Engaged to be married

My (oops, OUR) wedding is on Saturday. As in 3 days from now. I have made every attempt to make it a THRIFTY wedding. I have to say, I was completely astonished about the prices photographers charge for "wedding packages". Astonished. So for our engagement photos, I employed my sister, my iPhone and instagram. I was thrilled with the results!! Here are some favorites:

Honestly, can you even tell these weren't done by a pro? Thriftiness at its best, if you ask me!

Lately

Summer reading


I <3 Wisconsin

My best bike


My Capitol city


Currently in NYC for a great friend's wedding



Congrats you two!


My favorite NYC attraction



Sneak peak at the centerpiece for my impending nuptials. SEPT 17th !!!




- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Another Kind of Treasure Hunt, continued

Start with Part 1 of this post here.

The real joy to be found in geocaching, is happening upon places you'd never otherwise know existed. Equipped with our trustee iPhones, Kenny and I decided to explore some of the smaller towns around the Madison area on Memorial Day. Places where you wouldn't typically think there would be anything "to do."
Here are some of the magical places / things we came across:

Lovely lakes and bridges-

Local produce market-

 

A yummy chocolate malt-

 A brewery that we didn't realize was so close to home-

A 

Black Beauty-

Some of our favorite places to geocache are cemeteries. Kinda creepy and strangely beautiful. The caches are never placed on or around graves, so nothing is ever disturbed. 

And then this- well this was just epic. A cache popped up on the GPS called "Cream Puffs as Big as Your Head". Well we didn't end up finding the cache (we did find 9 out of 12 that day) but we DID find said cream puffs.

 

Listen, that cream puff was sold at a gas station of all places...the price? $2.75!!! Could.not.believe.it.

And we literally would have never come across any of this had it not been for this little "game" !!

Another Kind of Treasure Hunt...

We all know what a treasure hunt thrifting can be. But there's another kind of "treasure" I'm also pretty passionate about. Do you geocache? If not, let me open a (potential) can of worms for you.

*Warning: addiction alert!

To summarize the point of the"game" directly from the official website:

Geocaching is a real-world outdoor treasure hunting game. Players try to locate hidden containers, called geocaches, using GPS-enabled devices and then share their experiences online.

The unbelievable thing guys, is that these "caches" are right under your nose. I guarantee you pass by these containers on a daily basis right within your own city- probably practically in your own backyard. 

My guy and I spent our Memorial Day on the rural country roads of some tiny Wisconsin towns. Here's a peak into our adventure...

 Geocaches can be found in quite the variety of containers:

An ammo box

Some weird taped up thing

A 35mm film canister wrapped in camo tape

I seriously don't even know what this little magnetic thing would really be used for. Tiniest.cache.ever

And a few examples of where geocaches might be hidden:

Under a log

At the bottom of a road sign post

Hanging in a tree

In the middle of a tree

Attached to a planter

Tucked inside the tiniest crevice

Once found, you have to sign the log with your team name. The log could be a small notebook, or strip of paper.

 And sometimes there are tiny little trinkets waiting for you with the containers!

Do you see what I mean about how this could become addictive?? As the weather is warming up, we try to get out and "cache" as often as possible. Expect more geocaching posts in the future! (In fact, I'm adding a part 2 to this post-took too many lovely photos!)


If you have a smartphone, you're in luck. Its a simple as downloading an app (supported devices here).
If you end up trying it out- shoot me an email and let me know how much fun you had! I'd love to hear about it!!

Something New

There have been a few changes in my life since I last checked in. The happiest kind of changes really!

We added the sweetest kitty cat to our family. Her name is Fay Elaine.

She brings so much happiness to my day! We current have two pups and did have a cat, Apple, who we unfortunately had to find a new home for last year. After having Apple for 2 years, she was never able to get along with our dogs...truly needed a home where she'd be the only pet. It was a hard decision to make, and made us nervous about getting another cat knowing how finicky they can be. But Fay has been an absolute angel. The most affectionate kitty I've ever met!

Love her!

I also won my first ever blog giveaway over at Luxe Stitch. A very pretty necklace from Beautifully Elegant on etsy.

SO thrilling to get surprise packages in the mail!

Here's how I styled it yesterday:

Love the super long length!

Also so in love with this great vintage high-waisted skirt I picked up at Goodwill last week. I've really been focusing on shifting my wardrobe shopping habits towards second-hand/vintage. I've found a bunch of great clothes lately and I swear if I told someone I picked them up at Urban or Anthro, they wouldn't know the difference!

And finally, my favorite new accessory:

My guy proposed on May 2nd!!!! We've been together for 4 years now, so you could say it was about time :) I am so, so happy and also very proud of him for picking out the loveliest vintage-style ring. We're thinking about a September wedding! More details to come as we'll need to start seriously getting all of our ducks in a row if we want it to happen this year ;)