russian river creatives

As promised, here are some more "creative" photos from my first camping trip of the summer.








Hope you have a great day!

the color run!

Saturday was the color run! It's been a dream of mine ever since I knew about events like this to actually attend, and finally I was able to, alongside some of my best friends. It was so much fun being able to do it with Matt and Joel and Marquel. I love being able to do exciting things with people I love just because we can share something together. Matt almost wasn't able to do it because of work, and I was so disappointed when I thought he couldn't do it with us. But thankfully everything worked out. It was so great to run beside him and get sprayed with fun colors. This was definitely high up on the list of best dates ever. I love you, Matt! You're the best ever and I'm so glad we got to do this together. :)




Joel, Marquel, and I

Joel and Marquel were celebrating one year of marriage and dressed up in wedding attire. (Also later on this day, we all got to eat dinner together and I got to hold their new baby ... soo cute!)




There's something awesome about you and 15,000 strangers gathering for a fun experience, and the event certainly disappoint. There were familys with little kids, friends, and co-workers all together to hang out and have fun. For the actual run, there were different color stations throughout the course where people sprayed the runners with color. You could see the cloud of color and when you were in it, everywhere you stepped puffs of color burst up from under your feet. It was so magical. The great thing about the color run is that even though it's a 5k, it's a pretty laid back one. We actually only ran for about a fourth of the way total, and jogged the rest of the time. I think it is a great first 5k for anyone interested in getting into running or marathons or triathlons. And now I can say that I've done a 5k!



What a babe.





After the run, there was a huge after party with people throwing packets of color everywhere and jumping around (as white people do) and dancing and having fun. It was really magical being engulfed by colors. I felt like I was a little kid again in an atmosphere of pinks, blues, greens, and yellows.

The only downside of the color run? Having colored boogers days after the event. I'm still blowing gunk out of my nose, haha. Was it worth it though? Most definitely. One hundred million percent. I can't wait for next year when we can do it again!






before and after!

coca cola girl

shirt: old navy // shorts: thrifted // shoes: target

Just a quick little post featuring my outfit from day two of our latest camping trip. My little sister snapped these photos of me during lunch. It was seriously the nicest weekend in the world to go camping. Last year it was cold and rainy, but this year the sun was shining, there were hardly any mosquitos, there was a freezing lake to cool off in (in five second intervals, but still) ... I even got sunburned! I can't wait to share with you guys more photos from this trip, because I am pretty sure this is now officially my favorite camping spot.

p.s. don't forget to enter my firmoo giveaway!

camping at the russian river

You can follow all of my camping adventures on instagram by following the tag #hardcoreparkours2013




"The Russian River is a 13-mile-long (21 km) river on the Kenai Peninsula in the U.S. state of Alaska. It flows northward from Upper Russian Lake in the Kenai Mountains through Lower Russian Lake, draining into the Kenai River at the town of Cooper Landing. The native Denaina people called this river Chunuk'tnu.

Like the Kenai, the Russian River is famous for its fishing, especially for salmon. There are two runs of sockeye salmon each year, in mid-June and mid-July, and a run of silver salmon in August." (from Wikipedia)




Last weekend my family went camping at the Russian River. Regardless of potential creepers, I want to share the specific places we go camping this year for you all who are curious about Alaska. The Russian River is definitely one of the prettiest campgrounds we've been to (but then again, they're all really pretty). Surprisingly there weren't many people on this memorial day weekend, which was just fine for us. When the salmon come in though, the area is swarming with people and animals looking to catch a fish. Salmon is a major market here in Alaska, so there are always commercial and noncommercial fishermen around. My parents love to fish, and always after their excursions the house smells of smoking salmon about to be canned or cooked. Mmm, love me some Salmon! The Russian river is one of the major rivers where people fish.

One of my most favorite things about camping in general has got to be the food. There's just something about cooking eggs, bacon, and bread over a fire and turning it into a sandwich that makes the taste unlike any other. And of course camping isn't complete without hamburgers, hotdogs, and smores.

This weekend in particular, the weather was so nice and warm. Of course the temperatures dropped down to about 30 degrees at night, and it's in moments like that that I'm glad I have my dad's military sleeping bag. That thing keeps me toasty. The Russian River is pretty inland, so the temperatures are more mild than campgrounds near the ocean. There are mountains on both sides so there's minimal wind, which is always nice. All around Alaska there are tons of hiking spots, so on the full day that we were there, we hiked to the falls, which I will share a photo of tomorrow in the "creative pictures" part of this camping weekend.




My dad, my mom, myself, William, Nicholas, Moriah.





Speaking of camping, that's where I am right now! (Thank goodness for scheduled posts, haha). I'm guessing every weekend will end up being a camping weekend on the blog, so hopefully you guys enjoyed it!

Have a fantastic day. :)

the zoo

A couple weekends ago my friends and I made our way to Portland for some adventures. We went to the zoo first, then the Art museum. These are the photos from the zoo. I was super excited to go because I haven't been to an extensive zoo since 2010. Alaska has a pretty fun zoo, but it doesn't have all the cool animals like monkeys and bears and giraffes and elephants, so I was really happy when I got to see those animals!

*edit: lawl, our zoo totally has bears. I is an idiot.









It was so great to be able to hang out in Portland one last time before summer break. I've fallen head over heels for this city and this state and I can't wait to have more adventures here soon.








In other news, I am all packed up, I have one final left tomorrow, and then I'm leaving on a jet plane!