summer trip recap // LA

have you seen this yet?
i'm a huge dianna argon fan, and sam smith fan. so this was all-around magic.




i was very reluctant to leave los angeles. carly and i spent probably too much time together (yeah right), and the weather was so so warm, and it's just so dang hard to leave your friends!

i spent my trip doing a lot of shopping, having a million lunches, seeing movies at the hollywood forever cemetery, a little bit of partying, lots of late night dinner dates, getting sunburnt at the beach -as only i know how to do, red streaks all over my body- celebrating carly's birthday, and a spontaneous road trip to the middle of nowhere.

but mainly i just spent time being weird with my best friends....

july 4th!

fireworks at huntington beach with carly & nicole. red ribbons for festivity!

dad greeted me at the airport with these. that man knows the way to my heart!


road trip!

 we drove 4 hrs out to the deep pits of niland california. what a strange place to be. we stayed in a hotel one town over, very small towns! but interesting to be so far from most civilization but only a couple hours from your home. it's not like we even left the state! we had a lot of fun, stopping at any rest stop that seemed interesting (see dinosaurs below) and we even found a lake in the middle of the desert!

 a beautiful sunset hung in the sky like a painting as we neared calipatria, and we roamed around the little town looking for food & some drinks to get us through the night. (we then jumped on our hotel beds singing, put full makeup on in our pajamas, watched the kardashians, and ate a bunch of junk food, then talked til 2am. girls i tell ya!) we will never grow up.

 oh yeah, and then we finally visited salvation mountain the next morning which was really the whole point of the road trip. hehe

me by the walton sea! (taken by amelia)

 my cute younger brother eating ice cream during a day-trip to santa barbara.

the hollywood forever cemetery is one of my favorite places to be on a saturday night in summertime. unfortunately i had to leave the night they were showing one of my favorite films (empire records) so irma and i opted to see blue velvet instead. it was strange! but it's always wonderful to watch a movie under the stars with strangers picnicking.

 a couple outfits.....

a pretty downtown sunset, and a couple of pictures from the set of a c magazine cover shoot.

malibu properties

prada, and miu miu, and valentino- oh my!

this post is getting much too long, but i suppose i'm cramming a whole month in! we'll round the whole thing up with my favorite pictures:

amelia + i in our hotel room

my baby brother is my height! not fair.

 irma & i on my last night...

being weird by the pool.

 irma & i. i don't really have an explanation

this day we bought tickets to see fleetwood mac!!

caramel apple pops. probably at some ungodly hour between midnight and 3am

alyssa + i being weird in my room.

napping.

i told you...

oh what do you know, being weird by myself!

 carly will be back with a post next week.
brownie points to you if you got through all of this post.

xx-billie

nineteen // LA

hello all! happy almost august. july has flown by so fast. i felt as if it was just yesterday that school let out, and i was thinking about how bored i was going to be this summer. however, this summer has proven me wrong! summer to me has always been about the beach, friends, summer-like food, warm evening gatherings, and especially the joy of no homework. i spent last summer studying for the first time at FIDM. and i've been going non stop ever since. it feels good to finally have a break. another thing i look forward to in the summer, is my birthday! i know i'll only be "looking forward to it" for a few more years. but hey, i'm only 19...i think i have a few more years of fun celebrations left until i really begin to feel old. this birthday was especially sweet. nicole, billie, hannah and i worked hard to create a pinterest inspired evening of good food, sweet treats, and a bit of sparkle to celebrate my nineteenth.

yep! we built a table on the floor, and ate Japanese style & it was surprisingly comfortable!

this cake was not only beautiful, but extremely delicious! a special thank you to billies mama!

lital came! she's been present at every birthday party i've had since i've turned 12.

all of the anthro girls! (left to right) sara, nicole, me, amanda, kylie, & jessica

friends friends friends! left to right: hannah, james, me, ian, & billie.

                  

i HAD to have sparklers.

it ended up being really fun for everyone though, and a great photo moment.

i was able to spend my special day with some beautiful faces that i hadn't seen in a while, and it made my birthday even more sweet. thanks for all the birthday love & wishes everyone. nineteen, here's to you!

xx-carly

summer-winter // SYDNEY

we're so crap at this, we know, we're sorry.

but in a little over a week we will be reunited and there will be so many more posts! (!!!!)

also, happy summer solstice! may your day be full of wild flowers, sunshine, and sticky popsicles. 

     i'm stuck studying today, as i wrap up the end of my semester at university. i don't know about you, but i shouldn't take any more psych classes as electives...

since i'm stuck studying, i figured i may as well embrace this strange winter-warmth we're currently having every few days, and head outside to sit by something pretty.

lucky to live in this place.
while partially due to school, a lot of my absence has to do with the fact that my precious little niece (Juno) came into this world just 3 weeks ago. all my spare moments have been spent going on walks, visiting, and having brunch with her & her mama. i went over and snapped some photos of her and the nursery when she was just a few days old.

Juno May 

     full of so much joy and love for her and her parents. we all went on their first family walk yesterday! my cousin and i are very close, and only 6 months apart in age, it's so strange that she has a daughter now, but also feels so natural! can't wait to watch this baby girl grow and be apart of her life.

like carly's previous post..i too, have been dreaming of paris. i have a friend living there at the moment, and am just endlessly drooling over her outings and stories. she knows she kills me every time she says 'wish you were here! just eating dinner on my kitchen counter looking at the eiffel tower out the window...'

but i was even moreso panged by that wanderlust while watching Before Sunset last night. all 3 of Richard Linklater's sequence of films are magical but i do love that one so much. such simple and quiet pieces of paris frame the two friends' walk. planning a trip for new years! and i do plan to live there for 6 months to a year in the next few years. so i'll just wait it out!

besides all this i've been wearing a lot of florals and stripes lately (what else is new)

and hanging out with friends over gelato...

oh, and wandering around down by the beach (surprise!!)

LA, i cannot wait to be back in your beautiful sunshine, i've had about 2 weeks of winter and i am so over the cold already. summer's child forever.

enjoy the summer solstice!

xo
billie jane

P.S. happy birthday lana del rey!