personal | Sunny Slide Up

in one month i will be driving across the country

Exciting news! My little sister is moving to Portland, Oregon next month and I am going to drive with her to get there. Of course, I am a little sad that she is moving so far away to the west coast, but I am so excited for this new adventure for her.

I have always wanted to drive all the way across the country. Definitely an item on my bucket list. I have been to the Southern California many times and a few cities in between, but have barely seen the mid-west/north-west. Little did I know my sister would bust out the news a few months ago that she was moving across the country! I quickly jumped on the opportunity to make the trip with her. And did I mention her sweet one-eyed “Jack” is going to make the trip with us… he is the cutest!

We have planned our trek, booked our hotels, booked my flight back home and we are ready to explore! Last month we spent the morning at a coffee shop with maps, a computer and calendar. We used my favorite road trip planning guide – Road Trippers. You can set your destinations and search on the interactive map for extraordinary places, unique hotels and sightseeing must-sees. Then, you can pin your stop to keep up with milage, timing, etc. To keep a 3,000+ mile trip interesting, you want to see some cool stuff for sure! Here is our planned trek as of now…

Some of the highlights we are planning to see along the way…

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St. Louis Arch. Showing you this at night because that is how we will see it when we roll into town. Trying to drive all the way the first day here from Charlotte. That’s over 700 miles. Wish us luck….and no traffic.

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The Corniest Stop we will make goes to the Corn Palace in South Dakota. Because, why not. I mean, I’m sort of excited about it.

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Prairie Dog Town USA. Can you believe their is such a thing? I can’t wait. According to this website, they will eat peanuts out of your hand! Cue cuteness overload!!

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Mount Rushmore. How can you not take a trip through South Dakota without seeing this magnificent rock sculpture!

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Dinosaur Park in Rapid City, South Dakota. This vintage road side attraction is a must for some great photo ops!

Yellowstone National Park. This is definitely one we are really looking forward to. Driving through Yellowstone is going to be a dream! Hoping to see this amazingly beautiful Grand Prismatic Spring. Mandi’s sister has been traveling through Yellowstone this past week (on her way to Alaska!) and has shared some crazy cool photos. I need to chat with her and get some road trip tips for sure.

From Yellowstone, we are pretty close to Oregon. We will stay over one more night and see some cool roadside sights like this giant red wagon slide….

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Can’t wait to see Portland too! I have never been and neither has my sister. Pretty exciting and brave of her to move to a city she has never been to, right? Love it! I am so proud of her. She rules.

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And you had better believe we are planning some sweet road trip tunes and lots of entertaining activities for the car trip….

So in just about a month, my sister and I will hit the road for this very exciting trip! More details to come on how you can follow our adventure on Instagram. And if you aren’t already, be sure to follow Sunny Slide Up on Instagram so you don’t miss the photos!

Have any travel tips or places not to miss to share? Please comment below and let us know!

Cheers to our adventure sister!

wedding pictures are worth it

by Mandi | personal, sunny slide up

If you have read the blog for a while, you will know that I have a strong opinion on photography. Engagement, Wedding, Maternity, Child Births and Milestones. I have even gone as far as encouraging you to hire a videographer.

Well, I knew that photography was going to be one of the main “must haves” for my wedding. After all of the planning, all of the details, all of the check lists, phone calls, and decisions, the day comes and goes. It is almost like you blink and then it is gone.

We recently celebrated 2 years and I can honestly say that am so thankful for my photos and my video. Except for our memories, that is all we have left!

My wedding photographer, Crystal Stokes, is one of a kind – she made us feel so comfortable in both our engagement photos as well as our wedding photos. I wouldn’t have traded our experience with her for anything! The pictures below speak for themselves… Every moment, every detail – all captured perfectly! Below are a few photos from our special day.

This wedding was filled with special moments. I hand designed and hand painted (with the help of my sister) my invitations, my mom and sister made the butters as party favors, instead of one wedding cake our aunts made their favorite cake or desert, and I hand wrote all of the signage and party favor tags. It was filled with love to every inch!

To our surprise over the years a few blogs have picked it up and featured us as a “DIY Bride“, a “Vintage DIY Wedding” , “Shabby Chic Colorful Wedding“, and a “Crafty Floral Wedding” I would say that those words definitely describe it! I wanted bright, fun, vintage, and hand made to show through and I guess it did!.

Thank you to the amazing blogs that all have our wedding featured on it. I was honored with some of the large names that chose our wedding.

I can’t end this post without thinking my amazing photographer, Crystal Stokes. All of the photos used in this post are a thank you to her!

The amazing flowers are by Springvine Design, planning by Magnolia Events, and the wedding was at the beautiful Brawley Estate.

live healthy – finding local support

by Mandi | fun finds, personal, quotes and toasts, style

As you know, we love healthy meals and try to keep a healthy lifestyle for our families. Well recently I had a baby and I will tell you that gym time and healthy living were both put on hold. More important to me was finding time to spend with my little guy and my big guy – the gym had to wait. While breast feeding, food wasn’t about me, it was about what I needed to eat to make sure I could feed my son, and the bad habits started there…and just didn’t quit.

Fast forward a few months, I knew it was time for a change. My husband and I strongly believe in showing our son a very active healthy life and guess where that starts… me! We officially gave up sugar in January (my husband immediately dropped 20 lbs) but I needed another push… I needed a gym I can love and truly get behind! ENTER – Burn Boot Camp. This place is dedicated to women and especially moms. They have dedicated childcare and they are so motivating! For the first time in a LONG time I felt a sense of community! The work outs are 45 min long, you are in and out in an hour and trust me… they make it worth it! I felt like I may die some days ha!!!

I started with a month groupon and then moved on to a 30 day challenge. This was so the way to go and get myself motivated! But, I will say that if you are there, you can’t help but be motivated… all of the locations are full of energy, women working their hardest, before and afters, and motivational posters everywhere! Below are a few that I designed incase this community would like to download full size and put up in their homes!

Full sizes are available for download here or by clicking the images below: Strong Women, Machines, Fit Life

If you find a place near you, you will want to have some cute clothes to work out in… and no one likes a deal better than us! Below are some fab finds we found that will not break the bank!