Wedding Wednesday: Engagement Photos!

It's been almost two years since I got engaged, and more than a year since we took our engagement photos, but other than a few teasers, I've never shared them on the blog. So, today is your lucky day! :)

Personally, I was way more excited about our engagement pictures than I was about our actual wedding pictures. Obviously, I loved the way our wedding photos turned out, but I have a theory about wedding photos: They are (almost) all pictures of a loving couple in a tux and a white dress. Yes, you can get pretty creative with wedding shoots, but I think engagement photos are where a couple's personality really comes through. Here are a few of my favorites from our November 2013 engagement shoot:

8 Gifts for Readers

This post was originally published as a guest post on Ever Emma in December 2014.

With Valentine's Day quickly approaching, I thought I would republish this holiday gift guide to inspire anyone dating a reader. Enjoy!



For the friend who can't stop Instagramming #currentlyreading photos: Seriously. This library card phone case comes in all iPhone sizes and even some Samsung Galaxy sizes. How perfect is it?

$15 from Etsy

For the bibliophile whose bookshelves are a work of art: There are a ton of adorable bookend sets out there, but I'm currently swooning over these gorgeous metal bookends. And if you're looking for something a little more affordable, you can't go wrong shopping at World Market. ;)

$64.99 from Etsy

For the friend who drinks way too much tea: I don't even like Will Ferrell, but this quote from Anchorman always makes me laugh. I also particularly liked this mug and this one; there are so many great bookish mug options!

$16.99 from Etsy

For the ebook-lover who doesn't want to admit it: I would love one of these gorgeous Kindle covers so I could pretend I was still flipping real pages. As much as I love my Kindle, I have to admit paperbacks will always have my heart.

$40.20 from Etsy

For the friend who cohabitates with a non-reader: Looking for more of a stocking stuffer? A simple book light is the perfect solution for that friend (ahem, me!) who likes to stay up reading long after her partner has switched out the light.

$9.67 from Amazon

For the tech-averse friend who still writes everything down: If you know that one holdout who refuses to sign up for Goodreads, this book journal is the ideal way to track her favorite reads (and not-so-favorite, sometimes).

$19.95 from Moleskin

For the tech-savvy friend who prefers ebooks: I have to admit I've never used Oyster, but this unlimited ebook subscription looks perfect for anyone who's attached to their Kindle (or Nook).

$9.95/month from Oyster

For the bookworm who lives in a studio: (Or anywhere else small enough to prevent having a book nook, really.) This bookish curtain panel would liven up any reading corner.

$17.95 from H&M

The First Ten Things to do After Getting Engaged

Obviously, you'll want to complete this checklist before starting any items in this post (or even before getting engaged, if possible!). But after the question has been popped, there are some things you should get started on fairly early if you want to have a stress-free planning process.

I've labeled this the "9-16 Months" checklist because I read somewhere the average engagement is 16 months long, but I know not everyone has the benefit (or curse, depending on your perspective) of a long engagement. Ultimately, I think these are the 10 wedding-planning items you should do first to avoid scheduling conflicts, set clear expectations and reduce stress, regardless of the length of your engagement.



1. Figure out your budget. Everything else on this list pretty much depends on this biggie: How much money do you have for your wedding? More importantly, how much do you want to spend? Now is also the time to figure out how much money (if any) your parents or other parties are planning to contribute, so you can all have the same expectations heading into the planning process.

The Only Wedding Checklist You'll Ever Need

I'm planning a short series of posts with helpful tips I learned while planning my own wedding over the past year, but before I begin posting any monthly checklists or what to look for in a wedding dress or how to narrow down your guest list, I thought it was important to start with the only things you really need to know before you get married:

5 Fun Things We Did on our Honeymoon

My spanking-new husband and I just returned from our honeymoon on Monday evening, and though I definitely plan to share more photos and stories in upcoming posts, I wanted to give you a little sneak peek to enjoy this weekend. :) We decided to visit Asia for the first time for our honeymoon and split our time between Cambodia (Siem Reap) and Thailand (Chiang Mai, Railay Beach and briefly Bangkok). Here are five fun things we did during our adventure:

5 Travel-Inspired Prints Under $80

As you may have seen on Instagram, this past Sunday marked the one-year anniversary of my engagement. My fiance and I spent the day registering for gifts at Bed Bath & Beyond, and I don't mean to complain, but it was exhausting. Luckily, we agreed on almost everything, but it was still difficult to think of what we really need to upgrade and how much of each item (e.g. dishes) would be reasonable. I also struggled with what was appropriate to put on a gift registry. Is our registry supposed to be strictly functional household items, or can I include a huge framed poster of Yosemite National Park? Your input would be appreciated!

Anyway, the point of all this is that for today's Travel Tuesday link-up, I thought I would share some of the gorgeous prints I found during our trek through our local Bed Bath & Beyond store. And after you tell me just how perfectly acceptable it is to add such items to my registry, I might choose a few. :)

Prague, $24.99 | compass, $79.99 | Grand Teton, $59.99 | Budapest, $24.99 | elephants, $19.99 each

Link up with your travel-related posts below! Feel free to grab the button, too.


<a href="http://megancstroup.blogspot.com/p/travel-tuesday.html" target="_blank"><img src="http://i1073.photobucket.com/albums/w399/mcszr3/TravelTuesday200NEW_zpsd5567101.jpg" border="0" width="200"/></a>


Also linking up with Nicole for Treat Yo Self Thursday.

Travel Tuesday: Solo vs. companion(s)?

Welcome back to Travel Tuesday! Today's suggested prompt is about your companion preferences while traveling: Who is your favorite travel partner? Do you prefer to travel in large groups, small groups or alone? As always, don't feel obligated to follow the prompt. All travel-related posts are welcome!

At the Parthenon in Athens, Greece. This is about as big as I like my travel groups to get!

Travel Tuesday: Where should I go on my honeymoon?

Welcome to Travel Tuesday, a weekly link up for all things travel! The suggested prompt for this week is romantic destinations (in honor of V-Day at the end of the week, of course), but all travel-related posts are always welcome! Today, I'll be sharing some possible honeymoon destinations for my fiance and I, and I'd love to hear your input (or other suggestions!).

Originally, we had planned on traveling to Turkey and Croatia for our honeymoon. These were two countries we really wanted to go to last summer and just couldn't fit in, so we figured our honeymoon this fall would be the perfect excuse.

#28: Be featured on blogger {av}'s "Distance Makes the Heart Grow Fonder" series.

It has happened! After years of reading {av}'s fabulous blog, {long distance loving}, she chose me to be featured in her "Love Is" series!

image via {long distance loving}

A little background: {av} was my first "blog crush." I found her blog because she had this awesome series called "Distance Makes the Heart Grow Fonder" (hence the title of this post, despite the recent name change to "Love Is"). Two bloggers I read faithfully (Christy and Kate) were actually featured, and I thought, "Gee, that would be so cool! I want to share my story and encourage everyone else out there in a long-distance relationship that it can work—and work so well!"

So I put it on my "bucket list" and contacted {av} to see if she had a spot in her schedule for me. Unfortunately, the series dwindled from a weekly feature to a special once-in-a-while feature, and then {av} stopped posting the feature altogether about a year ago. (Although I didn't stop reading her blog; she still posts beautiful content about travel, home, relationships, blogging tips, life—you name it! Plus it's always fun to join her Friday's Fancies link-up every once in a while.)

Then, last month, {av} announced she was bringing the series back, and she chose Jonathan and me to be her first featured couple! So from one excited fangirl to one gorgeous blogger: Thank you for taking the time to write about my story today!

Check out my story on {long distance loving} here. If you're visiting from {long distance loving}, you can read my full engagement story (with lots of photos!) here. And finally, if you want to see more photos of us throughout the years, check out my post from our 8-year anniversary last year here. :)

Thanks for stopping by! And thanks again, {av}!

I am not a food blogger. This is why.

Last Saturday, Jonathan and I had a lovely picnic at a local park. His mom had given me an adorable picnic basket for my birthday (pictured top right), complete with forks, spoons, knives, plates, wine glasses and a bottle opener. The little zippered pouch in the middle is actually an insulated cooler, which I filled with a bottle of wine, green grapes, pretzel crisps, Hershey's chocolate and almonds for dessert, and a big Tupperware of "Patriot Salad," which I'm going to share to the recipe to below.

Countryscape on Camera: Lavaux Vineyard Terraces, Switzerland

Note: If this post is too long for you, at least skip to the bottom half to see my special announcement! :)

After a week traveling through Amsterdam, Prague and Berlin, we headed to my mom's condo in Switzerland for the weekend. She moved to Switzerland a few years ago when she received a promotion, so this was the second time I'd gotten to visit her new home. I had also been to Switzerland once before, in high school, when she took my brother and me along on a business trip.

This weekend was the perfect little break, especially for Jonathan and me. My sister and brother had been able to fly to my mom's first with big suitcases and then pack in smaller backpacks for specific trips, but Jonathan and I had had to bring everything we needed for the six weeks in just backpacks. Because the cities we were visiting ranged in climate from Amsterdam (rain jackets and boots) to Sevilla (shorts and tank tops), it was pretty challenging. After our first week, though, we got to leave most of our warmer clothes at my mom's, which made our backpacks so much lighter. :)

Enough of the logistics: I know you only come for the pictures! ;) Below are views of Lake Geneva from my bedroom at the condo and the deck, a photograph of the marina we walk by any time we go into town for dinner, and some French Harry Potter books I found at the farmer's market in Montreux.

Happy Birthday, Book Chat!

Can you believe it has been a year since Jessica posted the first-ever Book Chat prompt on Sweet Green Tangerine?? I always thought I had been part of the link-up since the beginning, but when I went back to look at my old posts, I was sad to discover my first participation was actually for the second prompt. So today, I'm going to go back and participate in that very first link-up:

Favorite tragic couple: Chris & Emily | The Pact by Jodi Picoult (I feel really weird saying that considering how messed up the relationship—and entire storyline—is, but I think I am biased because this is one of my favorite books of all time.)

Together can never be close enough for me ...

... to feel like I am close enough to you.

2005 — Freshman year track practice

2006 — High school junior formal

2007 — High school senior formal

2008 — High school senior prom

2009 — His sister's wedding

2010 — New Year's vacation in Kauai

2011 — My college graduation

2012 — A friend's wedding

Happy anniversary to my high school sweetheart! When you asked me to be your girlfriend eight years ago, I had no idea you would speak at Baccalaureate with me, attend my sorority formals and college graduation, or put your creeping skills to use to send me flowers at the university I'm currently visiting halfway across the country. :) I never dreamed I would watch you catch a pass in a college football game, spend New Year's Eve in Hawaii with you or celebrate an eight-year anniversary. I can't wait for our long-distance days to end! I love you!

Note: Post title from this song. But no, this is not a proposal!

Blog awards = more fun facts.

A long, long time ago, two lovely bloggers granted me two blog awards on the same day. I looked up the award specifications and bookmarked them but never got around to actually blogging. Well, today I'm changing that! Sarah at Crazy Beautiful Life gave me the Versatile Blogger award, and Erika at The Linden Life gave me the Tell Me About Yourself award. Both of these awards ask for seven random facts about me, so I'm combining them into one post.

1. I like to put chocolate chips in my popcorn. If you do it right out of the microwave, they melt into little gobs of chocolatey, buttery goodness. Yum! I also like to eat my popcorn with milk. Sometimes I drop the kernels on top of the milk and let them soak for a little while. I think I got this idea from a Little House on the Prairie book; the boy in Farmer Boy eats his popcorn with milk.
2. You probably already know that I really like turtles, but you might not know I had a turtle named Heineken once. I only had him for about a day, and then he crawled under the house and never returned. I like to think he's still living under there, about the size of Godzilla by now and ready to bust up through the kitchen floor at any moment.
3. One of my biggest pet peeves is when people are in the way. Usually, this means walking very slowly, walking two or three abreast on a busy sidewalk or standing in a doorway. Get out of my way. I can get very impatient when people impede my movement.
4. I don't like condiments. I'm to the point where I can eat them if I forget to order something without sauce, but when possible I avoid ketchup, mustard, mayonnaise, salad dressing, etc. The only exception to this is barbecue sauce, which I love. I also like egg salad, potato salad, deviled eggs and other foods with mayonnaise as an ingredient; I just don't like it as a spread.
5. I pole vaulted in high school. In fact, my entire conference only had about six female pole vaulters, so I was even the conference champion. Yippee!
6. Foursquare has dubbed me the mayor of the Santa Fe public library and claims I have been there 12 weeks in a row. Why yes, I do have a crush on the librarian.
7. I can milk a cow by hand and with a machine.

Did you enjoy these random facts? There's more where this came from in my "Happy birthday to me" post. Also, instead of nominating specific bloggers for these awards, I want to extend an open invitation to everyone reading this. Feel free to claim the Versatile Blogger or Tell Me About Yourself award (or both!) for your own blog and share seven fun facts about yourself. Please leave me a comment with a link to your post if you choose to join, so I can check it out.

Also, I shared this picture on Twitter for #ThrowbackThursday today and thought I would include it here. It is also random and makes me smile. :)

My boyfriend and me at track practice during our freshman year of high school. Check out those braces! Haha.

What I learned from Les Miserables.

Jessica hosted a very creative Book Chat today over at her blog, Sweet Green Tangerine. She challenged us to create a musical playlist based on a book, which I think is an awesome idea. I was having trouble thinking of an appropriate to book to use when I finally realized my favorite story is already a musical! So I'm going to put a little spin on this prompt (hope you don't mind, Jessica!) and share with you some life lessons presented in the music of Les Miserables. Enjoy!

Image via Bunthorne's

Friday's Fancies: Week 11

Hi there! I know it's been a while, but I've decided to participate in {av}'s Friday's Fancies link-up again this week. The theme is Date Night, but I'm going to put a little spin on that.

I've already designed some (hopefully) date-worthy outfits for Friday's Fancies (like this and this), so I decided to step away from clothes today and try something different. I'm in a long-distance relationship, so I don't get to go on a lot of dates. Instead, my boyfriend and I exchange a lot of care packages. In fact, I sent him a pretty rad one two weeks ago (at least, I thought it was pretty cool!). Today, I wanted to share the contents of my perfect care package, in lieu of a date outfit, because that's what I get more often:

1. Starburst jelly beans. I love these little morsels of happiness.

2. A cute card. It can be handmade or store bought, I don't have a preference, but I have to admit: I get a little sad when I open a package and there isn't a handwritten note inside. It's the writer in me, I guess.

3. I found these little puzzle books in a local bookstore a while ago and fell in love. I flip through them every time I go in. They would be a perfect addition to my carry-on for long plane trips! I like the logic games the best; I was that girl who thought the practice LSAT was fun. (Then again, I never took the real one, so I'm probably biased.)

4. Amazon gift card to stock up my Kindle! Obviously.

5. Mmm, Lacey cookies! My dad always gets these for Christmas from his administrative staff, and I can't get enough.

6. Stamps, so I can send you a thank you card, of course! :)

Also, I will never turn down a bag of Lifesaver Mints. I love them. I thought about this after I finished the graphic, and I was too lazy to add it, so here you go:

Photo via Drugstore.com

Other items that would make me happy: movie tickets (because that's something fun I can do on my own, but I ain't paying $10.50 to do it!), pistachios (yum! but so expensive...), Starbucks gift cards, iTunes gift cards ... any gift card, really! And, of course, if someone is taking the time out of their day to send me a package or snail mail, I'll appreciate it no matter what's inside ... as long as it's not Anthrax or something equally as cruel and unfunny.

What are your ideal care package items? Do you send packages often? Happy Friday!

Young Love

Source: love.tumblr.com via Megan on Pinterest

I didn't join Pinterest for the recipes or the decorating tips or the DIY projects (even though I definitely appreciate those pins now that I have my own place!). I joined Pinterest because I always saw adorable, generic images on the blogs I read, and I wanted to find some adorable images for my own blog! One of the first boards I made was "Young Love" to collect all those so-sweet-it-makes-your-stomach-churn-but-you-still-can't-help-but-smile pictures of gorgeous young people doing cute relationship things. For today's link-up with "Oh How Pinteresting Wednesdays" at The Vintage Apple, I'm going to share some of my favorite pins from that board:

Date Night: (Long Distance) Valentine's Day

Our dinner and a movie!

I'm aware this post is a little behind the times, but hey! Maybe that means it won't get lost in all the other Valentine's Day posts out there. So, as you might know, I am dating my high school sweetheart. Because we attended different colleges and have different graduation dates, we've been long-distance for a few years. This year for Valentine's Day, we decided to have a regular dinner-and-a-movie date from 800 miles apart. It was fabulous!

Gift Guide: Valentine's Day for Anyone

Source: m.weheartit.com via Kaleigh on Pinterest

Valentine's Day is about love, right? But who says it has to be romantic love? Here are a few gift ideas for the other special people in your life. Bonus: They're all under $30!

Gift Guide: Valentine's Day for Him

Source: bellethemagazine.com via Brooke on Pinterest

Hello again! I promised when I made my gift guide for girls that I would make one for boys, too, so here it is! As I stated in my original gift guide, I'm more of an "experience" person and not a "gift" person, especially when it comes to Valentine's Day. But, I know many people like to give gifts, and often you can't spend Valentine's Day with the one you love (boo). So here are some ideas that you can send via the mail.