Blog 2011

1/20/2011

It is an amazing feeling to finally be back home! After over 8 weeks and over 5,000 miles, I have stayed in and played in 8 states and had an amazing time along the way! I was blessed to be able to spend Thanksgiving in Texas with my sister Sharen and her family, Christmas in Virginia with the rest of my family, and New Year’s with many amazing fans–turned–friends!

One of the events I am most proud of from this tour is the success of the Rebecca Sauvager Fundraiser Benefit. Rebecca has been a fan following my music for the past 2 years, and when I found out at my December 18 show that she was in Stage 4 of cancer, I wanted to do something to help out. I reached out to you, and you quickly proved that you are the most amazing fans, friends, family, and venues that I could ever ask for! Between personal contributions and the help of the sponsors listed below, we raised $1,100 for Rebecca to help with her extensive medical bills! With very little time to plan and pull this event together, I felt very successful in our efforts, and Rebecca and her family were so very blessed by all of you reached out. Thank you SO VERY MUCH – I am literally getting choked up again thinking about how proud I am to be affiliated with such wonderful people.

The trip was the longest I’ve taken so far in my music career, and would not have been feasible - or bearable! :) - without my new trusty travel trailer… and man, did it get a workout! Thanks to friends, who allowed me to be their neighbor for the 3-week Virginia leg of my trip! It was another learning experience as the exciting “first icicle!” turned into the paranoia of freezing tanks, frozen water lines, salt encrusted metal parts, copious amount of propane for heating, etc. My first order of business back in Tennessee was to stop at the dealership and have new tank heaters put onto my tanks to avoid this fear in the future! I’m also looking forward to (NOT!) the next big expense of adding a generator to my rig to avoid problems when I’m not plugged in to electricity. I guess I decided that 40 foot of rig wasn’t enough, so I’d add a few feet of generator mount on the back… ;) Shout-out to Family Campers in Lebanon, TN though – they have been SOOOO wonderful in helping me through this process and step in my career of being on the road extensively!

After a week and half of "rest" (catching up on 8 weeks of life - and mail - here in Nashville! ;) I will be back on the road heading to Georgia, where I’ll be playing in Milledgeville, Gray, and Eatonton for a week and a half of shows. In the beginning of March, I’ll be back in Tunica, MS, for more gigs with Nervous Presley, and will head back to Virginia after that.

Thank you so much for following me on this adventure I'm on! Sometimes it feels like I'm on a roller coaster, and sometimes it feels like I’ve hit every roller coaster in the theme park! But despite the challenges, I am still so, so very blessed to be able to do what I love and am passionate about – and feel doubly blessed when I can use these talents God gave me to help someone else out. Thank you so much for being a part of that!

12/8/2011

I hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving with family and friends, and that you’re enjoying the holiday season! Here in Virginia it has been a little bit strange – as I was Christmas shopping last week in flip-flips and short sleeves… I’m glad it’s beginning to cool down a little, because while I love the warmer weather, it just doesn’t seem like Christmas until you at least need to wear a jacket outside!

I’m not playing too many shows right now, so I really enjoy the ones I do have! Tomorrow – Friday, December 9 – I will be at JJ’s Grille in the West End starting at 8pm and playing until 11pm. JJ’s is near the intersection of Staples Mill and Hungary Road in the CrossRidge Shopping Center with Martin’s and is very close to the Staples Mill / Rt 33 exit off I-295. I may even throw in a Christmas song or two… : )

Motherhood has definitely changed my focus around music so while I’m not performing, I’m starting to concentrate a little more on writing new songs and finishing the probably 25 – 30 songs I have started but not finished! I always said that when I became a mother that the focus would shift from traveling and performing to writing. While I didn’t exactly anticipate this timing, I am definitely enjoying motherhood! My sweet boy began last week (at 14 weeks) sleeping at least 8 hours at night, so I’m enjoying it even more! He has been a joy and for the few shows I have done, I love looking out and seeing him in the audience. With the help of friend, super-fan, and pseudo-aunt Angela, he put his first tip in mommy’s jar at my last show. In addition to a $5 bill, he also put a piece of bread in the tip jar during Billy Joel’s “Piano Man” – right at the line that says “and they sit at the bar and put bread in my jar”… which has been on ongoing joke with some of my Virginia fans, which results in me counting tips and cleaning out bread crumbs at the end of the night… ; )

Well I hope to see you all tomorrow night at JJ’s – and next Friday night (December 16) at Brunetti’s in Mechanicsville. Happy Holidays, and all my best!!