Happy August! The new month rolled in with stormy skies and hopes of cooler weather (my fingers are crossed on that one)! We’re now only 5 days away from Phoenix Flea’s Flea After Dark and Scott I couldn’t be more excited because he (Citizen Home Decor) is going to have a booth at the evening’s event! Scott has been making the most beautiful pieces in prep, like the this new brass and wood bread board that he’ll be debuting at the flea, along with a few different styles of serving trays, cutting boards and his most well-loved pieces — Arizona shaped plaques, ornaments and more! If you’re local or in the area, we both hope to see you there on August 6th at The Vintage 45 (45 W Buchanan Street Phoenix, AZ) from 5-10pm! You can purchase tickets now ($5!) here, or get them at the door! See ya’ll on Saturday, and please don’t forget to say hello!
At the end of June, after a whirlwind week in Colorado, Scott and I hopped on a plane headed toward Salt Lake City to visit my family for the 4th of July weekend. Its become a bit of a tradition to visit my folks around this time of year, and its the perfect excuse for us to get out of the heat and explore the great state of Utah! This year, visiting the Young Living lavender farm in Mona was high up on my list, so I was so stoked when we had a couple of free hours to take my folks car and go exploring — all the way to the tiny town of Mona for a peek at those gorgeous fields!
After about a 45 minute drive from Provo, we jumped off the highway and took a few backroads through the town of Mona, finally making it to the YL lavender farm — which is gorgeous and so well kept. We first made our way through their visitor center to get a feel of where we were allowed to explore, and then headed out on our own. We were we greeted by rows and rows of fresh and fragrant lavender, along with a beautiful reception area, a tiny lake and jousting arena (yes — the farm has a medieval theme to it)! YL has 1,400 acres filled to the brim with lavender, and while we weren’t able to explore the bulk of their fields, the area we did get to roam around in was so beautiful and very fragrant!
The YL lavender farm is not only a great place to snap a photo, but they offer so many fun activities and events throughout the year — their annual lavender days (which we missed by a week!), essential oils classes, a 5K run, distillery tours and more. The whole farm is so pretty and very calming — Scott and I both would suggest checking it out if you’re in the SLC area. The drive is especially nice in the summertime, and there are so many fruit stands and markets you can stop at along the way. If we would have had more time, going cherry picking was also on our list — next time, next time!
We walked away from Mona with a bundle of fresh lavender and an even greater appreciation for these gorgeous fields. We ended up taking the backroads through the rest of the town and back toward Provo, stopping along the way at cutest farm store that had homemade fudge, ice cream and more. It was such a beautiful day, and I feel so lucky that we were able to make our way out to the YL lavender farm — hopefully next year we’ll be there in time for their annual celebration! I hear it’s a huge party! Anyways, today i’m sorely missing this place — especially with it being over 100 degrees before 9am! July is almost over, though, and I can see fall on the horizon — cooler temps are coming fellow desert dwellers, so stay strong (haha!). I hope ya’ll have a great Wednesday! I’m off to work, but first — coffee, coffee, coffee! Chelsea xo
Since moving into our tiny home, I often find myself reaching for our “big camera” and snapping photos around the house when the daylight is pouring in. During the past few months that we’ve called this place home, we’ve worked really hard to make it a space that we could enjoy day in and day out — as Scott and I were never really homebodies before. But boy, how quickly this has changed now that we have a space that we adore. Anyways, I thought I would share just a few recent snaps from around our home, complete with a freshly made bed, a cozy corner of our little living room and our kitty, Boots, all snuggled up in the sun.
Also, while we’re feeling pretty settled around here, we’re still on a hunt for a few items that will really pull our home all together (like storage — we need more storage, along with a finished office space, but more to come on that soon). Here are a few bits and bobs that have been making us happy around our home —
-A vintage, black leather chair we purchased at Phoenix Flea last spring! Here’s a similar chair that I also have my eye on now!
-The prettiest indigo pillows from a local, online shop, Sew and Cloth!
-A handmade, woven weaving from my sweet friend, Robyn, who has a darling Etsy shop — Woven by Ro!
-A musical moment in our new West Elm chair — a piece we saved up for and couldn’t be more happy to have in our home!
I’m off to finish this Sunday right — sipping on iced coffee, and maybe indulging in a little bit of shopping at Nordstrom for their anniversary sale! Scott and I went looking on Friday and walked away with a pair of shoes each — here’s his and hers! Have a great rest of your weekend, sweet friends!
It’s nearly the end of July, and monsoon season has finally decided to show its face around here. As the sun beings to set on a 115+ degree days, the winds pick up, the dust begins to fly and the rain starts to pour down — usually just enough to make your car dirty, but also enough to cool the desert down and make these summer days feel bearable once again. Since we’ve spent most of July working and playing at home in Arizona, I’m feel extra thankful for these cooler evenings and daily rainstorms we’ve been having around here — now, if only it would get below 80 degrees in the evening (yikes!).
Other than beating the heat, Scott and I have been spending time working on our home, getting ready for Phx Flea’s The Flea After Dark (come see us on August 6th!) and seeing a few of our favorite bands from back in the day at the Taste of Chaos tour. The concert was a complete blast from the past with The Early November, Saosin, Taking Back Sunday and Dashboard Confessional all playing sets of my favorite songs from the early-mid 2000’s. Saosin’s Seven Years and TEN’s Ever So Sweet were among my favorites of the evening! It’s also nuts to think that Scott and I had never saw Anthony Green in Saosin until then, and that we can still remember going to TEN’s final tour back in the day at The Clubhouse (RIP). This show felt nostalgic in so many ways, but I’m super stoked that were were able to attend and see all of these bands once again — some 10+ years later!
Now that monsoon season has finally started, I’m already dreaming about cooler weather and the earliest signs of Autumn (aren’t we all!). Fossil recently launched their Camp Fossil fall collection, and this is definitely adding to my excitement of the new season on our horizon. I have a feeling that their Emi saddle bag and this boyfriend style watch will be on heavy rotation in my pre-fall and autumn wardrobe — something I’m already starting to build up for the new season!
It may only be Wednesday, but I already have a weekend getaway in mind — somewhere up north where the weather is cooler and the water is flowing! Its been a few years since we checked out Slide Rock, but I’m thinking a quick, day trip up there to enjoy the flowing water and red rocks is just what we need! Do you have any plans for the weekend? Do you have a favorite Dashboard, TEN, TBS or Saosin song? Hope ya’ll have a wonderful day!
Hello! I’m back today to chat about my recent rip to Colorado! If you’ve been reading my blog since the early days, you may remember that I used to spend every summer with my family in Colorado. Once I finished up grad school back in 2013, I leaped straight into my career and haven’t been able to make my way back to CO since — so I was incredible grateful when the opportunity arose for me to finally head back to a state I’ve always considered a second home. While Scott didn’t join me on this trip, I did have three of the best travel partners during my time in the Colorado Front Range — Jane of A Taste of Koko, Rachelle of The Travel Bite and Ana of Colorful Foodie. During our five days we traveled in and around six different cities — Boulder, Estes Park, Loveland, Greeley, Fort Collins, and Longmont! I plan on doing a few in-depth blog posts to share all about our time in each city, but here’s a few of my favorite highlights from each city!
After arriving in Denver, we hightailed it to Boulder to take in the sights, sounds, yummy drinks and farmers market treats. I actually grew up going to this very park where the market is, so it was fun going to back to a place that I knew so well. Their selection of fresh produce was incredible, and they had the most delicious, locally made banana chocolate. After spending the night in Boulder, we made our way to the Lost Gulch Lookout as the sun was rising — breakfast and coffee in hand to enjoy while we took in that amazing view!
After wrapping up our time in Boulder on our first full day in Colorado, we headed to Estes Park for a full day adventuring! The Aerial Tramway was our first stop and we took the cutest red tram straight up to the summit of Prospect Mountain to take in the view (which was incredible). We spent a full and very much adventurous day and night in Estes Park, but we just couldn’t leave without making a quick stop at The Stanley Hotel — the hotel that is said to be Stephen King’s inspiration for The Shining! It was definitely spooky there, but I was super stoked that we got to stop in before we headed toward the city of Loveland!
It may sound cheesy, but our time in Loveland was lovely! We kicked off our time in this beautiful city by going on a two-hour horseback ride, complete with an outdoor, campfire lunch in the middle of Alexander Mountain. This is by far one of my favorite memories from the whole trip, and I can’t wait to share more about my time back in the saddle with ya’ll soon. Until then, I’ll just tell you how amazing the tapas were at Door 222, a local restaurant in the heart of Loveland’s charming downtown area that we headed to after working up an appetite during our ride back down the mountain. The smoked salmon poutine they serve is out of this world, and their specially crafted mocktails were a table favorite! If you’re ever in the area, make sure Door 222 is on your list of places to visit!
Once our time in Loveland came to an end, we made our way to Greeley — a town I actually spent a lot of time in growing up. While our time there was short and sweet, we did take in the sights and sounds of the famous Greeley Stampede — a local fair and festival that brings in visitors from all around the world. We enjoyed lots of yummy fair food, and took in that evenings’ big concert — Lady Antebellum (which was so much fun!). The next morning we woke up bright early to have breakfast at the cutest airport cafe you’ve ever seen, Barnstormer, before heading to the city of Fort Collins! While there, the sweetest man insisted that we take a photo with his plane — which was a quite a sight to see all of us crawl up onto the wing of this tiny plane, but it’s a fun memory that I’ll not soon forget.
Fort Collins is the local college city and an area that I was very excited to spend time exploring in! Among my favorites — Nuance Chocolate, a local chocolate shop that served the most delicious truffles, and Bindle Coffee — a local roaster who’s darling coffee shop quickly won me over! Ya’ll know I love iced coffee, and theirs definitely didn’t disappoint!
Our last stop along our Colorado Front Range tour was the city of Longmont where we took in the local cuisine, attended a cheese making class and played with baby goats on the prettiest farm. Our time in Longmont felt like the perfect way to wrap up our time in Colorado! This trip was a whirlwind, but in all honesty — I wouldn’t have had it any other way! I’m incredibly thankful for the folks at the Colorado Front Range for having me, and couldn’t have asked for a more perfect group of ladies to experience all of the beauty, delicious food and never-ending belly laughs we had along the way.
I’ll be back soon with more photos and stories from my very adventurous time in Colorado! I hope ya’ll have a wonderful evening, and happy Friday!
-Chelsea xo
A huge thank you is in order to the Colorado Front Range for having me and for sponsoring this post!
It’s hard to believe that we’ve been living in our tiny house for over two months — seriously where has the time gone? While we still have nooks, crannies and even a whole room we’re still working on designing and pulling together, our living room/dining room/kitchen area is by far the space that feels most complete. When we were first designing our tiny home, we intentionally moved a window from one wall to another — that way we would have more light streaming in during the day, and also so we could have one wall where there wouldn’t be any windows that would get in the way of creating the perfect photo display that my Pinterest loving heart had dreamed about forever, haha! The sweet folks over at Framebridge, an online custom framing service, were kind enough to help aid in making my dream become a reality!
Framebridge’s quick and easy process goes a little something like this — you upload the image you want, either from your computer or Instagram (or send in a print you already own in a pre-paid package), then you choose the size and matte you want, pick your frame and then send it off to be created and sent back to you with lots of love and care! So easy, right? Scott and I chose to have two photos framed in different sizes and frames, and we absolutely love how they both turned out!
We, of course, chose to frame one of our wedding photos by Arrow and Apple — aww! We ended up picking the Montauk frame (size medium) with a white mat and couldn’t be happier with it! We also framed a sweet photo our good friend and local photographer, Tish Carlson, took of us last November, but this time around we chose to add in a little color with the Richmond frame — a thin, antiqued gold frame. I love how the frame shines and complements this golden hour photo so perfectly!
Since receiving our frames, I’ve been searching for the perfect combo of other bits and bobbins to place with them and I think I’ve finally found the perfect arrangement. The milk glass vases were used for our wedding, the gold candle holders were given to us by a sweet friend, and the cat planter was a recent find from one of our favorite home decor stores. Every piece has a meaning and that just makes me love this space that much more! I’ve already got my eye on Framebridge‘s Instagram mini frames, so those might be making their debut soon!
Ready to add a little framed goodness to your home? Use the code CHELSEABIRD15 to get 15% off your first Framebridge order! Now, it’s time to get cozy on our couch, chow down on some Mod Pizza and catch up on our shows — hope you have a great evening, sweet friends!
Hi friends! Since we last spoke, I’ve spent time galavanting across three states — from the bottom of the rockies, back to the desert, up to the great salt lake and back to the heat once again. To say the last few weeks have been busy would be an understatement, but ya know — I wouldn’t have it any other way. Anyways, I’m jumping back in the saddle today to share a few easy, breezy outfits that Scott and I have been rocking on repeat lately from Banana Republic. With the temps hitting 115 and higher somedays around here, all we can do is dress “cool,” sip on iced coffee and only venture out when the sun is just about set. Most evenings, we try our best to get out of the house and do something fun (and/or productive!). Sometimes it’s only an 20 minute walk around the orchard, and other nights its working in the garden, grocery shopping or my personal favorite — browsing all my favorite stores in the air conditioned mall, haha.
Until recently, I had never tried on a pair of Banana Republic jeans before, but this pair has quickly found its way into my favorites. The fit is perfect — tight in all the right places, and the wash is great for everyday. They’re also super lightweight, so I’ll be rocking them throughout the summer and well into the fall. Ya’ll know I love a good hat, too, and this woven gem that I found while jean shopping is just perfect. It’s a unique shape and style that I didn’t have in my collection before, and I think it’ll be great for our next beach getaway. All in all, I’m loving Banana’s summer collection and think you will too!
The rest of our week is set to be a great one — laid back and time spent at home! I hope you all have a great evening, and I’ll be back soon! – Chelsea xo
Thank you to Banana Republic for sponsoring this post!
Hello! I’m back again today to share more of our one jet jaunt to Springfield, MO earlier this month. One of the areas I was most excited to explore was C-Street, or Commercial Street, as I’ve heard so much about it over the years — this is where Elsie and Emma’s vintage shop was back in the day, and also where Askinosie Chocolate is located (more on that in a later post — I need more space to share that inspiring experience). It was a bit of a gloomy morning when we arrived, but the rain didn’t stop us from exploring and taking in the full C-Street experience.
We made our first stop at Creative Escape Glass, a locally own studio where you can create fused glass creations. Scott and I are always up for a little arts and crafts, so the plan to make sun catchers was right up our alley. After we learned about how to be safe with the glass and about our tools of the trade, we picked out our colors of choice and went to work.
Scott went for a very detail, Mondrian-esque design, and I went really simple with shades of blue and white — lined up so they almost resembled keys on a piano. I don’t know if any of you out there are Cursive fans, but my design ended up reminding me of their Ugly Organ cover art — a forever favorite album of mine! Anyways, we both really enjoyed our time at Creative Escape Glass and would highly suggest their classes if you’re local or just stopping by!
After working up an appetite, we all headed up the street to Ms. Gilmore’s Team Room for lunch! Known for its quirky charm, Ms. Gilmore’s had a fun atmosphere and the most delicious desserts. Scott had their famous strawberry soup (and a side of grilled cheese, haha) for lunch, and while he wasn’t quite sure what to expect, he was pleasantly surprised that it tasted just like strawberry ice cream — not a bad lunch if you ask me!
We both couldn’t resist getting dessert after hearing so many good things about their treats, so we split a piece of key lime pie and a lemon torte! Both were, of course, delicious! We heard their Coca-Cola cake and fruit tart were also yummy — next time, next time!
After lunch, we took a little stroll around C-Street — up and down, peeking in shop windows and looking through their many vintage store for treasures to bring back home with us. Our sweet friend, Stephanie, snapped the photo of us at the very top of this post as we ventured around and took in all of the old, beautiful brick buildings. C-Street was sure charming, and we loved checking out all of the local shops that lined the historic area.
Our next stop, and the last on our C-Street adventure, was a tour at Askinosie Chocolate, but I’ll be saving that for another post! If you’re local or ever visited Springfield, MO before — have you checked out C-Street? If so, what’s your favorite shop in the area? Have a great Wednesday, sweet friends! -Chelsea xo
A huge thank you is in order to the Springfield, Missouri Convention & Visitors Bureau for sponsoring this post! Scott and I couldn’t be more grateful for the opportunity to visit their charming city together!
Happy Sunday, friends! We’ve been laying pretty low today — making breakfast at home, sipping on some cold brew from Peixoto and watching old episodes of Fixer Upper. Scott actually just scooted out for a bit to work on some Citizen Home Decor projects, so I wanted to post here about our trip to Millsap Farm for their weekly pizza club while we were in Springfield, MO, a few weeks ago. We headed to Millsap on our first night in town and even before we arrived we had heard so many goods things abut this place — so we knew we were in for a real treat!
Every Thursday, Millsap opens up to the community and offers an all you can eat pizza night on their beautiful farm. Our group arrived pretty early on and and the place was already packed!
The pizza is made right their on site, in their handmade brick ovens, with lots of fresh ingredients from the farm. Scott and I were pretty excited to check out their process (we would love to have a brick oven here at the orchard), and to chow down on some pizza. Everything tasted so fresh and was delicious — the beet at kale pizza was by far my favorite!
Once we felt like we just couldn’t eat any more, we decided to take a walk around the farm to check the whole place out. I love that the owners were totally ok with this and encouraged visitors to take a peek around their gorgeous farm.
The first place we stopped in was one of their greenhouses, which was chocked full of fresh veggies, flowers and more. Scott and I were in awe of everything they were growing in there, and also amazed at how differently things were growing there compared to how they grow here in Arizona — their kale was out of control, while the kale we used grow in our garden was always a labor of love! Needless to say, we could have spent hours in here — if the humidity didn’t eventually get to us, I’m sure we would have.
While exploring the greenhouse, Emma of A Beautiful Mess joined us and offered to snap a photo of the two of us (at the very top of this post). We had first met Emma a few months back while she was visiting Arizona, and it was so nice to see her again. She spent the evening with us at Millsap, and then hosted us at her new new restaurant, The Golden Girl Rum Club, just a few nights later — more on that soon!
After leaving the greenhouse, we found ourself surrounding by what I can only call — quintessential farm life! These three baby pigs quickly won us over and we couldn’t help but watch and laugh as they chased each other around and slid through the mud together.
Before the evening wrapped up, we found ourselves on the outskirts of the farm taking in a sunset I would only imagine you could see somewhere in the Southwest (due to all of the colors in the sky that usually come from the mass amounts of dirt we have flying around in the air). While the sun was setting, we kept our eyes open just in case we might see some fireflies. Growing up in Arizona, catching fireflies isn’t something we get to experience — in fact, I didn’t see my first firefly until I was 25. On this night, we ended up getting lucky and got to experience the magic of fireflies once more as they jumped around and flew through the fields nearby. It was the perfect way to end our first night in Springfield!
I’ll be back again soon to share day two of our trip, but until then I hope ya’ll have a wonderful rest of your weekend! Happy Father’s Day!
A huge thank you is in order to the Springfield, Missouri Convention & Visitors Bureau for sponsoring this post! Scott and I couldn’t be more grateful for the opportunity to visit their charming city together!
Every Summer, the most gorgeous, wild sunflowers pop up in a field nearby our home. Some are short and stout, and others grow to be five, six feet tall and tower over me. This field usually has wheat growing in it, so these sunflowers are always a colorful surprise. I’ve taken photos here the past two years (2014 – 2015 — and I’m now realizing that I named both posts the exact same thing — guess I just really like that Strawberry Fields Forever reference, haha.), and looking back, it’s hard to believe that come this fall it’ll be three years since we move out to the orchard. Seriously, where has the time gone?
When Scott and I were snapping these photos Monday evening, we were greeted by an unexpected visitor — a coyote! We were just standing there, barely in the field when he (or she) jumped out of a nearby bush and stopped just long enough to stare and make us feel totally uncomfortable. He then moved on and disappeared into the field — the same one we were standing in. At this point, we didn’t know if his friends would be joining him so we hightailed it out of there. Coyotes are pretty common in our area, in fact — we usually hear a few howling in the evenings a couple times of week, but that doesn’t mean they’re friendly. We have wild javelins around here too, which we saw at our local park during a late night walk a few months back. I’m hoping that this was the last of our run-ins for months to come — that’s what we get for living in the country and the desert!
This week has ended up being more jam-packed than I had anticipated, but Scott and I did squeeze in a quick date night yesterday with burritos at Cafe Rio and a stop at our local Whole Foods to grab some dessert to enjoy at home. We have a few more travel plans in the coming weeks, but I’m hoping that we can really hunker down and get a few house projects done before we take off again. On Monday, I made this giant list of home and everyday projects that I want to work on, some being quick and easy and others being a bit more time consuming. I’m thinking that if we mark off a few items each week, then we’ll have it done in no time! Now, we just need to find the time to do those things, haha. We’ll get there, though, baby steps — baby steps.
Two of our sweet friends, Josh and Kenny, recently opened up their second local boutique — Phoenix General! If you follow me on Instagram or Snapchat, you may have saw a few posts about our trip to visit their newly opened shop last weekend. Josh and Kenny have put so much time and an immense amount of hard work into bringing Phoenix General to life, and I truly couldn’t be more excited and happy for them! This Friday, June 17th, from 6-9pm is their grand opening and they’ll be having music, drinks + treats, giveaways and more! If you’re local or visiting the area, I hope to see you there — 5538 N. 7th Street Phoenix, AZ!
