Pearly Whites

Today has already proven itself to be a weird day.  Thus far, an FBI kidnapping suspect crashed a stolen vehicle literally right outside the door to my office building and reportedly ran into one of three buildings (of which my office building is one) and had literally 100's of police looking for him.  There were also snipers on the roof of my office building just moments ago because, when he ran into the alley behind the building, I guess they decided that was their best vantage point...??? Current update: the suspect still has not been found and is believed to be armed and dangerous... Nbd!  Needless to say, shit's gettin' CRAY in downtown LA!  (Rhyming in the face of danger is WAY cooler than rhyming just because...) Also part of the current update, I may or may not be on the verge of peeing pants. Yikes!

Anyhoo, I thought I would post about literally the most random/boring thing possible amidst all of this chaos... as I watch the stolen, crashed car get towed away outside my office window.  So today, I've decided to talk about: TEETH WHITENING!  Now before you stop reading and close out of the screen, hear me out.  This actually is a pretty valuable gift of information I'm going to give you and if I am to meet my maker after I publish this article, I will die happy knowing that I have imparted this information to you all.  That's. How. Good. It. Is.

So here goes: Did you all know that one of the most effective, easy and cheap ways to whiten your teeth (and keep your mouth clean) is probably already sitting in your medicine cabinet?  And if not there, at your local drugstore for roughly $0.99?  It's called:

Hydrogen Peroxide...

Yep.  Gargling with it/letting it sit in your mouth for about 10 min is a verified way to whiten your teeth.  Now I'm not going to claim it is an overnight miracle solution because that would just be false, but if you swish a cap full of it combined with a cap full of water around in your mouth for about 10 min every day or every few days, you will start to see positive results after about a week.  Trust me on this, I've done it myself and it has worked!  Which is nothing short of miraculous as I have a habit of consuming copious amounts of Diet Coke daily and the fact that my teeth aren't the color of tea, speaks volumes!

The other selling points for this simple at-home remedy are as follows:

1. It doesn't really taste like anything, which means it doesn't taste bad. Fact.

2. It isn't painful, unlike a lot of teeth whitening kits that feel like a thousand tiny pins pricking your gums.

3. It will rid your mouth of loads of bacteria, as an added side benefit (because clearly, aesthetic benefits rank first in priorities).  So fresh and so clean, clean!

4. Gargling with peroxide is also good for getting rid of canker sores and sore throats.  #truth

So ya, that's it.  I know this post might not seem like a lot but trust me, that's some solid gold advice right thar.  And most importantly, having white teeth increases the chances of you smiling more often and SMILING IS AWESOME!

Ok guys, I'm out.  Hopefully, I will be around to post tomorrow.

XOXO

Walking On A Dream

Hey haay party people!  I am back from the desert!  Well truthfully, I've been back for three days now but today is the first day that the Coachella glow is starting to fade and reality is coming back into focus.  I had the absolute time of my life and that was in spite of losing my ID, credit card, money, VOICE and worst of all, lip gloss!  (Cue: "Waa waa"). The whole weekend was an expression of utter epic-ness, I assure you and I am now on the road to recovery for all of the aforementioned misplaced items including my voice. Soon, I'll be looking forward and not backward but until then, I wanted to give one last shout out to the experience that is Coachella before we wave goodbye to it, here on Keeley Kraft (until next year, that is!). 

So I thought I'd give a little music debrief on the blawg since last week all of the airtime was monopolized with fashion-talk.  Now, I mos def need to preface my discussion of this topic with the fact that I am by no means a musical expert.  While I could give you a 2 hour dissertation on the merits of yacht rock, I am probably the last person anyone would come to for any musical shop-talk, outside of that genre.  Which is why, I stayed close to my Coachella "docent" throughout the duration of the fest and am delighted that I did.  But also note that, as a result, the majority of the credit for these artist mentions is due to her.

I saw some of the "favorites" and had to miss some others due to scheduling conflicts but in my humble opinion, Lana Del Rey, Girl Talk, Foster the People, and Lorde were all fantastic!  Outkast - ummm.. not so much, honestly!  I didn't get to see Pharrel (but I heard Gwen Stefani made cameo! Noooo!).  We also missed MGMT, Cage the Elephant, Muse, the Preatures, Classixx, Grouplove, CVRCHES, the Knife, Calvin Harris, Aloe Blacc, Sleigh Bells, Solange - all of which I wanted to see but alas, such is always the dilemma at these things.  Here are my top 5 shows that I actually did see, that I'm newly ALL. ABOUT.:

1. EMPIRE OF THE SUN
I've liked Empire of the Sun ever since I heard "Walking On A Dream" several years ago but their performance was so over-the-top phenomenal that they deserve my "Best In Show" award for all-around awesomeness.  IT WAS INSANITY!
Songs of note: Walking on a Dream, Alive, DNA

2. FUTURE ISLANDS
As I was informed of the Thursday night prior to day one, these guys made quite the splash after their Letterman performance and have been tearing it up since! The video of the performance went instantly "viral" and took everyone by surprise. Their lead singer, Samuel T. Herring, is quite the passionate vocalist and is a sight to see because he literally pours his heart into the microphone. 
Songs of note: Seasons, Balance, A Dream of You and Me, One Day

3. CHROMEO
These guys were so fun to listen and dance to and I think surprised everyone with their show.
Songs of note: Bonafide Lovin, Jealous, Night by Night

4. FLUME
My "docent" and her friends have coined a verb out of listening to these guys and after taking in the concert in person, I can attest, a gerund was needed to describe this feeling.  "Fluming" the act of listening to Flume in concert, is an experience not to be missed out on!
Songs of note: You & Me, Drop the Game

5. HAIM
I had heard of these badass chicks last year and was stoked to see them in person.  Let me tell you, they did not disappoint!  These three sisters know how to rock it FO SHO.
Songs of note: The Wire, Forever, Don't Save Me

I was not a huge Disclosure fan prior to the fest and we actually had to leave their concert early for "undisclosed" reasons (haha) and subsequently missed Arcade Fire too, which played after, but this Disclosure song has been running through my head on repeat ever since:

Give it a few listens, promise?

*Also, a shout out needs to go out to Flash Tats, which I posted about HERE.  Talk about a breakout role at the fest - these glittery temp tats were the BOMB DIGGITY!

Oh, and remember the watermelon shorts I posted about, way back here? Well, I wore them alright, and I even made this little GIF to show them off!

Hee hee!

So, that's all I've got for you today.  Thanks for indulging the incessant Coachella posts on here as of late.  Normal posting will resume after the hump [day].  Catch y'all on the flip side!

XOXO

It Was All A Dream...

"I used to read Word Up magazine, Salt-N-Pepa and Heavy D up in the limousine.  I let my tape rock 'til my tape popped."

... And then I woke up and realized it wasn't just a dream - it was reeeeal life!

Now, not to employ the "humble brag" but to 100% totally brag as humbly as I can get away with: my Coachella crew ("Coachillin") as we've dubbed ourselves, scored some invites to the "notorious" Lacoste pool party this year.  It's a "dream" come true!  Altho', as psyched as I am, it's a loaded invitation as one is not only invited to attend but also to "bring it."  BUT since I am not one to shirk on my responsibilities... oh, it will be BROUGHT.  "And if you don't know, now you know..."  #RIPbiggie

It took some scrambling on my part but I've finally compiled my pool party look and believe me, y'all - it is so fetch.  Now, I'm going to preface my reveal with the admission that those of you who know me in person can attest to: I don't like to go somewhere and not make a statement - especially not this star-studded shindig!  So, here's what I've been cooking up:

Get 'em HERE.

Get it HERE.

Get 'sum HERE.

So fresh, right?  And dare I say, "JUICY"? LOL.

Now, just in case you were looking to source some hot desert pool party styles for yourselves but you're not willing to show up looking like a piece of fruit (or you prefer seedless ;) - I've got you covered (actually, not literally but who's objecting?).  I was drooling over these smokin' swimsuits before I made my final call:

Get it HERE.

Get it HERE.

Get it HERE.

Get it HERE.

Get it HERE.

Get it HERE.

So MAJOR!

I'm excited to get a little fruity as I bake in the scorching heat but moreover, since I've yet to meet someone who didn't swoon over a slice of cool watermelon on a hot summer day, I'm expecting to be the life of the party!  See what I did there?

Oh, and this post "is dedicated to all the teachers that told me I'd never amount to nothing.  To all the people that lived above the buildings that I was hustling in front of.

It's all good, baby baby! "

The Palm Desert Strut

Sup y'all?  Howz your Tuesday hangin'?  Today, in keeping with the proposed common thread for the posts this week, I'm going to post about Coachella style and fashion.  I bet you all didn't see that one coming from a mile away.  Yes, the obligatory Coachella fashion post is ripe pickins for a blogger such as myself and I am not about to miss out this opp for nobody or nothing - no siree bub!

So let's cut to the chase... I'm not going mince words here because we've got a lot to get through... In other words, there was a flagrant disregard for editing on my part with regard to this topic so this isn't going to be your standard stop-and-chat style post.  Buckle up and get ready for a thorough ride of inspirations.  Brrrrrrm brrrrrum:

Get it HERE.

Get them HERE.

See my post on Flash Tats.

Get some here.

Find out how to DO THIS YOURSELF, here.

And now, for a good ol' fashioned round up for you all to outfit yourselves in a similar fashion. BOOM.

1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14

Aww yeah... Pump up the jam, pump it up!  I'm gittin' amped!

A Hair-Brained Idea

HOLA COMPADRES!  Welcome to the start of a new week! (How's that for positivity?!)  I hope your weekends were swell!  Mine was eventful, to say the least.  It even included winning a bet in which my friend has to buy all of my drinks whenever we hang out for the next two months (I have a feeling I won't be seeing him much during the next few months :) and ended with attending a WrestleMania party - which was WILD! (Spoiler alert: The Undertaker got taken! TALK ABOUT AN UPSET! #ThankYouTaker).  Anyway, fun times.

Speaking of fun times, this upcoming weekend I'm heading to C*O*A*C*H*E*L*L*A.  Woot woot!  This will be my fourth year attending the epic music festival in Indio (Palm Springs), CA and needless to say, I. AM. PUMPED.  To lead up to my departure, the posts this week will have a Coachella theme to them, so if you're not going and me talking about it is like rubbing salt in your jealous wounds - consider yourself warned. :)

Now, if you know anything about Coachella, you know that the festival is just as much about the fashion and the scene as it is about the music.  I would be lying if I told you that I hadn't had my outfits for each day that I'll be there, planned out for a month already (buuut keep that to yourselves).  Falling under the general fashion umbrella, hair styles are not something to be overlooked in the planning stages either!  The first year I went, it was totes the thing to have those feather extensions in your hair, then it was the 70's style hippie headbands, and then it was flowers and flower crowns, then headdresses - but one thing is unequivocally certain: braids are always accepted.  They supersede all other hair trends as they rank high on the scale of hippie expression.  Thus, if you can figure out a way to weave a tiny braid in and amongst your hairs, you are as good as golden.  (I am speaking generally to the ladies here but I doubt a lad would be turned away if they showed up sporting one too).  Lucky for me, I came across this super sick way to incorporate the small braid at this place on the internet called Pinterest, and lucky for you all - I'm going to share it with you!!  You flock of lucky ducks, you!   Behold:

Pretty groovalicious, huh?  Now if you're going too, consider this my official permission to use the style too but with the caveat that if we run into each other and we're both rocking this braided hair headband, you have to say I found it first... Deal?  K cool.

Happs on the Monday, y'all!