Don't Be a Floozy, Get a Beer Coozy

An epic 24 hour road trip, followed by 4 days of non stop music, dancing and fun - is what I just returned from. Being off work for 7 days is a luxury I have not had since I started working two years ago, so this was a much anticipated trip - and it lived up to every expectation I had.

We started on the road to Manchester, Tennessee for the 10th anniversary of the Bonnaroo music festival at the early hour of 3am Wednesday morning. Exhausted but full of excitement we started the trip with a stop to Timmies to get our caffeine fix - although not sure it was needed as the adrenaline was pumping pretty high through the car. With luck on our side, we had no traffic, no border wait, no snags hitches or difficulties - until we arrived in Manchester. Completely drained, uncomfortable and ready to be OUT of the car, we arrived at the exit to the festival to learn it was backed up 20 miles (an approximate 12 hour wait time).

The expert navigator Anmar got on her GPS asap and found a detour that got us in to the gates in just under two hours! Tent setup in the dark was interesting, and after all was said and done we sat down to crack our first drink of the trip at just before 3am.

Without going into too much detail - the four days following this consisted of waking up with the sunrise as it was too hot to sleep any later, hiding in shade as much as was possible, drinking lots of water and no booze because of the severe heat, and listening to some of the best music I have ever heard. It was such an incredible experience, and despite its many drawbacks I would (and will) definitely go back.

My favourite bands of the weekend were Arcade Fire, Eminem, and Beirut and the bands I was most disappointed with were The Black Keys and The Strokes. The stage presence and vibe was poor with the latter bands - giving the impression they were too cool for the audience, not my kind of thing. One new artist I discovered, from a suggestion by my friend Lia was Ben Sollee. He is a cellist who plays with a woman violinist Phoebe Hunt, and a drummer (name unknown) - and they were incredible. Many of his songs are based on political and social activism and the lyrics are astoundingly profound and moving for such a young man. 

The old adage of southern hospitality could certainly be affirmed here, as the people we met were some of the most genuine, friendly and welcoming people I have ever known. The vibe of the festival was probably what I loved most about the whole weekend - never feeling an ounce of pretentiousness, negativity or danger. While some of the hippies were a bit extreme - trying to sell beer cozy's without even knowing how to pronounce the word (Be The Man, Have Frost On Your Can!) the majority of the festival goers were eager to meet new people and share a piece of the shade when needed.

Check out the picture/video slideshow below to see what the weekend consisted of:

The Painted Lady

I am officially inked! What I tried to do in March, and then April...finally happened in May. This was a long awaited challenge that I chickened out of on a couple of occasions and was incredibly nervous to have done. But I must say that I absolutely LOVE it, and could even see myself getting another one.

The entire day leading up to my 6:15pm appointment I was thinking "I'm cancelling, I'm not showing up, I'm NOT doing this!!!" I was absolutely petrified about the pain, envisioning it being something like a scene out of Hostel. As I sat on the table while he prepared the print - I started chatting with another woman who was there getting her fourth tattoo. She could tell I was a novice - as I was taking lots of deep breaths and sweating profusely - and she was explaining to me the meanings behind all her tattoos and how it really isn't that painful, and she promised me she wasn't lying.

While I don't think that conversing with her actually helped me be less afraid of the pain, she did help to distract me from my nervousness and before I knew it he had the needle and was ready to start. I warned him (tattoo artist - Eric from New Tribe) that I would probably be screaming and crying, and he said in all his years tattooing he had never once had someone cry and that I couldn't be the first. So like a brave little girl - I crushed my friends hand and made faces instead (see below for video footage). It helped that Eric was an incredibly cute guy, so I didn't want to look like a fool :)

It DID NOT feel good. But to be honest, it really didn't hurt that much. There were parts that hurt more than others - I would explain the feeling to be like a bee sting over and over again and the after feeling is like a bad sunburn. The pain is so brief though, that almost as soon as you're done getting it you've forgotten how awful it felt. And really, the most inconvenient part of the process was the forced week and half of no working out, cause I couldn't put on runners until it scabbed.

I'm so happy that I went through with it and had it done - I've always thought about getting a tattoo and now that I've got it, I'm not sure why I waited so long. I don't know if I will ever get another one, probably not unless there is a reason for it - but it was a great experience and something I'm so happy I can say I've checked off my bucket list!