Poor Man's Guide to Messy Milkmaid Braids

Keira Knightley

Naomi Davis of Love Taza

Sienna Miller

 

Jennifer Lawrence

 I am the queen of phases. Right now I'm obsessed with messy milkmaid braids. They're quick & easy but they make everyone think that you are some kind of hair magician. People tend to have a love hate relationship with milkmaid braids though. When done right, you have the ability to look cool in an effortless, Alexa Chung kind of way but it can slowly become the weird Russian lady from Dodgeball.

Here are some milkmaid braid tips from someone who definitely isn't a hair magician:

1. First, I like to put some loose waves in my hair with my straightner to create some texture.

2. Then I spray my hair with sea salt spray from Lush. It's completely magical. 

3. I separate my hair into pigtails and braid them level with my ears, flip the braids up & pin them to my head with upwards of one million bobby pins.

4. Spray my whole head with Redken 23 hairspray for a strong, not sticky, hold.

Hopefully this helps your final product resemble J. Law vs that scary Swedish nanny you had that one time...

Love, 

A

Night Moves

Another semester bites the dust (finally) & we're back to doing what we do best: adventuring. I'm not going to Hong Kong this year (miss ya, Dad) so I decided to drive down to Weston with Jake so that we could have a little week of adventures together. My dad was kind enough to buy me a Nikon D3200 for Christmas. I've been playing with it non-stop all weekend & it's finally making it's Stellar Piece debut. J keeps describing it's photo quality as "crispy" & I'd have to agree. I'm in love.

We've only been here a day & it's been amazing so far. We woke up at noon, had lunch with his family & made a trip to Sawgrass Mills Mall. I feel compelled to tell you guys that I finally bought a pair of suede J.Crew loafers that I've been drooling over for months. They were originally $98 & I got them for $44 (hell yes).

Later in the evening, J & I drove to Radioactive Records to do a little hunting. I've been searching high & low for the Pretty in Pink soundtrack on vinyl, but haven't found it yet. Jake is trying really hard to teach me how fun it can be to patiently dig through bins at record stores. It can be pretty hard for a girl who doesn't know the first thing about patience, but I'm learning. J bought a couple of 7"s & I bought some Thompson Twins & Dead or Alive LPs.

Afterwards, Jake took me to this neat little dive called Le Tub. The decor was ultra kitschy & cool. They had metal bathtubs & toilets everywhere and their walls were adorned with old photographs & license plates. I had a yummy hot dog while J downed a huge cheeseburger. We finished it all off with some homemade Key Lime pie. It's amazing how much better you feel after eating when you're starving.  J & I both turn into Betty White in that Snickers commercial if we wait to eat but luckily it only takes a few bites until we are back to our normal, silly selves. 

I thought that we were heading home for the night when Jake took an impromptu right turn & took me to the beach so that we could run around for a few minutes. As we were walking down the boardwalk, I expected the beach to be nice & calm (you know, rom-com style) but the gale force winds kind of ruined that dream for me. It was romantic in a different kind of way, though. J & I were just running around like crazies, getting our shoes all wet in the ocean, drawing 'J+A Forever' in the sand & climbing all over everything. That's our style & I wouldn't have it any other way.

Love,

A

Instant Attraction

 Okay, so I know that most sane people would probably think that I am absolutely bonkers for owning an instant film camera in this day & age. I mean I get it, I have an iPhone with Instagram which weighs a fraction of what the Fujifilm Instax 210 Wide camera does & I can take // edit photos all day long with it...FOR FREE. But you have to admit that in a world where everything is so digital, there is something charming about holding a physical photograph. Sometimes I hide away in my attic for a while, going through boxes of old childhood photos because there is something comforting about thumbing through a stack of photographs rather than swiping through a Facebook album on your iPad.

My father bought the Instax 210 camera for me when he was visiting Tampa for my brother's graduation in May & I immediately fell in love with it. I opted for the wide version versus the mini because I like taking landscape shots & it's perfect for taking couple selfies of Jake & I. The only downsides to the easy-to-use camera are the price ($92 at Urban Outfitters) & the cost of the film ($24 for 20 photos). At a little over $1 per photo, it's hard to snap random photos of everything, so we use the Instax camera for capturing special memories like when J & I's families met for the first time, our adventure to Bonnaroo & our road trip to Weston with my puppy, Bentley.

Hopefully, someday when J & I are old and gray, we will have a big ol' box full of memory snapshots of us playing in the sun, adventuring to new places & just being crazy in love with each other. At the end of the day these are the things that matter, these are the things that you'll hold onto forever. So why not document it along the way?

Love,

A

Color Melt

On Friday my family left for Europe, so  J & I have been put in charge of house sitting. We've been planning different things to do until they return & decided that today would be a great day to do some weird art. After J drove me to the end of the Earth to get my favorite Mountain Dew flavored Slurpee, we took a little trip to Michael's, a craft store around the corner from my house, & picked up two white 20x16 canvases ($9.99) & two 64 count boxes of Crayola crayons ($4.99 a box). When we got home, we decided how we wanted to lay out the crayons on the canvas, peeled the wrappers off & proceeded to hot glue the crayons down. Once the glue dried, we took a blow dryer, turned it to its highest heat setting & began sporadically melting the crayons. J & I chose very different layouts & color schemes which made the project even more exciting. It's up to you to decide how long you want to melt your crayons, how many colors you want to use & what design you want to make. 

J's turned out to be pretty dark, edgy & moderhn (the way our film teacher says the word 'modern'), while mine ended up being a stereotypical, type A, girly-ass rainbow thing. Crayon melting is such a fun, cheap & easy DIY project that basically any able bodied person with two hands & a brain can do + I had fun feeling artsy & creative for once in my life. This would also be something fun to do on a first date & at the end you get to keep (or maybe burn) a lasting momento.

What are some DIY projects you are looking to try out?

Love,

A

*Note from J: If you can get past the ridiculous packaging on the cans of Arizona's new Soda Shaq cream soda varieties, please do yourself a favor and buy every can in the store. This stuff is so delicious that I actually had unintentionally made Shaq's same face from the can. Mmmm.