Do or Die Everyday Essentials

So before I dive into today's post, you may or may not have noticed that I changed my social media account usernames from mscheek (on Instagram and Pinterest) and melcheek (on Twitter) to mmackvick (on all three)! Yes...I'm excited to go from Ms. to Mrs. Yes...Will's last name is Mackvick. And yes...I read an article that said as soon as you are engaged why wait to update all your accounts? I mean...as a blogger it only makes sense to have everything under the same thing right? And that's that :)  

 Do or Die Everyday Essentials

Shopping for men can be quite difficult, especially when they never give suggestions of what they want or already have everything they need. That's why I get excited when I hear about a new company that is able to end the difficulties that have long been associated with buying gifts for men...and a particular company called Man Crates has just that mission.

Man Crates is a new company that ships out really cool gifts for men in custom wooden crates. And the only way to open the crates is with the crowbar that's included. The Golfer's Crate, Clean Shave Crate and Legends of Baseball Crate are my top picks and I know just the guys who would love to receive these!

Today I am partnering with Man Crates to talk about my do or die essentials; the things I can not live without. Everyone has those certain items that we could never live without and for me it's dove milk chocolate, a foam pillow, my Canon Rebel T3i, ChapStick and flavored water. These are absolute necessities and I would be lost without them. Okay, maybe that's an exaggeration but it would be extremely hard to be without these things. 

 

A piece of chocolate a day keeps the doctor away. Or is that suppose to be an apple a day? Well, for me it's Dove chocolate. There is no way that I could ever give up chocolate. Like ever. I've tried and it just isn't possible. Now I do limit myself to only a few pieces a week. But whenever I have a sweet tooth, this does just the trick. And who doesn't love reading those little messages inside the wrapper? 

A foam pillow is something I truly can not live without. It's as simple as that. I have had neck problems for years and have been told that feather pillows just won't cut it for me. I have a particular one my dad gave me but I don't know what the brand is or I would share it with you because it's THE BEST. I don't have to worry about using multiple pillows or having to reposition myself at night. It cradles my neck in all the right areas and has held up for years.

My camera is pretty self explanatory. Ever since I received this on my birthday last year I have been obsessed with trying to figure out how to use it. But even though I'm not a pro at using it, I would hate to be without this beauty. Canon's are amazing camera and I have had only great experiences with my Rebel T3i. And it's a great camera for beginners or those new to using a DSLR.

ChapStick is a must and something I carry 24/7. If it's not in my purse, it's beside me on my nightstand. I used to use Burt's Bees but now I only use the Medicated ChapStick. Weirdly, the smell of it reminds me of rice krispy's and stays on longer then anything else I have used.

Water is the best thing for you to drink and the fact that I can drink flavored water with zero calories makes it even better. I use to not like the taste of regular water, but wanted to start eliminating soft drinks and other beverages that were not benefiting me so when I found flavored water that I loved, I knew that I was set. The Harris Teeter Simply Clear brand has some of the best flavors I have tried like Peach, Strawberry and Raspberry Blackberry but other brands that I have tried are Sparkling Ice flavored water, Cascade Ice, and Fruit2O.

Be sure to check back in tomorrow when I will be sharing my second post that recaps my recent proposal!! You won't want to miss this one!

Wedding Inspiration

I know I am leaving you all hanging, having to wait until next Wednesday to hear more about my sweet proposal, but trust me when I say that it will be so worth it! If you aren't sure what I'm talking about, go read this post were I go into great detail on everything that went on leading up to Will getting down on his knee this past Saturday!

One thing is for sure, and that's that zero time has been wasted and wedding planning is now in full force. We have already created a budget, picked out our wedding colors (gold and mint), figured out our wedding party, settled on a date (06/13/15) and selected our photographer (Nancy Ray Photography), videographer (Good Earth Films) a band (The Troopers) along with a number of other really exciting things. Quick side note: I know I've only been officially engaged since last Saturday but Will and I have been planning for our future wedding day for months now! The reason why is something I will be sharing in the third and final post on our proposal two weeks from now. And NO I am NOT pregnant, but it's equally exciting in my opinion and is something I want to share after the spotlight has veered away from the proposal just a little bit.

But back to wedding inspiration...I have so many ideas and Pinterest has been both my best friend and my worst enemy in terms of taking up half my time and attention. But who wouldn't be swooning when they come across images like the ones below?

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Y'all, I'm really looking forward to capturing our vision of a rustic/whimsical/vintage wedding and meeting with vendors and brainstorming with Will, our family and friends! Luckily our venue (The Cotton Room in Durham) has lot's of charm and character and will be the perfect place to help with my wedding day vision! What do you think?

If you want to see all the ideas I have so far for my wedding day, go check out my One Fine Day Pinterest board here and my Blooms board here. If you have any ideas that go along with the theme I have in mind, please share them with me! And again, be sure to come back next Wednesday for more wedding related talk ;-)

An InLinkz Link-up

The Answer Is YES: Date Weekend

Happy Monday sweet friends! Just a quick warning but this post has been a long time coming and I'm overjoyed that I get to share some big news with you all today! With that said, this post is a lengthy one and I apologize ahead of time if I start to ramble!!

For those of you who follow me on Instagram, you might have seen that Will and I got ENGAGED this past weekend! The past 72 hours have been both exciting and surreal and I couldn't be more excited for this next phase in our relationship! You might be wondering how it happened and want all of the details, and don't you worry, I'm going to do just that! But there is so much to tell, so I am going to tell you everything in three separate posts. Oh, a fun fact to start with...three is Will and I's lucky number. More on that later :)

So let me start with telling you about Friday night which was as normal as they come. Typically, our Friday nights go the same every week and this past Friday was pretty ordinary. I got off work right around five, came home, took Miller for a nice long walk and after coming back inside, fed the pup and texted Will to see what time he would be getting home. Will told me he would be getting home between 6:00-7:00 PM and because the weather was so nice outside, suggested that we go out to eat and enjoy a meal outdoors.

We settled on going to Hickory Tavern which was right down the road from us and close to a Redbox (we rented Non-Stop which was such a great action/thriller movie) which was perfect because we wanted to watch a movie later that night. Also pretty normal since our Friday nights consists of dinner and a movie 70% of the time!

So that was Friday night. Saturday morning rolled around and I let Will sleep in since he had an extremely busy work week, and I might have secretly wanted to watch Austenland before he woke up! Such a chick flick and oh so good! After Will woke up around 10:00 AM, we got ready and headed to brunch at my favorite place; The Flying Biscuit. We enjoyed a great meal and then Will told me that he wanted to go the mall to look for some more shirts and pants that he could wear to work. He had mentioned wanting to go to the mall earlier on in the week, and I knew he needed some more work clothes so I thought nothing of this.

So we hit up Nordstrom, took advantage of their anniversary sale, made our way to Banana Republic and then as we were walking around, Will asks "If you had to pick  your favorite store at the mall, what would you say yours is? For me, I would say Nordstrom". This caught me off guard a little but I replied "I'm not sure I have a favorite, but I love Anthropologie". That's all it took before Will then said "Let's go there so you can find a dress to wear tonight for our double date! My treat"! So of course I said yes and off to Anthro we went!

Oh let me back up for a minute...Earlier on in the week, Will asked if I wanted to go on a double date with one of his co-workers and his wife on Saturday night. Will said that all four of us could go to dinner (which we had even settled on going to Mimosa Grill) and then to see a movie (and I had even told Will I would like to go see 22 Jump Street). So towards the end of the week I was giddy and excited for our "date weekend"; both with Will and for our double date.

Okay, fast forward to Saturday again. After a quick stroll inside Anthropologie, I came out empty handed. I know, I know. That's pretty impossible to do but I did. I just couldn't find a dress that screamed out for my attention. But like any girl, I did say that I found an awesome clutch back when we were at Nordstrom that I loved and would be happy to take with me on our double date! So instead of a dress, I left with new arm candy ;)

After the mall we went back to the condo. The first thing I wanted to do was go in my closet and see if I had anything I would want to wear to dinner for that night. While I was doing that, Will got a "phone call" and told me he had to go into the office to get a few things done before dinner and said it would only take a couple of hours. This was pretty normal being the type of job Will has so I again thought nothing of this.

About 20 minutes after Will had left, I got a knock on the front door. To my surprise it was Emily, one of my best friends who just moved to Charlotte. The only thing I could think to say was "What are you doing here"? Emily explained to me that Will had called her and told her to come over to keep me company because he felt bad that he had to go into work on our date day. At this point I knew something was up, but Emily did such a good job playing her undercover role that I was convinced (just a little) that that night was in fact not the night I would be getting proposed to. But little did I know!

If I went over all the details that went on over the next hour, this post would never end. So instead I will just bullet out some of the major factors that occurred!

• Emily came inside and I questioned her left and right trying to figure out what the heck was going on. 
• Emily explained that she had NO idea what I was talking about and that Will told her a while back that he would let her know when "the day had come" and cue her in on all the details. Emily went on to say things like "I would let you know if something was up" and "I can't lie to you"!
• Emily suggested we go get our nails done and I told her I didn't want to spend money and had already done mine myself. She said let's go to the mall and get our makeup done and I told her that I had just been at the mall with Will and was "not in the mood" to go back. She then went on to say that she needed to go by her friend's apartment (who happens to also be a teacher) to pick up a camera that she needed to borrow for a school related task she had to done. If you can't tell I was being very stubborn and making their "plans" difficult! Whoops!
• We finally left my condo and I went with Emily to her friends apartment. While we were gone Will had come home and decorated the place with flowers, chocolate, a bottle of wine, love songs playing on the TV, and left a note on the counter for me to read.

• At this point I knew something was up, but Emily still made me think that I was wrong! She did a VERY good job acting things out on her part. Either way, I knew I needed to get ready for my dinner date and managed to get ready without asking to many more questions!
• Will sent me a text message saying that he would not be able to come home before dinner and asked if I cold get Emily to drop me off at his co-worker's apartment Uptown. Emily said she would be able to do that since the date she was going on that night was right around the corner.

• At 5:30 PM, Emily and I left and headed Uptown where I was supposed to be dropped off to meet Will...and next Wednesday I will pick back up with my second post on everything that happened once I was dropped off for my "dinner date".

I hope you all enjoyed my first post that goes over the story of how everything happened! In the meantime, check out my Instagram page (@mscheek) for sneek peak pictures (aka the RING) and much more! 

An Airbnb Experience

Hump dayyyy! This work week has been super busy which must be why I feel the week has flown by with hardly anytime to relax. But don't think that I am complaining! I'm all up for the weekend getting closer and closer! Remember how I told you a few months ago that I would tell you about my Airbnb experience? Well the time is here! But before diving in, check out my previous posts on Savannah here (part 1), here (part 2), here (food and restaurants), and here (shopping)!

So what is Airbnb and how did I hear about it? Well, do you remember the movie The Holiday with Cameron Diaz and Kate Winslet and they both have guy problems and decide to swap homes in each other's countries? Well they actually used Airbnb to do that. If you didn't see The Holiday, I advise that you go watch it because it's one of my favorite movies.

Airbnb is a website that allows you to list, search, discover and book one-of-a-kind accommodations around the world! Want to go to Paris but actually see what it's like to "live" there? Go on Airbnb and find someone's house you can stay at instead of a hotel. Is your favorite hotel booked and you have no where else to go? Search Airbnb for someone who has an open room you can stay in.

I know, I know, it sounds a little sketchy but it's actually not! Each listing has been reviewed by individuals who have stayed at each particular location, and to leave a comment or "rate your stay", you have to be a member of the site in order to do so. Airbnb is a trusted site and the comments are very reliable in my opinion.

Trust me, I thought the same thoughts you are probably thinking, so I wanted to try it out for myself and see what all the hype was about. My destination of choice was Savannah, GA.

Located on Bonaventure Road, half a mile from the Bonaventure Cemetery lies the Diamond Oaks Treehouse, owned by a guy named Chad. Does his house look familiar to you? It might because it's been featured in Savannah Magazine, Glamour, and Country Living.

As soon as you walk in the front door, you get a feeling of being at home. Or the first words that might come out of your mouth are "wow". The whole house is warm and inviting, and everywhere you look there is something neat to look at (Chad collects all sorts of random items from local antique shops).

With WiFi, digital cable, parking, multiple porches, a treehouse, and many other amenities, the Diamond Oaks Treehouse is whimsical, magical, unique, and southern all-in-one. Here you have the option to stay in the Parlor Room or in the Skylight Suite. 

The above photo is a view from the front door. To the left is the Parlor Room (where Will and I stayed), straight ahead is the living room, kitchen and sun room located in the very back. Adjacent to the living room is the first floor bathroom. And to the right of the photo are the stairs that lead to the next level.

Since the treehouse is the focal point of the house, I want to tell you about that before moving forward with the rest of the house tour. First, the treehouse is open to the elements, and you can not rent it out, rather all guests of the house have free access to it! Guests who stay in the Skylight Suite however have priority to enjoy it simply because of privacy compromised briefly by the ladder due to the skylights in that room. With that said, individuals staying in the Parlor Room check with guests upstairs (if there are any) and see if they don't mind you exploring the treehouse which I highly recommend you doing!

Let's just say that if you are scared of heights like me you might have concerns climbing up to the top and coming down. YOU ARE HIGH. I think Chad said it's over 30+ feet off the ground? But do it. Suck it up and get over your fear of heights like I did! The views are amazing and when the weather is perfect, it's a great area to relax. Chad has the treehouse decorated with twinkly lights that glow so nicely at night, and there is even a hanging airbed you can sit on! Now onto the guestrooms...

The Parlor Room is located on the first floor and features a double-bed, antique decorations, a flat-screen TV and has lot's of charm. The bathroom on the first floor is shared with Chad and has a shower and even a cool waterfall sink.

Once you have explored the first floor, you can head upstairs to the second floor where Chad's room is, the second bathroom (privately used by the Skylight Suite guests) and the cutest little reading nook I've ever seen!

See in the above photo the window to the right of the reading nook? That's the way you go out onto the roof which is were the tree swing is located, along with the ladder that takes you up to the treehouse! So yes, you are already "off the ground" when you step out of this window!

And then there was the Skylight Suite. I was so sad that this room was booked when Will and I visited but we will be sure to stay in here on our next visit to Savannah! This suite is an attic conversion that has 6 skylights that look out at the sky. There is a porch on one side and an entire triangle of picture windows on the other. A queen bed is in the center of the room and even has a flat screen TV!

And there you have it! The Diamond Oaks Treehouse tour! My experience couldn't have been better and I highly recommend checking this place out. Chad was such a great host and hardly at home, so Will and I truly felt like we had the place to ourselves. We never once felt like we were "barging in" and truly felt at home. Our experience was similar to one you would have at a B&B if you want to think of it that way. And the location was perfect. Tucked away in a precious little neighborhood and only a short drive to all of Savannah's main attractions.

Thanks for checking out today's post! Let me know if you have ever used Airbnb and where you have stayed/traveled too! Oh! Don't forget to linkup with What You Wish Wednesday. It's really quite simple. Write a post or feature a post on anything your precious heart desires! Once you've done that, include the WYWW button to your post and make sure to check out the other hostesses' blogs: Leslie, Stasia, and Nikki.

An InLinkz Link-up