Holiday Gift Guide... under 30 dollars!!!!

• I am from Lucedale Mississippi... and in reading some of these Holiday Gift Guide's I realize one thing.. where I come from 10 "inexpensive" presents under 100 dollars a piece adds up to a thousand dollars. And that is not inexpensive to me! So, I have polled the experts... our fans and friends to see what they are giving this year! And of course they have some pretty awesome ideas... I have also included a few of my own :) Happy Hannukah and Merry Christmas People!!! Here's to giving from the heart & not breaking the bank!

1. Hand baked goods seems to be extremely popular, and let's face it. Who doesn't love getting homemade fudge and cookies!!! Georgia Boyer and Gina Putnum from our facebook fan page seem to be in agreement, this is one of the most perfect gifts. And, they can be made for little to nothing!

I love these Molasses Cookies from Martha Stewart. They look so pretty in that mason jar! Find the recipe here ! http://tiny.cc/z8xyy

2. Brenda Kemma has this next idea, which quite honestly.... I am not sure if I am crafty enough to attempt. But I can tell you this, after a little research, Cross Stitching is not just for your grandma anymore! Warning... some of these cross stitch patterns contain language.. AM NOT EVEN KIDDING! http://www.subversivecrossstitch.com/index.html

The best news about this idea ..... they are all between $5.00 and $15.00 !! You can find more cool patterns HERE: http://tiny.cc/31x77

3. This next website is so cool and if you would like to send me a Christmas gift, I would love anything this girl makes;) Ms. Bree McAckley is an artist and designer from LA. She sells her handmade super rad bohemian rock jewelry through her website www.guttergypsy.com The loved one getting this gift will not be disappointed. The best news... it's handmade one of a kind jewelry for $10.00. Who doesn't LOVE that! You will definitely be seeing me at a future show with one of those clipsters swinging in my hair !

4. This idea came to me from our AMAZING stylist Claudia Fowler who also happens to own the super hip boutique "Haven" in Franklin, Tennessee. She suggests giving a cool ornament which is always a great gift especially if it's personal. I am also going to suggest this cool journal from Modern Alchemy at her online store. Everyone needs a fantastic place to write your thoughts. It's cathartic and keeps anxiety at bay. And you might as well look like a rock star doing it! Plus, it's $24.00!!!

http://www.taigan.com/shops/sanctuaryofstyle






You can also purchase these customized porcelain ornaments for $14.99 at Kodak HERE + right now they are 20% off http://tiny.cc/eanjr

5. Sweet Julie Soloman who I used to work an an "unnamed" clothing store turned me onto this today via facebook. It's called a Water Bobble and it's the END of expensive bottled water! If you are anything like me you waste ALOT of plastic and cash on bottled water. This is so smart.. as you fill it up it filters tap water. And they make them for babies, adults... humans of all sizes (actually 3 sizes ;) starting at only $8.95. They have been written up in the New York Times and Esquire Magazine... Good for you & good for the enviroment! www.waterbobble.com

6. I found this designer on Etsy.com. I love the modern simplicity of of this personalized stationary. The era of letter writing seems to be a thing of the past, but there is nothing more personal that recieving a letter from someone you love. I think at $16.00 this set is a great gift. It's thoughtful and economical! Check it out HERE: http://tiny.cc/9h9ik

For the BOYS! For the BOYS! For the BOYS! For the BOYS!

7. I couldn't leave out the boys. And these next gifts are for them. They are all in the spirit of my personal mantra.. all men are man boys, and that's just the way I like them :)

LEGO WALKIE TALKIES !!!! (Awesome.. i know)
$28.00 http://tiny.cc/9kpiz


Starburst Recycled Boombox (for your ipod) I mean come on, who wouldn't want this.
$18.00 http://tiny.cc/lzgv2

"How To Beat Up Anybody" By Judah Friedlander (enough said.)
$17.99
http://tiny.cc/iqebk


Casio Data Bank Watch(because every man needs a watch from 1985 with a calculator attached to it !)
$30.00 http://tiny.cc/fdry9



8. These beautiful earring's were brought to my attention by my friend Dave. Not that he wears earrings.. well, he may. I'm not sure. But his friend Serena happens to be the designer!

They were created in New York by Ms.Serena Van Rensselaer and are sterling silver and Hand Hammered for just $30.

She also has a host of other beautiful sophisticated handcrafted pieces here: http://tiny.cc/epy20

May your days be merry and bright...

Peace & Love,

Brandon

Taking my own Advice

The good Lord knows I can dish it out, so I am taking my own advice this week. All the things I tell friends, and family. I'm finally gonna do myself.

Push Harder
Hold on Longer
No is not an acceptable answer
Take a Nap and a deep breath
When they say you can't do it, politely smile and nod... and then do it anyway.
Stop worrying so much about what other people think
Listen to your mother
and your father
Stop listening to everybody else
Kick the bad out
Let the good in
Pray
Laugh when it's funny
STOP fake laughing when it's not
Pray some more
Love with all you can
you do too have time for a walk, you had time for Oprah
Sing from your heart
Listen that small voice, it's there for a reason
Trust yourself.
Kiss him when you feel it...

And for heavens sake.... cut yourself some slack. These are the moments, live in them.

Love,

Your type A oldest child bossy self.

Patience

I am a songwriter. I put words and music together, in hopes I am excited enough to sing it and you listen long enough to be moved. I usually need help from a co writer and a good idea to make it clear, and beautiful. But, Inspiration is an illusive thing. Sometimes, when I feel I am pressed for it, I can't find it. And days when I need to get somewhere and don't have time for it, it finds me... driving down 1-65 and I can't find a pen fast enough. The funny thing about it, like pretty much everything else in life... is it finds you. You don't find it.

I saw this piece by Elizabeth Gilbert... and if you are a creative sort, I hope you take minute to check it out. She talks about the "muse" and how she has to work so hard for it. Which is how I have felt lately. Waiting for a song to fall out of the sky sitting in a little writing room. Trying to gain perspective on what I want to say. But I love what she says at the end (and if you are going to watch it, you may not wanna keep reading!)... that instead of beating yourself up for getting nothing, or getting something just okay.... Applaud yourself for working, for waiting. For creating something, even if it doesn't change your day, much less the world. Because you have to be there, you have to show up for something to happen. It's so cliche but you have to be present to play, much less win!

I am finding that Patience is one of the many a virtues I have just not mastered yet. Hell, I'm not anywhere close. Just when I think I have given my destiny to God, I wake up the next morning and take it all back forgetting my prayer the night before! But, I am present. And I am working. And more than anything else, I just love music. And I love creating something out of nothing. And when I get up on a stage and sing a melody, I have lived. And I adore... it's worth all those days of trying.

http://www.ted.com/talks/lang/eng/elizabeth_gilbert_on_genius.html

Brandon

Fan Fair

The last few months have been filled with airplanes and sky miles and shaking hands and meeting people . Playing the name game, so I can remember what I am afraid the good Lord didn't gift me with, I never forget a face, but I can never remember a name! In trying to prepare myself for all this travel and music, I don't think I could really prepare myself at all. But every single day I find that no matter what happens, good or bad, with our "single" or all the ups and downs of being "new" I am still just so grateful to have an audience. People who believe in Leah and I, and are willing to invest in our dream.

When I was a teenager, and barely a teenager, an artist named MC Potts came to our Wal-Mart in Lucedale, MS and played on a flatbed truck with her big beautiful tour bus shining right behind her. I met her bus driver "Bud" with my mom and dad, told him I was aspiring 13 year old country singer & he graciously offered us tickets to fan fair. I begged my daddy to drive me to Nashville. I remember pulling up to the fairgrounds, and seeing Tony Brown walking around backstage and thinking if I could just shake his hand, or hang out around that long table of food now known to me as "catering" long enough something might happen! Fan Fair, is now CMA Fest, and Leah and I have the opportunity as artists to participate. I know it's gonna be hot, and humid... but I just wonder what little girl might be there just like me years ago, waiting to catch a glimpse of someone who might look at her and think she's special.

One of the amazing things about Country Music is that it truly is a community of artists. What format in the world has a gathering of every artist, old. new. platinum... or not... in one place... for one week.

If you are in Nashville next week... I hope we see you there.

xoxo

Brandon

Country Weekly Fashion Show

http://www.countryweekly.com/fashionshow

Ladies Home Journal and Second Harvest Food Bank..

http://bit.ly/c28TJZ

The first time you hear your song on the radio...

I am going to let my sister tell you this time :)

Sunday, March 07, 2010

You would never guess....

I thought I'd be in the car, or at a truck stop, or in a store. I didn't even realize till a little later how monumental this moment was, not just the moment, but where it happened: Standing in my grandmother's kitchen, the house Brandon and I grew up in, the house my grandmother and great grandmother were born in, the house my great great Grandfather built, the house we lived in while we were traveling all over the country singing, the house I snuck out of, the house my parents decided to leave so we could move to Nashville..... standing in that house, in that very kitchen, we heard Bring On The Love for the very first time on the radio. Brandon, me, my husband, my grandmother and my little boy stood in the kitchen and listened to it.

Never in a million years would I ever have guessed that would be where I heard it on the radio for the first time. But I must say, it sure felt right. Every now and then it's nice to get a little message that you're right where you're supposed to be.

Funny, on the way home we heard "The House That Built Me".

- Leah

Currently listening:

Revolution

By Miranda Lambert

roller coasters and such

I have been living on a roller coaster. Which is crazy because I get motion sickness.

I have worked my entire life for the chance to put out a record, on a major label that I am proud of. That I believe in. I've been in Nashville eleven years and I thought I was prepared for what could come with that. Like how venerable you feel when you play your record for somebody new. Knowing that they are completely inside your head, inside your private world. Every single song is personal and sometimes you pray they don't know just who it is about! I have been in that room. I have been that girl. The day your song goes to radio (which was 3 weeks ago for us!), the same feeling follows. The naked in front of the classroom feeling, knowing everyone is watching the charts, some praying for your success, others for your failure. Just wanting the chance to have it heard. But there are a few things, quite honestly I wasn't prepared for. The first time you google yourself and you see that somebody loves your song. It's a good feeling. The second time you google yourself and see somebody hates it, and is questioning your existence in an industry you have given blood for... is the strangest, most complex.. wanna hunt em down and let the air out of their tires... well, you get the point. I have been told at this point to STOP googling myself by my husband. Which I think is really funny. I never thought that would be me. The last few weeks the birage of emotion I have had. The roller coaster I am on. Making a music video and then seeing our video for the first time. I have never been the girl who watched myself in the mirror preform, not as an adult anyway :) Seeing myself, and my beautiful sister on the screen. I keep telling everyone.. I can't believe it. But I really truly can't believe it. I keep saying each day just gets weirder than the last. Because, at the heart of all of this, we are just regular people who this kind of thing doesn't usually happen too. I feel like I have been playing the lottery for 15 years and finally got a winning ticket. . And every single day something wonderful, or heart breaking, or exciting and always always something NEW happens. And I just can't help but think that I am finally living out my dream. And the way that makes me feel... is so much more than I can contain in a blog. But I am certain you will eventually hear it in a song.

This journey is simply amazing.

Did I mention we are playing at the Ryman next week? I can't even go there or I will cry. again.

Gratefully,

Brandon

If you would like to see our new video.. click here :)

http://www.cmt.com/videos/coldwater-jane/484597/bring-on-the-love.jhtml

Bring on the Love

When you wait your whole life for something, well I should say... when you work your whole life for something and it finally happens.. it's real. It's amazing, and scary and hit me upside the head yesterday like a ton of bricks. I don't know who reads this... besides maybe my mamma & brother and sister... but I am a recording artist. I am in a band with my little sister, who is this amazing songwriter and an even better friend and we are called Coldwater Jane. Our single, is a song we wrote with Kevin Kadish & Wayne Kirpatrick... two dear friends & collaborators. It is called "Bring on the Love". It was written in a really organic fashion. We were sitting around with guitars and mandolins and resonator thingys just jamming. And that's how it happened. It's personal, it's honest and says something and I couldn't be more proud for it to be our musical introduction to the world. And yesterday, I realized.. it comes out in 3 weeks!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! It attends every country music station in America on January 25th. Not only that, but you can buy it on i tunes on January 26th. It has all happened so slowly.. the last 10 years of this incredible journey to here. But the last year, since we signed to Mercury, has happened SO SO fast. I can't believe that I am the girl who's dreams are coming true. I thought that only happened to other people. And it is happening to me. And no matter what happens... It is happening and nothing.. not time or opinion or my place in the world can ever take that away. Leah and I are getting a shot !

"Bring on the Love" is coming out. Our music is going to be heard. I hope you will continue to join me on this rollercoaster!

I'd say I can not wait... but it's happening.. and I don't have to anymore!

Brandon Jane