Category Archives: MWIP

My last three weeks in pictures: a serious spoon shortage

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mwip_2013-06-09Hello my beauties! My apologies for leaving you for so long without warning. The truth is, I’ve been sick. You may remember when I attended the chronic pain management program at the Ottawa Hospital in January. About three weeks ago I started experiencing extreme versions of my usual symptoms and had to cut way back on everything. For much of the last three weeks I’ve been bed-bound and making sure to do a lot of self care. I watched a lot of Netflix, drank a lot of tea, did my nails a bunch of times, and ate as healthy as I could.

Of course I wasn’t able to stop working completely, and I often felt well enough to work for a couple of hours a day. In that time I taught my lovely students, played my usual Monday night performance, and answered a few emails.

Basically I have suffering from a massive “spoon shortage.” If you are unaware of the Spoon Theory of chronic illness, click here to read The Spoon Theory by Christine Miserandino. Once you’ve read that, click here to read an excellent article about trying to blog without spoons, written by a fellow spoonie, Emily of Chronically Creative.

I feel like I might be starting on the upswing and heading back into “regular chronically ill” territory, so I’m going to try taking on a little more again. You might see a few blog posts in the mix, but I’m also going to try warming up, and piano practice, and lots and lots of self-care.

Thanks for your support as I cope with this time in my life. If you have some positive news happening in your life I’d love to hear about it in the comments below. Share your positivity!

My Week In Pictures: Pianos, polish, and pretty red notebooks

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My Week In Pictures: 2013_05_12-19

This last week was a lot of quiet time punctuated by small pleasures. I started writing in a new red journal, I drank a lot of tea, I painted my nails this nice fossil colour, I drank a bunch of tea, I saw some great Ottawa-local jazz musicians in concert, I played a brunch gig with my friend Marie-Claire Durand, I practiced piano, I taught some lessons, and I watched a ton of Portlandia on Netflix.

Wow, I can’t believe that’s it! Some weeks you just need to lay low and do the little things that make you happy.

Also, due to the long weekend there will be no Live Jazz Monday tonight at Mercury Lounge, but we’re back next week so see you then!

My Week In Pictures: I can go outside again! Hooray!

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My Week In PicturesI have been enjoying the spring so much I could have summarized this whole week with one photo of my patio set. I think we barbecued every meal of the day this week, including breakfast. But seriously, it’s been a really fun week. Craig and I had musical visitors from Montreal, Joel Kerr and Marie-Claire Durant, staying with us. Craig and Joel rehearsed and recorded for a very special project called It’s A Free Country. They will be releasing the album at IMOO on June 16. I highly recommend checking the show out.

In other news, I started taking some rudimentary piano lesson now that we have an excellent instrument to practice on, I had a wonderful concert on Friday with Mark Ferguson and Joel Kerr. There may be some other news related to that concert but I’m not at liberty to say at the moment… it’s a secret… And also, Craig and I spent time rehearsing with the Ottawa Rhythm Initiative for their inaugural show Collected Soles: A Rhythm Tap & Jazz Music Show.

I wish I had more to report at this time but I’m basically going through the planning phase of my life as we move swiftly through May and closer and closer to the summer. More updates will come though! Stay tuned this week for an awesome CD bundle giveaway :)

My Week In Pictures: blue skies and red lipstick

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My Week In Pictures: April 22 - 28, 2013This was a nice week. There was just the right amount of everything. After last week’s post about being down on the artist life, it was nice to have a fun art-filled week.

I taught a dozen students, I performed at Live Jazz Monday and at the Brookstreet Hotel and at the Herb & Spice, I blogged three whole times (which is a big step forward from wanting to quit last week),I attended two concerts, I went to a music store and invested in some long-needed equipment, I had a fun writing/rehearsing session with Mark Ferguson, I attended my brother’s animation grad fair, and I had an amazing photo shoot with Claude Brazeau.

I also spent an entire day of my work week prepping for the photo shoot.

Confession time: I love makeup and clothes. There I said it. I think for awhile I resisted the urge to indulge in makeup and clothes (and nails and accessories) and I have a feeling that resistance stems from a weird sort of femme-shame, where things that are associated with femininity are considered frivolous and inferior. Anyway, I’m over that now and I’m glad I am too because I’m discovering an awesome world of amazing, creative women doing incredible things with clothes and makeup and accessories and nails (I’m leaving out hair because I don’t really have much hair). On Friday I visited viens avec moi and borrowed eight pieces from them for the photo shoot with Claude including this crazy amazing floral print dress you can see in the top left photo. The shoot will also contain custom earrings by Katie Hurdon which you can also get a preview of in the top left photo. I did my own makeup (thanks to some great tutorials from Lisa Eldridge) but if there are any aspiring makeup artists out there who would like to collaborate with me on future projects, please contact me!

So that’s it for my week, how was your week? Do you wear makeup or do your nails? What are some of your favourite makeup/clothes/nails/accessories resources? I’m voraciously devouring blogs and youtube videos so please share in the comments!

My Week In Pictures: I think I might be crazy

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2013_04_15-21You may have noticed that I wasn’t around as much as usual last week. I didn’t really tweet much or post much to facebook or post much on my blog. I was pretty busy last week with practical stuff, like teaching a bunch of students and recording radio station IDs and attending concerts and receptions, but I also didn’t post much because I spent a lot of last week thinking about what exactly it is I want to do with my life.

I think a lot of people think about this. I’m lucky that I have so many options.

Since this blog is mostly about my life and what I’m up to, I found it hard to write posts while trying to figure it out. I find that this happens after every major project or event. It happened after I graduated, it happened after I released my first CD, and so, fittingly, it’s happening now, about a season past the release of my second CD.

Even this post is hard to write because I really want to keep the mood of the blog light and fun and generally about what is going on in my life and what is inspiring my writing and singing. Right now though, being between projects and all, I’m feeling the urge to go into “writer’s hibernation” where I cloister myself and gather information and spend a lot of time being creative again. I don’t expect this to happen at the exclusion of blogging all together, after all I have a fun photo shoot planned to share with you and some new mixtapes and an awesome CD bundle giveaway, but I might have to lay low for awhile and get my head straightened out.

Sometimes it’s hard to be a working artist. You have to strike the balance between making money and being creative all while maintaining motivation in the face of huge adversity and common sense. For example, yesterday I spent about four hours introducing myself and my music to Polaris Music Prize jurors via email. Do I have any allusions of winning the Polaris Music Prize? No, not really. Why did I do it? Because I am a special brand of crazy that makes me a good candidate to be a successful artist. But also, doing it was the first pro-active thing I’ve done in awhile and it made me feel really good to say to myself “I put in a hard day’s work” for once.

I would love to hear from other artists or self-employed people or even people that are just good at self-motivating. What are your secrets? How do you keep your head above water? Tell me please! I need to know!

My Week In Pictures: Things I’ve learned about writing

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2013_04_08-14I didn’t take a lot of photos this week for one reason or another. I think it was a combination of not wanting to leave the house because of the freak weather, and the fact that I spent most of my free time alternating between watching Community and writing poems/lyrics.

On the subject of writing I think I have finally come to terms with the fact that my process is not pretty or romantic. I have to get up in the morning, and start writing like it’s my job. There’s a lot of sitting around involved, a healthy sprinkling of procrastination, some cursing, and a well-thumbed rhyming dictionary. My office gets really messy, coffee cups pile up around me, and sometimes I put off things like showering.

Writing can be an ugly, time-consuming thing.

I have also found that I need a six hour block to get anything done. Even if the actually writing part only took an hour, I need the five hours before it to think and stomp around, and watch some Community. I’ve corroborated this theory with another writer this week so I don’t feel crazy about this anymore.

I have also also found that I work well with ultimatums. I promised myself to write a poem every day in April (which is going pretty well so far, only one day missed kind of), but I told myself I would give myself a poem break if I finished lyrics or made some significant progress on a song. It’s silly really, no one is making me write the poems in the first place, but I work way better if I think I’m getting out of doing something. Writing is weird.

Contrary to the above three plus paragraphs, I did do other things this week. In no particular order I ate some gelato, appeared on Ottawa Morning on CBC, made flambéed bananas, had a wedding consultation, painted my nails, went to see a John Dies at the End at the Mayfair Theatre, hosted a community radio show, went to a birthday party, tip-toed past four sleeping Torontonians, and taught a whole bunch of lessons!

That’s it for this week! How was your week?

 

My Week In Pictures: Tap dancing, swing dancing, and synchronized swimming

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2013_04_01-07

This week was all about dance and movement. And TV watching/nail care, which I guess is the opposite of dance and movement… let me elaborate.

On Friday night me and my Gentlemen Friends™ were scheduled to play for the Ottawa Swing Dance Society’s Live Band Friday in partnership with Ottawa Blues Blast (It barely fit on the markee. That was a joke.) This was a special edition of Live Band Friday and there were way more swing dancers packed into the church auditorium than I’d ever seen before. There were great instructors from out of town, there was a Jack & Jill blues dance competition, and there was even a party after the dance that started at 2am.

Those dancers have some serious energy.

I knew I was going to have to muster everything I had to keep up with them so I spent most of the day doing a whole lot of nothing. I stayed in my pyjamas, went out for coffee with Craig, painted my nails, and binged on Community. It was amazing. I don’t normally paint my nails but (confession time) I have a severe nail-biting problem and Ive decided to get into painting nails as a way of breaking the habit. Wish me luck!

On Sunday I had my first rehearsal with the Ottawa Rhythm Initiative which is an organization dedicated to cultivating the tap dancing community in Ottawa. I am participating in a showcase they are putting on in June and over the next couple of month’s we’ll be gathering to rehearse with the tap dancers. Collaborating with dancers is a completely new experience for me but I already love it and I’m excited to keep working on the show.

After all that excitement I scooted down to Ottawa University to see my sister perform in the Gee-Gees Watershow. For those of you that don’t know, a watershow is what you call a synchronized swimming showcase. I’ve seen her swim on a handful of other occasions but this one was a really important one because it may have been one her last. It’s hard to stop doing something you’ve loved your whole life but she’s so good at whatever she puts her mind to so I’ll know she’ll be fine.

That’s it for my week! How was your week? Let me know in the comments below or on facebook or twitter.

My Week In Pictures: Poetry, Performances, and Sunny Spring

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My Week In PicturesThis week was so delightful. It was sunny and colourful and a complete 180 from last week’s winter freak storm. Although I was burdened by a looming (self-imposed) tax deadline, I made sure to take a lot of time this week to enjoy the little things like breakfast with friends, coffee in a rainbow mug, a sunny drive to an out of the way second hand store, and my favourite magazine.

On Tuesday, Craig and I drove out to the town of Mountain near Kemptville, just outside of Ottawa, to visit the House of Lazarus, a thrift shop and community outreach centre. We visit a couple times a year and never spend more than twenty dollars but we always get a few things we need. This time we got a stove top kettle, a tripod, a sweet bicycle necklace, and a really weird card game called A Question of Scruples. I think it might be the Jumanji of card games though and I might have to tie a stone to it and throw it off a bridge…

The rest of the week was spent teaching, crunching numbers on my sweet Texas Instrument, and preparing for a lovely evening of Jazz and Poetry on Saturday night. I had the absolute pleasure of sharing the evening with an exceptionally heartfelt poet and passionate human, Brandon Wint. It was a packed house, some came for Brandon and some for Mark and me but I think everyone left with an appreciation for both art forms. It was really fortunate timing too because as I mentioned earlier, April is poetry month at reneeyoxon.com! I’ll be writing a poem every day in April and sharing some of them (probably) on my tumblr. I’ll also tweet about my experience using the hashtag #PWEDA.

I can’t tell you how happy all this sun has made me. Even though I’m busier than ever and sometimes I feel like I’ll never catch up and be totally on top of everything, the fact that I can leave my home and feel the warmth of the sun on my face makes a huge difference in my life. What do you like about this time of year?

My Week In Pictures: Cats, Concerts, and Canadian Music Week

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My Week In Pictures: Cats, Concerts, and Canadian Music WeekThis week gave me a lot of perspective. I had a lot of time to think about my life, my work, and what I want to do with my music.

The week started out with a bang. On Tuesday I took off for Toronto in the middle of a wicked bad snow storm and the first thing I did was completely spin out and ended up facing the wrong way on the high way…

After that near-death experience I made sure to drive as safely as possible, and value the heck out of my time. I arrived in Toronto on Tuesday afternoon, played at The Courthouse that evening, went out for Ethiopian food with some new friends, and found myself waking up on Wednesday morning.

I had wanted to spend the rest of my time in Toronto visiting with friends and hanging out, but instead I ended up cancelling a lot of my plans to spend some time resting and songwriting. I cloistered myself in the apartment where I was staying with two adorable ginger cats (named Fred and George!) and got some serious songwriting done. It’s always amazing to me how much of the writing process (my writing process anyway) involves procrastinating and laying around before something great comes out. It was a fruitful week anyway, and I’m really glad I took the time to procrastinate alone with the ginger cats.

Of course, songwriting wasn’t all I did.

On Wednesday night I went down to Chalker’s Pub and jammed at the Girls Night Out jazz jam hosted by Lisa Particelli. I always have so much fun hanging out with Lisa and the house band and meeting a bunch of new singers.

On Friday morning, I got together with fellow jazz vocalist Ilana Waldston for breakfast and some jam time, which was super fun. I’m giving away her album on this post and you can still enter until tomorrow night! On Friday evening I stopped over in Kingston for dinner and dessert with friends before driving back home to Ottawa.

Last night Mark Ferguson and I played a house concert! During our Indiegogo campaign to raise money for Here We Go Again, we offered a limited number of house concerts as perks and this was the first of two. It was so lovely to play in an intimate venue for such lovely people. I can’t wait to do more!

That’s it for this week! If you’re in Ottawa tonight, come visit François Gravel and me for Live Jazz Monday at Mercury Lounge.

Have a great week!

My Week In Pictures: So much surprise excitement!

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My Week In Pictures: March 10 - 16, 2013Talk about a fun week full of surprises. When this week rolled around, I was sure it was going to be nothing but tax preparation and getting all my ducks in a row for Toronto tomorrow, but it ended up being a super crazy and fun week.

Last Monday we had a lovely Live Jazz Monday at Mercury Lounge followed by the return of Monday night jazz residencies at Le Petit Chicago! Hooray! It was a sad day when one of the longest running jazz nights in Ottawa closed down a few months ago, but now it’s back with a vengeance  This month the Sean Duhaime Trio has the stage and next month it will be Zak Frantz’s Curiosity Killed the Quartet. If you’re in Ottawa, check it out!

Tuesday was the usual day off. Craig and I hung around like a couple of lumps in love and then went out to see Life of Pi at the movies. Even in 2-D that movie was great.

On Wednesday we saw the inaugural performance of Blue Organ Trio at Burgers On Main, a new jazz venue in Ottawa that is not on Main at all but closer to Somerset and Bank. Blue Organ Trio features my brother from another mother, François Gravel. It was great to finally be able to sit back and watch him perform.

Thursday and Friday were teaching and tax preparation days, followed by a really fun photoshoot with Chris Vanderwees. Chris is a photographer in Ottawa who specializes in vintage film cameras and street photography. You can check out his amazing tumblr here.

On Saturday I was called for a last minute performance at Ottawa’s City Hall for the Capital Pride conference. Sometimes it’s so much fun to do a short performance and then spend the rest of the evening taking in the other great performances, eating amazing food, and meeting some splendid people. My life is weird and great.

On Sunday I went down to Umi Café to see vocalist Geraldine Eguiluz and bassist Stéphane Diamantakiou’s IMOO performance. I’ve been playing so much bass/voice gigs myself lately that it was nice to see a new take on the combination.

What a week, right? Next week promises to be just as exciting so stay tuned!