Honeymoon Recap {at Secrets Capri Riviera Cancun in Riviera Maya}

Some photos from paradise...

Michael and I spent 7 nights at the all-inclusive, adults-only, Secrets Capri Riviera Cancun resort in Riviera Maya, Mexico. It was a small, mostly calm (but with plenty of activities and events) place and 100% perfect for what we wanted for our honeymoon! The staff were all exceptionally helpful and nice and...um...unlimited food guys. We ate a lot. And relaxed. And had fun.

Something Saturdays (7/4/15)

HAPPY 4TH OF JULY!

HI GUYS!

It feels like forever since we talked. SO MUCH HAS HAPPENED! And I'm super sorry that I only posted once this week, I meant to share honeymoon photos and turns out that took more effort than post vacation me could handle. So that will be coming at you on Monday!

Now...who wants to hear a short summary of my wedding?

My wedding was beautiful and I loved it. Did it run smoothly and go flawlessly? Erm...no. Lol. It all started out great-I was excited and was hanging out with all my girls at my mom's house. And then...my hair and makeup team were an hour and a half late (through a series of unfortunate events and no real fault of their own). Due to this we were crazy rushed and weren't able to get 99% of the photos I wanted to get during that time and we ended up rushing to get me to the church on time (oh and when we rushed outside it was raining...ugh). This sort of set a bit of a frazzled tone for me for the rest of the day. Except...as soon as I hit the aisle and saw Michael, it was surreal. And I was so happy. And he was so happy and crying and seriously just the sweetest thing. The entire ceremony was beautiful and Michael just kept telling me how beautiful I looked and how much he loved me and just completely making me feel good about my decision to marry him :P (I must note that dealing with a train with all that sitting and standing is awfully complicated-I kept trying to adjust myself lol! Leave it to me to be awkward at my own wedding). The homily was really cute and involved the priest (our high school principal) reading from our transcripts and pointing out the similarities (good grades + drama/choir). After our triumphant walk back down the aisle...it was still raining. So we weren't able to have everyone throw the dried rose petals (which I've saved from our entire relationship-every rose Michael ever gave me) at us as we left the church. It's ok though because we did it at the end of the reception with everyone who was left there! So then we took a bunch of photos before getting back into the limo to go to the reception hall for photos outside--the continuous rain started to make me upset, but Michael's adorableness + our bridal party's general happiness lifted my spirits. And then the rain stopped when we got to Occasions, which felt like a mini miracle! We took lots of photos (which now I keep thinking of pictures I wish I'd thought to take but...obviously too late lol) and then we got to go to the reception. And that was pretty perfect. The dance floor was always full and the music was perfect! The food was delicious (and we're still hearing compliments), the cake was gorgeous and also delicious (of course we barely ate anything due to wedding bellies), the whole place was decorated beautifully....seriously I loved it. And everyone else seemed to like it too! I think it may have been the best wedding ever...though I'm a smidge biased :) I was so so happy, it was the most fun day with almost all of my favorite people in one place. My bridal party were all fantastic and they all got along so well! My brother insists that the wedding was the best day of his life and suggested we all get together to look at photos/the video and every year for our anniversary....which would actually be awesome if we could. After all the festivities we were driven to our hotel which is right on the airport and we slept for about 2 hours thanks to our super early flight and...well...that's another story that you'll hear more about on Monday ;) And I'll share wedding pictures once we have them!!

Double Chocolate Chip Cookies with Toasted Coconut-Zainab of Blahnik Baker's Baby Shower!

In my years of blogging I have never had a close friendship develop so quickly as my friendship with Zainab of Blahnik Baker has. She is literally one of the sweetest people I've ever known. She is endlessly supportive, giving, funny, smart, and kind. I am so lucky to have "met" her (someday it will be in real life and no longer needing quotation marks for "met"!) And I am SO excited for her because SHE'S HAVING A BABY!!! And Zainab is going to be such an incredible mom, and just some of the reasons why are the ones I just listed (her hubby is going to be a great dad too, btw). Zainab supported me with guest posts when I moved and when I was busy wedding planning so of COURSE I had to be a part of her SURPRISE VIRTUAL BABY SHOWER!

I'm so excited that my first official recipe that I'm sharing post wedding is for Zainab and the celebration of her becoming the sweetest momma ever! And-since Zainab loves all things coconut-we decided to only share coconutty treats for this "party"! Up until semi-recently I wasn't a huge fan of coconut (with the exception of Samoas). But I have learned that, especially when toasted, I loooooove coconut. And it pairs so deliciously with chocolate. And...I love cookies. And cookies are my go-to when I'm bringing a treat to a party, like..oh say a baby shower! Which is why I threw together these lovelies!

These cookies are sturdy (so they're perfect to ship to loved ones or to bring to a paaaarty) and super chocolatey (and-when warm-deliciously gooey). They're made a smidge healthier thanks to the fact that we're using coconut oil instead of butter (mo' coconut=mo'betta!) and the toasted coconut flakes REALLY make them special! There's all kinds of delicious textures and they were a big hit with Michael's friends...Michael...and me!

I know Zainab would like them too and so will you!