New Years

Happy New Year!  Ok, so we are already over 1/12 of the way through 2013, but just don't judge me.
So, I went home for Christmas, which was great!  It was so fun to be with family and to especially play with all the little people.  My two littlest nieces, Maggie and Kara, were just little heart melters and it made it hard to come back.  Before heading back to Nashville, I stopped in Salt Lake for a few days to spend New Year's and see some of my friends.  Some would ask why I didn't want to stay home for New Year's Eve, and my response would be "Well, I could either stay home and watch my parents go to bed at 9 p.m., and then watch the ball drop in Times Square on the TV, or I could go hang out with my friends and stay up til at LEAST 12:30 a.m."  That has actually been my tradition for the past few years.  Christmas with family, New Year's with friends.  It's just how I roll.  So, the night started off with me going to dinner with some friends at the Lucky 13 bar (we went for the burgers, not the booze).  We heard they were the best burgers in Salt Lake, and I would have to agree.  We then were going to go back to the house of my friends where I was staying, and hang out with some more people there.  Just kind of low key. Ironically, I ended up doing one of my least favorite New Year's activities, which is going to the Institute dance at the Salt Lake LDS Institute. I agreed to go with some people on the condition that we would only be there for an hour or so, but leave before midnight. This did not happen. We were there past midnight.  I am going to focus this blog post on why Institute dances are unpleasant and a horrible place to meet new people.

 Picture this:  thousands of single young Mormon adults all together in one place, music blaring, dancing, and cramped together.  I don't know who always has the bright idea of turning the music on so loud that you can't have a normal conversation without yelling, but they need to be told to stop.

Reason #1:  Music (or any noise) that is listened to at a very high decibel for long periods of time damages hearing.  You can call me a grandma all you want, but it's time to face the facts, people.  This is the ipod generation, and people are damaging their hearing right and left (no pun intended:).  That ringing in your ear that you hear when you walk out of stadium concert, dance, or Chuck E Cheese birthday party? Yeah, that's called tennitus.  That means that the little tiny ears in your hair that pick up sound waves and transfer them into your ear drum have broken off.  And they don't grow back.  That is why I always carry a pair of ear plugs in my purse, because you never know when you will be getting into a loud decibel environment. And be careful on listening to your ipod too loud.  If you can't have a normal level conversation with your ear buds in, then it is too loud! I seriously will invest in hearing aid companies, because I can guarantee that everyone is going to be needing them.  Anyways, sorry to be the Debbie downer of ear loss problems, but I just want to inform the world!

Reason #2:  Awkward.  How awkward is it to meet someone, and then have to get right up to their ear to tell them what your name is, where you're from, and what you do? I mean, you don't even know this person and you are already close enough to smell what kind of perfume or cologne they're wearing, or if they even showered that day.  You can try the yelling approach, but yelling "WHAT!?" in between each question or answer gets really old after a while.  I usually end up just saying "Oh, that's cool!" even if I don't know what they said.  I seriously can't remember that I met at a dance with loud music.  This tells me that the interactions in these environments are forgettable.

Reason #3:  People are not drunk, but act as if they were.  Now, I'm not saying that you can't act silly every once in a while. I myself, act silly many times a day.  But if you are trying to make a good first impression, don't act like you're five.  At this particular dance, they passed out Martinelli's sparkling apple cider for everyone to drink at the stroke of midnight.  There were some guys (I really didn't see any girls doing this.  Just an observation) that took some of the bottles, shook them up, and then sprayed them all over the crowd.  What a great way for a girl to think "Wow, that guy is so mature.  I would really like to get to know him better." False.  I was thinking "Why? Why are you here? Why don't you do that somewhere else? Why am I single and you have all these girls following you around?"  Anyway, I digress.  There were also some guys that felt it was ok to come up and dance uncomfortably close to me in a not so "LDS standard" way, if you know what I mean.

Reason #4: You never can tell a person's real age is until it's too late.  I remember a particular dance that one of my roommates and I went to.  We went to a party/dance that was mostly college kids.  My roommate and I were in college, but as graduate students.  We were not used to staying up very late, since she was a full time teacher and I was a substitute.  We were going through familiar motions of not being able to hear any conversation, having complete strangers come up to us and dance inappropriately, but we had some friends there, that we were having a somewhat nice time with.  So, midnight came around, and people started to go home.  A cute guy that started talked to us and invited us to an after party.  We were a little confused, thinking that the after party was just kind of fused into the party we were already at, since it was Soooooo late.  He said that he and his roommates were having some people over at their place.  My roommate surprised me by saying sure, and so we got his number and address and agreed to come over.  We were yawning as we drove to the place, and were wondering what people do at these so called "after parties."  We obviously had never been to one.  Well, we got there, and it ended up being him and his three roommates and probably twenty girls, all under the age of 22.  My roommate and I were 24 and 25, or 25 and 26 at the time.  We walked in, and immediately all the girls looked over and gave us the look of death.  How could we just waltz in there and take any attention from the four boys?  I don't know how we did it, but  the guys actually were talking to US, and not the other girls.  But, we did find out that all those boys were younger than us, and about 15 minutes after our arrival, we said, "Well, we better get to bed.  We usually don't stay up this late."  I think the guys were a little turned off by our demanding sleep schedules, and we were a little turned off by their younger age.  Maybe if we had been in a place where we could have been able to hear and carry on a normal conversation earlier, we would have avoided the whole incident of getting death glares from the little girls, and disappointing the little boys with our old age.

I could go on and on about different reasons why Institute dances are a painful, awkward experience, but I don't want to be here all night.  In all seriousness, there have been some success stories with people meeting at Institute dances and then end up dating or getting married.  And the positive aspect of me going to the dance was that I got to be with my friends, and see a lot of people who I hadn't seen since I moved from Salt Lake.  So, overall, the Institute was a good place to reconnect. I was thinking this to myself, just as some guy walked up, yelled "Happy New Year!" and threw a cup of water (I hope) on us.  Maybe we should have stayed at the Lucky 13, because the people who were actually drinking were not acting as drunk as the people who were completely sober.

But really, I loved spending time with my peeps, and they were not like any of the ones that I described above:) And it just shows how much I love them because I chose to be with them in one of my least favorite settings.  Haha!  But, as you can see, I am smiling, and that's how I came into this new year. So, Happy New Year!  And here is to all the horrible YSA dances, because you know I will be coming to more.

Making It Big: Grammy nominations and other events

I apologize that it has been quite a while since I have posted.  I warned you all that I am new to this blogging thing, and one thing I lack is consistency.  Anyways, I have been fortunate to have been able to perform a couple times now, and to even attend the Grammy award nominations concert!

My debut performance as a solo, singer songwriter in Nashville actually took place in Franklin, TN at the Bunganut Pig bar and restaurant.  I had a contact from a show that I played with The Pretty Darns two summers ago at this same location-Doc Bennett.  Doc has been awesome ever since I told him I was in Nashville about trying to get me some gigs to play.  Unfortunately, none of the options were panning out because of my nanny job.  But he was able to get me on a songwriter's night at the end of November.  I was last on the roster, which was good for my schedule, but not for the attendance.  There weren't too many people there, which wasn't so surprising for a Wednesday night.  I was actually ok with that, since it gave me a little more "rehearsal" time.  I actually had about 5 people from LDS single's branch come out to support me, which was awesome!  They are super stars!  When I told Doc I had some friends coming, he asked if they were drinking friends.  I told him no, but they may be hungry.....These places like you to bring your friends, but mostly if they drink, because that's how they make most of their money.  I'm afraid that most venues I play will not benefit from my friends' attendance, since most of them don't drink, but I guess that is just the risk they run with me:)

                                                    Bunganut Pig in Franklin, TN
                                                                

My next big musical event was not something that I performed at (someday, though:), but it was the Grammy Nominations Concert Live, which was at the Bridgestone Arena.  For those that know Salt Lake, you could compare it to the Energy Solutions Arena, or Delta Center as most of us know it as.  I have a friend, Hayden Heftel, that attends Vanderbilt University, who was given free tickets because of a student group he is in.  I can't remember the exact title of it, but I know that it must be awesome because he got free tickets from it!  We had tickets for the floor, which means we were able to get close to the stage.  I heard that the retail on these tickets was about $250.  We were required to wear "upscale, clubbing outfits."  This was perfect, because I have a ton of upscale, clubbing clothing since I go clubbing all the time.  Oh, wait.  That's a lie.  I don't believe I can think of a single instance when I have legitimately gone "clubbing."  So, I scoured my closet for some appropriate attire, and came up with skinny jeans, a belted top, and boots.  We were able to get about 50-100 ft from the stage (my estimation could be way off) and we were even in some of the camera shots.  I can not prove this, since I did not watch the CBS airing of the program yet, but we'll say that we were.  Taylor Swift and LL Cool J were the hosts, and at one point, (seen above. Bad picture, but it really is them!) we were only 15 feet away from them!  We got to hear performances from Fun, Luke Bryan,  Maroon 5, and others that I can't remember at the moment....but there were other artists there that announced the nominations.  These artists included Hunter Hayes, Sheryl Crow, Little Big Town, Chris Brown, and others that I didn't really know, but they were BIG artists.  Luckily, I brought ear plugs, so I was actually able to hear the music without all the extra ear damaging sound.  I plan to be able to hear for the rest of my life, and a lot of people don't realize how easily their hearing can be damaged from just one concert.  I encourage everyone to wear ear plugs at concerts, or in loud work environments.  Ok, I'm going to get off my soap box now.  The program lasted only about an hour, but the audience got an extra treat of a 20 minute Maroon 5 concert.  So good!  Hayden and I caught up with Britney Holman afterwards to head downtown.  She was also a beneficiary of a free ticket from Hayden, but her ticket was up in the stands, so we unfortunately didn't get to enjoy the concert next to her.  She is a singer songerwriter also, btw, so check her out when you get a chance. She is fantastic! http://www.reverbnation.com/britneyholman
We went down to Broadway where all the honky tonks are located.  This is where you go to really have the Nashville experience.  There are about 2 blocks of honky tonks, which are essentially bars, and there is always live music playing.  We ate at a burger joint where I got some sweet potato fries, a must in southern food culture.  Such a great night!




My most most recent performance was a last minute spot on a singer songwriter round at Judge's Vinegaroon down on Church Street in downtown Nashville.  I have some friends from my LDS single's branch that were performing on the round, but one got sick last minute, so they asked if I could fill in.  It actually seemed to be fate that it worked out, because there was a guy visiting from Nevada that was in town that night, and asked if I was performing anywhere.  I never had met him, but I got a call from Neil McQueary in Ruby Valley saying that his friend Pete Ferraro was visiting, and that I was the only one that he (Neil) knew of that was in Nashville.  He gave me Pete's number to meet up with him, and when we first talked, I said I didn't have any performances coming up, but to stay in touch.  Then, later that day, I was asked to play on the round.  I called Pete back to tell him of the last minute show, and fortunately, he was able to come with his friends he was visiting.  So, I got to meet a fellow Nevadan, and actually be performing on a night that he was here.  One coincidence that happened was that one of his friends is in the music business here, and works with artists on career start ups and marketing, etc.  She was so awesome and told me to call her anytime if I had any questions or needed contacts and such.  So, hopefully I will be working with her in the future.  It's funny how fate works sometimes.  The Lord is definitely mindful of me.  Love it!  Well, that is my update for now.  I guess I could mention about my participation in a community choir that has been performing Handel's Messiah.  We have done two performances so far, and have one more, the day before I fly home for Christmas!  So, it is nice to be doing some classical music stuff as well.  Alright, I'm done.  Hopefully I will post sooner than later, but if not, have a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Life so far....

I can't believe I have been in Nashville for 3 weeks already!  I have been able to find a place to live, made new friends, and have finally found a job!  I have started nannying for a two year old boy in Franklin.  I actually will only be nannying him til the middle of January when his parents' Christmas lighting business will slow down.  They actually just bought the business this year, so they both have been super busy with setting appointments to meet with clients, so they are busy til about 6 p.m. every night.  I have had to step outside of my comfort zone in a few different ways, such as changing dirty diapers.  Being the youngest in my family, I never was required to change a younger siblings diapers.  I have nieces and nephews, but if there ever was an instance of a dirty diaper, that was always my cue to hand them back to their parents.  Not my kid, not my problem.  But now, it is my problem.  I have actually adapted to the task quite well.  After changing about 5 diapers, I feel that I am now quite qualified in that area.  I also get to play with trains-a lot.  This child absolutely loves trains, and is quite content to play with them 3-4 hours a day. I have now memorized all the names to the trains in his Thomas the Train set.  There is Victor, Bash, Emily, and Thomas.  At least those are the ones he has.  We have started to watch some Thomas the Train DVDs, so now I am learning about even more of the characters and the town of Sodor where all their adventures take place.  Luckily, there are some diversions from playing with trains.  There are play groups and activities that I can take the child to.  It provides social activity for him, and a little break from trains for me.  I am also getting opportunities to utilize Time Out and other disciplinary tactics.  I am looking at this as a training ground for my future as a mother.  Hopefully I will still want children of my own by the time I am finished as his Nanny.

I had a few days off this week, so I decided to head to South Carolina to visit my brother and sister-in-law, Joel and Julie, and their kids, Emery, Lucy, and Andrew, who is the newest addition to the family at about a month old.  I think I ended up taking the longer way because I ended up driving through Chattanooga and Atlanta.  A 6.5 hour drive ended up being about 9.  I actually added an hour on to that by stopping at a state park that included Ruby Falls and Rock City.  I wasn't planning on stopping, but I fell victim to relentless billboard advertising.  I probably saw a billboard every 5 miles saying "Stop at Ruby Falls!"  "Come see Rock City!"  "Check out Lookout Mountain!" Curiosity got the better of me, so I stopped off at the designated exit just past Chattanooga. I also wanted to stop in the Chattanooga area because of the famous song "Chattanooga Choo-Choo." I am a sucker for going to places that are in songs.  I also passed signs for Grundy County (John Michael Montgomery's "Grundy County Auction"), and Wildwood (June Carter Cash's "Wildwood Flower").  It seems that a lot iconic country/folk songs were inspired by places in Tennessee.  Maybe that is a sign that I should get inspired by a place that will make me write a hit song!  I will work on that.  Anyways, so yes, I stopped in Lookout Valley where I drove up this windy road to the top of Lookout Mountain.  Ruby Falls was up the mountain, but it was a lame tourist trap where you had to pay to enter to see them, so I drove past.  I stopped at a little Civil War gift shop half way up the mountain.  I talked to the lady working there and learned that she was from Virginia.  We also talked a little about Hurricane Sandy and about how unfortunate the circumstances were for the people of New York City and New Jersey.  I bought some taffy and headed up the road.  There apparently was a Civil War site up at the top, but also another attraction you had to pay for. I parked and got a view of Lookout Valley from the top of Lookout Mountain.  I was happy that it was actually a mountain compared to the hills around Nashville.  It was definitely not as high as the Uintas or the Ruby's, but a good alternative.  I took some pictures, and then headed back on my way to South Carolina.  I drove through Atlanta and pulled off to eat after I got past. I have recently discovered Chick-Fil-A.  I had seen them in Utah, but never had gone.  I think I have gone 3 times since I have moved to Nashville. The bad thing is that I discovered their cookie and cream milk shake.  I think it is seriously the best shake I have ever had.  Unfortunately, I heard that it has something like a whole day's worth of calories, so it will have to be a once of month sort of deal.  Anyway, that is where I ate.  I arrived to Simpsonville, SC at my bro's house at about 9 p.m.  I had my niece and nephews all to myself the next day until the day after when my mom came.  She is staying for 2 weeks to help with new baby Andrew.  It was nice to spend time with family for a few days.  I now live closer to Joel and Julie than anyone else in my family, so they may be visited more frequently and I shall reign as the favorite aunt of the East! Mwa ha ha!  I hope to  maintain my title as the favorite aunt of the West as well, but I may have to work harder with the distance.  After my visit ended, I decided to go back on the route that goes up though Asheville, NC and through Smoky Mountains, and then through Knoxville.  The route proved to be shorter, and more scenic.  It was a beautiful drive through the Smokies.  I also stopped in Kingston, which is where my Grandpa Williams grew up.  It is about 2.5 hours from Nashville.  I hope to go back and visit sometime to do some family history, and maybe find some of my living kin.  They could still be living the hill billy lifestyle that my grandpa grew up with, or they may be normal...and boring.  I got a taste of Tennessee rain storms on my way back.  It was pouring and everyone on the road slowed down-I'm guessing to avoid the risk of hydro-planing.  I also saw an exciting display of lightning.  I finally made it back to Nashville, and then to Brentwood, which is where I actually live.  It is about 20 minutes from downtown Nashville.

I had the opportunity to attend a stake conference this Sunday, today actually, where a new stake was formed  for the members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints in Murfreesboro.  So, there were actually about 3 stakes meeting.  Since there isn't a stake center large enough to hold that many people, the meeting was held at The Embassy Suites in Murfreesboro.  It was the most members I have seen in one place since I have been in Utah.  We also had the privilege of hearing from Elder D. Todd Chistofferson from Quorum of the Twelve Apostles.  He gave a great talk, and the whole meeting was a witness of the great growth of the Church that is taking place in middle Tennessee.

Well, that is all for now!  

The Importance of Being Resourceful

Being from the country and being raised on a cattle ranch can teach you many things.  You learn the value of hard work, and how it directly affects your life, i.e. you put up the hay in the summer, the cows have food in the winter or you don't put the hay up in the summer, the cows have no food and die.  Simple stuff.  You learn that your neighbor isn't just the person that lives closest to you, but everyone in your community and beyond. You also learn to drive at a very young age, 5 or 6, which is more out of necessity than desire.  Yes, I have learned many things in the country but the one I am going to talk about today is resourcefulness.  My dad is the prime example of being resourceful.  There is an advantage (or disadvantage) to having a lot of property, which is that you can store a lot of stuff.  Our ranch is covered with steel pipe, fence post (steel and wood), wire, old equipment parts, tires, and many other unidentified objects.  Luckily, most of this stuff is sorted and put in somewhat organized piles. One of my dad's favorite resources is our scrap pile of steel and other metal materials.  It consists of different sized pipes and rods, bent fence posts, and other remnants of metal parts.  My dad would always pull out just the thing he needed as he worked on one project or another, whether it what a metal pipe that became a lever, or a steel plate that would then be welded onto a trailer hitch.  My mother once insisted that he move a particularly large scrap pile to the dump (the "dump" was about a mile from our house on some of our property where we would haul things from dead cows to broken appliances).  My dad complied, but placed the pile neatly above the dump to later retrieve a useful scrap if needed.  Some would call this hoarding, but my dad felt it was hidden treasure.  But, even though it seems a bit much to have a bunch of extra stuff, there always comes along a project or another need to use the resources, whether it is for their intended purpose, or something we would make them work for.

 I feel that I have definitely learned to be resourceful.  I have my roll of duct tape and my can of WD-40.  Macgyver would be able to save the world with just those two items if it came down to it.  I realized yesterday that I had taken heed to my dad's teachings and learned to used my resources.  When I moved to Nashville, I was able to move in to an apartment with a couple of girls where one is planning to move out in a month and a half.  I was also fortunate to find that they had a storage closet that was completely empty and able to fit all my things until I move into a room at the end of November.  Sleeping on an air mattress for that period of time?  No problem.  Having my stuff in the outside storage closet.  No problem.  Not being able to hang up any of my clothes? Problem.  Actually, it's not too big of a problem.  It's just a little inconvenient to have really wrinkled clothes all the time.  So, I took a little trip to Target and got a shower rod.  I made sure to get the one that could hold 50 lbs.  I installed it in the closet, and voila!  Clothing rack!  Now, this may not seem like that big of a deal, but I was really proud of myself.  It really makes the whole situation just that much better, and I feel that I can soldier through til the end of November.  Now, I may start getting some weird looks from the neighbors as they start noticing that I head out onto the back porch to the storage closet every day, emerging with a pile of clothes, or my bedding (I'm able to put my air mattress and blankets in their as well during the day, keeping the living room looking as if it isn't inhabited), but luckily I can't see if they're looking.  So, when life gives you lemons, make lemonade.  Or in other words, be resourceful!

                                                         My awesome outside closet!

Well, first of all, I always told myself that I wouldn't start a blog until I was married.  It seems that a lot of people will start blogs when they get married for many reasons.  It could be a way for them to boast of their new unified status, or to create a way to make sure that their single friends don't forget them, or just to keep updates on their family as new additions are added through the years.  Of course, there are just speculations and no one I know has started blogs for these reasons.  In any case, my reason for starting this blog is to 3 fold.  First, to keep my friends and family back home up to date on my life.  Second, to keep my perspective on what is really important by writing down my experiences.  Third, to offer any useful advice about what I have learned.  The 3rd point will probably be addressed the least.  Ok, so now that I've gotten my excuse for doing a blog out the way, I shall continue.

You may wonder what a single, 26 year old, LDS, young woman is thinking by packing up her bags and moving from Ruby Valley, NV to Nashville, TN.  I am wondering that too, but when I figure out the exact reason, I will let you know.  My initial reason is to pursue singing/songwriting in the country music capital of the world.  It has always been in the back of my mind as a goal of mine, but something I didn't actually think I would ever do.  I have already done a lot with my life by the world's standards.  I have received a bachelor's degree in choral music education, and a master's degree in music education.  Even with my advanced degree, it has been difficult to find a job in my field.  After graduation from the University of Utah with my master's, I became one of the 50% of college graduates who had to move back in with their parents.    Luckily it was on a cattle ranch where I could work and earn money for the time being, and not pay rent.  So, with the situation of not being able to find a job in my field (well except for the hay field) and living at home with my parents, I felt that this was the perfect opportunity to do something crazy:  follow my dreams.  This cannot be possible, however, without support from friends and family.  After 2 months of working for my family, I was able to save up enough money to make the move.  My mother was kind enough to drive across the country with me to offer driving and moral support.  It has been almost a week since I have arrived, and I have managed to find a place to live.  The two girls I am living with are nothing short of saints.  They are allowing me to sleep in the living room and share their living quarters until one of them moves out in November.  I asked if they were sure about this, but they kept insisting it was, so, I will not argue.  That is one thing I have noticed right away about the south-the southern hospitality.  Everyone is so warm and welcoming.  The members of the young single adult LDS branch (The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints) have certainly welcomed me with their friendship and kindness.  I will go into more detail about details of my first week here in later blogs.  I now have the daunting task of applying for jobs in anything and everything.  I am either too qualified or lack significant experience.  I have applied from everything to a hotel guest agent to a zamboni driver (I secretly really want to be a zamboni driver so I am keeping my fingers crossed).  I feel like I am basically starting over.  Even though I have a master's degree, I feel like nobody cares, but I know that I will find something soon.  I am putting my faith in the Lord and am probably relying on Him more than I ever have before.  Well, I think that is long enough for my first blog.  What have I learned from all this?  Do the best that you can and all will work out.  I think....