Flashbacks from the past

My parents raised me on country music. And you know what? I love it.

Reba, Trisha, Garth, George, Billy….I love em. I grew up with my parents taking me to Reba and Garth concerts. I'd get the Reba t-shirt (I was like five years old so the smallest size they had drowned me. So Reba shirts were my night gowns). I did go through a rebellious stage though in 6^th grade where I thought country wasn’t cool so I denied that I never really liked it. But everyone has those rebellious stages, eh? ha!

Why do I love country music? Well…I’ll let this video tell you why.



Besides the classic mullet...it’s just fun! It can say “You can tell your dog to bite my leg.” And hello! You can line dance to it! Yeehaw!


Now I do have to have a disclaimer, I don’t love ALL country…but there’s a lot of awesome country music out there.

Btw, there’s a sweet country concert and dance Thursday, March 25^th at the Loft with Nashville Star top 12 finalist Charley Jenkins and Hollywood American Idol finalist Anna Kaelin. If you're a country music fan or just love to dance, you don't want to miss this! Tickets are normally $7 each and sold at 24tix.com. Hopefully see you there!

Want to smile? Watch this.

I promise it's worth the 16 1/2 min to watch this.

Isn't it cool how when someone gives you a sincere compliment or just smiles at you, it's hard not to smile? We can do that for someone.

Try it. Even if it's something you're not used to doing, even if you think it's "fake" at first. The world needs more smiles.

And YOU have a beautiful smile.

Food for the Brain

Here are three interesting things I learned in my classes today:

1) We got the "Star Spangled Banner" tune from a drinking song... interesting, huh?

2) If you listened to songs like this ("Maple Leaf Rag" by Scott Joplin) in 1899 you'd probably feel guilty cuz it was more edgy than anything else at that time...which is just crazy to me! This music is completely innocent. Compare this to the music people are listening to a hundred years later...I wish we could go back to the innocence in popular music today.



3) Dvorak's New World Symphony is the tune to one of my favorite French cantiques, "Souviens-toi, mon enfant." I love that melody, and the French words are beautiful.

School is cool. Just wanted to share with you some of the interesting things I learned today. Hope you feel super duper smart! :)

I love guacamole... but I love this more...

I Believe

This is one of my favorite songs ever, put together with a beautiful video. Definitely worth the five minutes and 16 seconds to watch. "I Believe" by Natalie Grant.

Title of the Song

My friend, Alan, shared this song with me and I couldn't stop laughing. Had to share it with ya'll.

“Title Of The Song” by Da Vinci's Notebook
From the album “The Life And Times Of Mike Fanning”

Declaration of my feelings for you
Elaboration on those feelings
Description of how long these feelings have existed
Belief that no one else could feel the same as I
Reminiscence of the pleasant times we shared
And our relationship's perfection
Recounting of the steps that led to our love's dissolution
Mostly involving my unfaithfulness and lies
Penitent admission of wrongdoing
Discovery of the depth of my affection
Regret over the lateness of my epiphany

(Chorus)
Title of the song
Naïve expression of love
Reluctance to accept that you are gone
Request to turn back time
And rectify my wrongs
Repetition of the title of the song

Enumeration of my various transgressive actions
Of insufficient motivation
Realization that these actions led to your departure
And my resultant lack of sleep and appetite
Renunciation of my past insensitive behavior
Promise of my reformation
Reassurance that you still are foremost in my thoughts now
Need for instructions how to gain your trust again
Request for reconciliation
Listing of the numerous tasks that I'd perform
Of physical and emotional compensation

CHORUS

Acknowledgment that I acted foolishly
Increasingly desperate pleas for your return
Sorrow for my infidelity
Vain hope that my sins are forgivable
Appeal for one more opportunity
Drop to my knees to elicit crowd response
Prayers to my chosen deity
Modulation and I hold a high note...

CHORUS

Anything Can Be

Listen to the mustn'ts, child.

Listen to the don'ts.

Listen to the shouldn'ts, the impossibles, the won'ts.

Listen to the never haves, then listen close to me...

Anything can happen, child. Anything can be.

-Shel Silverstein

Amen, Shel! I believe that. The sky is the limit! But I forget that sometimes.

My Bible as Literature teacher, Steven Walker, shared this in class the other night. I've been thinking a lot about my dreams and goals as graduation gets closer and trying to figure out what the next step is.

Music is not an easy industry; I know that. You don't just graduate and know what jobs you're going to apply for...it's a different world. I also know that music is inside my heart for an important reason. I just want to do what God wants me to do with music. What is that exactly? Right now I don't know exactly what that is, although I have a lot of ideas of what I want to do. But I do know that if I put God first, work hard and keep trying, God will guide me and give me strength.

The uncertain future can be scary...I think it's natural for us to want to see what's ahead. But sometimes we have to move ahead and try and fail, and then try and try again. I think that's the beauty of life -- God stretches us to become more than we think we can be. He teaches us that anything really can happen, and anything really can be because He created us to do amazing things and He believes in us.

Anything can happen, child. Anything can be.