THANKSGIVING IN JULY...

Feeling that feeling of gratitude for the life I've been given, especially for the people whom I'm forever related to, married to, work with and associate with closely and casually, the positive ones, dear friends new and old. For the constant yearning to create, the inner persistence for progress, the stormy brain that won't quit, the desire to do it all, for the love. There is still complicated emotions, struggle, confusion & indecision, as there always will be, but it truly is a very good life...

THANKS LORD.

MILO GREENE 1957. JACK AND WHITE. GOODBYE VAN NUYS...

I heard this song called 1957 by Milo Greene on the looooong drive home from the studio to my new crib the other night. So apparently 98.7 now does this lil' show at night called "close to home" where they play cool music... this song caught my ear, and i'm bummed that I can't buy it on itunes yet. but you can listen to it right here on the youtube. you'll like it i'm pretty sure...

And truly I need to blog about my new duo/band/collaboration called JACK AND WHITE, kinda like black and white. I was set up on a co-write with this feller named Jack Matranga, we started writing songs a few months back for my solo record, and they were very good songs, but they just sounded like they needed to be their own songs for their own thing, so we went into the studio with our amazing pal Dansel, and that thing became GEMINI, a six song EP filled with adventure songs that have lots of hearty heart and guitar vibey-ness and dreamy harmonies, probably the most modern sounding thing i've been a part of to date, that will be released in July by JACK AND WHITE on June Baby Records. JUST CANT WAIT FOR YOU TO HEAR IT! New music is the greatest... the super awesome picture below was taken by the super awesome Trever Hoehne . Trever we love ya...

Oh and Also me and the Davester moved, to a far away-ish land from the NUYS, after 7 eventful and crazy years in the Nuys it was time to say our goodbyes. The people will be missed A LOT, the place maybe a little. Happy for a new adventure. This also deserves it's own post. We bought a fixer-up that I fell in love with the moment I stepped in the door which is gonna gift us a lifetime of projects, but I live for projects so that makes me happy, dave not quite as happy, but he's being a good sport and starting to see the diamond in the rough, fun stuff. Let me tell you there was TEAL STUCCO inside from floor to ceiling, well not the floors, but the walls were just covered in this crap! Seriously, but it's all gone now, and we are muchos glad. We are sleeping on an air mattress in a sea of sawdust, we are with out a refrigerator and clean clothes BUT I do have a new old lil' baby grand piano in the living room called the Sarg that I have been waiting for, been piano-less for three years, and I can't stop playing it. I am happy, I am very grateful. and I am tired and I am practicing my brains out cause I have seven shows this month. I'm growing up I think, a little scared about it, I feel it all, I'm alive and I mostly really love it.

PS- do you do pinterest? Man it's dangerous.

PSS- Girls with Glasses show is also kickin. more to come...

PSSS- If ya live in Provo, UT, Rexburg, ID, Lakeforest, CA or Echo Park, CA... come see me/J+W play.

I'll post the details in just a bit

LIFE IS ART...

TEAM DAVY...

Hello Friends, I will save all my usual explanations for my lack of bloggin, there is so much to tell, but for now I wanted to inform all you Southern Californians about a really sweet benefit show this coming Friday for this beautiful lil' Baby Davy... her story is quite remarkable. Perhaps you read her mom's amazing blog THE MOM , and you know about this little lady, but in case you haven't, now is a good time... so many modern day miracles!

BOO'S BABY...

wowsers, I can't believe it, Katie Boo is a mom....

I missed her wedding, I missed the birth, but I was not going to miss this baby, so I cleared my schedule for the rest of the week, jumped in the car, filled the tank with liquid gold and took a lil' roadtrip through the desert to Arizona to surprise my beautiful sister. It was a pleasant drive, and I listened to my iPod on shuffle mode the whole way. Music makes everything better, especially long trips, I rather enjoyed my expedition and found it therapeutic amongst crazy times...

I love surprises, I walked in the door, emotional moment, she cried her face off. She had just gotten home from the hospital, celebrating her 3rd anniversary, recovering from the intense physical demands of child-bearing, sleep deprived and just beginning to grasp the magnitude of her new found role and responsibility as a mom. I could tell she was overwhelmed and yet in awe of this miraculous creation named Heath.

Just to look at him, you feel love. Unexplainable love, and he's not even mine. He is so teeny-tiny, so delicate and pure. Straight from heaven, he has my sisters eyes, lanny's mouth and cheeks, and the lil' guy has got some piano playing fingers on him. My sister said he got that from me, glad I could contribute:) He isn't much of a cry-baby, but even his cry is even heartbreakingly adorable, rhaspy and sweet, he got that from our side of the family, the "White rhasp" we all were born with. And at merely four days old he is already rolling over from his tummy to his back, next thing we know he will be doing push-ups and running marathons, he's a strong lil' man. His furry soft skin gets loads of kisses and we honestly just can't get enough of him. Grandma and grandpas, aunts and uncles and cousins... he is the center of our universe right about now.

Hard parts are hard... nursing and feeding, this isn't a snap. It's a full-time deal, around the clock. I won't elaborate, moms out there, I am sure you can relate, wowsers. A lot of pressure and stress on a momma to provide the sustenance essential to a babies survival and growth. Major props to my sister, she is a tough gal, with each day it's getting better. Then there is long nights and little sleep... Lil' humans got their clocks reversed, day is night and night is day, he want's to sleep while the suns up and party all night. I imagine she can plan on being perpetually tired for the next year... but if you'd ask her, she'd say it's worth it:)

I don't have children (yet), I don't know anything about parenting, I was a nanny for G&G, which provides some preparation but not quite the same thing... I know I am not really qualified to speak upon the subject, but just those four days with Katie and lanny and baby Heath, My observation is this: Becoming a parent is big stuff, the biggest, important, it's serious, it's sacrifice, it's challenging, it's scary, it's fun, it's rewarding, it's pure happiness, it's forever. I am so so proud of my sister, she is amazing, hope I can be a good mom like she is, like our mom is, and I'm sure she'll be there when her big sister is breaking down in the middle of the night trying to figure out what to do next. I'm so grateful that I got to be there for some of the first few days of this lil' guys life. I miss him already...

I got to snap some photos of him on his fourth day on earth, prepare for your heart to melt. And you MUST MUST MUST see the pictures of his birth taken by the amazing Jessica, my brother Tyler's girlfriend... stunning, the next best thing to being there in person!!!

4 days old, here he is. amazing. lola the dog is always by katie's side

uhh! can you even stand it?! so cute I could just scream, quietly :)

grandma kaylene aka the "baby whisperer", auntie brooke and proud grandpa brad

His first bath at home, grandma helping the Boo...

perfect.

APRIL 10th...

Wowzers, I can't believe that I've been married to the one and only Dave Ray cpa for seven years today, how is this possible?! We met when I was merely nineteen years old, tied the knot at twenty... yikes! I am now the age he was when we got married. We've been growing up, livin' lots of life and Time is a-flyin' as we try to learn a little everyday how to be better people together. As my dear friend Jayme Lynn put it so perfectly, I am a balloon and he holds the string. I drive the guy crazy, bless his heart. He is my complimentary opposite, my ground and my much better half and I am happy to be his gal. Seven Years down, forever to go...

And I am an aunt, hooray! My pretty baby sister, the girl I shared the twin top bunk bed with till I was seventeen, Katie the boo (and husband Lanny the manny) had her very own baby today... lil' Heath Bradley, 7 pound 6 ounces of perfection, he is so so beautiful and I so wish i could have been there to behold his newborn sweetness delivered straight from the Heavens, and hug my Boo for being a brave mama, she is a mom... double wowzers. He is the first grand baby and nephew in the White Family, making mom and dad a grandma and grandpa, pretty cool. It was a big 'ol good day and I am so very grateful for the gift of family... it is my everything. Thank you Lord.

EXCUSES...

I know. Lame Sauce. What's the deal.... I disappeared off the face of Brookie Babble, and left ya hanging on day nineteen of the 30 day song challenge, and i'm sorry, but I have my reasons and well.... i've just been... busy. Yeah, Busy with my real life. Trying to exist in it, be present in it, which has forced me to re-prioritize for a bit, say yes to some things and no to others as opposed to yes to all things, which has been my crazy mode of operation for about twenty seven-ish years. Basically I've been gone since 2008, and that was fun, mostly, but I made the decision to stick closer to home for a bit. To not go elsewhere, to just be, here, with Dave, and that has been good. It has allowed me to develop some habits, consistent ones for a change, at least for now.

See the plan was, after the holidays I was going to go to another place in another state for a while and make a certain record, and I intended on doing that, but it just didn't feel right, at least right now, well the going away part that is. So I decided that there are many musically talented folks in the state of California, and therefore here I be, making lots of music in California, and then returning to my own bed at the end of the day. I write and write and write and sing and sing and sing. It is a really wonderful thing, writing and singing songs, but it also drains the brain, by the end of the day it leaves me a bit blank and not super bloggy. And ya know I just don't love doing anything half-arsed. All or nothin' baby. So Anywho, I intend on writing a blog post unto itself all about that next record and the songwriting process and the soul searching and the whole massive undertaking of creating something from nothing making an album process. I'm deep down in that process, in my head, churning often about it and what I want it to sound like... or more importantly, feel like...

(writing a song yesterday with Jack called "surrender")

As well, I've quit running, (not that I ever really started) and I've taken up Yoga and Yoga has been changing my life. Really. I'm so not sporty and athletical. But I think I finally found my sport! (yes I am calling it a sport) Yoga seems to make perfect sense to my more naturally limber frame and free spirit, oh and there is no fear of getting clobbered in the head with a ball, woo! Making time to take care of my body and spirit has been a challenge cause it means using any small bits of free time more wisely, meaning less time on the internet, less time in front of the TV, less time on the phone and yadda yadda. Oh and Yoga isn't cheap, so I canceled the gym membership I never use and cut out a few other luxuries and committed to this practice and to Lululemon :). The benefits are way outweighing the sacrifices, not to mention recharging my creative batteries after long days of writing. I'm challenging myself and feeling the progress... getting stronger, happier, more peaceful, more flexible, more focused, more balanced and a clearer spiritual connection. All I can say is that I feel good... inside out.

In addition to the Yoga practice I also joined a Healthy Habits challenge which last nearly 60 days. This isn't a diet or an attempt to lose weight, but more of an over-all overhaul of my daily habits, particularly eating habits. Cutting out the refined sugar and carb-o-licious junk food which I love dearly, like cupcakes and chips, mmm i love my chips... and instead opting for generous portions of fruits and vegetables and protein. Oh and lots of H2o and several trips to the bathroom. No it is not a vegetarian diet, but just a healthier more aware one. I gotta tell you, it's HARD and takes A LOT of effort. I never knew that I was a sugar-addict, and it's in everything, even in my beloved raisin bran crunch. Yes I feel a bit deprived, but we do get a day off a week, and I live for those days. In addition to the nutrition, is the 30 minutes daily exercise, 15 minutes of uplifting/spiritual reading, daily journal writing, accomplishing one personal goal daily, and taking the time to compliment another person or help another person daily. It is a big to-do creating healthy habits, but I am really noticing a difference. Again, I just feel good. Yay!

Gosh, I could keep going. I am back in Girls with Glasses mode too... yes we are still getting our glasses on and the future is looking bright. Fingers crossed, we'll keep you posted. Oh and Summer, my fellow gal with glasses had the cutest lil' baby boy a few weeks ago, woo hoo!! But we are getting back to the business of making cute quirky videos which will be available for the world to see soon!

Are those sufficient excuses? I know, everyone is busy, and I do miss blogging and miss y'all!! My realistic hope is to post twice a week, and finish up that song challenge, I need to think of an angry song for day 20... oh and I'd also like to act some more... and go to Paris... Oh and to have like 4 kids

ps- oh and yeah I did a lil' blog make-over, what do ya think? Listening to any good stuff lately? Tell me about it!