Travel Hangover

Hello friends!

I have just returned from the most amazing trip with my lovely husband! I was originally hoping to blog every night. Then I hoped every other night. Then I hoped once per city. NONE OF THOSE HAPPENED. So you’ll be getting blog post barf in probably a week or so. I so wish it could be sooner, but I want to share our awesome photos with you all, so you’ll have to wait until we’re done with them!

Today, literally just a few hours ago, we arrived back in Minneapolis from our trip to Amsterdam, London, and Paris. AND let me tell ya…the travel hangover is here.

What is travel hangover, you ask? Travel hangover is the mixture of emotions and adjustments you go through after traveling, generally intensified by the amazingness of the traveling you just completed.

Here is my best way of explaining travel hangover, as well as some of its “symptoms”:

1. You arrive home from your trip and immediately count back how many hours it was since you last did “X Activity” or were in “X Location”. For me, I immediately counted to figure out how many hours it had been since I ate a macaroon.
2. You begin scrolling vigorously through any and all travel-related photos and relive every freaking moment of your trip through them. You’ll also likely post on Insta with some of your absolute faves.
   1. This can often lead to tangent thoughts that lead to my next point…
3. You go through a long list of would-haves or should-haves from the trip. Yes, it was absolutely great but there’s always some things you wish you could have done or would have done differently, regardless of your vacation perfection.
4. You can’t wait for your friends and/or family members to ask about your trip. That’s your chance to share every weird memory or awesome story that happened, and they genuinely care to listen about it. (This is different from just sharing everything with any person you come in contact with…be careful to not fall into that trap, which is a dangerous symptom of travel hangover.)
5. THE ADJUSTMENT BACK TO REALITY. This is my most hated part of travel hangover. You’re body and mind want to say vacay, but you have to get back to “real life”. That means going to work, making your own food, driving your own car, etc. Also, for trips like we just took, it means adjusting back to our time zone, too.

One of my favorite ways to combat travel hangover is to have your next trip in the works already before you leave!
As Trevor and I were in the process of ironing out final details for this Europe trip we began working out a timeline for when our next trip would/could be. Crazily enough, it’s worked out best for our next trip to be in the beginning of July (yes, this year!!!) to Portland, OR. Before we left for our trip, we made sure to book our flight and hotel, but the rest I will be planning during this week-ish of down time between trips. It will be a great way to keep my mind occupied from travel hangover, while also being productive for what’s coming up next!

(and yes, we’re in the dreaming phase for the vacation after Portland to stay on top of travel hangover for that trip too)

I can’t wait so share so many of our wonderful photos from our trip. It truly has created some of my favorite memories of being married to Trevor, and i will forever hold this trip close to my heart. I LOVE seeing the world with the man I love.

If you too have suffered from travel hangover, I’d love to hear your experiences and/or cures! Please comment below, because I’ll never get over this need to travel! 🙂

XO Elisebeth

5 Ways to Feel Better After Being Sick

Hey everyone!

If you follow me on Twitter (@hovie06) you know I came down with an awful case of food poisoning over the weekend. I am still recovering, but am feeling much better than Friday night. Trevor has been such an amazing guy and helped me out so much. I honestly don’t know how I would have made it without him.

So while I am not yet back to 100%, I thought I would share with you all how I get back to being me again after being sick! Note: All of these tips are things I have done after I have followed doctor instruction on medication and am feeling much better already.

Go about your regular routine.

This one is a hard one for me. I always need gobs of rest after getting sick, and this time was no different. So I implemented this one with one exception – don’t establish time restraints. I got myself going in my morning makeup and clothes routine at about 11:30 today, and I took my sweet time doing it! I feel so much better just having gotten something done today, even if it took me 10x longer than normal.

Make yourself look good.

Even if you feel not so great still, this one is a huge one! I don’t normally jump straight into my full makeup routine, but I do at least my face makeup and my hair. This helps me build confidence again about myself, even if I was wrenching my guts out two nights ago and moaning nonstop. I also wear my favorite comfy clothes – BUT NOT SWEATPANTS. As much as I love sweatpants, they don’t help my self-esteem on not-so-hot days. Today I put on my favorite jeans and I feel a thousand times better. Plus, since I threw up so much, I look super skinny in them. But honestly, nothing is better than my oversized tee and a cozy cardigan.

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Do something for you.

Not that laying in bed the past two and a half days hasn’t been for you, but make yourself happy by doing something for you. What I did for myself for today was light my favorite candle (cafe macchiato) in my bedroom while I got ready. Pretty simple if you ask me.

Don’t be afraid to say no.

You are still recovering from being sick, so you have the right to take it easy. I skipped two of my classes today because I didn’t think I could make it through without having to rush to the bathroom. I also have a 3 hour and 50 minute night class tonight (!!) and I am planning on leaving early so I can get enough rest in tonight. Know what your body needs and don’t push yourself too hard or you’ll end up back in bed.

Accept those positive words.

You worked your butt off to not look like you were dying all weekend, so you better accept any and all compliments that come your way. I got plenty when people found out I had been bed-stricken all weekend and look how I do right now. I’m not saying you should use this as leverage, but don’t turn away those positive words that can uplift your soul.

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This is obviously not a complete list, as everyone is unique in their own way – but these are what works well for me!

Let me know what you do to make yourself feel better in the comments below, I would love to add to my personal inventory!

XO Elisebeth

The Assignment

In one of my classes – Teaching the Faith – we have to write about our personal faith journey, the moment we knew our faith started, and how it has grown. So I thought I would share it with all of you too. My faith is a very important part of my life, and I would love to take this opportunity to share this with the world.

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Similarly to the author of Building Faith One Child at a Time, I have always been a Lutheran and was baptized as an infant. Especially with growing up as a pastor’s daughter, it is hard to recall a specific moment that my faith started. Thinking back in more detail, I suppose that the first time I really identified my faith as mine was after my family moved from La Crescent, MN to Green Bay, WI.

This was a really difficult transition for me and I did not handle it in a recommended way. My family had moved a few times before, but at an age where I still felt comfortable reaching out to new friends. This was a primarily challenging area in my new life in Green Bay. My parents made the decision to send me to the LCMS High School in Green Bay, which I was excited to be a part of. I dealt with a hard time making friends, being bullied by people I trusted too quickly. The bullying, in addition to the move itself, led me into a period of depression and heightened anxiety. I began self-harming.

I eventually stopped self-harming when I opened up to a friend at church who also had scars and stories to tell. She was later hospitalized for her self-harm and bipolar disorder, we sadly lost touch. Since I was involved in a lot of sports, I went to great lengths to hide my scars. Eventually I slowed my self-harm and was able to stop. This was primarily due to increased involvement in music at my school. I developed a close bond with my music teacher and with another girl in my class.

My favorite part about being involved in the music scene at my school was the incorporation of God’s Word into nearly all of our pieces and concerts. I felt a true connection to my Savior through the means of music. It was an obvious way of praise for me.

Unfortunately, later in my high school career I did begin to self-harm again – and worse than ever before. I became much less involved in all areas of school and even quit my job because of it. It seemed like there was no right answer to how to recover. I eventually turned to Pandora and was listening to sad, sappy love songs every night as I sunk into depression. You Are More by Tenth Avenue North popped up. I bawled my eyes out. I knew this was God speaking to me. Once again, He pulled me back in with the power of music once again.

While I have always identified as a Christian, and more specifically a Lutheran, nothing has been more impactful on my faith than music. To boil it down, my faith started to be mine in that choir classroom in Green Bay. It wavered, and fell dramatically as I struggled with depression and anxiety. As I have gone through college, it has been on a steady path up. I have never felt more spiritually rich than I do now. This amazes me because I am not actively involved in any music right now. The most Christian music I encounter is from a few CDs Trevor and I have in our car and by attending church. Still, this is enough to keep me focused on nurturing my faith.

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I hope my story can be a source of hope for those of you struggling with depression, anxiety, and self-harm. God’s love amazes me. He saved me when I was at below my worst. He’s still saving me now.

My College Necessities

Well Day 2 of my Junior Year of college is officially completed! All of my homework due for tomorrow is finally finished. I had quite the hard time today (i’ll explain later in this post).

I can tell I am in for an interesting semester. As I’ve said before (i think), I’m taking 8 classes this semester. That’s 21 credits! Professors keep asking how many credits people are taking…I never actually answer because I know I’ll be told I’m insane. Which I sometimes think I have taken a dive in the deep end for doing this to myself.

So far this semester, I have learned so much. I have learned the importance of time management, friends, real food, caffeine, and books. So, let’s begin at square one: time management.

Since I’m taking so many classes, I made sure to buy myself a planner that would let me efficiently plan out when I would do homework. At Target I found this super awesome BlueSky planner, sadly I couldn’t find it online to link you. But go look at their planners! They’re great. Mine is a Day Designer. It has hours for each day laid out, an inspirational quote in the upper lefthand corner, areas to jot down notes, and places for your “top 3” things to get done for the day. Talk about my kind of planner! So tonight I spent over three hours working on my homework for Church History (i’ve never spent that much time in one night on homework before). Thanks to my lovely planner, I was able to space it out well between my classes!

Next on the list: friends. I’m living with my hubby (obvi) this year, instead of in a dorm on campus with roommates. At first I was uber excited about not living in a dorm, but to be 100% honest, I do kinda miss it. I miss my Holst 106 girlies! Shout out to y’all! Thankfully, my schedule has a lot of time between classes, so I see them regularly due to that. I also have three of my four night classes with Katrina, and two of my four night classes with Katie! So I get to see the two of them due to class! I also have one class with Sarah (sadly not a 106 roomie). We’ve also begun planning our wine nights! I cannot begin to tell you all how excited I am for them..

Real food. Why is real underline? Food is food. Real food is what you need when you need some good, actual nourishment. All of you college kids reading this know what I’m talking about. It’s when you go home and have a home cooked meal! It’s weird for me now because I have to make that real food. But dang, does it make me so much more motivated to do homework and get stuff done! Tonight for dinner, Trevor and I had Swedish meatballs with cream sauce from IKEA. It was such a solid meal – I look forward to our next meal with them.

Caffeine is your best friend in college. Like, no joke. Currently the only caffeine in our apartment is kinda nasty instant coffee from Starbucks, a variety of tea, and Coke. I miss having a meal plan where I could buy myself Caribou every morning before class!!! I just want a delicious, warm, tasty Chai tea latte. (if you love me, you’ll buy me one….) Anywho, my drink choice tonight to finish my homework was Coke. I better go brush my teeth now….

Finally, books. So as many of you know, books are expensive in college. It’s ridiculous. I found this cheap site to buy through – Half Price Books. I have ordered through them before and not had any issues. So I purchased one of my textbooks through them. The one way they really get you is shipping costs. I chose the cheapest option, standard shipping. It told me it would take 4-14 days to arrive. I figured it’d be closer to the 4. Now in my Church History class, I didn’t think we’d actually get a legit in depth reading assignment the first day of class. Boy was I wrong. So today I’ve been running around like crazy trying to obtain a copy of the book to successfully complete my homework. I did eventually get one. But now I’m sitting here at almost 11 pm telling you all about this. Had my book come right at 4 days, I’d be asleep by now.

And that brings me to my actual final necessity of mine: sleep.

Goodnight!
XO Elisebeth

August 2, 2015

Trevor and I have been married for 10 days now! We haven’t killed each other yet, so I think we’re going to be okay at this whole husband and wife thing.

Prepare yourselves. I’m about to spill my guts to you about every little thing I can possible remember about our wedding day.

Ana spent the night sleeping on my floor. When I woke up about 7:30 or so she was already up staring at her phone. She had warned me that she’d be up at probably 5 am or so, but I should sleep in anyway. No worries – I slept past 5. We got up and had some breakfast, honestly I don’t remember what I had except that my drink was a Vanilla Chai drink from Bolthouse Farms (I’m currently obsessed with any of their drinks tbh).

By about 9:30 or so my dad had returned with the van and began filling coolers with beer and water.

10 am – we began loading the van full of everything wedding related! It was stressful seeing everything get shipped in there and feeling like I must have forgotten something. Somehow it just seemed like such a high risk situation right in that moment. Loading the van only took about 25 to 30 minutes, thankfully. After that Katherine, Ana, and I chilled in my room and got it looking nice for getting ready in.

11:30 came around super quickly and we headed to Green Isle Park. Our rental didn’t begin until 12, but I wanted to be there early to get everything unloaded and situated. The parks guy came early to unlock the pavilion and we began transporting everything inside. That’s when it kind of hit me – I had never been inside of the space before, so did my vision even really fit in there? I had contacted one of my youth leaders from church who loves doing anything event planning related. I communicated with her about details and what I wanted to see in the space. She was pretty much our day of coordinator, and I couldn’t be more thankful for her honestly! The guys all left to go get ready before the girls left. I was getting so occupied with details, I just couldn’t leave and feel like it would all be okay. Ana finally pulled me aside and told me it was 12:15 and we needed to go.

I had received a text at about 12 from our photographer, Caitlin, saying she was in town and heading over to my place for getting ready photos. I disregarded the message and continued working, but once Ana pointed out the time I knew we were slowly falling behind schedule. If you know me, you know that being late drives me insane! We got back to my house about 12:30 and immediately got the show on the road! I cannot wait to see the getting ready shots! Here is a great dress shot Caitlin took while we did our hair inside.

Caitlin Peterson Photography

After what went by so quickly for getting ready – we made it back to Green Isle at about 2:30. Yes, I was once again late. It was killing me! Trevor and I decided we wanted to do a first look, and I am so glad we did! I don’t think I could have been happier than when I saw him turn around and look at me that first time. He was just so dang handsome!

Caitlin Peterson Photography

Caitlin Peterson Photography 

As the first look was happening the sky was turning darker and darker. Weather was one of my top concerns about our wedding. I hate when things aren’t in my control. I had been checking weather religiously for a week or two leading up to the wedding. Anyway, as the first look was happening, the sky darkened and the wind changed directions every other minute. I was beginning to fear we would have to move the wedding inside quickly.

Ceremony time came around faster than I imagined it would. As I stood at the back of the path, I was getting impatient. The sky kept getting darker and I wanted to get the ball rolling. My dad was practically holding me back. Don’t worry – he made sure to get a selfie before we walked down the aisle.

Instagram: @pastorhovland

We eventually made it down the aisle.

My dad hugged me for forever, and he shed a tear or two too I think. But it was one of those really good moments I don’t think I’ll ever forget about the wedding.

Instagram: @pastorhovland

Now to be 100% honest, I hardly remember anything from the reception. All I really remember is watching the sky darken even more and the loud whooshes of wind going through the gazebo. As the ceremony was beginning to end, pastor began talking faster. We all knew what was coming.

Caitlin Peterson Photography

After we were announced Mr. and Mrs. Trevor and Elisebeth Rodriguez – we had a receiving line! It was so nice to hug and see all of our guests at one time! Those of you still in the planning process, I highly recommend a receiving line for the purpose of making sure you talk to everyone at your wedding! As the last guests trickled through, the rain started to pour. We made it inside within a few seconds of torrential downpour. Don’t worry – my dad captured that moment too!

As you can see it was quite intense!

Our reception and dinner were heavenly. I honestly don’t think it could have turned out better. It was everything I imagined and more!

Dinner was provided by a family from my church. They’re seriously the best cooks in all of Green Bay! They served a picnic-type dinner: hamburgers, hot dogs, coleslaw, potato salad, veggies, and chips and dip. Everyone was saying how amazing it was, and I couldn’t agree more! During dinner we had toasts by our maid of honor, Katherine, and our best man, Christian. Katherine’s almost made me cry. I’m so glad she passed on the responsibility of late-night-talking-buddy to Trevor. Christian’s toast was also amazing. He said everything so fluently and really captured Trevor as a man. Trevor told me his favorite part of the reception was the toast, so I’m hoping we’ll have some pictures coming from Caitlin to commemorate those well spoken words.

Instagram: @pastorhovland

Caitlin Peterson Photography

Instagram: @pastorhovland

Instagram: @pastorhovland

Above are just some aspects of the reception space! My personal favorite was the favor area (shown in top of these three). It looked so perfect with the Christmas lights across the jellies, spreads, and syrups! Another favorite thing from our reception was the cake! My grandma (who also made all of the favors) made our cake! Per Trevor’s request, it was funfetti flavor.

Caitlin Peterson Photography

Instagram: @pastorhovland

I think I could ramble on forever about the dancing! Trevor and I had our first dance to Faithfully by Journey. It’s a song he just randomly plays for me on his keyboard and my heart melts every single time. The dance floor was often sparse sadly – but I constantly went over to my two friend groups and pushed them back out there! I couldn’t have been happier that my friends from both Concordias I have attended were able to make it! I love you ladies!

Last but not least, I loved taking photos of just my husband and myself. I am so blessed to be married to such a loving man. And these first 10 days of marriage have reminded me of that. I love you darling.

Caitlin Peterson Photography

Caitlin Peterson Photography

Caitlin Peterson Photography