The Rest of My NC Trip

I woke up at a wonderful hour this morning so that I could get in a crowded car to drive back to reality. Not exactly my cup of tea but who am I to be picky.

The rest of my trip was absolutely wonderful. I think it might've been the salty sea air or perhaps the golden kissed tone of my skin that makes me feel like some sort of female Adonis (jokes, he was one handsome guy and I alas, am not..a guy that is).

Many a thing happened in my last few days.

One such thing is this.

My mom was extremely thrilled at the idea of me sitting in the surf as high tide rolled in. Not even a minute after this picture was taken my chair flipped over completely. This continued to happen periodically before I decided that I didn't like being flipped upside down in something as measly as the surf crashing on the shore. So I again let the actual ocean take care of that. 

If you look closely you can see my burnt knees. They're no longer burnt though. Want to know why? Because aloe. Aloe. Or a version of that.

This stuff is sent from the heavens above. Its a soothing lotion that also locks in tan and I've been using this for years and haven't been disappointed. 

I don't use this on my face just because my face is very sensitive to a lot of fragrant products. Instead, I use SPF lotion from the Simple line as well as a moisturizing facial wash for showering off all the salt that has hardened to a crisp on my face. 

Very, very good for picky skin. 

Now I have a collage of pictures that I took and think are nice. Enjoy.

And that is the conclusion of my trip.

Night.

Hayley 

xx

NC Day 2

Yesterday I sat on the beach and read. Really, that's pretty much what happened. I read a throwback Sarah Dessen book, one I fancied whole heartedly back in my early days of high school.

And then I got my butt handed to me by the waves when I went swimming, emulating the true mermaid way. I am no Olympic swimmer and that was shown clearly when waves would swallow me but alas nothing makes me happier than being at the beach and I would laugh it off because self deprivation is such a nice quality.

After my endless hours on the beach I went to Walmart with my parents as sundown arrived. In Walmart, ironically next to the suntan lotion aisle, I discovered that my stomach wasn't tan as I had originally thought, but more or less a burnt sienna color. Not cute, not sassy, a deeply confused mesh of burn and tan.

Look at the sunset isn't it so pretty? The sun looked like a flaming gobstopper. Use your imagination.

Then after we had gotten off the bridge we stopped at Dairy Queen. All hail the queen of Blizzards, particularly this Oreo Cheesecake one that had gooey chunks of cheesecake and crunchy chunks of Oreo, hello heaven I'm Hayley how are you?

That was pretty much my first day in a nutshell. Sand in my pants when I finally took off my bathing suit bottoms for my shower (so much so that there was a literal pile on the floor), aloe (it's your best friend), family bonding time (bless us all).

Today I'm pretty confident things will end up nearly the same if not with more sunburn (USE SUNSCREEN IT PROTECTS YOUR SOFT, LOVELY, YOU ONLY GET IT ONCE SO PROTECT IT SKIN) and more food to shove in my face.

Hayley
xx

NC Day 1

Yesterday I embarked on a car ride to the North Carolina shore. With three other teenagers/young adults, two parents, and a dog in tow there were definitely some bumps and bruises in the execution of the trip down.

Nothing of much excitement happened yesterday so I shall leave it at that. Just know that my leg fell asleep a multitude of times and with it came my griping that cars are too small for people nearly six feet tall.

Hayley
xx

Beach Trip Uno

Well, it's that time of the year again. The time of overpacking, grabbing an extra hairbrush when I should have, in fact, grabbed the toothpaste. A wonderful somewhat stressful time of packing for a long awaited trip.

Ah, a beach vacation. It's technically, if I'm being honest, more or less of a two day stay-cation in my lovely (eh) state. A few months back my friends and I decided that we wanted to go on a little trip as a last hoorah seeing as one of us is enlisted in the military and won't be able to partake in such watery tom-foolery for much longer. So tomorrow morning we're packing up my best friends' moms SUV and heading to the coast for a two day, one night stay. I'm hoping the beach isn't terribly cold. The last time I went was in March and I spent my time huddled in a sweater in the comfort of the hotel bed. Cold is the enemy, until its summer. And seeing as the heat where I am in Virginia has reached upwards of 95 degrees the escape to the incredibly windy beach will be a welcome change up in the weather I have experienced lately.

But back to packing. I suppose I'll just put up here the clothes that I'm packing.

Of course I need a pari of pajamas or as I like to call them, shorts and a t-shirt. They're so unextroidinary that I didn't bother photographing them. They're worn and don't match but I'll say that my shorts, aka mens boxers that were on sale, have cute little whales on them.

Bathing suit wise I decided to bring two suits. This is merely for convenience seeing as I'm not a fan of wearing soggy suits to and from the beach when I haven't even taken a dip.

Top and bottom from Aerie. 

Top and bottom from Aerie.

Please try and forgive the horrid pictures. The camera I used had an awful case of "let me put the date and time this picture was taken in the most random of places so Hayley has to crop the heck out of all her pictures." 

Dinner tomorrow night will consist of me trying to not harm what will most likely turn out to be sunburn on my shoulders. I'm planning ahead with a pretty lightweight maxi dress thingy.

American Eagle

In case I get cold I've got a snazzy crochet, oatmeal colored crop sweater to put over top of it. 

Sweater/Forever 21

For when it gets cold, because it does indeed get a wee nippy on summer nights and even days when you've been sat in the sun for an exoriborant amount of time, I've got a comfy hoodie to throw on. 

American Eagle who would've guessed?

And this is my swanky hat that will hopefully prevent my freckles from catching onto the quick procreation of bunnies and multiplying into a mess. 

Wish me luck on the car ride tomorrow. I will most definitely be needing it. And for anyone traveling make sure to double check yourselves and always bring moisturizer if you're going somewhere warm where the sun can dry you out. My favorites for that will come with Beach Trip Dos which I'll post Saturday because I'm leaving Sunday. 

Lots of love.

Hayley

xx

Destination: Graduation

Today I graduated high school. Not really sure exactly how I should be feeling right now seeing as I have just closed the door and thrown the key to my long drawn history with my primary education. To be honest the ceremony was lackluster but I'm just bitter because it didn't compare in the slightest to High School Musical 3 which is a bummer. But hey, I now have a piece of paper that tells the world I am relatively educated and slightly more cynical towards walking in crowded hallways and public water fountains. That's just the aftermath of a lifetime holding your breath when you spy a sick kid hacking into the wide, fresh, open air.

My friend on student council, who sat in a lovely spot on the stage, took some cute candids of me as I graduated.

I did my best not to trip, fall, injure myself or others, bring shame upon my house, curse the village, plague my people, cause global warming to quicken its pace, etc. My mission was successful.

I was wearing several inches of hot as heck wedges by Vera Wang and truly felt as if I were going to snap my little ankles on the tarnished football field of dreams that we all had to walk on to get to our seats. Beauty is pain. Triumph is fist bumping your Stats teachers' husband when you successfully make it back to your seat successfully. Mind you, I am a "V" last name. I had maybe, at most, thirty kids left in the class after I was called. So it wasn't much longer after myself that the final kid, a guy with a "Z" last name, walked across the stage and earned himself a huge helping of claps.

One of our many rules was to not have a phone but of course I wasn't about to just follow such a simple rule mostly because I wanted to take cool pictures and take cool pictures I did.

We were given handy confetti stick things that we shook and multicolored pieces of paper flew all around and into my bra and my shoe and a cardboard stick flew into the back of my head because someone behind me had a bad case of the butterfingers.

Two years ago when my brother graduated I thought that the confetti thing was one of the coolest cultivations of slight hand movements resulting in a sea of white, green, and blue paper that I had ever seen. Being a part of it this morning was pretty dang satisfying as well.

After the ceremony finished all the graduates were wedged between two lines of teachers wishing us well on our future endeavors. I saw my Global Issues teacher from this past year and said, "It was nice knowing you Matthew" to which he replied with a laugh because your girl can't be penalized for addressing him by his first name any more. After all that hullabaloo I got to take pictures with a few of my friends. I like friends.

Hugs not drugs.

Cryin with joy on da inside.

Cheesin'. 

And well, today has been pretty eventful. A lot of pictures will a great deal of people that have impacted me positively in life and I have so many other pictures that I haven't shared on here that I'll treasure for the rest of my life. No, I wasn't hit with some grandiose epiphany today like I thought I would be. Maybe its because I checked out of high school years ago, maybe no one gets that feeling. All I know is that the ball is starting to roll for the rest of my life and nothing is certain and every day is an opportunity to be a better you and to make your dreams and hopes and aspirations a little less unattainable. I graduated today and am blessed for the path that got me here. Thank you to my family, friends, and even Karen (my AP Lit teacher). Graduation is just the beginning of all the good stuff. 

Lots o' love.

Hayley

xx

Saved By The Bell (Literally)

Hello, I have returned from my long winded trip to "finish high school with as much vigor and as little stress as possible." I'd say the trip was a massive success.

Yes, friends, I have finished the dreaded last year of high school. In less than a weeks time I will be a full fledged honors graduate of high school. Can we please take a pause to appreciate this momentous occasion for I will no longer be subjected to teachers who dress code me for shorts that are a mere half inch above my middle finger.

Bless Be the Broken Road plays in the background as the camera zooms in on my bed while a montage of all the mornings I've had to leave it flash in the background.

Anyway, I am both saddened and delighted by this fact for I do get massively nostalgic, I've still got a t-shirt I wore when I was six, but I am fully unprepared for the future and that makes me happy. No one has it all figured out and I have learned that trying to plan out your life is futile therefore I shall just do everything with as much effort as I can muster and make my future happen while also appreciating the present (don't forget about the present, you're kind of living in it right now).

My best advice for anyone extremely anxious about leaving the eagles nest (punny because thats my schools mascot) is to take it in stride. A great deal of people are unable to achieve what you have just achieved for many different circumstances and its a blessing that you are able to complete such a momentous mile stone. So cry about it, I definitely will, and take loads of pictures. Bask in the company of the people you grew up with. Even if you find most all of them annoying just be glad that you got to spend time around them because sucky people teach you the kinds of people you don't want to be around. Instead of spending your adult life questioning if Susie is an alright person just remember that Debbie acted just like her in junior year Chemistry and then maybe you'll be saving yourself some time. (Apologies to anyone named Susie and Debbie, surely you're upstanding citizens with nice smiles.)

I'm glad to leave high school. I outgrew it but I learned to appreciate it while I had it because college and life beyond is nothing like the crowded halls smelling of gym shorts and stale french fries. High school will not ever be referred to as the best time of my life because I know it won't be. I've got big plans that I'll make happen somehow but I'm just excited to spend my summer among friends and family and loads of watermelon.

Now, here are some pictures of one of my outfits I wore during my last week. It's super cute.

Am I Kelly yet? Yeah? Okay thanks. 

Kelly Kapowski shirt/Pac Sun
Blazer/H&M
Shorts/American Eagle
Shoes/Pac Sun 

And theres a picture of me trying to take a selfie during Stats. Look at that form. Magnificent. Much love. Until next time. 

Hayley xx