I woke up this morning full of excitement. 21 weeks pregnant, beyond ready to find out if this baby is a girl or boy.

I didn’t want to make any elaborate plans for a gender reveal. Being pregnant during a global pandemic has been weird, to say the least. I originally thought I’d want to just go by myself, come home and then open the envelope with Brandon. But last night at 9pm I changed my mind. I don’t know why, but I all of a sudden wanted to at least try to have Brandon with me. I knew I’d be upset if I didn’t try and by some miracle would have been allowed to have a guest.

I’ve been wearing my hair curly for almost five years now. I grew up with wild curls but — like so many of us — chose to style my hair with very high heat all through high school, college, and post-grad.

It wasn’t until I got my hair cut by a stylist who exclusively worked with curly hair that I finally had the cut I needed to rock my curls with confidence (or at least begin learning how to do that).

Izzy Dude, how are you two?! This last year has absolutely flown by. Heck , the last two years have flown by! It’s hard to believe that two years ago, I was laboring hard in a hot shower at the hospital, trying to get my body to relax so you could be born. Tonight, I’m sitting on the couch while your dad helps you drift off to sleep.

Where do I even begin?

Last time I was pregnant, I wore all of my non-maternity jeans into the second trimester. I credit that to it being my first pregnancy and to the high waistedness of all my jeans. This time around is not the same (shocker, I know). Pretty early on in the first trimester, I realized almost all of my jeans were fitting incredibly snug. I had to say “see ya later” to some of my favorite jeans, including my summer jean and my button front jeans. Basically, I was forced into creating a mini maternity capsule wardrobe.

It’s been a while since I’ve shared a capsule wardrobe post but this has been at the front of my mind lately (since I have to get dressed every day). I desperately wanted to share this kind of stuff last time I was pregnant but I was never organized enough to really document it. Anyway, second time’s the charm! Here’s what I wore during the first trimester.

Well the world has changed a lot in the last month. I can only assume most of us have been thrown for a loop or two (or three or four) during these weeks and I can only assume we’re all finally making our way through our streaming lists. Personally, our lists are always filled with shows we want to watch eventually even though we constantly return to our favorite ensemble comedies.

I thought I’d share what we’ve been consuming media-wise — movies/TV, podcasts and playlists (I won’t even pretend to include books because we’re not reading any). If anything, this feels like normal conversation I’d be having with my friends and siblings offline, so hopefully you get a small sense of normality reading this (and maybe a new show to watch)!

Post-Christmas winter has been interesting. I’ve felt the pull to start writing here again, but had no idea what to talk about. I’ve hardly been writing in my journal either, so I’m really rusty when it comes to writing out my thoughts and deciding what I want to share.

But between a fun new podcast that my friend and I started and some really big life news, I felt like I just needed to resurrect the old blog and start sharing again, even if I wasn’t sure where to start.

Ok, enough teasing of the big news. Here it is *drum roll*…

Summer’s officially over (at least in name — the weather is bound to stay warm through October here in Sacramento) and…I’m here for it! Usually, I’m the endless-summer-lover who doesn’t want to put her sandals and shorts in storage.

I think having a toddler is making me really excited for fall. I’m looking forward to taking him on a hayride, crunching leaves with him, and picking out his first pumpkins. Well, and the fashion. I’d be lying if I didn’t say I was looking froward to dressing in sweaters and boots and cute hats.

I’m low key obsessed with picnics. I credit my college French professor for my love of them. They were a stand by of French Club and always involved my favorite things: bread, cheese, lemonade, fresh fruit, and hanging out outside. Sure enough, when I visited France with her and the club, our hosts gave us a very laid back picnic on the first day of summer. It’s one of my top three favorite memories and I swear I’m chasing the dreaminess of snacking under the Eiffel Tower every time I plan my own picnic stateside.

I’ve had this post ruminating in the back of my brain for months now. Alas, starting a new job at the beginning of the summer left me with my head spinning a little (read: a lot) and gave me next to no energy to write for pleasure.

So here we are, better late than never, sharing my summer bucket list. It’s probably overly ambitious considering our schedules have been insane all summer, but what fun is a bucket list you know you can check off in a week?