New-ness

I've been at my new job for almost 3 weeks now. It's been pretty amazing and the honeymoon hasn't worn off yet.
I have a wonderful office with a view of Red Rock Canyon and some posh Summerlin houses in the foreground.

I got a massage my second week and I have pretty awesome company during lunch. 

Also we do fun stuff like watch the World Cup in the conference room and I got to play softball with a client on Sunday.  Overall things are great and I am very happy I made the decision to switch when I did.

The band is doing quite well too. We have a crap load of shows this Summer and we're prepping to record a new ep soon.
The balance of family, job, band has been pretty easy as of late.

#doggyproblems Upset Dog Tummy and Treatment

A month ago my wonderful husband accidentally bought a different brand of dog food for our golden retriever Barley. Usually when you switch dog food there's a chance that the dog will vomit and have diarrhea. To avoid this it's best to mix the old food with the new food to make the switch gradual.
Fast forward to the other day where yours truly had to make the switch back to the better food he was originally on. However, my wonderful husband didn't leave any of the old food for me to mix with the new food.
Poor Barley had the adverse reaction to the food switch this time. So I did some research to find a treatment for the doggy tummy problems. I found through a few different websites that you can give your dog pepto bismol. Make sure you research how much to give per the weight of your dog.
Also its best to withhold food for 12 hours after the vomiting and diarrhea. However make sure they have more than enough water to ensure they don't get dehydrated.
After the twelve hours I found that dogs should have a bland diet to ease the stomach when they have such issues and ease them back into the dog food.
A couple different recipes for the bland diet can be found here.
I made 2 cups of boil in the bag white rice mixed with some chicken baby food and Barley ate it right up.
Good thing I have a few days off before my new job starts to take care of him.

Hiatus over

Blogging for me isn't just about putting a bunch of words onto the screen and hoping people read it. I write from my heart and try to share my experiences to better help those maybe dealing with the same type of stuff. So I took a break to deal with some stuff and in turn had sort of a writers block.
So now that the stuff has been dealt with I can clear away the blockage and share once again.

A few months ago new management came in at my job and started rearranging things, changing things, and in turn I started to not feel comfortable in my career there. Without getting into the dirty details I felt it necessary for me to move on.
This wasn't an easy decision for me. I am walking away from the newspaper industry that I have been in for 15 years. Switching jobs is nerve racking and has been giving me some pretty weird dreams.

Yesterday I accepted a position at a new company that I am super excited about. I start in a week and a half. I have a few days off so I am catching up on some needed ME time.

I also need to share our awesome new addition to the family. Our new puppy Daenerys.

She's the most awesome little puppy and she's getting spoiled by all of us. Its been nine years since we had a puppy in the house and I think the cuteness made us forget about the every four hours pooping, the little sharp puppy teeth and the shots. But it's definitely worth it in the overall.

I will be trying to post on a regular basis now that the smoke has cleared.

Things musicians should read

1. 17 annoying things you do that make your bandmates secretly hate you
Personally, 17 is probably my magic number.

2. Reasons why local artists don't get signed.
Most of these are no-brainers but even if you feel you're not one of the "local artists" every artist could use to do more of what works.

3. Marty Friedman's advice to up and coming guitarists. 
The zinger is that he says not to write instrumental music. Mostly because there's a small amount of people who are into it.

4. 5 Lessons to learn from Local bands
Again a list of no-brainers but still some people don't get it.

5. Give away music for free.
This is sage advice for bands just starting out. You want to get your music in as many hands as possible so diy reproduction and burning is the cheapest way. Be smart when giving your music away, don't waste it on uninterested people cause nothing can crush your dreams faster than seeing your cd on the ground, cracked with a piece of chewed gum stuck to it.

6. Advice from Chris Adler of Lamb of God.
Originally a bass player, now a drummer and producer this guy has a resume that should make you want to read what he has to say. 

Thanks Cartoon Network

Last night Cartoon Network aired the Hall of Game Awards show. They promo'd the crap out of the show for weeks and Hayden was SUPER excited to watch it.

The show acknowledged athletes and some of their cartoons. Hayden was peeled to the TV and cheered and clapped with excitement when his favorites won.

Then smack dap in the middle, they throw this performance in the mix. Jason Derulo doing a song "Talk Dirty to Me." Hayden recognized that the song was, in his words "totally inappropriate."




Brian and I were definitely NOT ready to explain to Hayden what "talk dirty to me" means.

Brian tried to say that the guy liked to talk about mud,  gravel and dirt which made Hayden laugh hysterically. Great save, but yeah, I forsee that question coming up to his therapist in fifteen years.

Co-Habitation Anniversary

Yesterday marked 14 years of Brian and I living together. We moved into a cute 2 bedroom apartment in Downtown Sacramento on February 13, 2000.

We had been dating for about four months when we packed up a uhaul with hand me down furniture, hopes, and dreams.
We lived in that little 2 bedroom apartment for three years. Looking back at all our memories there it feels like those three years were a big party with lots of friends, laughter, cases of beer, and too many bruises from drunkenly stumbling up or down the cement stairs to the apartment door.

 Here's a couple photos from our time in the apartment. 

This was us last night enjoying Queens of the Stone Age. 

Our home now is still full of friends, laughter, but less stumbling and more mature domestication like dinner parties, white russians and rock band.

Me time

Mothers get just 17 minutes of 'me time' according to The Daily Mail.
Lately with my husband and I commuting together, band practice twice a week and catching up on chores on the weekends I haven't gotten any true ME TIME in weeks.  I really feel that as soon as you decide to be a mom you give up the "me time" mentality. Yes being a mom is work most of the time but it's work I appreciate.

I am blessed with at least an hour each weekend morning when my husband makes breakfast and my son is playing with his toys. I drink my coffee and watch my dvr'd shows but both my boys are in the same area as me and most shows are interrupted with "Can I have a glass of milk?" "Can you help me build this super amazing batman house that the joker and the green ninja will try to destroy ten minutes after we finish it?" or "I forgot to buy eggs can you run to the store? We also need twenty more things here's a list."

Often I am asked how I juggle a full time career, being a mom, being a wife and being in a band. Career, Mom, Wife, Singer those are just four words but there are millions more that define them. So many of us these days are much more than just a mom. We live in an age of consistent multi-tasking.
I owe a lot of my juggling ability to my husband. We are definite partners. He takes on his own responsibilities of having a career, being a father, being a husband and a drummer. We aide each other when it's needed. We lean on each other when we are tired or stressed or overwhelmed.
We also appreciate each other, like a lot.

I am lucky that I have an amazing partner, who when he reads this will definitely suggest I take some me time when ever I need it.
Some women are single moms and don't have someone else to aide the juggling.
I have a coworker who has twin four year old girls and is a single mom. She shows up to work every day clothed, with fresh hair and make-up, and does her job without falling asleep or apart. This is much more work than what I juggle and I commend her for her ability.
I asked her when the last time was that she had "Me time" and she answered September of 2013.
So yeah, things aren't bad in my life.