Ramshackle Glam A lifestyle blog by Jordan Reid.

Considering that I’m a girl who grew up smack in the middle of a whole lot of concrete, it never ceases to surprise me how much beach is apparently sitting there in my blood. I mean, I like a good pair of leather pants and some heels, but if I had to wear flip-flops every single day for the rest of my life that would be just fine by me (and I stand by the assertion that Havianas are one of of mankind’s Great Inventions).

What I packed for our four days in Key Largo: “sensible” (for me, anyway; “sensible” is an extremely relative term) bathing suits that I can actually haul around dive tanks in, a pair of nylon shorts that heavily resemble Umbros (remember those?!?!) and that I’m actually rawther into, muscle tees that function as beach cover-ups but that easily go out at night (here, at least) with the addition of a bunch of jewelry…and flip-flops.

There is a pair of leather shorts sitting in my suitcase for our stopover in Miami Beach (where our friend Jeremy is taking us out to a place where I suspect Umbros won’t fly), and a hairdryer just in case…but there are few styling tools better than the sun and the sand.

P.S. In the mood for some beach hair but not in close proximity to an actual beach? Click here to learn how to make your own beach hair spray.

On Me: Malibu Native Tee; Vintage Cuffs (similar); Kelly Wearstler Koa and Perforated Rings; Swarovski Earrings ℅; Voyage Necklace ℅ LAGOS; Lipstick Queen Lipstick in Pinky Nude; Orlane Bronzer; Bobbi Brown Surf & Sand Eye Palette.

I would like to live in this exact spot for the rest of my life, please and thank you.

PS Come hang out with me on Instagram, because the Wifi here is terrible but for whatever reason my phone works, and so Instagram is basically where I’ll be for the next couple of days.

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Hahahahahahahahahaha.

Today was RIDICULOUS.

I’m laughing now that it’s over and I’m sitting in a bar in the company of some iced tea and steel metal drums, but let me tell you: I was not laughing at the time. Not even a little bit.

First, though, a digression. Let’s look at some pretty pictures, because it is REALLY pretty here.

Now.

See that happy and relaxed-looking person in that last photo up there? What she did not know was that about ten minutes after this photo was taken her boat would be in the middle of swells large enough that they would literally send her flying from side to side in the boat like a tiny little Raggedy Ann. She did also not know that these swells were so large that they would continue to throw her from side to side like a tiny little Raggedy Ann even when she was thirty feet below the surface of the water with a scuba tank on her back, staring at a shark (!) that went from being quite far away to being really quite close in a matter of seconds (thank you swells, please don’t do that again k?).

And she certainly did not know that these swells would cause her to become so seasick approximately one minute after exiting the water and returning to the boat that she would find herself literally dangling over the side of the boat in the I-just-drank-a-bottle-of-tequila position and doing things in front of people that should really only be done while all on your lonesome.

It wasn’t just me, guys. It was EVERYBODY. You know that scene in Bridesmaids? It was like that. I’m not even kidding; people were, like, pushing each other out of the way for the two prime leaning-over-the-side-of-the-boat positions.

Anyway, we’re fine now. I may skip the ceviche tonight in favor of, like, bread…but we’re fine.

(My ego perhaps a little less so. The most mortifying part: our guide was a Marine. Not, like, a “Marine,” like an actual Marine. And I’m all oooooo the swells are too much for me oooooo let me lay down. Sigh.)

It was also pretty funny.

You know, in retrospect. At the time, not so much.

(We’ll try again tomorrow.)

This is a century egg.

It is quite literally the strangest food I have ever encountered in my life. Also called a “Hundred-Year Egg,” a “Preserved Egg,” a “Thousand-Year Egg,” and a “Horse Urine Egg” (oh yes), it’s an egg that has been preserved in a mixture of clay, lime, ash, salt, and rice hulls for several months (like this).

According to legend, the Century Egg was discovered during the Ming Dynasty by a man who returned to his home, which had been under construction for several months, only to discover a few duck eggs that had been buried in quicklime. He ate them for some unknown reason and boom: tradition, born.

I first read about century eggs years ago, shortly after I started Ramshackle Glam, and ever since have kind of kept my eye out for them – because as not-especially-palatable as they sound, they also sound crazy in the I-need-to-experience-this way – and last weekend?

FOUND THEM.

Here is what happened.

I don’t get to hang out with my dad enough.

He spends half his time in California for work, and so the hours we’ve spent together these past few years have amounted to a quick dinner here or an afternoon together there in between trips.

I’m getting older, and more and more I’m realizing that I miss the time we used to spend together, just the two of us, doing stuff that we only do with each other: taking cheese tasting classes. Riding motorcycles. Scuba diving.

Talking.

Whatever.

When you’re an adult, and especially when you’re a parent with all the responsibilities that come along with the care of young lives, it’s hard to make time for…well, anyone, honestly. And especially hard to make time for your parents, mostly because they tend to be pretty understanding of all that other stuff you have to do. And so you put off time with them for later. When the kids are older, maybe.

But we’re all getting older.

Not maybe; for certain.

I’m moving across the country. And now I’m a parent, and I understand how that feels to my own parents:

You want your children to do what’s best for them, to do what they have to do, to build their own lives and have their own families and their own experiences and their own adventures, but still, there’s a voice inside of you:

Stay just as you are.

Stay here.

Stay with me. 

Dad and I used to travel alone together a lot when I was a kid – we drove to Canada together to buy my first car from my aunt, we drove across the country together after I graduated from college, we went on diving trips, just the two of us swimming through dark water with tanks and flashlights and maybe a parrotfish or two. But we haven’t done this in…I don’t know…a decade, maybe?

Our relationship hasn’t always been easy, but it has always been big. Too big to let fall to the side, even if holding on is harder.

And so, for his birthday, we booked a trip: four days of scuba diving, just us two.

I don’t want to be away from my kids and I’m nervous about how much I’m going to miss them (which feels, right now, like too much), but this matters to him, and so it matters to me. It’s so easy to let relationships that aren’t right there in your face get deprioritized in the noise and madness of raising a young family, but it’s just the truth: Our time with the people we love is finite. And it’s worth making the effort, doing whatever we have to do to make sure the days don’t just slip by until they’re gone.

So today, off to Florida we go. To scuba dive. To eat stuff. To talk. And mostly just to swim together in the quiet, with nothing but the sound of our breathing to keep us company.

via @christiebrinkley on Instagram

Please look at Christie Brinkley.

I mean, seriously.

#ageless.

So the primary question I have about Christie Brinkley’s skincare line is why it took her so long to develop one. Maybe she wanted to walk around as a living example of the spectacularness of whatever it is that she’s been doing to her face a little longer? (No real need; she convinced me that I should do whatever it is that she tells me to do about ten years ago.)

Regardless: she has one now. I had the opportunity to preview Christie Brinkley Authentic Skincare, and it’s simple and thoughtfully created, with an eye towards cutting out the frills and focusing on the elements that really make a difference.

Over the past couple of years, I’ve been really noticing the effects of the sun damage I subjected myself to over the past three decades (and most substantially in my twenties, when I did a lot of laying out in the California sunshine with no sunscreen on) – sun spots are starting to show along my hairline, and there’s a new dark spot on my cheek that I’m not thrilled about. Because it’s not only not especially pretty; it’s scary.

I get it now, and I want to make sure you get it, too.

When it comes to skincare, sun protection is everything.

Christie Brinkley Authentic Skincare is centered around this idea, and contains products that are formulated to defend against Infrared damage (most creams only defend against UVA and UVB rays, which represent only 7% of the sun’s rays that reach us). It’s not just “full-spectrum sun protection,” which you can find in lots of products…it’s better than full-spectrum sun protection.

Pictured above:

• Recapture 260 Night Anti-Aging Treatment: A night cream designed to improve firmness and elasticity and reduce fine wrinkles.
• Complete Clarity Daily Facial Exfoliating Polish: A creamy scrub that exfoliates skin while adding moisture.
• Refocus Eye + IR Defense Serum Infusion Eye Treatment: A treatment that instantly brightens and firms the skin under and around the eyes while protecting against Infrared damage.
• Uplift + IR Defense Firming Neck & Décolleté Treatment: A cream that tightens the delicate neck and décolleté area while upping collagen and elastin production and protecting against the sun’s rays.
• Complete Clarity Facial Cleansing Wash: A foaming gel cleanser that’s gentle on skin (it works for every skin type) but still powerful enough to remove makeup and impurities.

My personal favorite products are the Exfoliating Polish, which is creamier and more moisturizing than many other exfoliating products I’ve tried, making it a good pick for those with dry skin, and the Neck & Décolleté Treatment, which is light and non-greasy but specifically works to protect an area that’s especially vulnerable to sun damage (and one that often goes unprotected).

Christie Brinkley Authentic Skincare debuts on HSN this week, and you can pick up Christie’s personal beauty regimen – the Anti-Aging Day Cream, Anti-Aging Night Treatment and Complete Clarity Daily Facial Exfoliating Polish – for just $69.

This post was created in collaboration with Christie Brinkley Authentic Skincare.