My Milk Toof

This past weekend, a good friend and mentor of mine introduced to me the cutest small obsession so far for my blog!  

It's a blog called "My Milk Toof" by Inhae Lee.  From an artist's background, she was inspired by the phrase, milk tooth, to create two small milk teeth (or teef, as Inhae prefers to call them) out of clay and paint.  Naming them ickle and Lardee, she photographs them in different adventures, all with miniature props she has made herself!  From what I've read already on the blog, Lardee is the milk toof that loves to eat.  I have yet to figure out what ickle's talents and personality are like, but here is an example of Inhae's phenomenal work.  

Photography and Artwork by Inhae Lee    Source: mymilktoof.blogspot.com

The photo above is called "Flavor-Fall" with ickle and Lardee saying, "Hurry up and fall, please!"  I don't know about you, but I think this is one of the cutest things I have ever seen in my life.

For hardcore ickle and Lardee fans, Inhae has published a book containing a selection of their adventures!  If you're very interested in getting the book (like me), you can visit the official "My Milk Toof" website.  And like I mentioned earlier, Inhae has a blog where I believe most of the ickle and Lardee activity is posted.  She updates it now and then with new, cute adventures, so keep your eyes peeled!  Lastly, she also has a Facebook and Twitter page that you can get to from the blog.

Before I go off to finish my homework, I really thank you all so much for reading my blog!  It's fun to know that people are actually reading the stuff I write about.  Good night everybody! 

The Best Christmas Albums (in my opinion)

I know it's the middle of August, but this post will be about Christmas music anyways.  I know it's hopelessly weird, but I listen to Christmas music year round.  It has this way of cheering me up because no one can go wrong singing about the happiest time of year.  ;) 

Now that I have a Spotify account, it's so much easier to sort through artists that have amazing Christmas albums.  Something I really enjoy doing is to listen to different versions of Christmas songs.  It's so amazing to know how many versions of "Jingle Bells" there are.  I'll share a few artists whose Christmas albums are worth checking out.  

1.  Michael Bublé's Christmas album called Michael Bublé Christmas.  I was just listening to it a while ago.  It has many traditional songs, like "Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas", "White Christmas", and "Silent Night", but all with their own Michael Bublé style.  For those of you who don't know, Michael Bublé's songs are mostly swing and jazz.  I don't really have a favorite song from this album, but I love his voice.  

Michael Bublé's cover from his album made in 2011  (source: amazon.com)

2.  Justin Bieber: Under the Mistletoe.  I'm not a Belieber, but I like his voice a lot.  It's smooth and fits his soft R&B style of singing.  My favorite songs are probably "Mistletoe" and "Only Thing I Ever Get For Christmas" which will be put on the Playlists page.  I'm not sure if they are both originals, but they amaze me all the same.

Justin Bieber's Christmas Album from 2011   (source: justinbieberzone.com)

3.  SHeDAISY's Christmas album called Brand New Year.  My goodness, their harmonies are so amazing.  The most amazing song of their album is their rendition of "Jingle Bells".  I discovered it by watching one of the Gardiner Sisters videos.  You can watch their cover here.  Before I listened to SHeDAISY's "Jingle Bells" song, I had no idea that it could even be sung that way.  Check it out on the Playlists page.  

SHeDAISY Christmas album cover from 2000  (source: grahamsdownunderthoughts.blogspot.com)

4.  Last but most definitely NOT least, is my favorite vocal group, better known as a boy's choir called Libera.  They have an astounding sound that I have never heard before in any choir, which is why I adore them.  I won't talk too much about them now, because I'll be blogging about them more later.  Anyways, their Christmas album called Libera: The Christmas Album (of course), is a favorite of mine.  It has many, many traditional Christmas songs, but my favorite would probably be "Still, Still, Still" with Ralph Skan as the soloist.  You can see him in the picture below; he's the boy on the far right.  Keep an eye out for "Still, Still, Still" on the playlists page.  :) 

The Libera Christmas Album cover from 2011  (source: libera.org.uk/music)

I'm pretty sure there are many more amazing Christmas albums out there, just waiting to be discovered.  If you have any to recommend, you know how to contact me!  Also, don't forget to check the playlists page for more music.  Thanks for reading and happy listening!

 

Straw Nail Art

Hello everyone!  Sorry I haven't posted for a while...  I've been a bit busy getting ready for school.  

Anyways, one of my best friends showed me this very cool design for your nails.  It looks like this:  

Nail art with straws: white base   (Source: thedailyvarnish.com)

Nail art with straws: black base   (Source: spektorsnails.blogspot.com)

Doesn't it look so cool?  Well guess what?  It's also really easy to do!  

All you need is a straw (a thin one), a base color (preferably a color that will not overpower your other colors), and a couple of other colors of nail polish.  The design is as easy as it looks.  Just paint your nails with your base color, wait for them to dry, put a little bit of color on the end of your straw, and stamp it on your nails.  Wait for that to dry and cover the design with clear nail polish.  

I did this a couple of weeks a ago and it only took me twenty minutes tops.  I would've taken a picture of my own nails, but they're already chipping away.  The first picture up above looks almost exactly like my nails because I also used red and blue on top of white.  The only difference is that I didn't stamp the colors so many times.  Too many circles would be a little too overpowering.

If you have any questions, please email me at: chrispytai@gmail.com.  Have fun with the design!

Another Sibling Trio: The Gardiner Sisters

Here's another sibling trio for you!  This group of extremely talented sisters call themselves the Gardiner Sisters.  And yes, Gardiner is their last name.  The eldest is Hailey, then Allie, and last but not least, Mandi.  

The Gardiner Sisters: (left to right) Allie, Hailey, and Mandi  (Source: gardinersisters.com/)

The sisters do covers of all kinds of songs from Colbie Caillat to Hunter Hayes.  They can all play the guitar, but it's usually Hailey playing it in the videos.  

The Gardiner Sisters are a bit like Daves Highway, from my last blog.  Because they are sisters, their voices blend very well.  And all their videos are live so there's no way you can let your ears bleed over another auto-tuned track when you hear how in tune they are!  

I really enjoy watching their videos because they are creative and funny.  They always find a way to spice things up and not make it just a video with three girls and a guitar.  Things to look forward to are their blooper sections at the end of each video AND the fact that they have videos of their own original songs!!!  And the originals are pretty awesome. 

(Left to right) Mandi, Hailey, and Allie  (Source: kellykanophotography.com)

My favorite video is their parody of "The Lazy Song" by Bruno Mars.   The first time I ever watched it, I was watching alone.  My parents were looking at me like I was some kind of crazy person because I was literally laughing my head off while they were giving me a lecture.  To make sure my friends weren't missing out on the fun, I showed it to my group of friends and I'm pretty sure they like it a lot.  To start off your Gardiner Sisters experience, watch "The Lazy Song" parody here.  

Other official sites for the Gardiner Sisters are: YouTube, Twitter, Facebook, and their official website.  Happy listening!

Playlists Is Up

There's a new page up called "Playlists" with three of my favorite Daves Highway songs.  I think it only works when you have a Spotify account, so sorry to the people who don't have one.  I'll be adding to the Playlist page when I find more music to rave about.  Please enjoy...  :)