Hurricane Creek

saturday//April 25

Emma && I went camping with a group of UA students, both international and domestic, out at Hurricane Creek in Holt, Alabama. Along the way we got terribly lost ((nothing new with me behind the wheel)) and stubbled upon a fabulous estate sale where I found the below items. Each room was filled with goodies but -- cash & check was the only form of payments so I was limited to my 10 dollar bill, thank goodness. Needless to say I spent every penny and I feel like I got a pretty good deal on these vintage pieces, especially that pretty necklace.

Estate scores//vintage swim trunks for my sweetie, old Alabama tag from 87, vintage pillow case-can't get enough of these! and a girly necklace from the 60s or 70s (detail below)

When we finally made it to the camp site we popped open a beer and went wading around the water, cautious for the suspected copper head neighbor.  We had such a good time searching the creek beds for arrow heads and shiny pebbles, playing with labradors pups, and sharing the secret of smors with the new international friends.

both sporting vintage tees and shades.

Emma scored her vintage Nuggets shirt off Ebay and thrifted the striped shirt and gave it to me.  Totally my new fav, and the shades too, they are the kind that change to a different color in the sun!

bye bye sun, hello fire!

laid by the sweltering fire after grilling out burgers, veges, & hotdogs until we retired back to the tent to sleep on the acorn covered ground.

Love the outdoors especially with friends!

Coachillin'

Today has been a glorious day starting off with awaking to the smell of a baked oatmeal dish prepared by my sweetie himself. Consisted of oatmeal, granola cereal, butter, cinnamon, eggs, brown sugar and milk. kinda resembled a really oaty bread// Afterwards we went to TJ Maxx for I needed a black belt && Dp needed shorts, I scored big on a Calvin Klien studded patent number for $12.00.  Later We biked around, gardened, picked a vacant house's red && pink roses, and threw the aerobie ((until I murdered it by tossing too far and into oncoming traffic, hitting a vehicle and being crushed)) AND went for a short run//walk.  Dusty wanted to cook again for dinner and made up a delicious remix of chicken parmesan with stewed tomatoes, rotini, and chicken breast all baked together .  A little white wine later and I am amped to post about all the Coachella photos I adore from Style Sightings. though I couldn't attend this year, I am still blown away by the fashion forward ladies and gents..as usual. 

it's California. 

my favorite looks from all the photos include

//shredded shorts

///high waisted shorts

////jumpers

////boots with shorts, a look I tried last night

/////and black black black!

have pleasant evenings all'round!

ribbon dancer Dreams//

Partied Friday night at a friend's house which had zero air conditioning during an 85 degree night, though we still decided to dance our hearts out//

Emma made this funky geometric caterpillar out of streamers which we thought was very funny!

small dance parties happened all night//

Love how you can see her arm through the bookshelf, ghostly.

hehe//

so we ripped down all the decorations and pretended to be professional ribbon dancers.

Friday Night Attire

v-neck//Gap, jeans ((a creme color, although the picture is deceiving)) Express via TJ Maxx (($7.00!!)), wedges//Bear Trapes ((such a lame brand but uber cute)), purse//Vintage, belt//thrifted 

((honestly have no clue, very rare this happens too)).

▼▼▼▼

in plain sight

Top, Leggings, Purse//Vintage, Kicks//Urban Outfitters, Headband//Forever 21

The Swaim Home

A day or so before the trip I rode around my block and snapped some photos of the most lovely home around//

The Swaim Home

a Southern classic.

Look at those planters, beautiful!

I always stop and peak through the wall of vines or over the fence at these beauties!

 ♬♪

Don't be a collector of more than you need, got a lot of things growing, but keep watching your seeds. 

- Grateful Dead, One Thing To Try

catching rays//in fields of dainty weeds//away from the Swaim House over near some closed down buildings.

This outfit is called the 9.99 score due to the fact the beanie ((Wetseal)), v-neck ((Urban Outfitters)) , and jeans ((also Urban)) were all purchased for nine dollars and ninety nine cents. Glasses were a gift from a thrift store, flip flops are Rainbows, and pendant necklace is vintage. 

Gotta love new items under 10 bucks!

just thought I'd share//

Cruzin'Round Vegas

last couple days of the trip//

were spent hanging around the streets, sipping on a daiquiri inside a plastic Eiffel Tower souvenir cup and doing a tad bit of shopping.

After visiting many casinos making a whopping .85 cents or so I convinced DP to walk all the way down to Zara, totally worth it too!

beanie//Wetseal, blouse & shades//Vintage, jeans//7 for all Mankind

On the way we spotted these crystals near Treasure Island. I couldn't resist rubbing them and taking a quick snap.

after a long day out in the sun, drinks at night, and taking a stroll down the strip we retired and woke up the next day ready to meet my friend's new baby boy!

--jackson--

at two months, such a cutie pie.

and we played with his older brother Justin

the charmer

We all grilled out, sipped some grown up drinks, and shared stories till the am.

--2 fast 4 U--

Such a good time, total bummer the next morning though//We made it to the airport at 5:40 am only to sit in the airport for 5 hours, then jump on a flight to Burbank, returned back to Phoenix then up to St. Louis because we weren't catching a flight to Birmingham. Stayed with my brother and then jumped on a flight the following day back to the homeland. We thought it was finally working out for us until we were stranded in the airport 2 hours past our arrival waiting for a ride to the car ((that was parked in a different location to save some dough)). After making a sign that read "Trying to get to Galleria, can anyone Please help. Please" a kind Salvadorian lady with her family let us jump in the back of her minivan (basically in the trunk) and gave us the ride we needed. 

Some adventure right?!

Desert Day 2

after missing the 6:45 am flight and coming to the realization we were not making it by air to Vegas from Phoenix we jumped in our rented fuel efficient vehicle and set out into the desert//

Rocks have been one thing I've always collected and the rocks && boulders from Phoenix to Las Vegas were such a lovely view, much bigger than my collection! Mountains after mountains made the six hour trip well worth it and especially the fields of cacti, they never got old.

 

I suppose the desert weather is the same from day to day but to us it was perfect!

After carefully climbing through a barbed-wire fence to get up to this giant cactus I giggled and ran around loving the terrain and everything it had to offer. I could have played around looking at all the wild vegetation collecting small artifacts for hours, but we didn't have a drop of water and the sun was more powerful than we imagined. 

We crossed through the Joshua Tree Forest Parkway ((The trees grow strongly, for example, along US 93 between Kingman and Wickenburg in Arizona; this road is known as the Joshua Forest Parkway and seems to have even more Joshuas than the national park, intermingled with that other distinctive symbol of the Southwest, the saguaro.)) quoted from this site-- 

We made it by nightfall in time to lay around, eat some grub, visit the connected Urban Outfitters and also connected Miracle Mile Mall ((squeel!)) and catch a sunset view of the strip.  

✷✷✷

more photos to come!

Buddy Pass Nightmare//

Day One//Las Vegas Journey

Thursday afternoon Dusty and I hopped on a flight from Birmingham ((AL)) to Phoenix ((AZ)) and soon thereafter ended up stuck in Phoenix with only the hope of catching a flight the following day. We planned the trip a couple months ago, cancelled and rescheduled to visit a Maryland high school pal and to meet up with dp's Mom && brother there to support Miss Alabama ((Miss AL is brother's long term girlfriend-Crazy, right?!))  in the Miss USA pageant at the Planet Hollywood Hotel && Casino. Anywho, back to the traveling hell story//After calling up an overpriced shuttle, from airport to the Days Inn in Tempe we set out on foot to a brewery couple blocks down and was delighted with the home made beer selections. 

////Miss Alabama via Miss USA Galleries

Rachel Philippona of Dothan, Alabama

thought the art was fabulous in our corner room, patio included.

mmm. beer.

they only sold their brews, so cool.

illegal in Alabama

their peach brew was a fav

Oatmeal Stout 

the college and graduate housing around the Tempe area was fantastic, look at those neat curtains//

Jacket & Purse//Michael Kors, Jeans//Forever 21, Shoes//BearTraps, Jewelry//Urban & Vintage, Scarf//Thrifted.

after a night of hanging at the brewery, running into a girly from Alabama which whom I've taken several classes with, and stumbling back to the hotel we made it early to the airport Friday morning//but not early enough. We missed the 6:45 am one and everything else was over-sold so we ended up making a last minute decision to rent Toyota Prius and drive the 6 hours from Phoenix to Vegas through the desert.  It was crazy beautiful! Many more pictures to come in next post//