So... In Paris now. Our first show was in Saint Malo for the Route du Rock festival. The festival was pretty amazing, and there were so many people there, and so many great bands (Okkervil River, Cat's Eyes, Fleet Foxes, etc.). We played at midnight and although it wasn't really my best performance (possibly my worst actually), it was still really fun nonetheless. It had rained really hard the day before, but there wasn't any rain on our night. Just a lot of mud. And a lot of Wellies. (A term I've only really become familiar with over the last year.) Something about walking through mud wearing boots is kind of neat though. Don't get to do it that often. I hung out with Cully from Okkervil River for a while, which was rad! He is not only incredibly cool but a really really good drummer. The night ended at 3am or so and I went back to my hotel room and fell asleep with all of my clothes on. Oops. Here are photos:


Okkervil River:

Cat's Eyes:

Uh oh, me and Céline:

It was a good night. But... Jack Daniels is one thing... I am never drinking anything licorice flavored ever again. 


The next day, we all wandered around Saint Malo. It is possibly one of the most beautiful places I've ever seen, at least this part of it:

We also got crepes and pizza:

After meeting up with Dirty Beaches Alex and his lovely lady Zoe, we all drove to Céline's country house to stay there before heading to Paris.

Being in the country was kind of perfect. We played cards, made pasta, I drew portraits of Chuck and Brandon... We all went out to look at the moon... 

Today we are in Paris. Everyone went out to get some food but I'm sleepy and am just hanging out inside for the day at Vanine's apartment. Going to try to go sit by the Seine later. I remember last year when I spent two weeks in Paris. Spent my birthday on the Eiffel tower! Well, not the entire day. Felt silly taking pictures at the top, but silly in the best way. Such a good two weeks. Listened to Feist the entire time. Took the metro to the park with bags of baguettes and bottles of wine. Although Berlin might be my new favorite European city, Paris will probably feel special forever. 

More later. Too tired to be eloquent in any way. xo!

Today almost everybody in the band bought new stuff! Very exciting. 
I bought:
-new jeans at Zara (miiiight be the most comfy pair of jeans I've ever owned)
-black liquid eyeliner (the pen kind, not the messy brush kind)(like you care)
-eye makeup remover? (never purchased that before, but the lady at the store seemed to think it was incredibly vital for me to buy some)
-nail polish remover (my nails look like hell right now. no further explanation needed.)
-a new bolo tie that is actually leather and not nylon
-some kind of aloe facial moisturizer
-lip balm (yawn)
-in the process, got free samples of Diesel perfume and "body butter", both of which I'll probably never use
-(this list seems reeeeaaaallly boring after writing it out, but hey)

Marco bought some sweet new kicks:

Anna finally finally found slim black slacks (not featured in the photo, unfortunately) and a blue cardigan:

And Charlie bought a new guitar! 

On the walk to the mall, Anna and I went a different route. I am basically an idiot when it comes to history, so upon my request she gave me a brief but really interesting lesson on East Germany/West Germany/the wall/Communism/etc. The walk was really pretty:

Post-Zara, at the station (obviously):

And in case you were ever wondering what I look like when kinda drunk:

Yep. Pretty much it. 

I haven't been able to do much drawing/watercolor lately so tonight I'm going to try and catch up on it. A couple more days of practice, then... St. Malo's and the start of a mini tour before coming back to record.

Man... Didn't realize how fucking crazy everything is in London until today. Really hope it calms down as soon as possible. And hope my friends there stay safe. Scary shit. 

More later. 

Yesterday morning I went over to Krista and Italian Marco's apartment so we could finally go to the flea market in Mauerpark! First Krista made me some coffee and we took her dog, Bear, for a walk. They live about 5 minutes away from us, right in front of where the Berlin wall used to be. Crazy shit. Now instead of the "Iron Curtain" (Eisen... Vorhang?) there is a tiny cafe on the water with lots of grass and white picnic tables. It is postcard pretty and I really want to get coffee there sometime this week. 


This is Bear: 

Krista and Bear:

Anyways, when we got to the flea market, it was insane! So many stands, so many people, so many leather bags, army jackets, boots, records... All the typical flea market stuff I guess, just so much of it. Trying to get through the crowd was like... trying to get to the front of the stage at a sold out show at a tiny venue. A sold out show where an extra 200 people have been snuck in through the back. We were all a little out of it from so much wine and YouTube the night before. Haha. It was really fun, though! I found some cheap rings and a fuzzy hat (Krista reminded me that I'm going to be in Columbus for the winter time, and that fuzzy warm hats will probably be very appreciated by then...), a really beautiful gold bracelet and a rad green jacket for only 5 euro. (I really want to write out the "euro" sign but I can't figure out how to make the keyboard do it. It is so easy on an iPhone. Hmmm.) 


Flea market:

Flea market purchases: 

It just started raining super hard out of nowhere! Since moving to Columbus, I've realized I really love places where the weather can change on you in minutes. Seconds, even! Never really got any of that in California. Anyways. Last night on the walk home from practice, there were fireworks that I could see over the train. Nobody seemed entirely sure why, but I liked it. Anna and I got ice cream on the way home and it was incredibly good. First ice cream I've had in Berlin. Walking home with our ice cream cones... I don't know. It was one of those moments where everything is kind of perfect, a moment that you might have even imagined happening when you were a kid, yknow? Dusk in Berlin, fireworks in the distance, cherry and chocolate chip ice cream, warm breeze on your neck, music coming from inside the bars... It just felt nice. I have been feeling pretty good lately. Figuring out some things out that needed to be figured out. I think I'm finally getting into the mindset I have been wanting to get in to, with regards to my life and the people in it and love and all that other stuff. But yeah. On a less vague side note, are there hurricanes in Berlin?! It's crazy outside! 


Ice cream:

Reaaaaaally want to go out and get a chai, but am worried that I may potentially be killed/maimed by flying debris/lightning. Wish me luck. 

More later. Sebadoh tonight at Festsaal! 

xo

(Within minutes of writing "xo" it has become blue sky sunny outside. So cool!)

Italian dinner at Mavco's/Krista's apartment. Lots of wine. Lots of incredible food. Lots of YouTube videos. Lots of good conversation. Plans to get up (relatively) early and go to the flea market in Mauerpark. (sp?) I am in need of... bracelets, necklaces, and a real leather jacket.

I miss Columbus. I miss people there. I miss... Yeah. Missing things. Too much missing going on lately. Missing places, missing people from my past that I really shouldn't miss. Nostalgia will be the death of me. But... Berlin is genuinely beautiful. Something about being here makes me feel pretty good. Or like I'm learning something. I dunno.

Photos from today!

Breakfast was silly this morning. I am terrible at frying eggs but Charlie and Anna save my life every time. 

Goodnight for now! xo

Chad VanGaalen was so good! Somewhat in love with him and his voice. I also think it's cool that he has two kids. He told me their names last night, and although I have zero recollection of what they were, I remember thinking they were interesting and pretty. Also hung out with and heard the band Suuns for the first time. Not only were they really cool guys, but their singer also has the most terrific sneer ever when he sings. Wish I had a photo of him, it was kind of addicting to watch.

Today is sleepy and until I leave for rehearsal, I'll probably just draw and continue to try to make watercolors actually look cool. I keep treating them like acrylics and it's frustrating. I am so inexperienced with color, but I want so badly to get better! I always think in terms of colorful things, and it's really irritating to lack the ability to do anything with those thoughts. Speaking of watercolors, I thought this was neat:

Behind the bottles, you can see this Monoï oil I've been using. For some reason, whenever I'm spending a lot of time in European cities, I always end up using Manoï scented stuff. In Berlin, however, I've learned that having skin that smells like tropical flowers is not all that great as there are approximately 25,000 wasps on every street. Yesterday I smelled like flowers, was wearing a flowerprint sundress, and had a fake flower in my hair. Pret-ty dumb move. Any attractiveness that either three of those things might have given me was constantly ruined by wasp-induced freakouts (swatting my face, running in circles, etc., etc.)

Anyway. Need to try to make breakfast out of one egg, one piece of toast, half a bell pepper, and a piece of halloumi cheese. xo

Just got back from practice!

Here are all the Crocodiles in front of our rehearsal space:

I felt incredibly American today. My big plan this morning was to go to the mall. The Alexa Shopping Centre in Alexanderplatz, to be exact. I needed headphones (I have been borrowing Sascha's, and they are great, but also huge in a very DJ kind of way and walking around with giant club night headphones makes me feel pretty awkward). I also (obbbbbbviously) wanted to go to H&M to get some things. (Sleeping pants and hair accessories, in case you are interested.) So, as usual, I went to Pfeiffers to get a chai, and since I wanted to walk to the mall, I asked for it in a take away cup. Something I love about Berlin, and I guess throughout most European cities, is the whole concept of sitting with your coffee. Actually taking deliberate pleasure in drinking it, in one place, for at least a few moments. I love the idea but am totally not accustomed to it. So, even the take away cups here are sort of designed to literally just be taken away to somewhere else, where you will presumably sit and drink them there. Definitely no lids or anything. Anyways, it was raining. I'm trying to look all classy walking to the mall with my black umbrella and my cigarette and my lidless chai, and I seriously think at least half of it spilled down my dress and my tights by the time I was done with it. Oh well. 

At the same time, there is also something about the big American metropolitan city "to-go" thing that I'm into. At least, whenever I'm in New York City, I kind of love watching people buzzing around with their coffees and bagels and shopping bags... Just a different feeling, I guess. 

Conversely, I do like how everybody in Berlin gets to cruise around and drink beer in the streets and on the train like it's no big deal. 

Really want to go see Chad VanGaalen play tonight at Festsaal but I'm not sure if it is sold out. Fingers crossed, I can still get in. 

To be continued... 

So, I'm in Berlin. It's been about a week so far. I am slowly falling in love with this city, or at least with Kreuzberg, where our apartment is. It's so strange, the formation of habits and routines in a new place when you're there for a while... I wake up, have some toast (the toaster is very old, and crackles when you turn it on), go to Pfeiffers down the street to get a tiger chai, smoke a cigarette in the back patio, walk into the vintage shop on Adalbertstraße to look at leather boots and try not to buy any, maybe run into Sascha on the way back home (new friend through Anna, he let me borrow his supernice headphones), sit in the apartment and draw by the window, walk the 20 minutes to rehearsal underneath the train station, walk home between 7 and 9, then most nights stay up painting until 4 in the morning. Part of me wishes I could sleep, but I think I like the late hours because finally it's only me that's awake, and the solitude at that hour is kind of perfect. I miss Columbus, but I think being here is good for me in a way. I don't know. 

My hair is getting longer. It grows fast... but not quickly enough! Once it is finally long I may never cut it again. This whole growing out process is depressing/exhausting. Haha. (On a side note.)

Berlin does make me miss romance a little. More than usual, that is. I see so many interesting couples walking around, each one looking as though they just walked out of one of my drawings or something. All fresh faced with intricate details, the men in cuffed trousers with (deliberately) unkempt haircuts, the girls all at once delicate and kind of tough, summer dresses and coral lips... Couples holding hands or kissing on street corners or sharing a beer in the square... I miss that! I don't wanna miss it. But I do. Still thinking about someone, and sort of vaguely trying not to. I don't know. Hey, sometimes a girl just wants to go on a date. 

More soon. 

xo.