Advent Blog-a-long Day 7

I missed yesterday. We're crazy busy and I'm not actually living at my house right now. Mark got the opportunity to have a friend who is a music producer from Detroit come down here for 3 days to record his band's record. So, Mark, his 2 bandmates, and Bill Kozy are at my house recording and making loud music into the early hours of the morning while the kids and I are staying with my mom. Ugh. It's a huge inconvenience, but hopefully worth it in the long run. So, forgive me if I miss tomorrow. I'll be back at the blog-a-long soon enough!

Feature: Sock Monkey Sound

So, this is my first blog featuring someone and it happens to be about my fiancee and friends. They've started a podcast (An audio broadcast available for downloading from a website to a personal computer or other device).

It's called Sock Monkey Sound and you can find their website here. It's a Music & Culture Podcast recorded in Rockford, IL. Hosted by Brandon Lutmer, Chip Copeland, & Patrick Delehanty (all friends). Recorded at MIA Studios by Mark Gustafson (my fiancee).


They (we) have always been very involved in the music scene. Mark and I (and Chip Copeland) met when we were in a band together (long story- another blog sometime)! We've also always been avid coffee drinkers. We used to stay out until morning at Denny's drinking coffee and smoking cigarettes. This whole podcast idea evolved from the realization that these guys were gonna sit around for hours and talk about this stuff drinking coffee anyway. Why not record it and try to promote the music scene in the Midwest? We have a recording studio in our basement (that's what Mark does!). Makes sense to me!

So, anyway, take a listen, enjoy, subscribe, and get off your butt and go support your local music scene!


website: www.sockmonkeysound.com
facebook: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Sock-Monkey-Sound/123770656064
myspace: http://www.myspace.com/sockmonkeysound
email: sockmonkeysound@gmail.com

A Kid Free Night!

How often does that happen? Close to never. My brother-in-law was gracious enough to take both my kids and host a sleepover with his daughter (their cousin). We often have them all together for sleepovers and it is a blast! So, tonight is MY night. Mark is playing a show with the band and I actually get to see them for the first time in a long time! So, goodnight to you all! I hope your night is as fun as mine better be! I get to sleep in a bit tomorrow (no kids to wake me at 6am), but I do have to be up at a decent hour since I work at 10am. Here's to tonight!

Cheers!

Before I head out, though, I want to introduce my new pieces. I have been experimenting in the kiln. As I said in a previous blog, I am inspired by nature. I have beautiful plants all around my house and have been eyeing the ferns. So, I took some leaves off them to begin experimenting. I started with my simple white glass paint, applied it to the leaves, then sandwiched it between 2 layers of glass and let the kiln do its work. This is what came out and I couldn't be happier!

Needless to say, I will be playing with many more organic inclusions. Stay tuned to see what else comes out of my kiln! Feel free to offer any suggestions of organic things you think I should try!