anniversary week // year four

four years. phew. this one was a rough one for both of us individually, but we made it. and all that hard work is paying off. after a year and a half of living with friends and in living rooms, today, we move into a new place together, just the two of us. it feels right.

2011 is the year we started singing and writing music together and i think that is what pulled us through. this is the year our band, the sparrow and the sky, was formed. 

1. we spent new years in nashville.
2. singing on our porch.
3. at croakerfest.
4. getting tattoos from my brother.
5. a fancy dinner for community support network.
6. dancing in a dive bar.
7. our cover of "the weight" with our friends MAGES and owen on mandolin.
8. we played at a lot of open mics this year.
9. for our anniversary we sang together, it was our first time doing it in front of other people.
10. at brew fest.
11. at the circus.
12. ugly sweater christmas show with DANIEL AND THE LION AND PHOX.

song: "shelter from the storm" by bob dylan.

process of progress

today, i am grateful:
for song.
for "the process".
for baby steps.
for a partner in creative crime.
wandering.


i was talking to ellyn this morning about enjoying the process as much as the end product. we have a friend going on a trip next week and she has a very calculated and planned schedule, every minute accounted for. she likes traveling that way.

i'm finding i'm more the other way. yes, i like a plan and a good list is gold to me - but to just be able to take off and wander - priceless, right?

are you outcome motivated? or is the journey reward enough?

i also can't stand an unfinished project, which i seem to have a pile a mile high of..
we're complicated beasts aren't we?

to the journey and to the outcome, whatever they both may be,
stephanie.

bumps in the road

yesterday carson called asking me to come over and help him with a video project. this came as quite a surprise because we had just finished taping a rather important project the previous day.

i grabbed my camera and walked on over. carson was extremely excited and just said "start the camera and let me handle the rest."

what came out of it was this video. i was bawling as soon as i saw the names of dan and chelsea, two of carson's best friends from montana whom we haven't seen in quite some time, not to mention their new baby daughter.

i forget how much i/we have. this summer has been such a transitional period, both of us decided it was time to take our dreams a little more seriously and we decided it was time to start saying goodbye to jobs we both loved. emotional roller coaster doesn't even begin to cover it... then he goes and makes something like this.

carson had recorded "murder in the city" (one of our favorite avett brothers tunes) a while ago and i always forget how much i love his version. we made this video in one take.

if you'd like to follow our musical adventures, check out our little blog.

i hope you are in love with your own life, or fall back in with it soon.
goodnight,
stephanie

our show with mages

just a few of my favorites from our last show at the anna lee.

such a magical night with some dear friends. (thanks for filming sister!)

four years // open mic

to celebrate our four year anniversary (i know!) we played at an open mic at the johnson public house. it was quite lovely actually. we had beer, played scrabble. played four of our little numbers. we were blown away by daniel and the lion - those guys host the open mic.
these were snapped by the talented ellyn. i'm getting more and more excited for the house show with our friends mages on saturday!

[beginnings] the sparrow and the sky

carson and i have been singing together for quite some time, but it was late last winter i finally felt brave enough to perform with him in front of people. flash forward to early this year and we've recorded some rough demos, put up a myspace and even a facebook page. (i know, we're really up on things) the above images are from some of our recording sessions.

so, for your pleasure or just to humor me, some links:
>> myspace
>> facebook
>> website

we're currently getting gigs in the madison area and working on new songs. (!)