Hello, and thanks for stopping by.

A little about me:

My name is Whitney and I live just outside of Seattle.

I am married!...

...to the most patient, happy, "double smart" (as my grandma calls him) sports and gangster-rap loving man I've ever met [you can see our wedding video here]. His name is Raz—short for Razvan—and he moved here from Romania with his parents when he was nine. He makes me smile every day. 

We call each other "bro." Mostly because Sammi and Ronnie did on Jersey Shore and partially because we think it's so much funnier than "honey" or "babe." Oh, and because of our first picture together. He was serious. And I still married him.

We adopted our first fur baby, Prima, about five years ago. Prima was Raz's first real experience as a pet parent, my 10th or so—if we're counting only mammals larger than a pound. Prima is crazy and wakes us up every morning at approximately 5:47 a.m. We love her anyway, because we get to steal little moments like this.

A year after we brought Prima home, she made it very clear she wanted a brother. So we got her one. Harrison James Popa.

Like any little brother, he farts too much and needs love pretty aggressively, but he makes love easy to give. Prima sends him to do her dirty work now, and he wakes us up about 5:46 a.m. by turning his motor on and side-falling onto our faces. Our hearts swell every time they spoon. 

We found out we were expecting a real human baby fall 2016. It was crazy and weird and exciting and terrifying, and in May of 2017, Oliver Douglas Popa joined our little circus of a family.

You can read more about our journey to make him here and his birth story here.

In October of 2018, we found out we were expecting our second babe. It was a little bit of a surprise, although not completely unexpected. Because I knew how much it was going to change everything, I HAD to know what I was getting early—and start planning for her. You can read more about all that here. Baby Bianca was born three days before ODP’s second birthday and had a slightly extended stay in the hospital. Everything’s all good, but we did had to nag and beg and plead to get out on time for ODP’s day. You can read more about all of that here.

I spent my high school and college years in Idaho. Most of my family lives in the wide open spaces of Eastern Washington and Northern Idaho. They'd probably disagree, but I know I'm at least half country girl.

When I was 23, my dad was diagnosed with brain cancer. After a dually stubborn and gracious battle, he died a little over two years later. Those years taught me more than any that preceded them. Much of it was awful and unfair, and I ache for him every day. You'll see little odes to him crop up in a lot of my posts. He will always be my North Star. He told me to never lose my writing.

For a while, I did social media and PR for Nordstrom Rack. It was awesome and I learned a ton. 

Then I Facebooked, Tweeted, Instagramed, Pinned, Vined, Periscoped and did all the social things for ChefSteps, the coolest little cooking company headquartered under Pike Place. After that, I did all things digital for Gene Juarez, the biggest salon and spa chain in the PNW. And, yes, the hair products were very exciting! Now, I've retired from commuting and am doing social media and PR consulting for a handful of very cool companies, which lets me hang out with ODP and Baby B as much as I want to. Becoming a consultant has been a goal of mine for a long time, and I'm grateful it's finally become a reality! 

This blog is where I get to explore the things I love after hours. It's a little random and all over, kind of like I am. Let's see where it takes us, shall we? I'm honored and humbled you're here.

Questions, comments, need me to write a house love letter for you, or just want to tell me about your favorite new mascara (I'm always looking)? Email me: whitneytbnd@gmail.com.