Category Archives: memories

memories, music industry, nashville, perks

Livin’ the dream

2 Comments

Fall leavesI missed my first day in three months of blogging yesterday. But I have a good excuse: I was living my life.

Nine years ago, I attended my first concert as a “guest of the band.” I set foot on a tour bus for the first time. I held an All Access laminate for the first time. I even met the guy I would much later marry for the first time.

The end of that weekend, I wrote a journal entry in my private journal entitled, “Weekend dreams are made of” and in it, I chronicled every second of every moment of the day. Fast forward to today, and as I remember that entry I have to laugh. Back then, I’d never heard the phrase, “Livin’ the dream…” in reference to the music industry, and today I hear it used in a sarcastic irony.

The last few days, I’ve been off living… living the dream I spoke of nine years ago. Living the dream of life being dictated by the music industry… its perks right along with its (unknown to me then) downfalls.

In the last few days I’ve run on little sleep, attended my first CD release party, rode a tour bus through the day and night to tag along at a live music radio show, made plans to attend the Opry, and been reminded of debts that are in collections.

Like I said, the perks and the downfalls all rolled into a few days… I wouldn’t trade any of it for anything. Not a single note, hour, or bill. It’s my life, and I love it.

Living and loving my life feeds into my career dreams of writing for a living. The more life I live, the more I have to write about. The more I live the dream, the bigger the dream becomes.

And you gotta love that.

memories

A bad Halloween combination

4 Comments

I just found a new twitter feed to follow. One that has had me laughing my butt off for the last ten minutes. FakeAPStylebook If you were a journalist, are a journalist or know anything about journalism, go follow it for some much needed laughter at yourself. And the AP. Which is perfectly acceptable.

Anyway, a post this afternoon sparked a memory for me:

My husband and I spent our first Halloween together in an apartment.  We had no idea if we’d get any trick-or-treaters, but just in case, on Halloween, we made a run to the store for candy.

We picked up a fairly large bag of mixed flavors of candy, and then we wandered around the store browsing. My husband remembered he needed new razor blades, so he grabbed those as well.

It wasn’t until we stood in line at the check-out that we realized we had bought that bad-guy combo: razor blades and candy. We literally half-wondered if anyone would raise an eyebrow at us as we checked out. Instead, no one was even remotely phased by it! My husband even pointed it out to the checker, and still she gave us a blank stare that said, “So?”

As we left, I still waited for security and cops to descend upon us. I waited for the questioning of why we would want to harm little children dressed up as goblins, princesses and purple dinosaurs.

But instead, there was nothing. I was half relieved, half alarmed. We could have been criminals in the making! Razor blades and Halloween candy! These are two things you shouldn’t be purchasing in tandem! Quick someone come and question me about my motives!

We climbed in our vehicle without anyone even giving us a second glance. We drove off with our bad combination in hand.

We didn’t have a single trick-or-treater that year. We gave a neighbor’s kids a bag of candy, and we left some pumpkins with candy in them outside a few other apartment doors. Our candy didn’t go to waste, and my husband was able to shave just fine. But still, every Halloween we laugh about our first shopping excursion and our accidental combination purchase. An amusing memory from our first year together.

As an aside, parents definitely have to be careful every Halloween, and I know I will be when its my turn to take my kids trick-or-treating. The thought of razor blades in candy makes me shudder, and I wonder why someone would do something so awful to someone so innocent. :(