Blogtember Challenge: Day 3

Hi everyone! Today I'm back with day 3 of the Blogtember Challenge. Today we're sharing a collage or mood board of photos that describe our blog!

I'm a lifestyle blog, but I focus on a few main topics: Disney, mental illness, and my engagement and upcoming wedding.

One of my favorite shows at Disneyland is Fantasmic! - and Steamboat Willie is the best part! I can't count how many times we watched this show during our program.

Frozen is my favorite Disney movie! I am obsessed with Anna (she is totally me in a princess) and I want to own every piece of Disney merch available. No joke. (Nick might kill me though...)

Depression is dark. It makes you feel isolated from the world - almost as if everything is blurry. It's hard to function like this everyday.

This kid is my absolute favorite, and I don't think I could ever stop sharing our engagement photos. Can't wait to marry him next month!

The Guys Behind the Blog | August 2015

Hi everyone! Today I'm letting Nick take over the blog while he shares some sweet stories about our relationship. I'm linking up with The Guys Behind the Blog hosted by Heavens to Betsy and According to Laura Jean!

1. How did you meet your significant other?

Ariel and I met on our first day of training in Disneyland for the Disney College Program in August 2013. That's the official story and the much less interesting one aside from the fact that I came across as a total creeper (though she says a cute one) due to my knowing her last name ahead of time, and she was dating someone else at that point. The more interesting portion of that meeting is that I had seen her on a small number of occasions before our first official meeting. During check-in, they kept getting our names and info mixed up, regardless of the fact that she was way ahead of me in line. Apparently I really look like an Ariel, and can I blame them? When I learned of her existence, I saw her from afar and I thought she was totally hot. Then I saw her at the check-in party and I was too chicken to ask her to dance. In retrospect, that was probably a good thing.

2. What is your top love language? What is your significant other's love language?

Hm, that's a good question. My love languages are pretty balanced, but I think my top love language is words of affirmation. It makes me feel great to know that I'm appreciated when I'm going nice things for my girl. Ariel's love language is a split between physical touch and acts of kindness. She's very snuggly and loves head rubs, but she feels cared for when I do things for her.

3. If you're engaged or married, how did you propose? If you are not, how did you ask your girl out?

Okay, disclaimer: Ariel was a total butt about the proposal lol. Ariel and I picked out her ring together, which was a great idea, because I picked out a ring I thought she would love and ran it by her mom and best friend, who agreed that it was a great choice. When it came down to it, Ariel said it would have been "okay." Prior to the proposal, Ariel's mom and I went to a great shop called Create-A-Memory, where you can paint a piece of pottery and they'll fire it for you. Her mom painted a ring holder, on which we would put the engagement ring for the proposal. Under the pretense of picking up "an item" for her, I took Ariel out on a date to the shop to paint mugs. I asked Ariel's best friend to come and take pictures of the event. However, I messed up on the time, and we were done way early. I couldn't tell Ariel why I was delaying leaving, and she got really irritated. Finally I said we could go to the mall briefly and then come back. When we did, I got the wrapped ring holder, which now held the ring due to some careful sneakiness, but when I presented it to her to unwrap, she said no. I finally convinced her to open it outside, and as I look past Ariel, I see the Create-A-Memory employee and her photographer friend with the most dumbfounded looks I've ever seen. They must have thought they were witnessing a rejection. However, she opened it outside and found the ring. I got down on one knee and proposed as her friend caught the moment perfectly. It ended up going very well regardless of the bumps.

4. Share a funny wedding story with us - it can be from your own or one you attended.

I didn't hear about this until later, but we went to a wedding where the bride and groom took communion during the ceremony, but someone had forgotten to put the juice/wine and bread on the table. They had to fake it during the ceremony.

(Haha that would be my best friend and her now husband... Love you guys!)

5. On the topic of love, who was your childhood crush?

I....had a few lol. I was one of those weird boys who thought girls were cute from preschool on. One that I remember was in first and second grade. Her name was Kendall and we said that we'd totally always be together. After second grade we lost contact for a long time but in college we found each other again on Facebook and reconnected. She was married and it was fun to see where life had taken her.

August Goals

Hi everyone! As part of my goal to consistently blog, I decided to start off this month with a list of my August goals.

Blog and Social Media Goals:

1. Reach 1000 followers on Twitter. I'm sitting at 732 followers as I post this, and I had less than 600 last week. I think this is very doable!

2. Post at least two times a week. Now this does not include planner spreads, and that's mainly because I don't think I will continue to post my planner spreads on the blog. I will probably keep posting them on Instagram, so if you're interested in those follow me! I already have a few post ideas for the next few weeks, so this one may actually happen.

3. Remain active on Twitter and my blogging communities. I am a part of three blogging communities, and those alone have been a huge part of my social media following growing recently! As I start to blog more, I also want to utilize them to get more traffic coming to the blog and to Twitter.

Personal Goals:

1. No McDonalds and limit other fast food. Nick and I are trying to pinpoint what has been upsetting my stomach and digestive system, and we think it may be my love of McDonalds fries, if not all fast foods. This goal will be hard, but I'm going to try and stick with it!

2. Continue working out with out church class three days a week, and walk with Nick once a week. We're both trying to get in better shape for the wedding, so this one needs to happen. I just need to drag myself out of bed at 5:30 on those morning!

Wedding Goals:

1. Get all invites mailed by the end of the month. We have almost of the addresses and the design is basically finalized, we just need to print them and get them out the door!

2. Catch up on The Knot to-do list. I'm behind on a few tasks and that is stressing me out! They're not hard tasks, so I just need to buckle down and do them.

3. Book the honeymoon hotel. This one has been a struggle for both Nick and myself for a couple of weeks due to finances and his friend who is getting us the discount. Hoping to have this done ASAP!

What do you think of my goals this month? Are any of them impossible? Do you have any similar goals? Let me know!

The DCP Challenge

It's no secret that Nick and I plan to return to Disney. We miss it like crazy; it's where we want to be. Our plan is to attend the Spring 2016 DCP in Disney World, and then the Fall 2016 DCP in Disneyland and stay on in Disneyland if we can afford it. However, that poses a challenge.

A money challenge.

We're getting married and going on a Disneyland honeymoon in October, which isn't cheap. There are fees for both CPs, not to mention we want to pay our rent ahead of time if we can. That right there is over $1000 for each of us.

Therein lies our challenge. We are spending as little money as we can over the next few months. Yes, we're paying for the basics: tithe, rent, cell phones, gas, groceries, and school loans. Plus we both allot a tiny bit of free spending a month so we don't go crazy. But other than that we are shoving over $300 a month each into savings. It feels good, but it's a challenge. It takes effort to not go buy that book I want, or purchase more planner supplies.

But I know this challenge is worth it. Because in the end, our dreams are worth it.

I'm linking up with Mama Kat's writer's workshop! Head over to see the other entries.

Unique Wedding Gifts

This post brought to you by Tabula Tua. The content and opinions expressed below are that of Keys to My Life.

As I've mentioned before, I'm recently engaged and currently planning my wedding. As part of the planning process, my fiance Nick and I are looking at having a couple of wedding registries. Since we have a lot of items between the two of us already, we don't need a lot. However, there are some items that we are lacking or would like to update.

That's where Tabula Tua comes in.

Tabula Tua is a wedding registry with designer items for any couple's needs. Whether you need items for a brand-new kitchen, or chic bedding and pillows for the bedroom, Tabula Tua has it all.

Take a look at this Paris Pillow. Isn't it the cutest?



Tabula Tua specializes in designer lines. Some of their most popular and famous ones include MUD Australia, Astier de Villatte, Reichenbach uniquely shaped dinnerware, and the Italian based Match Pewter line. All of these designers are top of the line and have the boldest colored plates I have ever seen. There is certainly a design for anyone's wildest imagination! Below are some of my favorites.


Simple, but the color is so vibrant! I would love this color in a kitchen.
With a serving platter shaped like this, who wouldn't want to host a dinner party?

Everyone knows how much I love keys. I've always wanted a unique but beautiful paperweight, and this registry even has that!

No matter what a couple's taste is, there is sure to be something you can find. I'm excited to start finding items to add to ours!