Winter Wonder- oh, it melted.

Greetings from rainy Austin. We spent the weekend in snowy Houston and wet Fort Worth. There was a precipitation theme throughout. When we left Wimberley on Friday it was snowing a little and pretty. As we neared Houston it got sunny, but it was still pretty cold. Since our gig was kinda outdoors, we thought we'd stop at a CVS and get some of those handwarmer things. Except CVS stores in Houston doesn't seem to sell them, because IT NEVER GETS BELOW 80 DEGREES IN HOUSTON. Makes sense. So we went to Autozone. Surely when you are stranded along the side of a Houston road in 80-degree weather you would need a...oh, no luck there either. So then we went to Academy Sports, to the hunting section, where I saw way too much camoflauge for my taste and were told they were out. Because of COURSE when it actually is going to be 26 degrees in Houston, people run out and buy that stuff. Luckily we found some in the shoe section. Toe warmers, not hand warmers. They saved the day, and they don't just have to stick on your toes. I stole this photo from Susan because apparently I DIDN'T TAKE ANY. Dang. (c) suSANG! 2009. This was all that was left the next morning when we walked around a park in downtown Houston. That snowman's got impressive core freezing technology, or something. Then there was a show in Fort Worth and I played a little and truly enjoyed playing my tunes, which is always nice because I'm about to put them on a record so I'll be kinda stuck with them. Very excited for next week when we do the last bit of tracking on EP 2...it's getting closer! Now I'm gonna go find a furnace vent because I'm out of toe warmers.

Rules for Christmas in Albuquerque

1. If the weather people say it will snow on a certain day, it won't. 2. If they say the snow that is falling will only be for a little bit, it will snow all day. 3. Any leftovers from Christmas dinner must be garnished with green chile. 4. Ideally post-holiday breakfasts involve some sort of red chile smothered over something. What the something ends up being is inconsequential if it is covered in chile. Flakes! And I don't mean dandruff!

T-shirt Plethora

Lessons learned this weekend: - Just because the weather people say there's a hurricane coming, and winds, and rain, and the city shuts down and cancels a bunch of stuff, and you huddle up with lots of Diet Coke...does not mean that you will get any hurricane weather or even wind. Or rain, for that matter. Nothing 'round here, folks. That's ok. - Inking t-shirts with Sharpie takes a LONG time. Katie and I watched lots of hurricane coverage and 1.5 movies while I inked 3 shirts. - Sharpie does remarkably well if you take your time. - I am no calligraphy expert. The results: We're lucky. It's true. My favorite.

Hurricane Party

Well, something's blowing in from the south: In the spirit of Mary Chapin Carpenter's line from "Down at the Twist and Shout" -- "they have a hurricane party every time it blows" -- my buddy Katie and I are going to hunker down with some hummus, Diet Coke, and blank t-shirts and Sharpies. See, I decided that being on tour as a Merch Girl for 2.5 weeks...well, no one wants me to wear the same Susan t-shirt every night. No one wants that...probably especially Susan because she sits in the van with me. So Katie and I have been coming up with clever things worthy of a t-shirt. I'll share what we come up with later, but one of Katie's suggestions was "Merch Girls Do It On the Bar." Oh my.

Weather Report

Um, I've never been in the path of a hurricane before. My neighbor asked if beer and bacon were proper things to stock up on. I figure since Austin is just supposed to get a lot of rain, that's suitable. Good vibes to everyone who's going to get the brunt of Hurricane Ike...

A Day at the Market

Pike Place Market. My favorite. On a grey, rainy Seattle day. My favorite. Inside people were their usual flower-buying, honey-sampling, coffee-sipping selves. Outside the vendors stayed under awnings while the bright fruit and veggies made up for the gloom. Finish it off with a free sample of the mint mocha chip frappucino at the first Starbucks ever. Sweet!

Exhausted. Tornados.

Tonight was my 4th night of playing this week, out of 5 (one more gig tomorrow). Sunday I rest. I'm not complaining. In fact, I don't think I've ever had a busier gig week...it's really, really a blessing. If you had anything at all ever to do with it, from coming to a show to reading this blog to building my trusty Martin guitar, thanks. :) I'm so totally not fishing for a Martin custom model one day, haha. On Sunday Dawn is going to show me some of her favorite Austin sights...complete with a trip to Veggie Heaven, communing with nature at the Wildflower Center, and seeing Terri Hendrix and Lloyd Maines play at the Austin Fine Arts Festival. That pretty much sounds like the perfect day! My fingers will appreciate the rest. Don't expect me to be pushing any buttons if we encounter an elevator or an ATM, Dawn. Ow. Also, there is a tornado warning tonight. I've never really lived in a place where they were an issue. Bring on the danger! Grr!