Sweetlife music + food festival 2014

A little over a year ago I wandered past a poster for Sweetlife music + food festival hung in the window of Sweetgreen in Georgetown. It advertised having the acts Pheonix, Passion Pit, Yeah Yeah Yeahs, MS MR, 21 pilots and many more. I knew I had to go. Unfortunately, it was on the same day as the Taylor Swift concert which I absolutely refused to miss. I was bummed. (but Taylor rocked, obviously) When the lineup came out this year I was elated that it was just as cool as the previous year so I bought tickets and the festival did not disappoint. (Disclaimer: I am not any sort of musical critic. This is mostly going to be about my experience and I may critic the artists a little bit because they were part of the experience.)

The doors opened at 12 and that's about the time we arrived. It was a bit of a drive. (almost 2 hours) When we got there the line to get in was crazy long so we waited for about 15 minutes to see if it might get shorter. Eventually we realized that the line was not going to die down anytime soon so we sucked it up and got in line. By the time we finally got into the festival the first act was almost over so I didn't see much of him. I was starving after the 2 hour drive so we went off to find some food and (regrettably) missed all of Bombay Bicycle Club and Hozier. I'm trying not to harp on it too much. After all, it was a music AND FOOD festival. On our way to get food we saw a paint station and stopped to paint each other which really made me feel like I was at a music festival.

There was also a face painter there and I never turn down free face painting. (or any face painting really) I already had some paint on my face so I opted for some little daisies on my collar bone and my friend got and eye on her cheek. 

We also stopped by the bathrooms which were pretty gross (I'll spare you the gory details) but otherwise unremarkable. I just wanted to bring them up because I wanted to include this mirror selfy in which I found my key lighting. (I've decided that my key lighting is any coloured lighting)

Finally I got to eat. *praying emoji* We went to Sweetgreen's stand because that seemed the considerate thing to do on account of they put this whole festival on. I was pleasantly surprised but how delicious my salad was. I wish I could tell you what kind of salad it was and what it was called but I can't remember. I do know that I'll be going to Sweetgreen again soon so I can vaguely describe the salad in hopes that they'll know what I'm talking about. 

The music and food was all great, but in all honesty, my favourite part of the whole day was The Haiku Guys. I've never felt more sure of what I wanted than when I saw the sign "free haiku" and knew I needed a free haiku. I waited in live for a while for that haiku but it was worth it. All you had to do was give them a topic and they'd write you a haiku about it. My topic was New York City and the haiku they wrote was beautiful. I also may or maybe not have slightly fallen in love with the boy who wrote it. (Sorry I used the work 'hiaku' too much just then) 

After all that it was almost time for bastille so we raced back to our seats. Bastille was beyond what I expected. I knew they were going to put on a good show but they blew me away. I can't even talk about how precious dan, their lead singer, is. They had an impeccable amount of energy. You can tell they love what they do and love sharing it with everyone. 

(Obviously) I was hungry again after Bastille so this time I went to Shake Shack's stand because Shake Shack's mushroom burger is my one true love in life. They had a much smaller menu than usual so I felt #blessed that the mushroom burger was on it. When I was eating my burger I noticed almost everyone was carrying daisies around and I was very intrigued because daisies are not just my favourite flower, they're pretty much apart of my soul. I almost shed a tear when I finally found the stand that was giving out free daisies. I carried them with me for the rest of the day and they're currently in a vase on my kitchen table. Thank you, whatever company was giving out daisies. 

Foster the People was the last act and I had fun while they were performing and I think they did a great job closing the festival, but I'd like to take a minute to talk about my lord and savior Lana Del Rey. Let me preface this by say I have loved Lana since I was a freshman but in the past year or so I've distanced myself. I think it's the hype that made me cynical. It seems that the most annoying people I know are also the biggest Lana fans I know. (sorry) But when she walked onto stage all that love came flooding back. Watching her perform made me feel like I had been born again. I don't have a big enough vocabulary to describe the infiniteness I felt while she sang 'Blue Jeans'. It wasn't spectacular or attention seeking. It was humble and had a quite kind of marvel to it. She was so grateful for every single person there but at the same time it seemed as though she had forgotten there was a crowd of thousands and thought you were the only person in the room and she was talking and singing specifically to you. It was a kind of magic I've never seen before. In my mind she closed the festival. Even as Foster the People were performing, she was all I could think about. 

Overall the festival was an amazing experience and I feel so lucky to have been there. 

I left my heart in LA

       I've recently been watching the music video for "Never Enough" by JJAMZ about 30 times a day and it's been making me miss LA. There's something so magical about LA and it's a ability to combine the big city environment and small-town-pancakes-in-a-diner-at-3-am aesthetics. I think there's also a certain nostalgia that everyone can feel because of the obvious history that that town holds. There's a weird feeling you get when you're in LA that Greta Garbo was exactly where you are right now 80 years ago, and Kendall Jenner was probably there last week. It's a beautiful collision of old hollywood glamour and new age porn star turned top model turned motivational speaker, and everything in between. God, I miss LA. Que nostalgic vacation photos:

Heartbreak Hotel

HEARTBREAK HOTEL

Don't you think that it's boring how people talk? 

Making smart with their words again, well I'm bored
Because I'm doing this for the thrill of it, killin' it
Never not chasing a million things I want
And I am only as young as the minute is full of it
Getting pumped up on the little bright things I bought
But I know they'll never own me

Baby be the class clown

I'll be the beauty queen in tears
It's a new art form showing people how little we care 

We're so happy, even when we're smilin' out of fear
Let's go down to the tennis court, and talk it up like yeah 

Pretty soon I'll be getting on my first plane
I'll see the veins of my city like they do in space
But my head's filling up fast with the wicked games, up in flames
How can I fuck with the fun again, when I'm known
And my boys trip me up with their heads again, loving them
Everything's cool when we're 

all in line for the throne

But I know it's not forever

Baby be the class clown

I'll be the beauty queen in tears
It's a new art form showing people how little we care

We're so happy, even when we're smilin' out of fear
Let's go down to the tennis court, and talk it up like yeah

It looked alright in the pictures 

Getting caught's half of the trip though, isn't it?

I fall apart with all my heart
And you could watch from your window
And you can watch from your window

Baby be the class clown
I'll be the beauty queen in tears
It's a new art form showing people how little we care

We're so happy, even when we're smilin' out of fear

Let's go down to the tennis court, and talk it up like yeah 

Baby be the class clown
I'll be the beauty queen in tears
It's a new art form showing people how little we care

We're so happy, even when we're smilin' out of fear
Let's go down to the tennis court, and talk it up like yeah

The lyrics are from Lorde's Tennis Court