Joshua Tree Adventures & Photoshoot!

Joshua Tree Adventures & Photoshoot!

Hey there guys!

This past weekend Jackelyn, Sam and I drove to Joshua Tree National Park, 2.5 hours away from LA! It was Jackelyn’s last weekend in LA so we wanted to do something special for her. My sister has become quite the outdoors-woman in the past few years and she’s all about rock climbing, bouldering, hiking and everything REI!!! She got into it as she was training for American Ninja WarriorThat upper body strength doe!

For the first time I learned how to “scramble”. No, not eggs. Scramble means to “make one’s way quickly or awkwardly up a steep slope or over rough ground by using one’s hands as well as one’s feet.”

And awkward it was!!!

At one point, as I launched my body forward to grab onto a rock, I slipped and landed belly flat onto the boulder which was angled at around a 30 degree decline. Then I started sliding, down, slipping, lower, and lower….my raw belly making contact with the frictiony granite surface of the slope, hands sliding too, skin…scraping…

Sam held my heels as Jackelyn grabbed my hands and they helped me onto my feet and back to safety.

It. Was. Scurry.

But somehow, fun??? Adventurous?

I liked it, so we ended up scrambling more! Up higher boulders! I scraped up my knee and bled a little, but no worries, I’m ok!

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Here’s a wonderful shot of me and my sister after we scrambled. What could we be looking at?

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I was so not prepared for the dryness and heat of Joshua Tree. I brought a big bottle of water and drank the entire thing before we even started any of of real activity. Luckily Jackelyn brought this Camelbak contraption that looks like an IV bag with her in her backpack. I felt bad for drinking from her water source but I was so dehydrated that I could not even function.

After about 3-4 hours of hiking and scrambling, it was time to prepare for our photoshoot! Golden hour was approaching!

You must have been thinking…but weren’t you sweaty and disgusting? Well, ya know, when you gotta shoot, you gotta shoot!!! In addition to our lovely gowns, I brought a bunch of wet wipes to clean the dust off our bodies and feet. We did our makeup in the car and changed in there too. Heatless hairstyles.

 

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Not bad huh? 🙂

I am IN LOVE with my dress from The Jet Set Diaries. This emerald teal color is everything to me. And the fluidity of that skirt? It’s a fairytale.

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Here’s baby sis in a gorgeous skirt from Anthropologie and my crop top from Brandy Melville. I’ve been saving that skirt for like a year now. Never knew the right occasion for it. But I think what we’ve all been waiting for was for sis to sit on a rock in the desert and pretend like she was in an Anthro catalogue. PERF.

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I decided I wanted to try sitting on the rock too.

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Look at those Joshua Trees!  Don’t they look alien like!? The trees are scientifically referred to as the Yucca brevifolia. 

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Sam told us to turn around and smile candidly.

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Check out the back of this dress. And that skirt flow is just ON POINTTTTT!

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My sister is headed back to the Bay Area today after a month of living with me, and to be honest, I am sad. She is a ball of light and laughter. I have not gone home yet, I’m still blogging from my desk at the Blogilates HQ, but I am afraid that when I get there and see her empty room, that my heart too, will be empty. I’ll keep you updated on whether baby sis decides to come live in LA with me or if her heart takes her far away. Whatever she decides, I know that her adventures will be epic.

Oh and I forgot to say…that night when we were driving back from Joshua Tree, I saw my first ever meteor while on the freeway. It was the MOST INCREDIBLE THING I HAVE EVER SEEN. It was just magic. SO MAGIC!!! White and blue with a super long trail of sparkles…and soooo big!!! I don’t know what it means, but for sure, I will never forget seeing that for the rest of my life. I am going to wish that you will get to see a meteor one day too.

I hope you enjoyed these photos! And big thank you to Sam for always being such an amazing photographer!

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13 thoughts on “Joshua Tree Adventures & Photoshoot!”

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  1. Taryn says:

    You guys look amazing!

  2. REET says:

    You look so beautiful Cassey!! Even your sister!! That dress is so lovely and I love the colour too!!!AWESOME!!!

  3. Lee Rae Gun says:

    You look like princesses ahah love it

  4. Hannah grace says:

    beautiful pics cassey!!

  5. Ayla Kianmehr says:

    These pictures are absolutely beautiful! You and Jackelyn are so beautiful! You two have such a natural beauty on the in and out no matter what you wear or what size you are. Embrace your personality and embrace your body because you are STUNNING!

  6. Kathy says:

    Amazing photos 🙂 As much as I love how the dress looks on you, I love the skirt Jackelyn’s wearing a lot more 🙂 probably because it is so colorful!!!
    I hope I can go back to US one day and go see some of these amazing places myself. It’s four years now and I miss the warm hugs and the kindness over there. I feel quite lonely here in Europe, Austria, maybe thanks to my broken heart, yet maybe thanks to the fact that university started again and people seem to ignore me and I don’t know why. I smiled at them, I had a good mood although my life tends to escalate a bit lately and I have all the reason to cry. I woke up today, wondering if or if not I should go outside because yesterday all I wanted to do in the end of the day, was crying. I might give it another chance though, I guess 😉

  7. tazkattoo says:

    The pictures look great even though they make me miss my bis sis a bit (we live 9+ hours apart by plane). However, the professor in me wants to give a very stern lecture about being prepared whenever you go out in the field. I am glad that everyone was okay, but little mistakes like not bringing enough water can be deadly. Joshua Tree is at least populated, but I have been places where other than my field partner the next closest person was something like ~100km away. That is when a mistake like not bringing water and not wearing proper hiking clothes (shorts and sleeveless shirts are big do not wear items in desert conditions) are deadly. Sorry, professor lecture is now finished. The outfits look great.

  8. I can’t believe you got to model for Anthropologie! I LOVE their hippie boho fashion and I can’t afford any of it.

  9. Alyssa Doman says:

    I have always wanted to go to Joshua Tree National Park! I’m a huge U2 fan and have always wanted to go see the infamous tree! Loooooove the outfits

  10. Emily Mikula says:

    It’s so scary yet exhilarating when you almost fall like that. I never knew climbing an incline that steep was called scrambling though.

    I’ve done it at Crowders mnt in NC. That mountain is notorious for people falling and I was almost added to it’s death count once. Very loose dirt after a big rain the day before is a dangerous combo. Only thing that saved me was burying my fingers is the dirt and like clawing my way up.

    So scary but made me feel more alive than anything lol. Stay safe on those kinds of hikes and never go solo!

  11. Corina Hill says:

    Thank you for sharing this! It’s so awesome to see the bond you and Jackelyn have! ??

  12. Loumar says:

    You’re both pretty Cassey!!! You and Jackelyn are incredible in your dress after doing adventure scramble. I hope Jackelyn will stay with you for a while so that you can do more adventures and trips together in the future!!!

  13. Christina K says:

    So pretty!!!! I really love your dress and the skirt your sister was wearing!!