Fondly Faring-Well

As I sit here at the kitchen table in my mother's house, the same table at which I would sit every morning before elementary school, reading the backs of every cereal box in our cabinet and scarfing down my Golden Grahams, I come to a realization: this holiday season, I have been "home" for the most consecutive days in almost 4 years. I've been here 5 days. Between making home-made meyer lemon curd and cookies for the neighbors, three nights in a row of prime rib, beach jogs, and movie watching, suffice it to say that this weekend was one of indulgence, togetherness, and joy.

The past year has been incredible. I have ridden camels, motorcycles, jet skis, horses, and private jets. I have stood on the southernmost tip of Greece with the ocean air in my face, and hiked to see a giant Buddha on a mountaintop in China. I have wept from the deepest part of my soul at the wailing wall in Jerusalem with hundreds of other women, and rejoiced at the beauty of being so close to such rich, meaningful history. I have gazed up from underneath the Eiffel Tower at night, and strolled through Monte Marte on a Saturday afternoon. I have discovered vintage stores I will always return to in Berlin, London, Paris, and New York. I have toured the world with friends and collected new ones in each place I visit. I have fallen in love.

I am the luckiest bish I know. Seriously. Hey God? Thanks. <3

Monte Marte in Paris

Hannah, Tanaka, and some of the crew on the roof of our hotel in Israel

View from the water in Tel Aviv

Hong Kong high rises

WOO-HOO!

The rain that has plagued Los Angeles for ages (7 days straight), is rumored to be clearing up tomorrow, and I hope and believe that my favorite type of weather will be upon us. I predict, with my glass-half-full know-how, that tomorrow will be chilly, and the sun will be shining. That's the kind of winter I'm used to. Perfect jogging/hiking/biking weather - OK, I'll stop being a spoiled native Southern Californian now. The truth is, this is the most rain we've had in ten years. The reactions have been downright ridiculous. Nearly every update on facebook and twitter from LA dwellers has been about the relentless bad weather, and Los Angeleans everywhere are lamenting their asses getting fat because they don't know how to exercise indoors. Crisis truly has hit our fair (or maybe not-so-fair anymore!) city.

No, but seriously -

Stop complaining everyone. It's rain. Just thank your lucky stars, you know, the ones on Hollywood Boulevard, that you don't have to shovel it away every morning.

Love,

Ashleigh :)

A Lost Moment

I'm in a restaurant in the Hong Kong airport. This Airport is way too big; maybe it is just that I'm extremely jet lagged, and walking feels like a chore. I chose this restaurant because of it's proximity to the ladies room.

"Hello, yes, just one please." I'm ushered to a small table in the back by the window. I face the restaurant - I much prefer watching people that anything else. There are two women who look to be about 28-30 to my left. They both have ordered pizzas. I hear the prettier one say,

"Sam and I were talking, and he kept saying how beautiful you were. I said to him, 'are you just trying to butter me up?' and he says, 'yeah kinda.'"

Ouch. Way to deliver a sneaky insult to a friend.

She goes on to state, "I'm just a cut and dry type of person..." and after that I stop listening. People who make statements like that are just doing publicity work, and usually sound more like they are trying to convince themselves of something. It's kind of like facebook, AKA our own self-projected image of who we wish we were.

I think Comedians are kind of geniuses, because they have studied human behavior as an outsider - they are perpetual people watchers, or culture watchers. They are able to find patterns and make tragic (the truth hurts!) observations about life and our nature as a culture of humans. Maybe that's where the "sad clown" stereotype comes from, for he is a man who has thought enough about his own kind to realize the commonality of his own flaws.

The two women just left. The both ate the exact same amount of Pizza.

From the mouths of babes

I am nothing special. And yet, I am. If everyone is different, then we're all the same. What now...?

Babies are incredible, no? Maybe we all think so because we all were one once and no one can remember it...so we study and play with and hold close these tiny us's in hopes of memory jogging by osmosis. Maybe we don't remember because while life was experiencing us and vice versa at that age, there was no pretense. Each party was completely new and foreign to the other, so there was no choice but to experience wholly and openly. A baby has never seen himself so he does not recognize himself or his own kind in you. He doesn't even know that he has a "kind," and so he treats everything with the same care and the same curiosity. It isn't until he begins to have personalized experiences with each element of life/earth/environment, that he begins to "learn;" assign labels, categorize occurrences, etc. Picture a child holding something new. Something she's never seen or felt before. She feels it all the way around, shakes it, tastes it, listens...it's brilliant, and incredible that instinct goes there. The assumptions we form that early on stay with us for the rest of our lives and our the source of our passions, our actions/reactions and myriad issues. And then we grow into big babies. ;)

Tonight I am in my quiet hotel room in Toronto. I just spent a very active few days in New York, one of my favorite cities in the world. I won't wax poetic about it right now, because I've already done that enough about NYC on this blog, and you all know how I feel about the subject. Suffice it to say that yoga was practiced, miles were walked, (and jogged) music was played and heard (and interpreted through awkward dance moves), food was eaten, and life was lived. I just need a bubble bath and a good book now. I'm missing home, but loving mobility. I just wish I could take everyone with me....no no, we musn't be selfish...

Sometimes I feel so torn between the two worlds in which I exist, touring life and my life at home; and then I remember not to categorize it as such. It is all my life, and all is good. This tour is simply another chance for me to learn and observe, to shake and taste, to listen and live as much as possible.

PS: I have been reading a lot of other blogs lately, and one I particularly like is this one. It belongs to the founder and boss man of hitRECord.org, which is many things, but mostly an incredible interactive community of artists and creative people. A place to meet, collaborate, hypothesize, remix, and everything in between. Basically, I just like what they're about. The photo at the top is one I stole from it, because it inspired this entry. And because that is the most adorable picture EVER - can't you almost hear her little giggle? I'm melting. So Joe if you ever become privy to my photo-thieving, I'm sorry, hope you'll forgive me!

Goodnight moon; though I'll miss you, I am excited for the sun to come up tomorrow.

Summer Playlist

I missed Coachella this year, because the same weekend in April that all of my friends were trekking out to the desert, braving the heat, dust, and crowds of hipsters, I was flying East to begin the first leg of a world tour. I went the year before, and decided then that in addition to my yearly trip out to the Sundance Film Festival in Utah, (to actually watch movies, not just participate in the social scene) it would be a staple in my annual extra-curricular schedule. We had SO much fun. I can't wait for next April and the one after that, where I hope to go as a performer. Just putting that into the universe! :)

Basically, in case you haven't figured this out by now, I love music. I am in love with music and everything that it makes you think, feel, do, close your eyes and imagine... There are a number of outlets from which I satiate my hunger for the new and current; of course the music websites, Pandora, itunes, Pitchfork, Rolling Stone, etc. BUT, My favorite avenue is my awesome and oh-so-culturally-aware friends. (Eric Rippin, I'm talking about you!) So in an effort to share the wealth, I've put together a playlist of tunes I'm listening to over and over again right now. Some new, some old, all good. Hope you enjoy it, maybe there are a few things on here you haven't heard yet, and if so, I am excited to introduce you...ENJOY! :)

Feast your ears on this: (in no particular order...)

1. Fancy Footwork - Chromeo

2. Heartbreaker (feat. John Legend) - MSTRKRFT

3. Cosmic Love - Florence and the Machine

4. Englishman in New York - Sting

5. Sweet Disposition - The Temper Trap

6. Nothing to Worry About - Peter, Bjorn and John

7. Pull My Heart Away - Jack Peñate

8. You Haven't Told me Anything - Keane

9. Crossfire - Brandon Flowers

10. Little Lion Man - Mumford & Sons

11. My Girls - Animal Collective

12. You Know What - N.E.R.D.

13. Anti Matter - N.E.R.D.

14. Iamundernodisguise - School Of Seven Bells

15. Only If You Run - Julian Plenti

16. Walkabout (with Noah Lennox) - Atlas Sound

17. Home - Edward Sharpe & the Magnetic Zeros

18. Run Johnny - Yelawolf

19. Tenderoni (MSTRKRFT Remix) - Chromeo

20. Her Morning Elegance - Oren Lavie

Full.

To describe how much I'm feeling right now, I would need a dump truck full of made up words. My body - exhausted, limiting, and on the upswing of a brief but violent sick spell, and mind, the same. The biggest part of my life, the thing I spend the most time doing, and the thing that allows me to live comfortably is currently the Last Girl On Earth Tour. Recently while performing in it, it's felt more like watching a movie that I also happen to be involved in, rather than the usual adrenaline-rushing, emotion-swelling, smile-generating activity that my heart beats and my voice lives for. I haven't written on this blog about tour in a while because I felt like I should have only positive things to say...but we're humans, and thats not always how life is, and I think that honesty is best and always more interesting. Besides, denial sucks. I miss my friends and I miss my family and I miss my boyfriend. I miss the awesome work I was getting into while at home, and performing shows with "my" band. So there.

That being said...

Tonight, our first headlining tour show in the US was in Sacramento, California. The arena was large, but shallow in depth, so I could see all the way back to the very back row. It was oddly calming. As I looked out at the arms waving, the faces yelling and cheering, and the moves being "busted," (because honestly, that's exactly what some of them were! ;) it suddenly felt so...real. I was overcome by how much love and joy was in that room. And then I remembered: I love performing because it makes people happy, and feeling that happiness radiating back and forth between the stage and the house is where the adrenaline and the high comes from. I had briefly forgotten and performing the show had been, for a time, a selfish act I was looking to "get something" from. I was frustrated with other things and looking to the stage to heal me, when I should have been looking just a little further.

I am SO grateful to be able to travel around and play some part, no matter the size, in bringing smiles to the faces of so many people. Actually, I'm blown away by it. Watching the audience tonight, I was struck by the span of this woman's reach. There were upwards of 17,000 people there this evening, and that is just ONE city. In just ONE country! This woman whom I have come to know as a spirited, fun-loving, compassionate and pretty normal girl, all things considered, has been able to touch so many lives with her art. Wow. I love that something like that is even possible. To anyone reading this and planning on attending a future date on our tour, keep jumping and waving and smiling, because I can see you.

This afternoon, I am in Istanbul. As I write this, I sit amidst green plants and blooming flowers on the perfectly-sized garden terrace connected to my hotel room. It is peaceful and quiet, save for a few birds chirping at each other. I don't mind them. This is one of those moments I feel full of thanks and appreciation for my life and the wonderful people in it.

Yesterday by 11am, I was laying on a white cushioned lounge chair on the Grecian coast at Cape Sounio, soda water with lemon and lime in hand, enjoying the sun and the GORGEOUS Mediterranean with my tour family. About 200 yards away from the beach, the ancient Poseidon's Temple sat (and still sits) majestically atop a cliff facing the Sea; at one point welcoming travelers coming to pay homage, and warning sea-faring armies that the gods were with Greece. I kept imagining what it must have felt like to have traveled days/weeks/months by sail boat, and after any and every hardship to finally see that temple break the horizon.

We were completely spoiled yesterday. After working up a ridiculous appetite by jet-skiing, rock skipping, volleyball playing and sun bathing, there was a feast of epic proportions set up on the dock for us. By the way, the tomatoes in this region of the world are absolutely delicious. So red, sweet, and ripe. I kind of want to buy a bag full and smuggle them home.

We unwillingly left the beach at 4:30 to go to Turkey and must have been a sight to see at the airport; 20 or so sunburnt, exhausted, people navigating giant Burton bags through and around other confused travelers.

Upon arriving in Istanbul, a friend of a friend, Ceren, offered to take me out. She and a group of friends was having dinner at a swanky place on the water, Anjelik. On one side, you can pull up in a car, but if you just can't bring yourself to be seen on four wheels, there is always the dock in the back where one can valet his yacht. Noted for next time! :)

Ceren said it was close to the hotel, so I hopped in a cab, with the thought that I would be at the restaurant in 7 minutes (the doorman's quote). My cab driver apparently had the wrong place in mind, however, because he took me 20 minutes out of the way before stopping to ask directions. We had to turn around. The traffic going the other way was completely stopped, and rather than wait in it, he proceeded to drive down the WRONG SIDE OF THE ROAD into oncoming traffic! There were cars honking at us and narrowly swerving to avoid a collision...meanwhile Ceren is texting that my fish and my salad are waiting for me, but the restaurant is turning into a club, and they are replacing the dinner tables with high bar tables. By the time I finally arrived at the club, it was packed, and blaring techno music. Ceren and co had a spot upstairs overlooking the water - three banquette tables raised to bar height, and one small table against the railing still lowered to dining height, with a chair and my dinner perfectly laid out. It was so cute, and I couldn't help but laugh and feel a little embarrassed. I enjoyed my first meal in Istanbul sitting while everyone else stood drinking champagne and leaning down to talk to me. They insisted that it be this way.

One of the photos below shows a white mosque (1,000 years old!), and a suspension bridge, which they tell me is the first of its kind - it connects two continents. We were dining and chatting on the Bosphorous, which is a 32 kilometer strait connecting the Black Sea, and the Sea of Marmara. While sitting and chatting on the continent of Europe, we gazed across the water at the continent of Asia. wild. Cheers to new friends!

Photography Lesson

Mid-year resolution: To post more frequently. In an effort to jump start this notion, here is a pretty neat thing I have been toying around with recently. I'm sure some of you already knew this on some level (friendster photo-shoots, anyone?), but I didn't, or had forgotten. So here's a reminder, or a lesson in photo editing. You can pretty much take any picture, taken from any camera (I am going to show a few taken with my blackberry), tweak it, using something as common and accessible as iPhoto, and turn it into a masterpiece. (okay, I could be exaggerating slightly, but you get the picture. ha. get it, "the picture..." schwing!)

All I did here was enhance the photo (which you can do automatically in the iphoto edit screen), boost the color using the pre-determined filter provided in iphoto and mess with the black/white balance a little bit, in the "adjust" window. Doing that really brings out the shadows and the detail in the blades of grass. By the way, it helps to make the original as large as possible while editing, which you can do by holding ctrl and alt (option) and clicking "edit using full screen."

Here, I obviously used the "sepia" filter. Then I changed the "adjust" window settings slightly (which I posted below, so take a look!)

Below are a few more examples of what can be done...and also just pretty photos, I think, so I hope you liiiiike. :)

Taken at the artist's entrance at the NRJ awards in Cannes

Taken in the sky over Norway