Impulse

So. I cut my hair.

After our trek to Arizona two weeks ago, I decided that once and for all I was done with long hair. Who wouldn't after a twelve hour marathon at the airport, feeling greasy and nasty, and then dancing it up at a wedding reception and having it look a mess by the end?

So when we got home, I decided it had to go. 

Right after the girl chopped it, I LOVED it. I thought I looked so fab and chic. Until the next day when I tried to style it by myself and it didn't look so fab and chic. 

Hence, why I didn't rush to my camera to make Ian take photos of my new hair from every angle because I was so not happy. What was I thinking? Just because of one bad hair day it doesn't mean I had to go hack it all off. Now I looked like a middle age woman with a momcut. 

A little dramatic? Maybe. Because after some experimenting, I figured out that it looks great when it's straight, but also great when I take a strategic combination of the flat iron and the curling iron to it for some easy, breezy, effortless-looking curls. 

All in all, I'm getting used to it. I love that I can drive in the car with the windows down and not care about messing it up. I also love that it dries so much quicker so that I can immediately fry it with all the hot tools. I also think it looks fuller and thicker when it's short.

Maybe I was just in a good mood because Sunday was absolutely GORGEOUS! And I got to wear shorts!

Shorts: Kohls

Purse: Vintage

Top: Thrifted

Do you ever experience hair-cutting remorse? Tell me about your worst haircut....maybe I'll tell you about mine in an upcoming post...

Sunday Sister Style

If you know my sister Emily, you know that she has impeccable style for a girl of her age.

(What am I saying...she is graduating high school this year...but in my mind, she is still a little bitty fourth grader. Good God, I'm old.)

But really, she is so snazzy. When I was a senior in high school, I was still discovering my style. I was just getting into the whole vintage thing, and while people knew that it was the 'look' I was going for, there are certainly some outfits I look back on that make me cringe. Outfits that I was trying to be creative with thrift store finds, but really just probably made me look homeless.  

While at her age, I was trying to go back in time with my looks, Emily is always somehow ahead of the fashion curve. Like, she somehow is the first to wear things that come in style a year later. Bright neon colors? Funky sunglasses? Pssh...that is so two years ago! She's been wearing bright colored pants before bright colored pants were back in. 

And while other girls of her age are trying to grow up to fast, she manages to look adorable and appropriate at the same time. Welp, now I sound like a mom. In short, she is fabulous and I miss her like crazy.

Movie Night: The Long, Long Trailer

For Easter, my mom got me a DVD set of classic Lucille Ball movies, so on Sunday night when Ian and I returned from our weekend in Pennsylvania, we popped in the one out of four that I have already seen several times.

Lucy and Desi play newlyweds who decide to pack up and live in a trailer as they travel across the country. After convincing her husband to buy a 40 foot-long trailer (which meant they had to get the special hitch for their car...but then they had to get a bigger car to haul the huge trailer...) they set out towards the mountains of Colorado, towing three tons of trailer, wedding presents, and furniture behind them.

There are so many awesome things in this movie I can totally relate to despite the generation gap. For instance, being newlyweds and packing all of our wedding presents into a little apartment. I can't even imagine stuffing everything into a trailer! I particularly laughed when Nicky doesn't understand why they need multiple casserole dishes. Duh. 

Or how about Lucy's amazing style? I know I don't even need to tell you about that.

I'm sure Ian was able to relate to trying to maneuver a large trailer full of stuff through busy city roads and up a steep cliff. Kind of like driving a moving truck on the Capital Beltway?

It's a silly movie, but one that brings back memories of a simpler time. The outfits, the jokes, the decor, the gender roles...Lucy somehow cooks multi-course dinners every night in the teeny tiny kitchen and manages to make it look effortless. Except when she tries to do it while the trailer is moving.

What are some of your favorite old movies?

A Wedding in the Desert

Although our traveling adventures made us miss an entire day of our time in Arizona, luckily we had all day Saturday to pack as much as we could into the day before the wedding Saturday evening.

We headed up to the Camelback Inn, the wedding venue, to meet with Ian's family before heading downtown Scottsdale for some Mexican food.

Followed by some belated birthday cake for Ian.

Pretty soon it was time to get pretty...because it was wedding time!

Could this place be any more beautiful?

And on another note, could I have picked a more handsome husband?

It was an absolutely beautiful ceremony, complete with Irish violins.

And a seriously awesome party.

 Tables named after beer...love it!

 Such a beautiful bride!

I even felt a special connection with Alison's accessories...

Look familiar?

This red vintage bag was my something old for my wedding in July...and it was Alison's something borrowed. 

We danced the night away to the beats of DJ Richard Blade and lots and lots of 80s hits... that was my kind of wedding.

Congratulations again to Alison and Johan!

The Smoke Tree Resort: A Retro Retreat

When we were trying to find a place to stay for our little weekend jaunt to Arizona, Ian took it upon himself to find a comfortable, nice, and not-too-expensive place to stay. Unfortunately, I think that being a hotel and restaurant management graduate makes me very picky when it comes to hotels. Or maybe I'm just spoiled from staying at nice hotels throughout my childhood. Either way, I am extremely choosy when it comes to where I lay my head for the night, and luckily Ian likes to scour the depths of the internet until he finds fantastic off-the-beaten-path deals. 

After extensive comparison and Trip Advisor reviews, he found the Smoke Tree Resort. Twenty minutes away from the airport, and right down the road from the wedding venue. Nothing but perfect reviews, and affordable for our two-night stay. Perfect!

After our traveling adventure on Friday, we arrived in Scottsdale at 11pm (which due to the time difference felt like 2am to us) and we drove our Mustang up to the resort, not able to appreciate the amazing scenery in the dark. We drove up to the resort and was surprised by a giant vacant building (which turns out used to be the resort's restaurant. It has been between leases for several years now). The office was right around the corner but was dark, so we called the number on the door. Who I'm assuming to be the owner or manager came out of his apartment and greeted and let us in to be checked in. It was a  nice break from your usual checking in to a hotel by employees with fake smiles. This guy was genuinely kind and happy to have us there.

He took us around back to our bungalow down the road and recommended some local restaurants before saying goodnight. We fell asleep as soon as our heads hit the pillow, but the next morning I went around and snapped some more photos of the place.

Our ride in the daylight.

Our bungalow!

I could see families in the 1950s coming here every summer. Too bad it was too cold to sit by the pool.

 What a view!

This place was seriously awesome and totally unexpected! If you happen to be going to Scottsdale for any reason in the future, I highly recommend the Smoke Tree Resort. To some, it might not hold up to today's "resort" standards of all-inclusive restaurants, beaches, and amenities, but it was a beautiful, tucked away, and quiet spot to enjoy the weekend. Pretty fantastic by my standards.