That's right, Super Junior's Cho Kyuhyun, a.k.a., quite possibly my favorite vocalist, is making his solo debut with a mini album and a concert! Words cannot describe my joy and excitement at hearing this news. Even now, about a week later, I simply cannot even begin to articulate my feelings. I fell in love with Kyuhyun's warm, clear voice a year ago, and I was surprised that he didn't already have several solo albums.
His first album, titled 'At Gwanghwamun' is set to be released on November 13th, 2014. The album will feature 7 tracks, with compositions by pianist Yiruma and TVXQ's Shim Changmin. The theme is autumn, which evokes thoughts of calm contemplation, gentle breezes, and falling leaves of every color. You can click on the picture on the right (above) to view the album tracklist. I expect that most of the tracks will be comparable to Kyuhyun's preexisting song, "Late Autumn," (2011) which was the result of a collaboration with fellow musician Yoon Jong Shin.
And here are more shots from the album's gorgeous photoshoot~
It seems as though Kyuhyun and I have a lot in common, hahaha. There's the obvious things like our love of music smarts, and good looks *snark* but also: gaming is one of our favorite hobbies, we eat maybe a little too much, we're only slightly evil, and we both have a thing for Loki and the fall season. x') My ramblings aside...I'm beyond thrilled for and proud of Kyuhyun, and I eagerly await his upcoming solo debut~!
I’m going to attempt to make these posts a little more
aesthetically appealing! Let me know how
you like (or don’t like, ha ha ha) the new layout! :D
Film
Saving
Mr. Banks
I had one of those “oh, that looks interesting, but I don’t
feel like watching it right now” sort of relationships with this movie before I
had seen it. I’m not sure why,
honestly. I knew that it was about Mary
Poppins and it had Emma Thompson in it.
Intriguing enough, right? The
rest was a mystery to me, and I have to say “the rest” really surprised
me. I was not expecting so much
drama.
Anyway,
finally, after months of dragging on this backburner relationship, my best
friends sat me down and made me watch Saving
Mr. Banks.
The
feels. Oh, the feels. I cried so hard
at the ending, ha ha. This is a
beautiful, thought-provoking, incredibly well-made film. The acting is phenomenal and the story is
very poignant and alive. After recently
watching it for the second time, my opinion hasn’t changed. As a writer and Disney-lover, this one will
stay with me for a very long time.
Book
“The
Art of Writing Poetry” by William Packard
One of the means by which I’ve been able to ease myself back
into writing mode is poetry. Usually I
write a one-page free verse or a haiku, depending on how lazy I am that day. Thanks to this nifty little poetry handbook,
however, I’ve been exploring new territory within this exciting genre. Ballads, sestinas, and villanelles—oh my. I picked up this gem at a thrift store!
Music
Sky
Sailing – An Airplane Carried Me to Bed
(album)
Super
Junior – Raining Spell for Love, Evanesce, Islands
Okay so this month, I have quite a few music favorites that
I absolutely must share. Sorry, I’m
going to break the rules a little bit and share more than one, ha ha ha. During my Resonant Song hiatus, I acquired
several new albums, including Sky Sailing (Owl City’s Adam Young)’s An Airplane Carried Me to Bed, and Super
Junior’s latest album, This is Love.
Beginning
with Sky Sailing, I can’t believe that I hadn’t bought this album earlier. I LOVE Owl City, particular his older stuff
(Ocean Eyes = quite possibly my favorite album ever), and AACMtB is the very
epitome of why I love Adam Young.
Beautiful, unique, very listenable tunes paired with meaningful lyrics
and Adam’s peacefully melancholic voice.
I fell in love all over again. My
favorite tracks on the album are Take Me
Somewhere Nice, Captains of the Sky, and Brielle.
What
blew me so far away with Super Junior’s This
is Love album (repackage of their previous Mamacita album) is, once again, the versatility of this incredible
group. The songs range from super catchy
dance beats and One Direction-esque pop (Too
Many Beautiful Girls. You know you
thought of that, too, so don’t go there) to gut-wrenching ballads and sweet,
sexy R&B sound. Out of the thirteen
tracks, there are maybe two or three that I didn’t particularly care for, but
that’s because they are just OK. All the
others are fantastic! The three that I
picked for this blog post are the ones that I like best, Islands being my favorite song on the album. Yes, it’s a ballad.
I’m sorry, I can’t help myself. cx
Give it a
listen~!
Product
Etude
House Aloe Moistfull skincare set
With winter
just on the horizon, I’ve certainly braced myself and my super-sensitive skin
for the cold and dry weather that is bound to come. I’ve officially gone into cold-weather-mode
with my skincare routine, and I’ve added a few new products to the mix in hopes
that I can rid myself of my psoriasis once and for all.
One
ingredient which I’ve noticed really helps calm my skin is aloe. I’ve been doing a lot of research in regards
to which products would work better with my very specific skin conditions. I’ve used Etude House products in the past,
both in the makeup and skincare categories, and they’ve performed wonderfully
and never irritated my skin. So when I
found out about the brand’s “Moistfull” skincare products, naturally, I was
intrigued. There are several types, but
obviously I narrowed it down to the aloe set pretty easily.
The three products
I purchased were the First Essence, the Soothing Gel, and the Soothing
Cream. I’m not entirely sold on the
essence just yet (it doesn’t seem to do anything except smell nice), but the
gel and cream are great. I wear the gel
under my makeup in the daytime, and I use the cream at night. Both after cleansing with my DHC oil, of
course. The Moistfull products, true to
their name, really help keep my skin soft and more receptive to whatever I put
over it. The “soothing” aspect is
spot-on as well. Just minutes after
applying, my skin is less red and irritated, even after exfoliating, which I
find impressive. Many products are quite
uncomfortable to apply after exfoliation.
I’d give
the Soothing Gel and Soothing Cream four stars!
Makeup
Wet
‘n’ Wild matte black eyeshadow single
This one seems pretty basic, but man, has little eyeshadow
single has changed my everyday makeup routine.
A lot of people tell me that I do eyeliner really well, but I WILL TELL
YOU ALL THAT I HATE DOING EYELINER, LIKE ASDFGHJKLK. NOPE.
Ahem. Many days would pass where I wouldn’t even
wear any eyeliner because I was simply too lazy or didn’t have enough
time. …Okay, okay. That was almost every day. My eyeliner of choice is Milani’s EyeTech Extreme
liquid pen liner, but honestly, it takes a long time to get those perfect
wings. Not happening on a daily basis.
Anyway, the
point that I’m trying to make here is that there are far easier way to apply
eyeliner, especially if you’re pressed for time. Get an eyeliner brush, a bit of water, and a
good matte black eyeshadow, and you’re good to go. And it doesn’t have to be MAC’s Carbon.
This eyeshadow
single from Wet n Wild’s Color Icon collection cost me like, one dollar, and it
does the job perfectly fine. Yay.
Event
K
+ 1st grade field trip to Detering Orchard
Finally, my favorite event for the month of October. This was an incredibly easy one. In the first week of the month, I had the
opportunity to accompany the kindergarten and first grade classes on a field
trip to a local orchard, where they could pick apples and pumpkins, pet goats,
drink cider, and all sorts of other fun stuff.
I always enjoyed field trips, so I was happy to comply.
The day
ended up being like little autumn vacation.
The weather was gorgeous. The
kids were so happy and enthusiastic. The
cider was delicious and browsing through the stands was lovely. I even went home with a few apples and a
handsome little pumpkin—all handpicked by yours truly.
Being a
teacher constantly reminds me that we have to be grateful for the little things
in our lives, not just the big things.
The little things are often what can give us the most joy, if we only
open our eyes and our hearts to the possibilities that are waiting for us
everywhere.
Okay, two things: 1. The end of October totally snuck-up on me. That was was one of the craziest weeks I've had since the girls' camp this past summer. 2. I think that I've pretty much failed NaNoWriMo, LOL. How is it already the 4th? If I had actually been participating in NaNoWriMo, I would have written roughly 5000 words of my novel. Siiiigh. Life can really be annoying sometimes. Anyway, regardless of that, I'm still going to try and write every day during this month of November. Who knows, maybe I'll get caught up I strongly doubt it though and end up writing a good novel. But at this point, I'm not going to get anybody's hopes up, especially mine. I'm frustrated with my lack of time these past few days to devote to writing, but it's over and done. All I can do is keep calm and write on. That aside, I am not a total failure! I did manage to get Writerlyup and and running. :-) Here's a preview!
I still need to add an about page, registration instructions, and work out a few kinks in the system, but I'm happy with the site so far. I think that it's going to be a fun little community and I'm looking forward to working as administrator on this new project. Hopefully, it will be beneficial to anyone and everyone who joins. And that's about it for today. October favorites soon to follow~
