We've Moved!

Okay, so it's a long shot that people are still reading this little blog, but I wanted to update that we've moved! thebeanandbear.com has moved to a new, cleaner and crisper platform. A place where laughter happens. Stop on over and say hello! It's been good here at the old whatkenzwears, but people change and I wanted to create a place that could grow with my family, and a fashion blog was no longer that.

Engaged

Before I moved Sean came to town so we could get our engagement pictures done. There was a lot of discussion about what we wanted our pictures "to be". Me, being the type A "everything-must-be-perfect" and Sean being a type A with a side of artsy, we both had different ideas of what perfect would look like. 

Sean wanted to throw literally anything at me: paint, balloons, butter. Okay that last one might have been a stretch, but seriously. He wanted to have fun with them. We worked together to make sure that we both could have what we wanted, and when my brother sent back the final results, I was amazed by how much I loved both sets of pictures. I even texted Sean saying "My face is literally melting with the awesomeness!!!"

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I look at the pictures now, and I'm so thankful that we have them (but part of me doesn't want to share the awesomeness with anybody), and it makes me even more excited for our wedding pictures.


What do you think is better for engagement pictures? We had some friends recently get theirs done and they're so serious, which kind of makes ours look really goofy. Obviously there's no right way to have your engagement pictures done, but what have you seen that you liked? Hated?

24x24: Successfully Complete the Whole30: Days 1-3 Whole 30

Day 1: Fruit smoothie, peach, almonds, larabar, bacon, apple w/Adams Natural peanut butter, tomatoes in apple cider vinegar, spaghetti squash w/ YaYa's Sauce
Day 2: Fruit smoothie, peach, almonds, larabar, bacon, apple mixed greens with ginger lime dressing, sirloin steak, sweet potato, mixed steamed veggies.
Day 3: Fruit smoothie, scrambled eggs, bacon, sausage, fruit, larabar, cashews, mixed fruit, spaghetti squash with coconut-lime curry and cashews, bacon.

Wow, my first three days are over! I learned that smoothies are the most amazing breakfast choice I can make. Things swiss chard goes bad in about three days, and it's not that hard to eat healthy even when I want to come home and "veg" (get it!?). Yesterday I felt awful and today I'm pretty emotional, but otherwise my body hasn't reacted the way I thought it would... yet...

23x23: Recap

1. Read 50 books: I worked my butt off to try and finish this list. In the end I only read 43 of the 50, which isn't bad considering I was working full-time and going to school, I think that's not too shabby. 
2. Try 5 foods I thought I hated: This was the easiest one of all, I thought that trying food I thought I hated would be hard, but there was a certain mindset knowing that I had to do it, so I got brave and tried a lot of the foods that I didn't know I liked. I actually like the salmon!
3.  Try absinthe: Ew. 
4.  Eat raw for a month: Didn't happen, I realized early on in the project that items that would take a month to finish would be hard for me. 
5. Go tv-less for a month: Since I don't watch T.V. often it was hard to gauge this list item. I still watched T.V. but it was only one or twice a week. I mean New Girl watching has to happen. 
6. Write a legitimate piece of fan mail: I had the best intentions of finishing this list item, but I couldn't decide who I should write to, somebody I respect, like to listen to, should it be serious or funny? In the end I just didn't do it. 
7. Go to a haunted house (and not pee my pants): This was Sean and I's first date night and I was pacing around and sweating uncontrollably, and my nerves actually freaked him out!
8. Attend a football game at my high school: This didn't happen, I thought it'd be easy but it turns out that I'm in no rush to get back to my high school. 
9. Run a(nother) 10k: I wanted to do this so bad, but multiple foot/ankle injuries made running impossible from almost January to today. 
10. Visit a winery: I put this on my list not remembering that I had already visited a winery after my 22nd birthday in Austria. 
11. Spend no money (other than bills) for one month: After a busy December I was left feeling broke and had to figure out how to pay off my credit cards and still save money for normal expenses. While it wasn't intentional, I didn't spend any money for a month. 
12. Try a dance aerobics class (zumba or 24 hour fitness has a club beatz (I kid you not)): Didn't happen. I just hate dancing. 
13. In reference to #10, stomp on grapes to help the wine making process (just doin' my part): This is actually harder to find a place to do this than I thought. 
14. Go camping: Another year and this didn't happen. Can't say I'm sad about that. 
15. Go on a blind date: This was one of the first things that I knocked off the list, it was fun, I learned a lot. 
16. Bake a cake.... from scratch: After a whole day of juicing an obscene amount of lemons I was left with a sweet lemon cake that was too rich to eat. 
17. Go to a Rocky Horror Picture Show showing (you know, the ones with the audience interaction): I had the best intentions of doing this and did try, but there was too many malfunctions with the movie that we ended up leaving way early. 
18. Try Bubble Tea: I didn't love the taste of the boba balls, but more and more I am putting some in my frozen yogurt!
19. Shoot off a fire extinguisher: Most exhilarating moment of my life. Sean and I set a small forest fire and then I got to extinguish it. 
20. Take a cooking class: Sean and I's second date, he planned it all by himself and it left me trying things I never thought I would. It really was so much fun. 
21. See the Grand Canyon: Didn't happen, which is sad, but there is still time. 
22. Have my fortune told (While I don't believe an ounce of it, I still am curious!): I thought it was a bunch of baloney but we were so nervous before we had it done! Rachel, my roommate, had a freaky reading that was too accurate. 
23. Attend a gallery opening.: This was one that I didn't know how I was going to accomplish it, but a date night that included a first Friday seemed like a good compromise. 


Be sure to check out my new 24x24 list

Yes!

That's what I said when Sean proposed to me this morning! Absolutely elated to start my life with this man. And I leave you with a picture just minutes after the proposal, I was so close to crying I actually walked away from him when he got up, this was our first hug.

One Year Later

Two days ago marks the one year anniversary since I thought my world was ending. You guys, I got dumped. Like shockingly hard dumped. While planning to move to Oklahoma and get married, I got dumped faster than you can say Jack Sprat. I was devastated, but after a year of reflecting, I wasn't sad the relationship was over, I was scared of starting to live my life without this constant by my side. We rarely stopped fighting, we didn't agree on much, we harbored huge amounts of jealousy, and still had some growing up to do (okay, he had a lot of growing up to do). I could sit here and outline everything we did wrong in the relationship and to each other, but it's really no use. The relationship is over, and I could not be happier. When I sit and wonder what I thought my life would look like a year from May 16, 2011, I had no idea that my life could be this complete or fulfilled. I have met the man of dreams, started getting my Masters (for me, not for anybody else), I am working, and while I feel like there are certain things that my life lacks, it is for certain not the boy that left me broken hearted right before my birthday.

In the past year a lot of my favorite bloggers have gone through the same thing I did, and together we created a small network of people that were trying to make sense of the emotional devastation that accompanies a break up of this caliber. What I would say is that of those girls, we all started doing things (big things) for ourselves. Sure we had to mourn the loss, but then we all grabbed life by the horns and we've flourished in our own rights. For anybody that has gone through a break up, or going through one currently, just know it will get better and better and better. I don't like to be preachy but: Nothing that has every happened to you hasn't passed through God's hands first. And even a break up is in his plans and he has somebody SO much better for you in mind.

With all of the breakthrough I leave you with the new and improved blog: Bean and Bear. Terms of endearment used between my new boyfriend and I, this blog is going to become more about our life, less about me, clothes and my cat. If I learned anything in the past year it's: enjoy life, don't pretend to have one for the blog and all will be alight!

Asking the Tough Questions

Photo Credit via

I'm not sure if we've talked about my job before, but I am a nanny for a single family in the Boulder area. The only reason I think it's important to say that is stereotypically Boulder residents are very earth-conscious and (for lack of a better term) hippy skippy. What I have found with my employers is that they are both environmentally conscious, but also very non-hippy skippy. Since starting with them in October, my feelings on my involvement of preserving the environment have changed dramatically through observing how they live. They are all organic, prefer to purchase produce that was grown in the U.S., and compost like it's going out of style.

Since working for them I have started to wonder: when (if at all) is it unfeasible to be conscious about the environment. I ask simply because I don't understand. I completely understand the reasons to use cloth diapers or buy domestic produce. What I don't understand is when does need for survival become more important? My mind immediately goes to parents that elect to not have their babies vaccinated. This is something that I would never consider, but to somebody that is interested in a natural lifestyle, it is the option. Does a child's health (or even my own) determine if I choose to continue my natural lifestyle?

As I prepare to move to Wyoming, my bosses continue to influence my thoughts on food and eating when I move there. Preferably, my bosses would like to eat food only grown locally in Colorado. This limits their diet dramatically depending on the season, and completely limits exotic fruits almost permantely. When I think about my move, the realization that I will not be able to have any local fruits or veggies is a very real possibility. This means that my home dictates my lifestyle. At what point does natural, organic, environmentally conscious living take a backseat to actual life?

As I mentioned, I don't know the answer to this question and I'm interested to hear people's opinions. I just feel that there are extremists on both sides of the argument, and I guess I'm trying to find out if there is a middle ground.