sanantonio – Styling Sunshine

10 Things To Do In San Antonio This Holiday Season

This time of year is definitely one of my favorites. There are so many fun holiday events going on, splendid lights everywhere, and christmas music (which I LOVE). I am going to share my bucket list of events I want to go to before the season is over. Comment your favorite event to attend this holiday season! 🙂

1. Santa’s Ranch

Santa’s Ranch is absolutley amazing and you get to drive through the entire ranch so you never even have to get out of your car! It is in New Braunfels, which isn’t a far drive at all from San Antonio, and totally worth it.

2. Pearl Holiday Gift Market

The entire Pearl Brewery area is a real treat during the holidays and it is truly magical! If you’re looking to shop local and get unique gifts for your loved ones this holiday season, look no further! There is also tons of amazing food options so come hungry!

3. San Antonio River Walk

The River Walk is a winter wonderland during the holiday season. It is perfect for a date night or a night downtown with friends. Right across from the River Walk, directly in front of the Alamo, is a giant beautifully lit Christmas tree!

4. Holiday in the Park

If you live in San Antonio, owning a season pass to Fiesta Texas should be a must! The season pass costs slightly more than a single visit and comes with TONS of perks. If you do not own one, they are having a special right now where a 2016 season pass for Holiday in the Park is free! Tyler and I bought ours last year and have gotten so much use out of it. This event makes for a perfect date night!

5. Christmas at the Caverns

If y0u haven’t visited the Natural Bridge Caverns yet, you must! It is truly an amazing site to see. During the holidays, the park is lit up all over with lights along with underground christmas shows! They also have a ton of above ground holiday attractions.

6. A Wonderland Christmas

This event will be a new one for us this season. We have passed by this theme park so many times since we moved to the outskirts of San Antonio (Live Oak). I honestly never even knew of this park until a couple months ago. While doing some online research, I found that it’s a very popular holiday event for the park! Check out all of the activities they have to offer by clicking the link above the picture.

7. Holidays in Bloom

This is the PERFECT place to take holiday pictures. You will be blown away by all of the amazing colors during this season’s bloom. They have giant checkers, tons of christmas lights, and much more. 38 acres of true beauty!

8.Holiday Arts and Craft Show

This event is also on the amazing River Walk and is taking place this weekend only! There will be TONS of vendors selling unique gifts to share this holiday season!

9.Don Strange Ranch

This will be another first for us this holiday season and I’ve heard amazing reviews about this place. The ranch is about 40 minutes from downtown San Antonio. It’s main holiday attraction is a scenic route with thousands of lights that stretches 2 miles long; truly a winter wonderland.

10. Light up Downtown

This is San Antonio’s 5th annual Light Up Downtown event. It is a contest for all buildings downtown, big and small, to compete with each other for the best and brightest holiday display. You are able to vote which building is your favorite and the building with the most votes is declared winner. This event makes for a PERFECT date night. Make some homemade hot coco or pick up your favorite latte from your local coffee shop and drive around downtown picking out your favorite buildings.

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Rib Knit Dress with Pockets

DRESS: Dottie Couture

FRINGE BOOTIES: Sold out / Similar

NECKLACE: Kendra Scott

BLACK BOOTS: Charlotte Russe

TAUPE BOOTS: Sold out / Similar / Similar

We celebrated my brother’s birthday last night and I wore one of my new dresses from Dottie Couture. This dress is SO comfy and has one of my most favorite things… pockets! I absolutely love anything with pockets. I pictured 3 different ways you can wear this dress. Last night I wore it last with black boots and my black leather jacket because it was a little chilly! The taupe boots are from Charlotte Russe and I got them in-store not too long ago. I can’t find them on their website, but a store near you might still have them! 🙂

I’ve mentioned Dottie Couture in a couple of other posts, but seriously, this boutique is so awesome and I have to mention them again! I pretty much do the majority of my online shopping with them and have never once had a single hiccup. I even put the wrong shipping address on an order and they had it fixed within 5 minutes with a simple phone call. The girl on the phone was really sweet and super helpful too! I have moved a lot throughout the years so my shipping address is always changing. I have put the wrong address on a couple of different orders from other online stores and it was a HUGE hassle to track down and get my packages. It was nearly impossible to get in contact with some of these stores and the only point of contact was by email. Not a fun experience to say the least. Also, Dottie always has fast and free shipping within the U.S. and they always send tracking updates.

Here are a few of my favorite new arrivals from Dottie:

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Happy Sunday and thanks for stopping by! 🙂

Chicken Soup in the Park

VEST: Similar

LONG SLEEVE: Sold out / Similar

JEANS: H&M

BOOTS: Tory Burch

Yesterday we decided to go on a little family picnic with some chicken noodle soup. My mom has been making this soup for as long as I can remember and it is absolutely amazing! Now that the sun sets so early, we barely made it to the park before dark after I got off of work. The pups had a blast chasing each other, while we ate our soup, and enjoyed each others’ company. Nala tries SO hard to keep up with Layla and sometimes does a couple front rolls when she looses her footing (it’s hard not to laugh lol). Nights like these ones are definitely my favorite. It is almost impossible for us to get a picture with all 4 of us looking and being still, but we managed to get some okay shots. The vest I’m wearing is from the same site I linked, however they are currently sold out of it in brown. Thanks for stopping by and be sure to check out the chicken soup recipe below! Happy Chicken Soup for the Soul Day! 🙂

WHAT YOU NEED:

4 Boneless skinless chicken breasts

3 Whole raw carrots chopped (optional)

12 oz Ribbon egg noodles

4 Cups chicken broth

1 can Cream of celery soup

1/2 Tsp Cayenne pepper / salt / pepper

STEP 1: Boil chicken breasts and carrots in big pot of water (about 20 mins).

STEP 2: Cut boiled chicken into pieces, set aside (leave carrots in pot).

STEP 3: Add 4 cups chicken broth to the water that the chicken was boiled in; cook noodles in that water.

STEP 4: Once noodles are cooked, mix in can of cream of celery soup.

STEP 5: Add cut up chicken, cayenne pepper, salt, and pepper to taste.

ENJOY! 🙂

Chicken Pasta Bake

WHAT YOU NEED:

16 ounces of cooked pasta

2 cups of cooked chicken, cubed

1 tsp minced garlic

3 Tbsp butter

3 Tbsp flour

1/2 cup diced green pepper

1/2 cup diced mushroom

2 cups chicken broth

1 cup plain greek yogurt

1 1/2 cups shredded gouda cheese

1 1/2 cups shredded mozzarella cheese

1 – 14.5 ounce can diced tomatoes, drained

salt and pepper

Tony Chachere’s

Oregano

STEP 1: Place onion, green pepper, mushrooms, garlic and butter in a skillet and sautee for 2 mins. Stir in the flour and cook for another 2-3 mins. Whisk in the chicken broth. Stir until the broth thickens.

STEP 2: Whisk in the yogurt. Add 1 cup gouda cheese and 1 cup mozzarella cheese and stir until melted. Stir in the cooked pasta, chicken, and can of tomatoes. Season to taste with salt, pepper, and Tony Chachere’s.

STEP 3: Spoon the pasta into a greased 9×13 baking dish. Top with remaining cheese and sprinkle with oregano. Bake at 350 degrees for 20-25 mins, or until cheese is melted and browning. ENJOY! 🙂

My Grandma has been making this recipe for years and it is seriously delicious! This pasta bake is really filling and provides us with left overs for the entire week. Tyler is not a fan of mushrooms and he still loved it. He didn’t even notice I actually added a little more than the recipe called for! This recipe is perfect for those really busy weeks when you don’t have any time to cook, which happened to be this week for us, so we made it last night. 🙂

Thanks for stopping by! 🙂