Gracey Goes to Santa Fe

Hello Everyone!

As I'm sure you all remember (I'll stop talking about it eventually) I was in Santa Fe for the first time last weekend.  I wanted to share some photos of my visit with my fabulous friend Annie and her equally fabulous husband, Matt.  The photos are a strange combination of outfit photos, churches, sculptures and prairie dogs.

Saturday, March 26th

Today was a traveling day, so I wanted to be comfortable:

I don't usually wear hats, but Stef from Diversions always looks so cute in hers so I wanted to give it a shot.  Also, I thought the flower on the side might come in handy as a teeny little pillow on the plane (it totally did, btw).  In addition to the hat (Nordstrom), I wore leggings for comfort (INC/Macy's), a sweater (Jones New York via Ross) layered over a striped tunic (Old Navy), my orange cashmere scarf (Nordstrom) and my riding boots (Born Crown via Nordstrom).  I wore the boots because they're super comfortable, but also so I wouldn't have to pack them, leaving more room for things I felt I needed, but ultimately didn't wear.

Sunday, March 27th

On Sunday, Annie and I did a little thrifting, ate at El Parasol (declared by GQ to be the BEST place for tacos (and they were delicious)) and toured downtown Santa Fe.

In front of the old Santa Fe Public Library

For Sunday's activities, I wore my Long and Lean jeans (Gap), grey sweater (Nordstrom), orange cashmere scarf (Nordstrom) and brown boots (Mossimo/Target).  But, enough about the clothes, isn't this doorway amazing?

Santa Fe had many so many beautiful architectural elements like the doors above.  Their churches are especially gorgeous:

In addition to the architecture, the thing that impressed me so much about Santa Fe was the art.  There were galleries everywhere, but there were also a lot of outdoor installations and parks full of sculptures.

Santa Fe was very windy and this gallery took full advantage.

My favorite sculptures were these at the Ghost Ranch Art Center by Peter Woytuk:

I love that this crow is holding a persimmon instead of the typical apple.

Gorgeous Annie and the Elephant

Gracey and the same fabulous Elephant

Fat Birds!

Monday, March 27th

On Monday Annie and I drove to Taos to look around.  Taos is higher in elevation than Santa Fe so there were slightly more "trees" (in Oregon we call them bushes) but it was still a pretty dry drive.  The one good thing about not having trees to block your view is that you can see forever:

Once in Taos, we found more beautiful Southwestern architecture (well, of course):

See!  I told you I was a giant!!

For Taos, I wore my blue open cardigan (Calvin Klein via Ideeli) over my tan/cream tunic (Old Navy), with Flirt Skinny Jeans (Old Navy), my blue scarf (H&M) and Born Crown riding boots (Nordstrom).  There were a lot of blue elements in the architecture in New Mexico, like the gate above, which I loved.  So I thought I'd wear some blue as well.


Also very blue?  The amazing sky over this amazing church:

Gorgeous, right?

Tuesday, March 28th

I traveled home on Tuesday, but before I left, we went for hot cocoa at what is the one place I'd say you have to visit if you're even in Santa Fe.  It was the Kakawa Chocolate House and it was heaven:

3 ounces of heaven and a truffle

For the chocolate house (and the rest of the day), I wore black leggings (Target) and a black tunic (Old Navy) with a sweater coat (Nine West), plaid scarf (Steve Madden via Macy's) and the riding boots.  But, who cares, right?  Let's talk about the hot cocoa.

Kakawa creates their hot chocolates based off of historic Aztec, Mayan and European recipes.  We're talking recipes from the 17th and 18th century and before.  Think of hot chocolate flavored with such diverse ingredients as agave nectar, ancho chili, orange blossom water, ambergris, black pepper and lavender.  I'm telling you guys, it is amazing.  I had the White Chocolate Pepper and Annie had the Modern Mexican, but they let you sample all the flavors they have there before you order, so we tasted five or six.

And finally, what you've all been waiting for.  Prairie dogs!!

I didn't see a single squirrel in New Mexico, but there were prairie dogs all over the place.  And they are fat and adorable!

If you're ever in Santa Fe or Taos, places I'd suggest visiting are Kakawa Chocolate House in Sante Fe (you can actually order their coffee elixirs here), Seconds Eco Store in Taos and G. Robinson Old Print and Maps.

Thank you all so much for reading!

Gracey