Twilight

I finally got sucked in (no pun intended) to the Twilight Saga.

I had not read any of the books, but when the movie came out in December of last year, I went to see it. It was so cheesy at parts and I just couldn't buy into it. It was even hard to sit through the whole thing.

Then, a few weeks later at Christmas, my 20 year old niece gave me the book. I thought the gesture of her sending me a gift was nice, but I had no intention of reading it. I just stuck it up on my bookshelf.

Months and months passed. I've read lots of great books in the meantime. But finally, there was a lull in my book reading. I was out of books, and the library was closed. So, I decided to pull Twilight down from my shelf.

And within the first few chapters, I was somehow riveted. I couldn't seem to put the book down. I understand the reason so many girls and women love these books. I think we're programmed to like this kind of story. It's romantic, forbidden and unstoppable love. These stories have been around forever- and throwing vampires into the mix just makes it a little more edgy and sexy!

I liked it so much I even re-rented the movie that I had found so ridiculous less than a year ago.

And I learned that reading unrealistic fiction can be a lot easier than watching it. My brain allowed me to buy into all of it while I read the book, but I still found parts of the movie pretty hard to swallow.

I know the sequel, New Moon, comes out in theaters in November. And I will confess that I've got the book here beside me, waiting to be read. This time, I'm getting right to it.

Snuggling

This cooler weather calls for us to cozy up to those we love to stay warm.

Rainy Day Nap

Dogs are very wise creatures. They know it is perfectly okay to take a long nap on a rainy day! Zoe has been stationed on her pillow all day long. I've asked her a couple of times if she needs to get out to use the bathroom or anything, but the answer continues to be no.

Willie Baronet

I wrote this song for my friend, Willie Baronet, for his birthday this week! My very handsome and talented husband is featured on the cajon drum...
Happy Birthday, Willie!



Piles of books are stacked around you
Beside the questions in your head
It's a brand new day, that's what someone said-

The questions don't get answered
and all those books cannot be read
Maybe the asking and the searching is what keeps you fed...

Chorus:
"Am I awake?" "Am I enough?"
"How do I choose to see?" and "What will I leave undone?"
"Which way would my life have gone?" "Well I wonder about the last page.."
And it goes on and on and on....

Some days it feels so heavy that your legs just shake
and still when it comes to hope it never is too late
Subtracting all the anger and you're leaving all the love
I wonder how exactly does one hold that thought?

Chorus

Bridge:
Well you're half way to 100
OMG
You're never too old to grow younger
but you're bound to ask, "why me?"

Song for a Friend

One of my favorite friends, Willie Baronet, turned 50 earlier this week.
His girlfriend put together a blog where tons of his friends contributed pictures, stories, videos, etc. to him and wished him a happy birthday. I wrote him a song.

I had wanted to write a song for him for quite some time. But I was having trouble figuring out how to go about it. I didn't know if I wanted it to be funny, or heartfelt, or what. Sometimes getting started is the hardest part.

Fortunately for me, Willie is an artist who bares his soul on his art blog. Not only does he draw thought provoking pieces, but he often writes a sentence or two to go with his drawing. Sometimes looking at his blog posts make me laugh, and sometimes, they almost make me cry. So I decided reading through his blog from beginning to end would give me what I needed for his song...

This almost feels like my first co-write. I didn't have to come up with much- I just had to work the puzzle of Willie's words to make it all fit together. Please click HERE to visit my song blog and check out the video of the song!

And either before or after that, please visit Willie's Blog and you can see where my inspiration came from and meet a great artist!

Sore Throat

No one likes being sick. But I think I fear it and worry about it more than most people. The other day, my throat felt a little funky. The next day, it was a little better. Today however, it's burning and hurting me to swallow. I am bothered by the sore throat, but I am more bothered by the anticipation of what it's going to turn into. Usually, for me, a sore throat leads to a cold. And the longer it takes to turn into a cold, the worse the cold is.

I got to wondering, what is it that actually makes the throat feel this gross way and is there anything I can do about it?

Well, based on my very scientific web-surfing research, a sore throat is caused by the "post nasal drip" running down your throat irritating it and drying it out when you have a cold. But my nose isn't runny, and I don't have a cold- Could it instead be caused by "pre-nasal drip"? Hmmmm. In my case, that seems to make more sense.

I read that drinking fluids will help. And so will a humidifier. That explains why a sore throat seems the very worst in the morning- after you've gone 7 or 8 hours without any liquids! Gargling salt water is suppose to help too. According to one thing I read, cold germs multiply in your throat before you actually get a cold, so if you gargle you can kill off at least some of them and your cold won't be as bad. (Hold on...I'm gargling salt water now...) Apparently mouthwash has a similar effect and has a much better taste so that's what I'm doing next.

Ultimately, I dread the possibility of a cold because I tend to have a hard time getting over the coughing stuff and it usually effects my voice which then leads to cancelled gigs. :( But all this worry isn't helping me.

But maybe a little mouthwash will!

Morning Pages

I journal a lot and have for years and years and years. Sometimes I do it daily, and sometimes I go for stretches of weeks without writing at all. Sometimes all that writing seems pointless, but sometimes it really helps me figure myself out.

I've just started reading Vein of Gold by Julia Cameron with a friend. One of the things Julia asks that you do is daily morning pages. That is, 3 handwritten pages first thing each day. She's pretty particular that it be handwritten and that it be 3 pages and no less.

When I read her first book on creativity, The Artist's Way, I worked through it with a group of people. Being the rule follower that I am, I did my morning pages just like JC (Julia, that is!) told me to. Our group often discussed how we were doing with the morning pages. Some people hated them, some people loved them. I honestly felt indifferent. First of all, like I said, keeping a journal was nothing new for me. Secondly, I wasn't having to wake up 40 minutes earlier each day so I'd have time for my writing before heading off to a day job. And as for why I wasn't loving my morning pages, well, I rarely have a real "a ha!!" moment the way some people in our group seemed to. I remember one person saying page #3 seemed to be sort of magic. But no, no magic for me.

But if I just go at this thing with no real expectations and just a commitment to them, it's okay. I do realize I feel a little more centered each day- routine does that to me. (It's probably part of the reason I'm a runner too.) Sitting down with myself with only pen and paper allows for some serious reflection that might go unheard otherwise.

And anyone who knows me, knows one of my deepest desires is to be HEARD.

Unattached Stuff Becomes a Little Gross

Now that my hair is growing longer, and longer, and longer- I notice it in larger amounts unattached to my head. I'm sure that I've always lost hair at this rate, it's just that now that's it's longer, it seems like a lot MORE.

And it's gross.

It makes me stop and wonder why I'm not grossed out by hair that is attached to my head- or someone else's head- but am a little wigged out (pun intended) when I see hair in the sink, or in the bathtub or whatever. Why did it become a bit repulsive once it came out of a head and was set free?

Which then leads me to think of other things that are gross once they become unattached:
skin
scabs
snot- dried or otherwise
blood (when contained underneath the skin= not gross, once outside of the skin= a little gross)

Hmmm. Just something that made me stop and think and wonder for a few minutes today.

Song #50: "50 Different Ways"

THIS IS IT.
The final song of this batch of 50.

By the way, this doesn't mean I won't continue to put new posts and videos up here. I will! So please, continue to check back. Or make it even easier by just subscribing to the blog. That way you'll get a friendly notice when there's a new one. There should be a little RSS feed for you to click on up in the address box (or whatever you call that thing at the top of the screen). If you need any help in figuring out how to do that, just email me and I'm more than happy to assist.

So, without further ado, here's my 50th song called, "50 Different Ways".

The summer has fallen away, there's a chill in the air and it's starting to rain
I'm ready to go back inside, I've been overexposed now I just want to hide

(chorus)
I have nothing left to say
All that's left in my head is an ache
I've said all I came to say
In 50 different ways

I've talked 'til I'm blue in the face- Maybe no one's been listening to anything
The well of my words has run dry- Now the only word left is a lonely goodbye

(chorus)

I have spent hours on end
working these puzzles and making amends

(chorus)