travis & nicky's wedding!

my dear friends travis & nicky got married last friday at a lovely vineyard in three oaks, michigan. travis & i have been friends for about 7 or so years now. we met in college and our whole group has managed to stay close since graduating. i remember when travis told me he was going to marry nicky someday. it was at our combination birthday party in may of 2009. they had just started dating, and we all really liked her, so when he told me that, i hoped to myself that it would come true. and here we are, a little over 3 years later.

a few of us thought it would be fun to rent a vacation house for the weekend, and we all had such a blast. although the weather didn't quite cooperate on that friday, it was one of the most beautiful ceremonies i have ever witnessed. i totally teared up when travis had trouble getting through his vows! it was very apparent that they are meant to be together, and to be a part of that is pretty darn awesome! (haha, i'm even getting goosebumps again typing this.)

here are a few shots from that day. oh, and my photos totally don't do nicky's dress any justice, she looked beyond gorgeous. i really loved the lace, it reminds me a lot of my mom's wedding dress.

i was so excited when i saw that they had rented a traveling photo booth for the reception. i don't know if i've mentioned this on the blog before, but i am obsessed with photo booths! (and not the crappy digital kind, the legit ones.) although it was digital, the photo quality & lighting were so great that it really does look like the film versions. travis & nicky opted for the scrapbook add-on, so when the photos were printed, they put one copy in the scrapbook right away, and we got to keep the other copy. (imagine my excitement!) plus, you can download high res files online, and even order cheap reprints. pretty amazing.

below are my favorite photos from the booth. i'm thinking that i might need to frame a few of these soon.

those two handsome dudes in the last photos (above) are my roomies jon & jeremy. i don't think i've posted photos of them before on here (or at least not of the 3 of us together). but there ya have it :)

congrats again to the new mr. & mrs. travis maynard! we love you two! xoxo.

7 questions #24

"wait, wait! let me fix my bangs."

1. describe your perfect day.
sleeping in, but not too late. having a great breakfast. doing something fun outside with my guy & our friends, preferably swimming near a beach. having a wonderful steak dinner with my family. multiple glasses of wine. watching an old favorite movie. gazing at the stars. going to sleep in a super comfy bed with the windows open :)

2. what was something that you were afraid of as a child?
robbers. haha, i was always terrified of our house getting robbed while i was sleeping. and kidnappers. i hated that urban legend (that might have been true, i don't know) of some guy breaking into the basement of a house while a there was a girl's birthday party sleepover, and he snatched one of the girls while her friends were sleeping. ugh, so terrifying.

3. what's something you're afraid of today?
i'm still kind of afraid of getting randomly attacked. yes, i realize that i'm paranoid, but it does make me more aware of my surroundings, which i don't think is a bad thing. i also think i watch too much law & order: svu.

4. would you rather be obsessed with yourself or someone else?
i have to side with gentri on this and say i'd rather be obsessed with myself. being obsessed with another person could be dangerous, and definitely unhealthy.

5. what is your favorite restaurant that you could visit over and over and never get sick of?
pretty much any good steak place: gibson's, wildfire, chicago prime, ruth chris. i also really love jersey mike's sandwiches :)

6. what is one food you used to hate but now enjoy?
mushrooms.

7. fill in the blank: star ______.
"star light, star bright. first star i see tonight. i wish i may, i wish i might, have my wish i wish tonight." lol, i know that's a big blank, but it was the first thing that i thought of.

 

our cancun vacation - part 2

when i got back home, i was talking to my sister about our vacation and she asked, "what was your favorite part?" i literally loved every aspect of the trip, so it was hard to answer that question. although i have to say, there is nothing like swimming in the ocean (or technically the caribbean sea in our case). i think i'm meant to live near an ocean someday b/c i could not get enough of it! something about being in salt water, waves rolling in, it's amazing. i was addicted.

my boss let my borrow his gopro camera and we had a lot of fun with it. i have video too, but it's kind of all over the place, so i'll just share some photos:

like i mentioned in part 1 of this post, we did venture off the hotel property one morning to swim with dolphins! i was so excited about this, swimming with a dolphin is something i've always wanted to do since i was little, so it was nice to cross it off my bucket list :) the dolphins were so sweet! we each got a "kiss" photo with our dolphin, and we got to pet her while she swam around our group. finally, we each had a dolphin ride. when watching the others do it, it doesn't look like the dolphin is going that fast, but it really felt really fast when it was my turn! haha.

i was really happy we had a chance to do this excursion. dolphins are such incredible creatures, and i definitely want swim with them again. haha, and i love this photo below because it looks like the dolphin is smiling :)

so all in all, it was a wonderful, wonderful vacation. and it was the first vacation where it was just chester & i, so that was really nice. the only thing i would change for next time is booking a longer trip!

our cancun vacation - part 1

i've been talking about our recent trip to cancun, mexico quite a bit on this blog, and i'm excited that i finally have the time to share some photos :)

with the help of a family friend, who also happens to be a travel agent, we spent 4 fabulous nights at the all-inclusive, adult only secrets the vine resort. this was our first time at an all inclusive resort, and i have to say, it is definitely the way to go when traveling to mexico or the caribbean. the resort had just opened a few weeks before our arrival, but everything went smoothly and we really, really loved our stay! the resort is located on the cancun hotel strip, and has access to a fabulous beach. i seriously couldn't get over how beautiful the water was! i wanted to spend all day out there :)

below are a few shots of the property, and the amazing view from our room.

and a few of us:

we were all about relaxing on this trip, so other than one off-property excursion, we spent our days lounging at the pools & swimming in the caribbean sea. we picked out chairs near the pools that faced the sea, and that view was so breathtaking, i seriously couldn't get over how beautiful it was!

the pool staff made sure our drinks were always bottomless (totally awesome!) & they had great food at the pool bars. in addition to a few other casual dining areas around the hotel, there were also 4 nicer restaurants opened for dinner. so we got dressed up and tried a different one each night. they were so good! we had amazing sushi the first night, incredible italian the second night, great steak the third, and yummy mediterranean the last night. i was floored by how good the food was! and it was nice knowing that everything was paid for.

another aspect of the resort that i was amazed by was the service - at the pool, at the restaurants, the front desk, room service - everyone. we were treated so well our entire stay, and that made every aspect very enjoyable :)

if you are looking into vacationing in the cancun area, i would definitely recommend staying at secrets the vine resort. there are quite a few resorts under the secrets company, which i've also heard great things about, but i loved the sleek and modern design of the vine. i wish i would have taken more photos of the lobby areas, b/c they were seriously impressive, but sadly i did not :/ but they do have a lot of photos on their site.

it wouldn't be a vacation of mine if i didn't bring a few film cameras ;) below are a few shots from my diana mini & fisheye cameras:

i decided to split up this post into 2 parts so i wouldn't overload this post with too many photos. the second part will have more photos of the beach area & and our dolphin excursion! i also have an album on flickr if you all would like to check them out :)

a quick hello!

my favorites from the wedding photo booth on friday.

i just wanted to stop by with a quick sunday night hello! i had the most amazing weekend with chester & my very best friends, and it was an honor to witness travis & nicky getting married! i'll share photos from our weekend & the awesome photo booth photos later on this week... promise!

i also finally edited our cancun photos to share, and they are sitting in a blog post draft right now... just have to actually write up the post. but i promise it will be posted as soon as i get the chance! haha.

hope you all had a great weekend :)

7 questions #23

well, i was hoping to share all of my cancun photos last week, but the traveling caught up to me i guess, because i was sick late last week and ALL weekend. pretty lame. and work has been keeping me busy too, so i'm barely able to make this 7 questions post today, yikes! i will be posting about our vacation, but it probably won't be until next week :/ tomorrow we are heading to michigan for my good friends' wedding, and will be spending the weekend there :) it will be a perfect kick-off to fall!

ok, onto this week's 7 questions:

 we're "singing" with the dolphin, haha!

1. do you ever have reoccurring dreams?

i did when i was younger. it was weird too, i was watching the same events play out to strangers, and i couldn't interact with them at all. it was like watching a movie or something.

2. it's the first day of FALL in a few days, what are you looking forward to the most?

oh man, everything! apple orchards, apple cider, huge cowls & scarves, boots, & halloween!!!! i finally figured out my costume and i'm really excited about it :)

3. because of lack of coordination, would you rather not be able to tie your shoes or cut your own food?

i would give up being able to tie my shoes. even now my shoes with laces i "slip" in to. if i couldn't cut my own food, i would always need someone there, and sometimes that just doesn't work out.

4. would you rather live in a house made entirely of glass or a house with no windows?

a glass house. i would find a way to still have privacy with curtains or those room divider things, but i couldn't stand to live in a house with no natural light.

5. would you rather walk on your toes or heels forever?

toes i guess. feels more natural than walking on my heels.

6. what is your favorite sense?

sight, hands down. there is so much beauty all around us, and it would be truly sad to not see it every day. i'm very lucky to be blessed with my sight.

7. what's your favorite movie quote of all time?

oh man, this is tough. i first thought of "you're going to need a bigger boat" from jaws, my all time favorite movie. but i did hear another one while watching tv this weekend, from another one of my favorite movies: "a man can be an artist... in anything, food, whatever. it depends on how good he is at it. creasey's art is death. he's about to paint his masterpiece." anyone know the movie? it's so good.

7 questions #21 & #22

hello again! unfortunately i missed the 7 questions post last wednesday b/c i was trying to get everything set for my vacation (which was absolutely incredible! but i'll post about that later this week), so i'm going to combine #21 & #22 this week.

 chester and i swimming in the caribbean sea. i was not ready for that wave.

last week's questions:

1. i say "jump" you say ______.

my first thought is to say "how high?", but i would probably actually say "....huh?"

2. what is your favorite flower?

roses. red & yellow look so pretty together, and i love pink roses too.

3. if you had to choose between having plumbing or electricity, which would you choose?

yikes. even though i feel like i'm completely dependent on electricity (i mean, who isn't?), i would have to go with plumbing. i can't live without that.

4. what is your go-to funny youtube video?

i had to dig a little to find this one, but it's a favorite among a group of us at work. it will make me laugh every single time.

5. do you think dreams mean something?

i think what you dream has a connection to what you're thinking about, both consciously and subconsciously. i don't think that they can tell the future or anything though.

6. do you collect anything?

old film cameras. i have a few of my grandpa's that my dad recently found and i love them! and "toy" film cameras too.

7. you're in a situation that is everything it should be. you're with the right people, in the right place, doing the right things, but it doesn't "feel" right... what do you do?

probably try to figure out why i'm feeling that way, really analyze it, and try to fix it.

and now on to this week's questions:

1. do you have any weird food combinations that you love?

scrambled eggs & catsup (i get that from my dad). A1 steak sauce & everything, lol.

2. have you ever written a blog post, published it, then immediately deleted it?

hmmm, not that i can think of. i usually let it sit in the draft state for a while until i know that i want to publish it.

3. what is a hair style you wish you could pull off, but would never be brave enough to try?

i've always thought it would be cool to dye my whole head purple or something, but i know i won't ever do it. i don't like the idea of it damaging ALL of my hair. i also love the really short hairstyles, but i don't think i have the face for it.

4. would you rather have to always use the sun to tell the time or directions by the stars?

hmm, probably tell the time by the sun. i'm horrible with directions, so i'm not sure the stars would get me far.

5. what is a fall trend that you are really excited to try?

well, it's not a new trend, but i want to start wearing dresses with tights and boots this fall. i usually always stick to jeans or something, so it'll be fun to try out this fall :)

6. who is your style icon?

oh gosh, i'm not really sure. i've always liked zooey deschanel's style, and jennifer aniston's style too.

7. what's your favorite outdoor activity?

swimming, in the summertime. long walks in the fall... i can't wait for those.