I totally understand why many families use strollers, but I also love to shed light on the fact that there are families out there who do it without strollers - and by choice! I tried going with my stroller twice and hated it each time - I was super stressed trying to deal with the stroller and it rained both times. I swore off of it after that. I wanted to give a few reasons why you might consider babywearing only while at the parks versus using a stroller, especially for those of you with babies who don’t walk yet.

When I found out I was pregnant, I was really excited to share with others. The problem is, there is a good couple of months where you are hiding it from at least someone. Mostly, the people you work with.

Pregnancies are unusually common where I work now - I have never worked anywhere in my career where 3 or more people are pregnant at once, especially not smaller offices. My excitement had been building, especially with friends and co-workers also announcing while I stayed silent. As my excitement built, my ideas on how to announce that I too was joining the club of parents were growing larger and larger.

Then it hit me: use this as a creative outlet. I got my sketch pad out, mocked up a quick quiz and logic for a calculator that would allow you to guess my due date and tell you how far off you were, and then got to work. I took all the photos, pulled free vectors from sites like Vecteezy, and came up with something that I hoped would make my co-workers smile.

The great thing about interactive web experiences is that you get your user interested. This made my announcement feel personalized to my company and to each person. Everyone got to find out in their own way - and the responses shown to their answers changed depending on what they answered. People who correctly guessed 'girl' got to know I already bought matching dresses, while I didn't show that for those who guessed 'boy'.

I also didn't tell people what was going on, I just shared a link to something I had made and let everything come together. It made for a nice surprise, a good story, and made it a bit special for me. Which, I'm not going to lie, I wanted since I have have always wanted to have kids, Jason and I just waited until things were stable. I also am incredibly grateful that I have co-workers who were so excited for me - my boss had even suspected me and had confetti to throw. 

I didn't do anything quite as fancy online - I honestly wasn't 100% sure if I would really 'announce' online as much as just start taking photos of baby stuff one day (what I did) - but I really enjoyed making the announcement something fun for the people around me on a day to day basis.

› Here's a link to the quiz if you'd like to take it! 

I love having my own yard, but I am not quite the best at yard work. Our little side yard is over grown, but I really love this area. It's right outside our bedroom and is full of plumeria trees and some other neat plants that I couldn't identify for the life of me. Plus, its a fairly decent photo spot!

Dress: Anthropologie // Belt: Target // Sandals: Target // Scarf: Shop in St Augustine // Rings: Etsy and ModCloth // Necklace: Crave Jewelry

Despite not blogging about my style for the better part of a year, I am still a clothes horse. I have been accumulating more animal prints in my never ending quest to own everything with animals. That and my never ending quest to get the world off IE8, but we won't talk about that here.

Top: Tulle // Swirled Snail Skirt: Anthropologie // Rainy Day Flats: J Crew // Rings: Etsy, Uncommon Goods

Jason and I actually were not supposed to be able to go to Dapper Day this year. I originally had the wrong date marked, and thought it was the date we were supposed (but definitely did not) move into our new home. With the stress and let down of our home buying catastrophe (liens, lawyers, and silent sellers, oh my!), we needed a break and I booked us a reservation at the Plaza restuarant at random. Then I saw on Instagram it was Dapper Day, so I threw together an Alice in Wonderland themed Disneybound with Jason  as Alice and me as the Chesire Cat. There were so many good outfits this year - and great disneybounds, but I'm still not comfortable  randomly photographing other people, especially to put online. So, nevertheless,  here are way too many photos of Jason and I all dressed up.

I also got my photo with Stitch, because he's awesome.

We also tried one of the most delicious, sugary, adorable desserts ever. I'm a big fan of Disney Food Blog (if you love Disney and food, go there now), and I found this article about cake cups! Yup, not cup cakes, CAKE CUPS. All the fun of a cup cake made into a parfait like ordeal in a cup. And it was delicious - though I suggest sharing. We barely made it through this one together (it's really sweet). You'll find it at the Chesire Cafe in Fantasyland.

If you want to go to Dapper Day, they happen every fall and spring at both Disneyland and Disney World. I will be at the next Disney World one in October for sure! If you have questions about it, ask me! I can also suggest some ideas of places to stay (there are some airbnbs around Celebration which is where we stay with my in-laws) or give you an idea of what to expect.

Today is National Puppy Day! It's all about celebrating puppies and encouraging adoption.

While my dogs are no longer puppies, they often act like they are still puppies. Nothing beats Teemo's face when he is sticking it out a car window, or Raynor when she is bounding around with a new toy. I've had over 5 years with Raynor and over 4 now with Teemo, and there isn't a moment that goes by that I am so happy I adopted them. They are both mutts - Teemo is not a full corgi, nor are we even sure that Raynor is a 'bagle hound'. But they both have wonderful personalities.

 I wanted to show some 'throwbacks' to the puppy days (or as close as I ever saw Raynor and Teemo to being puppies - I got them at about 5 months and 10 months). One of the big things that has changed with Raynor is her health. Moving away from Ohio (where she was allergic to the type of grass and birch trees) combined with finding a food that benefits her coat and is manufactured well, Raynor looks better than ever and has had barely any vet appointments outside of her checkups. You can see, she's got a beautiful coat now!

Petcurean's Now Fresh line is manufactured well, plus it contains actual meat and veggies, so the dogs have done amazingly well on it. It's not overly fatty or unbalanced either - both pets have easily maintained their weights. You can read more about Raynor and Teemo's switch to Now Fresh here.

 Lately, they have been some sleepy southern dogs though. Here are the more recent 'my dogs love the couch' collection I seem to have been photographing.

At some point in time, I had a minorly successful lifestyle blog. I posted almost 7 days a week, took tons of photos, and had sponsorships from companies I was really excited about.

I also worked a full time job. At times, I had an hour commute from that job. I came home, I worked on the blog for hours at a time, I spent even more time trying to comment on other blogs and keep up with my readership and reply to every single comment that came into my blog. I didn’t exercise much. I just kind of sat on the couch, let the Netflix go on auto-play, and blogged. On weekends, I dictated mine and later my husband’s schedule to go around photo shoots and blog planning. There was an absurd amount of working going on, but I was creatively fulfilled.

Until one day, I wasn’t. That’s where this starts. 

Be A Little Too Content With Your Life

I’m not going to say this is a ‘catch-all’ for all bloggers, but I did the best work on my blog when I had the most to prove. I lived in a little no-where town in a state I hated and was apart from my husband. I had few friends and was dead set on getting out of a place I had literally just moved to. I also quickly began to dislike my job after some strange things happened. And my blog was awesome. I focused on the best parts of my life. I had time on weekends living alone because I had few friends and little money. When I moved to Florida, I felt pretty awesome. I was really happy, had a little more spending money, and honestly, less time to myself. I was incredibly dedicated and happy in my job. I spent time being healthy - taking longer walks with my dogs and being outside in the warm weather more often. I chose going swimming and for a walk on the beach over a cocktail photo shoot at home. I lost weight because I made sure I made the time for an hour of working out every single night. I made friends and traveled more. I had very little to prove to anyone, and I felt a bit like a braggart talking about how awesome Florida is (or at least how awesome I perceive it to be.) My blog completely fell when I began looking for a home. I didn’t feel like sharing the process was helpful to anyone. It felt like I would only be, again, bragging about the homes I was finding and buying a home. I found it hard to write about anything when the thing that mattered most to me at the moment (and took up all my weekend time) felt like I was being the opposite of humble. Especially when our home buying experience took a turn for the worse, the last thing I wanted to do was recount the terrible, confusing tale online. To be clear, we haven't bought a house, I am unsure when we will be able to, and the whole ordeal isn't over. But it's confusing, and too boring/hard to talk about.

Work Out + Make Dinner + Work 40 Hour Weeks 

Get a decent job making decent money that supports your family. Then get home, at a good time, probably before 6PM. Make dinner. Walk your dogs. Work out for an hour. It’s what normal people do, right? Not bloggers. By the time all that stuff is done, it’s usually around 9:30 PM for me. I tried to start blogging, but I would get through editing some photos and half a post and realize it was 11PM, and I needed to be getting to bed. It was frustrating, because I was essentially at full power for 14 straight hours, then adding to it. There was no relaxing. There was a blog schedule to keep up with, and how dare I try and take care of myself first? (Legitimately, I cried about not making my own schedule, so there’s that.)

Spend Too Much Time With Your Family 

I stopped taking long trips out of our day for the sole purpose of an outfit shoot. I stopped making sure we came home before sun down so my cocktail photos would look perfect in the right light. I started taking at least an hour a day to cuddle with my husband and watch TV. That replaced blogging. I started to unwind and not touch electronics before bed. No more blogging at 11PM. I started sleeping a lot better.

 Start Really Engaging With Those Around You 

I would go places and forget about the camera in my bag. I would forget that I should have taken photos of that meal, of that restaurant. I stopped living behind my lens, and started focusing on my friends and family. My husband’s and my relationship improved because he felt I was really engaging in conversations and activities with him rather than focusing on stuff for my blog and panicking if it wasn’t ‘just right.’

Care A Little Less 

I have trouble letting things go. I was constantly checking my email, replying over lunch from my phone to people, and working over lunch breaks on my blogs. I cared way too much. Then I relaxed a little.

Despite All Of This, Really Miss Your Blog

Even though I know my blog is stressful, I miss posting. I really do. I miss sharing my photography. I miss pushing my ideas out there. I miss my creative freedom.

 Which is why I am back.

I always planned to come back and start posting after the holidays, but our house hunt took a huge toll. And I will never be back to what ‘Of Corgis & Cocktails’ was a bit ago. I’m in a different life path at this point, and honestly feel like a different, much happier person, which is part of what inspired the ‘Much Adoo’ rebranding. And I’ve developed even further since I switched over. You can now find a bit more about my work and what I do, because I feel like the work I do most of the week is kind of great and I want to share it all in one place. I also want a place to post my inspiration, my photography, and everything in between. So basically, a lot of design, Disney, dogs, and pretty drinks. I hope you enjoy. And if not - I’m going to be OK with that.

I've got a lot of thanks to give here - especially when it comes to my puppies. See, I wasn't really every supposed to get Raynor or Teemo when I did.

Jason and I had just moved out of our second, tiny apartment into a home with a yard. Both my mom and Jason explicitly told me 'don't move to get a dog.' I moved to get a dog (also we really needed more room) but a few short months later, we found ourselves with a crazed basset mix from rural Kentucky ruling our lives. For my family giving into me too easily, I give thanks.

Next was Teemo, the 'foster' dog. Jason and I had began fostering that year and had a few dogs in the home before I found a corgi mix on Petfinder while we were drinking at Cheeseburger in Paradise. While Jason was feeling happy from the sugary alcohol concoctions, I showed him a few photos of this corgi with the big ears, and he agreed to let me meet him. The exception? I had to bring the crazy queen basset, who usually scared off little dogs and is a total alpha. I was fortunate that the tiny corgi (Teemo's gained like 15 pounds since I got him) was just as crazy as Raynor, and totally submissive. My parents, actually no one, thought we should be getting a second dog, so he became our 'foster'. For finding the perfect pair to my queen, I give thanks.

I also love that my dogs, despite their shortcomings, get along well with others. I love seeing them on walks with my mother-in-law's 6 pound maltese, Lucy. For their ability not to trample the little one, I give thanks.

I also give thanks that these two are in good health - they eat a nice food, drink lots of water, and eat very few treats. I give thanks to Petcurean for coming up with a new recipe for their adult food that didn't make them sick (a lot of times just switching flavors can mess up your dog, by the way) and that these pups gobbled up like no tomorrow. The new fish recipe with trout and salmon is great for them - although the smell, I've got to admit, smells like trout and salmon, so while not great, you know it's really in there!