Don't forget me...

Happy end of summer/third week of school!  Not surprisingly, completely forgot about this blog over the entire summer :/ but now that I'm back in school and have tons of free time to waste, I'm going to be more diligent about updating again!

Spotify Premium

Happy (almost end of) April!  I realized I haven't posted since February, so instead of catching up on school, the obvious choice is to skip class and write :)

So on Monday, I finally caved and signed up for Spotify Premium.  I was getting kind of sick of listening to ads every other song, and since I have limited space (and data) on my phone, I decided I needed an upgrade.  Also, I don't know if anyone has ever noticed, but on multiple occasions, I have been driving, and 97.1, 102.7, AND 105.9 will either 1) all be on commercial break at the same time, or 2) ALL PLAYING THE SAME SONG!

Anyways, I'm currently on my third day of Premium, and it's awesome!! First of all, there are no more ads, so I can make playlists, and listen to them all the way through.  Secondly, I can download the playlists onto my phone, and play it while I'm in the car!  I'm still always going to tune in for Perez Hilton's morning updates, and Ryan's roses, but to the rest of the day - sorry, I'm never going to hear you again.  Finally, yesterday, at the gym, I was able to do the same thing!  For someone who's never been super tech savvy, and never really had an organized iTunes (or much of an iTunes at all), I can already this is going to save me a lot of time, money, and effort from searching for songs online!

So I leave you with my current Spotify playlist - share some of your favorites with me as well please! =)

Alex's Essential Mix (a random, slightly unorganized mix of all the songs I currently have on repeat!)
Maroon 5 - Overexposed (because I LOVE Adam Levine <3 )

And finally, just in case you aren't one of the 94 million who has already seen this:

Take That, Bon Iver!

Hello everyone!

It's that time of the year again - music's biggest night!   Rihanna was surprisingly normal looking, and T-Swizzle's stage was ...interesting, but love her nonetheless!

In case you missed it, here are some of my favorite moments! 

Ed Sheeran and Sir Elton John singing Ed Sheeran's "A-Team".  As always, Elton is such an amazing singer and never fails to impress me!

Fun's performance of Carry On: They are SO HIPSTER.  I can't handle it.  The guy in the front is wearing a  leather shirt, capri pants, and sneakers.  Also, is it just me, or does the guy in the back look like he's wearing blue scrubs?

And then, it started RAINING. Like, really?  Isn't this a electricity hazard? Won't the electric guitars or microphone or speakers short-circuit/electrocute people??   I'm glad they changed out of their outfits to receive their award

Super cool ad for the Surface Pro by Microsoft

Miranda Lambert sang her song "Over You". This song was also sung by  Cassadee Pope, the last winner of The Voice. As much as I love Miranda Lambert, and as upset that Amanda Brown/Trevyn Hunt didn't win the last season, I have to say that I like Cassadee's rendition of this song a lot better

JT took the stage with his new song, "Suit and Tie", and then proceeded to be in almost all the following commercials (one to advertise his new songs @ Target & another one for Bud light Platinum.

I thought JT's stage was really really well designed.  They did some magic with the lighting, to make everyone look jazzy and b&w colored! And there was a surprise appearance by Jay-Z!!! How do all of these awesome people know each other!?!

Adam Levine gave a wonderful performance, singing "Daylight".  He was then joined by Alicia Keys ON THE DRUMS, in this ridiculously sexy/fierce dress.  I would die to have a body/be able to pull off a dress like hers.  Anyways, they then proceeded to sing Alicia Keys's "Girl on Fire".  I love both of these two, and have been fans forever.  I really respect them because they've really stayed true to their genre/who they are over the years, and really are just powerhouse singers, both on their albums, as well as on stage. :)

I took a little dinner break, so I didn't take any pictures of Kelly Clarkson, who performed "You Make me Feel like a Natural Woman", and presented an award to the Black Keys

Then, they did a Bob Marley tribute, by Bruno Mars, Sting, Rihanna, and some other people that I don't know.  PSA: Bob Marley died of a malignant melanoma on his foot! So be sure to check for the ABCDE's on all of your moles so you aren't caught off guard!! 

I ALSO loved this outfit of Carrie Underwood's!! What made it even more awesome is that they lit it up/used it as projector screen during the performance!! Creative and exciting!

Finally to close, Juanes (!! remember him from HIGH SCHOOL??!) and LL Cool J both performed, and Adele presented the Album of the Year Award to Mumford and Sons :)

That concludes my Grammy coverage!  What were your favorite moments, outfits, or performances??

Real Life Disney Princesses

After a pretty stressful/tiring/rough week last week (combined with that stressful Superbowl game on Sunday - while heartbroken that Kap couldn't pull the niners through to the end, happy for everyone in Baltimore!), I'm actually feeling pretty refreshed (and somewhat caught up) this week!

As the Christmas season draws to a close (ish), I ran across Harrod's 2012 Christmas window display, and I just had to share - a designer Disney Princess display!  With dresses by well-known designers such as Oscar de la Renta, Valentino, and Versace, all of these dresses are absolutely stunning!  I wish I had been able to see it in person this year, but this is almost as good :)

Check out the Vogue analysis here

My favorites I would have to say are Cinderella and Jasmine!  What do you think?

Ariel from The Little Mermaid, by Marchesa:

Aurora from Sleeping Beauty, by Elie Saab:

Belle from Beauty and the Beast, by Valentino:

Cinderella, by Versace:

Jasmine from Aladdin, by Escada:

Mulan, by Missoni:

Pocahontas, by Roberto Cavalli:

Rapunzel from Tangled, by Jenny Packham:

Snow White, by Oscar de la Renta:

Tiana from The Princess and the Frog,by Ralph & Russo:

How to Win a Million Dollars (but lose your phone) in Vegas

First post of the New Year! I hope everyone is having a fantastic January :) Have you been keeping up with your New Year's Resolutions?

Whew, it's been such awhile since I've had the time to sit down and write.  Since we've been back from break, we had a whirlwind of a first system, and now we're already two weeks into Hematology!  Last weekend, I went to Vegas with my roommate!! So I didn't actually win a million dollars in Vegas, but I did win at roulette (close enough, right?).   Here are some of the places we went:

     - Friday: we left from LA right after class got out at 3pm, and made it to the strip a little before 8pm.  We stopped by our hotel (at the Venetian) to get ready, then it was off to Marquee (Cosmopolitan) where Dirty South played that night. I really liked Marquee, although I was really sad they closed off the pool area since it was cold outside.  The cool thing about Marquee is that the go-go dancers are on a platform behind the dj that spans the entire stage, rather than a single podium, so that the dancers can walk across the top of the stage and interact with each other.  I wasn't really paying attention, but I noticed them walking across the platform at some point during the night

     -  Saturday: after coming back from a fail of a trip to the AT&T store, I wandered around the strip for a little bit, mostly looking at the fountains and the displays outside of hotels, and window shopping, then I met up with some friends at Bills Casino for a bit.  Just fyi, it is JUST Bill's Saloon next to Flamingo.  Don't let anybody tell you they are at Buffalo Bills, because that is a casino at the CA-NV border.  JUST Bill's.  For dinner, we went for sushi at Goyemon (http://www.yelp.com/biz/sushi-house-goyemon-las-vegas).  Although I wan't hungry enough to go for the AYCE option ($27 for dinner, $20 for lunch), I had a really delicious sashimi platter.  I think next time, I'll plan ahead for it, as there are probably like 50 options that you can order for the AYCE, from sushi to sashi to lychee ice cream for dessert.  For the night, we went to XS (in Wynn/Encore).  I really liked XS, although it was WAY TOO CROWDED.  Some large man definitely jumped on my foot several times- ouch!  I need to practice my biceps strength so I can push people out of the way and clear some breathing space.  FYI, It can be very hard for short people to breathe in crowded spaces sometimes.  Despite the crowdedness, the space is really nice!  Some of our friends got cabanas outside, which are really nice, and each has a tv screen that shows the DJ and you can adjust the volume in each room.  Afrojack was really good!  I was kind of bummed that he didn't really play any of his old songs (ex. Take Over Control) though.  Anyways, the cabanas were awesome, we ended up chilling in one at the end of the night, and when they closed down the outside, they ended up moving us inside to the floor!

    - Sunday: was kind of painful waking up, but got lunch and watched the Niners dominate (sort of) over the Falcons @ Wolfgang Puck Pizzeria (Aria).  Afterwards, we went to Todd English's Olives (Bellagio) for dinner, and then headed over to my first Cirque du Soleil show! O (in the Bellagio), was amazing!  The friends I went with actually said they were underwhelmed by the quantity of the acrobatics, but for a first timer, I was so impressed by how they used the water as the stage.  I can't figure out how they get hire all of these performers who are so multi-talented (acrobats, trapeeze artists, synchronized swimmers, AND olympic level divers??) and especially, how they get people in and out of the water so flawlessly!! I'd love to hear your thoughts on this if you have any.


UNFORTUNATELY, I also said goodbye to my phone in Vegas, so I don't have any pictures to upload :( I borrowed a classmate's spare iPhone, and have definitely been introduced to the wonders of iMessage.