summer – The Big Hair Diaries

Americana

Published on July 5, 2018 by hellosamanthadear6 Comments

Hello there!!! To my fellow American bloggers/readers: Happy Fourth of July!

I definitely coordinated today’s ensemble with the holiday. 😉 But did you expect less? No!!!

Yaaaaaay…happy birthday, America!

I really didn’t have any plans today, hahaaaaa…so I decided to create plans by taking my mom out for ice cream early this evening, and then for a stroll at the park.

Late this morning, I went for my usual Starbucks…and just relaxed there for awhile with my laptop, and did some journaling. 😀

Mint chocolate chip…my favorite ice cream! I haven’t had it in sooo long.

Going to Baskin Robbins also was a great opportunity to inquire about getting an ice cream birthday cake, for future reference [I’m totally buying myself a Disney princess ice cream cake this year, because why not! I guess I’m still a child at heart?!]

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Yeah, this one. ^ I think each store makes them differently but generally speaking, it’ll be similar! I’m not even kidding – having a Disney princess ice cream cake for my birthday and seeing Ghost are the two things I am most looking forward to for my birthday month in November! ♥

‘Twas a nice time outdoors! The Fourth of July feels like a real summer-starting holiday so, I thought ice cream was a great idea. 🙂

There is a hole the size of my entire body behind me…

That’s my little walking purse…a vintage bag from the 1950’s! Love that thing. ♥

So yesssss! It was a nice, relaxing holiday. Did you do anything for the Fourth of July? 🙂 Either way, I hope you enjoyed it!

See ya soon!

Garden Party

Published on August 2, 2017 by hellosamanthadear1 Comment

I had time to kill this evening and I figured – what better way to spend it than by frolicking around my backyard, taking pictures of brightly-colored pinwheels and a few outfit shots?

The dress is very old; I bought it years and years ago. The black bow is handmade by me.

This was just a whimsical, last-minute, amateur photography idea. Enjoy!

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Here Comes the Sun

Published on July 31, 2017 by hellosamanthadear2 Comments

Happy Monday, world! ❤

On Saturday night, I perused through my local Claire’s and found a sale going on for hair accessories, so needless to say, I couldn’t pass through without buying something. I’ve always wanted a black-and-red-checkered hair bow, because it has such a rockabilly vibe to it. Finally found one, and I’m in love with it! I have a feeling it’s going to become one of my go-to hair bows now. 😛

I got my nails re-done. FINALLY. I have a bad habit of thinking, I’ll get them re-done tomorrow…okay the next day…wait, I’ll go next week! They were super grown out and it didn’t look so good, lol! I love these; they’re a nice neutral color, which I typically prefer for my nail shape and length.

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I usually take my blog photos in the morning, but I ended up taking photos in the evening, right before I went for a walk. The late evening sun made for some interesting lighting concepts! I like it.

The green skirt I’ve had for awhile and bought at Forever 21, and the blouse is a hand-me-down from my mom.

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So I stopped by this new place called Rita’s. They serve all kinds of things: Italian shaved ice, frozen custard, etc! It was reeeeally good, and I bought the Juicy Pear flavored Italian shaved ice. It reminded me of Honeydew, which is a favorite flavor of mine.

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And then, for a nice walk. It might look like I live out in the middle of nowhere, and in a way, I kind of do; there’s about half-a-million people here, but it’s right in the middle of California. So it’s like a big city in the middle of nowhere, with the coast about 2 or 3 hours away. 🙂 I like walking at this park because it gets me away from the cityscape for a short while.

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I love the pink and purple shades of the clouds over the Sierra Nevada mountains last night. There’s a chance of rain this week and I really hope it rains, because I miss it! It’s almost always sunny here.

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Capture the beauty that’s all around you. ❤

Periwinkle

Published on July 21, 2017 by hellosamanthadearLeave a comment

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Happy Friday, everyone! How was your week? Hopefully it was good. 🙂

So, I tried my hand at Spanish cuisine as I mentioned in my last post, and my patatas bravas turned out GREAT! It really wasn’t difficult at all, and I made minimal error (I added grated garlic and it burned, so I just removed the garlic altogether and replaced it with garlic pepper seasoning instead 😛 ). I also baked it, rather than frying it as it’s traditionally done. This is a staple appetizer in Spain from what I researched, and it’s something I’ll make again in the future, probably for Thanksgiving and Christmas dinner as a new tradition and as my own contributing dish.

Heyyyy…

Periwinkle is one of those colors I just NEVER SEE. By never seeing it, I mean in regards to clothing. It’s one of those unusual, atypical colors that is really just so beautiful! I literally found this simple cotton shirt buried in one of my dresser drawers, and I don’t even know where I got it at.

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My lavender skirt paired exceptionally well with it, fittingly enough! I love when that happens. Also, I topped it off with a flower headband – handmade, by me. Overall, it’s a very feminine, romantic-like outfit, in my opinion. ❤

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Yesterday evening, I had the pleasure of taking a walk because the temperature was much cooler than it’s been in awhile. The wildfires are still going strong, especially north of the valley, as you can see from the photo. It made for a rather alluring sunset, though!

I love going for walks. I typically always go alone, which I prefer, honestly. I’m highly introverted and just need that time to myself to soak in nature and enjoy a nice sunset. I love spending time with friends, don’t get me wrong, but as an introvert, I just need solitude at times. ❤

I remember a few weeks ago while I was walking, a gentleman stopped and asked me, “Why are you alone?” Well…why not??? 😛 I actually do a lot of things alone, and I love it. I’m almost always going to coffee shops alone, going for walks alone, occasionally I go to dinner alone, and I go to the movies from time to time alone. I legitimately enjoy it! Everyone’s different though, right? 😉

Enjoy your weekend! ❤

Mustard & Mint

Published on July 17, 2017 by hellosamanthadear2 Comments

Hello, friends!

Another week begins, and I hope everyone had a rejuvenating and fun weekend. ❤ I spent time with friends, family, and really just took it easy.

For today’s outfit, I went for an interesting color combination – a mustard and mint look? Food-wise, doesn’t sound appetizing at all! Hahaha…

It’s BRIGHT, lol…

I LOVE this flower hairpin I bought at Forever 21 awhile back! It adds a fun, free-spirit vibe to any outfit and is perfect for summertime. Guess I felt like dressing super bright today. 😉

Now as I mentioned a few posts ago, I bought those LED candles to put in my backyard to create a nice ambiance…and they turned out really neat! I managed to get decent photos of it in the dark…

These things are really pretty and have a natural-looking flame effect, to where the light flickers like a real candle would! It’s awesome. It was all great until it started to attract BUGS. That was the end for me and I took the candles inside…however! They are just as enchanting indoors for your room, or wherever you choose to put them. 🙂 You can find them easily on Amazon!

I hope everyone has a great Monday! ❤

Candyland

Published on July 13, 2017 by hellosamanthadear4 Comments

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Awhile ago, I saw this cute photo (pictured above) on Pinterest and wanted to emulate the outfit in the future…well, the day has arrived!

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The patterns are flipped, but same concept! 😉 I went with pattern-mixing again, because it’s fun and unusual. The colors remind me of candy, to boot.

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It probably goes without saying that I reeeeeally love hair barrettes. They’re cute and add something to any hairstyle! This gold one I’m wearing is one I’ve had for a long time – so long that I can’t even remember where I got it. It’s one of those barrettes that goes with anything.

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I’m hiding…from no one, apparently?

Really love this outfit! Definitely has that summer look to it.

I hope everyone is enjoying their (ideally) carefree summer days! I am for sure, and I’m looking forward to getting some LED candles to put in my backyard to line along part of the fence (they’re fake candles, so no fire concerns) to create a nice ambiance whilst sitting in my backyard at night. I like being able to enjoy summer nights underneath the huge tree in my backyard. Not sure how well they will turn out in photos, but I’ll try! ❤

Happy Thursday! 😀

Heat Wave

Published on June 22, 2017 by hellosamanthadear4 Comments

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Happy summer, folks!

Naturally, here in the California Central Valley, it didn’t hesitate a moment to unleash its heat wrath upon us. It hit 111, and there were patches of power outages in my city for two days or so. In my area of town, the outage only lasted 15 minutes. It happens – everyone is running their AC and it overloads. Happens every year!

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It’s been hot, but I still try to come up with cute outfits of course. I got creative and mixed prints, which always creates an interesting look…the top and the skirt were gems I found at Goodwill awhile back!

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Can’t remember if I’ve shown this ring before (I probably have). One of my favorites I’ve made, and I cropped out my nails because they looked reeeeeally bad and one of my nails had popped off! However…

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…I got them re-done shortly after! Sheer gold stiletto nails. Love!

I hope everyone is enjoying the beginning of their summer, wherever in the world you happen to be! 🙂