Scotland Part 1 - Edinburgh

When traveling, I'm not always prone to go to big cities, as a vacation sounds more like a vacation in the mountains or by the water.  However, Edinburgh was the perfect combination of both.  A city on the water, offering beautiful hikes a stones throw from downtown, coupled with bustling city streets lined with shops and restaurants.  

We had two days here and wanted to cover it all.  Travis and I filled our first day with a ten mile walk through Edinburgh's Old Town, experiencing our first castle (and our first palace!) and meandering through alleys until our feet hurt.  On day two, we did a morning hike and a stroll through New Town, falling in love with the charm of the whole thing.  The hike was by far the highlight of our time here and sent us down a rabbit hole of finding other hikes throughout our entire time in Scotland.  

Mary Deaton

Mary Deaton Heldman, Nashville, January 2015.  

This lady is a true talent.  From watercolor and calligraphy to photography and styling, I swear she can do it all.  On the day we spent together, I caught her at the beginning of a couple projects,  so check out more of her work here.

Hello America in Colorado

Kristen Blanton and Matt Jozwiak are two insanely inspiring folks who I am lucky enough to call friends.  Last year, this duo set out on an adventure of a lifetime, better known to them and their thousands of fans as Hello America.  But they are currently living in Denver, Colorado - taking on every adventure that comes their way and working on some of the coolest collaborations.  On a cold and snowy Sunday during my recent trip out west, the three of us found ourselves in Golden City, trekking through the snow, taking photos, and drinking wine from the bottle (learning the on-the-road way).  Check out their recent travels, buy some of their prints, show them some love, etc etc here

January 1

On January 1, we were out of the ice storm and into the Chisos Basin of Big Bend National Park.  After some minor snafus that the storm brought our way, everything sort of fell into place the way you would hope any start to a new year would.  Travis and I stumbled onto this trail called the Lost Mine Trail thinking that it would be a simple nature walk, per se.  Instead, it ended up being the highlight of our day, taking us well past nature walk status and up to one of the highest points in the park.  We ended the day over a couple Shiners and celebrated a start to the new year feeling a little victorious. 

December 31

What was supposed to be a night of camping in Marfa was a night in Alpine at the Maverick Inn.  And what was supposed to be an early morning of driving was altered by an ice storm.  So Travis and I passed the time - we ate two pizzas and I drank a large coffee and we walked through someone's side lot to marvel at the frozen desert plants.  We combined our stubborn natures and decided we weren't going to give up on the idea of our drive to Big Bend.  So we got in the car, drove three hours on black ice and ended up in Big Bend where we celebrated the last day of this year.  An incredible one at that.