THE ARCHIVE
A WEEKEND GETAWAY IN TEXAS
I’m 100% writing this post because the Airbnb we stayed in Texas at was so cool. Over our Christmas holiday, we took a road trip to Texas for a friend’s wedding. Tyler went to school with this friend and I’ve known them just as long too. Tyler and he were roommates in California and they both worked together at BlueSky. The wedding ended up in Texas because that’s where our friend’s family was. They decided on a small intimate wedding and found an Airbnb to house their family and guests.
Tyler and I have always dreamed of renting a super big house to put all of our family in for a family vacation, this Airbnb gave us a taste of that. This Airbnb included 2 riverfront houses connected by a deck and breezeway. It housed 12 people and had lots of outdoor space. Check out everything here.
This road trip ended up being a really sweet weekend getaway for Tyler and I. We weren’t apart of the wedding party, so we weren’t in charge of a lot of things. We were just able to enjoy our time and relax. We were literally only there for about 24 hours too, but it was still super nice. Because we were only going for a few days, I almost didn’t pack enough clothes… I’m always under packing. Last minute I threw in my leggings (pictured above,) which was good, otherwise I would have ended up wearing shorts to the wedding.
Short and sweet, but just a look into a quick weekend away in Texas. xo. Samantha
STYLE CHALLENGE RECAP FIVE
32 outfits in and I’m still making it. Can’t say that I’m going strong, but I am making it, haha. I did pull one of my favorite tops from Tyler’s wardrobe. I’m wearing his Patagonia quarter-zip, I like that it’s oversized on me. I will say that while the whether has been a slight challenge with the rain, it’s not to crazy cold like in New York, so hopefully I’ll be able to keep putting together outfits and taking pictures outside. We’re not sure what Vancouver is like in January and February, but I guess we’ll see.
OUTFIT 28
TOP // VEST // LEGGINGS // NEW BALANCE
OUTFIT 32
TOP (wearing mens OPTION 1) // LEGGINGS // NEW BALANCE
Until next time! xoxo. Samantha
STYLE CHALLENGE: RECAP FOUR
This style challenge has really become a challenge, haha. And most days I’m not really in love with it… but then others it’s not so bad. The actual process of putting together the outfits and taking pictures of the outfits is annoying, but I love the process of seeing the outfits in photos and being able to reflect on whether or not I love each peace that I’m wearing and if it’s most flattering for my body type. I’ve also come to really enjoy the research part of the process when I’m trying to find a dupe to share with you guys… which is a surprise. In all honesty it’s probably helping me figure out what I like again. When we were paying off our debt, I rarely shopped at all… so much so that when I did shop I had no idea what I wanted or even liked. So while the challenge it annoying, it’s serving it’s purpose.
This recap marks a total of 28 outfits. I was telling a friend the other day that I’m not sure I’ll make it to 100 outfits. The weather is definitely dictating my choices and I haven’t really included any short sleeve tops or shorts. It will be interesting to see how many articles of clothing I end up actually using for this challenge.
Until next time! xoxo. Samantha
ON LIFE IN VANCOUVER
Hmmmmm, so we’ve been in Vancouver for a little over 2 months now... going on 3 months. We stayed in an Airbnb for the first month and we moved into our current place at the beginning of November. We found a place with a 5 month lease which is exactly what we needed. We live downtown, but near the sea wall, which we love. That is actually why we picked our current place. In just a few steps we can walk the sea wall and not to much further we can walk along English Bay. The great thing about downtown Vancouver is that everything is within walking distance, so we can easily walk to Stanley Park too.
Our time here as been relatively quiet, we haven’t done a lot of crazy exploring. Tyler works a lot and his injury has kept us from venturing too far out of downtown, we have found fun stuff to do though. On a regular bases we walk the sea wall and one weekend we walked all the way to Stanley park. So far Stanley park is one of our favorite places.
While hanging out in Stanley park we found the Totem poles which Tyler loved. I thought they were cool too, but as an artist Tyler loved them. Stanley park is super cool because you can experience so many different things. We walked by the water and I always find it super fascinating to see the city right up against the ocean. And then we walked through the park with paved walk ways and leafing trees. There is also an aquarium in Stanley park, but we haven’t checked it out yet.
We walk every where, which I really love and the photo below was fun. This is English Bay where Tyler found the accessible beach mat. He has a whole new appreciation for handicap access.
In regards to Tyler’s injury. He’s doing a lot better. He’s still in his boot, but he’s allowed to put weight on it and starting next week he can start weening off his boot. He also started physical therapy, which is really helping and hopefully he’ll be out of his boot by the time we leave for Christmas.
One weekend we went to Olympic village and saw Jojo Rabbit, which was so good. Taika Waititi is one of our favorite directors, he also directed Hunt for the Wilderpeople… you should just go watch all of Tiaka’s films, they’re good. We also walked back to our apartment from Olympic village which was really pretty. It was about a 2 mile walk, which seems pretty normal to us now. I walk about 3 to 4 miles a day.
We’ve also checked out Granville Island, which we really enjoy. There’s a market there with tons of fresh produce, fish and a bunch of different places to eat. We like to frequent Granville often to try different types of food. That is one thing that’s really fun about Vancouver, all the food. There are so many different places to eat and so many different things to try.
We also recently drove to Washington which was fun. I really wanted to go to Sierra Trading Post for my birthday and the closest one is in Bellingham, which is only an hour a way, wahoo! There are a lot of other things we would love to do… like lots of hiking, but with Tyler’s injury those things aren’t really an option and now it’s getting cold. Vancouver also has lots of winter options, like snowboarding, but we probably won’t be doing that either, haha. Our time here is actually passing faster than I expected, which doesn’t really bother me. It will be fun to figure out what’s next for us. It’s always a little tough feeling unsettled, but I always try to remind myself that Jesus is the constant. Okay, that’s it for today!