So I still haven't put together my decanter lights, but I have a good excuse. Matt and I went out of town this weekend with his family for a couple of days. If you follow my Instagram feed then you already know this, but if not we went to Ouray (it kinda sounds like your and hooray put together) . It's an adorable little mountain town near Telluride.





It's a Christmas tradition that Matt's mom, Darlice, set up a few years ago. Basically she sets up a family trip for us all to go on just so we can spend time together as a family. She says she's buying memories. Well this year we were in a cute little rental home.





Just outside of the dining room we had the most amazing view of the canyon walls, which are apparently quite popular with the climbing folk. We even noticed a Colorado flag hung on one of the overhanging areas.





Actually, I think you'd have an amazing view no matter where you stay. It really was that beautiful. Anyway, after discussing what we wanted to see and do whilst in Ouray, we decided on trips to The Black Canyon, Telluride and the hot springs pool if we could squeeze it in. Spoiler alert; we didn't make it to the pool. It rained every evening while we were there. The next day we trekked out to The Black Canyon. It was pretty impressive with its sheer cliffs and all. I kept making Matt nervous with my close proximity to the edge.







We stayed out there until the rain started rolling in. Once we were back in town a few of us took the opportunity to do a little gift shopping before dinner. Megan (Matt's youngest brother Chandler's fiancé) and I got a little caught up at the Gator Emporium in their bead section. I guess it was good that the boys eventually got impatient and went to the bar next door because that left us plenty of time to look at every single option they had. Here's what I ended up with along with a geode (officially obsessed) pennant I picked up at the rock shop across the street.





Saturday we all made the trip out to Telluride, where the official Cruise Watch began. Ok, maybe I was the only one looking for Tom Cruise, but I thought it made things more exciting!





We got there around lunch time so we ducked in for a quick bite to eat, but then we were off to adventure.... and to look for Tom Cruise. Thinking a higher vantage point would help we rode the gondola up and over the mountain.





We hopped off for a quick minute to get this group shot, but failed to spot Tom anywhere.

left to right: me, Matt, Megan Chandler, Emily, Nate, Darlice, and Marcus

There was a good sized ski village at the end of the ride, which unfortunately we did not get to discover much of. Shortly after this picture was taken it started raining pretty hard, so we took refuge at the nearest bar while we waited for the rain to let up. Tips up!





After coming back down the mountain we set out on some more souvenir shopping. Megan, Chandler, Marcus, and I even stopped into an antique store just for funsies. I got this old post card from 1958 of Denver.





But the real thriller were these tokens that I shared on Instagram! Go ahead read them.





I had no clue things like this even existed! I guess they failed to mention whore tokens in any of the western shows and movies I've watched through out the years. I was really tempted to get one, but I thought $20 was a little much. But now that I know they exist I'll add them to my list of antique things to buy. Maybe Madame Ruth Jacobs' family has one they wouldn't mind giving me.



Have you taken any little weekend trips lately? What are they cute little mountain town equivalents in your states? Have you ever seen a whore token, and did you buy it? Oh, and in my next post I'll show you what I did with my beads! Another spoiler alert, I made a necklace. But it's cute and you should come back anyway!


P.S. Thanks honey bear for letting me steal your pictures to post on my blog. You're the best!

Two weekends ago Matt and I took a little weekend trip down to Santa Fe. The trip was spurred by Eddie Vedder and his ukulele, however his tour was postponed because he injured his back or something. The news of Eddie's back only caused momentary sadness, but we decided we could find plenty to entertain us without him. We left Sunday afternoon after a marathon laundry and cleaning sesh, we love coming home to a clean casa, and made it to Santa Fe with plenty of time to walk around and have some dinner. I'll spare you the play by play and just give you the highlights.





First up, our favorite restaurant from the trip was The Shed. It's not open on Sundays, so we didn't get to eat there til Monday night, but it was worth the wait. One quick warning, Santa Feans like their food spicy! I'm not big on spicy (although I love the chipotle Tabasco sauce) and I couldn't finish either of my dinners. I was piling sour cream on each bite To help because it all tasted so good, but eventually my taste buds had had enough.



Omg, the cutest thing is when you leave. It's a tiny door! Really only suitable for folks 5'4" and under perhaps (I'm only 5'2" after being stretched out by a chiropractor for a while) but for us shorties it was adorable! (oh, and a quick disclaimer, Matt took the first 3 pictures. He is better at it than me, but the rest are mine.)





Rewinding an hour or two, we hit up the Loretto Chapel that afternoon to check out the miraculous staircase that was featured on Unsolved Mysteries as the sign indicates. I used to love that show when I was a kid, but I don't recall ever seeing that episode.





I think $3 is a pretty low admission fee so we went inside to see what was so miraculous.

Here's a quick little explanation on the staircase taken from the chapel's website.

Legend says that to find a solution to the seating problem, the Sisters of the Chapel made a novena to St. Joseph, the patron saint of carpenters. On the ninth and final day of prayer, a man appeared at the Chapel with a donkey and a toolbox looking for work. Months later, the elegant circular staircase was completed, and the carpenter disappeared without pay or thanks. After searching for the man (an ad even ran in the local newspaper) and finding no trace of him, some concluded that he was St. Joseph himself, having come in answer to the sisters' prayers.The stairway's carpenter, whoever he was, built a magnificent structure. The design was innovative for the time and some of the design considerations still perplex experts today.The staircase has two 360 degree turns and no visible means of support. Also, it is said that the staircase was built without nails—only wooden pegs. Questions also surround the number of stair risers relative to the height of the choir loft and about the types of wood and other materials used in the stairway's construction.

As you can see from the picture it's pretty breathtaking inside. The looping audio feed explained that the staircase originally didn't have the hand rail or spindles. The women asked for them to be added a few years later for safety reasons. Coughwimpscough. There are also a few metal supports that have been added for preservation purposes that you can see in the photo below. In all honesty I would be pretty nervous to climb those stairs in their original state, so I don't blame them.



As miraculous as the staircase is, the front of the church is equally beautiful too. It's amazing to think that this whole thing was build back before power tools, by guys just hanging by a rope. Cra-cra.



Our other main activity for the trip was a pretty easy hike through a canon to see the Tent Rocks. They are probably 30-40 minutes outside of town on a Native American reservation. The canon was really remarkable. It reminded me of that terrible movie about the guy that cut his arm off, without the pesky danger of needing to cut your own arm off. A quick little note about the trail we took: You can pretty much skitp the really steep part, the views are much better from the canon. Matt took a lot of pictures in here, but here are my crappy pics. (when he uploads his pics to flicker I'll add a link)







Now on to my favorite part of vacation, sooking at stuff to buy! I absolutely love finding little things to buy that remind me of my trips. Nothing expensive or tchotchke-y but just neat little bits here and there. Here's our loot we brought back with us.



The paper flowers I got for Ali at the Rainbow Man shop along with the little metal frame/box. There were so many different kinds of flowers.





The pots are from this place called Jackelope Mercado.





Which was pretty awesome! There was also this tent near the entrance that was selling all kinds of beads, fossils, minerals, and rock formations. The prices were pretty cheap awesome too. (Jenna! This is where you need to go!)









I picked up a dark grey freshwater pearl necklace, and a tiny geode pendant for $6 total! The seashell rings were from a shop near the plaza, and the quartz ring was from Casa Nova which is in the rail yard district.





Sadly enough I broke the quartz ring the day after I came home. It's really slippery when wet and slipped right out of my hands. Once it hit the floor it shattered and looked like this.





However, one of my awesome co-workers was in Santa Fe last weekend and ordered me a new one while she was there! Karen, you're the best! After my sad picture Matt and I discussed not wearing my fun cocktail rings to work anymore so they don't break. Now I just need to stock up on cheap Forever 21 rings that I don't really care about. Let's look at some self indulgent pictures of my new seashell rings to lighten things back up a bit.





We also picked up a Starbucks mug, some chili powder with a chili cookbook, and some ornaments for the old Xmas tree. If you can't guess, I picked out the Indian cat.





During our wandering we also made a quick trip to Canon Drive where all the hoitey toitey art galleries are. We didn't go in many because it was Tuesday morning and we were the only people around so we felt a little out of place. But here's a few shots of things I thought were pretty awesome.There was this giant metal origami buffalo outside of Selby Fleetwood Gallery that made me want to see more.







These plates that have cats dressed in fancy Victorian clothes are awesome. That isn't my opinion, it's a fact.





Ok, well that's all I got. Hopefully we will make a return trip to see Ed when his back gets better. Do you have any quick weekend trips planned for the summer? Have you ever been to Santa Fe? If so, what should we see that we missed out on?

P.S. I almost forgot to post the winner of the #CraftStoreInstawalk contest! Drumroll please................

The winner is Naomi and her Yes Lord instapic.





So thank you to everyone (my friends and one other person) for entering my first ever contest! Naomi, where would you like your gift card to?

 Last week I mentioned a recent weekend trip to Florida (the state)! I can't type Florida without thinking Flo-rida. I'm not really a big fan of his, nor can I think of any of his songs off the top of my head, but I wonder if he planned on ruining my internal thought process whilst typing Florida (the state). What was I talking about? Oh right, our trip. It was a little bonus weekend away from home that was much welcomed. The company Matt works for has an annual conference that changes locations year to year, and when he found out it was going to be in Orlando (city, not elf) he thought it would be a great excuse for us to visit his Dad (Allen) and Vickie. I was only there for a few days, but it was just the little mid-winter break I needed.


The first day we went to see the Dali museum. I'm not an art buff by any means, but as I've said before I can recognize what does and doesn't appeal to me. One thing that really appeals to me is MUSTACHES! Let me elaborate, I like novelty mustache items (coffee mugs, mustaches on sticks, etc.) not hairy upper lips (including my own).


The building was also a work of art on its own. It was a huge concrete box, with the fountain of youth in one corner and a geometric glass blob on the other.

The inside was just as spectacular as the outside. There was a free standing spiral staircase made from formed concrete that was pretty cool.


Unfortunately there was a strict "No Photography" policy once you were inside the gallery. But that didn't stop me from buying some $1 postcards instead of $15 prints to frame later. Take that museum gift shop! Although we did buy the slightly overpriced Melted Clock ornament for our green Xmas tree.


Overall Matt gives The Dali a thumbs up. Or whatever this is.


Within view of The Dali, was a pier that we walked around. I was amazed at all the pelicans that were just hanging out. I must have been pretty special because I got thisclosetothem.

Nope, a minute later a guy and his kid paid another guy for a buket of fish to feed these pelicans. After their little snack most of them flew away. By the way, can you find Matt?


The next day we ventured into Ybor City (sounds like ee-bore). Its where a lot of the immigrant workers lived and worked back in the day. Mr. Ybor set it up that way, and based on the completely unbiased video we watched in the visitor center, it was very successful. There were large cigar factories through out the area, and interesting fact: the cigar companies sold small homes to the cigar workers with no interest! Unfourtunatly all the cigar factories are privately owned now, like this one that only people like Tom Cruise get to hang out in.


After our walk through Ybor city, Matt demanded we all go eat Cuban sandwiches. I didn't think much of the sandwich, but these pirate cookies were pretty cute!


Once our bellies were full of sandwiches de Cuba, we drove to Tarpon Springs. Apparently that is the place to go for sea sponges. It was a cute little touristy strip with lots of souvenir shops everywhere! I didn't get any sponges, but I spied this awesome ring made from a seashell for only $5.


I may or may not have post that pic on facebook pretending that Matt preposed with it.


Well, have you taken any mid-winter break trips lately? Do you need one?