YankTon Challenge

My workplace is participating a weight loss competition with other companies throughout Yankton. The weigh in is today and for the next 11 weeks the goal is for your work place to lose the most weight! I am going to work on eating healthier not only for the challenge but for the two big trips I have coming up--Los Angeles to visit my best friend and Daytona to meet up with my other best friend for some fun girl time on the beach! I have some goals in mind that I would like to try one of which includes limiting my caffeine and only having two morning lattes throughout the week. I am also going to keep my motivation up and continue to improve my fitness with workouts 5-6 times per week instead of my current 3-5. 

Since the challenge officially starts on Monday, September first I am going to do a 30 day beach body challenge (outlined below) posted by PopSugar Fitness. Here is to getting healthy and staying fit! Happy Fitness Friday!

Fitness Friday #100by1yr

I started my #100by1yr plan (goal is to get 100 miles of movement in by our one year anniversary). I kicked it off by completing the above workout.  The mph are what I did and you can vary! Just make sure to do a jog/sprint/walk method to burn the most calories. The strength training was a challenge and my quads are still sore from the squats. I did the pyramid where I added 10lbs to the bar every set and then began removing 10lbs at 5 reps. I did the push ups in between squat sets. Enjoy the workout!

One Year Club

Kyle and I will be joining the "One Year Club" in one month. Being engaged was the best time of my life (so far). I obviously love crafting so preparing all of the crafts was the amazing. Kyle was also very helpful and supportive in helping get ready for our wedding. In anticipation for our One Year Anniversary, I will be sharing some of our details, crafts and pictures.

Details&Planning:

The Schuetzle-Lichty wedding took place September 21^st, 2013. Kyle and I endured a long distance relationship for over a year as we were starting our engineering careers. He was in South Dakota where I grew up and I was in Minnesota near where he grew up. During our time apart, Kyle started saving Burbach Dairy Cream bottles saying that they would make great centerpieces for when we got married. The cream bottles were our inspiration piece for the entire wedding.  After he proposed, I got to dreaming of ways to showcase these glass bottles. We put a spin on the wood slice centerpieces using a unique white birch from Northern Minnesota. With help from family members, we sliced and sanded the pieces until they were baby bottom smooth. We notched the smaller pieces to use as place settings for each guest. Since one of my goals was to make the wedding feel very DIY and homemade I wanted to incorporate my love for sewing. I hand stitched the table numbers using embroidery floss on kraft shipping tags to give that homemade country wife feel—it turned out to be my favorite part of the whole centerpieces.

Kyle and I wanted this wedding to bring us closer together and show our guests what we love to do. We each prepared separate wedding favors as gifts to our guests. Kyle brews his own beer, and he prepared an IPA to share at dinner. We labeled the beer bottles with labels from Etsy-half with Minnesota to represent where he is from and half with South Dakota for me. Since I love to bake, I made chocolate and vanilla cupcake wedding favors placed in single serving boxes and tied with baker’s twine. I also prepared a variety of wedding mints, including orange creamsicle, to share with guests and placed them on my personal collection of cake pedestals. 

Another DIY project we enjoyed doing together was the Cake Topper. We picked out wood pieces at Hobby Lobby to create a man and a woman. Kyle glued them together using a dowel pin and I hand painted our wooden doppelgangers. We were also very proud of the boutonnieres. Hunting is a big past time hobby for our families. We used shot gun shell used from the pheasant hunt where Kyle asked my Dad for permission to marry me and added twine and a brooch pin to the back to create a custom country boutonniere for our guys in the wedding party.

Since, we got married outside at Log Heaven Resort just North of the Oahe Dam in Pierre, South Dakota, we did not want to do the typical unity candle since the potential for a windy day was high. We opted to do the “Strength of Three” found in Ecclesiastes 4:9-12. We hand dyed rope in coffee and tea to represent our marriage with God as the center. My dad also set up a “tree aisle” using spruce trees he has been growing for years. We bagged the trees in a burlap sacks and lined the path from Log Heaven to the altar. The lodge was a beautiful setting to capture our candid moments and brought our theme together.

Advice: We both agreed that planning an outside wedding has many challenges. Just remember you can’t plan for everything, so prepare for anything. Have a plan A, B and C. Also, dream big and take on some wedding projects yourself! But as the wedding date draws near, make a list of projects that are left and do not add to that list. Be comfortable with the ideas and execute what you have left to accomplish before the best day of your life where you get to marry your best friend. 

Vendor List:

Dress: Watters; The French Door

Jewelry: The French Door/Grandmother’s (Family Heirloom)

Shoes: 6pm.com

Bridesmaid Dresses: JCrew

Grooms Attire: Men’s Wearhouse

Ties/Suspenders: The Tie Bar

Hair Stylist: Schelby Stark

Invitations: Jensen Photography & Design

Ceremony Venue: Log Heaven Resort

Reception: Red Rossa Italian Grille, Pierre

Photographer: Shalista Photography, Sioux Falls

Cake: The Cake House

Centerpieces: Burbach’s Cream and Milk Jars

Beer Bottle Labels: Etsy-- Coast to Coast

Veil/Cupcakes: Bride’s creation

DJ: Schuetzle Productions

Flowers: JW Perry/Family arrangements  

Cinematography: Riggs Sanchez

Stationary/Cake Topper Material: Hobby Lobby

Fudge Brownies

These brownies are inspired by a off the menu experience and Kyle and my favorite pizza place in the Twin Cities, Pizza Luce. On our last trip to the cities to attend a Kings of Leon concert at the Target Center, we grabbed a bite to eat at Luce and had the best wait staff experience of our life. When it came time for dessert, I wanted the chocolate cake and Kyle wanted the carrot cake with cream cheese icing, so our waiter gave us an off-the-menu special of a brownie frosted with cream cheese icing. AHHHH Best of both worlds so so wonderful!

So in attempt to re-create that experience for my friend's dinner party, I made some homemade fudge brownie and frosted them with cream cheese icing I had left over from a recent wedding I did. The brownies are extra chocolate-y and have a great texture. The edges get a little more baked in the oven than I prefer, so I trimmed the edges off before frosting to make sure every bite was soft. Make sure the brownies are cooled all of the way prior to frosting. Add a thick layer of frosting and then cut into serving size squares.
These brownies definitely were a hit and brought those warm fuzzy feelings back from one of the best date nights of my life.

Lake Shetek Weekend

My Husband’s family shares a lake cabin on Lake Shetek in South Eastern Minnesota. 

Megan with Mozzy Cuddling

We try to make it to the cabin at least once a summer and this year we created a master plan to maximize family time. Kyle’s Sister and her husband drove south from Duluth to Yankton to see our place and meet Mozzy so we were able to spend extra time with them. And then we road tripped to the cabin to see several Aunts, Uncles and Cousins all spending time at the Lake. 

In order to fully enjoy my time on the Lake, I purchased myself and my sister-in-law some “food” water floaties from UrbanOutfitters.com. We floated Lake Shetek in style in a Pretzel shaped floaty and a Sprikle Donut floaty. They were super comfortable and fun to use in the water. 

It was also our dog’s first time at the Lake and since he was apprehensive about getting in the water near our house when we go for runs; we weren't sure how he would do. Come to find out, he LOVES the water and we basically couldn't keep him out! We finally would put the bumper away because he kept wanting to play and we knew he had to be exhausted. Mozzy lost his collar and tags in the Lake on Friday but I found them with my foot randomly on Saturday while floating in the Pretzel. On Sunday, he was swimming again and the collar was lost for the second time. Must have been fate to end up at the bottom of Lake Shetek.

The weekend was so relaxing and everyone had a lot of fun. I am a huge fan of weekends where I have fun, get a tan and get to full relax. Thanks Lichty Family for the great weekend! 

Fitness Friday 3

When I'm busy and traveling I like to do a YouTube video workout. I have a few favorite sites that I visit to follow there workouts and one of my favorite is a health and lifestyle site called PopSugar.

I love their quick 10 minute workouts to focus on problem areas. Check out one of their Ab workouts and challenge yourself! 

Happy Friday!