pumpkins and gratefulness.

i'm starting to write a love song to lubbock. i'm at a 4-song point where i have unfinished songs all over my bedroom floor, or depending on the day, shoved into my suitcase. my mom goes to school in lubbock, texas, the birthplace of buddy holly, and i'm here with my sister for the holiday festivities. i made the green bean casserole again this year PLUS lemonade pie. it's been pretty great. in general, alot has happened in my life since tour. i'll keep it brief, but try to be interesting, because everyone wants to feel like their life is more interesting than it actually is, especially on the internet.

so. i've moved to chicago and am living in an apartment. it's gorgeous. it has large windows and trees outside and tall white walls and is right near the train. there's a clarinet-playing neighbor upstairs and a metal-blasting neighbor downstairs, but surprisingly the noise isn't that bad, especially compared to my mom's neighbors here in texas. i think they have four dogs that play soccer upstairs. but anyway. i've settled & am starting to love chicago in the fall and in the winter transition, even though the summer is unbeatable.

i've been working quite a few day jobs, most of which will remain unnamed but some of which involve singing, which is nice. everyone says that crappy day jobs are what influence your creativity & make it pop. i'm definitely not at that point yet, in fact i'm at the point where my day jobs cause me to be too exhausted to be creative. and furthermore, the tour was so amazing, and moving away from all those boys (& emily) was totally a downer, so i'm sure that being musically lonely has something to do with my lack of motivation. still, finding an apartment, a job, a car, a new social network - that takes about all the gumption that sometimes one person can muster, so i'm trying very very hard not to kick myself over the lack of new songs. plus i've been so busy getting my new website up & putting together the tour compilation that i feel like my music is just as much of a business as my day jobs are. anyway, now i'm just babbling.

i'm starting to host an open mic this coming week. hotti biscotti is fantastic - a small little bar that used to be a coffee shop with very cheap drinks and lots of loving regulars. the sound system is great and there's a giant sequin curtain behind the stage. what better setting?? if you play instruments or want to do an irish jig in front of some logan square folks, you should stop on by. wednesdays, 9 PM. i'm also playing at the elbo room in december - a big chicago milestone for me - and i couldn't be happier. the holiday season is suddenly feeling overwhelming and busy and full. that's something i've missed about school - having a full schedule. of course i've loved the downtime, but i get the most inspired while on the move, so a long to-do list is the best setting in which i can accomplish things.

i've finally (well, almost finally) finished putting together this compilation of the summer tour. we recorded a bunch of shows and i've been in the editing stages of the process for the last few weeks. unfortunately my protools started going crazy & now i have three songs that still haven't been bounced, and so until i figure that out the compilation remains in the balance. but it should be available by next week & all of the covers look amazing, so i'm feeling pretty accomplished.

the required thankful list for this season: good people in my life of all sorts, snuggling, warm food on cold days, airplanes, socks, fresh cut flowers, familiarity, scary newness, opera, public non-smoking laws, to-do lists & post-its, working cameras, avocado, city streets, city skylines, good books on the train, throat coat tea, the internet, music.

pretty basic, but i'm feeling ok about that.