March Break?

March Break, is that a joke? No March Break for me, work, work, work! That's good though I guess. I am working on this project that I adore. Collecting contemporary Acadian fiddle tunes. Today I am going to Moncton to meet with Megan Bourgeois. I can't wait to hear her tunes and of course to see Megan because she is a good friend! The fiddlecase website is kind of on hold, but if you are reading this and need a tune transcribed, try me!

I am loving the http://www.stumbleupon.com/ website these days. What a fun way to waste time! And I am good at wasting time. I am also still trying to do updates for my own website, but that is a very slow process. I got a little bit of grant money to record a demo next month. I am looking forward to that. It helps to have such great musicians as Mylène Ouellete and Brent Chaisson to work with. I am going to try and get over myself and be brave enough to record a few of my own tunes. We'll see....

Guess I better update!

I just read the site meter notice and I realized that people actually read my blog...so I guess it would only be fair to update! Lots of news on my end. I have a new job! Yay! Well, hahaha I'm not getting paid yet, but that is supposed to come...soon! I am working on a research project to collect, record and transcribe original fiddle tunes from contemporary Island Acadian composers. I, along with others (Big thanks to Tanya and Monic) have been trying to get this project going for a couple of years now. Finally I am starting! Today I am working on tunes from Marie Livingstone.

Also, it is my fall project to re-work my boring website, haha. I have been working on a totally new look with Microsoft Publisher. I am actually almost done, so expect a new look soon at www.anastasiadesroches.com

My other site, www.fiddlecase.com is also still on the go.

I will still be teaching fiddle lessons this fall, starting the first week of October and keeping up with a few bookings for gigs and workshops!

Send me a message or comment if you have thoughts about the new website or the new project I'm working on. I'll try to update more often...promise!

Easter Weekend

I thought the snow was finished! We went to Halifax for the Easter weekend. We took my little Echo with all season tires and not the Matrix with four wheel drive and winter tires because it's supposed to be spring now! Wellllll, big mistake. The biggest snowstorm of the winter hits. Crappy drive home from Halifax, but the worst part was when we got to PEI. After almost getting stuck in a drift in a whiteout on the highway, not knowing which lane I was in or even if I was on on the road... We decided that we weren't going to make it home to Mont-Carmel. We aimed for my mom's and dad's place in Wilmot Valley. The Blueshank was fine, but on their road, 2 houses before their house, I got stuck in a drift so big I could hardly open my door. Luckily, the neighbor across the road works for John Deere and he got me out of there. He opened the road and I got my car into the driveway at my parents place. Pretty exciting.

We watched the game Saturday night at Boston Pizza, happy to see my leafs win, but short lived thanks to the Islanders. I'm posting a picture of the bridge before we left PEI (See, no snow) and a picture of the beginnings of the storm in Halifax, Nadine and Vero in front of the Halifax Public Gardens. All in all, a good trip.

What's New?

I haven't posted in awhile, so I decided that it's time for some updates. I have been "youtubing" today. Lots of fun. I can't believe the stuff that's on there. Type in someone's name and voila! I am going to try to put some videos on there soon. Looks like fun.

I started a new website http://fiddlecase.com where I offer fiddle tune transcription services. How does it work? You send me a recording...or video of a tune, I write out the notes. This is a bit of a passion for me, It all started when I decided I want to transcribe all the tunes from my favorite albums and I realized that there are plenty of people who would love to have the notes for these tunes. So, I decided to start the website. So far, I have had a little interest and I have been introduced to some interesting music! My main challenge is to figure out how to get the word out. I did decide to do a bit of advertising on the fiddlefoum.com website. Anyone have ideas about where I should be spreading the word?

So, that's the rant of the day. Happy Tuesday.........

So it's been awhile...

No links or pictures today, just a little update on my life. I da have intentions of posting more often, but I never seem to find the time! Well, I did a website update today, it's been awhile for that too. I am going to start selling my CD tracks on my website. I managed to figure out how to put a paypal button on my site, yay Anna!
The big news is that I quit my band, I am not a member of Chiquesa anymore. I am going to miss it very much, I guess it's just a timing thing. I am hoping to keep playing music with the girls on some other projects. So, I'm kind of sad about not being in the band anymore even though I know it was the right decision.
Uhhhh, what else, talk about the weather? Well, very strange for PEI, Jan 14th, hardly any snow, can see most of the grass and the strait is not frozen!!! Ok, enough rambling, tooddles

I TRIED to update my website...

I was just trying (since it's been far too long) to update my website and I get this message " An error has occured. Management of websites is currently disabled until further notice as we resolve some remaining issues with this service." The Bravenet website, which hosts my webpage seems to have been revamped and I guess there are some issues. I hope it's back up soon.

I am just getting back from having spent a week in Ottawa! It was a really great time and I am happy that I got to spend time with my friends! I had a great time seeing friends! Here are a couple of pictures, Mylene, Robyn, Steff and I on our way out to supper and a picture of the Rideau Canal, in between the parliament buildings and the Chateau Laurier Hotel.

Last Friday, in Wakefield, we got to go see a Cape Breton live show, thanks Eddie and Brent for sober driving! :-) We saw some great music, Troy MacGillivray (Or Troy MacLiverly as Donald calls him), Andrea Beaton and Howie MacDonald just to name a few players!

And now for the link. I had seen this before in an email, but while in Ottawa, The girls and I watched a bunch of these videos. If you haven't seen "tete a claque" before, check this out: http://www.tetesaclaques.tv/video.php?vid=30 If you have a sense of humour like mine, you will find this pretty funny.

That's all for today, I hope to be able to update my website soon, Ciao Anastasia

My Space

I have been working hard on my computer skills these days, figured out how to make my own little website, I record some music and transcribe some tunes. There is one thing that I find difficult. My Space. I'm not sre why I find it so complicated, everyone seems to use it. Everytime I try to change or add something, it takes me an hour to figure out how. I still have not even come close to figuring out how to move things around or change colors on the page. I added a few friends, but I don't even think any friends have added me :-| I don't even know how to figure that out. Am I the only one who finds this a bit of a challenge? If anyone wants to see where my page is at so far, this is the link: http://www.myspace.com/68770662
I hope that works because when I search my name, I get zero results! Anyone else have these kids of problems, or better yet, have easy solutions?

So, for a picture, how about some of my family members. This picture is of my youngest sister, Lisa and my nephew, Sam. My sister Joanna has 3 kids, Patrick, Sam and Grace. I try to hang out with them as much as I can. Grace, who is 3 is pretty funny. She tries to do everything her big brothers do. Anyhow, ciao for now, Anastasia