One Year Anniversary

Today, Evan and I celebrate our one year anniversary! What a year its been.... amazing. I couldn't be happier and this year has made something very clear to me.... I was meant to be a wife, Evan's wife! I love it and know that its because I found such an amazing man to spend my life with.

Ok, so here comes the mushy lovey stuff..... 

My husband..... He is such an incredible man.  He is so smart, funny (man, can he make me laugh!), sincere and caring. He makes me want to be a better person. It was the best decision I have ever made marrying him. He is the best husband. I love him with my whole heart and his happiness is my everything. I love being his wife and look forward to the rest of our life together, now more than ever. 

XO,

K

Fiesta Engagement Party

It's not a fiesta without mini sombrero hats!!

Yum!! (Thanks Krista for making these tasty treats!)

Niki <3 Ross

My amazing family!!

** Photography by The Wonderland Group's Evan Burgher (aka my hubby!)**

This past weekend, my dad and step-mom hosted an engagement bash for my sister and her fiancé. Being the party decoration lover that I am (plus thinking I'm part Martha Stewart), I volunteered to help with decorations and planning. It was a fiesta theme, so I went to town making lots of fiesta inspired props. We made tons of tissue flowers that we hung from the lights in the backyard and also used as part of the centerpieces. 

I also made colorful, painted corona bottles to place on the tables and throughout the house. To make the bottles I started by putting my dad to work; I had him collect empty bottle for me (he is a corona lover!). Once I had enough, I put them in the dishwasher to give them a good cleaning. While they were drying, I mixed each paint color with a tiny bit of water to make it easier to roll in the bottle. Next, I poured some paint into the bottle and slowly rolled and tapped the bottle around to coat the entire inside. When it was completely coated, I poured the extra paint out and left them out to dry overnight. They turned out great! We placed them around the tables, and even put some of the tissue flowers in them. 

The entry table was my masterpiece! :) I had so much fun designing this, it was crazy. I bought mini margarita glasses, filled them with salsa and topped them off with a chip to dip. I lined them up on the table for guests to grab as they walked into the party. Next to the chips 'n dip, I placed a framed photo (I put photos of the couple around all the tables in the centerpieces and at the food buffet/bar tables too) of the happy couple, along with "N" and "R" letters. For the backdrop of the table, I made colorful pinwheels and polka dots to hang on the wall. Tissue tassels were strung along the edge of the table to complete the look. I was thrilled with the final product! So cute and fun :)

The party was a blast and I couldn't be happier for the beautiful couple! It was a great night to celebrate the love they have and to kick off the next year of wedding activities. Plus, I got asked to be a bridesmaid!!!! YAY! Soooo excited.

XO,

K

Summer Style: The One Piece

1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6

1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6

Summer has been flyin' by! I don't know about you guys, but this summer has been super busy in our house.

This summer has also been filled with tons of cute trends. One trend that I'm loving this season is the one piece. Gone are the days of the frumpy, boring one piece.... Hello cute prints and fun cuts! I recently bought #2 in the second collage from Forever 21 and love it. I will be posting more on it later this week or next week when I head to Mexico for vacation/a friends wedding. 

The countdown is on for Playa Del Carmen, Mexico for our good friends wedding! Cant wait to be in the sun, sipping cocktails, and celebrating love with some good friends. I wonder if anyone else will be rockin' a fun one piece!? I know I'm packing mine :)

XO,

K

Honeymoon: Phuket & Krabi

^^ Taking a little swim in the ocean in Phuket.

^^ Taking a ferry ride over to the island of Krabi.

^^ Our honeymoon suite in Krabi had a private jacuzzi on the balcony overlooking the ocean.... AMAZING! 

^^ We took a Thai cooking class on our last day in Krabi (sorry the pics are so dark!)

^^ After we cooked all the food, we got to feast. It was so delicious! We made all kinds of Thai dishes including Yellow curry, Pad Thai, Tom Kha soup, Papaya salad and much more.

^^ We flew first class on the way home from Thailand. It was quite the experience!

The last part of our honeymoon was spent exploring the islands of Phuket and Krabi. We were go go go the whole trip up until this point so we were ready to lay by the pool/beach, sip cocktails and relax.

We started our island adventure in Phuket. The hotel and the weather were awesome! The water was warm and the colors were outstanding. Once we got settled into the hotel, we decided to get our bathing suits on and grab a spot by the pool to hang out for the day. We swam, went down the waterside, and took a dip in the ocean. One of the greatest things of the day was when the baby elephant, Candy, came out and walked around the pool area saying hi to all the guests! I mean, really, a baby elephant......!!!! She would wrap her trunk around your neck and kiss you... it was so cute! She also would go to the edge of the pool and stray all the kids (ok, ok... and Evan & I!) with her trunk. 

The next day we hopped on a ferry boat to Krabi for the final few days of our trip. The boat ride was beautiful with tons of little islands all around. We got to our hotel and checked in to our honeymoon suite! It was amazing!! The whole room was decorated with flowers everywhere. Then we looked at the balcony where we had our very own private jacuzzi filled with rose petals! The view was stunning, looking out over the ocean and islands in the distance. Sadly we could see storm clouds rolling in. 

Even after it started raining, we still wanted to get out and do an excursion. We really wanted to do a cave kayaking trip. We got to the spot and everyone got in their kayaks, groups of 2. It started out fine, although we were wondering how we were going from the river (brown dirty water where we started) to the ocean (bright blue waters with gorgeous rock caves lining the coast). Apparently, the pictures on the brochure we very deceiving. I was thinking we were going to explore ocean caves like what they did on the Bachelor, for any of you who watched Sean's season when they went to Thailand. Boy was i WRONG! Our trip was nothing like that. We stayed on the river in the dirty water that had snakes swimming in it (yea, snakes, cobra snakes!!) and got eaten alive by mosquito's. To say this was the worst part f the trip would be an understatement. :( To find some positive in the bad situation, we did see a few gorgeous jungle-like caves along the way. But not worth the getting eaten alive by bugs and heart-attack I almost had when they snake swam by, in my opinion!

We made up for it the next day though by doing an amazing cooking class! Our teacher was awesome and she taught us how to make all kinds of Thai dishes like 3 kinds of curry, a few different soups, salads, and noodle dishes. After we cooked all the dishes, we got to chow down on all the delicious food! It was so YUMMY!!!!

The next day, it was time to pack up and go home. It had been a fantastic trip filled with incredible adventure, delicious food, and amazing memories. It was the perfect way to start our new, married life! I have the best husband and I absolutely love traveling with him!

As a final hooray for our honeymoon, we flew first class home! All 22 hours! :) This was the biggest treat and I am amazed at the experience. The seats lay out flat so you can sleep. You have full control of your private TV so you can watch whatever you want. We got our own travel kit bags with toothbrushes and toothpaste, eye masks, lotions, etc. They came by all the time offering you food, drinks, whatever you want! They even came by with a blanket and tucked me in while i was watching a movie! It was crazy. I definitely felt like a rock star!

It was the best honeymoon ever! (I'm a little bias) :)

Thanks for checking out our adventure and I hope its inspired some of you to go explore Thailand at some point in your life! 

XO,

K

Honeymoon: Siem Reap, Cambodia

^^ Visiting the beautiful temples of Angkor Wat (with my flowy Thai pants..... not my cutest look but very comfy in the million degree heat).

^^ Crazy roots taking over the temple walls. They actually filmed Tomb Raider at this temple!

To keep the adventure of our honeymoon going, we decided to pop over to Cambodia to explore the temples of Angkor Wat. It has been on my husbands bucket list forever so of course we had to go since we were only a short flight away.

The temples were so incredibly beautiful with so much history. They were so much different than the temples in Thailand. We hired a guide to take us around for the day since we only had that one day to explore all the temples. Our guide was great. He had so much knowledge to share with us. He even took us to the temple that they filmed Tomb Raider at!

We also got to see lots of monkeys while we were there, which I loved..... at first. I decided that I didn't like the monkeys so much after one came running up, grabbed onto my pants, climbed up my backpack, onto my head! I freaked out and Evan had to get the monkey off of me. Such a sweet guy saving me from the crazy monkey!

After a long (hot!) day of walking through the temples, we went back to our hotel and ordered room service. But the next night, we headed over to Pub Street to check out the action. With tons of bars and restaurants lining this street, it was super lively! Music coming from every place you passed and patios packed with people. We had a great meal, where they cooked it right in front of us on the table. After dinner, we walked around the night market. It was a great evening!

Although we were only in Cambodia for 2 days, we got to see some really incredible sites and I'm so happy we went!

Next stop: Back to Thailand to explore the islands!!!

XO,

K

Honeymoon: Chiang Mai, Thailand

^^ Our accommodations while on our 3 day jungle trek.

^^ Waterfall in the jungle

^^ Our awesome jungle trek crew.... so much fun meeting people from all around the world!

^^ On the last day of our trek, we got to ride the elephants! It was so fun!

^^ We made it back to our hotel safe and sound after our trek and had to go find some yummy local Thai food. Evan loved his pineapple fried rice!

Our second stop on our honeymoon in Thailand was Chiang Mai, in the northern region of the country.  We decided to do a jungle trek while we were there. It was 3 days of hiking in the jungle from village to village. At the end of each day we would stop at a hillside village and stay in there with the locals. There was no electricity and the huts we slept in were hard wood floors with a sleeping bag, mosquito net, and very small pillow. It was a really cool experience to be there and see how these hill tribe villages live, but I have to say, it was pretty rough. It really makes you appreciate all the luxuries we have including a toilet! The bathrooms up in the villages were basically a porcelain hole on the ground that you had to squat over. And when you were done, there was a bucket of water next to the hole that you would scoop water from and pour it down the hole to "flush". Yea.... interesting!

In the first village we stayed in, they invited us into the main hut to watch them cook dinner. This was such a cool thing to watch!  And the food was AMAZING!

On the second day, we hiked to our camp which was located on the edge of a beautiful waterfall (pics above). Once we got settled into our huts, we all decided to put on our bathing suits and take a dip in the waterfall. This was very exciting for us cause we hadn't showered the whole time out in the jungle and it was so hot all day hiking. We took shampoo and soap with us and bathed in the waterfall.

The next morning, we woke up and did the final leg of the hike down to the elephants! We all paired up and got onto the elephants. SOOO FUN! We bought bundles of bananas to feed the ellies (that's what I call them!) while we went out on the trail. It was really cool to see these amazing animals cause they are just so giant!

All in all, it was a good experience and I would suggest it to people seeking an adventure. Just be prepared for a rough few days of difficult hikes, crazy weather, and interesting accommodations. :)

Its no luxury experience, but very cultural! OH and take lots of bug spray!

After arriving back at our hotel (which was very luxurious and beautiful), we decided that we just wanted to lay by the pool and sip on cocktails all day, which is what we did! Then at night, we went into town to get some delicious food and explore the night market. 

Chiang Mai was a very cool place to see! I would say it was one of my fav places we went to on our trip. 

Next stop: Siem Reap, Cambodia!

XO,

K

Honeymoon: Bangkok, Thailand

^^ Temples outside of Bangkok. Everything was gold, I was in heaven!!

^^ We were showed around town by TukTuk. So much fun!

^^ Enjoying a cocktail at one of the many rooftop bars in the middle of Bangkok.

^^ TIGERS! 

^^ Look at how massive that cat is!? I'm not gunna lie, it was a little scary!

^^ The little babies climbed on Evan like he was a jungle gym, so cute!

We went on our Honeymoon to the beautiful Thailand and Cambodia for 2 1/2 weeks. We saw some amazing sites, did a ton of incredible things, and saw so much culture all around.

Our first stop while we were there was Bangkok. It was...... crazy! The hustle and bustle of the city was like being in New York x10. We got out of the city a bit and explored so beautiful temples including the tallest standing Buddha and the famous reclining Buddha. Its amazing to see all the detail in these sites. Everything in each temple is so GRAND and beautiful with so much culture behind every bit of it. Tons of gold, which of course I LOVED  cause its my fav color. :)

We travelled from temple to temple by Tuktuk, a small motorized, open air cart that zooms through traffic! (The driving there was super scary btw!)

After a long day of exploring temples, eating some delicious Thai food, and riding around in the Tuktuk seeing the city, we decided to head to one of the famous rooftop bars. The view of the city from 70 floors up was incredible! We saw all the bright lights and even a lightening storm off in the distance as we sipped on our cocktails. Great way to end the day/evening!

Next up was the Tiger Temple outside of Bangkok. I know I keep saying everything was "amazing" or "incredible" but there are no other words to describe this adventure! The tigers were so majestic and huge! It was shocking to walk up to that big of an animal and pet it. Unreal! They were very sleepy when we were there because it was a million degrees, afternoon, and they had eaten just before they brought them out. 

It was so awesome to see how these big cats interact with the monks who take care and raise them. The monks play with them as if they were a puppy at your house, pushing their giant paws around, messing with their face and ears (in a very playful way), its crazy! And the tigers just lay with their heads in the monks lap and just hang out.

After we were done hanging with the big tigers (petting them, taking pics, walking them on the leash), we signed up to play with the babies. They were sooooo cute and very sleepy! Once they woke up and finally got some energy, they started making all kinds of noises, climbing all over my husband as if he were a jungle gym, and playing around. It was fun to play around with them. We also got to feed them, which was so so fun. They were just like a baby, laying in my arms, drinking the milk from a little bottle. So cute!

Bangkok was just the start of this amazing adventure we had but what a way to start!!!

Next stop: CHIANG MAI! 

XO,

K