Travelogue: Mr. Mumford and His Gentlemen of the Road

This weekend will be a rollicking one, I tell you.  For this weekend, my face will have a hot date with my pillow and my bed.  As I've probably reiterated a million times, I need a break!  As such, I am perfectly satisfied with lounging on my couch in my pajamas and watching "Say Yes to the Dress," attempting to catch up on some more work tonight (key word here is "attempting").  This, of course, comes at a complete contrast from last weekend (a.k.a Mystery Weekend Event).  A couple months ago, some friends Joe, Kaydie and I snagged passes to Mumford and Sons' "Gentlemen of the Road" tour stop on the Tennessee-Virginia border.

At the Tennessee-Virginia borderline in Bristol; J. Crew Factory Two-Pocket Chambray, Club Monaco Irene Shorts, Madewell Contrast Mini Mail Bag

The festival literally shut down the small Southern town for two days, with the population literally doubling just for the concert.  Bars, restaurants and shops were decked themselves in top hats and mustaches to fit the theme of the weekend.  Surprisingly, Bristol turned out to be a hot bed of culinary goodness, with amazing drinks like the Peach Moonshine (served in an actual mason jar).  Joe and Kaydie, being ever the social butterflies, managed to befriend the bartender at K.P. who gifted us with an adorable mustache on a stick.  This in turn made us incredibly popular because about 15 people approached us to get pictures with the mustache stick, which both proved a little sad and a little hilarious.

Kaydie, Joe and I modeling mustache-wear at K.P. in Bristol, TN.  As an obligation to my dear friends, I am required -- no honored -- to say that they are complete bad asses in every awesome connotation of the term.

At around sundown, we staked out some excellent spots about 25-feet out to the right of the stage.  It was insane the sheer amount of people that we met waiting out for a spot.  Mike, the military man from Virginia who flew out his friend Stephanie from Connecticut and cried at "Awake My Soul"; Hunter and Emma, the two college freshmen who shared water with us; and Carrie Ann who shared stories of growing up in Tennessee and was a distant relative of June Carter Cash (Johnny Cash's wife and Reese Witherspoon's character in "Walk the Line").

By the time the sun went down and after performances by Haim and Dawes, Mumford finally stepped up to play.  Now, I'm going to leave you all out on a limb because I'm going to force you to click the next page to see a pretty sweet picture from the concert.  I know, it's mean to leave you on a cliff-hanger, but they are some gorgeous pictures.  Click away!

Travelogue + Lookbook: Unplugged in the Park

I feel like it's been a while since I've last wrote, but then again, that could be either extreme exhaustion or withdrawal from a clear case of writing addiction.  I'm sorry, I love to write.  Can you love a fool?

Part of the exhaustion could probably be attributed to the amazing and horrible decision to go to 99X's Unplugged in the Park concert series at Park Tavern in Atlanta on Sunday.  99X, which is a local rock station in Atlanta, puts on a free concert series from May through September at the gorgeous Park Tavern, which  is located on the southern tip of Piedmont Park (our own little version of Central Park).  Last Sunday, the Tavern played host to mine and my friend Coleen's (half of the incredible duo responsible for Cass and Cole) favorite singer Katie Herzig.  More on our ridiculous antics can be found on the next page.  Being fashionistas (or in my case, an unstylish poser), we dressed in our best bohemian summer dresses and skirts and hightailed our way to the park.

J. Crew Vintage Cotton Cowlneck Tank; Zara Accordian Pleated Skirt (similar)

Prior to my Neiman Marcus shopping spree, I had gone on a Zara binge during their semi annual sale.  The result?  A lovely little lace dress and this gorgeous mint pleated skirt, which was made for twirling and dancing like a mad woman.  Again, more on the dancing like a mad woman a little later.  To top it off, I paired it with a slouchy tank from J. Crew that I had gotten from $8 earlier this weekend (so much for giving up shopping).

Left:  Kate Spade Enamel Garden Drop Earrings (similar); Top-Right:  Second Hand Banana Republic Leather Sandals from Pony (Brooklyn, NY, similar);  Bottom-Right:  Sam Edelman Leather Clutch (similar)

Being that this was a party in the park, I accessorized with some Kate Spade gold drop earrings, that I had purchased on sale earlier this year.  Seriously ladies and fabulous gentleman, I had so much trouble figuring out what to pair those earrings with up to this point.  If you have any suggestions, this lady would love to hear it.  The concert also brought out two other blog-documented purchases of the leather sandals from Pony and the leather clutch from the Sam Edelman sample sale.  I personally would like to consider this a homage to my time in New York, but in all honesty, it's probably more indicative of my growing shopping problem.  Alas, we move on.

THE CONCERT WAS ABSOLUTELY AMAZING!  One, because it was free and two because... well, you're going to probably want to click the next page?  What am I?  A girl that kisses and tells?  Absolutely not.  Fine Southern ladies make others work it.  Click the next page and I'll make it worth your while by proving some lovely Instagram-bastardized pictures.

In all honesty, one of them is my favorite pictures I've ever taken at a concert.

Makin' Music: Asherel & The Kingston Springs

Clearly, Salvador and I had a productive weekend, because I feel like it's going to take me 3 separate blog posts to encapsulate everything of interest that has occurred.  Salvador, also goes by the title "forced-photographer", is in New York visiting before he's off to the big, scary world that is adulthood.  Since writing 3 posts in one night isn't incredibly appealing to me as I have a real job to do in the morning, I figured I'd go from most recent and work my way backwards.  Apologies to you, dear reader, you're going to have to put up with me blogging back in time for the next week.

Tonight dressed in my best at-work-til-8:30-today attire of a black J. Crew pencil skirt and a silk rayon tangerine top, I met up with Salvador, who was having an absolute ball of a day without me, at a friend's New York City concert debut.  While I like to pretend I hang out with rock stars all day, it was one of Salvador's fraternity brothers from Georgia Tech playing with his band Asherel (who just got signed last year with Columbia Records) at Piano's in the Lower East Side.  

Asherel

Walking in, Sal and I looked like part of a "one of these things is not like the other" game.  Luckily, we ran into another friend Charles who helped minimize how completely yuppie we looked.  Clearly, Piano's (a great venue for cheap, great rock and indie folk bands) attracted crowds of a "hipper" variety, and less so of the finance consultant variety.  In any case, the bands playing highlight one of the things that I love most about New York -- loud, amazing rock music at low, low prices ($8 tickets to see 4 bands?  Yes please!).  Rushing over from my office in Brooklyn, I made it for the last two songs of their set and they KILLED it.  If the Foo Fighters and Bob Dylan had a baby, that would be Asherel.  According to Graham, one of the guitarists, the band will be releasing their debut album later this year.

The Kingston Springs

Despite heckling me for the secret hipster that I am, Salvador was kind enough to let me stay a little longer and catch the next act, the Nashville-based band The Kingston Springs, who had a very Alabama Shakes vibe about them.  You could clearly tell by the dress and the music, these guys were from the South, but their sound was an mixture of old school folk mixed in with some blue grass and indie rock.  Eclectic is a good word for them.  Unfortunately, we got pretty hungry, so we missed out on the very last band, The Weeks.  All three of the bands are probably going to make it into my work-music rotation some time this week.  Check them out, and let me know what you think.

Also, if you're into loud, crazy amazing indie rock music and are in the Lower East Side, check out Piano's   and its next door neighbor, the Living Room.  It'll make for an interesting weeknight.