fits like a glove

jacket: vintage
dress: tobi 'joleen' dress
shoes: converse
backpack: sunny dushanka

The older you get, the more and more "short and tight but also fancy" becomes this bizarre expectation forced upon your wardrobe. I've managed to avoid it thus far mainly by never leaving my house. I'm also fairly tall and have all of the curves of a highway in the desert, so finding a dress that fits is also a v difficult undertaking.  As you can tell, I have a well articulated excuse for every situation. But I decided it needed to happen, because I am only scared of rational things, like deep water and spiders, and will not be intimidated by a dress. At least not one this small.

You know in a sitcom, where the main character does something they were scared of, and the happy music plays, and they say something along the lines of "that wasn't that bad"? That was me, once I got accustomed to the breeze. This dress is super comfy, and not too much of a ~night out~ look for me to rock on my weekly trip to IKEA.

Speaking of IKEA: settle this for me, guys. Is it "I-KEY-UH" or "E-KAY-UH"?

Loser has to buy me another pillow for my fort,
so I'm heavily invested.

xx Justina


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travel | side piece

all photos taken with a fujifilm instax + iPhone 5

Sallie and I are masters of taking the absolute longest route anywhere we go, sheerly because, like any good improv actors, we'll always say yes. Wanna drive through a tree? Yes. Want to take this side exit into a totally dark corn field to look at the Milky Way? Yes. Want to stop on the side of the road because you see a woodcarving of Bigfoot? Absolutely yes. 

As spectacular as our scheduled programming is, we do our best work, and have the best adventures/sing-a-longs/trademark one-liners when we're places we never planned to be. There's some strange stuff on the side of the road. Especially in California. So here's a short introduction to taking the long way:

1. Pre-load all playlists, and always make sure they're at least three hours longer than you'll need or else you'll end up listening to Rae Sremmurds "Come Get Her" 13 times. 

2. You're wandering, but your signal might not be, so update your family/stalkers/internet friends every once in a while so they know you're alive. 

3. Before any trip, stop at a grocery store, and buy these things: 
  - a loaf of real hardy bread, preferably sourdough
 - things to dip/smear/pile on this bread
 - large bottles of either tejava unsweetened tea (sallies), or orangina (me)
 - a salami
This will keep your nourished and friendly for your entire trip.

4. Take photos of everything, as many times as possible, just in case one of you is in a huge rush to free up space and deletes the only video proof of you squeezing a large truck through the aforementioned hole in a tree.

5. KNOW WHERE YOU ARE. Can't stress this enough - going off the beaten path is great as long as you know how to get back to it. Especially when driving, you don't want to run out of gas in the middle of nowhere with only that mysterious "GPRS" signal that is just a actually just a lie.

When it comes down to it, pack some snacks and just say yes...

.. and then what? 

x J


ps. Sallie dropped her phone in a toilet, and can't read this post, so she has no idea what I've said about her. 

pps. she really is an absolute party


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get glow

dress: american eagle
bralette: aerie

You guys know how much I love makeup. You've seen the snapchat hauls and the highlighter swooshes. I had bad cystic acne back in the day (a year ago), and in the process of healing it, taught myself how to sparkle my face to cover what were some truly horrendous scars. (Mad props to Cat, my former LUSH queen, for hiring me/saving my life there.)

But I passionately love my eyeliner. Especially my dramatic blackest-black wingtips that extend further than is probably entirely appropriate for any given situation. It makes me feel ~intense~ and ~fashion~. But during the summer, it also has a tendency to droop more towards the bottom of my eyes by the end of the day, and gives me this rather sad look. It is also very hard to go to a pool party and keep your eyeliner intact. That was the deal breaker. Something had to give.

So, as an experiment, I stopped wearing eyeliner. And then suddenly, stopped contouring. And strobing. And all those other -ing's that take up so much money and space in my makeup bin. Very quickly it went from an experiment in my ~self image~ to an extra thirty minutes in my day and I was like HEY nice. I got used to my face again. Not to say I'm putting away the eyeliner for good, because that would just be nonsense. But I had gotten to the point where I didn't really remember what I looked like without it. (Five years old.)

Also, Aerie? Makers of all things pretty and lace-y? STILL not photoshopping their ads.  Just because they're still trying to spread the word: the real you is beautiful. Not saying the you in false lashes and full contour isn't beautiful too, because  that version is actual fire, but you don't need it. I know that's a very mom-ish thing to say, but some(most)times, mom is right. I love glossy and no-hipbone having high fashion as much as the next blogger, but I'm not trying to buy a bralette off it, you feel? I think it's hard to go out and let the world see you, but once they do, they're down.

Other things I'm down for: swing dresses. It's too hot to be clingy in any way, but especially with fabric. I don't even care that I got called ""ma'am" today. Much.

BUT I'M 18 OKAY LITTLE GIRL

x J

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