I’m starting to feel a bit better. After a lot of tea and pug cuddles. Just getting packed up to go to Fort Langley to play a show for the 150 Anniversary of BC. Rehearsal went well last night and it was really good to see my band and get caught up.

Oh and really good news! I got the drip fixed on my kitchen tap so it doesn’t look like we are going to need to get a fish bowl to catch the drips…even though it would be kind of fun to get a little fish… but is there enough room in those bowls for them to really get a good swim in?

We sound check in a couple hours and then stay out in Fort Langley until we play the show at 7 tonight. This is probably a good thing since I have a script to memorize! Hope my memory is at peak capacity!

I leave tomorrow morning at 8am for Calgary. Gotta love those early morning flights!

Today I have a lot of things to be grateful for. And for some strange reason this year I am getting really excited about the holidays..like that excited kid feeling! And I love ice skating and drinking hot chocolate in the snow so I’m looking forward to that.

And it will be fun to play “Christmas at my House” my Christmas song that I put out last year!

Thanks to everyone who sent me notes while I was down in Nashville. It was very comforting!

Xoxo

Jessie

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xo Jessie

Hey! So I just finished writing with a fellow Canadian named Tebey. You can check out his MySpace page here.

We came up with some great stuff! I ran into the hotel to throw a dress in and some boots and I am running to meet the folks at CMT.ca to go to the CMAs! Last night, as those of you who are on my Facebook or follow me on Twitter know, I went to a very fancy party thrown by BMI where I met lots of people including Faith Hill. Some of you have been asking me what Twitter is. Basically it’s like a text message that you would send to a friend about what you’re doing but instead of it going to one person, it goes to everyone who “follows” you (subscribes to your posts). So tonight, because of the great feedback I got from so many of you on Facebook, I’m going to be twittering as much as I can (without being rude of course!)

So I’ll be giving you the scoop live as it happens. You can follow me here on Twitter or just add me as a friend on Facebook here as my twitter updates automatically get sucked into Facebook somehow.

The big rumor is that Shania is here! I have so much admiration and respect for her!

STAY TUNED!

xo Jessie

Ok..I am just back from dinner… where was I…oh ya so I woke up this morning and went to an African American church..Probably about 1,000 people. I wanted to go experience the music. I walked in the door and hear the music and it hit me! I felt my whole body buzz and I bawled my brains out! It was such a pure joy I felt from this beautiful music! He church was overflowing and the dancing was amazing! It was a great experience to be a minority. I appreciated the love and spirit in the room. Nobody held back in the room!! They moved as a direct reaction to what they felt…hope!!!!

Buzzing from my experience, I went to walk around Target (I know, a total opposite experience), a place I am not familiar with at all. I bought a pumpkin spice latte and did what my friend chanti taught me…you grab a cart and fill it up with everything that you love…try stuff on and really enjoy yourself shopping. Then you get to the till and choose 2 or 3 things. This way you have lived with the stuff around the store and by the time you get to the end of the shop you know what you really love.

My plan was to buy a few cute things but I wanted to make sure the things I chose were not from China cause well I am not big on the labor laws in China AND well what ever city I am in, I try and make sure whatever I buy is from that area or at least that Country…

This was defiantly a challenge in Target but what the hell I did a pretty good job!

Tomorrow I write during the day and then I go to a fancy black tie party…

I’ll let you know which country stars I see there! Should be pretty good.

Xoxoxo Jessie

Ok…where do I begin. I have blogged a little bit about being here in Nashville but it’s my day off and I really wanted to take the time to get into a bit of detail about what I have been up to here in Nashville.

Up until yesterday, the weather has been beautiful sunny fall weather. And the visual that I will forever have burned into my memory is the vibrant orange and red leaves and the houses often built with red brick or made of wood with sweet front porches and rocking chairs. My favourite type of rocking chair here is the tall white ones. There is something so “zen” about Nashville. Not in a new age yoga kind of way but in a well rocking slowly back and forth pondering kind of way…

It was so picturesque that I almost felt like I was driving through a movie set where they were trying to represent a cliché version of what Nashville is on a set.

I had a weird moment driving in a car with Gordie Sampson who is a Canadian writer who has been very successful in Nashville most recently writing for Carrie Underwood.

I starting to trip out about it, in a good way, about the fact that I was writing with him. I mean I have been trying to write with him for over a year! I suppose persistence pays off.

And he is a very nice hard working quirky guy! I am trying to get him to come out to Vancouver for the ccmas!

I didn’t really realize how emotionally tired I was until last night. But it’s okay because I have been lucky to have the day to refuel and reflect.

It’s funny because although I am up on stage a lot and being social is a hugely enjoyable part of my music and I love it, I really am quite nervous when I meet people just one or two people at a time…one on one. Sometimes I even hyperventalate and get sweatie!

Anyways..introducing yourself and going into a small room and writing something that you really care about and want to sing forever is an intense and really exciting process!

Sometimes you just don’t know where the song is going. It’s a combo of letting go and breaking down every detail.

Anyways I have a lot of respect for these writers here. They work so hard and are so clever!!

More update later tonight..

Going for a home cooked meal at a friends house…

Happy Sunday!

(I thought I posted this last night before going to bed but it doesn’t look like it posted)

Hey
I am very doyoy!
too tired to make sense!

wrote from 11 am this morning until now 12:30am tonight! I can barely make sense..but I will try and I wanted to say hi!!

I got to work with some great writers today at Martina Mcbride’s studio (or as I called her on twitter earlier Martina McBridge oops!) It was really fun. I am gaga over some of these writers. So clever and connected but free and talented. I will tell you more about the different writers tomorrow…I have to be up at 7:30 to finish a song I started on Monday.

I met the the head of Warner Chappell he is such a lovely person and I felt so welcome there! I now have 6 songs written here in Nashville just in the last 3 days. 6 little ducklings that all quake differently and are all very special in there own ways and there own little rain boots.

For all those Johnny Reid fans out there I want you to know that I wrote 2 songs with him and his writing partner Tom and it was lots of fun!

The only problem with today was that I stupidly skipped dinner and only had a mini tootsie roll and a diet coke and now I feel wired and tired all at the same time… very annoying combo.

I have so much to say..we haven’t even talked about the election results!! Ok I will do more of a ramble tomorrow.

xoxo Jessie

Hey! I made it! I am here in Nashville after a long red eye flight..yikes! That flight is a real doozer!
I walked around downtown Nashville and had a frozen yogurt ( haven’t had a fat free frozen yogurt since I stole one from my local grocer when I was 13)..and went to the guitar shop to pick up some supplies. It’s a ghost town here on Sundays..

Anyways, I found a place to do yoga and I am going to try and get a session in tomorrow night. I didn’t find a place to get my nails done so I am going to have to make do and do them myself. No biggy.

It was a beautiful day here in Nashville and I realized I was ridiculously bundled up when I looked at myself in Jeans my purple uggs and a scarf and sweatshirt and noticed all the University students were in short shorts and t-shirts and I was sweating!!

I’m going to go find a bar stool to sit on and listen to all the political banter going on! But I am going to keep my mouth shut!! This is such an interesting time to be in the states!

Anyways that’s the only update I have for now…but tomorrow is my first writing day and I will tell you all how it goes!

Hope you had a wonderful weekend and are having a good Sunday. And remember to always listen to the people who believe in you. Listen to them tell you that you are special and be able to ask for help or a hug cause that is what friends are supposed to be there for. We are all here to love and support each other. Without that we are just fat free yogurt desperate for some fat..
Or an egg white lookin for a yolk…

( These analogies makes sense to be but maybe that is because I am a bit tired)..anyways I am basically and obviously just having a moment of appreciation for good friends.

Please email me an analogy or line about friends…..with out friends we are just…….dirt…something about worms needing dirt?? You get the idea!

More tomorrow!

Lots of love to you and your dearest friend or friends!
xoxo Jessie

Wednesday afternoon…it’s amazing how half the day can be spent doing a little of this and a little of that. Replying to emails, grabbing some dishwasher soap, taking the recycling out, folding laundry, replying to more emails, reviewing my schedule, phone calls, etc etc etc. walking the dogs..bills etc.

The good news is that I have spent some productive time writing this week. I figure that if I have a whole bunch of concepts and melodies to take with me to Nashville, I should be good to go for the co-writing process and I am confident that this will help in the process of ending up with an authentic mix of ( mostly upbeat) songs for the next album!

I put soooo much effort into the last album and I really feel even more excited about this one.

I have been listening to the newest Sugarland album and am just about to crack open the new Lucinda Williams album..I’ll let you know what I think,..or if you have heard it, let me know what you think. I actually saw Lucinda perform while I was living in Austin Texas. It was during her big hit record Car Wheels on a Gravel Road. Something about it was so gritty and cool! During that time, I was playing a lot of open mic shows and learning by watching other musicians talk about how they write. I felt like a little fly on the wall because most of the time, I was too nervous to get up and play music.

It was during that time that I also fell in love with Patty Griffin’s music. She is great especially when you are feeling a little blue and you want to just go with it.

I remember going for a long walk with my best friend in the rain and listening to Patty Griffin’s music and sharing headphones as we walked carefully so as not to rip the music out of each other’s ears.

On another note…

So about these pumpkin recipes. I am going to pick one and make it tomorrow! I am going to my Aunt’s birthday and having family stay at my house so it is a good time to be baking.

Speaking of baking, I made really good French Toast this morning. I just figured it was a French toast kind of day! I love cinnamon!

Also, I will be in Nashville during the American election so that will be interesting. We keep playing clips of behind the scenes footage of the Obama family and I keep bursting into tears because the love and respect they have for each other is really nice to see and is so real!

I used to think politics was boring and about a bunch of arguing people in dusty old suits who cleared their throats a lot. Now I see that when you are real it sure makes it easier to listen to and connect with!

xoxo Jessie

Attention animal lovers who live in or near Owen Sound:

I just received a Facebook message from a friend of mine who wrote:
“Hi Jessie, I’m messaging you because you love your critters….my friend runs a no kill shelter in Owen Sound, Ontario…..she has some sad stories for sure. There are two dogs in particular that need help….one is Ivory….she was born blind and deaf, and had never been to a vet. She is the sweetest dog ever…..her disability doesn’t even phaze her, she’s happy and sweet……but no one seems to want to take her on….she deserves to live, happy and loved for the rest of her life.”

“The other is Sassy, she was a puppy mill dog….a little Jack Russell, she’s been forced to have puppies her whole life, but when she was brought in to my friend, she was sick….the owner said she had an accident and couldn’t have any more pups….the ‘accident’ turned out to be mummified pups still inside her, rotting….she is a sick little girl….she needs prayers and if she makes it, she needs a great home too”

You can learn more and get in contact with Renee at the shelter through her blog which can be found here.

I hope good homes can be found for Ivory and Sassy!

Thanks for reading this!

xo Jessie