We Have a Little Announcement to Make...

After lots of tough times in this past year, we are ending 2013 on a high note!  Mr. B and I are expecting our little Baby Bee in June of 2014.  Now that things are out in the open (we announced on Facebook last week, and that makes it official, right?) it is starting to feel a bit more real!  It has been a rough couple months, sickness wise, but now that I am into the second trimester, I'm starting to feel much better.  Hopefully better enough to get back to blogging on a regular basis!  For now, I hope you enjoy the rest of the shots from our announcement photo shoot, all pics by my darling friend Brianna Mowry (thanks girl!).

San Francisco Recap

Hey there friends!  This past weekend we were lucky enough to have a four day weekend for our annual Fall Break and Mr. B and I decided to spend it up North (in Nor Cal for those into the slang).  We grabbed a couple of friends, jumped in the car and hit the road!  We left early Saturday morning and arrived in Palo Alto in the afternoon.  Palo Alto is absolutely gorgeous, I mean this is the local high school...

We got to catch the Stanford/Washington football game that night, which was awesome.  We love college football and it was super cool to see another school's stadium.

After the game we drove into San Francisco, which is one of my favorite cities in the world.  I love my city architecture so I was thrilled with the view out of our hotel window...

Of course, one of the highlights of SF is the shopping.  This is the local mall!  Hello stunning!

Sunday night we went to see Mr. B's favorite NFL team, the 49ers, take on the Houston Texans.  This is the Niners last year in Candlestick Park so it was cool to get to visit the stadium.  All I have ever heard about Candlestick is how freezing it is, but it was a gorgeous day and I barely needed a sweatshirt, even at ten o'clock!

And since it is October and breast cancer awareness, we got these awesome pink towels!

The sunset behind the stadium was so gorgeous...

The next day we did some driving around town and sightseeing...

Despite all my trips to the city, this was the first time I had actually stopped in the Golden Gate viewing area to take some awesome pictures.

We rounded out our trip with a visit to the Walt Disney Family Museum, which is a must for any Disney fan.  If you want to see those highlights, make sure you check out my Disney blog, Two Disney Darlings, next week!

Fall Fashion Inspiration

For those of you who don't live in Southern California, you are probably enjoying lovely fall weather right about now.  Of course, for us here in Los Angeles, it is still eighty degrees.  That hasn't stopped me from lusting over fall fashion.  I am all about the sweaters and boots, so fall is my favorite time of the year for clothes shopping.  These are some of my favorite looks of the moment, hopefully I will actually get to wear some of them soon!  (Click pic for original source, all pics via Pinterest.)

What's your favorite part of fall?  Are you looking forward to it as much as I am?

Wedding Wednesday: How to Reuse Your Wedding Decor

For me, one of the larger expenses (at least, of what was coming out of my own pocket and not one of our parents, thanks again, Mom!), was decor for our reception space.  While we definitely had a lot of DIY elements, a fair amount of goods still needed to be purchased.  One way I am making those purchases worth it is by reusing some of my favorite decor pieces.  With a little easy makeover, a lot of pieces can go from reception to your home!  This green B was a super cool find.  It is a metal letter that I found at the Rose Bowl Flea Market.  We used a circusy font on our invitation, and the shape of the letter fit in perfectly with that motif.  I painted the B green just by using craft paint (before I really knew what I was doing with painting).  It has been sitting around our house for a while, so I decided to give this B an update!

First, I sanded down the B and got rid of some of the bumps.  It smoothed out the old paint and gave me a fresh surface to paint.

Then I took gold spray paint and gave the B a few thin coats.  The key to spray paint is to make sure you do quick strokes, keep your hand moving so there are no paint clumps.  Thin coats are super important as well.

Then I moved the B into our dining room and put it on my favorite piece of furniture, this turqoise buffet (click here if you want to see how I painted the buffet!).

I'm not sure where the B will live permanently, but I love the way it came out.  Not only do I get to make good use of my purchase, but it's a constant reminder of my favorite day ever!

DIY: Gold Painted Milk Bottles

Hello there all!  So excited to bring you another super easy DIY project today.  I actually made these to display in my home, since I am trying to incorporate more gold.  They can be done in any color, but I love the bit of glam that gold brings to the table!  Here is what we are making today:

And here's how to make these babies!

1.  Gather supplies: milk bottles (I found these at Ikea, you could also use the Starbucks bottles), gold spray paint, painter's tape, and a sponge brush.

2.  Tape of the areas of the bottle you don't want painted.  I decided to make all three of mine look different for some variety, but you could do them however you want.

3.  Now it is time for the fun part, the painting!  Make sure you are painting in a well ventilated area and cover your surface before you begin.  For these bottles, I wanted a little bit of texture, so I sprayed the bottle all around and then wiped the sponge brush all around the painted areas.  This helped give the bottles a little more interest, but you could certainly skip that step if you wanted a smoother look.

I really love how these guys turned out and I can't wait to display them in my house! 

Guest Post: Disneyland Treats from Jessica at The Happiest Blog on Earth!

Happy Monday readers!  So excited to get to kick off the week with a guest post from a friend of mine from high school, Jessica.  She is going to fill you in on all the yummy treats available at Disneyland, and how you can replicate them at home!  Take it away, Jess!

Hello Bees Times Three readers! My name is Jessica, and I'm here visiting from The Happiest Blog on Earth! I am a long time friend of Falon's and love that we share a love for so many of the same things from theater and drama to all things glitter- and of course, Disneyland. And what could be happier than sharing a blog post about Disneyland? A blog post about treats at Disneyland. Hang on because you're about to get hungry.

The scent of cinnamon sugar, the aroma of freshly popped popcorn and people walking by with chocolate covered bananas will get you every time! We're talking about Disneyland treats worth biting into. 

Apparently the only way my husband can function at Disneyland is by consuming huge amounts of yummy snacks and treats. I learned that when we went to Disneyland and California Adventure on our honeymoon. I wanted to go on ride after ride all day and he wanted to consume sugar all day.

Since I am all about compromise, and I've learned a thing or two about my husband over the years, this trip I supplied him with a Disney gift card to use however he wished. Here's a break down of his sweet treat choices:

Churros

Shoshanah / Foter / CC BY

Deep fried pastry strips coated in cinnamon sugar. Delicious to share, amazing to indulge in on your own.

At Disneyland: On carts scattered throughout the park. Just follow your nose.

At Home: The best place to get one at home is Costco. If you don't have a membership, you can always try your grocery freezer section, or a homemade version.

Mickey Premium Bar

rickpilot_2000 / Foter / CC BY

Sure, it's just vanilla ice cream covered in a chocolate shell. But this is a Mickey shell people and it's delicious. I think I only got about 1/2 an ear before my husband and kids gobbled it down. But it's so cute and irresistible- kinda like Mickey Mouse himself. 

At Disneyland: On carts scattered throughout the park with other frozen delights. 

At Home: I've heard you can find them on occasion at Wal Mart. Or simply settle for this awesome "Melt with You" men's t-shirt inspired by the ever famous Mickey Premium Bar.

Frozen Banana

You've just gotta have a frozen banana at Disneyland. We had-um-several during our last trip. And another amazing find was at California Adventure's Buena Vista Street where we ordered an ice cream sundae with a frozen banana in it! Amazing!

At Disneyland: On carts scattered throughout the park with other frozen delights. 

At Home: Super easy to make yourself. My favorite way to make and eat them: slice bananas, lay out on a parchment covered banking sheet, spoon melted chocolate in heaps on top of sliced bananas. Freeze and eat. It's like frozen finger food goodness. 

Popcorn

Loren Javier / Foter / CC BY-ND

Seriously, I have a problem. And it involves popcorn. I cannot resist buttered popcorn. I can't go to the movies without buying popcorn, I can barely get through a Target trip without popcorn (I just use the kids as an excuse) and I certainly cannot go through 2 days at the Disneyland Resort without having a bag of popcorn (or 2).

At Disneyland: On carts scattered throughout the park. 

At Home: Microwave, air popped with butter and salt and of course we already covered Target and the movies.

Dole Whips

Sam Howzit / Foter / CC BY

I honestly had never heard of these until seeing copycat recipes all over Pinterest. After tasting my first Dole Whip Float, I feel completely deprived. I have missed out for so long! If you haven't tried it, it's basically soft serve pineapple ice cream. But don't worry, there are no chunks! No one in our camp had any complaints- expect that there wasn't enough!

At Disneyland: Tiki Juice Bar in Adventure Land. You can also sneak around to the back which is in the waiting area for the Enchanted Tiki Room, lines might be a bit shorter and there's plenty of places to sit. 

At Home: Try one of the recipes to make at home. I've also heard you can get one at either the Dole Plantation or at Aulani, both in Hawaii. 

Mickey Pretzel

woofiegrrl / Foter / CC BY-ND

It's hard to believe we ate all of this in one day, in addition to regular meals. We had a late lunch (and obviously so many snacks) that our family of 5 split this yummy pretzel for dinner. Cheapest meal we've eaten in the park to-date. ;)

At Disneyland: We grabbed this at a little location near Indiana Jones.

At Home: I don't have any Mickey shaping tricks for you, but you can make regular soft pretzels at home with this recipe, or pick up one at the local mall. 

It's a good thing Disney stocks their theme parks full of the best goodies around, tempting your tastebuds at every corner. Tell us about your favorites, we're always looking for new things to try on our next trip.

Easy Crock Pot Shredded Buffalo Chicken

We are wrapping up football week with the perfect tailgating recipe: Crock pot shredded buffalo chicken.  This recipe is super easy and tastes amazing (bonus, it's not all that bad for you!).  Here's what you need:

Crock pot, one packet of ranch seasoning, buffalo sauce, and 4-5 chicken breasts.  (We marinated our chicken breasts, but that is totally optional.  They will still absorb tons of flavor in the crock pot without marinating first.)

Cut your chicken breasts in half and put them in the bottom of the crock pot.

Add in the ranch seasoning.

Pour in the buffalo sauce, approximately one 12 ounce bottle, depending on your tastes.

Give everything a good mix, then let sit on high for two hours.  Give everything a stir, then cook on low for an additional hour.  Then use two forks to shred the chicken and mix again.

Then let everything sit on low until you are ready to serve.  We served ours on basic hamburger buns with a little bit of ranch dressing.

The chicken is super tender and flavorful and makes a great tailgating meal!