family + travel + lifestyle + wellness
One of our favorite things about living in Scotland was seeing tartan in everyday life and learning the different clans and their signature pattern. Scottish people are very proud of their heritage and family names. Dave’s ancestors come from Macaulay and Moffat heritage lines. Plaid, or tartan, is such a classic pattern. I would love to get one of these plaid skirts (none over $100)!
This roller bag carry on has a phone charger – I can’t believe this wasn’t a thing earlier!
Loving the dark floral trend this fall and especially this style of dress with an empire waist and pockets!
Looking forward to being reunited with my favorite cupcake place from DC – Georgetown Cupcake which now has a location in LA 🙂
I’ve had a great fall knitting and enjoying all the support for the ‘Buy 1, give 1‘ project! Its been eye-opening to do this project and to think about the refugees and homeless around the world. The project will be ending November 15th but will still be available for regular purchase in my Etsy shop.
After we got married, ten years ago, we would often play the game, “where will we be in 10 years?”- the future seemed so far away and we were open to any travel and education opportunities life offered us. Well here we are 10 years later and on our 10th anniversary we woke up in an AirBnB in Austin, TX and drove to the title company to sign closing papers for our current house! We would’ve never guessed we would live in Texas, and we would’ve never guessed how much we would love Texas. Even though it’ll only be about 6 months, we have loved our community in Cedar Park and the city of Austin. We survived a Texas summer, enjoyed the plethora of splash pads and parks, ate more than our weight in brisket and Blue Bell ice cream and made some great friends in our ward. We experienced Brent’s first soccer game and first preschool. We full intended on staying in Austin until our kids graduated from high school…until…
Dave was offered an awesome position as an HR regional manager in Los Angeles. Los Angeles! Southern CA was always in the back of our minds but we didn’t think it would happen for years, like when we were old enough to retire. This amazing opportunity fell in our laps through some amazing people we have met and we would’ve never been connected to this new job if we hadn’t moved to Cedar Park. Funny what the Lord and life has in store for you. It’s a great career move for Dave and I’m extremely proud he was offered this position!
We now face another unknown. Although San Diego isn’t far from LA, I’ve only been there a handful of times (because traffic!) and we don’t know much about the suburbs in the area. Once again we’ve been able to connect with people who know the area where we can start the house hunt all over again (except this time we’re going to rent!). The day we found out he was offered the position we needed a rolling pin for a dessert. We found it in a cupboard, still in bubble wrap!!! That along with the boxes we still haven’t unpacked have left us one step ahead of the game ha, ha!
So in a few months, we will say goodbye to another home. A city we’ve enjoyed and really haven’t had too much time to explore. We will miss the Texan hospitality and the awesome people we have met here. We are excited for the future even if it means packing up everything again.
The cacti in Texas are so beautiful and I love these cupcakes by @houselarsbuilt (Instagram) they looks so real!
My friend from VA, Julie, has been doing these awesome bus stop costumes the last few Octobers. She picks a different costume everyday when she picks up her kids from the bus stop. She does this to show kids it’s ok to be different – isn’t that so awesome?! She is not only a great friend but an amazing person and mother to her five kids! (Instagram @busstopcostumes)
I love fall desserts and this apple pumpkin bundt cake looks delicious and not complicated!
I’m excited to introduce an awesome product from JORD Wood Watches. I’ve used many styles of watches over the years, from trendy to classic, metal to leather but never a wooden watch. I was intrigued by how a wooden watch would be different and can definitely say I love the feel and details of a JORD watch! You can enter to win one of your own at the bottom of this post!
Rose Nest top // Old Navy denim // JORD watch
My watch is a gorgeous dark sandalwood with a contrasting mint face. There were so many styles of wood and face colors it was difficult to choose just one and I feel this one is great for all seasons and is a classic style.
JORD Watches are unique time pieces and come in tons of styles for men and women. These watches are handcrafted from natural woods including sandalwood, ebony, walnut, maple, etc. One of my favorite things about this watch is because it’s wood, it’s super lightweight. Since Texas is warm (or hot!) all year around this watch is perfect for the climate and doesn’t make my wrist even warmer.
I love that JORD Watches have custom sizing down to a quarter of a cm (for example, my watch is 16 and 1/4 cm and it fits perfectly!) No more ‘one size fits most’ sizing, a watch where you have to get resized or add an extra hole.
Another thing I absolutely love is the box the watch comes in and can be used for storage. It’s a high quality, wooden box with a magnetic closing lid which protects your watch from exposure to temperatures or humidity. See, I’m not kidding when I say this box is gorgeous:
The design and overall aesthetic of this watch are so beautiful and I’m excited to be partnering with JORD to giveaway a $75 e-gift code to one lucky winner! They ship internationally too!
JORD has also generously decided to give all contest participants a $20 e-gift code just for entering the giveaway!
This post is sponsored by JORD Wood Watches
Wooden Wristwatch
//www.woodwatches.com/widget/jamtartboutique
Wooden Wristwatch
//www.woodwatches.com/widget-article/jamtartboutique/850/250
Since we got married, 10 years ago (!), we’ve lived in places with all four seasons. This has been awesome to see the amazing changing leaves in Virginia and snow topped mountains in Utah and Scotland but it’s also been nice this fall to not be in a cold place! Temperatures have dropped to a comfortable 75 degrees. It still feels a little warm for Halloween but it’s much nicer than snow! We’ve been able to take advantage of the nice weather and feel it’s been a nice pay off after the blistering hot summer.
^serious skeleton at his preschool Halloween song for the parents
The cutest dog-baby relationship! Not quite how Bruce and the kids are but they do get along pretty well 😉
Love this perfect fall image from Julia at Gal Meets Glam – the changing colors and huge trees make me miss Virginia and DC!
I’m intrigued by rose gold make up like this:
My sister in law shared this delicious and easy recipe (found here) and I’ve adapted it. It is very simple and requires little prep and little cooking time! I may be the last person on earth to discover this, but earlier this year I heard the easiest way to shred chicken – using a hand mixer/Kitchen Aid/Bosch mixer!
Jen Holtkamp 