Welcome one and all, and prepare for an overflow of lush photos and lovely music. Today's musical artistry is my last of the local bands. I have no doubts that some of you have come across this duo in your internet browsing. Their music and photos have quite the growing fan base. Meet... The Honey Trees.
This gorgeous duo is made up of musicians, Becky Filip and Jacob Wick. They play many local shows and I have seen them a time or two. Their music is incredibly soothing, and their photos are simply magical.
Gahhh! Can they be any more adorable!
Well, you can find them on all of the usual places, itunes, myspace, facebook, etc. Also, Becky is an incredible artist, and one of my personal artistic inspirations. She has designed album art for a few bands including her own.
You can also find prints of her art for sale on her etsy shop. I am hoping to add her prints to my wall some day soon. So, there really is nothing more to say. I will leave you with a last video.
A bit of local trivia: This video was filmed in the home of my friend Ben, of the Sassafras Union (from last post). Well my dear friends, I hope you enjoyed my favorite artists from my area. I am sure there are others that will find there way here eventually, but that is it for now(locally, that is). And, as always, I would love to hear about what you are listening to!
I know that it is no longer monday, but here is my music post for the week.
We have such great talent here in my area and I love sharing it with people! This past Friday I went to a concert at a local Brewery. A few local bands played their music and to keep with my local music scene theme I will introduce them. First, meet The Sassafras Union,
From left to right: Phil Salucci, Kate Feldtkeller, Benjamin Ayers, Madalyn Hunt, Jaren Rowan, Joe Malfo
The Sassafras Union is a local band (for me that is) from Santa Maria, California. Not only is this group great, they are also all friends of mine. Ok so that may make be biased, but I do really love their talent. Sassafras has been together for about two years now and have a great fan base in our area. They are a mix of folk, indie, rock, blues, and americana. All of the members are incredible musicians and can play just about anything and everything. Phil is one of the vocalist and the guitar magician. Kate is the violinist. Ben is the founder of Sassafras. He is a vocalist, guitarist, banjo(ist?), and pretty much anything else. Maddy is a vocalist, and also plays the cello. Jaren is the drummer and occasional glockenspiel player. And, Joe is the bass player. They have such great talent and work so well together and three of them are still in high school! They also have a facebook page here.
If you would like to take a listen here are the tracks from their EP.
Secondly is Briertone.
The concert was a release party for their new EP. This local band is a mix of indie, and southern rock. Here is their newest music video which also premiered at the concert. And like my last post's video, you can see the surrounding hills and raw country of my corner of the world.
Let me know what you are listening to, for I adore finding new music and greatly appreciate listening suggestions!
Life has been going by at a speed that is too fast for my liking. October is here and I hope time slows a bit so that October loveliness can be enjoyed fully. As with many other bloggers, fall is my favorite season and I am so happy for its arrival.
On a different note, I have decided that I will make Mondays my music inspiration day. If I were to pick the one thing in this world that means the most to the health of my heart (besides the fellowship I share with people I love and adore, of course), it would be music. I love every thing about it, both listening and playing. I play the violin, a bit of piano, and I love to sing. I am also trying to teach myself the cello and guitar. But I find listening to music just as heart filling as playing it. So, I have come to decide that I will share the music that inspires and makes me happy.
I have decided to begin with local bands that I love from my area! For my first music post I have chosen not only a local favorite, but one of my absolute favorite musical acts period... History of Painters. They are a local band from San Luis Obispo, California. I can not say enough about how amazing these guys are! They play quite a few local gigs, but I hope they get more exposure, for they are truly talented.
This second video was filmed for a nationwide contest where they received 6th place! Also, you can get a peek at where I live in this second video for it was filmed on location here on the Central Coast of California! I am so blessed to call it home!
If you like what you here you can find them on their myspace, reverbnation , or facebook pages.
There are few things that give me more pleasure than sharing musical findings with people. I would love to hear what you are listening too!
And just like that... Summer is over. The last few weeks have been incredible! So much has happened and I have so many great memories to treasure. First of all... this past Wednesday I went to L.A. with a dear friend of mine to see a concert.
For those that don't recognize this gorgeous profile, let me introduce you... Meet... Josh Groban. Mr. Groban has been a constant companion to my ears for many many years now. I remember chilling on my bed at 12 years old with my walkman CD player (oldschool right? haha) and Josh's voice serenading me into that magical place that only great music can take you.
The concert was incredible! I saw him live last October for the first time and it was a small venue and a really relaxed feel, but this was out of this world. First of it was at the Staples Center in L.A. The feel of the stadium was electric! It was a full house and the energy was amazing! The stage was spectacular.
The back ground wall was all white, and they would project different things onto it. Beautiful. These pictures were taken from the concert program. 15 glossy pages of gorgeous pictures....
We also got to visit a few thrift shops, then we headed home Thursday and cought a showing of Steve Carell's new flick "Crazy Stupid Love". I am not normally a fan of Carell's, but we went for the reason that Josh Groban had a small roll. Haha. He only had 2 small scenes, but It was worth it.
The moment I got home my family and I got in the car and headed for San Diego. I was exhausted. I was seriously home for about 3 hours and then back on the road again!! It was great though. We visited the San Diego Zoo! I had never been there before and we had a grand ol' time. While we were there I fell in love...
with a Koala! Is that not the cutest thing you have ever seen in your entire life?!? It was amazing how he just balanced there. Not a care in the world. LOVE. LOVE. LOVE.
We got back home Saturday and then half an hour later went to a house concert at a friend's home! It was great with a local band and great catered gourmet pizza! Over all a wonderful last week of summer.
And todays outfit...
School began for me today; though I can not complain one bit because of the fact that the day consisted of piano this morning and ballet at 5:30. Great day!!! This is my last semester at our community college and it is a very east one.
This book and bumblebee locket was a gift from my parents for my birthday last month. I adore it. It is from the lovely Molly of the etsy shop MollythePirate. Check her out here
And here is Mr. Groban for my enjoyment and hopefully yours too. Have a great week my dears.
This past week has been quite busy and my brain is some what fried. But It has been great. We began VBS week at my church yesterday and it is going really well. For those who don't know, VBS (Vacation Bible School) is a weeklong daycamp of sorts for kids that churches put on during the summertime. I have been in charge of certain things for it and have been prepping for the past week. Our church's VBS theme this year is PandaMania! I will have to do a post on it soon!
Saturday, I went on a photo shoot adventure with my friend Natalie. Our theme was "the Disney character who you feel a connection to". So we picked our Disney "twin" and then we gave it a modern twist.
I chose Belle. Beauty and the Beast is/ has always been my favorite animated movie! I love everything about the movie. The music never ceases to make me smile, and the story fills my heart with a whole lot of happy. I have always felt that if Belle were a real person, we would be kindred spirits. So, Here is my modern interpretation of Belle. The bow is actually a belt that i made into a bow and then covered it with painters tape. (I was in a hurry and didn't have time to buy material so you gotta work with what you've got) I actually used this tutorial and it was very helpful.
Natalie picked Jane from Tarzan.
Gah! Natalie os so lovely in front of the camera. She is incredibly talented. She made that skirt by hand the night before the shoot! I love how Victorian it looks!
It was a lovely day of frolicking and mingling with thoughts of Disney! Do you have a favorite animated movie and character you feel a connection too?
On Me: Bow: Handmade Lace Dress: F21 Blue Tank: Birthday gift Skirt: Buffalo Exchange in San Francisco
On Natalie: Skirt: Handmade Locket: Found it on the street! (can you believe it?!)
Listening to: The Adjustment Bureau OST "None of Them are You" by Thomas Newman
Faeries, Dragons, Lances... Oh my!
The world of magic and knights took hold of the Central Coast over this past weekend and I ventured in with two great friends Sarah (She also went with me to the mission) and Jackie. We headed over to San Luis Obispo on Saturday to soak in the grandeur that is the Renaissance Faire ...
There was lots to see and many fun people walking about! Every stall was decorated with great finery and was filled with even greater treasures. This was my second time attending a Ren Faire. My first was three years back in Colorado. It was the most spectacular place ever! This one here was a lot smaller but still loads of fun. Jackie even got a proposal from a local...
She declined gracefully. He was crushed, but he dealt with it well. hehe.
Henna!! Sarah and Jackie got beautiful ankle tattoos. I got these on my arms though by this time the paste was beginning to crack. Right now it is all off and is a bit darker than the orange showing through. They represent the f-holes of the violin family (Violin, Viola, Cello). I play the violin and a bit of cello. I have a thing for the string family.
We were in attendance for the Royal Jousting Tournament. It was perfectly thrilling! And Lady Victoria of England had the most glorious hair!
Now onto treasures...
This was beautiful but I did not have the funds for it to be mine....
I did get to bring these lovelies home though...
Ear-cuffs are my favorite jewelry item hands down. I was happy to add this one and one other to my collection.
Another love of mine is watches. Mostly old fashioned watches with gears. I find gears to be beautiful in the way they move and work together. Yes. I am a steampunk fan. You can't tell in the picture, but the necklace is round and on the backside you can see all the gears tinkering away. When I saw this I almost died. So, rather than allow that to happen, I brought it home to be with me forever.
Tuesday I went to Disneyland and California Adventures! My brother Matt turns 19 on Saturday and he decided to head to "The happiest place on earth"! I love that he chose that! It was just him, his lovely girlfriend Karly, our friend/ Karly's cousin Tyke, and I.
This is my Brother. I love him dearly!
He is two years younger than I am, but he looks like he is five years older and a pirate! It doesn't help that i didn't wear any makeup and that I am a very short person. haha.
I didn't take very many pictures. Stupidity on my part, but I was just having to much fun running around wide eyed. But a few things ended up catching my eye and begged to be photographed!
We got park hopper tickets to both Disneyland and California Adventures. California adventures has more of a 20's pier carnival feel to it! It is a brilliant place.
We live about 3 hours north of LA so we really don't have to travel that far. This was my 4th time to Disneyland. The first two times I was to young to remember much, so it is nice to go back and make new memories that I will be able to remember! I am a huge Disney fan! I grew up with Disney and my children will too. There is just something so special about it all. It may just be that way for those who grew up with it. I don't really know, but it is all dear to my heart.
One of my favorite rides is Indiana Jones. You are in a jeep riding around and boulders are heading toward you and bugs crawling on the walls. Great fun, no? This last pic was in the gift shop for Indiana Jones. This hat was sixty dollars (I did not buy it)!!! Crazy, but it was a beauty!
To end the evening in the most remarkable way ever, we saw the new (one year old) water and light show at California Adventures called, "World of Color". This show was one of the most stunning creations I have ever seen. It is remarkable! The show is made up of projectors projecting disney classics and lights displayed on sheets of mist and columns of water. I would recommend it 100 times over to anyone who is going to the parks. Here is a video of the entire production. It is nowhere near the greatness of seeing it live, but it is still remarkable! Have a great Friday.
