my 20's, and I've encountered many losses and serious tragedies beyond anything I could have imagined.  I've fallen in love, and in my 30s, met and then eventually married the best man I've ever known.  I feel like I've experienced a lot.  But honestly - for me - this experience feels like the biggest one so far.  It's strange and beautiful and all-consuming, and I feel like it wouldn't be genuine if I consistently posted here without mentioning something that is such a massive part of my everyday life right now.  And as I approach my final trimester (just 2-1/2 weeks away!), I felt the urge to post another update and share some things with you.

It's actually kind of amazing how many changes occurred after I last posted - some of which were completely unexpected.  I just assumed that I'd only experience big shifts from trimester to trimester, rather than within a trimester. As I transitioned from the first into the second and saw my nausea and hit-by-a-truck level fatigue diminish, I figured that I was set for a while.  And even that didn't feel like a major change (well, okay, maybe the cessation of vomiting did), because I've remained pretty exhausted.  But it wasn't until I got all nice and settled into the second trimester that the real changes started for me.  First, I went through a period where I felt ridiculously emotional (something I didn't experience at all in my first).  I briefly mentioned this in my 20-week update, but it got even worse after that (I mean, who cries at Subaru commercials?).  And then just as quickly as it started, it stopped.  Another big change was the level of the baby's movement.  This is pretty common, but for me, it was overnight that I went from feeling butterfly flutters to being able to literally see this little creature kick and move under my skin.  Talk about crazy.  And of course, we also found out that we're having a girl.  I'm not sure that this counts as a 'change,' but it made a difference for us suddenly knowing that this bean in my belly was going to be a she. 

The most intense and unexpected change for me came smack dab in the middle of the second trimester, between weeks 20 and 24.  I began to experience nightly panic attacks out of nowhere. For no reason. Truthfully, I've surprised myself with how little anxiety I've felt during my pregnancy.  Part of me actually feels like I should be a lot more nervous, because of things like, you know, childbirth and finances and knowing I'll be completely responsible for another human life in a few months.  But ultimately, I feel okay about it all and know that we'll somehow figure it all out. Which is why these intense feelings of being completely gripped by fear, waking me from a dead sleep every night drenched in sweat and heart pounding, made absolutely no sense to me.  I've had panic attacks a few times before in my life, but never in the middle of the night, fueled by absolutely nothing.  I could not for the life of me figure out why they were happening, or how to make them stop.  And they were kind of terrifying.  I wondered if maybe they were triggered by my experience in Colorado right before the 20 week mark, where at an altitude of 9,000+ feet I had severe breathing problems for an entire night, fainted, and ended up in urgent care.  Looking back, it was pretty traumatic going through that pregnant, so I thought maybe this was some subconscious response to that.  I've certainly been through a lot worse though, so that just didn't seem to be enough of an answer.  After a solid week of nights so hellish that they were starting to induce weeping episodes, I finally went to my OB, who had a one-word explanation for me: hormones.  Apparently panic attacks (especially nocturnal ones) are very common in the second half of pregnancy, and are much more due to hormones and chemicals than any sort of emotional cause.  I ended up coming home and doing a bunch of research (okay, message board reading), and lo and behold, there were hundreds of other pregnant women talking about dealing with the same issue.  Almost all of them started experiencing them around 20 weeks like I did.  Some disappeared as the third trimester approached, and others lasted through the course of the pregnancy and into postpartum.  Knowing I wasn't alone was quite reassuring to me, and I just crossed my fingers that they wouldn't last throughout the rest of my pregnancy, because holy sh*t do they suck.  Thankfully, they began to fade, and I'm sleeping much better now.  And the best part is that because I was forced to teach myself how to deal with them, I now feel better prepared should they appear again postpartum.  I hope that none of you ever have to encounter these, but if you do, my most effective solution was to get out of bed, walk around for a few minutes, take some deep breaths of fresh air (preferably outside), make a cup of chamomile or peppermint tea, rub some Gentle Baby essential oil on my belly, and listen to mantras or soothing music.  If that didn't do the trick, I'd take a couple drops of Bach Rescue Remedy herbs and watch Netflix for a few minutes until I fell back asleep.  I can honestly say that this was the most challenging part of my pregnancy so far, and I'm so, so relieved that this hormonal window has passed. (Knocking on wood as I type this that they stay far, far away.)

Other than that, the changes have been fairly basic/common.  My belly is getting bigger and bigger and I barely recognize my body anymore.  I'm still gaining weight, but much less quickly than in the first trimester.  There are also, of course, several other standard physical changes that I'll spare you due to TMI-ness. We're starting to really get a lot accomplished in the nursery, which is so exciting, because it makes this all feel more real.  My friends are throwing me a shower/celebration brunch at my friend Rachel's gorgeous downtown apartment this Sunday, and my mom and sister are hosting a baby shower for our big ol' family on October 26th.  Baby can hear now (and see light!), so we talk to her, sing to her, play music, and tell her stories.  And she responds with movement, which is pretty freaking amazing to witness if you ask me.  It's been really great having Robbie back home to share this with me over the last couple of weeks too.  We still have three months left, but it's starting to feel like we're really a little family.  It's the best feeling in the world.  Oh, and we are working on names.  It's so much harder than I thought it would be.  Right now we have the list down to about ten, but we can't seem to get it much smaller than that.  Hopefully we can make a decision before she gets here!


Are you still here?  If so, thank you for letting me share this crazy, bizarre, wondrous, incredible journey with you.  If you're interested in knowing the full story of our attempts to conceive, our struggles, the first trimester and first half of the second, check out my 20-week post (which is even more in depth than this one).  As always, if any of you have your own pregnancy stories to share, I'd love to hear them.

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Monday, September 23, 2013

Forgotten Photos (Rediscovered)


Forgotten Photos // Bubby and Bean

I was going through images on my hard drive the other day, deleting what I could to make space (I really, really need a new laptop - this one is seriously on its last leg), and came across a bunch of 'forgotten' photos.  Between our DSLR, old school film Holga, and iPhones, Robbie and I have taken a ton of pictures over the past several years - many of which were just thrown on our computers and never looked at again.  It was really cool to stumble upon them and instantly be transported back to the time and space where each one was taken.


I thought I'd share a small handful of these forgotten images with you guys, in hopes that it will motivate me to print some of them and put the rest in an nice online album.  There is no rhyme or reason here, by the way.  There is also absolutely no aesthetic cohesiveness, and most aren't professional quality by any means.  I just picked out a few that conjured up the strongest memories.  They were taken all over the place (from our neighborhood to a San Francisco farmer's market to a little town in Mexico), at all different times over the last few years. 


Do you store waaaay too many photos on your hard drive too?  Or are you more organized about them?

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Sunday, September 22, 2013

Did YOU Win the Bump Nest Giveaway?


Did You Win the Bump Nest Giveaway? // Bubby and Bean

Thanks to all of you who entered our Bump Nest Giveaway for a chance to win your choice of amaaaazing (trust me on this) body pillows from Bump Nest.  The winner was chosen via random.org, and that lucky Bubby & Bean reader is...



Congratulations Jill!  Please contact me at bubbyandbean {at} gmail.com with your mailing address and choice of pillow cover!


If you didn't win, you can still get an incredible deal on a Bump Nest pregnancy pillow of your very own!  Just use code BUBBYTEN for $10 off and free shipping for a limited time only (expires 11/30). Thanks again to the generous folks over at Bump Nest for giving Bubby and Bean readers the chance to win such a great prize (and for the fantastic discounts)!

Also, if you haven't yet, be sure to enter our current giveaway for a chance to win $300 worth of prizes from independent and handmade shops and blogs!

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