September Favorites

I know what I like, and I also know what you guys like so we are starting a "favorites" series where each month I'll post my favorite items/experiences/trends/restaurants you name it. Whatever stuck out to me the most that month - makes the list. I love getting to be a resource to you guys by weeding out what's worth it and what's not so that you end up with the best of the best in terms of recommendations. Let's get into it.

VANESSA'S SEPTEMBER FAVORITES:

Golf Infused facial at Skin Pharm: I'm actually going back on my word with this one. I tried it once a couple of years ago and wasn't in love with it, but this year I've noticed I've been losing some volume in my face so I thought I'd give it another whirl to see if it could help plump up some volume for me and damn did it do the trick this time! Not sure why the results were so much better this go around, but my makeup is no longer sitting in my smile lines the way it was prior to this facial. I could tell my collagen was stimulated and I also received several compliments on my skin about a week after the treatment. I see Missy, and she recommended doing this every 6 weeks and repeating it 3 times for optimal results, so you may see this back on the list again down the road - but I'm obsessed! 

Kroma Wellness OMG Cookie Butter: This stuff is addicting, but in the best way. It supports a healthy blood sugar balance, it's full of healthy fats, fiber, and plant based protein, and the ingredient list is completely clean. I've actually fallen in love with a lot of Kroma's products this month - but this is by far my favorite. 

Matcha: Can't believe i'm saying this, but i'm in love with Matcha as of late! Marissa from West Kept Secret, along with several holistic practctioners, really kept urging me to swap from coffee to Matcha to help the chronic fatigue I was experiencing. I finally made the switch after the Kroma Reset which I talk about here - and I'm hooked! If you're going to your local coffee shop, order it with maple syrup, cinnamon, and oat milk - thank me later. Its delicious!! You can also do honey for a natural sweetener which is equally as tasty. 

Truvani Plant Based Snack bars: Vani Hari of The Food Babe introduced me to these after we had her on the podcast and i'm so impressed with how good they are. Again, another completely clean label so you can feel good about giving them to your kids too! They're sweetened with dates and maple syrup and they're the perfect sweet treat or on the go snack + I don't hate the 8 grams of protein in them either!

LightStim for acne: I've had this for years and have always loved it, but for some reason I'm struggling with random breakouts on my chin again so I've spent more time with this trusty little device this month than I have in awhile and I sort of forgot how great it is! It clears up any acne spots I have within a day of using it and if you're someone who gets redness with their acne, this clears that up as well! Plus, it's nice and soothing before bed - just give it time and be patient, each area takes 3 minutes but this works better than my LED mask, so I'm fine with that. 

Kroma Wellness Reset: My Honest Review

If you're finding yourself indulging one too many times in the finer things in life, this blog post is for you. Most of you know by now that health and wellness are foundational pillars in my life. However, I somehow landed myself in a sugar craving routine with little motivation to go to the gym as of late. I knew I needed to snap out of it, but I also wasn't finding the will power to just make the changes on my own. 

Enter Kroma. I had listened to a podcast with the founder of Kroma Wellness, Lisa Odenweller, months back, and I loved her approach to wellness. Their 5-day reset is an opportunity to get back on track to nourishing your body without deprevation of food. The founder also noted cookie butter was part of the reset in the podcast episode, so I immediately was intrigued. I somehow convinced Meryl (my best friend) to take the reset plunge with me - there's strength in numbers right? And after a long holiday weekend full of eating out and drinks, we decided to dive into this thing together. 

The protocol Kroma recommended for me was the "lean" protocol, which doesn't include any of the recommended add-ins. I agreed with this based off my goals and dove head first into day one. The reset comes with 45 meals in the form of powder packets that you mix with water or any dairy free milks. I actually genuinely liked all the meals - except the greens - and struggled to get through all 9 packets a day.

 Day 1 - by lunch I had a massive head ache from no caffeine, the brain fog was real, I was feeling tired, and I was really craving something crunchy - although I didn't feel hungry overall so that was a plus. The day came to an end and while I couldn't wait to fall asleep, I slept horrible. That pesky headache only got worse throughout the night and I felt it all night long. 

On day 2 I woke up super thirsty which was really interesting because the reset contains far more liquids than I'd typically drink in a day. I woke up with the same pesky headache from day one, but after the morning Matcha I actually started to feel pretty good. My energy was fantastic the rest of the day, the headache went away, and I was feeling satisfied in terms of hunger levels. As we entered the evening, I was still wired from the day and couldn't fall asleep till close to midnight which is super late for me. I'm typically asleep between 10-10:30 PM. 

Day 3 rolled around and after another broken night of sleep, I couldn't wait to get the Matcha in me. I stepped on the scale and had lost 2 lbs, yay! I will say, by the end of day three I was feeling pretty hungry and pretty over it - but I'm not a quitter, so on we go! 

Day 4 - your girl is hangry. Energy is back to being tired likely due to the hunger and I had a little bloating for the first time all week which was odd. I opted to go ahead and use the add-ins and added chicken to both lunch and dinner because I was truly fading fast. I slept way better on night 4 finally. I'm not sure if that's because I had a little more of a satiating day of eating, or if my body was finally catching on to this reset. 

Day 5 - by the end of it, everything felt pretty routine and I was actually sad I was out of some of the packets so I immediately got on Kroma's website and ordered the items I really liked! 

KEY TAKEAWAYS:

Overall, I think it's worth the money. In just 5 days time I completely got rid of my sugar and caffeine cravings! I never in a million years would've thought I'd get off the coffee train, but we are almost a month down the road from completing the reset and I'm still drinking the matcha! My cravings over the last month have not come back either which is truly mind blowing! I do think 3 days would've been enough for me personally, however, I may try the "active" protocol if I ever find myself in those bad habit patterns again in the future. I absolutely loved the cookie butter and ordered that, in addition to the porridge and Matcha to keep in my routine. My energy levels since completing the reset feel much more sustained, and I actually continued to lose a little weight. I also noticed I experience 0 anxiety during the reset which was a lovely bonus. I also thought it was worth noting that if you work in an office, the packets are so so easy to take with you to work, or if you'd like to stay on track while traveling - they're very travel friendly as well - and if you're not ready to commit 100% but want to try out some of my favorite items, they're on Amazon here.

With the holidays on the horizon, I feel like this would be a great post holiday reset for a lot of people. I also love that Kroma sells their products independently from the reset. 

If you're interested in giving it a go, this link will give you $25 off your first purchase over $100! Keep me posted on what you guys think.

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Vampires Blood Pomegranate Martini

If you know me, you know my all time favorite cocktail is a Pomegranate Martini. I'm traditionally not a big Halloween girly, but now that I have an almost 3 year old (where did the time go!?), I'm really leaning into my Halloween era. That said, this blood-red cocktail is the perfect showstopper for a Halloween party or moody October night! This super simple cocktail is a mix of pomegranate juice, orange vodka, PAMA liqueur, and triple sec. 

We created this cocktail and I immediately sent it to all of my friends. Getting to create fun and inspiring things like this are truly what gets me going and makes this job a passion project for me! I guess we can add "pyro special effects" to my resume now, ha! I feel so blessed to get to be able to do fun things like this for work, let me know if we should keep the Halloween content coming! 

Anyway, just wanted to share my excitement with you guys - moving onto the recipe below! 

I snagged the pretty coupe glass from Anthropologie here. They come in a few colors, and now I want them all. I also found the Blackberry sugar rim on Amazon and I cannot get over how good it is! It tastes delicious, and the smell of it is divine - if you're looking for flavored or colored sugar options - this is a great place to check. They have lots of variety, they're reasonably priced, and the products are all natural. 

After rimming the glass, I shook the PAMA, the orange vodka, triple sec, and pomegranate juice in my shaker and then poured it out into the coupe glasses. This cocktail takes maybe 5 minutes to make, and less than a minute to consume - I promise. That said, please drink responsibly ha. 

If you're making this cocktail, I'd love to hear your thoughts! Don't forget to tag me on Instagram so I can share your creations. 

INGREDIENTS:

- 2 oz of Pama liqueur

- 1 oz of of orange vodka (I used Ketel One Oranje)

-2 oz of pomegranate juice

-1/2 oz triple sec

- squeeze of lemon

INSTRUCTIONS:

Rim your glass with sugar. Add all ingredients to your shaker with ice. Make sure the cover is on tight and shake it up! For a fun Halloween idea, you can also fill drink syringes with this and serve the syringe inside the coupe glass so people can "pour their own" drinks. 

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Liam is Two Wild: Toddler 2nd birthday theme

Arguably one of my favorite days of the year... It's hard to believe this party was already close to 2 months ago! We celebrated Liam's 2nd birthday in January, and while his 1st birthday felt hard to top - I think we somehow made this party even more epic than last years. You guys know my love for Alexa from The Olive Branch runs deep, she helped me with Liam's 1st birthday, and pulled out all the stops this go around for his 2nd. If you're looking for help with planning a party, baby shower, gender reveal, corporate event etc. she's your girl (and she travels). 

Somewhere along the line, I had seen the "Two Wild" theme on Pinterest and thought it was so cute. I don't even think I had kids at the time, but the theme stuck with me. Liams nursery is Navy blue with animal prints above the crib, so we used that color palette and inspiration as a way to make a more common theme stand out. We also pulled inspiration from Liam's random love of busses to incorporate a party bus vibe into the two wild theme, hence the bus backdrop. Transforming our backyard into a toddlers playground was honestly too much fun, I'm still trying to figure out how we can have all of these things permanently. It essentially served as the perfect babysitter, ha! Everything is fenced in, so the parents could let their kiddos run free and enjoy themselves, while the kids were having the time of their lives with the plethora of activities. I've honestly never seen Liam smile as much as he did that day - it made my heart so happy. 

I'm listing out all of the vendors and their websites in case you need recommendations. These people are all an absolute dream to work with. They all have The Cheeky Been stamp of approval - 10/10 recommend! Most of the small decor was from Amazon which I will link at the bottom of this post in case you'd like to recreate this theme.

Planning + Design: @olivebranch.ht by @honeythymeevents

Catering: @copaingatherings

Cupcakes: @littlerosedesserts

Coffee Cart: @roamingspiritscoffee

Camper Bar: @thewanderingsocial_

Photography: @william_avery_photography

Balloons: @theposhballoon

Kids Table, Candy Machine, Animal Props: @ribbonandbluepartyrentals

Soft Play: @carolinasoftplayrentals

Bounce House Franchise: @thewhitebouncehouse

Backdrop + Signage: @shindigsocial

Sensory Play: @gold.and.gray

Custom Table Runner: @draw_it_bymel

HAMU: @looklovebabes

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Liam is One Happy Camper: Baby Boy First Birthday Theme

We celebrated Liams 1st birthday on Saturday, and it was nothing short of amazing! Celebrating his first birthday felt like such a big milestone not only for him - but for us as parents too. Most of you know Liam is our first child, and while birthdays mark the number of years we've been on this planet, if it's your first born, it also marks the number of years you've been a parent. So much has changed in the last year. I feel like I have a new identity; a new purpose. I plan to write a full post on what 1 year of motherhood looks like but for now, I'm reminiscing on the most epic 1st birthday party I've been too to date. 

If you've been around since my pregnancy, then you may have remembered my gender reveal post. Our home is set up perfectly for outdoor entertaining, and I absolutely loved the set up of that party. I actually enjoy party planning and usually have a vision for what I want a celebration to look like. With the gender reveal I planned and coordinated everything on my own, but mamahood in addition to working full time leaves little room for this hobby of mine so I reached out to The Olive Branch for a little planning help. If I've learned anything over the last year, it's that simplicity and convenience are worth the money as a busy mom! Alexa was an absolute dream to work with. She executed on my vision perfectly and if you're in the market for an event planner - I can't recommend them enough. 

The One Happy Camper theme couldn't have been more perfect for a winter party. We noted on the invitations that the party would be outside and asked guests to please bundle up. It was a chilly day but the kids didn't seem to be affected what so ever. They had an absolute blast with the bounce house and ball pit, and I'm pretty sure everybody got a solid nap in afterwards! We also borrowed a couple space heaters for the shaded areas of our outdoor space and turned on the outdoor fireplace - all the cozy camping vibes (ok, maybe more like glamping but you get it).

Most of the small decor is from Amazon which I will link at the bottom of this post in case you'd like to recreate this theme. A list of all the vendors we used can be found below!

Host: @thecheekybeen

Planning + Design: @olivebranch.ht by @honeythymeevents

Photographer: @tripp.photo

Balloons: @sayit_withballoons

Florals: @lordandladystudio

Signage Decals: @redeyedesigns305

Backdrop + Grid Wall: @murphycoevents

Picnic Rentals: @luxurychicnics

Bounce House/Ball Pit: @littleheartsmobileplay

Camper Bar: @carolinataps

S'mores Board: @tegagraze

Cake + Desserts: @littlerosedesserts

Cookies: @chrissillysbakery

Coloring Pages: @draw_it_bymel

Stationery: @minted

Paperware: @ohhappydaypartyshop

HMU: @looklovebeauty

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