How To Hygge In the Spring

Last year, in the throes of winter, I wrote about hygge (re: coziness). With a few weeks into spring, hygge looks a little different. Especially in Florida, when daily highs have a tendency to reach over 85. Luckily the nights are still cool... So, yes, spring is here, but that doesn't mean that hygge should be left behind. In my opinion, a home should always be cozy - no matter what the season. So, with that in mind, I wanted to share how I hygge in the spring.

Bring Home Fresh Flowers

Flowers have a lovely way of making any home feel peaceful. However, steer clear from artificial flowers, it just doesn't give the same effect. Simple, colourful bouquets will keep you connected to the natural world. If you have a green thumb, opt for indoor flowers like hyacinths. Don't forget about the greenery with easy to maintain pot plants, like succulents or cacti!

Let In Some Light

I am a sucker for natural light. If it were up to me I'd have multiple windows in every room. Throw open the curtains or open the windows. Natural light is a great mood booster and now that it's getting darker later you can enjoy it even more!

Delve Into Spring Scents

Candles aren't just for fall and winter. In springtime, the key is to find fresh scented candles. Candles that remind you of well, all things Spring. Using candles will help you to add that feeling of hygge. Scents of fresh linen, light floral scents, or sweet fruit are perfect for this time of year. This Coastal Palm candle from Target is both fresh and sweet.

Spend Time Outdoors

Spending time outdoors means you can take in all of the blooming flowers and enjoy nature. I mean, even if it's means having dinner on the back porch, it's still hygge. Think fresh pico de gallo and tortilla chips with homemade margaritas. Any time spent outdoors is a good thing. Go on a picnic, spend time at the park, take a walk around a lake. Whatever it is, go outside and enjoy it.

What are some of the ways in which you can bring hygge to springtime? Let me know in the comments below so we can discuss!

Our Wedding: The Party

Wow.... this is the last installment of our wedding series. And honestly, I'm a little sad about it. Weird, right? For this final post I'm going to focus on the reception. Now I know most people refer to this as the reception, but to Alex & I it was one giant party. Which was our goal to begin with. Lots of dancing, mingling and awesome music. This post is going to be pretty heavy on the photos, so enjoy!

This part of our day was filled with so many smiles from everyone. I didn't eat as much as I wanted to and I think I only had one glass of my cranberry & vodka. Either way, I was on cloud nine. Alex & I had so much fun dancing so I didn't even notice that I forgot to take a bite of a macaron. Go figure...

Homemade Margarita Mix

Alex & I have been on a margarita-on-the-rocks kick for the last two weeks. And this past weekend I decided to try my hand at making my own margarita mix. Mainly because neither one of us can stand the super sugary mixes that come in your standard margarita. We're lucky to have a local Mexican restaurant near us that doesn't use it, but drinks at home is always a lot more fun for us. So, with that in mind, I got to squeezing.

This recipe is insanely easy to make...

HOMEMADE MARGARITA MIX
Here's what you need:
10 limes (or a cup of lime juice, with nothing added)
1 cup water
1/2 cup sugar
a wooden reamer, or a citrus press

Directions
Dissolve the sugar into hot water t. Let it cool. Be sure to add the lime juice after it's completely cooled.

Roll your limes on a cutting board, making sure to press down hard. This makes the limes juicy. Slice the limes in half. Take a bowl, your reamer and ream out the juice. This takes some time but stick with it. Once you hit a cups worth of lime juice you can stop.

Once the simple syrup has cooled you can add lime juice to it. Pour into a bottle and viola! Homemade margarita mix. As for storage, we put ours in the fridge.

As for how much to put in, we drink our margarita on the rocks. For ours, we use 2oz of tequila and 3oz of margarita mix. Keep in mind that a frozen recipe might differ. As you can see in the half empty glasses above, it's really good.

Let me know if you try it. I hope you have a great weekend!

Our Wedding: Bride & Groom

Hi everyone! Today I'm back with part three of our Wedding Series - Bride & Groom. This one in particular is VERY special to me. Why you might ask, because these are the first pictures that Alex & I have as husband and wife. Every time I look at these photos I am reminded of all the love that we have for one another and my heart feels incredibly full.

I wanted to take a few moments to talk about both of our outfits, because we both put a lot of thought and consideration in to them. Neither of our outfits we're your typical "bride and groom attire" and that's exactly how we wanted it. Every piece was a perfect representation of what we had envisioned for our wedding day. And honestly, I think we did a lovely job.

I still can't get over Alex's velvet burgundy blazer. That and his combat boots! We pieced his outfit together. We found his blazer online from Bachrach and we found the rest of it around town. His pants were Kenneth Cole's and his combat boots and button shirt were found at Target. He just so happened to already have the perfect black textured tie - so he wore that. Which was a nod to my black gown. He also wore a Deadpool pin as a tie tack, his matte black and rosewood watch from Original Grain and his hematite crystal boutonniere that I had made him.

I couldn't find a single dress that I had wanted so I also pieced together my wedding gown to get the look I wanted. I found everything online. The tulle skirt was by Terani Couture and the top was by E.SSUE. The crown was handmade by my best friend Megan - she used hematite crystals to match Alex's boutonniere. I found my swarvoski triangle earrings on Etsy and Alex gave me a pair of bunny earrings that he gave me a little after we got engaged. My bracelet was my great Aunt's that my grandfather had given me many years ago. I even found my burgundy velvet shoes online too - which was a nod to Alex's blazer!

There isn't too much else to say for this installment, other than the fact that we will cherish these photos for the rest of our lives. I honestly can't wait until we turn all of the photos into a wedding book. We hope you enjoy the rest of these photos!

 

Next Wednesday I'll be back with the fourth and final installment of our wedding series - The Party. So stay tuned because our reception was freakin' awesome! If you're interested, you can see the previous wedding installment posts here: "Getting Ready" and "The Ceremony". For more wedding day details, head over here.

Photography: Laura Davis Photo

Weekend Vibes - Last Saturday

Amongst all the hustle and bustle of getting my last post ready, I forget to share the fun that Alex & I had last weekend. On Saturday we decided that we were going to treat our day as if we were on vacation. We had a blast too! We went downtown to the farmers market and explored the Spring Obsession plant sale. We even found some new businesses downtown; a popcorn place and a record store (that we weren't that impressed by, but whatever).

I got a delicious cruffin from Born & Bread Bakery, which was delicious as always. You can thank Alex for the chocolate smeared on my face. Bad decision! Then we went to La Carreta Mexican Restaurant for margaritas and chips and salsa at 11:30 in the morning. Which is my new favourite thing now. We loved it so much that this Saturday we'll be making margaritas with homemade margarita mix.

Afterwards we went to our new favourite comic book store in town, Uncanny Heroes. Alex just started collecting X-Men comics from the 90's. Which is kind of cute, because it's really like a time machine for him. He's rediscovering all of the comic books he had when he was a teenager. It's so cool to hear his stories, about when he first read them and how he felt about them. So far he has found some incredible comic books, in pristine condition. Just the other day he found a set of three Venom comic books in pristine condition. Mike, at the shop, said that Alex has to promise him to get them slabbed, because they have a rating of 9.4! Insane. Now to get them signed...

Once we left the comic book store we made our way to Hillcrest Coffee. They are a new coffee shop in town with old school coffeehouse vibes. Lots of cozy decor and delicious drinks. We ended up having tea and cold brew. I spent my time there writing, while Alex read his comic books.

All in all it was a truly perfect Saturday. I'm glad we took advantage of it as well, because I think from here on out Alex will have Sundays and Mondays off. Which I'm fine with since I don't work either of those day. So yeah, our last Saturday went out with a bang.

Our Wedding:The Ceremony

Today, I'm back with part two of our wedding series - The Ceremony! It kind of goes without saying that our ceremony was one of the most emotional parts of our whole wedding. For the most part I was calm, but there was still so much excitement running through my veins. Along with butterflies doing somersaults in my stomach. I was ready though!

My step-dad walked me down to the ceremony site and we had a few moments together before we went down the aisle. Once Alt-J's "Arrival In Narnia" started playing the butterflies in my stomach started to calm down.

Alex walked my mom down the aisle, which I thought was sweet. Alex's dad walked both Alex's mom and his birth mom down the aisle. I am so glad that we thought to include his birth mom too. I could tell that it really meant the world to her. Our wedding party was made up of close friends and family. Caitlin was my maid of honor and my bridesmaids were Megan and Alex's younger sister, Jessie. Alex's best man was Chad and his groomsmen were Derrick and Scott.

When I made it to the aisle, I locked eyes with Alex and my heart just melted. He had the biggest smile on his face and it stayed there the whole time. I slowly walked down the aisle, making it a point to take in every aspect of the moment. My family, friends, the happiness and love that I was feeling. It was so intense.

Alex's "uncle" Tom was our officiant and he prepared a very sweet and nontraditional ceremony. Since neither Alex & I are religious it was perfect for us. There was a reading of Shakespeare's Sonnet 116. Alex & I shared our personal parts before the vows. I said my vows first - which I wasn't expecting. But I was ready for it. I just remember that for the first time ever of speaking in front of people, that I wasn't nervous. I just looked into his eyes and read to him all the things that he meant to me.When Alex read his vows it was so hard not to cry. And he, in Alex tradition, even made me laugh with one of his lines... "I will always be your accomplice in mischief."

After we were pronounced husband and wife, I remember how magical everything felt. It had finally happened! It was so surreal - I remember our first kiss as a married couple, wrapping our arms around one another. It was truly incredible.

After Alex & I were announced our family and friends cheered. And then I had to press the play button on my phone to start the recession music! Which was silly and perfectly imperfect. We had all of our friends and family laughing too - which made the moment pretty special.

It was really fun taking the "formal" photos too. Even though there were a lot of awesome ones, we decided to only share just a few of our favourites. So we hope you like the ones that we chose.

But I think we had the most fun with the wedding party.

Next Wednesday I'll be back with our third post of wedding series, this time it will be "Bride & Groom". So stay tuned because they are incredible! If you interested, you can see the first post of our wedding installment here: "Our Wedding: Getting Ready" and our "Wedding Day Details" post.

Photography: Laura Davis Photo