Home in Austin! Dashiell and I went on our first travel adventure just the two of us this past weekend. Being at the house where I grew up, and of course with my family!, with him is really special. Just the view out the backdoor of my parents' house is such a comforting sight for me and I'm so happy that Dashiell will grow up playing there too. It was a great trip and felt relaxing even though we kept busy visiting with family and many dear friends. On Friday, my mom and I visited Sara, Henry, and Tate at... Read more →

Last weekend Chris and I went to Austin one last time before the baby arrives and I attended my baby shower! It was so good to be home. I was able to see many good friends and family members and it was so fun to celebrate my pregnancy with everyone. At my shower there were FIVE other gals who are pregnant (including Sara!) and our due dates are March, April, May, June, July, and August. How amazing and awesome is that? Chris and I were certainly showered with gifts and came home with baby clothes, books, toys, swaddles, changing pad,... Read more →

I love the tradition of having a live Christmas tree every year. I love celebrating the beauty of nature by bringing an “ordinary” bit of the outdoors into our home and adorning and admiring it. Sunset magazine just ran a comparison of real vs. fake Christmas trees and I was pleased to see that they determined that you should "go with the real deal if the ritual and environment are your top priorities". That’s us! (They also said go with a fake tree if "you prize convenience and no-mess holidays.") This year I was especially excited to cut our own... Read more →

Our first trip to Hawaii. I'm sure it won't be our last. Our little studio apartment that we rented off HomeAway.com worked out great. It was literally two blocks from the beach and most importantly, close to the wedding festivities. It didn't have the luxuries of a hotel but it was clean, adequate, and had a kitchen so that we could keep breakfast and snacks on hand. Highlights of our trip included renting a car for a day to hike Manoa Falls and drive to Kailua. Serendipitously, Sunset magazine profiled the town just last month as a great place to... Read more →

It always seems to take me a week after coming home from traveling to get back into the swing of things. To fully catch up on sleep if there was a time change, to get back to healthy eating habits, back to my workout routine and back to blogging. I love routines; I love our routines: Saturday morning yoga, grocery shopping at Trader Joe’s, spin class, low-key weeknights together, walking Drew two times a day. It’s the simple things, right? By the end of my week of travel a week ago I was pretty ready to back to our normal... Read more →

When I travel I like to always have a deck of cards with me. I love a game of crazy 8 or gin rummy over a beer or cup of coffee. But after our trip to Montana I think we've found new favorite games for traveling. The first is a card game version of Settler's of Catan! (I can't find a link for the game but I'm pretty sure I bought it at Target. Note that this is the card game that can be played with four people, there is a super confusing two player card game as well which... Read more →

We were in Montana two weekends ago Friday - Monday; we had the best time! First of all, thank you to a reader, Andee, who is a Missoula local and sent me great recommendations for Missoula restaurants and for our trip to Glacier. Thanks, Andee, we loved your town! We stayed in Missoula Friday and Saturday night and then on Sunday drove a rental car about 4 hours north to Glacier National Park. We stayed in Glacier for a night and then drove back to Missoula and flew back home. We packed a lot in but it felt like a... Read more →

{home in Austin} Hi! Hi! I've missed you! How are you? Confession: last weekend I made a secret trip to Austin! About a month ago I was suddenly missing Austin, my parents, and two of my closest girl friends. I was emailing a lot with my friend one week and wanted to much to just hang out and have a good catch up. So I thought, why not?! The secret part of the trip is because only four people knew I'd be in town. Since I've been in Arizona there have been bachelorette parties, weddings, holidays, and a music festival... Read more →

When we travel, Chris and I usually try to stick to a hotel/accommodation budget of $80 – 120/night. At that budget we’re usually not staying in super nice hotels. They're OK – clean and safe - but nothing very stylish or fancy. That’s why I’m so glad we’ve found Home Away! For the same budget we can rent an apartment or studio with some local character and have the convenience of a small kitchen and a little bit more room than a standard hotel room. It's also nice having a person to email directly leading up to the trip to... Read more →

On Monday we started the week off with a bang and booked flights for two awesome summer trips: Honolulu, Hawaii and Missoula, Montana! My good friend, Angela, will be marrying her Spanish sweetheart in Honolulu in September. It’s going to be a very small and beautiful wedding and they are such a great match. Angela’s fiancé is a chef and his mother is a pastry chef and they’ll be doing all the cooking for a tapas and sangria rehearsal dinner – doesn’t that sound fabulous? Angela even said I could probably help out in the kitchen if I so desired.... Read more →