Attitude of Gratitude, Part I

I love this time of year.

(Except last year, when I was fried and exhausted from moving across the country with a husband, toddler and two dogs. And still fuming about Diggins and Rose Inc., www.digginsrose.com, an agent of United Van Lines, who "lost" five boxes of our stuff. Last year I was in touch with my Inner Scrooge).

But not this year. I'm back to my old self, looking back on 2005 and looking forward to the future.

I had a great year!

So here's some things and folks I'm grateful for:

-my husband, for supporting my music-making.

-my son, who got better at sleeping late at night, which enabled me to practice

-Tree Tops Learning Center and Alyssa Heegel, who care for my kid when I need to get some work done.

-my family, some of whom are sure to make it to every show I play.

-my girlfriends, especially Donna Rich, Lynda Taylor, and Cynthia Wells, who cheer in all the right places.

-the AustinMama listserv. www.austinmama.com

-my pal Colin Boyd, www.colinboyd.com, who has always been a great champion of me and my songs, and who convinced me to start working on my first solo CD. I call him "a fairy godmother in a scruffy, straight guy package." Everyone should be so lucky as to have a Colin Boyd in their life.

-my teachers, especially my current voice teacher, Liz Cass, and my current guitar teacher, Tony Redman, as well as former teachers like Danny Barnes, www.dannybarnes.com, Mady Kaye, www.madykaye.com, and Ruth Morton.

-SXSW, www.sxsw.com, for giving me a showcase.

-my band at SXSW, who rocked the house.

-the Toups and Ostdieks in Houston, who hosted a house concert that funded the band who rocked the house at SXSW.

-Sara Hickman, www.sarahickman.com, for recording two of my songs for her next record.

-Jody Denberg at KGSR, www.kgsr.com, and John Aielli and Melanie Shrawder at KUT, www.kut.org, for putting me on the radio.

-Everyone who bought my CD and/or came to one of my shows.

-Bill at Millennia Guitars, www.millenniaguitars.com, for sending me two new guitars to play with.

-Courtney at www.bandfreaks.com, who wrote the most amazing review of my CD. (I know I'm not supposed to thank her, because she didn't do it to be nice...I'm just saying I have grateful feelings on the inside).
and last but not least,

-I am grateful to God, for giving me the courage to take baby steps toward my dream, and for helping open doors to walk through. Every time I get to perform, I feel like it's my birthday.