NEW AMERICAN | I DON'T KNOW AND YOU CAN TOO

album cover designed by @oogum_vision

Almost two years ago Alex and I were seniors in high school and were just beginning to discover our love for art and music through a local art gallery. That gallery happened to host an album release party for a band called New American.  I don't remember much of that night except that their performance blew us away and that Alex and I were super excited to post about it on this blog. I'd forgotten that I'd actually written about them until recently when one of the band members of New American told me they read it. I don't recommend that you go that far back *nervous laughter* because what I wrote was embarrassing  not very good.

Anyway, New American has since come out with their second album, 'I Don't Know And You Can Too' and held an album release show at the Long Beach Art Exchange! There was art, two other bands playing (Thy Squid & Mother Rose ) and an abundance of good vibes. I'm no music critic but I'm still going to go ahead and tell you that New American released a hell of a good album. You know what's better than their new album? Listening to it live. I said it before in my old post and I'm gonna say it again; New American knows how to give a really good live show. There's something about this band that really moves the crowd. I mean, I stood next to a girl that knew every single word to one of their songs. I think that's a big deal for a local band! Not every band, including the 'popular'' ones, know how to give a top-notch live performance so it's definitely something to take pride in. All in all it was a fun show. Even the friends I took with me (that'd never listened to any of New American's songs) left the show as big fans.

You can find New American on Facebook, give them a listen on Spotify or purchase their new album here! And keep a look out for future tour dates to get to witness their great live performance.

More soon,

Carolina

Listen for yourself!

COFFEE WITH A SIDE OF MURDER

Iced latte w/ caramel from Steel Head 

I'd like to start off this post by praising my iPhone photography and editing skills. The picture above is probably the best picture of coffee that I've ever taken and I'm ridiculously proud. Like, seriously stop and just look at it. OK, moving on. There is nothing I enjoy more than a good cup of coffee except maybe reading murder stories. Don't think about this in the wrong way. I'm not admitting to an unhealthy obsession with murder or anything like that. I simply enjoy reading about major cases such as the Black Dahlia or Manson Family. While meeting up with  Kimberly, from Belle En Rouge, we realized we share this interest. I'm not sure how murder popped up into our conversation while we had a cup of coffee but it did.

Kim's taste in murder stories happens to be a lot more ...close to home. She told me about murder stories that happened in the city of Long Beach (where we were at the time). She told me about the murder of  Dorothy Bembridge in her own home. The Bembridge house is located in Long Beach and is considered a historic landmark due to the house being built  in a Queen Anne Victorian style in 1906. Obviously, we had to go take a look at the house itself. We couldn't take a tour of the inside on the day we visited but I can say that the outside was stunning. As for the murder of Dorothy, she was killed in her backyard by a burglar. I was surprised that the house still existed. This isn't the first time Kim surprises me with her extensive knowledge on the history of Long Beach. I guess she really does live up to her bio, the 'Sherlock of coffee and history'. 

Before going to the BemBridge House we visited a cemetery. I'm not quite sure which cemetery it was but it had very old graves and looked fairly abandoned. We explored about half of the cemetery and we found that the most recent burial was in 2008 while the oldest was in 1903. It was nice (and a little surprising) to see that a few of the graves had fresh flowers and even decorations. We started getting a little superstitious so our visit didn't last very long.  

Kim also introduced me to the world of podcasts. Obviously, this podcast is relevant to the theme of the day which was murder. Serial, a podcast about true stories, tells the story of the murder of a girl named Hae Min Lee. Her ex boyfriend was accused of killing her but he might have been falsely accused. It get's a lot more complicated and mysterious than that. I'm currently on the third episode and I'm hooked!

After our exploring we had some lunch at The Village Grind down on 1 Street. I had the Awesome Bagel (pictured) which was honestly pretty awesome. I had an issue eating the actual bagel due to the fact that the egg kept slipping out. The egg itself had a funky taste so I just threw it out but besides that I enjoyed the meal! The place is cozy, has wifi and plenty of electricity ports so I think I'll be visiting again but with my laptop in hand.

We ended the day after our good lunch. On our way to the car I saw this lovely message on the floor which gave me the perfect opportunity to take a picture of my new shoes. *smirks*

SURROUNDED BY ART

A couple of weeks ago Long Beach had it's first Pow Wow which was basically an event where 20 artists were given a wall and painted whatever they wanted. We went to see most of the paintings and the exhibit at the Long Beach Museum of Art where there was even more art from the 20 artists! The point is there was a lot of art to admire in the city of Long Beach so we couldn't miss out on the opportunity to check it all out.

In a previous post Alex  wrote about our day and shared some pictures which you can see here. The video below features our favorite art seen in the streets and the museum on that day. If you're interested in learning more about the artists who participated in this years Pow Wow press here!
Also, the exhbit in LBMA runs until October 25th 2015 so there is still time to visit that.

Thanks for reading!

p.s  if you visit the museum on a Friday the admission is free.

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SHORT BUT SWEET

 Beach days are rare for us even though we live less than an hour away from a few beaches. When we do go we like to be there all day and just absorb the sunshine. My favorite beach is Rosie's  in Long Beach because I can bring my miniature schnauzer, Lilo, along with us! Lilo makes beach days a lot more entertaining.

During our first Beach Day of the summer I filmed a short but sweet video of our day. I've been consecutively watching Casey Neistat's vlogs and he's mentioned that his reason to vlog is to be able to constantly have a new videos to work on. I totally understand him because filming and editing are things he actually enjoys so vlogs are perfect for him. He's inspired me to do the same, unfortunately my life isn't interesting enough to daily vlog. Instead I'll be posting these short videos about random activities in my life.

I think it's a great way to keep myself busy and creative during my vacation.

Talk to you soon!

Carolina

A QUICK ESCAPE

@ The Greenhouse

   I've been attending school in Long Beach for almost a year now and have lived near it for about 10 years and not until recently have I truly explored it. My friend Belle en Rouge and I have share a 3 hour break between class so we've been leaving campus and exploring Long Beach together. So far our exploring has consisted of trying the coffee at different cafe's walking into the surrounding stores/buildings, and finding cool spots for impromptu photoshoots. With all the stress we have at school it's been nice to get away for a couple of hours and have some fun!

 The first place we went to was The Greenhouse located in the East Village Arts District. The building used to be a hotel that'd lodge naval soldiers! Now it's cut off to two stories and it's a pretty small space but it's comfortable and friendly! I got a (vanilla?) iced latte and it was great! If you go make sure to sit on the second story, it gives you a great view of the busy street!


 

@ James Republic

This is the "Grass Fed Burger" from James Repuplic's Brunch menu. The burger was very simple (no fries included :( ). It had two  meat patties, cheese and onions. oh, and two pickles on the side. It was a very delicious burger but I felt it was overpriced. I guess I should have  seen that coming considering it was attached to hotel, those restaurants are a little more on the expensive side. Other than that it was a great experience! The place itself has a very trendy feel and interior.

pictured above is a happy Carolina bc coffee

Next, we tried Portfolio Coffeehouse where the ambiance is very comfortable and not to mention the iced lattes are only $2.95! I really enjoyed this place because there was plenty of space to sit inside and even outside, the staff were also very friendly.  This place is actually located in Retro Row aka 4th street. It's called Retro Row because it's full of cute stores full of vintage clothes, furniture and miscellaneous. My favorite stores there are Imonni  and Goldie's on 4th I'd like to mention that all of these stores are owned by locals which make them even more cool. The last coffee shop we went to was Steelhead Coffee Company. It's by far my favorite coffee spot. It had it's grand opening on Saturday so we decided it'd be nice to try it out. I tried an iced latte with caramel (obvs) and it was sooooo amazing. It wasn't too sweet or bitter...it was honestly just perfect. The place was very pleasing to the eye as well! There was cute succulents on the table as decor and had a map of the world formed by pennies om the wall! The staff were also very friendly which I always feel is an important detail of any establishment
.

@ MAKE Collectives

MAKE Collectives is a store on 1st street that sells new and vintage clothes + miscellaneous. This place has quality items such as adorable notebooks, leather key chains, and sunglasses. I think I'm going back for all of those things. It also had a range of records and I've heard that on Friday's they're only a dollar! Not sure if it's true or not but the store is still worth a visit!

 This place is actually hosting a photography meet up on Saturday. (more info here) Us and Belle en Rouge are going to be there! It would be really cool  if you guys came along as well!

Let me know if you do!

Carolina