Y'all, we love DIYs. I think you probably know that by now. Because of this, we have made a whole bunch of Christmas DIYs over the years, and we aren't stopping now! But before we get carried away with more projects this year, I wanted to share some of our old favorites with you! These are all great and range from really simple to pretty complicated.
We love decorating a table for any occasion. And you know what? It's really easy because we have a stash of a few things that work for basically anything. Let's talk about the few elements that you need to set up a cute table on the fly. And then keep scrolling to see 5 Fall Inspired table scapes using these same pieces. And since Thanksgiving is tomorrow, go ahead and check out our last post where we talk about 5 Christmas decorations you need year after year.
1. Table Runner
2. Cloth Napkins
3. Live Centerpiece
For this could use things like greenery, flowers, or even whole foods like pumpkins. You can even head out into your yard and cut things like branches and herbs to create a dreamy centerpiece. Any combination of these bring life to the table!
4. Classy Flatware
5. Neutral Plates
There are so many options in each of these sections, but picking pieces that are more neutral will always allow you to create something that goes together any time you need it. Now let's get to the fun stuff- the inspiration! Check out these 5 table scapes we've done for past Thanksgivings and Fall dinners below.
4. Pumpkins + Candlesticks. This is one of our simplest table scapes, but it works wonders. Little pumpkins can last for a while and you can move them around as needed. Also this black candlestick holder sits on our fireplace sometimes. Double duty. Check out more details of this table scape below.
5. Minimal Boho. This table runner work for so many different themes. This one is simple and easy. We just used pumpkins we already had in the house and then added some Fall colored flowers. See more details below.
Thanks so much for checking out our blog and this post! Don't forget to save your favorite photo to Pinterest for later use!
We ALL love decorating for Christmas, that's a given. But we don't all love the time it takes to search for the perfect pieces. Luckily, that's something we love doing for you! This year we have gone through Amazon and found plenty of lovely pieces that would be great for someone with boho/eclectic/traditional style. You can find all of the items over onour Amazon store, or keep scrolling to see a few of our favorite things to decorate with year after year, and where you can find them. Even if your style changes over the years, these things will continue to work for you!
1. Garland Lights. And I'm not talking pre-lit greenery. I'm talking these snowflake or star lights. Even just some copper lights make a big impact in making your decor sparkle and twinkle.
2. Natural Greenery. We always want to use greenery (even if it's fake) that looks more natural. This can be kind of hard and sometimes we just go for the real deal. But if you can find something that looks almost real- it will look 100 times better than cheap garland.
3. Wood bead garland. You can get this in colors, or just the natural wood. If you think you may change your decor every year, go with something more natural. You can even find some cute garland of the same size that is felt and looks just as cute.
4. A "Merry Christmas" Sign. We got ours in Gold a few years back, but it goes with EVERYTHING. The past two years we've put it over our greenery garland over an arch walkway, but maybe we will change that this year....
5. Bottleneck Christmas trees. If you want to keep it simple, go with some that are green or white. But they also come is crazy fun colors if you want to get really creative! All of ours are green, and they look great in a colorful scheme, and even in our all white decor.
And to fill in the spaces between, we have found many other beautiful Christmas-y pieces:
We hope these selections make your decorating process a little easier this year. Look around the blog a little while for some more Christmas inspiration, and follow us on Pinterest!
Holy moly batman... we leave to hike the John Muir Trail today. We have been planning for this trip for 6 long months. Honestly, when we decided to do this trip I had no idea how much planning and research was going to be involved. I will confess thought that I'm an over-researcher. I spend entirely too much time reading about items I want to purchase. However, what you can know is that all of this gear listed here is was heavily researched. When our trip is over, I will report back with how we felt about it all after we used it for a month.
When I was doing research I was looking for gear that was lightweight and comfortable. We are definitely not doing this thru-hike as ultralight backpackers. In the backpacking community there is a lot of debate about the weight of your pack because there is a balance between comfort and weight. Some people feel like having the lightest pack is the best way to comfort but others will carry more weight in order to have things with them that help them to be more comfortable. Another factor is the cost of ultralight gear. The lighter the gear is the more expensive it is. So we did our very best to choose gear that we could afford and that was lightweight and comfortable.
I want to take this time to give a big shout out to our local retailer Cumberland Transit. Those guys there have been a HUGE help in helping us pick out gear and making sure we had everything we needed. They were also kind enough to make us Cumberland Transit ambassadors which allowed us to get some free gear and discounts. I can say that without their help we would not have been able to take this trip.
For those of you who don't have access to local retailers like Cumberland Transit, we have linked all of our gear below. These are affiliate links and when you make a purchase through one of these links, we receive a teeny tiny portion. Your use of affiliate links helps keeps this blog alive. With that said, again, we highly encourage you to try out your local outfitter and test out gear, ask questions, and figure out what is best for you. And if you are in Nashville, definitely check out Cumberland Transit.
Guys, Chattanooga is awesome. Casey and I have both been to Chattanooga, but mostly times when we were just passing through for an evening. So we finally went for a weekend and it was lovely! My mom flew in from Texas and we three had a pretty adventurous 2 days there. Chattanooga is a place I never knew I'd love so much, but we just couldn't stop talking about it when we left. It is a perfect weekend trip from Nashville or Atlanta (and many more places I'm sure), and now we want to tell you why you should spend some time there too!
We recorded a vlog while we were there of all of our adventures! You can see more details about the places we were in this footage.
First of all, let's talk about this Airbnb. This is where we stayed for our weekend in Chattanooga.
The space was insanely spacious and had a full kitchen, which we love to have when traveling! Plus there was a gas fireplace which was nice in the evenings as is was still a little cooler (as it was Spring.... yes this blog has taken a very long time to write).
If you are interested in using Airbnb for the first time, you can CLICK HERE to get 15% off your first booking!
Okay and onto the things we loved in Chattanooga that you should definitely check out!
1. The Pedestrian Bridge / If you are from Nashville you may think "why would I want to go here?" Because yes we do have one here in Nashville. But this one is different. It's one of the longest pedestrian bridges in the world and the view is especially beautiful for sunset. One end is downtown and one is The North Shore, which we will talk about later.
2. Sunset Rock / Okay so I don't think pictures do this place justice... It's a short walk from the parking lot, although you'll want to wear closed toe shoes as it's a very rocky walk down a bunch of stairs.
You drive up for a while, following directions from your phone or GPS....
And then park at the tiny lot across from this cute house. The parking lot only has 7 or 8 spots so that is something to keep in mind! We were lucky and snagged a spot right before sunset. I know there's another way to get to the rock because people were coming off a different trail than we were on, so if the parking lot is full, you have options. I just don't know those exact details! It's silent up there, except for whoever may be up there with you. But it's serene and beautiful at sunset.
3. Foster Falls / Okay this hike is kind of insane at first. I guess it depends on which way you start the loop, but the first part we did went straight down on rocks the whole time until you reach the waterfall. If you go to the waterfall overlook and head to your left, that's the route we took.
But if you aren't into hiking, you can just go to the overlook and see the falls from afar. It is far away... But if you are into doing the hike, it's really cool to see the waterfall up close and then keep walking and see all the rock climbers along the rest of the hike. There were so many of them! And we are not rock climbers, so it was really cool to watch. The hike is rocky the whole way through, so make sure you are prepared!
4. Denny Cove / So you have to hike to see this waterfall, but I think I liked this one more. The hike was harder, by far. Sometimes you don't even understand where the trail is because there are so many fallen rocks. But I don't think we saw a single soul on this trail, so at the end we had the waterfall all to ourselves.
5. The North Shore / Okay I sort of mentioned this earlier, but at one end of the Pedestrian bridge you will find The North Shore. Here, there are a ton of local shops and restaurants in one small area. It's a great place to park and walk around. We went to a lot of the shops (went 2 different times) and drank bubble tea after our walk. It is so interesting what you can learn about a place when you visit it's local shops. Even if you aren't in the market to make purchases, it's still a cool way to see a town!
Though our trip was short, we managed to squeeze in a lot of adventures and good food. It ended too fast, but I know one thing- we need to go back to explore more. These 5 things are just the baseline of things to do in Chattanooga!
1. Cactus Christmas Tree
2. Mini Cactus Christmas Tree
3. Pom Pom Wreath
4. Pom Pom Tree Topper
5. Wrapping Paper Snowflake
6. Clay Sweater Ornament
7. Anthropologie Tassel Tree Skirt
8. Fa La Freakin' La Christmas Print
9. Boho Christmas Stocking
10. 5 Minute Placemat Pillow
