images that inspire: {spain}

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one of the goals on my 30before30 list is to visit spain - why wouldn't you put that on your list, right?

so  i'm really, really hoping that this is in the works for summer of 2013. otherwise, i'm afraid i'll be staring at these photos for years to come. i love the idea of really late night tapas + wine, seeing one of my dad's favorite places in the entire world [granada] & hearing a language that i've grown up speaking, but having it sound oh so different!

have any of you ever been to spain?

psst. see the greece-inspired version of this post here.

and my full 30before30 list here.

weekends were made for...

this weekend was filled with art shows, late night movie dates with my man of honor, lazy hair, fluffy friends, and somehow lots of leaves? it seemed like all the leaves fell off of our trees in a 2 hour time period. i also luckily got to fill my weekend seeing some of my oldest friends over a wine-and-pasta-filled dinner. oh, and...scarf weather? i've been asking for it, especially since wearing more scarves was part of my fall to-do list, so i won't complain about how cold my toes were this morning when i woke up.

oh ps. today is my last 1:00-10:00 work day! 

i'll be back later this week with an update on one of my list goals. hint: it has to do with spain.

images that inspire: {road trippin'}

goal #26 on my 30before30 list is to go on a road trip - a real road trip, like driving more than just a few hours. so a few months ago, i posted about a road trip from austin to marfa, tx. this time around, my dream road trip will take me further...a lot further. 

technically, this would only be half a road trip, though...stay with me.

i'm thinking a flight from austin to san francisco - i know it's starting off with a flight, but there's still a car involved later. my ideal trip would be:

austin, tx - san francisco, ca (flight)
san francisco, ca - redwood forest, ca
redwood forest - portland, or
portland, or - seattle, wa
seattle, wa- austin, tx (flight)


this would be a time consuming road trip, but i definitely think it's worth the time. here's what i'm picturing:

spending a few days in san francisco - biking across golden gate bridge, visiting the ferry building for amazing food, wandering and thrifting through haight-ashbury, driving out to tony's for oysters & beer, and snacking at tartine.

 

 

to start my trip north, i'd rent a car in san francisco and head to the redwoods to camp- no plans here other than taking in the sheer size of the trees.

from muir woods, a long drive north will get me to portland, oregon. a few days here would be filled with taste testing at local breweries, resting our heads at the ace hotel, eating a must-eat voodoo donut, and visiting the japanese gardens.

  

when it's time to finally head to seattle, i'll skip the big tourist spots (space needle, the experience music project, etc) since i've already been there. instead, i'd hike at heather lake, have drinks at the super hip zig zag cafe, visit their amazing central library, & eat at lowell's (since it is, afterall, a staple).

 

ideally, i'd add vancouver canada to this trip too, but really...who has that much time off of work?! 

even without vancouver in the mix, though, i'd say this would be one hell of a trip. anyone in??

(see my full 30before30 list here)

weekends were made for...

husbands who surprise you with picnic dates,

bingo playing (even if you're by far the youngest couple in the bingo hall, and you didn't win anything),

coffee double dates,

lounging with fluffy orange friends,

 messy hair,

and sunset runs.

today marks week 7 of my new hire class, which means there are only 2 more weeks left of this 1:00-10:00pm schedule. it's actually gone by very quickly and i'm super thankful! it's really weird to think about the fact that it's november because back in july, the holiday season felt soo far away. 

if the weather would ever decide to embrace the fact that it's november, i'd be one happy camper.

(ps. please everybody go vote tomorrow if you haven't already!)

i'll be back tomorrow with a road trip inspired post.

images that inspire: {fall} parties

the husband & i have made up our minds that we're selling our house somewhere around the beginning of the new year and we could not be more excited! we'll be moving in to a loft in central austin for a year or two before we buy our "forever home", which gives us some time without all the stress of being a homeowner (you know - having to fix everything yourself, having too many rooms for just the two of us, spending ridiculous amounts of time doing yard work, selling a house when you're trying to buy a new house, etc).

that being said, i'll really, really miss our backyard and the parties it allows us to host. it won't quite be the same having people over to an apartment that doesn't allow us to play yard games and sit around burning candles outside when the weather is awesome - but it's a really great trade-off and we're ready for the change.

we're trying to take advantage of the space we have right now and really appreciating it all until the house is sold. so i've got entertaining on the brain! as of late, i've been thinking of a fall party & if i were to host one, i'd hope that it would look a little something like this...

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start a movie night tradition

goal #7 on my 30before30 list is to start a movie night tradition. i've posted before about some themed movie nights that i wanted to host, but i realized i didn't have any halloween themed movies thrown in. 

so last week, i decided to invite just a couple of friends over to watch the shining. now, there wasn't much prep time for this because of the lovely 1:00-10:00 schedule worked the prior days, but - it was still a good time. 

i printed off some mazes for us to do since (spoiler alert!) that's where jack's journey ends, i made a rum drink with orange juice and grenadine to represent redrum, and the food was a little difficult...but since the walk-in freezer and pantry are semi-important in the movie, i decided to go with all frozen foods that you'd find in a big freezer. so we had mozzarella sticks, taquitoes, pizza and frozen cookie dough! 

sure, it's not the healthiest movie theme i could go with, but it was worth it. 

i'm hoping that this will turn in to a tradition that i host pretty regularly, and that some friends start hosting their own movie nights. 

next up at my house is romy & michele's high school reunion!

what movie night would you host?