Carrie's sweet list of goodness.....good company & refreshing days

1. Lauren and Maya's visit
2. Skype!
3. Mountain Biking with Bryan and not falling until I reached the parking lot
4. Swimming at Barton Springs
5. Feeling almost healed from the fall off the sink
6. Labor day girl's weekend!

Carrie's sweet list of goodness....AUSTIN, TX!!!

1. danny and the rest of my sweet friends taking good care of me after my fall.
2. my back being on the mend
3. my iPhone (was i already thankful for that on my last list???)
4. walks with miss lucy the big black dog
5. delicious slices of salami dipped in queso at whitney's birthday party.

Carrie's sweet list of goodness.....Wisconsin

1. WISCONSIN STATE FAIR!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Carrie's sweet list of goodness.....

1. playing in chicago for the most beautiful folks. thanks britton, michelle, slade and doug for making the trip (and thank you for bringing cool friends, too). you rule. and you are the reason i keep doing this.

2. quality time with my very inspiring friend, britton.

3. more family time (including yahtzee and time on the boat).

4. being chosen as a new song regional finalist. http://www.newsong-music.com/contest/regional_rounds/Southwest.html

5. listening to chris o'brien whilst driving to chicago (i screamed the song "cigarettes and rain"about 100 times). www.chrisobrienmusic.com

Stolen idea from my friend Dev......

Well, I've been absolutely terrible about keeping up with the blog. And every time something fun happens, I say,"I gotta put that in my blog." And then I never do. SOOOO....my friend and fellow musician was touring through Texas a couple months back and suggested I post blogs in a similar fashion to her. And now I'm gonna do it. She posts the five highlights of her day, or few days.....a sweet list of goodness, if you will. So, I'm now going to do a similar thing. And maybe I'll just call it my sweet list of goodness.
And so, y'all should check out Dev's music because she's one of my most favoritest musicians (http://www.devonsproule.com). Her blog's always fun to read, too. She's just a fun gal in general.

So here it is, my first time posting.....
THE SWEET LIST OF GOODNESS.....or should it be CARRIE'S SWEET LIST OF GOODNESS????

1. spending time with the family in wisonsin

2. emerging at the falcon ridge folk festival

3. drinking brandy with good friend and fellow emergent, robby hecht (or bobby hecht....whatevs)

4. meeting otis hatch.....the sweet baby of nels and julia.

5. singing with danny schmidt and chris o'brien at club passim

Ahhhh...the mid-west.

I love the mid-west. I mean, really. I can't say enough about it. Started this tour off about a week ago doing a little singing with Danny Schmidt at Denison University and then headed to Columbus, OH to hang out with one of my very best friends and her beautiful family. Had a great show at a little space called Victorian's Midnight Cafe. I attached a photo, but have never done that on the blog site....not sure how it's all gonna turn out. Anyway, I can't express how fun the show was.....I had cousins there and friends from High School (they even drove down from Cleveland!). A quick thank you to all that attended. I loved meeting all sorts of new folks, too. Following my time in Columbus, I headed to Cincinnati for a radio show and performance. The folks at Leo's Coffeehouse were incredibly supportive and sweet. Can't wait to go back and play there again.

I'm now in Wisconsin visiting mom. Feels good to have a couple days off to regroup and spend time with family. Our lives here in WI revolve around eating....the menu for the week has been planned. There's a lot of wine involved, too. Oh, and Yahtzee (and by the way, I'm pretty sure I got the highest yahtzee score in the history of this family just last night. I wouldn't even kid about such a thing. Mom and I went through the old score cards dating back MANY years and didn't find another score of 429).
And so, my next performance is in Oshkosh on Thursday night. Home of the overalls. Awesome. Friday night will be in Madison and then I head to Chicago for my last show of the tour.
Thanks to all the folks that have been out to the shows so far. It means so much to me......
Take good care.
Much love to you all.
c.

Westward...

Well, Danny Schmidt and I are one week in to our "World Tour of the West." It's been eventful thus far. We left Austin last Tuesday and headed to Lubbock. Driving through west Texas might not be the most exciting thing ever, but we managed to entertain ourselves by counting dead skunks for a good four hours. I know, it sounds like a dumb game, but you wouldn't believe how many we counted......26!! We also listened to one of my Favorite Woody Guthrie tribute records (Till We Outnumber them). It seemed appropriate, as we were driving through a very windy west Texas. It felt like the dust bowl....

Our first show of the tour was in Lubbock at LaDiosa Cellars, a great little wine bar in the warehouse district (at least I think that's where we were). We played the gig with local Lubbock artists, Violet Lea and Anthony Garcia....they were fantastic. Oh, and LaDiosa makes their own wine, and that's always fun.

Day two consisted of a very long drive to Taos, New Mexico, where I used to live. We played at the historic Taos Inn to a great crowd of folk. After the performance, we headed out to The Alley Cantina for a little Whiskey and blues (The Cullen Winter's Blues Band....a Taos favorite, for sure). On Friday we headed toward Colorado and landed in Carbondale, where we played a show at Steve's Guitars. It was incredibly intimate and lovely. Anyone that lives in Colorado and is able to make it to a show at Steve's should do so. He has a killer line-up and a comfortable listening room for folks that enjoy listening to singer/songwriters. It's worth the drive to Carbondale to meet Steve and visit his space.

From Carbondale, Danny and I made the trip to Steamboat Springs, Colorado (another place I used to live). I must admit, it may not be the smartest time to be traveling through the mountains of Colorado. With record snow and with no four wheel drive, we've had a few stressful moments (I'll get to that in a little bit). Our show in Steamboat was at Perry-Mansfield Performing Arts School in a beautiful Pavilion with acoustics to match. Had a fun show there despite the wacky snowy roads.

Super bowl Sunday was a day off from playing music. It started with an early morning sledding trip and ended with martinis by the fire. In between consisted of a car accident and meeting up with old friends. The meeting up with old friends was fantastic. The car accident sucked. BUT, everyone involved is fine. No whiplash or anything of the likes. Just a little bit of the shakes and upset stomachs. Oh, and a dent in a car we don't own (sorry Donna and Phil). EEEEEEEK.

We're now in Denver in a very cozy home. We'll be playing in Boulder tonight at the Laughing Goat and then will head to a few other parts of Colorado to finish out the tour.

Welp, it seems this is another long blog. If I would just write everyday like originally intended, it'd be a lot easier to deal with.....

I hope ya'll are doing well. Take good care and don't forget to vote!