Our Trip To California // Instagram Worthy Spots

Hey, Readers! Today’s post is all about Brody and I’s trip to California a few weeks ago. If you were following along on the ‘gram (@nickyschmaderer_fit), you’ve probably already seen some of the cool shots we were able to take! Our trip to California was definitely a business one but we still wanted to utilize the time we had alone as a small BabyMoon, as well. To be honest, we (okay, ME) are really bad at doing things sans Noelia. I just hate leaving her, even if its for a few hours! I know time apart is necessary for not only us but her, too….it is just hard on this Mama! Although our parenting hearts were hurting, we still were able to have a good trip together!

I was in a wedding the night before our flight left for California and I was exhaustedddd! When I say “I”,  I should really say “we” because Brody was there as well catering to the little flower girl, Noelia. Brody and I definitely had to power through but we prefer really early flights.

4am wake-up calls result in a covered face for this photo! A lot of you had questions on my fringe sandals so I linked them above! My bag is a Lily Jade Diaper bag that I use every time we travel. There are so many compartments and easy to clean. Definitely worth the splurge!

 

If you’ve been following along for quite sometime (and I mean wayyy before my Blogger days!) you probably remember that Brody and I took a Babymoon Trip to California when we were pregnant with Noelia. We were under 25 at the time, so we couldn’t even rent a car! We were just two freshly-married babies! We stayed in Santa Monica off Pico Boulevard and took the city bus system to get around. It was sketch at times but honestly we will never forget that experience! We decided to go back to Santa Monica for our stay since we loved it so much! Everything is so close and cute and LA is just a short drive away! We had a car this time around which made getting from A to B sooo much quicker but we will never forget those city bus memories!

 

Flashback to 2015. Look at those babies!! I was about 20 weeks pregnant with Noelia.

 

One of the very first things I do every trip is take pictures of the scenery. Anytime I get to be around palm trees is a good day!

I snapped this picture for VICI before heading out for some shopping! You can find the dress HERE. Make sure to use NICKY20 for 20% off your purchase! I am wearing a size Small and it fits the baby bump perfectly! There is so much stretch! This spot is actually funny…it is in front of the Days Inn Hotel in Santa Monica! I think most people would be surprised at the crazy spots I shoot at, WALMART included. It’s all about the vision of shot.

Funny story about the above picture. After we shot the VICI image we headed over to the 3rd Street Promenade to do some shopping. We stopped into Starbucks for a drink to warm up (it was cold and rainy this day) and Brody ran into some Nebraska Husker fans. The man can literally talk to a post about anything, but throw in NE football on top of it and Mama is stuck there for a few hours listening in. Haha okay, totally exaggerated that, but lets just say the man can chat!

 

The next day we headed to Santa Monica Pier to do some shots for a few companies. I was crazy to think that I stood in this exact same spot when I was pregnant with Noelia and now I was back pregnant with our second Baby Girl. We cannot wait to bring the girls back together and do a full-on DISNEY TRIPPPP!

Pregnant with Noelia

Pregnant with Baby Girl #2

I obviously was a little bit more posed this time around 😉 I had the pleasure of shooting for Lounge Swimwear! I posted the above image on my Instagram (@nickyschmaderer_fit) and I had a little bit to say about the changing pregnant body.

 

 

“Pregnancy can be challenging mentally as these babies grow in us and our bodies grow with them. Things change at a rapid rate and before you know it you are looking at yourself in the mirror wondering how in the world your belly got so big. But that growth is the greatest blessing and a blessing that only us women get to experience! I have never loved my body more than after I had Noelia. Becoming a Mama really does give you a new-found confidence and I am certain I will feel it again after this babe comes, too. Even though I felt like a Baby Shamu for a few minutes shooting this picture, I am proud of the body that gives me my babies!”

 

 

We did this shot for Cuts Clothing, a Men’s brand! I am wearing Brody’s shirt in it 😉 My caption on Instagram was “Feelin’ thicccccker than a Snicker!!”

 

We went onto the Pier to ride on the famous Santa Monica Pier Ferris Wheel. We snapped these pictures just for fun right before. It would have been cuter if we got one of Brody holding my hand, too!

 

 

You cant come to California and not eat at In-N-Out! That place is like crack! I am surprised we only had it twice! I wasn’t planning on doing a blog post round-up so I apologize I didn’t snap pictures of all of our must-try restaurants! I didn’t even think of it! I will say that Brody and I try our best not to eat-out as much on trips. We are so used to eating 6 small meals a day that when we go off track too much it messes us uppppp! We literally ate at IHOP one night because I missed just having egg whites and toast, ha! Can you say boriiiiiing, but that is just us. We usually eat a good breakfast at the hotel in the mornings, pack a mid morning snack, and then have a late lunch and late dinner out. I will be honest, though. One of the nights I was so exhausted from shooting and exploring all I wanted to do was go back to the hotel to kick my feet up. Remind you, I was 32 weeks pregnant! Brody, of course, agreed to doing so and we got frozen Lean Cuisine pizza’s to pop into the hotel microwave for dinner from Target. I mean whatttt, who does that?!! US! We are only foodies to an extent 😉

 

The next day I want to venture to Melrose Avenue. We have never been there before and I heard from other bloggers that there are some amazing photo spots there. We walked by Fig & Olive, a cute lunch spot, and I about DIED! The place is so cute! Since the menu was a liiiiitle bit on the pricey side, we decided to keep walking and then we ran into this charming spot you see below. I mean,  A DREAM!! I could have shot like 5 outfits here if I really wanted to!

This shot was for YMI jeans

We stopped into Alfred Tea before leaving Melrose. Such a cute little spot!

 

I have always wanted to stop and see the Beverly Hills Hotel so we drove over to Beverly Hills to check it out! The property is gorgeous and I am sad I didn’t get many pictures of it! The shot below was taken on their property. What was funny is that 3 other groups of girls were doing the same thing as us! Banking some photos! I felt so normal in California when it came to shooting content. In Omaha people look at us like we are crazy when they see us shooting on the street or by certain stores. It is just so “foreign” in Nebraska I guess to be an influencer. Plus gorgeous picture spots like these are few and far between!

 

And then a little Rodeo Drive shopping 😉 I may have hopped into the Louis Vuitton store but of course left empty handed, ha!

 

 

Back to the beach for some more Baby Bump shots! Like I said above, being extremely pregnant in a bikini can be daunting but staying true to my personal style is really important to me. What kind of a blogger/influencer would I be if I didn’t?! Plus, it makes the pregnancy journey a whole lot easier in my opinion! I may not feel up to dressing up or wearing certain things every day, but I feel so much better when I do.

The hottest Baby Daddy there ever was!

 

Thank you all for reading this post! Apologies for not being super thorough on places we ate, etc. I will do better at that next time we travel! What are you favorite places to travel to in California? I would love to hear!

 

Are you an avid Pinner?! It would mean the world to me if you could pin this image below!

Checkout our first Vlog on my Youtube!

Be sure to give it a “LIKE” and Subscribe to my channel if you like my videos! This Vlog was our first one and its super short and sweet! We weren’t planning on filming much and a life event that happened while were away really dampened our spirits (post to come on this). We hope you still enjoy my silly rants and the pretty scenery!