The sibling

I'm super excited because my sister Kelli is going to be coming into town tomorrow evening and staying through Sunday morning! She lives in Hebron, KY which is about 3 1/2-4 hours away from Nashville. So she's gonna be making the drive to come and visit her little sis. I love it when I have visitors, because I get to show them around...and I'm always happy to have a little piece of home around. :)

It always goes back to this... the music.

So anyone who knows me well, knows that I'm a total Glee nerd. :) Needless to say...today's Tuesday and Tuesday night = Glee episode. Which in sum = to a very excited Amy. There's so many reasons why I love this show, but like most things I do and love it all goes back to one thing. Music.

I've been involved with music (more specifically in choir) since the 7th grade. I've always loved to sing and that inticed me to join the choir in middle school. With the risk of sounding cliche and cheesy, I fell in love from the second I heard all of sing in together in the silliest vocal warm-up. From then on I was hooked. Ms. Blakely was my choir director from 7th-12th grade is originally to blame for my love and passion for choral music. She was by far the teacher through out jr. high and high school who had the most impact on me. No matter what kind of stupid high school drama was going on or what kind of crappy day I was having, twice a day ( 0 and 4th period) I was able to runaway from all of that and make music. Even better, it was with some of my closest friends. At the end of senior year I was so sure that that special thing I had was ending and that what I considered one of the best things in my life was over.

Then I met Fullerton College. Long story short, my experiance in concert choir made me decide to change my major from U.S. History to Music after my 1st year of college education. My 4 years in concert choir and chamber singers gave me understanding and explination of why I had spent all these years in love with music. I learned so much about composers, techniques and genres of choral music and it made me appreciate it that much more. But at the end of the day when it had been conquered...it was still that haven of making incredible music with some awesome people. For chamber singers ( a smaller choir with about 25 people or so) we did more traditional and intimate music. Dr. Kathi Rundus was our director and she's hands down the most knowlegeable person I've ever met when it comes to vocal studies. Not to mention, she's freakin' amazing at what she does...which includes both teaching and being a powerful soprano. And for concert choir (which is anywhere from a 60-100 person choir) we did more of the massive sound type music along with a lot of gospel songs. The music we did with this group was usually my favorite. Concert choir was (and still is) directed by John Tebay. I can honestly say that John Tebay is like a 2nd father figure to me. And if I may say every woman should marry a man just like him. He's one of the most considerate, talented, nice and Godly man around. Everybody that John knows and works with loves him and rightfully so.

Being in choir provided me with so many opportunities. I've traveled all over to places all over the east coast and Italy. Going to Italy was the best experiance up to date...but that's another blog. :) Anyways, I'm constantly thanking God for giving me the gift of music in my life and giving me opportunites and people that I love so much and will be ingrained in me forever.

Well...Glee's on in about 3 minutes, so I think it's about time to wrap this up. Hope ya'll are having a good day!

p.s I recently found out that John Tebay has been diagnosed with prostrate cancer. Please keep him in you prayers.

Fall and relief

This morning we tried out a church in Brentwood. LOVED it!! I'm so happy that I finally feel like I've found a church that I can see myself attending and hopfully get involved in.

And in other good news... it feels like fall today! I woke up and it was chilly outside :) Boots and sweaters, here I come!

That big ole' thing called Faith!

My friend/roommate Jenny and I

So the church hunt continues tomorrow! Hopefully (by the looks of what I've read online about this one) it'll be a success tomorrow. It's been a lot more difficult to find a good church where we (my friend/roommate Jenny and I) feel we could attend and get involved. So far the churches we've tried have been too small with no fellowship opportunites, too traditional for our liking or unforntunately just a little weird. Anyways, I'm just hoping and praying that God leads us to the right place.

It seems like putting my faith in Him is the majority of what I've got going on for me right now. I'm beyond thankful that God's providing for me and taking care of me. And at the same time, hours at work have been becoming slimmer, therefore stressing me out a bit more than I would like. I know stress... we're friends from way back in the days of what felt like a billion classes and hours at work back home. But it's a completely different story when you're having to make sure you're taking care of your bills, rent, food, etc. All the little things that were just there for longest time. Food magically appeared in the fridge once a week or so. Nope not here. All of a sudden, I have to go to the store, spend the money I earned and buy things that I need... not just what I "want." So I guess this is life's way of saying "Welcome to being an adult!!" I cannot lie... so far it kinda sucks. I think what's made it the most difficult is that I'm doing all of this away from the comfort and support of having my family and friends around. I'm crazy blessed and thankful that I have as great of a friend and roommate to live with! But I also miss my other friends. The ones whose arms I can fall into and cry when life got all sucky and hard. The ones who doing all the simple stuff with all day made for the best days ever. I miss the presence of my parents, sister, niece and nephews joking around and almost always making me feel better.

But, this is all part of chasing the dream. This all part of that "faith" I knew I'd have to make stronger than ever when I got here. I need to start waking up everyday reminded that I'm on the path of where I want my dreams to come true. I know I don't know all that's in my future, but I know God's plans exede what I can see right now in front me in the present.  

Me my partner in crime/bff Lauren :)

My dear friend Ashley and I in Italy in the summer of '08.

Me and my lovey Tiffany a few days before I left for TN.

Tatiana and I at the Glee concert :)

Me and Amanda in San Fran.

Me and my friend of 18 years (and still going) Emily.

The whole family last Christmas.

P.s. Sorry for the multiple pics...just want to show off how I have the most beautiful friends and family ever!

Right Now.

Short and simple: I miss my friends.

Ice blended coffee & sweaters...

Good day today :) I have the day off for what is I think the prettiest day I've seen in Nashville since I got here! I'm hoping this is the offical "goodbye" to the humidity and "hello" to the pretty weather that will move us into fall. My day's activities (thus far) have included cleaning, errand running, a mocha frapp at Starbucks & the purchase of a sweater at Plato's Closet (a store that sells second-hand designer clothes for uber cheap) and dinner to-go at Panera. I am now at home watching what seems to be a common occurance lately of E!...not quite sure how proud I am of that. ha. Nothing like a "whatever" kind of a day.

Dream On, Dream On...dream until your dreams come true.

So...I swore up and down that I was going to "keep up" with this. Not going to lie, I can't make any promises except for that I'm going to try and do better than 9 months in between blogs. I've now made the move to Nashville, TN (something I have planned for a while) and the inspiration and pride of chasing my dreams here has given me ammunition for a decent/interesting writing.

I (along with my friend/roommate Jenny) have been here for just a hair over 1 month. It was a difficult and emotional move, but I know that God's hand is in it and has plans that I can't quite see yet. I am thankful and blessed that I have Him to put my faith and trust in! Between my loving family and my incredible friends, it was hard to say goodbye (or how I like to put it..."see you later") and I still have days that I get homesick. However, I definitely have my moments of remembering why I wanted to come here in the first place.

The 1st and my predominant is going to the Opry and the Ryman Auditorium. The moment I saw Martina McBride step on that stage, it hit my all over agian. All of what I remember thinking about and planning at home... dreaming of the music & experiance that was all so enchanting to me. Although, I have to admit that I insanely miss being in choir at home and creating music with my friends.

Well... it seems like I spend most of my time working, facebook-ing and praying. Working to make ends meet, facebook-ing to make myself feel in the loop with things at home and praying everyday that God's will becomes clear to me and that I made the right decision to leave familiarity, support and comfort behind. My goals in the midst of all that is new: to continuously build my faith, remember to love and enjoy the journey on the way!