Modern American Girl - Happy Birthday Samantha

I feel like I keep saying this, but here is another one of my absolute favorite American Girl books. It was full of girly goodness. Garden birthday parties with lemonade, ice cream and petit fours, real New York ice cream parlors, and a cute puppy - it's no wonder I loved it! Plus you found out just how awesome Cornelia was by being a leader of the local suffragist movement.

For this set, we're trying out the peplum trend. This outfit ended up being kind of a mix between garden party casual and New York chic. I know the rosette doesn't exactly match, but it was specifically mentioned in the story so I thought I'd add one. Also, puppies.

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Are you suggesting coconuts migrate?

Coconuts aren't exactly native to the midwest, so you'll have to excuse me when I say I've never actually seen a fresh one. In fact, the only ones I've ever encountered have been the dried brown hairy shelled ones that you can sometimes buy in the grocery store. As for coconut water - that just naturally comes in a container right? Like gatorade.......right?! Needless to say, when I saw a stand at the Maui Swap Meet where a guy was selling fresh coconuts I had to embrace my inner tourist and try one. I'm not really a fan of the packaged coconut water, but drinking straight from a fresh coconut is delicious!

We even went back to the guy and asked him to split it in half once we were done so we could eat the coconut meat. Again, I've only ever had dried shredded coconut, and I'm not really a fan. Love the smell - hate the texture. But fresh coconut right out of the shell? YUM.

I told Kace not to let me buy empty coconut shells, otherwise he'll be doomed to hear me running around the house clacking the shells together Monty Python style.

Guest Post - Find Your Courage

Guest post series: While I'm on my honeymoon I've asked one of my friends and former roommate to write a guest post about fitness and staying healthy. Enjoy! 

I am Sarah's friend, Becky. Sarah has asked me to do the honor of writing a post for her blog while she is on her honeymoon! I write over at Find Your Courage about health and fitness, so I thought perhaps I would do a mash-up in honor of Sarah adventuring around on a tropical island paradise and share with you some fun and creative ways to mix fitness and healthy choices into any vacation. Since I basically live in a jungle (my husband is currently stationed in Guam), most of my ideas work especially well on tropical islands, but a lot of them can cross over to anywhere you go!

One of my favorite activities to do anywhere is hiking. It is super easy to pick up a trail guide and pick a trail that is suited to your abilities. We recently did this here on Guam and ended up here:

 

We would never have seen anything like this remote river from our car windows! Of course, you have to be careful hiking. Some locations can be very challenging. This one required us climbing down mudslide using ropes. Be sure to bring extra water, a cell phone or GPS in case you get lost, and a buddy.

Another very easy way to stay active while on vacation is to rent a bicycle instead of a car. Maybe you are visiting a cute little seaside town in Maine. Renting a bike lets you stay active and explore the community in a different way. Not to mention, parking is way easier on a bike. :)

Finally, almost everyone loves to go to the beach! I love the ocean. Water activities are so healthy for you because you use your entire body while doing them. Take one of those beach days and rent a surfboard, kayak, or some snorkeling equipment and explore! These are great activities that you can do both in a class or outing or just on your own. (Just like hiking, be prepared. Know your swimming capabilities and limits and never go alone.)

One last way to stay healthy on vacations is to try and make a few healthy eating choices throughout your time. I love doing this by finding local foods that I don't usually eat. Strange fruits, crazy seafood, and some new way to cook meats are always an adventure. Try a local farmer's market or street fair. If you are the type that likes something a little less intense, try picking up a smoothie made with real fruit and yogurt.

Vacations are an amazing opportunity to relax as well as experience new and exciting things. Just imagine going home afterwards and showing off pictures of you hiking through a jungle and eating squid! So on this summer's vacation, take a chance, stay active, and have a blast!

Modern American Girl - Samantha's Surprise

We missed a few weeks of these due to all the wedding madness, but now we're back with another one of my favorite books. I still have dreams of celebrating a Victorian Christmas and doing the stuff mentioned in this book. Building a gingerbread house? Making cool presents for people? Decorating the house with hand made decorations and the tree with real candles? I think there was sleigh riding and caroling involved? Sign me up! I also liked how Sam was all "Ew, I hate Cornelia because she's ruining my Christmas" and then Cornelia turns out to be pretty awesome and buys her the doll that she was secretly hoping for.

This outfit set is a bit simpler than other ones, but I like the details on the dress and think it holds its own well enough. We're also going with some deco inspired jewelry even though technically that wasn't around for another 15-20 years. Eh, on the other hand, this is today and we can mix eras if we like.

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I want to go to the seaside

Does anyone else dream of someday owning a little white beach house full of rustic and nautical themed antiques? Or maybe that's just me. But if that ever does happen, I'd want it to look exactly like this house featured on Country Living (via Automatism).

I'm Married!!!

After almost a full year of planning and organizing, Kacey and I were married on Saturday! I'm a Mrs.! We're in Hawaii for 2 weeks on our honeymoon but I wanted to post the one photo I have from the wedding. One of our groomsmen snapped this and was nice enough to pass it along. I can't wait to see al the photos from the wedding! It went by way too fast, but the day was perfect!

Wedding Madness

This is what I've been doing all week and weekend: 

Cleaning old keys for the escort cards

Hot gluing table numbers for the centerpieces 

Filling the favors

Boxing up candles and menus for the tables

5 days to go! This weekend was spent doing all the last minute wedding details as well as unpacking and organizing the new casa.  I can't believe there's only 5 days left of being a single lady. I can't wait to have all the hard work pay off and have a great wedding - but much more importantly, I can't wait to be married to my best friend and start our new life together! 

Modern American Girl - Samantha Learns a Lesson

Ok,  I've rewritten this post 4 times today, and it just refuses to save or post. So let's try this one more time, shall we? I remember 3 things that stood out in this book as a kid. 1. If I would have lived back then I might have worked in a factory and then got my hair stuck in a machine and died. 2. She had some mad public speaking skills for a 9 year old. But then again, she went to some uppity all girls fancy pants school. Though now that I think about it, most schools in those days were probably uppity all girls or all boys schools. 3. SHE PASSED NOTES IN SCHOOL THROUGH A SCROLL IN HER DESK!! This was by far the coolest thing ever.

I also really like how she made everyone think that she was going to talk about progress and how great factories were, and instead was all "Factories suck! Down with the industrial revolution! Bring back Romanticism! Give me Coleridge, or give me death!!!"  Or you know, something like that. I like to think she grew up, joined the suffrage movement, went to college, and became an English Literature major with an emphasis in Romantic poetry or something.  But in the meantime, she's all class with a fascinator because they are awesome. 

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Extreme Violining

Lindsay posted this over on her blog and I just had to repost it.

Apparently Lindsey Stirling was on America's Got Talent, but I never really watch reality tv so she was completely new to me. Man can this girl play! And how adorable is she?? I geeked out and watched most of her YouTube videos. Seriously, check her and her mad violin skills out.