Dallas Bucket List: Method Coffee

method!

HOORAY! FINALLY after months of hearing about this place and Cait raving about their flavored lattes, I visited Method. Cait and I have a biweekly (early) morning coffee date and until now have frequented the hot-dude magnet coffee shop Houndstooth in Knox/Henderson. (Seriously. Go there on a Wednesday morning. Literally DOZENS of hot dudes hanging out drinking coffee. It’s so weird.) We liked that location because it opens at 6:30 AM giving us plenty of hang time before I have to leave for work. BUT! Now that we live three doors down from each other in our apartment building we can get somewhere much quicker and have just as much time together, since Method doesn’t open until 7:00 AM.

Doesn’t hurt that the outside wall is super ‘grammable.

 

I’ve still got a ways to go on my coffee bucket list, but I’m SO happy I finally hit this place up! If you’re in the area, be aware that they close at 5 on weekdays and 6 on weekends. IT’S MADNESS THEY CLOSE THAT EARLY. Cait and I recommend their lavender latte or ANY of their seasonal lattes. Right now they have a jalapeno mocha and rosemary honey. Srsly.

 

 

xx

Sister Style: Those Deep Ellum Walls

Remember when I wore a crop top? Well we all three accidentally wore crop tops that day. And since we looked crazy hot and couldn’t just waste that outfit on brunch, we went to Deep Ellum to shoot in front of those insanely colorful and beautiful wall murals. Nevermind the trash in the background. They were the perfect backdrop for some outfit photos.

 

Loved having them with me for a few days. It was just like the old days! Can’t wait till they just move here already and we get a big loft and just live together all day long and we’d have wine and cheese nights and watch Netflix together all night and listen to rap music and dance and quote too many movies and just talktalktalktalktalk. Shel, the introvert, would love being in close quarters with two other people like that. We would get on Rudy’s nerves so fast she’d move to the perfect balcony we would have and secretly Snapchat us through the windows doing stupid things. And between being a big time blogger and just being the best oldest sister, I don’t know that I’d have time to hate them.

 

Ahh…one can dream.

 

 

xx

Where I Annoy You With Pictures of My Dog

For Christmas, my parents bought me an SD card adapter for my iPad. I desperately needed one as my laptop’s hard drive was full and it was so cumbersome to upload any pictures to anything. After literal years of having photos on my SD card, I had them on my iPad in about 20 minutes. *PRAISE HANDS* I found these photos of tiny, baby Pepper from the first week or so I had her. Let your heart be melted this morning.

She used to love doing this for some reason. It was adorable. Look at her tiny foot!

Fat belly

HER BELLY.

Every time someone new would meet her, they compared her eyes to chocolate chips. She’s still got ’em.

Somebody stop me from getting another puppy. Please. Would you look at her fat pink belly!? Her little puppy hiney!? Oh my godddd. You guys. It’s so funny looking back on these photos. She was just as energetic and derpy then as she is now. She just has a tiny bit more control over herself.

I love this dog. If you want more, I gave her a few of her own hashtags over on Instagram.

#peppermichelle
#mymorningswithpepper
#pepperportraits 

You’ve been warned.

 

 

xx

Sister Crop Top Day

Approximately 1,000,000 years ago I bought this crop top at Target and thought, “omg how cute a striped crop top can’t wait for summer.” And then 1,000,000 years later give or take a few days I saw it in my closet. Unworn. Mocking me every time I slid past it to get to a different shirt. One that was, how should I say, uncropped.

It just so happened that on that day, my two sisters were in town and each had brought their own crop top. CROP TOP FATE. With that and the fact that weekends are the only time I can wear such a thing (offices really frown upon midriffs. Who knew?) I popped the sucker on.

Oh yeah, I got my nose pierced. Did you know that?

 

I won’t lie to you. When we walked into Gold Rush Cafe I felt insanely over dressed and like I was trying too hard. But when you stop thinking like that and instead think like I’m the best dressed in the room your perspective shifts and you really stop caring about the person that might stare at you for a couple seconds. (SPOILER ALERT: No one did! Dallas rules.)

Turns out nobody really gives a crap if two inches of your cute belly shows. And why should they? They’re not the ones that are you. You are you. And before I get too Dr. Suess on you, just wear a crop top, k? They’re cute and cool and actually super flattering with the right bottoms. Can’t wait to pop out a couple others I’ve got for this hot weather.

 

xx

PS! Have you seen this article on Buzzfeed about a girl that wears a crop top for seven days and documents people’s reactions? It’s eye-opening.

Experiencing NOLA

Where do I even begin.

This trip was the most fun I’ve had in a long while. My friends Chaney and Michael (who’ve been together for, like, six years and are completely adorable) got engaged. (they’re married now! YAY!) And in their typical adorable fashion decided to throw a joint bachelor and bachelorette party in New Orleans last October. I looked forward to it for months. I took PTO (thank you, job!) and on a Thursday night headed to Waco to pick up my sister. We then drove to Austin to stay with Chaney and Michael before we left early the next morning for NOLA! We all stayed up way too late talking and watching John Oliver, then us three girls slept all snuggly in one bed while Michael crashed on the couch. 7AM came way too early, but an hour later our other friends, Holley and Gavin, met up with us and we headed out.

I’ll be the first to hop in the car for a good long road trip. I love ’em. But I had no idea how far NOLA was from Austin. I was thinking a good 4-5 hours we’d be ballin’ out in our hotel rooms. Nope. 5 or 6 that evening we rolled down into town. O.O
The five of us in that Jeep probably could’ve kissed the ground when we got out.

Our hotel, St. Pierre, was so.cute. The entirety of New Orleans is so photogenic I could hardly stand it. Totally unfair.

We spent the daytime exploring the city and eating beignets. Omg. Gimmegimmegimme.

Oh and we made matching shirts.

Later that Friday night, Christina, one of Chaney’s bridesmaids, had rented this insanely gorgeous Air BnB for Chaney’s lingerie shower. The COOLEST LOFT that had SHINY, WHITE METALLIC WALLS AND A SEQUIN CURTAIN. Kill me and leave me there to spend eternity because it was so beautiful.

Like, WHAT?! I can’t even imagine how much prettier it is in the daylight. Oh, did I mention the first floor is a yoga studio that’s totally bohemian and amazing?

Moral of the story is, get yourself some friends, go to NOLA and do all the things. And then pose like the Bridesmaids poster.

We were only there barely three days. I desperately want to go back for four or five days. NOLA, if you hit Bourbon Street, is really only a four or five day trip. Any more than that and you might die. I mean seriously. Bourbon Street is not a joke, kids. It is real. But..um..not that I would know…

 

xx

A Borrowed Moto Jacket

The thing about trees is, redheads look great in front of them. But you already know this because I’ve mentioned it twice recently. I’m just saying. We do. We also look great in plaid.

The thing about motorcycle jackets is, they’re great.

But I don’t have one.

Sweet sister let me ‘borrow’ hers for a day and I’m sold. Any good suggestions of where to get one? Also, remember when my hair was almost to my butt? Remember how I definitely don’t miss it? #shorthairforlife

jeans + scarf: Gaudy Me, plaid: hand-me-down, jacket: borrowed, sneakers: Target

One thing every person needs in their closet is a good leather/faux leather motorcycle jacket. Don’t haul off to the Harley Davidson store, unless you’ve got a bike in the garage. The thing about these jackets is that they go with anything. They’re warm, stylish and add an edge to any outfit.

With or without a motorcycle.

xx