Follow Your Dreams

It's funny to think that a dream I had a few months ago has already come to fruition. It wasn't magic - I just decided to do it, and I did it. It can be easy to dream big, but never follow through. Sometimes we have to go beyond our comfort zone if we want to do something different, and that's okay.


It's not the destination, it's the journey. We can't always sit around waiting for circumstances to be perfect before we do the things we're holding out for. I'm making a documentary of my experience here. I'd love to wait to be thin before submitting a documentary filled with footage of me to a TV station, but too bad. I'm not thin. I hope to be, and I'm going to work toward that, but I'm not going to waste another minute of life holding myself back from doing what I want to do because of obstacles I'm creating. I did that for a decade when I was bigger, and I'm not doing it anymore.


I have no idea what will come of this CD. I don't expect much, but I know what has already come of the experience. I got to see the inner workings of a real studio, I have a CD that came out much better than I anticipated, I followed my dreams and had an extraordinary life experience, and now I have direction on my next project - a rap cd! :) If any more comes out of the experience, it's all gravy at this point.


I truly believe that we can do whatever we want in this world. So much of success is just luck, but I don't need to sell a ton of copies of my CD to have it be a meaningful experience - it already was a meaningful, life changing experience. I'm so glad I followed my dream.

What are your dreams???

Since I'm a recording artist, I need a web site! ;-)

http://www.kcsings.com/

It's a work in progress, but sign up for my mailing list!

Recording a CD blog

www.recordingacd.blogspot.com

Blogger is going to shut down my account soon if I don't stop creating new blogs. LOL - I decided that while I'm here, I'll have a lot to say about recording the CD, so I started a new blog. Feel free to check it out. :)

KC & D in Nashville, courtesy of my YouCam

(Krissy, if you see this, please show Henry, so he knows we're thinking of him. LOL)

Greetings, Earthlings.

Hello, from me and my extremely large head! Darcy took this picture at Logan, when we were waiting to board. We had a connecting flight in Charlotte, and we had to run from one end of the airport to the other to get to our flight on time. Good thing we're skinny! LOL

Everyone in Nashville is ridiculously nice. They put their arms around you at random, and they are a very "hands on" people. haha - I don't mind.

I love it here. We had a great dinner at some steak house last night, and then we checked out the area around us. It was fun, and I'm looking forward to seeing more of the city! I'll try to take more pictures to post, so you won't need to stare at the extreme close up of my face.

Happy Father's Day to all the good Dads out there...especially to mine! :) I love you!

Oh! On the CD front - yesterday I decided I want to rearrange some of the songs...put my own spin on it. I should have thought of this before, but I didn't, so oh well. I'm done with 3 of them, plus I know I don't want to change another 2 of them, but today I want to get through the other 7.

I wasn't able to download different versions to my iPod since my connection was so slow, so rather than being influenced by other artists, I will influence myself. I didn't know I'd have a bit of a flair for arranging music, but I kind of like some of the things I've done so far, and Darcy thinks they are fantastic. She may be slightly biased.

I'll try to post something on this blog for you to hear.

Okay - heading to the pool. See you soon. XO

Clay Aiken

Seeing as though I have to start recording in 2 days, I thought I ought to get around to thinking about a flow and theme and sound for my CD. I have only practiced formally about 3 (maybe 4) times, but I have tried to sing in the car, and while kayaking, etc...not enough by any means, but I'm busy!

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I know the songs, and I'm hoping I'll get direction from the producer. When I looked at the songs I had chosen (half due to the fact I could get copyrights easily for, and not necessarily what I would have picked if I had more time), it was clear that I have the potential to put a soulful, gospel style CD together, so that's the theme I'm going for.

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As far as the sound, without realizing it, I think I'm envisioning a kind of Clay Aiken feel for the whole thing. One of my favorite songs to listen and sing to is his version of _Bridge over Troubled Water_ that he sang with the gospel choir on American Idol. I think he as an amazing, powerful and beautiful voice. I want to be just like him. :)

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Well, at least I set the bar low. Oy. Hey - it doesn't hurt to be inspired by people who are really good at what they do. After all, if you aim for nothing, that's what you'll hit.

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I'm downloading 2-4 versions of all of the songs I'm singing to my iPod to listen to on the plane. Partly so I can learn them and partly to get ideas of what sounds good for the songs.

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For the first time since I booked this trip, I'm starting to see it all as reality. I am going to be in a studio with a producer, and a band and back up singers, etc...in 2 days...recording a CD. That's a very interesting scenario.

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I haven't even sang in ages, and although I've always loved singing, I really didn't think I'd be recording a CD in a professional studio, but I am. I think it's something I've always wanted to do deep down, and I could put it off until I'm formally trained, and when I've had lots of time to pick out the perfect songs, and all that, but knowing me, that day would never happen.

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If it weren't for spontaneity, I'd probably never accomplish anything. I have very little time for planning, and I hope that doesn't hold me back.

See you soon.

My big fat checklist

I have a LOT to do before leaving for Nashville tomorrow, but I'm well on my way. I've been up since 5:15, and I've already completed about 25% of my checklist for the day. If you aren't a list maker, I recommend you become one immediately. :)

For me, at least, it's the difference between chaos and organization. I love my lists, and I live by them...I even just love the satisfaction I get from crossing things off the list. What fun.

Thankfully, I delivered my keynote speech last night without a hitch. I wish I had more time to prepare it, but I didn't, and it was fine. I received extremely generous feedback regarding the speech, well beyond its merits. That's one big thing off my list, as I move onto the rest.

I'm feeling a bit tired, as I have been for weeks, courtesy of New England allergy season in FULL swing, so I'm going to workout now. I always feel energized and refreshed after a good workout...and it's another thing I can cross off my list. :)

I'm not even remotely prepared for my CD recording next week, but I'm hoping that changes between now and Monday. I pretty much know all the songs, and I'm really hoping the producer will coach me and work with me on the styles for each of the songs, because I haven't had a chance to give that much thought yet.

I meet with him on Sunday afternoon, so at least by then I'll have a good idea of what to expect for Monday.

Stay tuned!

Insanity

I need to be better about balance. It's Wednesday afternoon, and I'm leaving for Nashville on Saturday. Before that, I have about 30 hours of work I need to finish, a keynote speech I need to write for a presentation tomorrow night, I need to pack, I need to practice...a lot, I still have to figure out which songs I want the band for, vs guitar, piano, soundtrack, etc..., prepare my house for renovations while I'm away, and I'm planning to spend Friday with my Mom as it's her last day here.

I thought it would be fine to fly out to Nashville the day my Mom was leaving, but I didn't realize how much preparation went into recording a CD. Duh. For someone else, recording this CD would be a huge focus for them, but for me, it's an expensive afterthought.

It's okay, I rationalize. It's just my first CD. This one will be a practice run. My rationalizations save me from all of my errors.

Part of choosing joy in life is choosing balance - not taking on more than you can possibly accomplish. You can't do everything well if you're trying to do everything at once. I need to be much better about not spreading myself so thin that I'm ineffective.

In the mean time, I'm going to schedule each hour of my time as wisely as I can, and I know I'll get it all done.

Life's Good

We're having the downstairs bathroom redone while we're away, and we had to get a new washer and dryer since our washing machine was broken. We only had a small stackable unit before, and boy, did we upgrade.

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After hours of online research, I went with the LG (Life's Good) brand steam washer and steam dryer. They are supposed to get stains out way better and just about remove the need to iron. Also, the steam dryer has a sanitary cycle that can clean items that are unable to be washed conventionally, like throw pillows, etc... I've also heard you can use it for dry cleaning - we'll see.

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They cost a lot more, but they are huge, and they have great capacity, and will save like 1000 gallons of water/year, and they have virtually no sound, and they know if you put too much detergent in, and they have 10 different cycles, and all the new bells and whistles.

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At Home Depot, they said that LG is by far, the best brand for washers and dryers. I read that online too. The reviews I read for these items were all unbelievably positive, so I'm hoping it's true. I've probably only done 10 loads of laundry in my entire life (no, it must be more like 25 - LOL), so the fact that I would spend the money on these items seems a bit silly, but my laundry girl is SURE excited! :)

Choosing Sweat

Since I brought my Phatband blog back, I haven't talked about healthy living as much on this blog as I normally do. I have to say, though, working out makes me feel so much better mentally and emotionally. Being physically active does the same thing to a point, but when I give it my all to the point where I feel I'm going to collapse, endorphins are released and they make me HAPPY.

This Wii Personal Trainer is kicking my butt! I can't believe how challenging it is. Even pedaling as fast as I can go on the bike at the gym is noting compared to the aerobic workout I get with this trainer. It's amazing - truly.

I had a great workout earlier today. I was weak in the legs after (we focused on quads), and now I feel fantastic. I want to go out and buy everyone I know the Wii Personal Trainer. Watch out if you have a bday coming up! ;-)

Pahk the cah in havahd yahd

I've decided to finish out my degree at Harvard. For so long, I thought school names meant nothing, and for the most part, I still agree...but it all depends.

First of all, at this point in my career, the fact that I'm still finishing my undergraduate degree is a bit ridiculous, and rather than finishing it out at some generic school, I've decided I want to upgrade.

Secondly, I have a bio that's used for speaking engagements, and the more I move along in my career, the more my bio is used in other areas. I'd like to graduate from a good school, since my schooling is looked at more in my career than in some others.

Also, I have never been really challenged, and I'd like to learn something. I would also like to make good contacts, and I think I can at Harvard. They offer hundreds of online classes, so I can continue to have a flexible school schedule, but I can also take classes on site if I want to, and that may be fun.

They have a continuing education program, and I know someone who graduated from there, and she is very bright, and she found the program to be challenging and great at the same time.

Since it's designed for adult learners, the admission process is different. You have to complete 3 classes first with a B or better grade, and then you can be admitted. I guess they feel as though that's a good way to assess whether or not you can make it there, and I think that makes a lot of sense.

I'm going to sign up for one class this fall, and I'm taking the summer off from school. As soon as I'm admitted, I'm going to look into their MBA program to take the courses that will be support me in that program.

I know I'll probably have to take more classes than I was going to in order to complete my undergraduate degree, but I think it will be worth it in the end. What's a while longer at this point?!

Airport Trauma

I'm at the airport, waiting for my Mom to arrive from ATL. Being in an airport is giving me flashbacks of my loooooooong flights I just took. LOL - I didn't think it would, but apparently it is. I can't believe I'm going to be flying to Nashville in 2 weeks. It's okay, I'll get over it. :)

I'm excited to see my Mom! I don't think she's ever been to Boston's North End which is famously Italian and filled with lots of fabulous restaurants. Since we're all the way here, I think it's a good time to take her there! We picked up Alison on the way down to bring her to lunch too.

After that, we'll go back to the house and my Mom can relax in the hammock and read a nice book while I go to the store and pick up a few things to have a cook out tonight. I invited Alison and the girls over, so it should be nice!

Tomorrow, we head up to Maine to spend some time up there with my Mom, and she'll stay the whole week. I'm looking forward to going to the ocean! I haven't been in about a month, and I just love it.

Anyway, enough about me. :) I should probably see if she's landed!

Enjoy the day!

Weekly Schedule

Obviously, the schedule above is not mine. :) But it sounds like a very busy and well rounded young person!

I'm a pretty well organized person, but I always bite off more than I can chew, which makes it hard/impossible to fit it all in. I've used daily schedules, and they work for a while, but because I try to pack SO much into one day, they don't work long term because there isn't enough room for the unexpected or the unplanned.

I've spent some time putting together yet another weekly schedule yesterday, and I've decided it's too unreasonable. What I'm going to attempt is a weekly schedule. I know how many hours I need to work each week, and if I want to work out an hour each day, six days a week, I can break that into 6 hours of exercise a week - some days that may be 90 minutes and other days it may be 30, but I'll go for the average of 60 minutes each day with one day off, and then I can plan the rest of my weekly to do's accordingly.

I know I'm going to be in Nashville the last week of the month, and that it will be hard for me to get a lot of work done that week, but I'm paid hourly as a consultant, so I want to plan to get in 50 hrs/week for the first 3 weeks of the month so that I can get in 10 the last week while I'm away and I'll reach my hours for the month.

My Mom is coming to visit, and she'll be staying with us the 3rd week of the month, so if I can get in as many hours as possible in the first 2 weeks of the month, that will give me more time to spend with her. It's going to be tight, but I think having a weekly chart of all I need to accomplish will help me get there.

Being organized, meeting deadlines, making time to exercise and taking control of your life will aid in your ability to lead a joyful life. :)

This is the life

I guess Darcy took a picture of me relaxing with the hot tub half open the other day - classic move of mine when I go in alone... It's much easier to close, and I really don't need to open the whole thing just for me anyway. You can kind of see our hammock too on the right side of the photo. I just LOVE sitting in the hot tub, staring at the water, reading a book and enjoying the beautiful weather!

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I know we only have a few months to enjoy the nice weather of NH, and sometimes I think I would want to live somewhere that is summery all year 'round, but other times I think I just wouldn't appreciate the wonders of summer as much if I could enjoy it all year. Who knows...

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I do love the four seasons we have in New England, but I just wish winter wasn't the longest one! I like the snow and cross country skiing and White Christmases, but seriously, it seems to last forever...that's a bit much.

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Anyway, for now it's summer, and I'm LOVING it!!! I think that enjoying the outdoors is one of the best treats we get in life.

A nice breakfast

It was a beautiful, sunny morning, and I decided to eat my breakfast outside before heading into the office. There was a family, er a gaggle of geese with young goslings passing by. What a lovely site!

La!

I'm leaving for Nashville in basically 2.5 weeks. I suppose I should start practicing!

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I went through 8 of the 12 songs today. My voice is tired, so I'm taking a break, but I need to start warming up more, so that I get more miles out of my voice each day. After all, the days are going to be long in the studio, and I need to be ready!

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I record each song, and then play it back and listen for opportunities to improve, etc... Overall, I'm really pleased with the way the songs are sounding, so that's good news!

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I know I can do better, though, so I'm going to keep practicing. I want to make time every day for the next 2 weeks, and I should be able to do that for the most part...I just need to remember to do it!

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I'll post a sample as soon as I have one that will load.