Sharing the DSLR photos I took from my beach vacation a few weeks ago. We usually go every year to the beach to celebrate my grandmother and brother's birthday, a tradition we've been keeping up since he was born on her birthday 22 years ago. We stayed in a beautiful house super close to the beach, right across from the pier, and it was wonderful. The last time we stayed in a house like this was four years ago. My brother had just graduated high school. I was going into my junior year of high school, and my sister was about to start high school. This time around, my brother just graduated college, I'm going into my junior year of college, and my sister is about to start college. Time is a funny thing.

I have a ton of more photos from the trip besides these which I took on my iPhone and plan on sharing soon.

pinterest favorites.

pink heels | reminder | glitzy stone rings | earl grey ice cream | neon nail polish | glam kitchen

Black, white, and neon is a total go-to for me, especially design-wise. It feels so fresh and modern without trying too hard. An all-time fave.

I spent all of today organizing, rearranging, planning, and checking off the things that have been on my to-do list for about a month. I'm getting less hours at my summer job, so I have a bunch of free time on my hands which I don't exactly know what to do with. It's always been so easy for me to fall in to a slump during summer breaks because I can't help but feel like no matter what I do, I'm wasting it away somehow. I also tend to be a real lazy homebody in the summertime, so filling my days with productive activities feels really good.

my Pinterest.

fast times.

Updates: my little sister graduated high school and the next day, I went on a week long family vacation to the beach. It seems as though since I graduated high school two years ago, time has been moving a million miles a minute. Especially during these longer summer days, I'm finding that I'm craving more time for reflection.

I feel as though I've touched on this subject a lot, as memory keeping has always been important to me, but with the free time that summer break provides, I've been wanting to actually buckle down and keep up with it. I'm making a goal for myself to journal a bit tonight. I journaled all throughout high school, either in sketchbooks or in composition books where I would doodle and paste images, movie ticket stubs, candy wrappers; anything which held a memory, big or small.

Someday soon, I would love to get my hands on Project Life, but for now, journaling a bit in my sketchbook once or twice a week sounds more like a realistic start. I strongly encourage old school pen to paper for real reflection, because it's much easier to control your audienc and get all thoughts and memories out of your head and on to something tangible without fear or judgment. To hold myself accountable, I may share a few pages if I find them artsy or cool enough. ;)

I will also be bloggin' about that beach trip I talked about within the next week or so, I promise. I've found that this blog is so much easier to keep up with when I break things down and give myself ample time to make each post a quality one. I'm learning as I go and it feels amazing. :)

P.S. If you're local to the Charlotte area and lookin for an AMAZE cake, check out Mo Betta Cakes. My father is colleagues with the wonderful lady who runs the small business, and she ain't messin' around with her cakes. They are damn good.

pinterest favorites: beach bound.

strawberry lime cucumber water | sun hat | aloha hotel | wedges | mantra

old school beach style | toes in the water | sunkissed bracelet | white lace

I've said it before and I'll say it again: Summer. Is. My. JAM.

It's finally starting to feel like summer around here as my sister graduated high school today! She's the youngest out of the three of us, so she's the last person in my immediate family to graduate high school. Tomorrow, I am heading to the beach first thing in the morning to kick off a week long celebratory vacation. Things will be quiet around here as I will also be taking a vacation from the blog. Have a great week, and I hope that you'll be embracing summer along with me now that June is in full swing!

my Pinterest.

juicing 101.

Being a young college girl, I've probably heard of every single diet trend on the planet. However, I never really gave a single one a try until my dad approached me and asked if I would do a juice cleanse with him. I thought, "How L.A.! Count me IN."

Just kidding.

Kinda.

Anyway, trusting my father, who is a certified physical trainer and has always been a health nut, I gave it a shot. Nothing but fresh fruit and veggie juice for 4-7 days.

Why in the world I would do that/Benefits of Juicing:

• For starters, the point of this cleanse is to give your bowels a break by not eating solid foods in order to cleanse the body of toxins. This is exactly what it sounds like.
• Juicing is a super easy way to introduce your body to a diet centered around fruits and veggies. Your system is getting a break from artificial sugars, grains, meat, dairy, etc.
• I hate eating vegetables. Especially cooked vegetables. ESPECIALLY LEAFY GREENS. With juice, it's so easy to sneak in vegetables with fruit and create something that actually tastes really good.
• No cooking or heavy meal prep is necessary.
• Anyone can try anything for less than a week.

Soon I'll be sharing a few of our favorite juice recipes, but first I wanted to introduce juicing in general and share my experience with this type of cleanse.

My dad bought this juicer, and we love it. It's super powerful and super easy to clean.

We also used this website as our main resource, and we both watched this film and found it inspiring, even if it seems a bit dramatic at first. I strongly recommend you watch the film even if you aren't down with the juice thing because it addresses food in general and how important a diet rich in fruits and vegetables is!

During and after the cleanse, I had a huge amount of energy. It's amazing to me the difference in how I feel after drinking a juice vs. eating a meal heavy in meat and carbs.

Even though I'm not a huge believer in any kind of temporary diets, I really loved how introducing juice into my diet has made it so easy for me to get in more nutrient-dense food. I now love replacing meals with a juice or two, especially in the early mornings when I find it hard to stomach a heavy meal.

My dad and I have only tried the cleanse once, and since we're going to the beach next week, this week we're juicing most of our meals. He's actually juicing everything and having just one smoothie a day, while I'm simply replacing at least one meal a day with a juice. I love having a smoothie with a side of fruit when I wake up, drinking a juice with more veggies in it for lunch, and then eating a real meal of solid food for dinner.

left my heart in asheville.

My trip to Asheville was short but sweet.

I ate.

A lot.

The giant, glorious picture of food is a smoked turkey sandwich with brie, candied bacon, and pesto mayonnaise, complete with baked beans and jalapeno cheese grits. All from 12 Bones. Oh yeah. On the way back from 12 Bones, Lonnie stopped to check out a 1950 Chevy Deluxe that was for sale, knowing how much I love them.

I also went to Charming Charlie with some girlfriends and spent way too much money picked up the cutest carousel key chain which led to a much-needed simplification of my keys.

Here's to more simplicity this summer: Easy days. Sitting on the porch. Toes in the water. Holding hands. Vanilla with sprinkles.

pinterest favorites.

freckles | cactus cupcakes | key tags | denim on denim | calm down party | road trippin'

Tomorrow I'm taking a mini vacation to Asheville to visit my main squeeze. Things have been starting to heat up here in Concord, so I'm feeling the easy-going freedom that only road trips and sunny days can provide.

my Pinterest.