Life lately

I think we all know by now that I'm pretty much always a busy girl. But here lately things have been way more busy, exciting and fun than usual. I guess life has just been handing me one heck of an end of summer party.

It started three weeks ago with a cookout at Nick and Ashley's for his birthday on Monday night. Then later that week Joy and I had dinner at the new Todd English Pub downtown followed by seeing the Red Mountain Theater Company's production of 42nd Street at the new Dorothy Jemison Day theater at the Alabama School of Fine Arts (ASFA). Such a great time!

The next night, J and I went to the Green Seed & St. Paul and the Broken Bones show in Avondale. (oh btw, St. Paul & BB have been chosen as "the best of what's next" from Paste magazine!) Then Saturday I made german chocolate cupcakes (from scratch!) for my dad's bday and a going away cookout at Joy's house that night. Sunday J & I went home to spend some time with my fam in honor of the aforementioned bday. My nephew and I were able to coax a tiny kitten out from the storage area under my parents house. What a cutie! Not gonna lie, was tempted to keep the kitty, but I know better so I managed to leave it behind.

That following weekend was spent pretty much with J at Secret Stages, which you can read about in it's entirety here. For some crazy reason, I thought it would be a great idea to get up on Saturday am (after maybe 5 hours of sleep) and run the Peavine Falls course with Patricia. I have no idea how I survived but I did and for some other crazy reason, I want to go back soon and do it again! Sunday of this weekend was again spent at home with fam that morning for church and then I hurried back to Bham to make peach ice cream for my framily reunion later that night to welcome Peach back home.

This past week was spent seeing Peaches and Matt (along with the rest of our gang) since they were in town for Torry & Nicole's wedding. We had dance parties, long discussions and frequented some of our fav restaurants like Mugshots, Five Bar & of course, Moe's. I also went to a panel discussion at Alabama Outdoors on Thursday night to see my friend Kyle speak about running the Western States 100 Mile Endurance Run, but sadly I had to leave before I got to hear about his experience.

Friday afternoon brought Emily in town, which meant the gang was finally all back together again (well, minus her husband Blake) so I ended up taking a half day and meeting them at Moe's for lunch. Later that night we met at Ashley Mac's for the rehearsal dinner (yum!) followed by karaoke at Starz. Saturday was packed with an early run, a coffee meeting/catch up sesh at O'Henry's with Lauren (of Something Blue Events) and her husband Sam and their three kids, then pedis with the girls, lunch at Urban Cookhouse, dessert at Pastry Art Shoppe and then finally, the main event—Torry & Nicole say "I do" (#foreverpattons).

The ceremony was perfect, the bride looked stunning and the reception was a redic good time. We also even managed to surprise Torry at the reception with a flash mob dance routine. My fav part is when he went to join in and dance with her and someone had to grab him and tell him 'nope, you have to watch.' It was awesome. Don't worry, when we've got the video finished, it'll be posted on the blog.

Top off this incredible weekend with some time spent at Peaches' lakehouse yesterday and you've got one happy girl sitting at her computer today. I just wish I got to see these people all the time! One day... maybe one day.

How to: Fishtail braid your hair (in pigtails)

I have loved the fishtail braid since it debuted way back whenever that was. But I am honestly not great at doing my hair and am about as low maintenance as it comes in that area. Just looking at the intricate braid detail on others, I just passed it off as too difficult and yet another hair style I couldn't do.

Then one day at the climbing gym, I was chatting with Rachel about braids and she said it was actually pretty easy to do a fishtail braid and explained it to me. I thought it didn't sound too bad after all and maybe I should try it just to see.

I was blown away that I could actually fishtail braid and figured if I could do it from just having someone explain it to me, then I could pass this knowledge on to my readers with photos to help illustrate!

So here goes!

First, here are the teeny amount of supplies you'll need. This alone should tell you what an easy process the fishtail braid is. I mean, you only need a comb and some hairbands. You'll need two hairbands that you don't mind cutting to remove from your hair. The other two hairbands will stay in your hair at the bottom of the braid. The clear bands are best, but for photo purposes I chose brightly colored hairbands for this tutorial.

Step 1: I prefer to do pigtail braids because I have so many layers and bangs that are growing out that  it's almost impossible for me to keep a single braid in tact all day long. If you are doing a single fishtail braid to one side, you can obviously skip this step.

If you do pigtail braids, simply part your hair down the middle and bring each half of hair to the front of your shoulders.

Step 2: Simply use the comb to smooth out your hair and remove any tangles.

Step 3: Use hairbands that you don't mind cutting later (and throwing away) to put your hair into regular pigtails. The closer you can get the hairband to the base of your head, the longer your braid will be. It's also best to get the hairband of the pigtails in the same spot on each side (which I obviously didn't accomplish here).

Helpful Tip: Use a mirror. It may seem obvious but braid your hair in front of a mirror. Because it takes a bit of time to do this, it's tempting to watch tv while you braid. But using a mirror allows you to see how even your pigtails are and also how even each strand is that you pull apart. The more even each strand is, the prettier your braid will be.

Step 4: Take one of the pigtails and separate it into two equal pieces. I will call these Side 1 and Side 2.

Step 5: Separate a small strand of Side 1 and pull it away from that bunch of hair.

Step 6: Take this small strand from the outside of Side 1 and cross it in front of Side 1 to meet the inside of Side 2. This means that Side 2 has just a little bit more hair than Side 1 now.

Step 7: You will now repeat this action with hair from Side 2. Take a small strand from the outside of Side 2 and cross it in front of Side 2 to meet the inside of Side 1. Now each side should have an equal amount of hair.

Step 8: Continue this process of pulling an outside strand from one piece across and into the inside of the adjacent piece of hair until you reach the bottom.

Helpful Tip: Allow for plenty of time. Fishtail braiding is a fairly time intensive hairstyle. You don't want to feel rushed when doing this. I might be slow, but it takes me about 10 minutes to complete each braid.

Step 9: When you have your braid as long as you want it, use a hairband (clear is best, or one that is similar to your own hair color) to secure your hair at the bottom. You will now repeat this process on the other pigtail.

Step 10: Cut the hairband you used at the top of each pigtail braid to remove it from your hair without messing up your braid.

Photos: Leslie Evans

Under the (fashion) influence: Miranda Kerr, vol. 2

Oh Miranda Kerr. One of my fav style icons. Is she not just the loveliest most put together lady mommy? I mean, I've already had one UFI post featuring another of her outfits. Something tells me you guys will probably be seeing volumes 3-10 of me style stalking her over the next few months.

And I can't even lie. I totally bought this plain gray oversized tank from Urban just because I had seen this outfit of hers and wanted to recreate it. I honestly don't think I have ever done that before. But it was such a simple, cute outfit and I knew that the tank would be ridiculously versatile. I can't wait to feature it in many more photoshoots.

(side note: this is a perfect outfit for a music festival...I know this because I wore it to Day 1 of Secret Stages last weekend)

Ok, time for the cheapskate outfit breakdown:

1. Gray tank, Urban Outfitters ($24.00)
2. Maxi dress, thrifted ($5.99)
3. Wedges, Charlotte Russe ($32.50)
4. Crossbody bag, thrifted ($3.00)
5. Fedora, Dollar Tree ($1.00)
6. Sunglasses, c/o Sunglass Warehouse
7. Heart locket, had since I was a child
8. Tungsten ring, c/o Modern Design
9. Earrings, Stella & Dot ($34.00)

Total: Under $100.00

 

Photos: Leslie Evans