Blog Posts by Julie Pereira, Thread Blogger

Coachella might be an All-American festival at heart (and in location), but the lineup this year is quite international. With the simple purchase of a festival pass, you can take a visit around the world, without even having to leave sunny Indio, California.

Expand your worldview at Coachella. Without taking drugs. | Photo courtesy of Christopher Polk/Getty ImagesLet's start with our friends from the Great White North. We have long-running indie bands like Metric (Toronto) and Tegan & Sara (Calgary) hailing from Canada as well as relative newcomers, Montreal-based Grimes and Vancouver kids Japandroids repping the land of poutine and compulsive friendliness.

It's truly shocking, how many excellent musicians England has produced over the years. Must be something in the water. This year at Coachella, England is representing with headliners and native Mancunians The Stone Roses, London alterna-rockers Blur, post-punk band New Order, former Smiths guitarist Johnny Marr, dream pop group The xx, singer-songwriters Bat for Lashes and Jessie Ware, indie band The Wombats, synthpop groups Hot Chip and

With temperatures for sunny Indio, CA projected around the mid-90s this weekend, this year's Coachella will a scorcher. We hate to sound like your mom (though she probably has some sound advice), but sunburn and dehydration are awful yet totally avoidable things. The Thread wants you to have the most crazy fun time at this year's festival, but above all, we want you staying safe and lookin' good. Avoid exposure and still look fabulous with these sweet sun-beating hacks.

Stay safe out there. | Photos courtesy of, clockwise from left: Urban Outfitters; Vapur; Urban Outfitters; Olay; Drugstore.com; Amazon.com; ASOS

Clockwise from top left:

San Diego Hat Company Sun Hat, $42.00 at urbanoutfitters.com - Keeps the sun off your face, neck, and shoulder while lending an urban cowgirl-chic vibe.

Vapur shades in purple, $9.99 at vapur.us - Forget the CamelPack--these lightweight, reusable, and dishwasher-safe water bottles roll up when empty, leaving you plenty of room for sunscreen and other music festival necessities. 

Urban Renewal Vintage Neon Hat, $20.00 at urbanoutfitters.com - Who are you kidding? You love neon and so do we.

Fun

Unlike so many celebrities out there (Kim Kardashian, we're looking at you)

Kate Middleton is not the type of lady--well, Duchess--to endorse every product she sees. So we were a bit surprised when we heard that Princess Shinylocks herself is signed on to be the latest Godmother for Princess Cruises newest ship, Royal Princess.

But why do ships need godmothers, you might be asking. Apparently, the tradition of naming and christening ships is thousands of years old! Originally, ships were blessed by priests, while men were typically bestowed the title of godfather. The godfather would hand flowers to the godmother and the ships' godparents would say the name of the ship to bless it. Yes, really. Nowadays, the responsibility of christening ships has evolved to be predominantly female. Yay for girl power?

As the 3,600-passenger cruise ship's godmother, Kate Middleton will say a blessing for the ship and ask for the safety of its crew and passengers.  While it might seem like an odd new

Totally worth it. #NOT | Photo courtesy of Catchpole & Rye
I'm a woman of simple needs. Give me a roof over my head, cute shoes, enough money to pay off my student loans and I'm set (oh, and if we can work Ryan Gosling in to this A close up on the absurdity. | Photo courtesy of Catchpole & Ryeequation somehow that would be excellent). But, it seems there are some people in this world that are a touch harder to please. Like the kind of people who would spend almost a quarter of a million dollars on a bathtub.

From the British makers of already-insanely-priced (but gorgeous) bathtubs, sinks, and taps Catchpole & Rye, comes the Swarovski Crystal Bateau--a classically-shaped tub that boasts thousands of hand-placed crystals and an insane price tag of £150,000--that comes to about $230,000. According to Catchpole & Rye's website, "Thousands of crystals have been painstakingly applied by hand taking hundreds of hours [sic] turning the bath into a real object d’art. The Swarovski crystals are all white, of four different plates and applied in meticulous fashion to emphasise the light refracting properties of the

Spring has arrived--bringing with it warmer temperatures, shorter skirts, healthier glows, and most importantly, a fresh crop of spring tunes. These are the songs we can't stop listening to!

Local Natives: Infectious Records | Vampire Weekend: XL Recordings | TOKiMONSTA: Brainfeeder | Justin Timberlake: RCA | P!nk: RCA | Ellie Goulding: Polydor Records | Emeli Sande: Virgin Records | Bastille: Virgin Records | Rilo Kiley: Little Record Company | Icona Pop: Ten Records | The Band Perry: Republic Nashville

"Next to Me" by Emeli Sandé - Big in her native UK, star-on-the-rise Sandé's soul-tinged single is like a dancier version of some of our favorite Adele songs. We triple dog dare you to listen to "Next to Me" just once.


"Step" by Vampire Weekend - The boys from NYC have released two songs from their latest and much-anticipated album. Both "Step" and "Diane Young" have that catchy, eclectic sound we’ve come to love so much.


"Let Me Back In" by Rilo Kiley - Oh, the nostalgia. Rilo Kiley defined the high school experience of a certain blogger ("More Adventurous" anyone?), and the fact that Jenny, Blake, Pierre, and Jason are back together and making still-excellent music is the best news we've heard this year. "Let Me Back In" is a love letter to the City of Angels, but it feels more like a big hug from a

It's finally starting to look a lot like summer around these parts. After a long, cold winter full of chapped lips and pasty skin (at least for this blogger), it's time to embrace the warmth of the sun--the beautiful, Vitamin D-giving sun. Summer is a time of year when we start spending more time outside, and it's easy to forget that in addition to giving us an enviable healthy glow, Mr. Golden Sun can also cause serious damage to your skin. We can't wait to spend every available second on the beach or poolside soaking up the rays, but we know we have to do so responsibly. Here are a few products and accessories to keep you safe and stylish!



Clockwise from top left:
Xhilaration Straw Baseball Hat in Black, $12.99 at target.com - The hot baseball hat trend gets a decidedly warm-weather twist.
COVERGIRL NatureLuxe Gloss Balm in Anemone, $5.99 at drugstore.com - Coral-y lips are in for the season--plus this formula protects your kisser with SPF15
Frederic Fekkai Smooth Sailing Anti-Frizz

You're gonna need a bigger sheet. | Photo courtesy of Christopher Polk/KCA2013/Getty ImagesEvery year at the Nickelodeon Kids' Choice Awards, celebs from every corner of the entertainment industry get slimed--whether they like it or not. And while it's always entertaining to see stars like Katy Perry and Justin Bieber get doused in sticky green goo when they least suspect it, we've always wondered what happens in the aftermath.

Luckily for those slime-covered stars, Bounty Select-A-Size is tackling a new clean-up challenge by sponsoring the messiest awards show for kids. They are showing us the power of their paper towels by taking on the spills, sprays, and showers of slime of the Kids' Choice Awards, proving that, thanks to the strength and durability packed into one small sheet, no job is too big (or too small) for Bounty Select-a-Size. And with “trap & lock technology," you can customize  by choosing smaller size sheets to conquer big messes in your home.
Cleaning it up. | Photo courtesy of Bounty
Last night's show had plenty of messes to clean up--from Pitbull to Sandra Bullock, and many, many other stars--and you

Hug it out. | Photo courtesy of Kevork Djansezian/Getty ImagesWe may give Kristen Stewart a lot of flack for being a Grumpy Gus on the red carpet, but last night at the 26th Annual Nickelodeon Kids' Choice Awards, she proved that she's not afraid to have a little fun. After receiving the Favorite Movie Actress and Favorite Female Buttkicker blimps for her role as Bella Swan in the final "Twilight" installment, the 22-year-old actress seemed enthralled by the whole sliming process, swirling her hands in the goo left over on the podium and exclaiming "Dude! I was too much of a coward to accept this and now I'm like, 'What was I thinking?!'...this is really cool!" She then embraced the recently-slimed presenters Sandra Bullock and Neil Patrick Harris. Bullock is no stranger to the Nickelodeon Kids' Choice Awards' slime tradition--in 2009 she got a massive slime attack with co-presenter Hugh Jackman. And it looked like she really wanted to share the love with Stewart. The two actresses shared an on-stage snuggle after Bullock got doused from all