Three Ingredient Snack or Dessert - Grape Poppers

Today I could share with you a sappy post about A and I's 4th wedding anniversary that we will be celebrating tomorrow. I could take you down memory lane and talk about our wedding day - from our first look, to the ceremony, and then the reception. Or, I could remind you how much fun A and I had on our honeymoon/one year anniversary in Marina, California. But I'll spare you the boring "I love you's" and bring you a fun recipe. Which, by the way, would be perfect for a 4th anniversary because it involves fruit. If you don't know what I'm talking about, check out anniversary gifts by year.

Just for the heck of it, here's one photo from our wedding. And if you really want to read all about our wedding day and anniversaries, they are linked above. You are welcome.

Click to tweet: The perfect wedding anniversary dessert.

How cute are these little grape poppers? We had them once at a party a couple years ago and I have been remaking them since. And since fruit/flowers are the anniversary gift for year four, I decided to make these as our little desserts to celebrate.

Now don't get me wrong, you don't need to be celebrating anything to enjoy these. In fact, you don't even need to wait for dessert to eat the grape poppers. Plus some of my favorite days include reverse meals - dessert before dinner.

Most everyone will have these three ingredients on hand. If you don't, what is wrong with you? Only kidding! Peanuts, grapes, and chocolate bark make an extremely delicious combination and you definitely cannot eat one. Are you convinced yet to make these?

Let me share with you how easy they are to make. Then you can enjoy some grape poppers today and help A and I celebrate our anniversary. Ready?!

Click to tweet: The perfect snack or dessert - grape popper recipe.

Grape Poppers
Adapted recipe by a traveling Wife

Ingredients:
- red or green seedless grapes
- white chocolate bark or white baking chocolate
- unsalted peanuts, finely chopped
- toothpicks and wax paper

Directions:
- Wash and thoroughly dry the grapes. You can always use a wet paper towel to hand wash the grapes. If the grapes are too wet, the chocolate will have a hard time sticking and the grapes will become soggy.
- Melt chocolate according to package. Typically, a double boiler works great or microwave on high in microwavable dish for 30 seconds at a time.
- Spear grapes with toothpick then dip halfway into melted white chocolate.
- Now place the grape into the chopped peanuts then set aside on wax paper to harden.
- Enjoy!

What is your favorite dessert turned snack?

The Only Thing That Remains is the Smile I Inherited

This shop has been compensated by Collective Bias, Inc. and its advertiser. All opinions are mine alone. #LessonsFromDad #CollectiveBias

Everyone is posting about Father's Day Gift Guides and I have been bombarded with so many emails and commercials for Father's Day. Each time I come across them I immediately distract myself from those messages. If it's an email, I delete it to be hidden for all of eternity. This is the first year I haven't had to think about buying a Father's Day present. This is the first year I don't have to look at my husband and ask, "What should I get my Dad this year?" This is the first year I won't have to pick up the phone on Father's Day to call my Dad. 

You know, each day has come and gone just like all the rest, but the grief still remains. It's like an ocean - some waves bring joy while others bring silence. The silence I hear when I call my parent's house and my Dad doesn't answer the phone. The silence I hear when talking to family members - my Dad's name isn't mentioned anymore. The silence of my Dad's stories that I can no longer learn from. 

Father's play a huge role in our lives. They protect us while we are children, teach us valuable lessons throughout our teenage years, and watch us grow as adults. And while everyone is celebrating their Father's on Father's Day, I will only have him in memory. 

The memories of his smile - the one I inherited. 
He taught me to be strong and that life can be hard, but your smile can still be genuine. 

The memories of him being a UofM fan and his disapproval of my MSU shirt. 
He taught me that it's okay to have my own opinion. In fact, he told me it's okay to stand firm with my own opinions. 

The memories of him walking me down the aisle on my wedding day. 

The memories of him bonding with my 'rat' as if she were his granddaughter. 
I've learned from him that love comes in all different forms regardless of how it's expressed. 

The memories of him in so much pain that it was too hard to watch. Too hard to truly believe this was happening to our family. 
During that time, he taught me and my entire family that it's okay to be vulnerable - vulnerability is strength. 

All of these memories are from a distant past and I wish he was still around to say something snarky or to just share some wisdom. Now I look towards Protective. A lot of these money lessons are the same things my Dad once told me. 

Share your story. What has your Dad taught you?
Be sure to give your Dad an extra tight hug because you can. And if you are celebrating his memory, my heart hurts for you. 

Wedding Anniversary Vacation Pt 1

I want to formally thank each and every one of you who read my posts while I was on vacation.

I really enjoyed putting together a week filled with the Hubby and 

I about our relationship, engagement, wedding day first look, ceremony, and reception.

Now that I am back from vacation, I want to share with you all how much fun we had.

I do not want to go crazy all in one post so I am going to break it down into four posts. 

I will post two this week and two next week so be on the lookout.

First post - Our hotel room and what we did at the resort.

Second post - The beaches that we visited.

Third post - Monterey Bay Aquarium because I took a ton of photos.

Fourth post - My anniversary present from the Hubby. 

If you follow me on twitter then you know what we did Thurs. Sept. 13th. But if you

 do not follow me there then you will have to wait til next week to find out.

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We left for vacation Sunday the 9th and headed to the Monterey Bay area which is roughly 2.5 hours from our house and of course we brought out little puppy too because she is our child.

We stayed at The Sanctuary Beach Resort in Marina, Ca. It is a beautiful, secluded 

hotel that is right on the ocean and only 20 minutes from Monterey Bay, Cannery Row, and Carmel.

After we checked into the hotel, we were escorted to our room in a golf cart. Our room was attached to one other room in its own separate building that looked like this.

Outside our building was our own private golf cart to drive around on the premises. 

That's right, we had our own golf cart. And, it was my first time driving a golf cart.

Watch out!!

 Boy, oh boy, did I have fun driving this around.

 Hubby barely got a chance to drive because I always grabbed the keys first or when he

opened the 'door' for me I would slide all the way across to the drivers side.

The room, itself, was breathtaking. Cozy and warm from the 

fireplace I think the warmest it got was 70 degrees with an amazing view of the ocean.

 The bathrobes were really nice to have because the tiled floors were really cold in the morning.

And the view, you cannot beat it.

 Our door was always open.

On some of the days you could see dolphins or seals playing in the water 

or even pelicans diving for fish. Pretty amazing.

Roxi enjoyed the fresh air and playing in the sand.

The resort left us a nice little note congratulating us on our anniversary.

And on our anniversary, Monday the 10th, we enjoyed a bottle of 

wine and chocolate covered strawberries.

 And maybe some beers were enjoyed as well. You decide when you see the photo.

Hubby did not like taking pictures in this mirror. But I guess that is his usual happy face.

The resort had a restaurant on the premises that we had to try it out once because of their killer happy hour deals. But we enjoyed it so much we went back for a total of four times. The restaurant had Hawaiian American cuisine as well as sushi. Each day we had some appetizers and a sushi roll because the sushi was amazingly good.

Wedding Reception

Today is the last day of my vacation and that means the end to my wedding post week. 

I am sure I will have a lot of beautiful pictures coming to you soon from our one year anniversary vacation. Before I get back though, I wanted to share photos from our reception.

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I was starving when it came time for the reception and, let me tell you, we had plenty of food to go around. We opted for family style dinner and that meant everyone had lots and lots of choices.

We also decided to do an empire table for immediate family, bridal party, and the two of us. 

It kind of made it feel like we were just having a family dinner.

The ballroom was the perfect size. It was intimate yet not overly crowded.

Talk about delicious cake and cupcakes. I just wish I could have eaten more food.

If you think I was saying "NO!" in the photo then you are dead on. He said he was going to shove it in my face and I would have thrown him to the ground or maybe not. However, he behaved himself.

First dance - we cannot remain too serious for too long. 

Daddy-Daughter and Mother-Son dances came next. It was so nice to combine the two together. 

I just don't think I look very please to be dancing. Maybe it was my feet or maybe my dad smells?

I am sure it was neither. I just so happened to miss the photo opportunity.

 Now the real dancing happens.

Thank you everyone who stopped by this week to read. 

I will be back Monday with regular posts.

Don't forget to check out our first look and ceremony.

Wedding Ceremony

Hopefully I am not boring you with all this wedding craziness while I am away on vacation. 

If you decided to come back and read about the ceremony, then thank you. 

I have been having so much fun looking through and remembering all about our wedding day.

So let's continue on with the wedding ceremony.

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We were able to utilize two ballrooms in the hotel and they were both on separate floors. To me, that was perfect because it made the ceremony and reception feel like they were in different places but all you had to do was take an elevator to the next location. 

When it came to the wedding as a whole, I did a lot of projects on my own.

 I made the card box out of four black frames and padded the top.

I also made the guestbook type cards, which were a mad lib for advice to the happy couple.

Another item that was part of the ceremony was the programs which I made all on my own. 

Every last ribbon was tied on by myself.

Finally it was time to walk down the aisle. I made it about halfway and lost it 

because my niece was balling hysterically. 

But then this funny moment happened...

Prior to the wedding day, I asked my dad if he knew what he had to say. He then told me he was not speaking in front of anyone and that he would hold up a sign. Then I told him he only has to say 

"Her mother and I" and he was thrilled that he didn't have to give a speech.  

Where he got that idea I will never know. 

Then he told me that he was just going to say "Suzy and I" because my mom hates being 

called Suzy. So when the Pastor asked "Who gives this woman..." 

we both looked at each other and laughed.

All the girls and the boys remained so well behaved. Our ceremony was not crazy short but it definitely was not long either. Plus, our Pastor was amazing and told so many great stories.

I now pronounce you...

Husband and Wife!!

I was soo happy but Hubby, I am not quite sure - kidding.

After the ceremony, we had to sneak all the family to the side to take a group shot. 

After all, they are the ones supporting us in our wedded bliss. 

I was thrilled with how the ceremony turned out and I loved hearing how much other people enjoyed it too. Often times the ceremony can be such a bust and dreadfully long. I was definitely disappointed with the floral arrangements, or lack there of, especially when that was one of the largest portions of our budget. Either way, our Pastor and family made the ceremony unforgettable. 

Stay tuned for tomorrow's post about the wedding reception.

First Look and PreWedding

I cannot even explain in words how much fun and joy I had in looking through my wedding photos. 

It has been definitely been a while since I sat down and looked through all 556 pictures.

Crazy, right? My photographer and assistant were awesome!!

Today I bring to you the first look of bride and groom as well as the pre-ceremony pictures.

We opted to take all our pictures as a couple and bridal party before the ceremony and family photos after the ceremony. It just allowed for a much smoother transition between things.

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The day started out to be gloomy, cold and rainy.  

But they do say it's good luck to have rain on your wedding day. 

 However, after I was done with my hair and makeup and dressed, the rain quit and the 

sun was peeking through the clouds. I could not have asked for better weather. 

Our ceremony and reception were both in a historical hotel and not outdoors, but we were in 

Detroit and wanted to take advantage of the architecture and take photos outside.

I was housed in the wedding suite and Hubby was housed in the best man's room at the hotel where the wedding was at. We booked a limo for the day to drive us around downtown because parking is not always the easiest. 

After we were both ready, we decided to do the first look in 

the lobby right before we hopped into the limo.

Little did I know that Hubby would be on the phone with the limo driver when I arrived to the lobby.

Maid of Honor (sister) and me.

I think my face expresses it all - we just cannot get away from our cell phones.

And then he finally puts his phone away. Pure joy and love is written all over my face.

We then hop in the limo to hit up the D.

Just the two of us and the photographer and her assistant went out for about two hours to take photos around the city. Then we went back to the hotel to pick up the bridal party and ushers to take pictures.

We went to so many cool locations. From glamorous and luxurious to grungy and industrial.

Oh, and in case you didn't notice. I did an outfit change because, yes, I had two dresses.

And now the lovely bridal party and ushers.

From left to right: Kyle & Bryce (ushers), Dan (best man), Hubby, Me, Michelle (maid of honor), Matt & Matt (ushers).

I thought it was the best idea to take a majority of the photos beforehand just for my own 

personal stress. Plus, I ended up with some really hilarious candid shots.

It was super, duper bright out plus the reflector gave us this great squint look. But, you may notice my crazy face. I was slightly freaking out because a bee was in my flower that was in my hair.

 Of course I get caught making my most unique face, like ever.

Back story behind this one: See we were taking a group shot on the stairs that overlooked the river. Of course there were boats moving past us which was no big deal. But just wait. I stand up, face the stairs, and bent slightly to wipe any dirt off my dress. Just as I am doing this, one of the boats tugs its little horn and it sounds as though I just ripped one. Classy, real classy!

I hope you all enjoyed reading this post because I had fun putting it together.

Stay tuned for tomorrow's post about the wedding ceremony.