Hello everyone....I decided to start blogging so that family and friends can see "my life long envision".
As you all know I love to sing, and it is my dream to sing. I hope one day I can make it. My main drive that keeps me going is my daughter. I want my dream not only for myself but for her and her future. I feel that me doing this will be one of the best opportunities that anyone could want to accomplish. I also want to be able to take care of my family. My dad has worked basically his whole life to support his family.
Here is a little bit of my life story... I was born October 4th, 1984 in Las Vegas, Nevada. I am the youngest of 6 children. My family has had its ups and downs. I sometimes wonder how a family can go through so much and still be a family. The year 1989 changed my families life. This was the year that God took my brother to Heaven. God has his reasons and we still don't know why he took him at the age of 6. We miss you Zachary and always will!! I don't know how my Father can continue to work on these big trucks knowing that that is what took his sons life. All I can think of is that he is a worker... does what it takes to support the rest of his family. Thank you Dad!
Now to the move to Nebraska...1990.. My parents decided to move all of us to the wonderful state of Nebraska... Why? that's what we all said... But my Mom had family here, and they didn't want to raise the rest of their children in Las Vegas. Which I thank my parents for that. As we go visit I am so glad that we don't live there. So we moved to the smallest town ever Cedar Bluffs, Nebraska. Great! I attended elementary school and high school there. My dad always tells me you started singing in the 1st grade. I did my first solo in the first grade. As the years went on to high school I was in Choir and Band. I really think I wasn't given a chance to show what talent I had in high school. I did sing a duet with my sister Elizabeth when she was a senior. That is about it for high school.
I would have to say that the first time I started to actually think that I could sing was when I was 14. I went on vacation with my Grandpa and Grandma to Minnesota. There was a talent contest. My grandpa told me why don't you sing just for fun. So I sang a song by the Dixie Chicks. Believe it or not I took 2nd place. That was so exciting for me. I never accomplished anything like that before. As the years went on I used to sing karaoke sometimes when I could sneak in the bar. Everyone said you can sing just do it. Well I thought that maybe I could sing but I was so shy, and didn't have much if any confidence. The older I turned I was able to do more things with singing because I was old enough to get into the bars and sing karaoke. I know that a lot of people say karaoke is just to do at a bar and have fun. Let me tell you it is fun, but I take it so serious.
The next contest I did was in Columbus, Nebraska. I was pumped, and still trying to gain confidence. The first place winner would receive $1,000.00 and would get to open for Travis Tritt at Com stock. This contest was for five weeks. I made it to the fourth week. There was a total of 52 singers between male and female. I was in the top 5 of 52. The judges told me the reason I didn't win, was because they felt that I did not have enough confidence. Which they are probably right. I am still working on confidence to this day. When you don't win it is tough. I will tell you that, I have shed a lot of tears through the years. But it has only made me better. When I fail I feel like I want to give up, so I took sometime off after this contest.
So my next big step was American Idol... to be honest with you American Idol is not what the show puts out to be. To get ready for the try outs I started going to Tin Lizzy Tavern here in Fremont. They have karaoke every Tuesday and Friday. The owner Amanda pushed me and helped me be a better singer. She told me "girl you can sing." From going there to practice I became friends with Mike, who played in a band for many years. He pulled me over and said here is my card. He said call me sometime and you can come over and I would like to help you with your singing. Man...does this guy have talent. He played the guitar and I would sing. I only did it a couple of times. And then it was time for the try outs for American Idol. Wow... my Mom and I stood in line for 12 hours.. it was raining etc...Thank you mom.. I would have to say that my Mom has been there through everything, a shoulder for me to lean on when I was down. She has even shed tears..So anyway back to the try outs. As you all watch American Idol you see they show all the bad people. Well it was a row of about 12 tables separated by curtains. I stood in a long line and they let 4 people up to audition at a time. Well lets just say that my nerves were going crazy and so I sang, the judge let me sing the longest out of everyone in my group. The guy next to me in a yellow shinny jacket and black shinny shoes received the yellow ticket. Could he sing? No way. I even seen him on TV. I couldn't believe it. But hey I guess they need to make their show. So no I did not make it through for the try outs for American Idol. I didn't sing for a very long time, because I felt hurt and cheated. so to the next contest.....
As I said earlier I went to Tin Lizzy a lot to sing. Well last year they hosted Talent Quest which is a National Karaoke Contest. The competition went on for 15 weeks. A very long contest. I will explain a little of how it worked.
They would have one night a week you could go sing to get in the contest for 4 weeks. They picked one female and one male each week. To win during the week people had to vote for you. So that was easy for anyone to bring a group of people and they all vote for you.
After the 4 weeks they would have a mini final, which meant every one that sang during those 4 weeks and won would come back and they would pick one female and one male. This time you were judged. 10 points for outfit. 10 points for showmanship and 30 for vocals.
Then there was Regionals. Which was held and the Remedy. You had to Sing Friday and Saturday who ever had the highest scores 2 females and 2 males would win a trip to Laughlin, Nevada to compete at Nationals.
So as you all know this yes I did go to Laughlin, it was a hard contest for me though. It was a long 15 weeks to compete and then be able to win the trip. The trip that we won was supposed to be paid for by the bar that hosted Regionals. It was a nightmare we all thought that we were not going to go. They waited until the last minute to buy our tickets etc. My family was so supportive through this whole contest. As you know I am a single parent, and it is hard for me to leave especially for 7 days. My great sister Elizabeth stayed home and took care of my daughter. Keep in mind she has two boys of her own so she sure had her hands full. Thank you for that Elizabeth. I can not thank you enough. As for the rest of the family, well my sisters Amy and Jennifer went with me as well as my parents.For Amy to come was awesome because she also has a little girl. It was hard for us to leave our children. Jennifer, she took off all that time from work. My dad, LOL! He could not stop saying the whole trip " I'm on VA -CATION! I knew my Mama would come because she wouldn't miss a single thing for me if it includes singing. A couple days before we left I was in and out of the doctor trying to get well. I had Bronchitis, it was terrible. I didn't think I should go, but I was not giving up yet. If you all don't know Laughlin is really dry humid and HOT! I just wanted to give up, I knew that I wasn't 100% there being sick in all. So the first day of singing, it went good. I was really nervous because the way the other singers sang..WOW I was scared. But I pulled it off the best I could being sick. I mean I was drinking honey and eating lemons. My sister Jennifer was behind stage with me helping me calm down. Woo the first song was over. I was relieved. My family said I did good for being sick. So now here is the 2nd time I had to sing. I was feeling a little better, but still felt unsure of myself. So I got up there to sing and it was going great I was dancing and have a great time. Something hit me though, I just felt like it was terrible when I was done I almost ran off the stage. I then went outside and cried, because something in me told me that I didn't do a good job. As I am outside her comes my family asking me why did you just run off the stage? You did good! So why I didn't make it in the top 20. I don't know either because I was sick or ran off the stage. I would have to say one more thing about my experience there, it hurt me that I didn't win, but I wouldn't take anything back. And yes I will be there this year. To be honest with you and some may think this way and some may not. But being over weight has a big thing to do with these contests. Because honestly how many singers do you see that are over weight? But that is not going to stop me. I will keep going... so this now leads me to what I am doing in my life right now. Oh and by the way if I didn't make it to Laughlin my sister Jennifer wouldn't have met her future husband Micheal. He was in the contest, let me tell you one thing that man can sing.
I am working hard to get healthy. Trust me real hard. LOL. I have set many goals to accomplish this year. The first goal is to loose weight and be healthy. The second is to cut a demo. I will blog on here each day to let you all know how I am doing with the weight loss and the demo.
I hope in about 6 months that my life will change and I will live my Life Long Envision......
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