Sorry I'm a horrible blogger! So much to say!

Wow, it's been a month since my last update. Where does the time go? You can all thank Erin Fulton for reminding me to update. Whoops! Now, I have the challenge of back tracking to January and updating you to the fullest. I'll be detailed, but in a Reader's Digest kind of way as to not bore you!

Well, at the last entry I talked about my first real celebrity sighting. My how time changes that in Nashville, Tennessee. They are everywhere and have only furthered my appreciation of country music after seeing how everyone is so down to earth. They really are just normal people. It's a breath of fresh air to be around such nice people. I have made several connections here in town and have met some great people, and even some that I only dreamt of meeting. (Funny thing is I'm referring to my calendar as I write this so I can get it right!) Thank goodness I wrote these things down.

My awesome landlord/landmother has been a blessing. She brings dinner over at least once a week and has her sons clean off my car in the many snow storms we've had here. It's nice to have brothers with the perks and not the downside! Although, we'll get into that later. They have had their times of treating me like a big sister and it's nice to have a Nashville family. The mom, Heidi, is in real estate here in Nashville and is partners with a lady that is married to a music producer. His name is Wally and he is co-owner of Skyline Music along with the legendary Paul Worley. They graciously invited me to the office for a little meeting to discuss my career goals here in Nashville. For those of you not intune with the music business side, Paul Worley is Lady Antebellum's producer among many other things, but as a HUGE Lady A fan I was thrilled to say the least. They gave me a small project of listening to a new group's advance album and helping discuss the songs on the album. I had fun and got to learn a little more about the business. They have since gotten me connected with other industry folks! (FYI: Lady A fans, they are in the studio recording their new album this week!) That weekend we had a huge snowstorm so that delayed some meetings and made for an interesting few days! Sadie LOVES the snow but I am not a big fan. The next week I met with the Vice President of ASCAP here in Nashville. This is a company that does all the licensing for music. There are three companies here that do this: ASCAP, BMI, SESAC. It's cool to see the behind the scenes stuff. I had a great meeting with him and got to sit in his office surrounded by platinum records including Carrie Underwood's. I'd like to use that as my wall decor, but I'll have to wait. He sent out my resume to some friends and has also gotten me in touch with great industry people. Then I got in touch with Jessi and J.R.'s business manager who I had met during my visit in November. She has been a huge part of my life these last 3 weeks! Julie is a business manager in the music industry. She ended up getting suckered into getting a puppy so I have become her the puppy's daytime mother! She is adorable..more to that later. The next day I met with the Vice President of Sony Music. Yes, the Sony music. He oversees 3 record labels which include Carrie Underwood, Kenny Chesney, Miranda Lambert, Alan Jackson, Brad Paisley, and many more. Needless to say this was a HUGE moment for me. I got to meet with him in the listening room at Sony and sat among countless records from decades of brilliant music. I hadn't really been overwhelmed by the sheer greatness of this place, but I found myself in awe. It was like great music flowed down the halls. I've never felt so close to the music business on a personal level. aka, I was in Heaven. To say that he and I hit it off would probably be an understatement. At this point Sony is at the forefront of my job search and if they called to offer me a position I would take it in a heartbeat with absolutely no reservation whatsoever. Cross your fingers, say some prayers, and think good thoughts on that subject. It would be a dream come true. I am currently in talks with several other people who I will be meeting in the next week or two who are big players in the music industry as well, so I hope those go as well as these have.

Back to my personal life...the landbrothers next door have been fun to get to know. They are funny, respectful, well behaved, and some of the best teenage boys I've ever been around. Reid is 14 and John is 12. They both play basketball at their private school down the street and are smart kids. We have a big backyard filled with trees and little spots where the moles dig down deep into the ground. The boys are into airsoft guns, bb guns, basically anything teenage boyish. They invite their friends over, dress in camo, and play war games in the backyard. When I first moved in it scared Mom half to death to see boys in camo with guns running alongside my back window. We now refer to them as the "Militia". This is where it gets interesting. There is a tarp covering a carport behind the house which happens to be about 10 feet from my dining room window. A few weeks ago I was at the table sorting out papers when the boys went behind the tarp and shot their airsoft machine gun. Needless to say it was loud, close, and unexpected. I didn't know my survival instincts could make my body get to the floor so fast. They just stood outside and laughed as I crawled back up into my chair. Haha, little brothers, huh? Well I guess that wasn't good enough for them since their friends weren't here to see it. So, that weekend we had a lot of snow pile up and Nashville schools closed for 4 days. The "militia" had a lot of battles during that period. As some of you know from pictures I have a huge picture window in my living room. It practically takes up the whole front wall. There is a couch across from it facing a tv to the right. I was relaxing on the couch one night, deeply intuned with one of my shows, when out of the black sky come snowballs to my large window. My body lifted off that couch like gravity was nonexistent. When I looked out the window I saw 6 teenage boys laughing hysterically in the bushes. I must say it was pretty funny. No more tricks in the last few weeks, but I'm sure they have more up their sleeve. I am in the market for some sort of NERF gun so as they unexepectedly walk to the house after school I can get them good. That's in the works. Any ideas for revenge on little brothers is welcome! :)

On January 17th my original Nashville friends got back in town after being on tour. Thank goodness! It felt so good to have people I really knew and that really knew me within a 5 mile radius! I since have seen them at least twice a week and keep their daughter as much as I can. They are a huge blessing and I'm so grateful for what they've done for me. They are nominated for 3 Grammys this weekend so make sure to watch! They will be out in Los Angeles and for a second they were going to take me to watch Shyla, but those plans haven't worked out so I will stay back home and see her! I'm excited to watch the Grammys and have a personal relationship with people there to root for!

Speaking of Grammy nominees, I have met more celebrities as I mentioned earlier. Let's see. Charles Kelley (from Lady Antebellum), Radney Foster, Dierks Bentley (although I've known him longer, but get to see him more regularly now), Dave Haywood (from Lady Antebellum), and other industry folks who you probably wouldn't recognize. I have also made a few good friends here! First I met a girl a few weeks back named Allie Farris who just moved here also. We met at a restaurant and found out we were both from Texas. She just moved here in the middle of January to begin recording her first album. She is a great musician, 20 years old, and from Flower Mound. Random! She lived just about 5 minutes from the school I worked at. Random that we meet here in Nashville and live less than 5 minutes from each other here. She is busy in the studio and is having her first album produced by a member of June Carter Cash's family. I think she's in good hands! Look her up on youtube, she's great. I have spent the last 2 weekends with a new friend who is already dear to me! Her name is Leigh Ann. She and I were introduced by Julie. Leigh Ann just moved to Nashville in October from Georgia and was looking for some good friends also. We hit it off and have spent the last two weekends out in downtown Nashville doing dinner and going to concerts. She also invited me to the church she's been attending here and I really liked it. That is where I met Dave Haywood from Lady Antebellum. (Again, nice to see 'rockstars' at church on Sunday morning!) He was very nice, very cute, and quite tall in person! Leigh Ann has introduced me to some 15 people in 2 weeks and I'm beginning to build a great friendship with her. I can't tell you how thankful I am to have found a new great friend here!

Now to what my daily life has consisted of! For the last 3 weeks I have been dogsitting, babysitting, running errands, cleaning house, taking care of Sadie, and organizing my house! I am dogsitting Julie's new puppy named Bennet. She is a Jack Russell mix they think and is 10 weeks old this week. She is teeny tiny and LOVES to play with big ol' Sadie. It's funny to watch. And now the dramatic part which some of you already know. Last Tuesday I was at Julie's taking care of Bennet during a rainstorm. I was leaving her house and on the top step of her basement. I didn't turn on the light, because I had yet to realize there was one, whoops. I ended up going down 11 wooden, unfinished stairs and was abruptly stopped by the cinderblock wall at the bottom. So to give you a visual, here I lay in a pitch black stairwell, thinking I broke something, without my phone, and shaken up by the whole ordeal. All I could think was, oh lord, what am I going to do now? I have to move or I'll be here when Julie gets home from the office in 7 hours! I am NOT laying here that long. I managed to get out to my car and call Mom. What is she going to do from 800 miles away? I know, but instinct says call Mom first! I was able to get home though I was almost positive I broke my tailbone or pelvis. I couldn't move for a good period of time, but I'm good now! I didn't break anything to my knowledge and refused to go to the doctor to pay 60 bucks for him to tell me the same. I have a baseball sized purple bruise on my butt so I guess I'll forego the thong bikini I have for February. :) My entire right side was bruised or swollen and I looked like a mess. I'm better now for the most part, but still a little achy. I guess I'll live! It can never be boring, can it?!

Mom has gotten to come once over Martin Luther King weekend and I am almost at a month without seeing anyone from home. I'm getting to miss all of them a lot. I'm hoping to make it home in the next few weeks before too much time goes by.

In the meantime, I will focus on updating more regularly so it doesn't have to be so lengthy! Miss you all and can't wait to see you on my trip back home.