Almost-Summer Stripes

Two posts in one day?! I know, I am totally trying to make up for not updating over the past couple of weeks. Plus, I have spent the entire day working on my final paper for my history of photography class, and I decided to take a long break—for my sanity—and do a couple posts!

It’s already heating up in Arizona, which means that this summer’s going to be a hot one. A week and a half ago we were experiencing temperatures around 105 degrees. Although it has settled back down to the high 80’s since then, it’s supposed to get hot again this weekend. I’ve got family coming into town from Washington, which means there will hopefully be lots of time spent by the pools drinking my parents’ delicious margaritas. And, of course, wearing this comfy summer dress!

Dress: Target. Cardigan: Old Navy. Sandals: Target.

This dress is really thin cotton, which means it’s perfect for hot days. It’s a quick and comfortable outfit to throw on for just about any summertime activity. Of course, the cardigan will go as soon as it gets hot again, but for now it’s just right!

The pool is almost at the perfect temperature to start swimming—not too cold, but not bathwater like it gets in the middle of summer. As soon as school and finals are done, I’ve decided I’m coming home from work every night and going straight into the pool!

 

Also, I have summer nails!! I want to wear bright colors all the time now. On my fingers I used Essie Bachelorette Bash, Ulta Sweetheart Pink, and an orange OPI that I’m not sure of the name of, and on my toes I used OPI Mermaid Tears.

 
Check out my previous post for how I curled my hair with a curling wand!

And of course, here’s my smart cat—hiding from the heat in the shade.

AND WE’RE BACK!

As you may have noticed, sometimes I fail at updating my blog in a timely manner. It’s been over 2 weeks, in fact. I’ve been so caught up with my new job, studying for finals, and my booming social life (One of these is a lie. Can you guess which?!) that I have been putting this blog on the back burner. But no more, I promise! In fact, I’ve decided to sort of shift the focus of the blog so that, rather than just being outfit posts, it will be a little bit of everything. Crafts, recipes, tutorials, whatever I feel like. This will hopefully mean that I can update a bit more. It will especially be helpful in about a month when temperatures reach 115 degrees and the last thing I want to do is dress up and go outside to take pictures.

So to kick things off, I thought I would do a tutorial! Okay, it was more of an experiment than a tutorial. My sister and I went splitsies on one of those curling wands (sort of like a curling iron, but without the clamp) because we wanted to give it a shot. I’ve never used one before—in fact, I usually curl my hair with a flat iron (hey, maybe there will be a tutorial for that next!)—so I figured I would document it!

 
I started out with straight(ish) hair. This is what my hair does if I just comb it out and let it air dry. The only thing I put in it was a bit of Moroccan Oil.

 

 
I always start by sectioning my hair. I try to do it in thirds, because I have a whole lot of hair and it’s impossible to do it all at once. So i clipped the top two-thirds of my hair up.

 
Make sure your tool is heated up. I used a Conair YouCurl, which was only $30 at Target. Bonus, my sister and I split it so it was only 15 bucks each!

It came with this strange little three-finger heat protective glove. Most curling wands come with a full glove, which would be ideal, because it’s super easy to burn your last two fingers if you’re not careful. I tried using the glove, though, and ended up taking it off because it was a little too bulky and cumbersome.

 
Holding the wand upside down (so the widest part is at the top) I wrapped my hair around the stick. I held it there for about 7 seconds before releasing the curl. If you hold if for more time, you will get a tighter curl; less time will give you a loose curl. PS—this is my ‘super focused’ serious face.

 

As you can see, some curls are tight and some are loose. This is because I was experimenting with how long to hold the curl on the barrel of the iron. If this happens to you, don’t worry—you can go back and fix it when you’re finished!

 
After I finished curling my hair all over, I spritzed it with Blow Texturizing Mist and used my fingers to tousle my hair a bit so it was less curly and more beachy.

 
And here’s the result! In total it probably took me about a half hour, but I’m sure once I get used to using the wand I’ll be able to cut my styling time down.

So in review, I’m still iffy on whether I prefer this over flat iron curls. It gives a different look for sure, but I am still much more comfortable with using my flat iron to curl my hair. I always know it will turn out how I want it, and I feel like I have a little more control that way. Still, this method is fun and pretty simple!

The Hills Are Alive

Last night I went to see The Sound of Music at the Biltmore Fashion Park’s Spring Movies in the Park with my friend Liz. The weather has been perfect lately, with highs in the mid-70’s and a light breeze. Well, last night was a little more than a light breeze. In fact, it got pretty windy, and I found myself wishing I was wearing more substantial shoes and a warm jacket. Needless to say, I wrapped up in a blanket the whole time, and the second I got in my car, I turned the heater on for the first time since February!

I love The Sound of Music…it’s one of those movies that will never get old. I think Fraulein Maria and I have a lot in common, actually. You know when they sing the song, “How Do You Solve a Problem Like Maria?” Well, you could easily switch that to “How Do You Solve A Problem Like Kellie?” Now, I don’t exactly see myself falling in love with a naval captain with seven children, all of whom have perfect pitch (you really never know, though…) However, I can promise you that if I ever make it to the Austrian countryside, I will definitely twirl about and sing at the top of my lungs. You can count on it!

 
Lace top: Thrifted. Cardigan: Gap. Skirt: Old Navy. Leggings: Target. Sandals: Target

Necklace: DIY {Tutorial found HERE!}

Ring: Charlotte Russe

Don’t mind the band-aid…I got in a fight with my car door last week and it definitely won :/

Sister Friends!

I wore this outfit to the Good Friday service at my church tonight. I had spent most of the morning and early afternoon helping my mom paint our living room (I’m helping her redecorate for the first time in 12 years!) so I wanted to wear something easy but cute. Luckily I have my trusty triple-barrel curler which is perfect for day-two (and sometimes even day-three!) hair.

 
Top: eci New York via Macy’s. Jeans: Old Navy. Shoes: Target.

I love how flowy this top is, and the cute floral detail, too. Plus, you really can’t beat this pretty berry color.

Oh, and look who stopped by! My sister, Megan. I have tried to get her into my blog post once before, but she refused. But this time I made her, because you just can’t miss those fantastic pants she’s wearing. I swear, I’m going to steal them out of her closet when she’s not looking.

 
Here we are being clever and silly…

Megan’s outfit: Top: Old Navy. Jeans: Vera Wang for Kohl’s. Sandals: Steve Madden via DSW.

Fancy Pants

As I’ve mentioned before, I’m currently jobless. It has actually been pretty nice not working all semester, but recently I’ve been getting a little worried, as I’ve had zero luck with the job search. So the other day when I got a call about a job interview, I was ecstatic! The interview was this morning at one of Arizona’s most well-known luxury resorts (We’re talking about the place where the president stays when he visits Arizona!) so I knew I had to dress to impress! I wanted to go in and say, “Luxury? Yeah? Look up the word ‘luxury’ in the dictionary and you’ll see a picture of me in this outfit!”
I didn’t say that, in case you were wondering… :)

I was meeting my interviewers in the spa, which is located right next to the pool, so it felt pretty strange click-clacking by the pool in my heels where most people were in bathing suits and sandals. The funniest part was when I showed up in my fancy-schmancy ensemble, and the guys that were interviewing me were wearing polos and cargo shorts. That is actually pretty exciting to me, because it’s been a long time since I’ve had a job where I can be casual like that! Most of my job experience is in the beauty industry, where I had to show up everyday with my hair and makeup looking perfect, which means that the moment I stopped working in the industry, I pretty much cut down to wearing serious makeup (the kind that takes more than 10 minutes to apply) for only special occasions!

Top: Charlotte Russe. Skirt: Thrifted.
Technically the skirt was a hand-me-down from my sister, but I’ll qualify that as thrifting :)
Watch: Guess (a gift from my parents). Ring: Target.
I got this ring about 5 years ago at Target. It was one of their “nicer” jewelry pieces (the kind that doesn’t turn your finger green and change to copper after a while) and I wear it almost daily. Pretty impressive for something I got on clearance for about 10 bucks!
Shoes: Madeline Stuart (via Ross).
By the way—apparently this outfit did the trick…I got a call about two minutes after I left the interview from the HR department offering me the job! Success!!