Hello hello, welcome to Episode 91 of Life On the Brink!
Today I return to the podcast after a week of playing music on the road! Naturally, the past week has been so interesting and so different from my usual routine of garden-tending and grocery shopping, and the change of pace has re-introduced some very important aspects of living well that I sometimes forget about. Namely, being open to the “new” or “unusual,” and just embracing each moment as it comes.
This week I’d like to share a few of those moments (including the title sardines) and how they have refreshed my outlook on the rest of this summer season.
Plus, this week's Little Joy is a simple item that has filled my kitchen with coziness, and I have lots of cool music to share as well.
For the complete show notes, click here!
For full transcript, click here!
Site: lifeonthebrink.live
Social: @anna_on_the_keys
Hello hello, welcome to Episode 91 of Life On the Brink!
Today I return to the podcast after a week of playing music on the road! Naturally, the past week has been so interesting and so different from my usual routine of garden-tending and grocery shopping, and the change of pace has re-introduced some very important aspects of living well that I sometimes forget about. Namely, being open to the “new” or “unusual,” and just embracing each moment as it comes.
This week I’d like to share a few of those moments (including the title sardines) and how they have refreshed my outlook on the rest of this summer season.
Plus, this week's Little Joy is a simple item that has filled my kitchen with coziness, and I have lots of cool music to share as well.
For the complete show notes, click here!
For full transcript, click here!
Site: lifeonthebrink.live
Social: @anna_on_the_keys
Welcome to Life on the brink, a lovely little place filled with inspiration and creativity that is dedicated to enjoying life one day at a time. I'm Ana. And together, we're exploring the beautiful things in this world that fascinate us. And often discovering something new. Hello, hello, welcome to episode 91 of life on the brink. I'm back, thank you for your patience. I took a break last week because I was on the road. And I have returned with reflections and stories and lots of fun things. So I hope that you have been enjoying this beginning of summer. I know that. I think at this point, all schools are out for summer break. So I hope you've been enjoying the sun that you've been getting some sun. And at the very least some sunflowers. I really enjoy a change of pace every now and then. And last week was a prime example of that, for me, it was completely out of the ordinary in every way. And when it comes to my schedule. And so I have been reflecting on that. And how certain aspects of being away from home of traveling and of embracing new things can really elevate your everyday life even at home. So let's get right into it today. Feel free to make yourself a cup of tea or coffee, something either warming, or refreshing as I'm recording this. It's a very gray, rainy, windy day. And so I have made myself a matcha latte. It is pretty good. Something's wrong with my milk frother. So it's not properly foamy on top, but but the flavors good. And I hope you'll join me. And let's, let's get into some of these ideas. So don't get me wrong. I love planning. And I love developing a study routine. I've talked about it on here before. But there's also nothing like the open road as it were to remind you that some of life's sweetest moments come only by surprise. So this week, I'd like to share a few of those moments and how they've refreshed my outlook on the rest of this summer season. In particular, as I was thinking about this episode and planning it, I realized that it was about two years ago, almost exactly that I came back from Hawaii. And I had one of that that storytime called participation versus control. And it's sort of the same idea, I think that leaving home and going into the unknown really takes us out of our comfort zone. And it's best to just let go of control. So perhaps some of these will be in the same vein, the same way of thinking but a completely different trip and set of circumstances. If you'd like to hear the Hawaii one just go to life on the brink dot live and click storytime under the blog categories. There's one from Hawaii and one from Banff last year. So let me set the scene because some of you may be confused as to what in the world I'm talking about. I just mentioned at the end of the last episode, that I was going on basically a little tour with a group that I play with. So allow me to explain. For the past five years, I have been performing in a group with two of my closest friends. Their names are Jeanette and Caroline, you'll hear me reference them through this episode, I'm sure. And we're in a group called the TrueTone honeys. So we sing like 100 year old music, old jazz, female jazz vocal trio. So think I mean, Andrew Sisters is what most everyone knows, but it's them and all of their predecessors. So we're singing stuff from the 20s and 30s. And then some 40s in some 50s and some original arrangements. And in the past with this group, we've mostly performed with a jazz band, either a small jazz combo or we have sung with a big band, which is super fun. I think we have a project upcoming in which we'll sing with an orchestra which is is huge and in a different way. But this year, we decided to do something new and try accompanying ourselves. We had a concert that was like that last year where it was just for a special event and I played the piano and then some of our pieces were acapella. So it got us thinking what if we did this the three of us it's less logistics, we communicate well with each other. We understand what we're trying to do musically. And it was something new somewhere. And Caroline plays the ukulele very well, but also an instrument that plays like a ukulele. But sounds like a banjo. It is not surprisingly called a banjolele. And so we packed that and all of my keyboard gear. And we added some little percussions and stuff like that. Different sounds here and there throughout our show that we began developing. And we booked five shows and five nights across, starting from Baltimore, all the way down to Asheville, Maryland, and hitting several places in Virginia, which is where we're from. And we'll have to We booked the gigs is like, Whoa, now we got to play them. And so we rehearsed a lot, we figured out our tech setup, we figured out where we're gonna stay, we stayed with friends and family that so graciously hosted us and just had to go do it. And I think that's the best way to motivate yourself to practice is to have something you have to practice for. So it was exciting and nerve wracking, but ultimately full of an unexpected amount of ease, and fun. We've been on many gigs together that have been very stressful. And for this gig, our main objective was to have fun. And we succeeded in that. I think, not I think it was, it was a great success in that in that regard. And in our the reception as well. On the whole, it was very, very favorable. Lots of people came out and had a lot of fun. But now you get the picture. This was the idea we got in a big van. And we were five days traveling together, just making sure that we got to the right place every night and played a show. Some of them were an hour and a half. Some of them were two hours, some were three hours. And so we were tweaking the show and the order and how we were speaking and when we were speaking and all that sort of thing along the way. So with that, I would like to bring forward three interesting takeaways that serve as pleasant reminders to me and hopefully to you that I encountered on this trip that I will hold on to, even while I'm at home. Number one is simply to be open to new things. And I know that sounds trite, but I think it's it's uncommon sometimes to encounter new things, things that really feel revelatory in our day to day life. And it's it's so much easier when you just open to them. For me, this was perfectly manifested on this trip in a tin of sardines. That's the title of this episode. I'm sure you've seen that and thought, What is she talking about? I have never really been drawn to sardines. I've had no experience with them. Perhaps you are listening and thinking, gross. But hear me out. You're just gonna have to hear me out in this story. Because Don't knock it until you try it. I really have been converted on these. But I probably wouldn't have tried sardines for years to come If it hadn't been for my friend Jeanette, who is a big fan of sardines and tinned fish and they travel well. So that was part of of the ongoing food bag. And well, it was our second night on our tour. And we were staying at this historic Bed and Breakfast in Middleburg, Virginia. We had played there in exchange for shelter. But it was it was wonderful. And there was a great reception there. But it was late at night. We'd already done our show already packed up. It was dark on this beautiful back porch, and I'm hungry. And what's more, I have pretty much exhausted my snacks of nectarines and banana muffins that I packed. And I was craving protein. But there was really nothing to be found. I thought it was going to just eat some cashews but Jeanette is setting up a snack of sardines and crackers. And then what's more, we became friends with someone who works on the property who was like a sort of groundskeeper jack of all trades sort of thing. And he appeared with another tin of sardines on a plate with cheese and olives and roasted garlic that he just had on hand and Jeanette had this hot sauce. And I said well, you know what I'm all in. I made myself a drink and said this is going to be the snack. I'm all in. And now you guys know if you've listened to this podcast for any amount of time that I'm not a picky eater that I enjoy cooking. I enjoy food. I generally enjoy trying new food. I just don't really think about it all the time. Because I have tried quite a bit of food but sure enough sardines pretty foreign to me. But oh my gosh, I don't know if it was the fact that I was so hungry, or it was the evening in this beautiful place. Lace. But this was the most delicious and satisfying snack far superior to the cashews that I had packed. I've been fully converted, I am a sardine girly, I'm totally stoked to, to go into this world of snacks. And I'd also like to mention in this same sort of idea that Jeanette had gone to Trader Joe's I go, I shop at Trader Joe's all the time. But she appeared with all of these cool snacks that I've literally never seen before in my life. These freeze dried peas, they're so delicious. Lots of snacks and drinks, and I'm thinking, Where have I been? But I think the thing is this, we are creatures of habit, really. And even if we are adventurous creatures of habit, I think that, especially me anyway, I can gravitate to the same things in life, even if it is a broader spectrum of things that I gravitate toward. It's still the same habitual process. And this can go for snacks and also beyond snacks. We use the sardines as a metaphor you see. And sometimes it just takes another person, another voice to let new joys be introduced into your life. I liked sardines. And I didn't know that I did. But now I do. How many other things do I already like, but I have no idea. It had been a long time since I discovered something completely new in the culinary world that I enjoy. So I'm excited. I'm very interested in trying new things. And I think that the best way to experience more of things that you don't even know you like yet is to simply be open to them. I think if I had gone forward with my preconceived notion of sardines, the one perhaps enforced by Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs, the critically acclaimed film in which sardines are not painted in a great light, then I might not have tried them, but remaining open, really paid off in that, in that instance, so be open to something new. You really don't have anything to lose. All right, my second takeaway is to embrace a change of scenery and schedule. Again, this is simply because we all tend to crave a little stability, and we become creatures of habit. And that's okay, I love my home. I love my family, and my life with Josh and the schedule that we have that we've developed together, every now and then though, I think it's beneficial to abandon it and to see what's out there. And for me, during this week of travel, it was mostly a shift to my sleep and work schedule. I didn't keep any amount of rigidity in terms of timeline, I did, I will say I was I was still very stringent, you might say with my skincare routine and my hair and trying to just keep everything that to me was sort of like a a grounding a place to come back to just as a centering, I suppose that's what you could call being away having a little bit of a routine that felt the same every day. But aside from that, everything was different. Most evenings when I'm at home, you'll find me at home. And I've never really been one who likes to be out late, or quote unquote, partying in the traditional sense. That was never me. On this tour, though, every night was a late night it just by the nature of, of our performing and the schedule of things. And so I could be found sharing a drink, and just chatting about life with a friend of a friend who I've just met. And I should say that fortunately, all the environments we were in and the fact that we were always together, I felt safe to do so. I was never in any precarious situations late at night, but I was a little bit more outside of my comfort zone. In terms of time and place. I'm very much a homebody but it was fun to be adventurous and to say yes to things when the opportunity arose. I said yes. Again, I was never in unsafe or stupid or illegal situations, I should say. Just things that are outside of my schedule, my normal comfort zone. Things that wouldn't normally be opportune at home. And had I just kept my my rigid schedule, the same one that I keep at home, I would have missed out on many beautiful moments. And it was very much a go with the flow kind of week. As long as we were at the next location to play our music The next night. It was all sort of at our own pace. And so I also met so many kind and interesting people during this trip. And I feel as though my scope of the world and my circle of of people has broadened just a little bit more. What I want to live that kind of lifestyle all the time, certainly not, it's exhausting. In fact, I was just speaking with a friend of mine who is, has been on tour for a couple, like several months now and working sound with various artists. And he said that it like two weeks tops is, is fun. But for him, and I know certainly for me, long periods of time with that sort of schedule would be exhausting. However, I say all this to say that abandoning my schedule, every now and then it's definitely worth it. And so coming home, what can I take from that? I think it's simply to be open to spontaneity. I am certainly my husband, are, are not the most spontaneous people. But I think many of the rules that I live by day to day are self imposed. And so so there's really no harm in being spontaneous, and doing something a little bit out of the ordinary, because oftentimes, those memories will stick with you. I think that's why we remember vacations so vividly. And perhaps we don't remember many individual days of our normal life, because they're much the same, they can be wonderfully enjoyable. And that's, that's the goal. But I love collecting memories and stories. And it's through being open and spontaneous. And just saying yes to things as they arise, that really helped to cultivate those memories. In fact, this is reminding me if you're interested in more on that kind of subject, I would check out episode 58 of this podcast, which is called creating memories, the power of moments in which I'm dissecting a book called The Power of moments that was just so so so good, and all about this sort of this sort of thing of changing little moments to create more memories. But anyway, let's move on to point number three. And this is maybe my favorite, which is to enjoy the experience just for today. As a musician, it's easy to see every concert as simply a stepping stone to the next concert. Every gig is a connection to the next gig and you're networking and you're, you're just trying to get to wherever making it is. And everything is just a stepping stone. And I'm sure that that applies to many different work environments. But I was so fortunate on this trip that me and my bandmates all agreed that this week was simply for the fun of it, it wasn't even about making money, if we could break even which we did, I think we made we did make some on this trip, then that was successful. That's not I guess, that's not been common in my in my work environment. But it was really special that we all agreed, we just want to travel together and play music together and have fun. And with that as the goal, how freeing was performing together and traveling together and doing everything in between. And then as a bonus, you know, we made a little bit of money. And we now have a fully developed show as the three of us that then you know, more things will come out of this, I'm sure. But we don't know what those are. And that was never the intention. I would love to embrace that attitude more in my daily life, even while preparing for the future, which I do consistently. And I think it's smart to what if I enjoyed the experience of this day, or the meal in front of me or a date night or a quiet morning, or just the cup of tea that's in front of me, just so that I can enjoy that moment. Likewise, every time I go to work, and I'm teaching someone to play the piano, or I'm teaching, singing, or I'm playing just in the background while some people are having some dinner, what if it was enough to simply be making music on that day simply to be participating in the creation? That takes a lot of pressure off that you're just doing it because it's fun. And I know that that can be perhaps less applicable to work because it's not always fun. But I think it's easy to also get into your own head of what is this work day? How is this propelling me toward my future? And that can be tiring if that's your only perspective. At least it is for me. But even if this is less applicable to you My friend in your work life, it can certainly be applicable in your home life or yourself or your health or the food that you make things like that, if you're just participating and enjoying in it for that day, for that moment, it takes a lot of pressure off, doesn't have to define you, it doesn't have to take you to the next place. Sometimes moments can just be for that moment. I hope that this is coming across. I'm not rambling. But I will say that those moments are, for me best appreciated when I take one moment to stop and to maybe take a deep breath and look around and have a moment of gratitude, to say, wow, how did I get here? Whether you are traveling, and it's easier to say, How did I get here, or if you're just at home, you're in your life, or you're, you're out in the garden, wherever you may be just appreciating that day for what it is and where you are. So with that, those are my three takeaways from this week on the road. I think it's natural to return from travels with perhaps a new outlook on life. And this especially being a very new kind of travel. It was definitely impactful. And yeah, I have I have so many sweet memories. If you're listening, and you would like to get a glimpse into some of the music I'm talking about, I will go ahead and link the Facebook page where we've uploaded lots of videos of the TrueTone honeys, and you'll be able to see a little bit of what I'm talking about. Hopefully, lots of cool projects to come. And we're just taking it one step at a time. And this, this whole process has really taught me to not look too far ahead to hold things with an open hand. And that has really helped to to take some of the pressure off. So I hope that this episode has brought you a little bit of encouragement and perspective. And hopefully just some some weightlessness and freedom in this summer season, which I think is made for spontaneity and saying yes to things. So May it bring you a little bit of summer joy. Oh, and speaking of joy, I'll be right back with this week's little joy all right, this week's little joy is something that has been in my home but has been kind of unused. And that is a domed glass cake stand. Basically the little joys that I have been baking at least once a week for I think well over a month now and it has brought so much joy because it feeds into my love of actually baking and the fact that it has somewhere pretty decent and that kickstand is really bringing some home Enos into the kitchen as we continue to renovate that's been lovely. And it also plays into my love of hospitality. So I've had people over and I've given them a slice of cake etc. I've made muffins I've made cake I made a galet this week. And I've been able to share those things with other people it's been so fun. And like I said has made the kitchen feel a little bit more at home. Um, hopefully in the next couple of weeks is going to get underway with the next few steps of trying to make that kitchen feel more like home. But this kickstand has really been a special little corner. In case you are newer around here, I share a little joy from my week or I invite my guests to share one simply something that has been bringing joy to your everyday life. And so I also would encourage you to think on on your life and identify where where those beautiful things are that perhaps would otherwise go unnoticed. And then of course, I would like to leave you with some music. This is a playlist that I didn't make. It's a Spotify made playlist but it came to me in a very interesting way. On this trip last week we were in Richmond, Virginia and Jeanette took us to a very cool spot that I'd never been to called little nickel. If you're in Richmond I highly recommend and it's a very cool vibe sort of vintage sort of tropical very loud but the music was so good in there. Like every track was very distinct very different but was a real jam. And so I asked the server on our way out I said what what playlist is this? What are you playing? And she came back and told me that it's a Spotify playlist called Global groove. I've since found it and listened to it. And it is, it is very groovy. And it's been a very cool resource for finding cool artists that I wouldn't have known otherwise. So I really recommend this playlist. If you use Spotify at all, check it out. And if you don't, then maybe try and find it just to to find some artists. Most of them were instrumental, but not always. And there was a range of styles. So it's been lots of fun. And every time I've asked people at a restaurant, what the playlist is, it has always brought me hours and hours of great listening. So feel free to check that out. Before I go, I would like to read the latest review on Apple podcasts. Thank you so much to everyone who leaves a star rating or a review. It really does help others find this community this podcast and it means a lot to me to hear that feedback. So there's one from user 1702363 Thank you so much. The title of the review is just joy. Five stars. I know Ana in real life, and she's as much joy in person as her podcast is. Well thank you so much. If that means I have a five star personality in real life. I appreciate that you like the podcast. I don't know who that is. But thank you for leaving a review. And thank you to you all for listening. Once again, you can head to the shownotes at life on the brink dot live. That's where you can find a blog post for every episode. And it's where you can also send me an email that's at life on the brink.podcast@gmail.com if you have an idea or a question for a future episode, I would love to hear it so please send me your thoughts. Until next week, you have a wonderful start to your summer be open to new things and maybe try some sardines Have a great week oh, you're telling me well why don't you practice what you preach. Love to win until you call. I will call you back this month you breach your shovel. Go you even say that you hope to die? How can you say with your vein is crossed? Yeah, always asking me to say your name. Then you change the subject and it's okay. I'm asking you to practice but you breach. Why don't you tell me why don't you practice what you preach by Chitown while Japan thank you for tuning into this episode of Life on the brink. If you're enjoying these episodes, please feel free to leave a star rating or even better leave a review on Apple podcasts to help spread the word. For podcast show notes and extra inspirational posts throughout the week. Head to the blog at life on the brink dot live. And if you'd like a little extra dose of inspiration in your life, sign up for the monthly newsletter, which lights up your inbox the first Friday of each month. Thank you so much for listening. And until next time, friends you have a lovely week. Bye