Travel: Arizona & Utah

              Hey everyone! Happy Tuesday! I hope you all had a great weekend! We enjoyed the weekend with family and getting back in our routine with Paw since we got back from our vacation :) We were happy to see the little guy. My parents were in town as well and that was so much fun. I hope you all had a great weekend as well. 

             As you know, from last week I shared the first part of our 3rd Anniversary trip out west. Well, I wanted to go ahead and share the next part of our trip to Arizona. We were able to knock out a lot of major landmarks and things we wanted to do and places we wanted to see. We were so glad to know that once we drove about 6 hours from Santa Fe, NM to Page, AZ we were able to do and see so much in that area. We drove to Page, AZ and enjoyed the scenic drive through the desert and mountains. Once we got to Page, during our first day we visited Antelope Canyon which was a one hour guided tour through a sandstone canyon. It was literally one of the most incredible places we have seen. It was so unique and very hard to believe the sandstone was formed by water over time. We really enjoyed this tour! After the Lower Antelope Canyon, we drove about 20 minutes to Horseshoe Bend which was also breathtaking. It was a short 15-20 minute hike to get to the actual view of the horseshoe shaped river. We went at a great time as it was starting to get cooler towards the end of the night. 

           Then, we traveled the next day to Utah which was about a 3 hour drive to visit Zion National Park and Bryce Canyon National Park. We started very early and was able to knock both of these two off our list in one day. The views and the parks were incredible as you can see below in my pictures. I have each park labeled so you can see which one is which. We had a great day and got back to Page that night late to stay all night. We decided to stay in Page one more night because it was a good middle point between the parks and the grand canyon. 

            The next day, we woke up early again and drove about 2 hours out of our way to see the sights of Monument Valley. We are so glad we ended up doing this as the drive and the Navajo park was beautiful. See our pictures below on this as well. This was a self guided tour/drive through the park. We enjoyed this as well. Next, we drove back in the direction towards Page and headed south to visit the Grand Canyon. Wow, it was beautiful as well! We were able to go through the entire park and walk around and took a lot of pictures here as well (gee what a shocker) haha! As you can see, I love pictures!! I love photography and landscape photos as well. I always have! I took well over 1500 pictures on this trip, and they all turned out great. 

           After, a very long day at the Grand Canyon. That night we decided to drive towards Las Vegas to find a hotel. The next part of our trip is coming next week on the blog and this entails; Las Vegas, The Hoover Dam, and several places in southern California. I can't wait to share that part of our trip as well. I hope you have enjoyed our travel series and hope you enjoy the pictures below. Thanks so much for stopping by :) xo Tesla 

The drive from New Mexico to Arizona

Amazing views from the Lower Antelope Canyon

Horseshoe Bend 

Mexican dinner in Arizona

Zion National Park in Utah

Bryce Canyon National Park 

Monument Valley Navajo Park 

The Grand Canyon National Park

Travel: Santa Fe, New Mexico

                   Hi everyone! Happy Thursday! I hope you are all doing well. It has been a couple weeks since my last blog post due to us traveling and I wanted to pop in and share our most recent travels with you all. This blog post features our first stop on our 10 day out west road trip. Santa Fe, New Mexico!!

            It was our first time traveling to New Mexico and we loved it! We flew into Albequerque and made the one hour drive north to Santa Fe. The drive was beautiful with true Southwestern details and landscapes. We drove straight to Santa Fe and was able to check into our hotel early. You will see below all the pictures of our trip including the amazing hotel we stayed at. As I mentioned on my social media, I loved the western decor. It was so neat and filled with beautiful colors. You can see that below as well from the decor, the landscape, the food, etc. 

           After we checked into our hotel, we started walking toward the historical Santa Fe plaza. It was a quick 20-25 min walk from our hotel which was perfect because it gave us access to all of the main things to do and see. Santa Fe is known for their historical and beautiful art galleries. We aren't huge art gallery people, however; everything was so beautiful to see and look at. We walked to the Santa Fe Railyard where this was an up and coming area of town with a farmers market, craft festival, shops, and well known restaurants. We loved this area of Santa Fe and really enjoyed walking around. We were told we HAD to eat lunch at "Tomasita's" which is authentic mexican food and boy oh boy, we were glad we did stop!

           As you can see below, the lunch was incredible. I tried dehydrated sweet corn, a chicken & cheese soapapilla and Reed had enchiladas. We were served a soapapilla for an appetizer as well with honey butter and it was seriously incredible. We both have mentioned we need to find this in Nashville haha (or maybe we don't) haha!! After a great lunch, we walked several miles around town taking pictures,  shopping, and reading plaques (because that's kind of our thing) :) Then, we went back to the hotel and relaxed for a little bit and then headed out to the north plaza of Santa Fe. Same thing, we walked around and saw a lot of neat local art pieces and churches. We found the cutest basket weaving market that had the coolest baskets, pottery, and trinkets. I bought the cutest little basket to keep my jewelry in at home! Our last stop was for dinner at a great burger place called "The Burger Stand" it was excellent and then we walked back to our hotel for the night. It was a full tourist day and we really enjoyed our day in Santa Fe. 

          I hope you enjoy this post with pictures and our time spent in Santa Fe. Thank you for stopping by and stay tuned for the rest of our trip next week :)

Thank you! xo Tesla

Awesome Mexican lunch spot!

The Santa Fe Rail Yard! Such  a neat area 

Our Hotel "Hilton at Santa Fe"

Lunch at Tomasita's

Beautiful handmade market 

Really neat printed tile around the city 

The Burger Stand

My Favorite Products: With Amazon

               Hi Everyone! Happy Monday! I hope you all had a great weekend. I wanted to check in to share some exciting news with you and my partnership with Amazon. From day-to-day products, fashion, kitchen items, books, beauty, and so much more I am now able to share with you "my favorite Amazon picks." These are favorite items of mine that t I have ordered on Amazon if you ever have any interest in purchasing the items that I use on a daily basis this is a direct link below to do so.

              My goal with this program is to simply share my favorite items that I have purchased with Amazon. I have shared several of these items on my blog and social media accounts in the past and wanted to share more information about those products and how you can find them. If you are ever interested in any specific product; my new direct Amazon link will give you a one stop shop of my "Amazon Picks."

             I hope to share and inspire and enjoy fun products along the way :) I enjoy this little corner of the internet in a way to share with others what inspires me and makes me happy on a weekly basis. When you come to my blog or social media I hope and pray I am able to share family times, travel memories, fun products, inspiring home decor, safe beauty products, and yummy recipes for you to share with your loved ones. Thank you for being apart of my blog and reading! If you ever have any questions or requests on what you would like to see more of, I would love to hear from you. Thank you so much! xo

Tesla's Amazon Picks

Here are just a few of "My Amazon Favorites" I will add new products along the way and be able to showcase them in this direct link above. Any item that I have in my home or that I use I will share with you and you will be able to see what my favorites are if you are ever interested 

Hosting a Taco Bar

               Hi Everyone! Happy Wednesday! I hope you are all having a great week :) I wanted to stop in to share the taco bar I hosted last weekend and give you ideas if you ever want to do this in your own home or for a party. This was such a fun night celebrating Reed's Birthday with his parents and grandmother. We enjoyed the taco bar and thought it would be fun to share. Taco bar's can be extensive or very simple; either way they are always bound to be a hit!

              I had a simple table setting with polka dot placements with white napkins and a colorful centerpiece of flowers in different colors. This is a great way to add a pop of color to any table. Then, I made one large appetizer dip which consisted of refried beans as the bottom layer, the middle layer I mixed 1/2 cup of mayo, 1 cup of sour cream, and one pack of taco seasoning for the second layer, and then I added shredded cheese,  green onions,  and tomatoes on top. You can serve this appetizer with frito chips or tortilla chips. My grandma or as we all know her as "Mam" makes this and everyone always enjoys it. It is a very simple but great recipe for any party. 

            After the appetizer, I set out several small bowls of toppings, sauces, and condiments for the tacos. This is your chance to get creative with toppings and also your choice of colors of bowls or your serving pieces. The main dish was taco meat & pork carnitas and then everyone could choose a soft or hard shell for their taco and then add whatever they wanted on top of their tacos. This is a fun way to entertain and easy as well! For a couple sides for this dish I put guacamole, cheese dip, salsa with chips and also a side of rice. As you can see, you can make it as large as you want. My taco bar was a hit I think as everyone enjoyed good conversation, company, food, and celebrating Reed. 

            For dessert, I purchased a Nothing Bundt Cake which was Reed's favorite (Red Velvet). We had a great time! I hope you all enjoyed this post and look forward to sharing more parties or events I host in the future. Thank you for stopping by :) xo Have a great week!

A fun Easter Weekend

                   Hello everyone! It has been a week or so since I have posted and wanted to stop in to share our fun Easter weekend with family. Reed and I spent several days with my parents, brother, and our family friends The Olson's who came in from Indiana for their spring break. We all had a fun time here in Nashville together. Then, for Easter we spent the day with the Draffin family here in TN. It was a fun weekend celebrating and enjoying time with one another. Here are a few fun pics from our weekend. I hope you all had a great Easter as well. I have a few things to share this week so stay tuned for more fun posts coming soon.

Thanks for stopping by!xoxo Tesla 

Breakfast at Holler and Dash 

Family Fun 

I wanted to share my grandma's (Mam's) Easter table from back home in Indiana, even though we couldn't make it this year I always love her tables :)

My Mother- in- Law 

Reed and Barbara

Reed's parents and Grandmother

Easter Treats at Aunt Lucy's