Felicity is the name I gave to the robin I found in the yard today. When I walk Joy in the enclosed grassy area near our apartment building, I often let her off the leash so she can chase and bark at the birds as they scatter to the sky. She’s never come close to catching one. Today from afar, Joy and I spotted one lonely robin digging in the grass for worms. “Ready Joy?” I asked. As soon as Joy’s eyes were locked on the bird, I unclipped her leash and watched her shoot like a rocket straight towards the robin. But I instantly felt something was wrong when after a few seconds, the robin made no effort to fly away. I hollered at Joy who was overcome with excitement at the prospect of catching her very first illusive, flying creature. As I always suspected, when Joy was near enough to the bird to actually do something, she froze, stunned at the sight of the helpless little creature who was only inches away from her nose. I rushed to the scene and restrained Joy from the bird who was ...

Today at the Jersey Shore, Eddie and I tried to soak up every ray of sunshine possible, realizing that somehow, the summer is nearly over already.  The water had warmed considerably since our first visit in June when we nearly froze to death. We waded in the shallow end, slowly inching deeper until we finally let the waves wash over our heads as we bounced on our tip-toes and spread our arms out, swaying in the murky water to steady our balance. After the waves tossed us around to the point of exhaustion, we walked up and down the shore, scanning the sand for seashells. When my friend Deb visited, she took some shells from the shore back to her daughter, Zoey who was enthralled with the tiny objects.  So I decided if I found another pretty one, I would clean it off and send it to her. I was shocked to find that almost every shell was chipped or broken. I had a lot of trouble finding even one that was in good shape.  That was until we got further along the shore. After...

This video is from the very last of the 60 pianos that I played for the Play Me, I'm Yours project in NYC. I remember how totally exhausted Eddie and I were as we scoured the city for the final piano. It happened to be one of only two pianos that were indoors, making it all the more difficult to find. As I reached into my brain for one last song to play by memory, I suddenly felt sad that our piano hunting journey would be over soon. So here is "Hey Jude" at the piano on 51st and Park Avenue. Enjoy. To see photos from the project, click here . To see videos, click here .

Today was yet another meeting in the pre-production process of recording my  EP with Modern Vintage Recordings . We’re at the stage of brainstorming exactly how the musical arrangements for each track should sound - the style, mood, and feel for each song. To do that, we spent the day experimenting with different instrumental sounds and laying down a very crude arrangement in Pro-Tools. This recording is what the “real” musicians will hear and base their performances off of when it comes time to the final recording. We focused on only one song today (and this should make my dad very happy), “ A Builder .” I explained that I wanted a very full, orchestral sound in this powerful song, and with Irish-sounding undertones. After several hours of trial and error, I think we hit the nail on the head. The drums are the foundation for the entire song, keeping the music moving, rolling like the vast green hills of Ireland.  The bass underlies and enhances the dark chord progression. ...

After 4 days of experiencing the Jersey Shore, Times Square, line dancing, and karaoke with my best friend Deb, I drove her to the airport so she could make her way back to her family in Nebraska. She purchased the airfare for this trip months ago, and we’ve been making plans and building up our excitement ever since. I was shocked today as I drove home from Newark Airport by myself and realized just how fast our time together had flown by. We’ve already started planning our next “ Friendiversary ,” tossing around the idea of a cruise. We’ve always hoped that some day in the future, our paths will lead us near each other again and we grew a little sad today as we said our goodbyes, living that moment all too often since I left Nebraska. But I reminded myself of all we’ve been through since – marriage, kids, a few career changes, and thousands of miles – and we’re still as close as ever. And I think that’s worth something. So tomorrow, when we both wake up to our regular jo...

This is a video from the Play Me, I'm Yours project at Columbus Park in Brooklyn. Edelweiss has always been one of my favorite movie songs. I hope you enjoy it! To see more photos from the project click here . To see more videos, click here .

My husband finished his second painting. He painted it from a photo taken in Durango, CO on a ski trip a few years ago. When we were both in the Army, we took advantage of nearly every 4-day weekend holiday. We would hop into the car and drive as far away from Fayetteville, NC as possible in one day, hang out for a few days, then drive home in time for work. We drove all along the East coast to Virginia, West Virginia, and South Carolina. Once, we got really ambitious and flew all the way to Durango, CO. I remember what a great trip it was. The scenery was amazing, it was my first real time skiing, and we took an amazing train ride through the mountains. I'm happy that Eddie chose to paint this photo and commemorate a very happy memory.