Music Addict. That's me. I listen to pretty much everything. My iTunes is filled from alternative to jazz and country to rap. My musical tastes come in waves depending upon my mood. I thought I would share with you some of the songs I am currently listening to:
I think I may turn this into a weekly blog post...Just something since I am constantly finding new music to listen to and I would love to share it with you. Hope you enjoy and maybe you found something new!
At work today, I was listening to a podcast about the true American Gangsters, or Mafia. It was sooo interesting. I may have to listen to it again, I feel like I missed a lot. They talked about how the gangster life style got started and how it moved into being the Mafia. I love the Roaring 20's era and the history that goes along with it. The clothes, lifestyle, the Prohibition. It would have been an interesting time to live in.
I really found the Hollywood aspect of the whole thing fascinating. I learned that for the movie "Musketeers of Pig Alley" they used real Mafia for the extras instead of actors. And that the Mafia started mimicking the clothing style set by Hollywood. They started to use the image from the movies in real life. Most of the movies had an accurate portrayal of what the Mafia was and how they operated because many people from Hollywood rubbed shoulders and were in good with the American Gangsters. "Musketeers of Pig Alley" was one of the first films to be shot on location rather than just in a studio. The tactics to kill weren't just made up ways either. They were actual ways that the Mafia used to murder people. For example putting a gun in a violin was a tactic used by one of Al Capone's men, don't ask me to repeat the name because it was something ridiculous.
There's a restaurant in Moorhead, MN called "The Speakeasy" and it is one of my favorite places to go. There is an old 1920's car inside, the walls are covered with all things jazz and wine red velvet. All of the staff wear black and fedora hats. It is so great. There is a real Speakeasy in New York City called The 21 Club. If I remember it right, on or near 52nd Avenue or something. They had a brick wall that when invaded by the police would flip upside down and pour/drop all the alcohol down into the NYC sewer system. And it still works today. It was never found back in the 1920's by the police.
Pete's Tavern. One of the oldest bars in NYC. It turned into a speakeasy during the Prohibition.
Big band jazz and swing music is one of my favorites and I find it interesting that it was born during this time period because the people wanted something faster the move to. I think it would have been amazing to be in a speakeasy with jazz music filling up the space. People doing crazy dances like the Charleston and soaking in the illegal liquor.
Old vintage art from this time is some of my favorite. Art Deco started in Paris during the 1920's and continued after WWII. Bold colors and eye catching illustrations, straying away from soft colors of the Art Nouveau.
And what a time for fashion. The 1920's was the time period when women's skirt hems got shorter as did the hair styles. And the men in their sleek suits and hats. The women were just as reckless and rebellious as the men.
The Roaring 20's just seemed to be full of dancing, music, crime, fun, and a lot more carefree than our day and age. So that was my history lesson of the day.
I came across this, this morning on designworklife. Love it.
30 STEPS TO MASTERY by Ben Casnocha
1. Start.
2. Keep going.
3. You think you're starting to get the hang of it.
4. You see someone else's work and feel undeniable misery.
5. Keep going.
6. Keep going.
7. You feel like maybe, possibly, you kinda got it now.
8. You don't.
9. Keep going.
10. You ask for someone else's opinion--their response is standoffish, though polite.
11. Depression.
12. Keep going.
13. Keep going.
14. You ask someone else's opinion--their response is favorable.
15. They have no idea what they're talking about.
16. Keep going.
17. You feel semi-kinda favorable and maybe even a little proud of what you can do now.
18. Self-loathing chastisement.
19. Depression
20. Keep going.
21. You ask someone else's opinion--they respond quite favorably.
22. They're still wrong.
23. Depression.
24. Keep going though you can't possibly imagine why.
25. Become restless.
26. Receive some measure of praise from a trustworthy opinion.
27. They're still fucking wrong (Right?)
28. Keep going just because there's nothing else to do.
29. Mastery arrives, you mistake it for a gust of wind.
30. Keep. Fucking. Going.
It will be my life's new motto, to just keep going. Failure is not an option.
This week's recipe is Homemade Pop-Tarts! I'm not a big fan of the one's you can buy in the store. Apart from the weird crust, they are usually super sweet with weird looking fillings. I found a recipe at, of course, Smitten Kitchen, and had to give it a try. Something new for breakfast/snack time!
I made two kinds. Ones with jam and ones with Nutella. For my jam, I found an apricot pineapple that sounded intriguing. I also made mine a different size. Mine were 3x4.5 inches. They turned out really good! Puts store boughten Pop-Tarts to shame.
Today I was listening to a podcast at work about diamonds from the Discovery Channel (love that channel.) And more specifically the Hope Diamond. It was thought to have been cut out of a larger diamond The French Blue, which originally cut from the The Tavernier Blue diamond. The French Blue was stolen during the French Revolution along with many other pieces of jewelry. The French Blue was the only diamond not to be recovered.
Then the Hope Diamond appeared in the family of Henry Philip Hope in 1839. After his death it ended up in the hands of his son, Henry Thomas Hope. And after a long journey through a few owners it was purchased by Henry Winston in 1949. He donated it to the Smithsonian Museum.
During the podcast they did some recreations of all three diamonds and placed them inside of each other finding out that the Hope Diamond was actually cut from the French Blue. They also thought that there was a sister diamond cut too since there would have been a large enough piece left over. They said though, that there wasn't and that the extras were just ground to dust. Which is sad because of how precious that would be.
They ended the podcast discussing handmade diamonds. I think handmade diamonds ruin the whole allure of real diamonds. Especially with how long it takes to create an actual diamond, billions of years. A factory now days can produce a diamond in FOUR days! Ridiculous! I love technology but I also love the things that Mother Nature produces and I think some things should be left untouched by science. But those are just my thoughts.
I think I'm going to start listening to podcasts like that at work more. It was very interesting. I love learning!
On another note:
Its the weeeekend! It's here! Finally. What a long week. I did accomplish 3 crochet projects this week thought.
Up first is a brown hat with a floral printed flower. Button center, of course :)
Bluuuue iPod case.
And finally a new bright blue neckwarmer/cowl.
Hopefully these can all go onto my Etsy shop when I finally open one up. I'm hoping by the end of the month I can get that up and running. We shall see! I have a cute idea for something new. Something along the lines of the Two Peas in a Pod. That will be my Sunday and into next week project. I've also started my granny squares for a quilt. That will be an on going project...What a project to start...
Hey all, today was a better day than yesterday :) Thank goodness. During my morning internet perusing before I left for work, I found a couple of sweet things I would like to share with you.
This awesome print from this Etsy Shop. Very creative and perfect for Valentine's Day.
This completely EPIC calendar. Gotta love Pantone!
A great crochet tutorial from Strumpet's Crumpets. It's how to make Granny Squares. I've been wanting to make a quilt out of them (which will take forrrrrreeeeeeeverrrrrrr).
Some simply amaaaaazing illustrations found here. Check them out. Sick.
Who ever thought of using an old drawer for a bookshelf? Not me, but I wish I would have thought of this first! Such a good, unique, and repurposed way to create a shelf/nightstand. Got to love Apartment Therapy. One day I'll throw together a post of some of my favorite things from there.
That's what I've got for today. Tomorrow I think I will post 3 projects I've been working on all week and am currently working on finishing up as we speak. Maybe I will even try out one of those granny squares tonight.
Also, keep an eye on A Day in Marlon's Life and Jason Lien's Blog. They are two of my friends from college who are on their way to graduating this semester! These blogs are for their design work. They're two talented guys.
Today was not a good mental health day. I don't know why...just about half way through, my brain turned into mush. It was hard to concentrate, hard to focus on anything, hard to get motivation...I guess, today, I am just unhappy with life. It's one of those days where everything seems 10x worse than what it actually is. We all have our days right?
And then I found a song by Needtobreathe called "You Are Here" and I didn't even need to listen to the song to already know that it was going to get me through the rest of the day. You can listen to it here.
"You are here
And you find out all the pieces...
The time is right I know it."
You are here. You are exactly where you are supposed to be in this moment in time. You are feeling, thinking, doing whatever because that's where you are supposed to be.
However...
Everything is temporary-- Time is temporary and so is how you feel, what you are thinking, the place you're in, whatever it is you are doing, whatever thoughts are running through your mind. Nothing is forever.
Today will be gone tomorrow and it will be a day of the past, it will be history. Tomorrow will be a brand new day. So will the day after tomorrow. And the day after that.
