Sometimes life just gets in the way

Just Watched...

"Once"- A really fantastic movie. Made me laugh, made me cry, and has really wonderful music. I definitely recommend it! Love.

Dark Was the Night

You and I both know that in today's modern world complete with online file sharing, digital downloads, youtube, and websites like pandora and lala, its seems as though no one buys albums anymore (yes I'm guilty of it too!).  BUT, if you do buy any album in the near future...BUY THIS ONE!

Dark Was the Night, a wonderful compilation album from an eclectic group of amazing independent artists, is not a new album --it was actually released in February 2009--but I after listening to it today I felt compelled to share the wealth.  I hadn't listened to this album in quite a while, but when i put it on today as background music while i performed various mundane office tasks (mostly consisting of endless amounts of copying and pasting into excel spreadsheets, fun!) I was quickly reminded of the album's marvelous splendor!  

The album features 31 exclusive tracks by indie and alternative artists such as Sufjan Stevens, Spoon, Bon Iver, The New Pornographers, Arcade Fire, The National, Feist, Conor Oberst, The Decemberists, Stuart Murdoch, Grizzly Bear, Dirty Projectors and the list goes on...  Every artist brings an incredibly unique element to this all around delicious treat for your ears and musical soul.  I highly recommend it, and an added bonus for your purchase is knowing that the album was produced and released in association with the Red Hot Organization, which raise money and awareness for AIDS.

Here is a preview of some of my favorites:

1.) "Train Song"- Feist & Ben Gibbard

2.) "So Far Around the Bend" -The National

3.) "I Was Young When I Left Home" -The Anthony+ Bryce Dessner

4.) "Another Saturday" -Stuart Murdoch

Oh it is so hard to choose only four because they really truly are all so good.  Now go buy this album and enjoy! Loves!

Color Craving

Lately i've been noticing a design trend that i am falling in love with: Robin's Egg Blue walls.  I love the softness of the color, the serene coolness that it brings to a naturally well-lit room, and the way that little accents of other colors pop so nicely against it. These rooms are definitely giving me inspiration.

Pictures from: Apartment Therapy and Good Bones, Great Pieces

Tuesday Work Wear-Black and Brown

In my opinion, whoever said that you're not supposed to wear black and brown together was a big liar.  Personally I break this "fashion rule" all the time.  I wanted to share a similar (but not exact) rendition of one of my favorite rule-bending work outfits, which I also wore to work today. What do you think about mixing black and brown?

Mixed Tape no.3

1.) "French Navy"- Camera Obscura

2.) "Thieves"- She & Him

3.) "Roscoe"- Midlake

4.) "Lover of Mine"- Beach House

5.) "I Cannot Let You Go"- Sondre Lerche

6.) "Brandy Alexander"- Feist

Rural Whimsy

I found these beautiful photos featured in an article from the New York Times about a week ago.  I meant to share them a earlier but never got around to it.  I just love the rustic and folk artsy yet also very minimalistic decoration of this rural Alabama compound.  Check out the article here.

Keep Calm, and Carry On

Disclaimer: please don't feel obligated to read all of this.  It was really more of an exercise for myself in order to get all of my thoughts and reflections on the past few days down in writing, while also trying to find a way to make a long overdue post to my blog.  That said, if you do decide to take the time to read all of this, I hope you enjoy!

These past few weeks life has been crazy, hectic, non-stop, thrilling, stressful, exciting, exhausting, and everything else in between.  I feel like I have been moving a mile a minute.  I always say that you can tell a lot about what's going on in my life and/or how busy I am, by looking at my bedroom.  Let me tell you, for the past week I've had to dig my bed out from under the insane mound of clothing and other stuff that has accumulated as a result of my running around like a crazy person.  I apologize that I have been so bad about keeping up with my blog in the recent weeks, I have had so many ideas but by the time I get around to sitting down and relaxing for a moment, I am always just too tired to think, let alone write and edit and all of that usually fun stuff.  But along with all this madness does indeed come some AMAZING experiences... 

To digress from my regular posts about music and random babblings about my latest fashion cravings, onto a slightly more serious rambling...Here is a little bit about what I do everyday at work (which i really think is actually pretty cool).

 Currently I am an intern at Americans for the Arts, which is the nations leading organization for advancing the arts in America.  We do this by doing advocacy work that seeks to promotes government funding and support for the arts, and by serving local arts agencies around the country (i.e. the San Francisco Arts Commission, or the Los Angeles Arts Council).  We provide services (such as, professional development, networking, and technical assistance) to these agencies in order to assist them in being able to better serve their communities through the arts.  This means providing funding for their local arts centers, creating and funding arts educational programs within their community, supporting local artist, and much much more.  Anyways...not to bore you with all the details, but that pretty much sums up my day to day.

So to get to the bigger point of this long digression...This past monday and tuesday, were very big days for us at work because it marked one of our biggest annual events, National Arts Advocacy Day.  Arts Advocacy Day is the only national event which brings together cultural organizations and grassroots advocate groups from across the country, to stand before congressional leaders and make a case for developing strong public policies and increased federal funding for the arts.  So on tuesday I got to not only attend and participate in the event, but i was involved in working it.  The morning started bright and early when I had to be on Capital Hill at 8:00 am for the Congressional Arts Kick Off.  This session was filled with congressmen/women (including Congressman Jim Moran of Virginia, Congressman John Lewis of Georgia, and Louise Slaughter of New York) who spoke about their support for the arts.  There were also two celebrity witnesses, Kyle MacLachlan (we all know "Trey" from Sex and the City, and "Orson" from Desperate Housewives) and Jeff Daniels (know for such movies as "The Squid and the Whale","Pleasantville", and "Dumb and Dumber") who spoke about the impact that the arts had on their lives and careers.  And perhaps the best moment of all was when Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi was awarded the Congressional Arts Leadership Award for her dedication to ensuring that $50 million of Economic Stimulus and Recovery bill was allocated for the National Endowment for the Arts. 

Following the "kick off" there was a congressional hearing, in which several witnesses testified before congress and asked for increased funding for the arts in America.  While the hearing was taking place, constituents from across the country "divided and conquered" as they all went to meet with representatives from their own state, in order to present their individualized case advocating for the arts in their particular state and/or region.  I tagged along with the California crew and visited the office of Senator Barbara Boxer.  Although we didn't get to speak with her directly, we met with her legislative aid who was actually quite receptive to our requests.  

All in all, tuesday was a great day and a truly incredible experience.  Being that close to "Washington" and literally being in the same room listening to these congress members speak, was very inspiring.  I have never been all that interested in politics or government, nor did I ever think that I would end up in Washington, DC attending congressional meetings, but here I am and I must admit that it is really exciting.  I feel so lucky to have this opportunity, and i cant wait to see where life takes me next.  

With all that said...now back to the regularly scheduled programming of this blog.

Out of all of the craziness that has become my busy life, I managed to stumble upon a little reminder which has not only become my new motto, but also one of my favorite new design inspirations.  

I randomly encountered this poster (originally a propaganda poster produced by the British government during WWII) hanging in the entry hall of restaurant that i recently ate at. I found something very compelling about the boldness of the graphics combined with the simplicity and straight-forwardness of its message. Just glancing at it quickly gave me just the little reminder I needed at that point in my hectic day to keep me going.

Needless to say the simple poster made an impression on me, so i did some research on it when i got home and found tons of amazing interior design inspiration centered around this very poster.  Here are some of my favorites.

Sometimes a little motivation is all you need in life, and in decorating...and I have found mine, at least for now.  Keep calm and carry on!

Goodnight.

Mixed Tape no.2

"Remember what they say
There's no shortcut to a dream
It's all blood and sweat
And life is what you manage in between" 

1) The Decemberists- "The Crane Wife 3"

2) The Arcade Fire- "Keep the Car Running"

3) Pedro the Lion- "Options"

4) The Dodos- "Fools"

5) Broken Bells-"October"

6) The National- "Fake Empire"

Brassai

These photographs by Brassai make me dream of true love, and magical evenings spent sipping on wine inside smoke-filled 1920s parisian cafes.  Bonne nuit, mes amours!