Virtual Coffee Date

If we were having coffee this morning, I’d say it was SO nice to be chatting with you after almost a month since our last coffee date! I have lots to catch you up on. And I’d also suggest that we need to go out for a glass of wine sometime ;)

If we were having coffee this morning, I’d tell you it’s been a sad month. We lost our Opa (German for Grandfather). He was almost 87 years old and lived a long and happy life. I will always remember Opa as the person who sparked my love and appreciation for nature. He would take us grandkids out for hikes in the woods behind his log cabin and teach us about all the different trees, plants and wildlife. He helped us build giant teepee forts and bonfires. He planted a garden every year and taught us the importance of tending to the earth. Opa was also an officer in the Army and served two tours in Vietnam. We’ll miss you, Opa, and your stories about heirloom tomatoes. 

His memorial service is next weekend. This was my first grandparent to pass away — I’ve been very lucky to grow into an adult and have the time to get to know all four of my grandparents. 

Two days before my Opa passed away, our family dog had to be put down. She had been suffering from bladder cancer for almost a year now and was in too much pain. Zoe was almost 9 years old and the kindest doggy you could ask for. Well behaved, sweet, and loved being around her family. Zoe was the first dog we owned as a family and I know she changed me into a forever dog person! 

On a happier note, if we were having coffee this morning, I’d show you the pictures from Link’s birthday party. He turned three this year while we were in Europe, and I missed my annual pup-cake celebration with him. His birthday is September 13th so we celebrated almost a month late. I always bake him a pumpkin/applesauce cupcake with cream cheese and peanut butter frosting and then we wrap up a couple puppy toys for him to open. He’s a spoiled dog <3 

If we were having coffee this morning, I’d tell you that I finally got around to posting the recap of the Scotland leg of our UK adventure trip. Scotland was definitely our favorite part of the trip– it was so mystical and magical, with the foggy mountains, castles, and beautiful lakes. I would totally go back. You can find the Ireland recap here, and I’m working on the last recap for London, look for that next week! 

If we were having coffee this morning, I’d tell you that I took on an intern for Zen & Spice! Her name is Claire, and she’s a nutrition student at TCU here in Fort Worth. She’ll be helping me film videos and working on virtual stuff for me. She came over last weekend and we filmed an entire month’s worth of videos in under 5 hours and she was awesome! I’ll be posting an into post about her soon here on the blog. 

If we were having coffee this morning, I’d tell you that I started taking an online food writing class! It’s through Gotham Writers. It’s a ten week course and teaches you how to write food articles such as memoirs, recipes, opinion pieces, and so much more! I’m currently on week 4 and loving it so far. I’ve gotten some good feedback from my instructor so I think its helping. My husband told me that instead of spending money on website edits, I should focus on improving my content. I really struggle with writing– it takes me hours to write a good post and I’d like to get a little better/faster at it. So we’ll see if this class helps! 

If we were having coffee this morning, I’d tell you that Nick and I are celebrating our FIRST wedding anniversary this weekend!! I can’t believe it’s been a whole year. It FLEW by. I feel like we were just scrambling to get everything together for the wedding and feeling the pre-wedding jitters. We’re going out for dinner and drinks on Saturday, and then spending Sunday (our actual anniversary) doing something fun together. Maybe we’ll go to the park, the botanical gardens, a museum, we’re not sure yet. 

Here’s a few of my favorite wedding pictures to celebrate! 

I hope you all have a wonderful weekend! Tell me something new with you in the comments if you feel like sharing :)