The dress. The beautiful gown the bride will be wearing the first time she see’s her groom. The gorgeous options of silk, taffeta, lace, tulle, etc. that little girls dream of dressing up in one day. It’s an important detail to the wedding day and I personally think a special rite of passage getting to try on all the gowns and step into that bridal role. And I’ve been wanting to share my personal experience and a few tips, especially because we gave ourselves a unique situation by choosing to plan our wedding in just about 15 weeks! Ah! So if you’re worried about getting your dress in time, I hope some of my tips at the end will have you covered. But First…

The First Gowns…

The first moment I tried on dresses was the day after we got engaged! Woo! No wasting time over here. It was a last minute …

Every woman wants to feel her very best the day she walks down the aisle and says “yes” to her best friend for the rest of their lives. And before I go any further, a message to every woman (Bride or not): YOU ARE BEAUTIFUL JUST AS YOU ARE. And you lucky girl, you found the one that loves you and chooses you for who you are! Remember that, ALWAYS! And babes that aren’t walking down the aisle quite yet, you can still follow along, because I truly believe we deserve to give ourselves the very best at all times. The results: Feeling YOUR BEST at all times! Yes, yes, yes! Are you ready for some “shredding for the wedding” tips?!

We’re in that five week countdown to my wedding day (first anniversary though- where did the time go?!), and I’ve been asked multiple times: “how did you physically get ready for …

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{Video Linked Below!}

I’m feeling incredibly sentimental as I reflect over this past year! It has been the absolute best, and a very BIG year with some of of my greatest life adventures: Getting engaged in the beginning of 2018, planning our wedding in under 4 months, getting married, and now buying our first home together! I thought I’d share a little behind the scenes of this newest adventure of our new home…

The Frustration I’ve never shared out loud Before…

Something I haven’t ever shared before is the fact that my determined husband started looking for homes before we were even engaged. There’s absolutely nothing wrong with that determination… except that he would take me with him, and we would be dreaming of our future together. I would get so frustrated thinking, shouldn’t we at least be engaged to begin dreaming about making this big financial commitment together?! Haha. What I didn’t know is that he had the …

There’s nothing better than summer nights and spontaneous moments that make truly special memories. But of course, for the perfect spontaneous moments, you need the perfect beverage in hand! And friends, I’ll be honest with you, warm summer days and nights usually leave me reaching for a cool bevvy to kick my feet up with, but as we all know… not all drinks are created equal. Often times drinks that contain alcohol, contain gluten, and most are full of sugar and calories (I’m not a big calorie counter, but hello alcoholic beverages that are on a caloric overload… goodness!). But don’t you worry, I have a gluten free, crisp, clean, and refreshing Spiked and Sparkling drink to share with you that will up the ante on your summer beverage game!

drum roll please…

Truly Spiked & Sparkling

So here’s why I love Truly and why I chose to partner with them for this summer season:

• Truly is a Spiked Sparkling

Last June, we took one incredible adventure together. Iceland was like none other, and perhaps you’ve seen my past few blog posts of those adventures, but one of my favorite memories is this video that Taylor made to always re-live this epic adventure. I thought it would be fun to share with all of you, I hope you enjoy!

{Click Photo for Video}

                                                                        IcelandVideo

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Into the Blue…

{Photo by Taylor Leopold}

The Blue Lagoon. The MUST stop in Iceland.

When planning our trip to Iceland I KNEW that somehow we would need to fit in a stop to this geothermal spa. We considered making the stop at the Blue Lagoon as soon as we got off our flights to Iceland, as the airport is near, and it would be a nice way to begin a trip— but a friend that had been before had suggested maybe finishing our time in Iceland with our stop at this famous spa and Icelandic Landmark. So that’s exactly what we did, it was perfect!

After several days of driving and seeing the breathtaking sites of this magical country, Taylor and I enjoyed a relaxing night at The Blue Lagoon before our next flights and adventures. We soaked in the hot spa water, floated around sipping on wine, enjoyed an unbelievable dinner (completely gluten free for me), covered …

Dreamy London Days… and a Dream come true for me. Gluten Free Afternoon Tea!

{Photos by Taylor Leopold}

I had always dreamt of exploring the posh and historic streets of London. And when I say Always, I mean that this was something that I had wanted to do since the day I learned about Princess Diana and the two young princes that I was sure were awaiting my arrival to London just as much as I was excited to get there! 😉 (I had a vivid imagination growing up… let’s be honest, it’s still pretty active.)

When my sweet boyfriend and I began planning our trip to Iceland we realized London would be our gateway stop to our travels that would follow our Iceland trip. This brought a huge smile to my face, realizing I was finally going to get to explore a city that I had forever been fascinated by. And what made this even better is when we …

  The Black Sand Beaches of Vik, Iceland

Our first day in Iceland was full (read about our first day HERE), but we weren’t about to miss a beat for our second day exploring this beautiful and mystical country. I could say that this day was my favorite, but really, I’ll say that about each day. Iceland is just magical, full of adventure, romantic, and absolutely picturesque.

Day 2 we woke up and hit the road to the black sand beaches of Vik. Day 2 will take a couple posts to share, because yet again, we packed the day full, and kept going into the middle of the night. The first highlight of the day was horseback riding on these black sand beaches, this was something that both Taylor and I had said was something that we wanted to make sure we would do while visiting Vik.

The Iceland horses are something different. One, they’re everywhere, and they’re super friendly! …

{Photo by Taylor Leopold}

“Here’s to the twilight, here’s to the memories. These are my souvenirs, my mental pictures of everything. Here’s to the late nights, here’s to the firelight. These are my souvenirs.”-Switchfoot

How does one even put into words the beauty and magic of Iceland? Honestly. I’ve been home from my beautiful adventure to Iceland for some time now, but I’ve struggled to find the voice that I wanted to have as I shared this with all of you. I want to share the beauty we got to take in over the four days we spent driving across the south part of Iceland! But of course, I want to share with you the Gluten Free Eats we found along the way and any healthy travel upgrades I might have been able to put to use on this adventure.

The sweetest memories come with an adventure like this of course, so luckily I was traveling with my incredibly talented …