Life lately.

There is so much to catch up on! My last blog entry was a New Years post and now it's April somehow. Oops. The last two months have been a wonderful whir of music and motherhood, palm trees (yay for Florida in the winter!) and travels.

I wrapped up two weeks in the studio in March and it was even better than what I could have imagined. I loved every minute of it. To sing again, play, collaborate, write parts....ahhh I loved it all! And the most encouraging part about it -- my brain held up! No major hang-ups or problems with pesky brain fatigue or speech issues. I felt energized by the process and felt like me again. It felt really good (and important) to tap into that part of myself again...the musical, creative me which had been buried for the last 2+ years under new motherhood and medical drama.  

The producer I worked with was amazingly talented and really helped me polish and refine the pile of songs I brought to him. I've been playing these songs solo, just me and my guitar, for so many years and so it was awesome to hear them come alive with drums, bass, strings, organ, piano, etc., etc.!! For those of you who know my music, I am especially excited about Edges of my Heart, Cry and October Drive. I love them all, really, but those few...woohoo can't wait to share with you! Right now everything is being mixed, so it is looking like late May(?) is probably a realistic time frame for release. 

In the meantime, I am thinking about/working on things like album artwork and a website, etc. I had the opportunity to do a photo shoot with the ahhhmazing Bliss Katherine, who is like this ridiculously talented, rock star photographer. And SO sweet and wonderful to work with. The guys at the studio connected me to her and I felt like such a lucky duck to do a shoot with her. I get a little shy and self-conscious in front of the camera but she put me right at ease. She sent me a batch of photos this week and oh man...she is so good! Here are a few shots: 

I had so much fun doing this shoot! And she even captured some candid, family moments when Dan and Miles came by the studio:  

(look at those eyes!! my baby)

In other news, after the recording finished up, we headed west to spend some time with my dad in Santa Fe. It was so wonderful to be back in that magical place. Coming from our new home here in Florida with it's humid climate and palm trees, Santa Fe's crisp weather and mountainous landscape was a drastic, welcome change. We hiked, skied, watched way too many movies and ate way too much yummy food (the food scene in Santa Fe is pretty fantastic, fyi). The week passed too quickly. 

(Dan and I climbed that mountain!)

(see? :))

And now here we are, back in Orlando, settling back in life here. Miles is talking up a storm, and you guys, he is a pretty hilarious kid. And he has more energy than I know what to do with! Our days lately are filled with playgrounds, tantrums (the reality of toddlerhood), rocks, dirt, trains, trucks, princesses and songs from Frozen on repeat. :) We just signed him up for a 2-day a week school which he will start mid-August and I can barely wrap my brain around the fact that our baby will be THREE in the Fall! How does this happen?! 

And that's life in a nutshell! The End. :)