Lonnie and I had a shared day off last week, so we decided to make another trip up to Blue Ridge. We drove until we got to the Crabtree Falls trailhead and decided to give it a shot. The trail starts out really easy since it's mostly downhill to get to the falls. The greenery was gorgeous and little light purple flowers seemed to follow us the whole way. The falls themselves are massive, the grandest ones I've ever seen. It was definitely an incredible tiny journey, and I'm so glad we went. Though the hike back from the falls was pretty strenuous, I enjoyed the workout and feeling sore the next day was a nice change from how lazy I've been feeling lately.

seaside vacation.

As promised, I'm sharing a few snapshots from my trip to the beach this past week. We visited my grandmother who lives at Holden Beach, and for her 79th birthday we took a day trip to Carolina Beach and Wilmington to go shopping and eat lunch. I've never spent much time at either place, so the day was exciting and fun for me. Carolina Beach is such a classic and colorful beach; I fell absolutely in love with it. We stopped at Britt's Donuts, and now eating fresh donuts on a boardwalk is my new favorite thing to do on vacation. I came back from my trip feeling so inspired by the bright punchy colors and old school vibes of these simple coastal towns. I'm so glad I have these pictures to remember everything by, and I love the feeling that they capture exactly what summer is all about.

parkway adventure.

I mentioned in my last 10 things post on Friday that Lonnie and I spent the day together up on the parkway when we both had a day off. Today I'm sharing photos from that trip. The weather was beyond perfect, so we originally decided to make a trip to Skinny Dip Falls. But when we got to the overlook where the trail was, it was super crowded so we decided to just keep driving until we found another trail. The day ended up being even better than expected because we were able to explore a completely new part of the parkway.

In the summer when I'm out of school, I tend to be kinda a homebody, so getting outside and taking little trips like these is so important for me to stay happy and healthy. I had such a great time spending the day in the sun, getting exercise, and bonding with my guy.

our place.

I mentioned on Monday that this week, I'm making the big move into my boyfriend's apartment. Now, my boyfriend and I have been together for about 5 years now, and luckily that means that I've gotten to know the differences in our style pretty well. Not so luckily, I've learned that he and I are pretty much polar opposites when it comes to style. I'm very much modern glamour meets pops of color, and he's very much rustic minimalist. My boyfriend is very much a guy's guy, and I knew moving in I'd have to immediately tone down my over-the-top glitzy style (he also has a weird aversion to anything painted white, and I have the strong desire to paint everything white, so...problems).

Because of our differences in style and also because of my need to visualize and pre-plan everything, a while back, I made a private Pinterest board to try and find some kind of middle ground between our two styles. And I found that our styles mixed together is actually a pretty awesome mix of rustic, quirky, and modern. Lots of found objects(we'd always enjoyed thrifting and antiquing together), mixed in with modern furniture with clean lines, add in some natural elements, and then bring in cool art with warm, energizing pops of color, and somehow we have a meshed style that's all our own.

Now the Pinterest board I created was totally just a dream of sorts; I have much more realistic home decor expectations for the first apartment we share. However, I feel so much better going into this move knowing that our two styles can coexist successfully, and having a set visual in mind helps me organize what to bring in to this new shared space and what to leave out.

"our place" Pinterest board

tennessee road trip: memphis.

I mentioned in the first part of this two part reflection that the main goal of our little road trip was to go to Memphis and visit Graceland. None of us have ever been, including my grandmother, who loves to tell the story about how she was on her way to pick up my uncle from football practice, when she heard the news of Elvis' death on the radio and had to pull over to compose herself due to the amount of shock which followed.

With that being said, Graceland did not disappoint us or my grandmother. There was way more to the estate than just the tour of the home. We saw his planes, all of his cars, and what seemed like countless mini museums with photos and belongings. The whole experience was definitely surreal and entertaining for all of us. For me, it was inspiring, as well. I can totally get behind Elvis' "go big or go home" style and over-the-top taste, and spending the day surrounded by a whole new level of glitz and glam was a dream come true for me.

That night for dinner, we ventured into downtown Memphis to eat ribs at Rendezvous, which was recommended to us as a must-visit, and that did not disappoint either. They were easily the best ribs I've ever eaten, especially the lamb ribs my dad and brother ordered, which were insanely delicious.

Other than Graceland, the highlight of Memphis for me was also seeing the Mississippi river for the first time as we briefly crossed the bridge which borders Arkansas. I've never been that far west before, so seeing a completely different part of the country other than the southeastern part I'm used to was really quite the experience for me.

tennessee road trip: nashville.

Back in March, my dad, sister, grandmother, and I took a road-trip to Tennessee. My brother, an officer in the Air Force who's currently training in Mississippi, met us in Nashville, the first stop in our two-night adventure. We spent the 2nd leg of our trip in Memphis, but since I have so many photos, I'll be covering that portion of the trip in a separate post.

As you can see through the photos, Nashville was pretty rainy, but nothing too unbearable for walking around. What made things extra difficult, however, was the flood of blue-clad University of Kentucky fans that you can see can in the last picture. Without realizing it, we timed our trip perfectly with the SEC tournament. We all couldn't help but just laugh at our luck, because these kinds of things seem to only happen to the Robinson family on big trips and vacations.

Fortunately, this didn't change much of our plans because our main goal was to get to Memphis and see Graceland. Nashville was just a fun stop along the way for us, and it still was despite the weather and the crowds. We were able to go to the Johnny Cash Museum, which is probably one of the biggest highlights of the trip for myself, since I'm a huge fan.

Nashville was a colorful town glittering with neon lights, and it shined bright even in the rain. Walking around, smelling barbecue and hearing familiar country songs, it felt like home and Hollywood all rolled up into one. I'd definitely like to go back sometime when I have more time to truly explore the city, but I'm thankful for getting a small taste of what it's all about.