Welcome to Miranda in Charlotte! If you’re looking at the pictures and think my name is Mandie, not Miranda, you’re right! It’s been very confusing going by two names my whole life…you can read why HERE!
I have many loves.
Especially for a girl who doesn’t particularly throw that word around lightly. I love my HUGE and CRAZY family, which includes all two of my grandparents still, 37 aunts and uncles, and 40 first cousins. I couldn’t love the Queen City more if I tried, and I consider myself a sort-of native. What’s that you ask? Well, I was conceived in Charlotte (somewhere off South Blvd lol), but my mom’s company moved her job to Kansas right before she gave birth to me, so I was born there, but came back to CLT when I was a toddler.
And have been here ever since, minus my years at Appalachian State University! That’s where I met my husband as a matter of fact, while I was dancing on the top of a coffee table to The Thong Song…classy, I know. Just wait til I share that story on the blog! But since I seemed like *such* a great catch, he proposed to me in front of more than 8,000 people during graduation, and we’ve been married for almost 16 years!
We’ve since had two daughters, Isabella who is 14, and Lillian who is 11, and we better never hear they are dancing on top of anything 😉 We tried living in a house in the ‘burbs for a few years and decided it wasn’t our scene at all, so we moved to a two bedroom condo uptown four years ago! We absolutely LOVED it, but decided to build a house two years on some land next to the house I grew up in! Read all about the reason why HERE!
I’ve had a ton of random jobs, from selling dumpsters, to being a traffic reporter (no, I’ve never ridden in a helicopter), and I’m still trying to figure out what I’m going to be when I grow up! But, in the meantime, whilst developing this blog, I’ve been a nanny, tutor, sleep trainer, cheerleading coach, and brand manager for Bonita Pina! So I’m going to try to be a writer/famous blogger/internet superstar for the time being. People often remark that I should have a reality show, so this is my spot to unleash some of the crazy.
So why a blog?! Well, I feel like EVERY SINGLE DAY, I’m asked some sort of question that starts like this, “You seem to know EVERYTHING there is to know about Charlotte, so can you tell me ________ (insert question)?!” So I figured, why not have a space dedicated to those questions/answers, that I can simply direct people to, instead of answering them individually each time. I will focus on the things I do most…decorating spaces (for friends/family and sometimes myself), baking/cooking tips and tricks (more baking than cooking obvi), parenting advice (otherwise known as the Internet death trap), and things to do in Charlotte and other places such as (please tell me you get the “other places such as” reference, as you are clearly my people)!
I also rant, A LOT. If you follow me on Instagram (and why aren’t you BTW? Click HERE and press follow), you know my carpool confessions are full of ranting 🙂 I try to be funny about it, as sarcasm is my most used language, but sometimes things just need to be SAID, yall. And I guess I’m going to be the one to say them?!!! Just know I never aim to be cruel, and read my words as if I am your friend, because I am (even if we don’t know each other)! 😉
I’ve also decided to have a frequently asked questions portion below, since I get these all of the time for some reason!!!
- Why is your hair purple, and how do you get it purple?
Well, it’s purple because I love the color, purple, and because I like to be different! I also think it looks pretty on me, and it’s the only thing I do beauty-wise that makes me feel like I treat myself! It’s not easy though, as I’m a natural dark brown, so I have to bleach my hair for 2 1/2 hours to get it to yellow, and then white. Only then can we put the purple dye on my hair, and then there’s the cut and blowout. It takes around four hours to get done every 6-7 weeks, and during that time, I hardly ever get to wash my hair (in order for the color to stay). So if you’re wanting to do the same (have fashion color hair), just know that it will fade QUICKLY if you wash it. My hair has been all shades of pink and blue as well!
- What’s your favorite drink?
Water with limes (room temp please). Wine? Pinot Grigio. Liquor? Fireball shots. Cocktail? Vodka soda splash of pineapple juice with a lime. If I’m at my favorite nail salon? Bahama Mama. Coffee? I don’t drink it much (maybe a couple of times a year), but if so, I like almond joy creamer! I gave up alcohol for 2017 (worth a whole blog post to tell you why…standby for that), so I got really good at making mocktails!!!
- How do you know everyone?
Easy. I’ve lived in Charlotte almost my whole life, and come from a huge family. That makes me connected to half of Charlotte right there. Then I worked in television and radio for a few years, so that enabled me to meet and be exposed to a ton of people. Add the fact that I owned a cake business for almost a decade, and my customers were from all over! So at this point, I know, or am one degree of separation from, each person in the QC! Hence the reason why I go by #MayorMiranda to many of my friends!
- Why are you so short?
I don’t know! Both of my parents are tall-ish! And the doctor thought I’d be tall, but then I started gymnastics and stunted my growth. No, seriously. The month after I quit gymnastics, I grew four inches, and actually ripped the cartilage in my knee off of my bones, and was in a cast from ankle to hip. It’s something called Oshgood Schlaughter’s Disease. I also got my period and started to grow boobs, so you could say my body was making up for lost time. Also, is that TMI? Oh well, my blog; my Too Much Information (new tagline?!)
- What do you do in your free time?
It goes without saying, I love to hang with my family and friends. But if they all said, “girl, go do you,” I would spend it 100% of the time puzzling. Like, jigsaw. The bigger, the better (that’s what she said)! When my kids are off, chasing their dreams, and Joshua is out running his millions of miles (he’s a marathoner for funsies), I will be doing puzzles. They are so cathartic to me, and the instant gratification one gets when putting in a piece, cannot be undervalued IMHO. Puzzles are simply the most relaxing thing I could do.
Needless to say, THANK YOU FOR BEING HERE! My little corner of the internet is happy to have you, so let’s have some fun, shall we?!