texas – Styling Sunshine

Austin, Texas I Love You

TUNIC: Sold out / Similar

VEST: Sold out / Similar

BOOT SOCKS: Sold out / Similar

BOOTS: Tory Burch

This past Sunday we decided to spend the day in Austin, Texas. I have been having some serious withdrawals since moving back to San Antonio and am absolutely obsessed with the South Congress area. There are so many cute little shops and such AMAZING food! We ate at Home Slice and both got the meat calzone, which was delicious. Hopdoddy is another popular spot, where the line to get served is usually wrapped around the building! However, I can assure you it is most definitely worth the wait. Their burgers are the best I’ve ever had and their parmesan truffle fries are astounding! Guero’s Taco Bar is another one of my favorite spots on South Congress and you should definitely try it out if you haven’t already.

The weather was perfect, so we decided to rent bikes from Austin B-Cycle, which is a bicycle rental system, and cruise around downtown. It costs $8 to have access to their many bikes, which are located at the many stations scattered across the greater downtown area. The first 30 minutes of each ride are free, while each additional 30 minute period costs $4. However, we found that there are enough stations so that you can conveniently swap bikes while traveling to your destination before the free 30 minute period has ended. This is a great way to avoid any additional fees.

The South Congress bridge crossing over Lady Bird Lake is such an amazing view! We rode all the way to the Capitol and took a little detour inside the gates. Everything inside the Capitol gates is so beautiful it really feels like your in a fairy tail. The building truly is a work of art and a wonderful site to see for all. There are paved paths that take you around the building to show you all of the outstanding monuments and beautiful scenery. Tyler and I both had never taken a full look outside and around the Capitol, so we were definitely glad we decided to stop by.

We also stopped at one of my favorite places, Blenders and Bowls. If you have not eaten here, you HAVE to try it! Everything they serve is healthy and SO amazing. I got, ‘The Sesher,’ which is my go to when I’m there, because of the touch of cashews. Days like this with Tyler I feel like I will remember forever. We spent the day truly just enjoying each others’ company and admiring this beautiful city. One of my favorite days ever! 🙂

The boot socks I am wearing are from Dottie Couture, but are sold old. I linked a site that has a TON of cute boot socks and cuffs! 🙂 Thanks for reading and stay tuned for tomorrow’s post on my favorite Thanksgiving dessert. 🙂

360 Bridge Hike

Today is National ‘Take a Hike Day‘ so I thought I would share one of my favorite hikes with y’all! About 2 months ago I lived in Austin, Texas for about 15 months and discovered one of my favorite views. You get a spectacular view of Lake Austin and the Pennybacker Bridge. It is the perfect hike to bring a little picnic. When you get up to the first look-out point there is plenty of room to sit and enjoy the view and have a little snack. You can follow the path to the right and check out some other cool look-out spots or you can turn around after you’ve seen the main view. The address is 5300 N Capital of Texas HWY Austin, Texas 78730.

What is your favorite spot to hike? Comment below! 🙂

Thanks for stopping by!

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:

1 , 2 , 3 , 4 , 5

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! 🙂