Obsessed with good design, style, color, fashion and living by the water, this is me dipping my toes into the big world o' blogging and looking at the amazing images, products, projects and ideas floating out there.
For Marcy and for everyone else, just watch the video below - it's awesome. If you like music, Ikea, or puppies, you'll be into it, trust me. (And if you don't believe me already, kindly reference these other amazing OK Go videos: 1 and 2 - the treadmill video [#2] is a classic at this point.)
Let's take a little stroll down memory pop culture lane today, shall we? I've found a few nuggets from the weboverse that I had to share - any and all of which may place me squarely in the "pop culture whore / likes the same stuff as a 13-year-old girl / slowly rotting my brain away" category. But I don't really care. And neither do you realllly, do ya, Judgy McJudgerson? You know you love it. So let's take a look, eh?
First up: trendy nails.
Soooo, everyone (okay, every 16-year-old) knows Lauren Conrad is, like, the coolest. And everyone knows that all the trends come from Asia before they hit America. Well, LC (Lauren Conrad is known as "LC" for any of those of you who live under a rock...Sara) just got back from Hong Kong and look at the fun mani she brought back with her:
I already covered matte nail polish and gray nail polish (both of which are going to be huge again this fall - though gray nails are now being usurped by "greige" - gray/beige), but is leopard the next big trend in nails? It is kind of cute, but I'm not sure it's the best for everyday workwear...
Next up: silly shower caps.
Thank you, Urban Outfitters, for always selling the most entertaining slash ridiculous products on the planet. Case in point: shower caps that look like animals (cat, shark, and so on), as well as other objects (no, no, UO is not about to leave out the possibility of putting an ice cream cone, raspberries or devil horns on your head!).
Here are some of my faves from their offerings:
The Happy Hippo would make for a cheery start to your day. Or how about something furry and gray on your head (and not just hairs that need a dye job?) The duck bill could serve as a visor to keep water out of your face. Convenient!
Last: I can't not mention the VMAs in some capacity (and throw in both a Twilight and a SYTYCD reference all at once!).
So last year I commented on some of the performances from the VMAs(which are more fully known as the MTV Video Music Awards...try to keep up with the references here, folks...ahem, Sara) and this year I was really into the performance by Florence Welch from the English group Florence + the Machine. She gave one of the few live performances of the night and sang among a flurry of blue-painted dancers. She was awesome, as were the dancers...whose movement looked strangely familiar. Turns out they were choreographed by Travis Wall, a So You Think You Can Dance alum.
Oh, and if the Florence song sounds familiar to you, it could be because it's the song from the Eat Pray Love preview (or maybe, if you actually are 13, it's because another Florence song - Cosmic Love - was used in Twilight).
Check out her live performance - and the awesome dancers - here:
And if you can't watch embedded videos, you can see the video here.
Well, I hope this dose of teenager-appropriate pop culture has brightened your Tuesday lunch break. I'm going back to my normal regimen of important and deep topics now (you know, things like Martha Stewart pole dancing, Obama drinking games, beards, and proper TP loading...those sort of deep topics). Cough. :)
I used to think Tom Cruise was an overzealous, couch-jumping, fake-marrying, aliens-stuck-in-volcanoes-believing weirdo - and he very well might still be. But, after his performance on the MTV Movie Awards - as "Hollywood mega mogul" Les Grossman, his character from Tropic Thunder - I'm willing to give him a little more credence. I mean, he performed a dance duet with J. Lo and gave her a run for her money on the booty-shakin'. That deserves some props.
Do yourself a favor and take a look yourself (note: T-Cruise is in heavy costume as "Les Grossman" - but rest assured, it's him alright - don't you recognize some of the hot-stepping from Risky Business?).
In case you can't view embedded videos, click here.
So what do you think? Not bad, right? T. Pain T. Cruise has won back a few points in my book. Thankfully, because that Xenu business really freaks me out.... ;)
Goooood morning! Did you have a good weekend? I wanted to share a quick song/video with you this hot Monday morning, so without further ado...
I came across PS22 chorus' rendition of Phoenix's Lisztomania on Mighty Girl the other day and totally fell in love with these talented elementary schoolers and their awesome teacher. How good is their version of Lisztomania? Take a look:
In case you can't see embedded YouTube videos, here's the link.
And in case you forgot what Lisztomania - when done by Phoenix - sounds like, here's the link to that too.
These kids are amazing - they even got to perform for Beyonce and Lady Gaga and have been on tv several times - not to mention that their videos have gotten over 10 million views on YouTube! Very impressive. Check out the PS22 Chorus blog here for more videos and songs.
And have a great Monday! (More posts to come throughout the day.)
Okay, enough whining. You didn't comment on the curtains wholeheartedly. Whatevs. I'm over it and back to posting some schtuff for now. I'm still on the run with work, errands, friends, etc. so today you're getting another mashed-up post. Sorrry. But I loved all this stuff, and didn't have time to do separate, full posts on each, so consider this a "top hits" for today. Hope you likey. (If not, well, fine.):)
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We just bought tickets for anotherVampire Weekend show (they're coming back to MD in Sept. - woohoo!) and this time it's an outdoor show, so we got lawn tickets. I'm thinking I may need this blanket for the occasion: Cool, right? I'm not hugely patriotic, but the slightly off colors make it just cool enough (and not something a dude with a mullet would bust out on a cold day at a NASCAR race...right?). Available for 68 bucks at Urban Outfitters. Spotted on Design Crush.
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Next up, an awesome poster and an even better blog post about said poster: And here's Abbey's awesome write-up, from Abbey Goes Design Scouting(hope she doesn't mind I'm including it here - she wrote it, I had nothing to do with it - I just wanted to share because I liked her description):
Whenever there was a particularly pink beautiful sunset my mother used to say “Red at night, sailor’s delight but red in the morning, sailor take warning” meaning of course, that a pink sunset indicated that the next day would be clear. I always loved the way ’sailor’s delight’ sounded and would say it over and over in my head. When I saw this sweet poster I was immediately brought back to childhood and running around in the pinky dusk of a Vermont summer night.
Finally, the most awesome way to wake up every day. I'm going to have to give this a try, though I think standing on the sink like that would result in me smacking my head on the ceiling or falling off the sink altogether (or both, which is highly likely with me since I am very klutzy). This kid is awesome - a mini Tony Robbins. I picture this to be Sara McKelvey's future child (watch out, Dan).
Oh, come on, it's only 50 seconds. Go check it out (if you can't see the embedded video): here.
Check out the full blog post on Daily Bits of Beauty for more "How to Have an Awesome Day" tips.
I was absent on Friday (I skipped school!) for the first weekday in a while since starting sea*life*style. Oops. Did you miss me? Please accept this apology bouquet: Photo via Design Crush
...but I am going to do my best to get back on track - I miss my little blogosphere!
I'm running out the door today, but will be back soon with all new stuff (hopefully by tomorrow morn!), so please come back soon!
xo, r.
p.s. We went to the Vampire Weekend concert Sat. and it was amazing! Was anyone else from the DC area there? It was awesome, right? Photo by Sabino on tumblr
My brother has been accepted to Berklee College of Music and they've awarded him a scholarship based on his talent! Hooray!
I am so excited for him, and so proud (and so looking forward to having a place to stay in Boston, but that's just a bit selfish, hee hee). Sam, this officially makes you a (M)asshole! (I keed, I keed.);)
Good thing it panned out - otherwise these hand tattoos would've just seemed ridiculous (wait...). ;)
Congrats, little bro! That's major news (ha - dorky music pun...).
A few weeks back I talked about the site ChatRoulette (you can find my post about it here) and wasn't sure whether I thought it was creepy or cool. I've since tried it - actually at a party with a big group of friends, which was funny but random - and still think it's a bit creepy. However, I am loving the piano man mystery that's popped up on ChatRoulette, started by a guy named "Merton."
You see, Merton freestyles songs about the people he gets matched with on ChatRoulette. He wears his sweatshirt hood up, he's a pretty good piano player, and has witty lyrics. Check him out:
Kinda funny, right? Well, buzz started going around that "Merton" was actually musician Ben Folds. Merton came out saying he wasn't, but still people thought it might be him. (He's not, by the way.)
Anyway, Ben Folds heard about this and decide to do an homage to Merton before a live concert audience in Charlotte, NC. Hilarious. Here it is (Warning: there is some cursing in here...):
Both hilarious. I haven't been on ChatRoulette since that time at the party, but if I ever do go back on, I'm crossing my fingers that I'll get Merton (or Ben)! :)
The band OK Go makes the absolute best videos (remember their treadmill dance video?). Their new one, This Too Shall Pass, is SICK. The band, along with a team of engineers/designers, spent months planning and making it, and it shows.
I know, I know, I feel like I should cool it with posting videos on this blog (since I know a lot of you can't/don't watch them at work), but this video is AWESOME. I think you have to watch it, simply because so much work went into making the video. And because it's very, very cool. Also, I love that they included a Plinko board and a nod to their previous video (the aforementioned treadmill dance movie). (Whew, I just said "and" like 800 times in the past five sentences.)
C'mon, it's Monday morning - it'll cheer you up. (B, you have to watch this - you'll go bonkers for it.) Check it out:
YouTube link, in case you can't see the embedded video: here.
Love it. What do you think?
p.s. I loved all the comments you guys were leaving a few weeks back. Want to give me some more? Want to just say hi? I'd love to hear from you, even if it's a "you suck".... :)
Holy moley, check out the munchkin in the orange shirt - she is working it (skip the first 11 seconds - they're marking to start - but make sure to watch from :13 on - it's sick!):
Link (in case you can't see the embedded video on your iPhone): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8aNnWFe5wU8
On a Brooklyn Limestone, the office is a little more adventurous with bright color and zebra print - that's why a clear chair is so clutch (to remain calm in an exciting room).
In case you thought the ghost chair was a one-trick pony (as a desk chair), it can do anything. Here it is as a dining chair: From Jen Altman's house on Design*Sponge.
And for my final example, a lovely eat-in kitchen area: This is also from Full House(with no original photo cred - sorry).
Now do you see why I'm so excited? Thanks, Mom and Auntie Ruth, for the incredible gift! Plus B got us tickets to the sold-out Vampire Weekend show for April (yay!) and there are supposedly more surprises to come on Saturday. I am a lucky girl.
When I think of Canada, hip hop is not one of the first things that springs to mind. In fact, I don't think I could even name one rapper or hip-hop artist out of Canada other than the one-hit wonder Snow (of the incredible 90s reggae-rap hit, "Informer").
Here's a photo to jog your memory: It's in your head now, right? "In-forrr-mer, a blah blah blah blah blah blah blaaah, I lickey boom boom dowwwn." Wow, that was a masterpiece.
Anyway, I was reading the Canadian blog High Street Love the other day and she posted a video from her town of Thunder Bay. I think it's the sampling of ADELE's "Hometown Glory" that really makes this song, but I kinda like it, so I wanted to share. And, as A mentions, the production on this video is incredible:
Not too bad considering it's a white-boy Canadian rapper, right? Kinda catchy... And really good video/editing work, considering it's only semi-pro. Pretty good!
Happy Friday! Uber-extreme blizzard warnings for today aside, I thought I'd try to help get your Friday started off on a good note. Believe me when I say that if you watch this video, it will get make you chortle at least a bit - seriously, trust me on this one.
*Two small disclaimers: 1) If you're afraid of ventriloquist dummies, do not watch this (clowns freak me out, but I'm mostly okay with dummies). 2) There is music with this video, so plug in your headphones or turn down the volume if you're at work. Otherwise, enjoy!
Seriously, this is an oversize marionette dancing to cheesy early 90s music. What is not to love about this ad? And an ad for water, no less. Kudos, ad peeps, kudos. Found here.
P.S. Skip to 1:06-1:14 in the video if you don't have time to watch the whole thing (come on though - it's only a minute!) but can spare a second or two to see sheer awesomeness.
With winter here (and with my extreme hatred of the slightest bit of cold kicked into high gear), my tea consumption goes from zero to nightly. This Tea Sub is the sunniest looking tea infuser I've ever seen - so fun and functional! Designed by Ototo, it submerges your tea leaves to the bottom of the mug, creating the perfect infusion for your brew.
Wouldn't it be fun to drink your tea from the Tea Sub while reading with these?
Did I mention that I flippin' love Vampire Weekend? Well I do. I'm super excited for this week's release of their sophomore album, Contra. I've only briefly heard the songs from it (thanks, iTunes, for the previews) but so far I'm obsessed with "Horchata" and decently into "Cousins" as well. ("Giving up the Gun" and "Diplomat's Son" are the next runners-up, but not nearly as good as H and C.)
The band still really reminds me of Paul Simon from the 90s, though Contra seems to be a bit more mellow and has less African influences than VW's first album. B-T-dubs, if you haven't heard the first album (self-titled) yet, run to iTunes now. I love "Cape Cod Kwassa Kwassa," "A-Punk," and even the over-played "The Kids Don't Have a Chance" - actually, I love all the songs from that CD. And how could I possibly not be into a band that has an entire song about grammar ("Oxford Comma")? It's like channeling Muffy and Biff from the Preppy Handbook right into your iPod.
Both Vampire Weekend CDs are now available online at amazon.com (but skip the hard-copy CD and just go to iTunes for the digital versions).
Sorry if you're at work and can't watch video, but maybe you can check it out later from home, if you're interested. It's kind of weird to see a young guy doing jazz-type stuff (he doesn't strike me as a throw-back Michael Buble type, his other stuff is actually kind of pop-y), but he's English and cute-ish, so it was enough to pique my interest. :) Sam, check out the really good pianist:
What do you all think? Like him? Here's his site if you want to hear more. Do you guys want me to stop posting videos? Do you watch them? Let me know...
I'm thinking this video is a great way to start the day. This kid seriously made me laugh (and kinda decent ukulele-playing considering how young he is - we won't discuss the singing). Here he is, singing and playing Jason Mraz's song, I'm Yours:
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