August Wrap-up

Wow, was August ever a busy month!

Having time on my hands, I took on a major item from my 'honey-do' list; painting the kitchen. 

Before...

We moved into our house last fall (2014). Built in the 1980s, it features a lot of stained wood-- cabinets, trim, etc.  We have a long list of ideas how to update it. Topping the list is the kitchen. 

Upper cabinets & pantry complete

Wanting to bring some color into the room, and brighten things up a bit, we visited the local hardware store, picked out our colors (beach/coastal theme) and went to work. I am now about three weeks or so into the project. 

As always happens, this project is taking much longer than I anticipated. There were a few missteps along the way, but I eventually hit my rhythm and am getting things done-- along with several other 'honey-do' items. I start working on the lower cabinets after posting this... for now I am enjoying a break in the action, and a cup of Moroccan Mint tea.

The kitchen project did not leave much time to work on this blog's 'to-do' list, but family takes priority,as it should. 

Music has not been totally abandoned during the kitchen project. This past weekend marked the beginning of a new chapter in our church that I was a part of. A lot of construction has been happening recently to expand the seating in the sanctuary, which included last weeks relocation of the stage. I was blessed to be part of the first worship team to take the new stage last weekend. Even though a lot of work is still to be done, it was great being an active part of this new chapter.

Sound check on our new stage

I still intend to work on some of the bass-gear reviews, especially now that the weather has cooled; we were at 100+ several times in the past few weeks. However, those videos will have to be filmed during the few moments of downtime of the kitchen project...

Stay tuned & in tune!~

August Weekends

Now that the dust is settling from our vacation and having family visit us right afterwards, I was able to jump right back on stage with only a touch of "jet-lag."

My go-to bass this summer has been my new Roadrunner G&L which has been sounding great as always. Every now and then however, I crave something different... like my G&L Jazz Bass for instance. Having more than one bass to choose from helps keep things fresh and inspires new grooves. Why this is I will likely never know, but the fact remains-- variety adds spice.

This past weekend I had a chance to play with our main worship band, which is something I haven't been able to do for the past four months or so. Being away that long created a bit of a problem which was compounded by trying to mesh in with new musicians (drummer, singers). Again, variety spicing things up, but in a way that I had not anticipated. Maybe it was the heat (this summer Wa. state has been going through a heatwave...), maybe my enthusiasm for playing with the band again, or maybe I was just having an off day. Whatever the reason I just never did feel like we meshed together as a band this weekend. Granted, anyone outside the group likely did not notice anything as the band still sounded good-- just a little rough around the edges...

Lessons learned/reminded of from this weekend:
- Relax and have fun
- Need more work on those walking bass lines
- Bring an extra pen
- Stay hydrated
- Relax and have fun

This week and next will be concentrated on practicing, video editing and the blog... not to mention the long list of Honey-Do items around the house that remain. Time to put on my painter's hat (!)

Till next time...
                      Stay tuned & in tune!~