weds-day :: THE Flash Mob.

Friends, today is special. On November 7th, 2015 at approximately 8pm, our families and friends surprised us with the most unbelievable Flash Mob that was MONTHS in the making. If you know me at all, I am the most observant human on the planet (read: paranoid). I never miss a trick, I ALWAYS know what's going on, and in general I am impossible to surprise.

So, you can imagine my reaction when approx. 40 of my closest friends and family started dancing in sync at my wedding. I. Almost. DIED.

Raven and I were bowled over and we were at a genuine loss for words. Over a month later, I'm STILL at a loss. SO I'll just let the video speak for itself...ladies and gents...I give you...

THE FLASH MOB:

RIGHT!?!?!? I cry every time I watch it. They thought of EVERYTHING, including tying in personal jokes. EPIC. EPIC.

Well...the fun didn't stop there.

Never one to be one-upped, Raven and I put our heads together that night and decided then and there that we would learn all the choreography and put together our own 2 person flash mob...

ON OUR HONEYMOON.

SURPRISE!

And that, my friends, is all I have for you today.

xoxo,

picture(s) of the week :: honeymoon edition

We're BACK! We're back and happy to get into the swing of married life. We had the best trip...ever...it was such a blast. Lest you think this is blog life and not real life, yes of course we had some bad moments (trouble with the rental car, left my new jacket behind, went on a wild goose chase to get it back, and very unglamorous and unsexy digestive issues), and we had days where we spent a couple hours napping and / or watching tv in the hotel in lieu of sight seeing, but it was still the most fun trip we've ever taken. I'm excited to share some details here for you today in a European themed picture of the week!

First off, this trip would have sucked a lot if not for the absolute genius of Michelle and Roderick from Azurine. They planned this trip to our exact specifications, within our budget, all while providing immensely helpful tips and tricks. We cannot thank them enough for this; I consider myself a good planner of things, but like I said, without them I think we would have missed out on a lot (including the outlets outside Florence WHICH I WILL GET TO). If you're going anywhere, please call them.

Days 1-3:

We stayed in Monforte d'Alba, which is in Piemonte (Piedmont for uncool Americans). Driving stick shift up steep, windy hills (Italian drivers are CRAZY!) was worth it when we arrived at Villa Beccaris and saw the view.

Highlights:

Dinner at La Case della Saracca

Truffle Hunting (our guide looked exactly like Ira Glass!)

Marchesi di Barolo winery

Days 4-6:

We spent most of the day driving from Piemonte to Florence, which was an adventure in and of itself as we took in all of the views along the coast. Rather than stop in Parma, Portofino, or Pisa, we hightailed it to - surprise, surprise - the outlets outside Florence in Reggello. We only had about an hour, as we had to return the rental car that evening, but believe me when I say you have never seen more efficient shopping in your life. I went in there and like a surgeon found and purchased a pair of boots I've been after for the better part of the year. When we finally made it into Florence, we checked into J.K. Place, which is now my favorite hotel I've ever stayed in, for what that's worth.

Highlights:

Pizza at Mercato Centrale

Dave

Days 7-10:

We took an early train to Milan, and changed there for a train to Lucerne, Switzerland. The views on the train were startling as we wound our way through the sheep and cow ridden mountains. Even exhaustion and a little motion sickness didn't stop us from exclaiming aloud every time we rounded a bend. Switzerland was...very swiss. The stereotypes (mostly) hold, and we ate that shit up.

Highlights:

Pretzels and beer (actually, I loved all the food in Lucerne)

Boat ride to Weggis

Bachmann bakery + chocolatier (the best jelly donut and what can only be described as a cinnamon taco)

Friends, as you can probably tell, Raven took most of these pictures (unedited as I just couldn't wait)...he's so talented; it's very frustrating for me but great because eventual children will hopefully glean some of that from him.

Wedding recap to come eventually, next week I want to talk about unexpected findings in Europe as well as GIFT GUIDES...gotta re-up on my sourcing for that this weekend.

Good to be back :)

xoxo,

weds-day, part 4: the honeymoon

What a morning! Today, I'm traveling to Salt Lake City, Utah, for my first ever Altitude Summit! (If you don't know what that is, check out this post.) Raven and I headed out this morning at 7 so I could make my 9:30 flight on time. When I sat down at the gate, an announcement came over the loudspeaker. The flight was overbooked and they were offering $1000 Amex gift cards or flight vouchers to those who volunteered to take a later flight. I stood up so fast, claimed my gift card, and now here I am waiting to board my 4pm flight to SLC.

It's funny, I was soo nervous about the conference this morning, but the little delay / bit of luck shifted my perspective, and now I'm so looking forward to getting back to the airport so the adventure can begin!

Speaking of traveling, Raven and I checked off a huuuuuge to-do this week on our wedding list: the honeymoon! Alright, so a half check. We booked flights and we have a game plan. I love to travel but I am a novice at best, so with the weight of the honeymoon on our shoulders, we decided it was time to call in the big guns.

Enter Michelle and Roderick Murre of Azurine. I met Michelle back in 2011 when she and Roderick were planning their wedding and I had the pleasure of coordinating their rehearsal dinner (back when I was an event planner). Working with them was one of the best client experiences of my life, and we've continued to stay in touch, as they are probably the coolest people I have ever met.

Their company, Azurine, is a luxury travel agency. They go everywhere, know everywhere, and have been everywhere, so their recommendations have weight. For honeymooners like myself and Raven, they customize trips everywhere from the Caribbean to an African safari, Bora Bora to a full tour of New Zealand. If you can think of a city, believe me, they've been there and they have lots of information about the surroundings.

When we first chatted with Michelle about where we wanted to go, she threw out cities in Europe, but also suggested Argentina or Brazil if we wanted to go warmer. Neither had occurred to me! Ultimately, we decided on 10 days in Italy and Switzerland and we could not be more excited. Michelle helped us find the right flights for the best price (book now, she said, as flights have a tendency to go up), sent us an extensive list of hotels within our price range, and has already begun compiling a list of activities in each city we hit (wine and truffles in Piedmont, hiking in Lucerne, etc).

If you're planning a honeymoon, or ANY trip, please consider Michelle and Roderick. Aside from being special to me, they're really just great people who are wonderful at what they do. Here's their contact info.  Tell them I sent you!

Talk to you tomorrow from Alt :)

xoxo,

photo of Lake Lucerne via.