family

Baby Shower: Gift Guide

| The Bee Life

Sooo I don’t know about you, but there are a lot of babies coming into my 2017 world. Like a lot. And now that more friends are starting to have babies, I’ve started to think of more ways to give a special gift beyond the registry.
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Sources: Woodland Prints | Made in Cleveland Onesie | Tiffany’s Piggy Bank

Here are some different ideas to get you inspired to share the love and excitement for a sweet miracle coming into this world!

Nursery Decor: Figure out the theme for the babe’s new crib and find some wall art, clock or decor that’ll fit the space. A friend of mine is going for a woodland theme, so these watercolor animals from Society 6 are the perfect addition!

Local Onesie: This will be the perfect addition to this little ones new wardrobe and first clothes! Check Etsy if you don’t know any near you.

College Fund: If this is a close family member or friend, it might be great to go-in with some other family members and open up a college fund or get some savings bonds for the little one. Having this be an option for upcoming birthdays and holidays will not only help you but other family and friends in the future!

Of course buying a ton of adorable clothes, stuffed animals and cute little shoes, never gets old, but it’s fun to get more personalized, unique pieces that can make a personal touch to the space.

Cheers to 2017!

| The Bee Life

Happy New Year! Ringing in 2017 was an absolute blast! I cannot get over the fact that we’re already two-days in to the new year, and reality is finally starting to set-in after a nice, long, much needed holiday break.

Our New Year was spent with family, it’s always fun when my extended family Christmas lands on New Year’s Eve. For our family Christmas we always enjoy pork, sauerkraut and dumplings, presents, white elephant, pass the trash, LRC, and this year we added in a few other fun games like the mitten present game (made famous by the internet). Oh, and add in about six dogs, a handle of Titos, 22 people and six bottles of champagne, beer and you’ve got one helluva night, let alone New Year’s.

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2017 – I cannot wait to see what you bring, I know you’ll be full of firsts, amazing moments, lots of laughs, I’m sure a few challenges and tears. Coming from a year with no expectations, that was unbelievably amazing I can only imagine what this year will be like.


Cheers to you, cheers to 2017!

It’s Been Fun, 2016!

| The Bee Life

Wow – this year has been so epic.  I look back at pictures on everything that has happened and I just can’t get over all of it. In honor of the last 3-days of this amazing year, I wanted to share a look back at each months highlight, although I must admit it was hard picking just one.

2016 Highlights: Getting engaged, Katie & Travis’ wedding, celebrating 5-years with B, traveling to Denver, Jackson Hole and Kansas City, going to the World Series, Cavs NBA Championship and a new job! Among countless others!

January – NYE
February – Engaged!
March – Weekends in NY
April – Girls Weekends
May – Katie & Travis! Photo credit: http://www.iburiphotography.com/
June – Cavs Parade!
July – Neighbors & Picnics
August – Jackson Hole!
September – Wedding Prep
October – Weekends with Friends & Family
November – Saying Yes to the Dress
December – Christmas!

These 12 pictures don’t even come close to giving this year the justice it deserves.  I am sad to see this year end, but SO excited for 2017!

What were your highlights from 2016?

Cheers!

Christmas 2016 – Recap

| The Bee Life

I must admit I’m still in a bit of a daze from yesterday, it was amazing!  These recent years have shaken up the norm a bit, but after six Christmas’ – B and I finally got to spend it together at my parents!  It’s quite different then what B is used to, so I was a little nervous that he would be bored out of his mind.

Christmas Eve was full of baking and frosting cookies, Christmas music, family, laughs, and lots of food and drinks!  The family went to the early mass, came back and took photos in front of the tree, as always. We watched Home Alone, Arthur’s Perfect Christmas, and the end of It’s A Wonderful Life (we turn it on at the same time almost every year!) We then had to head to bed so Santa could come – yes the presents aren’t put out until everyone is asleep.

My brother is ALWAYS the first to wake up on Christmas morning, even as we have gotten older and his normal wake up time wasn’t until noon. This year was no exception, we had group texts going off just before 7am with a handful of Christmas emoji’s from him. We dragged ourselves out of bed and grabbed some fresh coffee and a cutout cookie. From then on the rest of the day was a blur of goodies, waffles, more Christmas tunes, laughs, facetime, games and a HUGE Cavs win!!

It was so awesome finally having B home with me for Christmas that I so dearly love! I think B had a pretty good time. *winks*

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas!

| The Bee Life

Wishing all of you a very merry and happy Christmas!

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I hope you all eat one to many cookies, sip a few tasty drinks, have lots of laughs and dance to your favorite songs. I hope that you all enjoy your favorite traditions with family and friends and cherish the time together.

 

Merry Christmas! XO

 

Winter Weekends – Parties

| The Bee Life

Christmas parties are in full swing as we are nearly 1-week from the big day! And after this past weekend, I am exhausted although super excited and ready for the Christmas holiday and break.

Thursday kicked-off the start of our holiday parties, starting with my first work holiday party with my new company! It was hosted at a new hip speakeasy, called Magnolia- it’s front is a doughnut and coffee shop, and it smells amazing! With the lights up, and elegant decor this club turned into a cozy and intimate party!

Saturday night, was party number 2 and we hosted! We had a house full of near and dear neighbors and friends.  The premise was to be a game night, mainly playing LRC and then my family’s card game, Pass The Trash all for some extra cash, but the games were a minimum, since everyone was busy chatting, catching up and laughing, snacking and sipping.

Christmas Ale and champagne were the drinks of choice! The ladies were shipping champagne to celebrate, one of my besties A, who got engaged on Friday – YAY!!! I also had my signature party favor – jello shots with pop-rocks. For food, our neighbors killed it with homemade popcorn and bourbon meatballs, along with your standard party snacks. We also did a white elephant ornament exchange which was rather tame but still funny, the highlight ornaments were a framed high-school photo of one of our neighbors, airplane bottles taped together with a hook, and a handmade wooden snowman!
winter-weekends-parties_2winter-weekends-parties_3winter-weekends-parties_4Come Sunday, we were both pretty spent and partied out. But now it’s just a few short days of work until a much needed, holiday break with family!

Cheers!

Little Beers – The Recipe

| The Bee Life

Happy Friday!  Although I am not the biggest fan of shots, there are a few shots that I kind of love, the Little Beer included.
little-beer-recipe-the-bee-lifeIt may be silly, but Little Beers remind me of family and the holidays (because that’s what my family does at the holidays *smiles*). Not to mention it’s super smooth, a little sweet, they’re pretty darn cute, oh and super easy to make!

What You’ll Need:
– Shot or small tasting glasses
– Licor 43
– Cream

Step-by-Step:
1. Pour the Licor 43 into your shot glass, leave some room a the top.
2. Top off with cream – watch the magic happen!
3. Cheers, table tap, and enjoy!

If you have an upcoming holiday party or looking to spice up your family’s Christmas grab these two ingredients and it’ll be a hit – we can usually talk most of the aunts and cousins into these since they’re so delicious and smooth!

Cheers!!

Weekend Recap – Thankful

| The Bee Life

I had full intentions of getting a few posts out last week with the long weekend and holiday break; but I was enjoying my time “off” far too much.  But, I hope you all had a blessed and happy thanksgiving this past week.  B and I were lucky enough to have three thanksgivings and spend some time with friends in between too.

Our Thanksgiving was a bit reshuffled this year, we normally have two on the actual day, but one was early so we only had an evening dinner.  We had the whole day to ourselves, it was kind of amazing!  Knowing this ahead of time, we had signed up for our local Turkey Trot, which offered a 5k race or a 5-miler, of course we picked the 5-miler. *smiles* The weather was mid-40’s and a misty drizzle, but in my opinion, perfect for a run. There were 9,000 participants in this year’s Turkey Trot! B stuck it out and ran with me the whole way, not to mention we both loved the race course.

We were home by 11AM, got cleaned up and then headed over to the neighbors for some snacks and beverages before everyone had to get to their various family dinners.  It was so fun spending a quick, impromptu few hours with the crew, we’ve gotten to know them well over the last year and a half and we’re grateful to have such awesome neighbors!

We spent our Thursday night dinner with B’s family, laughing, playing games and watching football!  Friday we headed to one of my aunt’s for my family’s Thanksgiving, there was plenty of food, whiskey sours, buckeyes, stuffing, laughs and dogs to go around. But by dinner number three, we were definitely  beyond stuffed, and thankful for our thanksgiving dinners to be over!

It was great catching up with everyone and being reminded how blessed we are with all the amazing people in our lives.  This past weekend was a busy one, but the long break was definitely needed.  Now it’s an official kickoff to the Christmas season!

 

Weekend Recap – Clam Bake

| The Bee Life

This past weekend, continued the theme of our jammed packed October (fall-filled) weekends! And because of that I needed an extra day to recover since it was such a whirlwind.

It was my aunt’s annual clam bake weekend, which meant our house was full of family and friends.  The clam bake was super special this year since we celebrated my Aunt’s 60th birthday, not to mention the Indians are headed to the World Series; WOOO! So more family than usual came into town and the normal guest list was skimmed down to VIP’s only.  Although it was about 80+ VIPs. When you throw together good food, family, friends, corn hole, pumpkin beers, football pools and some good games you can’t go wrong with an awesome night.

The rest of the weekend leading up to the clambake was full of rude contractors, cleaning the house (pre and post), friends, brunch, and a nap or two. This month has been a blast but is flying by, I can’t believe we’re a week away from November!