I've had a few readers ask me to share my everyday hair styling routine here on the blog, so today I'm doing just that! A few things before we start: I'll touch on my styling products a bit below, but you can see the other stuff I use regularly (shampoo, conditioner, smoothing serum, etc.) in this post.

Also I want you to know that I wash my hair once a week or less, and I find that the best curls are on day 2 or 3 after shampooing. I know everyone's hair is different, but hair that isn't super clean usually holds curl a bit better.

My current styling favorites: Dry Shampoo | Curling Iron | Hair Spray

1. Spray roots with dry shampoo. Use your fingers to blend it in.
2. Separate hair into two halves--tie the top half up in a loose bun. Take the bottom half into three or four sections and curl each one with the curling iron. (I do this by clamping the middle part of each section with the iron and turning the iron as I release the handle, bringing more hair into the curl each time.)

1. Untie the top bun and divide that into two halves again, once again tying the top part up. Repeat curling the pieces into 2 or 3 sections this time.
2. Take the very top section that's in a bun and divide into 2 sections. Tie one side back again and separate the other into 2 more pieces. Curl them, making sure the one closest to your face gets curled away from your face (the clamp should turn the hair toward the back of your head, instead of curling in toward your face). Repeat with the last section. 

1. Once the curls are all cool, spray everything with hairspray. Use your fingers to tousle the style a bit--some people brush the curls out but I just leave them as they are (I find that after a while they get less ringlet-y and look a bit more natural, but if I brush them out my hair just gets really big in a bad way). 

Let me know if you have questions! I feel like I did a bad job explaining the instructions--I do it so often that I don't even think about it anymore. And if you have other post requests, I want to hear them! I'm planning to start sharing cocktail recipes soon, but if you have other beauty posts you'd like to see (or anything else, for that matter), please do let me know and I'll try to make it happen!

Photos by Andi Perullo for Freckled Italian.

Last year we spent Memorial Day weekend in South Carolina with our friends Tina and Michael, and this year we were lucky enough to do the same. Both times, Rob and I have come home completely relaxed, well-rested, and sore from laughing for three straight days. This year there were ten of us at the beach house, and it was a weekend packed with sunny mornings on the water followed by rainy afternoons of endless games of cards, homemade piña coladas, bottomless chips and queso from the grocery store, and our beach tradition of a Saturday early bird hibachi dinner at a Japanese steak house, which had us back at the house well before 6 PM for more cards (and queso). 

I really haven't been to the beach with anyone but Tina in some time--I wrote this post in 2014 after her Dewey Beach bachelorette, when my parents were breaking up and I was wondering what family trips might look and feel like after a divorce. I hadn't thought much about trips with friends before that point--maybe because we hadn't done too many of them, but Tina and Michael's house in Richmond has always been a place that felt a lot more like a second home than a place to spend a weekend away, so until we started vacationing together I hadn't really given any of it a second thought. Regardless, it's been such a gift these past few years to get away and relax with some of your favorite people.

I have always been blessed with friends who feel more like family, and multiple times over the past few days--as her husband and mine stood under the porch grilling burgers together or while Tina and I chopped fruit over glasses of wine and reheated cheese dip and wiped down the coffee pot before heading the the beach to catch whatever sun was left in the forecast--I was once again overwhelmed with gratitude for these rituals we've put in place as we've grown up. And I'm already looking forward to the next long weekend.

I hope you had a beautiful holiday, wherever you were.

Happy Friday! We're headed to South Carolina to spend Memorial Day weekend on the beach, and this outfit it totally in my suitcase. This grey dress is one of my favorite pieces, and it's so long that I have to wear it with my highest heels, which just happen to be the most comfortable platform sandles in the world! And you guys know how much I love this hat.

Dress: BCBGeneration | Shoes (similar): ShoeMint | Hat: Merona at Target

Photos by Andi Perullo for Freckled Italian.