Updates! Part One...

So, in going through my pictures and blog posts from the last year, I realized that there were several things that I never posted. The next couple of blogs are going to include some of the things you may have missed.


Earlier this year, I relearned how to play the "Star Spangled Banner" Jimi Hendrix style on my electric cello:

In April, I made this painting. It's actually not finished yet. I'm working on a painted frame to go with it. I'm hoping to finish that part sometime soon :) 

 

 

 

 

I wrote a short blog about the story behind it a while ago:

Last week I finished a new painting. It spans nine 4 inch by 4 inch canvases. I originally intended for the canvases to be spaced apart when displayed, but I decided that I liked them together better. It's based off of a dream I had a couple of weeks ago. In the dream, I was cutting out sections of my eyelids to make them less wrinkly and more aesthetically pleasing. I was so enthusiastic about this idea, that I influenced others around me to do the same. Maybe my subconscious was making some kind of commentary about the ridiculous superficiality of our society. Or maybe I've seen too many shows lately with women getting needless plastic surgery...

In March I took some sunset pictures that I never posted:

A wash.

This is my favorite. I love the dark clouds.

In mid-March, Bill, Devin, Michael, and I all went up to the cabin for the weekend.

Looking for a geocache.

Bill decided to take the tree. Bill won.

The view by the fish hatchery.

We went up to the Mogollon Rim, which still had frost and snow on the ground.

We had a lot of fun exploring the spontaneous lakes created by snow melt off.

I think Devin was cold lol.

So, we all went to bed around three in the morning, as we often do. At 7 a.m., Bill woke us all up to tell us that the snow was falling fast and we'd better pack up and head out. We didn't want to be stranded in the snow!

This is what the cabin neighborhood looked like on our way out. The day before there was no snow at all.

The road on the way home.

As we reached the outskirts of Phoenix, we actually experienced sleet! It was thick on the roadway and none of the cars knew what to do. We even saw some cars that had driven into the ditches on the side of the road.

The desert in sleet.

In early April, I decided to take some sunset pictures at the pedestrian entrance to Usery Mountain Regional Park:

In June, Angel, Gabby, and I took a crazy girl's trip to California to go to the International Makeup Artists' Trade Show (IMATS). IMATS has become open to the public in recent years and is a great opportunity to see the newest trends in make up and special effects make up. It's also a great place to get high quality make up at a discount :) .

On our drive we realized that we'd be passing close by the Salton Sea, so we decided to go check it out. Gabby and I have been wanting to go to the Salton Sea since we watched this documentary all about how the sea is drying up and the surrounding towns along with it. It's a very interesting issue. The Salton Sea was created by accident in 1905 after the Colorado River flooded and sent water flowing into the Salton Sink through man made irrigation canals. The Salton Sink was fertile and being used for farming at the time. I guess no one had anticipated that the Colorado River could flood enough to break into the valley. Geological records now show that this valley has been been a lake off and on for thousands of years. It's currently the largest lake in California.

Over time, the lake has begun to dry up and become more and more saline through evaporation and agricultural runoff. It has also begun to grow high levels of bacteria and algae. The fish in the lake have large die-offs periodically and most people have left the area due to the stink of decomposing fish. Many people want to save the lake due to the fact that it's a sanctuary for many species of birds who have lost their habitat due to the development of southern California. It also keeps down a huge amount of dust that would otherwise blow into the Los Angeles area. Facts about the Salton Sea.

 "A" marks the Salton Sea.

The view from the completely abandoned road we took from I-10.

While we were driving along this empty highway that seemed like it hadn't been repaved since before I was born, we came across these really cool hills.

We decided to get out and take some pictures.

No one coming that way.

Or that way.

Gabby!

Many areas near the Salton Sea have become a ghost town. When we got out of the car, we could see why. It smelled like a garbage dump. It was a great combination with the hot, sticky air.

Gabby and Angel taking in the Salton Stink.

There are rotting tilapia carcasses all over the shoreline.

Empty also...

The blazing sun setting over the lake. 

After getting back in the car, we couldn't seem to leave the stink behind. The flies couldn't even handle it and stowed away in our car.

In Pasedena, we stayed at the Saga Motor Hotel. This hotel has been around since the 50s and still maintains the same decor. It was pretty cool, actually.

We decided to pose in front of the mosaic before heading to IMATS.

We were there early and the line was already this long...

This is serious business.

Really serious.

Earth, Water, Wind, Fire...and MAKEUP!!

The convention center. Booths and booths and booths of high quality make up at a discount...

The three of us with bare faces before we got our make-up done.

 After getting our makeovers done, we decided that airburshed make up is THE WORST. You may not be able to tell in this picture, but in person it looks very thick and cakey. I can see how it could be nice for photography and situations where you want the appearance of smooth skin at a distance, but for day to day life it's just too much.

Angel getting her makeup done.

 Angel was definitely not into this look...

 Ugh there's that make-up again. I look thrilled Lol.

 Gabby getting her make-up done.

  There were representatives from the various makeup companies wearing some crazy looks all over the convention center.

Angel. After this, the phrase of the weekend became "beefcake" lol.

  Before leaving the convention, we watched the student makeup competition. This one was the winner this year.

Our next destination was Santa Monica Pier. We wandered around, ate some really badly prepared fish n' chips, threw that away and got corn dogs, and of course got some funnel cake. :)

 Angel getting her fortune.

Santa Monica Pier

We stayed at the Santa Monica Hostel. Through some awesome luck, we were put in an upgraded private room. This was our balcony.

Our hallway/sink/bathroom area.

The first two beds.

The other bed.

After buying all that makeup, we had to put it on!

Angel rocking her Katy Perry lashes in the surprised model pose.

My new Sugarpill eyelashes!

Ready!!!

We wandered around the shops nearby for a while, and then we happened upon this awesome blues bar. The owner waived the $12 cover and let us in free. It was totally the eyelashes.

The band playing that night was Cafe R&B. Their lead singer was awesome.

The next morning, we headed to Venice Beach. First we stopped at the farmer's market.

Gabby at the petting zoo.            

 

The canal on the way to the beach.

After we'd had enough sun, Angel's parents called and invited us to go eat dinner with them in San Diego. We decided, why not? So we drove down to San Diego.

Gabby and I ready for some real food!

Sunset at the beach in San Diego.

It was cold lol.

After a packed weekend, we drove home.

Check back for Updates Part Two!

Halloween

This year I didn't actually celebrate Halloween on the 31st. By that point I had a cold and decided to just leave a bowl of candy on the porch with the "Take one or two" sign so I could lay around in bed. I had fully expected that I'd have one or two greedy teenagers empty the whole bowl into their sack, what I hadn't expected was that one of them would actually TAKE MY BOWL thirty minutes after I put it outside. If I hadn't felt awful, I would have driven around my neighborhood and hunted them down (once a teacher, always a teacher! lol). Instead, I put more candy in a styrofoam ice chest with a sign:

My candy chest

My actual Halloween celebration happened the Saturday before. My band had a show at the Sail Inn for No label AZ Radio. Being that Halloween is my favorite holiday, I had to get serious about my costume. I decided to be an evil nurse, so of course, I had to cover my costume in blood :)

 

The first layer. I added a lot more after I put it on. Cleaning the blood out of the shower was not so fun, however.

An evil nurse has to be able to give you a shot! Mwahahaha! I found some giant syringes and hot glued some straightened paper clips in them for "needles." Then I filled them with water and food coloring. I sealed the whole thing with more hot glue.

Bill wasn't able to come to our show that night but Angel got a pic of us.

Here's a video of us playing "Candle Wax" that night. I embedded this as a playlist, so if you've missed some of the other videos we've posted recently, they will play afterwards.

Angel and I in our evil nurse costumes.

Night Shots

Night time is my favorite time in the desert. It's the time when all the living creatures breathe a sigh of relief and come out of hiding. You can hear crickets, coyotes, owls, and sometimes bats. The night air feels fresh and calm. I love going out into the pitch dark and staring at the open expanse of stars and sky. The desert always feels welcoming at night.

Last week, the desert was calling me and I decided to go take some night pictures. In order to take good night pictures, you have to own a camera that is capable of gathering enough light. My old camera was a good camera, but didn't have enough exposure time and the quality of the lenses wasn't as high, so my night night pictures were often very grainy and dark. My new camera, while still not close to the quality of Bill's camera, takes much better night pictures. There's still a little bit of grain in the pictures because they are compressed when uploaded to blogger, but at least you can tell what you're looking at!

For the first set of pictures, I decided to drive out by Saguaro Lake.

Some boats on the lake,

The far shore of the lake with some more boats.

These hills separate the lights of the city from the lake. The Mesa/Phoenix/Scottsdale lights are so bright that they create some really cool night time silhouettes.

The same pictures with my car lights turned off.

  The tiny dot in the middle of this hill is a single saguaro. The white lines in the sky are planes.

For these shot's I drove over by Usery Mountain Regional Park. This is where the lights of the city begin to reappear. I always feel like the people who live in the house on the hill in the middle of this picture must have the most amazing views. Their house seems to be the highest in the area.

Some saguaros and an ocotillo silhouetted by city lights. There are a couple of plane trails in this picture

Usery Mountain is in the east, so it isn't silhouetted by city lights. The lights in the picture are from buildings at Usery Mountain Regional Park.

Usery Mountain during the day from a different angle. For some more pictures of Usery Mountain Regional Park, check out my blog about it from last year.

The next night I decided to take a picture of some of the palm trees in my backyard, and I discovered something amazing: we DO have stars at night in Phoenix! It takes a 15 second exposure to see them through the light pollution, dust, and smog, but they're there! ;)

Last night, Bill and I decided to take some city light shots. We initially wanted to go up on South Mountain, but we realized it the road up the mountain was closed at 7 p.m., so we decided to drive around and find another vantage point nearby.

All I can say about the spot we found is that it did not say "Area Closed to Bill and Lauren." ;)

There are two planes in this picture. The giant "swoosh" of lights in the middle of the picture are from a car driving by.

This picture was taken in the direction of Sky Harbor. I think the planes in the picture are either getting ready to land or just taking off because they're so low to the ground.

Downtown. Look at all that light pollution!

  Camelback Mountain.

No, that's not a shooting star. :) I think it was a helicopter. It had a very bright light that was shining in our direction for a few minutes. I achieved the star effect on all the lights by changing the f-stop settings on my camera.

PoorWater Update

So, It's been quite a while since I've written a PoorWater update (since April 16th)! A lot has happened since then. In May, we had our last two shows with the original members of PoorWater. Bill took some awesome pictures:

May 5th at 910 Live (Cinco de Mayo or Cinco de Drinko as it's known around Phoenix lol)

 Devin sporting the coolest combination of shirts ever.

 Rock in the awesome hat!!

 The wind was blowing up on the stage during our set, so I had a lot of fun getting the "rockstar hair" going.

What you can't tell in this picture is that James and I both had the crazy

 hat and glasses on earlier in the set lol. Mine were red. Of course!

May 19th at Crabby Don's:

 

 Nate singing some back-up.

 Gotta have a picture of the shoes!!

 I love the filter on this one. It's like Devin is playing guitar in the wild west! That's pretty awesome.

 This one is very ghostly...

In June, Nate and Rock announced their resignation from the band. We were very sad about this, but we understood that they both had different paths they wanted to take. This is something that happens frequently in bands. In order to create music together, the people in a band all have to be going in the same direction at the same time. Often times people start out going in the same direction, but circumstances in their lives change. We had a lot of fun playing music with them for the last two and half years. Rock was actually in a previous band with us before PoorWater, so I've been in a band with him for four years. Crazy! We will definitely miss them!

So. What happens next? We've spent the last couple of months figuring out. Devin, James, and I, decided to stay together as PoorWater. Initially, we spent a lot of time thinking about whether we would audition new members and continue to be a five-piece. After a lot of consideration and jamming as a three piece, we've come to the conclusion that we're going to move forward with just the three of us, and if we happen to meet someone a long the way who is the right fit for our band, we might become a four piece. 

How will we work as a three piece? Well, James plays the drums and that won't change. Devin and I are both huge fans of having a bassy, deep sound in our instruments, so the two of us have taken over the low range. I've actually turned the bass up on my cello and started using the lowest of my six strings, E, more often. I never really used it much before because it's so low that it interferes when we play with a bass player. Devin is now playing through both a guitar amp and a bass cab. It sounds pretty cool in my opinion. We are also both still playing in our high ranges too. Devin sang before on some of our songs and will be doing most of the singing now. I've also started singing back up. My voice has finally come back after a year off of teaching music. I'm really happy about that!  

It's definitely been fun to experiment around with creating a new sound. We've written three new songs already. The soul of PoorWater is definitely still there, but we've started to bring in some darker, heavier elements as well. Playing with three members has allowed us a lot of flexibility in our sound and dynamic range. I can't to wait to have some of the new songs recorded so we can post them up! In the meantime, you can hear some of our new music at our upcoming shows:

This show is happening on Thursday. Rock has been able to join us for this show and we have found a bass player to fill in, so we will be playing several favorites from Harvesting Habits. This is a farewell show to Rock. We can't think of a better way to celebrate than to play an awesome show with some of our favorite local prog bands and an awesome group touring from Canada! We will also be debuting two of our new songs as a three piece. This should be an exciting show!

This will be our first show as the new formation of PoorWater. We're playing some new songs and some new covers. It will be awesome!