When a bus full of hippies arrived in LA,

On May 4th I finally tracked down the merry gang of hippies that I have been listening to for years now, 

 I saw Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros in concert!

It was a big night...

It was my first concert. 

By that I mean, my first real concert...

 Where I ditched the teeny-bopper pop concerts of my past once and for all and bought the tickets, all on my own, to go see a band who I am genuinely head over heels in love with. 

I love everything about them, their natural, raw sound, beautiful lyrics, their aesthetic and overall message.

Yes, you could definitely label me as a "super fan".

I had never been more excited to go to a concert in my life

It was my first time going to the Greek Theatre and  it did not disappoint. 

The venue was beautiful., probably my favorite venue that I've ever been to.

I walked into this...

and we found our seats here...

The trees and mountains and fresh spring air... everything felt magical and intimate. 

Our tickets were labeled "Section B", and me being the inexperienced concert goer that I am thought that meant that we were in back of "Section A" (closet to the front of the stage) and we had pretty great seats...

My, how I was so wrong... You see that back wall in front of the stadium lights? We sat on the bleachers directly in front of that wall. In the VERY  back. Yeah, we didn't even get "real" seats. Just bleachers.. 

Yup... that's how I role.. x) but honestly, I still thought our seats were great. I was just so happy to be there. 

When the sun fell out of the sky, that's when the concert began...
I can still hear the sweet sounds of "Mayla" filling my ears. 

Though the concert was way more mellow that I expected it to be, (I was picturing jumping and dancing and screaming- It was more sit and sway and listen) 

it was still amazing. 

It was just so incredible to even be in the same proximity as this band who makes music that makes me so happy. 

The crowd was certainly not as pumped up as I expected them to be, 

my sister and I were likely the most enthusiastic fans in the crowd,  but I kind of loved it that way. 

I was so excited to be there... and I danced and screamed and jumped like no one was watching :) 

They played all my favorite songs, (Up from Below, Janglin, Fire and Water, Om Nashi Me, 40 Day Dream,) 

as well as a lot of new songs from their recently released album, that at the time were fresh and beautiful and unrecognizable. 

They have since released their album and I have learned all the names to those songs that I heard that night. 

Some of my new favorites are Man of Fire, Mayla, Dear Believer and That's Whats Up. 

But seriously, I went through all the songs on iTunes, and just ended up buying the entire album because I love everything so much. It's the perfect soundtrack for summer.

(listen here)

At the end of the night I couldn't leave without one of these

 

and it was hanging on my door for weeks because I thought it was so cool...

 haha

I love you, you crazy hippies... :)

These first two weeks of summer have been crazy, so so crazy... Sorry for my lack of a better vocabulary, but I'm so sleep deprived right now that my thought process has been diminished to that of a 3rd grade.  why am I up then, you may ask? and I would answer,  I don't really know... I guess it's just that so much has happened in these past two weeks, I feel the unsettling need to jot it all down, document it somehow, remember it you know? Its been those kind of weeks...

So now I'll attempt to reflect with photos & words
(photos that,sorry, aren't the best because a. they were taken on my crappy not iphone, and b. because they were in the heat of the moment..)

-A first day out of school bonfire in my backyard, with wonderful people who like to have shopping cart races in parking lots, and drink grape cool aid. Oh and who without any shame, profess their love for 4 Non Blondes- Whats up and belt out the lyrics with me

- A bbq at an old friend's house turned into yet another bonfire where I tasted the best salsa on the face of the planet as well as viewed the ceremonial burning of a school year's worth of homework... very therapeutic

-Being invited by a sweet friend to an amazing Cambodian family bbq where it felt like I was being transported into the deep south. Complete with cold beer, rickety bikes, huge vegetable gardens and old homes on roaming plots of land... she lived in an area called "Sleepy Hollow" . enough said? 

Later, for a fathers day dinner, we went to a little bbq restaurant called Johnny Rebs, recommended by my sweet friend of course, where the southern feel of the day was amplified by a thousand. It was like a southern vortex in the middle of southern California. It was amazing. 

-The Summer Solstice:

 Spent at the 2nd street Stroll and Savor with an amazing group of friends laughing and eating and enjoying the great scene. My favorite Solstice yet. When our tickets ran out, we skipped over to a wonderful uber-modern playground (those playgrounds are quite impressive now) where we spun and jumped and laughed like crazed children... When night rolled around we made our way over to the beach, and kicked off our shoes, dipped our toes into the soft sand and plunged into the ocean... It was so warm and wonderful and we splashed around and screamed and went crazy...It was beautiful. Everything was a pale blue color under the crescent moon, and the city lights were shining in the background.  The beach seems to be even more beautiful at night

-My first couple weeks of my new internship:

(visiting the construction site of the building we are renovating)

I'm one lucky girl. I love my new job. My funny coworkers, my fabulous boss, the envirorment, my duties. a few highlights: my first project was to take photos of murals around the city, and my next major project is planning a party where yes, the mayor is invited. Oh, and they even provide exercise balls for us to sit on at our desks if we should decide that we want to strengthen our cores while answering phone calls

- Getting my eyebrows threaded in little india town, then going out for vegetable masala and chai tea with one of my best friends.

Then making a huge mistake of buying the Indian version coca cola soda (a.k.a. a Thumbs Up) solely because I heard Liz Gilbert write about it in Eat, Pray, Love. It tasted like sugary, bubbly, toilet water... those unfortunate indian children

-Celebrating one of my best friends birthday with a semi-successful surprise party planned by her mom. We went bowling for hours and told each other tons of secrets...because really, what is bowling without secrets?After that point, the night seemed to escalate into crazier and crazier events...We walked around her city afterwards where we sipped out of old-fashioned glass soda bottles, decorated random city landmarks with streamers and confetti, jumped over fences, looked at the stars, went a little wild on freeway bridges... we may have ended the night with a moonlit skinny dipping session...Maybe it was the soda? 

(sorry for the blurry photos, they seem to resemble the night) 

-a family picnic where my cousins and I formed some kind of Filipino army and spent an hour trying to hit my brother with a water balloon. we failed of course, my brother is a super human ninja. 

and O M G. 

we had the privilege of  viewing one of the great cultural phenomenons of our time. 

**LARPING!! **

They came marching into the park and began their battle before anyone knew what hit them. Clad with armor, swords and shields made out of cardboard... I was speechless. 

All I got was this fuzzy cell phone video. 

Summer, ,
so far you have been weird and beautiful and wild and glorious...everything that I love.

Perfection

Have you ever seen a more perfect summer ensemble?

This is the outfit of my dreams...

The lively vintage fit and print! the bare torso!

(and do I spot a Birkin?) 
She takes summer fashion to a whole new level.

Thank you, The Sartorialist

Au Revoir, Bonjour

This year went by so fast. I remember this time last year so vividly that it scares my to think that 12 months have already passed in between.
I want to reminisce...

It started with a lovely brunch at Le Pain on Melrose with my mom

As usual, the beach carried me through... 

and friends and friday nights

there was that day when we all sat under those giant, magnificent trees at UC Irvine

or those murky late night bonfires in my backyard, where things got a little delirious...

I think we all has so much energy this year, we were so eager to explore

There were those afternoons with my brother :)

and a fashion show, with beautiful dancers who performed on the runway.

That awesome art show with boys acting like statues and whimsical storybook trees

and this thing, which gets cuter each day

Those times when I got out of my little town, like to Pasadena (and the best coffee in Southern Cal)

Or to beautiful Los Feliz on a date with my dad, where we made a surprise visit to the Griffith Observatory

And of course study sessions... (@ Coffee Bean)

(and Portfolio's)

(and Starbucks) and pretty much every coffee shop in my town. I'm almost positive there's an imprint of my butt on one of the chairs at my corner Starbucks.

Then the first blossoms of spring on those glorious runs of mine (which I have since neglected)

And finally to the present, the beach picnic in Santa Monica, and the arrival of summer 2012.


Goodbye to this school year,
you were filled with
so many new people and experiences, and heartache and happiness.
I learned so much from you, and grew so much as a person.

Hello
SUMMER 2012
I can't wait to see what you will bring