Sunny Roads Ahead

The weather has been pretty gray here but there are sunny roads ahead- plants are blooming, the sun is shining, and warmth is on its way! For the past couple of days it has been either:

a. rainy

b. cloudy

c. chilly

d. all of the above

Ugh, and the fact that this week has gone by at a snail's pace has made this week seem like an endless vortex of depressing weather. Not much has been going on at school, not much homework either, so that makes the time afterschool pointless as I browse the internet aimlessly wishing I were outside. However, I am already seeing signs that spring is coming (here in Charleston, spring will be here in a few weeks) and I am more than excited to welcome the warm, and then hot, weather of spring and summer. Autumn is my favorite, winter is lovely when it snows or it's around the holiday season, but the rest of winter is truly awful. Spring is a time where the weather is warm but not a terrifyingly hot as summer is. Hopefully those who are stuck up north in the snow get some relief soon, good luck up there. But for us, the warm weather has only just begun :)

I can't wait!

Have a wonderful weekend!

Love,

Natalie

Top 10 Favorite Starbucks Drinks

Natalie and I are sitting here in Starbucks listening to music and drinking warm tea (I got Natalie hooked on Chai Tea). It's a rainy, wet, cold day at Starbucks and we're pretty bored, so we're putting together our top ten favorite Starbucks drinks both coffee and non coffee. So if you have access to a nearby Starbucks and want to test out these drinks- we promise they're the perfect drinks. Here you go!

Natalie's Fav Five:

1. "DOUBLE CHOCOLATEY CHIP FRAPPICCINO" she is saying.

2. Soy No Water Chai Tea

3. Kid's Apple Cider (if you know anything about her you know she HATES coffee...crazy)

4. Caramel Frappuccino

5. Valencia Orange Refresher

My Fav Five:

1. Caramel Frappuccino

2. White Chocolate Mocha

3. Soy No Water Chai Tea

4. Caramel Flan Latte

5. Blonde Roast

P.s. Using a fake name is encouraged (I was Ariel)

Stay Dry!

Love,

Daphne Brion :)

Tuesday Tunes

Hi everybody! I am your guest blogger; S!

I am a huge music lover and I am delighted when people give me new music to try out. I thought I could return the favor! The following is a list of songs I can't stop humming, digging, dancing to, singing, and just plain loving.

This week's theme:

"TOP OF THE WORLD"

(Otherwise known as songs that should make you feel happy, overjoyed, and glad that you live on a such a beautiful planet.)

Happy-Pharrell Williams

Daydream Believer-The Monkees

Synthesizers-Butch Walker and The Black Widows

On Top of The World-Imagine Dragons

Chelsea Morning-Joni Mitchell

(I love you) For Sentimental Reasons-Sam Cooke

Elephant Love Medley-Ewan McGregor

You Make My Dreams-Hall and Oates

*Thomas O'Malley Cat*-Phil Harris

Then He Kissed Me-The Crystals

*A song to offer some nostalgia* 

-Guest Blogger “S”

Making Memories

This past January my best friend and I went to Disney World because she had never been before!! (I've talked a bit about the trip in a recent blog) We spent a weekend there and I took my camera and captured some awesome pictures and a video blog we made (link here). I never got around to editing the pictures until yesterday, if you follow my photography account then you might have seen one or two, but here are some of my favorite pictures.

Hope your week is "magical"!
Love,
Natalie

Spa Day

I spent most of the day hanging out at home and had some time to relax, read, and try out a new face mask! I heard of an amazing face mask that includes egg whites, lemon juice, and honey so I embraced my free time today to try it out. 

Here's the recipe:

1 egg white

1/2 teaspoon of honey

1 teaspoon of lemon juice

Mix all those ingredients together and apply to your face (it gets pretty messy so apply over a sink or bathtub). When I mixed all the ingredients together, I thought maybe I needed more honey and lemon juice. It still worked but it was a little soupy and a bit messier to apply. After I applied the mask, I took a bubble bath (my favorite!) and un-winded while I let the mask dry. You should leave the mask on for at least 10 minutes or until it dries but you can leave it on for longer. When I took it off my face was super smooth and it felt rejuvenated. It is supposed to reduce acne so I will keep you updated and continue to use the mask to test the results!

Love,

Natalie

Little Red Riding Hood Tutorial

A few days I found several tutorials online on how to make your own Little Red Riding Hood cape, which just happens to be my favorite fairy tale, so I had to try it. The whole cape cost $9 but could cost less than $2 depending on which fabric you chose. I chose a light velvet fabric that isn't too thin by gives the cape a nice texture. Daphne and I are planning on going out to the woods and taking anyone who wants to come along to do a photo shoot on different fairy tale characters (we know who I picked) but here are the pictures I took today.

The quote is from "Into the Woods" where Little Red Riding Hood gets into trouble with Mr. Wolf.

Isn't this fabric amazing??

Tutorials From:

TheSorryGirls

and

Bethany Mota

Stay tuned for more pictures,

Love,

Natalie

iPhotoShoot

So I know not everyone has a spare camera sitting around there house, and even if we do- sometimes we just never think to carry it around everywhere. Almost everyone has a camera phone these days (the most popular being the iPhone) so I decided to show my favorite tips for a camera phone photo shoot for when you don't have another camera to use. I have done these shoots many times and it is a tad trickier but in the end the pictures turn out great and sometimes you might find one at a surprise angle that you really enjoy. For iPhone pictures I suggest the Camera Plus app. This app has a timer that goes up to 30 seconds and it has some pretty neat editing options!

Tips: 

Jumping in Pictures with Friends-  For these pictures, I suggest setting a timer for as long as possible and having your friends already in position. Set the timer and then run over next to them- Here are some of my favorites:

I used a small bench to take this picture, simple look around and there's always something to use as a phone holder.

This one was used with a backpack, it adds to the picture due to the fact it is so low on the ground.

Making Your Phone Stand Up- Sometimes your phone will fall or there won't be a good place to put it for the picture. One time as I was running back to get in position the phone fell and even though I got a weird angle, it turned out fantastic! 

(Here is a neat example!)

How to Make More Time to Jump in the Picture- Having trouble trying to get in a position in under 15 seconds? Set the phone on video and when you are finished, go back to the video and screenshot your favorite moments. I did that with the picture below :)

The picture above was taken last fall with Natalie and S. I barely made it up the tree in 15 seconds but the picture turned out very well!

Natalie and I found an overhanging tree branch and we set my phone on the branch to achieve this picture. It's my new favorite picture!

Hope these tips help, enjoy your weekend!

Cheers,

Daphne Brion

Cars, Trains, Planes, oh my!

Once you get your get your hand on a camera, you start thinking about all the places you want to take it- right? About a month after I received my camera, my friend and I spent a weekend in Disney and I took my camera. I was sure I wasn't going to bring it because it was going to get lost or stolen... just my luck. But then at the same time the quality of cell phone pictures don't have the same quality and taking pictures all the time drains the battery. I ended up bringing it and I am glad I did. Not sure if you want to bring it or not? Answer the yes or no questions below and see for yourself:

(To enlarge, click on the picture)

I really enjoyed bringing my camera to Disney, it was a hassle to take care of and bring on rides but I got some amazing pictures out of it. At the end of the day it is all up to your gut decision and what you think is best, I can't decide for you- but I'm sure you'll make the right decision. :)

Love,

Natalie

Infinity of Words

Lately I've been pinning and liking all sorts of quotes on social media. I follow several accounts on instagram and all of them are amazing (I'll link them down below), they each have a cute and colorful collection of quotes attached to drawings. Some of them are funny while others are inspiring, but I know from personal experience that finding quotes can brighten up any day. I'll post more eventually but for now, here are a few to share with you all. :)

This one is one of my personal favorites because I was that girl who would rather play with Lego's than Barbie's as a kid- and the fact that somebody used a child's toy (which is connected to innocence and playfulness) and made it into a metaphor for real life.

I've recently become obsessed with typewriters (probably because we used them a lot in the musical) so while this picture isn't necessarily inspirational, it still is cute and fun. 

{I have never solved one before. *sigh*}

I love all these flower quotes- but this one is so colorful and vibrant that I just had to post it!

I posted this one on my instagram before Valentine's Day, I love the artwork and how each word is different from the other (it makes it unique!)

This quote is from my friends instagram page @quotesswbu , she recently lost her 31k account but is super amazing and inspiring and has overcome all these challenges!

{This quote makes me just want to "aww"}

That's all the quotes for now, if you would like to see more from where I got them from click on the usernames below:

@quotesshbu

@lovelyyquote

@transparont

Sleep tight!

Love,

Natalie

Rusty Cars & Hidden Islands

What an adventurous long weekend! After 6 months of rehearsing, the school musical closed on a bittersweet note as we had an 11 pm IHOP party after our last show Saturday night. Sunday, Daphne came over and we went exploring down in the forest/marsh area near my house where we found the rusty frame of an old car and a hidden island. We trekked on an overgrown muddy path through the marsh and it paid off when we found the most beautiful sunset view looking out on the bridge and land around us. We spent a good two hours down there looking around and taking pictures, here are our favorite pictures:

This is most definitely my favorite because the sun created a lens flare and the colors match perfectly together.

This picture is why the forest is my favorite place, it has so many undertones and as a result the picture becomes brightened and colorful.

We edited this photo above and the one below to reflect on fall and summer, our two favorite seasons.

Nothing like a bit of warrior paint out of mud...

The trusty tribal print backpack .

This ancient, rusty car frame was perfect for pictures!

We find it helpful to use music while taking pictures because it gives us a feel of our surroundings by using our hearing to reflect the mood. Because we were walking through long grass and it was sunset, we had to use this song.

Love,

Natalie

Happy Valentine's Day!

I used to seriously hate Valentine's Day because I can remember slaving over the table in 3rd grade writing out 30 zillion Valentine's cards because those where the days where everyone I knew got a card. Yea yea... not my thing. But now as I'm older, Valentine's day is the day where my friends and I all eat a ton of chocolate, send each other witty cards, and I spend my time finding tumblr GIFS like this one:

But in all seriousness, I made some pretty "punny" cards with the help of Daphne and got two dozen of Krispy Kreme donuts (holla) to share tomorrow at lunch and after school with some of the school musical cast :)

So whoever you spend today with, I hope you have the best Valentine's Day!

(p.s. eat lots of chocolate for me!)

XOXO

Natalie

Lazy Day Hairstyles

Hooray for another day off! Daphne and I stayed up late watching Netflix and eating a ton of candy... yea we completely crashed somewhere in the early hours of morning. I woke up this morning and I had a behemoth of hair that was going in so many different ways that there was no way it was going to look remotely normal today. I went on Pinterest and found three of my favorite lazy day hairstyles so if you have found yourself in my position you can have an adorable hairstyle without trying to much.

The Messy Bun:

My absolute favorite (I'm wearing it now). It's super easier and the best part is it looks better if it's messier, so do not even think about touching your hairbrush!

The Knot

This vintage looking hairstyle has four easy steps and is amazingly easy!

The Low Rolled Up-do:

Right now I'm in a musical at school and I do this with braids. While everyone else is trying to do something fancy, I'm already done. It takes no time at all and is adorable!

Enjoy!

For more lazy day hairstyles click here

And to check out my hairstyle board click here

Love,

Natalie

Spotify Playlist

We've scrapped together some of our favorite songs and smashed them all on Natalie's spotify account. Click the icon below to check it out: 

Cheers,

Daphne Brion

5 Minute Photo Shoot

Do's and Don'ts:

For Your 5 Minute Photo Shoot

DON'T...

1. Think, just do: You never know you could get an amazing picture just by clicking the camera.

2. Second guess yourself: When you are moving, if something looks cool jump in front of it! It could turn out better than you expect.

3. Look at the camera roll: Looking at your camera role ruins the surprise! If you look, normally somebody will start to critic the photo but stop. Everything happens for a reason.

4. Be afraid: Take pictures from weird angles, lay in the street, dance in the rain- these pictures will turn heads and capture people's attention.

5. Think an idea is bad: Every idea is worth something, trust yourself.

DO...

1. Be yourself: You are a unique person! If you are somebody else then the pictures make you look uncomfortable.

2. Play with the effects on your camera: Flip it over to flash, or turn flash off. If you find that your pictures are getting boring, then spice it up with a different setting.

3. Go somewhere different: Always shooting in one place? STOP IT. Get creative! Go on an adventure!

4. Enjoy it: Photo shoots are no fun when you don't enjoy it- if you aren't enjoying it, then why are you doing it. 

5. Take risks: Some of the coolest pictures are done when people take risks. Don't worry about getting dirty or wet (ahem... the pictures below were taken at night. It was wet. 32 degrees. And we were freezing out butts off)

Daphne and I's 5 Minute Photo Shoot Pictures:

(My camera was being stubborn and wasn't focusing... BUT ISN'T THIS COOL)

Street pic (oh yea man)

Hope it's warmer where you live!
Love,

Natalie