Music

I love music. Always have. Always Will.

On Mondays I volunteer to teach music to the Kindergarten and 1st grade classrooms for the past 3 years. It has been a lot of fun. I've gotten to know the kids and also gain a connection with my children's teachers. I've played piano since I was 8 years old, and I've taught steadily for the past 6 years. I love it. And I don't know what I would do without it.

Music is a part of everything I do. I walk to music, I talk to music, and I dream to music. My favorite is when I'm cooking dinner: I turn on the music and dance with my kids. Of course I'm molding their taste of what music they'll grow up to like, but they'll grow to appreciate my good taste. ;)

What I'm listening to now:
Hot Chelle Rae
Jessie J
La Roux
Cobra Starship
Lucy Hale
Cady Groves
Selena Gomez
Mindy Gledhill

Grandma, you'd love the last one (Mindy Gledhill). I'm going to burn you a cd and mail it to you. Enjoy!!!

Why does muscle weigh more than fat?

New Year's Resolutions - that is the subject.

Right before Christmas Ryan's sister, Chelsea, asked if I wanted to join her and some friends exercising. I try to keep myself active in my life and have been lucky to not have to worry about my weight too much. However, now that I'm getting older, I've been more concerned about keeping in shape. I'm reaching 35 years old this year and my metabolism has changed. I guess I'm not 16 anymore...even though my mind thinks I'm the same.

So, i took the opportunity and decided to exercise with my sister-in-law. I go everyday unless I'm teaching preschool or music at the school. It's been hard work but a lot of fun. I'll tell you that these women I exercise with are diehards. Sometimes they do two workouts. Crazy!

This is where my concern is. My muscles have never felt stronger, but I've gained weight instead of losing it. I haven't gained tons (just a couple of pounds), but it's enough to make me feel discouraged. Ryan tells me it is good because muscle helps you burn more calories. But, seriously?! Come on!

Anywho, I'm going to keep on trucking and see what happens. I'll keep you posted.

Title for my Cinderella Book

One of my New Year's Resolutions for 2012 is to finish my final revisions for my book by the end of January and send it to my publisher. Am I on track to do it? ...yes. :-) Today I'm working on page 184 out of a total of 320 pages of my book. Woohoo! It's turning out nicely, and I'm really excited about the things I've added. I actually had an editor look at my manuscript and give me some pointers. So, when I'm done I'll have to send you an updated manuscript. :-)

One of the things the editor told me was to maybe switch up the title. At first I had it as:
I'm Not Cinderella; a Tale of Ashes in Time

She said it was too long. Right now 1 word titles are really popular. Therefore, here are some titles I have been optioning:

I'm Not Cinderella
Cinderella's Territory
Charming
Ichtaca
Far far away
Enchanting

What do you think?

My name has been immortalized

How fun to come across my name in a book. And not just any 'old joe' book. A book from a national best selling author.

My path to stardom begins about a year and a half ago when my mother, sister, and I attended a retreat with one of our favorite authors, Deeanne Gist. She's this amazing Christian author. We got to go to North Caroline and visit the Biltmore Mansion. What a trip! So fun!

Well, anyway, this author was working on a new book and I just barely started reading it a couple of days ago. What to my surprise when I stumbled across a character with the name of Mrs. Chadaz. What!? I exclaimed. I called my mom and sister, and we giggled with the tribute to my mom.

But wait. The story doesn't end there. Tonight, while I was reading (I'm almost half way through the book), I came across two characters who are sisters with blonde hair and brown eyes. Guess what? Their names were Torie Cutler and Tarrah Montgomery. Not Mrs. Cutler or Mrs. Montgomery but the actual names spelled out.

So this is my documentation of my name immortalized forever...well, while this book is kept upon the face of the earth. I shall demand every person to read it. ;)