New Year, New Beginings, More Adventure!

She's Back!

      Hey everyone one who either forgot my blog existed or has been waiting for another post for wayyy to long! Haha, if there's one thing you probably know about me by now, it's that I'm an expert procrastinator; even on things I like doing... but I'm back! I can't promise to keep posting every two weeks like I meant to, because recording is just around the corner, and I have a lot on my plate right now. This little journey of mine is taking a few sharp turns, but I'll keep updating you when I can. :) 

And She Has a Lot to Say

     Where do I even start?? Oh my goodness, you guys, there is so very much I could talk about. My ADD brain is telling me a million different things to start saying and I'm not even sure I know exactly what they all are... 
     It feel so good to be blogging again, I know that much. :) I've missed this. 
     I think I could blog every day of this week just trying to catch you up... 
     That's it, I'm gonna go get some tea, because tea helps everything, then come back to this. hang in there ;) 
     Okay! This is better. Cozy Blanket, Michael Buble's christmas CD, (no, I'm not done with Christmas music yet. You really shouldn't be surprised. I AM me. ;) ) and English Breakfast tea :D Life is good. Well, life is okay... After all, there aren't any brownies. 
     Alrighty... I have made a decision. I'm just going to update you guys on my music today. I have to leave in an hour for worship practice with my youth band (music, again. ;) ) so I don't have long enough to tell you guys some awesome story... I'm sorry. But I promise to catch you up on the good stuff later! 

Guitar

 

      Guitar practice isn't going as well as I hoped it would have by now. I love rocking the look of a guitar player in pictures, but honestly, I'm not that great... haha ;) 

     I guess when it comes down to it, this is a lot more work than I thought it would be. My dad is the most talented guitar player I've ever seen, so I just assumed I could be good at it too. 
     Maybe I'm just starting to realize what real work it is to play this thing. haha. I honestly don't know! I feel like I'm bad at it, but, then again, I've only really been trying to play for about 5 months. I can play for a long time now; those baby calluses I was so proud of have grown up a little. ;)  

Still, I get so excited when I play a 
new note cleanly or when I get a new rhythm down, that sometimes I squeal just a little bit. ;)
I love my gorgeous black guitar; she is pretty photogenic. ;) I want to name her, but I haven't thought of the perfect name yet... She will be the guitar I used for this (very scary) project, and will have gotten me through a lot... so I want the name to be something to do with bravery. If you guys have ideas I would love to hear them! :) (And yes... I was scared to death up in that tree... I mean, let's be real; my balancing skills are like ZERO. )

Song Writing

 

     When I write a song, I feel a few things... 

1) Whatever it may be, whatever I'm writing is always about what I'm going through at that moment. My songs reflect my trials, my realizations, and my whole self. 

2) More often than not, I feel like I am not writing the song by myself. Sometimes it's like there's a higher power taking hold of the pen, and suddenly, the pen is just flowing across the paper. I know that might sound weird, but stick with me here. It's like God and I work together... If I pour in all my feelings and emotions, He writes the words. 
    That moment when I'm totally into the song and what I'm writing feels so amazing. I really love it. It's kinda similar to the heart-churning feeling I get when the Holy Spirit touches my heart during a powerful worship session. Its weird, and it pulls at my every fiber, I'm not quite sure what it is, but it feels good; and it feels right. 
3) I don't think I will ever feel like my songs are good enough... If I'm absolutely honest, I like them and I'm so proud of them for a few days after I write them, but then when I think of the songs again, they're "just not good enough," and I want to fix them. 
     I think this is something all artists must go through... Feeling like what they did isn't done or isn't good enough for people to ever see or hear. I never thought of myself as a perfectionist before I started writing songs that other people would get to hear... haha 
     There's one thing that is true for sure though. My songs are mine, and they reflect me. I see myself in the music I write. 

      Here's a few pictures to turn that last sentence into some sort of beautifully worded pun for you, because I have a friend who happens to quit enjoy her puns. ;) (besides, the pictures are pretty cool, not gonna lie.. ;) )

I'm sorry if it's a little self-absorbed to post three picture of pretty much the same thing, but I just couldn't choose between them! (besides, you can pin these. *hinty hint hint* ;) )

 Singing

     This is the one I've been most excited about talking about everyone! :D Singing has actually been going really well! I thought about doing a cover of a Christmas song for all of you so those of you who haven't could finally hear my voice, but it occurred to me that I actually have no idea how to do that.. so... :/

     I haven't gotten to tell you guys about my music wall yet! Unfortunately I lost my pictures of it, because my computer kinda... broke.. So I don't have any right now. I'll get some for you next time. :) For now I'll just tell you. My Dad brought an amp upstairs for me with a mic and I have been using it like crazy! I can feel my voice getting stronger and better, and I'm even learning how to add harmonies to things, so that's exciting. :D

A couple weeks ago I made the exciting discovery that Celine Dion and I sing in the same key, and that if I work hard enough, (I'm pretty sure) I could rock any of her songs! This is the one that I've been working on for the past few weeks: It's pretty fancy stuff ;) 

     I have been so excited for my youth band practices and youth group worship nights! The more I sing in my youth band the more I love it... <3 

 This is (most of) my band. :D We played a gig the other night at a bible study, so that's what this picture is from. Our electric guitar player is missing and so is one of our singers. :( They couldn't make it that night... 

     The girl next to me is miss energetic Alexi. I love her so much, she always makes practice more fun and reminds me to not take everything seriously. She has a gorgeous voice and is so encouraging. I love being able to sing with her. :D Next to her is our ever-supportive band leader, Jordi. I can't express how thankful I am for his encouragement and willingness to work with us on everything. Behind me is Katie (Jordi's wife) as our bassist. We couldn't be more grateful to this mama of two little girls to step up and play for us when we lost our last bassist. Hiding behind the drums is Jesse. I'm just starting to get to know him a little better, but he can be really funny sometimes. :D On the keyboard is my brother-in-law Christopher. In spite of our sibling-like rivalry, the band just wouldn't be the same without him. ;) 

Here is a video that someone recorded of one of our songs at this event. If you can pick apart which is mine and which is Alexi's voice, you can finally hear me sing. ;) haha. This song is a little low for my range though, so don't expect too much.  

     I love my youth band. Can I possibly express that enough? The thought of having to leave them when I graduate next year breaks my heart. I never knew I would feel like such a part of something so cool. Thank God for great surprises!

Well, Let's Wrap this Up and Put a Bow On It

      I'm sorry if this post was a little less than what you were hoping for after I was gone for so long; but there was just so much to tell and I realized that if I didn't start with another update-ish post I would be lost in my sea of scatter-brainedness. Believe me, that's not a good sea to be lost in. ;) 

     I hope this post was at least a little entertaining for all of you fans out there. (I still laugh when I say fans... but you know ;) ) I will give you some really good stuff soon, so be on the look out for my next post! I already know what it's going to be about. :) 

    Hey- if nothing else, at least you know I didn't finally die of stage fright or something. (which I'm pretty sure is totally a thing) 

And hey! A new year is upon us! who knows what's going to happen!?

God bless you guys! I hope you have an amazing week,

I'll be back soon this time! Promise! ;) 

~Arianna Rose