Saturday, June 8, 2013

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. :)










Friday, June 7, 2013

film friday: back to the future



I love this project so much because of its humanity. It shows the essence of being human and it almost makes me cry because it shows how life is so quirky and crazy and beautiful and it reminds me of my own life and how much I've grown and changed, but at the same time, how much I've remained the same.

I also love it because of the stories behind the photos. I've said it time and time again, but my favorite part of photography is the people that I get to meet. It's so exciting that she is able to go to people's homes and learn the stories behind the photographs and get peeks into their lives. I hope at some point in my life I will be able to do the same thing--just travel around taking pictures and staying in strangers' homes and learning about everything.


You can check out the series here. (some photos NSFW)

Have a great weekend!



Thursday, June 6, 2013

my hair routine



Ever wondered how I manage my crazy hair? Well look no further than this blog post, because that is precisely what I'm going to share with you today. I've done many different routines with my hair, from straightening it exclusively, to putting way too much sculpting cream in when it was short. My current routine is so easy and stress free, and I can guarantee its success (on me) every time so I'm never worried about how it will turn out. As always, your hair will be slightly different than mine, so results will vary. It's taken me nineteen years to figure out my hair, so don't worry if how I do it doesn't work out for you. Everyone's hair is different and you'll fine tune every tutorial online to fit your preferences and style.

My own hair is very thick, and pretty curly. I have little ringlets some places and awkward straight pieces other places, so my hair pretty much does what it wants in its complete natural state.

This routine has also been done on my friend who has super straight hair, and it turned out pretty nice. Again, just play around with this until you find a method that suits your hair.




I shower at nights so that my hair has enough time to air dry and because I like going to bed clean. Right after I get out of the shower, I brush through my hair. In the shower I use shampoo and conditioner, and recently I've been putting in my little sister's leave in conditioner (ssh, don't tell her!), which makes brushing out my hair a lot more manageable. After I brush my hair, I let it air dry for about 15 minutes before I move onto the next step.



After the (roughly) 15 minutes are up, I part my hair into two sections right down the middle. I part the top with my brush, and the back with my fingers. This by all means doesn't have to be perfect. Then I set aside one section by securing it with a hair tie.



Then I french braid my hair. I'm not very good at making it look pretty, but thankfully it doesn't have to be. Once I'm done french braiding the first section, I move on to the other.





The final step for the night is to straighten my bangs. I do this partly because I usually won't have to do it in the morning or if there are any annoying fringe hairs from when I straighten it, I can press it down with a bobby pin, sleep on it, and in the morning it turns out normal. I also do it partly because my weird natural dry fringe is really annoying.




In the morning, I undo the normal braided part of my hair by simply unweaving the sections. The part that's french braided, I shake out with my fingers. I do this because my hair is usually still a little damp in the morning and I don't want to lose the wave that the braid gave.



I don't actually have a middle part, but force my hair to part in the middle for this routine so that when I put it back at its natural part, I have added volume on top of my head. I shake the hair in the back with my fingers and then toss my hair over my head to shake the middle part away and make my hair not look so separated. Then I flip back over and adjust my part as needed.



And of course the routine is not complete without a bow! I usually wear a bow on the first day after washing my hair because it is extra poofy and needs to be pulled back a little bit.

And that's all! I generally wash my hair twice a week in three day increments, sometimes four if I'm feeling extra lazy, but by that time my hair is really oily.



If you have any questions about my routine, questions in general, or suggestions for future posts, please don't hesitate to contact me.

Have a great day!












Wednesday, June 5, 2013

carry me home



dress/skirt: thrifted // sandals: payless




One bad thing about having cats is this: everything is covered in cat hair. My cats are attracted to any piece of dark clothing. I kid you not, they will see a pile of clothes and lay down on the one black article of clothing. I've come to the point where I'm no longer super embarrassed about having my clothes covered in cat hair, despite multiple attempts at lint rolling. (I didn't think about lint rolling this dress before taking pictures with it though, so I'm out of excuses.) But regardless, I apologize for the cat hair in these photos!





Nearly every night, I've been watching tons of Modern Family. That show is so funny and makes me so excited for the (very far) future. In one episode, Phil (one of the dads) has a Phil-osophy book where he writes things that he's learned from his life. If there's one thing I've learned that's worthy of writing in a book, it's that your actions have consequences (and don't worry, I'm not actually suffering any consequences from any actions, this is just what I've seen and learned). Even if something seems fun or cool at the time, it could potentially ruin your life and all the plans you have. I'm writing this so I can remember to try to make as few mistakes as possible (because if there's anything else I've learned, it's that everybody makes mistakes ... everybody has those days). But back to Modern Family. I'm almost done with the fourth season and I'm dreading it. Why must I wait for the next season? I just want the show to last forever ... Do you guys have any suggestions for a good tv show to watch? Some of my favorites are New Girl, Community, Sherlock, and Doctor Who. Ah, so many good shows, so little time.




I hope you all have a really really fantastic day today! And be sure to enter my firmoo giveaway!