...life in overdrive...

Well, as you can tell by the lack of posts, the Troyan Chronicles has been greatly neglected. To say our lives have been INSANE the last few months would be an understatement. Honestly, there were a few weeks where Mikis and I looked at each other and said "Is this really our life?". We can't complain though, we have had a lot of new and exciting changes, which has kept us very busy and in turn is why we have been MIA. Here is a quick recap on what we have been up to the last few months:

[we celebrated our first wedding anniversary with a weekend getaway to sedona]

[we opened our newest endeavor, el hefe]

[i turned another year older...]

  [and so did mikis...]

[we went to san diego to celebrate our great friends, jen & claude's engagement]

[we celebrated my twin brother's 16th birthday]

 [we had a lot of out-of-town visitors]

[we had many fun night's out with friends]

 

[and i said goodbye to my two beautiful offices and almost ten years with westcor...]

[to start working as an associate event and wedding planner with outstanding occasions]

Wooh, I'm exhausted just recapping it. I promise to make more of an effort to update and post more often. In the meantime, if you want to see what we are up to at Outstanding Occasions, follow our blog here. 

xoxo,

R+M

 

...an all about hefe weekend...

This past weekend was all about El Hefe, a new bar/resturant we are opening in a few weeks in Old Town Scottsdale. We spent most of Saturday and all day Sunday working on the uniform design and purchasing specific pieces to see how they work together. Who knew shopping could be so exhausting? 

On Saturday we also met up with a friend of ours, Alicia who own's Hot Chick Aprons, to discuss the design of the waitresses aprons. Honestly, with the aprons in Alicia's hands, we know they will be perfect! We can't wait to share with you the entire uniform design, stay tuned! After our meeting, we decided to give Alicia a little tour of the bar and see the current progress.

Here are a few photos from our busy "work" weekend...

[one of our apron options]

 [front of el hefe]

xoxo,

R+M

...hello algodones...

As mentioned here and here Mikis and his partners have been working hard on El Hefe,  a new resturant/bar concept that will be opening in Oldtown Scottsdale this upcoming March. With the project just a few months away, we have been researching and constantly looking for design inspirations and fixtures for the bar. Since the bar is taking on a mexican theme, we decided to make a little pit stop in Algodones on our way to San Diego to celebrate New Years. Our trip proved to be successful with us bringing home a ceramic Lady of Guadalupe and Donkey, and of course two bottles of tequila. The only downfall is we had to carry our new very heavy purchases all the way to the border, which was a venture in itself. We were sore for days!

Here are a few photos from our excursion...

[on our way to the border]

[on a lady hunt]

[we have found ms. guadalupe]

[success!]

 [and the trek begins]

xoxo,

R+M

...goodbye 2010 and hello 2011...

With a new year upon us, it is hard not to reflect on the past year. 2010 will always be an extra special year in our lives as it was the year that we became husband and wife. It was also a year of travel with trips to Thailand, San Diego, Mexico, and Chicago. It was the year El Hefe was born and Riot Hospitality Group was formed, a year many babies were added to our friend’s lives, a year filled with many girlfriend reunions, a year of loss, sorrow and heartache, a year with joy and laughter, and much, much more. I hope that 2011 is full of friends, laughs, trips, accomplishments, inspiration, fun, change, and of course love.

Here is a brief look at our 2010...

[stephanie's baby shower]

[celebrating my bachelorette party]

[celebrating my beautiful bridal shower]

[enjoying the FBR with friends]

[becoming mr. and mrs.]

[on our amazing thailand honeymoon]

[enjoying the culinary fest beer garden]

[enjoying drinks in rocky point]

[celebrating the boys' birthday with a mustache bash]

[promoting el hefe at the taco fest]

[enjoying tour de bar]

[celebrating halloween as mr. mario and mrs. princess toadstool]

Here's to an amazing 2011!

xoxo,

R+M

...for the love of pr...

As I mentioned here, Mikis and his partners in Riot Hospitality Group have been working feverishly the last few months on their new restaurant/bar concept, El Hefe. With the building shell almost complete, El Hefe should be opening it's doors in just a few short months. Plans and the design are finally starting to take shape and we couldn't be getting more excited about it.

With El Hefe planning to open in early March, local Arizona magazines and reporters are taking interest and starting to call for more information about the concept. I truly couldn't be more proud of Mikis, Ryan and Jon and the tremendous amount of hard work they have put into El Hefe so far. See below for a recent article featuring El Hefe which was published in the December issue of 944 Magazine. Stay tuned for much more details on this exciting venture in our life!

xoxo,

R+M

...for the love of tacos...

Yesterday Mikis and I along with a few friends went on the search for the perfect taco at the Arizona Taco Festival. We mainly went in order to accomplish two things, 1. Get the word out about El Hefe, our upcoming bar/restaurant and 2. Find a taco that we love, in hopes to nail down the exact taste we want for our menu. It definitely wasn't a hard day in the office spending time with friends and enjoying a beautiful and slightly warm day in Scottsdale.

Here are a few photos from the day....



[el hefe crew representing]

[the taco fest crowds]

[tasting the competition]

[el hefe checking out the bar]

 

[we even branded people]

[steven cheersing to tacos]

xoxo,

R+M