A Birthday Celebration

First of all, HAPPY Monday! Secondly, doesn't the above wisteria display at Anthropologie scream springtime? It's whimsical and amazing and defiantly my favorite display to date.

In other news, how was everyone's weekend? If you follow me on Instagram (@mmackvick) you probably saw that I spent mine celebrating my husband Will's birthday! I had been brainstorming activities for him to do for a few weeks and wanted whatever I went with to be extra special because this was the first birthday I got to celebrate him as my husband!

Golf is a past-time we both enjoy (I drive the cart while Will plays) and I knew Will had been wanting to improve his game for some time, so I thought a private lesson would be equal parts unique, beneficial and fun. With some research, I found Marc Lapointe Golf at Fort Mill Golf Club and immediately booked a two hour private lesson with Drew Kiger. Hands down the best decision I made!

 

Will had never taken any sort of golf lesson so neither of us knew what to expect, but as soon as we arrived at the golf course and met up with Drew we knew the day was going to be a lot of fun. One aspect I have to point out since Will said it was helpful was the full analysis they do on your current "state of game" at the beginning of each private session. Basically Drew had Will practice as he normally would while he recorded him using a software called V1 Pro video analysis. This allowed Will to see his posture, how he swings, his grip, etc. and helped Drew tailor the lesson towards the areas Will needed to work on the most. Drew even sent Will a summary video after the lesson so now he can watch it at home and practice on his on time. Pretty neat if you ask me!

 

After Will's lesson, I took him to lunch at a fun spot right down the road from where we live, followed by a visit to a local brewery, one that neither of us had been to and were excited to try! I don't drink beer so I was happy to find they had a good selection of wines to also choose from. The atmosphere was lively and we happily sat outside at one of the picnic tables, watched people play corn hole and enjoyed each others company. Just what we needed after a busy and productive morning.

By this point in the day, we were ready to head home and relax. We made a quick stop by the grocery store before arriving at home, took a nap and then made steaks, vegetables and sweet potatoes for dinner. It was DELICIOUS! Sunday morning rolled around (Will's actually birthday) and I was excited to continue the celebration, so I went and picked up bagels from Will's favorite spot first thing that morning. When I got back home, Will was still asleep so I decided to use my time wisely and bake him a mini red velvet cake to surprise him with when he woke up! There is nothing better then pulling of a fun surprise am I right?! Especially when it leaves the speechless! And who says no to dessert for breakfast? Not us!

February Review + March Goals

Do you guys feel like January and February were here and gone in the blink of the eye or what? It feels like yesterday I was ringing in the New Year, and here we are three months into 2016 already. Last night before I settled down for the day, I took a few moments to think back on all that I did in February and feel pretty proud of all the things I accomplished! To be honest, I've actually found it fun and really helpful to keep track of my yearly goals and to review them at the start of each month. It's been an eye opener and a reminder that I should "strive for progress, not perfection" because there's no such thing as perfect. With that said, here's a look into last month and my goals for March.

image source

February   - Hosted a game night with one of our favorite couples.   - Finished reading Unglued by Lysa TerKeurst and The Artist's Daughter by Alexandra Kuykendall. I'm planning to do a book review on Unglued in the coming weeks!   - Booked an apartment through Airbnb and started planning our trip to Chicago this April. Leave a comment below and let me know your recommendations for restaurants to try and fun things to do!    - Started a list of weekly meal ideas for Will and I. Y'all, meal planning is HARD! Cooking is not my favorite thing to do by any means but I don't mind it all that much. I dread grocery shopping and have had a hard time figuring out different meals for us to try each week but through some recommendations from friends and a few hours on Pinterest, I've come up with a handful of new recipes to experiment with.    - Was part of a Southern Newlywed feature for Southern Weddings Magazine and got to work with a favorite local photographer of mine; Allison Kuhn! You can see the photos and read about our coffee date here.   - Welcomed my second niece (Isabella Rose) into the world and we are absolutely smitten!   - Attended a friends engagement party.

March   - Attend the Abundance Conference.   - Continue to increase my prayer life with Will and in my quite time. Thanks for the recommendations I've received! Having a prayer journal has been a huge help!   - Review our bank accounts and set financial goals.   - Go the whole month without a single soda. I don't drink soda all that often but I've set the goal to go a full month each quarter (4x a year) doing this with the hopes of decreasing my cravings overtime. To some this may be easy, but I tried to do this last month...and yeah...baby steps remember?!   - Continue finding meal planning ideas and eat dinner at home four times a week.   - Finish reading Make it Happen by Lara Casey. I've been going through this book with my sweet friend Sarah Scott and having someone to discuss this book with has helped me hold myself accountable at answering the questions in the book. Lara is a powerful writer and every time I finish a chapter I feel empowered. This is hands down a MUST read!   - Finish planning Will's birthday weekend which is a few weeks away. I've got most of his "surprise date" figured out but have to finalize a few details and we are all set! Fun fact: I love surprising people but have a hard time keeping them to myself. I just get so excited. Ha!