For the love of messy buns

Two posts in two days – It’s a miracle! Today, I want to share my love of messy buns and summer up-dos. There’s something about sunny weather that makes me just want to throw my hair up in a crazy mess and head out the door. And with a cute scarf to tie around my hair, I can do just that without looking like a complete disaster.

(Click the photo for more scarf styles.)

I’ve been obsessed with this style forever, but this is honestly the first time I’ve ever actually tried it. I had to experiment with all my different scarves this morning before finally finding one that would work. My hair is super thin so making a full messy-bun can be a little difficult too, but I’ve realized that throwing my head upside down and loosely gathering my hair works best.

After finding a scarf that would work, I decided to wear this dark floral dress to match. The temperature still isn’t as high as I like it, so I threw on a jean jacket and leggings too.What’s your favorite summer hair style?

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Jasmine, photos by me

Currently Craving: Summer dress styles

Wow, again, it’s been awhile. I graduated, ran a half-marathon and started my first full-time job at Grand Forks Herald. My first two stories printed yesterday; the next two print tomorrow. It’s been a busy couple weeks.

Now, I’m in Fargo for the weekend, hanging out at Camy Couture. We have a ton of awesome fun summer dresses in store, which really have me hoping for some sunshine. It’s been raining for the last week or so, which has really put a damper on my style. However, these great summer dress styles are keeping me hopeful.

Striped A-line: A colorful A-Line dress with big, bold stripes always reminds of day-time summer parties. I picture a house-wife with big blonde curly hair bringing some fresh strawberry lemonade out to her friends on the patio. It’s a silly image, but it always makes me smile and wish for sunshine (and lemonade).

Bold prints: From Aztec prints to neon animal prints, I’m all about bold prints this summer. The bolder the better. My favorite prints are unexpected prints with a lot of fun colors. The best thing about prints is that they can both give you volume and help hide your curves.

Sheer-overlay maxi: Maxis are great, but a sheer-overlay maxi is even better, especially on a hot summer day. The fabric is super thin and light so you don’t get too hot, but you are still covered up. Plus, these dresses create the coolest shades which I just can’t get over.

Note: I’ve given up on finishing the 30-30 Style Inspires Poetry Challenge. I just don’t have the time in my schedule to commit to daily photos and posts.

I’m back!

Hello, again, good friend. I know it’s been awhile, but I swear I have a good excuse reason explanation. I have been busy moving! Exciting, right? Yes! I am now officially moved into my new apartment in Grand Forks!

I have my very own one-bedroom apartment, living all by myself, and I’m beyond excited! Unfortunately, that means I’m no longer living with Robert, which means I no longer have access to a Photoshop, or a Mac for that matter, at my home. I have been taking photos (almost) every day and plan to finish my Style Inspires Poetry Challenge as soon as possible. With the move and now having to commute an hour to and from campus every day, I just haven’t had the time to edit the photos or write any poems.

I have had time to start a new blog though, so if you want to hear more from this crazy girl, go on over and check it out — Just Me, Jasmine Lee.

Day 16: Wet Wednesday

For day 16 of the Style Inspires Poetry Challenge, I planned on wearing my fuchsia top with my white eyelet jacket and my black ballet flats. That was until I looked out the window and saw snow … again. Big fluffy, wet flakes were falling from the sky, making the puddles in the street, in the parking lot and every where else even bigger than they already were.

So, instead of my nice business casual look, I opted for my comfy green sweater and my cognac boots. My boots are the only shoes of my 30 items that I dare wear outside when the weather is like this. I don’t want to soak and dirty up my cream oxfords or lace wedges or chance it slipping in my black oxford pumps and wind up soaking my whole outfit. As for my black ballet flats, well, we’ll save those for a dryer day as well. I really beginning to think it’s time to purchase some rain boots. What do you think?

 

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A poem inspired by moving and that sad, awful feeling you get when you’re sitting in an empty, furniture-less apartment all by yourself:

The bare wood floor
that was once welcoming
in a new apartment,
now brought tears to my eyes.

The place against the wall
where the couch had sat
was now empty, along with
the walls that just a few hours ago
had held our memories.

The kitchen drawer was no longer
full of mismatched silverware,
but instead held
just one lonely set.

The cupboards of plastic plates
were now barren aside from the
top shelf of abandoned dishes
I hadn’t noticed until now.

I walked to my room,
sat on the corner of my bed
and slowly rocked myself back and forth
as I looked out my bedroom door
across the empty space that
was once our kitchen
to the bathroom, which now held
nothing but a garbage can.

In that moment,
it all hit me, like that time
I was so caught up, listening to a joke,
that I didn’t see the soccer goal
until it hit me square in the face.
Except, this time,
I wasn’t laughing at the end.

Day 15: Lazing in lace

For day 15 of the Style Inspires Poetry Challenge, I had almost nothing planned. Since I didn’t plan on leaving the apartment, I thought it was perfectly reasonable to wear capris. I paired them with my nude camisole and maroon lace top.

I spent the day cleaning, packing and writing. It’s crazy to think that I’ll be out of this apartment by the end of the week and completely done with school in exactly one month. I got an email from Melinda, the features editor at The Grand Forks Herald, today asking exactly when I would start; it’s now official, I’m starting my new job as a features reporter for Accent on May 20. Sending the email made me start thinking about my first day, and I got a little nervous.

However, I’m happy to say that I’m more excited than nervous. Once I accepted the position, I started jotting down ideas for the section in a little notebook. They aren’t all the most brilliant ideas, but at least it’s getting me thinking and brainstorming topics I could potentially cover.

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I’ve been looking everywhere for inspiration lately and realized it’s people who inspire me the most, so today I wrote a poem about a random bartender. It’s crazy how many people cross our paths daily that go unnoticed. I guess you could say this poem is somewhat inspired by the poem “Some People” by Rolf Jacobsen (you should check it out – it’s a good one!).

He wears faded old blue jeans,
a solid gray thermal and a plastic
blue Avengers mask over his face.

It’s “Tax Day” they say,
“that’s why everyone’s wearing
red, white and blue.”

I’m sipping a long island, trying
to make the connection between
The Avengers and taxes.

Staring across the bar, I find myself
lost in my thoughts but suddenly I snap
back to reality and for a split second

our eyes meet.
They’re small, dark brown beads.
I wonder ‘what’s his story’ but walk away.