Splendor in the Grass never looked so splendid...

Looks like this will be the second day of musical posts, but I feel it's my job to alert you to new music, to broaden your horizons and expose you to music you might otherwise pass up. Oh yes, I take this job very seriously, folks. I am an iTunes junkie, a library floozie, and a mix-CD mistress. I live, eat, and breathe music. In my little world, there is a perfect song for every situation, a soundtrack to every day. Just call me your own personal musical therapist. And I'm free! Who doesn't love that?!

Last week one of my most favoritest bands, Pink Martini released their fourth album, "Splendor in the Grass". (Yes, I know that "most favoritest" isn't speaking properly, thankyouverymuch, but I don't care.)





Just like their other three albums, this one does not look to disappoint. Every single one of their albums is so refreshing in the sense that there is a wide variety of songs on each one, making it more satisfying like an uber-cool mix CD that your most suave and sophisticated friend made just for you (if you have friends like that). Again, this is also one of those albums that would be a perfect backdrop for the ultimate in swanky dinner parties.

Honestly I'm not even sure how to describe Pink Martini -- I guess, to me, they are like a mini-orchestra of the world. Their music spans all sorts of genres, and the talent and education oozes out of this bunch. To put it lightly, although I am a big Pink Martini wannabe and would love nothing more than to go on tour with them, I'm not educated enough to even be their shaker girl, and I've got a bachelor's degree in music. My sister-in-law and I went to see them early last year perform with a local symphony, and the even the guys just playing the shakers had degrees from Harvard or Yale or whatever.




They just ooze cool. If you ever have the chance to hear them live, don't think twice! I love this quote I found on their band's bio page:

"Americans don’t really sing together anymore … except for church … or maybe the shower. At the turn of the 20th century, every middle-class American household had a piano. And it was the focal point of the house … people would gather around it and sing together. Music was something everyone participated in. Everyone played an instrument or sang … whether it was an American folk song like “Oh My Darling Clementine”or “Home On The Range”or an Irving Berlin song like “What’ll I Do”or Gershwin’s “Someone To Watch Over Me”, everybody knew the songs, knew the words, and could participate. But then the radio came, and then the television … and soon it was all over. For me, Pink Martini is partially an attempt to rebuild a culture which sings and dances."

Here's a YouTube video I found with one of the quirky songs from their new album, called Bitty Boppy Betty:



This album is also on my ever-expanding iTunes wishlist. I need to start a separate piggybank just for music purchases...

Normal as Blueberry Pie

Nellie.

Whoa, Nellie.




That girl has done it and come out with a fantastic tribute album to Doris Day. (And please don't tell me you don't know who Doris Day is. Please.)




I mean, come on, who doesn't love Doris Day? The lady who implored us with her sweet syrupy voice to "please, please, don't eat the daisies" -- yep, good ol' Doris.

I've been a fan of Nellie McKay for a while now. She first grabbed me with "The Dog Song", a clever little ditty about life with dogs. Boy, can I ever relate to that song...

Anyway, this will be my next album purchase on iTunes fo sho. Watch the little video below to learn more about our dear friend, Nellie. If you're yet to become a fan of this type of music (Doris Day, Frank Sinatra, etc.), I highly recommend it. It's great background music especially for dinner parties, etc., but watch out -- you might find yourself a big fan quicker than you think!




And here's a nice little write-up about Nellie in Vanity Fair Magazine if you want to read more...

Say "cheese"! (Or actually, don't.)

Two Saturdays ago I had the privilege to attend an all-day photography workshop with none other than the talented Ashley Ann. The workshop, a "SnapShop" (don'tcha just love that name?), lasted from breakfast to dinner, and the main aspect covered was learning how to shoot manually with a DSLR camera, along with photo composition, how to capture life on film (as opposed to just taking pictures), etc. It was a great day -- beautiful weather, gorgeous peak color on the trees, fun meeting other creative girls, and let's not forget, a whole glorious day to myself to relax, enjoy some adult conversation, and feed my creative soul. Thanks again to my husband for Daddy Daycare!

The workshop was at Ashley's adorable farmhouse, and let me just say, not an inch of that house was to be found that wasn't touched by her artistic hands. She has such a unique and fun style, and I had just as much fun gleaning ideas from her decorations as I did learning about the camera. She has mastered the art of DIY, and there are her own unique creations peeking out of every nook and cranny in her house.

To get an idea of her style, first go and check out her daughter's amazing nursery.

Seriously, I'll wait. Just go check it out...

Cute overload, right?

Just take that times about a zillion, and you'll have her house. Yes, the perfect backdrop for a day of creativity and learning.

The truth is, since buying my camera a few years ago, I had already taken a photography class. Right after getting my camera, I signed up at a local camera store for a six weekly sessions in which I learned all the technical terms under the sun of how to shoot manually. And yet, since taking that class, I have only shot in automatic mode. Why? Because I think it was all too technical. I would consider myself a pretty smart gal, but the technical terms I learned in that first class only helped me as far as my knowledge. I never mastered how to put that knowledge into practice.

Enter Ashley Ann. Her SnapShop workshops were exactly this -- like spending a day with a good friend showing you how to master your camera. She gave us all the technical terms, but she described them for us in a way that was so much easier to understand. All day long I was experiencing "lightbulb" moments! We had two practice sessions of shooting at her house before we headed out late that afternoon for an actual "photo shoot".

The following are pictures I took, all in MANUAL! Woohoo! Sure, I have a long way to go, but the fact that they even turned out made me pretty happy. First I'll show you the raw images of the best shots I got:














I know, I know. Adorable models, huh?


Then I tweaked the photos a little bit in my iPhoto program to make them more like the ideas I had in my head. You can click on any of them to open them up for a closer look:














The goal I have for myself is somehow to get from point A to point B -- to go from taking the photos in manual (and automatic) and tweaking them in iPhoto to taking the photos in only manual and having them be so awesome that they only look like I tweaked them in iPhoto. That means I have a lot of practice hours and bad shots ahead of me, learning to find the right balance between shutter speed, ISO and aperture. Oh, and trying to find places that have more natural light to shoot in.

(By the way, you can read Ashley's summary of our day and see the photos she took of the same models here.)

If you're in the neighborhood and wanting to learn how to become a better photographer, I highly recommend SnapShops.

Count me in.

After surfing Blog Land, I was reminded of the fact that November is National Blog Posting Month (NaBloPoMo, or something like that).

Since I posted yesterday, and this post certainly should count, I figure I am well on my way to being of sound mind and body to be able to post something, anything, every day this month.

So here goes.

See you tomorrow, lovelies...

Halloween!

Here it is.

The reason my house is a pit.

The reason I have lived as a hermit for the last few weeks.

The reason some might classify me as bizarre, crazy, weird or any other number of interesting titles.

Bah.

Enough of the reasons, who cares.

Here's what you really want to see...












I'm afriad I've set myself up from here on out. My boy, apparently quite secure in his mama's skills, has told me numerous times already that next year he would like to be a porkypine.

Eet

I've been rockin' it to this CD the past few days. Oh, how I love me some Regina Spektor and all of her quirky, catchy tunes...

So much to post, so little time...

I know my posting has been a bit sporadic lately, so I thought I would give you a head's up of what's to come this weekend! Oh yes, I'll hopefully get a few new posts up about...

*the cutest Halloween costume EVAH (I might be a bit biased since I spent hours upon hours as a slave to the sewing machine whilst my house plunged into a pit of destruction)

*the photo workshop I attended last weekend (Can I get a woot-woot for the fact that I finally tamed that beast of a camera I own and can now shoot manually?!)

*Harry and Sally (well, just because they are the coolest cats in town and because you probably haven't seen pics of them since they were babies and now they are all growed up big toilet-paper-eating kittens)

*meeting the infamous Ree, that ever-so-popular fellow Okie of mine that just released a new cookbook this week

and whatever else random stuff that is floating around in my head. Because if I'm nothing else, I'm random.