Friday, January 30, 2009

Variety Club Xmas Brunch~

I volunteered at my Mother's out of school childcare facility for all of last fall, teaching a group of her children 4 dances based on the soundtrack to Grease. There were three special needs kids in the class, which was very appropriate, because my dancers performed the show for the Variety Club Christmas Luncheon, and there were a great deal of special needs children in the audience, it was inspiring for them to see kids like them, performing.


The red car you see, fits over John's wheelchair, the boys decorate the car during the song, (like they do in Greased Lightening). Thats the key by the way, to getting boys to do a dance class, you gotta cool it up for them.










~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~










NOTE: originally this post was about my gig singing Anne Murray songs and how I was planning on doing a tribute to her music which is why the comments mention a blonde wig. But I started to wonder if doing this was not a very cool thing to do, meaning is it disrespectful in some way?. Then my car was robbed and all of my Anne Murray music was stolen. I took it as a sign that I am not supposed to do this tribute thing. I am STILL a HUGE fan and will always love to sing her music, but I sing her material as me, and incorporate her songs in to my full shows. :)

By the way, Anne Murray is on Twitter now and she chats to me once in a while. Interestingly this started happening once I took all the tribute stuff off of my website! Life is a mystery sometimes! :)






Motherhood: The Ultimate Survivor: Happy Friday Video

Motherhood: The Ultimate Survivor: Happy Friday Video

Tuesday, January 27, 2009

a sure fire way to get traffic to your blog





If you missed my earlier post about them, please meet Sue and Steve from the SueandSteveshow.com


They are also known as the newmillionaires on You Tube.


I met Sue and Steve the other night for a lovely, delicious, and delightful dinner at their house, and it was such a truly enjoyable evening from beginning to end. I felt like I had known them for years, it was so comfortable and easy to be around them.


Today they posted a new Sue and Steve show video, and I was touched and humbled to find that I was the topic of their show!






Sunday, January 25, 2009

26 things about me....TAG game.

I popped by Jen's blog today, and she says that if you find yourself reading her blog you are to consider yourself tagged.





So, I am tagged, and now that you are here reading this, you are tagged too! Please follow the instructions completely by posting 26 things about yourself. ( and please go visit Jen's blog if you don't know her yet )






1) I see the glass as half full.

2) I most often choose to give people the benefit of the doubt, even though I am sometimes burned by that decision.


3) I see life as a classroom for our souls, and our problems just part of the curriculum.

4) I give an excellent foot rub.


5) I only ever really worried about dying, once I had children.



6) My favorite exercise in the dojo, is punching and kicking someone who is wearing or holding kick/body pads .




7) I am generally quite laid back and lazy, and have to force myself to be productive.



8) I am curious about a variety of experiences, I would rather try a lot of different things, and do reasonably well at them, than spend all of my time on one thing, trying to become an expert.



9) I really admire people who become an expert in any field, and I will tell them that I admire them.



9) I take responsibility for what I do and say. I am not afraid to apologize or to be wrong.



10) I realize that will always be learning about myself and the world around me.



11) I believe it takes a village to raise a child.


12) I like being around people who can sit comfortably and enjoy the silence, rather than feel a need to fill it.

13) I cry at wimpy commercials, but I can be vicious if crossed.



14) I don't feel bad about myself when I tell you that I suck at guitar, I'm cool with it. You don't have to worry, I haven't hurt my own feelings.



15) I am very social online and at work, but in life I do most things solo.


16) As a kid when it came to playtime, I was more of a tomboy than a girly girl. Today, if you asked me whether I'd rather go & try dirt biking, or, go and get my hair and nails done? I'd try dirt biking.


17) I thought I was going to grow up and move to a far away ranch to become a cowgirl, but then I saw a cute boy with a guitar and that opened my eyes to music.


18) I adore singing for large crowds.


19) I hate to be in large crowds.


20) I would love to meet a partner who would be willing and able to hold kick pads for me.


21) I love jogging and hiking in forests with twisty paths and hilly terrain.


22) I rarely wear make up.


23) I drive a stick shift.


24) I don't like drunk people or strangers from the audience, trying to touch me in a familiar way, and I feel very comfortable protecting and maintaining my personal boundaries.



25) I try to spread smiles or do something thoughtful for other people, whenever I see an opportunity to do so, I genuinely want to see everyone around me succeed and be happy.

26) I love the idea of synchronicity

Saturday, January 24, 2009

If I only knew then................

There were 6 women and 6 boys sitting together in the stadium that night. I was enjoying watching the kids exploding with anticipation as they waited for the show, excitedly watching every move the pit crew made. I was chatting with the young lady beside me, (who was accompanying her boyfriends son because Mom had an emergency), and as we chatted I learned that she was newly engaged.



My eyes immediately traveled down to her hand to check out the ring and I could not believe that I had not noticed it before that moment, but it was a very, big ring. I know the guy she was intending on marrying, and that ring was not in his budget. It wasn't even in his budget when he didn't have an ex- wife and child to support.

I know this was none of my business, but I couldn't help but start to worry about it, and I started to worry about the guy. I knew he was smarting a bit over the split with his wife, and I wondered if he was thinking straight.



My thoughts and questions on the subject were interrupted as the answers that I had feared, started to come my way:





She: "Yeah, we chose it together, I just knew it was the one, the second I saw it"



[oh no here we go ..... I had this sad image of them in the ring shop, I wonder if he kept himself composed as he heard the price of the ring ]





Me: "Wow, that's quite a big ring, is it really in his budget?" ( yes, sometimes I ask inappropriate questions,)





She: " Well, he has a second job now on the weekends so that we can pay for it"


[I don't know if it was the stadium hot dog I had just consumed, or if it was her little story, but at exactly that point, I threw up a little]









Me: "Wow ( yes, again, I said Wow, and I said it with a big exhale and an incredulous tone, which she missed ), soooooo, when do you see him?" [ thinking I could get her to see what she was doing, if I approached it from another angle ]





She: "Oh, ..... well", she sighed sadly, ................"its really tough"



[at this point I thought she caught my drift, and might be referring to how hard he was working for her, and I softened a little]







Me: "Is the ring really worth it do you think?"





She: "Oh yeah, its so beautiful," she perked up, "and you know, my girlfriends keep me company when we are partying on the weekends, so I am not too lonely without him"





[huh?............. wait, no,..... its not about you being lonely.....er...god I wish It was legal for me to smack some sense into you..........]





I decided to try another route, I shared my own story. Because, I thought, I am a pretty cool and admirable chick, maybe I could lead by my own example. You see, I didn't even have a diamond ring when I got married, I still don't, and we could afford it. I figured it was a waste of money though, so, we just saved the dough, and eventually bought other things (like the old Porsche I found online and had shipped from North Carolina to Houston for hubby, way cooler than a ring if you ask me).



Then I told her about the ring that I had had, made, which I could wear to fancy functions or ladies luncheons or whatever, it cost under a $100 dollars, & in all the years I wore it, no one ever doubted it's authenticity. I suggested she take her ring back and choose a setting she likes and put in a fake diamond, so that she could spend more time with her fiance. I reminded her that when they could finally afford it, they could put a real diamond in (if she really wanted to still).







her answer;











She: " Well, yeah I understand what you are saying, but this is really the only time I am going to get married, so it really has to be right, I want this to be the ring I wear forever. "







Me: "How old are you anyway?"





She: " I'm 21"





I knew I was defeated, the conversation was over, I don't like to work that hard.





I know I can't give her my experience, though I hope she learns to listen to people who offer it to her, sooner rather than later.









I know I did, listened to my elders. I recall very early on, hearing the adults around me say "If I only knew then, what I know now",........ I noticed it was such a universal saying, I knew there had to be something to it. I didn't understand it, but I made note of it, and paid attention because of it. So when I am the recipient of advice from someone I admire, even if I don't understand the advice at that time, I try to remember it, file it away, so that when I encounter that particular experience, roadblock, or situation, I might be armed with a piece of wisdom to help me find my way.





To be fair, this young lady is young, and it does take a while to get there, I did my share of stupid at 21, and lord knows I am still learning and have a long way yet to go. I know that I don' t know everything, or anything even, which leaves me more open to consider another point of view. That is where understanding lies for me, in seeing things from as many different perspectives as possible.





I do worry about a culture that places more emphasis on the ceremony and accessories associated with weddings, rather than the actual union itself. It seems to make the young girls feel entitled to this big magical day, no matter what they truly can afford, and I fear young couples set themselves up for way more stress than they need to, at such a young time in their relationships. Hopefully simple cheap weddings will be whats in vogue by the time my children start flirting with the idea of it.



















~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Friday, January 23, 2009

trust me, this is neat





This is clever folks, enjoy!

Tuesday, January 20, 2009

sitting around the campfire





thanks for sitting around the campfire with me, I'm sharing my rough draft of a new tune

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~



I didn't get sleep last night I was just
lying there trying not to think of this
Imagine, running into you oh just
standing there all making sense and so full of it.


what was I thinking even following you around?
I could be out there sinking
but youre nowhere to be found
Im not looking for a life line baby,
I know how to swim
I wont be falling over board,
so you wont be jumping in


the way you look at butterflies
I've wondered if that look could ever be for me
well look around its no surprise
like a statue in some garden we're all at youre feet

ch

I know, I know theres no safe place to fall
were bout as close now as that poster hanging on the wall
it doesn't matter if you let it make you strong
....or just sit down and write a song....