hitting the hallways

photos by jordan

So this is it y'all - school starts tomorrow, and summer '17 is officially coming to a close. The last two weeks especially have been a whirlwind. You may have noticed my suspicious silence. (Probably not though) I was hopping on and off of planes, trying to not drown in the Louisiana downpours, and eating copious amounts of gumbo. I was also trying to sort out my class schedule this semester which is wall*claps*to*claps*wall. It may actually cause me to pass out from exhaustion like twice a week. But in the words of the great spiritual master Lil Dicky, that's my niche. 


Here's some well wishes for us all in this coming fall semester: 

- May our binders stay as organized as they are right now.

- May we look first-day-of-school good even when it's middle-of-midterms.

- May the campus-wide wifi never cut out.

- May we make at least one friend in every class who will text us the notes we missed.

- May our student ID's grant us great discounts in places we like to eat.

- May our homework be complete, on time, and more importantly, understood.

- May our instagrams stay poppin' + our twitter feeds full of real words.

- May we enjoy the privilege of education, and use it to better ourselves and the world around us


because lord knows we need some help. 

x Justina

ps. If you're a female undergrad, reading this before September 5th, and you want to hang out with some incredibly successful women on an all-expenses-paid trip to NYC, 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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I'm getting up right now

top: forever 21
kimono: forever 21
jeans: h&m
boots: bc footwear


Look who's still alive. I know you had your doubts.

I mean there's a million excuses, and you've heard them all before, but honestly, I was in a slump. One walled in by essays, bad lighting, worse sleep, and crashing head on into school. I went to Denver for the most intense week of work of my life, and loved every minute. I learned how to say a couple words in Finnish. I wrote a lot of words in Italian. I wore cute outfits that no one appreciated and you guys would have loved. My camera battery died. I started listening to Broods and wore my overalls a lot. I realized I gotta get back to basics in order to keep moving forward, and it's weirdly hard. But I've got these jeans, so I can handle anything.

Honestly, these are the best $10 I've ever spent. They look good with everything, fit perfectly, and have big back pockets. What a dream. This whole outfit is a great cross-example of how I'm dressing these days - I'm praying for fall, California's got it's nails dug deep into summer. 97 degree summer, to be exact. But it's okay, I'm nothing if not adaptable. Ankle boots instead of knee highs, kimonos instead of cardigans. Nothing will stop me from layering. Or wearing boots. My BC collection is what my mother describes as "out of hand" and I describe as "a fantastic use of floorspace". It's not my fault that they're so good at making shoes. I can only appreciate their genius.

I turn NINETEEN in a couple of days. (Oct. 2, if you wanna eat some cake for me.) Isn't that weird? I feel weird about it. What do you even do when you're 19? Wait around to turn into dust? It seems so old. I'll have been blogging for 6 years, and what do I have to show for it?

Too many pairs of overalls and a killer Instagram aesthetic, that's what. 


x Justina



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summer jungle

dress: tobi
jacket: vintage

The most useful thing I've learned as a blogger is how to not visibly sweat. Like I'm actually melting in these photos, but I look fairly upright still. It was 100 degrees. That's two zeros, one too many for mid-May.

Incredibly, amazingly, against so many odds, I survived finals week with my GPA fairly intact. Honestly, towards the end there I was contemplating tossing in the whole thing and moving to Peru with Katie. I felt like my mum would maybe take a very dim view of that though, so for now I'm just enjoying not carrying a backpack. My spine might decompress just in time for the next semester.

My entire MO for summer is to dress as easily as possible, because let's face it, getting dressed in this weather is gross and no one wants to do it. Starting with this outfit, I want breezy dresses and light layers. See example A - this dress. It has a bit of shape that makes it fitting for morning and night, but isn't so tight that I just slide out of it in a puddle.  It's patterned, and dOESN'T WRINKLE. This is so important - avoid summer clothes that wrinkle. Just trust me. I also really like leopard print/matching my grandmother's 80's wardrobe.

Because I live in the desert (aka the entire STATE OF CALIFORNIA) it gets cool at night, and this jacket is necessary for late adventures.

Or, you know, creating a personal sauna, as displayed here.

x Justina

ps. I'm a homie, and I want to let you in on the secret of Tobi: they have all your faves (dresses,  rompers, skirts, sequins, cardigans, bodysuits, midi's, crop tops, etc) and ur first order is 50% off.  have fun with that. 



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find me in your roses

dress: show me your mumu
shoes: converse
sunnies: the lazy ones
lack of muscle mass: blaming it on genetics

How many blog posts have I clandestinely shot in front of my neighbor's roses at this point? It has to have been at least four or five. With that said though, I don't think I've ever blended in white as well as I did this time.

Okay, so here's the whole story: I signed up for Mon-Wed 9am yoga because "it'll be nice to start my week with yoga" and  "that'll relax me". What I didn't think about was that I'd have to then wear my ~gross yoga clothes~ (super snazzy tanks and lululemon leggings) for the whole rest of the day. Sigh. So now I've come to the creative crossroad of finding outfits to change into, wanting to carry the least amount of excess weight possible, and needing to be able to put them on in a bathroom stall and not land in the toilet. I'm getting pretty good at it, and layering is my new best friend.

This outfit is the one that got the most compliments last week - my Show Me Your Mumu dress that survives wrinkles (and the bottom of my backpack) and the ultimate basic converse. The sunglasses were just a nice way to distract everyone from the fact that my eyeliner had gone from "Warrior 1" to "Downward dog"  very quickly. Here's the genius of this outfit though: everyone thought I was ~dressed~. I spent most of the day feeling like I got away with a massive heist.

Side note: yoga is GREAT. I'm not going to start hand-standing on cliff ledges or anything, but it really is a nice way to train your body. Especially when your body is the athletic equivalent of a brick.

And no, brothers, I have never landed in the toilet. Don't jinx it. 

x J


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college crashing

Fun thing I like to do: not go to school for a really long time, then sign myself up for loads of classes and slowly die. 

Last time, it was eight years, this time it was seven months.  Honestly, even if it's only the three week holiday break, going back to school is rough. This time, I decided to stop making it harder on myself, my skin, and my battery life. I also wanted to hear out your guy's request for more lifestyle posts. In order to do both of those things, I had to survive syllabus week. These are all the things that keep me moving (Sallie not pictured)

+ TOMs leather tote. For a long time, I resisted having a proper tote bag because I KNEW I'd accumulate extra crap to fill it up with. My shoulders weren't down. But now that I'm back at school and the crap is mandatory, this tote is my new best friend. It's soft leather, but durable and has a structure to it. (ps. it also supports a safe birth for a mother in a developing country)*

+ SKINNY-DIP LONDON computer shell. Fun fact - when you pay upwards of $1.5k for a laptop, you don't just toss it in with your keys and pray for the best. This case is protective, but also not too bulky, and it's SPARKLY.*

+ NUUNA notebook. I picked up a couple of these when I was exploring Germany, and they're honestly all I write in anymore. Handcrafted by people who know what they're doing, it makes me feel like a proper writer.*

+ MOPHIE Juicepack. THIS IS MY FAVORITE THING. I can't even tell you how many instagram posts and witty tweets have been saved by this case since I got it last week. It has also enabled me to listen to When It's Dark Out on repeat for several hours.*

+ HAPPY PLUGS headphones. Because the worse part of college is all the other people.*

+ URBAN DECAY All Nighter setting spray. "A 9AM yoga class is a great idea! " - a real thing I said. So far, this stuff going on like cement setter, and I'm into it.*

+  LUSH Ocean Salt + Bubblegum lipscrub.  I don't care how awful my classes are, if my skin is fresh and my lipstick is still on, it's lit.*

+ KUR protective top coat by LONDONTOWN. Another thing I don't have time for (besides sleep) - waiting my nails. This is the best top coat I've ever found, and it's not only surviving school, but work too. (I work at lush. I literally wash my hands as a job.)*

+ NYX soft matte lip cream -  this is just because theres no such thing as a lipstick setter. I think? Must research.*

There you have it -  how to survive and still look like you're trying.

x J

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