Friday Favorites

Random Things I'm Loving Right Now!

Vintage Letter Lights

If you were wondering what to get us for Christmas.. wonder no longer! Maybe someday I'll be able to talk myself in to spending that kind of moolah on a fun decorating item. 

 

Orange Is the New Black

I'm a little bit behind on this because once something REALLY blows up, it makes me kind of think ehhhhhhhhhhhhh. I eventually ran out of shows though and decided to give it a try. ( Kyle and I have some shows that we reserve to watch with each other and then we, okay mostly me, have some shows that we have the okay to watch by ourselves). I have to admit that it took me a couple of episodes (and I'm not sure that I made it through a single whole episode without closing my eyes at least once) to really get in to it. There is a whole lot of graphic sex scenes/ scenarios that just really aren't my thing. Everyone knows ( and makes fun of me for the fact that) I'm a big baby about that kind of stuff. It just doesn't do anything for me in a TV show. I like interesting story lines and witty dialogue versus shock value.

Overall, I really enjoyed this first season and will definitely watch the next one. So far there hasn't been a netflix original show that I haven't enjoyed and don't plan to continue watching ( see also: House of Cards)

Allegiant

 

This is the third and final chapter of the Divergent series and so far I'm loving it! Let's be real here... I love some good, easy-to-read, young adult dystopian fiction. YA is the ultimate de-stresser for me.  This is the last one out of the several different series that I started reading a couple of years ago when I got really in to YA dystopian novels. I really enjoy that they are so predictable. You want the movie ending to be happy, ya know?!?

Seeing How Much the Kitties Missed Kyle

 

If you combine Danger + Mayhem, Kyle is definitely the favorite. Mayhem is pretty equal (although he used to favor me), but Danger definitely prefers Kyle. She  has slept on my side of the bed a couple of times since we've been home though so maybe she's coming around!

So there you have it! Some Friday favorites! I'm trying to blog more regularly again now that the wedding is over so let me know what random entries you enjoy and think I should continue!

Honeymooning

Kyle and I decided to use our honeymoon to visit a part of the country that has been on both of our bucket lists for quite some time....the pacific northwest!

On Monday morning we flew in early to Seattle, where we grabbed a rental car and roadtripped it to about two hours north to the small town of Lynden, WA. This was our home base for the week (Thanks Tom for letting us use your timeshare hookup!)

We spent Monday evening just getting our bearings and getting settled. On Tuesday morning we decided to drive in to the larger town close by....Bellingham. This was surprisingly the only day it rained on us!

We walked around town a bit and eventually found a beautiful park that came complete with waterfalls!

Those who are close to me know that apples are one of my most favorite foods ever so you know that we had to find an orchard ASAP!  They were some of the BEST apples I have ever had. I probably should just order apples straight from orchards in the fall and have them shipped!

 

On Wednesday we decided to drive up to Vancouver, BC. It was a pretty easy hour and a half drive. We got an awesome deal on a downtown hotel.

 

 This was our view from the 29th floor!

We spent the majority of the day wondering the city. Vancouver had just enough of an international feel without the culture shock I have experienced in other countries! On Thursday, we explored a bit more before heading back to Washington. For the whole week, we used Yelp to help us pick food and site seeing destinations! We found a delightful french restaurant for brunch on Thursday morning. I had a bit of food anxiety because the menu was mostly in French and when you have a severe food allergy like me...You get worried! I couldn't even use my phone to look things up because I didn't want to pay the outrageous international data charges! ( We didn't need it enough to buy a plan). Luckily I could recognize enough to order what I thought would be pretty safe..a delicious skillet with rib meat, potatoes and eggs. It was amazing!

 Since we were a little late for whale season, we decided to go to the aquarium!

 While we were admiring the beluga whales...These two little girls walked up to the glass and held hands while singing " Baby Beluga...live wild and free..." at the top of their lungs. I was pretty sure my heart was going to explode from all of the cuteness.

If you ever venture up to Vancouver, I highly recommend you check out Stanley Park. This is where the aquarium was located but is also a GORGEOUS park with amazing views of the bay and the downtown landscape. I was too busy admiring with my eyes that I forgot to take a picture. Oops!

We headed home Thursday evening to rest and get ready for our next adventure, San Juan Island!

It was about an hour drive down to catch the ferry on Friday morning. The San Juan Islands include a few islands, but because we were limited in time, we chose to go to just one. The ferry was a gorgeous ride!

We wore our "play clothes" and grabbed some snacks in order to enjoy a full nature day.

 We didn't see any whales but we did see quite a few seals! San Juan Island was honestly one of the most beautiful places that I have ever been to.

 

 On Saturday we drove back to Seattle to explore before we flew out on Sunday.

 We visited all of the tourist spots ( Pike's Place Market, Space Needle, etc.). It was unfortunate that it was a Saturday and a mad house every where we went! I loved the vibe of Seattle though. It was really fun to explore!

I have to admit that a honeymoon that relied on a lot of teamwork was a nice test for the beginning of our marriage.  We had to do a lot of communicating to figure out specific plans and figure out how to drive ourselves around unfamiliar cities (especially when we didn't have our phones in Canada!). Kyle has always given me a hard time about my lack of map reading abilities but I think I was doing pretty awesome by the end of the trip. I like to use the "follow your instinct" method. It's genetic. ( Wink, wink mom!)

I'm really excited to be home again and back into our normal routine. There haven't been any major adjustments in our daily life since getting married but there is something special about being an official family. I feel like this is the beginning of this next major part in our lives and I'm so excited to experience it with my best friend!

 

Been A Long Time...Shouldn't Have Left You

Without a dope beat to step to. Anyone?!?

Welcome back to me! Now that things have slowed down a bit around here, I thought I'd get back to this little love of mine. 

We did it folks. We are MARRIED.

 

Everyone talks about how fast it goes and they are so right. A lot of parts about that day/night are blurry. What's not blurry though is how appreciative we are of both of our families and amazing wedding party/best friends.

Thank you to our wonderful best friends for being the best people ever. We love you guys.

And we really could not have made it happen without the support of our fantastic families! I've heard horror stories about families not getting along, let alone working together seamlessly on the wedding! Kyle and I are incredibly lucky to come from such fantastic loving families. I'm so pumped to be a part of Kyle's and he feels the same way.

I don't feel like we even got to talk to everyone that we wanted to at the wedding, but please know that we are so grateful for your presence! I can't wait to get the photographers' pictures back. I know they will be incredible.

Now Kyle and I are excited to start our (much calmer) married life. Thanks to all of you we had a fantastic honeymoon. I'll be recapping the trip later this week!!!