Flagstaff or Bust

A few weekends ago, George and I had a weekend getaway to Flagstaff.  It served several purposes and was exactly what we needed.  My mother passed away around 8 months ago and her birthday was on June 27th.  Needless to say, I knew I needed to get out of town and have be distracted. We also needed to desperately escape the Phoenix heat and have some quiet alone time just the two of us.

We booked a cute little vintage trailer to stay in through Airbnb and it took every bit of strength I had not to hitch that thing on the back of our car and take it with us! It was *sigh* completely adorable.  I need to get a vintage trailer stat.

The mornings were definitely my favorite. Waking up lazily taking our time with no internet, TV, or cell phone service to interrupt.

We took one day to venture to La Posada in Winslow, Arizona. I have a HUGE crush on this place. It is absolutely beautiful and, honestly, my pictures don't do it justice. If you are within a 500 mile radius of La Posada just go to it and you will thank me.  Read more about it here. :)

We ate in the Turquoise Room in the La Posada hotel and it was un-freaking-believable. I can't even talk - I am having a moment here.

Here's a few other random snap shots from the trip including the rodeo with my lovely friend Maria and spending some time downtown shopping and eating.

It was the best medicine anyone could prescribe for what we needed and I know I will never forget our lovely weekend in our little trailer.

4th of July Fun

It's hard to be motivated to celebrate a predominately outside holiday in the middle of July in Phoenix, but we tried to pretend like it wasn't 109 degrees outside and enjoy it with much gusto!  Our celebration was pretty low-key, but it was perfect and just what we needed.

I had seen this tutorial on A Beautiful Mess and wanted to try it out with my Nikon J2. It was super fun! I only wish that I had thought ahead of time of some cooler patterns to do because when the time came I felt myself a little stunted for inspiration.

According to the tutorial, you slow your shutter speed to a 10 second exposure. After wrestling with my camera manual for a time longer than I am going to admit to you, I finally got the hang of it. You definitely need a chair or tripod to steady the camera other wise it turns into a blurry mess. Unless you have strongman arms then I am super impressed.

Here are some smoke bombs, just because it feels right. Who doesn't love a good smoke bomb?

I also made this strawberry poke cake.  I was a little hesitant about this, apparently it's a big thing and I have never heard of it.  It was pretty tasty! I didn't hate it. Sorry for the poorly lit picture.

What did you all do to celebrate July 4th?

Currently July

Linking up with Farley's July Currently!

All of mine kind of go together, but we are moving this weekend and I am so excited and nervous all at the same time. If you have read my blog, you know that my husband and I have been living with my mother in law for a few months.  I am so excited to just see my things - it's funny how attached you get to your "stuff" when it's been in storage for months.

We are moving into a significantly smaller home (about 850 square feet, yikes!).  I actually wanted to go small in hopes that it would force us to purge our junk and focus on living more simplistically yet meaningfully.   It might end up exploding in my face and meaning that we live like hoarders for a few years, but hopefully we can embrace the challenge ahead!  I've had this book in my library queue for FOREVER, but I heard that it is total inspiration for decluttering.

Has anyone read it??

Tonight I am making tostadas so we will see how they taste. I had eaten them at a friend's house before so I am hoping that I can replicate their righteous tastiness. Haha, yes you read that correctly! Righteous... ;)