Truly Julie with one of her favorite “bandmates” Jacqui Rosshandler! (It all started here)
When I commit to something…I’m in a 1000%. When I moved to LA from New York, I knew there were a few must-do’s to expedite my Angeleno status. Beach pad: check. California
driver’s license: check. Pink’s Hot Dogs: check. Cabo trip: check. Paddle boarding: check. Parking ticket: check. Tattoo: NO WAY (I’m too fickle with trends and I’m a scaredy cat)! And of course, I had to experience Coachella. Done! Don’t I look more LaLaLand after 
this weekend??! It’s probably the prematurely aging ritual called tanning that I actively took part in at pre-Coachella pool parties this past weekend. Coachella is sort of like Disneyland for adults. Every corner is fun, fun, fun…but all of it is a bit forced and too well manicured for it to be a Woodstock-like festival. 
The fashion is crazy and wild, but you can tell folks have been planning these outfits for months. Everyone dances like they’re the biggest hobo free spirit, yet you know they spent at least $350 to get in, and even more $$$ for transportation, parking and to find housing near Indio. Much like Disney’s Space Mountain, the line for pricey drinks and food (the 
Kogi BBQ was life changing!) snakes around and around. Plus, the 30 check-points to just enter the venue truly tests one’s patience. And instead of Mickey and Minnie, at Coachella you spot celebrities everywhere! But the music (Violent Femmes were my fav!)… the perfect festival weather (sans the Sunday dust storm)…the supermodel looking party-goers at Neon Carnival…vibrant life everywhere…that’s why you do Coachella! Coach-hell-yeah!
In this day of internet and airplanes…it gets harder and harder to experience a place that is truly unique. Such is not the case with Wadi Rum, Jordan. I have never been in such a suffocating yet serene setting in my life. Put it simply…Wadi Rum is a desert. But historically and culturally…it is so much more. The nomadic locals known as the Bedouins have learned to survive this excruciating dry heat…with very limited water…for thousands of years. Settlement roots 
back to 8000 BC…and there are ancient cave carvings to prove its old age. The famous British explorer extraordinaire Lawrence of Arabia trekked through Wadi Rum…and till this day the locals hale him as a hero for driving the Turks out of it’s beautiful valleys. In fact…much of the movie Lawrence of Arabia (1962) was shot in Wadi Rum. So much of this desolate
place left me bewildered. As I polished six 20 oz bottles of water in a span of hours….I just couldn’t stop wondering how anything lives here! But they do. From the robotic looking bugs to pretty birds and plenty of dairy camels that roam free throughout the miles of silky sand that have the most heavenly graduating shades of
matter how tough, goes on. Wadi Rum is also known as The Valley of the Moon…and as I slept outside in the open desert…beneath the Milky Way with enough shooting stars to rival a disco ball…and with a layer of grime and sand stuck just about everywhere…I realized that the moon was smiling down upon me. I was a big kid in a giant sandbox…being present and just being. So very simple. So very Wadi Rum. Goodnight Moon. 
I’m so glad that I’m an obsessed photographer. When you feel the same level of excitement to take a picture of something as historic as the Petra monuments yet something as obscure as a lime-mint Jordan beverage…you really end up paying attention to so many more details. In my constant quest to find the perfect
composition to snap…I discover the beauty in so many overlooked places, objects, and people. The ultimate reward of this is that I come home with loads of great stories. That’s what photos are to me…memorable tales that are most 
often remarkable. And that exactly how I would describe Petra, Jordan. REMARKABLE. It dates back to 400 BC; and with it’s massive size and
dramatic sandstone entrance ways…it’s as jaw-dropping as seeing Times Square for the first time. Only here…you don’t need voltage for the wow factor. You’ve got thousands of years of history & thousands of candles. 
I recently visited Moscow for 48 hours. I know…so hardcore and crazy. But so is Russia! Luckily, I was able to cover a lot of ground in that short time (including a trip to the countryside to experience a swanky lake beach club) thanks to my friend Alexei who’s a Muscovite. During the day, I marveled at the buildings in Red Square. My predictable favorite is the Saint Basil’s Cathedral (pictured above). Such a beautiful church…with a chilling history. Story goes…the architects had their eyes gouged out 
after finishing the church in the mid 1500′s. Ivan the Terrible wanted to make sure that they never re-create it. I was also beguiled by Cathedral of Christ the Savior (pictured right). This cathedral was demolished during the Soviet years and rebuilt during the 90′s. During the night, I gawked at the flashy Moscow club scene like a 
teenager who snuck into a college party. I didn’t hit up any of the up-and-coming “hipster” bars (many of them in the cool Chocolate Factory District) as Alexei said with a cringe, “those people wear Tshirts and shorts at night.” We jumped around to a few clubs and spent the most time at the very posh rooftop lounge called Soho Rooms. Few trends I noticed: live cover bands are popular, if you’re a woman…you can wear anything from a red carpet worthy gown to the hoochiest skirt (saw both and everything in between at Soho Rooms)…Botox and lip-fillers are alive and well in Moscow…and the wealthier and more 
“oligarch” you are, the prettier the girls are at your table. Oh…and one vital tip: don’t order a martini in Moscow. Their definition of a martini is a pre-mixed, syrupy
