KAPITAL Collection

i am so excited to share these photos!  beautiful clothes, beautiful people, beautiful photographs, beautiful portraits, beautiful locations, beautiful everything!  this is probably the best fashion photography i have ever come across, because i feel like i'm just looking through a book of people + culture, yet this is all done from one Japanese clothing company called Kapital, where they shoot their catalogs all over the world with random faces and places.  simply amazing...

see so much more here!

enjoying the world

today i met a young and very inspirational couple,  he is from Florida and she is from Germany.  they have been literally traveling the entire world for more than a year!  i asked them how they do it and they said they just worked and saved money for a couple of years and now they are on their adventure.  being very spontaneous (and coordinated at the same time), they live from country to country for a few months at a time, and when they feel it's time to leave, they'll just pick another destination and move there.  meeting so many people and creating new lives for themselves, they spoke with excitement and humility all in one.  when we parted ways, i told them "please enjoy the world for me because you are my heroes".  and at that moment, i kind of fell in love with both of them.  ♡

"You are not separate from the whole. 

You are one with the sun, the earth, the air. 

You don't have a life.

You are life".

-Eckhart Tolle

Sadako's Unfashionable Fashion Diary

i feel very lucky to have made an instagram friend with Sokki, who is a extremely talented and wonderful artist based in Singapore.  this first print illustration (with the ukulele) was sent to me as a gift from her, as we did an art-swap!!  i was so excited and ecstatic to have this framed in my room as a reminder of the wonderful friendships and connections we can make around the world through outlets like photo blogging! 

her world is filled with colour, movement, expression, mystery, voice, horror and happiness, fashion examples, and confusing excitement through unique body-language!  whether it be her detailed and eccentric illustration projects, or the amazingly beautiful tights / stockings she made a reality from simply drawings; her originality continues to inspire me.  she easily became one of my most favourite artists out there, over night, and i'm sure these examples of her work below will immediately grab your attention and win your hearts in a flash. 

please please visit her blog: Sadako's Unfashionable Fashion Diary for much more of her hand-drawn artwork, photography, animated clips, prints, costume play, collaborations, prominent fashion editorial shoots, and much more!  she's completely mysterious & refreshingly original all at once. 

pittalo

i said it before, and i'll say it again: this blog is my new favourite colour. 

Heavenly Beat

i can't stop listening to Heavenly Beat.  with the front man, John Pena, who is also the bassist for the band Beach Fossils (another favourite of mine) creating beautiful music you can dance to and also relax to.  to me, his new solo project sounds like a mix of Kings of Convenience and The Radio Dept. put together, creating tropical acoustic sounds and pop-beats with a dreamy voice that is very easy on the ears. 

the whole album, entitled Talent, is wonderful but 3 songs grab my attention:

- Faithless: the addicting single that grabbed everyones interest with it's poppy and upbeat sounds that remind me of a fun beach party at sunset.  with a Caribbean acoustic melody, catchy violin hooks, and cute popping beats in the background, i was sold after just hearing this song once (actually, for the first time while shopping in an Old Navy! haha).

- Presence: the video is a live acoustic session in someones apartment, giving it a more intimate studio sound which is much better than the actual album version (in my opinion.)  the feel and mood is more gentle and loving, which i can imagine being played on a romantic car ride through the countryside in Italy. 

- and Influence: which is kind of a blend of the first two songs above, with a more Spanish guitar sound and upbeat violins and pop-beats in the far background, but still with a simple and quiet tone that you can quietly snap your fingers to. 

if you haven't already heard of this band, give it a listen!  i hope you enjoy it too!  ♡

Yi Kai Huang

i really like his photos.  you can see more at his flickr: deersummer.  i hope you all had a nice weekend and a great week ahead!  :-D

random cat fact:  a group of cats is called a "clowder."

'Ulanalee' の Tokyo city

(photos by ulanalee)

so it's time that i start making bigger decisions in my life since i'm not getting any younger, and working on one of my life goals (moving to Japan) is in the process...!!!  i'm starting to slowly plan and actively move forward in my journey there, which if course will still take some time since saving enough money for this move will be the most time consuming.  but apart from that, i have been talking to a lot of people and receiving a lot of advice and support which will hopefully push me along.  i have a couple opportunities lined up that i'm looking into with my fingers crossed, so please wish me the best of luck too!

がんばりましょうー！！