My go-to on-the-go companions

I feel like Senna and I are on-to-go more often than not, and I love anything that helps make mom-life a little easier. So, in this post I’m sharing a few of my favorite travel items!!!

But first, a story…

One of my worst qualities, according to my husband (and mother), is that I treat my car like a giant trash can. From food wrappers to empty makeup containers, to baby diapers… yes, DIRTY DIAPERS. I know, it’s not something to be proud of, and yes I also know that dirty diapers don’t make your car smell great. Coulter, my husband, has found about 23 diapers too many in our trunk. Holding them up and shaking his head just saying “why?”. So, I decided to be a good wife and figure out a way to stop the stink and trunk trash, while still being able to be lazy. LOL. I found a travel diaper pail that I can just toss when full. It’s truly made my husband so much happier ;) You know, it’s the little things you do for each other in a marriage, right?

1. Toss™ Disposable Diaper Pail

2. Miracle® WildLove Cups

3. Deluxe Snack Catcher

4. Baby Food Feeder + Pacifier Clip

The Toss Diaper Pail

Toss™ Disposable Diaper Pail

• Fill up pail then toss when full

• Durable pail

• Fits up to 30 newborn diapers

• Great for home or travel

Personally, I leave Toss™ Disposable Diaper Pail in my trunk! But it could be great to keep in your diaper bag as well! Or even in your bedroom or family room … if you’re also like me and change your baby all over your house constantly ;) hahah

Changing tables are just merely a suggested changing station, right?

PS

Check out the video I made using the Toss Diaper Pail IRL on my Instagram. Senna is the cutest little diaper changee pre-hike!

Miracle® WildLove Cups

Miracle® WildLove Cups

• 360 no spill edge

• Great travel cup

• Showcases well-loved and at-risk animals

• Munchkin partnered with International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW) and The Whale Sanctuary Project on this cup

Senna uses these at our house as well as out and about. I love that I won’t come back and find a puddle of water on my new rug or all over the floor. I mean, the least amount of cleaning up we have to do (or make our husband/SO do, the better. Right!?

Deluxe Snack Catcher

• 1 sealed snack bowl with a Click Lock™ lid and Munchkin's spill-proof guarantee

• Ideal for dry snacks AKA puffs, cereal, crackers, etc…

• Handle is a teether as well, so smart

• BPA Free

Baby Food Feeder + Pacifier Clip

The Baby Food Feeder was a lifesaver!!! I put bananas in it while I was on a long road trip with Senna. I attached the handle of it to a Pacifier Clip and clipped it onto her car seat. It was the PERFECT distraction towards the end of our ride when she was hungry and had just about had enough! I also use them a lot at home when I don’t feel like cleaning up a post-meal mess and just want her to have an easy snack that isn’t puffs ;)

With Love,

Chantelle

Thank you so much for sponsoring this post, Munchkin!

I was in need of a day dressed up and out and about town last week so I was thrilled to be invited to a launch party for the new pressed powder from Jouer. The whole event was set up at one of my favorite french bakeries, Le Marais, in San Francisco. There were pastries, mimosas, and an amazing french dinner. I was so happy to get an opportunity to chat with other bay area beauty bloggers and meet Jouer’s founder. Rachel (from 5oclocksunday) came as my guest and it was great to get out and about without the kiddos to catch up and learn some new beauty secrets.

I made sure to rock my Jouer beauty products to the event. The eyeshadow palette is my new daily go to and the lip plumper is incredible! The new flawless finish powder is the perfect final finish too! Head over to Jouer to pick-up these essentials.

BottleRock Music Festival

in Napa Valley was amazing!

Since I just turned 30 I have this thought in the back of my head that festivals are only for the 20somethings. NOT TRUE. Rachel and I had a blast (plus she brought her baby and I brought Coulter on our second day). We decided to take on day one (the actual day 2 of the concert) of the festival just us girls, and it was perfect. We ran around exploring, ate wayy too much food, and listened to amazing music. We saw some artists that we knew such as E40, The Killers, and Snoop Dogg and then other artists that we discovered like Oh Wonder and The Head and The Heart. We got asked to take some pictures for BottleRock and we were honored when we showed up on their Instagram feed (woop woop). Needless to say we left filling very fulfilled.

What I Wore:

Skirt and Top by Anine Bing

Sunglasses by Krewe

My day one outfit wasn't exactly what I would call your typical festival attire but I fell in love with this combo for Anine Bing and wanted to wear something different and unexpected. The yellow silk skirt and matching ankle booties received tons of compliments as did my favorite new glasses that I picked up from Krewe in New Orleans.

What Rachel Wore:

Top by Zara

Skirt by XIXpalms

Shoes by Zaful

Glasses by Diff

Scarf by Vintage

Rachel edged up this XIXpalms skirt and wore it in an equally unexpected way with a leather crop top and motorcycle boots. She added a vintage scarf she picked up in her trip to New Orleans and some vintage-inspired sunglasses from Diff Eyewear to complete her outfit. 

Day 3 of BottleRock, was our Day 2.

I rushed in to hear my bestie and bridesmaid, Liz Huett, perform on the big stage. So dang proud. She killed it!!!!! I was late, as always, and Coulter offered to hold my bag so I could walk through the MUCH shorter no bag line. I made it halfway through her first song, he made it in by about song 3.5! This is why I married him ;) 

Liz ended up having a second performance on the acoustic stage. We got some food/coffee and ventured over to hear round two! She annihilated it! I hung out with Rachel and baby Lennon who was rocking the cutest noise canceling headphones... such a little rockstar. Then, Liz ended up getting us backstage and we danced our butts off to Halsey, I am in LOVE with her! It was so dang fun. Coulter tore his achilles recently and was champing it out post-surgery but I decided to be a nice wife and leave pre-Bruno Mars so he didn't have to stand from 12am-11pm.

What I Wore:

Dress by Cleobella

Shoes by Bedstu

Glasses by Krewe

BottleRock was an incredible experience. Girls day on Day 1, Hubby/baby/besties Day 2! So much great food, great music, and such a great atmosphere. I highly recommend it. Thanks so much for sending me, LiveNation. See you next year BottleRock Napa!

With love,

Chantelle

 

 

my second bachelorette party was pretty wild. ya know, because it was a safari. 

I have the best friends! The girls who couldn't make it to my bachelorette weekend in San Francisco surprised me with a day trip. They showed up to my house at 7am blasting safari style jams and dancing in full safari getup out front of my door. They took me to Safari West in Santa Rosa and we had the most amazing time!!!! 

It also gave me the opportunity to rock this amazing white leather jacket by dstld that was hand-painted for my wedding day by Debby Amosa. Be sure to check out more of her custom painted clothing on Instagram (@deb_Amosa). 

Highly suggest this for part of a bachelorette weekend. It was so fun, we drank champagne on the safari jeep and toured the grounds seeing all sorts of amazing animals. The best part was that I felt so loved by my incredible friends.

Love you, Haley, Holly, Kylie, and Breana! If you want to see more from the party check out the photo diary below and Youtube video of our day. 

With love,

Chantelle

My white custom leather jacket  is by

Dstld and was hand-painted by Debby Amosa Follow her on Instagram @deb_amosa.

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OUTFIT Details

Jacket: dstld (use DISCOUNT CODE: IGCP for 10% off)

Shoes: Birdies

Shorts: ASbyDF

Top: Margaret O' Leary

Hat: Wyeth

Sunglasses: Vogue Eyewear

Bridal Brunch with Birdies + Bridesmaids.... alliteration at it's finest folks. I'll be here all week.

Okay, but really, my bridesmaids planned such an amazing weekend for my bachelorette. I felt spoiled. BUT, Birdies blew me away. They put together a breathtaking brunch! There was a balloon arch, flowers gallore, yummy savory and (most importantly) sweet crepes, and Table and Teaspoon (they are a brilliant "rent the runway" for table linens) decorated the table with fabulous colors.

Birdies gifted each of my ladies with a pair of shoes. Talk about nice! Just for transparency for you all, I got my first pair of Birdies a few months ago (the black pair with little leopard tassles) and I have been wearing them non-stop. I literally have them on my feet right now at this little coffee shop in Santa Cruz as I'm typing this blog post. That being said, because I fell madly in love with their shoes we discussed doing a brunch for all my friends in their store. With my bachelorette party right around the corner we figured it'd be the perfect opportunity for our party. Birdies blew me away with how thoughtfully put together the brunch was! Seriously, I adore you Marisa (one of the amazing owners in the photo with me below).

My surprise flower crown perfectly matched my earrings!

Crown designed by Ampersand in San Francisco

A little about Birdies

They are two amazing moms who were sick of wearing flats that weren't comfy. They took some high fashion slides and their favorite slippers and combined the two for what I venture to say is the perfect slip-on shoe. The comfort is truly that of slipper, but unlike the horrible Ugg phenomenon of our youth, they look INCREDIBLE and you would NEVER KNOW IT WAS A SLIPPER! Truly. I mean until I said that you were just looking at our feet saying "wow, cute slide" weren't you? 

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A little about the guests

At this brunch, I had my bridesmaids- Savannah Labrant (sister and MOH), Madison Fisher, Marissa Mason, and Mackenzie Rylander (those three are my cousins), Rachel Richardson (Creative Director for this here blog you're reading and my bff), Liz Huett (incredible singer, check out her music video for H8U here... I'm in it!), and Lisa (my soon to be sister-in-law). Plus, some other amazing friends.... Melissa Richardson, Breana Taylor, Brianna Garcia a.k.a. Shop Tiki Girl, Rebecca Zamolo, Erin Maynard a.k.a. Storybook Cosmetics, and Trace Lehnhoff. 

 I felt loved, celebrated, and giddy all day. Thank you so much to all the friends I mentioned who helped make the weekend amazing (especially you Rach, as you did 99% of the helping haha!).

...and thank you SO much to Birdies for the immense amount of love you showed, the attention to details, and the INCREDIBLE SHOES!

With love,

Chantelle

Party Details

Hosted at Birdies Union Street Location

Photography by Shandru Photography (@shandruphotography)

Table Design by Table + Teaspoon (@tableandteaspoon)

Flower Crown by Ampersand SF (@ampersand_sf)

Chantelle's Dress by Show Me Your Mumu (get it here)

Chantelle's Shoes are The Wren by Birdies

How to: 

throw a Mad Hatter themed Baby Shower

a Guest Post by Rachel Brooks of 5 o' clock Sunday

Hello Everyone! I'm Rachel Brooks, a.k.a. Chantelle's partner in crime and the woman behind the camera most days at Bridge to Bohemia. Chantelle and I decided to try something a little different for this feature and have me step in to write about the wonderful experience that was my baby shower for my future daughter, Miss Lennon Leigh - a little lady who is due to make her appearance any day now! As I sit here reflecting on this day, I'm filled with so much appreciation for not only my friendship with Chantelle, but also her talent and creativity in putting together this day with my amazing little sister Melissa Leigh. I'm so lucky to have ladies in my life that went the extra mile to create a magical little wonderland for Lennon's special day. That said, I've broken down our day for you and the steps you can take to recreate a Mad Hatter tea party theme for yourself, your child, or some special lady you love. 

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1. Decor + Special Touches

In my opinion, the key to pulling of this theme is absolutely in the visual and personal details. Chantelle and Melissa (my sister) spent so much time and care in executing this theme. Luckily, they had a beautifully decorated home to utilize as our venue and all that left them with was how to transform this space in a little bit crazy, little bit whimsical tea party setting. Bring in an array of flowers, porcelain, and handmade animal masks and we felt like were truly sailing away into the shores of a children's storybook. 

Those Masks

I still can't get these headpieces off of my mind. When I first told Chantelle my theme idea, I pulled up a picture of these exact masks and said, ".... and then, what if everyone was wearing tea dresses but with these insane animal masks?" Never in my wildest dreams did I think they'd show up on our doorstep. The artist, Curious Fair, that creates these is from the UK and each mask is a one-of-a-kind creation. The detail and intricacy is unparalleled and that is coming from someone who spent a full semester in a sculptural hat making class. Let's just say that my work didn't turn out quite this good. Each mask is made entirely of feathers and we loved these whimsical creatures so much that we shot a mini bridal editorial with them (stay tuned for more to come on that). Check out more of work from Curious Fair on Etsy.

The Flowers

Leave it to Chantelle to be a closet DIYer. She ventured out of her neck of the woods to the San Francisco Flower Mart to create each of the floral arrangements herself. I loved that she chose to contrast the ornate femininity of the tea sets with leafy greens and a subtle palette of florals. The weightiness of the floral arrangements made it just the right amount of girlie for a recovering pink-a-phobe like myself. 

The Tea Set

In order to put together the perfect mismatching tea set we partnered with Wayfair and Teaware.house. Chantelle handpicked each the following pieces to build the beautifully eclectic combination you see above. Talk about talent and dedication! Good news, whether you are building a mismatching tea set to entertain, display, or simply throw a party she already did the hard work for you. Here is the full list of what she chose so you can recreate this bohemian look yourself:

RECIPE FOR THE PERFECT BOHEMIAN TEA SET

Tea Sets (1 of each of the following)

• Lark Manor Osterman Tea Set
• Kratz Porcelein Blue Tea Set

Tea Cups (2 of each of the following)

• Lark Manor Ilian Tea Cups

Tea Accessories (1 of each of the following)

• Paderno World Tea Strainer
• Stir It Up 2 Piece Spoon Set
• Hey Sugar 2 Piece Spoon Set

Cake Platters (1 of each of the following)

• Brayden Studio Slate Tiered Stand
• Stoneware Cake Plate

Dessert Plates (about 15 plates)

• Houser Dessert Plates

Asian inspired Tea Sets from Teaware.house (1 of each of the following)

• Golden Yellow Lotus Porcelain Tea Pots
• Golden Yellow Lotus Porcelain Rinsing Bowl
• Golden Yellow Lotus Tea Pitcher
• Golden Yellow Lotus Porcelain Gallum
• Minaret Blue Teapot
• Big Pig Tea Pot

Serving Trays (1 of each of the following)

• Serving tray by Chris Earl

The thing I didn't realize about Wayfair is that they have their own registry which is great for not only brides but mamas-to-be like me. I have purchased half of the stuff for Lennon's nursery from Wayfair, including her rocking chair and rugs, and wish I would have set up a registry earlier to help with some of the nursery decor! Set your own registry up here. Now let's see how the decor all looks all together...

The Special Touches

I mentioned before that Chantelle is a closet DIYer but did you guys also know that she also sews? I learned that fact while filming a YouTube DIY clutch tutorial last year. You see that cute little teepee that Smooch is claiming as his own? Well, Miss Chantelle Paige whipped that baby up herself. One of these days I'll have to ask her how exactly she did it but I will note that Coulter had a little part in picking the perfect beach wood to make it happen. I'm currently obsessed with these adorable little tents for kids that are quickly circulating the internet (customize your own here). These sweet personal touches like this industrial Lennon sign (from Target) and DIY teepee made the day feel intimate and incredibly special. I still cannot believe the amount of care that went in to planning this perfect day. 

2. FOOD  + Activities

My sister, seen laughing below, was our Director of Activities for the day. Not only did we drink tea (for me) and champagne (for the other ladies), eat tea sandwiches (Whole Foods caters some great options) but we played Jeopardy, opened gifts and shared some future Mommy words of wisdom. 

My favorite part of the day was that each woman wrote a handwritten message to Lennon and offered their advice for my future little girl. You can see candid moments from the day below, as well as Chantelle sharing her wishes.  

3. Dress Code

Another important part of this theme for a fashion addict like me was obviously the dress code. I love to play dress-up and wanted the ladies to feel free to go all out and dress the part! The dress code was listed as the following:

Come dressed in your best Tea Party Chic attire. You know that one dress in your closet that always feels a little "too much"? Well, throw it on with your pearls, fur, fascinators, embellished heels and gloves. Now is the time to fulfill all those little girl dress up dreams and come fit to tea with the Mad Hatter himself. I, personally, think my ladies went above and beyond with the dress code and became the best decorations of the day.

4. What We Wore

So what exactly did we where? See our styling details below. 

On Chantelle:

Owl Mask by Curious Fair

Hair and Makeup by Moni Sebestian

Dress by Talulah via Infinity Cr8tive 

On Rachel:

Crown by Curious Fair

Hair and Makeup by Moni Sebestian

Dress by Shoshanna via Rent the Runway

Embellished heels (similar here)

Vintage Jewelry was my Grandmother's for a personal touch 

5. Reflections

I was apprehensive to do a traditional baby shower because being the center of attention has never been my thing but ultimately I'm so happy I let them do this for me. They took all the best parts of bringing a new baby into the world and surrounded them in the most non-traditional, out of the box, fashionable theme I could ask for. There was so much love and warmth from the woman in my life and I wouldn't have had it any other way. The best part is that Lennon is coming into a strong, creative, supportive, diverse tribe of aunties and I cannot wait to see what she learns from each and every one of them. 

Thank you to Chantelle and Melissa for making this day happen and Breana Taylor for her photographing these wonderful moments. 

Alright, 

New Year, new me. 

Well, kind of.

It's officially the New Year and everyone is talking about health and fitness goals. Now, I've mentioned my love/hate relationship with working out in the past but I wanted to take this opportunity to clarify. There are some work-outs that I can't get enough of -- yoga, pilates, BodyROK to name a few -- and some that are best left to pretty much any one but myself -- cue running, biking, heavy weight lifting. I've learned enough about myself and my body over the years to know that as long as I get in a few days of yoga a week, maintain an active daily routine and eliminate the foods that cause me serious weight gain I can maintain a body I'm happy with. Does that mean that, like very woman, I have things I love and things I'd love to change? Absolutely! But, in general, I try to incorporate eating and lifestyle habits that are sustainable over time rather than follow every fad diet or work-out for as long as I lose interest. Goals aside, stay tuned to know one of my secrets to taking my healthy lifestyle to the next level in 2018.

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2018 Secret: A little extra MOTIVation.

I've been looking for a new fitness tracker for a while, but everything felt so bulky and hard to incorporate into my daily wardrobe. That's when I found the MOTIV ring fitness tracker. You see what I did there? A little extra MOTIVation. I'm in love with it. So much that I got one for Coulter as well and have been recommending them as gifts to my friends. It tracks my steps, heart rate, and sleep, plus did you notice that it doubles as a cute piece of jewelry? 

Shown in this look:

MOTIV Fitness Ring in Rose Gold

LIME & VINE Carah Short Sleeve Tee in Black 

LIME & VINE Selah Legging in Black

ALLBIRDS Wool Tennis Shoes

**Note: Some of these items are sold out so I've included my other favorites from these designers below!

Shop similar items below:

All photography by Rachel Brooks of 5 o'clock Sunday

As for my 2018 health and fitness goals. I'd like to eat healthier during the day and save my indulgences for dinners with my guy. I'm going to try and get back on track for my 2 to 3 day a week yoga habit. And finally, incorporate much more dog walking, slash that, general walking into my every day routine. I do have a wedding to prepare for! Don't forget to head over to www.mymotiv.com to pick up your own fitness ring. Use my CODE: Chantelle20 to get $20 off!

Hey look! I'm running...

Well, actually, walking quickly up the hill on our hike but who is counting... other than my MOTIV of course.

Shown in this look:

Alo Yoga Ideal Long-Sleeve Top • Alo Yoga • $98
Alo Yoga High Rise Moto Leggings • Alo Yoga • $114
ALO YOGA Lark Long Sleeve • Alo Yoga • $74
Wool Loungers • Allbirds • $95

Shop similar items below:

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What about you? What is your health or fitness goal?

Comment below and tell me what you are working on in 2018!

Kisses, Chantelle