flower power

 

 photos by jordan

I love fresh flowers, especially sunflowers. Unfortunately, in the dry heat, Sunflowers dry up very quickly, so our plans for photos in a sunflower field did too. But Jordan had a plan. About 45 minutes away from my house there's a zinnea field taken care of by an older couple. They let anyone who'd like come and pick as many flowers as they'd like, just to brighten up the world a lil bit. You also have to really want it, because 10am temperatures in my part of California can be above 100 degrees. But out we went, into the direct sunlight, to find some flowers for our mason jars. It was absolutely beautiful. There aren't a lot of very simply beautiful things left that aren't wrapped with a fence, or a toll, or a ticket booth. We stomped in the muddy beds and came home with carefully chosen bouquets of bright orange and red zinneas, mostly un-wilted.

Jordan also got a sunburn,
but it complimented the flowers I put in his hair. 

x Justina



follow A Bent Piece Of Wire on twitter|facebook|bloglovin

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 

follow A Bent Piece Of Wire on twitter|facebook|bloglovin

going out

Boots + backpack: TOMS
jeans: dstld
jacket: colombia? north face? something outdoors-y


SOMETIMES YOU GOTTA GET OUTSIDE. Listen to the REI posters.

I'll be the first to admit that I am far from an outdoorswoman, which is a shame because I live in such a beautiful state full of The Great Outdoors, but every once in a while, I need some non-filtered sunlight. Yesterday, Jordan and I loaded up on a massive breakfast, and hopped in the car to go see some big trees at the (very confusingly named) Big Trees State Park. Admittedly, going on a three hour drive with nothing but four cans of grapefruit LaCroix and a vague idea of what the weather might be like was not the safest move, but it was the fastest. Upon arrival, we discovered that there was not only snow, but copious amounts of water to sqiush around in Jordans shoes. My feet, for once, were dressed appropriately in my TOMS Summit boots. Because it ~doesn't rain here~, I hadn't had a chance to test out their waterproof ability until suddenly I was knee deep in it.

Speaking of being knee-high: these trees are huge. I've lived in California my whole life, and seen some truly majestic displays of nature, but our trees never fail to blow me away. Some of the ones in this park are over a thousand years old. Isn't that crazy? At best, my life will be 1/10th of what theirs is right now. It's both a terrifying and peaceful thought to realize that this tree doesn't care about geography grades, or finishing research abstracts, or getting to work on time. It just keeps growing and cleaning the air and dropping branches on unsuspecting tourists every once in a while.

So here's the point: ditch the planner, get in the car, and go see some trees now, 
before our President starts saying nature is fake science. 

x Justina 



follow A Bent Piece Of Wire on twitter|facebook|bloglovin