Surviving a rainy music festival

Music festivals in Texas are unpredictable. Hot, cold, rainy, dry, you name it! This weekend I'm preparing for a messy hot and rainy FPSF. After a few rainy ACL experiences and of course a ruined pair of boots from SXSW this year I am ready to take on Free Press rain or hot as hell!

ACL as the rain started...

Once everyone covered up

The day after all the rain was a mess

Put anything you want to keep dry in plastic bags in your backpack. I kept my cell phone in it and only took out to text or take pictures. The sandals I packed had buckles on the back to attach to my backpack for when the rain turned into mud but it is better to use rain boots than go barefoot...esp in the bayou of Houston.

How to survive a rainy music festival:

Poncho and umbrella if they allow umbrellas

Rain boots or sandals that you don't mind getting nasty

Sunscreen 

Sunglasses

Refillable water bottle

Plastic bags to keep your cell and electronics dry

Backpack 

Baby wipes

Extra towels to clean off before getting into car

Smashbooks are the best!

Back in the day I was a serious scrapbooker. I had scrapbooks for my dog, sports, family, friends you name it I had a book for it. After a few lazy years I decided to try Smashbook because I am a collector of little trinkets that would be perfect for my book! Here are a few pages from my Smashbook...

I used maps for a bunch of the pages and most of my supplies I got from Michaels Smashbook section. Shutterfly will have discounts on photo printing some days. I would check moneysavingmom.com she posts when you should order pictures and it's usually free shipping!

Pinterest Party!

For my birthday we had a Pinterest party full of crafts and snacks found on Pinterest. We even had a Pinterest fail...those wine cork toppers turned out pretty bad. We made terrariums, monogrammed travel win mugs, and attempted to make wine cork toppers.

Map Coasters

I made a set of these a while back as a gift and wanted to make more. They are really easy to make and since I have an obsession with maps I had plenty of materials to work with. I put these on my etsy shop: https://www.etsy.com/listing/187695616/light-bulb-terrarium

Supplies: 

Wood coasters 

Glue

Maps

Mod Podge

Sponge brush

Scissors

Pen

Start by laying out your map and putting the wooden coaster on top. Trace the coaster onto the map and cut out the traced section. Place the cut out map on the coaster. It's best to do it one by one so you don't accidentally put the wrong cut out on the miss-matched coaster. Once you have cut out the maps and placed on the coasters you can glue them to secure and let them dry for a bit. The last step is to do a few layers of mod podge. Wait till the coaster is dried completely before adding another layer. 3 layers should be perfect!

Easter Egg Bread

One of my favorite Easter foods as a kid was egg bread. My Aunt Rose made it every year and it was perfection! This year I wanted to try it out for myself so I got a little Pinspiration and found an easy looking recipe. The best part is the eggs cook themselves no need to hard boil them. I was a little sceptical but it worked! 

  

 

Supplies:

4 1/2 teaspoons of instant yeast

2/3 cup melted butter

4 eggs

1 cup sugar

8 cups flour 

12 dyed uncooked eggs

I doubled up the recipe from Pinterest to make a dozen. Started by mixing ingredients in a large bowl. It gets thick pretty fast so you want to make sure you turn it over a bunch to mix in all the flour. Pre heat the oven to 350 and let the dough rise for an hour.

Once the dough doubles up get extra flour to roll out pieces of dough into long one inch thick strips. Take two of the strips and twist them together to shape into a little nest and top with a dyed egg. I fit four on a cookie sheet and cooked for 25 minutes. Once the bread cooled I put in the fridge overnight and served in the morning!

Here is the original recipe: http://www.seededatthetable.com/2012/04/03/italian-easter-bread/

My mom made these adorable little cup "baskets" and the grass is edible! 

Coachella Tips

I went to Coachella for the first time last year and have to say it was one of the best experiences! They could take a few notes from ACL though but all around beautiful place amazing music and a good time! Here are a few of my suggestions for tackling a weekend in the desert. 

1. Know before you go

Know your shuttle, know your meeting points, know where you're staying. I was lucky to have a California native as my guide or I would have been SOL! Turns out the bus pass I had us get was super far from our condo. We had to pay to switch our bus passes to a closer stop that dropped a block from where we were staying. But on the plus side the first bus we got on was a full on party bus! Also download the Coachella app and check twitter for surprise bands...you never know when tupac will be resurrected! 

2. Sunscreen, hydrate, and sunbathe in am

We spent most of our mornings by the pool relaxing and taking in the view. I thought I could handle the heat being from Texas but I got burned just from an hour or two of not being under an umbrella. Remember sunscreen is your friend and bring a refillable water bottle...just don't try and fill up right before you leave or you will have a hell of a line to wait in for water and to get on a bus!

3. Designated drinking areas are dumb

In Texas we don't have these designated drinking areas we have entire fields dedicated to it all! At coachella if you want a beer you have to show ID go through a hearding rope and into a baracaded area where you can buy drinks and food. Crazy right? Well that's how they do it at coachella. The plus side is you can catch some shows on the side of some of the stations.

At ACL we drank where we pleased!

At Free Press Summer Fest you get a bottle of wine like a queen!

At SXSW they just hand it to you as you enter the building 

4. Get a 2nd charge

Do you have an extra phone battery? A Mophie maybe? No? Get one! Luckily I only sepperated from the guy I was with for 1 show. We planned a meeting spot and I waited in the redic line for merch and all I got was a damn tshirt! Ok it was really cute! But in reality reception blows and you want to save battery for pictures/video/I'm alive texts home!

Meeting at the Ferris wheel is vague...looking for your friend with a flower crown is vague! Get yo phone charged!

5. More is more

Go big or go home! Is your costume crazy enough to become noteworthy? Is it badass enough? I don't know! Do more of what makes you happy is what my doctor told me and the coachella crowd knows all about doing more! Eat all the bad foods! Have vodka redbulls in the EDM tent and fig out how awesome your dance skills really are...or aren't who cares no one can see you anyway! Post up for the band you love or have dreamed of seeing but never have cough cough Postal Service! 

6. Have these on hand

Sunscreen

Chapstick

Hand sanitizer

Refillable water bottle

Cash

Scarf or bandana the wind/dust is the worst and you will sound like you smoke 10 packs a day!

Sandles that can be tied to your bag

Did I mention a bag?

Also take advantage of record store day...they will hold your records while you jam how awesome is that?

The smartest thing I ever wore was during ACL in 2008? 2009? It rained and was super hot took off my sandels and wet barefoot but my sandles had clasps which was amazing!

7. Don't forget the Dino pit stop!

Leaving coachella and you're not ready to face the real world just take a pit stop at the Dino's fill up on gas get your road snacks and relax!

Scrabble Coasters

I was browsing Pinterest for cute coasters and found these. They were pretty easy to make and have held up pretty well.

Supplies:

Scrabble pieces 

Cork

Glue

Mod Podge

I spelled out the scrabble pieces like I wanted then glued them together. I took the cork and cut it to fit the pieces then glued it to the back of the scrabble squares. After they were assembled I did a few layers of mod podge. Make sure you let it dry really good!