My husband and I love to host parties and gatherings in our spare time ever since we started dating in college. Free evening during the week? Dinner party. Spare Saturday night? Themed gathering. When we moved into our house the guest room became the first room to be deemed officially “finished.”
Overall I think Alex and I are pretty good hosts, but I wanted to step my game up this year and really knock it out of the park. Enter Hotel Benda.
We started calling our place Hotel Benda after a string of friends came to stay over the course of a few months for various meetings, conferences, and interviews. I made the title official just recently by creating a fact sheet for the bedroom (along with the hashtag #HotelBenda). Sure I may have gone overboard with the lamination and the souvenir stickers, but the content is pretty straightforward. The WIFI information is a must, but I also included info about our tricky bathroom faucet and where to park cars.
Nothing gives me more piece of mind when I’m staying at someone else’s house then feeling like I don’t have to constantly ask them where things are. Definitely if I’m stepping out of a shower and can’t find a towel anywhere. I wanted any #HotelBenda guests to feel comfortable in our home, know where important things are, and have access to our awesome internet.
Of course being the truly EXTRA person that I tend to be (I mean come on…souvenir stickers wasn’t enough?!), I set out a little relaxation bundle from our most recent Oh, Hello Box. It has a pumice stone, some tea, and some handmade soap bars. Just a little something extra for our guests to feel home away from home. Let’s not forget the rubber ducky in the bathroom that says “Oh, Hello” on it either…I’m surprised I even have friends at this point…
So if you ever find yourself in the Grand Rapids, Michigan area, hit me up. I’ll see if Hotel Benda has any openings! Is there anything that you do to make your guests feel comfortable when you’re hosting them?
Over the weekend we hosted a tiki themed party for Alex’s 28th birthday. Since we came back from Hawaii last November we’ve been utterly obsessed with tiki cocktails and aloha shirts. It seemed only appropriate. Plus with Michigan being blanketed with snow, an “escape” to warmer weather could not have come at a better time.
This part was beyond easy to throw and required very little prep work on our part. In the party invitation I encouraged guests to bring their own tiki mugs to drink out of, then leave behind to add to Alex’s collection. It took the guesswork out for them on what to get Alex as a gift, and made it so we didn’t have to buy a ton of tiki glasses up front.
We did have our fair of glasses to start with as well. We get ours from Amazon and I really love this setas well as this parrot set if you’re wanting to start a little collection. Plus this skeleton tiki mug caught my eye so I had to scoop it up.
All of our drink recipes come from a Tiki Cocktailbook I got Alex for Christmas. We’ve been slowing working our way through it every Tiki Tuesday so we had a few favorites in mind when we drafted our party drink menu. We also made a tiki punch recipeI found online so we had a drink option that served a lot more people.
We picked up our alcohol, lots of fruit for garnish, as well as tiny umbrellas. We also got a bunch of leisoff Amazon so people would feel like they fit the party theme without much effort. Presto. Tiki party achieved. Honestly it was SO easy to throw this party together and Alex and I both agree it’s the best party we’ve ever thrown.
I of course vlogged the setup and a little bit of the event. Can you tell that I’m totally drunk at the end of it? Those tiki drinks sure do pack a punch!
It’s something Yoga with Adrienesays all the time during practices and it’s something that’s really stuck with me. “Inhale lots of love in. Exhale lots of love out.” And with Valentine’s Day just around the corner it seems only appropriate to unpack it.
One of my big goals this year is to focus on self love. I’ve been hard on myself over the years and 2018 has to be one of the worst in the books. It’s the year I finally got diagnosed with depression and anxiety. It’s the year I started going to therapy and started taking medication for those problems. It’s also the year I finally started to actively seek out things to improve my mental health. Yoga became one of those things.
I think it’s safe to say that yoga has done serious wonders for me over the past month. I’m more focused, centered, and actively trying to both inhale and exhale love. It’s become a mantra that I tell myself when I’m feeling stressed, anxious, or unmotivated. Love has to go inward before it can go outward.
My focus on self love has even seeped into my business and planning life. Last month’s sticker subscription was about treating yourself and self love. I’m throwing love into everything I do so that it surrounds not only myself, but the people around me as well.
I’ve changed my Erin Condren Life Planner cover to one with hearts and foil to remind me of the mantra constantly. To some I may be going a bit overboard with the self love thing, but it’s working for me. It’s keeping me focused on the positive and pushing away the negative. And that’s huge for someone with self-deprecating thoughts struggling with depression. So think what you may, but I’m going all in on this hearts and love everywhere business.
As I’m bringing a lot of love inward, I’m also trying to bring it outward as well. I’m obsessed with the Erin Condren Share the Love Journal because it’s full of prompts to write to a loved one. I have half a mind to get one of these for all the important people in my life. This little book has 50 different prompts to help articulate love in so many different ways. I’ve already started one for my husband Alex.
So yeah. That’s where I’m at on the self love front. It’s so easy to neglect yourself when your to do list is a mile long and so many other things are grabbing your attention. I’m done pushing myself to the side and letting my mental health slip. I’m going to continue to inhale lots of love in, and exhale lots of love out. And you should too.
Ironically as I write this, Michigan is in the middle of a serious snowstorm. We’ve already have nearly a foot of snow on the ground with more on the way. What better time than to talk about how the winter months affect my anxiety and depression, huh?
Whenever I start to feel anxious or down, I always take a bath. The hot water warms me up both inside and out and I feel immediately relaxed and at ease. I light a candle, dim the lights, and take time to just breathe.
The feeling of an endless winter subsides a little when I do something in the snow. If you can’t beat it join it, right? I try to get out of the house, get some fresh air, and embrace the winter wonderland. Of course I bundle up beyond belief, but going for a walk or playing in the snow makes it a lot more bearable.
This winter, regular yoga practices have been a complete game changer for me. It’s designated time during my day to become grounded. I feel stronger, more centered, and more focused. It’s helped with my anxiety immensely and in ways I never expected. It’s definitely something I recommend if you suffer from anxiety as well.
Nothing beats the winter blues like having things to look forward to. In the colder months I always try to schedule some parties, events, or outings so I have things to get excited about each week. That way I don’t feel like I’m constantly trapped inside or that the days have no point and just keep repeating themselves.
Don’t be too hard on yourself if you need to take a day in bed or don’t have as much motivation to do things as you usually do. Winters are always the hardest on my anxiety and depression. I cut myself a little slack, watch a bit more Netflix than usual, and try to focus on the positive as much as possible.
If you have depression or anxiety than you already know that it’s a “take it day by day” kind of thing. When it’s cold out I drink a few more chai lattes, take quite a lot of baths, and snuggle with my cats. Plus I remind myself that it won’t be cold forever. That always helps.
I’ve never been one for a word of the year, but this year felt different somehow. There has been so many changes going on in my business and personal life that it felt right to pick something to focus on in 2019. No silly new year’s resolutions. Just one word to keep me focused on becoming my best self over the next year. INTENTION.
Just picking a word has me feeling different and more…well…intentional. It’s always in the back of my mind as I go about my days. I find myself subconsciously asking, “How can I live my life with more intention today?” I teamed up with ErinCondren.com to do just that.
This year I want to be more intentional with my relationships. It’s so easy to get caught up in my daily to do lists that I forget to reach out to friends or family that I don’t see every day. I’ve scheduled in my planner to write a few letters every month to the people I care about and the all occasions card pack makes it super easy to have any type of card I may need on hand.
I also want to take my blog and brand more seriously in the new year. As you guys know, I recently re-branded to better align with the Oh, Hello brand. I want to make more intentional decisions with my company. I picked up new stationery and business cards to celebrate the name change. It has me so excited to send out mail to brands I’ve worked with in the past to build better relationships with them.
Along with being more intentional with my brand, I want to send more thank you notes to people we work with this year. It’s not only a nice thing to do, it’s a good business practice to get into. It’s so easy to just send a quick email and think it’ll do the trick. But a handwritten card? It’ll set you apart in the business world. Sometimes old school is the way to go.
This isn’t a sponsored post, but I’m excited to take all of my new products and use them to become more intentional this year. It’ll not only build my personal relationships, but my business ones as well. Win-win all around. My favorite kind.
I’m fortunate that there’s extra space in our home for me to have my own studio. It’s completely changed how I work by providing me a place to leave set up and constantly ready for my next creative project. In the past I may not have taken advantage of creative moments because it was just too much work to bring out all my lights and set everything up. Now when the mood strikes, I hop over to my studio, flick a few lights on, and I’m ready to go.
I keep the space pretty open and free of clutter so there’s room to work, but there are a few items here and there that really make the space my own. From the My Little Pony and Shopkins collections to my giant squishy watermelon, I wanted things that made me happy, but also looked pretty in the background of videos and photos.
So here’s a little glimpse into my happy place. Let me know in the comments if you’re interested in a full video tour of the studio!
