Plans: past and present

10 YEARS AGO .......
1. I graduated high school (has it been that long already!?!).
2. Moved out of my parent's house.
3. Was working 3 jobs to make ends meet.
4. Going to school at Pima Community College.
5. Was dating my high school sweetheart Joe. (by then it was 2 years)

5 THINGS ON TODAY'S TO DO LIST .....
1. De-clutter the house enough to clean it.
2. Spend time with Joe and baby D.
3. Make a music mix for my yoga classes that I teach tonight.
4. Teach my yoga classes.
5. Watch Dexter.

5 SNACKS I ENJOY ....
1. Saint Andre cheese on rosemary crackers with a glass of red wine
2. Apple or blue raspberry licorice made in Arizona.
3. Popcorn with Diet Cherry Vanilla Dr. Pepper
4. Cosmos (yes .... that counts as a snack)
5. Pomegranates

5 THINGS I WOULD DO IF I WERE A MILLIONAIRE ....
1. Pay off our house.
2. Set aside money for college (bachelors, masters, and PhD), wedding, and trust fund for Devon (and one potential, future child) in addition to college funds for my neices and nephews.
3. Travel.
4. Go back to school for a bachelors and masters degrees in art history and any other degree until the end of time!
5. Record more music.

5 PLACES I'VE LIVED ....
1. Tucson. The first place I lived in (after I moved out of my parents house) was a small, one-bedroom house and then 4 aparements after that. We moved into our current home about 3 years ago. Originally, we intended this house to be a spec that we would sell, but fell in love with it soon after construction began and decided to keep it.

5 JOBS I'VE HAD/STILL HAVE ....
1. Yoga Oasis
2. Canyon Ranch
3. La Petite Academy
4. TGI Friday's
5. Dairy Queen (my first job when I was just 15)

Performance at the Fox

About 7 months ago I was getting ready to record my 2nd Kirtan (Indian chanting) album. I wanted to "clean up" my voice before going into the recording studio so I decided to take some voice lessons. I have been in choir since I was a little girl, but have yet to take a formal lesson. Joe met a guy at a poker game who gave lessons (who has the most amazing voice) so I met with him. We had a few sessions and he invited me to perform at an event that he organizes every year called "Music for the Soul". It is a charity concert that raises money for Meals on Wheels, elder care groups, and single mothers groups. It is an ensemble of performers that represent spiritual cultures around the world. They had an African dance and singing group, a Native American group, a Christian choir, and Buddhist monk among others. I heard a couple people say,"Where is the Indian girl who is doing the chanting?" and saw the confused looks on their faces when they realized that I was "it". People were surprised to find out that a blonde-haired-blue-eyed-all-American-girl was doing Indian chanting. I performed with Beth Daunis, a violinist, who also was a part of the upcoming cd.

Performing at the Fox theater was such a thrill. It was built in 1929 and was recently renovated. It is an iconic, historical landmark in Tucson and is in the center of downtown Tucson. It seats about 1,300 people and nearly 1,000 were at the performance easily making it the largest audience I have performed in front of. I usually sing to my students at the end of a yoga class which, at the most, was only 60 people. I was pretty nervous, but I tried to get into the spirit of the evening and have fun with it.

My husband, Joe, my sister Jane and her husband, my father-in-law and sister-in-law all came to watch me. My mother-in-law really saved the day and stayed home to babysit my six week old baby. I didn't really tell many people about the concert because if I screwed it up I didn't want everyone to watch it happen, but at the last minute I invited family. I was so touched that they not only came to the show, but wanted to show their support. It meant SO much to me to have them there.

After the show was over we congregated in the lobby and chatted with audience members. They were so complimentary, but I really appreciated those who thanked me for being a part of creating an experience. I got to meet the mayor of Tucson, Bob Walkup, who sought me out to find out more about my instrument, a harmonium.

In spite of all my reservations and nervousness it was a great experience. Every opportunity is an opportunity to grow. Being a part of this concert bolstered my confidence as a singer/songwriter and gave me the chance to represent the yoga community in a positive way.

*The cd is due out in the next couple of months. It will be available on itunes and on my website at www.anniesmithmusic.com. It is called "Lullabies".*

First Halloween

Hilarious.

I wasn't even planning on getting Devon a costume this year, but I couldn't pass this one up. He's so small and we didn't have plans to even go anywhere so I figured what's the point? But ... Joe suggested that I get him something so I went online to a bunch of baby costume websites. There were bunnies and monkeys, but when I saw the "Car freshener" I laughed out loud and knew that I had found "the one". I ordered it from Amazon.com (the cheapest by far) on Wednesday afternoon and by Friday afternoon it arrived. He really only wore it for about 5 minutes at a time because he would get too hot, but it was long enough to snap some pictures and have a good laugh. We ended up going to Joe's sister's house for a Halloween party where the adults ate and talked and then took the nieces and nephews trick-or-treating.

Again ... hilarious.

This is what he wore under his tree costume. Sort of a costume within a costume. I called it his "frat boy" outfit. Later in the evening he even threw up on himself when he drank too much which I thought was a nice touch. It made it more authentic ;) Aunt Bizus (it's really Elizabeth, but some of the little kids have trouble with that so it comes out "Bizus" which I think is adorable) gave me the onesie and I got the hat with puppy ears months ago. I don't know where she finds this stuff, but I love it!

Last year I totally forgot it was Halloween and I was the lame lady who gave out granola bars to all the teenagers, but not this year. I went to Costco and got a huge bag of chocolate candy bars and I was ready. I took half the bag to the party with us and left the other half in a bowl on the porch. I don't really like chocolate so I figured if one kid showed up and took the whole bowl that I was fine with that. However, when we got home it looked like it hadn't been touched so now I am stuck with all this candy. I guess I will take it to the yoga studio tomorrow and let my students have it.

Happy Halloween!