New Mexico {Old Town ABQ & Madrid}

Our first full day in New Mexico we started off with a hearty breakfast of breakfast burritos and a giant cinnamon roll at Frontier Restaurant, a local spot recommended to us by many near the University.  After loading up on some delicious, no frills eats we headed back to Old Town to do some shopping and walk around town.  Luckily it was early enough that there weren't many crowds, so after hitting up the Breaking Bad store we wandered the other shops in the square, taking in all the fun local souvenirs and Christmas decorations.  After spending a few hours wandering around we decided to head out of town for our main NM destination, Santa Fe.  We took the scenic route {as opposed to the main highway}, running into hardly any other cars and stopping along the way to take in the views for miles and miles.  Along the way we stopped in Madrid, a funky little roadside town with some shops and bars where we could stretch our legs before continuing on to Santa Fe.  More tomorrow!

{stopping to marvel at how quiet the highway was}

xoxo,

stephanie marie

Urban Hiking {Downtown Christmas Errands}

Sunday afternoon, with rain and snow {!} in the forecast for the foreseeable future, we decided to walk downtown to run a few errands and walk off some of the Thanksgiving weekend meals.  We made our way to Nordstrom, Uniqlo, and Fjallraven to check out some Black Friday sales and see downtown lit up for Christmas, then when I started to get hangry Christian suggested we stop by Piroshky Piroshky for a snack before the long walk back up the hill.  Surprisingly enough I've never been to this Pike Place institution, but the cheddar garlic roll that I inhaled while looking out at the setting sun definitely hit the spot.  We walked along Elliott Bay back towards home and while it started to get pretty chilly, it was such a beautiful sunny day to walk a good 7.5 miles around the city.  Now, I'm ready to cozy in for some snow!

xoxo,

stephanie marie

Thanksgiving Weekend {In Pictures}

{6th thanksgiving with this one!}

{my fave salad that always get rave reviews}

{plate #1}

{it was a small but mighty celebration this year with a few out due to covid and other illness, but we had a great time with the fam}

{gorgeous thanksgiving sunset}

{leftover pie + holiday movies}

{team breakfast by me and dad}

{mom's spaghetti after a black friday trip to costco}

{photobomb by shadow}

{dad's perfect pancakes}

{saturday morning deliciousness}

{old fashioned + the prettiest tree}

I didn't take a ton of pics this weekend, but we had a wonderful and small holiday.  I hope yours was just as cozy and relaxing as ours!

xoxo,

stephanie marie

Thankful

I cannot believe Thanksgiving is tomorrow and that we're getting close to saying goodbye to yet another year.  It's been an eventful one over here with so much to be thankful for, including a new piece of bling, the best fiancé, early Christmas decorating, travel, remote work, afternoon tea, Netflix, long walks, donuts, group texts with the girls, Wordle, boosters, online workouts, cutie nephews, books, old fashioneds, concerts, dinner dates, fall sunsets, and snuggles, but most of all I'm grateful for another year of health and happiness for my family and friends.  That's all we can really hope for anyway, right?

Cheers to a long, yummy, and safe holiday weekend!

xoxo,

stephanie marie

New Mexico {Breaking Bad & Better Call Saul}

You may ask why we chose New Mexico for our fall/winter vacation, and you'd be right if you guessed that it had a little something to do with being super fans of Breaking Bad and Better Call Saul {if you haven't watched these - David - please do so immediately}.  We mapped out a ton of filming locations from the shows and one of the very first stops we made in Albuquerque {even before checking into the hotel} was to drive by Jesse's house {in a gorgeous part of town}, then head to Chuck's house which was conveniently located immediately across the street - who knew?!?  Saturday morning we decided to hit up the Breaking Bad Store/Museum in Old Town Albuquerque and were blown away by the amount of souvenirs and memorabilia the store had.  We spent so much time taking advantage of the photo ops, looking at props from the show, and checking out all of the photos of the cast on the walls and when we finally left the store {with souvenirs, of course} we were like giddy little kids who had just gotten out of the best candy shop ever.  Such geeks, but one of the many reasons I love this guy!  Here are some fave pics from the store and filming locations from around the city!

{jesse's house}

{chuck's house}

{the prettiest park separating the two houses}

{the "motel"}

{saul!}

{doing my best hector impression}

{with our fave, mike}

{the poor people that live in walter's house have to have security and a gate up to keep people like us away - oops}

{saul's office is now a bar}

{the infamous car wash - and yes, that's a breaking bad rv tour taking pics in front of it}

{selfies in front of the nail salon}

{the law offices of hhm}

{the laundromat}

{mike's house...}

{...two doors down from jesse's apartment!}

xoxo,

stephanie marie