BIG NEWS

Hey Loves! F & J Here!

We have some very big and exciting news! Our blog is moving! We are moving so we have more control of how our blog looks and we can do many more things. We have loved having you along on our journey and want you to move over with us. Our new site Lovefandj.com is up and running and we are so beyond excited to share it with you.

Please come along with us!

Let us know what you think we are always open to suggestions!

For the last time on Blogspot!

Love,

F & J

Disney World

Hey Loves! F & J here!

 In our last post we talked about our Florida trip that we had just come back from. We were very fortunate that a big part of our trip was spent at Disney World. We had seven day park hopper tickets that allowed us to visit all four worlds, and one of the water parks, unfortunately the other water park was closed for renovations.

First we to share what we did at Magic Kingdom. It screams classic Disney and is filled with all the classic rides. If you have ever been to Disneyland it is very similar. We really enjoyed riding some of our favorites like Space Mountain and Buzz Lightyear Space Ranger Spin and some of the classics like Pirates of the Caribbean, Splash Mountain, and Haunted Mansion.

We also spent a lot of time browsing through the shops on Main Street to stay cool. We watched the parades, and got to end the night watching the amazing firework show. We also got really lucky and managed to snag reservations to eat at the Be Our Guest Restaurant, which is located in the Beast's Castle. The interior was spectacular and the atmosphere was magical.

One of the other parks we went to was Animal Kingdom. It's really cool how different the parks are, because you feel like you are in a whole different world. One of the first things we did was join the Wilderness Explorer Program. It is from the movie Up. We had to walk through the whole park and complete activities and we would get a badge. We are proud to say we collected all of them, and we are now Senior Wilderness Explorers.

They do a really good job of making you feel like you have traveled to the continent you are in. For example while in "Africa" there is always live performers and music of the culture, all the food is from the countries, and it really feels like you are walking through the streets of Africa, and the same thing for Asia as well.

There are a lot of rides at this park, but hands down our favorite was Expedition Everest. We got really lucky and there was never a line so we probably went on it at least ten times. We will not lie we never got sick of it, and really want to ride it now! It's really cool because you go backwards and come inches to a GIANT yeti. It's truly the best.

One of our other favorite things about Animal Kingdom is that they have an awesome safari tour where you can see live animals roaming free. Lions, giraffes, elephants, you name it, they probably have it. It really is a must do experience.

Hollywood Studios is probably the smallest park in Disney World but it is still filled with lots to do. We had to ride the Tower of Terror of course, since it is scheduled to be shut down, which is truly heart breaking because it has been a personal favorite for both of us for as long as we can remember. Also one of our favorites was Rockin' Roller Coaster, we managed to ride it before it closed down for renovations a few days later.

Fantasmic, the nighttime show was amazing. Like every other Disney show it was put on flawlessly, and included a live show, fireworks, water, and all the Disney Characters.

There is the Toy Story Mania ride which is a lot of fun because it is interactive. We have to come back because they are building Toy Story Land which looks so awesome.

Epcot was such a unique and amazing experience. We were so lucky to have gone while the Food and Wine Festival was going on, because it added so much! Because of the festival there were so many additional pop up shops that showcased food from certain countries, not usually found in Epcot. You get the option of four or five classic dishes from every country in small portions so you can try multiples. We were massive fans of the Belgian Waffles from Belgium, the Potato Pancakes from Scotland, and the Ice Cream from France.

Walking around all of the countries is such a cool experience. You really feel like you are somewhere else. There is a lot to experience in each country. A lot of the cast members from each country are actually from that country which is awesome. 

There are some rides in Epcot our favorite was Mission Space. It simulates what it feels like to take off and fly in a rocket ship. It's unlike anything either of us have ever felt, you feel so heavy and can't even lift your arms. It's by far one of the coolest experiences we have ever done. Of course there are other rides we loved including Soarin', and Turtle Talk which is always fun to watch. 

This post has gone on for so long that we will spare you and talk about our water park experience on our next post.Tell us your favorite park in Disney World, or ride, we would love to hear what it is.

Love,

F & J

We Are Back!

Hey Loves! F & J here!

 Some of you may know we had our big trip to Florida at the end of last month. So that explains our absence from this blog, but we are back and have so much to share. We won't lie we were hoping to post while we were there, but time flew by and we had long days, and early mornings.

First off we are pretty stoked that the coin jar covered all our flight expenses, theme park tickets, as well as almost all our UBER costs. Our trip was a total of eighteen days, two of which were travel days. Out of those, ten were theme park days. We plan on blogging about those on a separate occasion because this post would be about a mile long.

We were fortunate enough to stay with family, so we saved a bunch on hotel expenses. It also gave us the opportunity to see more of Flordia than just the immediate area of Orlando.

We visited Saint Augustine which is a cute historic town. We took a horse carriage tour and learned a lot about the history! We also went to Daytona Beach and Clearwater Beach, both of which are stunning white sand beaches. We do have the opportunity to see the coastline here in the Pacific Northwest but it is a completely different view on the East Coast. More classic,  beachy, surfer vibe. We spent a lot of time just chilling on the beach, going through shops, cooling off in the water, and soaking up the sun.

As the true tourists we are, we each took approximately 492 palm tree photos each give or take like a hundred, which we will spare you (you are welcome), but we picked out our favorites. We are sort of in love with the whole vibe we had while there. It was truly a luxury to be able to take such a long vacation and we are so beyond thankful that we had the ability to do that. 

It's been a bit of a transition coming back home to Seattle. Our sleep is thrown off and we are always freezing (Goodbye high 80s,Hello low 40s). But we are so grateful and we are not complaining. We have lots more photos to share from Disney World and Harry Potter World. We are pretty bummed to be back in the muggle world. 

Stay Warm.

Love, 

F & J

PAINTING PUMPKINS

Hey Loves! F & J here!

We have once again continued on with our painting pumpkin tradition. This year we chose to paint...drum roll... Lilo and Stitch! We LOVE the movie! If for some reason you have not seen it you NEED to! It is absolutely adorable!

They were so fun to paint and we are so glad that this tradition lives on another year. If you want to check out all our Disney pairs from previous years go ahead and check out last years blog. 

Painting our pumpkins definitely gives us a creative outlet and it's a fun way to get in the Halloween spirit! If you guys paint, or carve, pumpkins you are proud of we would love to see them. Feel free to share them with us!

Aloha!

Love,

F & J

San Juan - Friday Harbor - Part Two

Hey Loves! F & J here!

 As promised here is part two of our getaway to the San Juan Islands/Friday Harbor. We thought we would use this post to talk about all the awesome things we saw and did. Friday Harbor is one of the most beautiful charming little towns we have been to. The streets are lined with adorable shops that sell anything from lavender products, souvenirs, to the cutest stuff animals and baby clothes. But if you travel a little bit out of the town there are so many beautiful landmarks, and places to explore, its quite remarkable.

We went to the Lavender Farms which as you can imagine smelled amazing. There is so much lavender growing outside that you smell it as soon as you open the car door. Inside the building they have anything you can imagine made with lavender. Teas, cookies, soaps, lotions, body was, oil, seasonings, chocolates, you get the idea. They had lavender hanging from the ceiling and dried in budles throughout the shop.

We definitely did our fair share of exploring too. We visited Lime Kiln Beach, English Camp, and American Camp, Roche Harbor, among many of the other beaches on the Island. The view off the shore is simply amazing. We tried to see whales off the coast but were unlucky as the season for whale watching is coming to an end. Fortunately for us we have amazing friends who treated us to a whale watching experience. 

We were extremely worried that we wouldn't see whale since they had not been spotted for about a week but we decided to go anyways since the boat rides were a fun experience. We also got to wear these beautiful suits that keep you warm and make you look all puffy, we called them marshmallow suits. Anywho, we went out in the Sound and saw many beautiful animals like wild deers located on an Island, sea lions, porpoises, and drum roll... a family of Orca Whales, including a baby. It was an experience like no other, they are such large and magnificent creatures that roam the waters. The water would be still and quiet, then you would hear a spouting sound and see the family of whales come up. It definitely was one of the best part of the weekend.

We enjoyed the time we got to spend with our friends and we can't wait to see them again. It is definitely a week we will never forget. 

Love,

F & J

San Juan - Friday Harbor - Part One

Hey Loves! F & J here!

 This last weekend we met up with our friend from Hamburg, Germany and her mom and went on a nice weekend getaway. It has been a couple of years since we have seen our friend, and a few more since we have seen her mom. It was very nice to see them again! When they told us they were coming back to the states we were so excited. They invited us to come with them to explore the San Juan Islands/Friday Harbor, which is off the coast of Washington. We had never been, and we are always up for new places so of course we said YES! 

We met up early Friday morning and drove up to the ferries, spending the whole car ride catching up and laughing until our ribs hurt.We took a ferry from Mukilteo to Whidbey Island, which is the more scenic route, and we drove over Deception Pass, which is beautiful. We also stopped in this cute little town called Coupeville. We walked around the town, and went down the historic pier, but decided to move on once the rain started. 

We then drove on to Anacortes to catch another ferry to Friday Harbor. We had to wait a long time for the ferry so we spent the hour playing Heads Up, which is an app created by Ellen DeGeneres. It's loads of fun, you should check it out. We literally could not stop laughing, and it made time pass so quickly, we were even a bit sad when it was our turn to get on the ferry. 

The ferry trip was a little over an hour long, but we spent it outside on the deck, pretending we were in theTitanic. You all know the scene where Rose and Jack are pretending to fly. And admiring the view as we sped through the Puget Sound.

Once we arrived we stopped at our adorable Inn, and dropped off our stuff, and then we began to explore he town. Which we will talk about in our next post. We ended the night eating a delicious dinner at the most adorable nautical themed restaurant called Cask & Schooner. You must go if you are ever in town. Until next time... Auf Wiedersehen...

Love,

F & J 

Fall Wreath

Hey Loves! F & J here!

 We know we have posted about a hundred things about fall already, but we just love it! Although it doesn't officially start for a few more days, w e were feeling totally inspired by all the fall colors as usual. Feeling a bit crafty, F decided to make a wreath for her door. We think that wreaths are super cute, and should not just be limited to the holiday season. It was a super easy to make, and a fun way to spend a Sunday afternoon.

We made a stop to Michael's craft store and picked up some fall colored tulle, leaf bouquets, and a wire wreath frame.  We knotted the tulle around the frame then we just played around with those materials until it looked how we wanted it to, then we glued them down with hot glue guns Super simple and super cute and just in time for fall!

Love,

F & J

Fall Playlist 2016

Hey Loves! F & J here!

As fall creeps closer and closer we can't help but feel the fall spirit. We are looking forward to all the things that come with this season. It's one of the best feelings in the world to snuggle up with a warm drink, while the rain pours outside, just listening to the music, and not thinking about anything. We put together a list of some of our favorite songs we have been listening to. Some of them are a bit older, and some are new, but they all are great songs, with great meanings. We think they pair well with a perfect fall day, and wanted to share them with you ...enjoy!

Love,

F & J

The Ultimate Packing List

Check out our new and improved blog here!

Hey Loves! F & J here!

We all know it's very exciting to be planning a vacation, but we all know it can be incredibly stressful. From budgeting, to scheduling activities, to coordinating with every schedule involved. And don't even get us started on packing. We know all too well just how stressful packing can be. We are the kind of people who pack and unpack just to make sure we have everything, but in the end we always are forgetting the most obvious things. HELLO who actually needs toothpaste when you've got eighteen extra pairs of socks. But really how does that happen?! Anywho,

to help with the stress of our trip, and hopefully yours, we have put together the ultimate packing list for just about every vacation, with just about everything you could ever need on your getaway.

We made it printable too so you can use it as many times as you need. It totally helps that it is super adorable too, if we do say so ourselves. We think we have it all, but if there is anything we forgot please please please don't hesitate to let us know. You can either save the image and print from there, or click on this handy dandy link, and download from our Google Drive.

Have Fun! Safe Travels!

Love,

F & J

September

Hey Loves! F & J here!

So even though it is not officially fall yet, the weather has taken a turn here in Seattle and it has definitely felt like autumn. It has been getting colder, school is starting up, our work schedules are changing, and pumpkin spice is everywhere! Fall is by far one of F's favorite seasons, J loves it too of course, who doesn't? Football seasons is starting (Go Seahawks), new seasons of our shows are returning, and the trees are changing to beautiful colors, we are blessed living in the Northwest there are so many trees surrounding us it is almost like living in a picture.

When we wake up in the sun has not rose yet, and the air is crisp and cold, it definitely is excting. This season we have a lot of things to look forward to, of course we have some concerts lined up, our big Florida trip, Halloween, and much more. We are hoping to make it to a pumpkin patch this year, and we definitely have to keep up our pumpkin painting tradition. Our friend from Germany is coming to town a little later this month and she is taking us whale watching which neither of us have done before so we are really looking forward to that.

We started pulling out our sweaters, flannels, boots, and blankets and we are really excited for the next few months. Stay tuned as we hope to blog all our exciting things. Our lives do get crazy but we both are trying to make blogging a priority, we really want it to take off and so we are going to be putting a lot more hours into it, so it can be a true reflection of us. On that note..

see you soon!

Love,

F & J

Planning A Trip

Hey Loves! F & J here!

If you have read any of our previous blogs you may know we are travelling to Florida this October. We are super excited to be going and thought we would share our enthusiasm with you. We have officially locked down a date and bought the plane tickets. We kept our eyes on plane tickets for a long time, checking multiple airlines almost daily for a few months. It is a bit of a hassle but we ended up saving some money!Which is always a good thing.

It is a huge trip and it requires A LOT of budgeting. We have created spreadsheets, which allowed us to figure out costs, and how much we will need to save. Considering we are going to be going to a few theme parks the costs really added up, and having a spreadsheet allowed us to break it down so it did not seem so overwhelming. 

We have been finding ways to save to make the overall trip not seem so hard on our wallets. We have talked about our coin jar a few times, and we will be putting that money towards this! We also took up a little dog walking gig, and have agreed to put all that money towards this trip. That has been a huge help even though its such a small thing, it really has added up.

We still have a lot of figuring out to do. We have created a general itinerary (not too specific, we are on vacation!), but we still need to write the ultimate packing list, figuring out if there are any "must see" things in Florida, and please feel free to tell us if you know of any! We have wasted days on Pinterest looking but seem to have come up a bit shorter than we would have hoped. We are still super excited, and we have some more time to plan.

Until next time...

Love,

F & J

Concert Crazy

Hey Loves! F & J here!

 As promised we are putting together a post of the concerts we have been to in the past few months. We know we are very lucky to have the opportunity and resources to attend so many concerts! You should know this is how we spoil ourselves.  We rarely treat ourselves to lush things but we are total suckers for our favorite musicians. Even though we have been to a lot more concerts than we will list we thought we would compile the ones we have gone to within the last three months. Some even occurred within the same week.

We are lucky because living in the Seattle area we are very fortunate that a lot of artists pass through our city! Two of the concerts, Ben Rector and Tori Kelly, we didn't snap pictures of, but as expected they were amazing. We have seen Tori live before so we knew we had to go again when she came into town. Ben Rector amazed us and everyone in the audience he has such charm on the stage and you can tell he is a great guy and deserves his fame.

We also saw Ellie Goulding, James Bay, Selena Gomez, DNCE, and Rachel Platten. We were so close for all of these concerts and they were all so much fun! We mutually agree that Ellie Goulding is definitely one of our favorite concerts we have been to, and we are very sad about her hiatus. We would definitely get tickets if she comes through again! 

Coming up we have a few more concerts planned so far, and we are looking forward to all of them. We are going to take F's little sister to see  Meghan Trainor, and then later this year we will be seeing Demi Lovato, Nick Jonas, DNCE, and Charlie Puth. It going to be such a musical year. We love it!

Love,

F & J

Life is Good

Hey Loves! F & J here!

Can you believe we are already halfway through May? A lot has happened since we last checked in with you guys, which we know has been too long. Last month F celebrated her 21st birthday! We went up to Whistler, BC and stayed in a cute hotel in the Village, for the weekend. We got to do lots of shopping and we even splurged on some high ticket items! Retail therapy at its finest. We went through all the shops in the Village which included, Lulu Lemon, Roots, Lush, North Face, Aritzia, and more! We also spent a lot of time(and money) in David's Tea. They have the most adorable tea accessories, and the most delicious tea! There are a lot of flavors to choose from. We are currently obsessing over their fruity teas! It has been hot in Seattle so we have been drinking them iced, and they taste like Summer! You should definitely check them out, they have an online store too! 

We also have been hitting up the gym a lot lately, trying to stay healthy and become the best version of us physically! It also is motivating to have our Florida trip coming up. Going to the gym more often than not has kept us in line, as far as our other daily choices. It makes us want to pick the healthier meals, or avoid junk food. But we are human and we may or may not have eaten too much birthday cake.

Last week we did our first color run. We have done other 5ks in the past but this one was quite fun and exciting! If it ever comes into your town definitely go! There were a lot of walkers too, so don't hesitate if you aren't a runner! It is more about having a good time than anything. And there is so much color! How could it not be fun and happy!

Our daily schedule has pretty much consisted of working and gymming. Not too exciting but hopefully it all starts paying off. We have been going to a lot of concerts lately too, and we are planning on posting a bunch of photos from them once we get the time to.

We hope to check in with you guys soon!

Love,

F & J

March Update

Hey Loves! F & J here!

Happy Easter! Even though we missed it by a few days, we hope it was a good one. This picture J took on Easter morning. Time has been flying faster than we can even comprehend. Like how is it almost April?! We have been working a lot lately! Weekends too, which is the worst. The annual auction we help put together was the week before Easter so that kept us pretty busy. 

A few weeks ago we got the chance to see Ben Rector in concert. He is absolutely amazing live. If you don't know him, please please please go check him out. You will not regret it! 

Tomorrow night we get to go see Rachel Platten, the singer of Fight Song and Stand By You, we are pretty excited and we are really looking forward to it. It's in a very small venue which is always nice. On Saturday we get to see Ellie Goulding in concert, and we have floor seats. Can you tell we like concerts?! We always make sure we have a list of them that we plan to go to.

F's Birthday is coming up in April, so we have planned a mini getaway up to Whistler, British Columbia. We even splurged and got a fancy hotel.We plan on doing A LOT of shopping in Whistler Village and enjoying our long weekend.

That's a little update of what's going on in our life at the moment. We hope to post a bit more, and we are so sorry for the lack of posts lately. We wish there were more hours in the day! Busy is good, but sometimes we need time to breathe.

Love,

F & J

We Are Planning a Trip

Hey Loves! F & J here!

We know we haven't posted in almost forever, obviously not literally, but it has been way too long, and we miss talking to you guys! The picture of the palm trees was taken on F's trip to California earlier this month, making us both want to go back. Anywho life as usual has been crazy with work, especially since we both work as nannies, our Valentine's weekend was booked watching children. If that doesn't rub singles awareness day in our face we don't know what would. Yes, unfortunately we are both single AF. 

Moving on to more happier things, some of you may know about our coin jar. If not click the link here to catch up. Usually we like to keep what we are doing with the money a secret, but since we are starting to plan we thought we would finally share with you guys, what we are doing. This way we can keep you guys up to date, and we can share all the things we are excited about.

So drumroll please........

We are going to Orlando, Florida!!! For a whole two weeks. Which is a huge deal for us because we have never taken that much time off work, but we are so excited and know we deserve it. A trip like this doesn't happen overnight, especially for us. We have been planning for so long, to figure out logistics to make it work, and our coin jar has slowly been growing too! We aren't going until October, which may seem forever away, but we are super excited. There is lots to do before the trip, and we hope to be able to share our planning tips and tricks with you.

We have a pretty amazing itinerary of what we are planning on doing while down there, which includes lots of time at Disney World, a trip to the Wizarding World of Harry Potter, lots of beach time, and more. It should be pretty darn amazing.

Right now we are just keeping our eyes out for good flight deals, and we have done extensive research on the costs for the whole trip. Believe it or not with budgeting, our coin jar, and our mini savings plan it's not going to be too crazy of an expense. We can't wait to share more details with you guys later! 

We are unbelievably excited and we can't wait to go! Also we have room in our trip to try new things, so if any of you guys have ideas of what we should do while in Florida please share, we are constantly looking for some fun things to do, but we know even Pinterest doesn't have as awesome of ideas as some of you, and we are willing to try just about anything! Talk to you guys soon.

Love,

F & J