There’s a whole section on Rocky Mountain animals – many of which I’ve seen on hikes around the state and a few I, thankfully, haven’t.

The zoo is pretty vertical and requires a bit of hiking (though there is a chair lift running during busy seasons), as it’s right on the side of Cheyenne Mountain.  But hey, you can accomplish a few Colorado milestones at once: go for a pretty hike with a view, see a mountain lion, don’t get mauled! It’s a win-win, really.

One of the highlights of the zoo is the giraffe exhibit.  The balconies put you at eye level with the giraffes, and petting them is allowed.  They love the little snack pellets you can buy to feed them, so no shyness from these giraffes – they will get right in your face.  One of the highlights of this zoo is definitely how up close & personal you can get with different kinds of animals.

Looking at all the different colors & patterns & textures you see on zoo animals never fails to inspire me!

Let me just say that fox up there was actually outside the zoo – spotted in the parking lot!  This place definitely has that “in the wild” feel to it because of the great location.  I have a feeling I’ll be seeing a bit of the zoo this summer, as the husband has plans to volunteer there, but you won’t hear any complaining from me!

Want to visit the Cheyenne Mountain Zoo? Check them out here.

{ sit / sip / style }

Today it is rainy and I am so excited, if only for the fact that it isn’t snowing, at last! It’s misty and lovely out, and reminding me of Prague.  When I visited Prague, it was snowing – but it had the same misty and magical vibe that today’s rainy day does.  I feel head over heels, quite unexpectedly, with this beautiful city, so today’s daydreaming is all about Prague – paired with an unexpected cocktail (coconut water…what?) and an outfit that naturally balances both classics & surprises.

{ stamps / sweater / top / jeans / booties }

I thought it would be fun to add a more regular fashion feature here on this travel-life-inspired blog of mine – since Fresh Friday seems to have taken a bit of an absence lately.  And if you’re going to incorporate travel into everyday adventures, why not let it help you pick what to wear?

On that note, here’s a springtime snow day outfit inspired by some vintage Norwegian stamps.

So – what do you all think of AdventureWear? Want to see more? Or have a request for some destination-inspired duds? Let me know!

I’m thinking this little family needs to plan another beach vacation pretty soon.  These past couple days of sunny weather (even though there is snow, SNOW! being forecast for tomorrow) have had me dreaming of reading on the sand and listening to the waves roll in.

Out of all the beaches Husband and I visited while we were in Hawaii (we were on the Big Island), I think this was probably my favorite.  I loved the lava arches and the shady spots and the fact that it wasn’t as crazy crowded as some of our other discoveries.  I may also have loved it because we spent our last day here and it was just about as perfect as you could imagine it being.

It wasn’t one of Cory’s favorites, as he’d rather spend all day snorkeling and this beach didn’t have much interesting going on under the surface.  He did, however, swim out to a big sea arch and caught a few pretty schools of fish.

Word to the wise: don’t forget the tops of your feet when you’re applying sunscreen.  I made it through our entire trip, miraculously, without any serious sunburn until that last day, when I missed the tops of my feet.  That oversight made for a very uncomfortable return trip that evening. One of those things I will never forget again because of that memory!

What are your favorite beaches? Any I should know about while I’m planning my (most likely imaginary) next vacation?

I’ve posted about this lovely lady before, but I was listening to Annie Brooks this past weekend and was really inspired by this verse from her song, “Truth.”  It pretty much sums up exactly how I hope to be traveling through life.

Father, make me like the sea, to roll and bend effortlessly,

To carry ships differently every time,

To travel with the folds of earth, accepting death, embracing births

of new and unexpected shades of life.

God forbid that I become just like the concrete, cold and numb,

who splits and cracks with each unwelcome dip and climb,

built just for efficiency, and marked with law so carefully,

to arrive how I expected and the same way every time.

{ Image by Annabelle Mintz }

Given that another major happy for me is organization (and lists!!), I’m quite surprised, actually, that I haven’t sat down before and written a formal editorial calendar for my blog.  Although I have kept a post calendar, I’ve pretty much been go with the flow about everything and written into my various recurring features (Everyday Adventure, Moments of Pretty, etc) as the inspiration has struck me.  But in this new season, I’m wanting to build a bit of consistency into my posting.  Enter the editorial calendar.

When I sat down to put this thing together, I discovered that I already had a good guide for myself right on the sidebar!  All the features I write here fit into one of those categories (with a few outliers like style & music), so I used them to break down my week.

Mondays will be focused on fostering inspiration, because doesn’t everybody need a little extra on a Monday?

Tuesdays will be the day for my personal travel posts – Everyday Adventures will show up here, along with any other travel photos/videos from trips I’ve taken.

By Wednesday, I’m already daydreaming about something other than my work week.  This day will be about letting my imagination wander a bit and I have some awesome projects in the works when it comes to this category that I’m really excited about!

Thursdays, like today, are all about the happiness!  I’m planning on continuing my participation in the Be Happy Link Up and sharing things that make me happy when it comes to living a creative and travel-inspired life!

Friday, I think, will quickly become even more of my favorite day – because it’s dedicated to the creativity category.  This is a little bit of a wild card, so that I can experiment with new ideas, and have a place to post things like music and videos and other creative endeavors that I’m working on.  I want to push myself to physically create things on a more regular basis, so this will be the day when those projects see the light of day.

Oh, looking at all that makes me happy!

Now, I’m not planning on sticking to this like the law, nor am I committing posting everyday (at least right now!) – but I felt like I needed some direction, something to evaluate what is and isn’t working as I grow the blog, and what I really enjoy writing about and sharing here.  Just call it spring cleaning, blog edition.

I’m tremendously excited about where this blog is headed, and I hope you are too!

{ Image by Annabelle Mintz }

1. Perfect for weather patterns that can’t make up their minds (hot-cold-hot-cold or wet-dry-wet-dry as applicable) and for airplanes that are notoriously dehydrating – this EOS lip balm is seriously the best at keeping my confused Colorado lips happy.

2. Everyone needs a little grey dress – this one from Madewell is a great weight to layer up with a jacket and tights for those cooler spring days, and wear all on it’s own when the sun comes out for long enough.  Plus, it’s super multipurpose for packing, since it goes with anything.

3. Some required reading for the plane, to inspire all that spring cleaning that needs to be done. I don’t know if it’s just me, but I always want to move everything around and start fresh come springtime.

4. This is my favorite tea of all time, but especially as it starts to get warmer.  It’s amazing both hot and cold (so you can go with the flow) and Republic of Tea makes little travel containers to carry with you on the go.  Since I’m a little crazy about my tea, I love that I can have a little taste of home with me on the road.

5. Another one of my packing (and general life) necessities – a scarf.  Perfect for staying cozy on the plane, but it’s not going to weight you down.  I love this colorful pattern from Zara.

Full disclosure: I’m not at this time using any affiliate links, nor is this a sponsored post – these are all just pretty things that I happen to be loving at the moment.

Pop over to Erin’s post and Lexy’s post to hear all about it!

And while it seems like forever ago that I made the announcement, the time has finally come to launch my business website!  Major thanks again to Kate for the awesome logo & branding and to Melissa for all her copy-polishing ninja skills – they were both an amazing help to me and I’m so thrilled with the end results.

I’d love for you to hop on over and check it out!  Some awesome updates (including a few awesome projects that are in the works) will be coming in the next few months, so keep an eye out.  Also, you’ll notice a handy new button for Evergreen Lane over on the sidebar, as well as a “Work with me” tab at the top of the page.  So – if you’re looking for someone to help you tell your small creative business story, get some video content up on your blog, or even make sense of your vacation footage, now you can hire me!

Hooray!  Thanks for following along on this journey with me – I know that there are plenty of exciting things to come (including, but not limited to, more travel-inspired videos on this blog!) and I appreciate all of your support.

So, what do you think?

Colorado has been playing with my heart this spring.  We’ve been going back and forth between sunny loveliness and bitter snowy cold.  I am so over winter and very jealous of all those people in the rest of the country posting pretty spring flower photos – none of that over here yet, folks.  It’s supposed to snow (again) tonight and tomorrow.  Oh my soul.

1. This was one of the better days – I did a photo shoot out in the park with two beautiful ladies graduating from high school, and went back later for a hike with husband.  Good day.

2. This was one of the not-so-good days.  I keep my fingers crossed that if it’s gonna snow, maybe at least I’ll get a snow day and be able to stay home from work – but no such luck so far.

3. The perfect storm of “I can’t make up my mind” weather systems created these immense icicles over my covered parking spot.  That longer one on the right was just short enough so I could drive underneath.

4. I am sick of every single sweater, pair of pants, and boot in my closet.  Fortunately, my mom sent me this cozy new blanket of a sweater from Urban Outfitters, so I’ve managed wearing that one over and over every time it snows.

5. Things that make me happy, no matter the weather? Lunch dates with my favorite guy, and thai food.  This was a great combo.

Promise I’ll stop talking about the weather soon (my twitter feed lately has been a bit embarrassing), and I realize that Colorado’s awesome weather needs to be paid for sometime of the year – so March and April it is.  Everybody who lives here I’m sure is thankful for all the moisture we’ve been getting, because we all remember what happens when it gets hot and dry for a few years in a row.  So, I’m down with moisture.  All I’m saying is that if it snows (or even thinks about snowing) in May, I quit.

Hope that wherever you are today, you are enjoying some lovely springtime and that snow is a thing of the past!

{ Images by Annabelle Mintz }

I posted this photo on Instagram last week, in lieu of my usual Happiness posts, and this week I’m still thinking it.  Some things are so simple to say and so hard to believe, don’t you think?  It is quite simple to let circumstances or what other people say/do or don’t say/do determine your mood for the day.  But the more I grow, the more I learn that adventure & happiness & our general life mood is determined more by our own decisions than by all that external stuff.  And oh man, some days I feel way farther from that simple truth than others.

We’re all going to have easy days and hard days.  We’re all going to have times where everything goes our way, and days when nothing seems to.  We’re all going to see incredible dreams fulfilled, and face incredible disappointment.  Happy doesn’t have to be a roller coaster of good days and bad days.  Happy doesn’t have to follow me when I’m traveling to far away places, and doesn’t have to stay there when I return to the constancy of home.  I’m learning that happy isn’t an extreme emotion.  And that life, in itself, is the greatest of adventures.

I think happy is a simple appreciation for who you are, a calm confidence in that identity – whatever surrounds you.

I think happy can be a constant contentedness.

That is, if you choose it to be.

{ Image by Annabelle Mintz }