Lady Chatterly

We’re finally on the East Coast now, and recently it’s been a whirlwind of seeing old friends in New York, eating out at delicious restaurants, and exploring the city. Now we’re having a relaxing time before 4th of July weekend. We are spending these few days at my friend’s house in New Jersey which is in a small town and so peaceful and beautiful. I actually spent my very early childhood here, so it is always nice to come back and remember it.


Currently, I am reading Lady Chatterly’s Lover by D.H. Lawrence. Even though I majored in English Literature I somehow managed to get away with not reading it until now. It’s strange how that happened; I also missed out on Jane Eyre and Slaughterhouse 5 (and so many other classics) so I have been trying to catch up! Lady Chatterly spends a fair amount of her time feeling melancholy in the forest, so I decided to do a little Lady Chatterly inspired wandering. However, once I got into the woods I couldn’t stop a few smiles from sneaking into my pictures as it was such a magical evening. There were ducks and geese in the pond nearby and I didn’t meet anyone on my walk, so I had the woods and the filmy sunlight to myself.


Now…the only thing that would complete this set of pictures would be the attractive gamekeeper!
Shoes: Steve Madden, Shorts: French Connection, Belt: Thrifted, Shirt: H & M

Asheville

We just left Asheville and it’s one of my favorite cities that we’ve visited so far. It is beautiful, filled with old brick buildings and lots of trees. There are some areas that felt so tropical to me because of the vines climbing over trees and balconies. We stayed with Elise’s friend who works for Hilton, so we were lucky enough to escape from our tent for two nights because he kindly got us a hotel room. He was a wonderful tour guide and showed us all of his favorite hideouts.



I had a really successful day thrifting on the first day we were there and bought a brown wool swing coat with a fur collar for only $5! (On the subject of fur…I am completely opposed to the fur industry and would never buy new fur. However, I feel bad for all of the poor animals that die and then have their pelts end up in some smelly pile in Goodwill.) A pair of beautiful red sandals also caught my eye along with this dress, so I’m thinking I may have to pass through Asheville again the next time I need to do some thrifting!
Sandals: Gap, Belt: Thrifted, Dress: Thrifted

Bonaroo Recap

Bonaroo was so crazy that I really didn’t take any pictures. So I recreated one of my Bonaroo outfits to show you guys! Weirdly enough, as soon as I put on this dress I saw another girl in the campsite wearing it. Bonaroo was so amazing, we saw so many performances. My favorites were Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros, She and Him, The Gossip, The Flaming Lips, and Jay-Z. And…I served salad to The Flaming Lips! WHAT?!?

My life has pretty much been all about festivals for the past two weeks, so I decided to write a little survival guide of festival must haves for those of you who are heading out to have some hot music filled days this summer!



Festival Must Haves

For your bag:

1. Sunscreen: This is kind of a no brainer, but I was surprised by how many people were wandering around with seriously bad sunburns. One bad sunburn can ruin your whole weekend people! Nobody wants to be the girl (or guy) who has to wander around in a long sleeve shirt and heavy hat in 100 degree heat!
2. Wet Ones: You will come in contact with Port-a-potties, spilled beverages, other people’s sweat, random gross fluids, and mud. Wet-Ones (I like the ones in individual packets because you can just shove them in your purse) or any baby wipes are great for at least attempting to clean yourself. Also good for removing makeup when you wake up at 5 in the morning and realize you forgot to take your eyeliner off because it has melted all over your cheek.
3. Head Scarf: Good for preventing a sunburned scalp, holding back unwashed hair, wiping away sweat, you name it.
4. Sarong: So useful! I bring mine along to use as a blanket to sit on but it is also good for using as a wardrobe staple in a pinch: ie when you leave your tent wearing just your bikini bottoms and realize you made a seriously poor clothing choice. Also good for dousing in water and draping over your head when the vicious begins shining in your direction.
5. Spray Mister: Essential. If I had not had mine during She and Him I probably would have expired from the heat and missed out on seeing Zooey so close up I could practically touch her. This saved my life, especially in the mornings when I had turned into a sweaty sausage from my oven of a tent. Also, totally reminds me of my 90’s childhood. Anyone remember toting around a white Squeeze-Breeze with neon green stripes?
6. Snack: You will get hungry and realize that all of the food to be had costs ridiculous amounts of money. All you have to do is reach into your granola bar holster (when I get hungry I want my food fast) and eat your freaking delicious Odwalla bar. Problem solved.

For your campsite:

1. Shade Structure: So important for the mornings before you gather enough energy to walk to the music. When you wake up sweating in your tent with your sleeping bag stuck to your body, all you have to do is roll out the door into the shade. If you don’t have a shade structure, make friends with someone who does. Also, do not buy the $40 one from Wal-Mart. It does not work and you do not want to try to put it up when you are too warm to think. (If I sound bitter, it’s because I am. I will get you back Wal-Mart!)
2. Head Lamp: Keep it in an obvious place, use when it is too dark for you to see your feet or the puddle of mud that seems to have appeared inside your tent.
3. Chairs: There’s nothing like a nice place to rest your sweaty self in the mornings before you spend your day standing/huddled in a tiny spot on the ground (on your sarong, mind you).
4. Appropriate Shoes: Rain boots. While it may be hot, it will probably rain. And then you will thank me because you will be wading through the mud like a pro. Also, sandals. Now this is difficult. You don’t want flip flops because you will end up splattered from scalp to the ends of your burned toes with mud when you finally pull them out of the sink hole you will inevitably step into. You do, however want something you can wash off. Gladiator Havaianas are the best solution I’ve found.
5. Car Chargers: You forgot to charge your phone/lantern/camera/ipod? Bring chargers for all of these items and you will not have to spend the weekend leaving graffiti messages for your friends stating your whereabouts in the hopes that they will find you.
6. Mini Speakers: I know, you are saturated with music. But you know what? You wake up in the morning and all you want is more more more. And so does everyone else. BAM. Solution.
7. Duct tape: Good for taping your shoes/tent/bumper together. Also good for making shorts. (What? Beware…it will remove the top layer of your skin.)

Reservoir Heat - Nashville

Well here we are in Nashville, trying to recover a little bit from Wakarusa while we prepare for Bonnaroo . Wakarusa was pretty mind blowing but so hot! I didn’t really see any of the bands that I wanted to see during the day because it was so humid and sunny that we couldn’t leave our teepee. The nights were fun and we saw some amazing performances, especially Robert Randolph and The Family Band , who I was most excited about seeing.

Now we are staying at the J. Percy Priest reservoir which is so beautiful. Last night we made super fresh vegetable-tastic minestrone over the fire and this morning we woke up to birds outside our tent and took a swim in the lake. I took these pictures in a grove of trees near our campsite.

The dress design is originally from Topshop but I loved it so much that it fell to pieces so my sister got a copy of it made in Vietnam. It is perfect, right down to the reverse pattern lining on the inside and sweet little black buttons.

We are heading off to The Great Smoky Mountains after Bonnaroo and then on a bit further south. In two weeks we will be back in New York for quite a while so hopefully I will catch up with my posting then! I’m so excited about having some new readers, thank you for stopping by and checking out my blog!

Shoes: Topshop Belt: Vintage, from Cream Austin Scarf: Thrifted in Austin