The family getaway

We had a weeklong tour around Albania through the Capital,by the beaches and into the old towns!

Best family holiday!
Can't wait for 2013 cuz 2012 has been amazing!!

My 15 day hol with my bezz

A summer well spent! With the people I have fun with the most! fun packed beach mornings and evenings on the beach around a campfire doing what we do best... Have fun! This was just a brief summary in pics on what we did but theres a story behind each picture :))!!

xxx

Welcome to the world little one

I have another cousin!
Hera-Amee welcome to the world!

shit happens!

Just a day before getting away with my girl on hol running to get final things we end up with a smashed iphone screen... the joy! so we end up running to fix the phone aswell to add to more stress...... OH WELL!

woooooi long time no see guys

I'm sooo sorry I havent updated in over a month, i've been packed with last holiday getaways with my girls, quick evening outings and then school stuff! But im gonna fill you all in on what I havent put up and Then i'll start fresh with a regular daily post!

hold tight
xxx

An early look at potential Grammy nominees

With only one month left in the 2011-2012 Grammy eligibility window, let's preview some potential nominees in the music academy's top categories before they're revealed in December!

Album of the Year
Babel, Mumford & Sons
Ceremonials, Florence + The Machine
Channel Orange, Frank Ocean
Mylo Xyloto, Coldplay
Wrecking Ball, Bruce Springsteen

Honestly, it's a pretty wide open field so far. With Adele's album of the year winner 21 as the best selling album again this year, there aren't a lot of runaway bestsellers to consider. With four of last year's nominees being pop albums, there seems to be very little to consider this year. Of the pop fare you could consider Gotye's Making Mirrors (if it's not already considered an alternative album), One Direction's Up All Night, and maybe Justin Bieber's Believe. Could any of these be nominated here? Maybe Gotye.

Screw it, let's throw 21 back into the race because it's already outsold the next best selling album of this year three times over.

This year could be packed with alternative picks, including Florence + The Machine, Coldplay, and Mumford & Sons highly anticipated sophomore album Babel. Like most years, there is usually a rap/hip-hop/r&b album nominated, so why not the breakout rap star Frank Ocean? Bruce Springsteen could steal the fifth slot with his rock entry, Wrecking Ball.

Best New Artist
fun.
Gotye
Frank Ocean
Emile Sandé
Sia

Considering fun. and Gotye had breakout hit singles one right after another this year, why wouldn't they be nominated? Fun. is the alternative/rock group that is interesting, and Gotye is his own genre of pop/alternative. With the way out of left field inclusion of Skrillex in this race last year, the academy has opened the doors for more electronic/dance artists like Sia. Garnering loads of success this year on Flo Rida's Wild Ones and David Guetta's Titanium, Sia has proven her worth. But watch out, Calvin Harris' chart-topping success with Rihanna late last year could help fill that slot. Scottish songbird Emile Sandé could be riding on the coattails of former winner, and newfound Grammy darling, Adele with a possible nod. Frank Ocean will fill the last slot.

Record of the Year
Payphone, Maroon 5 f/ Wiz Khalifa
Somebody That I Used Know, Gotye f/ Kimbra
Spectrum (Say My Name), Florence + The Machine
We Are Young, fun. f/ Janelle Monae
We Found Love, Rihanna f/ Calvin Harris

I think this is a pretty diverse selection, with some pretty obvious choices. The one thing that amazes me is the number of songs that could be nominated that all have featured artists. Maybe it was just a killer year for collaborations. I'm throwing F+TM in here as the 'wtf?' choice which is common sometimes. BUT, could the Grammys still want to shower Adele with love and nominate Set Fire to the Rain or Rumour Has It? Also, my blood boils at the thought of Call Me Maybe possibly getting nominated.

Song of the Year
Somebody That I Used Know, Songwriter: Gotye
We Are Young, Songwriters: fun. and Jeff Bhasker

There's usually a strong overlap between record and song of the year, but I'm not sure how many of the record contenders have award-winning lyrics (which this category recognizes). For now, I'm just leaving these two.

Music Monday- U.D. musician prepares for tour in the Midwest.

            Upper Darby musician Eric Carbonara is preparing to tour the Midwest with a world re-known classical Indian artist this fall.

             Carbonara will be touring with Debashish Bhattacharya,a Grammy-nominated musician known for his traditional Indian music and use of lap slide guitars. Bhattacharya is a 2009 Grammy nominee for best traditional world music album for Calcutta Chronicles.

            This is Carbonara’s second tour this year, following a caravan of dates throughout Europe in the spring.

A student of Bhattacharya, Carbonara illustrated the notoriety performing for him brings.

            “We get along really well and he likes that I’m touring and trying to make a career out of it, so he likes to help me out when he can,” he said. “He’ll let me open for him, play like 15 minutes, but 15 minutes in front of him is like ‘whoa’ playing in front of 1,500 people.”

            A love for Indian music came when he studied abroad in New Zealand in 1999. An anthropology student at Pennsylvania State University at the time, Carbonara was slowly being introduced to islander and Indian music and his professor referred him to the Ali Akbar College of Music in California, where he would eventually study.

            Carbonara first met Bhattacharya in 2008, doing a week-long workshop with him in New Jersey. He moved to Calcutta, India that winter for an additional four weeks of training at Bhattacharya’s school. In 2010, Carbonara went back to India for an intensive session that lasted six weeks studying the chaturangui, a 24-string guitar Bhattacharya created.

            “I spent six weeks literally just sitting in a room, more or less just staring at the wall, with exception of the lessons.” he said. “When I wasn’t having lessons I was either in my room practicing for hours and hours a day, or having tea on the balcony.”

Carbonara's second LP, The Paradise Abyss,
was released in 2010

            Despite living and learning all over the world, the ease of life in Upper Darby has provided a good living for him as a musician. If it weren’t for the diversity of Upper Darby, “my music wouldn’t sound the same.”

In addition to Indian music, his musical repertoire includes flamenco music and 20^th century guitar composition. This is more diverse than the music he grew up with.

Carbonara had a considerably quiet upbringing as a child. His family didn’t play any instruments, or play music on the radio.

            Then at eight years old, his parents bought him his first guitar for three dollars at a yard sale. It wasn’t the greatest guitar, but it was a start for this musician.

            Today, Carbonara has a living room filled with vinyls and CDs, and guitar cases cover the floor in an adjacent room. There are a few more guitars that he owns but aren’t out in the open. A vinyl record sits on top of his piano placed against the wall, but he doesn’t tickle the ivories regularly, just to get a base for his compositions.

            A pedal steel that has barely been played also sits out among his instruments. He hasn’t learned to play it, but he’ll get around to it.

             This is certainly a change for the boy who grew up in State College left to blast music in his own bedroom.

            “It wasn’t like my family from ‘Footloose’ or anything, but I had always been encouraged not to play music. They had no frame of reference of why I would care about something so deeply that would not make money.”

            In addition to touring, Carbonara has released two self-produced albums, the most recent was The Paradise Abyss in 2010. He is currently working on new material for an upcoming album.

            For more information on his music and fall tour dates, go to www.ericcarbonara.org 

hello August

#Leo

Well my girls have all had their bday so this means mine is on its way!! 22nd of August here we come!!!

Happy birthday princess!!

Hello boo's
It's my booboo's 19th bday and it was one to remember! Happy birthday loved one may all your dreams come true! Anyla Dautaj <3

DIY ripped jeans

what you will need:
1⃣any pair of jeans (mine were h&m)
2⃣a ballpoint pen/pencil
3⃣a really sharp knife

first draw on your jeans where you want to cut them then when that is done use the pointy top part of the knife to cut them. Be careful to not go through to the otherside (I used a thick notebook which I could cut through ) and then when its all cut and done put them in the wash so all the white ripped jeans effect comes
to place and mine came to look something like this!

Enjoy!!