Watching holiday movies is one of my favorite Christmas traditions. I practically start a movie marathon as soon as Thanksgiving is over, and play them all the way through Christmas day. Here’s a list of my favorites that I always watch.

Must-Watch Holiday Movies

• The Holiday
• The Family Stone
• A Christmas Story
• Happiest Season
• Elf
• Last Christmas
• Love Actually
• Home Alone
• Gremlins

Any favorites you have? Let me know in the comments!

xx Erika

The post Holiday Movies Watch List appeared first on Erika Carlock Blog.

SHOP MY DRESS

Today marks four months since we eloped in Santa Barbara — just the two of us. Marriage has been such an effortless transition for us and I’m so happy we chose to elope and make this special day intimate and all about the two of us. We’ve been together for so long and keeping it small and intimate really felt right for us. We loved every minute of it and really got to relish in our time together. I know there’s a lot of pressure to have the perfect day and make a ton of people happy, but it’s totally doable to have a mostly stress-free, happy day just the two of you. I’m so glad we did!

I’m in the process of putting together some photo albums of the day, and framing prints and thought I’d share some of my favorite moments from the day. When we knew we wanted to elope finding the right place felt important. We’ve spent years visiting Santa Barbara — we’re only 1.5 hours away in LA, and my sister actually lives there so we tend to visit often. If you’ve ever been you’ll know the Santa Barbara courthouse is one of the most stunning in the world. It feels like a literal jungle amongst old Spanish mission style architecture. It’s truly a dreamland and made our day extra special to be somewhere we’ve loved going for years.

We headed up to Santa Barbara the day before the wedding and had a nice vacation before the big day. We pretty much always stay with family when we visit so it was really nice to actually feel like we were on a vacation in sunny Santa Barbara. We kept everything very low-maintenance, got ready in the morning, and headed to the courthouse. My sister and brother-in-law were our witnesses, so it was super intimate.

9.14.22

It turned out to be the perfect day. The ceremony was in the garden right outside of the bell tower and absolutely stunning. One of the perks of getting married in Santa Barbara has to be the endless photo locations: there’s stunning architecture, lush landscapes, and dreamy gardens to chose from. After the ceremony we bopped around Santa Barbara taking more casual, candid photos with our photographer Michelle Roller. My sister helped us have everything we needed, and Michelle captured the day so beautifully, so we had lots of fun doing it. We walked around town, and then had the sweetest picnic at the Mission rose garden. We got the loveliest floral cake from Flouring LA and cut our cake in the rose garden, then rented a vintage car to cruise in. Fun fact: it’s the same car Drew Barrymore rented for her wedding! The chauffeur was so charming and sweet which made the day even more special, and we snapped photos with the car and then drove off around town. We cruised the streets of Santa Barbara, and then headed to the local tiki bar Test Pilot (very us!). We had some cocktails, then headed to a sweet intimate dinner at Loquita. I changed into something a little more low-key for dinner, a white sun dress, and Joe switched into a vintage tiki shirt with his suit pants. It was such a delicious dinner nestled in the corner by the fireplace right under this giant bougainvillea and we of course went all out and got almost all of the Spanish tapas on the menu. It was such a special day. Everything turned out exactly how we wanted: low-key, minimal stress and all of our most-loved things (vintage, tiki, architecture, and plants to name a few!). The weather was perfectly sunny, our evening cruise was a dream, and everything about the day was so magical. We couldn’t stop smiling!

The next morning we headed up for a mini-moon in the valley of the moon — Ojai — for a few days. We stayed at a place we love, Capri Hotel, and soaked up the sun and drank wine on repeat. We had a sort of impromptu coincidental honeymoon in Mexico two weeks after the wedding that we had booked in January as a reward for renovating the house, and it just so happened that the dates aligned to be a sort of unplanned honeymoon in Tulum. Of course since it lined up with our wedding we immediately upgraded our room to an ocean view upon arrival and really went all out and added on a second stop to the trip in one of our favorite cities, Mexico City! We did all of our favorite things like Luis Barragan architecture tours, ate at amazing restaurants, and had a fun trip as newlyweds. We still want to do a planned honeymoon this spring so stay tuned for that adventure…

After we got back from Mexico I put all the photos and keepsakes from the wedding and our trips in to a big white box to remember on our anniversaries. It was so nice to come back home as newlyweds. While I don’t feel much different being married I have to admit the word husband hits a little different, and is really fun to say right now!

Photos by Michelle Roller

The post Our Santa Barbara Wedding appeared first on Erika Carlock Blog.

2022 is almost here, and I love planning out my resolutions and setting goals for the New Year. This past year has been a rollercoaster between buying the desert house, living in two places at once, and trying my first hand at doing manual labor on the house renovation. I am learning it all along the way, and I have a feeling 2022 is going to be amazing.

Every year I like to set an overall theme to my goal that is more of a way of living than a literal goal. For this year, my theme is: Be passionate about what you love doing. Focus on what you love, and do it. Don’t listen to anyone else’s judgment or comments. The way things have shaken up in the last few years of the pandemic has made me question everything, and honestly feel weird. I kind of lost myself in all of the chaos of the world and I really want to reset and focus on getting back into my why of doing things, and reigniting passion in my work. Social media has gotten kind of toxic honestly, and everyone is so quick to hate, and in 2022 I’m saying f*ck all of that noise. Do you, don’t worry what anyone else thinks.

2022 Resolutions:

1. Finish renovating the desert house: This is pretty much the only thing on my mind these days, but we have SO much to do and I am stressin’. I really want to get this house DONE so that we can enjoy it and do all of the fun shoots I’ve dreamed about for so long.
2. Exercise: I was in such a good exercise routine before buying the house, and now that I’m traveling back and forth all of the time I find myself only exercising when I’m in LA. Trying to make it a priority to find a desert workout plan, or buy a set of weights for the house!
3. Share more, and more valuable content: One thing I’m not happy about is how little I’ve been posting lately! I used to have a rule of posting daily, and now I’m having a hard time doing that. I really want to get back into the groove of posting frequently, and posting valuable content like how to’s, and fun ideas, and even just posting more in the moment stuff. Again, I want to be inspired again and share the things I’m passionate about.
4. Less perfection, more productivity: One thing I’ve always struggled with is trying to get everything “perfect”. I’ll obsess over editing a photo or email for waaaay too long, and while working on the house I’ve realized that my perfectionist tendencies are really slowing me down. This year I want to remind myself that progress is much better than perfection.
5. Find balance: Life and work have serious blurred since Joe and I both work from home now. I would love to get more into a routine where I sign off of my computer at a reasonable hour, and don’t let the lines blur between work and life.
6. Make time for friends: Another pandemic casualty has been friendships! It’s so easy to not meet up with friends these days, and every new variant makes me disappear again right when social things start to pick up. I want to make friendships a priority in the coming year, and keep happy hours and hangouts alive.
7. Do offline hobbies: It kind of feels like it’s hard to have hobbies that aren’t digital anymore, right? I would love to add some me time for drawing, journaling, or reading books. I’ve been reading a lot more books in 2021, and that is one offline habit I would love to keep.
8. Stretch more: Okay, getting older is no joke and I can feel my body changing. Stretching daily, and doing more yoga is a must this year because things are getting creaky.
9. Less food waste: I’m always trying to be more eco-conscious, and one thing I would love to work on this year is wasting less food. We all know the feeling of spending a ton of money on groceries only to throw away half of it in a week when you got lazy and ordered takeout. This year I want to be more focused on cooking and finishing food in the fridge and skipping the takeout.
   

Let’s all start the year feeling intentional and reflecting on what is important to us, because if there is anything this weird time has taught me it’s to reevaluate what it valuable to me and my life. Wishing you a happy New Year!

xoxo Erika

The post 2022 Resolutions appeared first on Erika Carlock Blog.

Ahh fall is here, and I’m so excited about it! In LA it doesn’t feel like fall until early November and I’m so excited to enjoy some cozy sweaters, hot chocolate, and lots of candles. A few things I have on my mind to do this month…

+ Do something festive. Make some cider, have a pumpkin spice something or other, see some pretty orange leaves on the ground. I want to do all of the seasonal things this month!

+ Head to Mexico for a little trip. I’m super excited to go to the Mexican Riviera this month, and I can’t wait to share it with you. I’ve got lots of travel guides come through about this trip!

+ Organize my closet. I’ve been on a 6-month long closet organization, and I can finally see the end of the tunnel so I want to finally finish that off this month! Fingers crossed… I have a feeling it might be a new years project at this point, hah!

+ Add some cozy things to my space. Furry throw blankets, grow my ever-expanding candle collection. I want to do all of the cozy things in my house right now. I’m all for the chill time at home this month!

Do you love this time of year as much as me? What’s on your November to do list! xoxo Erika

The post My November To Do List appeared first on Erika Carlock Blog.

Sometimes with how constant social media can be over on Instagram, I forget to stop and introduce myself. So I wanted to do a little run down of a few bits about me that people tend to ask in my DMs every now and then. Hopefully you can get to know me a bit better this way!

10 Facts About Me

1. I’m 27. Yep, in my last few years of the 20’s! I’m was born in the 90s, and am a 90s girl through and through. I grew up with Tamagotchis, AOL, and flip phones.
2. I was born in California. And  I never left! I’ve lived in a few places in California, but just haven’t been able how to ever leave the weather here.
3. Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen inspired me to travel. No joke, I fell in love with travel because of all of the MKA movies I watched as a kid. I was getting major wanderlust to go to all of the places they filmed—London, Paris, Australia, Rome… you name it. TBH Passport to Paris is prob still in my top 10 movies, and my sister and I planned our first trip abroad together when we were kids and made it happen when I was 19 all thanks to the Olsen twins.
4. I got into blogging out of obsession. I’m not even sure what my “first” blog was because I would make websites about things I loved even as a kid. So many collages and photos! I’ve been cataloging and taking photos for as long as I could remember, so blogging has always just felt like something I had to do as a creative outlet. I’m so thankful I can share all of the things I’m obsessed with with you!
5. I’m a country girl turned city girl. I grew up on my grandparents ranch and tire swing in central California. They farmed citrus and avocados, and we spent most of our time out on the ranch. Fun fact: I never paid for fruits until I left for college, and I legit thought avocados should be free because we would get bags full from the tree on a regular basis. I was like “What do you mean guac is extra?! That shits free.”
6. I’m a total insomniac. I’ve always had the hardest time going to bed, and especially waking up. I feel like my best ideas always come to me late at night, and I feel motivated to clean the entire house at like 1 AM on a regular basis. It’s weird and annoying, but I think it’s also good to listen to your body and it’s natural rhythm, right?
7. My style icon is Brigitte Bardot. I love how everything she wears is so simple and effortless.  Give me all of the off the shoulder tops and headbands, please!
8. I grew up in an all-female household. Growing up it was just me, my sister, and my mom. Needless to say we had A LOT of fun. There was basically a photoshoot, runway show and dress up sesh going on every day growing up. We even listened to the entire Britney Spears ‘…Baby One More Time‘ album on repeat during road trips.
9. Decorating keeps me awake at night. I love to decorate so much that I will plan and re-plan rooms on the regular. It’s such an obsession for me that when I’m browsing houses that I definitely can’t even afford yet I decorate the entire space in my mind knowing that I’ll never live there. Haha. Anyone else obsessed with decor?
10. Joe and I are technically  high school sweet hearts. We were friends in high school, and went to senior prom together and then couldn’t get enough of each other. Here we are nine years later and still spend all of our time together. So lucky to have him as a best friend and life partner!

What else do you want to know? Let me know in the comments! xoxo Erika

The post 10 Facts About Me appeared first on Erika Carlock Blog.

Wowowow what a year 2018 was! I’d say this year had the most growth as far as doing the things I’ve been wanting to do and checking them off of the list. I feel like I say this every year, but this was the best year so far. I hope life always feels like it’s getting better that way, and topping each and every year. Here a few highlights!

We celebrated our 9 year anniversary in London, and finally got to visit the pink wonderland that is sketch! 

Transformed the yard into a tropical oasis.

Went on lots of road trips! Vegas, Palm Springs, Los Alamos… this year was all about quick weekend getaways!

Made this fun window DIY in the bedroom

Visited the Stahl House and dreamed of living there…

I’ve got some exciting things coming in 2019, and I cannot wait to share! Stay tuned for some exciting home tours, room redesigns and lots more content coming this year! xoxo Erika

The post Looking Back on 2018 appeared first on Erika Carlock Blog.

It’s finally feeling a bit like fall in Los Angeles, so I’m really trying to take in all of the fall breeze—opening the windows, burning candles all day, and listening to my fall playlist. I’m kind of obsessed with making playlists. I usually share them on my stories, but I think I should make this more of a regular thing because I love doing them. If you’re not already following me on Spotify, you can follow along with new playlists here.  Here’s a playlist to get you in the mood for autumn!

CLICK HERE TO LISTEN ON SPOTIFY!

The post A Mellow Fall Playlist appeared first on Erika Carlock Blog.

I’ve got to admit, I love a good Netflix binge. But sometimes it can be so hard to jump into a show when you don’t if it’s any good. There are some shows that I’m obsessed with, and that all have either seasons out now, came out recently, or are about to come out again in the next few months.

Better Things: Oh man, this show really gets me! Pamela Adlon is the creator and it’s essentially a fictional version of her life story as a single parent raising three teenage daughters on her own. It’s hilarious, and sometimes emotional and completely reminds me of my childhood growing up with just my mom and sister. So funny. So real. So GOOD. P.S. it streams on Hulu.

American Horror Story: I look forward to AHS every season, and this Coven/Murder House cross-over season is the best I’ve seen in a while. Coven was my all-time favorite season, so I’m SUPER excited for everything happening this season.

Marvelous Mrs Maisel: So. much. yes. THIS SHOW. I can’t  tell you enough how perfect this show is. First off, created + written by the creator of Gilmore Girls (which I love!). It’s set in the 50’s and the wardrobes are phenomenal. And it’s freakin’ hilarious. The Copa Cabana scene with the dancers and band is my fave. Absolute best show out right now.

Shameless: I can never get enough Shameless, and with a few of the main actors leaving I’m really intrigued this season to see how things shift. I’m loving how this season it’s showing the characters doing well for once in their lives…but you know it’s all about to come crashing down because it has to.

The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina: Okay, I was really excited about this one and I love Kiernan Shipka in Mad Men, so I was excited to see her take the lead on this one. Aaaaand it did not disappoint! It’s the perfect mix of scary, funny, and feminist.  I grew up watching Sabrina the Teenage Witch and WOW it’s nothing like that show. It’s more like its older, darker cousin, which I think is perfect. It’s made by the same creators of Riverdale. I’ve got to admit, I’m not a fan of Riverdale. I love how beautiful is it, but as much as I tried to get into it I still can’t finish the first season. Sabrina on the other hand…. well I finished it in a week so I think it’s safe to say I’m obsessed.

Transparent: I feel like most of the people I mention this show around haven’t heard of it, which is why it’s a must on this list! It’s about a family who find out their dad is transitioning into a woman. (Hint the trans-parent). It streams on Amazon Prime, and is the perfect mix of funny dysfunctional family and major life moments.

The Romanoffs: Another Amazon Prime original, AND by the creator of Mad Men. This one is about the story of the Roman royal family that was murdered, and its told in a series of vignettes that are unrelated to each other other than that each connects with the Romanoffs in some way. It’s cool how they each feel like their own movie, and I liked the episodes I’ve seen so far. I feel like it’s gotten some negative reviews so far, but I’m actually into it. My favorite is the episode Christina Hendrix stars in.

Camping: Well, I loved Girls, and Lena Dunham’s new show Camping is super captivating to me as well. The characters are the perfect amount of cringey but also “omg I know that someone exactly like that person!” which I think is the charm Lena Dunham brings to her characters. Definitely recommend if you have HBO!

Queer Eye: The show everyone needs right now! I’m major on self-love, embracing who you are and making the best of yourself and that’s what I love about this show. If you haven’t watched the new Queer Eye on Netflix, do yourself a favor honey, and stream that shit. I can’t even pick a fave from the fab 5 because I love them all! So go watch it if you haven’t!

Claws: I stumbled upon Claws and after the first episode I couldn’t stop watching! It’s kind of a Breaking Bad where the ladies are taking over, and it’s nail bitingly bing-able. It’s worth it alone to watch the first few episodes to see the most ghetto-fabulous funeral ever. Plus, ?Niecy Nash KILLS it in her jumpsuits.

What shows are you loving right now? Anything I should check out? I’m always on the hunt for a new show! Let me know your faves right now in the comments!

The post 10 TV Shows I’m Watching Right Now appeared first on Erika Carlock Blog.

One of my latest personal projects is my #forrealthoughseries where I write out ideas. Here’s a few recent favorites…

The post For Real, Though appeared first on Erika Carlock Blog.

I’m going to palm springs this weekend to look at wedding venues, wish me luck! xoxo

The post Palm Springs Bound appeared first on Erika Carlock Blog.