Recording!!!

So, tomorrow and Tues, I am cutting my vocals for my new project. Friday we cut all the music and I just have to say WOW, I had some great musicians involved. So, as it is coming together, it is so cool because I can see it as a whole now!!

So, my cat Sassy (my little watchcat) wouldn't let the maintenance guy in my apt today to fix my AC, she hissed at him, bared her teeth and tried to claw his foot, she is my guard kitty....Sassy is the one on the bottom of the pic, her face is covered so that no one recognizes her because she is a secret agent kitty....

Bluebird Cafe Show

On Tuesday, June 23rd, my friends Benita Hill, Lionel Cartwright, Clara Oman and little ole me played a round at the legendary Bluebird Cafe in Nashville and it was an amazing night!!! It just went great and I just want to thank everyone for coming out! It is such a blessing and so humbling to see people come out to hear us sing, and the place was full! There were people who tried to get in but they couldn't....sorry ya'll.

Again, I just want to say that I am so thankful for the opportunities to get to sing and even more grateful for the ones who want to hear it. :)

This is ONE INSPIRING KID!!!

For most children, a birthday party means one thing….lots of PRESENTS! This is hardly the case for 9 year old Bianca Booher, from Bloomington, Indiana. For her birthday on June 14th, Bianca collected shoes from her friends on behalf of the 300 million children around the world without footwear. Inspired by the TV show “Oprah’s Big Give”, Bianca decided she wanted to give her birthday gifts away to charity. Right before her birthday last year, she saw footage of a home ravaged by floods. She saw a child’s bookshelf full of wet books and this motivated her to collect over 651 books for her birthday to give away to children. After last year’s birthday, she immediately began to get excited about what to collect for future birthdays.

Bianca had a “Barefoot Tween Prom” birthday party, complete with a shoe shaped cake, beautiful dresses, dancing and lots of SHOES. “I had a lot of shoes I couldn’t wear anymore; probably about 7 pairs in my closet, and I asked my friends to bring the shoes that they couldn’t wear to the party. There are a lot of people who don’t have any shoes, and collecting them made me feel really, really good”, said the captivating nine year old.

So far, Bianca has collected over 500 pairs of shoes. Bianca is still collecting shoes at her gymnastics center, where she has been taking gymnastics “since she was born”. She is also preparing for her role as Chip the Teacup in the stage production of Beauty and the Beast. Bianca is thinking about becoming a gymnastics coach or an actress. Presently, she is an inspiring nine year old, changing the world one pair at a time.

If I could do one thing....

I would be able to go back and see my Dad before he died. In saying that, I need to carry that "one thing" with me every day and cherish and treasure the people I have RIGHT HERE, RIGHT NOW. Sometimes, I really suck at that. Why is it so hard sometimes just to let go of fear and pride and just reach out with love?

I want to be good at that, to love without fear....The Bible says "Perfect love casts out all fear". Is there really perfect love at all?

News!!!

Good news for me and hopefully for ya'll. I will be working on my music project later on this month and in July!! It has been a long time coming!!! But I am SOSOSOSOSOOO excited, I LOVE the songs and the people I am working with! I will be giving updates when I can!
Enjoy the sunshine!
Tif

Catching up.

It has been a while. I am not the best blogger. And I really should be, I have been told I write pretty well, and I love doing it. It makes me feel like Carrie Bradshaw on Sex and the City, because they often have scenes where she is typing and you can hear the words in her head. Just thank God that you can't hear mine.

Next Saturday marks the third wedding I will have participated in over a time span of thirty days. My cousin Sara got married in South Carolina. It was a precious wedding and I spent priceless time with my family. It was such a blessing to get to do that. I love my family so much and the older I get, the more I treasure them. The highlight was probably taking Sara to get her hair done that day and taking her through McDonald's to get a hamburger, because McDonald's has always been her favorite and I used to think she was going to turn into a "Golden Arch". She has always been such a sweet, little simple soul, and the couple of hours we got one on one was the sweetest. The next wedding was my friend Megan's. It was held at Riverwood Mansion, a beautiful place here in Nashville. She was a beautiful bride, and I loved getting to know her family and friends better. I wish her and Ryan all the happiness in the world, Megan has such a kind soul, and there is something very soothing about her presence. I know she is one of those people who will work very hard to make her marriage the best it can be.

I spent 10 days in Ottawa, Canada for Soles4Souls. The charity was a guest of Canadian Tulip Festival, and we participated in a wonderful event called "Shoes and Champagne" that raised money for us. I also discovered some shoe designers that I am in love with: Phil Daluca and Georgina Goodman. It was my first time ever out of the country. I had my little passport with me, my pic looks like a junkyard dog. Canada is a beautiful country. It is so clean; it was a little disheartening for me because the U.S. is so dirty in many places. I also walked everywhere. It was AMAZING. You can't do that here. We should, because I didn't see many overweight people in Canada. But even here, the roadways are not pedestrian friendly. But I still love my country more than anything.

I have read quite a few books in the last month. "Act Like a Lady, Think Like a Man" by Steve Harvey. What a book!!! I was either laughing out loud, or tearing up. He is awesome, and does an amazing job explaining a very simple message all women need to hear. In honor of being in Canada, I read "French Women Do Not Get Fat". Also, a great book. After I had a lovely conversation with a British woman, and watched Canadian women, and read this book. I am more convinced than ever that American Women need to CHILL OUT on the dieting crap. Sure, we need to make good choices and move around, but for some of us, diet and exercise control everything. That is not the way it is meant to be!!!!! I am currently reading "Crazy Love" by Francis Chan. I can't even begin to communicate the message of this little book, but it is one I needed desperately.

My cat ate all the fur off of her front paws due to her anxiety over being separated from me and now has to take Xanax when I am gone. My Sassy doesn't do well when I travel, and this time around, it was bad. I got home, and walked in the door and she just leaned on my arm and purred. I cried. She is better now, and her fur is growing back, but she is the closest thing to a child to me and to see her in a frazzled state hurt me. I love my little furpeople, and they give me such joy.

Ok, there is a recap. I will do better in the next few months, because there will lots of cool stuff for me to write about.


I will leave you with something that I meditating on right now:
Ephesians 2:8-9 "For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them."

FATIMA..A LITTLE LIGHT OF HOPE.

I went to a fundraiser for the YWCA last week, and was blown away by some of the speakers. As many of you know, the YWCA offers assistance for women of all ages who are suffering from abuse well as many other programs such as adult education, after-school programs for young women, etc. I listened to several women tell their heartbreaking stories of verbal, emotional and physical abuse from their significant others. One woman left after her abuser went to work, with nothing but the clothes on her and her 14 year old son's back. They found shelter, support and counseling at the YWCA. The Y is currently helping this woman transition from the shelter to a home of her own, thanks to their women in transition program.
I listened to a 13 year old girl tell us how Girls, Inc. (the Y's after school program for adolescent and teenage girls)has increased her self-esteem and helps her make better choices at school and with her friends. A mother gave a powerful testimony about losing her own daughter to domestic violence.
10 women in the state of Tennessee DIED from domestic violence related crimes last year.

There was a beautiful young woman from Rwanda that shared her powerful story. She came to this country after she had lost her family in the genocide that occurred in her homeland. She came with $500, and a promise that help would be waiting. She landed in Nashville to find no one at the airport waiting for her. Her cab driver helped her the next day and compassionately opened up his home to help her get on her feet. As if losing your family and leaving your home wasn't enough, Fatima came here only to be disappointed.

I met Fatima in 2006, she was looking for a new place to live, and had a man in her life and a baby on the way. She is beautiful, with sharp, dark eyes and rich deep skin. Her smile goes from east to west. She settled in to her new place and all seemed well. She showed up in my office one afternoon very pregnant only to inform me that the baby's father had changed his mind and did not want a life with her and their baby to be. She was heartbroken; I remembered asking her if she could go back to her family and she whispered "I can't go back". My company was able to let her leave her place without the enormous costs and penalties involved.

This beautiful young woman on the YWCA platform this morning was Fatima! She completed her GED through the YWCA's adult education program and is working, thriving and looking forward to going to college. I was able to catch up and talk to her. I remembered so vividly our conversation that day when she pregnant, abandoned and alone; I had no idea that she really had nothing in Rwanda to go back to. This woman is a survivor. She is resilient, and her inspiring story humbled me.

I want to go back to the YWCA programs a second and just share a few things, this organization is amazing. Their outreach efforts are so powerful! Check out their site at ywca.org.