Bahamas

We saw this group open for another show we went to and they completely stole the night. The front man and songwriter is Afie Jurvanen, originally Feist's guitarist, who set off to play his original music. Bob and I have been mildly obsessed with his song "Lost in the Light" for a few months now. 

iz

up north, Memorial Day weekend 2013

This past weekend, the family went to our condo on Lake Huron in Lexington, MI. I grew up going up here for summer weekends and it's always good to go back. It's one of those tiny little lake towns you can only find on the Great Lakes, with one stop light, a good burger joint, a flea market and lots of character.

 

I hope you had a nice, long and relaxing weekend, we sure did!

iz

 

weekend update

I hope you all enjoyed this gorgeous weekend. It was perfect out here in Detroit! We celebrated my little sister Celia's birthday Friday night with dinner with the fam and then we all went off to the Motor City Casino to attend the Metro Times Best of 2013 party. 

Saturday evening, we had a show at Bakers Keyboard Lounge! Bakers is the oldest Jazz club in the country and it is an honor to play in this space. 

And on Sunday, the church I grew up at and have been attending every Sunday for 22 years, St. Columban, closed. It's the place I met Bob, my Fiance and it's the place I learned to sing. I've also met life long friends who I will always cherish. It's a very difficult thing for me to rationalize how a thriving, financially independent community can be shut down and it's completely out of our control. It sure has generated some anger and sadness in the community and frustrates me that the Catholic church would rather shut down decades long communities than loosen their restrictions. We were shut down because in a few short years, there won't be a priest to lead our community. I have always been in favor of allowing priests to marry, allowing women to be priests or allowing Deacons to run a parish, but Rome won't allow any of these things, so instead, they close churches. As always, I try to be positive in this blog space of mine that I've created, but at times do feel that I need to express certain frustrations and this is one I'll be trying to reconcile for years to come.

I sure will miss this place.

iz

Ladies Lunch

I met my Mom and Sister for lunch today. 

It was such a splendid break from work.

Also, I'm daydreaming about customizing my own Varina flats by Salvatore Ferragamo. This year is the 35th anniversary of the famous flat (very "ladies who lunch" if you ask me) and they let you customize your own colors! You can even have your initials monogrammed on the hardware bow. I mean...

Here are a few combos I put together.

Too fun, right?!

iz

American Kid

My all time favorite musician is Patty Griffin. She's a 49 year old little red headed lady who plays the guitar and write the most wonderful songs in the world. Just a few days ago, she came out with her latest record, American Kid. It's her first record of original material since 2007, so needless to say, I was beyond thrilled, counting down the days in fact. 

Patty starting writing this record as her Dad was suffering from an illness that would soon take his life. When listening to the record from that perspective, the love songs suddenly turn into deeper and sadder thoughts about the loss of a parent, a rock. One of my favorites on the record so far is called "Ohio", inspired by Toni Morrison's novel, Beloved.

Oh, did I mention her manfriend is Robert Plant?

Bob surprised me with a trip to Miami summer of 2010 to see The Band of Joy, one of Robert Plant's groups. Patty Griffin was his fellow singer and Buddy Miller was on guitar. It was basically my dream band. Our friends were playing in their opening act and not only got us back stage but also to the after party where I got to talk to Patty and Buddy for about 20 minutes. 

It was a big moment for me.

Before they became "public". Also, I think it's funny I caught Robert picking his nose.

When Bob met Robert, he introduced him self naturally, to which Robert responded "Bob. (pointing at Bob) Bob. (pointing at himself)". Needless to say, it was adorable and made us adore this gorgeous lion of a man even more.

Here is an excellent article in the Wallstreet Journal detailing Patty's new record along with a free preview of the all of the songs. Enjoy my friends.

iz

Celia's grad party.

After Celia's graduation, we went back to her house for a little grad party. We ate hot dogs, dranks Strohs beer, sat in her backyard (because her house had no tables/chairs because she and her room mates were moving out) and gave her many lovely gifts. It actually sort of felt like a college party, so I suppose it was quite fitting.

iz