On Wednesday night I played a solo show at Trash Bar in Williamsburg Brooklyn. My set went well. It was originally going to be a songwriters night, but I was booked between two bands that probably would have been better for Bugs in the Dark to play with. It was a cool challenge, and I had fun regardless. The bands were great - Insouciant and Quiet Loudly. The promoter, DJ Mojo, is super cool and I got a chance to hang with him before the show.

I've been recording like crazy and somehow I feel like I'm barely making a dent in the amount of work I have ahead of me. It feels so good to know that I'm working so hard at what I love. After work I come home and start recording. On the weekends, I wake up, eat and then start recording. It's an exciting and creative time for me. I wish I had more time to put into the recordings though.

The way I'm working with mt (my producer) is that I demo songs at home until I know what artistic direction I want to take them. I send him the demo and then we record it in the studio with fantastic microphones and various other wonderful pieces of equipment. Then he might send it back to me for me to add things on at home, or we might have it on hold for a drummer to add some parts. So far, nothing is finished. A few songs are close. I think we have 6 songs started. I can't wait to have 12 songs finished!

I had a wonderful session in the studio with mt this Sunday. We worked on an old tune of mine, Miss Stone. We did lots of lush acoustic guitar layers. There's a lot more work to be done on that track, but I'm very excited about the direction it's headed in.

Last night I had a rehearsal for the 4 songs that we're recording with a band. It's just 3 of us - mt on bass, Ian on drums and me on guitar. There's a great vibe happening and I hope we can fit a couple more in before we go into the studio.

After a lot of computer time, I think I finally have pro-tools up and running. I'm so excited to start recording at home again. The only bummer is that I'm going to Nashville tomorrow, so I can't really use the studio until I'm back in town next week.

I got a fantastic b-day gift this weekend. It's the BOSS portable recording studio. It's basically a tiny digital four track. It's really cool and I'm taking it with me to Nashville. I need to be recording as much as possible right now, so this tool will let me do it no matter where I am.

Elvis Presley's "Love Me" gets me every time. Oh to be a 16 year old girl in the front row in 1956.

Blue Hill was delicious last night. And the CA Cabernet was spicy and wonderful.

I couldn't sleep last night. At 4:30 I gave up and took a shower and eventually fell asleep on the couch.

I had acupuncture done today. The most intense moment was when she put needles in the arches of my feet. While I was laying in the dark with the needles in, I remembered a silly song I wrote years ago about bees. By the end of the session, I had figured out all of the lyrics again, so I'm going to play it tonight.

Tomorrow the new computer arrives and I can get back on track with my home demos to prepare for the studio.

Today I fell in love with Patsy Cline.

There was a package by my desk today when I came into work. It was a birthday present from my parents. My birthday isn't until Saturday, but I opened it right away regardless.
It was two fantastic kitchen knives, two knife sharpeners and a set of 3 steel mixing bowls. Such a wonderful gift.

Tonight my co-workers are taking me out for dinner to celebrate my upcoming birthday. We're going to Blue Hill, which I'm very excited about because it's supposed to be fantastic and mostly use local and seasonal ingredients.