Thursday, July 20, 2017

Presently: July

July, you're almost gone already. I swear, this month is like this every year. It's the peak of summer, and our weekends are packed to the brim. Summer, you're moving wayyyyyy too fast. 

|| Photo is property of Mountain Shadow Morning. Must give credit. ||

Making: lunches and dinners with the goods from our CSA box. We're loving that we get a "surprise" box of produce each week. 
Watching: Shameless. It's addicting and a little bit stressful, but I can't stop watching. 
Doing: new homeowner everything. Ripping up old landscaping, organizing plants, shopping for additional pieces etc. I'm loving these new responsibilities, but am really looking forward to fall // winter when we're spending a lot of time in our home and doing projects inside.
Thinking: about fall (how bad is that?!) A few days ago it was in the low 50s and it made me excited  for sweaters, boots and colored leaves (but today it's 90 degrees...)
Visiting: new businesses, shops and restaurants in the North Loop (my new 'hood for my new job - more on that soon!)
Wearing: yoga pants (even though I have a new job, the fitness never ends). We've been doing a lot of practice teaching and training lately.
Spending: a little bit more money than I'd like on salads for lunch at Whole Foods and Crisp & Green. I now work in the North Loop, which is bursting with healthy food options, and sometimes I just can't say no.
Shopping: for picture frames. We have some new artwork and some cute cards I'm interested in framing and displaying around our home.
Eating: yogurt bowls for breakfast (the lazy girl's guide to a smoothie bowl). It's super easy - just top yogurt with some berries, jam, nut butter, nuts or seeds, fruit, honey etc. YUM. Follow me on Instagram to see these posts in my story!
Drinking: coffee. So much coffee. 
Missing: days when it wasn't 80 degrees at 6 am. We've had a string of really warm days lately.
Planning: weekends for my family to come visit. Now that we have so much space, we can host them anytime (it's the best). 
Working: on decorating the foyer of our house. We purchased a beautiful three-tiered tray and are working on some artwork. Slowly but surely it's moving along. 
Reading: The Magnolia Story. I finished it in 24 hours - such a quick and happy read. 
Wanting: Two more hours in each day for sleep - wait, I think I say this every month. 
Enjoying: the days I work from home and enjoy coffee on the couch while I answer emails (Camp usually snoozes with me as I do). 
Pinning: summer recipes nonstop. 
Pondering: buying another dress for a few more weddings this summer. Bad idea?
Listening: to all the bands I'm seeing later this month 
Liking: cooking breakfast on weekend mornings, nice and slow. 
Feeling: like a social media maven in my new job. I don't hate it. 
Noticing: how much calmer I feel with a to-do list and plan for my day. It changes everything.
Going: to coffee shops to work (glasses included). 
Debating: making another pot of coffee. That's a bad idea, right? 
Loving: going to sleep in our plushy down comforter. 
Marveling: at our snoozy neighborhood street, and how this place already feels like home. 

Tuesday, July 18, 2017

Mood: Current Vibes

Remember when I said I haven't been pinning much lately? Well, that's still mostly true. But the things I am pinning are all about summer + our new house.

While we're busy nearly every weekend with weddings, our weeknights and Sundays are filled with DIY projects and to-do's. We're styling each room, figuring out how to landscape, touching up the paint EVERYWHERE and eating an absurd amount of donuts and coffee (damn you, donut shop right down the street). I'm also trying to master the Dutch braid - any tips on that?

And in the little time we have left over, we're trying to find a weekend to get out camping this summer. Fingers crossed for a warm September. 

|| Photo is property of Mountain Shadow Morning. Individual photos are not owned. ||  

Thursday, June 22, 2017

Travel: Iceland

I honestly feel a little embarrassed that it's taken me 12+ months to post about my trip to Iceland. It was a truly life-changing experience, so why has it taken me so long to share it with you?

Apart from the hundreds of photos I needed to sift through, I think my hesitation in writing this post is because I can't find a good way to share how unbelievably special this trip was. Apart from the scenery and the adventure, the true reason this trip changed me was because of where I was at in my life when I decided to book it.

Truthfully, I originally had been planning a trip to Iceland with an ex-boyfriend. I hadn't officially booked flights or a hotel, but I'd done my research on hikes to take, places to eat and things to see. I had mentally committed to this trip, and was excited to do it. When that relationship ended, Iceland (like so many other things) became this ominous place. It felt tainted, dark and bad. I immediately associated the breakup and the old relationship with Iceland, and wrote it off just like that. 

I quickly learned that that's not a good way to do anything. You can't write off places, restaurants, holidays or people, even if they remind you of something else. It doesn't work that way. Because they're not actually going anywhere. What needed to change was my attitude.

I blame most of this on me being in a place of confusion and uncertainty, but I woke up one day and decided that I couldn't hate everything that reminded me of that relationship. And that included Iceland. 

That day, I wrote and sent emails to the two hostels I had researched in Reykjavik. I told them I was thinking of traveling to Iceland, and wondered if they'd ever hosted yoga classes in their space, and if they were interested in having me teach. I figured there was no harm in not getting a response, and I was proud of myself for reaching out in the first place.

Within a day, I heard back from Loft Hostel (the place I had really wanted to stay at when planning my original trip there). They'd never had someone teach yoga there, but loved the idea. Even better, they wanted me to teach every day in exchange for free lodging. I've never won the lottery, but this felt pretty damn close.

At that moment, I knew I had to do it. Rarely does life ever tell you what to do, but this seemed obvious. I had no one to go with, and had never traveled alone internationally. But I felt that if I could survive a breakup, I could hop on a plane and teach yoga by myself. 

And just like that, life picked me back up once again - one of my best friends told me she was packing her bag and coming with me for the adventure. And just like that, we were going to Iceland in T-3 months.

Riley and I are planners, and that's putting it lightly. We both have planners, color-coordinated Google calendars and make 10+ lists per day. Deciding to travel internationally in an off-the-cuff way like this was way beyond what was normal for us. We booked plane tickets almost immediately, confirmed our travel dates with Loft and rented a car. And from there, we had no other plans.

And that's when life helped us out again. We found really affordable flights to Reykjavik (before IcelandAir started flying out of MSP), and had a 7 hour layover in New York. We used the entire 7 hours to research and plan our trip. We did it in roughly 4 hours, fueled by nervous excitement and about 10 cups of coffee. We had our matching roller bags, parkas, yoga mats and big smiles on our faces. We had no idea what the trip would be like, but we knew we were doing something together that truly challenged who we were as people. It forced us to let go of our planners, try new things, be brave and make things happen. 

These are just a few of the hundreds (not an exaggeration) of photos and videos we took on our trip. If I could share them all with you and let you relive our trip with us, I would. But I can't. Even as I looked through these photos and tried to describe them, you can't put the magic of a trip like that on paper (or online). My best advice? Book a ticket. Now. Go explore and see this incredible country for yourself.

The best part? Loft still hosts yoga, every Sunday, for free. And their classes? Completely packed.


At the Reykjavik airport, we grabbed coffee and our rental car. The airport is beautiful and modern, and the people there couldn't have been nicer. 


Right after we landed, we headed straight to the Blue Lagoon. People tend to think of this as an expensive tourist trap, and even if it is, it's completely worth it. There are a ton of other natural hot springs in Iceland, but they are nothing compared to the blue lagoon. The blue lagoon has jet black rocks with cloudy blue water (the other hot springs look like rivers with steam coming off them), and the whole experience feels like you're at a spa. It's one of the things Iceland is known for, so I'd highly recommend making a pit stop on your way to or from the airport.  


Much of our trip was spent pulling off to the side of the road to sightsee. Iceland has beauty everywhere you turn. 


We taught yoga each morning at 11 a.m. Each day, more and more people came (both travelers staying at Loft Hostel and locals who heard about the free classes). People were so open to trying new things and meeting new people. Each day was inspiring. 


We traveled in May, but it still required a winter jacket. I snagged this Burton jacket right before we left at REI and rarely took it off. 


Each of our mornings looked like this - drinking Americanos while pouring over our gigantic map of Iceland, plotting where we'd travel that day and what we wanted to see. We challenged ourselves to get around the country without a GPS (and we did it!)


Icelandic ponies are unlike any other horses in the world. We stopped wherever we could to pet them (also, notice the gorgeous mountains in the background). 


The Iceland you see in photos truly does exist, and it's everywhere. Mountains, rolling grassy hills, little buildings without people. I had my camera in my hand nonstop to capture these little moments. 


Gullfoss, one of many waterfalls we chased in Iceland. I didn't have words to describe it then, and I don't have words now, either. 


We hit the tourist destinations, a well as places off the beaten path, including this below ground ice cave (Raufarhólshellir - Split Mound Cave). 


We grabbed lunch at our favorite restaurant in Reykjavik, Glo, almost every day. They served vegan and vegetarian options and had the freshest food. We also read the local newspaper and tried to be as local as we could.  


Reykjavik is the capital of Iceland, and the best part is that you can explore the entire city in a day. We spent an entire day drinking coffee and roaming around the city. I loved the apartments and homes in Iceland - they were usually brightly colored and were built to withstand the wind and seawater. 

I also almost stole this vehicle *insert heart eye emoji*


I've seen similar versions of this photo on nearly every website or blog talking about Iceland travel. This view can be seen from the upper level of Hallgrimskirkja, the best-known church in Reykjavik. It boasts the best view of the city.


Fun fact - Iceland was under prohibition until 1989. Because of that, beer and liquor are a little spendy in Iceland (like that stopped us). One of our favorite things to do was sip a late afternoon beer after returning back from our adventures (this beer was consumed at Kex, another well-known hostel in Reykjavik). 


There are so many waterfalls in Iceland! Of them all, I think this one was our favorite. This was at the bottom of Gljúfrabúi (the last in a string of gorgeous waterfalls that you can see from the highway). You're able to climb to the top of the waterfall, and then descend to the bottom. It's still one of the most magnificent things I've ever seen.


This was what every day looked like - Riley was our pilot, and I was her co-pilot and map novice. Going by a paper map only in a foreign country was a challenge for us, and we loved every minute of being without our phones.


This is the reason Riley and I went to Iceland (honestly). Seljavallalaug has been photographed and shared by thousands of different bloggers // travelers // travel websites and magazines (see for yourself on Instagram). We knew we had to see it for ourselves. It's about a mile hike from the parking lot. Out of nowhere, a break in the mountains appears, and so does this man-made natural pool. The water is comfortably hot, and you can see it drip from the mountain hot springs directly into the pool. It's one of the oldest pools in Iceland (circa 1923), and people still travel from near and far to swim in the pool and take in the scenery. 


We weren't kidding about the waterfalls. This was at Skogafoss. After a brutal hike to the top, we enjoyed every second of this view (we clearly aren't afraid of heights).  


This is an area in Southern Iceland where the Dyrhólaey lighthouse is located. From the top of the cliff, you can see mountains, hills, the black sand beach and the sea. I guess the lighthouse is now a hotel - if you can, I HIGHLY suggest you book it. This view is indescribable. 


Black Sand Beach is a beach in the Southern city of Vik (located in close proximity to the lighthouse). The beach is made entirely of black stones. It was incredible to look into the ocean and know that there really was nothing south of Iceland (I think technically, the next continent directly south of Iceland is Antarctica...the United Kingdom and Africa are technically east). Riley loved this beach. 


On our last full day in Iceland, we hiked Glymur, Iceland's highest waterfall. Another fun fact - Riley and I hiked the wrong peak of Glymur first. So we technically feel like we hiked the highest waterfall in Iceland twice. On the correct leg of the hike, we walked across rivers and used rope to ascend the mountain. It sounds a little bit more badass than it is, but it was the perfect way to round out our trip. 


Every sunset in Iceland looked like this (seriously, no filter). It stayed light out until 10 p.m. or so each night, and every day we made it a point to watch the sunset. Iceland is a truly rugged, wild and unbelievably magical place, and these sunsets reminded us of that. 

|| All photos are property of Mountain Shadow Morning. Must give credit. ||

Wednesday, June 21, 2017

Presently: June

|| Photo is property of Mountain Shadow Morning. Must give credit. ||

OK seriously, how is it June already!? It seems like just yesterday I was in Iceland (hence why I chose the above photo from one of my favorite coffee shops there...more on Iceland very soon). Thinking back to where I was a year ago, so much has changed! I'm pausing (for just a hot second) to think back to all of the great things that have happened over the past year, and how they led me to where I am now.

June is always an interesting month for me. It finally starts to feel like summer, and it marks the beginning of the busy summer months. While I feel like my head is spinning in a million directions, I'm challenging myself to pause and enjoy the little things every day (like sipping coffee and writing this blog post). 

Making: breakfast, lunch and dinner at home most days. With our beautiful new kitchen and our CSA box starting this week, we have no excuse not to.
Watching: The Wire on HBO. We've heard it's AMAZING and are giving it a shot (we're only on the fourth episode). I'm also binging Shameless when I'm alone, and secretly watching The Bachelorette when I can.
Doing: housework. We have a lot of outside painting and landscaping to do over the next few weeks. 
Thinking: about all the weddings we have this year. I have a few new floral dresses, and I'm excited to wear them!
Visiting: my family in Wisconsin in early July. We have a baby shower for my sister (yay!) and a wedding, so we're spending some quality time in the country. 
Wearing: my Tevas like they're going out of style (which they aren't. Ever. They're amazing).
Spending: money on dresses for weddings. Turns out I had way less dresses than I thought I did...
Shopping: thrift stores and garage sales for some house things we need (we haven't started doing this YET, but it's on our list of things to do!)
Eating: homemade bread - my first try at it! I give it a 6/10...I need some more practice!
Drinking: old fashioneds. It's the perfect summer drink, plus knowing we're going to Wisconsin makes me want to drink them even more. 
Missing: sleeping when it's not insanely humid outside. I'm in a constant state of sweat. 
Planning: a surprise gift for Hayden for Christmas (I understand how far in advance that is, but it's going to take a lot of planning!)
Working: on transitioning into a new job! More on that soon. 
Reading: my Backpacker and Yoga Journal magazines from the past few months. A change of address = all the past issues coming at once. 
Wanting: two more hours of sleep every night. 
Enjoying: experimenting with new recipes - I made rhubarb apple butter the other day and gave myself a BIG pat on the back for how it tasted. 
Pinning: ...honestly not much lately. 
Pondering: what the different types of wagging tails means. Camp has some crazy variations. Time to do some research. 
Listening: to country music. When summer rolls around, it's all I want to listen to. 
Liking: daytime Google chat conversations with my besties when I have a minute to spare from work. 
Feeling: a little more drained than usual, but these beautiful days are making up for it.  
Noticing: that my mood is so much better when I actively decide to be in a good mood. Do you guys ever feel that way? 
Going: crazy planning Instagram posts for my new Instagram account (follow along at @MountainShadowMorning!)
Debating: having a guest blogger or two on the blog - what do you think? 
Loving: FaceTime sessions with my parents. Seeing their faces every day is the best. 
Marveling: at how after all these years, coffee in the morning is still so.damn.good.

Monday, June 19, 2017

Style: Floral + White

Summer is finally here in Minnesota (and basically that means it went from rainy and 50 degrees one day to 90 degrees and HUMID the next). We've been spending a lot of time in our backyard, and are LOVING this warm weather.

To be honest, most of my wardrobe consists of yoga pants and sports bras. But I do have a few cute dresses and tank tops for when I'm not sweating at the studio (but let's be real, that isn't very often...)

When it comes to summer, I tend to wear a lot of neutral colors (white included), and I have a healthy number of floral pieces as well. It's no wonder why I'm in love with this black and white sunflower tank. I purchased it from Forever 21 last summer, and it is one of my favorite tanks I own. I knew it wouldn't be a piece that lasted long, but I'm on my second summer with it and it's in great shape. Not to mention, it looks good with just about everything - cutoffs, jeans, army green skirts etc. It looks especially great with leather sandals and a purse.

I know it's only Monday, but I can't wait to wear it this weekend!

top: forever 21 // sandals: billabong (similar) // necklace: Dogeared // candle: Target

Wednesday, June 14, 2017

Travel: World Map

*swoons over this wall space* 

When we unpacked all of our boxes and began to determine where we wanted to hang our wall art, this map was the first thing we had hung. My parents gifted us this map for the holidays, and it's honestly one of the most thoughtful gifts I've ever received. 

Travel has always been important to me - whether it's going abroad, visiting a new state or exploring Minnesota, making sure I set aside time to explore new things is crucial for my well-being and happiness. 

With this map, we get to see the places we've been to, and plot out where we want to go next. It's the sweetest gift, and seeing it every day as I walk down the stairs lifts me up.

Where are we heading next? We'll be on the road almost every weekend this summer for weddings and cabin weekends. Cheers to exploring the good 'ole Midwest.

|| Photo is property of Mountain Shadow Morning. Must give credit. || 

Tuesday, June 13, 2017

Style: New Instagram is Here!

Guess what, ya'all? Mountain Shadow Morning now has an Instagram! While I've loved using my personal Instagram account (@cocoreigh) to share the blog with you, I've honestly been very, very bad at it. Here's a sneak peak of what's to come! Follow along at @MountainShadowMorning 

|| Photo is property of Mountain Shadow Morning. Must give credit. || 

 
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