Hellllo Friends and Family,
Still loving my new job at the Juneau Douglas City Museum :) It's a lot to learn, but I'm taking in as much as I can about the Museum and working for the City and Bourough of Juneau.
It's hilarious the amount of details that go into buying cases of copy paper, but I've been doing the best I can getting used to the process! One of the administrators for Parks and Rec told me it took him 2 years to really know everything...and our curator of public programs (who's been here for 6 years) says she's still learning!
But I have a pile of random tasks within a single day, so I keep busy and never get bored. The Museum is in an old library, and our staff consists of me, the director, 2 curators (one for collection and the other for programing) and an intern from Virginia. It's awesome to work in such an adorable little place, with a small staff.
The director told me 76 people applied to this job, so i feel pretty lucky to be working here!
Fall is rolling in and the leaves are beginning to fall steadily. I forget how quickly fall comes and goes in SE AK. I'm looking forward to winter and skiing, but for now with all the cruise ships gone I'm just enjoying the quiet contemplative season.
I've been still playing music, and writing more songs too! I'm attempting to bang out some chords on the guitar to practice singing, but really it just makes me miss my autoharp. Someday I will get another one...but I really really miss my sparrowharp. My good friend Alicia had her fiddle and guitar stolen out of her car in Portland on a road trip to West Virginia...I felt her dissapointment and that horrible feeling of violation when someone steals from you...Well someday I will pick up a harp again. I still have my bass and I'm loving it more than ever with new strings on it thanks to Scott and Brooke!
I'm planning on developing another blog with my buddy Sarah Ritter who lives nearby. We both love cooking and we have similar taste in basically everything, so watch out for that if we make it happen. Last week, for example, we watched a Werner Herzog documentary and made red velvet cupcakes with garbanzo beans instead of flour. They actually turned out! Crazy!
Halloween is approaching, and Thanksgiving too...just looking forward to everything!
I'll be in Seattle in Decemeber for Christmas! YAY! and then again in February for a bluegrass festival in Bellevue. I'm hoping for a tropical escape sometime soon, but we'll see how much cash I can sock away to make that happen.
Hope everyone is healthy and happy down in the states!
More soon!
Love,
Amanda
Saturday, October 2, 2010
Wednesday, September 1, 2010
I got a New Job!!!
Hi Family!
I was recently hired on as the new administrative employee at the Juneau-Douglas City Museum!!! It's an adorable little museum in downtown Juneau (next to the capital building 3 minutes from my apartment)!!!
I start next week. I still get all the good benefits of the state job I had before, but this is a little better as far as healthcare, and hourly wages!
And the best part is I get my foot back into the arts and humanities! It will be kinda nice to get out of renvenue and PFD.
Hope everyone is doing ok. Love y'all...
-Amanda
Thursday, August 19, 2010
"Summer's Almost Gone, and the Winter is Coming On"
Update on the Summer in Southeast Alaska
I’m walking away from the Jeep parked on Basin road around the corner from my apartment, hauling my upright bass back inside and I notice that the majority of cars parked along the side of Mount Juneau are covered…in LEAVES!
That’s right, our Alaskan summer culminated in a blast of 85 degree weather this last weekend, and now I find myself thinking about investing in leather boots and sewing new buttons on my weathered wool peacoat. Summer is always crazy, the band family is spilt up burying ourselves in work, spending time down in the lower 48 with family and, in Scott and Brooke’s case building a glorious cabin in Montana. They just returned and it was jarring to realize that a mere two months ago I was driving them to the airport.
With a tan that I know will fade in a few weeks, brown hair that must have turned a few shades lighter growing out to rest on my shoulders and no-see-um scars dotting my arms and legs…I can look back and say I had a superb summer in Juneau.
I’m still working for the PFD (Permanent Fund Dividend), and getting used to being a State employee. It’s not the most creatively stimulating thing in the world, but music and art in the community are keeping me pretty busy in that department.
The beginning of August I traveled to Anchorage for two days with another good musician friend from Juneau and I drove to the Anderson Bluegrass and Country Music Festival in Clear, Alaska. It’s located about an hour south of Fairbanks and has a pretty fair turnout of people camped out near the river and the trees surrounding the Festival site. The musicians had our own spot in a cozy alcove near the river and the trees, and for the first weekend in August the weather was amazing. The interior sun hit highs of what felt like 90 degrees and I stayed up until 7, 8, and 9am playing music and having way too much fun with people I get to see maybe once or twice a year.
I was lucky enough to get to play Bluegrass with the musicians who inspired me to pick up the bass in the first place. I remember my first folk festival in Juneau 2008, watching all the pickers and hoping that one day I could stand with them and play.
After the festival I spent an amazing couple of days in Fairbanks with some of the crew who attended the festival. I got to see more fine interior folks and spend some time at Ivory Jack’s bar in Goldstream Valley, and the Golden Eagle in Ester, a trip to the Chatanika river, and late night hot tub soaks. The people up there are amazing, kind, generous, and fun…and I didn’t want to leave!
With sad faces we departed for the big city and after spending a great night with Kate Sangster at her gorgeous home in Anchorage, I headed home for Juneau.
I don’t really know where I will be or what I will be doing with my life, but what I do know is that I love Alaska, and it get’s deeper and deeper into me the more time I spend here. I was so excited to return to my friend community in Juneau, and I love having pockets of fantastic friends tucked into different parts of the state.
As summer winds down, I have things on the back burner, plans yet to be hatched, and the best thing to look forward to, SEATTLE AND PORTLAND for Christmas! Everyday I wake up excited to see everyone down south in the Northwest!
I will update again soon!
Love you all, Take care!
-ajc
I’m walking away from the Jeep parked on Basin road around the corner from my apartment, hauling my upright bass back inside and I notice that the majority of cars parked along the side of Mount Juneau are covered…in LEAVES!
That’s right, our Alaskan summer culminated in a blast of 85 degree weather this last weekend, and now I find myself thinking about investing in leather boots and sewing new buttons on my weathered wool peacoat. Summer is always crazy, the band family is spilt up burying ourselves in work, spending time down in the lower 48 with family and, in Scott and Brooke’s case building a glorious cabin in Montana. They just returned and it was jarring to realize that a mere two months ago I was driving them to the airport.
With a tan that I know will fade in a few weeks, brown hair that must have turned a few shades lighter growing out to rest on my shoulders and no-see-um scars dotting my arms and legs…I can look back and say I had a superb summer in Juneau.
I’m still working for the PFD (Permanent Fund Dividend), and getting used to being a State employee. It’s not the most creatively stimulating thing in the world, but music and art in the community are keeping me pretty busy in that department.
The beginning of August I traveled to Anchorage for two days with another good musician friend from Juneau and I drove to the Anderson Bluegrass and Country Music Festival in Clear, Alaska. It’s located about an hour south of Fairbanks and has a pretty fair turnout of people camped out near the river and the trees surrounding the Festival site. The musicians had our own spot in a cozy alcove near the river and the trees, and for the first weekend in August the weather was amazing. The interior sun hit highs of what felt like 90 degrees and I stayed up until 7, 8, and 9am playing music and having way too much fun with people I get to see maybe once or twice a year.
I was lucky enough to get to play Bluegrass with the musicians who inspired me to pick up the bass in the first place. I remember my first folk festival in Juneau 2008, watching all the pickers and hoping that one day I could stand with them and play.
After the festival I spent an amazing couple of days in Fairbanks with some of the crew who attended the festival. I got to see more fine interior folks and spend some time at Ivory Jack’s bar in Goldstream Valley, and the Golden Eagle in Ester, a trip to the Chatanika river, and late night hot tub soaks. The people up there are amazing, kind, generous, and fun…and I didn’t want to leave!
With sad faces we departed for the big city and after spending a great night with Kate Sangster at her gorgeous home in Anchorage, I headed home for Juneau.
I don’t really know where I will be or what I will be doing with my life, but what I do know is that I love Alaska, and it get’s deeper and deeper into me the more time I spend here. I was so excited to return to my friend community in Juneau, and I love having pockets of fantastic friends tucked into different parts of the state.
As summer winds down, I have things on the back burner, plans yet to be hatched, and the best thing to look forward to, SEATTLE AND PORTLAND for Christmas! Everyday I wake up excited to see everyone down south in the Northwest!
I will update again soon!
Love you all, Take care!
-ajc
Friday, June 11, 2010
JUNE!
So i'm about to turn 25, and it's a little scary to say the least.
It's summer in Juneau and that means lots of sunshine and LONG days. I have to remind myself that 4 hours of sleep on a weekday is not enough, and to make sure to get more rest. It's so difficult as it can stay light out until 11pm...and there's lots to do!
So far June has been great, the folks came to visit which gave me the refresh of love and family I needed for the season, and we had a great memorial day weekend! The band played bluegrass at the Alaskan bar, we took a whale watching musical private cruise down the Lynn canal with the Chisholms and the band family and watched baby humpaback whales breaching with Coronas in our hands and smiles on our faces. My mom and dad helped me put some nice touches on my apartment, which looks better than ever!
This week has been extremely busy! There was a visiting cermaics artist from Colorado, so plenty of reason to celebrate out at Jr and Alli's home on Auke Bay. Kate Hamre and Aoife O'Donovan, two musicians were in town teaching the Bluegrass Camp for Kids. I hadn't seen Kate since October, and it was great to play music with her and catch up on life! Aoife is a musician from Brooklyn in the band Crooked Still, and I have never met such a warm, down to earth, talented gal! She even did a solo show at the Alaskan for us!
This weekend should be more fun, musicians from Elfin Cove, Anchorage, and here in Juneau are playing, and I plan on dancing through to my birthday on Sunday!
Hope everyone's doing well! I will post some pictures soon ;)
love,
Amanda
It's summer in Juneau and that means lots of sunshine and LONG days. I have to remind myself that 4 hours of sleep on a weekday is not enough, and to make sure to get more rest. It's so difficult as it can stay light out until 11pm...and there's lots to do!
So far June has been great, the folks came to visit which gave me the refresh of love and family I needed for the season, and we had a great memorial day weekend! The band played bluegrass at the Alaskan bar, we took a whale watching musical private cruise down the Lynn canal with the Chisholms and the band family and watched baby humpaback whales breaching with Coronas in our hands and smiles on our faces. My mom and dad helped me put some nice touches on my apartment, which looks better than ever!
This week has been extremely busy! There was a visiting cermaics artist from Colorado, so plenty of reason to celebrate out at Jr and Alli's home on Auke Bay. Kate Hamre and Aoife O'Donovan, two musicians were in town teaching the Bluegrass Camp for Kids. I hadn't seen Kate since October, and it was great to play music with her and catch up on life! Aoife is a musician from Brooklyn in the band Crooked Still, and I have never met such a warm, down to earth, talented gal! She even did a solo show at the Alaskan for us!
This weekend should be more fun, musicians from Elfin Cove, Anchorage, and here in Juneau are playing, and I plan on dancing through to my birthday on Sunday!
Hope everyone's doing well! I will post some pictures soon ;)
love,
Amanda
Wednesday, May 5, 2010
No Facebook
I am without internet at my apartment. I am an employee of the state of Alaska, which as you can guess has blocked the website from accessing at my desk.
sigh.
so it seems I am at a crossroads. I go buy internet or become like the seasonal workers I used to be and go to the Silverbow to choke down 4 dollar bagels every other day in order to reconnect with my social networks via their wifi signal.
I feel pretty out of the loop...
If anyone reads this, I am embarking on my most challenging endeavor yet this year: I am playing bass with the Great Alaska Bluegrass Band this weekend at the Breakwater Restaurant and Hotel. I am extrememly nervous, but those of you who know me well enough have seen me under pressure and coming out ok on the other side.
Cross your fingers that my own will fly up and down the fret board as Jack Cooke's did when he stood behind Ralph Stanley and the Clinch Mountain Boys so many years ago...well, at least I'm hoping I can keep up with the T-GABB boys for 2 nights.
Wish me luck.
Also my folks are coming to visit in a few weeks, and I want to sob uncontrollably just thinking about how good it will be to see family. It will be the best start to summer imaginable!
More soon,
xoajc
Wednesday, April 14, 2010
Folk Festival Pictures
http://www.davidsheakley.com/p666127023/h2c7324bb#h202e3f3d
The above link is to David Sheakley's website with photos of "It's a Dandy" performing at the Alaska Folk Festival.
Allison Mapes on Guitar, Me on upright bass, Jeremy Kane on mandolin, and Andrew Heist on the five string fiddle.
It was fun....I will post more pictures of the fest here very soon!
Love,
Amanda
The above link is to David Sheakley's website with photos of "It's a Dandy" performing at the Alaska Folk Festival.
Allison Mapes on Guitar, Me on upright bass, Jeremy Kane on mandolin, and Andrew Heist on the five string fiddle.
It was fun....I will post more pictures of the fest here very soon!
Love,
Amanda
Friday, March 12, 2010
Thanks Boys
I have been blessed enough to enjoy living not only in such a geographically gorgeous city, like Juneau---but within this tiny Alaska capitol I have discovered a group of people whom my love for could only be rivaled by my blood family.
The last 10 months in Juneau have been the most rewarding of my 24 years on this planet. I have been through some rough times, but the gleaming moments of happiness and elation couldn't be touched by the times where I felt homesick and lonesome for Seattle, my friends there, and my family. Now that the light is returning to the mountains towering above me and the mornings are brighter, I can feel an easing relaxation. Money, material things, and minor setbacks seem so insignificant in constrast to the swell of contententment I feel in my current situation. It's funny that it took a recent series of events to really bring these positive feelings out, from wherever they were hiding.
Last weekend I met two people who had the power to make an entire community come toegther for 3 days of music, laughter, and fun than ran into the wee hours of Sunday morning. I watched an entire room full of people almost compelled by an electric shock, dance, sing, and smile like we were all under a spell of sorts. This all sounds very dramatic and over the top...yet it happened. And it was excactly what I needed to bring myself back to the person who had the courage to get up and seek this lfestyle on my own last summer.
This blog post is just something I needed to get down, maybe for posterity, maybe in the hopes that Nate and Ike will read this and know how much their visit meant to me at that time in my life. Their kindness and genuine love for life and music, made me realize that, yes, it can be this good if you surround youself with amazing people, and focus on the things that make you happy.
Last night I played an open mic set with 3 of my best friends, with my other Juneau family watching from around the bar. I sang a song I wrote in the darkest and lonliest time of my life this last fall. I had only played it for the people closest to me, and somehow singing it out to the 65 people in the bar felt so right and so theraputic. If it wasn't for Ike and Nate, and their positive feedback to my music and singing I probably wouldn't have been able to muster up the strength to put myself out there with something so personal. I don't think they'll ever know how much they inspired me and encouraged me in the few days they were in Juneau.
This is really sappy. I'm fully aware---I guess I'm just that way...
I love my friends. I love Juneau. Things are getting brighter.
Thanks for letting me share...
-Amanda
The last 10 months in Juneau have been the most rewarding of my 24 years on this planet. I have been through some rough times, but the gleaming moments of happiness and elation couldn't be touched by the times where I felt homesick and lonesome for Seattle, my friends there, and my family. Now that the light is returning to the mountains towering above me and the mornings are brighter, I can feel an easing relaxation. Money, material things, and minor setbacks seem so insignificant in constrast to the swell of contententment I feel in my current situation. It's funny that it took a recent series of events to really bring these positive feelings out, from wherever they were hiding.
Last weekend I met two people who had the power to make an entire community come toegther for 3 days of music, laughter, and fun than ran into the wee hours of Sunday morning. I watched an entire room full of people almost compelled by an electric shock, dance, sing, and smile like we were all under a spell of sorts. This all sounds very dramatic and over the top...yet it happened. And it was excactly what I needed to bring myself back to the person who had the courage to get up and seek this lfestyle on my own last summer.
This blog post is just something I needed to get down, maybe for posterity, maybe in the hopes that Nate and Ike will read this and know how much their visit meant to me at that time in my life. Their kindness and genuine love for life and music, made me realize that, yes, it can be this good if you surround youself with amazing people, and focus on the things that make you happy.
Last night I played an open mic set with 3 of my best friends, with my other Juneau family watching from around the bar. I sang a song I wrote in the darkest and lonliest time of my life this last fall. I had only played it for the people closest to me, and somehow singing it out to the 65 people in the bar felt so right and so theraputic. If it wasn't for Ike and Nate, and their positive feedback to my music and singing I probably wouldn't have been able to muster up the strength to put myself out there with something so personal. I don't think they'll ever know how much they inspired me and encouraged me in the few days they were in Juneau.
This is really sappy. I'm fully aware---I guess I'm just that way...
I love my friends. I love Juneau. Things are getting brighter.
Thanks for letting me share...
-Amanda
Tuesday, March 9, 2010
It's been a while! Here's to 2010!
Click on the whole picture to see me playing a song with Nate and Ike from the Wilders with Andrew Heist, Joe Baxter, Kris Jones, Jr. Kane, and Lindy Jones on stage at the Alaskan Bar this last Friday. Maybe the swooniest moment of my life :)
Holas friends and family!
I am sitting in my new studio apartment at 401 8th St. apt 106 in snowy downtown Juneau, Alaska. I love this place, as it's not only completey adorable...but all MINE! My new boss at the State of Alaska was kind enough to give me his couch he didn't need (which is like a brand new suede lovely thing) and all my coworkers and neighbors are helping me get set up with all those little things i need to going...
So in a nutshell it's been a rough winter. Weather-wise Juneau has seen a very mild very dry season, but emotionally the dark loneliness took its toll on me. I have the most amazing friends in the world and an amazing family of people surrounding me that was the only way I could have gotten through it. The Eaglecrest Ski Area bus driving job was not something I found to be enjoyable nor lucrative. The schedule ruined my social life (which sounds lame, but when it's dark at 3:15pm until 9am you need to dance it off) and there was a dozen other things that didn't jive with what I found I truly needed in a job. So I applied to the Permanent Fund Dividend division at the State of Alaska and was hired as an initial PFD processor. I am on a team of "gatekeepers" who open all the mail and process the applications and supporting documents of Alaskans who wish to receive their sweet oil money. I love my coworkers and the job is really nice...and a five minute walk from my front door!!! Being downtown, living, working...it's SO nice. SO NICE. ah!
It's been a really great new year thus far. Between the new place, the new job, and spring and light getting closer i feel so happy with my situation right now. I just went to the doctor (cause i have BENEFITS!)who said 90% of my health issues I brought up were stress related. With good diet, exercise, and belly laughs I should be able to come out of the slump I was in healthier and happier than ever before. It's so nice to feel back on track!!!
I can't say enough how happy I am playing music with my best friends. The bass is such a deeply rewarding hobby. I want to know everything and really sink my teeth into all aspects of learning it. This last weekend, we were lucky enough to have two amazing musicians from Kansas City, MO in town to pick and play with. Ike and Nate from The Wilders country band somehow in three days brought some seriously buried happiness and inspiration from deep within. We played and sang and they were so supportive and sweet. There's nothing better than getting musical support from such amazing performers. With my Alaska folk festival performance on the very near horizon (www.alaskafolkfest.org for our schedule)I really needed some positive reinforcement. They brought a lot of happiness into this snowy southeastern Alaskan city. I am so thankful to have met friends I will keep forever, and an experience I will remember for the rest of my life.
Folk Fest is coming soon, and I'm so looking forward to seeing all the Alaskans and having a week of music and laughter. I will post pictures and make sure to keep everyone posted on when our band "Drive it Home" will perform.
I recently had an art review published in the local newspaper, the Juneau Empire and am on the official roster for hosting the country and bluegrass radio show at the radio station Tuesday nights. I will be better about keeping everyone updated on when these things happen :)
Miss you all, love you lots! Things are looking up. Fluffy snowflakes are falling on Mt. Roberts and Mt. Juneau at the top of Gold street...perfect blustery day to take a bath and practice some bass. More soon! Promise!!!
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