Getty & Malibu

Today we hired a car to drive up to the Getty Museum and then around to Malibu, did I mention I had to drive the whole way?! Because Shane didn't have a credit card I was the only person allowed to drive, silly rule. So I've been getting used to driving on the wrong side of the road and also the ridiculous road rule where you can run a red light if no one is coming! It was a beautiful morning up at the Getty Museum and we got to catch the Herb Ritts photography exhibition. The view of LA is amazing from up here, you could see clearly through to downtown LA and almost the ocean. The clouds came over and made for an eerie Zuma Beach at Malibu in the afternoon - I just love those lifeguard huts! 

Venice Beach

This beach has been the hangout for the homeless, creative, artistic, poetic, z-boys and ball players since its boom around the 60s. We hung out down here for the whole day wandering the streets and checking out all the crazy stalls and shops. There are about 5 stores selling medical marijuana cards for $40 which explains all the stall holders that permanently have joints or pipes in their hands. At the sidewalk cafe we had the most delicious burger, then watched a bball game and the skaters while chatting to the locals. There are so many people hanging out down here everyday I wanted to know what they did to pay the rent, but as one girl tells me some just sleep there, sleep in their cars or crash on a friends couch. I couldn't see myself doing that - but I could see myself hanging out down here in summer a lot.

Los Angeles Day 1

Early start after a late last night at Coachella. Usually this would be such a downer, going home after a 3 day festival - it still is a little sad (I haven't taken off my wrist band yet) but there is so much more to do and see! Next stop LA! We are staying at the Fairmont in Santa Monica, such a handy location, close to the beach and shopping, and really has that Californian vibe with palm tree lined streets and beautiful sunsets. However you have to be careful what you wish for - we were begging for cooler temperates in Palm Springs and when we arrive in LA its a chilly 18 degrees - jackets? what jackets?! I had packed a few pairs of bikinis hoping to spend some time lying by the amazing pool slash beach out the front and getting a little further into The Hunger Games book I'm reading at the mo. 

Get me into that comfy hotel room and feed my belly I say! A little bit of shopping on 3rd St Promenade and a walk down the chilly muscle beach is about as much as my tired feet can handle today. We head back up to the hotel room later that night and order a chocolate lava cake off the 24 hr room service menu! YUM!

Coachella Day 3

So Im not gonna lie to ya, Its Day 3 of Coachella, the best line up so far, and I'm feeling a little worse for wear. I've got a fat lip with a cold sore on the way, swollen glands and blisters all over my feet. We get the taxi to the shuttle and on the way my brand new favourite denim shorts split up the middle! A quick stop off to the grocery store so I can grab a mini sewing kit and a bottle of vodka (for $15) and we are on our way. The shuttle is about a 40 minute drive from Palm Springs to Indio so i sew my shorts as best I can, and we are going to head to an Aussie mates (Lisa's) pad to catch up before we head in. The problem is we don't have a phone, no GPS or google maps to help us out  (how did our parents survive!) so we wing it and walk in the direction we think it is for about an hour in this 43 degree heat… silly decision. We arrive to her house and she's not there! Already gone in to the festival! C'mon this can still be turned around right?! Luckily her roommates have fantastic hospitality and let us right in for a drink and seat in the aircon and give us a number to call for a lift back into Coachella and save us the pain of that hour walk again.

We make it just in time for the last half of Santigold, and then its time for a little relax time in the misty tents and although I probably needed some broccoli the best I could get was a burger for breakfast at 3:50pm. (PS for all you Entourage fans out there, they sell AVION!) Feeling good finally… bad food works wonders and Nero is next to get the party started. The Sahara tent where Nero is playing is half empty and were so confused until we look over and realise Gotye is about to start on the tent across from us and there is thousands of people moving like ants towards it. No problemo - we catch the best of Nero and squeeze our way through to the right hand side of the stage for Gotye. He has a couple albums of good tunes but everyone is only there to see one thing and after he plays It (minus Kimbra) everybody turns around and leaves! I secretly want to get straight over to Calvin Harris but I feel bad for the guy so we hang for his next song - but Its just not cutting it. Straight into the sweaty dance tent at the very end, this is more like it! So much good stuff coming out of here, but we joke he copied his light show from Windows Media Player. 'We Found Love' comes on and I look up to the stage hoping Rihannas making an appearance but no dice… Still an awesome song!

The human traffic tonight is so full on we walk shoulder to shoulder like cattle for about half an hour to get through to the main stages. At The Drive-In is just finishing up and Florence Is on next so we head in to get a drink and run into old mate who's house we went to this morning! YES! We watch Florence + the machine from the drinks tent and head down to get an awesome spot for the Doggfather AKA Snoop Dogg. This is the act everyone has been waiting for! Some of hip hops greatest rappers come onstage including Dr. Dre, 50 cent, Holo-Pac (Tupacs Hologram) and Eminem who rises up from the ground out of a puff of smoke.

What can I say - this has been the best day so far! Definitely one every festival goer should check out once in their lifetime!

What do the kids say these days? AMAZE-BALLS!

Coachella Day 2

Saturday the second day of Coachella is up! Today saw the likes of some of my personal favourites - AWOLNATION, Kaiser Cheifs, Mt Eden, Martin Solveig, Sebastian Ingrosso, David Guetta, Kasabian, Feist, Miike Snow, Bon Iver, Kascade, Radiohead and last but definitely not least Sub Focus. To avoid heat stroke we headed in a little later, I'm guessing it was a cool 35 degrees when we got in… clearly not cool! Straight to the drinks tents we go - I love meeting people in here! One of the only things that kind of sucks about Coachella is the fact you have to watch the music from behind a big fence while your drinking, the festival is all ages so they have to have designated drinking areas. In here we met an American guy called Alex who had fallen in love with a Canadian girl called.. I don't remember…They were already planning on moving in! These guys were so much fun to chat to we decided to head out and watch Martin Solveig & then Sebastian Ingrosso together. Martins hit song 'Hello' went off! Followed by Sebastian's pulsating rave in the Sahara tent -the ultimate kick start for my afternoon.

We left our new friends at that and went in to get another drink, meeting yet another group of cool people. This time it was Londoners Georgia & Nadine. These girls complained about how tame Coachella was compared to European festivals so Ill have to get my butt over their to check those out! They convinced us to go and watch Flying Lotus - a DJ who I had never heard of. So we caught a bit of that and then convinced the girls to come watch David Guetta in the tent over.. clearly we were not going to miss him, especially because Usher had jumped on stage with him the weekend before! I loved being amongst the overflowing crowd as he pumped out the tunes that everyone can sing along to, as well as some awesome remixes of Gotye and Aviici.

As night fell the main stage saw the hushed beauty of Bon Iver and Radiohead. Bon Iver is just magical as he delivers one of the most consistent performances of the day. Justin Vernon the lead singer had shaved his head - you would have noticed if you were lucky enough to get up close and personal, or thanks to the massive TV screens If you were one of the hundreds like me chilling on the grass. 

Unfortunately for me who is terrified of heights I got dragged onto the ferris wheel. The one that provides the quintessential Coachella photograph. From up the top there is a breathtaking view to enjoy, or a great height to tip water down onto the people in the line up below. (Or piss)

The latest act of the night was drum & base artist Sub Focus. For everyone keen to get back into the groove of things after slow Radiohead this was the place to be. A spiral of LED lights surrounded the DJ as his big build ups made the crowd go 'wait for it, wait for it..'

Coachella Day 1

Coachella - It is the ultimate place to surround yourself with other music lovers in the middle of the desert to party all day and night. Held at the Empire Polo Club in Indio these grounds go on for miles. I had prepared myself for the heat, just like the weather report showed me this morning saying "HOT" above Fri Sat & Sun of the festival this weekend. Thankgod I have had the experience of a 43 degree big day out, but that was just a warm up for today, and its going to heat up even more. The punishing heat made the day a bit of a game of dot to dot from shade to shade until around 6'oclock when it finally went behind the mountains and gave everyone some much needed relief.

Everyone talks about the amazing fashion at Coachella but I think today the heat must have deterred everyone from trying to look their best. It was a wave of young neon-clad partiers wearing not much else but bikinis and "fanny packs." Anywho lets get down to business - the music.

Basically from 2 - 4 the Do Lab was my sanctuary. This place Is an oasis in the middle of a steaming hot bowl of soup. There was some amazing dubstep, drum & base and electro cranking out of here all day long - I was enjoying it, but I think 50% of the people hanging around were just here for the water getting sprayed over the crowd. We went and caught the last of Grouplove who played their biggest hit tounge tied - making me feel like I was in a commercial and then the crowd went crazy when they covered Whitney Houston's I Wanna Dance With Somebody. Next on was Arctic Monkeys who were rocking out the main stage - finishing up with their new fav "R U mine?" definitely a crowd pleaser.

A few vodka redbulls later it was time to get dooown and dirty to The Rapture and then Afrojack. Using some of the energy from the red bulls, I sprinted over to the other side of the festival back to the main stage to see The Black Keys - my dads fav. These guys were the highlight of my day, fully embracing their headlining status. They saved the best til last and also invited a surprise guest John Fogerty onstage to pay tribute to 'The Band' drummer and singer Levon Helm, who died last week after a long battle with cancer. The trio sang The Band's classic The Weight "Take a load off annie, take a load for free.." After this all anyone was talking about was Swedish House Mafia.. "omg you like, totally have to check them out" so I did, and so did every single human body who survived the heat of the day - the crowd was packed! The trio that make up SHM were just tiny silhouettes beneath a pumping light show and that just about wrapped up my first day. It was time to drag my tired feet home, sneak into the pool for a quick dip and prepare to do it all again tomorrow!!

PS - you can see another photo of me in LA Weekly - how cool is that! xx