dream a dream

{via}

See that big beautiful ship? That's the Disney Dream. And I will be sailing to the Bahamas on her in a little over two weeks. My mommy is turning 50 and we are doing it right! 

I have never been on any cruise before so I am crazy excited.

We will be stopping at Disney's Castaway Cay twice, spending one full day at sea, and another docked in Nassau. There is so much on the cruise that I am looking forward to but am mostly excited for one last family vacation before I jet off to Hawaii. 

Have you ever cruised before? Any tips or suggestions?

christmas in july

Doesn't that sound wonderful?

My excellent wiki-skills taught me that the concept of Christmas in July came about for those in the Southern Hemisphere {Australia & New Zealand} who might want to celebrate the holiday during their cooler, winter months. From what I could tell though, most people still celebrate it on December 25 -- warm or cold!

ANYWAYS

If Christmas were happening this July that means that Christmas would be TODAY. I would currently be in my kitchen, making my favorite holiday french toast with holiday music playing in the background.

And if Christmas were today, you could find these things on my list:

{via}

this pretty ring with the initials of me and the husband of course :)

{via}

a pretty iphone cover like this would make me happy {ignore that fact that I am an android user}

{my own picture}

a date with that guy. i may even request the sunglasses.

{via}

a pretty hawaiian quilt.

what's on your christmas wish list?

adventure

{via}

I can't read that quote and not hear the voices from the movie Up but I'm ok with that because I like love that movie. {does anybody cry like a baby throughout the entire movie? or is it just me?}

Our move to Hawaii is sneaking up on us fast. As I'm packing up our apartment and deciding what stays and what goes, I can't help but start to feel a little nostalgic for what we are leaving behind. 

But when I start to think of all the amazing memories we have had here, I get so excited about all the adventures we are going to have on our island in the middle of the Pacific. 

Adventure is out there! It's just waiting for us to live it. 

the byrds are back in town

We're back!

We had an amazingly relaxing and fun-filled vacation. I could go on for days telling stories of the trip but instead I'll just leave you with the video I made to capture some of our time at the Pharm.

Enjoy!



Pharm 2012 from natashabyrd on Vimeo.

san pharmcisco dreamin'

The countdown is on.

In a little less than a week, the husband and I will be heading off on a much needed {for me anyway} summer vacation!

We are starting off in San Francisco. Alex has a conference and I am just tagging along for the ride. Hopefully we will be able to squeeze in dinner with his Nana and auntie! While Alex spends his day learning about computer stuff {over generalized because it's way over my head - sorry babe!} I plan on running, reading, and exploring the city. I've only been once before -- have any suggestions for things I shouldn't miss?

After the conference is over, we are flying to Minneapolis where we will pick up our rental car and make the drive to the pharm {aka my grandparent's house}.

The pharm consists of 80 acres of pure magic {for our family anyways} in the UP of Michigan. A large chunk of my family is going to be there this summer at the same time as us so I am really excited!



Of course, I have a list of things that I want to do while we are up there. Here are some of the highlights:

...have a bonfire, visit fortune lake, make bread with grandpa, shoot off fireworks, go to ishpeming for the fourth of july, walk around the property, tip the canoe in the pond, hang laundry on grandpa's clothes line, go to copper harbor, eat dinner at the drive in, help grandma make pasties, listen to grandpa's stories, go into the attic and look for treasures, go to the strawberry festival...

the list could pretty much go on forever. I'm so excited!

Where are you headed to this summer?

welcome 2012

I know it's a little late but...

I worked on NYE but was home in time to ring in the new year with my husband, doggie and a glass of wine :)

2011 was wonderful and 2012 is off to a great start.

xoxo,

Natasha

our wedding

It's time to post about our big day :)

I woke up pretty early that morning with a big smile on my face {so excited to be marrying my best friend!} and sat on the balcony for a little while. The view was breathtaking. As I watched the sunrise, I spent some time counting my blessings. I was so thankful to be in beautiful Maui, surrounded by family and friends who were there to celebrate with us. This was the day I had been waiting for for what seems like forever, and I truly could not have been happier. After a while, I called my mom and we decided to take a walk along the beach. We then decided to head into Kahului to run some errands {aka pick up some pineapple champagne for the room}

When we got back to Lahaina, it was time for our makeup appointment. We got our makeup done at the Sephora in Whaler's Village. The woman who did our makeup was referred to us by a family friend who lives in Maui. She did an amazing job and was so sweet. We then headed back to the Royal Lahaina to relax and finish getting ready.

I was very calm all day. Really, I {and Alex} had been pretty calm throughout the whole planning process. We are typically really relaxed people so this wasn't out of character but since it was my wedding, and it seems like everyone gets a little crazy when planning their wedding, I was kind of expecting that it would hit me on the day of but I made it through most of the day with no stress.

Until the shirt incident.

As we were getting ready, I stepped onto my balcony to take a look at the wedding site and see if any guests had shown up {loved that our room overlooked where the ceremony was held!} and I see Alex and his groomsmen walking around. They all looked great but then I noticed that one of the groomsmen was wearing a blue shirt. It was supposed to be ivory. I thought I was being a cool, easy bride when I bought the pants for the boys and sent them all emails with instructions to wear any "cream/ivory" shirt of their choice. But Jon showed up in a blue shirt. Luckily, my sister in law knew her husband was wearing a cream shirt so she called him and the two guys switched :)
Really, it wasn't a big deal. But there had to be something right?

Anyways, after the shirt incident was taken care of, it was time to head downstairs and get the show on the road! Right as the ceremony was about to start, a nice rain cloud parked itself right over the ceremony location. If I was going to do it, this was my time to unleash my inner bridezilla but I didn't. We all embraced the rain and were told by many locals that it was good luck :) It definitely made our ceremony memorable :-P

After the ceremony we spent some time with our photographer taking pictures. If you are ever looking for a photographer on Maui whether it be for weddings, a couple shoot or a family portrait session, definitely look up Jenna Strubhar.

In lieu of a "traditional" reception, we headed to the Old Lahaina Luau for dinner and a show. It was a great night and we are both so glad that we decided on a luau.

The luau ended pretty early so we continued the party with some dancing at a local bar, Moose McGillycuddy's

Our wedding day was better than I could have ever imagined it to be. It fit us perfectly. Thank you to all of our friends and family who were able to make it to Maui and to those who sent us love from all over the world.

xoxo,

the newest Byrd

travel and maui {part 1}

I've decided to combine our first few days in Maui before the wedding into one post.

Be ready for a long post...and lots of pictures {of course}

A lot of our friends and family had left before us so we were so anxious to get on the plane! After sitting in lovely LA morning traffic {literally took us 42 minutes to move 3 miles!} we made it to LAX and headed to the gate.

Spent the plane ride having a How I Met Your Mother marathon on the plane which made the trip very enjoyable. We had a layover in Honolulu so we grabbed some lunch {Burger King for the second time that day..yuck!} and had a picnic outside.

By this point we were stoked to be in Hawaii and couldn't wait to be in Maui! The flight to Maui was uneventful and short. After landing we were on our way to the Royal Lahaina Resort!

Thanks to a family friend who works at the Royal Lahaina, we were upgraded to an ocean front suite..sooo nice! {I might post the video soon}. And, thanks to my lovely mommy, there were two mai tais waiting for us in the room :)

That night we met up with some friends that were already in Hawaii, walked around the resort and grabbed some dinner.

The next morning, we enjoyed the view from our balcony and then took a walk on the beach. The view was seriously amazing, it looks fake!

After that we hit up the beach with some friends. Jesse and I decided to try out our new underwater camera case...

Alex and I had to get ready to go sign our marriage license so we had to leave the beach {boo} We were a little bit late for the appointment so we had to wait for a while...

The lady who processed the license was super nice :)

After the appointment we headed to Duke's for our hosted "welcome to the island" happy hour. It was great to see everyone who had come to Hawaii! After the happy hour Alex and I parted ways for the evening and I headed to Lahaina town with some family and friends. In Lahaina we got really good shave ice and took a few pictures. After that we hung out at Tyler and Jesse's condo for a while which was fun :) After that, I headed back to my hotel to get some sleep before the big day :)

xoxo,

Natasha

let's get this party started

Hello friends.

Now that we are home and getting back into the swing of things, I finally have some time to update this blog. A lot of people have been asking to hear about our trip so I have decided to post a trip report . Hopefully I will be able to throw in some useful reviews so that next time you find yourself in Hawaii you will have some personal recommendations.

Look for part one tomorrow :)

xoxo,

Natasha

birthday boy

A long time ago {24 years} in a galaxy far, far away {Santa Barbara, California} a baby boy was born and they called him Alex{ander Sky Byrd}.

He was a cute baby.

And an even cuter toddler.

Who turned into an adorable little boy.

Then grew into a cool young man.

He matured into a handsome gentleman...

..who is smart, kind, funny, and has pretty sweet grooves. He likes beer, sports and other manly things. He also likes me. How lucky am I?

Happy Birthday Alex! I love you oso ;)

xoxo,

Natasha

wedding wednesday: photobooths

I always thought it would be fun to have a photobooth at my wedding. Because we are having a destination wedding it really doesn't make sense for us to have one but honestly, that is probably a good thing because I would be in there all night.

Luckily, I have been to 3 weddings that had photobooths. It's so fun to have these pictures to take home. Here are some of my favorites...

They are hard to see, I know {click them if you want to see our smiling faces larger}

xoxo,

Natasha

he's in

I'm very proud to announce Disney's newest cast member {to be}...

..my brother!!!

He received his acceptance email Tuesday morning. I am so very excited for him to experience the Disney College Program this spring!

xoxo,

Natasha

good luck

My brother had his interview for the Disney College Program last night! It sounded like the interview went well. If he is accepted he will be there for the Spring 2012 program.

Now we wait. {I think I'm more anxious than he is}
If you have a second, send him some good vibes.

xoxo,

Natasha

emelia adele

I'm an auntie :)

Amber, Alex's sister, had her baby yesterday. I was SO bummed that I had to work and wasn't able to make it for her actual birthday but Alex and I went to Santa Barbara today so I could meet her.

She is so precious.

Little Emmy is very lucky to have Amber and Erik as her parents. I wish the three of them nothing but a life full of love and happiness.

xoxo,

Natasha