Life's Sweet Journey

Tuesday, October 10, 2017

#TravelTuesday 21 // Hiking High Falls Trail near Cashiers, North Carolina

Happy Travel Tuesday Adventurers!! 
I can't wait to see where you have been recently! 
Add your link at the bottom of the post so that we can explore together! 

If you can't tell from the last few posts, my heart has been longing for a good hike, some cooler weather, and a beautiful morning in the mountains! Since that is not an option right now I figured why not relive those moments, with a figurative hike to a beautiful North Carolina waterfall! 

Beautiful waterfall hike near Cashiers, North Carolina


This beautiful hike can be found in Glenville, North Carolina (near Cashiers) and it is one of my favorite trails we've ever been on! If you love waterfalls as much as me, the High Falls Trail (also known as Cullowhee Falls Trail) is a must add to your hiking bucket list! Here's why:

Thursday, October 5, 2017

October Currently and a Look at our Chaotic Life!

Can you believe it's already October?! 
Linking up today with Anne in Residence for a little peek into our world right now- welcome to the chaos! 
October Currently, a Giveaway and Bulletproof Coffee

{Styling} I am honestly not much of a stylist, but I am currently trying to plan my wardrobe choices for, oh, just the next full year! Trying to go from two full size closets down to half a closet in an RV is not easy. I may mostly wear tank tops and blue jean shorts, but we are planning to spend the first three months on the road at a ski resort, so I have to plan for all types of weather, but VERY minimally! At least it's finally made me throw away shirts I have been hanging onto since high school! Any body out there a capsule wardrober?! I welcome any and all advice!! 

{Saving} Only the most important items! God Love my sis-in-law! She spent her entire day yesterday (after work nonetheless) helping me organize my house into boxes. I am NOT adept at any kind of cleaning organizing purging grown-up life skills. She helped me prioritize what we will need in the camper, what we should save for sentimental value (thanks mom and dad for being our storage unit for the next who-knows-how-long), and what had to go. Thankfully she's not afraid to say "girl! No way in H'ail you are keeping this?! What do you need this for and when did you last use it?!" She told me I couldn't even bring my $h!z bowl (as she appropriately named it; even if it was made by me and signed by our wedding guests), that I use to hide crap I might want, but really don't need.  

{Searching} For a new home aka home-on-wheels! We finally purchases a new-to-us truck this weekend... meet Rodger the Dodger! Now, all we need to do is find a pretty little rolling home to hitch up behind "him" (though I keep saying she, so Rodger might be a girl) and we will be ready to roll out come the first December.

RV Life Planning Chaos

{Picking} Nothing right now, but on Monday I will be picking a winner for the first giveaway I am hosting in the month of adventure themed giveaways I have planned! For this giveaway I have partnered with Moon Guides, a beautiful travel guidebook company, to offer a choice of any travel guide and an 'Adventure Fuel' coffee mug to one winner. Head over to Instagram to enter! There will be a new giveaway that goes live every Wednesday!

Giveaway | Adventure Fuel Mug and Moon Travel Guides

{Making} Tons and tons of coffee!! Thankfully I just got a shipment of some yummy Aloha vanilla protein powder to try. I add protein powder to my morning coffee- hello Bulletproof coffee!- and have been itching to try it with a vanilla flavor. The chocolate I had was good, but this is even better! Plus, Aloha is a plant-based protein powder with no added ickiness, so I feel good about what I am putting in my body. If you have never tried protein powder in your coffee, you need to!! Here's what I do: 

My Bulletproof Coffee Recipe
Step 1- Make a fresh pot of coffee (I have been LOVING Lavazza Espresso Roast)
Step 2- Pour coffee into a blender (I use my Ninja)
Step 3- Add 1 tbsp protein powder, 1 tbsp Bulletproof oil (can use coconut oil), a small scoop of unsalted grass fed butter, and a little almond milk (ghee can be used instead of butter)
Step 4- Blend to frothy goodness!
Step 5- Pour into your favorite mug and enjoy!!

I'm not sure how or why it works (I read the science on it somewhere), but I the butter has to be grass fed or you defeat the purpose of adding healthy fats to your coffee. I think it was something about having your body kickstart itself into burning fats. Anyways, I feel like it keeps me full and focused longer than a regular cup of coffee. Even if it's all in my head, I'm going with it!

And now I'm off to drink more coffee and pack more things... 
What is going on in your world this October?! 








Monday, October 2, 2017

Staying Fueled and Hydrated on a Hike

Disclosure: This shop has been compensated by Collective Bias, INC. and The Coca-Cola Company, all opinions are mine alone. #SnackHonestly #CollectiveBias 

It's been one HOT summer here in Florida, but that hasn't stopped us from finding time to hit the trails. We may end them hot and sweaty, but we end them happy! However, making sure you finish a trail with a smile on your face comes with a few essential components; at least for us! So, today I am sharing how we stay fueled for a full day of hiking.



Hiking Snacks #shop #cbias #SnackHonestly

Thursday, September 28, 2017

3 Things Thursday

Life is a mess of clutter and chaos around these parts right now! 


There are literally 3 closets open in our house right now, with all of their contents strewn throughout the hallways and bedrooms. Why 3 you ask?! Because I have the worst ADD and can not, for whatever reason, finish one task before moving onto the next. My brain just seems to work better in that way! But right now it has hit a wall... So, I came here to glean inspiration from others who have downsized and just find a way to refocus for a minute. Writing and scrolling seems to help me steady my mind, so I figured I take a minute to hop on here and share a "3 things for Thursday" post! Because, like we learned above, my brain seems to do better in threes. 

3 Links I am Reading Right Now

* Posts on downsizing, from Our Streamlined Life, including this one about not missing their "stuff": Seriously, I am having the hardest time going through the house and trying to decide what to keep and what to get rid of. Packing 7 years in a 4 bedroom house into a home-on-wheels means that we are going to be getting rid of a TON of things; and some might say I have a slight hoarding tendency. Thankfully Babe has the exact opposite tendencies, so it's been a good balance, but there still seems to be so much I don't want to let go of. I think I am finally in the place though where I really just want to scream "just throw it ALL away!" I feel like I am drowning in stuff! 
Source
* All the glorious outdoor posts, from 33 and Free, like these beautiful Arizona hiking finds! The more I read posts like these, and see amazing adventure pictures, the less I even remember I actually have "stuff".  Just give me all the adventures!!
* Basically EVERYTHING from Michelle, but this post about living full-time in an RV is at the top of the list; we already know we are going to do it, but it's a little bit scary to think about right now and reading from people who are making it happen gives me hope! Her posts about how she earns a living on the road inspire me.


3 Throwback Posts

* Meet Babe- This post is waaayyyyy throwback; like only my 5th post ever throwback. So much has changed since then (with the blog, with our lives, with where we are headed), but the fundamentals remain the same. I feel like Babe is often such a "ghost" on this space- a word whispered every now and then, the other component in the word 'we'- but that will be changing soon, once we really get this show on the road, so maybe a "reintroduction" is in order!
* Cruise Fun- In October, we are heading out on the high seas for one last cruise before we become pretty well land-locked once we make the shift to a home-on-wheels! Here is a look at our last adventure on a boat!
* FloRida's First Ride- Though the thought of full-time road life is exciting, there is one big downside... we will be saying goodbye to our sweet Flo! She has been a good little trailer for the last two years, but we need something a bit bigger for full-time living. Throwing it back to that first weekend we got her (and my first awful attempts at video editing; p.s. it hasn't gotten that much better)!


3 Pins I'm Pinning 

We are planning a last minute, impromptu trip to NYC, to take Babe's mom to see the Statue of Liberty. **Don't throw things at me**- but I am not a huge NYC fan; there is just way too much sensory overload for me and the crowds make me claustrophobic. Thankfully she isn't thrilled with crowds either, but she has always wanted to see the Statue of Liberty, so here we go... I am pinning all things NYC and areas to avoid the crowds. Someone just put me in a hammock in Central Park and air-lift me in and out!

~~~ Pin 1 ~~~                 ~~~ Pin 2 ~~~                 ~~~ Pin 3 ~~~

3 Things I am Buying 

I should probably just put them on subscribe-and-save, but Vita Coco Coconut Water and Kind Bars constantly seem to be in my Amazon Cart! I will also be grabbing some new popcorn kits to try. We are stovetop poppers pretty much 100% of the time and  have used Orville Redenbacher's PopKits for years! Welp, Orville has failed us and stopped making them. Come on people/! Stove-top-pop already! I promise it will change your life! Anyways, giving these a try and praying they are just as good better! 


3 Things I'm Planning

* A Month of Giveaways- I'm getting super pumped for next month! Every Wednesday in October, I will be partnering with some awesome brands and accounts for a new giveaway each week over on Instagram
* The above mentioned NYC trip! Any tips for Fall in the city or off-the-beaten-path spots that might not be so crowded?! 
* A Tackle-It To-Do List! To maybe give me an extra oomph to get this house in order! Which I have now set aside for far too long to fill this space with random bits of chaos, so that I could "refocus"! 

I guess it's back at it!! 
Any 3 things info you would like to share?! 


Wednesday, September 20, 2017

5 Fun Things to do in Cherokee County, North Carolina

It's felt like way too long since we were enjoying the cooler weather of the North Carolina mountains, so I figured it was high-time I shared some of our favorite spots from our trip this past summer!

Here are our top 5 things to do in Cherokee County, North Carolina...



1.) Vineyard Hop!
It doesn't matter where we go, our wine loving hearts have one priority; find the nearby vineyards or wineries and hit up as many as possible! There are some awesome options in and around Cherokee County. Though it was hard to pick favorites I think I would have to say our favorite visit was to Calaboose Cellars. One, because the wine was great, but two, because it shares a location with Andrew's Brewing Co. He gets beer, I get wine and we are both happy, happy, happy!! It helps too that it shares the same "real" name as Babe!