Blogging Live From the Pool, Redux

Hello hive! Some of you may remember a similarly titled post from one year ago today. Then, I was a sun-kissed, happy, excited bride-to-be turned wife :) And today, here I sit blogging by the pool once again after a wonderful year.

Where, you might ask?



Playa del Carmen!

Long story short, Mr. Quiche and our dear friends surprised me with a trip to Mexico...on Thursday night! As we celebrated my graduation from school (again x2) they handed me a box. In said box I found the following items: a sombrero, maracas, a Mexican flag...and a fat stack of pesos (you know, with paper being the traditional first anniversary gift and all :) ). We left the following morning at 6 a.m. Talk about a surprise!



So thank you, Mr. Quiche (and R & P!) for a fabulous trip. Mr. Quiche, thank you for a wonderful first year.

Cheers! Honeymoon in Ireland Part 2

After 3 days in Dublin, We rented a car (an experience going 1km from the rental shop to the hotel that Mr. Q will never want to recall again) & after a quick detour for M&S takeaway :), headed west towards Galway. We made a pit stop on the way to visit the oldest licensed distillery in the world , Killbeggan/Locke's Distillery. When in Ireland :)

I was lucky that Mr Q decided to blog while we were in Ireland & I need to give some credit to him for jogging my memory. I was so brain dead from the wedding & jet-lag that I had no desire to write while abroad. So, thanks Mr. Quiche!



Here is his excerpt from Killbeggan:

"Although the plant we toured closed 75 years ago, they have reopened it in close to original conditions. It was an interesting history of the making of whisky. The plant was powered by a waterwheel from a stream that ran under part of the building. Mrs. Quiche dropped her camera lens cap under it. The cap was visible and I thought we should just leave it and buy another, but she was determined to get it back. She went to the reception person and asked if it was OK for us to climb down there.

The nice lady said it would be no problem and that they had a "lad” there who would climb down there for us. We expected some strapping 17 year old farm hand to appear, but instead a 71 year old grandpa made the dangerous journey to retrieve Mrs. Quiche's 75 cent lens cap! He only hit his head once & I don’t think there is any permanent cranial damage. It was fascinating tour and it ended with a shot of their whiskey that was barreled and stored on the premises. Mrs. Quiche gave me hers ;)"

May I add that the lens cap was more that 75 cents? Thanks! :)



Edwina, our GPS, kindly led us to Galway with only a few hiccups. I swear there were times when she wanted to curse us in her proper English accent, but she held her cool and guided us west.

More from Mr. Quiche:

"Galway is Ireland’s second largest city with a population of about 80,000. We chose this city because it is known for having a lively music scene and we intended to use this as our base for the next few days to explore the Burren and the Cliffs of Mohr.





We still didn’t have a reservation and started looking up hotels in our trusty Rick Steve’s Guide to Ireland. We happened across the Park House Hotel, booked a lovely room, dropped our bags off and headed for the part of town full of restaurants and pubs. Tonight we decided on something a bit different for dinner - Indian. We found a nice little Indian restaurant that turned out to have fantastic food.



After chatting with our nice Bangladeshi waiter who has been living in Ireland for 9 years, we headed out looking for a pub with traditional Irish music.

We found one nearby with 2 seats at the bar and waited for the music to start at 9:30. I began chatting with the gent next to me who was fascinated with the sporting match on the telly. Yes, Virginia, Darts are a professional sport! I watched with my new friend as two men (who look like wrestlers) throw darts in a professional tournament. The “dart arena” is a large venue with small tables designed to resemble a pub with the sportiff sitting around drinking beer and yelling at their favorite darter (not sure the technical name of the participants in this sport). The band began playing promptly at 9:30 and at first I didn’t enjoy them much at all until a fellow joined them playing a traditional Irish tin flute. We stayed until the novelty of seeing our first leprechaun wore off and headed out in search of another venue.



On our way back toward our hotel, it began to hail the size of marbles! Between the cold rain and hail we darted into the closest bar - which turned out to be a placed called Coyote. This is an “American” bar! It represented everything bad about our great country, but there was space at the bar and the weather outside sucked so we stayed for one!



I ordered a couple of pints and in my usual friendly manner, began chatting up the local bloke next to me. His name was Matthew & he is taxi driver in Galway. I admit I have had a hard time with the Irish accent, but as this guy clearly had 6-8 pints, I could barely make out a word! Nonetheless, we communicated through grunts and “pardon me's” and developed a bond! I told him about our recent nuptials and he bought us pints of Guinness and then had our bartender bring us a bottle of champagne. I was moved by his generosity - it really made my night! Luckily, Matthew left shortly after they opened the bottle and we didn’t have to drink more than a few sips (let's just say it wasn't Dom Perignon)."



We couldn't wait to set out the following day on a road trip through the Burren & to the Cliffs of Mohr.

____________________________________________
Previously in the Quiche Jamaican Extravaganza:
Ya Mon! Back to Reality
Ya Mon! “Goin’ to Jamaica & We’re, Gonna Get Maaa-arried”!
Ya Mon! Who Zip Lines Before Their Wedding?
Ya Mon! Reggae Sailing
Ya Mon! Practice Makes Perfect
Ya Mon! Rehearsal Dinner/Party/Bonfire
Ya Mon! Jamaican Mornings
Ya Mon! Getting Pretty
Ya Mon! Crewcuts Model (aka Boys Getting Ready)
Ya Mon! The Dress, The Dress, The Dress!
Ya Mon! Our First Look & The Attack of the Veil!
Ya Mon! The Ceremony Begins...
Ya Mon! The Ceremony Continues
Ya Mon! Strike a Pose: The Wedding Party
Ya Mon! Strike a Pose: The Family
Ya Mon! Strike a Pose: The Bride & Groom
Ya Mon! Flowers & DIY Details
Ya Mon! The Reception Begins
Ya Mon! The Reception Continues & The First Dance(s)
Ya Mon! Dancing, a Dress Change, and More Dancing
Ya Mon! Faux-to Booth Fun!
Ya Mon! Let's Trash That Dress*! (Pt. 1)
Ya Mon! Let's Trash That Dress! (Pt. 2)

Cheers! Honeymoon in Ireland Part 1

I hadn't planned on blogging about our honeymoon, but we had such a lovely (lov-i-lee) time in Ireland, I thought I'd do a brief overview of our trip. The day after the wedding, we flew back to Chicago, unpacked our bags, repacked our bags, slept, woke up & went back to O'Hare to fly to Dublin. It was a whirlwind travel day & was quite exhausting, but luckily we conked out on our trans-Atlantic flight, missing everything from beverage service to meals & woke up when we landed.

Here was our itinerary:

Days 1 - 3: Dublin
Days 3 - 5: Galway (base point for the Cliffs of Mohr and The Burren)
Days 5 - 7: Dingle
Days 7 - 8: Kinsale

In Dublin, we stayed at The Westbury. It is centrally located on Grafton Street, which is a great boutique street bookended by Trinity College and St. Stephen's Green. I highly recommend checking out the Book of Kells at Trinity. I am fascinated by illuminated manuscripts, and these did not disappoint.


Our hotel room that was bigger than my first apartments in Chicago. Combined :)


Trinity College, home of the Book of Kells - please go see this.


As a Brit Chick-Lit fan, I've always wanted to say "We had Marks & Spencer take-away", Mr. Quiche was more than happy to oblige & we picnicked in St. Stephen's Green.

Out and about in Dublin meant food & flowers. Freshly off flower stalking post-wedding, I loved all of the flower markets & of course, the shock of green that greets you everywhere in Ireland.


A traditional Irish breakfast at Bewley's. The blood sausage might give away that this is Mr. Q's meal - I had oatmeal & cappuccino :)


There was a Starbucks across the street from our hotel & Mr. Q is obsessed, so we had to go :)


Yum.


This is not photoshopped!

You can't visit Dublin without visiting certain cathedrals. Some may pray at St. Patrick's Cathedral, some may pray to another God altogether: Guiness.




If forced to choose another career, I think I'd be an Architecture Historian. Gothic cathedrals, with their pointed arches and ribbed groin vaults, make my hear go pitter-patter. It is truly spectacular.


Jonathan Swift, author of Gulliver's Travels, was the Dean of St. Patrick's in the 19th century.

As much as we both like beer, neither one of us had tried Guinness before visiting Ireland! I guess it's appropriate that our first one was at the Guinness Factory.








What a cutie :)

Kilmainham Gaol (jail) is another place that I am so glad we visited. It is a prison made famous for its part in the Easter Rising, which put Ireland on the road to freedom from British rule.





And you can't fully experience Dublin without partaking in the many, many pubs with music twinkling out into the streets. On our first night, we headed to the Temple Bar neighborhood and to Oliver St. John Gogarty. After ditching the nicer restaurant on the top floor for fried food & garlic mayo on the 2nd, we instantly fell "mad for trad" - traditional, live Irish music.




"Singing cockles & mussels, alive! alive-oh!" - Molly Malone, a song about a prostitute fishmonger that you'll hear in every pub in Ireland.

Dublin is such a vibrant, fun city steeped in history, art & architecture awesomeness. Mama & Petey Quiche are going back to Ireland in 2 months & we are super jealous :)

Can't wait to share the rest of our Ireland travels with you!

Where did/are you going on your honeymoon?
____________________________________________
Previously in the Quiche Jamaican Extravaganza:
Ya Mon! Back to Reality
Ya Mon! “Goin’ to Jamaica & We’re, Gonna Get Maaa-arried”!
Ya Mon! Who Zip Lines Before Their Wedding?
Ya Mon! Reggae Sailing
Ya Mon! Practice Makes Perfect
Ya Mon! Rehearsal Dinner/Party/Bonfire
Ya Mon! Jamaican Mornings
Ya Mon! Getting Pretty
Ya Mon! Crewcuts Model (aka Boys Getting Ready)
Ya Mon! The Dress, The Dress, The Dress!
Ya Mon! Our First Look & The Attack of the Veil!
Ya Mon! The Ceremony Begins...
Ya Mon! The Ceremony Continues
Ya Mon! Strike a Pose: The Wedding Party
Ya Mon! Strike a Pose: The Family
Ya Mon! Strike a Pose: The Bride & Groom
Ya Mon! Flowers & DIY Details
Ya Mon! The Reception Begins
Ya Mon! The Reception Continues & The First Dance(s)
Ya Mon! Dancing, a Dress Change, and More Dancing
Ya Mon! Faux-to Booth Fun!
Ya Mon! Let's Trash That Dress*! (Pt. 1)

New Design Blog!

As I wrap up my Weddingbee recaps, I've started a new blog focusing on interior design.

Bien Living Design

Come on over and check it out!

Ya Mon! Let's Trash That Dress! (Pt. 2)

Okay now...where was I? Oh yes, that's right - I had just jumped into the water wearing a long, white dress!



After taking the plunge (ha. hahaha!), we headed over to the beach for a little rolling around in the sand :) I kid, I kid! We played photo shoot a little more & I have to admit that I loved it. Mr. Quiche was feeling a little worse for wear & holy moly, was the sun ever BRIGHT (hence quite a bit of squinting...I mean sultry stares into each others eyes).

Our papa-paparazzi got down to business...


Photo by sister

...and produced some killer shots!


Going in for the kiss!


& he plants one one me!


Love the contrast of black & white on the beach!


It was BRIGHT, we're not trying to be sexy.

And one last sweet shot from above...



Sigh...I am so glad that we did a TTD with our photographer. It was a BLAST!

Up next, a final recap of the day (also known as "Pictures I Wanted to Post in Previous Recaps, but Forgot").


All of these fun, amazing shots, by Ashley Colhouer. :)
____________________________________________
Previously in the Quiche Jamaican Extravaganza:
Ya Mon! Back to Reality
Ya Mon! “Goin’ to Jamaica & We’re, Gonna Get Maaa-arried”!
Ya Mon! Who Zip Lines Before Their Wedding?
Ya Mon! Reggae Sailing
Ya Mon! Practice Makes Perfect
Ya Mon! Rehearsal Dinner/Party/Bonfire
Ya Mon! Jamaican Mornings
Ya Mon! Getting Pretty
Ya Mon! Crewcuts Model (aka Boys Getting Ready)
Ya Mon! The Dress, The Dress, The Dress!
Ya Mon! Our First Look & The Attack of the Veil!
Ya Mon! The Ceremony Begins...
Ya Mon! The Ceremony Continues
Ya Mon! Strike a Pose: The Wedding Party
Ya Mon! Strike a Pose: The Family
Ya Mon! Strike a Pose: The Bride & Groom
Ya Mon! Flowers & DIY Details
Ya Mon! The Reception Begins
Ya Mon! The Reception Continues & The First Dance(s)
Ya Mon! Dancing, a Dress Change, and More Dancing
Ya Mon! Faux-to Booth Fun!
Ya Mon! Let's Trash That Dress*! (Pt. 1)

Ya Mon! Let's Trash That Dress*! (Pt. 1)

Okay, maybe not THAT dress, but a white dress nonetheless! I couldn't bear the thought of trashing my actual wedding dress, so I ended up finding this VS maxi dress on ebay for $30! My mom and I dressed it up a bit by adding a loooong white ribbon to tie in the back, but that's about it. It didn't really need much for us to just trash it!


See what I mean?!

(read more)

So, the morning after our incredible wedding and reception, we rose with the sun (err...tried to, at least) in order to fit in a TTD before Ashley & Philip took off for home. It's repetitive, I know, but they were AWESOME with this!

Making my way to the end of the pier...


Photo by Sister Quiche Nen


Ashley & Philip then scoped out the best area - she hopped in a little boat and went out on the wavy sea to take pictures & he was our test jumper! Talk about dedication :) Thanks Philip! We only had one shot to get this right, so Ashley had all of the camera adjustments ready to go before we jumped.


Photos by Sister Quiche Nen

Then it was time for us! Mama Quiche & Sister Quiche Nen were able to capture pictures of us running on the dock, while Ashley took pictures from the front.

1,2,3 JUMP!


Photos by Sister Quiche Nen



A close up of the jump. It looks like Mr. Q tripped and fell in!



I hate putting my feet on the bottom of any ocean/sea/lake, so I immediately started treading water and the swam into Mr. Q's arm. Good thing I did because 45 seconds later, what should happen to swim by?!





A STINGRAY! I was freaking out. Mr. Quiche was a little freaked, but he kept his cool. I told him if he put me down then we'd have some serious issues. Smartie pants that he is, he hung on ;) Then we took a few saucy shots...I'll share this one :)



Once the 14 foot stingray (I swear the diameter of that thing grows larger each time we tell the story!) swam away, we swam over to the ladder. My sister snapped this cool picture of me gliding through the water.



Then Ashley snapped MORE saucy shots as we made our way out of the water.



"We sat side by side in the morning light and looked out at the future together" - Brian Andreas






Then we headed over to the beach for (what felt like) a Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Edition photoshoot....only with clothes on. Coming up next (even though there's a little preview at the top of this post!)!

All of these fun, amazing shots, by Ashley Colhouer. :)
____________________________________________
Previously in the Quiche Jamaican Extravaganza:
Ya Mon! Back to Reality
Ya Mon! “Goin’ to Jamaica & We’re, Gonna Get Maaa-arried”!
Ya Mon! Who Zip Lines Before Their Wedding?
Ya Mon! Reggae Sailing
Ya Mon! Practice Makes Perfect
Ya Mon! Rehearsal Dinner/Party/Bonfire
Ya Mon! Jamaican Mornings
Ya Mon! Getting Pretty
Ya Mon! Crewcuts Model (aka Boys Getting Ready)
Ya Mon! The Dress, The Dress, The Dress!
Ya Mon! Our First Look & The Attack of the Veil!
Ya Mon! The Ceremony Begins...
Ya Mon! The Ceremony Continues
Ya Mon! Strike a Pose: The Wedding Party
Ya Mon! Strike a Pose: The Family
Ya Mon! Strike a Pose: The Bride & Groom
Ya Mon! Flowers & DIY Details
Ya Mon! The Reception Begins
Ya Mon! The Reception Continues & The First Dance(s)
Ya Mon! Dancing, a Dress Change, and More Dancing
Ya Mon! Faux-to Booth Fun!

Ya Mon! Faux-to Booth Fun!

Early on in our photography meetings, our awesome photographer and I both professed love for photobooths, lovingly dubbed "Faux"-to Booth ;) We went back and forth on wheter to hang fabric or use a white screen, but we ended up with something better!



The Caribbean! When the sun sets in Jamaica, it gets dark. Fast. There isn't ambient light, which in Chicago makes me feel like the sun never sets. Pure black - a perfect "backdrop" for our faux-to booth.

Picture ranged from the normal, happy, smiling faces...to the funny, wacky faces.


Our friend Sasha hangs with my niece and nephew - they LOVED him :)






Love the pomander booty shot!


Lisa & Andrea goof around with our "props" (okay, more like chair sashes and pomanders - but, it worked!

Things also got downright saucy! A cigar came into play at some point that makes its way into many shots. A lot of people were cursing that cigar the next morning...haha.







Oops! Looks like B-Fresh caught A & J trying to sneak a smooch!






All better now ;)


Mr. Quiche and I snuck in for a few saucy shots of our own...





I may have said this about other pictures from the weekend, but these really are some of my absolute favorite shots! I love all of the fun, silly poses struck by our friends and family. They make me smile!


The newly engaged couple also gets in on the action!


















Philip gets in on the action with David!



This last one is probably my favorite of all the faux-to booth shots!




Picture overload, I know...but it was too hard to pick between all of the fabulous shots! This was one of the best decisions that we made. Are you having some kind of photo booth?


All of these fun, amazing shots, by Ashley Colhouer. :)

____________________________________________
Previously in the Quiche Jamaican Extravaganza:
Ya Mon! Back to Reality
Ya Mon! “Goin’ to Jamaica & We’re, Gonna Get Maaa-arried”!
Ya Mon! Who Zip Lines Before Their Wedding?
Ya Mon! Reggae Sailing
Ya Mon! Practice Makes Perfect
Ya Mon! Rehearsal Dinner/Party/Bonfire
Ya Mon! Jamaican Mornings
Ya Mon! Getting Pretty
Ya Mon! Crewcuts Model (aka Boys Getting Ready)
Ya Mon! The Dress, The Dress, The Dress!
Ya Mon! Our First Look & The Attack of the Veil!
Ya Mon! The Ceremony Begins...
Ya Mon! The Ceremony Continues
Ya Mon! Strike a Pose: The Wedding Party
Ya Mon! Strike a Pose: The Family
Ya Mon! Strike a Pose: The Bride & Groom
Ya Mon! Flowers & DIY Details
Ya Mon! The Reception Begins
Ya Mon! The Reception Continues & The First Dance(s)
Ya Mon! Dancing, a Dress Change, and More Dancing