Coachella. What can I say? For one, I have lost my voice. I keep leaning in to people so they can hear me whisper, which is about all I’ve got in me right now. They probably think I’m about to tell them a secret. What a disappointment.

I lost my voice after day one. I must admit it was hugely disappointing to ME because I love to sing along at concerts and applaud and shout “woohoos” at the end of a song. It was probably appreciated by my fellow concert goers, though. I still applauded as loudly as I could.
Day 1 of “Silent Ashley” proved difficult. Communicating with my friends about how awesome that song was or “Hey, check out that girl’s crazy outfit!” was limited to thumbs ups, or pointing aggressively at someone in the distance and making wild hand gestures. However, by day 2 of “Silent Ashley”, our final day at the festival, I began to appreciate the fact that I could just sit back and soak in the sun, the music, the people and the general beauty of the whole experience, without having to communicate. Those who know me well know that I love to express my opinions. So my friends were even a little shocked, I think, to see how chill I was. Yes, I wanted to share that it was SO HOT, that it sucked not being able to enjoy a beer in front of the stage as opposed to in designated beer tents, and that it bothered me that the crowd wasn’t more lively or spent most of their time socializing with friends. But instead, I found not sharing these things over and over again so much more enjoyable. It allowed me to appreciate just how awesome this festival was. While I do enjoy a beer or two in the sunshine with some music, it does not make or break a festival such as this. And really, thank you Coachella, for not allowing me to be totally dehydrated in this CRAZY heat. Did I mention the heat?? It’s HOT. But actually, I didn’t mind it nearly as much as I thought. Again…those who know me well know that I dislike being uncomfortably hot. This was hot. But I came prepared (thank you Forever 21 for the greatest summer hat EVER). And really, after what felt like the longest winter ever, it was fabulous. I also came to realize that not everyone enjoys music in the same ways that I do. Not everyone sings as loudly as they can, or dances as loudly as they can when they aren’t able to sing! Not everyone feels the need to watch a concert intently to appreciate it. And while it may feel like buddy standing still next to me with his arms crossed isn’t enjoying himself…he is. He’s taking it all in. He’s dancing and singing as loudly as he can within himself. Once I started to realize that, all I wanted to do was give high fives and thumbs ups to everyone around me. “LOOK WHERE WE ARE!! ISN’T THIS AWESOME??!!”. But instead, I decided to do that within myself.
To conclude, Coachella rocked so much I lost my voice. I found new ways of appreciating people+music. And sun hats are key.

I was also limited to my iPhone for pictures, which was somewhat of a struggle, but again – I APPRECIATED it. Am I preaching the appreciation thing too much? Too bad. You’ll get it when you see just how pretty this place was.

Thank you, Coachella!