an east coast christmas

Did you know this past winter break was our first prolonged visit back to Lancaster in over a year?! Unacceptable. My time back at home was so so necessary. Not only because 2016 was a shitstorm that desperately needed to end, but it was also the first time my whole family was together in over two years! There truly is no place like home for the holidays.

Don't ever think it's impossible to attend a concert that starts four hours before your flight from SLC --> PHL departs. It can be done if you don't have a problem with appearing homeless and bringing your luggage into the coat check room :)

Cute front door and even cuter mommy 

Christmas morning: before

Christmas morning: after 

*please note that this was taken from my dad's digital camera :) :)*

 Drew's first time to our nation's capital featuring Ellie, monuments, Library of Congress, Capitol Hill books (not featured: Ted's Bulletin pop tarts, National Gallery of Art, sushi in Ellie's cute hometown of Bethesda).

I'm getting emotional looking through these D.C. pictures because I'm thinking about the fact that the world is ending and every day since Friday has gotten worse and look guys it hasn't even been a week yet :') :') :')

YOU GUYS I FINALLY MADE IT TO TERRAIN. I have been not so subtly hinting to Vanessa and Caroline to take me here for at least a year now. It was just as dreamy and Instagram-worthy as I imagined.

I'm at this point in my life where people from my hometown have forgotten about me so I don't really talk to anyone from high school anymore. These two babies (see above and below) are the exception to the rule and some of the only souls outside of my family I make a priority to see every time I'm in Lancaster <3

But like when will you visit me in Utah???

 Me and my twin doing what we do best ((forcing our husbands to take photos of us in the woods to win free leggings because they are tired of funding our love for Outdoor Voices. We didn't win the leggings.))

wedding: part II

The best party that I have ever and will ever host went down at our wedding reception and it was perfect. My reception venue was probably my favorite that I've ever encountered. I first visited John Wright for dinner over Christmas break with my parents, and of all the places we later looked at for potential venues, I couldn't stop thinking about this one. The setting was unreal and fit our vision perfectly. The building itself was so cool with lots of exposed brick and pipes that I knew would compliment my décor so well. But then THE VIEWS, MAN. You'll see what I mean later on, but the restaurant sat right on the Susquehanna River and was the perfect backdrop for the event.

If there was one detail about my wedding that I loved most of all (other than being sealed and having a husband forever), it would be my dress. I probably explained how it came to be at least 40  different times that night, but I will do so one last time for y'all. The dress itself is a strapless bhldn from a few seasons ago. I fell in love with it as soon as I first saw it online many moons ago, and told myself that I would get married in it. I miraculously found the dress whilst dress shopping in Georgetown and there was one more left in stock in my size AND on sale, so of course I ordered it A$AP. Can you say meant2b?!? Next was the tricky 'how do I make this modest without looking heinous' debacle that all us morms can attest to. I found a beautiful lace bolero on Etsy and brought it to a seamstress here in Utah who not only lined it but attached a sash to the bottom of it to make it look like one single ensemble. The last touch was the veil which I designed at Sweetheart Bridal. And VOILA! It was so unique and beautiful and the one comment I got the most was "it is so you!" Maybe that's a good thing, maybe that's the only nice thing they could think of, but I 100% agree. I wouldn't have been able to pick out a more "me" dress if I tried. 

What did I tell you about the view. AH I cannot. The brick building overlooking the river was just too much for me. From the venue itself there were also some pretty picturesque views of the farm land that my hometown is famous for, so I'm glad my wedding could reflect that as well. It was the most perfect day and the outdoor pictures turned out beautifully!! We were seriously so #blessed with wonderful weather (aka lighting) all weekend long. I have a testimony of the power of prayer! But really. I had been praying for nice weather for a while before the wedding and it was calling for a 90% chance of thunderstorms the entire week leading up to it in both D.C. and Wrightsville. Die weather apps, you have no power over my wedding. 

If you've read any of my other posts (so flattered if you do!), then you are probably aware of my love for antiques, vintage markets, and decorating. Naturally, I wanted my wedding to reflect my love for these things. Thanks to the help of Fiffer Raush, Betsy Kohr, and of course my mother, we were able to make my dream reception a reality. I was smitten with all the little details that came together so perfectly. I think I was most proud of that flower wall. Our house was a paper flower making factory as my mom and I worked on them for hours on end during the week prior to the reception. Look familiar to anyone?! My friends made similar ones at my bridal shower and I loved them so much that we recreated them for my reception. So thank you to my girl Carly for the idea!

One of the more ~tender~ moments of the evening was our first dance as Mr. & Mrs. Tekulve. We chose Q&A by Kishi Bashi because I guess you could say it's our jam. Kishi is our jam in general, and we both have a lot of fond memories involving his music. His concert in L.A. last summer was one of the first we ever attended together, and we even deemed his album Lighght as the anthem of summer 2k14. That summer dating each other and going on so many adventures was one of my favorites ever (second only to this past summer because hi, I got married). The lyrics are TOO precious, as Kishi wrote them about his own wife. It was the perfect song for us and dancing with Drew then, and always, is one of my all-time favorite things <3

For the full effect, feel free to listen to our dance mix HERE as you peruse these photos. This was by far my favorite part of the night because I ~*LIVE 2 DANCE*~. Both Drew and I love tearing it up at parties, weddings, or even in our apartment, so we knew that our own wedding would have to top them all. And in my opinion, it totally did. Because we are both very passionate about music, we made the cocktail/dinner playlist and the dance mix ourselves to assure that only the very best and our very favorites were played. We gave our DJs the biggest headaches for giving them such specific instructions and for not actually letting them do their job, but I have no regrets. Nobody likes a sub-par dance playlist with only five people pity-dancing. Highlights of the mix included everyone losing their SHIZ to Countdown, belting out Burnin' Up with my fellow JoBro super fans (you know who you are), and playing Time of My Life as our "exit" song, because it was the closest I could get to fulfilling my childhood dream of remaking the Dirty Dancing finale at my wedding.

Welp, that's all folks. Thank you to Monika and Jordan for flying out so you could work your magic behind the camera to capture this weekend in pictures and video for us to keep forever. Thank you to our bridal party for traveling so far and looking so fly in your matching outfits. Thank you to all of our friends for your outpouring of love and support. Thank you to my wonderful family for giving us the most perfect wedding. Thank you to Drew for being mine forever. And thank you for reading!!!

home is wherever i'm with you

LANCASTER LOVIN'. Last week I flew home for Nic's graduation from high school, and I chose the BEST week to come home. Seriously. So many other happy things happened and I was so lucky to be home for all of it! East coast beast coast indeed.

My lil bro Nic received his mission call the same day I flew in! How lucky is that?!? The first text I received when I landed was a picture of his envelope. Once my family picked me up from the airport, we drove straight to Ocean City, NJ, where we stayed at this adorable little bed & breakfast on the beach for the remainder of the weekend. As soon as we settled in, we FaceTimed Ynna and Preston for the big reveal. Nic deferred his acceptance from BYU-I and has been called to serve an LDS mission in Melbourne, Australia, speaking Mandarin Chinese! He will serve there for two years and leaves for the Provo Missionary Training Center on Oct. 1st. So ladiezzz, hit up this righteous hottie because you won't be seeing that face for 24 long months. I will miss him so much but I cannot wait to hear all about his adventures and the Aussies he meets. I know he will be amazing in the field and learn so much. My baby's all grown up and saving China (or at least the Chinese people of Australia).

Sweet sweet frands <3 I love being in Provo for the summer, but I definitely miss hanging out with some of my best friends whenever I want. Sadly didn't get pics with them all, but I had such a wonderful time catching up with them at grad parties, Starbucks, bonfires, and some of my favorite Lancaster spots like Central Market and the new and impossibly cute Rachel's Creperie. I even tried out Skinny Park Juice, which Vanessa raved about in a past blog post of hers. Above are my cute friends Trevor and Alexa in Alexa's mystical garden for a bonfire on my last night home.

On one of the days I was home, I went to Philly with Chris. I looked up GQ's City Guide to Philadelphia (I remember Ynna referenced this list when we visited Philly over Christmas break) for some new places to hit up. Our first stop was the Mutter Museum. The description of this place was 'the grossest museum in America' so I was instantly intrigued. If you weren't aware, I love all things dealing with anatomy and the human body. I'm eventually going to take a cadaver dissecting class offered here at BYU. I have prints of organs framed in my room. If I could get my hands on a skeleton, I would want one in my future home. You get the picture. The museum is part of Philadelphia's College of Physicians and is full of medical oddities. We're talking Siamese twin specimens in jars, an entire wall of human skulls, and a colon that once held 40 lbs. of feces. It was a medical student's/horror movie junkie's dream. Sadly, you weren't allowed to take pictures in the musem, so here's a candid shot of Chris in the pretty garden outside of the museum. We then walked around old city to explore some of the shops and boutiques. I took Chris to Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction, which is one of the chic stores I visited a few months ago. It had those hanging lightbulb bottles on the right, a Warby Parker station, sign language alphabet wallpaper, and Hillside ties. Favorite find of the day? Meandering inside this junky little thrift shop next to A.K.A. Music that was cluttered with floor-to-ceiling piles of books, creepy old dolls, and baskets upon baskets of records. I searched through the records (since we have a now working record player in our apartment!) and scored two: Touch Me by The Temptations, and Big Bands: Greatest Jazz Hits. They were gifts for Desireé and Drew respectively. I asked the lady working there (who looked about 104 years old) for the price; $3 !! I only had a $20 on me, and she said she didn't have change for that. I figured I could maybe muster a dollar or two in change. JK I only had 56 cents. SOLD. What a steal.

The last of the Padilla's graduated from Lampeter-Strasburg on Friday! Pioneers 4EVA. Nic was definitely the flyest graduate there in his cute chambray bowtie. I die every time I look at the picture on the right, which I snagged after commencement as the seniors exited the auditorium. #swaggie. After the ceremony and spending half an hour taking pictures of Nic and all his friends, we celebrated with dinner at Aussie and the Fox, a classy and fairly new restaurant in Lancaster City that I also made sure I visited before I left. I loved how this place was decorated and the color scheme of oranges and purples. The price was surprisingly not as fancy as this place looks. Ironically enough, this place serves Australian and American cuisine. Just tryna culture the kid before he heads to the land down under for two years.

I spent my last day at home attending church back in the home ward and celebrating Father's Day with my dear daddy. Also, Nic was ordained into the office of Elder this day and I am lucky to have witnessed such a special moment for him. I'm so happy I was able to be home for Father's Day, since I am usually away from my family for most holidays throughout the year. My time at home was a little too short for my liking, but very sweet like always. I picked a prime week to visit with my loved ones in my cute hometown. Hopefully I will be back real soon!