CARE TO LOOK

a lifestyle, travel, and photography blog

Marfa

After a few days in Austin, we hit the very long and straight road for Marfa! Still getting adjusted to driving the van we took turns navigating the open roads and getting a little work done here and there and had lunch along the way in a very Texas-y small town. Then, we finally arrived in Marfa, the most bizarre place, just in time for the final few minutes of sunset.

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It was so beautiful to see the sunset over the open fields. Although I have traveled quite a bit, driving through these roads was something so different than what I am used to, and so incredibly beautiful.
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This place is literally in. the. middle. of. no. where. And I kind of love it ;) The whole town has this eerie feel but is also packed with loads of art from installations to murals, and museums to concept stores. marfa-62 marfa-76

Our goal for the evening was to drive back through town to spot the Marfa lights. Sadly, I don’t think we located them, but we did find the perfect spot on the side of the road to call home for the evening. We made the best tacos, sipped on Trader Joes wine, and did a little work before heading to bed. marfa-78 The sunrise the next morning was crisp and chilly but still so beautiful. After getting a workday in at one of the local hotels we passed through the town to head to the Prada installation. Again, so bizarre, but so cool.  marfa-100 marfa-133 marfa-140 marfa-141 marfa-163

We snapped some shots, ate more tacos, and then continued on our merry way to White Sands! Marfa was as weird as I expected it to be and I am so glad we got to make a little spot here. It’s almost as if the entire time you are in the town you are unsure if it’s a legitimate town or an entire art piece. Marfa, I hope you stay weird.

Vanlife | Dallas and Austin

After spending a few days in Nashville, and even getting snowed in a day or two, Katie and I started off on our month long road trip! We woke up to snow falling and hit the road as soon as possible to head west and escape the snow. After the longest drive through Tennesse, Arkansas (where we saw kiddos sledding on the exit ramp to the highway since that was the only hill in sight ;)) and Texas we finally made it to Dallas where we posted up for a few days! We spent the days getting some work done and getting acquainted with our new home, the van! After moving in we spent the coldest night of my life in the van as a test run. Good news is we survived, bad news is we were both frozen. Thankfully the rest of our trip looked to have warmer temperatures ;)

We hit the road the next morning to head to our first official stop, Austin!

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We had the absolute sweetest host, Jessica! Her home was to die for and it was such a treat to chat over slow mornings and evening dinners. Katie and I loved getting to post up outside her house in the van. It was hilarious to roll the door open in the mornings to meet her neighbors with a, “good mornin’.” austin-1-3

Obviously, we had to hit up a few taco spots while we were here and even made it to the land of succulents. We explored around the city and took a walk on the path along the water. It was perfect. austin-1 austin-13 austin-14 austin-15 austin-17 austin-18 austin-21 austin-38

It was the perfect start the to the trip and now I am dying to get back to that city!

Virginia Beach Snow Day

Having a snowday at the beach was one of the wildest sights. Ben moved up to Virginia Beach for a course at the beginning of January. A few days later I drove up, just in time, to spend the weekend getting snowed in. We watched more movies than we could count, took a few walks through the snow, and devoured a whole lot of pizza.

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These pictures don’t really do the beach justice. The blanket of white meeting the water with the sand filled in between was beautiful. vabeach-snow-9 vabeach-snow-14 vabeach-snow-16 vabeach-snow-22 vabeach-snow-26 vabeach-snow-1-2 vabeach-snow-31 vabeach-snow-36

It was such a fun way to spend the weekend before spending a few weeks apart. Excited to keep visiting Ben here these next few months!

  • I just adore you Ben Radford! Be my Valentine pretty please ❤️
  • 2020 is apparently the year of hobbies for me. Don’t mind me over here baking a sourdough loaf, practicing my French, and throwing all the things on the pottery wheel. 2020 is also the year of having my patience and ability to slowwww downnn be very much tested by the aforementioned hobbies.
  • A collection of items found, gathered, gifted, and made along the way 💫
  • I finally made a little space on here for all of my pottery that needs a new home! Should you want to take a look, head on over to @goodthingspottery 💫 I settled on that name since I truly believe the good things in life are worth celebrating, and pottery has very much been that for me.
  • Another year in the books of capturing daily snippets of our greatest adventures and most mundane days. All very much worth celebrating. You were a good one, 2019!
  • 2019 was a whirlwind with all the ups and downs. I always love looking back through our photos from the year and these are just a few of my favorite. This year I learned that sometimes slowing down is good for the soul and living with your best friends is such a treat. We took more beach walks than I can count and I am certain that Emerald Isle sunsets at the point are some of the best. We took a ski trip and soaked up every ounce of beach living with Anna and Eric. I spent a month in Paris and gosh it was a good one (and I even cut off a foot of hair while I was there). That city always has my heart. We celebrated five years of marriage with the sweetest trip to California. We said goodbye to North Carolina and made the move up to DC. We dropped our bags off at our new home and lucked out with a Space A flight over to Europe and spent a week falling in love with Lake Como and somehow found ourselves being the very first (and only) guests in a castle (one of the best days of 2019 honestly). We settled into DC before heading back over to London for a wedding and a week in our favorite city. We spent the fall visiting friends, taking weekend trips, learning to call DC home, and navigating new schedules. I’ve spent a whole lot of time in the pottery studio and Ben has spent a whole lot of time on the road. It was just the best year complete with really high highs and some hard lows but I am just so thankful for it all and thankful I get to do life with Ben.
  • Anytime we come back home from Roanoke Walter takes a personal day. He doesn’t get out of bed and won’t even look at me and I’m pretty sure it’s because he misses the fam and the mountains as much as I do. (Or it’s just because he misses being the center of attention of 20 people as opposed to just Ben and I.)
  • Happy happy Christmas from our little family to yours 🎄