DIY – Homemade Valentine’s

| The Bee Life

It’s February! That mean’s a month all about L-O-V-E! And I have a really affordable DIY to share with you that is easy to make, beautiful, and completely personalized Valentines for all your favorite people.
DIY - Valentines - the bee lifeWhat You’ll Need:
– Craft/Scrapbook paper; think patterns, pinks, reds and hearts!
– Scissors, glue stick, hole-punch
– Markers
– Ribbon
– Stickers; stick to metallics, hearts and letters! (optional)
– Photos (optional)

Step 1: Gather all your goodies to create your Valentine’s; once you’ve got all your goodies and figured out who you want to make a card for – it’s time to start making!

Step 2: Pick out your papers, and determine your shape – obviously a heart is a good go-to, if you’re afraid to freehand the cut find a template online or trace on paper before. You’ll want to cut two of your papers so you can have a front and back – these can be the same or mix and match! It’s OK if it’s not perfect, because it’s handmade!! Once you’ve got your shape cut, glue the front and back together.  An optional add; is to hole punch around the perimeter of the heart and then weave ribbon in and out of the holes.

Step 3: Start to Personalize! Add your pictures; stickers and write a sweet note to your honey or bestie… and wah-la! You’ve got a personal, one of a kind Valentine for that special someone.
DIY - Valentines - the bee life (2)Since I am an avid scrapbooker, I had a lot of these supplies in-house stocked away. But scrapbook paper is usually on sale for 7 for $1; ribbon is around $3.99 a roll, stickers can add up if you buy a bunch; but finding some that can be used as accents won’t break the bank.  Not to mention you can always find a great coupon to help. If you stock up now, you’ll have a mini stockpile ready for next year, woo!

Happy Crafting!

Homechef – French Onion Chicken

| The Bee Life

As I mentioned in my Latest Obsessions – we’ve been loving our Homechef weekly delivered meals.  I admittedly haven’t made all of the recipes we’ve received, because B is awesome! But one meal I have made was the French Onion Chicken.  I followed all the instructions, set off the smoke detector, but it still came out delicious, not to mention it was super easy following the step-by-step directions!
Homechef - French Onion Chicken
The French Onion Chicken has a reasonable prep and cook time of 25-35 minutes, and was easy to accomplish on a week night after a full day of work.  One of the main reasons we love Homechef so much is the additional ingredients provided that bring the flavor level up a notch. This was accomplished with the caramelizing of the onions using thyme and sherry wine in the process, such a game changer!  These added flavor ingredients, are also portioned perfectly so there is no waste or left over thyme/greens to sit in the fridge.  How many times have we bought a whole container of basil or cilantro when we only need a quarter of the pack?!

Get the full recipe here: Homechef – French Onion Chicken

Every time we bite into a new Homechef meal, we groan a little and rave just how delicious it is! We haven’t had a bad meal yet, and love the convenience of having meals delivered straight to our door, allowing us to plan ahead for the week!  Do you use a home delivery meal service? Leave a comment below and share what you absolutely love about it!!

4 Ways to Beat the Winter Blues

| The Bee Life

Staying busy and active in the winter months always seems much tougher than the warm summer months!  Here are a few winter activities that we’ve taken advantage of or have in the books, it’s helped us from going stir crazy, while keeping us active both mentally, physically and socially.
4 Ways to Beat Winter Blues - the bee life
Bowling. This is fun with a group of friends, for an early afternoon or evening!  Make it competitive with different stances or rules for each frame or split up teams boys vs. girls for some extra fun! Not to mention, have you seen bowling alleys lately? There are some fancy AF places that are so trendy to visit with full arcades, too!

Visit a Museum. We don’t nearly take advantage of the museums in our vicinity – it’s a rare occurrence, maybe a yearly event, we need to explore them more! We visited our Art Museum a few weeks ago to attend a special Jazz – Roaring 20’s Exhibit and it was awesome – not to mention the museum is completely beautiful, I feel like you could get lost wandering for hours, not to mention museums are free!

Find a Spin Class. This is on my list of to-do’s and activities to get back into! Although around here there are either gyms with spin classes or spin studios, both of which make you commit to a membership or multiple classes, and I haven’t found a dedicated spin studio I’m ready to commit to just yet.

Wine & Paint Class. This could be a fun date night or even a group activity with friends or the girls – these classes are becoming more and more original with ideas like Paint Your Pet!  We planned a double date for a Sunday afternoon to paint our pets, because we love our pooches, plus we can bring our own bubbles! Sunday Funday!

It’s easy to stay cozied up on the weekends, watching TV or vegging out – trust me, we definitely do it! But it’s important to take advantage of some fun activities that you might not want to do as much when it’s warm and sunny outside.

Here’s to some winter fun!

Latest Obsessions 01.18

| The Bee Life

It’s a new year, but I’m still obsessing and plan to share all my latest obsessions every month with all you beautiful people – and I want to hear what you’re obsessing about too!  This months obsessions range from simple home improvements and upgrades to trying new things and fighting the post-holiday blues!
Latest Obsessions 01.18 - the bee life
Organizing. I love being organized in general, but I’ve been on a kick purging and organizing throughout the house. It’s been so great to clean out the pantry, fridge and freezer, we’ve even been tackling guest room closets and adding shelves, getting plastic bins, labeling and just throwing crap out – it’s been great.

H&M Pillow Covers. So before the holidays I stumbled upon pillow covers from H&M… can you say game changer? I excessively buy unneeded pillows, and have been wanting to find some ways to update our living room without buying all new. Moral of the story, the H&M pillow covers are affordable, come in a variety of styles and are perfect for a mini-room makeover without blowing a budget!

Home Chef. We received a gift to try out this home food delivery service for Christmas! We’ve had three meals so far, and the shear fact that we don’t have to worry about what’s for dinner and meals are portioned out perfectly has made for some easy, yet super flavorful meals this year. I’ll be sharing more about Home Chef in another post, soon!

The Crown. We finally started season 2, and it’s SO good. Obsessed with Princess Margaret, indifferent about the Queen (but love Claire Foy), don’t like Charles and love the mini history lessons! I’ll be sad for season 2 to end, and see Claire Foy and cast transform… but love the premise, fashion, style and drama of it all!

What keeps you busy during these colder months? Any other must-see Netflix and Chills we should be watching?

 

Image Sources: Top Left | Top Right | Bottom Left | Bottom Right

Fitness Friday 01.18

| The Bee Life

Happy first Fitness Friday of 2018!

If you’re new to a Bee Life Fitness Friday, welcome! I like to share these FF posts every month to check-in, provide motivation or tips, to any of you working towards goals, share my struggles and triumphs, and new ways I’m achieving my goals. One of my goals for 2018 is to maintain all of the awesome progress I finally made this past year!
Fitness Friday 01.18 - the bee life
It can often be overwhelming to have goals that seem impossible – but let me tell you, nothing is impossible.  The key in achieving your goals is to have a plan, but also know you can be flexible with your plan.  Are you going to follow a running training program? Going to join a cycle studio for classes? Or other fitness classes?  Have an exercise plan, make the commitment, and have a goal of number of days you plan to go and plan your week around those classes, runs, or workout sessions.

The next step in making sure your plan is set-up for success is having a nutritional game plan. And this does not mean an extreme diet or something that isn’t achievable with your lifestyle.  Meal prep, switching out soda for water, adding in more veggies to your diet, eating a salad twice a week  – taking smaller steps to work towards progress is the best way to start.  Trying to completely change the way you eat on day one will only be harder, everything in moderation!

It’s matching these two pieces – exercise and nutrition and continuing to refine, and push yourself that will truly allow you to reach your fitness goals and become the best version of yourself!

Tips for Creating Your Wedding Registry

| The Bee Life

Since we are in the prime of engagement season, a lot of you newly engaged ladies and gents will be looking to start creating your wedding registries! This is a super intimidating process, regardless if you’re needing everything new or looking to upgrade existing pieces.  So here are some tips I recently learned creating my own registries, and some tricks I learned after, to help you create your dream registry!
Wedding Registry Tips - the bee life
Tip #1: Take A Walk Either through your house/apartment and make a check-list for each area and start creating your wish list of things you want/need!  Since everything is digital now, I also recommend going to the store, especially if you can’t decide between two stores.  Seeing, touching and comparing products will help make a decision and then no surprises when you receive gifts.

Tip #2: Use Starter Guides/Check-Lists These are pre-populated lists made by your Registries and they’re life savors, more and more sites are creating these.  It wasn’t until I’d already created two of our registries that I found Zola and their check list.  It was a game changer! The checklist allowed me to think of things I needed, ideas for pieces to upgrade, and filter out things that weren’t that important for us!

Tip #3: Star Your Most Wanted Obviously everything is a most wanted item, but reality check, not everyone is going to buy off your registry, and if they do – make sure you get your priority items first! I regretted not doing this sooner, as I ended up returning items in place of ones we needed more.

Tip #4: Take Your Time Since this can be a bit overwhelming, don’t feel like you need to do this all in one day or one weekend, start early, browse, shop, and add as you go and think of things.  You really just want everything final about a month before your first major wedding event (people are last minute shoppers!)

Tip #5: Put a Cap on It After you have your list created you’ll quickly find out what your priority items are, so limit the number of registries you create! This will be a life savor for you and your guests.

Tip #6: Use Zola The part I love most about Zola is the behind the scenes interface for brides/grooms, not only do they have a wide variety of products and brands, on top of money funds that you can create, they also make returns, shipping, exchanging, SUPER EASY AND you can be really secretive about it so you don’t hurt anyones feelings! Their app is easy to use and their customer service is great!

Tip #7: Link to Wedding Website Be sure to link your registries with your wedding website! This will be helpful especially if you plan on using your wedding website URL on all the various invites and serves as one central place for your guests.

Tip #8: Download the App! A lot of the apps for registries make it easy to shop, check-in and have built-in scanners for shopping in stores.  It can also allow you to check-in on pieces that might become out of stock or discontinued (because that happens more than you’d think!)

We had three registries; Target was a no brainer for me just based on shear convenience for myself and guests, Pottery Barn was mainly used for new dishes and few other fun pieces, and Zola was the catch-all but mainly all my dreamy Kate Spade pieces and other fun and functional pieces.  This is one of the fun parts about getting married, so don’t stress, add as you think of things, and get ready for a lot of awesome new stuff!

Happy Shopping!

My 2018 Goals

| The Bee Life

It’s that time of the (new) year again! Time to check-in with our 2017 goals, see where were netted out and set goals for the coming year.  I kicked my 2017 goals’ asses, every single one of them – so figuring out goals for this coming year was a little tricky, especially since I want to continue to challenge myself yet make achievable goals.
2018 Goals - the bee life
Maintain my fitness routine.  I finally reached and exceeded goals this past year, so now I need to maintain and continue to become my best self! I feel so good and confident with myself, I want to maintain that feeling – I want to maintain this through my bootcamp classes and running a few races, maybe another half?

Travel out of the country. And get a passport! Yup. Never had one, need to get one so we can start crossing off bucket list trips. In addition to <hopefully> traveling out of the country, we’d like to explore some more/new cities.

Listen more. I often find myself being distracted with my surroundings or my own thoughts in my head – making a conscious effort to listen more, engage and remember conversations is definitely something I need to work on.  This includes shutting down digitally!

Get out. Of the house! Go to local events, take a road trip, learn new things, visit friends, go to concerts and games, takes classes, go out dancing… have new experiences!

These are just the starting points for my 2018 goals as I’ll continue to reflect and challenge myself this year. One of the keys of having a successful year, is not only reflecting on your goals, but writing them down!

Cheers to another year of new possibilities!

2017 Recap

| The Bee Life

I thought 2016 was epic… but 2017 was pretty epic, too! Especially since WE GOT MARRIED! On top of getting married we went on four amazing trips, celebrated four other weddings for dear friends, conquered some house projects, got my butt into gear with my health, and created a ton of other awesome memories!
2017 - Recap - the bee life
This whole year seemed like a constant celebration for our wedding, or our dear friends weddings from bridal showers to bachelorette parties to planning for all the events, let alone the big day.  Every time we saw family or friends, dinners and happy hours turned into wedding planning filled with laughs and good company.

We traveled to DC, Myrtle Beach, St. Louis/Ozarks, and Palm Desert – all of these being firsts together and perfect getaways from all the wedding crazy filled with more family fun. We are so fortunate to be able to travel like we do, and can’t wait for all our future trips together.

We have been so blessed this entire year and I can’t believe it’s nearly over!

Happy New Year!

Champagne Cocktails for NYE

| The Bee Life

We are in the final countdown of days for 2016 so that means it’s time to start planning for your last night of the year.  And in my opinion, every occasion is an occasion for champagne, although some occasions call for a little more expensive champagne than others.  But there is always one occasion that demands champagne and that is New Year’s Eve!  I love champagne straight, all day long, but found some fun, easy cocktails to try for your NYE celebration for those who might want a little more “umph” to get the party started.
Champagne Cocktails - NYE - the bee life

Pomegranate Cranberry Champagne Punch – This cocktail will be tasty for everyone, and requires minimal ingredients beyond what you may already have stocked on your bar. Garnish this with some cranberries and mint leaves and you’ve got a fun drink to be enjoyed by all!

Champagne Punch – I love this punch because it has a bit more flavor paired with rum and pineapple juice for a little more exotic flair to kick off your evening of celebrating. Not to mention the recipe allows for a larger portion, perfect for the family party or night with friends.

Raspberry & Ginger Beer Champagne Cocktail – This cocktail is something even your honey won’t mind drinking… well maybe besides the pink color.  Mixing a taste of raspberry with ginger beer and champagne this cocktail is sure to be refreshing and light and perfect to enjoy the whole night!

If your like me and have a love for champagne, these are fun ways for other guests and friends to enjoy some bubbles as well – or even more simple buy some garnishes to throw in your bubbles – frozen cranberries, raspberries, blue berries, or even a strawberry garnish and some greenery to give your champagne a sophisticated look for your NYE party! And don’t forget to WOO when you pop that bottle!!

Cheers!

 

 

Photo sources linked above.