Nochella

Nochella, Brooklyn, April 16th, 2017. It was an inevitable feat trying to go to Coachella and Vegas in the same year again, but I was trying to make it work - until it was too late when I realized Coachella Weekend 1 was Easter & at that point the prices for Weekend 2 were out of control. Granted I'd waited later than ever to start planning, but this time I wanted to see the lineup first. We'd already done this two years in a row and there's 100 other places in the world I want to go, but just as expected the FOMO was just too much to bear. Even though I truly wasn't all that jazzed about this year's lineup, there's just something about being there. There's really no place I'd rather be than out in the middle of nowhere donning festival fashion and eating California's best food vendors while laying in the grass and discovering new music.

It's become somewhat of a tradition that I just couldn't skip, so I had my own Coachella. It was a bit of a challenge trying to recreate a 100+ degree experience when it was barely 60 (and drizzling), but Nochella 2K17 was going down like a plane crash rain or shine. That wasn't stopping the outfit I planned either, just a little modification - beauty is pain after all. I was all too prepared with my 6ft tall ferris wheel backdrop, two 6ft tall inflatable palm trees, flash tats on deck, hats on hats on hats, hair chalk in every color of the rainbow & bandanas to boot. I bought a Beats Pill just for the event and printed and laminated Saturday's lineup, the map of the festival grounds & some fun props to take pictures with. I had my laptop ready to go with the live stream, because the only thing I really couldn't miss was Two Door Cinema Club. Weather and all, my Nochella party was everything I wanted it to be (except a few food carts would have helped push this shindig over the top). I’m so thankful to my friends who humored me and stayed outside the whole time in the freezing cold, but it really was so much fun.

In fact, it was so much fun I couldn't let it go - so I did Nochella Weekend 2. It was nowhere near the level of Weekend 1, but hey, that's exactly how it is in real life too. Weekend 1 is when all the good surprises go down, which is why taking such a trek from Brooklyn I would only ever go to Weekend 1. Luckily for me, just a few weeks later I got to redeem my Coachella FOMO when Two Door Cinema Club came to Brooklyn, and The 1975, Fitz and the Tantrums & Empire of the Sun came to Jersey. It took a little bit of the edge off that by the time I go back to Coachella (because I am going back next year no matter what), it'll have been two years and that is just so crazy to me where time goes. Coachella really is like Christmas, waiting 365 days for the best thing ever. I assure you I already have plans in motion, because every year I leave my heart at Coachella and I have yet to get it back.