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We're Getting MARRIED!

Hey World,

It's here. We are getting married tomorrow!

Friends & family are arriving to Upstate New York, the venue is being decorated, my wedding dress has been drycleaned and "fluffed" (whatever that means!), and I am now both reunited and satiated with my love of Heluva Good french onion dip. 



I'll be back and blogging later next week -- I hope you are ready for a lot of #BecomingTeamGrimes Wedding-related posts! 

xoxo,
M

Hey 

#LetsLanka

Hey World,

As an homage to our wedding week (!), I wanted to throw it back to our first international trip together: Sri Lanka (back in March 2015).

I can't say enough great things about our ten days in Sri Lanka -- it is truly a hospitable place full of SO much to do, SO many beautiful scenes, and the spiciest samosas that will ever touch your lips!

Colombo --> Candy --> Dambulla --> Nuwara Eliya --> Horton Plains --> Kitulugala --> Adam's Peak --> Mirissa --> Galle --> Hikkaduwa --> Colombo 

Laced through the pictures below is a blog I wrote while we were flying back, and never ended up sharing. Life is what happens outside your window is a phrase I used back in 2014, and put it much more nicely into words while in Sri Lanka.


Looking down Colombo's coastline
Life is what happens outside your window.

Infinity pool the first night!
Early morning at the train station 

It's what everyone else in the world is doing as you observe the planet; shaving their faces and brushing their teeth, stirring up porridge for breakfast, opening up their shops, offering flowers to Buddha, washing their babies, mending shoes and chatting with neighbors.


Traveling by train was amazing. 

Within the first 48 hours in Sri Lanka, I witnessed all of the above and more from my front row seat to the world: a bus window, a train observation deck, and a tuk-tuk.





I realized that I would learn more about Sri Lanka during these moments than I would from trekking through temples or tea plantations or hikes. These should be the snapshots worth memorizing. These simple flashes of life were simply that, a life worth living.

One of the temples overlooking Kandy 
Sigiriya was one of the coolest places in the world. 
I wake up every day and lament going to work, shaving my legs, having to cook dinner; all of the same things I so quickly came to appreciate when it wasn't me doing it.


Sigiriya is a castle ruins....on the top of that rock!

Later in the day, the BF asked me to describe my perfect day. To my own surprise, every aspect of it was mundane, familiar. I want leftovers for breakfast and a nap in my own bed, a hike in the woods I know, and a bonfire with friends. The most perfect day in the world could probably happen two days a week if I wanted it to.


Moving into the tea zone 

What's the point in saying all of this?




Horton Plains was our trip's best unplanned surprise.

Well, I realized that finding joy in the small things, in the familiar, in the mundane, is why I travel. 



A typical meal for two

Yes- it's to see new trees and pretty colors and hear new voices saying new words and eat dishes I couldn't even dream about googling the recipe to- but it's also to re-assess my own life.

The rapids at Kitulugala

Sunrise on Adam's Peak

I travel to remember how lucky I am to afford this type of recalibration.

Sunset in Mirissa (the same day!)

Learning how to surf
Galle 

I travel to appreciate the mundane and the familiar, as much as I travel to explore the foreign.

Cinnamon iced tea float = GENIUS!



I travel to remind myself that the life we all seek is simply what happens on the other side of the window.

Our last night in Sri Lanka; picture perfect. 


xoxo,
M



You can find links to some of my other travel blog posts here! 

Monthly Mantra: With Great Love

Hey World,

I'm starting a new section called monthly mantra! 

At the beginning of the month I share one quote I've come across to give a positive frame of reference for the coming weeks. I know I'm a bit late this time around, but in upcoming months, they'll be posted on the 1st. Quotes will be shared without any explanation on why I picked it or context, as inspiration comes to each of us differently!

If you have any suggestions for a single sentence mantra, leave it in the comments, and you may see it in an upcoming month!

xoxo,
M



Image source: Mother Theresa Quote


Why I'm Not Working Out Before My Wedding

Hey World,

If you google "bride" + "fitness" there are endless amounts of special 'bridal' workout plans to sculpt you into your best self before your wedding day. On TheKnot.com, creating a fitness plan is even part of your wedding to-do list! It's insane about how prevalent the conversation is, and it's even more insane how quickly your mind starts to buy into it.

For the past six months, I've kept telling myself "alright, next week I'm going to start". I kept feeling the pressure to jump onto the Bridal Workout Bandwagon. Where is my bridal workout plan? What needs toning? How many gallons of water do I need to drink daily to slim up? 

My kind of workout -- hammock swinging!
Time and time again I would set a date to get plan into action, actively resist doing anything remotely healthy all day, and end the night by getting into bed feeling both smug and sad. It took awhile to realize that I really didn't know what I was supposed to be doing.

Start not eating delicious meals or taking second helpings? 
Start drinking more water? 
Start...exercising?!

It just didn't feel right.

The person my fiancé fell in love with is someone who vehemently doesn't work out, who always takes seconds, and is perpetually on the brink of dehydration (by my own accidental accord, I promise). Why should the person who walks down the aisle on September 17th be any different?

Actually dehydrated here, post-safari game drive last weekend.
Hug = proof he still loves me.
Of course, I want to be my best self on my wedding day.
But I also want to be my most authentic self when I say "I do" - and that requires, well, not doing a darn thing.

Sneak peek from our Send off party!

B - Thanks for loving me as I am. 

xoxo,
M