Crashing California

I think I've invented a new word -- myselfish. I thought of it this morning as I was sort of digesting a conversation that Jay and I had on our way to works. We were talking about life situations, how he's been a bit frustrated the last day about some situations, in particular, certain individuals who he meets at work who are focusing their attentions on "making their careers" in music, and not just music (which, by any standards, is a hard enough place to break into) but music in church. Now don't get me wrong, there is NOTHING wrong with doing this I suppose. But the catch is, your very heart needs, NEEDS to be in the right place. You cannot be doing it for money, you can't be doing it for musical gain and you can't be doing it because you want people to notice you. And keep in mind I say all these things now as someone who is receiving money from our church to keep the music going every Sunday. It's kind of a dicey road to be on. I think we need ...

(first is a shot of the designed bags in illustrator, this is the file I sent to the production co.) So, for those who may wonder what the heck I do all day (sometimes I wonder that too) here is a sneak peak at some lunch tote designs I completed for our Product Innovation Dept. These will be a lunch bag prob. coming out now in Fall (so we're already tweaking the color) but the designs on the bags are from moi! The first samples just came in this afternoon from our Manufacturer =) So weird to see something in real life that I've only seen on my computer screen =) Till next Blog ~ love a. and THESE are the first samples ... so cute!!! They're like my little graphic babies =)

There is a movie, an independant film from 2006 called "Once" which was a small, low budget movie about two musicians in Dublin, poor but finding some small fulfillment in making music together. The movie ended up winning an Oscar for the song featured (and written) in the film called "Falling Slowly", and during the acceptance speech, the star of the film (and songwriter) who was awash with gratitude and joy exclaimed into the mic "Make Art, just make Art". Even being years ago now, his words inspire me, because I feel like that's what Jay and I are doing right now with our music. Making Art It occurred to me as I was thinking of the album and starting to think of doing vocals, listening to Jay playing, recording and editing all our guitar parts, through this whole process, making and bringing to some sort of completion the gift we've been given, that there is another aspect of this album that I almost forgot about. Which is amusing because it...