Secret Garden Party 2011

One adventure I have embarked on this summer is a long weekend at the Secret Garden Party with my friend Cher. It is an enchanting, surreal, quirky festival, and really has your heart and soul at the centre of it all.

It was, as I said, a very long weekend. We arrived on Thursday, late morning time and left about 2am on the Sunday night. Arriving home, very tired and in desperate need of a shower, but feeling like it was every bit worth it.

The festival started off with a 2 hour queue in the car, whilst needing a wee for most of the time, it was not fun!

However, we had SGP radio to keep us going and it really got us in the festival mood and in great anticipation of the weekend ahead.

We finally managed to get into the festival, after dragging all our stuff to the campsite (a lot of effort for 2 girls who seemed to have managed to pack enough clothes, food etc. for a month). We put up the tent, only to realise just how small the tent was and with all our belongings inside, it seemed even smaller.

 The next few nights to come were definitely going to be cramped and uncomfortable, but surely it's all part of the festival experience?

After a quick a refreshment, we ventured off to explore the festival.. but before we could leave, we got ambushed by our 'tent next door neighbours' and had our faces painted. 

A preview for just how friendly and giving everyone was there.

Here we are with our painted eyes.. the red is lipstick and proved very hard to get off that night!

 Here are a few pictures of some of the art pieces in the festival.
(Many others appear through out this post)

Thursday was over very fast and after our busy day of putting the tent up we were extremely tired, so we found ourselves settling down to sleep at about 10 (the earliest I've been to bed in months!!)
It was as expected, a very long night, full of noise, people managing to stand on our tent (!) and the frustrating need to want to straighten your legs in the tent, but not being able to with out your feet sticking out the door!

The morning found us very early (7am), with aches all over and tired eyes, but we were still very excited for the day ahead of exploring and band watching.

Here I am stood outside our tent (yes it is leaning! The perils of people not being able to see a bight orange tent!)
I am wearing a matching dress (€8 from Oxfam, Mullingar, Ireland)

Unfortunately, Friday bought some rain in the evening, below is the sky of impending doom!

I wasn't too happy about the rain

Poncho time! 

The end of Friday and almost the whole of Saturday we went through a period of forgetting to take pictures, also on Saturday almost everyone had an energy drop, so a lot of time was spent in the tent or in the car charging our phones! 

We visited a tent called 'Mind Apples', where you could write 5 things that you do every day that makes your mind happy!

Below are mine!

Sunday: it was our last day and we managed to fit in so much!

After awaking very early again.. we made our daily morning trip to the car to charge our phones and have a little peace and quiet away from the main festival.
We then made our way to the Artful Badger area, which is an area of woodland, which was like an adult adventure playground.

Here I am, not looking too happy in the woodland! (I don't know why)

The man playing the piano created a lovely atmosphere in this woodland area as the sounds of the piano echoed all around the woods.

I do not know what I was doing here.. maybe an impression of Spider Man.. 

Our plans for Sunday included attending a free Yoga and Meditation session.. so whilst we waiting for it to start, we watched this man on the sand stage.
He was very good and sounded a lot like Jack Black (Tenacious D)

 It was finally time to go to Yoga.. here we are in the tent.

The Yoga was very relaxing and soothing on our aching bodies (from our tent situation!) 

Drinking a well deserved cup of ginger tea!

In the afternoon, we got our faces painted by the lake, by one of the most talented face-painters(?) I have seen in my life.

 Straight after we watched Benjamin Francis Leftwich on the 'Where The Wild Things Are' stage.

We are both quite big fans of him, after seeing him earlier this year in Cambridge.

His performance was extremely good.

Here's one of the songs he performed, Butterfly Culture, which is such a beautiful song.

 Unfortunately, the two main artists I wanted to see (Benjamin Francis Leftwich and The Bees), overlapped each other. So straight after Benjamin we ran to catch the end of The Bees, praying they hadn't played my favourite song by them!!!

 Thankfully, it was the last song they played.

Here is a video of part of it.. sorry for the jigging around. I was dancing a lot!

Straight after The Bees followed the famous SGP paint fight.. we happened to be in the right place at the right time as we ended up right in the middle of it.

This is not my video, but I was somewhere in the middle of this!!

Post Paint-fight

 Yes, I was unfortunate enough to be hit by a red paint bomb.. and made to look like I have extreme sunburn!!

So, that was the end of the festival.. we stayed for a while in the evening and hung around with a few people we met there.. Sunday evening was very quiet as literally everything stopped at 12.

All in all, it was an amazing festival, full of memories I will hold with me forever.
I will definitely be finding myself there next year!

I have taken some pictures on a couple of film cameras and I am waiting to get these developed, so more pictures will be up soon!

 Julie

xx

PS. If anyone see's this 'Is Land' floating around, please let the SGP organisers know..

Check out the full story here:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/artanddesign/2011/aug/02/missing-inflatable-island-secret-garden

Matt Nathanson

I am having a serious obsession over the singer, Matt Nathanson at the moment.

I know I posted a YouTube video of his current single very recently but after finally getting my paws on his new album (due to it being sent to my home address and me being here in Cambridge), I feel he is worth another blog post!

(Looking rather chuffed with my new album :P)

His new album "Modern Love" is simply beautiful and inspiring.
I have been non-stop listening to it since I got it and it has certainly been added to list of my all time favourite albums!

The piece of writing within the album artwork states the album's purpose, it really gets you thinking..

"If they're done right, records
should do seemingly opposing things.
On one hand, they transport you...
They drop you somewhere else
but, at the same time, they root
you deeper in yourself.


The way the songs are sequenced,
the artwork,
the arc of the record,
it's all part of the experience.


This record's a collection of
stories about love
and how it exists now...
In a time where technology
and warp speed and instant
gratification are the premium.


This record was made around the idea
of opposing things smashed up
against each other.
Working together.


Head vs. Gut
Pristine vs. Messy
Technology vs. Heart
Computers vs. Acoustic Guitars


Modern Love."


I feel this to be an excellent description of the album.
It gives everything. 
Slow songs, upbeat songs, happiness, sadness, seriousness, light-heartedness...
Opposing things that all seem to work so, so well together.
He certainly captures the idea of modern love.
It's complications, it's excitement, it's up and downs.
It's uncertainty, intensity and loneliness.


There is not one song I do not like and I am even struggling to find a favourite!
Each song has it's own individual meaning and a story that draws you in and enables you to reflect and explore different feelings and emotions.

This new album certainly doesn't fail to live up to the standards of Matt's previous albums.
If anything, with each album he becomes that little bit better (if that's even possible!)


Be sure to check out this new album, you definitely won't be disappointed.


I shall leave you with the song that I seem to be enjoying the most on the album at the moment.
The song sounds so beautiful and mesmerising.
The lyrics are full of meaning, yet still slips in a bit of humor.

This year all but disappeared,
bought into fairy tales,
but sleeping beauty just kept score
and tried to sleep more.


She said, "I'm not quite myself tonight,
but the way you touch me
makes me tongue tied,
but that could be the wine too."


"Kiss quick, I got a line out the door
who all think they can save me.
One by one they lay the world at my feet,
one by one they drive me crazy."


She said, "I know love,
and it's all push and shove,
so stop talking, and put your back into it."
Loaded, oh my hands shook to hold her,
I turned her body on...
I turned her body on myself.

"Kiss quick, I got a line out the door

who all think they can save me.

One by one they lay the world at my feet,

one by one they drive me crazy.

Shut your mouth, pull me out before this all goes grey.

One by one they lay the world at my feet,

one by one they go away."

"Sold my blood for money, baby... baby,

and I love how it feels."
And this year, all but disappeared.

Julie
xx

Faster

Nothing much to update you on.

Just so you know, I've decided to spend this month doing next to nothing. I feel I owe it to myself to just relax and have some me time. :)

This has included catching up on all the music I love, and catching up on artists that have released new music and going on tours etc.

This is song my current music love at the moment:

Julie
xx

It's a Dog's Life..

Trying to find time between partying, sleeping and eating is such a challenge at the moment! :P (as you can see, I am thoroughly enjoying my summer!)

However, I have found a little bit of time to make a stop motion animation with modeling clay.

It was mainly an experiment to see what I could do, but I also based it on my dog Misty, who seems to have ever changing moods.

I hope you enjoy it. I do plan to put music/sounds to it at some point.
I am definitely going to do more and try to make the images in my next animation look smoother and also have better lighting (and work out how to make the lighting stay the same in each frame).

Julie

xx

Flying Pigs...

They really do exist!!!

One landed on my window sill today!

Haha! I'm only joking.
I made this little cutie from clay, acrylic and feathers.
It was a small joke between a friend and I, and I think I have taken it a tad too far.

We have named him Bertie the pig.

I think I may have gone slightly crazy recently...

Julie

xx