folk fest magic

Well, my favorite summer weekend came and went this past weekend- The Newport Folk Festival.  There were so many wonderful acts and despite either the crazy rain or insufferable heat, we still had such a blast.  Their were surprising performances, great energy and beautiful, sincere music all around.  If you want to  hear what all the fuss is about, festival organizer Jay Sweet put together a great list on Spotify:



You can also listen to the whole festival over on NPR Music.

Here are some photos of my favorite acts and a taste of our fun times.

 (commuting to the festival at the fort is best via ferry)

 (Joe Fletcher played over at the Family Tent on the first day, so we caught an intimate performance. One of my favorite things about the festival is you never know where performers will play other shows all over the place).

 (Lots of rain on day 1, but all smile, especially with Old Crow Medicine Show making everyone happy. Their energy and excitement was infectious - they just looked so happy to be playing there!)

 (And the sun did eventually come out...)

 (Inside the sailing museum, there were small workshops and Q&A sessions. We got a text from a friend saying the Avett Brothers were doing one in the morning on the second day, so we high tailed it over there - such a magical, intimate performance).

(and of course they nailed it on the main stage at the end of the day)

(I also really enjoyed Houndmouth from day 2.)

                                      (ran into two of my cousins!)             (heat was intense, but we didn't care)

(The Wheeler Brother kicked off Day 3 with a bang)

(and I didn't expect to have Lord Huron play with such energy, but man, everyone was on their feet)

(The Lumineers came and played in the crowd, and lucky enough, I was standing right by there!)

(boats drop anchor in the harbor to hear the acts on the main stage)

Another beautiful, joyous folk festival - see you next summer, Newport.

the way life should be

I had a deliciously wonderful and typically Maine weekend this past weekend. Time with gals that have known me since my awkward years, beautiful country and belly full of crustaceans is the perfect way to spend a weekend in a state so magical.  I'll let the photos speak for themselves.

 

core values: IDEO

I learned pretty quickly starting out on my fledgling career that the people I work with play a big role on my level of happiness at my job.  I am lucky to currently work with a fantastic team that I love, but I realize that I love them not only because they are nice & fun, but because they are talented, smart, teach me all the time and are passionate about what we do.  The way companies and teams work is so important and companies these days are doing a great job at understanding and committing to their core values.  I love these videos IDEO made on two of their core values (sorry, can't imbed because they have a fancy VimeoPro account):

Embrace Ambiguity
 

Learn from Failure

california girl

I spent the very long weekend of the 4th in my hometown of Laguna Beach, CA (yes, I have two hometowns - the other is Las Vegas, NV).  Let me tell you how my schedule went: get up, drink a cappuccino and read, get changed and go to the beach, alternate between stand up paddling boarding (SUPing) and reading, go home, shower, hang with my parents and a glass of wine on our patio, dinner, read in bed, go to sleep.  It's a simple life and a good one and I appreciate it more and more as I get older every time I go home.  Here are some photos:

 (some SUPers taking a break from our paddle and chilling out)

 (walking on the pier down at Main Beach)

(my dog Sophia with her little nose out the window. Don't you think she looks like such a princess?)

 (it was a little cloudy, but that never stops the surfers down at Oak Street)

(my dad asked my to hold his cigar while we got the dog in the car and my step mom thought it was funny enough to take this pic. She sent it to me in a text that said "Wild Woman!")

colossal video

One of my favorite blogs is This is Colossal. Are you reading it?  Do it.  It's an art and design blog that keeps me in constant wonder.  I think it's one of the best curated sites out there.  Check out some of their cool recent videos (and click on links for Colossal's full post for more info):

(The Chalk Art of Peter Han directed by Adriel de la Torre)

(The Chandelier Tree of Silver Lake.  Filmmaker: Colin Kennedy)

(Adrift: A Two-Year Odyssey through San Fransisco Fog. Filmmaker: Simon Christen)

cool content: Dark Rye from Whole Foods

 A coworker recently shared Dark Rye with me, an online magazine from Whole Foods and I think it's brilliant.  It's packed with stories centering around food, health, sustainability, design, tech and social enterprise. There's video and graphics and articles and photo essays - it's pretty cool and I suggest you check it out.  In this issue, we take a look inside Detroit.  After spending a little bit of time there myself last year telling some beautiful stories, I started to fall in love with Detroit; I think after skimming through this, you just might, too.

Here was one of my favorite videos about a guy who saw a need for transportation, so he started his own bus company.