Stevie Jewel

Entering the Labothéry

I found my way to Labothéry; the tea laboratory! But first, let me tell you why I love tea so much.

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When I was a little girl I used to love having tea parties.  With my mum, with my dolls, with anyone I could coerce into sitting down and enjoying imaginary tea from my tiny china tea set.  As I got older and started high school my mum would make me a cup of tea every morning with breakfast.  Now it’s such a part of who I am I couldn’t imagine my life without a good cuppa! Which brings me to Labothéry.  Many years ago I was introduced to bubble tea and I just adore it.  I love the now vast array of flavors, and all the fun surprises you can add to the experience; tapioca bubbles, pearl bubbles, popping pearls, etc.  So when I found a “design your own tea”experience had been created and it was called, Labothéry, I had to go.
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Labothéry isn’t exactly what I imagined, but it didn’t disappoint.  First you decide hot or cold.  Then you pick your flavor; milk tea, tea, or slushie tea.  All the flavors are colorful and fun!  Then you can sweeten the milk or regular tea with various amounts of predetermined maple syrup.  After that you get to choose your additional ingredients; tapioca, strawberry pearls, brown sugar bubbles, among many other choices!  Then you become “Dr. Such and Such” (because they write your name in a little “Dr.” name section on the cup) and then they mix your drink.  After it’s done they call out, “Dr. Such and Such, your strawberry milk tea is ready!”.
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Then we sat down to enjoy our custom blended beverages.  At the end of the tables on the wall they have large chalkboards where you can write your masterpiece recipe or leave a little friendly note! I’ll definitely be visiting again.  I found the experience quite novel and a fun approach to bubble tea.
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*Word of caution! I tried several new things when building my concoction to try and get a full experience.  Most of what I tried was wonderful, but the brown sugar bubbles were not my favorite.  The texture is very different from tapioca bubbles!

Success Defined

Have you ever worked at something for a long time and then suddenly you feel like you didn’t make the progress you expected? It’s not that you didn’t meet your goals or didn’t succeed, it’s that you had unacknowledged expectations of where you thought you would be at a certain point. SuccessSuccess

That feeling is the pressure we put on ourselves! Recently I had an encounter that helped me see that not only am I experiencing success at my goals in all the ways that I wanted to, but that I was being hard on myself for no reason! I was diligently working, but constantly pressuring myself that I could have done better and it was killing the joy of my successes!

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What changed my perspective was validation from someone I respect greatly and who is very successful in their own right. Having someone like that say that my work was good enough.  Reminded me that things are working out exactly as they should. Sometimes it takes an outside opinion from someone else in your industry to tell you that you’re nailing it! But it doesn’t have to.  You can do this for yourself.

Being an independent artist can be a true adventure, and sometimes it’s really helpful to hear from someone with more experience that you are checking all your boxes. Here’s the thing though, I had been so down on myself. For NO REASON. I could’ve acknowledged my growth on my own; with some perspective.

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So what I really want you to take away from this is that we can be our own worst critic. It’s okay to know when you can do better. However, arguing with yourself when you’re doing the best you can is pointless. As Maya Angelou said, “When you know better, do better.” and that’s all we can ask of ourselves. So if you’re working on your goals daily, and you’re seeing progress, even small progress, give yourself some credit! You deserve it.

Pandora: The Other Side of Disney

We found our way to the Avatarian land of Pandora while visiting Disneyworld!

I have to say, even if you don’t want to wait in a long line for the rides you should go walk around this new addition to Animal Kingdom just because it’s so well designed. The floating sky islands and all the “plant life” both real and fantasy is so beautiful and striking. The attention to detail is so on brand for Disney, but some aspects even surpassed my expectations. The employees name tags in all the Disney parks say their name and where their from. However, in Pandora the name tags say the name of the employee and instead of their hometown it says, “Earth” because we’re supposed to be on another planet! The food is also better than I expected…with a few surprises, like boba bubbles in the main course!

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I know that Disney employs specific smells in different parts of the park to create a certain atmosphere.  It definitely felt like Pandora had it’s own scent.

I couldn’t put my finger on it exactly, but I’m going to guess that the great imagineers at Disney cooked up something special.  Overall the whole area is worth just walking around and exploring because the whole experience is all encompassing once you cross over into Pandora from the Animal Kingdom.

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We did ride both the major attraction rides in Pandora!

While I enjoyed both, I would say the Flight of Passage ride was really an experience worth waiting for. Full disclosure, we didn’t wait more than 65 minutes for either ride.  So I can’t say I would feel the same way after waiting for 2 or 3 hours. I did feel the ride was worth the roughly hour long wait. If you’re with small children then the Navi River Journey might be a better ride, but the Flight of Passage is truly thrilling.  It’s a more technologically advanced in a  Soarin’ over California way.  Have you been to  Disney’s Pandora already?! If so, what did you think?

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Story: Behind The Songs of The Phoenix Story

My new concept album has just come out! You can get it here!  This feels like the perfect time and place to talk about the story behind each of the songs and how they came together to create the concept album that became The Phoenix Story.  So we’ll go in order from the start.
Album

  1. Off The Market

I wrote this song about three or four years ago with one of my guitar players.  He was playing this little riff and then I said, “What if it was a little edgier?” and that’s how the signature guitar riff from Off The Market was born!  After that the words just flowed right out of me.  The initial music was so sassy it wasn’t hard to tell what the song wanted to be.  Once the song was finished I didn’t think about it again until one summer I was putting together the setlist for a festival I was playing.  I found the song and thought, “this would be great!”.  After we played it at the show multiple people came up to the merch table to ask where to buy the song!  That’s when I knew it had to be released.  Off The Market is about when you see someone for the first time and have that instant connection.  You both know there’s something there and it’s just a matter of time before your paths cross.

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  1. Bad Habit

            Bad Habit was such a fun song to write.  We were tossing ideas around and then someone said, “What if someone was like a bad habit? Something you like, but know it’s just not good for you?” and as soon as the words “bad habit” were in the room, we knew that was the hook for the song. After that the song was done in about 20 minutes!  Bad Habit is a fun spin on “bro country”.  It’s the same concept, but sung by a girl which felt so fresh considering the heavy male influence that has been happening in country music for the last couple years.
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  1. Earthquake

            Earthquake is a very special song to me.  When it was written it was never intended to be about a romantic relationship.  It was from real experiences that I was having at the time and I wanted to remind myself that I was going to get past the betrayal.  Of course, this is exactly what happened, but it made me feel so much better to write Earthquake and give myself an anthem to hold onto.  It turns out that lots of other people needed an “earthquake” anthem of their own!  From the early days of playing the song out at shows people have been reaching out to tell me that the song means a lot to them. That helped them with something they were going through also.  This is the greatest compliment as a songwriter; to give people a message they need.  In terms of The Phoenix Story, Earthquake is the turning point of the album, it’s about taking back your own power and becoming the hero in your own story.
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  1. Siren

            Siren came from the idea of the sirens in the Odyssey. It’s story of a warrior who leaves his home and experiences all sorts of adventure and peril while trying to return home.  The Sirens are beautiful women who live on an island. The women have the power of luring sailors to their death. Their enchanted song draws the sailors close to the jagged rocks where they can get shipwrecked. Siren was a song that I started, but that didn’t really get finished right away.  I ended up finishing it in a hotel room in Saskatoon Saskatchewan at the Canadian Country Music Awards.  I wanted a song that embodied the idea that someone can hurt you and lose you but they’ll never be able to truly forget what they did or what they lost.  It will live on with them like the Sirens from the Odyssey and can cause ultimate destruction with the sweetest song.
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  1. Told You So

           I knew that The Phoenix Story was going to have some dark undertones, and so wanted it to end on a sassy note just like it started.  Ending it this way really embodied the concept of a phoenix; a mythical bird that ages and then bursts into flames only to be reborn again from it’s own ashes.  Writing Told You So started with the title and happened while I was driving from one gig to another.  It was another song that got finished mostly in a hotel room before a show.  Instead of telling you too much about Told You So, I’m going to suggest you listen to it.  I can almost guarantee that it will make you smile.
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I’m Not Going To Say I “Told You So”

Here’s a super secret sneak peek of my new concept EP  “The Phoenix Story” and my BRAND NEW SINGLE “Told You So”!  The official release date is March 2, 2018 and I’m so thrilled the time to share it with you is approaching!

It took me almost 3 years to complete this project even though I didn’t even realize I had started.  The idea really came to me about 18 months ago but it was already in progress because I had written songs that went with the idea perfectly!

Laparka in the Winter

Prior to Laparka I was almost always cold.

When you mix that with the time I’ve been spending in a cold climate it can start to feel unbearable.  Please don’t think I don’t know how to layer.  I’ve had multiple coats, and even started wearing two coats at one point!  I thought I would just have to accept the fact that I would always be a little cold in the winter.  That I would never find a jacket that could actually keep my whole body warm.

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But that was all before Laparka. This coat is so warm that I don’t need a second one, and sometimes don’t even need a sweater underneath! If you’re from a warm climate I can already here you – “That coat looks like you’re wearing a sleeping bag!” – I get it. I used to live in Georgia and Nevada.  I hear you when you say a coat that long and insulated is unnecessary. But now that I spend time in a cold climate I cannot even explain how much I love having a warm coat.

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What I love about this coat though, is all the attention to detail. This coat has many thoughtful features, but one of my favorites is a soft patch at the top of the zipper near your face so that it’s not rough exterior material scratching against your face. The zipper also doesn’t go all the way down so I don’t feel stuck in the jacket but it does have snaps so that my legs don’t get cold!

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I don’t spend all my time in the cold, but when I am in a real winter climate it feels so good to know that I don’t actually have to be cold all the time. Tell me your winter tips! What helps you stay warm in the winter?!

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