Chrissy's Boston at the Beach Bachelorette!

What a fun weekend it was in Destin! Chrissy's bachelorette theme was kept a surprise from her and it was Boston at the Beach - we came up with the theme because Chrissy was actually torn between Boston and Destin for her bachelorette destination. We thought - we can bring all the elements of her Boston days to the beach (plus the lobster tie-in was too perfect!). Destin beach is absolutely beautiful - powder white sand and clear turquoise water. We made custom coozies for all the girls to bring down to the beach - I loved seeing my new married name monogram - Dana Catherine Schweer AHHH!!! Sunday we went boating, driving a pontoon boat to Crab Island. We were walking distance to a cute boardwalk area where we had dinner and went out dancing. It was a wonderful weekend celebrating one of my best friends! Here's a picture of Chrissy and her bridesmaids - love this photo! Had a blast with all the girls who came. I'm so excited for Chrissy and Jon and can't wait for the wedding in 2015! 

Melissa & David's Wedding in Charlotte!

We seem to be nonstop on-the-go these days! What a great weekend we had last weekend in Charlotte, North Carolina! Both Nate and I absolutely love NC - I lived there for two years when I was going to grad school at Duke, and Nate went almost every summer on vacation growing up. So, obviously, it is a special place for both of us! We got in Friday night after some "mechanical delays" kept us from getting there as early as we liked. We visited a few breweries with our friends Laura and Dave, and then went out for a great dinner downtown. Saturday morning we were up fairly early for some white water rafting at the US National Whitewater Center! It was so much fun! We both LOVED rafting in Costa Rica and this was tons of fun. Of course I volunteered to sit in the front of the boat so Nate was stuck up there with me :). Since it's a whitewater center it's manmade instead of actual rivers, which meant the water was really warm! So, even though we were soaked, we weren't too cold!

After the rapids it was time to get ready for the wedding! I was honored to be a Reader in the wedding so we had to get there pretty early! I was so excited to celebrate Melissa and David. Melissa and David started dating just days after Nate and I back in 2010 - our dating anniversaries were exactly one week apart! We also got engaged just weeks within one another - and our weddings were 6 weeks apart - so we've been on a similar timeline! For both of us, the first picture we have dating is one the other took when we were on a double date at the Chapel Hill West End Wine Bar. They are such a special couple to us and we were honored to be part of their day. It also was the third Breakfast Club wedding of 2014 (wow!) and it was so much fun to celebrate with Laura and Courtney too! Here is my favorite picture of us (Breakfast Club 1/2, missing Cara, Kelly, Natalie, and Kristy).

Congratulations again, Melissa & David!

Honeymoon Highlights

A lot of people asked us if we were leaving for our honeymoon the day after the wedding. Props to anyone who has done that because there's no way we would have been able to enjoy ours! We gave ourselves two weeks until we left for our honeymoon and it was the smartest decision we made. We had a buffer weekend to just relax, sleep, look at wedding pictures, and start to think about packing, laundry, etc. We left Saturday June 21 and returned Thursday July 3, with a three day weekend to readjust to the time change.

Our first stop was Singapore, where we stayed for three days. The first day we had no plans other than to enjoy our hotel, the Marina Bay Sands, which features three towers and a rooptop infinity pool and restaurant that connect all three. The pool was incredible and did not disappoint, with incredible views of the Singapore skyline from 57 floors up:

We also took in a lot of sightseeing - Indian and Chinese temples, the famous Raffles Hotel, and an amazing cable car ride that took us from Mount Faber, the highest point in Singapore, to Sentosa and back on a loop. We had dinner in the car, three courses, and got each course after a full loop. 

Each loop lasted exactly thirty minutes, so it was the perfect amount of time to enjoy the course and the views while the sun set.  I highly recommend it! We also enjoyed dinner at Ku De Ta, the restaurant on top of our hotel, and enjoyed an evening walk on the Helix Bridge that gave the perfect view of our hotel:

We also did a day trip to Melaka, Malaysia. It was a little longer on the bus than we thought, which meant less time in Melaka than we wanted, but we still had a yummy lunch at the best spot in Melaka called The Baboon House - delicious burgers - and we walked the Melaka river and fortress ruins.

After that we were off to the island of Bali, part of Indonesia, for a week! We spent our entire stay with Alila Villas - could not recommend them more for a romantic, secluded vacation. We spent the first half on the southern province of Kuta in an area called Uluwatu, famous for being atop high cliffs. Upon arrival we were upgraded to the four bedroom luxury villa with our own private infinity pool - it was the highilght of our trip. The views from the clifftops were incredible looking south over the Indian Ocean.

After three and a half days we reluctantly said farewell and headed to the west coast to experience Tabanan. We visited the amazing Tanah Lot Temple, which at high tide looks to be floating in the surf - incredible. We also saw how coffee is made, and even bought a little for ourselves! 

Then we were off to Alila Villas Soori, in a beautiful one bedroom oceanside villa with our own private cabana and view of the pounding surf and palm trees. It was gorgeous! The surf was so loud we could hear it as we fell asleep and it sounded like soft thunder. It was the perfect soundtrack to fall asleep to! We also had the best food of our trip here, some delicious Indonesia satay, pumpkin risotto, and Wagyu beef (amazing!).

Our last day in Bali our flight was not until 8:30 at night. So we decided to do a daytrip to Ubud, a popular area in a more forest/jungle environment. Thanks to a tip from a friend of mine we had a fantastic lunch in a little hut overlooking the famous rice terraces! The lunch was great and the views were amazing! We also visited the famous Monkey Forest, where monkeys run around everywhere and you can pet them if you dare, some people were also feeding them banana but that made the monkeys aggressive so we were glad we didn't attempt that!

After our stop in Ubud, we had a long journey home back to the US. We flew from Bali to Singapore, resting in the airport hotel for a few hours (11pm to 4am) before waking to catch our 6am flight from Singapore to Tokyo (6 hours) and our final flight from Tokyo to NYC (13 hours). By the time we got home, we had only slept 4 of the previous 48 hours. Thankfully we have had this weekend to rest and recover - today we are finally feeling back to normal.

We cannot thank our friends and family enough for contributing to our honeyfund and making this dream of ours a reality. It was the trip of a lifetime that we will absolutely NEVER forget. 

Our Wedding: The Highlights

June 7, 2014 is a day we will never forget. It was absolutely perfect, from the prep to the weather to enjoying every moment of the day. I was up by 5am and we didn't crash until 1am that night, but it was all worth it! Our incredible photographer, Steve, captured all the special moments. Rather than overexplain everything, I'll just post a few of our absolute favorites.

Here's to the next chapter.... cheers!

Wedding Weekend: Rehearsal & Rehearsal Dinner

Friday afternoon after the Bridal Luncheon we had our Rehearsal & Rehearsal Dinner! The Rehearsal flew by - our ceremony and reception were up at Columbia University, which is in the 118th street area, and the Rehearsal Dinner was down on 63rd street, so we gave ourselves time to get there. It was at our favorite restaurant on the Upper West Side, Rosa Mexicano. We had a private room upstairs reserved, and our family and friends enjoyed margaritas, guacamole, and a three course Mexican dinner! It was absolutely fabulous and my dear friend Janie made gorgeous flower arrangements for all the tables. It was beautiful and so much fun. It was also the perfect way to kick off the weekend! Here are a few favorite pictures - Nate's dad Allan's speech, me hugging Courtney after giving her and Jenni their MOH gifts (custom unique pearl rings), and me with the fab four, my NYC BFFs!

Wedding Weekend: My Bridal Luncheon!

Ever since we moved to New York City, I wanted to visit the Central Park Boathouse. Several times Nate and I talked about it. The weather wasn’t right, or it was a little too expensive for our monthly budget – there was always a reason. After we got engaged, I knew I wanted to have my Bridal Luncheon there. I imagined all my best friends in the city, eating and looking out over the Central Park Lake. I wanted to show all of them the best of NYC – and I was so excited I was able to make it a reality!

Prior to the luncheon we planned to meet for photos. Well our plans were a bit derailed when our subway went express and we wound up in Harlem! We quickly had to squeeze into a cab and take it back to the park. We were a little late but still got great photos, Here’s one of me and all my maids (minus Ashley, who didn’t get in until Saturday morning):

 We were treated to absolutely perfect weather – I kept saying I couldn’t have ordered better weather! Upper 70s, clear blue skies, a light breeze, flowers in bloom. It was one of my favorite moments of the weekend and I was so happy I got to treat my bridesmaids, my mom, mother-in-law, sister-in-law, and grandmother to this special moment!

NYC Mini Bach!

A week after my bachelorette in Orlando, my NYC best friends threw me a “mini bach” since two of them, Jen and Julie, couldn't make it to Florida – and it was perfect. I dressed in gold, my gals in black, and we painted the town red! The theme was a surprise to me – we visited places in NYC that had photobooths. Jen even brought props! A little background on my girls, the Fab Four:

Amanda (one of my bridesmaids) and I have been friends longer than we can remember. We started at the same church growing up, went to FSU and both joined PiPhi, and later found ourselves in NYC. In 2012 Amanda was working with some fun girls including a girl named Julie. Both she and Julie were hoping to make some new friends as with many New Yorkers, people come and go. We had a friend date on St Patrick’s Day 2012 – Amanda brought me, and Julie brought her best friend in the city, Jen. We hit it off and quickly group brunches and boozy night out became the standard. Fast forward two years and they have quickly become friends for life, girls I truly love and could not imagine life in NYC without!

Here’s a photo from one of our stops on the mini bach – at the rooftop of The Standard Hotel (a place I’d always wanted to visit!). It was the perfect night thanks to these amazing friends.

My Amazing Orlando Bachelorette Weekend!

Back in May I was treated to an absolutely perfect Bachelorette weekend hosted by my beautiful Maids of Honor, my sister Jenni and my best friend of fifteen years, Courtney. I arrived Friday afternoon and was whisked away by my bridesmaid Jessica to some poolside lunching with another bridesmaid, Janeen. Once the room was “ready” I headed to our condo at the Marriott World Center – decorated with the perfect touches – my favorite snacks, adorable pink décor, everything girlie and fun and classy – aka me to a T! Friday evening we spent eating delicious tapas in a big private booth that held all 7 of us!

Saturday I was surprised with an Italian breakfast bar – nutella, croissants, mimosa bar, the works! After a lengthy breakfast we headed to the Marriott pool, the main reason I chose this resort. The pool is stunning, with waterfalls, slides, and palm trees everywhere. An oasis – definitely not your typical “Disney” resort – given that we were in Orlando. Saturday afternoon we had build-your-own PUBLIX SUBS which everyone knows I am obsessed with and miss too much up in NYC. Then we were dressed to the nines, with a Parisian themed cocktail hour – champagne and macaroons! Seriously, no detail was forgotten. My girls know me well! They also surprised me with a slideshow of photos and memories of all the girls there – as well as the ones who couldn’t make it. I can’t begin to describe how much that meant to me. Sunday night was sushi and then out dancing at Wall Street in downtown Orlando! It was such a fun night.

A pic of all the ladies below: Janeen, Chrissy, Jenni, Me, Courtney, Amanda, and Jessica!