Finding Your Happiness

Finding something that you love to do is always incredibly rewarding.  It is something that you can turn to no matter what kind of mood you're in and make you feel happy.  For me, I have a lot of things that make my life.  Photography obviously is the thing I turn to.  I love seeing the happiness that my photographs can give people.  A lot of people hate getting their picture taken.  But if I can give them photographs that they love, it makes me feel accomplished and like I have done my job.  The satisfaction that comes with giving my gift to others to enjoy is simply amazing.

I have known Morgan for almost 7 years now.  He started just a few months before me at Sacramento's kendo dojo, so we were all kind of new together.  We've been friends ever since.  He is a self-taught guitar player and has been playing for about 4 years now.  Morgan's recorded some things already, but is constantly working on new songs.  His style is simply guitar (no singing) with a lot of fancy fret work.  He's currently working on a youtube channel, but for now here's a link to a performance from 3 years ago.  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y7h24MYm_pM

I went to visit this past weekend, and I asked if I could take some photos.  My style of portraits is to take ones of people doing the things they love to do.  I took the more natural approach since it's more his style, but the lighting was kind of strange, so I definitely want to try more some other time when I have better lighting.  I also didn't do too many pictures with his face in it, because most people don't like having pictures of themselves on a wall.  XD  I am saving posting my favorite pictures till later.  I want them to have impact when he sees them for the first time in person.  I promise I'll post them up here later if people are interested.  Maybe someday when he makes CD's I will be able to do his album art.  :)  I hope you enjoy these photos and look for Morgan in the future.  :D

Nishino Kana

It's been awhile since I did a music related post, but in the last few months this girl has impressed me so much.  Nishino Kana is a recording artist in Japan with BoA-esque sounding vocals. I remember seeing her first single "I" back in 2008.   I listened to it because it had pretty album art (something I am known to do) and thought it was so-so and just a generic pop singer.  In the course of a year, she has become standout, and I am officially in love with her.  I'm a bit biased though so perhaps it is because she did a duet with Verbal (of m-flo, the best band in the universe).  =P  That song is called Kimi no Koe Wo.





Verbal is definitely THE coolest rapper in the world to me.  But yeah, getting off topic.... XD Her songs are the typical j-pop/soul-ish sounding.  Not super high pitched bubble gum pop, but the kind of voice like Utada or BoA (i'm trying to be more generic for those not really into Japanese music).  Her vocals are nice and sweet and 2009 gave her some nice singles such as "Motto" and the duets with the likes of Wise in "Tokutemo."  I tend to like her duets a lot, such as the lastest release with a guy named Nerdhead.





Gotta love when Youtube videos are in 1080p!!  :D  (the best 1080p video I've seen so far is Tae Yang's Wedding Dress.  I love that song and video)

Kana has one album and 9 singles.  Her latest one is called "Best Friend" and a very nice release from her.  I highly suggest her to you guys and hope you find love in her songs too.  :D

First Single- "I"

Seventh Single- "Motto"

Eigth Single- "Dear.../Maybe"

Ninth Single- "Best Friend" 

First Album- "Love One"

Headphones

I have a thing for headphones, especially really interesting looking ones, or really big DJ type ones.  I don't know why I love them so much...maybe it's because I've always  thought DJ-ing was really cool and that I wish I knew how to do it.  But I really love photographing people with them on too.  I think the main reason is because I love music so much.  People see headphones, they think music.  The thing is, the nice ones are always super expensive!  But I've found some really cool ones that I want to share just cause they're so awesome.  :D

So, let's go from most expensive to cheapest of my favorites.

Beats by Dr. Dre (about $300 standard, $500 colored)

These not only look really cool, but you can send them to colorware and have them customize your colors!  So cool!  I will probably never own a pair or get them colored, but one can dream.....Click here to make your own color scheme!

Heartbeats (going price approx. $119)

These beautiful works of art were a collaboration of Beats and Lady Gaga.  Now I like to think I'm an anti-gaga fan, but recently, her music just makes me really happy.  It makes me want to get up and dance around and just have fun.  But I love the way these look on (check out her Bad Romance video for view) and their a super fashion-forward approach to ear buds.  I like them best in shiny chrome, but it also comes in black and red/pink.


WeSC Bongo (approx. $80)

                                                                               WeSC Alpine (approx. $150)


WeSC (We are the Superlative Company) is a Swedish clothing brand that sells brightly colored, and often times unique looking headphones.  My favorites are the bongo ones (to the left).  They come in a variety of colors (ones I've seen are black, white, green, blue, purple, pink, orange).  They have smaller earphones on ones called Oboe headphones, and they have square sliders on ones called Alpine headphones.


Alas, I have yet to get any really cool headphones, and will have to save my money for them soon.  I kinda want the heartbeats ones, but we'll see....

In Progress

Currently working on a DSK jewelry haul blog.  But I gotta figure out how to use my new camera to take pictures to do the work justice.  :)  In the meantime, enjoy some of my current favorite songs from youtube!

A good song to duet with.



Not my favorite version, but youtube doesn't have the one I have.



Electric Six just makes me want to get up and dance.  


Upbeat is my thing lately.  

First Post & Birthday Celebration

Hello everyone! My name is Lauren. I'm a 20 year old living in the central valley of California and soon to be moving to new places in the world. :) I've gone many years looking at other blogs and I finally decided to start one. So, here it goes. I guess my main focus will be on music, fasion, and photography. oh and maybe throw a little baking in there.  Those seem like easy topics to start with.

So, the main reason I want to post is because today, October 7, 2009 is m-flo's 10th anniversary!!! m-flo is my all time favorite band and I love spreading the m-flo love to everyone. :D It all started back in 2003 when I walked into the Kinokuniya in San Francsico (Kinokuniya is a Japanese bookstore chain in the US for those of you who don't have one near you) and went to the music kiosk. At these things, you could find a music video that had just been released and watch it. At this time I was a big fan of BoA and I see a music video called the Love Bug. with Boa and a group called m-flo. So I started to watch it, and instantly fell in love. I raced to the CD section to find the single, and I haven't looked back since. Ever since 2003, I have been diligently looking out for m-flo releases and spread my love for it to anyone who would listen. Verbal is my all time favorite rapper and I absolutely love his style in clothes and rapping. :) So, this is my short tribute to m-flo today, and I wish them happy anniversary and good luck in their future endeavors!

For those of you hoping to get into m-flo, here are some of the best of the best.

*means that the video is up on youtube and should be watched.

*miss you//♥melody. & Ryohei

*the Love Bug//♥BoA

*Let Go//♥Yoshika

Loop in My Heart//♥Yoshika & Emyli

*Picture Perfect//♥Monkey Majik

Love Me After 12AM//♥Alex (clazziquai)

The Other Side of Love//♥Emyli (sister e)

tO yOUR bEAT//♥Yoshika

*Lotta Love//♥MINMI

*Love Don't Cry//♥Crystal Kay

*Dopamine//♥Emyli & Diggy Mo' (soul'd out)

*Can't Stop Lovin' You//♥BBBB & Emi Hinouchi

Star Struck//♥AI, Emi Hinouchi, Rum (heartsdales)

Tripod Baby//♥Lisa

*One Day //♥Miliyah Kato & Kreva

Distance (m-flo remix)- Utada Hikaru

Come again

L.O.T (Love Or Truth)

Yours Only

Here's how it all started:

Well that's pretty much all for this first post. I will be hoping to find more people to network with and I hope you enjoy my ramblings. :D mata ne minna!