Enticing Healthy Eating
If more of us valued food and cheer and song
above hoarded gold, it would be a merrier world
- J. R. R. Tolkien
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Lots of Love, Friends, Chocolate, and an Engagement Party Weekend Recap

2/20/2015

 
Have you ever had one of those weekends where every single moment amazing and fantastic and you look back on every single second as so precious that you never want to forget it? I had one of those weekends recently. 

Life has it's ups and downs. With my father's recent diagnosis and treatments of cancer, it has been rough to ride through the emotions and stress that my mother and I both have been experiencing while trying to keep it together and help my father while staying strong for him. People ask me constantly "How is he doing?" While I appreciate their concerns, the questions do get old. 

As far as my father, he is going in for a scan in about two weeks to see how the treatments have been working or not working. As well as to have surgery on his esophagus to remove a tumor.

Though it is a darker time in mine and my family's life right now, there are those precious moments of light and happiness that can override the darkness. 

I do not want to be all doom and gloom after still riding a high in my life by looking back on Valentine's weekend and all of the lovely times with friends, family, and loved ones that went with it! Let's liven this blog post up! First, let's back up a bit...
Lots of Love, Friends, Chocolate and an Engagement Party Weekend Recap--Enticing Healthy Eating
As I was saying, some weekends are just an explosion of happiness. If a weekend could be wrapped up in a humongous present, the biggest present you've ever imagined, and tied up with a giant bow on top. That was this past weekend.

I am going to keep the recap brief with a majority of pictures. One of the main reasons is I was recently contracted to do a special writing project for another website and have been mainly focusing my blogging and writing time to that. I am thrilled and grateful for this new project and cannot wait to tell you guys more in the upcoming weeks! Just know that it will feature some mighty tasty recipes.

On to the recap! As I was sayingin my last blog post, what I had to look forward to this weekend first and foremost was Wade visiting. He ended up surprising by showing up a day early on Thursday evening to stay for the weekend. Friday morning started with an exchange of Valentine's gifts because Wade is the worst at waiting to give gifts. He gets to overly excited.

Oh, and he did an excellent job. Two boxes of French Toast Crunch cereal, two bars of organic dark chocolate with caremel, and a Victoria's Secret gift card on a large card with a proclamation from Wade that is as true as the sky is blue.
Lots of Love, Friends, Chocolate and an Engagement Party Weekend Recap--Enticing Healthy Eating
My gifts to Wade included two wrapped Reese's packages with a cheesy food pun paper around them saying "I just cant' Reese-ist you, Valentine". Food puns amuse me to no end. And a large print of Austin, TX where we recently got engaged so he can add some art to his apartment.
Lots of Love, Friends, Chocolate and an Engagement Party Weekend Recap--Enticing Healthy Eating
Friday night included dinner out with a great friend of ours and his girlfriend. If you ever make a trip to Northwest Arkansas, I highly recommend you try out Tusk and Trotter. It is one of my favorite local restaurants. Exhibit A: My entree of "Where the Buffalo Roam" burger. A bison burger with sauteed mushrooms and onions, swiss cheese, topped with a fried egg on a brioche bun.
Lots of Love, Friends, Chocolate and an Engagement Party Weekend Recap--Enticing Healthy Eating
Friday night also included a beer I would actually enjoy drinking! This is rare, as I generally do not prefer beer. Wine is divine. But this Lazy Magnolia Sweet Potato Stout raised the bar on the beer scene for me. Two thumbs up.
Lots of Love, Friends, Chocolate and an Engagement Party Weekend Recap--Enticing Healthy Eating
Saturday included an afternoon chocolate factory tour. Not quite Willy Wonka's chocolate factory, but a great one, nonetheless! The local chocolate company, Hello Cocoa, whom I featured on a blog post with a giveaway a while back, were hosting a special Valentine's Day Chocolate and Bubbly Tour.

Wade and I tried to do a "cute" pose in front of their photo wall.
Lots of Love, Friends, Chocolate and an Engagement Party Weekend Recap--Enticing Healthy Eating
The special open house at the factory and business location included a tour of the facilities to see how the chocolate is made, samples of all of their chocolates, enough chocolate covered strawberries to feed a small army, and plenty of champagne.
Lots of Love, Friends, Chocolate and an Engagement Party Weekend Recap--Enticing Healthy Eating
Lots of Love, Friends, Chocolate and an Engagement Party Weekend Recap--Enticing Healthy Eating
Happy to meet up with a few great friends while we were there!
Lots of Love, Friends, Chocolate and an Engagement Party Weekend Recap--Enticing Healthy Eating
Lots of Love, Friends, Chocolate and an Engagement Party Weekend Recap--Enticing Healthy Eating
Sunday was engagement party day! Although I didn't manage to take many photos once guests began arriving because I was quite busy catching up with some friends I had not seen in 4-5 years, here are a few details.

We hosted the party at a local Artist Retreat Center which is an event center that I actually work at currently part time as their social media marketing manager. 

These are party favors I came up with to get all crafty and DIY. Little bags full of kettlecorn and slighty salty Angie's Boom Chicka Pop popcorn along with a few red velvet M&M's. Adorned with a free printable I made and taped on that said "He 'Popped' the Question". Did I mention I like food puns?....
Lots of Love, Friends, Chocolate and an Engagement Party Weekend Recap--Enticing Healthy Eating
Donuts meant to look like engagement rings. Once again, I just printed these diamonds off for free from the internet. 
Lots of Love, Friends, Chocolate and an Engagement Party Weekend Recap--Enticing Healthy Eating
My mother had some surprises up her sleeve for our party. She had a very nice lady from her work create these custom cookies. The date 1-2-2015 is the day Wade proposed. Oh, and the cookies were delicious.
Lots of Love, Friends, Chocolate and an Engagement Party Weekend Recap--Enticing Healthy Eating
Lots of Love, Friends, Chocolate and an Engagement Party Weekend Recap--Enticing Healthy Eating
And now the big reveal of our wedding date! Nobody except Wade, myself, my mother, and Wade's mother knew the date we had decided on before the party. We wanted to announce it while we had so many good friends with us. 

Save the Date: May 13, 2017!!

My mother once again surprised Wade and I with this special cake made by a local bakery. Which was also EXTRA delicious. 
Lots of Love, Friends, Chocolate and an Engagement Party Weekend Recap--Enticing Healthy Eating
Like I said, I didn't manage to take many great photos after guests began arriving, but it was a fantastic time. Lots of laughs, lots of hugs, and LOTS of food. 

A big thank you to all of mine and Wade's good friends that made it out to celebrate this special day with us. And an even bigger thank-you to my mother. You're the best, mom.


Linking up with Heather over at Life in Leggings for Friday Favorites.
And Linda at Fit, Fed, and Happy for Life in Pictures. Thanks, ladies!!
Fit Fed and Happy

Have you ever tried Angie's Boom Chicka Pop popcorn? It's one of my favorites!

Got a food pun?...You know I want to hear it.

Favorite Wedding Planning Websites

2/10/2015

 
Whether you have started to plan your own wedding or might be wanting to help out a friend by giving them some wedding planning resource and some inspiration for their big day, I've come up with a few of my personal favorites I hope will be useful to you as well.
Favorite Wedding Planning Websites--Enticing Healthy Eating
You guys, I am SO excited for this upcoming weekend. My fiance (still haven't quite gotten used to that word), Wade, is visiting for the weekend, heading to the Chocolate and Bubbly Tour hosted by my favorite local chocolate company, Hello Cocoa. Valentine's Day will be celebrated. And...

Our first engagament part is this weekend! Where Wade and I will also be revealing the date of our wedding. Until then, it's a secret. My lips are sealed.
Favorite Wedding Planning Websites--Enticing Healthy Eating
Source
Even though this blog will forever be full of content mainly consisting of all things food, health, and nutrition, I thought I might as well share some of my upcoming wedding planning tips, tricks, and ideas. I believe the general formula I used to come to this conclusion was as follows:

Do I enjoy reading about weddings and/or wedding planning on other blogs?....YES

Is wedding planning now going to become a big part of my life for the next few (weeks?...months?...years?....I can't tell yet, remember?)....YES

Is this my blog and I can technically write about whatever I want anyways?....YES

Seriously, in all honesty, I do hope you all will enjoy the occasional wedding articles that pop up into my blog for a while. I do care about my readers, I appreciate each and every one of you!  With that being said, I have already added a "Wedding" category to the top of my blog under the Health/Fitness/Wedding tab.

First things first, if this happens to be your first time to Enticing Healthy Eating, welcome! And if you'd like to catch up by reading all about the proposal story, just head on over to HERE.

Since becoming engaged on January 2, 2015, I've only just started to really dive in to the wedding planning stage. With Wade and I's first engagement party coming up this weekend I'm really starting to get excited about seeking out more planning resources and getting other's advice--particularly in the "how to plan a wedding without ending up in mounds of debt afterwards" category.
The Budget Savvy Bride
Because we are looking to save money and stick to a budget for our future wedding, this website has been a true gem. Mind you, while we are saving money where we can, I do not want our wedding to look like it was slapped together in a week. Budget Savvy Bride was created by Jessica back in 2008 as she was looking for advice and resources in planning her own big day. Since getting married in 2009, she continues to share tips and tricks along with her guest bride bloggers. 

One of my favorite series featured every Tuesday on Budget Savvy Bride is this Wedding Budget Tip deal. And yes, I would LOVE to have a couple of signature cocktails at our future wedding, especially if it means saving money on alcoholic beverages overall. 
Favorite Wedding Planning Websites--Enticing Healthy Eating
The Knot
This is a pretty popular resource for wedding planning. I really enjoy perusing through the the Knot blog for ideas on wedding decor. Like this DIY chandelier. 
Favorite Wedding Planning Websites--Enticing Healthy Eating
The Wedding Chicks
A beautifully designed website with lots of inspiration for weddings. All of their inspirational tips, tricks, and ideas are broken down into 18 categories.  Plus they offer many free printables! Like this one! Free is oh-so-lovely.
Favorite Wedding Planning Websites--Enticing Healthy Eating
Bridal Musings
A recent find, I've only just begun to explore this website. I really enjoy their DIY tutorials and expert tips, such as the article featured below: "Top Tips for Wedding Invitation Etiquette". With the beautifully clean and well organized design of the website, I know I'll probably peruse through Bridal Musing's wedding inspiration ideas many times over.
Favorite Wedding Planning Websites--Enticing Healthy Eating
Favorite Wedding Planning Websites--Enticing Healthy Eating
The "Love" category is an entire area of the POPSugar site dedicated to all things love, relationships, sexiest people, and other random funny articles like "11 Reasons Why Pizza is Better than Valentine's Day". Not only does this particular website provide a good laugh, but it does have some legitimately good wedding tips and ideas articles. 

Because I'm still a Disney girl at heart, I had to point out this article, "Engagement Inspiration for Disney Diehards". Reenacting the Lady and the Tramp spaghetti scene for an engagement photo shoot?...I like this idea.

POPSugar Love
Green Wedding Shoes
Originally I was drawn to this website because of the name--Green Wedding Shoes. Green is my favorite color. Once I started to delve more into the site content and follow them on instagram, I knew I was hooked. 

With so many different types of ideas, including many DIY tutorials, real weddings, and honeymoons, you could get lost for hours.

This website is one of the best wedding planning resources I've found that really speaks to my own personal preference for themes and decor at a wedding. A mix of boho, vintage, classic, and romantic. That is what I picture as the main themes in Wade and I's future wedding. It just fits best with our style.

Green Wedding Shoes recently released this article for "Top 26 Coolest Places to get Married in the U.S.".  I cannot pick just one off of this list as my favorite, they're all amazing!

Favorite Wedding Planning Websites--Enticing Healthy Eating
Our Wedding App
As far as phone apps go, this is a pretty good one. It's easy to use and the infomration you store into the app for planning your wedding can be in one place, particularly when you may be on the go and meeting with wedding vendors, buying things for the wedding, etc.

It includes a to-do checklist, a place to store guests contacts, a nifty tool to break down your budget and keep track of your expenses, and a place to store your list of vendors. Not to mention a handy little tracker at the bottom that counts down the days to your wedding! 
Favorite Wedding Planning Websites--Enticing Healthy Eating
Pinterest
Enough said. If you are looking for wedding planning ideas and/or might be in the near future and you haven't started using Pinterest...are you living under a rock? 

If you're interested in checking out my own wedding ideas, I have two Pinterest board so far dedicated to Wade and I's future big day. 
My wedding dress ideas can be found HERE.
And overall wedding decor, theme, details, etc. can be found HERE
Maybe we have the same wedding style?...
Favorite Wedding Planning Websites--Enticing Healthy Eating
And now I am looking to you all to help a girl out! If you have any recommended wedding planning resources, please send them my way. Whether they be websites, books, phone apps, anything! I'm all ears. Comment below.

Cupid has, indeed, hit me straight in the heart apparantly with the extravagant amount of excitement I have for this upcoming weekend. Wishing you all a Happy Valentine's weekend as well! Whether you're celebrating it with a significant other, your single lady best friends, or even your cat. Just be sure to show a little extra love to those you care about. They're important. 
Favorite Wedding Planning Websites--Enticing Healthy Eating
Source
Linking up with Heather over at her newest and most beautiful blog, Life in Leggings for Friday Favorites!


Do you have any particular wedding planning resources to recommend?


If you are already married, give me your best wedding planning advice! 


What have you got planned for Valentine's weekend?

Hello Cocoa; A Sweet Giveaway

2/2/2015

 
Hello Cocoa chocolate company, enticing healthy eating, hello cocoa chocolate company fayetteville arkansas, chocolate company fayetteville arkansas
With the month of February comes the celebration of the love-filled holiday that is Valentine's Day. While I know not everyone is on board with the vibrant, sometimes gaudy, displays of pink pastels and giant balloon hearts adorning every storefront this time of the year, I've always enjoyed the Valentine's Day vibe.

Sure, it can be a little gaudy and overdone. But another treat that I've always enjoyed that is classically tied to this lovely holiday?...chocolate. And lots of it. 

Does this mean I choose to put a lot of emphasis on the chocolate-indulging aspect of Valentine's Day?....Yes.

Does this mean I am, yet again, putting the particular food associated with a holiday near the top of the list for enjoyment of a holiday?....Yes. 
Hello Cocoa chocolate company, enticing healthy eating, hello cocoa chocolate company fayetteville arkansas, chocolate company fayetteville arkansas
Source
Moving on. Back to the chocolate.

In 2014, the Northwest Arkansas region was privileged to become home to it's very own locally crafted chocolate company that is Hello Cocoa. The Hello Cocoa team graciously allowed me to come visit their main office and small factory where they actually produce their chocolate bars. 

They also graciously allowed me to run a GIVEAWAY for an assortment of their current chocolate bars and their newest sipping chocolate. Stay tuned to the end of the post!

On the day of our exclusive tour my good friend, Shae, and I were welcomed by the lingering smell of chocolate and two smiling faces of two of the six owners of the Hello Cocoa team. Preston and Abby were a delight to speak with and learn all about their new and thriving company. 

Hello Cocoa chocolate company, enticing healthy eating, hello cocoa chocolate company fayetteville arkansas, chocolate company fayetteville arkansas
Preston lead Shae and I through the chocolate production process of their Hello Cocoa bars. 

Hello Cocoa currently sources their cacao beans used to produce their bars from Uganda and Venezuela. One of the cacao bean types used in their Venezuealan dark chocolate bar is a particular bean that only makes up around 10% of the world's supply of cacao beans--the Criollo bean. Think of this particular bean as the creme de la creme of cacao. 

Hello Cocoa prides itself in being a bean-to-bar company. The first part of the chocolate production process involves roating and sorting the beans. It is this roasting that allows the beans to retain their flavor and make the end product chocolate bars even more divine. 


Winnowing is the next step. Essentially, winnowing is cracking open the bean pods and separating the cacao nibs from the outer husk. 

Once the cacao nibs are separated, they move on to a grinding machine which includes a granite stone on the bottom of a large pot as well as two round granite stone wheels that move around and around to break down the cacao nibs into a liquid form. 
Hello Cocoa chocolate company, enticing healthy eating, hello cocoa chocolate company fayetteville arkansas, chocolate company fayetteville arkansas
In order to get the particles of the cacao liquid to a small enough size to where the human tongue cannot detect the grit, this part of the grinding process takes 2 to 3 days! During this grinding stage is when they also add in the cacao butter and sugar to sweeten the chocolate to the desired level. 

My personal favorite of the Hello Cocoa bar lineup, the Venezuelan Dark bar with Criollo beans, is 74% dark chocolate. This means that approximately 26% of the chocolate bar is sugar. 

After the cacao liquid is super smooth, it moves on to the tempering stage. The chocolate has to be properly tempered in order to make sure the bars do not melt the very second they touch human skin. Tempering also gives chocolate it's shine.

Hello Cocoa chocolate company, enticing healthy eating, hello cocoa chocolate company fayetteville arkansas, chocolate company fayetteville arkansas
After the chocolate is tempered it is poured into the individual bar molds and cooled prior to wrapping. Each bar is 9 rectangular pieces. Abby and Preston explained to us that they wanted to keep the bars 9 pieces because it's a "shareable number". Each of their chocolate bars are even hand wrapped into their individual packages.

Upon ending our tour and after speaking more with Abby and Preston about how their company started and the ideas they have for growing it in the future, I realized the shareable aspect of their bars actually calculates into the whole company values. 

It's easy to tell that this company wants to connect more with the community. They want to share their story with others, how they create their chocolate, they want to introduce more people to flavors of the world. And they are doing just that. It all starts with their chocolate.
If you're a local, you're in for a treat! The Hello Cocoa team is having a special open house on Valentine's Day at their office and factory. 
Hello Cocoa chocolate company, enticing healthy eating, hello cocoa chocolate company fayetteville arkansas, chocolate company fayetteville arkansas
For a small cover charge fee of $10, you can attend The Chocolate and Bubbly Tour on February 14th at the Hello Cocoa facility from 3pm -- 6pm on Valentine's Day. You're in for a treat of champagne, Hello Cocoa covered strawberries, samples of their bars and sipping chocolate and a tour of the facility.  

Sign. Me. Up. I will be going with my fiance and I'd love to see you there! Find out more and RSVP on their event page on facebook HERE

For directions to their office, check out the Hello Cocoa chocolate website where you can also purchase their products online. 

Be sure to check out and follow the Hello Cocoa Facebook andInstagram to stay up to date with their future endevours
And if you're not a local, you're STILL in for a treat! The Hello Cocoa team is graciously giving away a Valentine's gift package for one lucky winner. 

This gift basket will include:
--1 Hello Cocoa Dark Venezuelan Criollo chocolate bar
--1 Hello Cocoa Dark Ugandan Forastero chocolate bar
--1 Hello Cocoa Special Edition Winter Wonderland bar
--1 bag of Hello Cocoa Sipping Chocolate

Hello Cocoa chocolate company, enticing healthy eating, hello cocoa chocolate company fayetteville arkansas, chocolate company fayetteville arkansas
This giveaway is for U.S. residents only.

Enter via the widget below. Good luck!
a Rafflecopter giveaway
It was a pleasure to get the chance to meet Abby and Preston and find out more about the story behind this local chocolate company. I cannot wait to see where their future takes them as they continue to share their story and the flavors of the world through their chocolate products with others. I was happy to be given the chance to help share their story with you all.
Hello Cocoa chocolate company, enticing healthy eating, hello cocoa chocolate company fayetteville arkansas, chocolate company fayetteville arkansas
*Full disclosure: I was gifted a Venezuelan Forastero Chocolate bar and 2 free tickets to the Chocolate and Bubbly tour in exchange for writing this article*

Linking up withKatie this week for a Marvelous Monday andHeather forFriday Favorites

What is your favorite type of chocolate or the best chocolate-based dish you've ever had?

How are you celebrating Valentine's Day this year?
    enticing healthy Eating

    Happiness is Homemade

    Hi there!  I'm Kaylin, a foodie, health nut, and recent college graduate. Born and raised in Arkansas, recently moved to Texas. On this blog you'll find a lot of tasty food and recipe ideas, healthy lifestyle suggestions, and random musings of my trials and tribulations of a 20-something. 
    I hope to inspire you to create some delicious things in your own kitchen because I believe happiness is homemade. 

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