Brittany is a hobby-enthusiast mom of two girls who loves opinions, Uber Eats and the beach! She also organizes the best play dates around!
Where are you from originally?
I’ve moved around a lot, but spent the majority of my life in a city called Redding in Northern California.
How long have you lived in Costa Mesa or Newport Beach? How many kids do you have and what are their age(s)?
I moved to Huntington Beach when I was 21 and then to the Newport-Mesa area when I was 24, so 7 years now. I have 2 daughters, ages 5 and 6. They are only 14 months apart. Didn’t exactly plan it that way… breast feeding is not a natural birth control. I’m sure many of you already know that. I was hoping to have them about 2 years apart but what the hey… they are best friends now so I can look past those rough, first couple of years.
What are your favorite things to do with your kids in general or in town?
Well, since we live by the beach, that is our number one go-to, and luckily we live in a town that is beach-friendly about 10 months out of the year. We are there a lot. Both of my girls just learned how to ride their bikes so we’ve been trying out new places to ride like the Back Bay or Fairview Park. When at home, we enjoy singing karaoke, drawing (my girls could draw all day), and rollie-pollie hunting. Yep, we have an actual tank that we put rollie-pollies in that we find around the yard.
What’s your favorite restaurant in town for a family date? A night out with friends? Why?
We are actually more of an Uber Eats family. Since weekdays are crazy busy as well as most weekends, we enjoy staying and eating at home since that is the one time I can count on for us to get together and all talk about our day. We love Five Guys, Pho Lantern Café (oh my gosh their spring rolls), Nguyen’s Kitchen, and Jan’s Health Bar (you have to try their broccoli cheddar soup). On the rare occasion we leave the house to eat, the kids enjoy Ruby’s Diner, Spaghetti Factory, and IHOP (because I could eat breakfast food all day long).
What is your favorite kid-friendly recipe?
Lay’s Potato Chips chicken nuggets. You cut chicken breast into cubes, throw some mayo on it to get them a little sticky, and then shake them in a bag of crushed lays chips. Bake at 350 degrees for 45 minutes, flipping halfway through. The girls like to dip theirs in BBQ sauce mixed with ranch. I like mine with some buffalo sauce mixed with ranch.
What is your local go-to store for children’s clothes? Furniture? Yourself?
Big fan of H&M kid’s section. They’ve got great deals and it’s cute and comfy… can’t go wrong. Plus, every now and then you can find something for yourself in there. Also Nordstrom Rack is a great place to shop for the whole family…especially for shoes. I also just discovered not too long ago that Ikea babysits kids while you shop, so that’s a fun place to go to for random house supplies, and the kids love it so it’s a win-win.
What are your favorite events in Costa Mesa or Newport Beach?
We love Roger’s Garden around the Holidays. They always go all out with whatever Holiday it is whether its crafts, or visiting the Easter Bunny, or just looking at all the fun ornaments around Christmas time. We also cannot go a year without watching the Christmas Boat Parade.
What has been the most difficult age with your children to date? What helped you overcome the challenges at that time?
I would say the time my oldest was three and my youngest was two was definitely the hardest year for me. There were attitudes flying everywhere since there was a lot of adjustments going on from taking away binkies, to potty training, to eating vegetables, getting them used to sleeping in “big-girl” beds in the same room together, etc. Everything was a battle and I was exhausted.
What is one piece of advice you would pass along to other moms?
This too shall pass. Seriously… when you’re deep in the moment of the craziness that comes with babies or toddlers it’s hard to see the other side of it. But I have survived and am loving the ages they are at now.
What do you most value in your friends?
Opinions. I love getting peoples opinions on anything and everything, even if it is the opposite of mine. Opposite opinions can actually be enlightening a lot of the time and there’s been so many times when life has tested me on something I thought I knew for certain but then of course I didn’t. So another piece of advice just from my own experience is to be open to opinions because you never know what you can learn from them.
What was your career before having children? If it’s the same, how do you balance career & motherhood?
I was in the restaurant industry in the early twenties until I got pregnant with my first, and then I helped my husband and his family start a vacation rental management company on the peninsula called Beachview Reality. I was in charge of all the linens for the first few years while the girls were young. I would take them with me to the warehouse and they had their own little play room that they loved hanging out in. Now I’m attending OCC for my Preschool certificate and am planning on opening my own at-home preschool in a couple years.
What are some of your favorite hobbies?
I’m actually quite the hobby enthusiast. I’ll get really into something, obsess over it for a month, and then move on to the next thing. In the past couple of years a few of the things I’ve enjoyed is paper bead making, dream catchers, embroidery, tie dying, Zumba, anything exercise related, piano (self taught and only learned a couple songs I already forgot), and jewelry making.
Thanks Brittany!