Travel

A Girls Weekend Thrifting in Round Top, Texas

- Melody

Thrifting in Round Top, Texas

If you’ve read any post on this blog at all, you know I love thrifting. What’s better than second hand cool junk? So naturally I’d hit up Round Top, Texas. The sale Emily Henderson, Junk Gypsies and Joanna Gaines hit up to buy antiques and vintage items and then, in some cases, duplicate and peddle to the masses for three times the cost. Ever heard of it? The Round Top sale doesn’t have a name. If you want to go you ask your friends, “Hey, you wanna go to Round Top?” and if they’re cool they’ll know exactly what you’re talking about.

Hey idiot! What is Round Top?

Round Top is a vintage/antique sale that runs for a week twice a year. It’s free, unless you want to go into The Red Building, but I and my six friends recommend that you do not do that. We paid $10 to swiftly walk through a building with items running anywhere from $100 for a piece of paper up to $30,000 for a crystal punch bowl. HARD PASS. Instead, park anywhere in the literal 90 person town and walk around looking at all the booths. We highly recommend stopping at Royers Pie Haven for sustenance.

Thrifting in Round Top, Texas

I don’t like to thrift. Should I still go?

The town of Round Top is an anomaly to me. It only has 90 residents and every single building there is literally from the 1800s, but twice a year thousands of people flock to it to thrift the sale. It’s a beautiful part of central Texas and I highly recommend you check it out if you’re ever able! Even if you don’t like junk, it’s an experience all in its own. Take your significant other and drive through parts of central Texas gandering at the livestock. Get some fresh air walking around this tiny town! See old buildings and meet the vendors that literally travel the entire country for months on end setting up booths and selling their stuff. It’s a cool place.

Thrifting in Round Top, Texas Thrifting in Round Top, Texas
Somehow we all made it to the sale living all across the state. These friendships are wonderful and I cherish them, even though I hate that word. We bond over thrifting junk. What can I say?

Thrifting in Round Top, Texas Thrifting in Round Top, Texas Thrifting in Round Top, Texas

 

There’s a 110% chance I took one of these longhorn skulls home with me. FOR $80. My mind exploded I think when the guy told me these were only $80. It looks incredible hanging above my bed. While I can’t let my mind wander where these were sourced, I’m just glad I finally found one.

Thrifting in Round Top, Texas

Also, what would a friend trip be without (non-thrifted) cheese fries? The stand with the couple from Philadelphia has the BEST CHEESE FRIES ON EARTH. Hand cut potatoes, fried and topped with liquid cheese. Yum. Visit them and try their lobster roll!

 

Have you ever been to Round Top? What’d you think? Would you go?

 

 

xx

Granny Shades by the Water

- Melody 4 Comments

See? I really did add more dresses to my wardrobe! A few weeks ago, Old Navy was having an $8 sale on dresses and this is one of the three I snagged. I don’t normally go for brighter colors but I’m glad I jumped on this one. It’s one of the more flattering dresses I now own! It also has adjustable straps. Very cool.

I was entirely too hot for anything other than the thinnest dress imaginable. We took the water taxi over to Charleston and walked around a bit to get a feel for the town. When I tell you that my entire body was covered in sweat, I mean my entire body. Okay? 

dress: Old Navy, booties, earrings: Forever21, sunnies: thrifted

I’m eternally grateful to my past self for buying these flat booties. They’re pretty masculine and I love them. They’re also fuede*. Have you ever been to Charleston? I’d love to go back with a much smaller group and explore the city more and learn all its history. What were your favorite places?

xx

*fuede: [fwaid] fake suede.

#BestFriendCruise2k16

- Melody 2 Comments

I’m currently on hold with the Dallas County tax office and feel like I’ll be waiting for a while, so I figured now’s a good a time as any to reminisce our best friend cruise…

This idea started as a semi joke. A lot of us in the group are obsessed with The Office and some of us even have tattoos of The Office memorabilia. Remember the episode when they go on a booze cruise? And the whole thing with Pam and Jim? Course you do. Because it’s one of the best episodes besides the poker night one. ANYWAY. Chaney mused that, wouldn’t it be so cool if we all went on a cruise?! And the next thing we know we’re booking a cruise.

Yes. We made a shirt for the occasion. And also bought a bulk box of captain’s hats off Amazon. We were hence known as “the group wearing captain’s hats” on the ship. It’s our own fault, really.

“FRIENDSHIP IS THE MOST CRUCIAL INGREDIENT TO ANY SEA ADVENTURE SECOND ONLY TO BUOYANCY.” 
-Name That Quote

We boarded and explored that first day wearing our matching shirts. This was my first real vacation with no real “adults.” Just friends. Doing what we wanted. Because we could. It was very liberating.

Our first (and only) excursion was to Cozumel, Mexico. Our route usually also stops in Progreso, Mexico, but something about the ship being broken on one side? I don’t know. I only skimmed the email. Shel and I had been to Cozumel before during our cruise with our family last year and it was just as beautiful as I remember.


Our excursion was one part snorkeling one part beach. We rode on a catamaran out to a reef and snorkeled for half an hour. I saw the most beautiful fish down there. I also met my spirit fish. She was a loner, colored in neon stripes and dots. And I said to myself, “Dat me as a fish!” Bid her good day, and swam on. We got our picture taken by a guy with a really fancy underwater camera with fish food in his pockets to attract the fish and make it look like there were all these fish. There were, but come on. Not that many.

Most important to note is this moment:

It may look like an ordinary selfie to you, but to me it was a right turn. We’d just finished snorkeling and fully exhausted climbing back aboard the catamaran, wet with sea water and covered in salt, holding a margarita, dancing with my friends in the middle of the ocean…I was happy. Like, really happy. Like, deep to my core real happiness. Pure joy. That’s the first time I remember feeling like that for…well, a long time. Years. My life lately has been tangled up and sourced from unhealthy and ugly places. Wrapped up in people who mess me up and manipulate me. But not here. Not on that boat. On that boat I let it all go and stood alone. Independent. Happy. Done. And I’m happy to report nothing has changed! I am still just as happy as I am in this photo. Yay for oceans!

After D-Daying our way to shore, we claimed a cabana way in the back and had a stranger take our photo against the ocean. I’ll treasure the Instax photo he snapped of us, too. One of my favorites. Part of our excursion included these giant inflatable obstacle course things. You literally had to use all of your upper body strength to get on one and then jump on a trampoline covered in broken shells and sand and laugh when someone almost falls off or gets scraped by the sharp shells. We all thought we were going to drown. It was fun.

On our way back, we sipped margaritas and danced line dances with the boat crew. How in the WORLD they all keep their balance while doing the wobble I’ll never know. I almost broke a leg a dozen times.

Processed with VSCOcam with a6 preset

We chose to do the fancy dinners every night and wore our captain’s hats. Once, three of us showed up late and the waiters just said, “Your friends are seated in the back.” Like he already knew who we were with. HOW DID HE KNOW.

We did karaoke, we swam, went down the slide, watched our friends throw money in the trash can in the casino, saw a show, did more karaoke, napped. Man. We napped. A lot. But mostly we laid out and got sunburned.

If I haven’t said it enough before, I love these people. Here’s to adult vacations for the rest of our lives.

 

xx

#WhatMelWears: Last Year’s Cruise 2k15

- Melody

Remember over a year ago when my family went on a cruise? Well here are some outfit photos from that time that I forgot to post. YES. Okay, I forgot about outfit posts that are over a year old. SUE ME. But look, I’m doing it now so get off my back, geez.

Did I also mention that we’re going on a best friend cruise at the end of May? Because we are. And if I were a good blogger and a liar I would tell you that I’m posting these in preparation for that. But I’m not. I just forgot. My b. #bestfriendcruise2k16

 

I. Can’t. Wait. to lie on the beach for five days and get weird sunburn lines with my friends. IT’S GON’ BE GOOD, Y’ALL. Look out the rest of the week for some other year old outfits. 😀

 

 

xx

Experiencing NOLA

- Melody 2 Comments

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

Experiencing Hot Springs

- Melody

Farmhouse

My mom’s side of the family has started a two year long tradition of renting a house in Arkansas for Thanksgiving. A bulk of our family lives in Springdale, AR and staying up there for a time allows our actual entire family to be together. This Thanksgiving we rented an enormous farmhouse on gobs of land. It was so refreshing to spend time (with wi-fi, hallelujah) with family just walking around the grounds, breaking into buildings we probably shouldn’t have and eating our weight in food for four days.

CuzAndrewLadybugWeeds

If you’re like me and have never been to Hot Springs, the downtown there is full of non-working old bathhouses, old bathhouses that still operate, hot water fountains outside of every building, and dozens of spigots flowing hot spring water where residents come and fill up crates of old milk jugs with the stuff. The spring water is supposed to have healing powers. All I know is that soaking in that hot water would’ve really warmed me up after walking around downtown in the cold all night.

SistersOzarkHot SpringsDowntown

Thanksgiving day was glorious. A storm started rolling in so we gathered on the front porch for a family portrait. Our stomachs were growling, but the wait was so worth it. Smoked turkey, green bean casserole, sweet potatoes, stuffing, bread. All the good things.

FoodMom and Aunt StephShelLauraPawPawAunt StephUncle Brad

(Now, look. I don’t want to hear any complaining about there being a terrible picture of you on here. You saw me with the camera, thus mentally signing a waiver releasing you of looking ridiculous.)

Moral of the story is rent yourself a house in the woods, the mountains, anywhere. Bring your family along. Force yourselves to spend time together. You’ll thank yourself 15 years from now when things look a lot different. I know we will.

 

 

xx