The Happiness Planner

As I've grown up (and I still wouldn't even consider myself fully "grown up"), it's become much more apparent just how important it is to take care of not only my physical health, but also my mental, emotional, and spiritual health. It's so easy to let the stress of work, finances, or another of life's many stressors get in the way of a positive attitude and outlook on this beautiful thing we call life.

Some might have an easier go at staying positive than I do. I've struggled with anxious feelings for years now, which is honestly quite exhausting, but I work actively each day to stay as optimistic as possible. Others might already lean more toward "glass half full" if they're not struggling with similar issues or they just generally have a more laid-back personality. But I do think for many happiness is often a daily choice. That's why I love the concept of this Happiness Planner. It's a nice reminder of just how much control I can have over my state of mind.

The book takes you through a set up section first, asking questions like "what makes you happy," "what makes you unhappy," "what are your strengths," "what are your weaknesses," "what are you grateful for," "what are your dreams," and more. After you reflect on these questions, you set goals for the next 100 days and fill out the planner on a daily basis, working off of weekly goals. I haven't finished the set up section yet, but I'm so excited to get started!

I'm sure I'll keep you updated along the way. I can't wait to get started on this very important journey of mindfulness!

Our Wedding // Part 1

In honor of our one-year wedding anniversary this past July, I thought it would be the perfect time to finally get our whole wedding story written down and shared with all of you!

Part 1 of our wedding story is about the week of -- prepping and a whole lot of celebrating, including wine tasting, the Oregon Brewer's Festival, and our absolutely delicious rehearsal lunch.

Most of our immediate family arrived on Wednesday, but some came in on Thursday and Friday. We both worked Monday and Tuesday that week, and started our wedding vacation on Wednesday, so the timing was perfect.

The weekend before was spent organizing, prepping, and labeling all of the decor, alcohol, stationery, etc. for pickup from our day-of coordinator on Wednesday night. I'm not joking when I say you could barely make a walkway through our apartment; there were bags and boxes everywhere! But I will say doing all of this hard work up front made for such a smooth, no-stress week before and day of. So for that, I am grateful.

Back to the fun -- the family who did arrive on Wednesday got into town around Noon. Our apartment building had to shut off our water from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. (fun times!), so Tim and I woke up somewhat early on Wednesday to get out of the apartment before then and run some last-minute errands before our families arrived. 

Even though everything we heard was "plan your wedding for the end of July for guaranteed good weather," the forecast definitely called for rain on our big day, so we stopped by Powell's to pick up umbrellas for the bridal party. After Powell's we swung by Target to pick up frames for our parents' DIY wedding gifts and then came home.

We got to say a quick "hi" to my family before they headed off to the Oregon Brewer's Festival (my mom's first time!). Then we went out to lunch with Tim's family and came back to the apartment to finish up our parents' gifts. Later that night we all met up with my family who rented the cutest house off NW 23rd and enjoyed some delicious tacos. It was so nice getting both of our families together for a quiet meal before all the craziness ensued! ;)

Thursday was all about Tim celebrating with the guys and me celebrating with the girls. Not all of my bridesmaids were in town yet, but we did get a good group to go wine tasting. It was a beautiful day (sunshine and not too hot or cold) and such a fun time spent relaxing with wonderful company :)

Tim and his guys went to the Oregon Brewer's Festival because, while I'm definitely #TeamWine, Tim is without a doubt #TeamBeer. The girls went to three wineries in Dundee and stopped at Red Hills Market for lunch on the way back (highly, highly recommended). We got stuck in crazy traffic since it was a weekday, and were getting pretty hilarious texts from the guys who hadn't quite sobered up yet. All in all, I'd say it was a great day all around.

Thursday night the guys and girls met up for our joint bachelor/bachelorette party. We started the evening at Brix Tavern for dinner and drinks and then bar hopped the rest of the night. We didn't get in until 2 a.m. and I'm definitely an old soul, so I'd say it was a pretty successful night of celebrating. ;) I won't post any photos of that night here, but there's a picture of me taken by my sister on Instagram that will live there forever. And I'm not sure how I feel about it, haha.

On Friday morning, my mom, sister, Tim's sister, Sarah, and I got our nails done together (photo below of mine -- I'm so obsessed with how they turned out!). We opted for a rehearsal lunch because it was much cheaper than a dinner and since we were having a brunch wedding, we thought it was an awesome idea to stick with the same non-traditional theme. The rehearsal at the church began at 4 anyways, so the lunch from 12:30-3:30 was perfect timing to ensure everyone was on time. 

We enjoyed flatbreads, salads, waffle fries with this absolutely to-die-for gorgonzola cheese sauce, wings, cupcakes, and more deliciousness. I'd say everyone was satisfied! Tim's sister, Sarah, made such a special movie of pictures of us growing up and the length of our relationship. It was beautiful and definitely brought tears to our eyes.

The rehearsal at the church was flawless, thanks to Sharon, the church wedding coordinator, who was such a gem to work with throughout our wedding planning process. Friday evening Tim had to run last-minute to Men's Wearhouse to get one of his groomsmen fitted and then he picked up our cake from Whole Foods. I stayed at our apartment to wrap his gift and pack for my night at my family's rental house. When he got home we exchanged gifts - I got him a GoPro and he got me a record player that I absolutely love. We ended the night at 23Hoyt for dinner with some of my family and then said our goodbyes until morning, when we would finally become husband and wife. 

I went to bed that night with butterflies because I knew in less than 12 hours, I would be married to the man of my dreams. The next morning I woke up and the fairytale, most-perfect wedding day I could have ever asked for began. More on that in Part 2.

DIY // Yarn Wall Hanging

I have been lusting after those beautiful wall weavings that have been floating around Instagram the past couple of months. This account particularly piques my interest and has even made me think seriously about investing in a weaving loom! The idea of creating something so beautiful for my family and potentially turning it into a small side business sounds so intriguing. But for now, instead of spending lots of money on a loom or hundreds of dollars on a custom weaving, I thought I'd make a yarn wall hanging as a cheaper alternative. ;)

The supplies you'll need:

• 4 foot wooden dowel (or really, whatever size you want. Home Depot will customize any size for you!)
• 4 spools of your favorite yarn
• 1 spool of twine

My strategy when picking yarn was two-fold: to complement the existing color scheme of our living room and to also find different styles with fun movement. The chunky beige yarn was actually just thrown in a bottom bin at Michaels without a label. The moment I saw it I immediately knew it'd be perfect when balanced with smaller, patterned yarn.

The process of putting it together was so simple, although it did take me a couple of hours to cut each piece and tie them on the dowel. I wanted the placement to feel random, but it still took a lot of effort to get the look just right ;) Here's a look at how I tied the yarn:

I absolutely love how it turned out. When Tim helped me hang it up, it was even better than I thought it would be! A very well-spent Saturday afternoon crafting if you ask me.