A Winter "Beach" Wedding

It's been a while since we've done anything mildly interesting, so I figure attending a winter "beach" wedding is worth mentioning.

Originally, Alex was going to be a groomsman in this wedding, but a potential conflict came up a few months ago, and he decided to respectfully bow out rather than leave someone hanging at the last minute.  Instead, we thought we'd make it into a bit of a "babymoon," but then after our exhaustingly long drive the day before, we didn't have much energy to put into dragging this trip out.  It was, however, nice to do something different, and having an excuse to get dolled up didn't hurt either.  ;)

The wedding party was pretty average sized (7 attendants total), but the chapel they chose was WAY too small for the 325 guests that attended.  (We barely managed to grab the very last two seats in the room!)  Additionally, the reception was held in the bride's backyard, so an announcement was made after the ceremony that people needed to leave their cars there and take trolley shuttles to the reception due to lack of parking (way to prepare people...).  Let's just say fearing porta potty lines, lack of seating, and the possibility of running out of food made this 31 week pregnant lady pretty nervous to say the least!

However, I was pleasantly surprised to find huge enclosed tents with adequate seating, a hot chocolate bar (yay, something for me while Alex enjoyed the beer), no lack of food, and "high end" porta potties (with lines to wait in the 40 degree cold, which I still think is pretty tacky, but whatever). We enjoyed the opportunity to have a night out, just the two of us.  And, you can't really argue with a nice dinner and decent entertainment, can you?  It's too bad we didn't know anyone to hang out with and make a party out of it, though.

Purple Sweet Potato Butter?
That will be interesting!

We peeled out pretty early (around 8:30 p.m.) and returned to the motel to enjoy television in bed, which is always a real treat for us.  Alex watched football, I perused the internet on my phone, letting ourselves start to catch up on some much-needed rest. The next morning, we took a minute to visit the beach, since we were on an island after all.  Of course, 35 degrees is way too cold to spend any real enjoyable time out there, so we snapped a few pictures and then went on our way!

Baby's first trip to the beach! 

On our way to Mass, we killed time by stopping at a few grocery stores in hopes of finding some jar roux to use in making gumbo for his parents, but no luck.  People had no idea what roux was, so despite the stores selling plenty of Zatarain's and Tony Chachere's brand products, roux was not one of those.  The gumbo will have to wait!

And finally, we enjoyed Mass before heading out of town, and then stopped to have Bojangles (!!!) for lunch on our way back to Alex's dad's house.  I have to say, one of my favorite parts of traveling is attending Mass at churches across the country.  We always keep a copy of the bulletin and add it to our collection to a scrapbook of sorts.  It's cool to look back on all the places we visit over the years.

What about you - do you have any interesting travel traditions as it relates to visiting churches on your trip?

-Lauren

The Long Way There

In a play off of the lyrics from a song by one of my daddy's favorite bands (Take the Long Way Home, Supertramp), this post is brought to you by my lovely husband, Alex.  He recently returned from a work trip to Hawaii, in which I asked him to compile a list of tips or suggestions for surviving long plane rides.  With lots of folks heading out on long trips to visit family for the holidays, I thought this might be something worth sharing (that, and my internet time has been consumed by baby registry research/Christmas-Anniversary shopping, so I needed something to fill the space here!).  And without further ado, read on!

5 Ways to Entertain Yourself … On a 12-hour Plane Ride 

When on a chartered flight from Monroe to San Francisco to Honolulu, you have to find ways to pass the time as total flying time is about 10-10.5 hours and then add in another 1.5 hours of a layover to refuel.

What is one to do on a flight of that length?  Below are the things that I did to help pass the time.

1 – Listen to music.

I got a bunch of new CDs for my birthday which was just about 10 days earlier, so I loaded them all up on my phone and jammed out. Everything from Lady Antebellum and Brad Paisley to American Authors and Imagine Dragons. Listening to all of that got me about 2.5 hours or so, so that was a tremendous help.

2 – Read a book.

I had been working on a book for most of the football season but I finally got around to finishing The Closer by Mariano Rivera. Not a NY Yankee fan by any stretch of the imagination, but he was one of the greatest pitchers ever and a class act of a guy. It is a great book, definitely worth the read. Anyway, finishing out about the last third of the book or so got me on the ground in San Fran. So leg one of the trip was in the books.

3 – See what others are doing / stand up.

Some of the athletic training staff that I was seated near used Snapchat to play hangman, it was rather entertaining to watch. Also, don’t sit the entire time, you have to get up and move around – pending no turbulence obviously.

During our layover, we were able to get off the plane and stretch our legs on the jetway, just to give us a break. After refueling and putting meals on the plane we headed off for Honolulu.

4 – Eat.

After take off and once the seat belt sign went off, I grabbed my food box which was nothing more than a ham sandwich, chips and an apple. Regardless it was much needed and combined with my snack bag that I had brought on the plane, I was all set for leg two of the trip.

5 – Movies.

Thanks to a Google Play card from my wife for my birthday, I rented some movies to watch on my tablet to help pass the time. I watched The Goods: Live Hard, Sell Hard (a comedy) and Southpaw (action/drama). The first was funny, to me at least, and I had meant to watch it several years ago, but just now got around to it. The second movie was great, if you haven’t seen Southpaw then you need to do so ASAP! It has some rather sad and dark parts, but it is a great movie.

Watching two movies (I watched Horrible Bosses on the return trip) and talking to those around me took most of the trip to Hawaii; so there you have it, what do to on a plane for 10-12 hours.

I hope this helps to jump start ideas entertainment on any upcoming flights you have! 

Alex

-
Notes from the wife: 

A few weeks before Alex's trip, I came across this post that included some great ideas for getting him set up for the long flights.  Wet wipes, medication, neck pillow (yes, the one they mentioned) and snacks...I made sure Alex had everything he might possibly need to stay comfortable on the trip.  I also started a (private) Pinterest board for travel ideas, so be sure to let me know if you'd like to see it.

-Lauren 

Bon Voyage - A Travel Themed Bridal Shower

Throughout the wedding process (and for the last 11 years we have known each other), Dawn has been my right-hand-woman.  Not only was she my Maid of Honor, but she is one experienced chica when it comes to wedding planning... This girl has been in more weddings than I can count, and as you'll see soon, her tendency toward attention to detail has really paid off.

Dawn originally wrote this post for Ultimate Bridesmaid (which happens to be authored by Dawn's cousin, Caitlin).  However, the post was never published there, so Dawn shared it with me to publish here with you.  With that being said, read on!

--

A love of travel was one of the things that brought Lauren and I together and we have experienced numerous road trips and conferences in Washington D.C. over the years. When I was asked to be her Maid of Honor and tasked with planning her bridal shower, a travel theme immediately came to mind. Planning a travel themed bridal shower was as much fun for me to execute as it was for Lauren to experience. Lauren and her now-husband, Alex, lived long distance from each other throughout their entire relationship, living as much as 700 miles apart at times, so the travel theme was also representative of their relationship.

Since I was helping host six showers and serving in two weddings in a five-week time frame (between Thanksgiving & Christmas), to cut down on cost I enlisted the help of my friends and family to make this event a success. Lauren’s aunts/grandmother offered to take care of the majority of food and with a large southern family many hands made light work. The other bridesmaids took care of paper products and flowers. With the help of my mother and sisters I took care of the invitations, decorations, guest book, and favors.

Invitations:
The invitations were handmade on cardstock. The phrase “Lauren and Alex are set to depart on the adventure of their lives” was printed on the front of the card with details inside on how we were to “send them off in style.” Scrapbook paper was placed on the front and a luggage stamp was used to set the stage for an elegant and classic travel-themed shower.

Decorations:
My father collected many guidebooks from his international travels so those books, maps, and several language dictionaries helped to set the ambiance. I flew home the day before the shower and made friends with the lady at the ticket counter who provided me with numerous luggage tags and ticket sleeves (thanks Southwest). A globe and a few mini national flags worked well as table centerpieces. The year before, I had gifted Lauren with a frame highlighting the various places where she has lived and it was prominently displayed. Instead of classic confetti I mindlessly cut stamps out of a *free* stamp collector’s magazine to sprinkle around the room. I used those same stamps to decoupage a small chest, which Lauren eventually used to collect cards at her wedding reception.

Cake:
The cake was as much a centerpiece as a delicious treat. We selected the design of a traditional suitcase and highlighted places they lived and honeymoon destinations. Lauren loved the cake and we all loved how well it came out!

Guest Book:
While I considered a travel diary to use as a guest book I wanted something more unique, hence the travel case guest book. I provided a large collection of common, small travel items and tags so each individual could write down their name and why they thought that item could not be left behind. Most of the items I already had and I was able to supplement with items found at the local discount store. Most people wrote very witty comments that Lauren (and I) enjoyed reading at the end of the shower. Lauren was left with all the items (except a few like my international cell phone that I needed to take back) and she was able to use many of them on her honeymoon.

Some items: shampoo/conditioner, sunglasses, tissues, gum, chap stick, massage oil, shower cap, band aids, razor, nail file, cell phone, lotion, soap, deodorant, headache medicine, and toothbrush/toothpaste.

Favors:
To stick with the travel theme I enlisted my mother and sisters to help me make luggage tags for the favors. Using fabric remnants and leftover batting reduced the cost and we only had to purchase coordinating ribbon and clear vinyl to complete these favors. Each guest received a matching circle and square luggage tag. The circle tag had a ‘thanks’ card with Lauren’s wedding date, and the square tag had the classic traveler info – name, address, and phone number. These were displayed in a old hat box. I know that some of the guests are still using these on their luggage, since the large variety of patterns meant everyone could find one that matched their style.

Although this DIY shower required a lot of work leading up to the event, with help it was easy to manage. I thoroughly enjoyed the shower and I know Lauren appreciated the hosts’ hard work. The extra effort required to pull off the little details of this shower were totally worth it in the end because the personality of the shower matched the personality of the bride. There are so many ways the ‘travel’ theme can be adapted and incorporated for other brides, so Bon Voyage!

--

It's totally true, this shower did require a ton of hard work and effort on the part of many, but especially of Dawn and her family.  At one point, I wasn't even sure I'd have a shower, and then this jewel resulted.  I am so grateful to have such generous family and friends who care enough to prepare something so special for me.  I will cherish those memories along with these gorgeous photos and detailed reminders of that day for years to come.

Thanks, Dawn!
-Lauren (AKA:  Moo Face)

Better Late than Never - A Birthday Trip

You may remember that Alex celebrated his 30th birthday back in November.  Since we have no family and friends nearby, it broke my heart for us not to be able to make a big deal out of the celebration.  In an attempt to make it up to him, I planned a weekend getaway to a secret destination after football ended in early December...Hot Springs, Arkansas.

At one point, I planned on heading to see the Christmas lights in Natchitoches, but further research indicated more exciting things to do in Hot Springs.  Then I lucked into being offered a free condo (a friend's parents' condo) for the weekend and that pretty much sealed the deal.  And let me say...that condo was sweeeeeeet.

We couldn't leave until after work on Friday and it was super foggy, so we arrived pretty late due to the four hour drive. On Saturday morning, we explored downtown Hot Springs, did quite a bit of Christmas shopping, and enjoyed our time exploring together.  We also stopped in at the local casino (which is really a horse track, just out of season) for a bit.

One of my favorite things to do when traveling is enjoy eateries that we don't have in Monroe.  Being back in Arkansas meant that I wanted to eat everything that reminded me of Little Rock, and then some. For lunch, we ate at the Dixie Cafe, then planned to grab a milkshake at Purple Cow after a faaaabulous Chinese dinner buffet.  Unfortunately, we had to scrap our plans for the Christmas lights at Garvan Gardens due to traffic, but that purple peanut butter milkshake made it allllllllllll worthwhile.

And finally, on our way home, I introduced Alex to geocaching as he scored his first-ever cache in the middle of nowhere, just north of the Louisiana state line.

The funny thing about this dog is that he was mentioned in the clues for finding the location.  LoL.

I'd say the trip to Hot Springs was well worth our time, and I would absolutely visit again (maybe in warmer weather?).  Since making this trip, I read about Stephanie's babymoon trip to Eureka Springs, and she definitely has made me want to visit there.  I mean, who could argue with sleeping in a treehouse or a castle?!  That drive is nearly twice the distance for us, so not great for a weekend, but maybe a vacation one day...So where is your favorite place to take a weekend trip?

-Lauren

TBT: Our Honeymoon Cruise

In an effort to dig my way out of this rut, I'm going to feed Amy's request for stories about my adventures, starting with a recap of our honeymoon cruise.  Apparently winters are tough for me around these parts, because I went a whole seven months without blogging (Oct-May) before/after our wedding.  By the time I returned, there wasn't time or space to hash out the details of our adventure.

What:  

7-day cruise aboard the Carnival Conquest

Where:  

Departing from New Orleans, Louisiana
with ports of call in Isla Roatan, Honduras; Belize Citiy, Belize; and Cozumel, Mexico 

When:  

December 30, 2012 - January 6, 2013

Highlights:

- 7 days in a row...alone, together!

- Our balcony.  I'd cruised twice before, but never with a private balcony.

- Ringing in the new year with 3,000 of our closest friends (ha).

- Alex won $100 in a "claw-like" machine thingy.

- Splurging via our onboard wedding registry.
(Definite WIN.  Bet ya didn't know those were available.)

- Food.  All.the.food.All.the.time.

- FREE room service!

- Excursions.
(Zip-lining in Honduras, hiking the Mayan ruins in Belize, and taking a salsa-making class in Mexico)

Lowlights:

- Being sick (both of us, at different times) on vacation.

- Fights with shady tour guides. (Ask Alex about that one day.)

- Did I mention being sick?

- Oh and, returning to real life, moving, and starting a new job a week later...

Next time:

- New ports!

- Someday, Alaska.

- Friends...everything is more fun with friends!

Yeah, so I'm pretty much convinced cruising is THE way to do vacation.  Who's in for the next one?

-Lauren

Finding the Needle in a Haystack

Yeah, so.  Geocaching.  Have you tried it?  If not, you totally should.  SO.MUCH.FUN.  Seriously.

Let me back up for a minute...It came up in a casual conversation when Jessie and I were talking about exploring Minneapolis.  I stopped her for clarification, considering I had never geocached before and she tossed around the idea like it was something she did everyday.  Turns out Jessie has geocached all over the country, and she knows her stuff.

I was so intrigued that I immediately took her up on the offer to find a cache a block away from the hotel even though it was 10 p.m. and nearly freezing outside.  We found that first cache pretty quickly, so we decided to try for a second while we were out.  The description of that second cache wasn't quite as accurate, so it took us a bit longer to find it, but we did.  Needless to say, I was hooked.

Poor photo quality, but I was so excited to find that second cache in the cutest little treasure box!

[For those who are new to geocaching, the idea is to download an app that hosts information about hidden caches all over the world.  To find a cache, provide your location and the app will tell you about caches that are located nearby with descriptions about how to find them.  Sometimes the descriptions are super detailed, other times they are very vague, but almost always the descriptions are written in a code that requires those searching to use some Harriet the Spy style skills along the way.  Essentially, it's a worldwide scavenger hunt.   Again, SO.MUCH.FUN.]

Our third cache was much harder to find and in fact took us several attempts.  At one point, we had the entire Louisiana delegation searching for the cache...quite the sight for onlookers.  It was three days later before we actually found that one; I was determined to get it before we left, but Jessie was about ready to nix the whole idea.  Turns out that cache was completely invisible to the naked eye, and was finally discovered only by accident!

Excuse the crazy hair - the cache was protected by a clear container and hidden in that tiny space!

So excited to sign the log! 

On our excursion to Duluth later in the week, we decided to make the quick drive over to Wisconsin so that Jessie could score a cache there.  (She'd been to Wisconsin before, but hadn't geocached there and since set the goal of finding a cache in all 50 states.)  We had some extra folks along on this cache, some of which were super skeptical about the whole idea.  The cache was hidden in a wooded area adjacent to an elementary school, with descriptions to watch out for the "gobblins" that were around during the week.  Too funny.

In the end, one of the "noobs" found the cache just before we were all about to give up.  That lucky dog!

She was so excited to find it!

Caching is a blast!

Wahooooooo!

Jessie made sure to return the cache to its proper home.

 Anyway...this post may have been totally all over the place, but the moral of the story is still the same.  Geocaching.  DO IT!!!

Now, I can't wait to do some caching closer to home.
-Lauren