Hawaiian Honeymoon Part 1

Good morning!

Yesterday on my way home from the gym, it began sleeting and by the time I arrived home and showered, it was full-on snowing! We finished decorating our tree before heading out in the snowy weather to attend the Saturday evening service at our church.

We went to the evening service since I'm headed over to Andrea's place this morning to make some homemade Chex mix with her and my mom. It's a family tradition that we've had ever since we were young and I hope to carry on the tradition when Andy and I have kids. You know, in like 10 years or so.... ;-)

Before I head out for the day, I wanted to share some more honeymoon photos with you guys! Let's have at it!

Hawaiian Honeymoon

My family, minus Andrea's husband, Andrew, since he was at Air Force training that day! He came to the reception though.

(Source)

After the wedding and reception, Andy surprised me by informing us that he had booked us a room at the Westin, which is a really fancy hotel. The room was phenomenal! Huge king-sized fluffy bed, a super modern bathroom, and room service!

They brought our breakfast into our room the next day--how fun to have breakfast in bed the day after the wedding! The rest of the day was spent running errands to pick up things for our trip.

We stopped by the mall right before they closed to cancel my cell phone account, join Andy's account, and get iPhones! These came in so handy on our trip! Andy even downloaded an app that showed us where everything was in Maui.

Our flights over there were kind of long. We first flew to Phoenix, then flew directly into Maui; however, the flight to Maui started at 10 and we didn't arrive until 2pm and we didn't get lunch on the flight, so we were starving! Plus we were 5 hours ahead on Minnesota time, so it was really 7pm our time. Talk about jet lag!

As soon as we landed, we grabbed our luggage--does anyone else freak out overtime they go to baggage claim that their bag won't be there? Luckily this has never happened to me before, but that would be awful! After exiting the airport, we headed to the car rental agency to pick up our car for the week. We got a brand new Ford Focus to zip around in while on the island.

There were chickens walking around everywhere! We were so surprised to see this!

Since we skipped lunch and didn't really eat much for breakfast, we stopped at the closest place to the airport--McDonald's! I was surprised to find out that everything cost much more in Hawaii since it all has to be imported onto the island. Everything on the menu was about a dollar more than in the states!

Also, we headed to Wal-Mart later in the week to pick up some snacks for the plane ride home and their prices were higher than usual too. It was interesting that they didn't have bags for your purchases either--you had to bring your own or go without! Crazy!

After our lunch/dinner or whatever it was at that time, we headed to our resort, which was about a 25 minute drive from the airport. I was gawking out my window the whole time with my camera--capturing all of the neat scenery, plants, and mountains that were around us! 

Our resort was so wonderful! We stayed at the Makena Beach and Golf resort for the week and loved every minute of it. 

Our room was on the very top floor, which provided us with some excellent views of the ocean and the resort grounds--including a golf course and a pool view.

The open-air resort was tropical, clean, and relaxing in every way possible. We had a gorgeous view out our balcony, and the staff was so friendly that we didn't want to leave at the end of the week.

Excited to be off of the airplane and in HAWAII!

Stay tuned for part 2!

Ever had breakfast in bed?

What do you usually order at McDonald's?

iPhones- yay or nay?

Let's Talk in Tangents, Okay?

Good morning, friends!

Fall is here! 

So far The Shack is pretty good!

Hope you are doing well on this mid-week marker! I'm super excited for this week to fly by because this Saturday is my bachelorette party with my friends! Since the whole "let's bar hop and be super obnoxious" isn't really my thing, Andrea is throwing a "girl's night" themed party at my place instead. It'll be great to see a bunch of friends that I haven't seen for awhile--some since college.

So, I just got all excited because I thought I heard thunder, and when I looked out my window, I realized it was my neighbor rolling his trash bin down to the curb...killjoy.

Is it sad that I get more excited about the food photography and design/layout of Target mailers than I do about the coupons that are inside? Either way, I always save these mailers in my inspiration file. Speaking of which, I'll have to do a post on that sometime in the future--I keep a filing system of design ideas that I've come across over the years. It's a great resource when you're stuck on a project and need a fresh idea!

A thank-you card I drew for my mother-in-law after she showered me with a ton of gifts a few weeks ago. I'm so excited to be using my new kitchen gadgets! Now if only she'll share her recipe for pumpkin bread...that stuff is so delicious!

My mom and I always grab a free Starbucks coffee after trading in the empty bags whenever we run errands! This past weekend we added a pump of Pumpkin Spice syrup into them and it sure was delicious for a chilly fall morning!

We were on a mission to figure out the wedding table centerpieces and the wedding cake! We left rather inspired and hope to go flower shopping within the next week or so to get that item checked off of the wedding to-do list.

Car snacks en route to my bridal shower. A string cheese was also consumed along the way.

Reading blogs on my mom's phone during the ride--it made the time fly by! Now I just need to get my hands on a smart phone!

Pumpkin bread and some pretty flowers that are adorning my kitchen counter this week! 

Finally took 5 minutes to clean out my purse--makes for a less stressful day since I don't have to dig around for everything. It's funny how my phone always seems to sneak to the bottom of my purse--it makes it hard to find when it rings! To see what I keep in my purse, you may read about it here.

Mid-afternoon snack before getting my tires rotated and hitting up the grocery store!

What in the world?!

Last night's dinner: Trader Joe's Roasted Red Pepper + Tomato soup and a side of multigrain bread. I just love soups on cold nights...this was my first time trying this soup and I loved it--I'll definitely be picking this up again soon.

I also picked this up at TJ's...I wasn't sure what to expect from it...it's dairy-free and I didn't realize that until after I got home. I guess that's what sorbet means...? 

However, it was actually really good! It tasted like a fudge bar (remember those from when you were a kid?!) and is just slightly less creamy than regular ice cream. It also has a very strong dark chocolate flavor--mmm, it definitely hit the spot! 

Dippin' Ketchup

source

While riding the elliptical the other day at the gym, I saw this new product being introduced on the evening news and I was intrigued. Heinz just launched new ketchup packets that you can either dip your food into or you can tear the opposite end and squeeze it onto your food or plate. How nifty! Have you seen these at fast food places yet?

Ever had dairy-free "ice cream"?
Have you seen or tried the new ketchup packets?
Favorite thing to put ketchup on? Sweet potato fries for me!

The Great Minnesota Get Together

Hi guys!

Thanks for all of the support with moving and everything! It feels good to finally take a break and sit down! Oofta it was a busy weekend!

I'd have to say, the one thing I will miss the most about my old place is the view! Well, and Sanity Island...

My favorite month is almost here!

However, our new house features a brighter kitchen (yeah blogging benefits!) and I can't wait to be able to shoot things inside rather than have everything be out on the deck. Especially now that cooler weather is on its way!

Blogging While Moving
Right now I'm blogging at 9:30pm from the couch of my old condo. Empty boxes are everywhere. My fridge is completely empty except for 5 eggs, one slice of cheese, sour cream, and half and half.

As for our new place, everything is still in the boxes--sitting all over the dining room, living room, staircase, kitchen counters, and bedrooms. Awesome.

I hope I can find my toothbrush in the morning.

And so...back to where I left off. It's now 9:32pm and I'm making sweet potato fries in the oven while I just realized all of my potholders are at the new house. This is going to be interesting.

MN State Fair
This past weekend, we went to the Minnesota State Fair with Andy's brother and his wife, along with two of their friends. The day was perfect weather and it was really fun to spend time with Tory and Casey, plus two new friends--Becky and Matt!

However, let me tell you one little secret.

I don't like the fair.

I bring my own food to the fair just in case

In fact, I never went to the fair until my freshman year of college, and it poured the whole time I was there. I don't do well with crowds, humidity, and spending boatloads of cash on unhealthy food. And that, my friends, basically sums up the fair. Andy, on the other hand, loves the fair.

(source)

And, I love Andy a million times more than I dislike the fair, so every year I go with him because let's face it...he does a LOT for me. Like helping me move, staying up late to help me finish things, and doing things that he probably doesn't want to do, such as watching movies like "The Last Song" with Miley Cyrus.

I don't know why, but the phrase "unlimited milk" makes me gag. I feel like drinking unlimited milk would just make me feel so sick...

However, the Minnesota State Fair is the thing to do here. Everyone talks about it all summer long. Every radio station broadcasts at the fair for the entire 12 days. The end of August revolves around Sweet Martha's cookies and all the milk you can drink.

Browsing through the new IKEA catalog for decorating ideas.

So, to get my day off to a good start, I hit up the gym before the fair festivities. It felt great to get an intense strength-training session in before heading to the fairgrounds.

My gym just put in a brand new water fountain that has a spot to fill your waterbottle rather than trying to aim the stream of water into your bottle. 

The little yellow screen in the upper right hand corner shows how much water is saved or something. Pretty high tech!

As soon as we got to the fair, I actually had a lot of fun and was glad I went. There are always tons of new things to see and lots of foods to try!

Right when we walked through the gate, we came across a booth for Ocean Spray. I sampled a fizzy cranberry juice and a cranberry + lime juice--both were really good! 

The "bog" from the commercials. Naturally, I picked out a cranberry to see what they really looked like.

First food item for our group--mini donuts! 

I'm not a fan of mini donuts, so I passed on these--saving room for other things!

However, I was totally amused by the little conveyor belt that these little guys were cooked on. They all scooted up the belt and into the bags! 

Funky new fireplaces on display

Then, we stumbled across Mr. Bubble's 50th birthday party! 

They had this huge bubble blaster that shot out tons of foamy bubbles for kids to play in.

I bet the parents loved walking around the fair with their sticky, sudsy children after this romp through the bubbles...

Next up...some sweet new cars! We signed up to win a new one...cross your fingers!

Ohhh yeah!

Aren't these the cutest things ever? I want the little lollipop girl to come home with me

Awww

They had an area that was covered in bits of tire pieces that you could walk on. I tried jumping on it but it wasn't very bouncy. Killjoy. Andy somehow lost a leg in the process...

The trolley! Whenever I see these, I always think of Mr. Rogers!

CUTEST exhibit ever. Last year I made Andy go in it with me; however, since we were with friends this year, I just took pictures from the outside instead.

Pick me!

And now onto some fair day eats:

Andy's favorite--cheese curds!

Frozen grapes--these were so good!

Smurf flavored gelato! We didn't get this but I found it pretty funny.

My veggie sub for lunch

Fresh, juicy pineapple

Andy's pina colada! It was so good! My pineapple in the photo above actually came from the guts of his drink!

It's always fun to try new things at the fair since many of the items can only be found there once a year. 

Alright, off to work, then unpacking and hopefully moving some furniture tonight! 

Do you like fairs?

Ever tried frozen grapes? If not, what's your favorite frozen fruit?

What would be your dream car?