A poem I wrote in 2016. 

Point du lac, MA

My journies have taken me to the east coast again, for the first time in at least 17 years. For 5 weeks this summer, I took on a housesitting assignment in Massachusetts. I watched over a little cat in a little house overlooking a stupid-beautiful lake. In my mind I refer to it as Point du lac. 

Walking through Quincy Market, now above 5 foot tall was strange and exciting. 

Returning to my old town will be it's own post, I'm sure. 

Here are some photos: 

"I think I'll go to Boston..."

My favorite thing ever as a kid!

I only walked past it, but hey! Memories!

Point du lac

In the Details

 Hello my dear readers! It's been forever and a day since I last updated. However, some time ago I was able to have a nice little shoot and I've finally got some photos to share. La Grande, OR was the next town over from where I was living for about 3 months (5 months if you count this summer).

 I left the house with a messy bun and a shiny chambray shirt. Nothing too special. But as we went to La Grande and did a little shopping, my mom found a fun, over the top, costume jewelry necklace. She let me borrow it for the rest of the day, and went on about how good it looked with the shirt. When we came across this beautiful blue mural on a downtown street corner, my sister decided it would be fun to snap a few photos.

Popped collars, shot callers!

 It's curious how that one, little, detail (the necklace) made me ever so down for an impromptu photo shoot.

 I definitely thought I'd be living there a little longer, but I'm glad I have pictures of this beautiful street corner as a memento of this lovely area.

I love that my white streak shows!

A Single Pink Drop

In the home I'm temporarily staying in, the shower-head has a lovely pink scrubbing towel draped over the back of it. Every 6 seconds, a single pink drop falls between the steams of water. After it falls past the scrub towel it's impossible to see. As fascinated as I was with it today, I told myself that it was completely impossible to follow it after that point. 

I said that to myself while crying. As it turns out, my temporary home was supposed to be my permanent home. Some details, that were out of my room mate's and my control, state that I have a limited number of days I can stay... And then? Then what? No idea. Hence the tears. 

Flashback to my previous location. I wasn't pleased to have to withdraw from classes. I wasn't pleased to have to talk about the finances of departing from school with a woman who I was sure didn't care about me, either way. As I got up to leave, I thanked her out of principle, and then told her I liked the poster on her wall, full of positive thoughts. 

Her manner changed. She smiled and agreed with me. Then she spoke a blessing over my life. 

"You will find a path in a place where you think there is none."

As I thought  back to that moment, I didn't realize that I had extended my hand. Within 6 seconds, I felt a single drop fall into my palm. If felt so different from the pressurized streams of water. And yet I had just said to myself that following the path of that drop was something that could not be done. 

That's the "impossible" for you. Effortlessly proving us all wrong.

So what has been impossible for me, lately?


For years, I've wanted to record albums, give recitals and do live events. I've wanted to learn all about French art songs (I love the way Debussy flirts with the jazzy and a-tonal, and it suits my voice), and all kinds of styles. I've wanted to share my art with friends, and make more friends that way. But getting started is a challenge. And asking for help is akin to begging, at least for me. 

But what if I asked anyway?

...The Capsule, If You Dare...

Hello my dear readers! 

It has been a little bit since I last wrote. As projected, this year has not had regular posting like last year. Hopefully I'll still get a few more posts for you guys in the second half of the year.

At some point this summer, my sister told me about a concept called a Capsule Wardrobe. She explained to me that it would be 30 items that you would use for the entire season. My immediate thought was "Oh no! I cannot do that." The idea of having all of the items I would wear, limited to 30 for the next 90 days was more than I can fathom. 

This summer, though, I was up in Oregon with my parents just about that long. We ended up taking a flight rather than driving. I had to put all of the things that I was going to use for the summer (including journals, books, sheet music, etc.) into a single bag. 

When I got up to Oregon, I realized that I had about 17 items of clothing. 

The lovely little closet nook

So with this little nook of the closet, I found that I somewhat was already in a capsule closet situation. I decided to see how it would work. I didn't even have the 30 items, so I made use of my sister's and my mom's clothing. So maybe that was capsule cheating- I'm not sure!

Looking back on it, I was so sure that I was going to have too few clothes. But arriving home yesterday I looked in my closet, and saw things that I knew I wasn't going to use on a regular basis. That turned out to be more frustrating. Why couldn't everything in my closet be what I was going to use every day? So I'm actually finding that having a limited amount of clothes is helping me cut past say, the option of wearing a bright red party dress. That's really only for special occasions, anyway.

An important bonus: When you have fewer items, you can afford to have higher-quality items. As I'm trying to find more sustainable fashion, higher-quality items means they break less often. Then I'm less tempted replace those things with fast fashion. I specifically want steer clear of fast fashion because it can be unfair to its workers (using things like sweatshops) and harsh on the environment (having unsustainable cotton harvesting), for example.

My sister also points out: "If you have a few, carefully curated items that call match each other, you're always going to look chic. And won't have to spend a lot of time coordinating them. Have less, have better!"

So there you have it. I tried something I thought I wasn't going to like. But having less actually benefitted me in a few great ways. Yay for Positive Change! 

Thanks for stopping by, and happy Thursday, guys! :)

Summer Jazz

When I first started this blog, I promised there would be music. And since then, I've done it... but rarely.

This winter I met an enchanting person who said "Metal is just classical music with distortion and jazz is just blues-done by geniuses!"

Summer has come, and that statement has stuck with me. So today I'm offering three jazz pieces that I've caught myself humming time and again.

My Foolish Heart by Shina Ringo and Soil and P. Sessions completely different from Beware My Foolish Heart by Victor Young. It features those key-defying melodic lines that you usually find in brass, rather than vocals. The daring Ringo makes it sound both familiar and like completely new territory. The music video is also fresh and oh-so-posh!



Summer Goddess is an exuberant romp of a piece, by the same band. One has to embrace the loud, atonal passages to fully enjoy this one, but once I did, I caught myself dancing around my apartment! I was reminded of some of the music I used to come across when I lived in the northern part of the east coast as a kid.



Juan Tizol's Caravan has been featured in films from Whiplash to Chocolat after it's first performance by Duke Elington, but my favorite is a version featured in Ocean's 13 (it also shows up in Ocean's 11, but with a completely different feel.) I like the suspicious-sounding bass-line as well as the sense of tremulous echo placed on the melody. :) Enjoy!



(Yep, just a picture of a house...)

I hope everyone is having a wonderful midsummer, and that this adds to everyone's summer soundtrack. I will be updating from time to time.

Thanks for reading!

Hey Girl, I Like Them Jeans...[Rec. Reading]

Just kidding, this post is for all genders, as well a people with good grammar.

First of all, let me welcome my first readers from Ireland and India! Thank you to my growing/continued readership in the United States, as well! (Even though I don't see subscriptions, I know some of you are my personal friends because you tell me you checked out my blog-- Hi!)

Once again, Refinery 29 comes out with a great little piece about fashion, jeans in particular! I had a sneaky suspicion about the subject matter because of the title: All the Differences Between $200 & $20 Ones, but reading their flow sheet from top dollar to bottom confirmed it; R29 is talking my language. In finding a good pair of classics, author Alden Wicker asks us to consider workers' wages, environmental impacts, and how to find a quality finished product.

Ironically in this case, the "Buy it to last" option (pictured below) and the "Fair Trade/Sustainable" route may be one in the same. I think it should be stated, however, that this isn't always  the case. In the United States, we don't have certain trade regulations, so someone can sell $20-quality for $500, and if you choose to pay for it, that's what makes them $500 jeans. So looking out for physical signs of high quality helps immensely, as does a little research.

As for me, I usually only own two pair at the most. (A trend I've noticed in myself since I was in the 7th grade.) My eye has been on the lookout for the boyfriend style forever and ever. Among the handy options on the flow sheet my sister shared with me was the question "Does it need to be new?"

No, it does not! They're boyfriend jeans; they'd be great even with a hole in the knee! So I scored mine from the men's section of a secondhand shop. I also got two great chambray tops. Who knows what you'll find if you give it a shot. The layers of "Win" also pile up because my local secondhand shop donates regularly to local charities.

Whichever way you choose to go about it, happy hunting, and thanks for reading!