Sock Buns

If your hair hangs past your shoulders, and you're like me - incapable of mustering the effort to blow dry your hair before 9 a.m. -- man do I have a trendy treat for you! It's called the sock bun, and not only does it take under 2 minutes to complete, but it's also a versatile hairstyle, capable of being dressed up or down. 

The Sock Bun on my sister, Brooke for Taylor's college graduation party. 

I can't take credit for this hair craft; my jewelry-making sister showed me this style a few weekends ago at my vintage-shopping sister's college graduation. On the day of Taylor's graduation, we overslept the alarm and woke up at the time we were supposed to leave the house; four of us needed to shower and primp before we left, so the sock bun was our saving grace. Brooke was nice enough to share the style with me in a pinch.

Me and Brooke sporting our sock buns.

Okay, so down to the meat of the post. How do you make your own sock bun? 

To start you need:

• A tube sock that you don't mind cutting. The tube should be about as long as your ponytail. You'll also, preferably, want to use a sock that is similar to your hair color (e.g. not a yellow argyle sock like mine).

• A pair of scissors

• Bobby pins

My sock already has the heel and toe cut off. 

Step 1. Cut the tube of the sock to separate it from the heel and toe. You'll use the tube; discard the heel (or use it as a soggy ankle sock or bathtub plug). 

Step 2. Pull your hair into a pony tail. I prefer a high pony tail for my sock bun, but the sock bun will work anywhere. The Stephanie Tanners out there might opt for a side pony sock bun. 

Step 2

Step 3. Pull the sock tube over your pony tail.

Step 3

Step 4. Begin to tuck the ends of your pony tail up into the sock as you begin to roll the sock down over your pony tail.

Step 5. Keep rolling. 

Step 6. When you roll the tube all the way down, you'll end up with a perfect bun. I usally pin down the bun with bobby pins and spray a bit of flexible hold hairspray to keep my hair from revealing the sock.

The sock bun from the front. 

Finished product from the back.

To finish off this easy-peasy hair style, I like to pair it will long earrings to dress it up, and jeans and tee for a more casual, yet sophisticated look. 

H&M sells this texturized bun maker for $3.99, but I've had better luck with a sock.

The sock bun is a long-haired, blow dryer-evading girl's dream. I haven't tried or seen this style on curly hair yet, but I imagine it would look just as cute. No matter your hair type, test it out for yourself and prepare for the compliments to show themselves in. Happy hair days to all of you!

Photo credit: Mister Jordan S. 

Ziplining Maui

The name of this adventure starts with the first syllable of a feature on your pants. 

That was clue #3 of 3 that I gave Jordan in order to figure out what we were doing for his Maui birthday surprise. Ziplining!

It was both of our first times zipping down a mountain, and the canyons above Kaanapali were the perfect setting for a birthday-themed adventure. So we piled into the off-road van and the 14 of us – 12 zippers and 2 guides – made our way up the winding, bumping, red dirt road.

Preston and Pat were our guides. I appreciated their alliterating names and their complementary personalities. Preston – a zipline guide by day and reggae singer by night – “graced” us with his melodies and obviously recycled jokes. Pat – soft-spoken until he wasn’t and last year’s supposed Employee of the Year – offered a more subdued humor that you had to pay attention to notice: little mumblings under his breath and off the wall comments like “Have you guys seen We Bought a Zoo?...great movie.”

At the top awaited 8 lines averaging about 500 feet in length and varying in height off the ground. As you would expect, the lines got longer as we went along, so as we got more comfortable we had the time to look around and enjoy the impressive view.

Looking down on Lahaina. 

On an adventure scale of 1 to scary, I’d give ziplining a cool 5. Before I explain why, I should mention that I think Splash Mountain at Disneyland is scary. It’s true that I’ve bungeed jumped before, but that was an isolated incident brought on by post-Australia identity confusion. So really, you should consider me a bit of baby when it comes to thrills. That said, ziplining was not scary; I’d put it somewhere in between surfing (not scary) and mountain biking (kind of scary). It’s like white water rafting – a perfectly approachable outdoorsy adventure. 

Here’s a video of me on one of the middle lines (with a bit of narration from Preston).

We were also invited to take running starts and curl up into a ball once on the line in order to maximize speed and fun. Here’s a video of Jordan doing a running start.

At the end of the final line, the group surprised Jordan with a round of "Happy Birthday" that sufficiently embarrassed him. Mission accomplished. 

Me and the birthday boy.

I'm curious: Where have you ziplined?

Best of Maui 2012

Aloha from Maui!

Jordan and I just got back from 7 jam-packed days on The Valley Isle. Other than forgetting to bring socks (me) and spilling a Mai Tai on our iPhones (also me), the trip was flawless and filled with adventure. Here are the highlights.

Marine life Turtles and dolphins and geckos - oh my! I was overjoyed at our wildlife sightings last week, particularly the afternoon that a pod of about 40 dolphins swam, jumped and twirled by about ¼ of a mile off shore in clear sight from our room. Jordan said I sounded like the Double Rainbow guy as I squealed and snapped pictures; I'd say I was more excited. Because of their apparent size, I believe they were the spinner dolphins that are unique to tropical waters and characterized by their smaller body and impressive acrobatics. I wanna be a dolphin!

Dolphins splashing on by. Although they're hard to see in this picture, trust me that there were so many of them!

Jordan taking in the view. 

Hey turtle.

Potassium-rich diet

If you’re not one for warm-watered beaches or dolphin sightings, good news: Maui has banana bread...everywhere. Baked goods in general are the way to this gal’s heart, and banana bread is abundant on the windy, country roads of Maui. So while we toured the northern and southern lobes of the island -- and only in the interest of writing a thorough blog post for you -- I did my fair share of taste testing, so I can attest that Julia’s was indeed the best banana bread in the world.

Snack time.

I did it for you...and the potassium. 

Black Sand beach

My favorite stop on the obligatory road to Hana was the black sand beach around mile 31 on Hana Highway. Nestled inside Waianapanapa (why-anna-pah-nah-pa) State Park, the beach’s black sand is striking, and its waves are perfect for swimming and floating.

Underwater cameras are so cool.

Lunch in a crater

Haleakala volcano was the most unique adventure of the trip. 10,023 daring feet above the sea, the crater hike offers a scene that is otherworldly -- very Stars Wars-esq. We made our way down Sliding Sands trail, which Jordan aptly pointed out was named after Hawaii’s first settlers, Arthur Sands and Tom Sliding.

Veggie sandwich with a view.

Ziplining  

I surprised Jordan on his birthday with a zipline adventure. The 4-hour excursion was filled to the brim with classic adventure guide tomfoolery, not to mention amazing views and thrilling zips. Shout out to Skyline Eco Adventures for having a delicious veggie sandwich waiting for me at altitude. More to come on this soon! 

Mama’s Fish House

I also had the best meal I’ve ever had last week. Mama’s Fish House serves fish that was caught on Maui that day, and because it was Jordan’s birthday we treated ourselves to Mai Tais, crab cakes and a banana crisp too. We basically rolled out of the restaurant. Hands down, this was the most delicious dinner I’ve ever had, and the company wasn’t so bad either.

The view from Mama's Fish House - home of the best Mai Tai.

Aloha!

Out of Office: June 9th-19th

Hello. 

The Kate Keeper is currently vacation. 

We'll be back June 20th. 

My Summer Polish Pick

A note for those of my friends and readers who don't like feet: there is a small but close-up photo of my (post-pedicure) feet in this post. A note for all people, everywhere: My feet are clean, but not pretty. 

We actually had a relatively chilly winter here in Santa Barbara, which means I too get to experience the excitement of pulling out my sandals for summer just like you East Coasters. So much for not having my cake and eating it too, huh?

In celebration of this joyful annual event, I treated my tootsies to a pedicure yesterday, and, considering that my feet had been holed up inside my shoes for months without any attention, I went to the nice place in town. You know, where they use that exfoliating salt scrub and wrap hot, wet towels around your feet? There really is nothing like a great pedicure, and a bonus benefit of going to the nice place is that they usually offer in a fine color selection. Aqua Nail Bar in Santa Barbara is our nice place, and they delivered on color.

Ladies and gentlemen-who-continued-reading-about-nail-polish, say hello to Camera from Essie's Poppy Razzi collection! This is my official summer polish pick.

It's sold out on Nordstrom.com, so, yeah...that.

It's coral! It's pink! It's red! It's NEON, and it's my color of choice for the summer. I can't wait to try out the rest of the cheery collection.

Camera - it looks orange here, but in person the neon and pink come through. 

I'm not much in to matching my toenails to my fingernails, so while Camera sits pretty on my toes this summer, I'll don my other favorite Essie color of the season, Splash of Grenadine, on my fingernails.

"Morning, Sarah. That's a very nice purple dress. It's very purpley." - Elf

Happy summer nail polish shopping!

Green (with Envy) Thumb

So here’s the thing: I’m bad at plants.

And this just isn’t fair, because my mom is Miss Green Thumb. I’ve watched her transform many a yard from overgrown or bare into flourishing Edens. That shit should be passed on genetically, so you don’t end up with desk plants that look like this.

Oops.  

So this spring I planted a garden in an attempt to ameliorate my reputation as a gardener. With the help of my darling younger sister, we weeded and churned mulch into a plot of dirt. We saw worms and spiders and bugs, oh my! And at day's end, we had planted rows of carrots, radishes and green onions and sprinkled in a few basil plants and pinwheel daisies too.

In our gardening hats, channeling the energy of all the gardeners who came before us. 

From there I couldn’t stop. I pruned the dead jasmine plant. I watered like a madwoman. I even got a new succulent for my desk. (It’s still alive too!)

My vegetable garden has sprouted up, and I can’t wait to harvest the goods into a delicious salad at summer’s end. Pictures and salad recipe to come!

Before.

The garden bed, post-weeding. 

Carrots sprouting up. 

Baby radishes!

If you’re considering planting a garden and you have more patience than I do (you probably do), I’d recommend starting your seeds in little cups and then transferring them to your plot; I lost some seeds due to unforeseen spring rains. And for you city-dwellers who may not have a patch to churn, potted plants are festive and just as rewarding! These ones from The Proper Pinwheel are next on my DIY list. Check ‘em out, my fellow agriculturists! 

If you need me, I'll be reading BH&G in the gazebo. 

Tortellini Summer Salad

Last week, as a thank you for granting her access to my Amazon Prime account, my darling older sister (there’s a darling younger version too -- see below) sent me a cookbook I had “saved for later” in my Amazon shopping cart. It’s called Super Natural Every Day, and I cooked my first recipe from it two nights ago. 


Me and my sea-stars on New Year's last year. 

Usually this is where I would put a tantalizing photo of the colorful and gorgeous salad. You would see the lemon-garlic-olive oil dressing shining off broccoli as green as a rainforest. You’d see an avocado so perfectly ripe and yellow-green that you’d write to Essie to request a nail polish of its color. The striking picture would have you feeling the texture of the ricotta-filled tortellini on your tongue, and you’d swear you could smell the mint exciting your senses. You’d pin it to Pinterest under your “Make This Tonight” board. 

Welp, no such picture exists. The lemony-minty, crunchy-creamy combination possessed me long enough that by the time I thought to snap a quick jpeg, the whole batch of the satiating summer salad was resting happily inside our tummies. So, you’ll just have to make it yourself!

Here’s the recipe. (Note: I got everything I needed at Trader Joe’s.) 

• 1 package (16 ounces) of ricotta-stuffed tortellini 
• 1/2 head of broccoli (I chose broccolini because it looked pretty), chopped into small trees
• 8-10 asparagus spears, chopped into 1-inch segments
• 1 clove garlic
• Pinch of sea salt
• 2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
• 1/4 cup olive oil
• Small handful of chopped almonds
• Small handful of chopped mint (cilantro works too, but I highly recommend mint)
• Small handful of sprouts
• 1 ripe avocado, chopped

Cheers to summer salads and pretty peonies!

Directions: 

Boil water and add tortellini. Cook according to instructions on package. About 30 seconds before the pasta is finished cooking, add the chopped broccoli and asparagus. Cook for 30 seconds; then drain and rinse with cold water, to stop cooking. 

In the meantime, to make the dressing, use the flat part of your knife to mash the garlic and salt into a paste. Whisk together the garlic paste, lemon juice and olive oil. 

When you're ready to serve the salad, toss the pasta, asparagus, broccoli and mint with about half of the dressing. Add more dressing to taste. Add the sprouts, nuts, and avocado. Toss gently and serve. Use the remaining dressing for leftovers...if you have any! 

If you like this salad as much as we did, you'll want to check out this sample menu of some of the recipes from Super Natural Every Day. Let me know which ones you try and like! The book is also $14 on Amazon. 

On a related note: who else is granting access to their Amazon Prime account in the interest of getting free gifts? You can bet I’m gonna leave a lot more items in my “Save for later” section. Thanks Brookie!