Happy Easter!

Well, I had intended to wow you with some fancy photographs of the festive hot cross buns I got up at 5:30 this morning to make. Unfortunately I scorched the little beauties, and while they were still edible (after we sliced off the crispy, black bottoms), they were hardly photogenic. The tops were quite delicious, and I'm going to definitely try the recipe again, at a lower temperature. Knowing that my oven tends to run on the hot side, I should have automatically done this, but ah well. I'm no stranger to domestic catastrophes. So, we have a gratuitous cute kid with Easter eggs picture instead.

We had a family lunch over at my parents' house this afternoon, followed by a big Easter egg hunt. Or, more accurately, several mini-Easter egg hunts. Kate was quite the enthusiastic egg hunter, and I'm pretty sure I'm going to be bombarded with requests to "find eggs" for the next few weeks.

Even though my poor hot cross buns didn't pass muster, I did much better with Kate's Easter basket. It was so much fun to put together, so I thought I would share what we included:

The Story of the Root Children: This is a charming, nature focused story about the coming of spring and the changing of the seasons. Gorgeous, whimsical illustrations.

Emily and Daisy: This is a lovely story about a little English farm girl. When my dad saw this book, the first thing he did, in all seriousness, was give Kate a lecture about how she was NEVER to pull our cows tails like the little girl on the cover of the book. :)

The Country Bunny and the Little Gold Shoes: This is a sweet story, and in my opinion, will appeal to grown-ups as much as children. Again, such pretty, colorful illustrations.

Stockmar Crayons: I debated long and hard over whether or not I was willing to spend $12.99 on a box of crayons (you'll note that they're actually $18.95 on Amazon; I found them cheaper at our local food co-op.) But, I'm glad I did. Kate was fascinated with the color blocks (and the cute tin they came in), and when we tried them out, they really do have a simultaneous vibrancy and transparency that Crayola can't quite compete with. Assuming we don't lose them within the week, I'll consider them a good investment.

Jewel's Lullaby CD: Arguably this was as much for me as Kate, but I expect we'll both enjoy it. Jewel's voice is beautiful to the point of being surreal, and is especially well suited for the dreaminess of these beautiful lullabys. You definitely don't have to have kids to enjoy this album.

You may notice an absence of candy, but lest you give me credit for being a more health conscious mother than I deserve, I should point out that I knew perfectly well that she would also be getting Easter baskets from grandparents, aunts and uncles laden with Cadbury eggs, Jelly Beans, and chocolate bunnies galore. Deprived she is not.

*You'll note that I've linked to Amazon, but that is just as a matter of convenience. I'm not an affiliate, and in fact, would always recommend searching your local independent bookstore if possible!

Social Media Housecleaning

Happy Monday! Late Monday at this point, but nonetheless. Another rainy day here, although the rest of the week promises to be pretty and springlike. I hope the meteorologists keep their word, because I'm tired of staying indoors!

The good thing about the unceasing rain the past day or so is that it's enabled me to get a lot of computer work done. I've spent much of the past weekend getting my social media ducks in a row, so to speak. I've been feeling a bit schizophrenic lately because of the multiple identies I have floating around in this world wide web, so I wanted to take the opportunity to clean up and consolidate. My old blog was created under my maiden name, so I've changed that. Mark and I will celebrate our three year anniversary in May, so I guess it's about time.

We also made the big decision over the weekend to approach our music, and particularly our music marketing, from a duo perspective. We've been doing this in "real life" for awhile now, so we thought it was probably time to transfer it to the web as well. We have a new website that we're really excited about, as well as all the other usual suspects: twitter, facebook, reverbnation, and yes, even though I didn't really want to, we have a very basic myspace page. Myspace drives me batty, and I really don't see the point, but as musicians I suppose we should at least have a presence there, however begrudgingly.

Even though there will inevitably be some crossover, this blog really isn't directly related to our music. This is just my way to keep track of interesting books, movies, albums, recipes, photography, and whatever else happens to catch my fancy. And also my way to interact with the vibrant, dynamic community of bloggers out there. So many amazing, inspiring folks!

So, I suppose now that my virtual spring cleaning is done, I'll have to tackle those pesky real world cobwebs lurking in the corners of my house now. Funny how you don't even seen them in the dark days of winter, and then one beam of sunshine, and oh dear, it looks like a haunted house!

A Book for A Rainy Day

Oh dear. What a weekend of ups and downs! Bad news first. Two pretty major unforseen technological problems: Thursday night my laptop crashed and died and then on Friday, when he was ready to leave the office, Mark's car wouldn't start. So in addition to quite a bit of inconvenience this week, we also now we have some pretty hefty repair bills to look forward to. Oh well. I suppose, in the grand scheme of things, if a problem can be easily fixed with money, then it's probably not such a serious problem after all. We're all healthy and happy, so we'll just be thankful for that. :)

Plus, there were some very good things about this weekend too. For one thing, Saturday heralded in the official arrival of spring, and what an absolutely gorgeous day! Bright sunshine, gentle breezes, dandelions and daffodils peeking up to say hello. Just perfect. And even though I didn't get to go to the Asheville Artisan Bread Festival, as originally planned, what with the car fiasco and all, I did get in some quality front porch time. We had our first "wing ding" of the year Saturday night. We invited my parents, grandmother, and sister and brother-in-law over for grilled chipotle glazed chicken wings and (this is the best part) the first batch of homemade ice cream of the year! The ice cream machine hasn't been out of the shed since the maple ice cream extravaganza of October, so it was pretty exciting. We made strawberry, with some of the last frozen strawberries from last year, and each bite tasted like spring!

The weather turned on Sunday, gray and gloomy again, and there are rumors floating around again about snow in the higher elevations, but I'm choosing to ignore them. It's overcast and chilly today too, and what with Mark having to take my car to work, we're sort of stuck at home. But fortunately, I'm completely engrossed in the book I'm reading right now: Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell. At first I was intimidated by the size of this book. There was a time when big, hefty books were the norm in my world, but ever since Kate was born, my novel reading has taken a back seat. But this book is simply fantastic! If Tolkien and Jane Austen had teamed up to write a book, the result might have been something like this: full of magic and fantasy, but also charged with wry humor and social comedy. I stayed up way past my bedtime last night, reading "just one more chapter" until I could barely keep my eyes open, and reluctantly went to bed.

Catnaps and Studio Plans

This is what Friday afternoon looks like around these parts. Those two are the best of friends. Hope everyone is gearing up for a nice weekend. We've had an entire week of spring-esque weather, and I'm practically giddy from it. This afternoon turned a bit rainy, forcing us back indoors, but at least it's not snow.

We're staying cabin bound this weekend, but we have big plans. Miss Katie Mae is spending the entire weekend with the grandparents, and Mark and I are locking ourselves into the home studio to finish up some recording projects that have been lingering around for awhile. Because our little cabin is, well, little, we don't have a separate room to keep a studio set up permanently. That means every time we want to record, we have to set up mics and such all over the house, and that gets a bit dicy with a two year old running rampant.

So, we've set aside an entire kid free weekend where we can leave everything set up and pretty much plow through as needed. We have two new songs on the board, and a third waiting in the wings if we get really ambitious.

I'm determined to improve my production chops this weekend. Usually I've just let Mark handle all the computer and equipment stuff, and merely pushed buttons or whatnot, but this weekend I'm breaking out a pen and notebook and what I'm sure will be a slew of annoying questions. But, I am determined to learn. It would really speed up production if I had more than a mere working knowledge of the process. Besides, I'm really shooting for a co-producer credit, rather than production assistant. :) Baby steps.

Wish us luck! I'm almost nervous about it, even though essentially, we're just spending a weekend at home, but the stakes are high and the red light's coming on.

I'll leave you with a few of my favorite links from this week:

This poster pretty much sums up my life philosophy.

I can't wait to make this cake for St. Patrick's day next week.

When I look through my bank statement and realize that the grocery store somehow ends up with most of my money, this great article from Martha Stewart hits home: 12 Ways to Prevent Food Waste

Lilith Fair lineup looks AWESOME! Emmylou Harris, Loretta Lynn, Heart, Sheryl Crow! And so many others! Mark and I are just trying to figure out which concert to go to: probably Raleigh, Charlotte, or Nashville.

And don't forget we spring forward this week folks. Here's to long days again!

Glimpses of Spring

I realize that March is a fickle month. Some might call her an all out flirt. A tease. Well, despite all that, and despite the fact that the forecast calls for a return to rain and cold weather later in the week, I'm reveling in these glimpses of spring. Days like these are a call to action. It's time to:

Skip down the driveway.

Gaze at Carolina blue skies.

Laugh at the antics of silly dogs who are just as enraptured with a bright sunny day as we are.

Dig in the mud, and come home with dirt caked under your fingernails.

Hitch a ride back up the hill after a jaunt to the mailbox. In fact, today marked the very first ride in the back of a pick-up truck of 2010. All in all, the makings of a lovely, spring day. So, to quote my hat, life is good!

Last Days of Winter

More snow this week. I suppose you could say that March came in like a lion, which leaves me hopeful for the whole easing out like a lamb at the end of the month. We'll see. In any event, snow in March is not so bad. In fact, it's much easier to enjoy it because there is a definite light at the end of the tunnel, which is not the case in January or February when winter seems dark and endless. Plus, this weekend is supposed to be gorgeous, in the 50s and 60s.

Today is Kate's Kindermusik class, and after that she is having a little friend, Molly, spend the day with her. I'm looking forward to it, because Molly is a real sweetheart. Her mom and I went to both high school and college together, and I used to work with Molly's dad. I'm a wee bit nervous though, because, well, two toddlers!

This weekend, we're headed down to stay with some friends in Lenoir, NC. Patrick and Kay put on the yearly Caldwell County Traditional Music Showcase (a consistently amazing show!), and after the show they always host a big soiree at their lovely home. It's one of those pickin' parties that last until the wee hours of the morning, if you can make it that long (which I rarely do).

I'll leave you with a few things catching my fancy lately:

• Kate and I made these granola bars yesterday and oh my! They're rather homely there on the plate, but they taste delicious! I've made my own homemade granola for ages now, but until yesterday had never tried to make actual bars. Well, they were quite a success, albeit more squares than bars. Still, yummy and portable. For the three cups of fruit/nut mixture, I used: 1/2 cup wheat germ, 1 cup almonds, 1/2 cup chocolate chips, 1/2 cup dried cranberries, and 1/2 cup of coconut.

• I read this book, Girls Like Us, a few weeks ago, and never got around to posting about it, but it was exceptional. It's a bit hefty, but reads quickly, much like a novel, and the lives of Carole King, Joni Mitchell, and Carly Simon certainly provide a wealth of fascinating material. Besides being a simple biography of these three women, the book is really a sort of social history of feminism and what it meant to be a woman during the tumultuous years of the 60s and 70s. I found Joni Mitchell the most intriguing, although not always the most likeable, and watched this documentary after reading the book. It's available on Netflix instant play, if you're interested.

• We've been led (okay, pushed might be more like it, by a very strong willed two year old) into the realm of kid's music lately, and to save our sanity, have been seeking out adult friendly kid's music. I'm sorry, but I do not allow obnoxious purple dinosaurs into my home. We just wanted music all of us could enjoy. Elizabeth Mitchell is one of the first such artist's I discovered, and both Kate and I love her! The whole sound is mellow, folky, and acoustic, but very kid (and adult!) friendly. I've spent a lot of time perusing her website, and that of her adult indie band, Ida. I LOVE her independent record label's manifesto. A great NPR interview can be heard here.

Farewell February!

It's Sunday evening and we're in that zone of both relaxing and gearing up for the coming week. Things have been pretty low key around here this weekend. We got to stay home for one thing, and for another, No Snow! The probability of those two things happening simultaneously has been quite low of late. And even though February went up in my estimation when Miss Katie Mae was born (on Valentine's Day!) two years ago, I can still say that I'm not too sad that it's reached it's end this year. How is it that the shortest month of the year feels soooooo long?

Anyway, a good weekend all around. Saturday, Kate stayed with my Grandmama (how lucky am I to have folks who call me up and insist that I go out and do something, anything, whatever, just so they can spend the afternoon with my little one?), so I got in some serious browsing at the Habitat for Humanity homestore and my favorite antique store, The Tobacco Barn. I brought home a milkglass vase and several books for my new etsy shop. I can't wait for the spring yard sale bonanza!

Saturday night we played at the Blue Mountain, a restaurant here in downtown Weaverville. Mark's best buddy, Milan, was in town from Nashville, so he sat in. And Milan's lovely wife Melanie came along too, which is always fun for me because I come away with a huge list of books to read and movies/tv to watch. Like this. And this.

And that's pretty much it. Excited to welcome March, one step closer to spring.