To summarize my (long) previous post, my long holiday weekend was complete with time with family, time with friends, lots of good food, plenty of "me" time (including lots of meditation, drumming, guitar playing, and reading), and a little pinch of progress and growth both personally and in my marriage.

I had a lot to be thankful for. :-)

Ryan and I decided a few weeks ago that there aren't nearly enough musical instruments in this house. Especially drums. We didn't have CLOSE to enough drums in this house, what with the two doumbeks, the bongos, and the 3 complete drum kits. :x

( So, we picked up these beauties. )


In addition to the lovely drums, we got a great deal on a digital recording unit. We had been talking for a while about getting one, so that we can record music right at our house.

The unit arrived about a week and a half ago, and the next night, we recorded our first song (a cover of "Change" by Blind Melon) within about an hour and a half! Ryan made the drum beat right on the unit, and recorded the bass track using our electric guitar. I recorded the guitar track and two vocal tracks (melody and harmony).

( Pictures! )

I've hung around in recording studios while Ryan has recorded before, but I've never actually been a part of the process, and it is really cool. It's amazing to hear a song come together, layer by layer, track by track. And I was pretty impressed with my guitar track! I was surprised at how....not sucky it was! My vocal tracks aren't my favorite, but I haven't sung into a microphone in several years, so it took some getting used to.

As soon as I figure out how, I'll try to post some of our recordings so you can have a listen. :)


I love it that Ryan gets such a good price on this sort of thing, being an employee of the music store and all. We decided to get all this, and then not get each other gifts for Christmas/Yule/What-have-you.

This weekend was weird. I guess they can't all be awesome.

( Cut for unpleasantness... )

On the up side, there was plenty of sunshine this weekend, and I spent lots of time soaking it up. Saturday brought a trip to the Crazy Farm. I brought Ed along, and when Ryan was done with work, he came out with Sally (the cute drummer girl). It was a gorgeous day, and a gorgeous night. The sunset was beautiful, and the starry-sky that followed was perfect as well. It was an extremely relaxing and pleasant day. The only thing that would have made it better would have been me trying to like, talk to some people.

Yesterday, Ryan and I took advantage of the nice weather and got some yard work done. There are still a TON of leaves on our big tree in the back yard, but I raked up those that have fallen so far, and dug up my calla lilies to preserve the bulbs over the winter, and did some weeding and such while Ryan disassembled the make-shift fence and piled up all the rocks from the border, to be re-arranged come spring.

Last night, Ryan and I tightened up the heads on our hand drums, and decided we need a djembe, so he's gonna price them out at work. Yay hippie drums! We drummed a little bit (damn, I'm rusty), and then put on some music and I taught him a couple of basic yoga poses, and we enjoyed stretchy goodness. He said he's be willing to try a yoga class, so I'm going to check into that. I pulled out my yarn and crochet hooks last night and started a scarf to get back into the groove. I want to get better at knitting this winter, too. I'm getting bored with crocheting!

Last night ended with some very nice, very connected, very tender love-making, so all's well that ends well. :)

This past weekend was the third awesome weekend in a row. When did I start having such fun weekends? No wonder you people always look forward to them so much. They rock!

The weekend actually started off Friday afternoon with a minor medical scare for Ryan. He came in to the clinic, and was worried and scared, so he wanted me to go in with him. I got to watch another woman (of the doctor-ly variety) stick her finger in his butt. I guess he hasn't been putting me on all this time when he says he's REALLY not into that. :x Turned out it was nothing serious, thank goodness.

( Read more... )

Yeep! That got really long!

I know there are a hanful of my LJ Friends in the Madison area. I wanted to let y'all know that Ryan's band, Three Beers 'Til Dubuque, will be in Madison this Saturday, September 16th.

Ryan will be giving a free Drum Clinc at Drums-n-Moore, and the band will be playing at The Dry Bean.


Drum Clinic Info:

Drums-n-Moore
6300 Monona Dr.

Time: 1:00 p.m.

Topics to be covered: Set-up, tuning, fundamentals, styles, and soloing.


Three Beers 'Til Dubuque:

The Dry Bean
5264 Verona Rd

Time: 9:30 p.m.-1:30 a.m.


Unfortunately, I won't be joining him, but if you're in the area, check it out! Go up and introduce yourself, too. He's the drummer, long brown hair, glasses, looks kind of like a male version of me. If you do attend, let me know what you think! :)

I'm officially married to the CEO of TorZel, LLC (tm), makers of the Thunderhead (tm) (U.S. Patent Pending), the best damn bass drum head you've ever laid ears on. It looks HOT too.

I'll be sure to post links when they get their website up and running.


Ryan and his partner are officially, legally, business owners.

I'm scared totally stoked!

A couple of weeks ago, Ryan gave his first ever drum clinic at the music store he works and teaches at. He prepared for it for months, and put a lot of hard work into it. He was hoping for about 30 people to show up. About 85 attended. He did an awesome job, and I'm not saying that just because I'm biased. After the clinic, we went out with several reps for drum product companies (like Zildian cymbals, Pearl drums, and Aquarian heads). They all said that Ryan's clinic was better than many of the professional clinics they've been to.

The owners of the store now want to send him to the schools in the area to put on similar clinics(for a fee, of course, all of which Ryan will get to keep). His first clinic has brought in a bunch of new business, and also resulted in some new students for Ryan. (New students for Ryan=new customers for the store.) So, yeah, I'm very proud of him.

The link below is a video of the finale to the clinic. He and a couple of musician buddies put together this performance the night before the clinic. They played through the song, which none of them had played before, about 5 times the night before, and that was all the rehearsal they had. The song is YYZ by Rush, and there's a killer drum solo in it. :) Rush's drummer, Neil Peart, is one of Ryan's idols.

Check it out, and feel free to share any feedback/critiques of the performance, I'll pass them on to him!

Clicky: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-EYVhqCm8IU

It's amazing to me, how quickly a situation can go from good, to not so good, to bad, to worse, to terrible.

I was expecting that when Ryan got home last night, we'd have a nice, romantic little evening together (notes to self that perhaps she needs to stop having any expectations what-so-ever, even when given the impression that the expectation is a reasonable one).

Before he left to meet with the patent agent, he expressed that he'd be coming home and staying home after that, to spend time with me. (He often goes out and plays drums at a local open jam on Tuesday nights.) When he arrived home at about 9:30, I informed him that a friend called to see if he could play drums (last night) at 10:00. I had assumed that he wouldn't even consider playing the gig, with it being so last minute, and with him having said that we'd be spending some time together.

Well, wasn't that stupid of me? He wanted to play the gig. He always wants to play the gig. For him, playing drums always has been, and always will be, preferable to spending time with me. (I'm not being overly dramatic, either, he admits that he likes to take every opportunity presented to him to play the drums, even if it means breaking prior non-drum related plans.)

I try to be supportive of his drumming. When I'm aware of his schedule, and when he's not breaking prior plans with me, I don't grumble about the amount of time he spends on things involving drums. However, in situations like last night, I feel hurt and upset.

( cut for length )

Okay, no I'm not. But maybe I will be. Someday.

My hubby though! HE'S a rock star! (Well, locally, anyway!)

Ryan got a new drum set on Friday and he's been in a great mood all weekend because of it. It's a really sharp looking kit, too, I must admit. He stayed home on Friday night to play with it while I went out to play with friends. I had a blast on Friday night. It's rare that Emily and Dave actually "go out" anywhere, so we were really living it up. Scott and Sherry were out as well, and everyone (including me) must have been really horny because there was a lot of spanking and touching and baring of normally covered body parts going on. Scott delivered me the best spanking I've ever had! I even have a bruise on my ass now! cunningminx would be proud.

( More on my weekend... )

The drum clinic last night was AWESOME. Mike Mangini (spelling iffy), the "fastest drummer in the world" (His latest world record is over 1200 beats per minute. That's INSANE) was really entertaining, and a really nice guy too! Ryan and Lance did a REALLY great job organizing and running the drum clinic. I was so proud of my boys last night. I wanted to engage them both in an evening of hot sweaty wild love making. Maybe next time.

We all went to dinner after the clinic (me and Ryan, the owners of the store, Lance, Mike Mangini, The Pearl Rep, the Zildian Rep, and a couple of other store employees). It was delicious and wonderful. Ryan was dissappointed that Mike and the Reps didn't want to party into the wee hours of the morning, but they had to to get up early this morning and hit the road again.

I didn't get a chance to ask Lance about hanging out tonight, cause there were other work people around all night, and I didn't want to start any rumors. (Did you hear Ryan's wife ask Lance to come over while Ryan's away? What's THAT all about?!) So, I'm going to call him later today and take my chances.

I get to go to the dentist in a little bit! I LOVE going in for cleanings. My teeth always feel SO good afterward. I still haven't priced my rummage sale stuff. I have A LOT to do today. I just know I'll end up getting carried away in the garden and procrastinate the pricing even longer. I'll be up all night tonight. Ryan will wake up tomorrow to find me passed out in the garage covered in brightly colored little round stickers that say 10 cents on them.

It's already been a hell of a week, and its only Monday.  (I suppose I'm counting the weekend here.)

I've had to dissapoint my best friend in the whole world.  (That would be Emily.) Her Grandma passed away on Friday. There was a song that her cousin wanted sung at the funeral, and she asked me if I'd sing it. My first reaction was YES. I was honored to have been asked, and I would do just about *ANYTHING* for Emily.

Fast forward to hearing the song and getting the music.  I'm a bit rusty. I haven't sung in public in almost 3 years.  I tried to sing the song. It was too high. It sounded awful.  (Okay, not awful, but not good enough for a funeral for a really terrific woman.) If I had some time, even a week, I could MAKE it sound good. The funeral is on Wednesday.  If I could spend the next 36 hours sitting at a piano, I MIGHT be able to transpose it to a key in which I CAN sing it. But then...who's going to accompany me?  I wish I was still in college and sharp on my music skills.  I had to tell her that I was very sorry, but I just didn't think I could pull it off.  If they wanted, say "Amazing Grace" I'd be all over it, but this is beyond me right now.

She took it very well, and I got her a recording of the song to play at the funeral, for which she was very grateful.

Tomorrow is Ryan's Birthday.  I think that, by the skin of my teeth, I may have pulled off a surprise.  Ryan ALWAYS figures out what his presents are before its time to get them.  He had mentioned a few pricier items that he needed for his drum set, and I made a big production about how I could not possibly afford them.  (Technically, I CAN'T afford them, but that's what credit cards are for, right?)

( The Birthday Surprise Drama )