What Motivates you to MOVE?!

I asked you that question and you said…

“ME Time- breaking away from responsibilities for a moment”

“Being able to move is a GIFT.”

“MOOD”

“To enjoy the FOOD I want to”

“The way I feel AFTER”

“For my KIDS- to be able to keep up with them”

“ACCOUNTABILITY – sharing a goal, and having someone hold me to it.”

“To LIVE a long and happy Life”

I received HUNDREDS of answers when I asked this question, and I read every single one of them and was absolutely inspired by each response. I found myself incredibly motivated to get moving as I saw these answers coming through, so thank you for sharing!

I’m motivated to move for several reasons. The way it makes me feel. There truly is a “high” afterwards with those endorphins pumping through. I feel balanced: mind, body, and soul. It gives me energy. I feel confident knowing that I’m doing my …

Spending a weekend stranded in paradise with my husband was PURE Bliss!!!

We weren’t really stranded, but we had very limited access to anywhere but our family home in Haena, on the North Shore of Kauai.

Really quick explanation, due to some devastating rainfall in April 2018 the road to get to our Haena home is closed, except at specific times a day and for residents only, so once residents enter into their community, they hunker down. (Besides the daily convoy to work/school, but if you can avoid it, you do!) We were only dropping in for a long weekend, so the plan was to hunker down, and not leave our sweet home… except for one date night in town, because we do have a few favorites that we just can’t skip when we’re there. (I’m sharing my favorite spots to find some gluten free bites down below, scroll down if that’s what you’re here for!)

So we lived the …

Six Months ago Taylor and I officially started our best adventure yet, as we said “I do.” Six months later from that very best day of our lives, I’m even more in love with him. And I LOVE that. It’s definitely a different kind of love. Don’t get me wrong, I still feel those mushy gushy “in love” feelings, but things really do change the day you get married, and enter into that forever covenant with one another. My love for Taylor became so real, raw, and deep, beyond what I could have imagined, and I can only imagine that it will continue to grow into something deeper and greater with all the wear and tear we will go through in our lifetime together! I’m excited for that. I’m understanding even more of how God loves us, without conditions, sure, some disappointment, but with so much grace, and with a GREAT GREAT love.

Being that this has been our greatest …

Confession. The hardest part of marriage so far has had to do with ME. The day after we returned from our Mini-Moon, I instinctively went into my “ideal” of what being a “wife” was. I became crazed in responsibilities around our home. I ended up overwhelmed, and quickly burned myself out. I eventually learned that I had become crazed in my own expectations of myself. Taylor and I hadn’t really ever discussed expectations of responsibilities, because we hadn’t even thought of addressing it.

The day we came home from our mini-moon (you can learn more about that HERE) was the first time we began living together! So exciting, and something we had obviously both been looking forward to for a long time. But because we didn’t head out on our honeymoon until about a month after our wedding, we basically had the weekend of our wedding to live in the bubble of wedded bliss. And then the …

Our Mini-Moon at Omni La Costa

Welp you guys, We’re married!!!! Oh my goodness, it was THE BEST DAY of our lives. But… more on the day of and all the very special details once we have photos to share with you. Until then, I’m sharing other special moments and continuing with sharing some of my other Wedding Planning moments. I promise to continue to share with you all the details I can of this very special time in our lives, but the wedding itself will be the Grand Finale to it all! For today, we’re talking Our Mini-Moon at Omni La Costa Resort & Spa! It was magical! (I might need to start using another word… but honestly this season of life has been summed up easily by that word. But if you have any other suggestions that I can add into my vocabulary, please comment below! 😉)

On Saturday, April 28th I woke up next to the …

One look at you my whole life falls in line. I prayed for you, before I called you mine. I can’t believe it’s true sometimes… I get to Love You. It’s the best thing that I’ll ever do. 

{Photos by Feather & Stone | Fine Art Photography}

I seriously get all weepy looking through these photos and thinking of what a gift it is to get to love this man and be loved by him. Wow. God has been so good.

I’m so excited to share some of our favorite photos from our Engagement shoot with you. But first of all, I want to introduce the two amazing people behind the camera that helped capture “us”. If you’ve been following along then you briefly got to meet Seth & Tenielle of Feather & Stone Photography in this blog: HERE

These two absolutely talented photographers have been such an incredible blessing to us and the best addition to our Wedding Dream …

Where to begin when planning your Bachelorette Weekend?!

I’m going to be honest with you, getting started with planning my Bachelorette Weekend was probably one of the biggest stressors for me and my girls. One, because I didn’t give us very much time to plan…getting engaged in January and planning a wedding for the end of April didn’t give us many weeks to plan, and not a whole lot of weekends to choose from to get away. And the second reason Bachelorette weekend planning was such a stressor was the question “where can we go?”.  And third, once we picked Sonoma, there were sooooo many options of where to stay, what to do, how we’d get there, etc. So that’s why I’ve decided to share this blog post with you! I needed something so straight to the point to help us navigate and plan the weekend, I hope this can be that for you. Wether or not you’re just …

{Photos by Madison Lauren Photography}

Oh what an adventure me and 7 of of my best girlfriends had for my Bachelorette weekend. If you follow my Instagram stories, you saw that we experienced some interesting hurdles to getting to our destination for the Bachelorette weekend. (If you don’t follow my Instagram stories, you can still watch the journey on my Instagram, in the highlights titled, “Bachelorette”.) The journey had some twists and turns, and it made for a memorable start to the weekend. And I’m so excited to share more about our travels and festivities, but first, I wanted to share something from my heart.

God has been so good to me in leading me along some interesting paths that have led me to every single one of these friendships that I have. We have each shared seasons of highs and lows, tears, laughter, joy. There have been multiple prayers shared in person, over coffee, over the phone, …

From Tenley’s Kitchen to Your Bachelor Viewing Party

Week 3 of The Bachelor

Another Monday night of Sean and his Bachelorettes brings me another Bachelor viewing party with a few friends! This Monday is a busy one, so this week my viewing party menu is very simple and practical. We need these kinds of “go to’s” when hosting, right? I thought I’d share this easier spread with all of you, because we can’t always be “superwoman” (or superman) and we can use some shortcuts!

First of all, I have to say how much I’ve been enjoying Sean as the Bachelor! What do you all think? I’m sold on the fact that he’s a good guy, very genuine. It’s refreshing, but of course we still have the ladies we’re all figuring out. I personally feel like I like one girl one second, and then the next, she says something or does something and I find myself scratching my head and wondering, …

{All Photos by Feather & Stone | Fine Art Photography}

“Life is short, I want to Live it Well!”

We hope that our wedding day will be a reflection of the way that Taylor and I both hope to live our lives out every day. One of Taylor’s favorite songs (I want to claim it as a favorite too) is Live it Well by Switchfoot! (Definitely take a listen, it’s super inspiring, and we love these guys!). But the words, “I want to live it well!” has been a piece of inspiration for our wedding day and for our wedding designers, Amorology! Without giving too much away, because we should probably keep a few things a secret 😉, I thought I’d share a little bit about our details and the amazing vendors that are helping all the key pieces come to life for our big day!

Details Details Details

If you read my blog about our Dream Team- …