Pinterest Hair Inspiration

Happy Wednesday, y'all! It's been a while since I posted even a Friday Five, but last week I was just SWAMPED with things for my school's huge variety show. As in, I was leaving each night at 11:30 and staying up til three in the morning to finish my homework and waking up at six to go to class. Not good. I've been so busy that I've kept putting off getting my hair done, and I was so happy to go in and get it done today! I kept it as long as I could while getting my bangs shortened and taking off all the split ends. 

Even though I literally just got my hair cut, I'm always on the lookout for new ideas for things to do with my hair! Pinterest is, of course, my favorite place to find inspiration, and I pin all of my beauty related wishes, wants, and needs onto my Hey Gorgeous board! Below are some of my favorite pins from that board.

This is basically my dream hair!

So Barbie. Love it.

So I guess the moral of the story is that I really am obsessed with Carrie's hair? And that I still really want to be blonde...

XO

New Goodies from J.Crew

Wow, these past few days have just flown by. I spent a lot of my weekend at school for rehearsals for our huge Variety Show, working with the TV crew and dancing with Poms. The show opens tomorrow night, and since I know I'll be super stressed all week, I planned ahead to give myself a little pick-me-up. This weekend, I decided to treat myself in honor of J.Crew's phenomenal President's Day sale. I was in huge need of some new "going-out" tops, and I'm so excited for these to come in!!

Sera Top

Blythe Blouse

Tilda Oxford Rhinestone Top

This top was my huge treat to myself because it wasn't on sale, but I am so in love with it!!!

I also really wanted another pair of colored jeans, because I adore my mint Toothpicks. This olive green pair won my heart this time.

In other news, the Turnabout dress I ordered came, and I was completely unsatisfied. Like, not even a little bit. Thank goodness for backup plans! As always, I'll be keeping my actual dress a secret to y'all :)

XO

Friday Five

1. My apologies for the lack of posts recently. I'm still catching up on things from Nationals (I'm almost done!) and I'm trying to get everything together and under control. But I will be posting more in the near future and scheduling a few posts to keep myself current.

2. My Turnabout dress shipped yesterday! It wasn't supposed to ship til the 18th, so I'm super excited for it!!

3. As many of y'all know, I've been writing for the Smart Girls Guide since April of last year, which has been incredible for me. I loved writing the Organization of the Month column and had so much fun researching new charities and organizations that worked to make the world a better place. But when Emily, our Smarts Starter, offered me the chance to move over to writing the style column, I jumped at the offer! Our February issue is out now and you can check out my article on getting over your second semester style slump!!

4. I had a fantastic Valentine's Day yesterday! At my school, student council sells individual carnations in the days leading up to the 14th. You can buy them for one dollar and send them to anyone's first period class that morning. I got so many thoughtful carnations from my great friends!

My sweet boyfriend also got me a gorgeous bouquet of roses that he gave to me when we were out last night! They're absolutely gorgeous.

5. I'm currently completely obsessed with Bruno Mars' album, Unorthodox Jukebox. My favorite tracks are definitely "Moonshine," "When I Was Your Man," and "Natalie."

XO

Nationals Recap

Last weekend consisted of the best four days of my life. I'm not even kidding. Nationals this year was such a rewarding and fulfilling experience for me and my team, and I can't believe it's already over.

Selfies in the airport (from my Instagram)

We flew into Orlando Thursday night and took Disney's Magical Express to the All Star Music Resort, where many of the teams participating in the competition stay.

All Star Music is more like a motel than a resort, but each building is themed with a different genre of music. We stayed in the one called Country Fair, which I was delighted by! It has this giant pair of cowboy boots where the branches of the building connect.

On Friday, we went to EPCOT for a long practice at a facility that we rent every year.

In front of the ball at EPCOT!

After practice, we went to Via Napoli, a delicious restaurant on the Italy Pavilion.

The best part about this restaurant? All the waiters are native Italians, with accents and looks to make a girl swoon, like Guido here. I just had to get a picture!!

Semi-Finals were on Saturday at Disney's Hollywood Studios. We had to wake up early for hair and make-up, and then we competed our Jazz and Pom dances.

Those are our gorgeous jazz costumes! This picture isn't from this weekend, but how fun are all those feathers?

At semi-finals, you find out almost immediately after whether or not you made it to finals. Since this was our first year competing in the Jazz category, we knew it was kind of a long shot.

We did it!!! It was honestly one of the best, most perfect moments of my life.

After finding out about Jazz finals, it was time to perform Pom.

We ended up making finals in Pom too, which was huge for us. It was the first time in our school's history that we made finals in two categories.

TWO finalist ribbons!!

Sunday, we had Finals at the ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex, which, by the way, is the most beautiful grouping of facilities I've ever seen in my life.

All the buildings look like Mediterranean villas, but they house a giant fieldhouse, a baseball stadium, and a delicious restaurant, among other things. It's basically my idea of heaven.

The inside of the HP Fieldhouse where Finals are held!

When you walk out onto the finals floor, you walk out of a giant replica of Cinderella's castle. The lights hit you, the crowd is cheering, ESPN cameras are swooping down to cover the action; it fills you with such intense joy and passion. We had the best performances all season on that floor.

Can you spot me? I'm in the front right corner!!

We placed in the Top 20 with both dances, which was a great addition to making finals in both categories! We made history for our school, and I couldn't be prouder.

Monday was our day to go to Magic Kingdom and enjoy ourselves! It was a great reward to end the weekend in the happiest place on earth with all my best friends.

Of course, some pictures with our trophies were absolutely necessary!!

And those adorable tanks we're all sporting? Courtesy of yours truly :)

XO