Wordless Wednesday

One of the biggest thing we said before we moved here was this was going to be a new start for us - we were going to be healthier, kick bad habits and just live better, happier lives. Unfortunately we've fallen into the same sort of rut as we were in back home. Recently we figured making a few small changes would put us on the right path. I bought us a smoothie blender which has helpful with breakfasts. Steve is walking either to or from work to get in some steps as opposed to taking the bus both ways.

Ive got a few things I would love to have to help on this lifestyle change - here they are:

We have a bender but I would love a more powerful nutribullet! My dream blender is a Vitamix, but since they're $700+ here its a long way off

Simple black speedo. Steve found a local gym with a pool that I'm planning to join next week so having a simple athletic looking swimsuit would be great to have. 

These old school, bright colored New Balance sneakers! Maybe not to the gym, more for day to day but how cute & comfy do they look? 

These sassy wedding workout tanks are so cute! I plan on ordering one (or 6) when we go back to the US in October. 

What items would you make your healthy lifestyle more on point? Own any of these things? Love them? Hate them? Let me know!

Wordless Wedding Wenesday

This may be the beginning of my bridezilla tendencies (says the women without a wedding date) but I want my wedding to be a surprise. I don't want everyone to know ahead of time all the little touches I've done, the traditions I am using and the ones I'm not. I don't want all of it to be on pinterest so people compare my wedding to someone else's. In spite of that here are some things I know you will see at my wedding... whenever it is.

Steve got my the earnings for valentines day so I just need the necklace for the honeymoon

I'm not a big into flowers but I love the look of these chandeliers 

I love this photo - I just image myself cheesing into the mirror

Steve likes to drink & so do I so signature drinks are a must have (along with an open bar)

No ring bearers at my wedding, for my diamonds I need top notch ring security

Sometimes I feel like this should be my blog's tag line

You know if you follow me on social media I'm a hashtag fiend!

We need these now :)

These are just some of my many wedding ideas. Were you/are you like me? Don't want to reveal too much before the big day? Have any wedding planning advice for me? Leave me a comment below!

Wedding Update

Someone asked me today how the wedding planning is coming and I just looked at them blankly thinking "What wedding? Rachel's? Laura's?" but then I realized she was talking about my wedding.

If you're new to the blog, Steve proposed to me in February before we took our first trip to England to look for a place to live. Since then I have given the wedding some thought - maybe not as much as a typical bride would. Now that were here it feels like the whole thing is thousands of miles away... oh ya, it is. Ha!

So far this is what we have figured out and when I say we I mean me. Lets be real, as long as theirs an open bar and we don't spend a million dollars Steve doesn't really care.

Location: Atlanta. We were considering Asheville or possibly Florida but we think since the majority of our guests will be traveling from out of town the Atlanta airport will be the cheapest to travel to. For the actual wedding we are looking at a number of catholic churches in Atlanta, of course our top pick is Christ The King which is my home parish, but we are open to others.

Wedding Party: I'd say were about 90% there on who we want to stand up with us. I am all about the idea of proposing to my bridesmaids - unfortunately I'm not sure Ill get to see some of these lovely ladies before the actual wedding so in October Ill be working on a plan to mail out some proposals. And since that's the plan I can't tell you who they are yet. Steve has most of his groomsmen picked out but he's much less romantic and either just asks or assumes they know... :-/ ya, lame I know!

Reception: No idea... Ive visited 4 locations and didn't really love any of them. Back to the drawing board.

Dress: wedding diet need to start ASAP before I even consider looking at dresses.

Date: I feel like we won't know a date until we pick a reception venue, but when we do we will send out basic save the dates & closer to the wedding we will send out a second save the date with more information.

Theme/Decor: all depends on reception, but I know I don't want a lot of flowers, I'm more into candles.

Guest list: too many :) We're probably looking at 180-220 or so. I've always wanted a big wedding and with essentially 3 families to invite hitting those numbers won't be hard.

If you have an idea for a blog post please let me know! I feel like there's lots of interesting things to talk about living in England but I just don't know what people want to read about.

Travel Tuesday

Hello!

So here is the plan for the schedule for the blog:

Monday - anything
Tuesday - Travel Tuesday (I'll either write about a place we want to go, or if we traveled that weekend)
Wednesday - Wordless Wednesday (I'll try and keep it themed)
Thursday - anything
Friday - anything
Saturday & Sunday - I sort of hope to be to busy doing stuff to post but you never know :)

So for my first official Travel Tuesday I'm gonna finish up the moving saga.

Before we got all of our stuff packed into boxes and shipped off we had a bit of a going away party at Mellow Mushroom at Brookhaven. It was so wonderful to see all of the people we love and care about and are going to miss so much come out and see us before we left. I am super proud - I only started to cry but I didn't & if you know me that's a big deal - I am a serious crier! We got a coffee table book of Atlanta photos and asked people to sign it - still haven't read the messages in fear they will make me even more homesick :(

Here are some pictures from the party!

Everyone!

Me & Christine - we survived both SPX & GSU!

Me & Doreen, best Carter's trainer ever!

Jordan, me & Courtney AKA World Market Crew

Another really important dinner we had before we left was with my theater teacher from high school -  Bonnie Spark. She was and is like a grandma to me, in a old but not really old way. So she's more like an Aunt. Mom, Dad, Steve and I met her at her favorite restaurant in Atlanta - Violet. Side note - OMG this place is really good, expensive but if you're looking for a real dinning experience & good food for a nice date or anniversary I highly recommend this place! I hadn't seen her in a number of months so it was great to catch up with her... aka gossip like mad about people from high school. Bonnie's a sorority girl at heart, just don't tell her I said that. On a side note I did ask her to sing at the wedding in some capacity (yes she is Jewish and yes it will be a catholic wedding, but its mine and ill have a crazy NY jew sing if I like). She also filled us in on Father Dan, who is still in Atlanta and I need to find to ask if her can preform the weeding for us. Yes, its gonna be like a big Pius party but that's what I want.

So after we had packed everything we owned into storage, shipping boxes and suitcases we had one final evening with our closest friends to enjoy one last big group mean and laugh and not cry (again - no tears from me which is unheard of). We went to Taco Mac in Buford, big surprise there I am sure. We were pretty much regulars there without anyone like the staff knowing or recognizing us, that's ok. Its still kinda like our place. So the 8 of us got together and had one last meal together, which was really wonderful. It made the last night in the US happy, not sad, which I really needed because I was second guessing our decision to move at all, but seeing our closest friends be so excited and happy for us made all the difference. Here is the group photo we took that night - sorry the quality is shit, our waiter was a big supporter of 4/20 and couldn't hold the phone still (I tried to fix it). Lesson? Bring the DSLR and tripod when the photos are important!

Bryan, Laura, Andrea, Jake, Me, Michael, Steve, Matt & Rachel