Friday, July 29, 2011

Honeymoon Recap - Germany Accomodations

In case you missed the earlier posts on why we went to Germany as part of our honeymoon, we were going to celebrate our friends getting married.  Uwe was a German exchange student when JB was in high school and he has kept in touch with all the guys over the years.  They have gone on trips to visit him and he has come to the states for visits as well as most of the weddings that have taken place.  They tried to make it out to ours, but with it being only two weeks before theirs, it made it pretty tough.  In order to "make up for it", Uwe and Claudia were kind enough to get us an apartment all to ourselves right next door to his mom's house where everyone else was staying. 

Once again JB's amazing cameraman skills are employed below for a tour of our "wedding apartment" and Uwe's mom's house in Kothel.  My apologies for the shaky and long walk next door.



Did you notice:
  • How loud the birds are chirping?  This happens 24 hours a day.
  • How GREEN and lush the yards are?  People's yards in this village are ah-mazing!
  • I got on camera for all of our future years that I am "the best wife ever"
Coming your way in the Germany vlog series are day trips, pre-wedding parties, life in Kothel, and the wedding!

Wednesday, July 27, 2011

Wedding Wednesday: Wedding Pic Teaser

I already posted this on Twitter yesterday, but if you haven't had a chance yet, or don't follow me on Twitter, go check out my photog's blog teaser here.  Come on back and let me know what you think.  I personally can't wait to see the rest of them!

Tuesday, July 26, 2011

Honeymoon Recap - Getting There

So, I bought this notepad while I was in Germany so I could start journaling at bedtime so I could share all of our lovely adventures with my lovely readers, but the fail in this plan was that I didn't get it until halfway through our week in Germany and then I couldn't catch up with everything or find time to write about it.  Boo!  So now you get run-on sentences instead...

The win in all of this is that my MIL got us a Flip cam right before we left so you get to see some lovely VIDEOS!!!  This will be my first hybrid vlog.  JB thinks he is this amazing camera man/commentator all of the sudden, so please bear with me on these.

A little preface for you before we dig in to the "awesome" video.  Since we were ending our trip in Rome, we flew round trip to Rome and then 3 hours later got on a flight to Hamburg, Germany.  I am pretty sure the last two flights are missing because we were actually sleeping, but the end result is the same.

ENJOY!



Did you notice:
  • My husband likes to film very close up and yell at the camera
  • I make the Snookie noise
  • I am easily distracted by Starbucks
  • I'm whiny
  • I was not happy in Rome because we still had 2 more flights to go
  • My Fran Drescher-esque laugh
Sorry for the headache you have just incurred from the shaking camera.  There's more where that came from.  Stay tuned...

Sunday, July 24, 2011

Guess Who's Baaaaaaack?

It's me! I have finally returned from my two-week romp through Germany and Italy with the husband and it was AMAZING!! I can't wait to catch everyone up on our trip with pics and videos, but it is going to take some time so please be patient.

I wanted to send out a HUGE "Thank You!" to the ladies who took over while I was away.  Carolyn, Kristin, Mrs. Monologues, Ashley, Monica, and Melissa, you ladies are the bestest!!!

To keep everyone occupied until I can get some honeymoon posts going, you can check out the teaser blog my wedding photog posted here.  I cannot wait to see the rest of the pics!

I hope you didn't miss me too terribly.  Okay, maybe I do :)

Friday, July 22, 2011

Tea for Two...Or Five

Hello there! My name is Melissa and I'm from MelissaDell.com here contributing while Mrs. Bre is enjoying her amazingly awesome honeymoon! On my site, I blog a bit of everything - including my pregnancy journey (due in October!). Oh, maybe I should put up a photo of me...





That's me 21 weeks pregnant, I'm 29 weeks now (today!!) but this post isn't about babies, or morning sickness, or back pain. No, it's about Tea!!

It all started a few years ago when two of my girlfriends and I went to tea in Pasadena, CA and we had such an amazing time. And we kept promising we'd go back. But we didn't. And then babies started popping up everywhere! And so instead of finding babysitters and dropping some mad cash at the tea house, we decided to start doing them in the comfort of our own home (well, Nicole's home).

It's so much more fun, there's a lot more tea variety and yummy things to eat. We just had one a few weeks ago and we had 3 little ones in attendance (3 1/2 if you count mine). Here's some photos first, then I'll get to chatting about the tea we enjoyed and the recipes of some of the items...


Cucumber sandwiches, cake pops, cookies, s'mores on a stick (those are on the backside of the tray)








Spinach-strawberry-cheese-walnut salad, fresh fruit, fluffy cream cheese dip



french bread-brie-fig jam, spinach-strawberry-cheese-walnut salad





Table for 5!





(left) Katie with daughter Lexi {7 months} and Natalie with daughter Olivia {2 months}





(left) Lexi {7 months} with playmate Bode {9 months}




(l-r) Nicole with son Bode {9 months}, Natalie with daughter Olivia {2 months}, Katie with daughter Lexi {7 months}, Jennifer with Nicole's pug Boss {2 1/2 years}, Me with Baby A {27 weeks}

Now for some recipes!!!

Cucumber Sandwiches {recipe from here} - the Best Cucumber Sandwiches recipe

  • 1 loaf makes what you see - I use 4 slices of cucumber on each sandwich and trim off all the crusts

  • super tasty. the vinegar soak is a must!


Open-faced Brie-Fig sandwiches

  • french baquette - cut in diagonal sections about 3/4" thick.

  • tube shaped Brie - slice

  • fig jam - bought this from TJ Maxx. They always have very different jam options!


Spinach, Strawberry, Walnut, & Goat Cheese Salad {recipe from here}

  • used spinach instead of organic mix


Fresh Fruit with Fluffy Cream Cheese Dip {recipe from here}

Chocolate covered S'mores {on a stick!}

  • melt chocolate to be used for dipping {need a bunch!}

  • assemble s'more and heat in microwave for 15 seconds

  • dip/pour melted chocolate over warmed smore and insert stick

  • let cool. Don't be stingy on the melted chocolate!


Teas used:

All the teas we enjoyed were purchased from Teavana. Going there can be quite overwhelming (and expensive!) because you'll want a few varieties of tea, plus all the fun contraptions (kettle, thermometer, tea cups, to go systems). They also have AWESOME rock sugar - it's not as sweet as granulated sugar, and a lot more fun to look at. Here's the varieties we had:

  • white peach tea

  • blueberry tea

  • black tea

  • Mata Vana tea




So grab your girlfriends and plan an afternoon! But be sure to block out about 5 hours. You never know where the conversation will take you! And if you'd like to follow my crazy adventures, be sure to bookmark my blog, MelissaDell.com and follow me on twitter - @melissa_dell!!

Wednesday, July 20, 2011

Guest Post - The Painted Pisces

Hi out there!

My name is Monica, aka The Painted Pisces, and I am guest blogging for our dear Bre while she is out galavanting around ze homeland.  I can't wait to hear about the PG honeymoon details, the restaurants, the shops, the walking and walking and walking.  I'm sure she and hubby are having a fantastic time!

Bre and I work together and have seen our friendship grow a lot in the past year and a half.  When she first started, there was some bad juju associated with her position and it was awkward for anyone to get to know her!  But little by little we came to know each other better and I'm really glad I can call her joben.

Enough about her, this is my hijacked blog post!

I am a lucky gal married to the love of my life, Eric.
My bday dinner at Tokyo Steakhouse
We have two amazingly smart and adorable girls:

Creek Week Cleanup 2009, Hannah, Mama, Elisa
And I LOVE to get crafty through painting, sewing, sketching, and other ways of expressing myself. 

Lately, I have been doing a lot of crocheting:


Yarnbombed Plant
I am trying to improve all of my crafting skills by practice, practice, practice, but sometimes my day job gets in the way.  Luckily, my husband is a creative guy as well and is always encouraging me to do my creative thang.  (He has a flair for food AND a green thumb! Two things I'd like to get better at as well, but thankfully we balance each other really well.)  The girls and I like to get artsy with markers, glue guns, and such; I feel really inspired by their imaginations and the fact that my family likes to create as much as I do!  You can take a peek at my blog and see what we're up to if you'd like!

Please stop by my blog and say hi, or just lurk in the shadows as a follower :).


I don't bite.


Monday, July 18, 2011

Bridesmaidzilla

Let me start by introducing myself to all of you awesome followers. I'm Ashley from over at Oh Me!

So, how happy are all of y'all for our sweet little Bre? I know I am super happy for her new marriage! The inspiration for my guest post comes from both Bre's wedding and my best friend's wedding that I was honored to be a part of this past Saturday!

My best friend, Candice got married on Saturday to a pretty amazing guy, Bryan. They have been dating for 7 years. Candice and I lived across the street from one another from the time I was in 7th grade. We were then college roommates and have remained close in the years since. You can imagine how happy I was to be part of their special day.

I guess I should explain my title of the blog...I live in the same town as Candice and have not been very helpful with the wedding. Did I help with programs? No. I was in England, sillies! Did I help cut the "poof balls"?? No. I was doing something else. If you are contemplating ever asking me to be a bridesmaid, just forget about it now. I am the WORST bridesmaid ever!! I even almost planned my vacation to England during the weekend of the wedding. Yeah, that bad.

To try to make it up to Candice, I decided that I would come stay at her parent's house with her on Thursday & Friday night before the wedding during one of the more stressful times to be there for anything they needed. By Saturday, I was feeling really good about myself and my mad bridesmaid skills. Everything was going smoothly...until...after the ceremony...and I became the drunk bridesmaid. I don't remember half of that dang reception! For real. It was bad. Bad enough that Candice's parents (the parents of the bride, let me point out), took me home with them and took care of me. I woke up on Sunday morning feeling hungover and feeling like the worst bridesmaid on the planet! Luckily, Candice's parents consider me family and their "third daughter" (her Dad told me this right before I walked down the aisle). When I apologized, they only said that it was what parents are for and to not be sorry. But, how can I not feel terrible?! For real.

On to happier times, though! Check out the pictures from the wonderful wedding!




Luckily, this time things turned out okay for drunk bridesmaid, Ashley. Let's hope the next wedding I don't act so foolish!!

Friday, July 15, 2011

Guest Post: A Busy Little Bee

Hey all! My name is Kristin and I am stopping by from my blog, Busy Bee. First I want to say a huge CONGRATS to the newlywed Mrs. Bre! I hope you are having a fab honeymoon/vacay!

I don't have any riveting newsworthy information to share with you lovely people, so I figured I would introduce myself to those of you who don't know me!

My name is Kristin and I am a 20-something from Minnesota. I am engaged to my favorite person on the planet and we are getting married on November 5th of this year!

ps. my wedding photographer is the BOMB...check her out: www.sara-jayne.com

My family owns a coffee shop, Coffee Buzz, that my fiance and I run. It's a ton of work, but it's really fun! Being your own boss definitely has it's perks...but the long hours make having a social life a little tough.



My puggle, Bailey, is my child. I love her so much it hurts....all you fur mamas know what I'm talking about!

She actually makes me scared to have a human baby because I don't know how I could love anything more than I love her (I'm assuming I will love my human baby more than my dog....but who knows?)


I went to school at the University of Minnesota and am a die-hard Gopher football fan!

They are terrible but my school spirit doesn't care! I bleed Maroon & Gold. In fact, my man proposed on the 50 yard line of TCF Bank Stadium (where my Gophers play!)



I'm obsessed with Britney Spears. She's my idol. Crazy and all. I frickin LOVE her! I've seen her in concert three times and her last show (Femme Fatale) was mind-blowing! Seriously, obsessed!



I am deathly afraid of birds. My fiance thinks it's ridiculous, but it's completely legit. They scare the poop out of me. I hate them and they're scary and gross.



My favorite movie of all time still is and always will be Titanic. Anyone else super pumped for Titanic 3D coming out April 6, 2012 (100th anniversary of the ship sinking....for those of you who aren't complete Titanic spazzes like me).

This movie is also responsible for my almost 15 year one sided love affair with Leonardo DiCaprio.


Alright, engaged....coffee shop owner....puggle baby....Gopher super-fan.....afraid of lover....britney fan...titanic spaz...Leo stalker, I think that's pretty much the basics! :)

If you like what you see (ha!) then stop by Busy Bee and get to know me better!

Have a GREAT weekend everyone!

Wednesday, July 13, 2011

Mrs. Monologues Guest Post: Blog Friendships

Breezy thought it would be awesome to go gallivanting around Europe for a couple weeks leaving people like me trusted with her blog. I know what you are thinking, was she drunk when she gave you permission to do this? Probably, but that is a story for a different day. If you have no idea who this is yet, it is Mrs. Monologues here for the day.

One of the great things about the blog world is how it can even create friendships from all over the country, and sometimes even with people that have crossed your path multiple times. You see, Bre and I actually have been in the same social circle for years. Mr. was in a fraternity in college, and Bre and I both hung out with them. We knew of each other, but that was about it.

A few months ago I got a random comment on my blog from Bre, that made me go, okay she is making reference to people and situations I know and that I have not talked about on the blog. Was she a creepy stalker? Probably not, but I immediately went to her blog to inspect, and then I realized I knew her.

A few emails later it felt like we were always meant to be friends. That is what is great about the blog-o-sphere. Now, we live about 1/2 a mile away from each other and I plan on forcing her to hang out with me all the time now that her wedding shenanigans are over. I know she can hold her own, so she and I are going to be wine soul mates.

And for your viewing pleasure here is a picture of us, circa 2005.


Have you connected with anyone on blogger from your past?

Mrs. Monologues

Monday, July 11, 2011

Guest Blogger: Carolyn @ life, love & puppy prints

Bre's off for honeymoon fun in Rome & a friend's wedding in Germany, so I'm here to entertain you! :)

You're probably wondering who I am. Well, I'm Carolyn from life, love & puppy prints!




If you've been to my blog, than it's great to see you again! If you've never heard of me... then nice to meet you! You'll discover quickly I love pictures. Here's a little about me, picture style!


 I'm a 20-something girl born and raised in Minnesota. 

I went to college at North Dakota State University and met this guy:




We started dating, and have been falling more and more in love for 8 years now. 
If you want more mushy stuff, head over here!


On September 30th, 2009, we bought a house...


...and he surprised me by proposing. Check out the full proposal story here!


Now we're getting married on September 30th, 2011!




You can see all my wedding planning adventures here!

We have two fur babies...


our baby girl Grace...


and our dingo dog Cooper!

We love them and spoil them absolutely rotten. Want proof? See here!

I am an aspiring Suzy homemaker/housewife, which means there's tons of DIY, decorating and craft projects happening at our house! Here's a couple favorites:







For more decorating/DIY/craft adventures, go here, here and here


OK. I think I've said enough. If you want to know more about me, head on over! Thanks so much for checking me out! :)

Don't forget to wish Bre a fabulous honeymoon!


Sunday, July 3, 2011

Slippery Slope


Back in late January I realized that the wedding was 5 months away and I would need all 5 of those months to get where I wanted to be by wedding day.  I signed up for fitness deal after fitness deal on Groupon.com and LivingSocial.com that was offered in my area.  Between that and the gym at my work, I was working out 3+ times a week.  We were eating clean at home; lean meats, lots of protein, fruits, veggies, less simple sugars, more complex carbs, blah, blah, blah.

At the beginning of June, after realizing I had somewhat plateaued, I decided to try living a Paleo lifestyle.  No dairy, no legumes, no grains, no processed sugars, just lots of lean meats and fruits and veggies.  It wasn't too big of a change to get used to seeing as how we ate already, but I did find myself wanting bad foods more often than I did before.  I was determined to stick it out for the month of June until the wedding.

Then Father's Day weekend happened...

We went to my dad's house on Saturday and had BBQ sausages and tri-tip, salad, and asparagus.  All Paleo approved.  But then there was bread.  Soft, still warm, fresh from the grocery store bakery french bread.  I had one piece.  And I was mad at myself for eating it because I only had one weekend left.  Oh yeah, there were also margaritas...

The next day we went over to my step-dad's sister's house for dinner.  This time there were appetizers.  Hot artichoke dip, cheese/meats/crackers, and the like.  I figured that I had already blown it, so whatever.  I indulged.  I had bread with dinner and then had dessert (angel food cake with strawberries), and then an oatmeal raisin cookie.  Game over.

Now I see why they call it a slippery slope.  The night of our wedding we went to the casino resort we were staying at for the night and next day.  At 1am we found ourselves in the food court eating Fatburgers and fries.  The next morning we were good at breakfast (unless you count the iced caramel latte I had) but later for lunch, we were stuffing our face with Panda Express.  I.Felt.Gross.

For the most part during the week, I stay in line with good eating.  We don't keep junk food, snacky stuff, or sweets in the house.  But these past few weekends have been filled with so much temptation and with the wedding being over and having already gone down this path, I am finding it hard to resist.  Yesterday I got in a great workout and then later we went to the movies and split a LARGE popcorn and a LARGE soda.  After that we were going to get some Subway sandwiches, which was in the same parking lot as Taco Bell.  somehow JB and I talked ourselves in circles long enough to end up in the Taco Bell drive-thru.  I haven't had Taco Bell since LAST 4th of July.  As I was eating it I was thinking, "this isn't as good as I remembered it being, and now I feel terrible."  I washed that down with a few beers and by the end of the night I was a bloated hot mess.

On the drive home I brought up the slippery slope and JB says, "It's just SO slippery."  While we are in Europe we aren't going to be holding back, but we will also be walking around all day so I am going to tell myself that it will cancel out for the most part.  Hopefully when I get back I can find a good balance of gym time and eating, but still enjoying life.  I feel like I have said this before...

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