#94. JASMIJN (is now an official artist on my itunes)

(Photos taken on December 3)

My friend Jasmijn is an AMAZING singer, worship leader, song writer and person. In this photo she's being 3 of those 4 things... (I'll give you a hint.. she's not leading worship in this photo)

 This was her second time performing in the SU Singer-Songwriter Showcase,  and she was AMAZING! 

Also... shouts to our talented friend Vanessa playing the piano on Jasmijn's left..

View from the back..

mm mm good

(originally supposed to be posted may 24th)

Just a few things I've been lovin' on lately..

1) I was in a blah mood the other day ..and in the midst of this blah mood, I decided to make Etta James my new pandora station.  And... suddenly I was in bliss. Pure bliss. Oh yes, I will be listening to Ms. Etta James, Ms. Ella Fitzgerald,  and Mr. Otis Redding for weeks to come!

2) This is super adorable. http://greenweddingshoes.com/young-love/.
Photographing a 4 year old's pseudo wedding.. yes, a bit weird, but move past that.. and just enjoy the cuteness.

3) Since I bought my camera, and have gotten more & more into photography.. the way I view everything has changed. I know, I know.. it sounds cliche. But seriously.. I see everything out of a "wow that would be an AMAZING photograph" point of view now. Definitely feel this way about the first 21 seconds of John Mayer's Clairty Music Video:

the song I echo

I'm two weeks into this ''summer'' and I already know that this song, will be the song I echo to God for the rest of my time here in Ecuador.

 

''Awaken what’s inside of me. Tune my heart to all You are in me. Even though You’re here God come. And may the vision of You be the death of me.And even though you’ve given everything, Jesus come.''

Please pray for me. Not having the ''best'' day, faith wise.

new music (at least to me)

Want to make me happy? Introduce a new band/singer/song to me. I will love you forever and ever, amen. But seriously. I l-o-v-e finding new music! Love it! 
Here's what I've been loving on lately.. 
1) Vitamin String Quartet.  I saw three of my friends tweet about this, so I had to check them out for myself. This group does covers of songs, but not w/ voices.. instead with string instruments (violin, guitar, cello, etc.)  Maybe its because I played the violin for 9 years, or maybe because they're plain awesome... but I can't get enough of these guys. 
Here's a link to their youtube page with almost all of their stuff. I can almost assure you won't be let down.. http://www.youtube.com/user/vitaminstringquartet?blend=1&ob=4
A good one by them. Enjoy.

 (ignore the silly graphic)
FYI: Other great ones by them: "Makes Me Wonder," "That's What You Get," and "Your Song,"
2) Bruno Mars- My friend Jasmijn introduced me to this song & artist. And I've listened to it about a million times now. It's that good. I can't wait for him to come out with more stuff (He has about 6 songs now on an EP that I'm thinking about buying)

3) Justin Timberlake's rendition of "Hallelujah" - Seriously, What artist hasn't made a rendition of this song? And yet almost every time I find out about a new one.. I instantly fall in love with it.

4) Glee's Rendition of "The Lady is a Tramp"- Puck singing, the outfit he's wearing, and old school music that you could potentially swing dance to. Uh-mazing. Enough said. 

Here's a link to the video, since youtube isn't allowed to play it, I can't post it on here. 

http://videos.nymag.com/video/Glee-The-Lady-Is-a-Tramp

inspiration

I've been inspired by a few things/people/photographs lately. 
I shall share.

1) Stephanie Rita Hart.
Ms. Hart is first off AWESOME, secondly: a close friend, and lastly: an amazing photographer! Stephanie is definitely on my "top 5 photogs who inspire me" list (which if I must say..is a huge honor). Steph geniunely loves taking pictures, and takes them EVERY single day. She is so amazingly creative, and in viewing her pictures I often find myself thinking.. "Oh man, I wish I took that photo!" Also, can I just say.. You know you're an AMAZING photographer when most of your friends usually use your pictures as their facebook profile pictures (including myself).

Check out her amazing blog: www.thisworldaroundyou.wordpress.com, where she is doing a 365-day project (uploading a picture a day to her blog). I'm thinking of doing this myself.. but I may just limit it to a summer thing.. since I will be having an AMAZING summer (more to come on that soon)
Look at this amazing photograph..and then just try and stop yourself from not going to her blog to check out her other photos.

2) India Arie
Been listening to a lot of her music lately. And all this song is so old, I still love it, and desire to have her attitude.
"When I look in the mirror and the only one there is me. Every freckle on my face is where it's supposed to be. And I know our creator didn't make no mistakes on me. My feet, my thighs, my lips, my eyes; I'm lovin' what I see"

3) Etta James/Billie Holliday
Yes I know these two amazing artists are not the same person. But they invoke the same feeling in me. I would have absolutely loved to live in the era of these two ladies. How awesome would it have been to grow up in the 50s/60s? Whenever I daydream about this time period (which I'll admit I do everytime one of their songs pop up on my Adele Pandora station) I always picture myself in a black & white setting, in an old swing dancing club filled with people, and some guy wooing me in the corner. What can I say? I have a vast imagination, which is usually encouraged when my favorite TV shows do those "back in time special" episodes, where the characters are involved in some murder mystery. You guys know what kinds of episodes I'm talking about right?

4) I found this photo on Flickr. I want someone to take a picture of me like this. Coffee and sunglasses... pretty legit!

(photo cred: http://www.flickr.com/photos/46810783@N02/4547389889)


5) "Your love that rescued the earth, lives in me"- Hillsong
Yes another music inspiration.. but really this inspiration comes from Jesus. And the fact that I do not have to rely on my imperfections, but can actually love others.. the way he does. Man, am I EVER praying that God will help me do that right now.

So yeah.. that's whats going through my head right now. 
Look out for my next blog post,when I explain (in detail) what my AMAZING summer plans are. Seriously you won't not want to read it, just saying.. they're that good!