Coachella 2017 Weekend One Recap

I can't believe Coachella 2017 has already come and gone. It crept up on us this year. Our lives were pretty hectic up until then so it was the perfect time to get lost in the desert and listen to some our favorite artists. Instead of camping this year, we stayed at an AirBnB in Rancho Mirage and shuttled over to and from the festival. Not camping was totally easier on our bodies (and souls) and I felt that even though we experienced less of Coachella, we were able to enjoy the parts that we were there for more. Here's a quick recap of our weekend!

Journal: Where I Belong

A lot of things in my life are compartmentalized: items in my closet (by color, type, and sleeve length), my work life, my personal life, my interests, my friends, files in my hard drive, the food on my plate, etc. It’s how I make sense of things—everything and everyone needs a place, a category where they belong. It brings me a sense of security, peace, and satisfaction knowing where things and people are, their purpose, and where to find them if I need them.

I remember in the early days of our relationship, Brandon was amazed how I was able to keep everything so separate. But as a professional creative, he didn’t have to. On Monday-Friday, I was a second grade teacher, a Starbucks addict, a hometown friend, a daughter, and a sister. On Saturday & Sunday, I was a girlfriend, a creative, a hat wearer, a fancy coffee consumer, a chaser of sunsets, and an explorer of alleyways. For some reason, that’s the way it had to be for me to maintain and exercise all the parts of me. The thought of merging those two worlds felt nonsensical, pointless, and counterproductive. I longed for a life where I didn’t have to be only one version of myself at a time. I just wanted to be me. I longed for friends who were creative and shared my love for traveling and stopping at random places along the way to our destination to take photos. I also longed for friends who understood and appreciated my passion for my work. I longed for a place where I belonged.

Festival Ready

Festival season is finally here! I didn't quite understand why a whole season was dedicated to music festivals until I went to my first one last year. Coachella 2016 had a horrible line up, but in the end, I was actually thankful that there weren't too many acts that I wanted to see that I could just soak up all of Coachella at a slow pace (aka my pace): the food, the music, the debauchery, the camaraderie, the sunsets, and the overall vibe were all just good. Everyone was happy and everyone was there to enjoy themselves and the music. I can't wait to go back in just a few days to experience it all over again.

Journal: Stay High

"I guess the biggest takeaway from 2015 was that I needed to start living more with intentionality and less out of habit. I want to be intentional with my time. Wherever I am, I want to be all there--mind, body, and soul...This year, I am going to do things intentionally with the understanding that the outcome may be different than my intention, and with the faith that everything will happen the way it's intended to." 

--Post from January 18, 2016: Intentionality

Paris is Always a Good Idea

Paris was always one of those places that I dreamed of going to someday. Ever since I was a little girl, I dreamed of gazing up at the Eiffel Tower and walking along the Seine River. For a long while, I thought that the closest I'd ever get to it was the lamp stand I had in my childhood bedroom. But that someday has finally come and passed.

After dreaming of it for so long, I was nervous that it was the idea of Paris that I loved--that sipping coffee in a cute cafe, walking along cobblestoned streets in a striped top and a beret, looking up to see dreamy monochromatic buildings as I walked with a fresh baguette in hand only existed in my dreams. My nerves were made worse by the fact that we were going in February, and being the California girl that I am, I couldn't fathom winter in another place, let alone in another country. But Willa Cather said it best: "Paris is a hard place to leave, even when it rains incessantly and one coughs continually from the dampness."

Paris, you made it all too easy to fall in love with you. You had me at the first taste of your espresso and the flakiness of your croissants. You were everything I hoped you'd be and more.

When in Silverlake

This is now the third time these hauntingly and beautifully white walls have served as our background for a blog post. Whenever we're in Silverlake, we must stop by on our way to or from Sunset Junction. Its slow decay is how I mark the time since we've last visited. Even in its remains, there is still beauty in its minimalism. I will always be mesmerized by the plants' resiliency and strength to endure time, weather, and vandalism.

Mustard

The perfect mustard yellow sweater was so always elusive until now. My hunt began years ago when Brandon and I were thrifting and I fell in love with a COS sweater that was a bit too small and a bit too out of my budget. I vowed that day to inject a bit of color to my closet with the perfect mustard yellow sweater. After years of disappointed try-ons, I finally found the perfect one and couldn't be happier with it. Now whenever I'm feeling in the mood for some color, I'll always know where to look.

Journal: The Art of Comparison

“Compare yourself to those who are better than you, not to those who are not as good as you.” That’s a mantra that my parents instilled in me and my brother from a young age to motivate us to work harder and to never be completely satisfied with our accomplishments for too long. They would remind us of this every time we would share a triumph with them. This attitude did some damage to my feelings of self-worth because it always felt like I was never good enough. It always seemed like there was always someone else who was prettier, smarter, and more accomplished than I was. However, as detrimental to my feelings of self-worth as this attitude was, it was also pretty effective. This attitude of constantly wanting to move forward and be better has become the backbone of my work ethic. I have since developed a horrible habit of constantly comparing myself to others. Other people and their lifestyles have become my thermometer to gauge my own success in my career, my relationships, and my lifestyle. While this comparison mindset may have made me more ambitious, it was also an easy road in becoming an envious person. More often than not I am discontent with my life and my accomplishments because as my parents would always say: someone is always better than me.

Journal: A Love Like This

With our second anniversary under our belts, I can't help but reflect with pride and joy on how much we've grown together as a couple and separately as individuals. Two memories from each year together stood out in particular when putting this post together. Let's take a walk down memory lane shall we?

Journal: No Bad Vibes

The best kinds of conversations are those that never really end--the ones that still keep you thinking about what was said, the ones that you pick up and put back down for days and weeks to come. Creativity (the idea of having it, or the state of being in it) is a reoccurring theme that pops up into our conversations frequently. Some of you may even remember a previous blog post in which I talked about creativity--and how we thought we had run out of it or had lost it. As if it were some superpower, we hoped that creativity would magically come back into our hands as we continued to wield our cameras. It struck me recently though that maybe our creative powers were never really lost. Maybe in actuality, all that had really changed was our perspective on the world.

Hard to Explain

I'll be the first to admit--I'm a hopeless romantic and am a sucker for Valentine's Day. Gimme all the RomComs, all the flowers, all the sparkles, all the candlelight dinners, and all the moonlight walks on the beach! With all the Valentine's Day vibes out in the world, the idea of romance wandered into my natural thoughts this month. That combined with my recent wanderlust made me obsessed with the idea of wanting a romantic getaway, but Valentine's Day crept up on us this year. We racked our brains to pull together something last minute, but alas even those plans had to be put on hold when I got sick over the long weekend. I was bummed that we couldn't cheers to our love over mojitos and oysters, or window shop on Melrose Avenue, or peruse the Farmers Market in Larchmont, but in the midst of the fever and the food poisoning, I realized that Brandon was showing me the grandest gesture of all: He took care of me. And that's the best kind of Valentine a girl could ask for.

Journal: Intentionality

Maybe it's out of habit or just in my personality to over-apologize, but when I first sat down to write this post, I had every intention of starting this post by apologizing for our absence for the past ten weeks. Maybe it's because I'd like to think that people actually care about this blog and about what I have to say, but the truth is no one but me and Brandon really care whether this blog is active or not. And since I'm already being honest, the truth is that I'm not sorry for having taken this time off. The way events unfolded at the end of last year forced me to really reflect on and confront the consequences of my actions that I put into motion years ago. I needed that time off to step back so that I could move forward.

For those of who have been on this journey with me since my last blog, Transient Withdrawal, you will remember that after a five-year relationship had ended, at 22, I was desperate to reclaim my independence and discover who I was. I was bitter and panicked that I had let a relationship make me miss out on many critical milestones in my early twenties, and so I felt compelled to do a crash-course to catch up with my peers. I was finally able to do college the right way during graduate school where I found friendships outside of my hometown circle. I was finally able to have those awkward dates and quick flings--both of which quickly turned into funny stories I could finally share with my girlfriends. And last year, I was finally able to move out into my own space. I was so adamant to get a quick and easy claim to independence that I felt so strongly that all of these experiences and milestones would bring me up to speed with my peers. Looking back now, at 26, I was naive and impatient to think becoming independent would be so quick and easy. It has been neither. Just like with a plant, you can't rush growth, especially when it comes to personal growth.

Fall Uniform

For a girl who predominately wears black and various shades of grey, you would think that owning a leather jacket would be a given. For me though, leather was just one of those materials that was only reserved for bags and shoes--never for pants and most definitely never for jackets. As much as I had yearned for one, I lived my ideas of owning and styling a leather jacket vicariously on Pinterest. Every time I would try one that was ill-fitting or just didn't look right, I decided it was for the best. I mean who needs a leather jacket when it was still 90 degrees in Los Angeles in October anyway? Oh how very wrong I was.

Looking Forward

Have you ever had an out of body experience in the middle of a moment and realize that one day you're going to look back on this day and pinpoint it to the start of a new beginning? Well this weekend was just that kind of moment. I've been giving happiness a lot of thought lately. If money can't buy it and you're unhappy when you don't have money, then how are you supposed to "get" happiness in this consumerist society that we live in? If happiness is in the journey and not the destination, then what are we headed towards? There've been countless articles written on the "keys to happiness" or on the "secrets of a happier lifestyle," but I'm not sure anyone really has the answer to these questions, especially not I. But after this past weekend, I've felt happier and calmer than I have in months.

Giveaway & Review: Polette Eyewear

To get back into the swing of things here, we're going to kick off the Fall season with a giveaway with Polette! As California natives, we know that you can never have too many pairs of sunnies! I've been wearing my Jimini pair to keep my cool through this insane heatwave in LA. It totally allows me to channel the boho babe as we (sorta) transition to Fall. Brandon has also been enjoying his pair of Linosa. We've partnered with Polette, an online optician that offers customizable eyewear including sunglasses and eyeglasses at affordable prices (lenses starting at $9.99!). Polette is generously offering one of our readers and his/her friend a pair of any eyewear that you desire. It's super easy--just head on over to our Instagram to enter! All you need to do is to follow us and @polette and tag a friend! Good luck! Giveaway goes on until October 19th!

Pricks of Brightness

One of the great (and sometimes not so great) things about LA is its vastness. Just one trip to the opposite side can make you feel like you're in a different city. One minute you're frolicking in alleyways near your apartment, and the next you're on the West side, splashing around in the ocean to escape the heat. After feeling (metaphorically and literally) landlocked for a while, it was indescribably calming to let the waves tickle our toes. Just standing there, unsure where the ocean began and the sky started, we reveled in this majestic sight until the sun set into the horizon.

Relentless Summer

Even as introverts, we'll admit that there's only so much lazing around a person can do. After a month full of too many Netflix binges, cups of green tea, afternoons of pointless window shopping, and Crossroads thrifting trips, we've realized that life is rather boring without having a reason to romp around our beloved city. We peeled ourselves off our bedsheets and forced ourselves to go out into the relentless summer heat to explore a new alleyway near my apartment. It was the perfect way to ease back into the swing of things here at Be the Plebeian. We're not gonna let a little (more like a lot) sunshine stop us from creating content or from breaking in new ankle boots for that matter.

August Outtakes

Hi.
It's been a while, and since we don't like lame excuses, we're not going to give you one. The thing is we've been so in love that we didn't really think too much about blogging or really documenting our adventures as of late--in love with the world around us that is (and I guess each other). Every palm tree, every sunset, and all the little things in between have gotten us stopping in our tracks to pause and enjoy life. Ever since my move to LA, we've been creating a little love nest to romp around in--adding new favorites to our list of frequent haunts. With a bit of adjustment, it finally feels like we've started to acclimate to being a few miles apart instead of 50, and have just been enjoying this new phase in our relationship. There have been some hiccups along the way, so much so that we started calling this season "Bummer Summer," but like all bloggers, we're really looking forward to a fresh start with Fall beginning soon. For us, the start of Fall always feels more like a new year than January ever does. In LA though, we'll have to wait to enjoy pumpkin-spiced anythings until after Halloween.

Back Again

The sweltering summer sun finally let up enough for a bit this past weekend for us to return to an old stomping ground to revisit the remnants of the Projection art installation in Silverlake. Now that this place is old news, it was nice to have it to ourselves this time around. It was such a contrast to our first visit back in May, and though time and weather haven't been its greatest friend, we were still enchanted by this homage to minimalism.

Summertime Happiness

Over the weekend, we finally ventured out of our air conditioned apartments to bask in the best summer can offer. We couldn't think of a more perfect way to celebrate bearable boot weather than at our favorite spot in downtown. Summer really can't get any better than taking in rooftop views and sipping on moscow mules--all the while meeting long lost twins and running into magicians in the bathroom. We continued the fun with an easy stroll and returning home to making a hodge podge of all our favorite post-drinking munchies.