Page and Picture.

New official band name: Page and Picture.
We're officially playing South by Southwest :)
Friday, March 18th, from 12pm - 10pm, at Rent Weird Realty. When we play exactly we're not sure of, buuuuut we are officially a band for SXSW and we're in a legit showcase too. I don't think words can express right now just how happy I am in terms of how everything's working out.

Live at Red Eyed Fly - March 1, 2011

photo by: the lovely Emily LaCroix

It's amazing to think how far we've come in such a short time frame. Joe and I have now played a total of 5 shows together, with the SXSW show coming up as our 6th. For whatever reason, which I'm definitely not going to question, we just "click." Our musical compatibility just seems to flow so perfectly with each other, and whenever we're practicing it's like our ideas and suggestions seems to just flow and fuse so smoothly with whatever we're trying to play or practice. I was talking to Joe yesterday about everything going on, and how a lot has seemingly happened in just a little bit of time, and in all his excitement he said, "Jardin, this may sound cheesy, but this is the type of thing that I want to tell my kids about - that I played in a SXSW showcase. We're making memories right here." At first I was all, "Awwww Joe, that's so cute, you're so right," but then really going back to think on what he said later I thought, "Wait a second..we're actually playing SXSW.. this is kind of a huuuuge deal right now. This is a huge accomplishment for the both of us, and this is definitely a memory that I get to pass down to my kids too, something I can share with them that their mom was a part of something so awesome." 

We are making memories, no doubt about it. We're making ourselves into something that we can pass down to our kids and families and be able to talk about this part of our lives that we were able to take so much pride in. I can't stop smiling as I write all this.

 Joe on drums (above picture), myself on guitar (bottom picture)

Emily took some badass shots from the show the other night...she's Joe's girlfriend and she's an extremely talented photographer! Her photos turned out awesome :) 

We've got a long ways to go in terms of our future as a band, and as musicians in general, but we're both excited to see what the weeks, months, and possibly years ahead of us hold. There are sooo many opportunities just waiting for us to reach out to grab them.. they're everywhere! The more you network, the more people you meet, and the more shows you play, the more chances you have at becoming a more successful musician as well as developing a sense of confidence in yourself as well. If you lack confidence, then it's going to be hard to go far because you have to believe in yourself first before other people can see the talent in you too. That's one thing I've realize through this entire experience of playing music is that I have to have faith in my music and myself because otherwise it's going to be difficult to convince others to have hope in me when I can't even find that in myself first. I have confidence in our music, in that we'll be able to keep playing shows and hopefully develop ourselves as some sort of a name here in Austin.

I have no idea where music is going to take me, or Joe, or the two of us together (Page and Picture, baby!) in the world, but the future's only looking up, and I can't wait to see what the universe has in store for the both of us :)

 

Happy, happy, happy. It's Thursday. Which means it's almost Friday. Which means that Chris moves tomorrow and that means we can finally be open about everything. Things are going smoothly, things are going wonderfully, and I can't stop smiling. I've got my coffee, I've got my music, I've got my friends, and now I've got someone who I can not only call one of my best friends but can also call my boyfriend. It's a beautiful day and Queen's playing on my computer right now...

"Don't stop me now I'm having such a good time
I'm having a ball don't stop me now
If you wanna have a good time just give me a call.." 

I think I'm going to live by Queen's words today - this has always been a favorite song of mine in general, but I think especially lately I've been so enthused by life that this is a particularly fitting song at the moment. Anywho. It's back to desk work for me, which really only includes facebook, stumbling, twittter, email, stereomood, and maybe a little bit of reading for my class tomorrow...we'll see. Cheers to a beautiful (almost) weekend ahead!

xo
Jardin 

Note from the Universe: Thursday's Edition.

So like always, I get my daily note from the Universe and of course, this morning's note, just like all the rest, has seemingly struck home within me:

All the years and all the tears... boy, Jardin, aren't they gonna be shocked when they realize that nothing was ever lost - not friendships, not opportunities, not love - nothing?

And that they already had all those things they went searching for?

That never once were we disappointed in them?

That nothing had to be proved, learned, or earned?

That all along they were, in fact, the person they had always dreamed of becoming?

Glad we caught up with you when we did!!

Whoohoo!
    The Universe

I'm so glad to have realized over the past few months how many opportunities I have laid out right in front of me. Everything that's been going on with my music especially always seems to surprise me in terms of how far I've been able to come in just under a year. 

I stopped playing guitar for two years, due to a negative relationship I'd been in, and for being someone who finds music to be one of the most important aspects of my life, it deeply saddened me to think that I had let such a beautiful instrument go to waste for so long. It also makes me sad in a way to think that if in just a few short months, I've successfully been able to develop a following of people/fans, found multiple venues to play at and actually play a lot of different shows, record an EP, and find a drummer in which our musical compatibility seems to just fit hand-in-hand. It's crazy. I wonder if I had never stopped playing where I could possibly be now.

But in saying all this of course, I think that if I hadn't of stopped playing, I probably wouldn't appreciate music quite as much as I do now. Seriously. And I probably wouldn't have met Joe and we wouldn't have such a great collaboration as we do now. Things like this are funny, because while I might think negatively about how things might have been, I realize that now it was all worth it and that now music means more to me than a lot of other stuff in my life. I really want to see where all of this can take me. Playing SXSW might not be a super huge deal to most, but to me, it means more than anything in the world. We talk to the girl today who's going to give us all the details on the show for next week, so I can't wait to hear what she has to say. In just under ONE year have I gone from being nervous to play an open mic at Ruta Maya to recording an EP to finding a drummer to (possibly) playing SXSW. How awesome is that?! When you just open your mind to any and all opportunities it's amazing to see everything that suddenly lays itself right out in front of you :)  

xo
Jardin 

Dominican Joe's Show: Feb. 19th, 2011

Kind of old, but this is from several weekends ago when Joe and I played for Irma's OperationT nonprofit organization - first time we played together with Joe on the kit, and our second show playing altogether. What a fantastic drummer I've got, for realz. He knows how to groove to what I'm playing, which just makes our sound kinda "click" with each other, for lack of better words. He knows what works with what I play, and I consider myself very lucky to have found such an awesome guy to jam out with.

Life as I know it.

Things have been looking up lately, in so many different ways. I've been neglecting my blog as of recent simply because of everything going on in my life, but now that I'm here sitting at the desk watching videos of the show last night, I have a little time to catch up with my thoughts and let everything slowly process and fit together.

First of all, Joe and I played a badass show last night. Hands down, we rocked the house. Despite me breaking a string in the 3rd song, Lindsay came through to the rescue and let me play with her guitar for the rest of the show, which I am extremely grateful for. I could definitely tell the difference though in not playing on my own instrument however... it's kind of like when you've been driving your own car for so many years and then all of a sudden you're in an accident and have to drive a rental car and it just feels... weird, you know? It's just not your car, and you can tell. That's kind of how it is with instruments too.. when you grow so accustomed to the feel and sound of your strings and you just kind of know all the sweet spots when you play on the fret board, it's weird to go all of a sudden to something you're not used to. But still, we rocked out the rest of the evening with no hitches, had a ton of friends come out to support our music (we also had a few strangers come out to listen and surprisingly stayed until the end), and ended up talking to a music promoter for SXSW who's interested in having Joe and I play a show on the 18th, right in the middle of South By - she came out and listened to what we played and was really digging the sound we played. In my opinion, Joe and I work great together. The musical chemistry we have is awesome, and I feel so lucky to have found such a great drummer who actually likes my music enough and isn't already taken by another band that's willing to play with me. I'm so content with how my music's been going lately, and I can't wait to see what the future holds for our musical compatibility. I'm pretty sure a lot of good things are headed our way so I can't wait to see what comes of it all.

In other news, a bunch of stuff that's seemingly been super messy in my personal life has actually started to clear up. A lot of stuff's going to come all out in the open this weekend, and I couldn't be happier about it all. For serious. I've got so many awesome people and friends and just genuinely wonderful people in my life that it's hard not to be so happy about everything. And especially because I've found someone who has consistently been making me happy for the past almost month now, and although we've had to be somewhat quiet about things for certain professional reasons, after this weekend we can be as open about things as we want, and I can't wait :) I'm happy, he's happy, everything is falling into place finally, and I'm quite okay with that. Despite all the messiness that I've been dealing with the past several weeks, it's all worth it to have the end result of happiness. Just a few short days away and I'll be stress-free again in one area of my life.

Anyways. I've got a cruise coming up about...8 days, and I'll be headed to Cozumel with one of my best friends in the world. I can't wait. It's going to be so fun, we're going to be drunk the whole time, get really super tan, lay out by the pool every day, and just have a stressless vacation which I'm pretty sure we're both desperately in need of. So. The countdown has officially begun for the cruise and I can't wait to leave Galveston port in just a little over a week... 

I plan on writing more later, but I'm still separating through a lot of my thoughts right now, so until that all unfolds then I'll just post pretty pictures and maybe a few blurbs of how I'm feeling.

I'm happy, it's a beautiful day outside, I've got a smile on my face, a (possible) show for SXSW coming up, AND I'm officially going to France in the summer for a 6 week study abroad program. Life is looking up, and I always forget sometimes that you have to go through a lot of crap and muddle through the hard times before everything starts to turn around. But it's all worth it in the end, because I've realized that you have to go through some bad shit before you know when things get good.

Hope all you pretty babies are having as beautiful week as I've been having. I should be seeing some photos from last night's show here pretty soon so as soon as I see those I'll be posting them on here for anyone and everyone to view. Love love love to you all.

xo

Jardin