once I was 7 years old

Wow. It's been seven years guys. 

Seven years ago today, I sat down on a much clunkier computer and started building this blog, all because my mom told me that I probably wouldn't keep it up for longer than two weeks, and I wanted to prove her wrong. I'm so glad that this is the only thing I've been right about. 

We've had an good time, haven't we? And we've all grown up (just a little bit though). When I started this, I was 13 years old, 5'1, and everything I knew came from old issues of Teen Vogue I bought at the library for $0.25. Now I'm 20, 5'8, and a hoarder who still has all of those magazines. My world has been broadened immensely, and my overall collection is getting a bit out of hand, but I'm still having the time my life here with all of you. 

Thank you for reading, liking, 
and always forgiving me for tragically failing at any kind of structure. 

You guys are the bomb.com

x Justina




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camp in the past tents

my beloved lemon dress: show me your mumu
my cute as hell swimsuit: aerie

Camp is where I'm my happiest, most exhausted, croc-wearing self. This was my 10th, and ostensibly last, year at 4-H camp. 10 years may seem like a long time, but camp is the greatest thing my allergic-to-the-outdoors self has ever gotten to work on.  I'll talk to a brick wall about how much I love this program and these kids. 

When I was 9 years old, I got on a bus with a bunch of strangers headed to a place full of mosquitoes and things that went bump in the night and a new kind of family. Ten years later, I'm the adult director, and I have the privilege of making sure that 80-something kids get that very same experience, and I'll never take that lightly. Every summer, I learned more about being a better human and am reminded of just how incredible the world can be, because 9 year olds won't let you forget. 

 I do have a couple of things to say for my walk-off speech:

To my twelve year old girls deck, thanks for still liking my bedtime stories and thank you  for not getting up in the middle of the night to go to the bathroom.

To my 15 year old brothers, you guys are the worst and I wouldn't trade you for anyone. 

To my logistics crew, hammock life is truly the best life.

To all 82 children, 22 staffers, 10 chaperones, and Jen - 

who am I kidding,

I'll see you guys next summer.

x Justina

ps. to see more photos of my camp aka THE BEST TIME EVER click here 

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hiding out

photos taken with an iphone 7 because sometimes your batteries die

Finally, finals are over. I'm happy to report a 4.0 that only cost me a large chunk of my sanity.

That's kind of a joke, but also not really. I love school, and learning, but I also don't know when to take a break, and tend to run myself below the ground, all the way to the molten core of the earth, where I proceed to burn out. So I make up for it by going on little adventures whenever I can to do things just because I want to. This week, we took one of those trips, and headed a little ways outside of Reno to the Animal Ark Sanctuary. They rescue exotic animals that people buy off Craigslist/Walmart parking lots/their cousin's girlfriend's uncle's buddy and then dump once they realize there's a reason that's illegal. Especially on the West Coast, that's a big thing, so it's nice to support a place that's tackling a massive issue. It was also nice to get out of the car and be completely surrounded by nothingness and no signal. It was just me, Jordan, my new Teva's (which were making a very satisfying squishy noise in the gravel) and a couple of tiger cubs.

There's a lot of pressure all the time to do all of the things and document them with the perfect filter, but sometimes you just need a long drive and some sunshine.

x Justina


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sourdough and succulents

photos by Sallie DeYoung and Jordan Schauberger

Sometimes you just gotta pack up your homies into a shiny new Audi and roll out to the city by the bay. We bought baby succulents, sourdough bread, and dim sum. We also took photos of our legs in a Photobooth we were unprepared for, ate said sourdough after it was repeatedly dropped in sand, and stood in line at the succulent festival for a solid two hours with no food. It was a little traumatic.

I think it's important every once in a while to take a trip like this, for no reason other than the sheer enjoyment you get from the people you're with. San Francisco is a really cool city, but what made this day perfect was...well it was Sallie sobbing after Colton dropped her sourdough directly into the sand, to be honest. But also having a day where nothing needed to happen at all, other than the occasional snack break.  That's when the real fun happens.

Pro tip: If you drop bread fluffy side down in sand, it can still be salvaged by ripping that part off and feeding it to your local teenage boy.

x J 

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