Feral Watch Giveaway!

Head over to Oh the Lovely Things and enter! http://www.ohthelovelythings.com/2012/10/feral-watches-giveaway.html

We've Moved!

And by we, I mean me. I don't think I have many readers who aren't people I know personally, but in case I do, I want to let you know that I am moving this blog to another website! I'm gonna go ahead and keep this blog active since it would be a bit of a hassle to move all of my previous posts to the new blog, and I don't want to lose everything I've already written.

Here's the new site: http://applesandpapples.wordpress.com/ ...I'm excited for a fresh look and a push to keep writing =)

Tuesday Tunes - Kids Of 88

After quite a hiatus that I have no legitimate excuse for other than laziness/being unable to follow self-imposed deadlines, I'm back to writing blog posts! I can't honestly promise that I'll keep up with this, but that's one great thing about not having a popular blog - so few people read this that no one gets upset when I don't post! And when I do post, it's just like a nice treat ^_^ ...at least, that's how I like to think about it. Long story short, I have a lot of free time coming up so I will likely be posting much more frequently, but no promises.


Anyway, I was inspired to get back to posting when I heard this band's music. Surprise surprise, they're from New Zealand (I swear I don't pick them like this on purpose, it just turns out that a lot of awesome music comes out of that awesome country), and they express in their music the funky and enticing persona that makes me love Kiwis all the more. 

Jordan Arts and Sam McArthy have been making music as the Kids of 88 since 2008, but I don't think they're too well known yet in the States (we should change this!). I love this "new wave" genre they've got going on, which Wikipedia tells me is kind of like the love child of punk rock and electronica music. It's got the fun and sexy of rock music mixed with the carefree and rebellious of punk rock mixed with the new age and uniqueness of electronica. A wildly irresponsible yet ridiculously charming love child.


They're great at the softer side of electro as well:

I'm so drawn to the lyrics in this one, particularly the chorus: "Cuz I wanna go to a place that I know is real. I need to find a new place for my mind to heal." In a lot of ways, music serves as a release, helping people relax their minds and escape from stress. Well, at least that's the case for me. The sounds in this song definitely make me feel like I can just stop thinking, sit back, and take a breather.

I hope you guys enjoy this band as much as I do! They've got a free download of "My House" on their official website if you subscribe to some updates. Also check out their Facebook page!

Tuesday Tunes - "Everything to Me" (Lips)

Oh man, I am so happy I found this song. I will try my best to articulate what it is about "Everything to Me" that made it an immediate favorite for me, but really, just give it a listen and you will understand. You may have heard of it before, but likely a different, remixed version (the Adventure Club Remix is quite popular on Youtube, although I'm a bigger fan of the DJ Fresh Direct remix).

It's just so simple and smooooooth. Stephanie Brown's voice is very cool and down-to-earth, which can sometimes lead to boring music, but that is certainly not the case for Lips. I have already listened to this song like 10 times and I'm still in love with it. Like most of the stuff I recommend, this is perfect music for just playing in the background while studying or reading.

Photo from the LIPS Facebook page

Let's talk a little bit about the lyrics. Just try and tell me that you don't sometimes feel like "there are days I would pay anything just to leave it all behind". This song really speaks to those times when you just wish you were living a different life. Lips frontman (er, frontwoman?) Stephanie Brown, who aptly describes this song as "an everyday account of needing to take a break from your everyday." Sometimes the simplest topics can be the most poignant choices for music, and I'm a huge fan of songs with relatable lyrics.

Photo from Facebook

Stephanie Brown also just seems like a cool chick. I mean, come on. She categorizes her style as DIY Casio Pop, and her keyboard has floral print on it. She looks like the kind of person I would want to party with, and she is from New Zealand, which everybody knows wins bonus points from me.

Anyways, join me in listening to this song on repeat for the next month. Click heeeeere to download the song for free!

Tuesday Tunes - Oceanship

I've known about this band for a while now, although I only recently started listening to their album in its entirety. I have played the second song, Hotblack, about a million times on my iTunes, and I have watched the official music video maybe just as many times. The video is so unique and, I dunno, it just makes me feel very emotional for some reason.

Photo from Vimeo

I'm not entirely sure what message the video and song are supposed to send, but I'm the kind of person who likes to just experience music by going with whatever it makes me feel. Part of the reason I chose this song for my blog is because I'm actually really curious about what other people think of this video in particular, since I'm not sure if it's supposed to be funny or tortured. Maybe a little of both?


I really meant to listen to the entire album before posting this, so I sort of fail at giving a full recommendation for this band, but since Hotblack was enough to get my ears majorly perked a year or so ago, I think it will be enough of a push for you to give the rest of their music a listen too. From what I HAVE heard so far, the album has a very....earthy feel? Maybe I'm just getting that from the opening song with its rainfall background. There's also a lot of piano accompaniment in the first few songs, which I always love. Either way, I can't wait to listen to the whole thing - I am attempting to take Brad Lyons' (frontman) advice and listen to it all in order in one fell swoop. Take the emotional roller coaster and experience the whole story Oceanship.

Pic from Oceanship Website

You can listen to all of their songs on the official website =) 

Tuesday Tunes - ArchAnimals

This song is called Pokemon. I'm not gonna lie, that's the main reason I even listened to it in the first place. And I'm really glad I did, because this is some really cool sound. And it comes from another band that you likely have never heard of (put on your hipster glasses, everyone)! I mean, they only have 117 likes on their Facebook page.

Picture from GMAD Indie

I haven't been feeling my greatest lately, so that might partly explain the sparseness of this post, but I will also blame it on the fact that this band really is still super local - currently stationed in New Orleans - and this is the only song that they've recorded and released. It's available as a free download (yay free music!), but I'd say support new bands and name your price for the song on their website!


Pokemon's a hard one to describe, but I just really like the feel of it. It's like the music starts out just as barely intentional noise, and then there's this part right around 1:30 when it turns into something really beautiful. Only for a brief moment though! And then it comes back at 3 minutes and makes you feel like you're in the emotional climax of a movie when the main character has this epiphany that he's really in love with the girl he just said goodbye to. Or something. Either way, give it a listen, because it's cool stuff. And "Like" them on FB!

Tuesday Tunes - Cherub

I unfortunately have no free music to offer this week, but this band is still definitely worth checking out. When I read the band description ("sexy, avant-garde, electro-pop duo that is the dance love-child of 80's funk, and pop-music from the future" - Facebook), I was a bit skeptical. But then I figured that if I've given folk a chance, might as well do the same for funk. I was very pleasantly surprised, and also a bit relieved, to find that their music actually has a lot of variety to it; it's not all James Brown funkadelic but instead finds a happy, unexpected medium between that and...I dunno, some popular electronic band these days.

Photo from ThisSongIsSick.com

The members, Jordan Kelley and Jason Huber, hail from Nashville, Tennessee, but there is not even a glimpse of their Southern roots in their music. Instead, their sound is very sultry and Prince-like (as in "the artist formerly known as", not royalty =P). As in, remember the time Prince wore those ass-less chaps? This band reminds me of that moment, although maybe just toned down from pure sexual energy to somewhat more subtle sensuality. It's like Prince's funky grooves meet Robin Thicke's sexy falsetto. Plus some electronica...

I just really like that these guys have taken music styles of the past and mixed them up with a contemporary sound. I mean, how cool is it that they have essentially brought back the 60's, reincarnated into music that my generation would totally bust a move to in the clubs? So cool. So suave. 

Check 'em out on Facebook and their Official Website!

Thrifting Haul!

So I recently bought some of the coolest stuff to use for future projects, and I got all of them for a total of only about $12!

My haul! Well, minus 1 book and 2 maps that I forgot to put in this picture...

All in all, this is what I got:
-4 LPs with their album covers, plus the smaller Xanadu LP
-A cool yellow-green coffee mug
-5 books, including a book of poems and sketches, just a random old book because I have a strange obsession with old books, a children's book filled with drawings of the cutest bunny I've ever seen, another children's story book with some really classic illustrations, and a silly joke book about butt rot and bottom gas (couldn't resist)
-A plain, wood picture frame that I can't wait to paint ^_^
-2 National Geographic inserts with awesome animal illustrations


These items are providing me with endless inspiration right now. I have a few favorites...

Been thinking so much lately about the possibility of moving to Chicago in my near future, so I had to grab this album cover...

This tiny book, Pages of Angels, is full of really cool poems and sketches. Only cost me a dollar at the library book sale, and I can't wait to use some of the pages in craft projects!

I'm not a huge fan of the color (might have to repaint this one), but I love how unique this mug is!

I love the idea of just framing album covers to use as wall art, especially for only 50cents apiece! Use frames you find at Goodwill for a totally cheap but beautiful piece of decoration. I bought the West Side Story one for my mom since it's her favorite musical =)


Also, this:

SO FREAKING CUTE

Tuesday Tunes - Milk Carton Kids

I have pretty much continuously listened to this song for the past month. There is something so entrancing about the guitar work and the fact that Kenneth Pattengale and Joey Ryan have this crazy ability to be indiscernible from each other. As in, their voices have essentially melded into one super voice that ties in with the somber lyrics in a hauntingly beautiful way.

The guy who wrote the Foreward to their album Prologue found the perfect word for how this music makes me feel: seduced. Not in the lustful, rock-my-body kind of way, but in that I always want more. More of those subtle harmonies, more of that effortless finger-picking, more of their emotional lyrics that feed the "sometimes crying feels good" mentality. I mean, come on...these words are perfect for us self-defined tortured souls:



"You took the words right out my mouth,
When you knew that I would need 'em.
What am I supposed to do now,
Without you?
Without you." ~Michigan

Photo from Birmingham Box Set

"I come in pieces, I always have
I miss your face, the way you laugh...
I'm glad we met
In God we tried
My one regret
We got one goodbye." ~One Goodbye


I'm feeling like having myself a good cry just listening to the album in order to write this post. My lady readers will understand. This is the perfect music for a rainy day, or to play in the background while you're doing homework. I'm finding it to be the perfect accompaniment for blogging, so there's that! And don't worry, they do have some cheerful tunes in their repertoire =P

To add frosting to this already delicious cake, this band has put their two albums up as FREE downloads on their website.  I IMPLORE you to grab those freebies, even if it's just because turning down free music offered up by the musicians themselves is a waste. I wouldn't be surprised if this incredible sound starts catching like wild fire - they've been around for a year and I personally think they should already be much bigger than they already are.

Quickie: Ingrid Michaelson covers Gotye

No way. Ingrid Michaelson covering “Somebody That I Used to Know”?!?  (don’t lie, you’ve definitely heard of this song and you’re definitely just as obsessed with it as I am). This song has now spurred TWO awesome covers (previously, by Walk off the Earth) including this new one, and I am just so pleased with the music world right now. I love that super talented people have been inspired by this great song enough to put their own unique spins on it.




...quickie posts are hard to end.

Janine and the Dream of Horses

Yesterday turned into an impromptu adventure, and I'm so pleased that it did! I was visiting my parents and found out that we'd be spending a portion of the day babysitting my sister's boyfriend's daughter, Kennedy.

That's my Mom with her at Southern States =)

She's SO freaking adorable, and she was SET on seeing some baby chickens after my mom told her there were some at her job. Hearing a two year old screaming happily about "babie chickes" is was enough to make my heart break when we found the chicks hadn't arrived yet.


But good news everyone! My mom's awesome coworker lives on a LOT of land and owns 5 horses!

This place was just so gorgeous...

The look on this little cutie's face when the horses ate treats right out of her hand just ruined me. And her delayed and ridiculously precious "whee" as she rode around on a horse for the first time...just what anyone needs to put a smile on their face for the rest of the day.

Kennedy meets Lily!

This trip also reminded me of the fact that I reeeeally miss riding horses. I used to take riding lessons when I was pretty young, but my parents made me quit when my trainer switched me to a bigger horse that could easily throw me and break my tiny body into a million pieces. Needless to say, riding again made me pretty happy too ^_^

Anyways, just thought I'd share! I honestly was just expecting a quiet day at home with my parents, but I'm glad we were impulsive and ended up having a super awesome day =) Hope you guys had great weekends as well!

Arts and Crafts Haul!

I've been really good about saving money lately and so treated myself to a little shopping spree today. The weather is nice, the boyfriend has other plans, and I feel like being creative....the destination? Michael's. It's one of my favorite stores, and always the hardest place for me to leave without wanting to buy everything I see.


Without digging too deep into my wallet, I got some really fun stuff that I can't wait to turn into great projects! Here are my two favorite buys:

The design on this scrapbook paper caught my eye and I just had to grab it. Not sure yet what I'll use it for yet...

My apologies again for the crappy quality picture...but, I am SO EXCITED to finally have some Sculpey. One of my favorite bloggers (Delighted Momma) has these awesome DIY tutorials for polymer clay jewelry, and now I can actually try them myself ^_^

I even, reluctantly, picked up some items in order to retry a project that I have miserably failed at completing twice in the past...BUT, I am determined to make it work this time! More about that in a future post =)

If you guys have any craft ideas, let me know in the comments!

Artsy Farty Fridays - Polymer Clay Bracelet

Delighted Momma is one of my favorite blogs for DIY projects, and so I decided to give one of her polymer clay crafts a try! I followed her pretty simple instructions and finished up with something kinda cute!


Materials:

1. Sculpey, 2. Exacto Knife/Razor blade, 3. Sandpaper (not pictured)

Knead the Sculpey color of your choice (I probably should've picked a color that less resembled poop..) and then roll it into a tube. *Tip: measure your wrist or use another bangle as a guide so you don't make the bracelet too large or small!

From here on, I pretty much just followed Delighted Momma's tutorial to the letter. I will say that I wish I had used a razor like the one pictured on her blog since it allowed for more varied and angled cuts.

I am absolutely, 100% a beginner at this sort of stuff, and I know I could probably have made a much better quality bracelet if I'd had experience making jewelry or working with polymer clay before (it's tricky to know exactly how to handle that stuff). BUT, I'm still pretty happy with my little hand-made bangle =) 

This is how it turned out after I sanded it down some ^_^

Perhaps I'll spice it up by mixing this project with another of Delighted Momma's DIYs by wrapping some colored thread around portions of the bracelet, but I'm not sure yet. 

Artsy Fartsy Friday - Mason Jars

I recently got into this new-ish website called Pinterest, which basically just allows you to “pin” pictures of things you like on the Internet to “boards” that other people can follow. If you like someone’s pin, you can click on it and it will link you to the website where they found the picture. I frequently haunt DIY (do-it-yourself) boards because I like to believe I’m crafty. At this point, I have accumulated many pins of DIY projects and recipes that I have the best intentions to try but never actually do. Hence (partly) this blog. My lack of interesting things to write about has lit a fire under my butt to get these projects going! 

This first project is really quick and easy, which is perfect for me because I’m impatient and easily confused. I already have a hipster-y fascination with old books, so the main item this project took me out of my way for was the mod podge (which you can buy at any craft store for under $10). Anyways, just get yourself some mason jars, rip some cool looking pages out of some old books, and just slather mod podge on the jar as well as the paper to stick 'em together! It adds a little flair to an otherwise plain glass, and it looks really cool if you put a candle in it, with the light flickering through the pages. I haven't gotten to this myself yet, but you can decorate them even more with twine or ribbon to take it up another notch.

*(I don't remember exactly where I first saw it...sorry I'm not sure who to give credit to for the idea!)

**I'll have a better camera for the next craft post...

Health and Fitness...BLAH

“I did it! I worked out! And it totally wasn’t even that bad! I’m definitely gonna lead a healthier lifestyle now!”

About a week later, an ever-growing pile of excuses knocks me off track until I am right back at square one. I think one big obstacle for me is that I’m too results-driven when it comes to self-improvement. If I don’t see positive results quickly, I lose interest and give up, even though I am fully conscious of the fact that these things take time.

My stomach doesn’t look significantly more toned after running for a half hour? EXERCISE IS FOR WEENIES.

My milkshake ain’t poppin’ after 20 squats? WALLOW IN DEFEAT (and milkshakes).

My motivation is just so seriously lacking…I have failed SO MANY TIMES. Just two weeks ago, I started a workout routine I found online, stuck to it for week and a half, and then “got too busy,” “was too tired,” etc. etc. *sigh*

So since I’m apparently the worst at exercising, I thought I could work on my diet. But, I’ll tell ya right now, day 1 of eating nutritionally was NOT easy. So many health blogs push the whole “eat a snack every 2-3 hours” thing, but what they fail to consider is that some people have jobs that make that INCREDIBLY difficult. Take my job, for instance. I work at a very fast-paced café from 10:30am-7pm. I get one 45-minute break in that time span. The rest of the time, I’m working. The only way to eat a snack every 3 hours is to swallow that snack whole, which I am told is also adverse to a healthy diet. I am legitimately boggled on how I am supposed to make this sort of diet work, but I’m trying and doing the best I can.

A big diet weakness for me is getting over cravings. I have a serious sweet tooth, and I also feel as if I need to eat any time my stomach growls. Turns out our stomachs are just selfish liars that tell us we want something terrible for us when what our bodies actually need is something else entirely. A VERY helpful tip I’ve found is to drink a cup (or at least a few gulps) of water whenever I feel hungry. Especially if I’ve eaten recently but my stomach wants to see how much it can confuse me into eating even more. I’ve been doing this at work and it helps me hold on through the lunch rush until I can take a break and eat a snack.

Anyways…hopefully I’ll keep up with that. In the meantime, if anyone has fitness motivation tips, PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE put them in the comments. Or maybe a workout buddy? Yeah? Yeah.

Tuesday Tunes - Five Mile Town

Let me introduce you to Five Mile Town. First things first, this band is from New Zealand. Number 1 reason for thinking they’re awesome.

Number 2? There is a banjo in this song. In my opinion, the banjo is a sadly under-utilized instrument in modern music. And it brings such an interesting feel to this song in particular, giving the otherwise pretty typical song a nice twangy (twangy? Twangy.) accompaniment. Also, playing an upright bass in the woods is downright baus (see what I did there?).

Liking this song also means being one of probably less than 500 people who have even heard of this band (their Facebook page only has 472 likes so far). They’re a hipster’s wet dream, really. They don't even have a Wikipedia page. However, they are gaining some popularity in recent days, thanks to a random fan posting their new video on Reddit, so you'd best start following them now while you still have the chance to start hating them later when they become mainstream.

But seriously, a friend (Pete!) randomly introduced me to this band, and I really like their sound. It’s a solid first single and the video for it is simple but beautiful. Considering I have some friends who are trying to make it big in the music industry, I have a fondness for aspiring musicians who need a little help getting their names out there. Check out their Facebook page, Like them if you like them, and share this post with your friends =)

Tuesday Tunes - BOY

I first saw this song posted on another blog (JK JK), and I followed the advice to “take a moment and breathe this in.”  This song really is just…so simply beautiful. The original is also really good, I just have a soft spot for acoustic versions. I did a little digging (read: did 1 Google search) and found the band’s official website, which loads to a full window video of their song “Little Numbers”. 

This song and video are SO CUTE, and I now officially adore this band. I mean, who doesn’t love a video montage of beaches, miniature pianos, children playing with chalk, and lots of sunshine, all set to a cheerful tune about “all the pretty things that we could do”? I also found that this Swiss-German duo, made up of singer Valeska Steiner and accompanist Sonja Glass, writes all of their songs in English, a fact that I love because the lyrics of the two songs I’ve mentioned are simple, playful, and leave you wanting more.

I’m no expert at articulating in words how I feel about music, but I do know to say that this band’s sound has definitely caught my attention. Two uniquely beautiful women making uniquely beautiful music…what’s not to love?

Let's Try This Again

I’ve realized that there are a lot of things I like to share with my friends. So instead of constantly overwhelming my Facebook friends with random posts they may or may not care about, I went with starting a blog.

I know, I know…I’ve done this before. I start a project and then fail to keep it up. But if at first you don’t succeed, try, try again, amiright?

As an introduction to express my goals for this blog, let’s just say it will be sort of like a variety show – a little bit of everything. Or, as my boyfriend just deftly described it: Seinfeldian. I’d like to think he’s wrong, that this blog won’t be about nothing, per se, but I do love Seinfeld (who doesn’t?), and I don’t have any problem with being likened to such a hilarious show. There are just a lot of things that I find on the Internet that I want to talk about, or want to try, or simply want to share, and this seemed like the best outlet. Make sense? I sure hope so.

If you really want to know what to expect, here are some ideas I have for post topics:

-Music I like.

-DIY Projects/Recipes: I'd really like to document what it's like for a total craft/cooking beginner to try some of these projects that bloggers always say are so simple. Show what it's like for us common folk.

-Exercise/diet stuff: again, I'm a TOTAL beginner when it comes to fitness and nutrition, and I want to post about the trials and tribulations of trying to get healthy.

-Etc. etc. etc.

So as you can see, I’ve actually already got some post ideas lined up, and dare I say, some posts already pre-written and ready to go…? I’m cautiously optimistic about this, guys. I hope you’re excited too! Tell your friends and all that.