inspiration for a road trip

do you know how hard it is to find a friend/couple that you can travel with?

no?

well, let me tell you: it's incredibly difficult.

it's so easy to say, i'm such good friends with _____, surely we will have a blast together on a trip and we won't get on each other's nerves and everything will be just dandy. well in reality, traveling brings out both the best and the worst in people (at least in my cynical eyes). when you get a combination of a person or people who are super laid back and not really all that concerned about itineraries or flight times or anything really, and put them on a plane or in a hotel room with a person or couple who needs to make sure that things go exactly. as. planned. - well, you can see that things could go sour very quickly.

 

all of that to say, i'm so lucky to know several people that i can travel with. and not just travel with, but successfully travel with. the kinds of trips where i say, yes. that was glorious and i could do that 10 more times!  let's start planning our next trip right now!

well one of those couples is made up of 2 people that we love (they came to lost maples with us and also krause springs recently). we just love them, and are now planning a road trip to destin, florida together (way too far in advance because we're so excited!). and we're throwing in a one-night stop in new orleans for good measure. because, why not?
 

here's my inspiration for that trip since it is goal #26 on my 30before30 list.

 

austin -- new orleans -- destin, fl

 

 

we all look that cute when we travel in a car for 12 hours, right?

 

replace that cute van with some sort of large suv and we can recreate this.

 

my pictures from our trip to new orleans for our 1 year anniversary in 2012

 

 

destin, florida pictures 1, 2 & 3

 

 

(psst: see other road trip inspired posts here and here.)

 

what is the best road trip you've ever been on? or your dream road trip?

 

 

 

 



summer to-do list: update

near the end of june i posted my summer to-do list right: here.

i decided to put 8 goals on there because 5 just seemed too easy. and i was able to cross of 2 things already:

hosting a summer party & take a day off during the week to enjoy austin (this may seem like a strange one, but i'm super picky about when i use my time off work! i usually set a rule that i won't take a day off unless i'm leaving the city limits which ensures that i always have enough time for vacations, so i forced myself to make an exception here).

 

we had a small group of friends over the first weekend in july - we played ping pong, tapped out a little half keg, snacked on fruit skewers and chicken taquitoes and our friends were kind enough to stock our bar with several bottles of vodka and wine! they do know us afterall. and while i fully intended to use my nikon to take pictures of the party (since it's part of my to-do list), it just didn't work out that way. between baking more rounds of tostaditas and taquitoes and making sure my cat wasn't having a heart attack (he's skiddish), my iphone was just so much more convenient. so here are a few snapshots of the day:

 

 

 

 

 

then a few days after the party, the husband & i took a day off of work to go to krause springs with our friends john & jamie. but since i made the goal specifically to "enjoy austin" during the week, we also attempted to make a stop for early morning bbq (that's the best kind of bbq) at franklin bbq (named the best bbq in america by bon appetit! no big deal), but decided that time spent at krause springs was more important than the 2+ hours we would've spent in line at franklin...so we headed to kerbey lane, which counts just as much since it's an austin staple. 

after we had very full biscuit bloated bellies, we headed to krause springs and it was every bit as beautiful and fun as we were hoping it would be. we kept extending our time ("we'll leave at 3! okay, we'll leave at 4. maybe we should leave at 5??") because we all wanted to live there permanently.

 

 

 

 

 

 

here's what's left on my summer to-do list:

1. host a summer party

2. go to hamilton pool

3. take a day off work during the week to enjoy austin

4. use my nikon more

5. finally check off goal #5: bake my own sourdough bread

6. read 4 books between now & the time we leave for europe

7. plant some succulents and/or create terrariums

8. keep up the yoga routine i have so far



exactly four years left to complete my list!

today is my 26th birthday, friends!

yep, the big two-six. it's got quite a ring to it, no? that means that i now have exactly 4 years to complete this list of mine...which has got me a little worried because i have quiiite a few things to check off.

but luckily, i'm married to the cutest man ever who takes my list very seriously (more on that in this post: here), and got me a hot air balloon ride for my birthday - in case you don't have my 30before30 goals memorized, that would be #18 on my list. it's not going to happen for a few months because of the fact that it's in the mid 90's by 8am here in austin. so we're thinking of saving it until maybe october or november, but you know there will be an update on that.

 

but what this all means is that i should be able to cross off at least six things off my during my 26th year. these are the ones i have planned so far for the next 12 months:

- learn how to bake my own sourdough bread

-plant a thriving vegetable garden (already started!)

-finish decorating our forever home

-visit spain

-ride in a hot air balloon

-start (and keep) a regular yoga practice (already working on this, too)

 

and who knows what else might present itself as an opportunity to be crossed off - you hear that, radiohead? want to start touring soon so i can cross that goal off??

 

i am so, so looking forward to this year of my life and am beyond excited to get it started.

 

 

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