Weekend Vacation: Coachella

What a amazing weekend full of some of my favorite things: friends, sun, pool, guacamole, dancing, and music music music. When the lineup for Coachella was released, I was secretly hoping to be disappointed so that I wouldn't be tempted to spend the extra money. No such luck. This year's lineup kept us busy! There was far too much to see and with the short set times, I was only able to catch a taste of some new favorite bands (ah hem Angus and Julia Stone!) Needless to say, my list of bands-to-see-live was quickly expanded in three short days. I suppose that's what this music festival season is all about.

Here's the weekend highlights in a few breaths: We kicked off Friday afternoon with Lauren Hill, The Black Keys and Kings of Leon...spent Saturday evening irish jigging to Mumford & Sons, singing our hearts out with Arcade Fire, and sweating with the Kills. Our last day was spent lounging to Damian Marly and Nas, basking in the desert sun with Best Coat, confirming our everlasting devotion to the National and finally tearing ourselves away from Kanye's jaw-droppingly douchey and awesome performance. New loves from Coachella are most definitely Foals, Two Door Cinema and Elbow - go check out these UK gems if you haven't already! I'm also even more intrigued by Sleigh Bells (this is after I mixed them up with Broken Bells, my bad!)

Learning our lesson from last year, we were able to stay at a friends' family condo just half an hour away from the venue. No more car camping! As we walked past the steaming hot tents in the parking lot, I had zero regrets of our decision. Every year gets better and better. Another go-round Coachella 2012?? We'll see!

More pics to follow. *PS: if you couldn't tell, I both love and love to hate Coachella fashion. This year was a little out of control with the hipster scene but I couldn't get enough out of all the self-expression that was happening out in the desert. Tried to take pictures but on many occasions, I was too in awe to remember to pull out my camera. How gross is that cigarette leg?! Mmmmhmm.