travel Archives | KATE J HOLLINGSWORTH

Queenstown, New Zealand

August 21, 2019 No Comments

So, I decided to undertake a mini “Photo Rescue” project with my New Zealand pictures. I have so many good photos from our wedding trip there in 2017 that I never shared, and I really want them to have a home here on the blog. In the spirit of bringing these photos and stories back out to enjoy again – here we go, starting with Queenstown!

My husband and I were married in November 2017 next to Lake Wakatipu in Queenstown. This was maybe the most scenic place I’ve ever been! Love it so much. And so happy to have made great memories there.

The day before our wedding, we had lunch at the Stratosphere Restaurant up high over Queenstown with amazing views of the area. To get up there, you take the Skyline Gondola to the the peak. The bottom terminal is within walking distance of the city center of Queenstown, so it’s an easy walk to make over.

Having lunch by a window overlooking this? Totally amazing.

The Stratosphere Restaurant was one of our favorite experiences in Queenstown. But there was plenty of other great food! I loved getting ice cream….

And Fergbaker/Fergburger is a New Zealand staple that is definitely worth the wait….

Side note: I love this joking pizza sign…

And here are some more shots of Lake Wakatipu…

Just look at the crystal clear water! So serene.

Around the harbor is a great place to relax, walk around, and explore the shops and restaurants in the heart of Queenstown. I especially loved going there in the evening as the sun set and finding a spot right by the water….

That’s all for the first post of my New Zealand Photo Rescue (ha!). Can’t wait to share some more from our wedding/honeymoon trip there!

Kate

photos, style, travel

Beirut, Lebanon // The Corniche

November 3, 2018 1 Comment

Hi from Beirut, Lebanon! I am here for a few weeks exploring this city on the Mediterranean. I have lots of photos, and wanted to start by sharing some from the Corniche – Beirut’s wide walkway along the coast.

The blues are beautiful…

… and you can walk right alongside the water and rocky shores….

dress (under $25 and so comfy! I’m in the grey) // boots // shirt // sunglasses

The Corniche is such an interesting walk with the cityscape and tall buildings on one side, while the Mediterranean waters stretch seemingly endless and flat into the distance on the other side. I just love visual juxtapositions like that.

Read more about the Mediterranean in Hiking Along the Italian Coast or Capri, Italy

I also love all the palm trees lined up by the walkway. They are a refreshing sight of greenery in the city and bonus: they remind me of California.

There’s not much shade along the walkway, but there are lots of people out for a walk to enjoy the uninterrupted sunshine! You can also see people jogging, biking, skating, and just taking in the sights.

But the Corniche is also lively at nighttime! It wraps around to the Raouché Rocks – a great place to watch the sunset over the rock formations in the water and grab some dinner with a view.

If you are visiting Beirut, I definitely recommend this seaside walk! It’s a great place to people-watch, enjoy the sun, and take in the views of the Mediterreanean with the Lebanese landscape and cities hugging the coast.

Have you been to Lebanon? Let me know in the comments!

photos, travel

Morro Bay Waterfront

August 2, 2018 No Comments

I loved staying in Morro Bay, California for a couple of months. Wanted to share a few more photos from our time there this spring!

Love the view of Morro Rock – you can see it from everywhere along the waterfront…

And I just love that evening light over the ocean. 🙂

Hope you are having a good week,

kate

style, travel

Hawaii Outfits and Photo Spots

June 12, 2018 1 Comment

Hi there! I put together all of our favorite vacation clothes we wore on our first trip to Hawaii and some of our favorite photo spots. You’ll find links to our Hawaii outfits with the photos below!

My favorite spot was Kawela Bay on the north shore of O’ahu. There we saw a massive banyan tree (you might recognize it from ‘Lost’ !) that was awe-inspiring to walk under. Plus, the beach on Kawela Bay is great if you want to relax somewhere less busy than Waikiki. We spent a day away from crowds in the waves there and took breaks to read under an umbrella. Not bad at all.

From the top! Hats are always a major part of my travel outfits to places with a high sun factor to help keep sun off my face…

hat // swimsuit from athleta 2016 // pants

Location: massive banyan tree at kawela bay on the north shore, o’ahu, hawaii

And I was so excited to wear a long, flowy floral dress to a luau….

floral dress // shoes

I tried to keep all my clothes pretty flowing and loose to keep cool in that humid heat….

white top // pants // sandals // hat

Location: alawai canal, waikiki, hawaii

swimsuit cover // hat

Location: kawela bay, o‘ahu, hawaii

Flower headbands are something I could really get used to…

Love.

pink dress // blue flower headband from h&m, here is a pink one I love

Hiking Laie Falls was an adventure with beautiful views of the north shore in O’ahu!

fitbit // sneakers // crop top

Location: laie falls trail, laie, o’ahu, hawaii

mens tank top // swim trunks

Location: kawela bay, o’ahu, hawaii

swim trunks

Location: kawela bay, o’ahu, hawaii

My favorite thing no matter what I was wearing? The fresh orchid flower leis! They totally completed my Hawaii outfits. I saw them for sale everywhere, and I got mine for $7 at Target. Best $7 I ever spent.

Mahalo~

kate

photos, travel

Aloha from Waikiki, Hawaii

May 23, 2018 3 Comments

Aloha! I am in Hawaii this week and wanted to share a few photos from our first couple of days in Honolulu + Waikiki.

First things first, here are a couple of pictures of the famous Waikiki Beach…

I love that view.

I also love the view of this infinity pool along the beach…

Awesome.

We went to a luau on our first night here, and it was so much fun. We went to the Paradise Cove luau and I’d recommend it if you are interested in learning a bit about Pacific Island culture while seeing a good show by talented locals and getting dinner.

We saw hula dancers and a man climb a tree to toss down orchid flowers (He made it look so easy!)

Here’s everyone lined up to learn about fishing traditions…

We tried our hand at spear throwing…

…admired the plant life…

…and enjoyed the sunset!

The food has been great so far, too. I have been eating all the fish tacos. Haven’t met any here that I didn’t like!

We also tried this frozen treat, banán – a dairy-free soft serve made from local bananas and fruit that tastes a bit like frozen yogurt. Yum.

Now we are up on the north side of Oahu and excited to explore the area up here! I’ll share more photos from here later and in the mean time I’ll be posting over on instagram.

Have you been to Hawaii? What was your favorite thing to do? 🙂

kate

travel

How to Spend a Day in Cambria, California

May 1, 2018 No Comments

Cambria, California is a small, lovely seaside town about 20 minutes north of Morro Bay. It makes a great stop if you are driving between LA and San Francisco, and is close to some cool sites in the central coast area like Hearst Castle, the elephant seals at San Simeon, and the Paso Robles winery region.

We started our day with a visit to Moonstone Beach – a great place for a walk, a picnic, or to just enjoy the ocean. We’re visiting in April, so it was pretty windy + still a little chilly… but warm enough for a great walk. There’s a long boardwalk that makes the beach views accessible for everyone.

There are also lots of hidden coastal access points off of Highway 1. We stopped at one rocky beach outcrop to explore a bit of the seaside by ourselves…

In town, there are so many great restaurants, coffee shops, and boutique shops…

Plus plenty of art galleries to stop in, some antique shops, and a little playhouse connected to the Harmony cafe. We ate at the cafe, and if you are in town check the adjoining J. Buckley Theatre’s schedule for frequent events like live music, local plays, and retro movies…

Our favorite dish was the sea bass – really fresh!

We also ate at the Indigo Moon on the other side of Main Street.

We more or less ordered one of everything and it was all delicious!

I love hidden gem places like Cambria! Do you love little seaside towns, too?

Kate

travel

A March Day Trip to Sequoia National Park

April 3, 2018 No Comments

Earlier in March, we did a Sequoia National Park Day Trip from Morro Bay, CA. There are lots of cool things to see and do in both Sequoia and the nearby Kings Canyon National Park, but our mission was to see some of the tall sequoias in the National Forest and especially the General Sherman Tree.

My number one hot tip for journeying up to Sequoia Forest in March? Check the weather forecast first!

We were definitely caught off-guard to leave Morro Bay in the upper 60 degrees F and find ourselves in Sequoia facing this:

And this!

All the cloud/snow/fog in that photo is obscuring the mountainside – we were at an elevation of about 6,000 ft here.

We weren’t deterred. We rented some snow chains for our tires and my husband put them on. He is from Minnesota so I figured, he knows what he’s doing!

He told me afterwards he had never put snow chains on a car before, but he had put them on a lawn mower. Apparently, in Minnesota they attach snowplows to lawn mowers to clear snow in the winter! Me (from Atlanta) and the man renting the snow chains to us (from California) were both gobsmacked to hear this.

When we made it to the pull off for the trail to the General Sherman tree, the lot was sparsely populated and looked like this:

Still not deterred! We made our way to the tree in 6 inches of snow.

Worth it:

The General Sherman Tree is the biggest living tree by volume in the world – 275 feet tall, and 36 feet in diameter….

It was awe-inspiring to gaze up and take in the size of this tree surrounded by so many tall, beautiful sequoias in the forest.

We made it back down the winding mountain roads safely, turned in our snow chains, and headed on. On our way back we stopped at In-N-Out and chatted the whole way about what an odd but amazing day it had been.

This was definitely a unique experience for me and I think I will be retelling the story of our Sequoia National Park day trip for many years!

p.s. – But seriously… did anyone else know that there are places where they put snow chains on lawn mowers?? I learn amazing things all the time.

xo

Kate

travel

Painting the California Coastline – Part 1

March 27, 2018 6 Comments

I’m working on an art collection inspired by the Central Coast area of California in and around San Luis Obispo county. While I’ve been living in Morro Bay for a couple of months, I’ve been especially inspired by the ocean and the colors that form where the sky meets the water on the horizon.

I want to share with you guys the behind-the-scenes process. Part 1 here focuses on some of the things that happen before any paint gets on a canvas.

1 – Finding Inspiration

First things first, some inspiration! It’s where the fun starts. 🙂

An early afternoon by Morro Rock…

A late afternoon hike near Los Osos, CA…

Dusk on the first not-rainy day after a stormy week in Morro…

2 – Sketching Forms and Making Plans

When I’m organizing my thoughts about a place, I like to make some quick and rough sketches to play with relative scale, feel, and overall architecture of places I like. Like these:

Spending this time translating the world onto the page helps me decide which direction to take the eventual paintings.

3 – Study the colors

Along with the sketches (and before I start any work on the canvas) I like to play with mixing up colors to discover which tones I like, which hue best captures the feeling I’m trying to convey, and how well colors play together. I end up with a lot of splotches like these:

And alongside the color experiments, I’ll do some just-for-fun/warm myself up paintings that focus on how I want the paints to come together and play off each other. For these I will use either some thick paper or inexpensive canvas boards from Michael’s (great for practicing on when you don’t want to waste a whole canvas!).

Here are a couple of examples of fast practice paintings I did to see how my colors might look in a composition:

(When I work on these color studies, the kinds of questions I ask myself are: does the light seem right? Am I conveying the mood I want? Are the colors balanced?)

So that’s an overview of starting the painting process! Finding inspiration, sketching out forms and plans, and studying the colors.

In Part 2, I’ll talk about how I am preparing my canvases and I’ll show more of the collection!

And this Thursday, I’ll post a time-lapse of the process for this painting:

(I just love the clouds in that one.)

Let me know what questions you have in the comments!

Kate

travel

A #TinyHouse Tour

March 8, 2018 5 Comments

Happy Thursday friends! We are currently enjoying rural California, and I wanted to do a little tour of our two-week Tiny House AirBnb.

Tiny Homes seem to be getting more and more popular over the past few years (there is even a “Tiny House” filter on AirBnb now!), so I’m excited to see one up close.

Here’s an outside view…

…and inside….

Tiny homes, for a lot of people, are a chance to cut clutter, live more simply, and reduce impact on the environment. For others, it is a chance to be more cost efficient, or manage a smaller place in retirement, or to work on an interesting design challenge.

Here is the living room…

…kitchen area complete with a gas oven…

… and our back to back work station!

If you walk past the kitchen, you’ll past the laundry on your left (across from the bathroom and the stairs to the lofted space) on your way to the bedroom.

Tiny houses are all about creating storage space wherever possible – like the wall to wall closet and overhead shelf space in the bedroom.

And here the lofted space – perfectly kid sized!

I am really loving being out in the beautiful California countryside – peace and quiet and it gets so very dark at night with sooo many stars.

And sometimes horses come right up outside our windows 🙂

As the Tiny House movements grows and some people want to live in them full time or keep their Tiny Home on wheels, more and more communities are trying to hammer out details of zoning laws, building permits, and answers to other obstacles for people in those circumstances. For those types of Tiny Homes, it can still be a gray area in lots of places.

If you are interested in more about Tiny Homes, you can search for short term rentals on AirBnb or even look for a Tiny Home rental community.

What do you think? Let’s talk the #TinyHouse movement in the comments!

Kate

life, photos, travel

A Vagabond Experiment

March 5, 2018 2 Comments

Hi guys,

Taking a break from New Zealand photos (but I have so many more!) and wanted to share a bit about what life looks like right now.

For now, I am traveling around on the West Coast working on design projects, searching out art inspiration, and soaking up the atmosphere of a part of the country that I love so. much. In December, my husband and I packed all our things away in a storage locker in Minnesota so we could hit the road and live life wherever we found the opportunity.

Right now, we are in sunny California! Last week was spent in Los Angeles, enjoying places like Santa Monica pier…

…and Venice…

Where I especially loved the afternoon light and ducks floating around at home on the canals…

And we stopped by Chris Burden’s famous Urban Light art installation outside the Los Angeles County Museum of Art…

I posted some of my favorite pieces of art from the LACMA over on instagram and saved them into a story highlight if you are interested!

For now, I’ll be spending a couple of weeks in Paso Robles, California surrounded by countryside and vineyards before we move on to Morro Bay to take in the sight and smell of the ocean (my favorite).

Hoping to share more photos and videos along our way!

xoxo,

Kate