Golden braids

Hot weather is coming, I can feel it. On days when it's sticky, hot and muggy (thanks for that, Maryland), all I want to do is get my hair off my neck. I so wish I had even an ounce of talent for doing my hair so that I could make mine look like this on those summer days:

Photo via Design Crush

Aren't these golden braids gorgeous? I was totally inspired by that breezy do, so I went looking for some other braids. Here are my faves:


Photo from ellybeth on flickr

This girl's hair looks neat, out of the way, and cute.

And here's the girl who might just be the most recent originator (we couldn't forget Heidi of course) of the ubiquitous casual CA style, braids and all:

Lauren Conrad from The Hills

Jennifer Aniston rocked a little braid at...the Oscars. Who knew braids could be so fancy? I love this look on her, though, and she is the consummate California girl, so it works:


Blake Lively's braids look more Grecian to me, but I'm still liking them:


And another CA girl (I'm sensing a theme here), the ever-stylish Emily from Cupcakes and Cashmere, donned these braids when she needed a versatile style - she took this hair from a formal birthday party to a night out at the bar.

And she teaches exactly how she did this hair here.

So what about you? Do you ever sport the braids? Do you like the look or is it too Pollyanna for you? Do tell!