Hugging Trees?

Last weekend, Jed and I had our first vendor experience at the annual Tree Huggr's Ball in Silverado Canyon! The festival is a local fundraiser which actually has more to do with preserving the wilderness around the foothills of Saddleback Mountain than getting up close and personal with trees. We had so much fun getting to know everyone, chatting with fair-goers, and selling our wares: furniture, linocut prints, and fresh flower crowns. We grabbed some delicious dinner from Seabirds Food Truck, OC's original veggie truck. I especially recommend their gluten-free cupcakes! The evening finished with a performance by Cubensis, the phenomenally talented Grateful Dead cover band that Jerry Garcia himself blessed to play the Dead's songs. Exhausted, we finally made it back to our tent and camped under the stars. What a night! Sadly these are the only snapshots we managed to capture during all the hustle and bustle:

Assembling flower crowns the night before!

Getting our booth set up before the festivities

Jed and I relaxing after the day is done

Jammin' to Cubensis!

We will definitely go to the Tree Huggr's Ball again next year... and make a point take some more photos! 

Florence + The Machine = Soul-Moving Magic

My ears are still abuzz after hearing Florence Welch's trance-inducing performance on Saturday at the Santa Barbara Bowl. What a show! Her music is so full of emotion. Florence has said that she wants her music to make the listener feel as if they have just thrown themselves off a tall building.  Well, while her songs didn't leave me feeling suicidal, I can relate to the falling feeling she describes as, maybe, a leaf floating slowly from a tree, or a feather in the wind, like, you know, that one in Forrest Gump. Anyway, it was a foot-tapping time and I'm glad I get to show you what fun I had with my camera while there.

Dinner at Sakana Sushi Bar was nothing short of perfect! They've got a great fusion thing going on and a very trendy vibe-- we would highly recommend it!

 Chevron nails, yellow cocktail ring, and Forever21 collared dress-- 

fancy for Florence!

The coconut curry shrimp press box - this was certainly the most memorable bite!

Her voice was so haunting.

 Loved the backdrop behind her - the lighting made the hanging pieces look sinister, or translucent as stained glass windows in a gothic cathedral, depending. 

 Experimenting with my camera in the cool lighting...

Florence says that she writes her best music when she's either drunk or hungover. “You’re lucid,” she explains, “but you’re not really there. You’re floating through your own thoughts, and you can pick out what you need. I like those weird connections in the universe. I feel that life’s like a consistent acid trip, those times when things keep coming back.” Yeah-- er, me too! 

What about you-- do your best ideas come to the surface when you're three sheets to the wind? And the next morning, do you find yourself scribbling down a stream of genius thoughts? Are you capable of doing anything besides making a giant sandwich and crawling back to bed?