Coachella Day 3

The last day :( lol... This was a great day because it started with *drum roll* COACHELLA ART STUDIOS!!!! We finally made it out there!

Coachella Day 2

We started day two by venturing into the camp grounds, which were right outside Coachella. The mission was to find the Coachella Art Studios. We hit the corner and entered into a whole new world lol. They had their own little community back there. Coachella gives you the option of doing car camping where you park your car and put a tent up behind it. It definitely saves you a ton on hotel costs, but you have to live out in that heat. Kudos to them for sticking that out. I don't know how they survived those extremes all day long, but it seemed like an awesome experience to have. I would need a break from the sun personally, but if you can swing that life, I recommend it. The car camping option definitely sold out, so there are clearly a lot of people out there that are willing to do it. They had their tarps, tents, blankets covering windows to keep cars as cool as possible...I think some people had generators, there were people sleeping under cars, grills out front, and we even saw a car with fake flowers and a picket fence in the front lol...made themselves at home for real. There were also a lot of cars that were decorated to celebrate Coachella. On our quest to find the art studios, we even got invited to a friendly game of frisbee. After failing to catch it a couple of times, I slowly stepped to the side and let them continue on lol. The people we ran into out there were really friendly and everybody was just really excited to be at Coachella. I got a "Happy Coachelllaaa!!!" greeting quite often.

Coachella Day 1

Coachella is in the desert of Indio, California, and the heat played a major part in many decisions during this trip. We actually watched the temperature the car displayed creep up while we neared Palm Desert, CA where our hotel was located. It started around 75 in LA and I think it stopped around 108 degrees when we got to our hotel. Palm Desert was only a good two hours south of LA. The mountains, palm trees, and desert area made for a beautiful scenery on the way down. I took a couple of pictures...

LA

So let me just start this thang off by saying that I had thee time of my life at Coachella!!! This was like the perfect birthday treat to myself...I mean it was music and art. What better way is there to bring the bday in for me?...none. On to LA. I finally got to fly with Virgin Airlines!! I've been wanting to do that for a while now and I thought this trip was the perfect time to do so. It was a great decision. Surprisingly, they were the cheapest option to LA at the time I booked my flight. Virgin is like the cool kid of the airlines. I was super excited when I stepped on there. They had purple and pink lighting, sleek black & white seats, and TVs in the headrest that came with a remote you could pull out from the armrest that had a keyboard on the back. You could start a group chat by typing in seat numbers so if you're separated from whoever you're flying with, you can still talk...I love thoughtful things like that when it comes to services being provided. And if you were wondering why we (me and my best friend) flew into LA for Coachella (Indio, California)...it was MUCH cheaper.

Some pics I took...

EXTRAordinary People | Patrice Jones Nickols

PATRICE JONES NICKOLS
Singer - Songwriter - Entrepreneur


Ladies and gents, allow me to introduce you to super talented singer, songwriter, and entrepreneur, Patrice Jones Nickols (formerly Patrice Jones), from Glendarden, MD. She is doing some amazing things out here and is most certainly an inspiration...a Wonder Woman indeed.  Without further ado...

It's My Birthday!!!

I've come a long way!! I thank God for keeping me and giving me another year of life. I feel like I'm slowly but surely coming up on my reasons for being here and that's an exciting and fulfilling thing. I'm also thankful for the beautiful, new friendships I've been blessed with as well as the ones that have withstood the test of time, new experiences, and God breathing new life into dead situations. I'm thankful for God having a plan and a purpose for my life...I'm thankful for the good and bad...it made me who I am. I learned some tough lessons these past couple of years...made some mistakes but, they taught me a lot about myself and others and I'm all the more wise for it. 

I have accepted the fact that my life just really isn't about me. I'm so appreciative of the lessons God is teaching me. He never said we wouldn't have struggle and strife, but what we can be sure of is that He will be right there with us when we're in the thick of it. Working on my relationship with God has made a positive impact in every other area of my life, which makes sense because He truly is THEE foundation. I'm excited about my future and His plans for me...grateful to have reached my 26th birthday in good health, in the company of good friends, having a good ol' time lol.

I'm grateful for my soul's condition. The older I get, the more I appreciate how He made me. It took a while for me to get to this point, but I'm glad I've arrived. I still have some work to do, but I give myself credit for at least putting in work. My Pastor always says "I'm not where I want to be, but thank God I'm not where I used to be" and to that I say AMEN!!!!!!!!! So today, I celebrate Him for making me :). 

I'm just happy to be here yall.

And yes...I wore that pin all day at Coachella lol.

COACHELLA 2012!!!!

Source: soundbuzz360

I just let out a scream lol...in a couple of days, I will be heading to LA, then making my way down to Indio, California for the Coachella Music and Arts Festival!!!!!! Music and arts?! Heaven!!! For those that have never heard of Coachella, it's a HUGE 3-day music festival with several stages featuring performers from several different genres including rock, hip hop, indie, and electronic music to name a few. On top of that, they have The Coachella Art Studios where you can go and get your arts and craft on...just watch the video. I'm too excited lol.

Well, I've downloaded my Coachella app and I'm RED-TA-GO lol. This may be the best birthday weekend ever...my bday is April 23rd. I'll definitely be posting all the fun and excitement to my blog next week. In the meantime, I'll be posting pictures to my tumblr, if you just can't wait lol. There's a tab up top that'll take you there. This will be the last post for this week, as I'll be preparing to travel/traveling. Say a prayer for my safe travels. I hate flying : / ADIOS AMIGOS!!..

As always. Stay Inspired.

The Paintagon

Just wanted to let you all know about a dope art event that's coming up April 28th...The Paintagon...at the art gallery, The Fridge, in SE, DC. It's a live graffiti project and it's part of 88DC's Forward Festival "A Celebration of Electronic Creative Culture". Legendary graffiti artists will create a mural in real time on 8' x 8' panels set up like the pentagon...hence the name. You will have a chance to interact with the artists and, if your money is right, take some of their artwork home. I won't be a part of that group lol, but I'll gladly watch.

Here's a mock-up from The Fridge's site...

For more information on the event >> The Paintagon
For more information on The Fridge, which is cool in general>> The Fridge DC

Creativity365 Day 39

Today's Instructions: Create something on a t-shirt and wear it for the rest of the day.

This is what I made...

Creativity365 Day 38

Today's Instructions: Work only with toilet paper tubes and/or paper towel tubes today.

Tada...

Under The Influence | April

Today is the first post for this series Woooohoooooo!!!lol If you missed the brief intro/explanation, you can read that here.

The influence...

The Power of Music

I randomly scrolled past this video on my Facebook newsfeed and wanted to share. It was very touching and inspiring. Beautiful.

Creativity365 Day 37

Today's Instructions: Create a Rorschach test-style inkblot print. Put a small amount of ink or paint on a piece of paper, fold it in half, and press the halves together, then open it to reveal the image. Bonus: Have your friends interpret it!
 
Rorschach test: A psychological test in which subjects are asked to describe images they see in a set of inkblots so that their responses to them can be analyzed.

EXTRAordinary People | Ashleigh A. M. Bing

ASHLEIGH

A. M.

BING

Event, Lifestyle, Wedding Photographer

Ladies and gentlemen, I hereby introduce you to the ever so awesome Ashleigh A. M. Bing, from Mitchellville, MD. She is one of the dope freelance photographers of Shoot Happens Photography, which is located in the Washington, DC Metropolitan Area...and she's one of my role models lol. Her passion is what she does for a living. You don't come across that often. Without further ado...

Creativity365 Day 36

Today's Instructions: Work with mistakes. Spill some ink, milk, or other liquid and then go from there. 

And this is what I came up with...

If you were wondering how I made the letters...with a dropper. 

Creativity365 Day 35

Today's Instructions: Use pens as your material/inspiration today. Draw with them, use them as construction material, or...?

I'm obsessed with the pouring method of painting at the moment. It's present in my last like five paintings lol. And here's how the pen inspired me...

HAVE A GREAT WEEKEND!!!!!!

Under The Influence | The Intro

Ladies and gents!! I have a new monthly series coming soon and it's called *drum roll* "Under The Influence". No, this has nothing to do with drugs and alcohol lol... It's an exploration of how different forms of artistic expression can "be influenced by" the same source and interpret it in various ways. I'm going to start with an art and fashion collab but who knows what roads will be travelled in the future. For this project, my pARTner in crime is the homie LaShanda. I LOVE her style so this should be fun.

Stay tuned...

TAG I'M IT!!

I was tagged last week by the lovely Kami E. of Broke Wanna-Be Fashionista. Thanks again for the tag Kami!! :)...I stole some songs off your playlist too lol. Check her blog out when you get a chance! 

The 11 Question Tag!!

Artsy Affairs

This blog post is sponsored by my friend Casey...you met her here. She just randomly sent me a text last week full of artsy goodies and I'm sharing them with you :). Sooooo this first one...I literally let out a small scream when I saw that there was going to be some screenprinting and letterpressing going on lol. Did I not JUST express my love for printing press letters like last week? Look at that last picture all the way at the bottom of the flyer to the right. I get so excited about these things. AND OMG...they hold letterpress classes!! Let me calm down lol. Too bad they're all the way in Silver Spring though. That's way too far from where I am. I just did a whole lot of talking and you still don't know the who, when, why, and where. Here's the flyer...

Creativity365 Day 34

Today's Instructions: Pick a piece of music you love (or hate) and use it as the inspiration for today's piece.

Being the music lover that I am, I picked a piece I love and of course it's by Marvin Gaye...my favorite artist. His birthday was two days ago and I celebrated by playing every song of his I could lol...I do that a lot anyway. I'm listening to him riiiight now. The song of his that I chose was "Save the Children" from his album What's Going On?. I love that song and everything it's about.

In addition, I was inspired by events/discussions concerning Trayvon Martin which explains the guy in the hoodie. Hopefully by now everyone knows who that is and what happened to him...senselessly. I thought about him when I listened to this song.

And here's the song by Marvin Gaye that's featured in the artwork for your listening pleasure...

Operation Pretty & Polished

Radio stations WPGC 95.5 and El Zol 107.9 along with State Farm Insurance Company and Once Upon a Prom are joining forces to provide prom attire for teens in the Washington, DC Metropolitan Area. They are looking for kind-hearted individuals like you :) to dig deep in your closets and pull out those dresses, boys'/mens' formal wear, and accessories that you are no longer putting to good use. You can dig in your wallet too if you're feeling really generous. They do prefer current styles for the kids, so don't break out your prom dress or tux from the 80's lol. They also ask that items be new or gently used and, if they are used, that they be dry cleaned before donating. The flyer below has a list of all the drop off locations. The actual giveaway takes place April 21st, at the The Boys & Girls Club of Greater Washington (4103 Benning Rd, NE), from 9am - 3pm. Students will need to bring their student ID to receive prom attire. The flyer doesn't state the deadline for donating prom gear at the various locations. Hopefully, it hasn't passed. If you're interested in donating, there is contact information for someone at each drop-off location.

Source: WPGC 95.5

For readers not located in the DC area that want to participate in helping to make some teen's prom a special one, Once Upon A Prom also welcomes financial donations via their website. 

There is also DonateMyDress.org. This website is a national network that provides information for where prom and bridal dresses can be donated and received all across the US. If you still can't find a place near you, they also provide a directory of places that you can donate to by mail. 

Creativity365 Day 33

Today's Instructions: Create something that floats on water. (It doesn't have to be a boat.)

Tada...

"you are beautiful..."