Things I saw this weekend include: a girl in pasties, four different men in semi-offensive headdresses, at least six unicorn onesies, countless women in straight-up lingerie, many, many sunburned people and a shirtless guy playing guitar while his wife swayed next to him holding an infant. It may sound like something out of a Tim Burton drug-fueled daydream, but that’s actually a snapshot from round two of LB has a perfect weekend (and is only slightly sunburned). My lovely long weekend was a blend of relaxing and wild, just enough crazy for some hilarious stories and just enough of summer to make me so excited for the next few months.

A few weeks back, my partner-in-crime R, her Scot H and I decided to bite the budget-crushing bullet and purchase VIP passes to Electric Daisy, which we all came to agree was probably the best decision we’ve made in a long time. I woke up on Sunday to crisp sunshine after two days of rain, clear skies and a full day of drinking in a ridiculous outfit ahead of me, braided hair, cropped top, crazy shorts and all. We arrived around 12:30 to the venue, which boasted four stages and a VIP area for each, free carnival rides for anyone willing to wait in line (spoiler: I wasn’t) and the people watching of a lifetime. Throughout the day while enjoying the music and the full bar next to each VIP deck, we saw everything from brand-new friends dancing together like they’d know each other forever, a couple that couldn’t have been older than 20 having an epic fight in front of what they didn’t realize was the VIP lounge window, and two girls exchanging pinky promises that “nothing happened.”

VIP viewing

We decided to join the crowd in mid-afternoon, breaking away from the secluded deck and dancing with reckless abandon, hands up, swaying with the bass and jumping as the bridge rose, faster, faster. After the final show we fought our way through the crowd to make it on the first train back, where my ears kept ringing and all I wanted to do was smile, a perfect day, a perfect festival. I had just enough wherewithal to get home and take off my makeup, jewelry and even brush my teeth, but obviously there’s a limit to how responsible I am, so rather than getting into my bed to sleep, I chose to grab a pillow, bring it to the living room and sleep on the floor. Eh, win some, lose some.

Stop and smell the summertime

The next morning I woke up and found my ears were still ringing but the rest of me felt great, something I needed to face another long day. My lovely friend M and I had been planning a Memorial Day picnic uptown for a few weeks, a chance to get the Nickname Posse together to relax and catch up. It took M and I all of 45 minutes to prepare the food and we made it to Fort Tryon around 3, finding her N, R, H and D&D, my brother and his girlfriend, along the way. We stayed and picnicked in the park for almost 4 hours, ate every last bit of food washed down with beer in paper cups, napped in the summer sun while overlooking the river and just enjoyed each other’s company. We saw the aforementioned shirtless man, couples hiding in the rocks over the walking path, children running in all the trees and even a wedding party posing for pictures, a perfect day for such a celebration. Once we were out of food and exhausted from the sun, we reluctantly packed everything in around 7, promising we’d have another picnic soon.

I declined the generous offer from M and N to take a taxi back down to my apartment, in need of a good walk and some time to be on my own. It was still warm and bright by the time we left, and I was desperate to soak in as much sunshine as possible, something to keep me going during the rainy week ahead. I smiled as I checked my phone for a text from a very jet-lagged AZ and made plans for dinner, a chance to relax at home with little miss and prepare for the week ahead. I looked through pictures before going to bed that night (read: bed, not floor), laughing at the memories of people in the background, the foreground of the festival and the weekend. A perfect weekend of people watching with everyone I adore is quite the way to start the summer season, after all.