Tag Archives: friends

And we gigged

I had so much fun a couple weeks ago gigging at the Red Line Tap with my friend Carrie, songwriter and singer extraordinaire.

The night of the performance, we were able to practice a little after the evening service at our church, so I snapped a few pictures of the practice knowing that the lighting at the bar probably wouldn’t be ideal for gorgeous shots.

Eric, Carrie’s husband, was on the keys. He’s so stinkin’ good. They’d just better accept him into the Composition PhD program he’s applying for . . . or else.

Carrie sang her soulful rendition of ‘Black Coffee.’ That song hits the spot every time I hear it.

Petras drummed with soul.

I love capturing shots of artists doing their craft.

My husband manned the camera and snagged a shot of me as well. I was trying to control the nervous flutters in my chest and keep my vocal chords from twanging.

Sometimes they like to twang, or wimp out, or seize up, and the only solution is to run from the stage in terror. Or whisper out notes like a dying woman and hope that an alien from the future will swing by to erase the memories of everyone in the audience. You never heard me sing that horrid note. You never hear me squeak when I was supposed to belt. And you definitely didn’t hear me take about 50 breaths in between every syllable of that song.

Once we got to the actual location though, all my nerves disappeared.

The band sounded great, and thanks to the solid ability and artistry of my friends, I was carried away to a place where nerves could no longer reach me.

Great job on that thingamaging, Eric.

The gig was late on a Sunday night, so there was only a handful of people scattered around the tiny bar. One of them was Cassia, my talented friend who I handed my camera off to. Thanks Cassia. Yeah, she’s the one who hosted that wicked awesome wine tasting party a while back.

It was small and cozy. That may have assisted with my lack of nerves. Plus the fact that stage lights are quite blinding. I heartily approve of that design–it enables me to forget there’s anyone watching at all.

And don’t try to tell me that it helps to imagine a naked audience. I’ve never understood how that could help anyone, anywhere, at any time.

If you want to check out a small chunk of our performance, here’s a youtube video of Winter’s Ashes, one of Carrie’s newest songs. Before you click, know that I’m biting my lip to stop a barrage of disclaimers . . . please remember the sound quality on the video isn’t great . . . please avert your eyes as I sway from side to side and look slightly like a doofus . . . please believe that we REALLY SOUNDED SO MUCH BETTER IN REAL LIFE, FOR REALZ, FOR REALZ . . . But it will at least give you a taste. Plus during the last section you get to see Eric and Petras go to town on their instruments–it’s my favorite part.

For ‘clean’ recordings of Carrie’s songs and wonderful voice, you can also go to her website and knock yourself out.

If you like what you see/hear and you happen to be in the area, come join us at Uncommon Ground here in Chicago, Sunday January 2nd at 9pm, for another beautiful set.

My husband, Carrier of Musical Equipment, Buyer of Sandwiches for the famished band, and Supporter of Everything and Anything related to me and my endeavors, says it’s not to be missed. Or rather, he gave it the thumbs up since his mouth was full of granola bar at the moment. But if his mouth hadn’t been full, he totally would have said it’s not to be missed.

Scrapbooking season is upon us

It’s that time of year when it’s no longer just cool or chilly outside, but plain old friggin’ cold. I love the continuous desire to drink hot cups of delicious concoctions (cider, coffee, hot chocolate, hot toddies) . . . but there’s also a component of letdown: it’s now officially too cold to take walks along the lakeshore–the wind gives me an earache and my nose starts to detach itself from my face. It’s dark by the time I get home from work. I have no idea what to wear since I have temporarily forgotten how to layer my clothing.

Sometimes you need a little positive thinking to get through these dark evenings: this is why I like to scrapbook as the fall turns into winter. In fact, isn’t today the first official day of winter? Or something?

Please note the bewildered expression on my husband’s face: What has happened to our living room??? Should I make a run for it?

In this digital age, a lot of people use the internet to post their pictures. I have joined the ranks—I love posting pictures on my blog and on facebook. I love being able to look at other peoples’ pictures and follow things like the growth of their children from a State or sometimes a continent away with a simple click of the mouse. However, I also find incredible pleasure in having a book that I can pull off the shelf to look at many of these same pictures. I love making it, and I love having it available for the family to flip through when they’re visiting. Plus, it’s fun to look at the photo albums on a couch piled high with family members—you just don’t get that same cozy feeling from a computer screen.

Once a year, when September rolls around, I look through my gazillion pictures from the previous 12 months and pick which ones I want to print. This year, I uploaded my selections to walmart.com, and about a week later they were delivered to my door.

Then about a month went by. Don’t ask me what happened during that month, because all of a sudden October seems like a big blank.

I know I scrapbooked twice in November, and then got hit by the Thanksgiving truck and haven’t yet recovered. I still have a lot of scrapbooking ground to cover, but that will give me something to do in January and February to avoid the post-holiday blues.

Some scrapbookers like to buy stickers, fun backgrounds, ribbons, stamps, and the like. I applaud these people—they create beautiful scrapbooks! But it can cost a lot of money when you add it all up—a couple bucks for each sheet of stickers, a couple more bucks for some pretty background paper, etc. My solution is simple: I like to use all the paraphenalia I’ve saved through the year such as menus, fortunes from cookies, programs, tickets, brochures, thank you notes, invitations and the like, to decorate my pages. It’s cheaper, it gives you a place to store that wedding invitation you just can’t bear to throw away, and ultimately it creates a very meaningful album.

On this page I used a cut-up Christmas card with little squares representing the 12 days of Christmas.

Once the prints arrive, I bring out all the above-mentioned paraphernalia and begin the master sorting: it’s time to put everything (pictures and paraphenalia) in chronological order. I like to do a pile for each month. This is a big task—but a fun one! I forcibly involved my husband because he’s the only one who can remember when the heck things happened.

Once everything is chronologically organized into neat piles, I get my tools:

  1. 12×12’’ Memory book pages
  2. Scissors
  3. Paper cutter (after years of pasting in crooked pictures that I had hand-cut, it was time)

4. Two-sided stickers such as these:

5. Colored construction paper and a sharpie marker for writing explanations/captions

Now it’s time for the creative part—assembling the pictures and stuff into pages! I love adding funny explanations, cutting pictures up to fit a sequence in together, color-coordinating everything, and even adding a Santa Hat to a hideous picture of Erica:

In case Erica isn’t pleased with this image of her, here is a link to a series of pictures more reflective of her beauty.

I recommend using a space that you don’t have to pick up at the end of the evening. It can take a while to put everything away while conserving the chronology, and for me, taking everything back out can seem so unappealing that I will procrastinate. So set yourself up—if possible—in a space that you can take over for a week or two, or however long it takes you. It saves a lot of time!

And that’s why my project is still dragging on. Because the two times I scrapbooked in November, I picked up after myself. Bad Jenna! I should know myself well enough by now to say that starting is always the hardest. Unless I’ve already started, in which case stopping is the hardest.

I also conned my friend Carrie into working on her scrapbook, which chronicles her trip to Ireland with her husband over the summer. Nothing like having a friend over to get your butt in gear.

As winter is upon us, this activity helps me look back thoughtfully on the previous year: what I’ve done, the friends I’ve spent time with, and all the fun things that I would have forgotten had they not been recorded. For me, it’s a time of thankfulness to God for all the blessings of the year, and a time to reflect on what’s truly important: loving and being with people!

Carrie, when can you come over to get my butt in gear again?