Happy Birthday Rachel

 Over the weekend we celebrated my 28th birthday.  Since my birthday was three weeks after our wedding we decided to keep it a pretty low key weekend.  We usually throw a big party with a fun theme (last year was a gold party for my golden birthday and the year before was a Kentucky Derby party with a hat contest) but decided there have been enough parties in my/our honor this month. 

My day started out wonderful; John made me a smoothie for breakfast and left a sweet note in my car.  When I got to work, my team surprised me with breakfast.  It was very thoughtful, considering I have only worked with them for a week.  My friend Jessica took me to lunch at Taco Diner.  We thought we would be smart and sit on the patio and work on our tans.  BAD IDEA.  We were so hot and so sweaty within 5 minutes.  Oh well, we will be smarter next time.  My birthday present from Jessica was an adorable Kate Spade bracelet, a fun scarf, and a set of OPI nail polish.  She is such an amazing present picker-outer!

After working a very long day I went home to celebrate with Johnny.  He bought me my very own set of golf clubs.  I don't golf, but I like to go to the driving range and TopGolf.  I guess I need to learn how to play now that  I have fancy schmancy clubs.  After presents, John and I went to dinner at Brio.  We planned to see Hunger Games after dinner but I was way too tired after an exhausting week at work so we went home and hung out.

I called my mom and talked to her while I was opening her present.  So fun, why have I not done that before?  She bought me a bunch of fun things at Crate & Barrel to host Mexican night.  I can't wait!

On Saturday morning I was super excited to try out my new clubs at the driving range.  There is a crappy golf course near our house that I LOVE because there is never anyone at the driving range and it is cheap.  I really enjoyed having the driving range to ourselves because nobody was there to watch how bad I am.

The golf theme continued into Saturday night.  We met some friends at TopGolf.  Here is Jessica.  She turned into a pretty amazing TopGolfer by the end of the night.

Elizabeth

Usually I am happy if I don't lose at TopGolf, but I won both games!  I beat everyone, including the boys...TWICE!  My new clubs are amazing!

Me and Angela

The Girls (the boys were all there, but apparently I was not into taking pictures of them)

On Sunday night I relaxed and enjoyed the last few moments of my birthday weekend with a glass bottle of prosecco.  Thank you Lesley and Angela for the delicious birthday present!  And how fun is that champagne flute?  We got them as a wedding gift and finally got a chance to use them.

Thank you to everyone who helped make my birthday extra special this year!

What I'm Loving Wednesday

What I'm Loving Wednesday!
-Hosted by Jamie

There are so many things I am loving today.  

I love my new husband!  Married life is WONDERFUL!!!

I will post more photos soon.  In the meantime, click HERE to see our fabulous photographer's blog post.  While you are there, make sure to hit the "like" button on the bottom (Thank You!).

I'm loving VoteIsland.com!  It is so addicting and it is now easier to leave comments and contribute new polls.  I love when my polls are picked and posted on the website!

I love our new dining room furniture from Pottery Barn (Thanks LuAnne & Family)!  Our house is officially furnished!  I am still working on my summer centerpiece, but I love the new candles and lantern we found at Pottery Barn last weekend.  I think it is a good start.

 

 

I love this mirror my aunt made for me as a wedding gift.  She made my brooch bouquet for my wedding and used all the leftover brooches to make this beautiful mirror.  She is so amazing and talented and I am blessed to have her in my life.

I love my new Sam Edelman shoes I found at Nordstrom Rack.  I finally got to wear them last week when we attended the premiere of Dragon Age.  I thought it was a pretty appropriate place to wear them.

If you love them as much as I do, I found the same shoes still available in black (and on sale!).  Click the photo to link to Endless.com:


I love that John and I finished reading The Hunger Games.  I am excited to see the movie this weekend and start reading the next book.

I love that my birthday is in 2 days!  I am pretty sure the wedding and honeymoon ate into the birthday gift fund, but I am still excited to celebrate this weekend at TopGolf.   

Happy Wednesday everyone!  I PROMISE to post photos from my bridal showers, the wedding and the honeymoon very soon.  In the meantime, I will leave you with one more of our favorites.

Honeymoon in Maui

And the mystery honeymoon destination was...

MAUI!!!

One of the best parts of wedding planning was NOT planning the honeymoon.  John planned the entire thing and kept the destination a secret until we were at the gate at the airport!  I still cannot believe nobody spilled the beans.  The only thing he told me was that we were going to the beach, so I would know how to pack.  A lot of people told me I was crazy to hand over the planning to my fiance, but I thought it was genius!  It was one less (big) thing I had to plan and worry about while planning the wedding.

John and  left for our honeymoon the Monday after our wedding.  I really liked having one day between the wedding and the honeymoon.  Not only did it allow us to see our family one last time, but we had a moment to catch our breath and finish packing.  I cannot imaging the logistics involved in leaving the day after the wedding.  I needed the extra day to find everything (my phone was missing for about 15 hours after the wedding)!

John's parents surprised us with an upgrade to first class on our way to Maui!  Believe it or not, it was my first time flying first class.  You would think with all the travel I do I would have been upgraded at some point, but that was not the case.  First Class was kind of like a mini 8-hour vacation before our real vacation.  They kept feeding us and giving us champagne and wine, so I was fat and happy and took a nice little nap with my comfy pillow and blanket and seat that reclined almost flat.  As you can tell, I am easily entertained!

When we got to Maui, our first stop was...Wal-Mart.  Seriously?!?!  We needed groceries and that seemed like the cheapest and easiest place to go. 

We stayed in Kaanapali at the Westin Villas (thanks Mom!)

Tiny kitchen

View from our room

Coy pond view from our room

Newlyweds

Beautiful flowers from John's parents

The first of many rainbows

We spent the first day hanging out in Lahaina.  There are a bunch of really cool shops and restaurants so we did a little shipping and then relaxed ocean-side with cocktails at Cheeseburger in Paradise.

The first of many cocktails:)

Table with a view

Later that evening, we enjoyed a sunset dinner at Kimo's.  The food was fabulous, but the table behind us was super obnoxious.  They put their baby in his stroller and let him cry for at least 30 minutes.  Because they could not hear each other over the screaming baby, they raised their voices so the entire restaurant could hear.  The parents were more irritating than the baby.  Not the romantic dinner I was expecting.

We did not mean to match.  Oops!

Beautiful Sunset

More delicious cocktails...which was followed by shave ice

The next morning we woke up early to start the Road to Hana
We stopped early on to watch the morning surfers

Delicious banana bread...

...and more shave ice!

We had no top on the Jeep so it got a little chilly when the rain started.  Luckily it did not last long.

Beautiful waterfall on the side of the road

Coffee Break

Such a beautiful drive

The water was too high to swim.  Sad:(

My new husband!  Check out that ring!

Excuse the crazy Jeep/Rain/Wind hair

Beautiful path

When we reached Hana we decided to keep driving, on what I call the Road PAST Hana.  There were NO other cars.

Jeep!

We found this little church next to the ocean.  They only have mass when there is a fifth Sunday in a month.  As you can tell by the sign, that only occurs about twice a year.

We got out of our car and walked around the grounds for a while.  The funny thing about the Road to Hana is when you stop, you are likely to start a trend.  John and I would stop where there were no other people, but we always had company within 5-10 minutes.  Sometimes a lot of company!

As we continued the Road PAST Hana, we were pretty much alone.  We saw more cows than people!

I am about as mature as a 12-year-old!  The 'poop' graffiti made me smile:)

At the end of the drive was a winery!  We stopped for a wine tasting and ended up purchasing 36 bottles of wine.  Yum!

We made it back to our hotel just in time to enjoy the sunset

John skipping rocks

More fruity cocktails!

Thursday was spent scuba diving at Molokini Crater.  It was our first time to dive since we were certified.  We were a little nervous at first, but were totally comfortable once we were in the water.  I wish I had my camera on the boat because the whale watching was pretty cool.  While diving, we could even hear the whales.  Fortunately, we had no whale encounters...but we did see a shark.

The next day we had a couples massage and the relaxed with our books outside.  That night we had dinner at Mama's Fish House.  Best meal of my LIFE!!!


Beautiful view from our table

The menu changes twice each day, based on what the fishermen are bringing in.

I don't usually take photos of my food, but the tuna was so beautiful I could not stop myself.

Our last day we decided to hang out in Lahaina.  We had an early lunch at Lahaina Pizza Company and had a great view of a kids surf competition that was going on.

Best shave ice of my life.  We went there everyday, if not twice a day.

We thought this sign was funny so we had to take a picture

Our honeymoon was absolutely perfect!  I cannot wait to go back to Maui!!!