Monthly Archives: April 2012

Thornfield CD on the way!

Hi guys!

So you may have noticed that it’s been a looooong time since I’ve talked about anything music or Thornfield related. In fact, probably a good number of you are like Thornwhaaaat??

Well, to catch some of you up, Thornfield is the band I’m in with my friends Eric and Carrie. Here are Eric and Carrie, 2 of my most favorite people in Chi-town.

Our style is folksy/singer-songwriter, a little jazzy, a little bluesy, a little showsy . . . well, I guess it’s a bit of a mish-mash. But a mish-mash that I absolutely LOVE. And who needs labels anyway? We make music that comes from our hearts. End of story.

Anyway, the last time we played a gig was in December at Kevin and Katina’s wedding.

It was lots of fun . . . which reminds me that I never shared the rest of the pics from Kevin and Katina’s wedding! Whoops.

Then Christmas and New Years happened, and, well . . . I guess we’ve been taking it easy and recovering from our musically busy fall and holiday season. But behind the scenes, we’ve been getting ready for our first recording experience.

With certain life changes happening at the end of the summer, we wanted to lay down some tracks and get our music recorded for posterity. Then, we’ll count on this album to keep the memory of Thornfield alive until we can come back together again and make (and record) more music.

So just to be clear–Thornfield is in no way, shape or form dissolving–it’s just a hitting a rather large pause button come this fall. At least let me believe that.

And I do. I do believe.

Anyway, our first mission was to decide if we were going to wing the recording experience with random equipment and the help of friends, or actually pay for studio time. We decided on the latter option after much thought. The next leg involved finding a studio. After nixing the expensive options, we found a little place called Handwritten Recording. And what do you know–it’s right here on Belmont Avenue, and I pass it every single day on my way to work. And the crazy thing? I’ve never noticed it. I wonder how I would have felt if, 2 1/2 years ago when I started my job, someone had said “Hey, look at that little recording studio at Belmont and Southport, kind of hidden behind that one tree. Well in a couple years you’ll actually be in a band, you’ll have written a bunch of songs, and you guys will be recording your first album.”

I think my mind would have been blown.

We met with the owner of the studio (also the engineer), Rick. We loved his enthusiasm and openness. We also loved his price. We asked a crapload of questions. And then we signed ourselves up! Our first session in the studio will be this Saturday from 1-6pm. In that nice little 5 hour chunk we hope to lay down a ton of basic tracks.

Of course, this should go pretty quickly since we don’t plan on making any mistakes.

Yup.

(snork snork)

Our friends Petras, Jon, and Graham will be joining us to lay down tracks for drums, bass, cello and harmonica (Graham is a genius harmonica player–wait til’ you hear him go!). We’re so excited, and we couldn’t do this album without their generous help. Especially without drums, it would just be a puny mess (no offense meant to our own wonderful music, in which I have full confidence–we just need that rhythm, baby).

Of course, when our album makes it big and sells 1 million copies, we’ll make sure to give each of these guys a nice sized check to properly thank them for their contributions. Uh-huh. I’m counting on you, people! In fact, let’s make it 2 million in sales while we’re at it.

These pictures are from our big rehearsal the other weekend, which Petras recorded for the benefit of the different participating musicians. It was a blast. It was extremely hard work. It was uber fun. It was exhausting and draining and we needed tons of Brie and crackers and clementines and such to keep ourselves going.

I’ll make sure to take pictures and tell you the full story of our album-recording experience–and please send some prayers upwards on behalf of our little group if it happens to strike you between 1 and 6 this Saturday! We’ll use all the divine intervention we can get.

14 Weeks

Two days ago saw the end of week 14, and I’m going to attempt to write regular weekly updates–with pictures! Pregnancy updates are something I enjoy reading so much on other blogs (and I’ve learned so much from those real-life stories!) that I want to pull a page out of their books (like Lindsy’s fabulous blog–you should totally check it out).

How far along: Week 14 completed on 4/10/12

Weight gain: ?? No scale at home . . . but my next appointment with the midwife group is April 27th, so I’ll share then.

I can’t wait to put on a few pounds–I know that sounds weird, but seriously . . .

Clothes: I’m still wearing normal clothes, but I can’t stand any pressure on my stomach area. Can’t stand it. And by that I mean keent steeeenit (anyone seen “Singing in the Rain”?). So goodbye belts and cinched waists! I’ve never loved my loose tops more than I do now. Technically I could still wear snug tops, but when I do, I feel like I have to hold my stomach in since after I eat a meal–or even just a snack–I look inflated but not necessarily pregnant. Kind of an awkward stage. I’m still sporting my regular skinny jeans and cords, but not my 3 pairs of skinny-skinny pants if you know what I mean (yes, those are two different categories). They are banished from my sight. Banished, banished, banished. I’m holding out for Rummage to find some maternity jeans–I remember loving my sister Heidi’s pair from Target (even on my then not-pregnant body), so I’m pretty excited about finding a flattering pair with a nice soft waistband. And by the way, if you don’t know what Rummage is, you can read about it here, here, and here. It’s going down the week of May 7th, and it’s the sale of the century.

Purchases: Nothing since those adorable 3 baby things from Salvation Army. But Rummage, oh Rummage, I know you will be a treasure trove.

Body: Everything was feeling pretty good there for a couple weeks (#12 and #13), with sickness mostly gone and bloating becoming not as much of an issue (though still present). I thought I had said my final adios to nausea . . . until I got a surprise fatigue + sickness-attack last Wednesday. It was bad, folks. I got home from work around 5:30, collapsed on the couch, and slept for over an hour. My husband heated up some leftover Pad Thai for himself, and the smell was so hideous to mine heightened sensibilities that I ran around the house opening windows, lighting candles, plugging in an Airwick scent thingy, and even lighting an incense stick. Then I sat in a chair feeling pretty deathly, and my husband announced he wanted to clean out and organize our front closet. For some reason, this sent me into an avalanche of tears, and I cried for about an hour. Then I spent some more time on the couch. Finally, I roused myself around 8:30 to play a round of Bananagrams with my poor, neglected husband. However, halfway through the round I felt the bile rise, said “Oh s***!” (sorry, Mom), ran to the toilet, and spent 10 minutes dry-heaving into the toilet.

Aren’t you glad you’re hearing all the gory details?

Don’t answer that question. You might make me cry.

Suffice it to say I had no desire for any food the entire evening, though I worried down a cereal bar right before bed because I didn’t want to starve out that lil’ baby. That was the worst sickness yet, and I was caught totally off guard by it. I hope it goes away forever–and don’t you come back no mooore no moooore no mooore, no mooore!

Sleep: Going strong! My husband has been reading me Sherlock Holmes stories at bedtime, and I’m usually out after about 2 pages. Of course, when he finishes the story and gently asks “Jenna, are you still awake?”, I wake up again and then he has to fill me in on everything that I missed. Which is basically the whole story. So technically I’m not enjoying Sherlock, but my husband’s excellent recaps. Thanks, baby.

Best moment(s) of the week: Communing with my baby during yoga–it was awesome.

Movement: None yet, but I’m looking forward to it.

Food cravings/aversions: Fried eggs, Thai noodles, and popcorn are still pretty much off the docket, though they used to be top-of-the-list favorites with me. Sigh. Food is still trickier than ever before. I’ve never been a picky eater. I have trouble even thinking of one thing I don’t like to eat point blank. Let’s see . . . umm . . . okay, raw shrimp! I had raw shrimp at a sushi place once and gagged. But I really love variety in my diet, both ingredient-wise and cuisine-wise. So it’s wild that I don’t want to eat just anything these days. For example, the other night (not Sick Night Maximus–a different one) nothing seemed to appeal to me. I knew I should eat because hey, having dinner is generally a good idea, but . . . ugh! After listing all my options about 5 times out loud–yoghurt? mac and cheese from a box? a cereal bar? a potato? rice? a carrot? rice and a carrot?–(sorry, husband-o-mine), I finally decided that I felt like a boiled red potato slathered with butter and a strawberry banana smoothie. I nixed the potato (too much trouble) and just went with the smoothie (yep, this one–so thick and perfect!).

Symptoms: Still some bloating any time I eat (blech), a feeling that I pretty much loathe. But it’s really lessened recently, and I’m hoping the sickness goes far, far, far, far, far, far, far, far, far, . . . you get the idea.

Emotions: They’re there. And they’re strong. Who bursts into tears when their husband offers to clean? I make no sense, even to myself.

Hopes and dreams: I’m so excited about my maternity leave this fall. I have visions of napping with the baby while a stew simmers on the stove or a chicken roasts in the oven. This is, of course, assuming that my appetite returns, which at the moment feels impossible. Unlikely. A pipe dream, really.

What I miss: Always feeling great no matter what I ate, and never giving even a thought to my digestion. My stomach worked so admirably for so long that I was never even that aware of it. Now it’s much more iffy. My stomach seems bent on proclaiming “here I am, and I am NOT altogether that pleased with you!” Little punk. I’ll have to start getting tough or something.

(are you frightened by my ‘let’s get tough’ look?)

(yeah . . . maybe it needs a little work)

What I’m looking forward to: Having a little belly! Having this whole “chest” thing I’ve been hearing about for so many years! And seeing what kind of hair our baby has. Do you remember my husband’s afro-like mop from our college days? I keep wondering if our baby will inherit that wiry, voluminous head of hair. And it gives me fuzzy feelings inside.

Husband update: I’m hoping to do a little interview soon and get the man’s perspective on the 1st trimester. But until I actually take 15 minutes to come up with questions, interrogate him thoroughly and type up all of his fascinating answers, I should share that he is still a very willing photographer. He just learned the trick of bracing his arm on a wall or chair to avoid camera shake and the resulting blur. BUT I happen to love this blurry shot that somehow happened in the midst of the snapping!

And by the way–what kind of things do you think I should ask him during the little interview? Any brilliant ideas, or burning questions that you may have?

In the meantime, here’s to no sickness in week 15!