16 Beach Bag Essentials

May 23, 2017July 28, 20175 Comments

*Hi there! Super excited to have a guest post~ here on Ampersand. Just like how I love sharing cool new things with you, I love when people share awesome ideas/tips/events with me! Meet my friend Sam–blog enthusiast & fan of Ampersand. Y’all can follow her blog here on Instagram.

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Sam is a marketing professional in the Philly suburbs. When she’s not writing or working, she’s probably watching Grey’s Anatomy (or Villanova basketball #gocats) or online shopping.

Summer is coming! Life has finally slowed down enough to start planning some beach trips and really, really work on that summer bod. I’m excited to be doing my first Ampersand guest post and sharing what I pack in my beach bag! Currently packing up for a destination wedding in Cancun as we speak. You’ve gotta make sure you have all the essentials to have the most perfect, sunny trip.

The Bag

First and foremost, you’ve gotta have the perfect bag. My mama scored me the most adorable Isola monogram bag online. They’re hard to come by, but this Marley Lilly monogram bag is a close second. I also love this bag from Etsy–I wish I bought it for my trip to Cancun.

best beach bag essentials

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How to Get Easy, Beachy Waves

May 7, 2017May 7, 20172 Comments

If you grew up watching Laguna Beach or The Hills, then you remember how much we ALL wanted Lauren Conrad’s signature beachy~ waves. For years I tried to capture her messy-yet-put-together look, including using “scrunching” spray, sleeping in braids, perfecting the messy bun, etc. etc. Eventually I gave up and wore my hair super straight for a long period of time then experimented with tight ringlet curls, mostly because the elusive beachy waves thing was seemingly out of my reach.

Well, recently I decided to try–once again–to perfect the relaxed waves & I think I’ve finally got it right. Great thing is that you can do it relatively quickly (20-ish minutes depending on your hair length), with styling tools/products you probably already have. This is my first hair styling post ever, so bear with me & enjoy awkward selfies of me in my bathroom, yay!

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Your New Go-To Date Dress

May 2, 2017May 2, 20174 Comments

My sister Krista (aka the “cooler sister”) has a theory that every girl should have a go-to date dress. For a while, she rocked an adorable black tank dress with sunflowers all over it, but recently bought this off-the-shoulder number (super trendy~ right now) in California & now it’s been proclaimed as “the new date dress.” Obviously, it’s a great dress for occasions other than dates, but just in case you wanna make someone special swoon, check out more below.