Life

Life After Wedding

| The Bee Life

Let’s keep the love train going! This weekend, B and I will be celebrating our 2-year proposal anniversary!! Yah, I know it’s a little obnoxious to celebrate every little anniversary or moment – but that’s what makes life special! And we always love an excuse to drink champagne and order Chipotle.

It’s crazy to think it’s been 2-years since we started this new journey of being engaged, wedding planning, and now living life married! After the wedding and all the holiday crazy, I had a weird lull – as I know many brides tend to have – where I kept asking myself; “Now what do I do?” We were consumed for almost 2-full years of planning, meetings, parties, and more planning for one single perfect day… and now it’s all over!  I loved planning our wedding, I would do it again, but our day was also so perfect and special I’d never want to replace it.
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So back to the question, now what? Well, we need to figure out a few trips this year, we have some ideas but nothing is finalized yet, we went on 4-trips last year, and I want to keep that up.  We are also figuring out and prioritizing house projects that have been on the list for the last 3-years… *smiles* … so looking forward to those, since that is something we both enjoy doing. Also, just continuing to experience more things together like more of our city, new foods, new adventures with friends and family and new hobbies.

I am also in the process of scrapbooking our wedding, which means I’ll continue to swoon over all of our gorgeous pictures, randomly post one or two now and then on instagram (or here!) and this lull will quickly turn into getting back on track to a normal life! A normal, beautiful life with B.

XOX

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!

Local Love – Chronicle Brewing Co.

| The Bee Life

Sharing some local love to a dear friend and one of the finishing touches for our wedding.  Our wedding favors were custom-home brewed beers that were completely created unique to us and our favorite beer tastes! This was especially cool because we got to walk through the whole process from start to finish with Chronicle Brewing Co.  Chronicle Brewing Co. is a home brewing company that has grown from a passion and creates custom brews for birthdays, weddings and other special holidays!
Local Love - CBC - the bee life
To kickoff our beer process; we first had a tasting with beers that we like or were in a similar category.  For B, we went with an IPA since that is his go-to, the goal was to create an IPA that wasn’t to hoppy, and finding that happy medium to appease our guests as well as B! For me, I was in between a porter or a stout, something light but still flavorful with hints of chocolate.  With the tasting, Mike the founder of Chronicle Brewing Co. was able to better pinpoint and start creating the recipes for our beers based off of what B and I liked!

For the IPA’s we were able to buy hops from my hometown and Mike used those through the brewing process – which we were also a part of, again being a part of this the entire way! It was also awesome having a hand in determining the ingredients and using parts that were unique to us.  After a few weeks; we were ready to go over and help with the bottling process: sterilizing the beer bottles, applying the labels, and then the actual bottling and sealing with our awesome custom bottle caps.

From there they just needed to sit a little longer, we picked them up just before our wedding, and finally got to taste our beers that were being worked on for months! Guests were greeted by a beer at their table setting ready for them to take home, we loved that we were able to create not only special labels and caps for our beers but having two completely custom beers made to represent B and I’s favorite beer flavors, not to mention they were so delicious!

 

#EmnBWed – The Final Update

| The Bee Life

In case I have any avid bee readers out there – yes, I’m still getting married, and no, we haven’t gotten married yet! But it’s happening, and it’s happening very soon! I figured I would fill you all in with the latest and greatest, but keeping in bee fashion and not spilling too many deets of the big day.IMG_4765So about a month ago, we hit a few hiccups – and I’m only sharing in case any other brides are reading and have experienced the same thing; and I’m sure many have experienced much worse.  All of the following hit at once; B started a new job, B lost his voice and was diagnosed with a paralyzed vocal cord (still happening, 5-weeks strong), the electric in our garage magically stopped working ($$$), my debit account got hacked and drained my savings account – thank you overdraft, oh and our DJ mentioned he was declaring bankruptcy.   We rallied through most of these and as mentioned, B is still working through the whole paralyzed vocal cord diagnosis, which is pretty crazy, since one day within a few hours he just couldn’t talk. Our awesome and super handy neighbor was able to help us through the garage electrical drama and saved us the money and headaches we would’ve had to manage had we gone the contractor route. And we’re learning to have a little faith with our DJ. But woah, was it a lot, all at once.

So now that hopefully the worse is behind us… here are all the things I’m most excited for, and I think B would probably agree about most after our recent chats.

  • Seeing the reception venue all set-up and all the tables put together – it has all been a vision in my head for well over a year… and I can’t wait to see it all put together.
  • Walking down the aisle to B and seeing him all done up in his suit!
  • My Father/Daughter dance – it’s going to be a tear jerker but that’s all I’m saying.
  • Dancing the night away with B, our family and friends.
  • Eating MY wedding cake and drinking champagne!
  • Finally being B’s wife!

The details have come together quite nicely, there are still a few things to do on the list but nothing crazy it’ll only be a matter of time before I’m straight butterflies, complete ADD, and ready to walk down that aisle to my husband!

Don’t worry, I’ll be sure to share all the details and a behind the scenes look on the blog later this month!

Until then! XO!

Photo Credit: Timothy Logan Photography

Weekend Recap – #EatDrinkAndBeMramor

| The Bee Life

Woahhh! Hello October and hello to a much delayed weekend recap of our friends L&C’s wedding! Since this was the last wedding before THEE wedding, it was all surreal but so much fun. It was especially fun planning our wedding alongside of L&C, relating with the latest dilemma’s, vendor drama and sharing pictures of our dresses and grand plans.  And it was awesome seeing it all come together for the actual day!
Weekend Recap - EatDrinkAndBeMramor
Since L works in the wedding industry, we knew she’d be pulling out all the stops on their big day – this was evident on the ceremony space with their gorgeous pergola framing the alter area, draped perfectly with dried hydrangeas and surrounded by lanterns.  Cocktail hour followed the tear-jerking ceremony as we got to mingle with friends and snack on yummy treats.  The grand reveal into the reception room was stunning.  Mini-tree’s were the centerpieces with hanging tea-lights and the kings table for the wedding party was jaw dropping and the focal point of the room.

From there the evening got started with dinner, toasts and first dances.  The dance floor quickly filled up as we boogied the night away with the crew between stops for drinks or a stop at the photo booth.  We definitely had a lot of laughs on and off the dance floor with everyone!  The wedding favors for the night were home brewed beers made and customized special for the bride and groom by Chronicle Brewing Co. they were packaged in custom carriers for easy take home! (We’re using them for our wedding too!)

It’s crazy to think that our wedding is next! But we’re so excited especially after all the fun we had at these four-weddings we’ve attended this year.  This 2017 wedding season is definitely going to be one to remember!

Cheers to the new Mr. & Mrs. M!

Weekend Recap – Bucket List Round-up

| The Bee Life

With the last full weekend of August now behind us, the end of summer is starting to sink in.  Not to mention, my end of summer bucket list is starting to get crossed off, too!

A few Saturday’s ago after church, B and I were gonna go find a patio for drinks and an early dinner. But after a full day of running around, hanging out on OUR patio sounded much better. A drink and soaking up the sun turned into a late night with the neighbors, drinking champagne, laughing and dancing with good friends.

Although our Friday night baseball game felt more like fall that summer, it was a great night – home run included, to root on the home team with friends! Plus we squeezed in a new downtown brewery before, which was nice to try a new hot spot.

B and I finally got out on the links together! We spent the late morning and early afternoon playing 9-holes and the weather was perfect and full of sunshine. Although I’m a bit more relaxed on the golf course I still enjoy playing and sinking a few putts and watching B crush the golf ball!

We spent Sunday morning kayaking, on the river and made our way out onto the lake, we felt like the first ones out there and it was perfect!

I’ve still got a few more to cross off on the list – but feeling good about knocking off these last bit of summer fun!

End of Summer – Bucket List

| The Bee Life

I know, I know, I hate to say it, but being the second day of August, Fall is quickly around the corner. And although we were fortunate to take 2-great vacations, there are still a lot of things I want to do! So to keep summer going, I’m sharing my end of summer bucket list to stay motivated and to soak up as much sun as possible!
Summer Bucket List - the bee life

  1. Patio date night:  This one is a two-part deal. I want B and I to have a night out on our new patio with our fire pit, a bottle of champagne, and just talk the night away. The second part would be going out and enjoying another intimate patio at a favorite restaurant with some cocktails and small plates.
  2. Enjoy downtown: Since we both work downtown, we don’t always make it back out, so planning a weekend night or Sunday afternoon perusing the city is a must.
  3. Watch the sunset at the beach: Easy enough and something we don’t nearly take advantage of being so close to the beaches.
  4. Take Moz on more walks: I don’t want our busy schedules to get in the way of getting Moz out for a walk!
  5. Go to a baseball game: Surprisingly we haven’t gotten to a ball game yet this summer, and it just isn’t summer without a stadium hot dog and the seventh inning stretch!  We’ve already made plans with friends to get to one.
  6. Lay out in the sun: My early summer tan is fading! And a good afternoon in the sunshine is always the perfect fix to any summer blues… or fading tans.
  7. Go golfing: With B of course! I’m not an avid golfer, but I always enjoy it, so a round of 9 holes would be fun.
  8. Kayaking: We went kayaking last summer and it was the perfect activity to jump start a weekend morning and enjoy the water.
  9. Weekend at the cabin: We’ve been so busy that this might end up being a fall activity, but it’s been a yearly tradition so we have to get back and turn off for a weekend.
  10. Finish some books: I’ve started a few books, that I need to finish! Even though I enjoy reading, unless I have dedicated travel time, reading is a forced thought. I need to finish, Big Little Lies, 16th Seduction and Z: A Novel of Zelda Fitzgerald.

It’s already going to be a busy end to the summer, so I hope sprinkling in a few of these bucket list items will be fun and welcomed! What’s on your end of summer bucket list?

Travel: #EmnBtoMB

| The Bee Life

B and I were lucky enough to get away for a few days over Memorial Day weekend with my parents in Myrtle Beach.  The main reason for the trip was to visit my grandma.  She lives down there in a nursing home, and my aunt and cousins also live in the general area. So the goal of the trip was to get my grandma out of that nursing home and spend as much time as possible with her!

Our first full day there was a beach day! Yes, we took my grandma to the pier and got her onto the beach. We avoided the more touristy part of the beach, and went to Myrtle Beach State Park – it was a perfect spot with not too many people. A storm rolled in, but we waited it out and the sun came out, the clouds went away and it was beautiful.  B and I got to stroll down the beach, had some fun in the water and snapped some pictures, while my parents walked the boardwalk with my Grandma.
Myrtle Beach - the bee life
The next day we did some outlet shopping, and then made our way to the community pool where we were staying with a pitcher full of Whiskey Sours (recipe coming soon!),  so music, swimming and a little cat nap in the sun, was the perfect afternoon.  Saturday was a morning workout day and another pool day, and then family time with your standard picnic feast! It had been a bit too long since I’d seen everybody, and B’s first time meeting the cousins – so it was a much needed trip and visit.

Although the trip felt quick, the sunshine was needed and it was great to get out of town for a few days. This trip was also special, because this was B and I’s first “beach” vacation – as we’re used to heading out west, or weekends away at the cabin.

Check back in tomorrow, I’m sharing our Myrtle Beach eats!