beautiful people all around the world.

tonight i watched a grace kelly movie, "high society" which is a remake of the film "a philadelphia story" with my parents tonight. aside from a difference in cast and a film being in black and white to color, the main difference in both film was that "high society" had a cast filmed with talented voices, that of bing crosby, frank sinatra and of course louis armstrong. throughout the film, many great songs were sang and scenes were filled with the great jazz of mr. louis and his band. he's a character, that's for sure, but so full of talent. 

i love love love jazz music. i love the sounds of louis armstrong and his trumpet. the original jazz music from new orleans is really one of my greatest interests. i wont go into detail but for real, one of my dream vacations is to visit new orleans, stay at a  plantation (ideally the oak alley plantation) live off of my favorite dishes, cajun creole, walk the streets of the french quarter, take trips down the bayou, sneak a peek into the voodoo shops and last but not least dance the night away in the southern heat to live and local jazz bands. for real, that would be a dream. with all of that said, louis armstrong tonight got me back into my dream mode zone and here i find myself youtubing new orleans local bands. i've been finding some great ones. if you love this sort of music, let me know and i'll share with you some gems that i have found. they'll knock you off your rocker. 

one in particular i came across was a new orleans local band called, "TBC Brass Band." how they caught my eye you ask? there were a ton of them, on the streets, and the youtube label was "Billy Jean." of course i clicked it : MJ for life. i wasnt surprised at all. they were killing it, and i was in hog heaven. boy oh boy do these boys have soul. so i start browsing and browsing and googled them and read information about them and found out that one of their saxophone players, brandon "bee" franklin, at age 22, was murdered on may 9, 2010. to express their grief, the whole community spent a full week, performing theirs, as well as brandons passion for music in the streets of new orleans. this video i came across was of them performing, "I'll Be Missing You" for brandons memorial.

For one, I was blown away with how many people in the community knew how to play a brass instrument. Then again, it's new orleans and thats why the people there are so unbelievably  awesome because their culture is so deep in the talent and passion of music. Overall, I was blown away a touched by the mass of these people. To me, this is proof that there really is more good in the world then bad. I just wanted to pass this video along and spread the word out there of this band. I can't get enough of them. Lets give them a little boost, check out their music on youtube and keep up with updates on twitter : @TBCband

I hope you love them as much as I do. And I hope this touches you as well. It's people like them that make the world go round. Let's make 2012 a year to reach out to others and think less of ourselves. And to possibly add a little more jazz in our lives. 

merry christmas to you all. and thank you TBC Brass Band, you guys are out of control and im digging it. 

*if you loose patience in watching this whole thing, let me give you the time of my favorite parts that YOU HAVE TO WATCH, if you're going to watch any of this at all. the bold time is my favorite time, just fyi *

00:31 - 1:07      2:35 - 3:47     4:06 - 5:54

one more charming note:

one more charming note : i found a better picture of one of my favorite homes in charleston, south carolina. the post below, first photo in the second row, is my instagram of what i could fit into the shot but its a photo of the wonderful Palmer Home which is a bed and breakfast. This house is along E. Battery right before you hit the park of oak trees and located across from the river. behind this wall and a beautiful lap pool. i think i wanna sleep in a room here, in fact I HAVE TO. too delightful, this home is.

charm of the south.

ah-yeee! the best thing about living in atlanta is being so close to two of my favorite cities in the united states. that of, savannah georgia and my number one CHARLESTON, SOUTH CAROLINA. this city truly is the charm of the south. i get so excited every time i have a chance to visit this city. there really is nothing like it. and my gosh, pictures do not do this place justice. you really have to go and experience it for yourself to really get a taste of the old south. for now, i hope these pictures will do, for you.

hog wild on the tubes.

okay, now it feels like christmas thanks to park citys manmade snow. yes, i said it, manmade. utah hasnt really hit the dead winter yet. it's kind of crazy. kind of nice, but it will kick us in the butt when we realize its still freezing in the month of may. late winter, i say. so my roommates and i + one boyfriend, not mine (zekey zoo had to get a root canal. rut-row) threw on some major snow gear and hit the slopes for some tubbage. it was wild and we had a blast. not to mention, we were getting pretty hot with all that stuff on.

december is always cut off a little short due to finals week in school and then heading home for the holidays. so we had very little time to do the tradition christmas activities in utah but i wouldn't want to be anywhere else then where im at now in georgia with my fam. the weather has been out of this world! mid 60's and tomorrow its scooting on up to mid 70's. a little rain here and there, more so a mist but the sun will be shining tomorrow and im pumped because we are taking a drive to my favorite place in the whole united states : charleston, south carolina. im ready to just dive right in to the charm of the south. wish you could come with so that you could fall in love with a place that i could go on and on and on about.

literally: dance like no one is watching.

this girl rocks. and the way she feels is the way i'll be feeling come 3:00 pm when i am officially done with finals of fall 2011. yippie-ay-yay. do you understand im almost to the point of losing my mind? i went to bed at 4 am, woke up at 7 am. all that time i've been studying my face off and im keeping the fingers crossed that it was worth it. either way, when i come home, imma gonna be walking through that door dancing like a maniac knowing that im jetting home tomorrow at the break of dawn to the dirty south. georgia, my home, is repeatedly screaming my name and imma comin' on that midnight train to georgia. 

leo-mania: the rush of the great gatsby

earth to all readers. do you know what year we are heading into? ANOTHER LEO-MANIA YEAR. what's a leo-mania year you might ask? let me explain. as a child, i was very blessed to live through a time that was larger than life. larger than the fever of a  bieber (who im not too crazy about, sorry.) im talking about a mania that fled the world with raw young talent. bone chilling talent and blond locks that make you buckle in the knees. im talking about the one and only, my "boyfriend" of 14 years, MR. LEONARDO DICAPRIO.

you don't even understand. titanic was my life. leo was my leading man. i was beyond obsessed. i got in fights with my girlfriends over who owned more magazine clippings of leo. they were vicious fights, but ones that i fought very hard for and always won. i had books and books of leo and his childhood. my childhood crush, clay m. even resembled the face of my leo. i studied the titanic, waited while the t.v. guide would scroll on my television screen for the history channel to present "the history of the R.M.S. Titanic." I would cry while watching VH1's Pop-up Video when Celine Dion's "My Heart Will Go On" music video played. I knew the facts of the ship, the crew, the dates, the passengers. I knew the ways of making the movie, the behind the scenes. I knew it all. I breathed it. I even made my parents take me TWICE to the Titanic Exhibition Museum to see all of the artifacts. Please continue to judge me when I say, I took the magazine challenges of being a "true" titanic lover and jumped in a ice cold shower for 20 minutes to see what it was like to be hanging in the ocean as the ship went down... yeah you guys this was a serious illness i had. it was bad, real bad, like michael jackson bad. and i never looked back.

sadly, i wasn't allowed to be a part of the excitement in the theater when titanic was out due to rose' boob alerts... so my mom did everything she could to calm me down. she bought me old school titanic movies that never seemed to do the trick. we tried to find edited versions once the movie was out on VHS and finally she caved and I was able to eat up titanic in all it's glory. I now own the special collectors edition of DVD and i handle it with care.

a couple of years back I was able to go to a celine dion concert in salt lake city with a couple of friends and my two sisters. celine was another obsession to me, such a powerhouse she is. i was so antsy the whole show though, i was just waiting and waiting for that one song to give me the chills and bring me back to my childhood. but after the show was over and she said goodnight... there was no titanic performance to be heard of. i was livid. i wanted to scream. and then all of a sudden... the lights dimmed and i realized, celine hasn't even begun her anchor yet, how could i forget!? all of a sudden, in the midst of nowhere, jack dawsons face appears on the screen and candlelit chandeliers lower as the flutes of "my heart will go on" began to echo... and there they were, my tears, rolling down my face. and there she was, celine... in a white gown, just as in her music video, flowing in the wind and i was bawling. as andie anderson, "how to girl" says, "she reaches up, and she brings it back down. it's like the most powerful thing i've ever seen." and it was, it really was.

now that i have completely freaked you out of my weird childhood teeny-bop obsession that still seriously lives on today, i want to share some good news with you. im sure you have all already heard it but let me tell you something now. TITANIC is coming back, in theaters on April 6th to relive the magic of the ship of dreams, in 3D. the date of released is the date that the R.M.S. Titanic set sail and the year of 2012 marks the 100th anniversary of the sinking of the ship. now i can experience what i was never able to as a kid, to see this remarkable historical film in theater and relive the moments. i saw the trailer this past weekend in the theater and cried. it's so pathetic you guys. so pathetic. i really hope you're just as excited for this as i am. if not, please, do judge me because i too admit that i am so over the top but what can i say? im a passionate kind of gal.

with that said, i do believe my boyfriend, leo is going to relive his leo-mania in the year 2012 kicking it off with the movie that made up his road of stardom, titanic, and onto what i think is going to be the movie of the year, "THE GREAT GATSBY." holy moly me oh my I cannot wait for this. I have a feeling my second obsession is going to bloom anytime now with this flick. Im already stalking what there is on the internet of this brilliant remake. can i add that i am so excited they made my man leo's locks blonde again like jack dawsons? goo-goo gah gah. i am a sucker for the 1920's. if i had a time machine, i would take it back to the 20's. I love the style of this decade, i love the music and the dancing. life was a party during the roaring twenties and i wish i could have lived then to tell all. im gonna have to get into "the great gatsby" mode and begin the book and just dive into the hype of it all. not to mention leo has another movie coming out that is taken place in the old south (my kind of style, not to mention my very own home sweet home) with plantations galore. i have a feeling it might be a little intense of a movie but i know leo's gonna win all them oscars and im backing him up because he really is a man of talent. like i said, 2012 it's not the end of the world, it's round two for leo-mania. SHIZAM.

zekey zoo blew out twenty-seven candles.

this past weekend we celebrated the one and only, zekes  birthday! zekey zoo is really a dream come true. he's the funniest kid in town, with the best pearly whites i know. he loves his hats galore and has the best voice for les miserables jam sessions which really are a crack up. though he claims he is the strict eater on the street and eats only fresh foods blah blah he surprisingly is a great snacker and junk food eater with me. we both kick ourselves for it but since the company with one another is great, we figure we're just having a feel good time. zekes a treasure to the world and i hope he knows how grand i think he is. happy birthday zekey zoo, may all of your birthday wishes come true.

dedicated to the arts

just letting the blogger world know that i will be non-existent starting today till christmas break when i FINALLY jet back to the old south. my education in art has once again decided to take over my life and with two weeks left to produce more than i can handle. one of the projects is to paint TWENTY oscar de la renta runway watercolors. look above and that will be them in watercolor form. i have already begun and im kind of excited. im in my element with fashion and art combined, so though im stressed, i couldn't be having anymore fun. so if you don't hear from me in a couple of weeks, if you even read this, i apologize for my absence and just know that im working my hands to the bone. wish me luck.

gobble gobble

the first snow fall.

mark your calendar, people of utah. last night was the first snowfall of the winter season. i always thought i was going to dread it, but it helped being at the christmas lighting of riverwoods with ice sculptures, gingerbread houses and JOHN SCHMIDT banging on the keys of his piano in the center of all the festivities. did i mention zekey zoo and i and a couple of my roomies hit up the twilight saga? so not my thing, but i secretly love to sit back and have a great laugh. we were laughing so hard throughout the whole thing. it was GREAT entertainment, so worth the money. school is winding down and thanksgiving is almost here! yahoo! can't wait to be surrounded by family with more food then i can even handle. have a great weekend!!!!!

pumped for gobble gobble day.

happy gobble gobble day can't come any quicker! holy canoly! see the above? this delicious spread of thanksgiving delights was created by the one and only mrs. lilien and her spectacular styling house. she is my all time favorite lady with the greatest sense of taste for being fancy and fabulous. if you haven't seen her styling blog i dare you to dive in. you'll be sure to drown in the depths of her razzle dazzle-ness. im using the above as inspiration for decorating our early roommate thanksgiving feast this sunday. i can't wait.

this week has been nothing but deadlines and crunch time with the art side of life at school. ceramics class has been on panic mode for every student. the cut off date for projects is the 22nd and i myself am a turkey with my head cut off. i live, i breath, i eat school right now. with that said, the weekend ahead will be somewhat calm compared to this week but it will be nothing like the break ahead when i have no class to attend, no more clay to throw on the wheel and nothing but food at my plate. due to all of the above, i have taken no photos of my social life, zekey zoo has to be patient with my busy bee schedule and i come home around 9pm eat a late dinner and hit the sack. woe is me, woe is me. parents arrive a week from today and i'll be dancing with joy! can't wait to be surrounded by family and festivities.

hope your hectic week can come to a calm and we'll all kick back for a pre-thanksgiving weekend. happy wednesday my kiddies. we are half way through the week ALRIGHT!

jerusalem. oscar. color galore.

this is what i blog about during the weeks when my life constantly consists of learning the architecture and works of art in the middle east in my art history class and practicing watercolor clipart of the fashion muses of oscar de la renta for watermedia and dreaming of both jerusalem and wearing oscar's gowns. so while i dream, i blog and share with you because it ain't the weekend yet then i haven't done my usual dinner and a movie with the zeke-attack.

today in my art history class we had really great lectures on the architecture of a well known islamic building, "dome of the rock" located in jerusalem. i have always drooled over this building. always. i can't get over the color palette, the texture and colors in the rock and the intricate detail of pattern and design. really, overall this building just baffles me. i want to wear it, it's just that beautiful. it's funny too because in my watermedia class we are working on a project that is considered "portfolio worthy" and the subject matter is whatever our precious hearts desire, so of course i go to the fashion route. im taking my favorite fashion designer, oscar de la renta whom i previously posted about and taking individual photos of his runway collections from seasons past and present and turning them into watercolor sketches or what some call clipart. im really excited about these and the dresses i have been choosing have been some of my favorite gowns that i wish hung in my closet. instead they lay two dimensionally on my watercolor paper. either way, the color scheme of the gowns have coincidentally somewhat tied in with the color scheme of the "dome of the rock" and the "prayer hall door" at tsamchen gompa-kathmandu, nepal.

i came across this realization when i had posted these favorite images of mine on my pinterest and they were all layed out beautifully, one next to another and i thought to myself, "my oh my isn't that such a rich looking site." i kind of couldn't stop starring at it. that's kind of the artist in me. im sure whoever you are, reading this is thinking "i don't get what the big deal is." but what im saying is, i really just get a kick out of the most simplest things and to me, they are beautiful and exciting.

this is the main reason why i obsess over "anthropologie." This is what i figure :
The correct spelling of "anthropologie" is "anthropology." this, im sure you know. and the definition of "anthropology" is : the study of humankind, in particular. the comparative study of human societies and cultures and their development.
with that said, im sure you've swept through the store anthropologie yourself, and while drooling maybe have thought, "this looks a little african" or "oh this skirt looks peruvian." there has been so many encounters where i have seen a skirt that was made from fabric that is very well known in ghana, africa. on my trip to ghana the people raved over this certain fabric. it was rich and holy to them.

 well let me tell you something: to me, i figure the clothes that anthropologie decides to sell in their store for whatever season, is inspired by a specific culture from around the world. they study the people, they study their architecture and where they are from and from there, they take that inspiration and show it off to the world in the form of textiles. therefore, the correct spelling of "anthropology" is defined by what you wear. literally. there you have it. i cracked the code. and this is why i love to combine fashion, travel and art all in one because all three elements look to each other for inspiration and a language of beauty.

so with that said, i look at the above and think, my gosh i would kill to design a line of clothing inspired by jerusalem and the buildings that stand so proudly on their sand. wish i were a designer. i can be, and i will be in spare time, but man do i wish i could make things come to life. i did back in the day when i had my mom who is an out of this world seamstress, but now i live far far away across the nation with no seamstress at all, but dreams of "what ifs." hope you see the beauty that i see in fashion and travel. it really makes me happy when i burry myself in this kind of stuff. it's what makes me one happy girl. now im going to burry myself in the pages of my new harpers bazaar magazine. lady beyonce' is on the cover and i am beyond thrilled.

p.s. the girl in the last picture in front of the "dome of the rock" is my gal pal lani. and she was so blessed to see the sites in person this past spring. and when this photo fell smack on my computer screen, i about died. so envious of her exploring. and isn't she quite the babe?

because everyone should be a colorful person.

gah. i am so excited for kate spade introducing her new collection of color! half the reason why i get giddy over jcrews fall/winter collection because they are finally dabbing us with a touch of color! it's about time... that's all my closet lives for. this is also 10 times the reason why i fancy miss spade, she sure does a great way of advertising her collections. enjoy.

looking for an adventure.

holy moly, me oh my. im dying to plan an adventure, just dying due to this cold weather that has now set foot in utah. buurrrrrr, i say. my teeth chatter in bed at night. our heater constantly kicks itself out of business leaving us roomies in the bitter freezing cold. all i dream of at night is kicking it classy in the Raleigh Hotel in Miami, Florida. like they say, it is "effortlessly chic and impossibly seductive." goodness, to swim in a pool with such a hollywood regency style, everything so glam and then dine under the twinkling lights in the heat right along the sea. yeah, i'd wish for that right now. and then skip to ma lu to all the nice vintage home decor stores and drool over my wants in a future home. wouldn't the be the dream? i can't wait to dream this tropical dream of mine tonight.... and then wake up to the cold and school. gahh...

here's to you birthday girls.

birthdays, birthdays, birthdays galore to two precious girls whom i adore! marissa and becca, two babes for sure have graced us with their high energy, wittiness and good company once again. so glad to have these girls in my life. they are great friends with great advice, great support and assure you a good time. couldn't be any happier to be surrounded with their presence and grace. the boys can't even handle it either... this i know to be true. it was a grand time making our rounds through the canyons to park city and ending in the great salt lake for a fancy dinner and shopping with marissa and then to dine in a grove of lemons at la jolla followed by some homemade milk and cookies with friends who are close to the heart. happy birthday loveies. may another year treat you well.

hallow-spooka-weenie.

halloween has come and gone. the month of tricks and treats was spooky and exciting. we had a few scares, watched the classic halloween movies, decorated the home with bats galore, let pandora play monster mash jams through the night and spent hours putting together our halloween costumes. my favorite month was spent wisely. the bride of frankenstein and her ghost and ghoulish friends danced the night away with the dead. well i danced solo with my roomies and friends. zekey zoo on the other hand, spent his night hiding in the bushes spooking the rest of our terrifying friends. he's a goof. hope you all had a spooky and safe halloween. until next year.... 

classy man, classy show.

my favorite man in the fashion industry : mr. oscar de la renta. he sure knows how to dress woman and make them feel the prettiest they have ever felt. he sure knows how to make them feel so good with a little serenade as well. like i always say, "oscar knows women, better then they know themselves." it'd be my dream to work with this man. classy and timeless. such a way to woo a lady. at least for me.

pump. pump. pumpkin-up.

hello ghosts. halloween has finally arrived. feeling the spookiness in the brisk air today i can already say that the bride of frankenstein shall soon arise from her grave! to lift her spirits, zekey-zoo and i carved away in the most perfect pumpkin a portrait of her dearly beloved, FRANKENSTEIN. ready to light the candle and set off into the dark night, our halloween frenzy awaits for fear and frights. happy halloween to you all, may you stay safe and spooked.

time to spook.

hey you guys... my favorite holiday has finally arrived in its prime. halloween weekend. are you as pumped and spooked out as i? i have yet to go to a haunted house, can you believe that? i can't. so tonight i shall embark in a terrifying journey. zeke-a-leak heard of a free haunted house down a couple of cities in the middle of no where put on by this old lady. sounds like a plan of murder to me... i might just sit that one out and pay up the bills for one i know i can exit out of with a life to live. pumpkins will once again be carved. zeke and i carved some a couple of weeks ago. we aint too smart because they rotted the other day. gotta start all ova. and come monday, i will turn into THE BRIDE OF FRANKENSTEIN and I cannot wait. my roommates and i have been very serious of our costumes this year. and we are going halloween traditional. a mummy, the bride, a witch, this aint no skanky holiday. dont even get me started about the girls in provo who flaunt their feminine assets. put some clothes on. it's gonna be a great hallows-eve. here's a little halloween song I grew up listening to as a kiddie.

"what are you going to be on halloween night? A witch, or a goblin or a ghoul? What are you going to be, WAIT don't tell me. Wait till halloween and let me guess."

keeping it somewhat classy.

thanks to our love nicolette, us four roommates, all in a little row headed on up to the stein eriksen lodge in park city, utah for a adventurous conference weekend. for a classy place, i must say we were a tad bit out of our element. when the four of us are together, we can get a little loopy and begin to forget what it's like to be classy women. instead we pick up the characteristics of a teenage boy.

for instance, she who will not be named is never known for "fluffing." while waiting for our lodge key in the lounge, she who will not be named and i were talking, very near to our stein eriksen greeter and we were getting a little hyper. right as the greeter was ready to escort us to our lodge, she who will not be named let out the loudest "fluff" in the entire world. she who will not be named, quickly pulled herself together, eyes real wide, mouth just gaping open in awe, starred at me in terror, fearful of looking around to see if anyone else realized she had let out a fluff. I nearly collapsed to the floor wheezing, just wheezing. for the life of me, i could not pull myself together. the other two girls went ahead with our greeter, not knowing what had happened while she who will not be named and i dragged ourselves along the long long ever so long walk through the lodges. still laughing. i never gained a breath of air. i just kept replaying the fluff in my head that had occurred at the stein erikson of all places. oh my gosh, it was killing me. i wanted to just hide in a ditch and laugh hysterically with out a care in the world, but she who will not be named and i felt that we had to try and keep ourselves as content as possible and be classy for our mr. stein erikson greeter man. it didn't happen. the three ahead were so confused why we couldn't stop laughing. finally, after what felt like an hour, we arrived to our lodge and being the last to enter, the greeter sarcastically asked me if everything was okay. lying I kept my head down in embarrassment and mumbled yes. he then replied, "yeah... are you sure about that." shocked by his sassiness, i looked up and very firmly said, " yeah im pretty sure everything is a-okay, thanks for your concern." closed the door and she who will not be named and i lost it again. you most likely wont think this is as funny as i do but it was a moment like this where i find myself really happy for my friends. weird how a "fluff" can do that to someone, but honestly, we were so caught up in our laughter that everything else around us was kind of pushed aside and i can't help but think to myself, "MAN are my girlfriends hysterical."

the lodge provided us robes. mine of course was too long due to my polly pocket height. nonetheless, we took it to extreme and niki was ever so kind to share her red lipstick to add to the hype of all things. we were really just out of control, laughing at every stupid thing that was said or done. being loud and obnoxious in the ja ja ja jacuzzi. constantly talking about how excited we were to devour the all you can eat brunch buffet the next day. we acted like children. let the children play i say, so we did. we couldn't have had a better time together.