Family is Where the Heart Is

Tim and I took a trip earlier this year to see my mom in Sacramento-area. We jetted off for a long weekend (4 days, which never turns out to be long enough) to spend some quality time with my side of the family (minus my sister and her husband, unfortunately!). It was a perfect, relaxing 75-degree weekend in sunny California.

As you can tell, our first trip was to Wise Villa Winery and, I mean, can you ever go wrong with wine tasting? I think not. It was a wonderful afternoon and we topped it off with the best happy hour at Ruth's Chris: $20 for a great glass of full-bodied red wine and an absolutely delicious steak sandwich. Tim and I decided we need to hit up its happy hour more often!

The next day, my mom took Tim and I to Downtown Sacramento. My entire mom's side of the family is from Northern California so I grew up visiting the area, but it's always fun going back and seeing new, touristy attractions. And my mom makes for the best tour guide <3

After we visited the rose garden, we toured the Capitol Building in all its ornate beauty. It's definitely on the top of our list as one of our favorite extraordinary examples of intricate architecture. These pictures definitely don't do it justice, but just look at the detail:

And if you thought the capitol was beautiful, check out the Cathedral of the Blessed Sacrament, just across the street from the Capitol Building. It's truly breathtaking:

Below is a few other random photographs from around town. Fun fact: the two photos directly below this are of Stanford Mansion - the home (now museum) of the family who founded Stanford University!

After we finished walking around the center of downtown, the rest of the afternoon was well-spent at the Crocker Art Museum. One of the exhibitions on display when we visited was Andy Warhol's Portraits. Amazing is an understatement. They wouldn't allow photography, otherwise this entire blog post would probably have been filled with his work! It was beautiful.

The next couple of days were spent mostly relaxing, eating great food, and going out for drinks with my mom, brother Shawn, and brother-in-law Manny. We visited La Provence for the best and most affordable French brunch in the area and Knee Deep Brewing for some tasty beer and food cart snacks. The best part of the brewery was its laid-back feel; we spent the majority of our time playing Jenga. And let me tell you: the game was intense!

Overall, the trip was absolutely perfect (other than family time never seems to last long enough). Thank you, mom, Shawn, and Manny for being such wonderful hosts and tour guides! We had such a blast.

Style // Here Comes the Sun

I love pattern mixing, but I also love easy outfits. When I was putting this outfit together, I considered just wearing the blouse and jeans, but thought this scarf was a great pop of color (and a fun way to mix patterns!). I’m not really an accessories girl, so you won’t ever see me wearing tons of costume jewelry, but I do love scarves and hats <3 Ultimately, I think the scarf was just what the outfit needed!

Days like this remind me how lucky we are to have the city as our backyard. The best days are spent exploring with my husband and being able to spend quality time together. And in case you were wondering, yes, he took these photos; he’s an Instagram husband, for sure ;) And he swears he doesn’t mind it!

Outfit details: Blouse // H&M | Jeans // Levi’s | Scarf // Forever 21* | Hat // Forever 21* | Shoes // Nine West (Macy’s)

*I'm actually not entirely sure where these came from, but when in doubt, it's probably Forever 21 or H&M ;)

DIY // Gallery Wall

The best way to make a place feel like home is to frame photos and hang pretty things. Or at least that’s what makes our rented space feel like home to me. In our last apartment, it took us a year and a half to get our gallery wall up and we only got as far as hanging the frames with no pictures in them! This time around it only took us about 5 months and we got the pictures in the frames before hanging them… what a concept! ;)

Everyone has their own way of creating gallery walls. The last time we did one we used a roll of white paper to trace the layout of the frames. Once the layout was finalized, we placed the white paper where we wanted it on the wall and hammered in nails where each frame would hang. Shoutout to my mom for the idea; it was a great way to get it just right.

As you can see, however, this time around I was a little lazier and just laid out the frames and signs on the floor. I didn’t worry as much about width or height, but used the couch length as a loose guide as I was planning. Once I had it perfect and had all the pictures printed and in the frames, I solicited Tim’s help so I could double check the spacing as he was hanging. It turned out perfectly!

The wooden signs we hung were part of our wedding decor. Tim’s parents made about 8 of them for us and they were just too beautiful not to keep. I’m so beyond thrilled we finally have a few hanging up. We’re planning on hanging a few more in our bedroom, but that’s a different post for another day.

When we were done, all I wanted to do was stare at it. I loved everything about it, especially that it made our apartment feel more like home. And it really does change up the look and feel of our family room, all while representing our style and taste to a T. There isn’t one thing I’d change about it <3