The Positives of the Pandemic: More...

Wow. It’s been awhile. I haven’t forgotten about this thing. Just busy doing life during a global pandemic! Reflecting on the time since I’ve been gone from this blog (sing that in a Kelly Clarkson voice), there have been highs and lows. Real lows. But I’ve decided I need to focus on the positives of this period of life. So let’s dig in on the positives of the pandemic. The things it’s brought more of.

More Time With Lennon - It’s easy to look at the last two years of my six-year-olds life and think about all of the things she might have missed out on, but I’ll likely look back on this time and cherish the amount of time we spent with her. The crafts, the games, the days watching new movies or shows from my childhood. We weren’t running from practices to games to dance to birthday parties. Yeah, there were some, but things just started to pick back up at the start of this school year and I think she will be just fine in the future socialization area. I tried to find small opportunities to teach her how to do things herself - to make her own peanut butter and jelly or clean (which some days she oddly loves). Yes, the days were long, but the last (almost) two years went fast!

More Time At Home - When I think back on the last 21 months, one thing that sticks out is small gatherings at home - either our house or friends. Yes, I miss restaurants. But no, I can’t even fathom the thought of going to a club. I think I was a bit over that before this pandemic, but I’ll take a night at home with good food (made at home or take out) and a fridge full of wine and beer over going out. I’ve found a new love for the New York Times Cooking (worth the subscription fee), Half Baked Harvest, and days watching and attempting cakes thanks to Nailed It. Oh and I was a fan of online grocery shopping before the pandemic and that’s one thing I’ll keep up!

More Screen Time - What!? More screen time!? Is she crazy? I mean, yes, I’m crazy, but bare with me on this one. We’ve had holiday video chats with my family from across the U.S., which has stuck with us! We’ve had happy hours with friends in other states. We’ve watched dance recitals at home vs. sitting through a whole show. The biggest one of them all is that we were able to Google video (through Duo) my grandfather into my cousin’s wedding when he was too weak to travel. I hope the availability to “video into” things stays with us so that we can watch special moments across states.

More Work - A few days after my last post I accepted my dream job - doing public relations for a school district. Yes, this is so random. From a young age, I knew I wanted a career in communications - thanks to that “talks excessively” marks for citizenship on my report cards. In my elementary years, I wanted to be a talk show host, but quickly realized I’m not great on camera during morning announcements. In high school, I thought our public relations specialist had the coolest job, so I decided to pursue PR. Upon graduation from WVU, I actually emailed every PR contact at every school District around Pittsburgh that I could find and asked them for some advice to break into the field. I actually saved a few responses! The next 17 years took me to a global PR firm, boutique PR firm, advertising agency, a media buying company, and some freelance consulting. Then, during a global pandemic my dream job popped up and the rest is history! There have been CHALLENGES, but I wouldn’t trade it for the world right now. So if you’ve been wondering where I’ve been, see this answer.

More Positive Perspective - This isn't a positive of the pandemic, but perhaps keeping a positive perspective on life and the time we spend with loved ones is. One of the biggest changes for my family this past year actually had nothing to do with the pandemic. My dad passed away this past summer (I feel like I need to mention that this was totally not COVID related). But speaking of COVID, thankfully the case counts were low in our county (a positive!) and we were able to celebrate his life with an amazing number of family and friends (another positive!). He passed away suddenly the day after Father's Day, so I was able to spend, what none of us knew would the be, the last day of his life with him. I gave him a hug and said goodbye. Some people aren't that fortunate. I had a close relationship with my dad and made sure he spent a lot of time with Lennon - which I took A LOT of photos of! Looking back, the volume of support that we received after his passing was truly remarkable. Big Joe was a Big Man with a Big Squad! Death is such a weird thing to deal with, but something that we all will face in our lives (in more than one way!). When we lose someone, it’s always confusing on how to offer your support. I might write more on what I appreciated later as it could help one of you!

There are some things I’m looking forward of doing LESS of, but one thing I’d like to do MORE of is share things here again! So next up, I’ll give you some good ole Shot of Brandi gift suggestions!

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Happy Camper: Lennon's 3rd Birthday Party

I know there is a trend of parents abandoning the big birthday parties for their kids. I think several factors are behind this trend: people want to spend their money on experiences, long invite lists (classmates, your friends’ kids and family), and then there is social media. Instagram and Pinterest have put pressures on parents to have picture perfect parties. 

My stance on this - if you’ve been reading this little blog, you know that I love a good theme and a good party. I love to craft and I love getting friends and family together. Yes, it’s a lot of work, but it gives me an excuse to have my crafts done by a deadline! Three years in, my kid loves a good party too. She’s been telling random strangers for months that she “has a birthday coming up.”

Without further ado - in January my mom was ready to start crafting for Lennon’s 3rd birthday - in July. So looking around our living room, I thought - what theme could I pick now that she won’t hate in six months. And I spotted her favorite Christmas present - the Barbie Camper. And that is how “Camp Lennon” was born.

While my kid loves every Disney princess, she changes her preference really quick. If I plan her birthday around a character six-month out, she may not love that theme when the party approaches.

Back to Camp Lennon.

With the help of Etsy, I purchased some illustrated camp-themed clip art and created a logo. This set the tone for the other crafts.

Last year, we discovered the perfect little park with a picnic shelter adjacent to a large playground - a great setting for Camp Lennon.

Here are some of the party details. You’ll see that I did my best to carry the logo through various elements.

I used Zazzle to make the birthday girl a shirt with the Camp Lennon logo.

One of the first things that I crafted were these camp pennant signs to use as centerpieces on the tables. The backside had a teepee. I needed something to hold down the flags, so I put them into these pastel tinted jars from a craft store with rocks. 

My mom made favor "knapsacks" using bandanas and sticks! 

Knapsacks and s'mores station! 

Don't feed the bears scavenger hunt! 

Happy Trail-Mix Bar. A little hard to see, but we had Grizzly Bears (gummy bears), Teddy Bears (teddy grahams), the Catch of the Day (goldfish), Rainbow Trout (multi-color goldfish) and Fish Bait (gummy worms). 

Arts & Crafts table. This was a last minute addition when the weather forecast wasn't in our favor. Campers could make their own necklace, camp pennant, or canvas bag. For the bags, I had various felt stickers and fabric markers. 

The birthday girl picked out her cake from some photos online. "Pink with sprinkles" was her inspiration. 

I was really proud of the container that I found for my "dirt." You almost can't spot it in the bark bowl! 

I've already started preparing for next year ; ) 

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A New Year, A New Shot of Brandi

New look, who dis? Lol.

This month Shot of Brandi turned 10. Seriously -T-E-N! TEN!  

Well, I “started” the blog in 2006, but waited until January 15, 2008 to publish my first post.

While I may not blog as much as previous years, I think about this space a lot. So heading into year 10, I wanted to level-set a bit.

This post is more for me, than you. But I thought I would give you a glimpse into my thoughts.

When I talk about this blog with my husband, he often says “Why do you do it.”

Here’s the short answer: This space is my creative outlet.

For the long answer, let me take you on a little journey of the past 10 years.

It’s 2006, 2007 and 2008...

• Why did I create this blog?
• Here is how 2008 Brandi would answer that question: www.shotofbrandi.com/2008/01/your-daily-shot.ht
• I love to read, I love to DIY, I love to shop and I like to drink/socialize/entertain. 
• In 2008 I was working at a global public relations firm on an alcohol-related account. For the first two hours of my day, I was paid to read stories on spirits and entertaining. I saved pages upon pages of those ideas (I’ve got binders and notebooks full of ideas - see above). The tips and tricks got me excited. I dreamt about parties I’d someday host. Food I’d one day cook. Outfits I’d have a special place to wear. I needed a space to share these ideas. Shot of Brandi was that space. 

Over the Years…

• Blogging in general started to take off. It became a profession for some. I began to work with popular bloggers as spokespeople for my clients. I’d send bloggers products to review. I’d evaluate blogger content to find people/sites that would resonate with our brands. I was paid to do a lot of stalking. 
• I began to follow a lot of blogs. I added them to my Google reader. I read about 500 blogs daily. I loved it. I still do! Some blogs have closed, but there are a few I’ve followed for years!
• I started managing blogs for clients! Ghosting writing content for national lifestyle experts. I then moved on to being the voice behind some popular national and local brands. Having this blog helped me plan, organize, write and post content for clients. 
• Warning: This next part is personal. Personal to me. What I want to do - by no means is this to pass judgement on what you do. 
• Over the years I thought about Shot of Brandi and what I wanted this space to become and a lot of my thoughts remained consistent. This blog is not my “business.” I didn’t create Shot of Brandi with the intent to “make it big.” I don’t want to write a book, I don’t want to take pictures of myself wearing clothes. I don’t want to be a spokesperson. (No one seriously probably wants to see any of that stuff either).  I don’t want to write about certain brands and/or products that I don’t believe in just because they are willing to send me free things. I’ve never published a sponsored post here. This site is ad free (but I have been dabbling in affiliate links to learn how they work. I’ve “made” under $10 doing this and can’t even cash that amount out. Which leads me to...). I’ve never made a cent off of this blog. 
• If any or all of the above is your goal - YOU DO YOU. And I hope you make it because I know first hand how hard it is to make your posts look pretty and professional. Speaking of... 
• As blogging became a profession, people got super fancy with their photos and content. With a full-time job and a full social calendar, I’ve never had time to create content for an elaborate photo shoot. Most of the projects here were real things that I was doing, creating or cooking for my real life. I wasn’t “doin’ it for the blog.” 
• Let me just give a shout out to those bloggers that DO make content customized for their blogs. I appreciate your craft. I know how much time that shoot takes to plan, create and photograph. I’m thankful for your hard work and dedication and you inspire me everyday.  I’ve featured some of those images here to bring my words to life - giving full credit where credit is due. Again - Thank You. 

Where I Am Now…

• I’m the mother of a toddler, a wife and a full-time public relations/social media professional. While this little space is my “hobby,” real life always comes first! 
• It’s also a personal decision of mine not to become a “mom blogger” or share a lot kid-related updates. While I may share a few things here and there, I’ll let my sassy, smart two-year-old determine her own online path and what she wants to share with the world.
• Again - thank you to the moms that DO share amazing tips, advice and the oh-so-stylish pics of your kids - THANK YOU. Some of your stories are extremely helpful. I love it when I discover a new blogger that is totally on my level. 
• As a mom, I feel like I’m the same person as I was per-baby, but online a little part of me has changed. I realized I AM SOMEONE’S MOM. Her classmates’ moms can read this space. And someday, her friends may read this. While we have some years to go, I don’t want what I do or write here to embarrass my child. Middle school is tough enough without an embarrassing mom!  
• Back to this blog. With the help of a template purchased via Etsy, I’m working on a site makeover. It’s still in progress, so if things look or click a little funky - I’m on it. I really enjoyed this process - learning a bit of code. I’m also debating some logo/branding. Afterall, it is what I do on a daily basis for clients - why not help myself! 
• I also started “cleaning up” some past content (i.e. broken links, unavailable photos, etc), but I don’t believe in deleting all of my old, outdated, amateur content. I was reading some of the posts and loved using this blog as a way to remember where I was in my life during that post! 

The “New” Shot of Brandi

• This space always has been and always will be my creative outlet. My hobby. Web traffic, followers, fans...the numbers mean nothing to me (other than providing entertainment and laughs - especially when people are searching for things and end up on my random content. I’ll save that for another post). 
• I reorganized my content into three “buckets” - Lifestyle Tips, Shopping Trips and Drinks to Sip. Look for more posts related to these topics. 
• You may not hear from me a lot, but it doesn’t mean I don’t care. It means I’m living life - and I suggest you put down your device in life IRL too! 

Finally, thank you for those of you that do read my blog. I love hearing that you tried a recipe, found a tip useful or purchased something per my suggestion. It means a lot!

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Tea for TWO!

To celebrate my daughter’s second birthday we recently hosted a Tea for TWO “pa-tea” for a small group of family and friends!

I love a good theme party, but didn’t want to over-do it for a second birthday so I tried to keep things as simple as possible.  

Birthday Girl in a Tea Cup dress from Lassie Girl via Etsy!

While planning the party I searched the internet for tea party activities for both boys and girls (and under the age of like 6) and had a hard time finding a central location for ideas, so I thought I would share a few activities I planned here in case anyone else is looking for ideas!

Decorate A Cup

I purchased these plastic cups from a local craft store (Pat Catan’s) and then grabbed Crayons, colored pencils and markers. To prevent messes, I purchased a roll of pink paper to cover the table. You could also print out some tea cup/pot coloring pages and activities for the table!

Make a Hat / Tie

Hats are so symbolic of a tea party and I knew that activity would go over well with the little ladies, but not so much for the boys. I decided to cut out foam ties for the boys to personalize. Here’s a little secret - I bought the hats and most of the foam decorating supplies from the Dollar Store!

Candy Necklace Station

Another activity for the kids to “get fancy” was the candy necklace station. The Dollar Store again came to the rescue with gummy Lifesavers and peach/raspberry rings. My mom also found some hard-candy necklace kits to add to the table. I had some plastic string on hand that I pre-cut for the kids to make a necklace!

Pin the Cup on the Saucer

A variation of the popular “pin the tail on the donkey,” my sister-in-law hand-lettered the kids names on to cups for this game that I just made with some poster board!

For food, our venue supplied a waffle bar, which was a hit with both the kids and adults! Speaking of the over 21 crowd, we had a “Tipsy Tea” station with some alcoholic tea and wine - because no kids party is complete without that, amiright!?

  

For those living in the Pittsburgh area, we held the party at Carnegie Coffee Company and the location was perfect! I highly recommend working with Ashley and Sue to host an event in their super cool space!

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Meet Lennon!

Hey, Readers! Meet Lennon!

Little Lennon made her grand entrance into the world in late July and we couldn’t be more smitten with her!

When I was pregnant, I found it really helpful to read other mom’s birth stories. It helped prepare me for the arrival of Miss L. So I thought I would share a little bit of Lennon’s arrival story here in the hopes that someone finds this helpful!

At my nine month weekly docotor’s appointments in July, I was naturally dilating. I went from 2cm to 3cm to 4cm to 6cm over the course of the month. Based on everything I read, it’s a bit abnormal for a woman to dilate that far without consistent contractions or having their water break I was having some cramping - but it just felt like period cramps.

At 39 weeks and 6cm, my doctors office sent me over to the hospital to get monitored to see if I was experiencing contractions and just not feeling them. Turns out I wasn’t, so I was sent home. Being sent home at 6cm = NOT NORMAL.

Two days later I went back to my doctor to meet and discuss options. While I wasn’t too keen on a lot of interventions unless absolutely necessary, I decided it was a good option to be induced given my vital signs so we set a date.

After experiencing some consistent, stronger cramping, I went into the hospital a bit early on induction day. I was hooked up to the monitor and it was determined yet again that I wasn’t having contractions. So after a long day at the hospital (with no food), I was induced at midnight.

An hour in on the piticon, I was 9cm dilated with minor pain (NOT NORMAL). At this point I probably could have delivered without the epidural, but my doctor suggested it for a few reasons - he finds that the epidural makes it easier for women to push because without it they tend to tense up too much without it. Additionally, the epidural allows the doctor to help open the woman for delivery without pain and numbs the area “down there” if there are stitches required after the baby arrives. I took his suggestion and during hour two of official labor I got the epidural. It hurt, but I didn’t feel that it as bad as some of the reviews I read online. I’d compare it to a shot with a thicker needle. The needle may not have been thicker, but that’s what it feels like.

At about hour three into labor, it was time to push and within 30 minutes, Baby Girl was here.

So overall I had a rather easy labor. I know this story isn’t normal, but a few key things that I would totally do over again to prepare:

• Prenatal Yoga - Anyone that has talked to me during the course of my pregnancy knows that I’m a HUGE advocate of prenatal yoga. I only went once a week for 12 weeks and stopped 6 weeks before I delivered, but it was SO worth it! I took classes through the hospital where I delivered (Magee in Pittsburgh). It wasn’t just stretching, but also mental preparation for labor with visual and meditation exercises.

• Birth Plan - I had a birth plan, but was fully prepared for that plan to change. Per the suggestion of my yoga instructor who is also a birth coach, I wanted to try and make it to 5-6cm before getting the epidural. This would have allowed me to move around the room and use some of the yoga stretches to ease the pain and dilate naturally. Based on my story above, I totally achieved this part of my plan lol. But I would say having a plan in place for a Type A person like me made the unpredictable birth process a little more predictable becuase I would just try to refer to my plan when things got tough. Maybe a plan is just a bit of mental help, but it worked for me (even though I didn’t follow it!).

• No Cell Phone - I made the decision to turn my cell phone off when I got to the hospital. I didn’t want to text updates to people while I was laying in the hospital bed. I also didn’t want to be distracted. When I found out at around 6:00 p.m. that I wasn’t being induced until midnight, the hubs went to get food so I did turn the phone on for an hour - but after he got back it was off again. This helped me mentally stay in the zone and prepare for labor without distractions! I also asked my husband to limit his cell phone usage during the labor - nothing would annoy me more than to be pushing and having someone typing on their phone. Thankfully he honored my request!

• Mental Prep - All of the things above combined, I would say that mentally I didn’t psych myself out about labor. I knew it was going to the most painful thing I’d ever experience, but as my yoga teacher would say - the outcome of the delivery is worth the pain. And if you think about it, the pain really doesn’t last that long. I know, I know, your labor could go to 24 hours, but if you approach it with the “I will be leaving here with a sweet, wonderful baby” in 24 hours attitude, it can help the time go quicker!

• Visitors - Our hospital has some rules in place for visitors. In particular they limit the visitors on the labor and delivery floor. In the mother’s rooms, visiting hours are a strict 9-9. My request was that visitors wait a bit RIGHT away after delivery. I knew that the doctors would need to tend to baby girl and I, we wanted some time alone with the baby and our hospital stressed the importance of skin to skin time right after birth. Once I was moved into our overnight room, I didn’t care who stopped by - just as long as they followed the hospital rules : )

I hope this story helped at least one person out there and I hope this easy labor hasn’t cursed me with a super difficult one the next time around (if there is a next time).

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Soon-to-Be Apple of My Eye: Fruit Themed Baby Shower

When you are preggo, newsletters from “The Bump” and “What To Expect When Expecting” send you weekly emails comparing the size of your baby to a fruit or vegetable. For most of the early weeks, it’s a fruit.

This was the inspiration behind my Pittsburgh baby shower. Fruit with a little black and white - a nod to the nursery decor.

While my mom and I crafted a few things for this shower, I now need to warn you of one major fail - me not taking any pictures OR assigning anyone to do so. Therefore, you’re about to see some not-so-great iPhone images to illustrate how you could recreate this theme!

Planning started with a few different week-by-week pregnancy lists with corresponding fruit.

I was going to hire a designer to create invitations, but I actually just did them myself. No shame here - I’ll admit that I made them via Power Point, saved the file as a jpeg and then printed them from Zazzle. And the watercolor fruit? Yeah, that’s “borrowed” from the internet (don’t hate me if you’ve stumbled upon this page and I “borrowed” your artwork). That way, I could customize the file for place cards, signage and thank you notes.

For the decor, I came up with the idea to use fruit in market-like baskets with balloons tied to the top. So I had to pick fruits that had corresponding balloons - or solid balloons that could look like the fruit. I landed on the fruits above.

I ordered the fruit balloons online and we worked with Party City to inflate the balloons. We also sprinkled in some black and white balloons. Those were a hit for guests to take home for their kids!

The fruit was purchased in bulk at a Club Store the day before the shower and we encouraged guests to take some home! The color is awful in these photos, but above was the orange table (yes, the oranges are looking more like lemons!).

For other favors, my mom made mini-picnic baskets with fruit-flavored candy and boo boo bunnies!

For an added touch, I made some fruit garland out of foam for the tables with the gifts, cupcakes and place cards.

One thing I test crafted, but didn't use was fruit lanterns below.

For a “game” we gave everyone a card with a fruit “week.” The identical cards were placed into a basket and throughout the shower we pulled names.

I do like to dress in theme, so you may notice that I scored the most perfect dress at Kohl’s. It’s ironic because I’m not a typical Kohl’s shopper, but was walking through and spotted this non-maternity dress with some stretch. I bought it a month before the shower and crossed my fingers that it would fit!

Last, but certainly not least, thank you to all of our Pittsburgh and New Jersey friends and family that read the blog. Baby Smith certainly received everything she needs to enter this world and more and we seriously couldn’t be more grateful for everyone that attended our showers and helped to make them both a success! Let the countdown to the arrival begin!

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