Blog- The New Black

Coachella Day 2: Hindsight is 20/20

Knowing how absolutely awful it was to nearly freeze to death on Day 1 of Coachella after expecting sunshine, warm, and sunburns I knew I had to prepare for Saturday, day 2 of Coachella. Like the saying goes- hindsight is 20/20 and I wasn’t going to fall short on warm clothing.

Day 2 was on its way to warmer temps, but just to be safe I scoured Lauryn’s giant suitcase in hopes of finding some warmer clothes that would be fashionable enough to keep me from looking like a bum who piled on everything inside my own suitcase.

Since I packed mostly warm weather clothing, appropriate for the desert- I ended up wearing all of Lauryn’s clothes. The only items I can claim are the accessories: shoes, waist bag, and scarf (not pictured, but needed once the sun went down!).

I managed to pull together some hip denim on denim and tied up my shirt for a DIY crop top. I also knew it was time to rally with a power bun for an extra boost of confidence.

However, by midday my dogs were barking! The polo grounds are hard. While the booties are ideal for keeping me warm, giving me extra height, and looking overall pretty cool; they are not built for comfort. I spent the good part of the day time hours barefoot like a true hippie and was greeted with a lovely surprise of a glitter bombing that took place inside my one shoe without me knowing.

Highlight of Day 2? M83 rocked my socks off completely. Radiohead closed the night out and it was my first time seeing them which was also pretty darn epic. They played a 2 hour set with an outrageous light show (pictured above).

Check out the full recap and fashion photos of Day 1 at Coachella here.

9am

Coachella Thoughts & Fashion

Coachella 2012 is now over and I have finally recuperated enough to sort out my thoughts and write a post on the trip.

To say Coachella was wild would be an understatement, but I’ll just leave it at that. It was my first time heading out for the music festival and it was also my first trip to beautiful Palm Springs.

Lets get down to it- What I Wore, Coachella Day 1

Trend wise I think I did alright- crop top, lace, neon, and booties seem to cover what’s hot on the festival scene and what is parlaying over to street wear. The booties were a great addition- any closed toe shoe is a must at this festival, it keeps your feet free of all the ick and goo. A waist bag is also a must have at a festival- an easy way to keep your belongings safe and close by while also leaving you hands-free and ready to dance at a moments notice.

The weather was unseasonable cold on Day 1 and I thought I would be warm enough wearing jeans (the only pair I brought) and the booties. They definitely helped, but I needed some extra warmth and scooped up an empty garbage bag drifting away in the sandstorm.

The garbage bag may be the least glamorous way to stay warm, but it definitely helped when the temps dropped to the 40’s. Lauryn Effie also had to layer up over her very adorable bandeau top.

Even though the weather was atypical it didn’t stop any of the good vibes flowing through the polo fields. Everyone was making the best of the weather and just happy to be celebrating the music. Neon Indian was our first show of the day and they did not disappoint. JPC and I saw them in Cleveland earlier in the year and this performance was significantly better.

Ending the day with an amazing show from Amon Tobin, Day 1 more than met my expectations. The show wasn’t one I would normally consider, however it was amazing. His light show will blow your mind. He is much more than a musician and truly has a rockin stage show.

Performance wise it was the day I was least excited for, but in the end it set a great tone for the festival and we knew the weather was bound to warm up the next day.

8am

When A Blogger Bakes…

Part two. I had such unbelievable success with the to-freaking-die-for Nutella cake that I made for Christmas that I was feeling ballsy and ready for some Easter baking.

The end result was cute- but like I’ve mentioned before, I don’t have the best hand eye coordination so frosting those little suckers was a bit difficult. Actually, the whole process was a bit more difficult then I bargained for (and made me about 30 minutes late to Easter dinner)

Right off the bat there was trouble. I couldn’t find an egg cookie cutter for the life of me, probably because I was two days away from Easter and all the other prepared bakers had purchased theirs far in advance. I did however find a strange avocado storage container that had an egg-like shape and was able to improvise quite nicely.

Next up- I baked the cake on Friday as not to procrastinate and leave myself scrambling on Sunday morning. However, my dummy self waited until Sunday to actually remove the refrigerated cake from the cake pan. As you can see in the photo- this was a major cake FAIL. My greasing of the pan served no purpose and destroyed my beloved cake.

JPC and I darted to the grocer hours before the party to pick up new ingredients and get to baking a new cake- this time lined with parchment paper. PARCHMENT PAPER IS A THING OF THE GODS and eased my cake out of the pan perfectly. Lesson learned- never bake a cake, no matter what, without lining it first.

All in all the project worked out and everyone thought the cakes were delicious and adorable; everything I could ever ask for. If you take anything away from this I hope its that I am: A. crazy in the kitchen and B. parchment paper rocks my socks and you should use it too.

*in this last photo, please note the dental floss, which we used to attempt to cut the cake in half (I just do what the internet tells me) (it didn’t work, FYI). Please also note the DVDs that were used as levels to make sure the cake cutting was well, level. I swear my kitchen isn’t normally this chaotic.

8am

Color of the week: TEAL!

This week its been all about teal- perfect for Easter and perfect for a Spring day! The weekend started off with a good friend’s birthday party and his amazing girlfriend baked this beautiful ombre blue cake that was to die for. We ate, drank, and we were merry (so merry I didn’t make it to yoga class in the morning)

For Easter Sunday I baked, constructed, and designed these little Easter Egg Cakes with the help of JPC. For those that know me in person its very clear I don’t have the best motor skills. Really, my hands work like those of a 5 year old so while I always have great DIY ideas in my head the execution isn’t always the best. These worked out, but I’ll be sharing the experience in more detail later this week- it was a wild ride ;)

Last but definitely not least I was able to sit on the couch and enjoy some truly decadent macarons from Coquette Patisserie. I have heard from quite a few people- including @EatDrinkCLEV that these were *the* macarons to purchase in Cleveland. I hadn’t yet placed an order, but thanks to the lovely @CaraLageson and the Yelp folks I was able to enjoy a sample as a surprise! How blue is that blueberry? PERFECTION.

9pm

Happy Friday Folks! If you’re working today- pop in your headphones and jam to this.

itsjustjared:

Justice - On’n’On

this video (and track) is, using the great Rad Summer’s exact words, “total dopenesss!”

just one of the myriad of reasons that excite me about this year’s Coachella festivities!

Via there was me, that is jared

9am