Growth and Learning = Happiness and FUN!!!

Tonight my brother Tom Young, our friends Justin Morris, Jon Knudson, Steve Schaben, Kevin Campbell, and Kyle Van Osdol played and I sang at the Oklahoma City Museum of Art for their AWESOME Thursday night event, Cocktails on the Skyline.  We were actually inside instead of on the roof because of the weather, but I didn't mind.  The acoustics in the space made me feel like the music enveloped us and it sounded great! During the show, something happened that I have never experienced. We've played at the Museum once before.  The difference tonight was that I felt calm and confident.  Usually, before any kind of performance or speaking I am a bundle of nerves, but not tonight.

Don't get me wrong.  I had my freak outs over the past few weeks of rehearsals.  I worried, stressed, feared, panicked, and probably drove some of the band members, my friends and family a little crazy in the process.  But earlier this week, I decided that I needed to finally quit letting fear rule me.  I wanted to fully experience all of the fun that comes along with making music with these men.  They are incredible people and musicians and I am lucky to have the opportunity to create with them.  So I did it! For the first time in my whole life, I let go while performing music in front of other people.  I sang out, I quit worrying about every little detail, I improvised and felt my confidence increasing by the minute.  By the end of the show, the energy that flowed through the band and audience was electric!

I think letting go is a thematic recurrence in my life.  Whether it's people that I love or things that aren't good for me, the more that I learn to release, the more I seem to gain and the better my life seems to be.


Thanks to my brother Tom, Steve, Kevin, Justin, Jon, Kyle and James for the encouragement to try things I'm afraid of and to push myself.  I imagine these lessons will be quite important in the very near future (and for the rest of my life.)  

Monday Funday

Today James and I had another great work day.  I think we should call them "Monday Funday" from now on.  We took care of some errands and ate at Big Truck Tacos in honor of them winning the Food Network's America's Great Food Truck Race.  I'm so excited for them and for Oklahoma City! After James and I finished our work day, my friend Phillip came up and we worked in the green house for a while.

When I bought my house a few years ago, I was excited that it came with a green house because I have always loved plants and I saw this as an opportunity to learn more about them (and to not kill them!).  Phillip is a botany major at OU and is not only smart, but one of the kindest people I know.  Every now and then Phillip will be very generous with his time and knowledge and teach me some things about the plants we've been collecting.  These include ferns, orchids, bromeliads, and more!

I have a feeling that when we get the business going and we have a garden from which the students, old and young, will learn about organic food and gardening, we will also be using this green house to start seeds and other projects.  Everything seems to always work together.  I had no idea when I bought this house that James and I would even be thinking about our goals together.  We didn't know each other yet. But here we are again, with everything we need.  I love life.

Here's a sample of the fun that goes down in the green house when Phillip comes to visit. I hope we can have classes like this for our students!

First Time DIY

James and I are having Work Day Mondays until we get to the point where we can get started at the building.  Then everyday will pretty much be a work day! Yay!!! I love work days.

This past Monday we worked on his garage studio because we are trying to get the home office up and running at his place too.  I'm really excited about the changes James is making there (and that I'm getting to help with) because he is transforming it into an energy efficient place through things like adding insulation, an attic fan, sealing up all of the holes, a ceiling fan, etc.  In addition, James is spiffing it up with trim, a skylight in the bathroom, and we're staining the concrete floor.  We want to encourage people to learn how to do things for themselves at the school, and this could be just one of many classes we could provide, so I thought it would be fun to film it!

I was around for the first step of the floor project and decided to use my handy, dandy new iPhone to record the process.  James thought that if we were to capture more projects like this, we could call it "First Time DIY."  You'll hear his explanation in the short film below. It's my first attempt at editing footage I've taken on my iMovie app. so please be forgiving of the cricket sound and the lack of skill...that will improve over time! I added a few pics at the end too.  Because I had class at OU, I wasn't around for more than the cleaning, but I'll take some pics of the final product and post them later! Enjoy!

Meals and Music

In the spirit of getting things started with the business before we even open our doors, James and I are beginning some new traditions.  We've decided to start hosting dinner nights at our houses in order to promote community and get people to cook.  Our goal is to join the Oklahoma Food Cooperative and use foods that are entirely local (from our great state).  So far, we've just been lucky that I would contribute to the cooking. Ha! James is a great cook and I am getting better.  In fact, I've started to really enjoy it and it's fun to get to a point where you can walk through a grocery store and modify a recipe that you looked up based on what is available in the store...mainly so you don't have to drive to another one.  :)

Because these dinners have recently coincided with rehearsals at James' house for the gig that his room mates, my brother, Justin and John have with me at the Oklahoma City Museum of Art's Cocktails on the Skyline on September 23rd, I got the idea that it would be a lot of fun to start inviting musicians to these dinners (and anyone else that wants to come and contribute).  This idea came to me last Thursday right before our second rehearsal.  We could make this a dinner and music night and when the doors open at the building, we could continue the tradition.  How much fun would that be???

K Ed and T Lyn

I'm so excited about this possibility and know that it would encourage what we want to see happen in the building.  We want people to come together to share ideas, learn from each other and mainly just connect and enjoy their time together.  It's going to be so fun!!!

Steve

My brother Tom on Drums

James Made these DELICIOUS fish taco inspired spring rolls while we were practicing.

The Chef Extraordinaire and Kevin

Day Care vs. Accredited Pre School

Lately I've been giving a lot of thought to systems, structures and set-up.  I've been trying to figure out the best way to start the process of starting a school.  I've always wanted to have an accredited pre-school and thought that would be a big part of what we would do during the day at our building.  I still think that will be the ultimate goal, but I did some research this past week into what it means to be accredited and how you gain that status as a school.  I realize that we are going to have to start out more as a day care because I think you have to be in business for at least a year before anyone will come to evaluate your school and help you with that process.

But that's great because guess what! There is a business called "Rainbow Fleet" right around the corner from our building that specializes in helping parents find quality child care in the area and also gives consultations to people who are interested in starting a day care .  Can you believe that? It's literally two blocks from our building!!!  I now have access to the exact training and advice that I need in order to get this school started.  Because tomorrow is Labor Day, I'll have to wait until Tuesday to make an appointment, but that will be one of the day's first tasks.  I can't wait!

What a Week and It's Only Wednesday!

This week has been full! I've written two papers; stayed up until 1:30 am studying a couple of nights; figured out that I will now be graduating in December of 2011 (but that's ok. I am just glad that it is going to happen.); met with a wonderful friend that could be a prospective teacher at the pre-school; helped James prepare to do some home renovations; almost finished the set list for singing on the roof of the Oklahoma City Museum of Art on September 23rd (if anyone reads this, come out!); gone to class prepared; had a meeting about podcasts; and oh yeah, I've actually cooked a meal that I can eat on for the whole week.  AND IT'S ONLY WEDNESDAY!!!!!! (Well, technically it is already Thursday because it's so late, but who really cares?)  The point is, I thought life would slow down when I quit my job and it's actually picked up pace.

A really piece of great news that I left out is that James and I went to our last HP commission meeting today and our choice of doors was passed.  Yay!!!! Celebrate!!!