streams in the desert

and it was definitely like that on tucson blvd today!

Laelia and i walked along 4th ave and stood waiting for lunch, and moriah and i did walk around campus to get to coffee :) - again, motivation for walking isn't there :(

but we're playing at our church's drumming circle this coming friday so we needed the extra practice

but what a lovely, rainy day!!!

oh happy day

i had my first mandolin lesson today!

it was definitely better than i expected it to be - which was so, so great! i was really nervous and afraid of being intimidated and kind of shutting down during the whole thing, but he was super nice, brilliant, and gave me tangible things to practice. Also, i felt like i could be honest about how i suck and being afraid of never being good, and we talked about it, which was a real gift.

so i am practicing my movable pentatonic scale and some cool chords - woohoo :)

yesterday

i played either my mandolin or my flute for about 4 hours...wow...

my walk consisted of walking along the rillito where there's water again (!!!!!!) while i talked to my sister on the phone. we talked about our ideas of a roadtrip this summer, and then i got stuck because the dry ground i was walking on ran out so i had to sort of boulder my way back up to the bike path - great fun :)

first post using Google's Blog widget - obviously, i've been on my computer all day from all the posts i've been making...

did you know

that you can refill prescriptions online??? i kind of feel old doing this, but in general i'm a very healthy person and rarely get sick, but now that i have allergies (thanks Tucson) i need to get allergy meds. and now i can do it online!!! :)

oh happy day

confession

i didn't walk yesterday. other days it's been close, but i've squeezed in some short walk. However yesterday after Laelia and I practiced, me and my crappy attitude did not want to walk anywhere but just sit and watch a movie.

my motivation to walk has definitely majorly decreased...

any ideas how to get it back up again?

weird day

not sure why, just was...

moriah and i had fun scampering around town, practiced with laelia, and spent about 2 hours in the folk shop today...i bet heaven will have a music store like that shop :)

then i watched away we go - what a great movie, and it's something i think about these days. i lived in the same house my whole life, and now i live in tucson. i never thought i'd end up here, but i'm so glad i did. a lot of people around me are questioning their life - do i want to be living here? do i want this job? what else could i do? what do i want in life?

and it's got me thinking i'm so grateful that i love tucson, i love my job...i am so thankful for the change of leaving indiana, but i'm so happy to be settled here.

OH MY WORD

so Laelia, Emily, and I randomly decided to see if there would be any more Chieftains tickets, and there were 8! Two groups of 3 and a few single seats, so we decided we should go. BEST DECISION EVER MADE! They played amazingly and had several guests on stage.

One was this woman, Alyth McCormack, a Scot with the most awesome voice. Look her up too - she can sing what's called tongue pushing (I think...or maybe mouth pushing). But this is an old Irish song...




They also played with these guys - Jon and Nathan Pilatzke. Jon plays the fiddle and they both step dance, and it was freaking AWESOME!!! So I had to post it to show you what we got to see :)

agriculture round the world

Cool picture of agriculture around the world. Can find on geology.com. From top down: Minnesota, Kansas, West Germany, Bolivia, Thailand, Brazil - cool huh?

sssssssllllllllleeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeepppppp

the picture in my ireland calendar looked like it did up in the mountains, and just like i hope ireland will be. i'll post it tomorrow...too tired!

today moriah and i walked around the neighborhood and tried to avoid creepy subjects. im getting ready to play a scale and go to sleep :)

oh - and exciting news, i scheduled a mandolin lesson this weekend :)

lovely rain

i am so very stoked about this wet winter we've been having. so to celebrate, i drove up to babag duoag (can't spell it) this afternoon and went hiking. i had some issues i needed to talk to God about, so that was most of the motivation, but it was gorgeous up there.

i am finally getting my voice back so i practiced some Village music and some songs for the set Laelia and I are working on...woo hoo!

lemon abbey

Laelia and I are starting to play at the Village, and so needed to come up with a band name. We went to the Auld Dubliner to check out their open mic night, sat for a while eating tater tots and me drinking beer, and tried very hard to come up with a name. After a while Laelia got the idea to look at the words around us, and after maybe an hour of going through ideas and suggestions we came up with the name Lemon Abbey. We decided we like the way it sounds with the "m" and the "bb". We both like both words phonetically, and then idea that a lemon is something tart and an abbey is something serene and spiritual, which we thought matched both of our personalities. Plus, the first two letters "L" and "A" are what both of our names start with - victory!

preview

cad iad na ifreann?

i found out The Chieftains are playing at Centennial Hall, and with the current dollar issues, I can't go! BUMMER!!! I should sit outside just so I can hear the echo of them...that's a good idea!!! Anyone care to join in the coffee/Chieftains party at the women's plaza on the 24th? :)

i hate money

i am very bad at handling it - it usually handles me
like a sumo wrestler and im the weakling, fighting in a battle i have no hope of winning...

st. practice day

Moriah, her friend Lisa, and I went down to Hotel Congress to watch the Killdares, toast to Guinness, and hang. Some intoxicated fellows tried to dance with us, but we rebuffed them and kept enjoying ourselves. I'm going to count standing fro 8 am - 4 pm, and then from 8 pm - 11 pm as my walk for the day because 1 - well that's a dang long time; and 2 - we walked around downtown to get from the car to Congress.

I'm going to play a scale on my guitar and fall asleep..

the voice is almost gone

so my patience was gone today as I was so frustrated not being able to talk. and now im grading tests and i'm EXHAUSTED already :( but the roomie came with me to school today - so, so fun!

moriah and i went for a walk a little bit ago and it was super pretty outside. we talked about the possibility of getting hit by a car and how long it would take to get certain places in the solar system given our current technology :)

i need to practice mando, but give the voice, i may just play my flute...

craziness

this week has been nuts. many a people in life are feeling confused, stressed out, sick and a little lost in life...i don't like it when life feels this way...

i went to go on my walk and i got into a conversation with my neighbor and she told me her cat died, among other things. i felt like God wanted me to stay there and talk with them, giving them my time and heart versus just trying to keep going on my walk and blow them off...so i walked to their house and then back to mine.

im about to play some guitar and head to bed :) oh ya, early!

i was in the paper - weird

So Laelia and I walked into the Dubliner tonight, and the guy who runs the Open Mic night at the Sky Bar also runs the open mic night at the Auld Dubliner. Kind of unexpected, but the first thing he says to me is, "You're famous!", to which I reply, "Huh???" There was a reporter from the Wildcat at the Sky Bar when I was playing, and they used a picture of me to talk about the Sky Bar...very, very weird!!!! Of all those years going to UofA and now I'm in the Wildcat. :) So while I'm semi-embarrassed, it's still kinda fun and so I thought I'd post it.
Arizona Daily Wildcat - Sky Bar boldly goes beyond the norm

otro dia

Laelia and I practiced some songs over at the Seneca House. We worked more on vocals, which really helped shaped things up, but is not entirely convenient as I'm losing my voice! :( Major bummer! Pray that I can get my voice back and keep playing....

Walked around UofA, bought another VGA adapter, and enjoyed/missed feeling like a college student again.

quicky

took care of the garden cuz i was EXHAUSTED today, then i just played some katie herzig and joe purdy on guitar

thanks for the night

I went for a walk around the neighborhood after church. I was feeling very discouraged and down while at church, not sure why, but the walk helped connect me with Jesus and calm me down.

I listened to the music of my past - country - and just stared at the stars as I walked. I am very grateful for how Jesus meets me with being outside. It's the main reason I started studying astronomy and why I teach it now.

I am now about to attempt to play Nickel Creek's "Jealous of the Moon" on my mandolin :)

i don't like playing in public

in informal settings. i don't know why, but playing in an arranged public setting is much less nerve wracking...not like i have tons of experience there either though...

so Moriah and I wanted to go outside, wanted to play, and didn't have tons of time.

Our solution ended up being our playing our tiny stringed instruments (mando and uke) at himmel park. very weird and scary at first but ended up being very fun :)

yesterday and today

Yesterday: i went for a very short walk and played my mandolin for a dang long time :) learned the shankill butchers - woohoo! and bought a new, fancy capo for my mandolin

Today: went and had lunch with kelsea on university - so fun! walked around campus, went to the Center for Creative Photography. Moriah and I are going to play later

i got a valentine's day cupcake from my students :)

notice one of the hearts says "Text Me"...so funny...

field below

today was a very good day - which was surprising. this week started with me praying "Jesus, can I enjoy this week? I'm so not looking forward to going to work, and I'd like to." i'm very grateful he's done that. it's been a good week...and tomorrow they have a test so it should be chill :)

Coleen and i took Bella for a walk this evening, then drank some beer, cooked some japanese-ish food, and kicked it. it was very fun and just a great end to the day.

then i came home and i was listening to this song and really enjoyed watching Regina play it. She is SUCH a passionate musician, and so fun to watch. enjoy yourself:




plus, i REALLY want to go to ireland and the song touches on that...part of that deals with the longing just to go there, but part of it hits on that i want to travel with someone i love, but there is no such person so it's rather ache-y - oh Regina Spektor is so great!

I wish I'd see a field below
i wish I'd hear a rooster crow
But there are none who live downtown
And so the day starts out so slow
Again the sun was never called
And darkness spreads over the snow
Like ancient bruises
I'm awake and feel the ache
But I wish I'd see a field below
I wish I'd see a field below

I wish I'd see your face below
I wish I'd hear you whispering low
But you don't live downtown no more
And everything must come and go

Again the sun was never called
And darkness spreads over the snow
Like ancient bruises
I'm awake and feel the ache
I'm awake and feel the ache
But I wish I'd see a field below
But I wish I'd see a field below
I'm awake and feel the ache
But I wish I'd see a field below
I'm awake and feel the ache
But I wish I'd see a field below
I wish I'd see a field below
I wish I'd see a field below

slow day

i loved the rain but my self slowed down with it...

so i only walked to the mailbox because i didn't want to walk in the cold rain.

im about to practice landslide on guitar

OCMS

Hello blog-land!

Today I stopped by the Botanical Gardens on my way home from work for my walk. The violets smelled really sweet, and it seems like my roses are right on track with theirs - victory!

Then I worked on playing the song below. They're such a great band, which makes it sound not quite so fabulous when you play it with just one person on a mandolin. I practiced some other stuff, but I ran into a wall of discouragement with music tonight where things were just not sounding great. That happens sometimes, but it's been a while for me, so hopefully it was just a fluke :(

i love this movie

my brother and i love watching this movie because walter matthau reminds us so much of our grandpa :) and it's SO FUNNY! i'm watching it now so i thought i'd post one of my favorite scenes...

4 of my fav musicians

playing a song by someone who I've been listening to a lot lately...

lovely river

i walked down to the river this afternoon. it was much more chilly than i thought, and felt like fall in the midwest, which i love.

the river still had water in it and was absolutely beautiful. the sun shimmered off the currents, and it was so restful to stand there and just chill with God.

haven't played music yet, but am gonna play some Swell Season.

today

still struggling to get back into the groove without the computer of walking and playing - and still a little annoyed that my lack of computer set me so off, but oh well...

today: a few of us needed a walk after church today so we went for a mini-stroll around the neighborhood. As far as playing, i just worked out a little guitar riff that i'm excited about :) maybe it will grow up to become a song...

random

random, random evening last night.

i really wanted to go listen to bluegrass at frog&firkin, but alas, people were busy so i thought I'd try to better my own bluegrass skills - so i used my tuner to find all the C's and E's on my mandolin. Not sure why those letters, but that was it. then i thought, "will this really be useful, notes isolated?" so I stopped.

as far as a walk, I took care of the plants in the backyard and watered everything, but i guess i should have looked at the weather and just let the rain today take care of it...oh well!

if it were only true

i found these old ads and they're awesome! and just very happy in general...

they're very me so i thought i'd post one - but i'd to add the disclaimer that while i greatly enjoy guinness, i take them seriously and drink responsibly :)

i love caffe luce

i was standing outside luce talking to my grandma on the phone, because i refuse to be the annoying person who talks on the phone inside, and after maybe 5-10 minutes Gretchen brings me my usual 16oz vanilla soy latte :) How nice!!! and then doesn't charge me...i feel so loved! I so greatly enjoy feeling at home places, and this is definitely one of the places i feel at home :)

while i have the flu

i'm going to count walking in and out of fry's to get saltines and mt. dew as my walk (i forget when you're sick how dang exhausting the simple things are), and will try to play later...

back in the saddle

I walked around the neighborhood, as it was such a lovely day, and talked to God.

My voice is sounding pretty hoarse today, so I just worked out Brandi's That Year - a song that I have in my head a lot...

Open Mic Night

Last night Laelia and I played at the open mic night at the Sky Bar on 4th Ave. The photo above is from there. I've heard God tell me that I need to play at an open mic night for a few years now, and I never had the gumption. Laelia had noticed that the Sky Bar had an open mic night on Wed, so we had been playing a few songs together and did it! We had prayed before we left to enjoy ourselves and just have fun, and God was kind enough to answer our prayers - it was a blast and I didn't utterly freak out and freeze. Thanks for the support and encouragement everyone!

new computer :)

I have to give a shout out to Papa Trinkley for helping me get a new computer. It is here, and I'm back blogging again. Honestly, my motivation to walk and play has slipped in its absence, so I'm glad it's back.

more to come tomorrow...hope all is well with you all