honeymoon advice from samantha!

Hello, hello! I am Samantha from 3 Oh 1 Grace St.

While Heather is off enjoying the warm weather on her honeymoon (ya, we can all be jealous), I'm gonna share my honeymoon experience with ya... and loathe at the fact that I am not on a tropical island with a tropical drink!

SO here we go!

When: We got married on May 29th, 2010 and because Scott (my hubby) started a new job we waited till January 1st, 2011 to leave!

Where: Sandals Negril, Jamaica!

Ya mon! It was ah-mazing... like ah-mazing!

What: We did lots of fun things!

Swam with the dolphins!

Took the hobycat pass the nude beach (Scott's idea)

Sunbathed with a lot of Jamaican Smileys..

and did a cheesey dramatic photoshoot!

I didn't even say half the fun islandy things we did for lack of time..but seriously Jamaica is the bomb.com especially Negril! Another unexpected awesome thing about our honeymoon is went met some really cool people!

SO come by and visit me!

the best part of marriage by katie

Hi Heather’sreaders!!  I’m Katie and I blog at Katie Did What.  It’s pretty much my little compilation of pictures and wordsabout things that I like and my life in general.  I love Jesus, all things French (I was a French major in college and studied abroad in Paris), genuine people, blogging (duh) and fashion.  I just got marrieda little over a year ago, and I am totally loving the marriedlife.  It’s pretty awesome living with your best friend forever, Idefinitely recommend it!  Heather knows all about that, since homegirljust got MARRIED this past weekend! So while she’s off frolicking on her Honeymoon in newlywed bliss, she asked me to entertain you.  So.  I thought I’d share a list of my favorite things about being married.  In no particular order:

You get to have a sleepover every night.  This is definitely one of the biggest perks of being married.  I mean, think about how obsessed you were with sleepovers when you were little, right?  And now, think about being able to have one of those every single night for the rest of your life!  I mean, this one's a no brainer.  (Cats optional.)

You can eat straight from a tub of ice cream, and he thinks it's the cutest thing ever.  Seriously.  Actually, you can do anything that you might have thought was slightly repulsive and he'll think it's the cutest thing ever.  That's love right there.  And one of the perks of being married.  You are now off the market and therefore allowed to eat like a pig.

You always have somebody to laugh at your jokes.  Even if they aren't funny.  Because sometimes, they're not really all that funny, but if you have somebody to laugh at them with you, it's a good ego booster.  And it's always nice having someone laughing with you, you know?

You have your very own personal birthday Starbucks getter.  Because birthday Starbucks is the best kind of Starbucks.

Built-in photographer.  BAM.  Essential for us bloggers, right?  Really though, my husband takes every single one of my pictures (except for the mandatory selfies, of course) and let me tell you, it's pretty dang handy to have.  He's actually gotten to be a pretty skilled photographer, if I do say so myself (and I do.)  I almost don't even have to ask him to take pictures of me anymore, it's just pretty much a given.

Having a shoulder to cry on, always, at all times.  Helps that the shoulder is bigger and stronger than you are, too.

The number one, most bestest part of being married though?  Getting to spend every single day of the rest of forever with your best friend.  I'm so happy for you, miss Heather Bee, as you start your very own forever. :)

Twitter @katiedid_what
Instagram @katie_did_what
Pinterest
Facebook

Seriously, though, we should be friends.

xo

newlywed q & a

just found another link up to be apart of today, just posting away i guess right before the honeymoon! this is a link up that my friend veronica posted about called the "newlywed game". it looked so much fun and now that i am a very new newlywed i decided to go over to forever newlywed's site and play along! 

1.   What is the worst thing that happened on your wedding day, if anything?

heather: i could not get my fake eyelashes on... causing a small meltdown. it ended up okay but i was late to our pictures.

chad: umm.. i lost a button on my suit coat. good thing we had a few moms that knew how to sew

2.   Who is the better driver?

heather: for sure chad, i actually hate to drive. so whenever we go anywhere together, chad drives :) he also is so sweet that he still opens the door for me. i love it.

chad: me. for sure.

3.  If someone had to play your spouse in a movie, who would it be?

heather: lots of people say that chad looks like ryan gosling, i think it is the hair but either way i won't object because i think ryan gosling is quite good looking. and they even kinda have the same personality. 

chad: personality wise, zooey deschanel, shes smart but at the same time can be a little goofy in other moments and have little blonde moments 

4.  What’s your spouse's favorite comfort food?

heather: i wouldn't say chad has a comfort food.. he likes beverages? so coffee and beer? hah! otherwise maybe like some fruity candy... this is a tough one to answer.

chad: thats easy, chocolate.

5.  Which one of you hogs all the covers in bed?

heather: i think for the most part we did pretty good :)

chad: heather, well not so bad anymore but during naps the covers are not by me.

6.  The saying “opposites attract must be true because 

my spouse and I couldn’t be any more different when it comes to _________?

heather: i looooove to read. all the time. and chad hasn't read a whole book in.... years.

chad: 
shes very extraverted and always wants to be with people. while after work i just want to hang low and recoop by myself 

7.  If your spouse won $5000, what would they spend it on?

heather: nice quality american goods, tools, motorcycle, etc. :)

chad: cooking untils or home decor

8.  If your spouse could be married to any famous person, which would it be and why?

heather: maybe.... that gq model. he likes that magazine. i think her name is kate upton

chad: i am not very good at this. but maybe ryan gosling but people sometimes says he looks like me ;)

9.  Who controls the remote??

heather: we don't watch tv, so no one :)

chad: no one

10.  If your spouse were a superhero, what would their "super power" be?

heather:  to fly any where in the world, and never have to be in traffic 

chad: something with having massive amounts of knowledge about random topics, and she would out smart the enemy some how.

well that was fun! now off to the honeymoon.
be expecting some posts from some of my great blogging friends!

time to get out of here!

tomorrow is the big day where chad and i are leaving on a jet plane ;)

we get to go on our cruise in the south caribbean 

seriously, is there a better time to go south then in the winter? i don't think so :) with that here are my friday letters

dear kitchen aid ice cream maker i am so excited that i got you off out wedding registry, if you know anything about me it is that i am a huge sweets lover, especially ice cream. so you will get some great use. wonder if any of the blogging friends have any recipes? 

dear husband (eeek first time using that word in a blog post, yay!) i am so excited for our little trip tomorrow. vaca for 10 days, in the warm sun with no negative temps. it will be a miracle and a 90 degree temperate difference from the weather we have had here! thanks for our little date to barnes and nobles last night so we could read up on all of the islands :)

dear library i am excited to go to you today. i decided that i should probably stop buying so many books from amazon. i do love amazon and owning books but for this newlywed budget i think that we should become better friends

dear boxes please go away. we have so many of you. and you don't condense very well. and you drive me crazy. 

happy weekend everyone! go link up with ashley

thursday! thursday!

wow it is already thursday! this week has flown by... which is awesome because i leave to go on my honeymoon on saturday! the nation is definitely experiencing a little cold sweep, and in minnesota the temps have been awful, i am not kidding when i say that 15 degrees feels warm lately.

with that, i am linking up with brunch with amber for it's okay thursday!

it's okay that i made home made granola yesterday, and cannot stop eating it. yum. recipe coming soon

it's okay i get obsessed with a certain type of candy for a little... and cannot stop eating it. i always love chocolate, but a favorite fruity candy comes along every once and a while... the flavor of the week is lemon heads. honestly who thought they could love lemon heads? 

it's okay that my school work has been on hold, for a little, again. oops. here is some advice friends, don't be in graduate school and get married. its tough. don't ask me why i did it.  

it's okay if am going to drink my body weight in coffee this week. don't ask me why i am so tired but i simply am! hopefully this isn't a habit for long...

local review- yum

yum. if a restaurant name is yum  you would bet the food would be delicious. and it sure was! the other day while nannying i passed this restaurant. because i had always heard great things about it so decided to go ahead and check it out. 

to put this review in quick terms, it was amazing. 

yum has a great environment. simple and modern. everything is very visually pleasing. it is a combination of a sit down and fast food restaurant, having a similar serving style as panera. 

the food is soooo good. all of it is made from scratch. 

yum changes their menu often, following seasonal trends. particularity with their salads. 

ontop of their amazing food. they also have great cupcakes and bakery items. natalie (the girl i nanny) could not get enough of them. 

my food recommendations:

mac and cheese. simple american classic but yum makes it even better

seasonal salads. i have had a few from their and it was awesome, i had a holidazzle salad, with pomograntes and it was heavenly! then i had their greek salad. it was a great choice

butternut squash soup: i am not much of a squash person but decided to give it a try when i was at yum and i am SO glad i did. it was a creamy soup that was so uniquely good that my experience at yum would not have been the same with out it.

cupcakes: everyone here knows i am a sweets person, so i am obviously going to get the cupcakes. i have tried three of their variations, the yum cupcake, red velvet, and tiramisu, all amazing!

so with that if you live in the minneapolis area go check out yum! you won't regret it!

hunter boots at my wedding

so our amazing photographer put up a sneak peak of our wedding photos. and oh my. i am loving each and every one. 

she truly captured the essence of the day. and i am in love. 

there are already so many great photos to choose from, and i am trying to figure out in my head what ones we are going to frame, what one we should use for cards, etc. 

my favorite photo so far would have to be the first photo i put up with my hunter boots. if you know anything about me, you know that i love my hunter boots. they are my go-to boot so i had to make sure i had them on my wedding day, the most important day of my life! 

anyway, if you want to go see the full sneak peak head over to her blog!

what are your favorite types of wedding photos? did you actually print out a lot of the photos from your wedding? 

going to the chapel and we're going to get married

so we did it!

we went to the chapel (otherwise known as the minneapolis city hall) to finally get hitched. the entire day went so smoothly and truly was the best day of my life.

i woke up with my girls, did a little dancing on the hotel beds, went and got coffee, and then got ready for the best day of my life. and let me tell you, people are not kidding when they say your wedding day is the best day of your life. it is so much fun. we didn't want it to end. all of the happy emotions, all of the love, all of the support, it was amazing. 

so be expecting lots of fun wedding photos and post over the next few weeks as i experience newlywed bliss!

the last date

so c and i celebrated our last date dating this past weekend. ah! 

because we wanted to keep things classy we decided to a traditional dinner and movie date. and the rule was there could be no wedding talk. first off, i  cannot not remember the last time we got to go out on a fun date.  secondly, if we did go on a nicer date, we would always talk about the wedding. so! we decided that a date night out was much needed, to help me chill out and truly remember why we are even getting married in the first place. and turns out it was exactly what i needed. thank goodness for a great fiance! we headed over to the black sheep, a local pizzeria in the north loop of minneapolis, got a wood fired pizza, a drink, and then went to a theatre to watch django. somehow i missed getting a photo of the two of us, oh well!

it was amazing. i went to the date all stressed out, and left feeling so refreshed. and excited! 

the weirdest part of it all, was knowing that this would be the last date in the five year we have been together, of us just dating. 

so with that. onward! cannot wait for our first date as husband and wife!

Ruth 1: 16-17 " but ruth said " do not urge me to leave you or to return from following you. for where you go i will go and where you lodge i will lodge. your people shall be my people, and your god my god. where you die i will die, and there will i be buried. may the lord do so to me and more also if anything but death parts me from you"

PS check out my give away ends tonight!
PSS had my bachelorette party this weekend... post coming soon!

.....chocolate

chocolate.

the best food creation on this earth.

well at least one of them! 

and not that i need any more reasons to increase my chocolate intake (not going to lie it is pretty high) are some of the amazing benefits from it.

i mean i know in moderation, but still!

1. it's good for your heart. "those who ate one or two servings of dark chocolate each week cut their risk for heart failure by as much as a third."

2. dark chocolate fulfills cravings. "rresearchers from the university of copenhagen found that dark chocolate is far more filling, offering more of a feeling of satiety than its lighter-colored sibling. that is, dark chocolate lessens cravings for sweet, salty, and fatty foods."

so basically it helps you loose weight! who knew!

3. helps in diabetes prevention

"small italian study, participants who ate a candy bar's worth of dark chocolate once a day for 15 days saw their potential for insulin resistance drop by nearly half."

4. reduces stress.

obviously this is a fact. i know for me whenever i am super stressed out (so basically all last month) i ate lots and lots of chocolate. it sure helped! :)

5. makes you smarter.

"drinking cocoa rich in flavanols boosts blood flow to key parts of the brain for 2 to 3 hours, which could improve performance and alertness in the short term."

6. helps reduce coughing 

some of my favorite chocolates:

all the chocolate at trader joes. it is amazing but specifically the dark chocolate with black sea salt and caramel. or the extra dark chocolate wedges.

see's thank you katie young for introducing me to this amazing chocolate shop. they have amazing old fashioned candies. my favorite is the bridge mix. 

lindt extra dark truffles or the dark excellence bars. 

what kinda of chocolate do you like? i would love to exchange favorites!

and remember next time you are stressed out. grab a chocolate bar, it will do you some good :)

source

this & that

linking up with miss katie from katie did what and jena today with 

this and that thursday!

this: wedding is almost over. i know i always do a post about the wedding but it truly consumes you for a little bit. chad and i didn't even have that long of an engagement but it was the perfect amount of time for the two of us. everyone has different needs when it comes to planning a wedding. 

this is my last week of being an anderson. bittersweet. not like my last name is super cool or anything but it is apart of me. but soon the two become one and chad and i will be the kirseboms... eee :)

with that

i have my bacholerette party tomorrow! should be a good time with all of my best girls! 

and that

means that because school starts monday, i get married saturday, and then go on a honeymoon the week after i better get ahead on my assignments. hopefully i don't get too overwhelemed and am able to manage getting married during grad school. sometimes i think i am more capable then i really am. so we will see if i make it out alive ;) thank goodness for supportive family because i have been a little on the irritable side lately but my family and chad (especially chad) have been so good to me. i could never do this wedding with out their support!

that also means i have been drinking lots and lots of coffee. even more then normal. i have not been sleeping well, due to being anxious i am sure. but i wake up and feel like i haven't even slept. it isn't good. but thank goodness all of the delicious coffee shops in minneapolis. they keep me sane.

this past month i found out some bad news that there was some employment changes for the family that i nanny for, the end is in sight and it is hard thinking that i am not going to be with my little ladies anymore

that means i am job searching. in the midst of all of my chaos. but it is going well. pray for me that i am able to find a family that is a good fit. i am trying not to rush into things and am hoping something really works out in my favor.

go link up with katie and jena! 

wifey singer giveaway!

it is thursday, thursday, thursday! and what makes this thursday even better then most thursdays?

.

.. a give away!

 hannah from happy days is giving away one of her beautiful heart shaped necklaces from her etsy shop. hannah offers a wide variety of crafted jewelry that is perfect for any occasion! and because hannah is so sweet she is giving away this necklace to one bumble bee reader. in addition to the give away of the necklace she is offering all bumble bee readers a discount of 15% with  the coupon code BUMBLEBEE (valid through 1/31)

a Rafflecopter giveaway

good luck everyone! winner will be announced January 15th... the day before the wedding, eek!!

tuesday morning inspiration

life is crazy.

life is good.

i am getting married in 11 days... eek! i am trying not to freak out so i am really taking time for me, to de-stress and enjoy these last few days of "singleness"

so i will be trying to be posting little updates but this blog may not be as busy as it normally is. 

but i am going to leave todays post short and show some things that have inspired me this morning. my sisters and i were planning on getting up early to go get coffee.. and you know how those early mornings hit and then, it doesn't happen. so- we rescheduled for tonight :)

tuesday morning inspiration:

dine and dish's thoughts about simplify in 2013

"miss" james challenge to bake a cake every sunday - looks delicious! 

sweet remedy's recipe for a replacement for maple syrup, would be a great idea w/ c & i's frequent brunch eating! 

love the bookspace from little green notebook. i hope i can have a comfy home like this, filled with books!

young married chic does an excellent post of how to keep your fitness resolutions

PS i did a guest post for 3-Oh-1 Grace St. today! go check it out!

two more weeks! friday letters

the days are flying by... so fast! and that means that there is only two weeks until the wedding... 

cannot believe it! 

yesterday was my day "off", which basically lead to me running errands from 7 am- 8 pm, yay! but i am feeling good, a little tired, a little sick, but overall feeling good.

now with that, here are my friday letters

dear cold why do you always come around at the worst times... please be gone before the wedding! dear friends thank you for being understandable as i have not been around lately. cannot wait to have longer hang out dates and not feel so stressed. dear chad thank you for being so so helpful through this wedding process, couldn't have done it with out you! dear minnesota warm up so i can go running outside again... or maybe i should not be as big as a baby and step it up. i miss doing my long runs! dear hair i am sorry that i neglected you.. but you are now newly died and look so so much better. 

go link up! 

1

resolution time

so some people totally are not into making resolutions. i have to say i was one of those people... until recently when i decided to stop calling them resolutions and making them goals. i make goals in every aspect of my life, i have educational goals, relationship goals, and health goals. and i think these goals help place emphasis on the things that have value in my life. i don't know how they became to dominate my life, but they kinda do in a good way. they motivate me, and i accomplish so much more then i would have thought. sounds silly but this goal setting stuff really works

with that i am continuing to create some more resolutions goal in my life as the new year approaches. 

mini goals:

cook more:
with moving home before the wedding, i hardly cook now. i miss it terribly. i am hoping to make lots of healthy meals this year to help the soon to be mr. get some veggies into his diet. i am also going to really try and stay away from all processed foods. specifically anything that has the word cream in it (aside from ice cream... and i really want to start making my own!)

do "family" walks

be a good wife as i enter in my first year of marriage

only buy quality clothing items... stop buying things that are $3 that you wear once!

give more:
find a local charity to support and give back to my community

baking:
this is the year that i conquer one of my baking fears.... making cakes! i hope to make home made cakes for all of my family this year.

bigger goals: (SMART ones)

run a marathon:
after running two half marathons last year.. i think this is the year to do more! i am planning on running my first marathon in october. i hope to start training in march... build up to a half marathon in the spring and continue training for the marathon. i am so excited. i love running.

continue exercising 3/4 x a week:
exercising 3/4 x a week really worked for me this year and i hope that if i keep with it i will keep looking and feeling way better

read the bible daily




resolutions... what do you think about them? do you have any?