Dream of Californiacation.......

So I know it's been a while since the last update....Dave and I decided to move to California after that last post! So far it's been great, beautiful weather and plenty of sunshine! We are now living with our previous room mates we had back in IL and it's good to be back with them. Dave got a job working with one of our room mates last week so he's pretty happy! At least one of us has a job. I've had a couple interviews out here. One with Kohl's and one with a company called Zazzle which I have yet to hear back from. I got a call today from US Bank and have an interview with them on Thursday! So hopefully I will get one of those jobs and everything will be ok! Our plan right now is to just get settled here, get jobs etc....Next year we are looking into getting a bigger place than this apartment, probably rent another townhouse or a house. The boys really want a garage so they can work on their cars. Dave is trying to get his car legal so we can get Cali plates on it....then we can get our Cali drivers licenses! My BFF Tracy came to visit this last weekend for my birthday and we had fun. Went to the beach and saw the golden gate bridge! We went and saw Keith Urban and Jake Owen last weekend too! Wish we wouldn't have missed our m&g with Jake Owen but it will be ok.....had a miscommunication with the time and showed up late and missed it :( Hopefully he comes back around here soon! As far as my music goes.....I know it was a big thing for me to move to Nashville but now I realize that I still wasn't ready to make that step. I need to work on some things with my guitar playing and confidence and maybe we can try again in a couple years. After Dave gets enough experience out here we might move back and try again. In the meantime I'm going to go back to school for music and see what I can do with my talents....figure myself out a little bit more.....and just enjoy life out here in Cali while it lasts. It's a beautiful place but can't wait to see the hills of Tennessee again someday :)

"Keep on dreamin' even if it breaks your heart"

It's been kind of a rough week and I feel like I kinda need to vent about it. Good news is that Dave finally got a job but not the job he really wants. It only pays $15/hr and he starts Monday. He's still hoping to find a programming job in the area. But if he wants a good computer programming job in this area he needs at least 3 years experience which no one will give him here in Nashville. So here comes the tough part that makes this week feel so rough. We are really starting to consider moving to California with our room mates from Dekalb, IL. He would be getting the experience he needs out there and theres tons of jobs out there for him. After he gets this experience we can hopefully move back to Nashville to stay. It's just a really hard time to find jobs anywhere and if this is the best option we have to do it right? I'm just not sure about moving so far away from family. Nashville is still far but close enough that we can visit more often than California. Mom and Dad if you are reading this, I am so very sorry if we have to move out there. I will let you all know when we come to our final decision but as for now we are still living in Nashville. It's just we would be so much happier if we had jobs we liked. And I'm not to crazy still about working at Cracker Barrel. Seemed like a good idea because we needed money but it's almost worse than working at Mcdonalds. I just hope things get better and if they don't we will still have the fallback plan we have now.....which is....California....If that does happen I will still pursue my dream. Maybe even go back to school for it. I really want to learn how to play guitar better and voice lessons would be great. I should've just enrolled in the community college down here because I was looking yesterday and they have a great music program! We were so excited to move down here to Nashville for that reason. I haven't been with the music though for a couple weeks after I started my new job. I feel emotionally drained and effortless. Like I said I hope it gets better soon......

"I can take you on a trip to heaven and have you back by 9"

So I've got good news!! Got a job as a server at Cracker Barrel last week! I've been training for about a week already and it's an alright job....just not sure if I'm ready to be on my own yet. Serving that is.....I've never worked for tips before so it's a whole new concept for me! We'll see how it goes! Dave still hasn't gotten a job yet but he's gotten an offer for a help desk/phone position for Dell at $13. He's holding out to hear from one of the other jobs he's had interviews for until he goes ahead and takes that one. I don't blame him, that job is on the other side of town too which is like 45 min to an hour drive each way! I haven't been doing much practicing lately because of the new job and such but it should settle down here soon enough I hope. Seriously though, one of the main reasons I had to blog today was because of what happened yesterday! It had to have been one of the best days ever!! Jake Owen tweeted earlier on twitter that he was thinking about taking his boat out in Nashville and thinking about inviting people. So when he finally tweeted the address of the place he was putting his boat in the water....I started freaking out. Dave finally convinced me to give it a shot and drive down there to see if he was for real. Which I knew he wasn't kidding because I know Jake has invited people out on his boat before! So we get there and we were one of the first people there......then we saw Jake! I was like OMG this is really happening?!?! I still can't believe it! Next thing I knew we were in his boat cruising down the river with about 10 other people that came down. He actually recognized Dave and I, mostly because we got him this crazy light up shirt last year and gave it to him in a M&G we had in Chicago. I finally got a chance to ask him what his new tattoo meant.....didn't get a definite answer from him but he was funny about it haha!
One of his friends got a hippo mask from somewhere......so above you see all of us on his boat and the creepy hippo man! Hysterical!!Above there is a pic of Jake wakeboarding, Jake and I after the boat ride, and Dave and I with Jake in the background driving the boat. Jake's friend "Ando" wakeboarded first then Jake did and actually seeing Jake do flips like that in person is awesome!! On the way back to the dock Jake was playing us songs off his new cd like The One That Got Away, Wide Awake and Heaven. Seriously can't wait until his new album comes out!! I know I'm probably leaving out a lot of details but seriously it was an awesome time! I respect Jake a whole lot more for doing this for his fans, kinda like fans are friends to him! I'm hoping he does this again sometime because I wouldn't mind going on another boat ride :)

It's a crazy town full of neon dreams, everybody plays, everybody sings

I can't believe I'm saying this but we finally made it to Tn!! It's been a couple days since we've moved in and I think we are pretty much happy with the apartment we chose. It's in Hendersonville, TN, about 20 miles from downtown Nashville. We drove down here early Wed morning and I somehow survived on no sleep until that night. We are so glad both cars made it! I barely remember the trip down because I was just so focused on staying awake. I think once the sun came up I got my 2nd wind and was able to make it the rest of the way without feeling too tired. The only part of the trip down where I thought for sure we were going to get in an accident was somewhere around Indiana. This really slow semi decided to get in front of Dave and I...some geese flew over the highway but not high enough to clear the truck. One of the geese slammed right into the side of it and fell into the median. Feathers flew everywhere and I thought for sure it was going to hit one of our cars! So scary yet kinda funny! So we finally make it down here to sign the lease and go to our new apartment. Before leaving the office I got a phone call from the Opryland Hotel about a job! Seemed too good to be true!! I called them back later and set up an interview for the next day. The interview seemed to go well but it was for a hostess position at their mexican restaurant and the recruiter thought I would fit better working at the Haagen Daz or Stax(the burger place). So she said she would pass my resume on to the other recruiter! I hope I hear from them soon. I've just been applying for jobs everywhere I can. I might go out next week and pick up paper applications for other places I can't find online. Dave has 2 job interviews next week though and I hope they go well! Both of them are on the other side of town though so if he gets one of those we will be moving again. I really like these apartments though! It's really quiet here and I barely see anyone living around us. I know there's someone living upstairs because I keep hearing noise up there. Not too loud though! Our dog Merle seems to really like it here but he keeps getting weird when he hears noises around us. I finally sat down with my guitar last night and wrote some melody for a song I've already written the lyrics to. I find it easier to write the lyrics first then write the melody for some reason. So I have a lot of songs that are just lyrics and need melodies lol. That's pretty much why I wanted to come here so I can find people to help with this. Hopefully soon I can get out there and start finding people to write with! But for now we're focused on getting jobs and surviving down here the best we can!

Call me a dreamer but I'm not afraid to dream :)

I've been dreaming of this year since it started. I've been thinking about the month of July since January and it's finally here. We are finally going to make the move to music city at the end of this month! Although it is petrifying and nerve-wracking, I need to do this. Music is my life and I can't see myself doing anything else. I've actually been wanting to start this blog for a while but it seems perfect to start it now since we are actually moving to Nashville, TN in less than a month. By "We" I mean, my boyfriend Dave and I and we can't wait to get our lives started. I'm very lucky to have a great guy that understands my passion for music and songwriting. He understands that we need to make this move so I can somehow pursue my dream of being a singer/songwriter. I taught myself how to play guitar when I was 17 and wrote my first song shortly after that. I've always been inspired by many different things but most of the songs I have written were about breakups and falling in love. I know...kinda sounds like Taylor Swift right? I really admire her songwriting ability but I feel country music has a lot more things to write or sing about. Like recently I've written songs about drinking and have some more ideas that aren't about breakups or falling in love. I can't wait to be in Nashville and actually get to collaborate with other people so I can put some of these ideas into songs. I feel like I can't do this all on my own and having someone else there for inspiration could be a good thing. It could be a hit for both of us someday maybe! After we get settled down there in Nashville and get jobs, I hope to start playing the bars on lower broadway...songwriters nights....whatever I can! I used to be this totally shy, reserved, quiet little girl and now I just can't wait to show everyone what I can do. What I am made of. What I can be. I hope to inspire and write life changing songs. I want people to connect with my songs. I want to chase that neon rainbow and LIVE my honkytonk dream!