Back from NYC!

Hello everybody! I hope that you are doing well. I can't wait to catch up with what you've been up to! :)

We are back from our short trip in NYC and had such a good time. Even though it was only a few days, I feel like we saw so many cool things!

We went to a few shows, walked the Brooklyn Bridge, had great food, saw Central Park, The Met, and lots of fun bookstores.

Welcome to New York. 🙌🏻🙌🏻🙌🏻 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . #travel #ttot #nyc #newyork #wanderlust #instadaily #flashesofdelight #liveauthentic #thatsdarling

A post shared by Alexandra Consolver (@simplyalexandra12) on Sep 28, 2017 at 9:00pm PDT

Central Park yesterday. So much prettier than expected! 🌳🌿🌳🌿🌳 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . #centralpark #travel #ttot #nyc #newyork #wanderlust #instadaily #flashesofdelight #liveauthentic #thatsdarling #weekend #weekendvibes #wiw #wiwn #blogger #ootd #midwest #midwestblogger #fashion #target #targetstyle #whowhatwear #whowhatwearxtarget #bodypositive #effyourbeautystandards #fallfashion #simplyalexandrastyle #lazygirlfashion #choker #motojacket

A post shared by Alexandra Consolver (@simplyalexandra12) on Sep 30, 2017 at 6:37am PDT

We just saw Anastasia, the whole reason we made this trip. We bought the tickets over a year ago, and I'm so glad we did. It's like my favorite childhood movie came to life and gained more depth. Amazing. I may or may not have cried all through the second half. 💕💕💕💕💕💕 . . . . . . . . . . . #anastasia #amastasiamusical #anastasiathemusical #broadway #anastasiabroadway #travel #ttot #nyc #newyork #wanderlust #instadaily #flashesofdelight #liveauthentic #thatsdarling

A post shared by Alexandra Consolver (@simplyalexandra12) on Sep 30, 2017 at 9:28pm PDT

View from the Brooklyn Bridge. 🙌🏻🙌🏻🙌🏻 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . #brooklynbridge #brooklyn #latergram #travel #ttot #nyc #newyork #wanderlust #instadaily #flashesofdelight #liveauthentic #thatsdarling

A post shared by Alexandra Consolver (@simplyalexandra12) on Oct 1, 2017 at 2:51pm PDT

On top of the world with my best friend. ❤️ The view was spectacular (when we could squeeze through). Good and bad I wouldn't trade my adventures with @kconsolver for anything. ✈️✈️✈️ . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . #travel #ttot #nyc #newyork #wanderlust #instadaily #flashesofdelight #liveauthentic #thatsdarling #meandkc #topoftherock #topoftheworld #marriage #mushypost #besthusbandever

A post shared by Alexandra Consolver (@simplyalexandra12) on Oct 1, 2017 at 7:50pm PDT

Last day in the city. 🏙My feet are spent, and I miss my cats, but I'm ready to get one last day of exploring in before heading home. 😊 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . #travel #ttot #nyc #newyork #wanderlust #instadaily #flashesofdelight #liveauthentic #thatsdarling #nolita

A post shared by Alexandra Consolver (@simplyalexandra12) on Oct 2, 2017 at 7:33am PDT

Yesterday we saw Wicked. Didn't know much about it other than the very very basics. It was a lot. But it was mostly a good a lot. I think I overall prefer songs with less yelling-type singing. And also less of the singing over one another thing. This one wasn't too bad in terms of those things. Hehe (does that even make sense?!) 🖤💚🖤💚 . . . . . . . . . . . . #travel #ttot #nyc #newyork #wanderlust #instadaily #flashesofdelight #liveauthentic #thatsdarling #wicked #wickedbroadway #wickedmusical #broadway #musical

A post shared by Alexandra Consolver (@simplyalexandra12) on Oct 2, 2017 at 2:58pm PDT

We loved visiting Central Park. The Alice in Wonderland statue is phenomenal! . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . #travel #ttot #nyc #newyork #wanderlust #instadaily #flashesofdelight #liveauthentic #thatsdarling #centralpark #centralparkstatues #aliceinwonderland #art #sculpture

A post shared by Alexandra Consolver (@simplyalexandra12) on Oct 3, 2017 at 11:57am PDT

We also got to meet up with two of you while we were there! We had dinner in Chinatown with Kasi from Heydae and her husband Alex. We also met up with Dani from Faster Than Forever for drinks and dinner! It was so nice to meet you both and get to know you better! Thank you also for your recommendations in NYC. :)

Photo credit goes to Dani! :) 

I can't wait to share more about the trip soon. :)

What have you guys been up to?

Have you ever been to NYC?

Have you had a chance to meet up with blogger friends in real life?

XO,

Alexandra

Snapshots of Fargo, ND // Road Trip // July 2017

Happy Wednesday Friends! I hope that you are having a great week, I had a super long weekend... which was so nice! I read 3 books :P. Today I am sharing the other part of our Dakotas road trip!

Like I said, I planned poorly, and a lot of the shops and the art museum I wanted to go to were all closed by the time we got there, and not open on Sunday. :( Oh well. Here's what we DID do. Including possibly the single most inspiring thing I've seen on our travels!

Fargo, ND:

Eat: We only had a few meals in Fargo, but it seemed like there were some good options. Again, many things were closed on Sunday. :( 

• Rhombus Guys Pizza - we stopped here for some pizza, I was pretty unexcited about it. We even tried dessert pizza... but it was just ok. The vibe in this place was weird. It seemed like a local type haunt, but I didn't love the food. KC thought it was decent.
• Atomic Coffee - We stopped here for coffee and breakfast. It's got a good location and the coffee and pastries were alright. Nothing to write home about.
• Wurst Bier Hall - this was one place that we really liked. They had all kinds of beer and sausages, but other things too. We shared a sausage sandwich, and cheese curds. Yum! The vibe in this place was super neat too!

See: The downtown area, the Hjomkomst Center, the Visitor's center.

Shop: We didn't do a ton of shopping, because everything was closed. :(  We did go back to Unglued and Zandbroz, which were different than the Sioux Falls locations, but still similar. 

Do: 

• Visit the Hjomkomst Center - it is home to the Hjomkomst viking ship replica that was built by a man who contracted Leukemia. He finished his ship and got to take it out to the water. His children hired a crew, made adjustments to the ship, and sailed it from Lake Superior, MN to Norway. INCREDIBLE!!! There is also a gorgeous reproduction of a Viking Stave Church. It was built, carved, etc. etc. by a retired professor. It is absolutely incredible. This was by far the highlight of our trip, and worth the admission.
• The Fargo Visitor's Center has the wood chipper from the movie Fargo. You can pose with it for a photo. You can also sit on a bench that is for people who finally have seen all 50 states (ND being the last). So those are kind of fun. We enjoyed this because one of the people who works there brought in their kitten! Her name was Bean.

Stay: We used airbnb and booked a place that was super inexpensive, and worked great for us! (if you want to know where it was, just email me!)

Favorites: The Hjomkomst Center (viking replicas) and Bean the kitten.

New Experiences: Seeing North Dakota, full scale replicas, seeing anything viking, going to a wurst restaurant.

Have you been to the North Dakota?

Have you ever planned a trip poorly, and nothing was open?

Have you ever seen a a full scale replica of something, or seen something that had a really inspiring story behind it on your travels?

Missed my Sioux Falls post? See it here.

Other Trips This Year: NOLA & 24 Hours in St. Louis.

Upcoming Trips: NYC!

Happy Travels!

XO,

Alexandra

Snapshots of Sioux Falls, SD // Road Trip // July 2017

Happy Wednesday Friends, I am finally getting back to "normal" after my stint with ACoWaR... I have never ever ever fangirled so hard over anything. Wow.

Ok, so today's post is a recap of our July trip to the Dakotas. KC and I had a limited travel window due to his supervisor's maternity leave, and him being new in his position, so we took a long weekend and headed north. We are getting to the point where most places within driving distance we've already seen. Neither of us had been to either Dakota though, so we thought Sioux Falls and Fargo met our requirements. There wasn't a ton to do on these trips, and I didn't plan very well... because a lot of the places were closed on Sunday. Whomp whomp. Oh well, still things worth sharing!

Here we go, today I'm sharing about Sioux Falls, I'll post Fargo soon!

That's his, "oh snap!" face. LOLOL

LOL YOU GUYS LOOK AT MY FACE! :P

SO TIRED!

Omaha, NE:

Eat: We stopped in Omaha on the way up, and had lunch!

• 11Worth Diner - we loved this great diner. We had never been there and enjoyed sharing biscuits and gravy! This place is a dive and local favorite for good reason!

Sioux Falls, South Dakota:

Eat: We only had a few meals in Sioux Falls, but it seemed like there were some good options.

• JL Beers - we went here because the other option we picked seemed a bit fancy. We were pretty tired and dressed down... so we decided burgers seemed like the ticket. Aside from the root beer on tap (which KC loved!) the food was pretty underwhelming, and this is a chain. I got the burger with the special sauce, which had peanut butter in it. I know that's something people love, but it wasn't even marked on the menu. That seems really dangerous to me! :( 
• M.B. Haskett Delicatessen - We weren't sure what to expect with this restaurant since they were called a delicatessen, turned out it was a breakfast place (at least at the time we went). It was super legit though, and I am so glad that we went! We shared eggs, bacon, potatoes, and toast (homemade) with jam (homemade). YUM. It is definitely a local place, and the interior is really open and airy. Loved it! I think they have other food at different times of day.
• Coffea - We stopped here for coffee and a breakfast pastry. The coffee was super strong, and had a hint of something I couldn't place in it (molasses?). The coffee cake was the type that has everything (chocolate, nuts, dried fruit, etc.) in it. There was too much going on for me. I loved the vibe inside the shop though!
• CH Patisserie - we stopped here because they had macarons. We sadly didn't end up going back for any though. Whomp whomp. We did, however, get pastries for breakfast, and they were super legit. Very, very flaky and buttery! We tried a chocolate croissant and a ham and gryere croissant. YUM! Bonus: they have free post cards with macarons on them. ADORABLE! They had a fruity pebble macaron.. so I'm pretty sad we forgot to go back! LOL. 
• B&G Milkyway - This is a South Dakota chain, kind of like a Dairy Queen that has the cutest vintage stand restaurants and yummy ice cream treats. I got a dip cone, and KC got a sundae. Yum!

See: The downtown area, which has a sculpture walk throughout. So many neat sculptures there! Also, go visit the falls, not a far drive from downtown.

Shop: We didn't do a ton of shopping, though I promise they had some really neat little shops!

• Zandbroz Variety - this place is part bookstore, part gift store, part antique shop. It was really neat, and had a great selection of books, gifts, and other items. We got a lot of our post cards there. They also have a location in Fargo, and several others in the Dakotas as well!
• Unglued - this store is a mecca of all things crafty and homemade! They had such neat jewelry, souvenirs, crafts, etc. What a blast. A great place to get things for friends and family. My favorites were the post cards and homemade dream catchers. There was also a location in Fargo!
• Oh My Word Luxury Paperie - this store was my favorite, for obvious reasons... but they had the best selection of planners, stationery, accessories, etc. It was so much fun to look. They carry brands like Rifle Paper Co. and 1Canoe2. I got some fun thank you notes here!

Do: 

• Visit the Washington Pavillion of Arts and Science - they have several museums as well as a performing arts venue. We went on the free night, and got to see the art museum (with a gorgeous paper exhibit!) and also the discovery side, which was more like a kids' science museum.
• Check out the sculpture walk downtown.
• Visit the falls that the city was named after. They are gorgeous!

Stay: We used airbnb and booked a place that was super inexpensive, and worked great for us! (if you want to know where it was, just email me!)

Favorites: The Falls, the paper exhibit at the museum, the stationery store... :P. 

New Experiences: Seeing South Dakota, seeing a waterfall in red rocks.

Have you been to the South Dakota?

Have you ever planned a trip poorly, and nothing was open?

Have you ever seen a waterfall in person? Or one in red rock?

Other Trips This Year: NOLA, 24 Hours in St. Louis, & Sioux Falls, SD.

Upcoming Trips: NYC!

Happy Travels!

XO,

Alexandra

24 Hours in St. Louis // June 2017

If I know one thing to be true... it's buy your concert tickets folks. You've probably heard this from me a lot, but it remains true. You don't want to miss out on tickets, unless you have to. Which is why, when Broods announced a short North American tour, we knew that driving to St. Louis (4.5 hours) would be worth it. Especially at $24 a piece for the tickets. :)

So, in mid-June we drove to St. Louis for the show, and right back the next morning. While it's never our preference to do so Juliet's mom was getting married, and we didn't want to miss it!

While we didn't do much on this trip, we do think there is a lot to do in St. Louis! So check out my past trip posts (at the bottom of this post) for ideas! :)

Eat: We only ate one meal in St. Louis, we tried Seoul Taco, a fun fusion restaurant. We tried one of each of the meat tacos, the fried rice, and the dumplings. The tacos were good, mine was very spicy. I didn't care for the fried rice, but the dumplings were amazing, They were pricer than the rest, but it was very worth it. The atmosphere in Seoul Taco was awesome. The walls reminded me of street art, and they had a deconstructed taco truck, and boomboxes spray pained in bright colors. It was a really fun dining experience. Thanks for the recommendation Will & Cara!

Do: See a concert at Delmar Hall or The Pageant. Delmar Hall is very very small which is great for seeing a band up close! I also loved that they have a little bar lounge you can wait in for the show rather than lining up outside!

Shop: The Loop (Delmar). It's full of fun specialty stores and restaurants. We loved stopping into Subterranean Books. It's relatively small, but it had a nice collection of books and atmosphere. I managed to buy a book, of course. They also had a small collection of local t-shirts and other gift items. Plus a bookstore dog, you don't see those a lot.

Broods: Broods was amazing, it was so fun to see them a second time! It was so fun to see Georgia dance around to the more up beat second album. She has amazing energy! They played pretty much all of my favorites. A girl right next to me in the crowd was there (after driving for 6 hours) for her birthday. And they sang to her! How cool is that?! They also did a cool cover of "Mad World", which was awesome. As always I highly recommend their music for your playlists and their concerts too! :)

Favorites: Broods! The bookstore and tacos were good too though. :) 

New Experiences: The Loop, Delmar Hall, Seoul Taco.

Have you been to St. Louis?

Have you ever traveled for a concert?

What is your favorite fusion restaurant?

If you are heading to St. Louis, you can check out my other trip recaps, here & here.

Happy Travels!

XO,

Alexandra

Snapshots of Tulsa, OK // August 2016

Wayyy back in August, KC and I + my friend (and ex-roomie) Jessica headed to Tulsa to see Coldplay. (see the concert recap, here.)

This was a bucket list item for her, and I really wanted to see them again, of course.. just a few weeks later they announced a show in KCMO... which would have been easier... but oh well! :)

We spent just a day in Tulsa, but we had a few good meals and lots of fun!

The BOK is the COOLEST looking arena!! 

see?!

Eat: We had dinner at El Guapo's a Mexican restaurant downtown. It was really good and had a fun atmosphere. A bonus is that it was a short walk to the BOK center for our concert. The prickly pear margaritas were great! We had breakfast at Dilly Diner which was GREAT and had HUGE pancakes. I loved the retro (yet modern...?) vibe in there! It was farm-to-table too which was a plus.

See: Downtown, BOK Center, Philbrook Museum of Art (& Gardens).

Shop: We really didn't shop much. We stopped in the Philbrook gift shop. There is a HUGE used bookstore there (Gardener's) .. .but we did not stop... 1) time, and 2) book ban. : / 

Do: See a concert at the BOK. Visit the Philbrook Museum of Art.

Favorites: Coldplay, prickly pear margaritas, the garden view at the Philbrook.

New Experiences: Traveling with a friend, a lack-luster airbnb experience.

Have you been to an arena concert?

Have you seen Coldplay live? See my recap of the concert, here.

Do you travel with friends or in groups?

Happy Travels!

XO,

Alexandra