Hi friends! How are you? Things have been good over here. Trying to relax in Massachusetts. (Keyword: trying). But feeling more tired than ever. Honestly, my health problems have been weirddddd lately. Maybe stress related, maybe not. Who knows. I sure don’t. All I know if that Chicago was amazing—- but you know that. I already mentioned that. And I know I already mentioned that I really enjoy traveling with Celia– but it’s worth mentioning again. From Guatemala, to Mexico, to now mixing it up with a city trip to Chicago– travel with easy and fun with her.
I was asked to fly up to Chicago for Mamby on the Beach with DSW (Designer Shoe Warehouse) + Crocs— and honestly, I said an internal “yes” before even looking up what Mamby on the Beach even was– haha. But then when I actually sat down to give the Festival a quick look — I was beyond excited. I learned it was actually a fun summer music festival with A LOT of bands I really loved. So yeah, I was excited. And then of course the fact that I would get to do the whole thing with an amazing friend/photographer? Best ever. It was a short trip, and a majority of it was spent at the festival, but man oh man, it was fun. The weather was beautiful, the bands were amazing, overall it was just a really great experience. Again, I know I already mentioned it, but I feel so lucky to be able to partner with fun brands on such great projects.
And I totally get asked this all the time– but yes, my black  jellies are totally crocs. (I have them in pink too). Super cute, right? 😉

My friend Nick also decided to join us on our Windy City Adventure. He’s quite savvy with a camera too– so it was rad to be able to work with two friends I love love love.

I went into the festival with my jellies on and picked up some white Crocs at the DSW pop-up booth— cute, but 1000% more fun after being doodled all over by a fun artist (more photos below).

I’m working on the whole “confidence in front of a camera thing” super tricky– but slowly but surely getting the hang of naturally smiling and not totally hiding my face. Celia is partially to thank for that. Also, I debated a few times over on what to actually wear– and I’m happy I went with my normal jeans + (button up) tee look 😉 Also, sidetone: but I think big hats are sort of like a thing where your hat gets bigger and bigger and you don’t actually realize it, but each hat you purchased gets substantially bigger than the first.
The sandy beach of Chicago! It really looks like a real beach. I think I mentioned it, but I had only been to Chicago once before, for maybe five hours or so to grab lunch on a road trip— which hardly counts, IMO. I didn’t see this part of Chicago. So fun.

That happy moment. Still grateful for it.


Making my shoes snazzy.

And making bracelets too.

We had such a good day. We wandered up and down the festival, taking photos, taking in scenes, dancing to bands. I didn’t have ANY phone connection the whole day— which was weird. Super weird. But sort of good too. I posted a few photos and stories on celia’s phone and then tried to tune out from phone land as much as possible. In general, I’m trying to do this more. I bought a good, smallish camera to work on taking photos on the camera and leaving the phone more and more. It’s been a really nice shift.

Me and my lady.


Sandy feet love forever.

There was a was a hairbraid tent at the festival. I slightly regret not doing this. My hair was such a mess from all the wind, haha.

Cutest drawings, right?

We had a good bit of downtime too. As in, we escaped to relax in different areas a bunch. File under: getting old. From the VIP area to the top of the DSW pop-up, we just kicked our feet up a lot between the bands we wanted to see.

And dancing. Seriously, I’m beyond grateful to have a mini escape. I haven’t been to a music festival since before Marlowe. To be honest, it’s also because we don’t have a lot of good music acts come to West Palm– and certainly zero good festivals. It was nice to escape the Florida heat for sunshine, and worry free adventures. Would happily do it again in a heart beat 🙂

More Chicago photos soon– everything from pride fest to food to whatever else 🙂 Best short weekend getaway ever.

 

This post is sponsored by DSW + Crocs.

2 Comments

  1. Stephanie

    your hat! i need to know where to buy that, ahhhhh