My Month in Photos: November 2016

Hey everyone! I know I did two photo posts this month, but that was about two specific events that I wanted to share about. I haven't been updating frequently, and I really want to share what I have been doing. For 2017 I am planning to get myself organized and post on a schedule, but until then I am going to post a lot in December, and for now I am going to show you all what I forgot to share.

 I am in AP drawing this year, so this is the fourth of twenty four pieces that I will have to create this year. I am currently on piece six (so I am not even 25% done, but I have faith that I will). If you can't tell, this is a drawing I did of a pipe in my school.

 As seen in my photo post on Union Square, this is a poster from the NYC Love Rally/ Peaceful Protest.

This was the Empire State Building the weekend of Veteran's Day.

 This is the post-it note wall that now complete covers Union Square, and it's filled with peaceful and inspiring messages (with the exception of a few).

 This is the fifth of the twenty four pieces I will be doing this year in my drawing class.

 This year I am the events coordinator of my school's feminism club (we call it W.O.W i.e Women in Our World). Our club got to host a summit in which we had 15 speakers come including people like Sara Horowitz, Abigail Disney, and many other inspiring women in the fields of business, theater, medical, politics, and more. We hosted a photo booth for the day, so all 85 of our participants could take pictures with out props. It was such a great experience, and I can't wait to plan it again for the second annual summit in 2017.

 I went to a concert on November 19 at Webster Hall for a group called Wet, this is a picture of Demotaped, who was one of the opening performances.

 The group is made up of three people, and their fan base is relatively small. Webster Hall had about 400 people in the room, so it was quite intimate. It was a very tame concert, and the music was wonderful. They have songs called All in Vain, You're the Best, and Don't Wanna Be Your Girl.

 The lead singer, Kelly, sang by herself for the encore. She also gave a small speech about how she was so happy to perform at Webster Hall, and it warmed my heart. People's dreams do come true.

This was what the outside of Webster Hall looked like on November 19.

 The weather in New York is very unpredictable. This was a selfie of me that I took during gym class in forty degree weather. I brought out my scarf, and Kate Spade ear muffs (that I absolutely adore them). My teacher told me that my ear muffs look like little furry animals, but I think they're really fun (and I got them for $55 cheaper than the original price because they were on sale).

 I spent Thanksgiving in New Jersey with my cousins, and this is one of the only pictures I have from it. I even posted it to instagram: @chriistinamariie

 This is the Oculus at the World Trade Center, and it's newly built and has a ton of stores to shop at it. I bought some Christmas presents there :)

 On November 26, I visited my grandmother in Orient, Long Island and she treated us to a very fancy dinner. Since I am a blogger, I just had  to take photos of all my food and of a view.

 If you ever find yourself in North Fork, Long Island I recommend this restaurant because it's in an old house, and they change the menu based off the season.

 The truffle mac & cheese was truly a thing of beauty, haha.

 This was my first time trying tapioca, and I think it's something I would have again.

Last but not least, this is my dog Bosco, and he loves this bed so much that he'll spend all day on it if he could.

Question: What did you do this month?

                                                                             xx
                                                              Christina Madeleine

Bands and Concerts: June 2016

Hey everyone! Obviously, I have a lot of posts to do considering I didn't update ALL SUMMER (please someone yell at me for that). I am going to call this month basically the month of writing posts that I should have done months ago. In June I went two concerts which were both GA (general admission) and I wanted to share my experience and some pictures. Both concerts were in Manhattan.

June 15:  The Neighbourhood (the NBHD) @ TERMINAL 5
Opening Acts: Kevin Abstract, and MOTHXR

*my pictures for the opening acts are pretty blurry, so I will just write about them*

Kevin Abstract : I previously didn't know who he was because usually indie bands pick groups and singers that aren't super popular to open up for them. I tried to listen to his music beforehand and it's pretty good in my opinion. He sings alone but he has 10-12 people on stage frozen the whole entire set. Some people had bandanas over their faces or wigs, and they were holding roses and flags.
His soundcloud is https://soundcloud.com/kevinabstract and he is also on Spotify.

Mothxr: I couldn't really hear this band very well when I was at the concert because the venue I was at was very loud and super crowded (I'll get to that). If you watched Gossip Girl, Penn Badgley (Dan Humphrey) is the main singer of this band.

The Neighbourhood: I love the Neighborhood, and have since 2013. They are one of the few bands I would listen to on repeat when I was in middle school. Their sound has changed a bit since the album I Love You (which contains the song Sweater Weather). One of my favorite songs by them is R.I.P 2 My Youth. If you look at some of past post I have definitely mentioned them before. Jesse Rutherford is one of my favorite people and being super close to him was actually amazing. If you look him up, he's currently dating Devon Lee Carson and their relationship is flawless (get the pun  if your a fan of this band).

About the concert:   This was my second concert at Terminal 5 (my first was was the 1975). This venue holds 3,000 people and it gets super crowded. My friend and I managed to push ourselves about three people away from barricade. The NBHD took so long to come out that people were passing out because everyone is packed together like sardines. If you are within the first five people from barricade, the security guards pour water in your mouth to prevent fainting. It wasn't my first concert, so I have gotten pretty good at being able top push myself to the front of venues with GA, but I wouldn't recommend it for people who want to do it for their first concert. ALSO there were peoples' hair all over me because we were that close. I recommend tying your hair up if you are going to go to a GA concert with over a thousand people. Also, I wore dark eyeliner and it was running down my face by the end of the concert because of the heat.


June 18: Swim Deep @ Webster Hall
Opening Act: Vista Kicks

Vista Kicks: First thing I have to say is that this band is going to be great. They are a group from California made up of four guys. They have a pretty good sound, they have a small album called Chasing Waves and the two songs I really liked from that album are 'Chasing Waves' and 'Mona Lisa'.  After the show my two friends and I got to meet the band and I got their autographs.

Swim Deep: This was my second time seeing Swim Deep live. The first time I saw them was when I saw the 1975 because they were the opening act. After that concert I became obsessed with the band and my favorite songs by them are Soul Trippin, King City, Namaste, and The Sea. They are a British band and have two albums called 'Where the Heaven Are We' and 'Mothers'. To see them, the tickets were only $15. My friend was able to meet Cavan from Swim Deep and take a picture with him, and the three of us were able to meet Tom. There are five people in the band.

About the concert:  This concert took place at the Studio @ Webster Hall. This venue is made up of three parts, there is the 18+ part where Jack Garratt was performing at the time, the club for 21+, and lastly the studio is for 16+. When we walked into the studio we were able to walk right up to the stage and stay front row because it was a very small room with a bar and some space for people to watch the band. In the end, I believe there was about 75 people in the room. It was so relaxed because the crowd was full of good people. After concerts at the studio, you have about an hour to meet the bands that performed and buy merch or just talk to them. I was able to talk to Vista Kicks and they were super cool (afterwards they liked my picture on Instagram, and one of the members followed my friend). I would definitely go see them again because they have a good sound. Swim Deep is definitely going to become more popular, and they give a good show.



Questions: Have you gone to any concerts this Summer or any at all? Who do you want to see perform?

                                                                      xx
                                                         Christina Madeleine