#Nickary Wedding Preview

Happy Sunday, loyal readers! As you know, Mr. Handsome and I got engaged back in May. Since making it official, we've been super busy planning for the big day. We've booked almost all of our vendors, I bought a wedding dress, we've selected our cake flavors, and we had an amazing engagement photo shoot session at Old 690 Brewing with our photographer!

Instead of a cake, we're going to offer our guests cupcakes and cookies. We decided on the following flavors of cupcakes: (Red Velvet, Carrot Cake, Key Lime, and Strawberry), and the following cookies: (Chocolate Chip, Italian Wedding, White Chocolate Macadamia w/ Cranberries, and Snickerdoodle).

The brewery-themed engagement photo shoot was a huge success! Our photographer over at Traci J. Brooks Studios did an incredible job. Here are a few highlights from the shoot...

6.4.16 :)

Outer Banks (OBX) 2015

I just finished spending 7 days in the Outer Banks! I hadn't been down there since I was 15 years-old, and hadn't spent a full week at any beach in WAY too long.

It was a very relaxing vacation. Mr. Handsome and I spent the week with his sister, his sister's boyfriend, and a handful of their friends from Richmond in a cozy house right on the beach! We played lots of corn-hole, drank lots of booze, spent time in the hot-tub, did LOTS of reading, and ate lots of great seafood.

We ate crabs and shrimp and scallops... and plenty of Duck Donuts! We also saw a big-ass shark get pulled up onto the dock next to our house. Surprisingly, I still went out and swam in the ocean afterward. (I'm crazy yo, CRAZY!)

Until next time, loyal readers... Enjoy your summer!

#NYC... #AtlanticCity... #Kitchie

Loyal readers, it's been a CRAZY month! Work has been busy as usual, I've taken several fun trips up north, we're making headway on our wedding plans, and Mr. Handsome and I have been looking for a condo to buy... (CUE the sleepless nights and need for LOTS of coffee / wine!)

The first fun trip I took was to NYC to see the new apartment of Mr. Handsome's parents. It's on the Upper West Side, overlooking the Hudson, (perfect + breathtaking view!) We got to hang out with a bunch of friends, see a few of my company's hotels, visit several flea markets / food festivals in Brooklyn, walk the entire High Line, and stuff our faces with bagels :)

 

I also had the pleasure of traveling to Atlantic City to throw a Bachelorette Party for my cousin, Kitty! (I'm the maid of honor in her wedding this November). It was a HUGE success! We ate lots of delicious food and spent time dancing all up in da clubs. I planned lots of fun games and made some matching shirts to commemorate the weekend.

Other exciting events in the near future: Taking our engagement photos TOMORROW, visiting the Outer Banks for a week in August, Traveling the Bourbon Trail in Kentucky this September, and heading to Charleston again for a buddy's wedding. Lots of fun adventures to come!

Happy 4th of July!

Hello, loyal readers! It's been a little while since my last blog post. Since our engagement and our trip to New Orleans, Mr. Handsome and I have been SUPER busy. Since my last post, I've had a couple of pretty awesome adventures...

1) In early June, I was invited to attend a special dinner in DC with the founders of Flying Dog Brewery and Samuel Adams Brewing Company! It was an 8 course dinner, and exclusive beers were paired with each course. I was STUFFED and it was DELICIOUS and I was SO HAPPY!

2) We also had the pleasure of attending the wedding of our good pals, Jess & Bryce! The wedding was at Whitehall Manor in Bluemont, VA. The weather was perfect, the food was delicious and joy and merriment were had by all.

3) Mr. Handsome and I took a trip to Richmond a few weeks ago to visit his sister. We asked her to be a bridesmaid in our wedding, went to a block party at Ardent Ales, and came close to getting Diabetes by inhaling colorful donuts at Sugar Shack!

4) Last weekend, we took a drive to Rehoboth Beach, DE to visit my dad's family and frolic in the ocean. We ended up having a little engagement party fully equipped with champagne and FACE CAKE! My 4 year-old cousin proceeded to demand Mr. Handsome's face on the cake and made him watch her eat it... (Kids are CREEPY!)

5) We celebrated July 4th a little early by doing our 2nd Annual "Baby You're A Firework" Half-Marathon on July 3rd. Per tradition, we made customized race bibs and bought enormous bagels as our race medals. We then went and visited several breweries and wineries with our friends in the afternoon! We visited Corcoran Brewing, The Barns at Hamilton Station & Adroit Theory Brewing.

Happy 4th of July!

New Orleans... The Big Easy!

Mr. Handsome and I just got back from a wonderful vacation in New Orleans, LA. For the second Memorial Day in a row, we flew down to the Big Easy to watch close friends of ours get hitched!

We visited two awesome breweries (NOLA & Courtyard), stuffed our faces with po'boys and oysters and participated in another second line parade. The oysters we ate were literally the size of my hand. The SIZE of my HAND! I must have eaten 30 in one sitting.

FUN and FRIVOLITY was had by all! Especially when a jazz band in a bar made Mr. Handsome and I dance in front of the entire establishment. (Yes, we brought down the house).

CHEERS & Who Dat!?

We're Engaged!!... #NickaryLove

For the last few weeks, I haven't slept. I've been so excited and jumpy that my average nightly shut eye totaled about 3-4 hours a night. The reason?... Mr. Handsome shared the news a couple weeks ago that he had purchased a ring and was plotting fun ways to present it to me soon. AHHH!!

So naturally, every time Mr. Handsome knelt down to tie his shoe my heart starting racing. Not knowing when, where and how he was going to pop the question was driving me bonkers! But this past Friday over the course of the day, he worked some creative magic around our apartment planning a surprise after-work proposal!

When I arrived home, there was a little ribbon tied around the front door handle. (That was my first clue). When I opened the door, there were ribbons draping everywhere through our kitchen and living room suspending pictures and memories from our six years together. He had also put colorful roses in mason jars all over the apartment.

I was getting choked up as I walked through the "Nickary Museum," reading everything he had written about the fun times we've spent together. There were little cardboard arrows on the floor leading me towards the balcony. When I peaked outside, he was standing there next to a table fully decorated for a romantic, surprise happy hour. I opened the door and started jumping up and down as he dropped to his knee and proposed. It has been such a great weekend celebrating with our family and friends!

Happy Date-A-Versary! #Nickary

Me and Mr. Handsome celebrated our 6 year Date-A-Versary yesterday! I can't believe it's been 6 years since we started dating. Time flies like a freaking bird, readers. Like a BIRD!

We celebrated by going to a beer festival in the nearby town of Shirlington. There were 30+ craft breweries there offering samples of their tasty spring seasonals. We ended up spending over 4 hours walking around, drinking brewskies, playing w/ cute puppies, talking to random festival attendees, etc.

We were going to go to dinner at a fancy new restaurant called Water & Wall. However, after 4 hours of drinking we accidentally took a nap and missed our reservation. WHOOPS! We decided Papa John's pizza and colorful Bakeshop macarons were a good substitute.

Happy Date-A-Versary!