Travel

72 Hours in Park City Utah

Park City

Let me start this post off with saying that if you have never visited Park City in the Summer, you are missing out! It was my first time visiting in the warmer weather as the only few times I’ve gone have been to ski! I was a little nervous about all of the outdoor activities but the weather could not have been more PERFECT and the views were just breathtaking. We were there for three days and packed our schedule with fun activities and good food.

WHERE TO STAY

I have stayed a few places in Park City but I can hands down say that Washington School House has been my favorite. It is small but what it lacks in size it gains in charm and hospitality! It only has 14 rooms so it reminds me of more of a bed and breakfast feel than a hotel. Speaking of breakfast, it is completely customizable and complimentary! As are the cocktails all day long. Not to mention this gem is smack dab in the middle of town so restaurants and shopping are all within walking distance! I could go on and on about this place but let the pictures talk for themselves.

WHERE TO EAT

Chimayo- My personal favorite meal of the trip! There wasn’t a single item on the menu that I didn’t want to try. Mainly Mexican but with a twist and lot’s of variety! Everything from scallops to elk!

Handle-If you are looking for a nice restaurant for a special occasion or just because it’s vacation and you want a good meal, look no further! From the buffalo cauliflower to the fried chicken to the caramel brulee bread pudding- chef’s kiss.

High West Distillery & Saloon- If you know and love High West then you obviously have to go here! I would suggest coming for a pre-dinner cocktail and then finding food elsewhere as I wasn’t overly impressed with the food.

Salt Box- Great casual and super yummy lunch spot. We stopped here on our way to hike. You can either pick up or dine in. The acai bowl, burger and peach salad were all AMAZING.

Deer Valley Grocery Café- Another great lunch spot that’s grab and go or you can stay and hangout on the back porch that has the most amazing view of the mountains (a local beer or glass wine makes it even better). They have gourmet sandwiches and salads so definitely more on the casual side. We paddle boarded next door after.

WHERE TO ADVENTURE

Utah Olympic Park- You cannot come to Park City and not do this especially if you have kids/teenagers. If you are an adventure seeker yourself there is plenty of extreme activities to do for adults too. We did the high ropes course, extreme tubing and airbag jump! We stayed for 3 hours and honestly would have loved to stay longer to plan to stay at least 4-5 hours here!

Park City SUP (Stand Up Paddle Board)– Located at Pebble Beach. Great group outing. The company is very chill. We rented our boards and immediately headed out on the water to paddle around as we pleased.

Horseback Riding Tour with Red Pine Adventures– My favorite thing we did the entire trip. I don’t care how many times you’ve been horse back riding, it hits different in the mountains. The scenery was breathtaking and this Texas girl can’t pass up riding a horse whenever she can!

Guided Hike and Yoga Experience with Park City Yoga Adventures-Again, you’ve probably been to a yoga class before but man there’s something about doing a warrior pose on the top of a mountain with nothing but picturesque scenery around you that is so dang freeing. Highly recommend!

If I missed any must do places, please leave them in the comments below for others to enjoy! If you are headed on your own Park City adventure- have fun and safe travels!

Park City Travel Guide
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Fredericksburg, TX Travel Guide

Fredericksburg, TX

Are you headed to Fredericksburg, TX or as like to call it, The Napa of the South? 🙂 First off, I’m jealous. Second off, I have been a few times now and thought it was about time for an updated travel guide as their are SO many new and cute spots in town!

If you’ve never been to Fredericksburg you are in for a treat! It has quaint small town vibes but with so much to do and see! Obviously most people come for the wineries, but honestly you’ll want to stay for more than just that! While it’s a great weekend getaway, I would highly recommend it for a bachelorette party, girl’s weekend or low(er) key birthday trip.

WHERE TO STAY

I highly suggest renting a house for the weekend. If you are heading up for a girls weekend or wanting to go in on a place with multiple people, a house is the way to go. Fredericksburg offers many cute options that make the trip so much more enjoyable than staying in a hotel. We stayed at The Emerald Door which proved to be everything we hoped for and more! With COVID still a high risk, we wanted a space where we could spread out and not have to leave the house except for wineries and one nice dinner.

Most places are between $4-$600 a night (cheaper during the week) so split between multiple people, it is well worth it! Our house slept 12 plus came equipped with a huge outdoor area, corn hole, a fire pit, hot tub and a whole cupboard of games which we used the entire weekend. The owner has several other properties (found here), all with different colored front doors, that are perfect for your next girls weekend, bachelorette party, or couples retreat. I cannot say enough great things about the owner, all of her recommendations, attention to little details, and the overall house aesthetic. Just look what I mean- SO CUTE! In fact, many of you messaged me while I was there telling me you had stayed in one of her properties as well!!

WINERIES

Aka the reason you are probably headed to Frederickburg! I’ve tried several but this past trip was by FAR my favorite wineries that I have been to yet! While Grape Creek, Becker Vineyards and 4.0 Cellars are all highly recommended and fantastic options, these next 3 will blow them out of them water!

Signor VineyardsThis was our first winery of the day and talk about GORGEOUS. I’m telling you right now that you’ll want to stay at this outdoor space for hours! Our group was too big for a tasting so we bought a few bottles and did our own tasting at one of the picnic tables. They are known for their chardonnay and pinot but the cab was my personal fav!

Baron’s Creek– Out of the 3 we went to this one was probably my least favorite just because it didn’t have the WOW factor that Signor and Augusta Vin had but I enjoyed the wine, outdoor music and the wine was actually one of my favorites from the day! 

Augusta Vin– Talk about a little piece of California in Texas. With the floor to ceiling windows and hilly views, it’s hard to believe you are in Texas! Check out the picture below. If you can request a tasting on the second floor- highly recommend. Also highly recommend the bread and olive oil pairing with your tasting 🙂 

Augusta Vin
Fredericksburg Winery Tour

If you want to really take your weekend up a notch and not have to worry about getting transportation in between wineries (Ubers are V scarce), I recommend looking into a winery tour/shuttle. We used Texas Wine Tours and our driver was a freaking hoot. His name was Darrell and if you can request him- DO IT- you’ll be laughing for hours. Not to mention he brought us donuts and kolaches which came in clutch after 3 wineries if you know what I mean.

The way the winery tour works is that they handle all of your winery tasting reservations and fees in the price which is actually incredibly convenient if you have a big group (especially during COVID) because making reservations for big groups actually proved to be really hard when I was trying to do it!

WHERE TO EAT

Granite House LoungeHot of the press! The food was AMAZING. Just take my word for it. This place had only been open 3 weeks when we went and it was hip hop happenin to say the least. It’s pretty small so expect to wait but you can grab a cocktail and hangout outside while you do! I also would suggest hopping on the online waitlist!

The Auslander- If you are wanting a cheap, authentic German meal, this is the place! If the weather is nice enough, there is usually a pretty good sized crowd enjoying live music and throwing back oversized beers.Sozial Haus– A quaint spot that has great pizza. Monday nights they have half price pizzas and bottles of wine.

Hondos–  An old spot where you will find many locals. The food is nothing extraordinary but the atmosphere is fun!

Vaudeville–  This is a nicer place and reservations are recommended. Even if you don’t get a chance to eat here, I suggest checking out the courtyard and little shop that is attached to it. Both are amazing! I have heard the restaurant is a must do if you have the time (and money!) to do so.

August E’s–  Another great fine dining experience. We were there during the week and attended “Thai Tuesday” night. While the price is a little high for thai, the portions are HUGE and easy to share. They also have sushi and steaks.

Prometheus Pizza-This food truck came highly recommended to us if you are wanting something quick, easy and GOOD. They deliver too!

WHAT TO DO (besides the obvious)

Besides visiting wineries, there are plenty of other things to do in Fredericksburg! It is such a cute town to explore and small enough to walk most places if you are staying at a house that is close to the main strip (which I highly recommend!).

Tasting rooms– If you are just wanting to grab a drink before dinner or do not want to drive out to the wineries, several of the vineyards have tasting rooms on the main strip.

Lincoln St.– A cute indoor/outdoor bar that is perfect for drinks before or after dinner and one of the only places that stays open later.

Fredericksboards– We did this one night for a happy hour at home! Highly recommend grabbing a charcuterie board from them. They are beautiful and will save you a trip to the grocery store!

Yellow Door Studio– If you have already done a wine and painting class, then you know how fun they are. If you have not, now is your time! The art class is BYOB and is so much fun! These classes run about $45/person and are a great keepsake for a girls or bachelorette weekend!

I have a Frederickburg highlight saved to my Instagram with more visuals and fun happenings from our weekend but if you have any questions please feel free to comment on this post or email me at itsallchictomeblog@gmail.com. I hope you enjoy your stay!

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What I Pack in my Carry On + Travel Tips and Tricks

What I pack in my carry on, travel tips and tricks

*I have been compensated by QVC for this blog post. As always, all thoughts and opinions are my own.*

What I pack in my carry on, travel tips and tricks

What I pack in my carry on, travel tips and tricksAfter the airline (thou shall not be named) lost my bag last year, your girl has a small case of travel anxiety which has led me to pack a lot more strategically and efficiently. I devoted last year to traveling as much as I could and definitely picked up some travel tips, tricks and hacks along the way that I wish someone would have told me! Before we get started I figured I would share the crazy, semi-comical lost baggage story for your reading pleasure. If you are just here for the tips and tricks, keep scrolling to the bottom of the post!

BACK STORY:

Last July I flew to Miami for Miami Swim Week. Hands down one of the best weeks ever… until this situation happened. Silver lining: it was on the way home instead of on the way there which would have been an absolute disaster. Anywho, long story short, the last night we decided it would be a good idea to party all night long and go straight to the airport because YOLO. When we got to the airport (early I might add), we decided to check our baggage outside which I’ve never done in my life but alcohol told us this was a fantastic idea. Fast forward to landing in Houston, my bag never showed up.

At this point I was delirious from lack of sleep but was assured by the airline that my bag would show up on the next flight and they would bring it to me. FALSE. It never showed up. I was on the phone with customer service every day for the next week trying to get any sort of update on my bag. I even went up to the airport multiple times to try to get some kind of answers to no avail. I had thousands of dollars worth of product in that bag including ALL of my make up, ALL of my hair products/tools, and ALL of the designer swim suits and clothes I had taken and then been gifted in Miami. The airline couldn’t tell me anything. Supposedly it had been scanned in at check in and then never scanned again. Side note: They scan your bag at every check point (check in, TSA, on the plane, arrival, etc) and mine was just apparently MIA.

At one point they told me my bag might be in the Bahamas which made me LOL. I was all like “my clothes get a tropical vacation and I don’t?!”. I say LOL lightly because I wasn’t laughing. Funny enough though, my friend Kylee was traveling back to Miami the following weekend and offered to look for my bag at the Miami airport. I was sure that she would find it somewhere since I was so sure it had to still be at the Miami airport. Nope. She searched that whole dang airport with the help of a baggage claim assistant and it wasn’t anywhere to be found. I officially gave up hope after this.

I ‘m sure you are not surprised to find out that I had documented this entire process on my Instagram stories. Documented…ranted… same thing. So one of my sweet followers happened to be flying into a completely different Houston airport than I had flown into and messaged me that she thought she saw my bag. There was hope. I drove straight to the other airport and went straight to the baggage claim office. There were only 4 bags and none of them were mine. At that point I decided it was time to come to terms that I would never see any of my stuff again. I went and purchased new make up that day.

Then a miracle happened. Kylee happened to be flying into the Houston airport that my follower had said she had seen my bag. Kylee, who had flown into this airport many times, versus me who had never flown into that airport and didn’t know about the several cages that they store lost bags in, FOUND MY BAG. I woke up to several missed calls and FaceTime videos. It was possibly one of the best mornings of my life. The bag had been exactly where my follower had said it was but I just hadn’t looked in the right spot.

When Kylee found the bag they released it to her no questions asked. All 4 of my baggage tags had been ripped off which meant there was no identifier anywhere on the entire bag that could have tied it to me. No personal baggage tags. No airline baggage tags. No airline barcode stickers. Nothing. Sadly this happens more often than you think where baggage tags get ripped off somewhere during transportation from being on the conveyer belts. Now how my bag even made it on a plane, let alone to the correct city, just wrong airport, we will never know.

Something I learned during the process, if unidentifiable bags are “lost” for more than 30 days they are sold to a huge warehouse in Alabama where your beloved belongings are sold off piece by piece. 90’s kids: I immediately thought of Halloweentown and Gort’s cottage where all of the missing items go. Thankfully after a series of extremely lucky events, I got my bag back in tact, with everything still in it a little over a week later.

What I pack in my carry on, travel tips and tricks

What I pack in my carry on, travel tips and tricks

What I pack in my carry on, travel tips and tricks

TRAVEL TIPS:

NEVER check your bags outside.

The staff outside is employed by the airport, not each individual airline, so if your bag goes missing, the airline isn’t held responsible.

Always put some form of identification IN your bag

On the off chance that your bag somehow does have all of it’s bag tags or identifiers ripped off, you should always have an identifier inside of your bag that can link your bag back to you. This could be a business card, a copy of your driver’s license or passport, or even a print out of your flight itinerary. I was told by the airline it is best to have your phone number and email in case anything ever happens.

Invest in a luggage tracker

I suggest doing your research on which option is best for you but luggage trackers are 100% worth the money. It’s basically like buying insurance on your belongings when you travel and while it might not solve all of your problems should your bag actually get lost, it will at least help figure out the bags location which is more than the airline can do sometimes. The Tile is a popular tracking device that you can stick to just about anything (keys, phone, luggage, etc) and tracks the item via an app on your phone.

Always pack your “can’t live withouts” in your carry on

Obviously this might be a little different for everyone but for me this means jewelry, especially sentimental jewelry, make up, hair tools, designer items, a change of clothes, a couple pairs of underwear, passport, and laptop. To keep these things organized in your carry on I suggest purchasing a couple different bags or pouches. I’m linking mine for you below.

HANDY GADGETS:

Weigher

If you are always that girl at the airport unloading one suitcase to another to get below the 50 pound mark, save yourself the trouble and get one of these luggage scales! If I’m going on a trip where I know i’ll be coming home with more than I’m going with, I make sure to toss this in my bag!

Packing Cubes

Packing cubes are a game changer for your checked bags and even mid size carry ons to keep your clothes organized, wrinkle free and room for more. If you are one of those people that can never find anything in your suitcase, these are for you!

Portable Charger

While you should definitely pack your normal chargers too, never leave for a trip without a portable charger. I can’t tell you how many times these have saved me when I didn’t have time to charge my phone or didn’t have the ability to charge my phone on the go.

Travel Size Makeup/Toiletries

Maybe not a gadget, but if you plan to bring your toiletries and makeup on the plane with you, you are going to need to invest in some travel size products. QVC has a great selection of name brand, travel size makeup and toiletries. You can also use TAKE10 for $10 off of your purchase for new customers!

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Vacation Wear Packing List

**CLICK ANY IMAGE TO SHOP THE ITEM DIRECTLY**

I asked you ladies what you wanted to see this week and the number one request was for vacation wear so ask and ye shall receive! Whether you are headed for some fun in the sun or to hit the slopes, I’m sharing everything you should have on your packing list! I have to say that I am pretty jealous that so many of you have vacations booked. As of now my travel list for the year isn’t too long. I’m hoping to decide if I’m going to move out of state and what timeframe that would look like by the end of next month. Until then, it’s hard to really nail down travel plans when you aren’t sure what city you will be living in! So far, here are my definite travel plans for 2019…

February: Fredericksburg & Nashville

March: Chicago & Tulum

April: Dallas

July: Miami

September: New York

Looking at my list, the cold is out weighing the heat which means I need to get to booking some more beach trips! I am a water, sand and sun girl through and through! I hope that this post is helpful when you are planning out your outfits and packing lists. Every picture above and below is clickable and will take you directly to the retailer’s site where you can purchase that item. Happy shopping!

SUN


SNOW


Vacation Wear, Beach Packing List, Snow Packing List
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Vegas in 48 Hours

Vegas in 48 Hours

Serious question: How can a hangover last longer than the actual trip? Apparently not everything that happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas.

My baby sister turned 23 this past weekend and what better place than Las Vegas? Imagine The Hangover (movie) minus the strippers, tigers, and unexplained baby and you’ve got a good idea at what 48 hours in Vegas looks like. I lost my phone to the pool you see pictured above so the pictures from the weekend are few and far between because unfortunately some things that happen in Vegas actually do stay in Vegas.

HOTEL


We stayed at the MGM Grand Las Vegas mainly because it was cheap, relatively nice and housed two of the clubs that we wanted to attend (Wet Republic and Hakkasan). I’ve been to Las Vegas before and stayed at the Palazzo which is a bit nicer but not as conveniently located. Nonetheless everything is just an Uber away and honestly there are few places you can go wrong hotel wise in Vegas! My one piece of advice is to try to plan out what events you want to attend while you are there and if you can stay on sight or within walking distance to some of your events, it will cut down on Uber expenses.

POOL PARTIES/CONCERTS


Use this website to find out what concerts will be going on, where and how to buy tickets. We attended two pool parties and two nightclub concerts while we were there. Pool party wise, we saw Kygo at Encore Beach Club and Calvin Harris at Wet Republic. Concert wise, we saw The Chainsmokers at XS at Encore and Zedd at Hakkasan. If you are going with a group of girls, it is not unlikely to get approached by promoters to get into concerts for free. This is 100% the way to go if possible. They will give you their phone number and get your group in for free. Unfortunately if you are going with guys, this will not work.

SHOWS


While we did not go to any shows this trip, it is certainly a fun thing to do in Vegas! You can use this website to see what shows are in town and buy tickets. I have attended several Circque du Soleil shows and they never disappoint. If you are going with a group of girls, especially for a bachelorette party, you’ve got to experience Magic Mike in real life via Chippendales or Thunder From Down Under.

FOOD


This one is not my area of expertise so I will just leave a few places that my family can’t go to Vegas and not go to for dinner. First one being Giada’s and the second being Emerils. The Grand Lux is a great breakfast option. Most hotels will have a food court and restaurants inside so if you are looking for a convenient food option or late night snack, look no further.

OUTFITS


If you are planning to attend any pool parties the attire ranges all over the place. If you want to be extra, Las Vegas is definitely the place for it so don’t be afraid to go all out! Keep in mind that you will most likely be taking your clothes and shoes off and leaving them in some random place by the pool. I learned the hard way that stuff does get taken. So don’t wear your brand new $200 cover up (RIP cover up). Other than that you will certainly see girls wearing heels with their bikinis but honestly you can’t go wrong wearing a swimsuit, kimono and sandals. As far as going out, it’s Vegas! Meaning throw on your sexiest attire, red lips, and high heels! See below for some of my outfits.

Las Vegas Pool party attire

Las Vegas Nightclub

Las Vegas Pool party attire

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