New Stove for Labor Day

Guess who picked up a new stove this past Labor Day weekend? *Points thumbs in toward chest* Yep, we finally bit the bullet and got ourselves a brand new stove. I love it. It's so pretty, I may have petted it a few times.

I am making Trent teaching me how to use it. (I'm more of a microwave gal myself) Yes it's true, I've never been one for cooking; however, we have already boiled water on it in the tea kettle, and have cooked a pizza and some stirfry vegetables. I picked up some brownie and cookie mixes, too (since that's how I bake). I'm excited to learn how to bake desserts in this thang!

Isn't she a beaut? We decided to go Labor Day weekend, because every appliance store had them on sale. We checked out Lowe's, Home Depot, Best Buy, and Sears to compare. In nearly every one, this is the stove that we went to. We wanted stainless steel, gas, and convection, and this one had all three and was a good deal. We decided to use our wedding money for it, since we've been wanting a new one for a long time now.

We ended up getting it at Lowe's. We also liked a Frigidaire stove there that was very similar, but we have a Samsung washer and dryer and love them, and the Samsung stoves got really good ratings.

It's so fancy, and I'm slowly learning how to use it (baby steps). Seriously though, it was about time we got a new one. When you have to kick the appliance multiple times to get it to turn on, it's safe to say it has about bit the dust. Plus, it was time for a stainless steel upgrade to the twenty-first century.

Here's what the old stove looked like to refresh your memory - it was pretty much an antique! I guess it used to be Trent's grandma and grandpa's, then got passed down to their family.

Needless to say, we don't miss that one much, and are already loving our new appliance. :) Next, it's time to upgrade the others!

Our Honeymoon in Jamaica

So I know I'm a little late, but did everyone have a fantastic Labor Day weekend? We were so busy but had a lot of fun! I've been feeling a little behind for the last month or so, but now that we're (kind of) settled in and things are all pretty much back to normal since the wedding, I think it's high time I share a little about our honeymoon!

We went to the lovely Montego Bay, Jamaica and stayed at a Secrets resort there. It was the first time that either of us had been to the Caribbean, and the first time that Trent had ever been out of the country. (I had been to Canada as a kid - that counts, right?) It was also the first time that we flew on an airplane together. And we got to do it as husband and wife, just two days after tying the knot.

We stayed 6 nights at an all-inclusive resort, and it was soooo nice! We loved it! All of our meals and drinks were included, so we never went hungry or thirsty, and we got to dine in style at all of the fancy restaurants, and get our drink on at the beach. It was an all-around pretty relaxing time.

This was our first morning at the resort:

We were on the fifth floor, and our balcony overlooked the ocean. The views were spectacular.

They say that summer is the rainy season there, but we had great weather during the week that we stayed, so you never know! Hurricane season is also late summer, September being the worst for hurricanes. We went August 17th through the 23rd, and we missed that hurricane that just went through the Caribbean a couple of weeks ago. It would have been a little scary with the thought of possibly flying through that! We were just fine, though.

It rained the first afternoon, but the rest of the week it was nice and sunny. Most mornings were blue skies and bright sun, and in the afternoon it would get cloudier. 

The highs everyday were about mid-eighties to 90 degrees Fahrenheit, but there was always a light ocean breeze, and the ocean and pool were just a short walk away all the time. 

This was our suite. So nice and relaxing! 

They gave us drinks as soon as we checked in - I got a mimosa, and Trent got a Red Stripe. That's their domestic beer down there, and our fridge was always stocked with them. 

There was also SO much yummy food. We ate breakfast at the resort cafe the first full day we were there.

There was a breakfast buffet at the restaurant, but most days we stayed in the room and ordered room service. One morning we got a Champagne breakfast in bed. There was always plenty of fresh fruit, juice, coffee, Champagne, and mimosas!

When we walked out and explored the resort the first day, it felt like we were walking into a postcard or some tropical calendar! It was just so perfect and picturesque. 

The sand was white, and the ocean was super clear. We swam with the fishes numerous times. I was just disappointed that I never saw a starfish! Maybe next time...

The majority of our time on the resort was spent at the beach - both in the ocean, and lounging next to it with a drink in our hand. We did go to the pool one day, but it always seemed pretty busy.

Here is the pool - There was a swim-up bar and a poolside-lunch spot that we ate at one of our last days there.

We got all dressed up and went to dinner most nights. I loved dressing up, but Trent hated it! He only brought along a few fancy dress outfits. Ha.

All of the restaurants on the resort were very nice. Most had an "elegant casual" dress code, which meant skirts or dresses for the ladies, and dress pants and collared shirts for guys. We ate at an Italian restaurant, a Mexican restaurant, a French restaurant, and a Hibachi restaurant. I liked elements of each of them. The desserts were probably the best, though. :) Trent tried escargot at the French restaurant, and we both had the creme brûlée for dessert. I loved that, and the tiramisu at the Italian restaurant. I also had a yummy Thai noodle salad at the Hibachi restaurant, which was really good. 

Being a vegetarian, I didn't try any of the seafood or meat dishes, but we were told when you go to Jamaica you have to try the Jamaican Jerk chicken. Trent had some of that on the beach one day and really liked it.

Of course, they also had the yummiest drinks down there, made with Jamaican rum! We had Bob Marleys, and I also tried the Rum Punch, Bahama Mamas, Pina Coladas, and Banana Caipirinhas. All awesome!

Trent drank beer most of the time, but he did get a fruity drink here and there. My favorite part was the servers who came straight to you and brought you any drink you wanted. That's the life right there. :)

We did decide to venture off the resort one day and signed up for a day trip to Ocho Rios. It actually ended up being our favorite day there! We loved the relaxation of the resort, but it was fun to do something adventurous and see a little more of the country.

We went to Dunn's River Falls, and I highly recommend going there if you go to Jamaica. It's a bunch of waterfalls all connected in layers, with a rock bottom and little pools here and there, and we climbed up the whole thing on a guided tour!

It was so much fun, and probably my favorite part of the whole trip. 

We got completely soaked and splashed a lot, and had to jump in backwards...climbing the rocks was also kind of challenging and scary at times, but overall it was so much fun. Definitely a once in a lifetime experience.

Speaking of once in a lifetime experiences, we also went zip lining for the first time at Mystic Mountain! This was during our Ocho Rios trip, and was also very scary, but totally worth it. We zip lined 5 lines total I think, all through the rain-foresty trees, and saw some pretty gorgeous scenery at the same time. 

Here's just one of the views from the top of Mystic Mountain in Ocho Rios. Absolutely amazing! We rode a bobsled roller coaster near the top of the mountain, which was one of Trent's favorite things. He got to steer and control the speed of our car. For me, that's not always so much fun... Ha.

The photos below were from our last full day in Jamaica. We were savoring every second of our last beach day, because we knew it would be gone just as fast as it came!

By the end of the trip, it was safe to say we had gotten plenty of sun. I wish I could say it stayed with me, but my pretty tan peeled a week or so after we got back to Illinois! It didn't want me to be that dark, I guess. :)

Our last night there, we had the most gorgeous sunset. It was like the sun was finally setting on the most awesome vacation ever. The sun set so early there - about 6:30. So every night when we went to dinner, it was completely dark, and it seemed like the night lasted so long. We heard the local band play probably every other night. I can still hear them announcing, "The Band Pace!"

There was plenty of great reggae music all week, and now every time we hear Bob Marley I'm sure we'll think of our amazing Jamaican honeymoon.

I could not imagine a better week for our honeymoon. After all of the stress and work of the wedding, it was absolutely perfect and relaxing. I already miss lounging by the beach, swimming in the ocean...even my luxurious bubble baths in the hotel room while Trent sat outside on the balcony listening to the frogs singing at night!

It was such a great beginning to start our new life together as husband and wife, and just a continuation of the many adventures and memories already made together. Can't wait for many more!

Wooden "Just Married" Sign

So I know you are all anxious to see our Honeymoon pictures from Jamaica, but I thought that before I get into that post, I'd share a quick little project that I did just a few days before the wedding. My plan is to put together a post comprising of links to all of my wedding related posts, which will hopefully be a resource for anyone else who might be DIYing most of their wedding, or just looking for some inspiration.

One thing that was sort of unique about our wedding is that we, and some of the wedding party, took a little boat ride during that time in between the ceremony and reception. I wanted a special "Just Married" sign for the boat, and I thought a wooden sign would be perfect - we wouldn't have to worry about it getting wet like a paper or posterboard sign, and it kind of has a drift wood type of look to it.

I had a vision of some old board, or pallet boards nailed together, and white hand-painted letters with "Just Married" going across. This was so close to the wedding when these details were coming together though, that I ended up having to just buy a wooden plaque that was already put together and stained.

Here was the wooden sign I purchased before I painted it. I think it was from Michael's. I liked the stained look to it - it kind of looked a little rustic/weathered. And it was a nice smooth surface that I could paint letters on.

I started by free handing the letters with chalk. Then I was able to just fill in and clean up the letters with white craft paint.

Since it was just going to be seen for about an hour on the boat, I wasn't really worried about whether the paint was water-resistant. I just used acrylic.

I added a little heart in the bottom corner just because. And voila, I had our sign! Simple as that.

We attached twine to the back to tie onto the boat. I'm not sure if we even got any pictures of the sign attached to the boat, but hopefully the photographers got a shot of it. It was all kind of a whirlwind, and I know Trent and I didn't take any photos ourselves!

So that's our simple "Just Married" boat sign. One of the many DIY projects that went into our wedding. Hope to have a comprehensive "wedding link" post soon!

Our Wedding

On August 15, 2015, Trent and I became husband and wife. It still feels really weird to say those words! I still feel like we are in kind of a whirlwind. Although we've both been back to working full time for about a week already since returning from the honeymoon, and our lives are sort of getting back to normal, we still need to catch up on some sleep and feel like we have a million things to do yet.

It is true that the final month's preparations for the wedding are stressful, but often times people don't tell you that the To-do list continues after the wedding as well. Thank-you's, name changes, bank account and tax changes, even just laundry and unpacking from the honeymoon. We still have piles of wedding decor laying around that I need to figure out what to do with (more selling, probably!), and gifts are still piled up in the living room. I've been sorting through tons of pictures and am getting prints made of wedding and honeymoon photos. And my brain is going a mile a minute with things I need to get done soon, like request copies of the marriage license and get my dress preserved! So, back to normal? Not really!

Amidst all the stress and chaos though, the bottom line is that after 7 years, we are finally married. And the wedding ended up being a huge success, though a LOT of work went into it!

Today I'm sharing some photos that friends and relatives took of our Big Day, though I technically don't have any professional photos yet from the wedding and probably won't have those for another month or so. We did get a "sneak peak" on social media of a couple of the photos, which turned out AMAZING. But since I don't have those in my possession yet, I am going to wait to share them here. I will link to the photos soon, however, once more are revealed - and I cannot wait to see the rest!

So, without further ado, here are a few photos from our wedding day, and some details to go along with them!

Both the ceremony and reception took place at the same location, Quarters 1 in Rock Island, Illinois. It's located on a military base, and the building is one of the most historic buildings in the area. It's a mansion that used to house all of the Generals on the island until 2006. The upkeep got too extensive, so it became a place that was used more for events and tours. They actually say that the building is haunted, and do ghost tours regularly here. The place is huge, and a lot of the guests had a good time wandering around inside.

We fell in love with the location, partly because: 1. It was right on the water,  2. It felt secluded, and 3. The mansion is so stunning and elegant inside. We also felt like we had plenty of leeway to do whatever we wanted with the space.

Both the ceremony and reception were outside on the lawn. We were a little nervous having it outside because of the unpredictable Illinois weather. Luckily though, the whole weekend was sunny and gorgeous. It was a little on the hot side, but it was tolerable.

The reception was under a tent, which we rented, and we built a backdrop for the ceremony, along with a "doorway" from repurposed old doors.

I love these shots that my mom's friend Diane got of the ceremony. She has a fancy camera, and took so many great photos! It was really cool to see our vision of the doors and walking through them come to life. 

I walked down to an instrumental acoustic version of "Crash into Me" by Dave Matthews Band. Here is the exact song if you want to listen. We both love Dave Matthews, and we couldn't stop listening to this version while we were picking out songs for the ceremony. I had it stuck in my head for probably 2 or 3 weeks before the wedding!

Above is a behind-the-scenes shot of our photos being taken before the ceremony. We were running a bit behind, and it was hard to gather everyone up as we took family portraits, but luckily the ceremony still started right on schedule!

It was one of the best feelings walking down the aisle as husband and wife, finally! Not to mention such a huge relief knowing that the "hard part" was over, and we could now just focus on having a good time with friends and family.

The guests blew bubbles as we walked to our car...

And this was our getaway car in between the ceremony and reception hour. I loved it! It was just $200 to rent, and worth every penny. So classy. I wish we had time to take more photos in front of it, but again we were a little pressed for time.

While the guests enjoyed a cocktail hour inside the mansion, we (and some of the wedding party) snuck off and took a little boat ride on the Mississippi. Unfortunately, that's what brought us a little behind schedule again, but we were able to get back in time so the guests could finally eat. A big thank you to Trent's coworker Mike for being our captain! It was such a nice, relaxing ride after all of the stress of the day.

We also owe a huge thank you to this lovely couple, my sister Haley and brother-in-law Dan, for all of their help before, during and after the wedding. We couldn't have done it all without them! Seems like only yesterday these two tied the knot.

The reception was a blast, and I'm so glad we were able to get things moving nice and quickly after we returned from the boat ride. Our DJ was amazing, and the music was perfect the whole night.

I was nervous to see how all of my centerpieces and decor would come together (and spent the majority of the day before the wedding putting it all together myself!). Fortunately, I got a lot of compliments on how beautiful everything was, and I loved how all of my colorful flowers looked. The florist also did an awesome job helping me get all of the flowers that I needed to complete the centerpieces (plus, my bouquet was awesome, I absolutely loved it!)

I heard from so many people that they had a great time, and they loved the location so that made me feel really good, and glad we chose this place. Even though it was a lot of work to do so much of it ourselves, the beauty of the river and the sunset made it totally worth it. (And there was even fireworks that night on the other side of the river, which made it that much cooler.)

In the end, I had a little comfort in knowing that the guests couldn't see all of the stress and problems that went on before the wedding; they only saw the awesome outcome and beauty of the setting, and hopefully had a great time. It was a crazy weekend indeed, but ended up being a perfect day. 

And a final thanks goes out to my parents for all of their help in making our day so amazing! We couldn't have done it without you, and best of all, we are now completely done with weddings in our family. Now, you can focus on retirement. :)

I know I couldn't include so many other memorable details on here, but I will be sure to share the professional photos once they are done (which I cannot wait for!). And stay tuned for all of the highlights of our honeymoon in Jamaica. It was absolutely amazing!

Once we get through all of the chaos that comes with being newly married, I am sure we will continue to make many wonderful memories as time goes on. During the 7 years that we've been together, we've traveled, gone to countless concerts, and have seen so many amazing things together. We've created a home and a life that we're still working at and trying to figure out along the way. Even though the house gets messy and we get a little behind with all the busy things life throws at us (ahem, right now), I know we'll take some time to enjoy it, and can look back at the time when we were just newlyweds. :)