I'll be honest

I have been sitting here trying to think of one the many things I always tell myself "oh..I should blog about that" (geek out.) anyways, I have been sitting here trying to remember something witty or interesting that has happened to me recently but there is a big PROBLEM. I can't stop thinking about something.

(i'll get to that problem in a minute. ramblings to ensue.)

So, remember when I told you about the morning I woke up getting sick? Well, lucky pants me, it continued to happen over and over again. And I have never felt more nauseas or lost my appetite than I have in the past 2 months.

So, I admit it.

I have horrible acid reflux also referred to as GERD. (fooled ya)

GEEERRRDDDD.

It just looks like what acid reflux is. I apologize to all my friends and family that are reading this because I have talked their ears off about my "illness".

Okay. So back to the story (I'm losing my own attention and I'm the one typing).

I have had to make some major changes in my lifestyle and diet to FINALLY (fingers crossed) get my stomach back on track.

Here is just a list of things that I have had to eliminate from my diet:

1. spicy food (ok. so, not that hard. I have never been a huge spice fan. I can give that up)

2. fried food. (alright, so....this one kinda hurts. But I can justify having it out of my diet anyways)

3. chocolate. stop the press. hold it. right. there.

(for anyone that knows me, you know. this is near impossible. actually, it is. I cheated with nutella on a piece of toast today. loser. )

4. alcohol. (head cock to the side).

Alright. I can do it. Just will have to take up meditating to take the *sting* out of the day. (and I'm still betting that my stomach will magically heal itself so I can resume having a glass of wine or nice cold beer in the evening)

5. NO EATING 3 HOURS BEFORE GOING TO BED. <-----------I'm done for.

I have stuck with it for almost 2 weeks now (okay.um..maybe slipping once)

But my strength is wavering.

Misery. Pain. I know that box of Frosted Flakes is sitting right there in my cabinet and is just waiting to be drizzled with cold 1% milk in a bowl that can hold near half a box.

I can't stop thinking about Tony.

I am an ex-late night snacker in a baaaaad place right now.

So. That is where my head is tonight. And in case you were wondering (oh sure you were) I feel 100% better. Actually listening to the doctor, taking medicine and eating right really does work. Who'da thought?

(I just want that damn bowl of cereal)

please allow me to be self promoting for a moment

www.myspace.com/valeriemcqueen4

(the new songs are listed on the bottom of the playlist)

okay. there.

whew.

So. Maybe I just want to dominate the coffee shop scene in VA.

Maybe I'll always have my friends make up the most bodies in a room where I play.

Maybe I will finally learn to play and sing at the same time.

Maybe I'll always be shy and get a knot in my stomach when I talk about my music aspirations.

Maybe there is something big out there waiting for me to stumble upon.

Whatever it maybe be, I'm really excited about where I am today. Who I am today. And this is and has always been a big part of that.

xo

Welcome to Richmond

This video is hilarious!

Richmond, VA in a nutshell!

(and this made me already start to miss River City)

whew.

Oh boy. I am exhausted on this Monday night. I had so much fun recording this past weekend. Just lock me in a studio and lose the key. I'll be posting some songs on my myspace site soon!

But for right now, I am sitting on my couch watching one of my favorite movies, "The Color Purple" and eating a huge bowl of Frosted Flakes. I have watched this movie so many times I have lost count.

This has to be one of my favorite scenes in a movie:

Makes me wanna shimmy shake.
night ;)

musical weekend

found here

Unlike this fury friends, I will not be in total relaxation mode for the weekend BUT I am excited about my plans.

If you haven't noticed...I added a little bit to my "about me" section to push myself and publicly acknowledge that I am pursuing being a real live singer/ songwriter.

(because....the public needs to know this very important information.)

I HAVE A DREAM PEOPLE.

Anyways, my mind has been all sorts of places lately planning for the big move so I scheduled some one on one time with one of my favorite singer/songwriter Mickey Nelson of Roanoke VA. He is the one who graciously let me add harmony on his most recent project.

I am going to stay with him and his lovely family this weekend for a good ole' workshop session. We are going to be working on a set list of songs so that we can start booking gigs together, recording a demo (very excited about this part..he surprised me!!!) and working on my mad guitar skillzzz.

Thankfully, Andrew is a good halfway point between Richmond and Roanoke, so I will squeeze in a slumber party with him tonight and Sunday night.

WORK WORK WORK. That's what I plan on doing this weekend. But it's the good kind. The kind you want to do.

Happy Friday!

so, about that whole moving thing...

yeah. um. so I told you that this was happening.

and i'm just la-dee-da-dee-da-ing around like I'm not about to make the BIGGEST MOVE IN MY LIFE.

(dramatic pause....annnnnnnnnnnnd......thank you.)

I should be freaking out.

I don't have a job lined up.

We don't have anything confirmed on where we will live.

but. here's my secret.

I am so freaking excited I don't even care. I just know everything will work out. I have never felt this way in my entire life.

--and you know what, the OLD me would have hated typing that sentence for all to see in fear that I might regret getting my hopes up and crashing down, but nope. nuh-uh. I'm not even going to go back and edit.--

I mean it. I believe it.

That's where I'm at on the whole moving thing. I'm not going to become Anxious Annie.

found here

So there, life. Give me some lemons. See if I don't dominate you.

xoxo.

perspective

Water Level 9,40m ... from Alex.Be. on Vimeo.

mountain creature love

Andrew loves hiking. And so do I, but not like that boy. He is like a mountain creature that could walk for days and miles on end and no matter what, no matter how hard it is, he has a huge smile on his face the entire way.

So I shouldn't have been surprised when our hike in the Shenandoah National Forest on Saturday turned out to be 12 miles long!!

It may be documented that I am not always the best person to take on hikes. And this was going to be the longest one we have ever hiked together.

Maybe it was the cool weather.
Maybe it was my power braids that made me feel 15 again.
But I loved every second of it.

2 scraggly loves.

creepin' in. i love the fall.

FINALLY, just as the sun set we made it back to the car.

(In our delusion we thought the stuffed beaver in the back of my car was hiiiiiiilarious. )

and of course, I was taken to eat immediatly afterwards (he's learning).

A burger, fries, and chocolate shake from Wrights Dari Rite was exactly what I needed. How cute is this place?

mmmmmmmmmmmmm......I was happy, stuffed and couldn't move my legs.

all in all, a great day.

a long sentence followed by a picture.

I went to a Body Pump class (woo-hoo) for the first time in a long time and wanted to take that little microphone and stab it in the instructors eye once or twice and now Photobucket is taking longer than normal and I wanted to upload some pictures from the weekend but I'm hungry and need to cook dinner so I will leave you with this picture of a bear that I saw on Saturday.

more to come. xo.

I don't know why

Has it been a crazy week for everyone else?

Me too. I woke up this morning to another episode of this.

(and no. I am not preggars. Just a bug paired with a stomach that seems to have a mind of it's own)

So, after a stressful week of family illness and craaaaziness at work it was almost nice to have a day to just lay on the couch with Olivia.

(almost. could have done without the spins and projectile....well...you know what)

Somewhere during the day I found myself humming a song by Shawn Colvin that I recentley covered at a gig.

My guitar player picked it out and said you have to learn this. So I did....without really listening to the words. I tend to ignore lyrics--well..what the song is really saying --because I get bogged down in just learning the melody.

So driving on my way to this gig, I was blasting all of the songs for the night in my car as a last chance opportunity to get some practice in.

And this song came on.

And I listened. And something happened.

They just seemed to reach out to my heart. I finally listened.

I found these words to help me through today.

(and it doesn't get much better than Shawn Colvin folks)

I don't know why the sky is so blue-And I don't know why I'm so in love with you-But if there were no music-then I would not get through-I don't know why I know these things, but I do-I don't know why-but somewhere dreams come true-And I don't know where-But there will be a place for you-And every time you look that way-I would lay down my life for you-I don't know whyI know these things, but I do-I don't know why but some are going to make you cry-And I don't know how-but I will get you by, I will try-They're not trying to cause you pain-They're just afraid of loving you-I don't know whyI know these things, but I do -I don't know why the trees grow so tall-And I don't know whyI don't know anything at all-But if there were no music then I would not get through-I don't know whyI know these things, but I do-I don't know whyI know these things, but I do

Tuesday Night Fun

Hold on to your seats. It's show and tell time.

1. My entertainment center. I know, it was the first thing in the picture to catch your eye, right? That's why it deserves to be number one.

2. Bleh. We are having a rough spot in our relationship right now. We haven't spoken for days.

3. Sock Monkey. He battles with Olivia daily.

4. Lamb. Lamb poses as a toy for Olivia, but she actually just rolls around the floor and collects dust, dirt and fingernail clippings. It's a green version of those fancy schmancy moterized vacuum cleaner.

I'm expecting comments to just roll in as soon as I post this. Very, very exciting things going on here. I don't know why I don't have more followers?

;)

Falling for fall already

What a loverly weekend we had.

Give me some mountains

A bonfire
Hackensaw Boys

Best Friends

add in two loves

(and maybe a bottle of vino or two)

All was happy and happy were all.

whirlwind

wheeew.

I was on FULL SPEED all week long and finally feel like I can breathe a bit. I haven't been all that great on updating my "show and tell"

(I decided that blogs are sorta like show and tell...the verbiage make me not cringe as much when I think about how sucked I am into talking about myself)

But.....did I mention how EXCITED I am. AHHHHHH. It's been a good whirlwind.

I am off to Charlottesville in a few hours to hang out with friends at Veritas Vineyard. Perfect fall Saturday in my book.

I hope you have a lovely weekend. Soak up this wonderful weather.

love.

cha cha cha changes....

still here.

jumpin' back onto the bandwagon very soon.

love.