an escape out of the tundra!

well folks, chad and i are taking a trip and escaping the cold. to florida! we are hoping for excellent weather, but to be honest anything will be better then these bitter cold days that have been hanging around minnesota. as i type thing i am bundled up with wool socks, slippers, wool sweater and a hat. ( i may be a little dramatic or may attribute this extreme coldness to my poor circulation. either way i am freezing!)

anyway- good bye snow and cold, i'll be exchanging you out for sun, beaches, and a swim suit!

follow our warm adventures via instagram- chad & heather

day in duluth

while chad and i were up at the north shore, we stopped in duluth on our way home. duluth is one of our favorite cities. it is filled with cobblestone streets and buildings with tons of character! the whole city reminds me of a northern san francisco- the city is on a hill, there is little trolley cars that travel around, and there is good food! what chad and i typically do on vacations is this. explore, eat. explore, eat. repeat. i think this may be associated with how much i love food. and how chad is coming to love food as well.we also got to check out some of the local breweries that they have up there (that was chad's favorite part!)

** down by the pier** 

** little angies for dinner**

**had to get a malt from this little shop, we go and get one every time we make the trip up to duluth!**

we loved you duluth and cannot wait to return next year!

to the north shore!

last weekend, chad and i had our mini retreat weekend where we went up to the north shore. the north shore is a scenic area filled with trees, lakes, and more trees. though chad and i may be considered city people, we love to get out in the woods and hike around. so we thought that by going up to the north shore it would be a perfect way to embrace both six months of marriage and a chance to actually relax. on our first day up there, the weather was cold! minnesota got a cold front so we went from having temps in the 80s lato the low 50s. i have to say i was very unprepared for this but luckily i brought my lulu lemon zip up to help keep me warm.

 **spilt rock light house is over there to the left! we didn't want to pay the admission price to take the tour so we thought we would make our own, which worked great! sometimes you gotta make your own path**

 **i loved the water falls, so cool**

**hiking around gooseberry falls**

my favorite part of the trip was when we ventured out to see the famous spilt rock lighthouse (it is shown in the 5th and 6th picture).the fog looked so cool when we were standing there looking out onto the lake. it was heavenly. i also loved gooseberry falls. this little trip was the perfect time away with my man. we kept calling it "vacation" even though realistically we didn't take any time off work and it was just two days. but everything is what you make it! so happy six month to my husband i love you more and more each day.

what are your favorite types of vacations?

my tan is starting to fade

so when writing this post the only thing that came to my mind for a title was that corny saying "tan lines fades but the memories last forever" ha! but here i am, my tan is fading but i have these awesome memories, so i am going to just go with it. corny sayings inspire everyone from time to time. once again-i cannot get over how awesome honeymoons are. the ability to completely escape from the internet, to be alone with your one and only is an amazing thing.

but the only problem with honeymoons is that you have to come home, and then you have to come home with being absent from the country for ten days and have to catch up on life. and man is that catch up hard! this week has been a whirl wind of papers, presentations, cleaning, organizing, and working. it hasn't been an easy one. i look over at my to do list and cringe. i hate it being that long. but then i remember i just had the best week and a half with my husband and i smile. and then i look these photos again, and i really smile. 

with that, happy thoughts! these are some more photos of some of the fun things we did on our little trip. because the trip was so long and i am not sure if everyone wants to hear in-depth explanations of each island, i am going to write a few posts about the trip and give a small explaination on a few of my favorite photos of the post. this post has three. 

my first favorite photo from this collection would be with the parrot. we met a little friend named sweet pea on the island antigua after we went kayaking in the ocean (i know it is kinda like a dream). she was so sweet, singing and talking away! she got a little too interested in chad and decided to start nibbling at his ear ;)

 second favorite photo, chads snorkeling face. too hilarious. chad toke one of me but some how i look even more dorkier then him so i decided i'd keep that one to my self;) we got to go snorkeling twice on the trip, on antigua and barbados. it was pretty awesome. we love getting into nature, seeing all of god's creation in its natural state. 

 and my final favorite picture on this post is the last one, which is a view of old san juan. san juan is an amazing town, and is filled with delicious food! they are really big on plantations so one night for dinner i had mashed plantations with garlic butter and shrimp. did not know what to expect but it was excellent. highly recommend checking out puerto rican food if you are going to the island, it was amazingly different and i loved it. i also loved this cute coffee shop we found in san juan (you better believe it we found espresso in the caribbean) called cuatro sombras. it was a really neat place that used all local and fresh ingredients including the espresso! it is grown in puerto rico by a farmer and then is roasted at the coffee shop. 

so thats the wrap up today. i am slowly returning back to normal functionality and am really going to utilize this weekend to catch up on reading blogs, baking, and homework, can't all be fun and games ;) 

and i am propose a toast (am i allowed to do such things by myself, drinking bubbly water? i am not sure but i am) to a great week and normal blogging week of reading and writing. happy friday!