Becoming an adult...

...means having bills to pay. Because of this, I believe I am becoming an adult this week.

Between having a new job (I'm a cookie decorator at Corso's Cookies in Lakeland), needing to buy health insurance, buying a car, and needing to buy car insurance, all my wonderful saving that I've been busy with for the past 5 years has been successfully halved, and there is nothing I can do about it but relish in it.

I am really excited about the new job, and am so happy to be hired without prior professional experience as a baker/decorator. I'm hoping that this will open even more doors as time goes on, especially with how intricate their designs are, and how much the company is growing.

The car is a PT Cruiser. Picked her up this morning. For all you haters out there, all I can say is that I'm not driving a minivan anymore. So there.

I managed to have the fullest day possible without having adequate amount of food in my system as well. Because of work, my 8am bloodwork appointment was rescheduled for 3pm and with me needing to fast 12 hours beforehand, I pretty much ran on nothing from dinner until 3:30 this afternoon. From work I went to the lab where they had an issue with my appointment. Not unusual since I had to reschedule, but when the receptionist tried to tell me what happened and said," Well, it seems as though when you rescheduled, they went back a week and made your appointment for the 2nd. Today is the 9th, and since we can't go back in time, we just have to compensate for your being here now." I wasn't really sure whether to laugh at her witty sense of humor or question whether or not she knew exactly what she was saying since her tone was always sincere, so I just sat down and waited. From there, I ran a few errands, dropped the van off with my sister, and picked up the bruiser.

I've been really tired all day so I decided once again to skimp on my exercise regiment and instead eat chocolate and watch episodes of How I Met Your Mother while doing graphic design work for Hafner's. It's a good tradeoff, if you ask me.

Oh! And before I forget, I strongly urge you to check out my new side project with Vancouver filmmaker/composer CJ Wallis, Elective. I will be in the studio tomorrow finishing up vocal tracks for our first single, and we will be progressing as each of our main projects allow. He is wonderfully talented, and you can check out some of his film work here.

So, that's what tomorrow holds. A lot of new TSE news in the works, but once again I'm waiting to see how all of it pans out before parading it all over the wonderful world of internet. Work and studio. In the meantime, goodnight external hard drive, goodnight cell phone, goodnight ftp sites, goodnight laptop, goodnight awesome smelling candle, goodnight moon.

Ithaca Show!

Hey guys,

I'm completely aware of my lack of updates, but as I'm sure you can all understand things have been going at an incredible pace and I'm doing the best I can just to be cognizant of everything going on. I promise and update as soon as I can get get a breath in, but until then here is a flyer for our upcoming show in Ithaca with some of Jon's friends from college (and well, they've become friends of ours along the way, but still). Hope you can make it!!

Sorry bout that...

I know, I know. No blogging in a while. I'm sorry, it's just that since our miraculous return I feel as though every day is in fast-forward. So much cleaning to do, so much television to catch up on, so much new stuff in the works.

So basically, on the personal front, I have started a new 'side project' job with Pampered Chef (let me know if you want to host a cooking party!!), and have as well started looking around at bakeries around the area. With a few free months ahead of me I'm going to try and get in with the cooking world for as long as I can. Also I'll be working on the solo album and some other fun stuff that is in the works to be announced soonish.

On the band front, we're going into overdrive. The prime focus of the next few weeks is to finish up this album, and we have a few really sweet shows coming up in the mix. One of which is a really sweet private event on November 3rd (it's creepin up!). Apparently it is a private show that you can only win tickets through, so if I find out any info I will be sure to keep you all in the loop. We've got another one coming up in Fredonia on November 7th and a few more in the mix for later on in the coming month.

Oh, and more on the personal front. I am so stoked to be home for Halloween. It is one of my favorite holidays, and I really love the fall in CNY, the colors are so amazing and I'm so glad I was able to catch a few more weeks of it. In an effort to try and figure out what I wanted to be for Halloween (I originally wanted so badly to be Lady Gaga a la MTV VMA's:


But decided I didn't have enough time to get it all together or sew it since I got home with only a week beforehand), I paroozed the Sunday paper and something in the target circular caught my eye. I pretty much immediately got in my car, and tada! My costume has been completed:

There is no need to judge me on the fact that it's a toddler costume. In fact, maybe I can make this work via the ridiculous 'sexy girl' costume cliche. So what if it's skin tight? So what if the feet land at my knees because it's a size 4T? With the grin I'll be wearing I don't think you'll notice. All you'll notice is that I have a T-Rex appendage sticking out of my stomach, and it's awesome.

Skipping ahead to Qatar

Alright, so I know I’m out of order now, but hey, I’ve got internet and so I’m going to take advantage of telling you exactly what we’ve been up to.

Basically we did a short day and a half with one show in Bahrain, flew to Kuwait and spent 5 days, 5 nights (4 shows) in Kuwait; all of which I will tell you about very, very shortly. We really had a great time while out there and met some seriously awesome people.

Today, however, we flew out of Kuwait and into Qatar. We really didn’t have any idea of what the country would be like, and probably knew the least about this place of everywhere else we’d been travelling. Flying in you could see a ton of man-made islands (the middle east loves doing stuff like that – the palm islands in dubai and their up and coming world islands), and then a pretty decent-sized city. We flew over ornate hotels and bright blue swimming pools that screamed “Spring break Doha!” to me. We landed at a quaint airport and were immediately greeted by Erica and Julie after visas, the baggage claim, and customs.

I will note that it’s pretty rad you don’t have to take out your laptop when you go through security, even though it does kind of suck that you end up going through security like 3 times at every airport. But whatever, we’ve been really fortunate to have made great time on both sides of departing/arriving at our locations with all the baggage since UAE and Djibouti.

So, we loaded up everything into a truck and SUV and headed to the base where we got ourselves some serious comfort food. Mind you it was then about 1pm and most of us didn’t have breakfast (every country we travelled to thusfar had a really great currency exchange against the USD except Kuwait. Basically for every $4, it was one Kuwaiti dollar. Shit sucks when you want to buy a bottle of juice and it costs you 6.50). Pizza, nachos, veggie lo mein and quesadillas abound, we then trekked to our new temporary homes (kind of like the CLUs in Djibouti, but instead inside of a giant warehouse-y kind of thing), and then were met by two other guys from the base who were going to show us around the city.

This was huge for us because we never really got to see a whole lot of a lot of the places we’ve been on this tour. Either because of where we were, or our show schedules, we’d really only been able to see Dubai and now Qatar. We drove into the gold souk I believe, and did some shopping. One thing I must say, and it’s absolutely terrible, is that I am noticing my overt Americanism to compare the ‘real’ country to Disney World. Epcot more specifically. But when you’re walking down a cobblestone road without any cars while concrete buildings with ornate lighting fixtures and sticks and camels and donkeys are scattered about, it kind of feels like it’s not real. It also doesn’t help that there are gift shops everywhere, but it’s really been crazy to be really, truly experiencing all of this.

We found a few (bunch) of things we liked (the currency is now 1USD = 3.65 of theirs), and then one of the guys took us to a restaurant that he had been to and knew the owner well. It was absolutely gorgeous, and the owner sat us all down and gave us Arabian coffee (not quite the coffee you’re used to), and kind of some guidelines on manners and how to eat/drink the coffee (you eat a date, then drink the coffee as it’s not very sweet at all). Then we went upstairs and ate outside on the roof of the restaurant. It was absolutely surreal. There was a giant mosque in the background, and we head the call to prayer while we were eating (the Muslim religion has a call to prayer at several points during the day). We ate hummus, spicy potatoes, and pita bread until we couldn’t any longer, and when we were finished the owner gave us the tour of the rest of the restaurant. If I ever come back out to Qatar, I know I’ll be going there again. There is just so much that is fascinating about that culture, and such great food… it’s unbelievable. I know I’m using those words a lot but give me a break, I’m in the middle east.

After dinner we did some last minute shopping and then went out to their mall. I know you’re probably thinking we’re nuts for going to a mall while we’re out here, but it’s actually been our tour guide’s ideas. The malls out here are very similar and yet very different from the ones in the US. Sure, there are your average stores (but a little more wealthy out here—you’ll see a lot of designers and high-end boutiques), but they tend to outdo themselves with extra things like ice rinks and elaborate designs to the structure. It’s really cool to get to see. We got some gelato (sup awesome food), then headed back to base. We grabbed some internet and called it a night. We have a show tomorrow (and also they have some Hollywood people here including one of the women on nip/tuck which made me think of my junior year of college and how my roommates made me get into that show until it became a slightly horrifying addiction, but I think they’ll be proud of me that I remember her and her character… just not her name or her character name). So who knows, maybe we’ll get to meet them. If not, we’ll probably head back downtown and eat some more awesome food. But we do have a busy day of meet and greets and we’re all really stoked to be here.

Sunday

So today we got up and met up with Erica and Julie and grabbed some lunch. Along with us being on base, there are also what is referred to as 'Ambassadors from Hollywood,' and they were doing a meet and greet at the dining hall; they were Kelly Carlson (from Nip/Tuck), Greg Germann (from a whole bunch of stuff), DeAnna Pappas (from The Bachelor), D.W. Moffett (Friday Night Lights), and Vanessa Branch (Oribt gum girl). It was pretty awesome seeing them all out here, and they told us they wouldn't be able to make it to the show but would stop over during our soundcheck.

After lunch we met the commander of the base, and got a tour of the strykers. Basically strykers are like tanks... and we got to ride in them. We pretty much went on a joyride in these things, and the people telling us about them and showing us around do a TON and are really incredible individuals. I have pictures, I just need to grab them from Taryn and Jess soon.

After that we had our soundcheck,grabbed some dinner, and here I am. Full of pesto pasta and pineapple juice, I'll be heading back to my bunk shortly to clean up and get ready for the show. I should note that while in Kuwait I developed some sort of cold/allergy thing that they refer to as the 'Kuwait Crud.' As disgusting as that sounds, it's just sort of an allergy attack to getting used to all the particles in the air, and I have been voiceless for almost 5 days. Here's to hoping tonight's a bit better. I feel fine, just sound like a man. Oh well. Tomorrow we are off to another base, playing a show, then heading to Saudi right afterwards. Going to be a busy day!

Day 9-13 (Photos soon!)

As expected, internet has been kind of intermittent throughout the tour so I'm probably going to have to update things a chunk at a time. I've been logging everything into a little notebook every evening so that I don't forget exactly what's been going on, and as I look back I'm finding that it's been a very good idea. So anyways, here you go:

Day 8 (Monday)- Djibouti

We got up at 6am to grab an early breakfast, and managed to catch the end of the
Vikings/Green Bay game (nothing like Monday night football on a Tuesday morning -- Go Vikings!!) and then met up with the people from the weapons and ammo department of the base at a shooting range in the middle of nowhere. There were 6 targets set up and surrounded by sand dunes, and with the assistance of someone for each of us, we were taught how to load, aim, and shoot both M-16s and 9mms. We each had our turn at a target and shot laying down on our stomachs and standing straight up. It was seriously an experience I never thought I would ever be able to do, and they let us keep the targets (I'm much better at the M-16 than the 9mm, but not really too great with either. I got one lucky shot dead center, way stoked on that). The people who work with the weapons are seriously incredible individuals, and the woman in charge could quite possibly be the strongest and most fierce and badass woman I have ever met.

From there we went to the flightline but found out our helicopter ride was canceled (bummed but understand-- we still got to watch it takeoff and tour another aircraft). Then we did some laundry (such and understated chore out here), got some food, and grabbed some internet for a bit before loading up and heading to the airport.

We sat on the bus for about 20 minutes before being told that our flight had been delayed from a 5pm departure to a 10pm departure (not good considering our connecting flight from Addis Ababa, Ethiopia to Bahrain left at 10pm), so we had to weigh some options. We waited on the bus for at least 4 hours, and after making a few phone calls to explore some possibilities, we decided upon taking the Ethiopian flight and being at the mercy of the airline to put us up to stay the night and catch the next flight to Bahrain (which was 24 hours later). Someone from the base agreed to go with us, too, to ensure that everything went well. Unfortunately that meant that we had to miss our first show, but luckily we were supposed to play that base twice so we're happy we still get to play there.

So now, fast-forward to landing in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. The airline set us up with a 4-star hotel, and we took the shuttle there shortly after landing. They managed to get all our musical equipment stored inside security so all we had to be responsible for was our personal luggage, which was a nice change. Upon landing at the MN international hotel, however, everything changed. We got our room assignments and headed up to our respective rooms. From there, we discovered a whole lot of creepy crawlies, dirty sheets, some sharpie artwork on end tables, even an electric plug to the hot water heater...in the shower. We all ended up back in the lobby with the same sentiment, and so Jess and the wonderful rep from the Djibouti base (Gizera is her name, but I don't know how to spell it! Either way she was a lifesaver!) tried to get ourselves a different hotel. However, it certainly didn't stop there. The staff were very rude, not refunding the rep's money (she paid in cash), and while they were calling up hotels from the front desk they were speaking another language and apparently lying to whomever they were speaking to, because the rep called them out on it and was getting quite upset. THEN a whole group of rowdy men with, like, 12 'ladies of the night,' came in and got into a rager with the other desk attendant. Meanwhile, the rest of us are all sitting in the lobby at 2:30am, freaking out inside. I personally thought we were going to shortly be witnesses to something ugly.

Ten minutes later I believe we gave up the fight to get a refund and the Hilton picked us up. As Aaron now says, "Every time I see a Hilton an angel gets their wings." It was wonderfulllll. And so we ordered some room service, took warm showers, and slept until 2pm the following day. And such ends one of the worst days in travel history. And don't really get me started on the flights to and from Ethiopia. I'm over it.

Day 9 (Tuesday) - Addis Ababa, Ethiopia

We slept until 2pm and then went and ate at the hotel restaurant. It's always odd dealing with foreign currency that seems so much higher than the dollar. For example, my lunch cost 136 Bir. Sounds like a lot, right? Nope, roughly 11 bucks. Kind of rules except for the fact that I don't have a calculator on me since my phone doesn't work. After that we pretty much just hung out and then grabbed some more food before leaving for the airport at 7pm. Everything from there went pretty well (minus the accidental non-stamp from customs the first time through), and then we were off to Bahrain at 10pm.

Day 10 (Wednesday) - Ethiopia and Bahrain

Contrary to what one might think, itineraries on this tour have been anything but reliable. The one lesson we've learned thusfar is to pretty much not expect anything. That or expect absolutely everything. Neither one is really great though in terms of planning. Our itinerary told us we would be arriving in Bahrain at 3:30am, so expect our surprise when we landed 2 hours earlier. Our POC obviously wasn't there yet, and the police and customs were pretty less than thrilled at 8 people with 45 pieces of excess baggage just kind of lingering. Finally we had our rep come to the airport, and we loaded up all of our things and went straight to a military airport. We had on our itinerary that we’d be heading to a ship, but we really didn’t know too much more than that. When we arrived at the airport around 3am, we were told we would be taking off to a ship at approximately 9am that was out in the middle of the ocean. We had briefly talked about carrier ships and how cool it would be to see one (we thought we’d be visiting a docked ship), but we were actually going to be flying onto one. For those of you who don’t know a lot about carrier ships, basically they have a very short runway. In order for planes to land they have to catch a wire on the runway that will drag them to a very abrupt and short stop. On the flip side of things, taking off is quite the opposite. You are launched into a catapult type thing, with tons of hydraulics, and you are basically shot into the sky. We were lucky enough to experience both, but I’ll get to all that later.

We hung out at the airport until it was time to takeoff, where we were asked to put on life vests and helmets called cranials that came equipped with goggles. Usually they don’t fly too far, but we were going to be in the air for a few hours. We were given all of the safety briefing and a coin from one of the pilots, and then we were up in the air. When it came time to land, they made sure we had all our equipment on, our 4-point seatbelts VERY tight, and when they started waving their arms you knew to brace yourself. The landing goes by so fast you really don’t have time to process it. I was sitting in one of only 2 window seats, and I didn’t see a damn thing. All I saw was sky, then all I saw was pavement. It was surreal and absolutely amazing.

We were immediately ushered off of the ship and to a small room where we met the captain (wow, such an honor, and already!) and then were taken on a tour of the flight line. Basically we got to stand and watch as flights came and left the ship… it was absolutely stunning. They go from so fast to stopped… or from stopped to, well, you get it. It was nuts. We went from there to the flight deck where we met a few other people aboard the ship, and they let us know a little bit about what they do. It was seriously an awesome feeling from start to finish aboard the ship. We could all sense their genuine interest and excitement about having us with them, and it was awesome. They truly let us become a part of their busy days and important jobs, from making calls over the radio to meet and greets that night where we took a bunch of pictures and signed a lot of autographs. It was really a great feeling, and everyone was so hospitable and warm. Oh, and did we mention we had a funboss?! Yeah. Her name was Therese, and she ruled. Her and David and Jason and Leon, who also helped us out and kind of were our ‘family’ while we stayed on the ship, took us to dinner and showed us around. We pretty much passed out around 10, and with our bunks being directly under the flightline I think that should tell you just how tired we were J

Day 12 (Fri) Aboard the USS Nimitz

We woke up at 8am, had some breakfast, and then started the day with a tour of the weapons department. We got to meet the people who make them, people who repair them, and people who watch over them. All pretty heavy jobs, and they were all awesome at explaining everything to us civilians who may otherwise not understand all the abbreviations and going-ons of their job. From there it was naptime (I think the rocking of the ship had something to do with that), and then lunchtime. We went straight from there to the hangar, where the stage had been built for the show. We got all of our equipment set up, and then (you guessed it) naptober part 2. We visited the ship store and got to catch up on a few things, then we grabbed some diner and got back to the hangar in time for Captain’s Call. After he spoke we took the stage for what could have been one of the coolest shows we’ve ever played. Not many bands can say they played a hangar of a ship looking out over the ocean and having over 2000 amazing people singing and dancing along. I think this was one of the most humbling and important shows we’ve ever played, because when people make signs that have our lyrics on them, or know the words to songs… it reinforces why we’re all doing this. It’s for that single moment. And trust me, when it comes to audiences, we couldn’t ask for a better group of people to play to than the heroes of America who are on deployment.

We signed autographs/guitars/Xboxes/ipods/shirts/hats (yeah… holy crap you guys are awesome) for over 2 hours, ran to the heads (bathrooms in Navy-speak), and had someone play us a song. It was amazing. We did an interview with some of the staff, packed up, got some midnight ice cream (yes!!), and then passed out. What an amazing day.

Day 13 (Sat) Leaving the USS Nimitz for Bahrain

We woke up at 8:30am to some of the staff bringing us our laundry (can I get an amen?), then Funboss wakeup call at 9, then people coming to pick up our bags at 9:15 (I have never done less in terms of transit this whole trip… it was so unnecessary on their end but boy do we appreciate it). We grabbed a quick breakfast and then went to the LSO platform (no, not the LFO platform. Though Aaron and I sang “Summer Girls” the entire time anyway). Basically we got to stand at the front of the runway and watch as the planes came in along with the staff that kind of guides and watches over them if anything should go wrong. What a rush it is being up there with these massive (small in relation to other planes, but still, it’s a plane) things shooting out hot, hot air, blowing you around while the ocean comes at you from every angle without any land in sight. They even made an announcement on the ship thanking us while we were down there.

We then went up one last time to say goodbye to the Captain and his staff, and to thank him for having us aboard. We were given out certificates making us honorary hookers (something to do with airplanes, though I told him my parents would be proud nonetheless), photos of us and the captain and the ship when we first arrived, a cd full of photos that were taken while we were aboard, and other amazing goodies that they packed up for us. I have to tell you, never in my life have I felt more like a rock star. And you won’t hear me say that often, because we’re all really just a bunch of kids who have a dream to play music, and were given the amazing opportunity to share what we love with all of you.

We then packed back on all the cranial/goggle/lifevest equipment, and were given a safety briefing once again. This time things were a bit different though, and having watched the planes take off days beforehand I knew what was happening and I was both excited and kind of nervous at the same time… you go realllllly fast. So anyways, once they staff were waving their hands, I braced myself, and before I knew it we were really, really high in the air. Extreme roller coaster. 0-200 in like 3 seconds. Holy never forget that feeling ever.

Oh and P.S. I have a lot of sorting to do so hopefully once we arrive in Kuwait I'll be able to go through them all and put them up! :)

Day 3-8

Hey guys, long time no update. Sorry about that, but between keeping busy where we are and questionable internet access, I've been unable to get online for very long.

Basically for the first 4 days we were on a base in the Middle East where we spent a solid day and a half and had seriously the time of our lives. They showed us a demonstration in their K-9 unit, showed us around their flight line, and even got to be in a car on the runway going 200 km/hr underneath a plane while it landed. It was absolutely surreal, and seriously awesome. I'm quite certain it was one of the best experiences of my life. We met some really amazing people, and are already in touch with them post-leaving.

The show there went amazingly. We had a great crowd response, including someone who kept yelling for "More cowbell," and by our second set presented us with one signed by all the guys we spent the day with. Afterwards Jon and Aaron went back to a lounge with some of them and proudly can say that they kicked their asses in Halo... which is almost as sweet as watching 'Team America' with them, which we also did. We were really sad to leave, but on tours like this it's like we don't even have time to comprehend everything that's going on.

(mountainous Fujairah)

USO met us the day we left and drove us to Fujairah, where there is a small Navy base. We played at a classy/tacky hotel bar (that description pretty much fits the middle east in respect to their decor. over the top and yet in such bright colors it looks... less over the top). The show was a lot smaller as the base itself is smaller, but it was awesome for that exact reason. Being able to talk to everyone while we're playing is always a cool atmosphere, and they were a lot of fun (no alcohol restrictions will do that to you, I think). After we played a band by the name of 'Sugar Extract' took the stage when the night club opened. 3 skantily-clad women began singing such American hits as 'Single Ladies' and 'Umbrella' and you can bet your ass I have it on video. I just wish I had the means to edit it down (and the time), but once I do I'll post a few.

(Everyone on one of the boats)

The next day there the Navy took us out on their boats for a bit of a joy ride, which was pretty sweet. We had only met the guys briefly the night before at the show so it was fun to go out with them and spend an hour or so with them. We then drove to Dubai, stopping at a street market somewhere along the way and grabbing some goodies (the conversion of $ to Dirhams is 1:3.66, so we make out pretty well). We checked into our hotel, and decided to walk around. That lasted all of ten minutes though, as we had a bit of a 'Lost in Translation' moment, and the heat was pretty horrible. It's such a big city, and though we wanted to see more it just wasn't going to happen when I had a map in front of me and couldn't even identify where our hotel was when we were a block away. We went to the pool, showered and got dressed up a bit more than usual (with 100 degree weather and clothing restrictions usually being long pants and sleeves, I have learned to not really care what I look like when you leave because you start to sweat as soon as you leave buildings out here).

(Dubai not far from our hotel)

(how awesome is this money? it's got a goat on it!)

Ariel (USO volunteer and awesome dancer, as I found out from the Starlight Night Club) and her husband showed us around the Gold Souk, where we ate at this hole-in-the-wall tahli place that I really wouldn't have even wanted to walk past if they hadn't eaten there and told us it was safe. I'm a huge fan of learning about different cultures, but in an area where there is no potable drinking water and the streets are scattered with dogs, cats, and trash, I have learned to be picky. The place was great though, they served 4 small cups of different things (one had bananas, one had potatoes, one had lentils, and one was yellow... that's all I know), and kept giving you pita bread as you ate. It was all you can eat for 12D (about 3 bucks), and though it was spicier than hell, it was fantastic.

After that we went to the Dubai Mall, which is the biggest mall in the world and has an indoor ice rink, aquarium, water show bigger than that of the Bellagio... it's excessive to say the least, and not at all what you expect when you think of the Middle East. It is also located next to the tallest building in the world, so that was definitely a sight. We stayed for a bit then headed back for 3 hours of sleep before heading to the airport.

When we got there, a very interesting day began. We arrived at the Dubai airport 3 hours before our departure, and at the check-in gate we were told our excess baggage would cost $18,000 to get to Djibouti. This is by far more than we had budgeted for in our contract (an absurd to the nth degree), so we sat and waited for something to be sorted out. Finally something was (not entirely favorable but far less than the previous 18k), and we had to SPRINT through this airport to catch our next flight. It, just like the mall, was massive. And it looked like Disneyworld. And we had to go up an elevator, then down an escalator, then down a ramp to get to the gate. Make sense? Didn't think so.

We arrived in Ethiopia a few hours later, and let me tell you... it's weird. Really REALLY small airport, not really clean, and not a whole lot to do. We made the time pass as best we could, and then got on our Ethiopian Air flight to Djibouti, which was by far our most uncomfortable (Even though it was only an hour.. not looking forward to flying with them for 5 hours to Bahrain). When we finally arrived at the Djibouti airport (roughly the size of your average American home - very slight exaggeration), we were stuck outside, waiting to get into the building to get the relief of some air conditioning. When we finally got there, we walked in to discover that there wasn't any. To add to that, when we got to customs they wouldn't allow us in because we hadn't gotten a visa prior to arriving (we didn't know that hadn't been cleared up already), so we had to wait in line at the police office. Again another door, again more hopes of some ac, again being let down to discover it is just one more phase of stuffy. We had to pay out of pocket for the visas, then gather up all of our equipment from the only baggage claim they have there. The porters told us they would carry our things for $150 and wouldn't let us carry them ourselves. Finally they did and we met up with James, our guide for our visit, and we got everything loaded into a pickup truck and bus.

(this is how Djibouti looks when you drive the streets of it... no joke)

Already it's very easy to see the difference between UAE and Djibouti, and there is no gray area between the lowest of the low and highest of the high in wealth. There is trash strewn about everywhere, and unlike camels being treated as royalty almost in UAE (if you kill a camel you pay less than you would if you killed a human being), there are camels eating trash out of dumpsters on the side of the road. Dogs, cats, goats, you name it; they are the same as rats in NYC when you're here. We arrived at base not too long afterwards and were given a place to stay where we promptly showered and passed out.

(cheetah!)

The next day we met up with James for a few meetings and tours. The first was cancelled, but then we drove out to the cheetah refuge not far from the base. We got to see gazelles, hyenas, ostriches, turtles, and cheetahs that were either saved from poachers or people who thought they would make good pets. It was crazy to be in Africa seeing all these things, knowing that although it's very zoo-like in its appearance it's not far off from being a farm sanctuary somewhere in NY where you can see the goats and cows. After that James wanted to get some coffee, and I was pretty unsure of myself. Pretty much every time I eat from Dubai on I've felt like garbage, so eating somewhere in Djibouti really wasn't my idea of a good time. However, once we cleared a bridge in town it looked as though we crossed over from extreme poverty to Delray Beach, Florida. Exquisite buildings sat tall behind closed gates and flowering vines stretched from top to bottom. We had arrived at the 4-star hotel, the Kensington. It was absolutely stunning. You had to go through a guarded gate and security when you first arrived, but it honestly looked like a whole different world. It was crazy, and that caffeine was so necessary (I'm a coffee fiend; and I haven't gotten my adequate fix since I've been here).

After we returned we grabbed some lunch, had a bit of a break to use some internet, and then got ready for the show. We are doing 2 shows here, so we can (yay!) leave things set up. It went really well, and afterwards we met a bunch of great people, a few of which are from CNY. We also got the hook-up to go on a helicopter ride on Tuesday... so stoked.

Anyways, today we had our first tour get cancelled so I finally have some time to update with some pictures, sorry this is all so long. We depart Djibouti tomorrow for Bahrain. Again, no promises on the internet but I sure as hell hope the Ethiopian airlines flights are cleaner and nicer this time around. I stole a bunch of these pictures from Taryn, Jess' sister acting as manager on this tour, as my batteries are dead and she has a sweet camera :)

EDIT: We went out to visit the ammo shop, and got to do fun things like this:

Day 1-3

Just posting to let all you wonderful people know we have arrived in the Middle East, are where we need to be, and that things are going great! (minus the jetlag, that is). The trip took roughly 14 hours from start to finish, I got to see the London airport (what a tease), and we got all 40 pieces of baggage in Abu Dhabi (which, as I'm sure you must realize, is, like, amazing).

We settled in on base around 10pm (2pm Syracuse time, now referred to as 'st'), grabbed some food (because we were starving.. forgot to mention to the airplane that we have vegetarians and vegans on board, since a travel agent set it all up all I'd eaten was pretty much bread and juice and snack mix), and then got to bed. Sure enough, 3.5 hours later I'm wide awake and it's 3:30am. But somehow I managed to think were only 7 hours ahead, and are meeting with our host at 7:30am for breakfast so I got up at what I thought was 7, now turning out to be 6. Oh well, that's why I'm updating.

We have a full day of being de-briefed, being shown around, and doing some things I'm way stoked on telling you all about after we do them because I'm not really sure I know what it is we're doing (but I do know we're chasing down a plane on a runway in a Camero going like 100mph). We have a show at 8pm tonight (noon st) and another possibly at 1am (5pm st), though we'll see if we can handle that. With a two-hour set that would mean that once again I am up 24 hours straight, and well, me no likey.

Alright, it's about a quarter to seven here, really balmy (and I hate using that word so know I mean business about it) as I sit outside and watch the sun shoot a mean glare into my computer screen, so I'm going to get going. I'll update when I can, it's looking like we're leaving this base for Dubai tomorrow but we have solid internet here so hopefully I will be able to post some pictures before I leave.

Leaving on a Jet Plane

I can't believe that tomorrow is the date we fly out and start the tour. It feels like months of preparation and hard work (oh yeah, it has been), and a ton of stressing out about paperwork and visas and passports and sound guys and equipment, and finally it is all over. So long as we get all our baggage checked (all 40 pieces), and it all arrives with us to Abu Dhabi, we'll be set.

Thanks to everyone for the well-wishes, we'll be at the airport tomorrow at 5:30am and we'll be arriving at Abu Dhabi at 7:50 tomorrow evening... I think that'll be somewhere around 11:50 tomorrow night.

Hopefully we'll have internet while we're there so I can update this thing with some video and pictures. See you all on the flip side of the world!

One Week...

It's hard to believe that we're leaving a week from tomorrow. The past few weeks have been very hectic, trying to sort through all the (literal) baggage, the flights, the show, etc. We are now even a bit more nervous after getting paperwork about the dress code. Looks like I'll be losing my nose ring (hopefully it won't heal up and I can put it in every night), and I'll need to grab myself a sweatband to cover my tattoo (women aren't allowed to have them in that part of the country). I'll also need to do some shopping, because it appears as though I will only be able to wear long pants and long-sleeved shirts (hopefully it will be different on the bases because it's going to be very hot still).

Other than all that I'm trying to start packing and cleaning and getting myself psyched on going over there. It's very easy to let all the craziness of traveling to the Middle East get to you and overshadow the great honor and privilege we have been given. It's sneaking up, so I'm hoping these next few days I can chill out :) I went to Rochester yesterday/today to get away with Michael and eat good food and watch movies and meet up with friends. All of which I did, all of which was awesome.

As for this week, tomorrow holds a flu shot for this girl, band practice 12-5, and a meeting at 7pm. Tuesday Michael heads up and starts rehearsing with us (he's in DC for a job interview!!) and Taryn (Jess' sister, going with us as our tour manager) comes up, and so from then until the end of the week our days will be filled with prepping. Going away party Saturday, the band (I missed the boat on this one) will be heading to NYC to see Sunny Day Real Estate on Sunday, and then Monday... well, you know.

Radio Interview and Show Tonight

I will have to post on the past week once I get some time to settle down, because it has been pretty nonstop this week. With rehearsals every day lasting about 5 hours and studio time on top of it some days, it's been a pretty exhausting week but we are all very excited about it all.

Tonight we will be interviewed on 570 WSYR's Jim Reith radio show at 5:06pm (the show runs pretty on point, so tune in then!!) for some chatting with Jim about the tour and cd, and we will be doing an acoustic in-studio performance live on air.

Immediately following that we will be headed to the Lost Horizon for our Bon Voyage Party/Show. We go on around 10pm, there are bands before/after (I love how they do that there... who wants to see a headliner play at 1am?! They're thinking about the earlybirds, like myself. And I suppose Aaron, because I don't think he could stay awake long enough to play a set then). It's all ages, 7 bucks, and there is a bar. So come on out, say hello, and listen to some great music!!

Time to escape for a few days

Welp, it's been great doing music every day for the past couple of days... but it's definitely time that I take a lil breaky-break. Pre-tour stress is getting to all of us, and trying to manage all of the equipment and excess baggage is quite a hefty chunk of the crazy. We're all getting really excited about Asia, and all of the songs are coming together quite nicely. I've spent a few days in the studio and I put together the strings for our newest song tonight.

But alas, I'm off to Brooklyn tomorrow until Tuesday morning. I need some time away with a good book and some sudoku puzzles. I'm staying with my friends out there and I intend on going to a barbeque, gallery showing, and having sweet hangouts.

Until then, I'll continue going crazier by the hour. I swear if it weren't for my dad and Jess helping out this tour wouldn't be happening; I am eternally grateful for my father stepping in as the 'home base tour manager' as he knows far more about sound equipment than I do, and I do not know what we'd be doing without his help. Er, wait... I do. I'd probably still be in Syracuse for all of October.

Tour Schedule!

Oh, and I've forgotten to mention that we got the tentative schedule for the SW Asia tour. I'm not entirely sure where we'll be playing in any of these countries (and all the dates may change between now and then), but as I find out I'll be sure to post. If you have any friends/loved ones stationed out there send us a message if they may make it; we'd love to meet them.

Sept. 28: Depart
Sept. 29: UAE
Sept. 30: UAE
Oct. 1: UAE
Oct. 2: UAE
Oct. 3: Dijibouti
Oct. 4: Dijibouti
Oct. 5: Bahrain
Oct. 6: Bahrain
Oct. 7: Bahrain
Oct. 8: Bahrain
Oct. 9: Bahrain
Oct. 10: Bahrain
Oct. 11: Bahrain
Oct. 12: Qatar
Oct. 13: Qatar
Oct. 14: Qatar
Oct. 15: Qatar
Oct. 16: Qatar
Oct. 17: Kuwait
Oct. 18: Kuwait
Oct. 19: Kuwait
Oct. 20: Saudi Arabia
Oct. 21: Saudi Arabia
Oct. 22: Saudi Arabia
Oct. 23: Return

Photo Shoot and Studio

(Here's a shot from the last shoot we did with Paul- a little preview if you will of what's to come :) )

We wrapped the album artwork photoshoot last night after another evening with Paul Williams. After the last shoot that we did with him a few weeks back we tweaked previous shots to get what we think is pretty rad artwork; front cover, back, and some et ceteras.

(Speaking of etc's... we played dress-up the dress mannequin.)

Matt, our webmaster, continued filming the shoot for a documentary he is creating on the entire experience surrounding our lives through this album to when we leave for SW Asia (from which Leena and I will continue with little Sanyo video cameras we bought for tour... I'll make sure to post everything I can if we get some internet while over there here, on our official site, and on our youtube page). But anyways, I'm pretty sure that his blooper reel will be longer than the actual documentary... we laughed, we (laughed until we) cried, we drank and got crazy... ask anyone who's had the opportunity to work with us, we're a special bunch. Mr. Big became involved. His music, that is. Their music, that is.

For some reason, the weather in Syracuse has been real weird lately. It feels borderline fall some days. Yesterday was one of those days. While dressed in formalwear, 50 degree weather can be a bit chilling, and although we got there around 3 the shoot didn't actually start happening until closer to 10. But, we treked through it. I played air guitar on my sister's leg. Paul captured that moment, among many others that I feel we will need to share with all of you at a future date. Overall it was a real success, and I'm very excited to start working on the artwork concept and layout, which I'll hopefully be putting together while overseas (having something to do that doesn't necessarily require internet will definitely be a good thing).

Today we're in the studio, and will be for the next couple of weeks. Our goal is to knock out as much work on the album as physically possible so that we have as little work to do once we return from Asia. E is recording some drums, Aaron will hopefully be putting some bass tracks down (he's the only one with a stricter day job for the next week and a half), and then the rest of us will come in whenever we have some free time during the days to put our parts down before our evening rehearsals.

As per usual, the facebook phenomenon 'Farmville' is capturing far more time from our band than is appropriate, causing us to break in practices so that people can harvest their crops. I didn't want to get involved as I've been trying to stay away from my computer as much as possible lately (to boost the productivity of other things in my life, and lately I've been wanting to read more), but they twisted my arm and now I'm stuck managing a farm on top of everything else... the responsibilities just keep on racking up.

Welp, I think that's enough dry humor for the day, I realized I didn't take any pictures from the shoot yesterday but I do have a behind-the-scenes one from last time that my sister grabbed on her phone of me doing my individual portrait. Hello, sassy knife-thrower:

(Can I tell you how scary it is to be known for being clumsy and having a knife that can cut a piece of paper in your hand while wearing 4-inch heels on a palette? Brought new meaning to the word 'dangerous')

Syracuse Show

Hey guys, I just thought I would post the flyer for our upcoming show at the Lost Horizon on September 18th. It's our going-away show, and it's all ages, so if you can make it we'd surely all love to see you there!!

And P.S.

I don't know why my blogs have been so long lately... I'm going to work on getting some more pictures in them. :)

Lazy/Productive is the way to be

As I have explained in my previous post, this week is pretty much just dedicated to music. And I really couldn't be happier. My solo album has kind of stayed in the background for such a long time that I really didn't think I'd even get around to recording it until November or December, and yet here I am, procrastinating on getting dressed so that I can meet Kiel at the studio to record the drums for it!!

It's definitely taken a turn for the productive when I realized/remembered that he's leaving for LA on Friday morning. Super bummed because he's been a friend for a while, and someone who I've seen grow a lot as a person for as long as I've known him. I'm really looking forward to working with him again before he leaves.

The one thing about a solo album that I guess I didn't really think about until now is that... all the decisions are mine and mine alone. As awesome as that seems in theory, I never really realized all the choices that need to be made. There's no one else in this band but me, so there is no bass player, no drummer, no guitar player... and there may not be if I deem it what I want. It's all so confusing, I'm taking inspiration in the instrumentation from Rocky Votolato, Ben Gibbard's solo stuff, Good Old War, The Weepies, and Ingrid Michaelson in terms of figuring out what will sound good. Hopefully that'll all fall into place organically.

There's also the artwork portion of it. I'm thinking about doing some sort of mixed-media thing for it, but that's going to be a TON of work (though I'm kind of excited about it). There isn't going to be the whole jewel-case thing with inserts and stuff, I think I'm just going to package it all in a cardboard sleeve and put all the lyrics and etc stuff on the website (There will be an extension from The Scarlet Ending's website for mine and my sister's solo pages). So basically, I just have to come up with the design for the front and back of the cd, and the website. Still a lot of work, but pumped. Paul will be taking some test shots for it while he's here to do the 2nd half of the TSE photo shoot this weekend.

So much work to do, getting a brain ache from taking notes on all these songs! I'll update you as the progress of this album, tentatively titled "Burrower" comes along.

Back to Basics

After what seems like a real hectic past few weeks (and a few big shows), we are kind of settling back into just having music going on. Although I have had to give up having more work (basically no paychecks from here until tour), I feel as though it's the best decision for us so that we are as productive as possible before we leave. It was pretty awesome getting up this morning, rehearsing for a bit, working out, and then going to practice. I love being able to spend that much time on music, and not being rushed with work. I know right now it's sort of a necessary evil, and yes, I will miss having an income, no matter how small, but I'll keep up with some graphic design work between now and then that should cover my minimal spending habits.

Kiel leaves for LA on Friday morning I believe, so tomorrow and Wednesday day I'll be in the studio with him so that he can put drum tracks down for my solo album. I've been working pretty slowly on it (not for any particular reason), but after realizing how soon he leaves, and knowing I'd like for him to play on it, it's kind of put me in fast-forward. I think that's a good thing also though, it'll be really nice to get that cd rolling, and even better for my publishing deal (I hope!) since it's a lot poppy-er than the TSE stuff that's on the upcoming album. Either way I'm excited about it, being able to write pop music and indie music and even dabbling in the electronic-type stuff is really keeping things refreshing constantly. It's awesome being surrounded by so much music.

We had an amazing rehearsal today, being an acoustic one for 3 hours then having the band join up for a few hours to work on one brand brand new song and a cover for the tour. It's days like today where we all really feel like it's coming together beautifully, and being this prepared and ready is going to make the tour so much less stressful.

So... yeah. Tomorrow it's gonna be sleep until 8:30, work out, catch up on some tv, get to the studio, rehearse at 4:30, and I'll probably do that again on Wednesday. Even though it's not the most financially stable job in the world, I am lucky to be able to do it.

Some introspection on shows

This past week has really got me thinking a lot about the band, music, and really just playing shows in general. Being a local band with a small indie label, management and booking are not things that come easily; every contact you make, thought it may be a step in the right direction, seems sometimes to only be one tiny step. Kaleena and I (as well as our label) do a lot of legwork and networking at showcases like SXSW, and I sent out emails like a madman to people of interest. We have been fortunate enough to have just about everyone in the industry who has heard us tell us that they like it, would want a demo, etc, and when we tell them all the accomplishments we've made they seem impressed. But then, usually always comes the "Keep on doing what you're doing, because seems to be working." Now, that's all fine and dandy, and it's a nice little pat on the back to let us know that we're doing something right, but at some point and time that next step is what we'd like to attain, not just keep on doing what we're doing.

The only thing that I've learned so far from the music industry is this: it's all about being in the right place at the right time. If you are, it will only take 30 seconds, if that. That's how we got our overseas tour and our mtv licensing deal. They heard 30 seconds of our demo. Even I thought it was crazy, but it's how it is. And ever since something started happening for us, we view every person, every submission, every business card we hand out as a lottery. It's tough to win the lottery, but the more tickets you have (or in this case given out), the more likely you are to win. I also asked Matt Caws of Nada Surf what his best advice would be to an aspiring band with a small label would be, and his response was simply "Write a great fucking album." So I guess I've learned two things, the lottery thing and the album thing.

The Mother Mother show was a really great one for us not only because it was with one of our favorite bands, but because we actually succeeded in a sense to make it happen for ourselves. Kaleena and I met them all at SXSW (thanks to the wonderful Jason Sanders who we also met at the festival), and had the opportunity to interview them for his documentary on Canadian music. From then I kept in touch with Mother Mother's drummer, Ali, and every once and again would hear from him or send a message.

A couple of weeks ago, my sister noticed that they were playing Cortland, NY, and that by some stroke of fate their opener had dropped out. Immediately I sent an email to the venue, and shot Ali a message as well. The venue didn't respond to me before Ali, and he then gave me their manager's info and he and I sent her an email to make it happen. Sure enough, I heard back from their manager saying the venue would contact us, and bam- we're on the show.

I cannot even express how happy we were to be on the bill, not only because it was them but because we made it happen. The show was absolutely amazing, and all the guys in the band not only greeted us when we walked in but remembered our names (!!) and everything. Being such a small band without much 'manpower' behind it, it is so touching and means so so much to be remembered by musicians a little higher up on the ladder of success. They stayed for our whole set (and by the way, the crowd at this show was amazing for us... thank you so much!), and even mentioned during their set that they met us at sxsw and contacted us about being on the show, and that they were glad we got on. It was seriously a dream come true and a breath of fresh air to be treated that way by other musicians; it seems that even local bands don't give off that much respect to their peers.

On a slightly different note, a few friends of mine called me last minute to let me know of two extra tickets to see The Fray at the New York State Fair. I was at the studio at the time, so I had to run home pretty quick to get out there on time. On the way home, I was talking to my dad about them. We opened for The Fray a few years at the Balloonfest, and they were such amazing and sweet people. Isaac stayed for our whole set (even missing a radio interview to see us), and I broke a string during my set, and David (who was the guitar tech at the time) came to the front of the stage and offered me one of their guitars to use for the rest of it. We were absolutely starstruck; not only because it was a top 40 band that we liked and were sharing a bill with, but because of their kindness and humility... we were freshman in college at the time, we never once expected anything like that.

So anyways, my dad and I were chatting, because Our Lady Peace had to drop off due to a family emergency (hope everything is okay). He said, "It's too bad that you guys couldn't keep in touch with those guys. Maybe something could have worked out with them not having an opener." Which sparked a conversation where first off, I stated "They've played so many shows with so many bands since then, I highly doubt they even remember it," and then stemmed to a band of that level's ability to really keep in touch with smaller acts. At first, perhaps it's possible- we sent a few myspace messages back and forth with David for a short while afterwards, but then major labels kick in, managers kick in, booking agents kick in. Is a wall up from then? And then once you reach a level of success that they are at now, does the wall come back down? You'd think they'd be able to get whatever and whoever they'd like at shows. But if that's the case, is the waiting period before and after the wall is up or down short enough to keep up communication?

Oh, so many questions. And just as many nonanswers. So we went to the show (and had great seats, 25th row-- 3 rows into the incline of the grandstand so we were just above floor level), and sure enough a Syracuse band was the opener. I didn't catch their name and I'm not familiar with them, but it was a pretty awesome opportunity for them. I'm not jealous or envious, because either way it's a great thing for them, and whatever or whoever it is that got them that slot-- well they were in the right place at the right time.

So anyways, The Fray went on and were really quite good. They were about halfway through their set when Isaac stopped and said, "You know, one of the first shows we played out of our homestate was in Upstate New York. I think that was the last time we were here, it was at the Balloonfest 5 years ago. We sucked back then." My jaw just dropped. They remembered the show. My dad had 1 point, I had 0. I don't know why I thought for some reason once you get 'famous' your memory is depleted and shows just become a thing you do every day in a different city every day, but I still must think that the people that are a part of them must just all blur together. Isn't that just how we all are anyway? If you're a cashier at a store, or a movie ticket-taker, or a waitress, will you really truly remember anyone 5 years from now?

So, here I sit. On my couch, fresh from the second day of the fair. I'm full, feel like shit from all those sweet potato fries, and could really use and extra 8 hours of sleep considering I haven't slept all that much from the Mother Mother show Friday night since we got home around 4am. We have an album that we're working on, and it's our prime focus for the next couple of weeks. We all are so confident and passionate about it, that I think once it's out we'll get even more lottery tickets. And that's when we can really start pushing for management and booking, because up until this point we've gotten the interest, but don't have the physical goods to back it up. Soon we will though, and hopefully we can continue to make things change for us. Booking and management is really something that we need to help us get to that 'next level.' As much as I believe bigger labels can do things like that for you, it's teams like that that I really believe make the difference.

I truly believe that if we are ever lucky or blessed enough to attain a level of success that would cause us to be 'that' band for anyone else, we will make sure that they are given the respect and help that bands can give when they are in a position to do so. Similarly, I hope those bands know what it is that they did for us, and how much it really meant to us. It is experiences like the ones we had with Mother Mother, or like we did with The Fray 5 years ago that give bands like us hope, and make us feel like all isn't lost, because at one point and time they were there. The only difference is that at some point in time, they were in that right place.

Relaxing weekend before a long week

I started pruning Christmas Trees out in Pompey this week with my sister, which is a really physically demanding job (though not so much as unloading trucks), but the sun really drains you out there! It's pretty relaxing just spending the day in an open field, listening to my ipod, breathing in the pine and enjoying summer breezes. The downside? Like I said, the heat, having sunburns in and on the back of your ears, the bugs, and the snakes (yep... snakes). But it's been great having a temporary job for the next couple of weeks, and so you really won't hear this girl complaining! :)

I went out to Rochester for the weekend to see the boyfriend (it's been 2 weeks since I've seen him!), and had a really great time. We went out to dinner with his family on Friday night, and on Saturday our friend and my other blogmate Casey came out and we went shopping, got some ice cream, and sat in a park, and grabbed some yummy mexican food before going to our friends' (Dasha) show at a coffee shop. It was a lot of fun to see a bunch of friends, even if the show started like 3 hours later than it was supposed to.

Today I met up with my friend Annie for some coffee at this amazing little coffee shop in Rochester (Starry Nites Cafe). This summer has really been good to me in regards to getting to know a few new people, even though it seems I rarely have time to really hang out (I'm trying to get better at that! But alas, my schedule is so difficult to plan things, even with the boy). After that I headed home and got really productive, doing some work for LaTresse so that I didn't have to cram it into this week, practicing, and getting a few odds and ends wrapped up.

This weeks is going to be NUTS. But I'm hoping it'll all go well, and will end up being far less stressful as it seems. We'll be working Mon-Thurs 8:30-2:30 at the tree farm, then having rehearsal 4:30-8ish or so. This week is starting our hardcore practice regiment, and then on Friday I have a meeting in the morning and then we have our Mother Mother show in Cortland that we are soooo so pumped for. My aunts and uncle from Long Island are also coming up this weekend to go to the show and the fair, and I'm really excited about seeing them. The only downside to this weekend is that my really good friend Paige who moved out to Maryland will be home (in Rochester) for the weekend, and I'm not sure if I'll be able to swing it :( We shall see!!

In the meantime I'm keeping things positive. It's going to be great getting a paycheck, and the show is going to be awesome.

My stay at Edelweiss Lodge and Resort in Garmisch, Germany

The nicest place I've ever stayed would have to have been the Edelweiss Lodge and Resort in Garmisch, Germany.

We were on tour in Germany this past summer, and luckily enough for us we had not only a show here but a day off as well. It's in this amazing little town, and the location of the resort is right at the base of an Alp. There were gorgeous coffee shops and chocolate shops lining cobblestone streets, and we rented bicycles to drive through the town and through some farmland by the mountains. It was absolutely stunning. The rooms were spotless, roomy, and every morning the sun crept through the windows to such a breathtaking view that you had to pinch yourself. Living in Upstate New York, you don't see huge snowcap mountains very often in your backyard :)

Tour Postponed, keeping busy

I feel as though I go in spurts of being good at updating this thing, and then... not. I guess I've fallen into a bit of busy-ness that is keeping in me on my toes and away from the computer screen when it is that I can be.

What's been going on:

-Tour got postponed 30 days due to visa and other issues out of our control. Although a lot of people were bummed, I'm looking at this like everything happens for a reason and with the delay we can focus our efforts on finishing up our album and getting more prepared for everything ahead of us. We've been in the studio for a couple of days finishing the tracks we have drums for already and when E gets here next week we plan on having her record as much as she can so that we can get this thing finished already!

-Promo/cd photo shoot is coming up this week. So excited, but soo much planning. I need to get myself over to Home Depot to start buying supplies. And I wish that all the new clothes I ordered for the shoot would get to my house, I never even received a confirmation email or receipt, but they deducted the cash from my account... ugh. Get here.

-I feel as though I could write a book (very similar to the one I just finished reading called "A Working Stiff's Manifesto") on all the real random jobs I've taken since trying to become a full-time musician. In addition to mascot for health fairs (yep, I've been in a costume), maintenance worker, Christmas tree decorator, garden center employee, graphic designer, landscaper, and construction runner, I have also just been employed on a short stint as a house cleaner, pottery assistant, and I start my work as a Christmas tree pruner next week. I feel as though all these jobs are making me a lot stronger both physically and mentally, and whenever it is that I get a 'real' 40 hour a week or 'real' paying job, I'm going to be floored at how much money will be coming in. I've been used to not spending money from these jobs, I can't even imagine how easy saving money will be when money starts rolling in.

And a lot of other stuff. I did go and visit my old pottery teacher (who I'm helping get ready for the big Caz pottery fair) today, and she gave me a lot of inspiration to get back into art, and so I picked back up on one of my paintings and am feeling great about it. I also got a lot of latresse work done and so yesterday she gave me a haircut, color, and lowlights as a barter for some of the work! I'm trying desperately to see the good in everything, and I figure that things can only be so hard for so long... it's about time that things come around, and I think now that we can focus on all of this it will.

Today's plan is to help out Millie at the pottery shop from 10 until whenever she doesn't need me or until 4 when I run over to La Tresse and get her some of the design files. Michael is heading up tonight and we're going to go and see (500) days of summer this evening. I've been looking forward to seeing this movie for a long time :)

Iron Cupcake World Voting OPEN!

Hey guys!!

I just wanted to quickly blog about the Iron Cupcake World competition for this month is now open! So pleaseee vote for my lemongrass cupcake (you can vote for my blog on the right hand side, as well as two other recipes should you so choose). I would really appreciate your support, so thank you in advance!!

The link is right here.

Frosted Mini Wheats is a cereal suitable for every meal

Let's clear this topic up even further. I firmly believe that breakfast in general is a very flexible meal, and all foodstuffs that are under the 'breakfast umbrella' don't just make solid meal decisions for any time of the day, but great ones. On any random evening I choose to make an omelet, and for lunch a bowl of oatmeal will often suffice.

Frosted Mini-Wheats

Frosted Mini Wheats, however, are my most recent choice in favorite cereals that can undoubtedly be served for breakfast, brunch, or brinner (or bressert). Just think about how transcendent this cereal is; depending on milk-to-cereal ratios, it can be crunchy, firm but soft at the same time (an enigma), or incredibly mushy. It knows no cereal-eating enemy. It can work for everyone, and it works for me all the time.

Show Weekend!

Welp, tse has been up to quite a bit over the past few days. First off, I'd like to introduce to you the wonderful Ms. Elisa Seda, who will be playing with us from now through the overseas tour. She has been up since Wednesday rehearsing like crazy for the Forsaken Generation show, and had an AMAZING hotel room that was 2 levels (with a spiral staircase):

So basically, in addition to the bottle of wine you see in the above picture, we've been providing her with some band bonding time. And by 'band bonding' time, we mean band dinners. Because as you all know, a band that eats together, stays together. In case you don't know us all very well, we all share a common enjoyment in eating and/or preparing food. So I made black bean sliders and Jon made some homemade guacamole during one of our all-day rehearsals.


And on Saturday, we went out to Thornden Park to partake in the all day Forsaken Generation show. The weather held up nicely (basically until the end of our set haha), but we managed to have wayyy too much fun over the course of the day, both at the park, where we decided sharpie mustaches were appropriate:

To our guitar center run, where Ollie's 25 cent machine provided a much more realistic and horrifyingly disgusting alternative:


We then all went out to China Road and got the most AMAZING vegetarian 'chicken' I have ever had (see, we really do love eating together), and headed back to the show. It was so cool getting to be a part of the cause, and the show itself was at a really cool location. I don't know if you've ever been around the Thornden Park area, but there's a huge stone ampitheatre and stage, and it's just a really amazing place to have a show. The set went really well (only had to cut 1 song due to rain), and from then on we had a record-setting load in to our vehicles as we escaped what ended up being a pretty heavy downfall.

Don't forget that if you missed us we're playing in Syracuse this coming Friday at Funk n Waffles with White Picket Fence and Oh The Story. Once I get a flyer and more details I'll post.

Michael came up for all this weekend's shenanigans as well, and I'm hoping to get out to Rochester a couple days this week. I know it still seems like such a long way away until tour, but I'll only have a couple free weekends from here on out (rehearsing about 40 hours a week starting August 1st) and I want to see him as much as possible. Other than that and a few job appointments I don't have anything else going on, and I figure this is the last 'week' that I can say that before we return from SW Asia. I'm getting more and more excited every day, and as long as we can get all the paperwork and equipment squared away I will be a very happy camper :)

Garage Sale-ing

I know it's been a while since I've posted anything really substantial about my life, but I think I'm finally starting to get it together. I don't even remember what day it was (sad, isn't it?) but our yellow lab, Bently, had to get rushed to the dog vet after having another breathing attack. He was ten years old, but still keeping it together, and after a night in the hospital the family came to a very difficult decision that it was his time to go.

It was really hard for me, he was really my buddy and it's taken a lot out of me. The past year has been really crazy, and having to come to terms with life not always going the way you want it to on top of numerous trying times and tragedies it's been... really rough. I miss him so much.


It's been a really difficult summer for my family, but through everything we've been through it's a constant reminder how lucky and blessed we are to have everything that we do. My mom underwent a pretty serious surgery, and thank goodness everything went well and now she is better. Being diagnosed with a cancer (though operable) is really really emotionally straining on everyone involved, and having to go to wakes and funerals and just knowing other people who passed over the past few months from this terrible disease didn't make it any better.

But, onward and upward. I've been quoting so many cliches lately. When it rains it pours. Life goes on. Everything happens for a reason. Live every day like it's your last. All dogs go to heaven.

I'm sick of being sad, sick of being frustrated, and ready to get my running shoes on and start up the minivan. I've spent too long allowing all the bad things in life to control my feelings and actions. We're all still here, and every day is a gift.

That being said, I am trying to surround myself with friends and things that make me happy. I went downtown with my mom and sister yesterday, and I tried selling back a box of like 30 used cds (to which sound garden took 1... an unopened sevendust album. don't ask), and I got a whopping 5 bucks. But either way, I got season 2 of 30 rock, stopped by the chocolate store, and went to pasta's and got some bread and sauce for dinner.

That night I also spoke to NYC photographer Paul Williams, who took some AMAZING shots of the group at our Arlene's show, and he's going to be coming out for a week in August to shoot our album artwork. That means dresses and pictures and dressing up and he and I are heading all the concepts... I am so excited.


My family is having a garage sale this Friday and Saturday, and I've also been viewing that as an opportunity to get rid of things that I don't need or don't wish to be attached to anymore. It's oddly freeing, even if just to get rid of old cds, hoodies, etc. I have also decided to give up a hobby of mine, sewing, and I'm getting rid of all my old lace, fabrics, ribbons, etc. The DIY period of my life has come to an end, and I realized I have to pick and choose what I do in my free time. I have picked music first, and if I have time to get back into it, painting and drawing. Cooking will always be around, but I just don't have the time or space to devote to making dresses or bags or anything else anymore. I have a sweet sewing machine though, so if I ever change my mind the craft store isn't too far away :)

Oh, sigh. I need more happy. I need to feel like I'm enjoying the summer. And I don't think it's ever too late to start, so here I go.

What my ride needs is ... a ride.

Let's see, what would make my car better?

PT Cruiser

... I think title and Registration in my own name would be a great start! That would just be grand... because if I had my own vehicle, it would just be the greatest ride I could ever dream of. I'd decorate it with pretty cupcake bumper stickers, it would smell amazing (as I'm not allowed to have air fresheners in my current vehicle), it would be clean all the time (I'm a neat freak when it comes to my car, but I can't clean the mini van all the time because of how much band stuff it accumulates in like a week), it would be all girlyyyy... ooooh it would be amazing. And someday, it will happen. I can promise you that. So, in a year or a few, watch out for that sassy lady driver in a pt cruiser or other small vehicle with a hatchback, with sweet air fresheners and bumper sticker art out the wazoo.

I'll read 'The Great Gatsby' one day

Ever since graduating I've been telling myself that I will start to read more... and I have. To a degree. Maybe. Well, okay, so maybe reading half a book doesn't really count, but still, I'm readinggg. I'm just setting myself up to be able to tackle a whole one, all in the same time period. I think that's why I'm putting off reading "The Great Gatsby."

No real delay...it's sitting on my nightstand. I've been meaning to get around to it, but it's just been one of those things. I suppose one reason I haven't started it just yet is that I've been on a kick of finishing all the books I've BEEN reading for the past 3 years (I have a tendency to read like 5 books at a time and never really finish any of them). I've been told I'll enjoy this book, so maybe before the end of the summer it'll happen.

Iron Cupcake July!

So, as everyone knows, I am in love with baking, and more specifically, baking and eating cupcakes. Through all of my online research for ideas and recipes, I stumbled upon Iron Cupcake World. Basically, similarly to the 'Iron Chef' television show, anyone who is interested can become a member, and once a month a new ingredient is introduced to which you need to create a cupcake including or showcasing that specific ingredient. Without any hesitation I immediately joined and got moving, after all, what isn't a good reason to bake and create cupcakes at least once a month? :)

The July ingredient was "herbs" so immediately I thought to use something refreshing and summery, and lemongrass was the first thing that came to my mind.

Lemongrass is most commonly used in Thai food, and from even more research I found that it is rarely used in making baked goods. Oh, and it’s really stringy, so after playing around with a few tries the best way to get some of the flavor of it was to boil it down in order to incorporate it into the recipe. I also added some lemon zest so that the lemon flavor would really 'pop' in the cupcake, and incorporated the rest of the lemongrass ‘juice’ that I created from the lemongrass into the icing so that the lightness of that herb would carry through.

I tend to bake a lot of vegan treats, so I am no stranger to substituting apple sauce for eggs and using earth balance or margarine for butter. And even though I am entertaining a group of non-vegans tonight, I wanted to have the sweetness of applesauce with the sourness of the lemon and lemongrass, so I did include an egg in there to fill the recipe out, but overall I think I prefer applesauce (and if you do decide to make this vegan, make sureeee you put enough baking powder in there!)

For the icing, I tend to go with a non-buttercream frosting so that it can last longer out of the fridge, and if you so choose to get crafty and decorate it will stiffen up nicely.

Lemongrass Cupcakes

1 stalk lemongrass

1 cup flour

¾ cup sugar

3 tbsp applesauce

4 tbsp butter, softened

1 lemon

1 egg

½ tsp baking powder

For the icing:

1 cup vegetable shortening

1 lb confectioner's sugar

lemon zest

Cut the stalk of lemongrass into 1-2” pieces, and boil on high for 5 minutes in 1 cup of water. Turn off heat and set aside.

1. Combine flour, sugar, applesauce, and butter in a mixing bowl
2. Remove lemongrass stalks from the water and put 2 tbsp of the ‘lemongrass juice’ into the mixture
3. add zest of ½ a small lemon, 1 egg, baking powder, and mix until smooth
4. Add food coloring if you desire (I added a few drops because I tend to be overly-festive and love foods with bright colors)
   
5. cook on 375 for 15 minutes or until the tops begin to brown

For the icing:

1. Using a mixer, blend together 1 cup of vegetable shortening and 1 lb of confectioner's sugar
2. add 3 tbsp of the lemongrass 'juice' and lemon zest to taste

I got great reviews of this cupcake at the dinner party that I catered, and think that especially for summery get-togethers or parties, lemon is the way to go. I'm so glad I found Iron Cupcake, but that's not the end of it just yet -- I need your help!

Iron Cupcake holds votes for 5 days afters the baking period ends (the 24th of every month at 12 noon). And all of the bakers are competing for a really great prize pack:

Our July ETSY PRIZE-PACK is from artists:

• A sweet cupcake ID bracelet by INSANEJELLYFISH, http://www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=5021935
• A delicious treat from CIRCLEMONKEY http://www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=5335273
  
• a sweet surprise from Sweet Cuppin' Cakes Cupcakery, http://www.acupcakery.com/
  
• PLUS, IronCupcake:Earth can not forget our good friend, CAKESPY, http://www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=5243382, who is now going to be doing a piece for our winner each month until further notice - sweet!

Last and certainly not least, don’t forget our corporate prize providers: HEAD CHEFS by FIESTA PRODUCTS, http://www.fiestaproducts.com, HELLO CUPCAKE by Karen Tack and Alan Richardson, http://blog.hellocupcakebook.com, JESSIE STEELE APRONS http://www.jessiesteele.com; TASTE OF HOME books, http://www.tasteofhome.com; a t-shirt from UPWITHCUPCAKES.COM http://www.upwithcupcakes.com/. Iron Cupcake:Earth is sponsored in part by 1-800-Flowers, http://www.1800flowers.com .

So starting then, if I may be so bold, PLEASE click on the badge below and vote for my cupcake!! Tell your friends, and if you try out the recipe let me know what you think!!





Thanks guys!!