Honeymoon: All Aboard (Part 1)

On Saturday, we were to get some good shut eye before heading down to the Pier to catch our boat. Before leaving the hotel, we headed down to the restaurant and chowed down on some pretty good breakfast. Then we headed back up to our room and got ready to leave. Luckily the hotel we stayed at offered a free shuttle down to the cruise terminal so we didn't have to walk or take a cab. While we were waiting for the shuttle to come back, we realized that the area we were staying in was quite busy. We finally figured out that there was suppose to be a huge parade happening in the afternoon. Apparently it is a yearly celebration in Seattle called Sea Fair. They kick the celebration off with a parade and then the next weekend they have a carnival type thing at the lake. Since we had to catch our boat, we were unable to see the parade.

Once we had finally made it to the Pier, we started the somewhat long check in process. Since there was only two of us, it made it pretty quick. After signing some documents and taking some pictures, we were aboard the boat. We arrived in our room before our luggage did so we decided to make our way up to the pool deck and grab something to eat. The weather in Seattle was great, people were already laying out by the pool. It's a good thing they got some sun then because the rest of the trip was pretty cold and cloudy! Anyways, we enjoyed people watching and listening to the music as the cityscape of Seattle began to disappear in the distance. 

Our first day, July 29th, was spent at sea. We wandered around the boat until we were pretty familiar with it. We found the game room and started a healthy competition of Yahtzee! Don't worry, I won the first round! :) 

xoxo,

Megs

{Mr. Renfro posing for me in front of Seattle}

{Me with Seattle in the background}

{Good thing I spent many years taking photos of myself! Ha}

{View from the front of the boat before leaving}

{Goodbye Seattle}

{Our first towel animal, an Elephant}

{Isn't he cute?!}

{Precious}

**All Personal Photographs**

Honeymoon: Sleepless in Seattle (Part 1)

On Friday, July 27th we started our honeymoon by catching a plane to Seattle. We were very anxious and excited to be starting our week and a half vacation. Matthew hasn't taken that much time off of work in a long time, so it was a nice break for him. I really enjoyed it because I start school in two weeks. With 22 credits, a part time job, and an internship Matthew won't be seeing a whole lot of me. Anyways, when we touched down in Seattle it was pretty overcast but wasn't too cold. We decided to save money and ride the light rail system to our hotel. The light rail stop was only 1/2 a mile from our hotel so it seemed logical just to walk. Boy were we wrong! We got pretty lost in downtown Seattle thanks to google maps! I had put the address in my phone but for some reason it took us to 1st Ave instead of 1st Ave S. We walked and walked and walked until the blinking light on google maps said we were in the right spot. After about 20 minutes of back tracking and walking in circles, we realized what the issue was. At this point, we were both pretty frustrated with the whole situation. We tried getting a cab but we must've been invisible and speaking in a foreign language. The first cab driver pulled over but then when we told him where we wanted to go, he muttered something under his breath and then drove off. The next few cabs just passed us by like we didn't exist. At this point, we decided to walk to the correct location. We were about a mile away. Poor Matthew had to pull the big bag, which weighed about 55 lbs, all over the city. While we were making our way to the hotel, some bum on a bicycle ran into the suitcase I was pulling and then screamed some profanities at me because apparently it was my fault. I had a good laugh for about two minutes and then I was frustrated again because I was tired, hungry, and mad at myself that I didn't double check the address BEFORE we got off the train. 

After walking a mile, we finally arrived at our hotel and were able to check in without a problem. Our hotel was right next to Safeco Field, where the Mariners play. It was also next to a brewhouse so of course we had to go eat dinner there. I figured it was the least I could do after making Matthew walk a couple miles while lugging around a heavy bag. The food was pretty good and the drinks weren't too bad either. Since we had wasted most of our time trying to find the hotel, we weren't able to go see any sights. I was kind of bummed but was glad that we had another day in Seattle when we got back from the cruise. So in the mean time, we headed back to the hotel to relax and watch the opening ceremonies of the Olympics. 

xoxo,
Megs

{Safeco Field}

{View of downtown Seattle from the roof of our hotel}

{Mr. & Mrs.}

{Kisses}

{Funny Faces}

**All personal photographs**

Our First Look...

Choosing to do a first look for our wedding day was pretty easy. After seeing various versions of first looks on wedding blogs, I decided that it was a must for our wedding day. Looking back I am so glad we did it! Every time I look at those pictures, I feel the love, anticipation, excitement, and butterflies that I felt while it was happening.

 

xoxo,

Megs

**All photographs taken by St. Anne Photography**

The Weight Loss Chronicles: Saying Goodbye to Sugar...

Surprisingly enough, sugar is quite bad for our bodies. Now I know there are certain sugars that are kind of hard to avoid. According to this article, our bloodstreams convert sugar into 5 times more fat than if we were to consume starch!

I've recently decided to give up most sugar....well for 5 days of the week that is! I would NEVER be able to quit cold turkey. There are just some days that I need a sugary bite of goodness to make it through.  I say most sugar meaning unnecessary sugar ie: soda, candy, cake, cereal, etc. So far I've been doing pretty well (I'm only in week 2) lol! Last night I had a small brownie and was pretty much sick to my stomach after I ate it....probably a good thing I'm doing this challenge. 

xoxo,

Megs

4th of July

First of all I have to say that the weather on 4th of July was kind of bizarre. It was cloudy and rainy most of the day in Arizona. With that being said, we still had a good time hanging out with friends and watching fireworks. I wish it wouldn't have been in the middle of the week because then we would've been able to spend time at the lake with Matthew's family. Embree was not a fan of the fireworks. She had her tail between her legs and wanted to hide inside during them.

xoxo,

Megs

 {Embree hiding inside}

 {Sparklers}

 

{Sparklers}

 

{Fireworks}

 {Embree & Matthew :) }

 {Happy 4th of July}

 *All personal photographs unless noted otherwise*

California Trip

A couple of weeks ago, we traveled to California for a wedding and a mini vacation. Our friends Rachel & Erik go married in a beautiful ceremony on the beach. The weather was great and the view was perfect.

{Mr. & Mrs.}

{ :) }

Rachel & Erik

{Matthew playing on his phone before the reception}

The next day, we made our way up to my brother's house to visit him and some of Matthew's family. We spent most of our days relaxing! It was a nice little break from work and school.

 {Making funny faces with my nephew}

{Gavin & Keria being silly}

{Cameron & Matthew playing video games}

xoxo,

Megs

*All personal photographs unless noted otherwise*

The Weight Loss Chronicles: Smoothies for Breakfast

Breakfast is the most important meal of the day. We've all heard this many times before but for me it is one of the hardest meals of the day. In the morning I'm running around trying to get ready for work, taking care of Embree, and sometimes packing lunches. By the time I have to leave the house, there is no time for me to make something to eat. Usually I just skip breakfast all together and then I'm starving the rest of the day!

Recently I've seen and pinned a lot of smoothie recopies on Pinterest and decided I was going to make smoothie bags to simplify my life in the morning. Surprisingly, they were pretty cheap and easy to assemble and I now have breakfast for the next 24 days. There are many how to's out there on the interweb about making smoothie bags. I personally followed this one but instead of using ice cube trays, I used a muffin tin. 

When I went to the store I purchased a 64 oz bag of frozen strawberries, pineapple, bananas, yogurt, spinach, and almond milk. I bought the frozen fruit because it was slightly cheaper than buying it fresh, even with the sale that was going on. When I got home I divided up the yogurt into the muffin tin. Since I used a standard size muffin tin I was able to fill each cup with about 1/2 of a yoplait yogurt container. I chose to buy different flavored yogurt because I've tried making smoothies before with plain or vanilla and it just wasn't for me. Once the yogurt was in the tin, I put it in the freezer and started dividing up the fruit. I cut each banana in half and then into smaller pieces so it would be easier to blend. Then I add about 2 cups of fruit to each bag. Once the yogurt was frozen I added them to each bag.

I placed one smoothie bag in the refrigerator before I went to sleep. That way it will somewhat thaw out before I blend it up in the morning. If its not completely thawed in the morning, you can let it sit on the counter while you're getting ready. When I was ready to blend it up I added a handful of spinach to the blender first. To help blend the spinach I added about a cup of almond milk, you could also use water if needed. Once the spinach was blended up into a nice liquid, I added the contents of my smoothie bag and blended until it was the thickness that I like. You can add more almond milk if need to aid in blending. Surprisingly enough, I was unable to taste the spinach in my smoothie this morning and now I don't have to think about what I want to eat in the morning because it's already made.

xoxo,

Megs