Uppababy Mesa Infant Carseat Overview | The Mercedes Benz G Wagon of Infant Car Seats

     Holy moly. The demand surrounding this particular car seat and it's limited availability so far this year is quite astonishing. I have been following the Uppababy brand and their venture into infant car seat territory since, well... since Stella was a year old and ridin' dirty in a far more inferior quality infant seat back in 2013. Side note: Your infant's car seat is NOT a purchase you want to make based on Yelp Reveiws. Trust me.
     You see, a few years back, Uppababy was an emerging brand making waves in the baby gear industry for their elevated standards of quality, safety, and the overall sleekness of their products. Their most celebrated product at the time was the Uppababy Vista Stroller (more on that on my channel soon). After enough pleas and feedback from enthusiastic consumers, Uppababy decided to introduce their latest innovation into the baby gear space: the Uppababy Mesa.
    Demand was huge from the start, and it wasn't uncommon to see Amazon and big box baby stores offering wait lists, and pre-orders for their eager buyers. The Uppababy Mesa was widely celebrated as not only a safe and efficient infant seat, but a leader in both innovation and parent friendly design. Cut to 2014-2015, and Uppababy has listened to consumer feedback regarding minor design irks and what some may consider silly flaws. This year they re- introduced the 2015 Uppababy Mesa. Let's take a look at what it's all about!


     The Mesa still offers all of the features parents grew to love in the original version of the seat. Uppababy realizes that most car seats are installed by parents, and up to 73% of those are installed incorrectly. You can still rely on the Smart Secure feature on the base of the carseat to guarantee a correct install in less than 10 seconds. A simple red or green indicator will help you determine if the install was successful.            




      The auto retracting latch system on the base helps the latch belts to tighten with very little effort.
      And perhaps one of the biggest draws to the Mesa is it's Advanced Side Impact Protection claims.  With up to 4x more protection than other premium brand infant car seats, it's no wonder even as of this post going live, most retailers can't seem to keep this product in stock very long before having to open up another wait list. No, seriously. Go to Amazon right now and check. I'll wait.......


     And if you're worried about size accommodations, Uppababy still keeps tiny babies in mind with a weight threshold starting at 4lbs and going up to 35lbs. For those tiny babies below 7lbs, the Mesa comes with an insert that can be used to offer more support.



More of what everyone loved about the Uppababy Mesa:
  • Easy adjustable headrest
  • No re thread harness
  • One handed release
  • Hideaway canopy with SPF

So what's new about the Mesa for 2015? Lets take a look: 
  • New Fabric: To keep our kids cooler, Uppababy has finished the headrests and harnesses with a moisture wicking material. 
  • Travel System Friendly: The Mesa can install into a Vista or Cruz with no extra adapters needed. Special fitted "wells" located on each side of the Mesa allow for a quick and safe attachment to the strollers. 

  • Buckle Storage Pockets: Thank heavens! We live in California where Summer temps can reach in the 100's and those little buckles get hot! These small yet effective slits allow you to not only keep the metal buckles cool, but they assist in keeping them out of the way when removing or placing baby in the seat.

  • New colors! : Uppababy has expanded their color choices to include some oft the more vibrant selections you were used to seeing on their Vista stroller line up. Offerings include Denny (red), Georgie (marine blue), and a super cool Pascal (grey). 
  • Lastly, the Mesa lost some weight! A pound to be more precise: The Uppababy Mesa comes in at an impressive 9.9 lbs, making it comparable to it's competition in the infant seat market. 

     Overall, the Uppababy Mesa is continuing to lead the way in child safety with their innovative approaches and attention to detail. In addition, it seems this time around they really listened to their demographic and made the changes us parents wanted/needed to see. From a slightly materialistic perspective (c'mon I AM a beauty junkie too when I'm not MOMing), the new colors and the overall sleekness of the seat make me giddy. And from a soon to be mom of two, the thought that went into making this seat efficient AND safe wins point in my book. The Mesa retails for $299.99 and can be found on Amazon and retailers nationwide. If you have a hard time getting your hands on one, fear not.  Though there is an overwhelming demand for this seat, Uppababy is continuing to replenish stock constantly. 

Be sure to watch this space and my YouTube channel for an install video with the Mesa coming soon! 33 weeks prego and counting!....... 

xoxo




*Disclaimer* This product was sent to me for PR consideration. As usual, all opinions expressed are my own. I was not paid for this post. 

   

Here's the STITCH-uation..

     Ok, so I promised you guys I would do a post showing off the goods that were sent my way in my first Stitch Fix order. As you may or may not know, Stitch Fix is the online custom styled apparel program that will send you clothing selections each month based on your likes and needs. If in the package, you like what you see, you simply check out online and complete the purchase for what you wanna keep. If you like nothing, you send it all back in the prepaid USPS labeled bag. Easy peasy!
     Earlier this year, Stitch Fix added a Maternity section to their website. I was super excited to try this out, seeing as I have historically had a hate/hate relationship with what's out there in terms of maternity fashion. I am one of those women who refuse to wear a tent and let myself feel even bigger than I actually am, which is bigger than I'm used to being already!  I lean toward body hugging fashions and comfy fabrics.
    What arrived at my door last week was a box full of "personalized" picks just for me. There was even a dress picked specifically for the "garden wedding" I mentioned I would be attending over the summer. Instructions on how this whole thing works were clear and properly labeled in more than one place on the packaging.



     Upon opening, I must first acknowledge the smell I was greeted by. It was a bit "warehouse-ish" if you know what I mean. Otherwise, everything was very carefully and mindfully packaged up. There was a page full of styling suggestions, a sweet card from my "stylist", and an easy to read price list. 




     The spread included 4 pieces of apparel and a piece of jewelery. Ehh, no thanks. To be honest I never even took it out of it's plastic bag. Just wasn't my style. The next piece was the floral dress picked specifically for that wedding I had mentioned I would be attending later this summer.



    The material was substantial, but the cut and print just weren't for me personally. I felt huge and the pattern was doing me no favors. 
     The next item, I was very excited to see at first! A bodycon geo print pencil skirt they said! It's great for prego bellies they promised! What I discovered instead was that it was nearly impossible to make this skirt wearable. To me, it ended up looking like I was just wearing a skirt I had in my closet pre baby, and said "Thug Life!" and just put it on anyway; 6 month belly bump be darned! 



     The next dress was also a bodycon number, which I think would work with a cute denim jacket and perhaps a cute low heel bootie. The material was super stretchy and ruched. 




     The final item was everything I try to stay away from while pregnant. The flowy, boxy top. Just. No. Hello ye olde belly button! Haha! 


    
      In the end, though I saw potential in one item, it wasn't enough potential for me to feel compelled to keep it. Luckily, like I mentioned earlier, the return process was super easy. I simply placed everything in the prepaid bag, and scheduled a pick up at my front door for the next day. If I had liked everything in my order, I could have made the purchase with a sweet 25% discount added on. I'm still on the fence about moving forward with a July shipment at this point.  I think Stitch Fix is a great idea, however. I think maybe their maternity division needs a bit more time to come into it's own. 
     Tell me, where are you getting your maternity clothes? Have you tried Stitch Fix?

xoxo
    


   








Mother's Day Mojo

     Hi everyone! I hope you all have been enjoying your week so far. Besides the scattered bouts of pure unrelenting exhaustion, I've been feeling pretty good! I also hope you all had a fantastic Mother's Day. Whether you spent it celebrating another mom, or you celebrated BEING a mom, it's always a great day to spread the love.
     I wanted to show you what I wore during the day on Mother's Day, and also my bold lip choice for the occasion. Having a toddler that I find myself giving smooches to quite often, I don't get to rock a deep red lip very much! But for this day, I was excited to throw on Lady Danger by MAC. Here's a pic of my "reds" collection. Morange, Russian Red, and Lady Danger.

     My jumper is from the maternity section at H&M. It's made of cotton and has a ton of room for me to grow in the belly region. It didn't seem too clingy on my booty/thigh region thank god, and the straps on the shoulders are adjustable. Shoes are by Charlotte Russe. Non existent pedicure since I can no longer reach my toes.. by me.



     This day was filled with lunches, a short mall trip, and an overall peaceful afternoon with my family. The evening was a surprise from the hubby: a no babies allowed romantic dinner out in Palm Springs! The man knows me too well. One of my favorite things in the world is enjoying a nice dinner on a patio. Even better when it's kid free! We went to Copley's, a restaurant that is legendary in Palm Springs for being a rumored guest house owned by Carey Grant. The layout is fantastic, with the well appointed outdoor seating being on what would have been the "courtyard" of the actual estate back in the day. The food was to die for. For this dinner,I changed up my outfit from casual to semi dressy with some harem pants and a silky top.
     I'm hoping to discover more great maternity items by enrolling in the StitchFix program. This custom delivery of clothes picked by a stylist just for you has a maternity section and I'm anxious to try it out. I'll keep you all posted on my thoughts!
     How was your Mother's Day?! Do you prefer to spend more time with your kids on this day, or more time to yourself?

XOXO
   

20 Week Bump Update

     Happy Tuesday everyone! Or should I say, "Happy Cinco De Mayo!". Well, it's happy if you can actually crack open a cold Corona today. I unfortunately, am out of commission until September- ish. Until then,  I'll continue to toast with an ice cold O'douls and a smile.
 
      I thought I'd start my milestone "Pregnancy Updates" on the blog. You may be wondering why I waited so long (20 weeks) to begin this series. My main reason was discretion. This time around, we waited a while to tell people we were expecting. And since I never made a "facebook official" announcement (yuck, by the way), we decided just to roll with this pregnancy and tell people as we saw them. We of course announced it to family, but we decided not to announce it to the masses until a bit later. So here's my 20 week update! Enjoy!
 

How far along? 
    20 weeks
How big is the peanut? 
     According to my iPhone Apps, baby's the size of a mango! 
Total weight gain/loss?
     Since the beginning of this pregnancy, I've gained 10 pounds total. 
Maternity clothes? 
     Yes, and boy are most of them ugly! 
Sleep?

    Luckily I am getting good sleep, but my nose is incredibly stuffy most of the night. 
Best moment this week? 

     Getting the call from my OB's office that my anatomy scan was totally normal! Wahoo!
Symptoms? 

    Dry sinuses, stuffy nose, lower belly muscle aches. 
Food cravings? 

     Cheeseburgers, french fries, sour skittles
Food aversions? 

      Strong onion smells. Coffee until 3 weeks ago. 
Gender? 

     It's a boy!
Labor signs? 

     Nope
Belly button in or out? 

    Out waaaaaay earlier than my last pregnancy.
What I miss?

     Beer. 
What I'm looking forward to? 

    Exploring our birthing options more, getting his and his sister's (awww) stroller. 
Milestones? 

     His kicks are now very strong and undeniable. 
Bump?

   Massive, huge, ginormous, rotund. 

Back to the Basics

     Though I love being adventurous and trying out new cosmetics, my skin has taken a turn I was not at all prepared for. I am currently battling the all-too-common: Pregnancy Acne. Without warning, every morning upon waking, I find myself welcoming a new visitor to "Shavonda's Face Island". It's annoying and nothing really seems to be working.
     All I can do right now is be as predictable and boring as I can in hopes of warding off anymore pustule riddled breakouts on my face. So that means: sticking with what I know works for me.
     My go-to cosmetics just received a refresh since I used my 15% off discount at Sephora's most recent Rouge Love event. I typically would wait for the better 20% off sale, but I knew I was low on most of these items so I bit the bullet.





     You guys have heard me exclaim my love for most things Nars. I once again picked up my tried and true Nars Sheer Glow in Tahoe. I love that Nars leans yellow in their matrix of colors. With that, I grabbed another Radiant Creamy Concealer in Biscuit. This stuff is amazing! Never creases on me, never looks dry under my eyes, and brightens wonderfully.
     As far as moisturizing has and always goes, the more emollient the better. Even during the summer I tend to use creams and balms. I'm just dry by design I suppose! This Embryolisse cream has a cult following for a reason. It's retail is around 29.00, and packs quite a punch of moisture and primer like silkiness that makes most makeup artists happy to use it on set before applying makeup. I've used this for close to a year so I know my skin's not  reacting to this when i apply it every morning.
     Lastly, the Too Faced Hangover Primer was a purchase a long time in the making. I have had this marked as a "love" on my Sephora app for sometime, but never got around to grabbing it. This time I did, and I'm loving it. I did a test run with this and this only on my skin for three days to make sure my skin wouldn't go crazy when I applied it. All systems were go so I've been using it every day after my moisturizer.
 I hope my breakouts subside sooner than later. But if they don't, I have a few options I can explore that don't involve the Not Prego Friendly avenues such as Retinol, Lasers, and Chemical Peels. I'll start with my Glamglow masks and keep you all posted on my progress!

What did you pick up at the Love Note sale at Sephora?

Surviving the First Trimester

     Yowza. I never knew just 8 weeks could take so much out of me. I was down for the count for quite a while during the first weeks of this pregnancy.  Having a toddler who didn't quite understand what was happening made those days even harder to bear.

     I am happy to say, however, that there is and always will be an end in sight to the misery of morning sickness. It's hard to tell yourself that when you're hanging your head over the toilet puking your brains out! But the nausea and the overall feeling of  grossness does lift away.

    This time around I found my nausea resistant to most of my go-to remedies that seemed to have worked for me in the past. The vitamin B6 and Unisom concoction proved useless. As did all the prego geared lozenges, pops, and chews.

   There was a brief stint with the prescription drug called Zofran, but that route was quickly stopped after the hubby and I saw the "Did you take Zofran during pregnancy, and did your child have cleft palate or other birth defects?!" commercials on TV.  Talk about fear mongering.

  So I ended up just roughing out the sickness. But I found some other ways to reduce the misery throughout my time stuck in bed!


Kid's Chewable Vitamins

     For some reason, my body just couldn't handle the potent ingredients in a full size prenatal vitamin. My Dr gave me the go ahead to take 2 chewable vitamins at NIGHT to stave off nausea in the morning, while still getting my nutrients. 



     
     I used this stuff last pregnancy and do you remember what happened? ...Nothing! I didn't get one stretch mark. Zilch. Nada. And I truly believe it was because of this product. So you can bet your fanny I will keep slathering this stuff on this second time around too! 


Books to Read





     
     I'm pretty geeky by nature, and Type A by virtue, so being in the know is sort of a requirement for me to feel like I'm somewhat in control. And since I was NOT in control of how I felt physically, I wanted to feel  in control mentally. So I've been reading! Some are oldies that I refer to here and there. And two are new finds that I'm using to navigate new territory in the world of pregnancy, birth, and nursing. 

      I can't tell you all how happy I am to be feeling good again. I hope my insight has helped you! If you're expecting, what are some things you're doing to combat the 1st Trimester Queasies?









Anastasia Contour Kit: The Good, The Bad, and the Horrible Processing

Here it is folks! Hot off the press! My curiosity got the best of me these past few weeks after seeing this bad boy in person,  so I decided to purchase the Anastasia Contour Kit from their online website. Boy did that suck.

It's not that their website isn't user friendly, because it is. I was able to very easily navigate through the options as I custom created a palette that would best compliment my skin tone. Based off of other blog reviews, I was careful to choose shades that work well with my NC 45 ish skin tone. With my purchase complete, I waited. And waited. And waited. No tracking info ever came via email. And a quick check up on my order status on their site always showed "processing". Then randomly yesterday, I get an email from my UPS account that I had a delivery! Hallelujah! And with the most wasteful amount of packaging for such a small item, my palette was here. Happy face.

From L-R: 10K, Golden Peach, Champagne, Camel, Cinnamon, Havana

Swatched in natural light

With flash
I've used the palette exactly one time. My thoughts? I like it. Of course I will give this a few more uses before I give a complete review. My suggestion though, check out the internets for swatches and place your order through the ABH website (I know, yikes). You'll get a much more custom designed color palette that way.

Have you picked this up yet?

xoxo

Guess who's back, back again??

     Ok I'm sorry I had to do it. How else would I not-so-awkwardly-yet-awkwardly segue into a random blog post straight outta nowhere after neglecting this space for a year?!! With an Eminem lyric of course! Boy oh boy, life sure does have a sense of humor. Well, at least the universe does. I made every intention of keeping my blog up to date and look what happened. A  whole lotta nada. That's what. But I'm back! I made some "goals" ie: resolutions for 2015 and one of them was to really reconnect with what was making me so happy. Blogging, vlogging, whatever.

Catch up on my Youtube Channel!
But don't worry, my focus hasn't changed. If you are a ride or die, (and I know many of you are *kisses*), then you've seen me on my Youtube channel tearin ish up. Just kidding. Sort of. My topics and interests are still the same. I love makeup, I love clothes, I love Stella, I love my husband, and I love things that make life easier for said child and husband.

Taking care of this guy.


And this little girl

Oh yeah I got married! 

Thanks for the photobomb Stella



Welcome back! Let's party!