Sick Day

I'm kinda late with this post, but being stuck at home from feeling under the weather does give me a chance for a little update.

Thanks to the holidays, I acquired some pretty cool goodies. Some were gifts from others, and some were gifts from myself. These are my two favorites:

1. Pebbles. Volume 18. The Continent Lashes Back! European Garage Rock.
If you're ever curious about the amazing music you hear in a record store while you're browsing, ALWAYS ask an employee what it is that they're playing. If I hadn't done just that I wouldn't have scored this find. I was able to purchase it right off the store's turntable. A sixteen track compilation of raw, bad-ass 60's era garage rock. It's been spinning on my record player nearly every day since I got it. Love.

2. Zildjian. Taylor Hawkins Signature Drumsticks.
My mom got me a small variety of drumsticks as stocking stuffers, which I'm grateful for since I've been wanting to try out different kinds. So far, these are my favorite. Heavier than what I'm used to, but I've fallen in love with the full, rich sound they give me on my kit. LOVE.

Real Love

I love NOTHING more than I love music and drumming. NOTHING. 
Bad day? I turn the volume up on my iTunes and sit at my kit. 
Good day? I turn the volume up on my iTunes and sit at my kit.
This is forever.

Well...

Okay. I am a cliche. Whatever. I love this. OKAY?

MarMar Vintage Winter

Yeesh. Long hours at work have kept me busier and more sleepy than usual the past couple weeks, but I made sure to have enough time for an afternoon with Maria this past weekend to take photos of her in some of her favorite winter pieces for MarMar Vintage.

Snare Drum Wishes and Canon 5D Dreams

Three hours of this? Yeah, I've definitely assaulted my neighbors' ears enough for one day. I think I need to learn how to soundproof my drum room. 

Well, speaking of things I need...I finally put a wishlist together for my upcoming birthday. Here we go:
-Tama Rhythm Watch
-Vic Firth SIH1 Isolation Headphones
-Tama Stewart Copeland SC145 Signature Snare (It won't happen this year, but I can dream, right?)
-Tama Practice Pad Stand
-Evans Wing Nut Drum Key (because my drums are woefully out of tune and I lost my original drum key.)
-Canon EOS 5D Mark II Digital SLR Camera (This effing camera has been on my wanted list for YEARS. And if that Stewart Copeland snare is beyond my means, I'll be waiting a long ass time before this camera is anywhere near my reach.)
-ITunes gift cards and/or an Amoeba Records gift certificate (because I want all the music. ALL THE MUSIC.)
-Lucky Brand Bambi Ankle Booties (Yeah, shoes. I am a girl after all.)

Second Time Around

Every now and then I go through old photos on my hard drive. I try to weed out the photos I dislike and sometimes I find some that I may have overlooked in the past. 

These were taken on two different occasions around Orange County with my dear friend Tiffany modeling. I didn't think they were great when I originally shot these, but after a bit of re-editing today I found I quite liked them. 

And sometimes I re-edit photos just for the hell of it. The next two photos were taken just over a year ago during an engagement shoot for my friend Charlene and her guy Noel. I liked the original edits of these, but what can I say? I like a little variation.

Everything Under The Sun Is In Tune

This past week has been all about feeding my now full-blown drumming addiction. Whether I'm adjusting my setup, doing independence exercises or trying to nail the fills in my favorite songs, it's not been easy to tear myself away from my kit. And I just received a new Meinl crash ride cymbal today, so I'm going to be testing this pretty little baby out the rest of my afternoon!

Also, let me just say how stoked I am that Pink Floyd has been all over the place this month. Box sets and re-releases, a tribute week on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon featuring Nick Mason and Roger Waters (sadly, the ever-elusive David Gilmour didn't make an appearance. Grr.), and a ton of magazine features:

Happy Friday!

My Itinerary For the Day

Breakfast. Drums. Drums. Drums. Lunch. Blog break. Drums. Drums. Dinner. Drums. Drums.

MarMar Vintage (Then and Now!)

On and off for about a year now, I've had the pleasure of photographing looks for my friend Maria's vintage clothing business, MarMar Vintage (You can find her Etsy store here). During our first session, I was able to photograph some really cute pieces and they turned out to be some of my favorite photos I've taken thus far:

We're hoping to do some photos of Halloween-themed looks this week, so stay tuned for that! For now, here are some of my favorites from a recent shoot we did for MarMar Vintage's Fall 2011 pieces: