What We Did Memorial Day Weekend: Part 2

Once again, I find myself in need of a study break! I can't wait to get this test over with next Thursday (as long as I pass!) While on my "break", why don't I finish up my recap of our Memorial Day weekend! 

Sunday 

We kept Sunday low-key and slept in a little, until it was time to get up for church! After church, we made our way over to our life group leader's house to help with some springtime yard work! Ryan and the boys hung out in the backyard, tilling the land (I always  feel like i'm singing a country song when I use that phrase), then raking and laying down grass seed. We've gotten a lot of rain this week, so hopefully that grass starts to grow in soon! The ladies went to the front yard to either weed and garden (everyone else) or play with the kids (me). What can I say, I LOVE children! 

After church! 

Jon and Candice were nice enough to supply lunch for everyone at their house and ordered a Chicken and Broccoli pizza and the biggest steak calzone anyone has ever seen. Seriously, the picture just doesn't even do it justice! Everything was delicious though and we will definitely order from there in the future! 

I think Ryan and I were both pretty beat by the time we headed home and decided to relax at home for the night, especially since we knew we were going into Boston again Monday morning for some Memorial Day festivities.

Monday 

Monday morning, Ryan and I got up and headed in to Boston to meet up with Kristen and Stephen (yay!) and go to the Museum of Fine Arts! It was free admission this weekend, and the line to get in the building was unbelievable!

Luckily, Stephen informed us that there was a side entrance and absolutely NO line to get in there so we were able to just walk right in! 

We saw a lot of cool exhibits while we were there, including a "To Boston With Love" quilt exhibit, where quilt makers around the world created hand-sewn quilt squares with messages of love and peace to Boston. 

The museum was HUGE so I feel like we saw a ton but even close to every exhibit they had to offer.

After the museum and lunch, at a cool place called Flour, we all made our way over to Boston Common where there were 33,000 American flags on display. Each flag represented a Massachusetts servicemember who lost their life in battle from the civil war to present day. It was a breathtakingly haunting sight and was a great place for us to give praise to the people who have fought and are fighting for our freedom every day.

So there you have it. I've officially completed my summary of our Memorial Day weekend. As you can see, there is ALWAYS something to do in New England and we are definitely keeping ourselves busy up here (and loving every minute of it!)

Tonight, our little apartment community is throwing a "Kick-off to Summer" block party so hopefully it will be a great opportunity to finally meet the people we've been living next to for the past 5 months! I hope everyone has a great night!

-Sarah 

Wedding Wednesday: Bridesmaids Luncheon and Rehearsal Dinner

Happy Wednesday! It's time for another Wedding event recap! The day before the wedding, Stephanie's mother threw me and my Bridesmaids a Bridesmaids luncheon at the Swan Coach house, a southern tradition, in Atlanta! Luckily, all of my bridesmaids were able to get to Atlanta the day before the wedding so I could celebrate them and everything they did to make the day THAT much more special for me! One of my bridesmaids, Alyssa, drove through the night to get to Atlanta in time for the luncheon! She's such a champ! 

Lunch was awesome and I was able to give my bridesmaids their gifts before everything got too crazy! Each girl got a monogrammed oxford shirt to wear while they were getting ready the next day as well as a pretty necklace to wear with their dresses! 

Steph modeling the shirt! 

All of my beautiful bridesmaids! I'm a lucky girl! 

After lunch, we all went outside for pictures. We had some time to kill before we needed to be at the venue to help set things up for the big day, so we snapped away! 

Stephanie, Mrs. Furman (the host), my mom, and me! 

Both of my mommas!

Later in the day, we meandered over to the venue to set the tables up for the wedding. Before we knew it, it was time to change and get ready for the rehearsal and rehearsal dinner! The rehearsal went smoothly (no pictures I believe) and the rehearsal dinner took place at Pappacitos! 

The food at the rehearsal dinner was unbelievable but the highlight of the night (besides seeing all my family from out of town) was the slideshow my dad made for me and Ryan! It turned out so awesome and I'm so glad to have a copy to watch whenever we want!

Me, Cara, and Colee

Thank you to Mrs. Furman and the Smith's for throwing some unforgettable events for Ryan and I! We couldn't appreciate it more and are so grateful to have all of you in our lives!!

Hope everyone had a great day!!

-Sarah

A Celebrity Among Us

My entire family is incredibly talented in their own way, but this post is all about my AWESOME cousin, Olivia!

A couple weeks ago, Olivia entered a contest with a company called Sakroots, their website here. 

Sakroots started a contest and was asking artists to submit a design that would eventually be featured on an entire line within the company!  I'm not sure how many applicants there were, but Olivia was chosen to be a top-ten finalist! The finalist's designs were featured on the Sakroots website, where people were asked to vote for their favorite. Whoever's design received the most votes would win some money, a trip to NYC to visit their studios, and an entire line for ANYONE to purchase! 

Voting was open for a couple weeks and the results came in just a couple days ago! OLIVIA won! Her design, below, will be available on every product (I believe) starting in 2014! I am beyond proud of her and can't wait to rock "Bubble Nest"! 

Isn't her design AWESOME! 

Olivia, you rock and I just know there are going to be amazing things coming your way! I can't wait to celebrate with you soon!


Alright, I'm off to Life Group solo since Ryan is at ANOTHER Red Sox game for work! I'll be back tomorrow with a Wedding Wednesday post! Hope everyone has a great night!

-Sarah 

What We Did This Memorial Day Weekend part 1

Hi! I hope everyone had a great Memorial Day Weekend! The weather wasn't great up here (until yesterday) but we didn't let that stop us from having an amazing 3-day weekend! Here's a recap!


Saturday 

Ryan and I started the day out with a good workout at the gym in our complex. I'm trying to build up my endurance, so I hopped on to the treadmill and completed an interval run for 2.75 miles! We wanted to get a workout out of the way before we began our exciting day in Boston!

As I mentioned in my last post, Saturday we had big plans to go to Fenway for my first Red Sox game with our awesome friends Kristen and Stephen! Side note: Kristen and Stephen have a blog as well which can be found here! Read it!

The game started at 1:35 so Ryan and I left Weymouth early to get into the city with plenty of time to explore before the game. Unfortunately, Boston is a TOUGH city to drive around and park in (much better to walk or take the train if you can) so it took us a good hour to get near Fenway and find a place to park. By the time we met up with the Kehner's, we only had time for Ryan, Kristen, and Stephen to grab Brats at a cart outside the park and head in before the first pitch!

Deciding to go the game happened at the last minute, so by the time we bought our tickets, the cheapest seats available were almost $60 each. Instead of splurging for our first game, we decided to buy "standing room only" seats, which really worked out better since we got to roam around the park and stay in the covered section during the rainy, less than ideal weather we got during the game! During our time inside Fenway we had a photo-op with the "Green Monstah", searched the entire park to try our first Fried Dough, and of course, watched a little bit of Baseball!! 

Fried Dough- A lot like funnel cake, just doughier!

The game started out a little slow and we were losing from pretty early on, but in the 8th inning, everything exploded and the Red Sox won the game!! It was an awesome experience  and I can't wait to go to another game (hopefully the sun will be out this time though!)

After the game, the four of us walked over to Boston Beer Works to get a table, eat dinner, and watch the Bruins win! Overall, it was a great day for Boston sports and the Bruins advanced to the next round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs!

We absolutely LOVE hanging out with Kristen and Stephen and will miss getting the four of us together this summer while Stephen is traveling! I'm so glad we found each other in New England! 

I planned on writing about our entire Memorial Day weekend in this post, but it's already pretty long and I have to get back to studying for my 2nd MTEL! T-minus 10 days until test time! 

Sunday and Monday recap will come soon!! 

-Sarah 

Fantastic Friday

Happy Friday ya'll!!

I am SO looking forward to this three day weekend and all the fun things we have planned!!

My weekend started around 11:30 this morning, since I only worked a half-day with some sweet preschoolers. First thing I did to kick off the weekend... get an oil change! My check oil light has been flashing on and off for a week or so now and I was ALMOST due for an oil change so I just decided to get it done a little early. Turns out there was basically 0 oil in my car so I'm glad we got that fixed!

Ryan and I are not quite sure what we're doing tonight. When I asked Ryan he mentioned something about Beer, Dinner, and a Movie. Love that man. Maybe we'll go see the new Hangover movie? Or 42?

Tomorrow, we're doing something I've been looking forward to since we found out we're moving to Boston! We're FINALLY going to a Red Sox game! I can't wait to cheer on my second favorite team @ Fenway!

The game is at 1:35 and we're going with our awesome friends Stephen and Kristen! Pray for decent weather tomorrow so the game isn't delayed or postponed! I CAN'T WAIT!! 

This week is also Museum Appreciation Week, so a lot of (maybe all?) museums in Boston are having free admission. Some point during the weekend, I'm hoping to check out the Museum of Fine Arts! 

I hope everyone has a FANTASTIC Memorial Day Weekend and remembers the reason for the holiday! 

-Sarah 

Wedding Wednesday: Bridal Shower + Bachelorette Party

The Bridal Shower 

My bridal shower was hosted by my Amazing MOH and best friend, Stephanie, with help from some equally amazing bridesmaids! The event was sunflower themed (they know me so well) and turned out just beautiful! Stephanie pulled together everything so well, from the handmade Bride-to-Be banner, the sunflower cookies and seed-filled terra cotta pots for favors, and the fun "how well do you know your fiance" game! My family and friends really spoiled me and I feel completely blessed to have all of those wonderful people in my life! 

Maid of Honor and BFF EST. 9096 Stephanie 

The spread- minus the awesome sunflower/burlap cake! 

In the basket on the left in the picture above, Stephanie printed out marriage advice cards for people to fill out, which was such a great idea! We got tons of support and insight into married life and will cherish those wise words for years to come! Such a cute idea! Also, in the picture above you can see the sunflower cookies, the bridal shower invite, and the terra cotta pot favors! 

Momma and me! 

A little blurry but Stephanie, me, and Lisa! 

Raise your hand if you can see Sarah, the child bride in this picture?! 

The Cake!! 

After everyone ate and hung out for a bit, we began two different games. The first game we played was "How well do you know the bride?" Everyone got a sheet with a bunch of questions about me and my relationship with Ryan to fill out with their best guesses. When we finished playing that game, Stephanie told me she had sent a list of questions to Ryan and I had to try to guess what his answers were. Both games were so fun and creative!

We had an absolute blast and I'm so grateful to have such amazing people in my life! Thanks again to everyone who made my shower so memorable! 

The Bachelorette Party

I won't go into too much detail about my bachelorette party because, well, what happens at a Bachelorette party... stays at a Bachelorette party! I was able to celebrate with my closest friends, Stephanie, Berg, Vida, Lisa, Rachel, and Brittany! We went to a tapas restaurant in Atlanta for dinner, stopped to take a Christmas card picture, went to a rooftop bar, and got denied access at our last stop of the night! Still, I had so much fun celebrating my last nights as a Schoeff with some of my very closest friends! And now for pictures: 

Next Wednesday, I'll move on to the Wedding Day!!

-Sarah