Last week, I had the privilege to go to music row in Nashville and record my band’s first album.  It’s still like a dream to even get to say that, but it really happened!  I have pictures to prove it!  There’s still a lot to do before the album is actually released, but I feel like I made it to the top of the mountain and it’s all downhill from here.

So what happens next?

I seriously have no clue.  Sure, I have other goals and lots of other things I want to achieve in life, but I’m feeling a little bit like doing nothing for a while.  Not because I’m lazy.  At first I kind of thought that, but then I realized that I needed a little time to process what just happened (the last two weeks were crazy and intense, but I wouldn’t trade that experience for anything).

Suddenly I really dig “The Climb” by Miley Cyrus because I totally get what those lyrics mean.  Yes, there is a nice breathe of fresh air here at the top of the mountain, and going downhill sounds like an easy ride but it’s actually kind of boring and unmotivating.  Even though “the climb” was really, really, REALLY hard work and it took years to get to where I stand right now, the process was actually a lot of fun.  The reward is nice and all, but I think I much more enjoyed the challenge of it all.

So I’ve taken this week to just be “lazy” which really means I’ve spent the majority of it in thought and research, calculating my next “climb”.  What will my new adventure be?  I don’t know yet, but I have some ideas.  You can be certain that I will be sharing with you what I learned over the past two weeks. I just need a few more days to process and get back into the groove of things.

At least getting down the mountain is quicker and easier than climbing up so it won’t be long. 

Related posts:

1. The Climb by Miley Cyrus – Video
2. Dream Questions
3. Don’t Dream It’s Over

Before I pack up my gear and hit the studio, I just wanted to let you know I have some guest bloggers who will be stepping in during my absence so be sure to stop by and check out what they have to say.  I know you won’t be disappointed!

If you’re curious about my band, you can check out our web site at Amplified417.com and join our Facebook fan page for daily updates while we are in the studio next week.

Until next time (which should be on or about January 26th), have a great week!

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In 2005, my art skills were limited to doodling stick figures on scratch paper. I had the ideas for the characters in my head, but I had a terrible time getting them out on paper, much less in digital form for printing.

I started on paper and eventually progressed to the only medium I knew at the time…Powerpoint. Yes, it’s ok to laugh.  You might grab a box of tissues…these will make you laugh until you cry.  Or maybe you will cry because they are HIDEOUS!

Then I did what I always do when I get frustrated. I went to the library. I checked out a huge stack of books on cartoon art and drawing facial expressions, etc. Meanwhile I continued to experiment…

Eventually I decided I needed to focus on one design…

Had enough yet? I warned you they were AWFUL!

But I pressed on. If you haven’t figured out, I don’t give up very easily…

And then I got smart. With my limited funds, I invested in a real drawing application and began to get very serious about my art in early 2006…

My first few “real” designs were a success and requests for more were piling up.   So I scraped together what little funds I had generated and in the summer of 2007 I bought a Mac, some professional applications for creating vector art and a series of tutorials on DVD. It was a huge risk and I actually floated the balance on a “first 3 months are interest-free” credit card for a couple months, gambling that my little shop would pull in enough income to pay off that balance each month. It did.

And then I really started to crank out the characters… And they keep getting better (in my humble opinion).

I hope this little walk through Girls Can’t WHAT? history will inspire you to stick with your dreams and recognize that you are not stuck at your current skill level.  You can only get better.

Hard work and persistence paid off for me.

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Lola was almost two, a black and white Boston Terrier with three black feet and one white one.  She was very alert, active and healthy. The previous owners had turned her in because they were expecting a baby and didn’t want a dog (sounds crazy, I know!)  After taking my kids to the shelter to meet her and making sure she got along with Quest, we made the decision to adopt Lola.

Adopting a new pet is always a gamble.  You never know what to expect, especially from an adult dog who may or may not have had good training or been socialized well.  Often times these dogs need a period of adjustment to recover from anxiety and other problems associated with being uprooted from their previous situation.  Lola was no exception.

Everyone Needs Time and Understanding

All adopted dogs must be neutered or spayed before they can be released from the animal shelter, so Lola had to undergo the procedure the following day.  When I picked Lola up from the vet’s office the next afternoon, she was very sleepy and nervous which was to be expected.  We arrived at home and spent the entire afternoon and evening resting on the couch along with Quest. It was a rough day for her.

When she finally started to perk up, Lola was very frightened by new people – especially men.  She would have nothing to do with my husband and would hide under furniture whenever new people entered the house.  She also refused to eat.  She spent a lot of time on my lap shaking nervously and watching everything very closely.  If I got up to go anywhere, she followed.  She was never more than two feet away.  But that was ok.  We knew it would take some time for her to understand that this was her new home and that we were her new family.

Embrace Change

Lola overcame her fears a little at a time.  She started by exploring her surroundings with me in the room.  Then one day she ventured into another room by herself until eventually she was not afraid to go to her food bowl and enjoy a snack on her own.  With each new experience, Lola gained confidence and trust in us and in herself until the nervous little dog we brought home blossomed into part of the family.  It reminded me of how we often react to new circumstances.  We can either shy away and miss out on some great new adventures, or we can embrace the change and grow.  Lola chose to embrace the change.

Make Lots of Friends

When Lola recovered from her surgical procedure, I began taking her on my one mile walks every morning.  The first few days she stayed right by side and nearly jumped out of her skin when other dogs would bark at her.  I noticed as each day passed that Lola would start to get a little closer to the other dogs until eventually she would be nose to nose with them through the fence.  As she did this, her entire hind end would wag with happiness at making a new friend.  Now when we walk, she looks excitedly for her friends and relishes the chance to interact with them as we pass by.  If they are not outside, she always looks a bit disappointed and often glances back two or three times in case we just missed them on the first pass.  Kind of reminds me of checking Facebook 10 times a day to make sure I don’t miss anything.  

Once Lola started to break out of her shell, I set up a play date for her and Quest with our neighbor’s pug Chauncey.  Quest and Chauncey are buddies and I was certain Lola would get along with Chauncey as well.  She was already communicating with him through the fence and I knew she was interested in having a rough-and-tumble time with another dog her age.  At nearly 15 years old, Quest has no interest in chasing or playing so Chauncey would be a good match for her.  Lola was so excited to have another dog to play with that she ran around in crazy circles for several minutes with Chauncey joining in the chase behind her.

Lola’s interest in making friends reminds me so much of our own need for friends and play dates.  We schedule everything else in our lives, why not schedule some fun?

Ignore the Bully

There is one dog on our morning walk, however, that Lola has yet to befriend.  It’s a small Jack Russell terrier that barks obsessively at us when we pass by. From day one, Lola has very cautiously walked past this dog, never once taking her eyes off of him as he barked and snarled at her.  Lately, Lola has been a little braver and started ignoring the dog whenever he starts into his barking routine.

Today, however, Lola stood her ground.  We rounded the fence just as the Jack Russell came bounding down the porch steps and up to the fence to tell us off.  Lola took about two steps toward him and barked very softly (only the third time I’ve ever heard her bark in the 3 weeks since she arrived home).  The Jack Russell stopped barking, cocked his head to the side as if he couldn’t believe what he had just heard and stared at us as we continued on our way.  I don’t speak dog, so I have no idea what Lola said to him but I’m guessing she finally spoke up and told him she’s not afraid of the neighborhood bully.  I got the message.  Don’t mess with Lola.

Love Often, Love Lots

If there’s one thing Lola knows best, it’s how to love.  She is never at a loss for affection.  We don’t even have to ask for it or call her over to sit with us. She is always ready to give it to us whether we are expecting it or not.  Regardless of her previous circumstance and how she ended up in our home, she has quickly adapted to her new life and loves to express her happiness.  She will even pause in the middle of a game of fetch to sneak in a nose nuzzle or a little kiss on the knee as if to say “thanks for playing with me”.  At night she likes to snuggle on the couch with us or curl up on our feet as we sleep.  She’s made herself at home now.

We people have so much to learn.

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This is my dream.  The image below was scanned from a publication my sophomore class put together in 1988, predicting what we would be doing in the year 2008.  Mine reads:

Ever since I posted that and made it public, I’ve had more than my fair share of naysayers.  People who thought I was crazy or dreaming too big.  I even had a few that told me girls don’t play drums or that music isn’t a real career.  When I tell people my degree is in music business I get strange looks.  I’ve pretty much seen and heard it all.  But I never listened.

I have continued playing drums any place I could and kept up with music as much as possible.  In 2005, I was talking to my best friend Kelli, who is an amazingly talented vocalist, about wanting to be in a band again.  I had been playing regularly in church and occasionally for other groups, but I missed the camaraderie and the synthesis of a really tight, consistent group of musicians.  We started thinking of other women we knew that had musical abilities, and before we knew it we added the fabulous vocal talents of Katrina and Leslie and the phenomenal keyboard skills of Lindsay.

I don’t think any of us had a clue what we were getting into…we just all had a passion for music and creating our own style.  Our purpose was simply to share our music with others who appreciated it.  Nothing fancy, no dreams of fame or fortune.  Just music.

We spent most of 2006 just learning about each other, collaborating on musical licks, lyrics, harmonies and having a lot of fun in the process.  We played a few gigs here and there and got some positive feedback.  In 2007, we decided we needed to have some recordings of our original songs.  By this time, we had also been given the opportunity to lead worship at our church.  Through gigs and a few donations, we scraped together just enough money to pay for a four-song demo recorded by Kevin Turner at Marina Park Studios in Champaign, IL.  (Kevin was amazing and we highly recommend him!)  Kudos also go to band member Katrina for all of the artwork on the album, the logo and our myspace page.

Meanwhile, Kelli had discovered an opportunity called Band with a Mission, a national talent contest where bands gather to compete for a recording contract.  We thought about this for a long time and decided 2007 was not our year. We also knew we still had a lot to learn.

In June of 2008, our demo was released.  Blessed with wonderful compliments from people who bought the CD and enjoyed what they heard, we decided this was our year to showcase for Band with a Mission.  We weren’t after a big recording contract or anything over the top – we just wanted some honest feedback on our music from industry professionals.  For me personally, I wanted to know if my thoughts about our strengths and weaknesses were on target with their evaluation.

In July of 2008, we packed my van to the gills with our overnight bags and equipment and road-tripped to Nashville for our showcase (holy wow – was that not my prediction from the image above?).  The night before we left, we had to make an unforeseen change in the song line-up.  Since we weren’t out to win anything and just wanted some feedback on our music, we forged ahead with the trip, reworking the vocal harmonies in our Nashville hotel room just hours before the showcase.  It was a bit nerve-wracking, but we managed.

Immediately after our showcase, we packed up and headed back to Illinois.  We stopped at a wonderful mom-and-pop restaurant just outside of Nashville for some good old Southern-style cooking.  We opened the evaluation and began reading the feedback. The comments were encouraging and very much in-line with where I thought we were as a band, which made me a happy camper.

So now what?

We did what any band would do after a stressful gig like that.  We took a break!  A long one.  Eventually we regrouped in late 2008 and agreed to continue musically, play locally and do what we loved to do.  No pressure.

Fast forward to May of this year.  I had resigned myself to enjoying the opportunities of playing locally and having fun as I always do.  Dreams of radio play to spread our music were put on hold.  I figured we could keep working on building our music and look for other opportunities to get heard.  Again, not for fame and fortune, but just to get our music to a wider audience.  Wanting to scale back even further and keep things simple, I finalized our tax return and closed our bank account which barely had anything in it after our Tennessee excursion.

Exactly four days later I received an email from Band with a Mission.  It read:

We were going through the Band With a Mission tapes for 2008 the other day and we came across your showcase. We would like to offer you a production deal with Indevo Records!!

Say what? Needless to say we are stunned!  After several phone calls and emails to confirm the details, it is official.  We are headed back to Nashville to record an album.  Wow – that still hasn’t sunk in yet.

We could use a little help…

As a band we are incredibly excited to have this opportunity.  However, it does not come without cost.  Although the record company pays for some of the recording costs, we still have out of pocket expenses such as hotel and travel expenses and some of us will have to take time off from work to make the trip.  We are planning some local performances to raise funds and help offset the costs.   Our myspace and facebook pages will continue to be updated with our current activities.

I’m also shy about asking for donations, but if you’d like to support the hopes and dreams of my band and help us get our music on the airwaves, Amplified can accept online donations through paypal.  Your generosity is much appreciated.

My band is truly humbled by this opportunity and we really don’t feel deserving of it.  Frankly, it’s scary. It’s unknown territory. But that’s exactly how dreams come to life.  You take risks.  You forge ahead.  You face the unknown.  One terrifying step after another.

Related posts:

1. What’s Your Theme This Year?
2. Briana Dreams of Sharing Music
3. Start With Nothing: Achieve Your Dreams With No Money, No Education and No Experience

The CD is simply called Amplified and features Kelli Kopetz, Leslie Swafford and Katrina Fisher on vocals, Lindsay Strohkirch on Keyboards and Gretchen Cawthon (that’s me) on Drums. Our producer, Kevin Turner at Marina Park Music added bass and guitar to the tracks and Kelli also played flute on “Evidence of Grace”.

Amplified Tracks 1. Green 2. Take My Life 3. Evidence of Grace 4. Today $7.00

Connect with Amplified on myspace and facebook.

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1. Are You A Heart Monger?
2. Heart-Ann & Nancy Wilson (Band)
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For the last year or so I have been on the hunt for the perfect desk. Since I began working from home in 2005, I have been using an old, beat-up metal desk as my workspace. It was so horrible I refused to move any of my stuff into it except for a few pencils, mobile phone accessories and my checkbook in the top drawer. The rest lay scattered on a nearby credenza. The desk had previously belonged to my parents who used it as a spare desk in my dad’s dental office and was later passed to my oldest daughter who used it for a couple years before handing it over to me covered in girly stickers with glitter spilling out the bottom drawers. I kid you not. It was a wreck.

Not only was the desk in not-so-great shape physically, but it was small. It was meant to be a student desk – just large enough for a few books and papers. Not a printer, and inbox, a laptop, speakers, phone chargers, digital camera accessories and more. So for two years I squished myself and my gear into this teensy tiny space every day and tried to be as productive as possible. I put a two-drawer metal filing cabinet next to me which added some extra storage space and a few more square inches of surface to pile more of my stuff.

Underneath the desk was a snake pit of tangled cords to computer gear, chargers, speakers and all kinds of other gadgets. Just unplugging the laptop was a challenge in itself. My sub-woofer sat right under my feet and I lived in fear of accidentally kicking it or slamming my chair into it. My backup drive also lived on the floor under the desk and every time I needed to plug it in I had to get on my hands and knees to hunt for it. I hated my workspace. Loved my job. Hated the space.

So I began planning what my ideal desk would be like. No joke – I had some very specific requirements. Everything had to fit neatly on the surface, within arms length. Cords had to be mostly hidden and I envisioned a power strip at desktop level for easy unplugging of my mobile devices. There had to be enough space to keep the printer tray open at all times, stocked with paper and room to move my optical mouse without bumping my cup of tea. Ideally I preferred my tea be on the left side.

My biggest challenge was that the majority of desks are designed for right-handed people. I am one of those mixed-up people that use both hands equally but I have general left or right preferences for certain activities. When it comes to my workspace, I like my pen and paper on the right, but my current papers, inbox, phone and cup of tea on the left. Most desks are either perfectly symmetrical or have the majority of space on the right hand side as if the left arm doesn’t even exist. I hate that. So I figured I had to find something symmetrical, but I wasn’t letting that limit my options. Desks these days can be configured to just about any combination you can think of so I figured it would be an easy task to find the perfect desk.

I was wrong.

I started with the obvious, checking online shops and big box stores to see if anything looked remotely close. I visited several office and furniture stores locally, trying to talk myself into making one of their display models work, but ultimately it was never quite right. I followed Lifehackers “Coolest Workspace Contest” with much interest, gathering ideas and making notes on what would work for me. For a year I kept searching. I had mental pictures. I had measurements. I was armed with a list of the way it HAD to be. It was the perfect desk or nothing. I was hard core. Would I ever find it?

About a month ago, my husband and I went furniture shopping for our family room. While browsing through a store over an hour from home, I rounded the corner into the office section and there it was…. A beautiful honey oak desk with a matching filing cabinet. Would it work for me? I started measuring and picturing where everything would go.

The most important thing to me is that I could fit my speakers on the desk top without stacking one on the printer and that my sub-woofer wouldn’t have to sit on the floor. Yeah – seriously – it’s all about the music for me. “Hi my name is Gretchen and I’m an iTunes addict.” Just take a look at this photo…I had to move to my husband’s desk for a day and a half until the movers brought in the new desk…notice the tangle of cords and lack of foot space I endured just so I could setup my speakers for a few hours.

My new desk would need to have plenty of footspace and storage for my techie books, CDs, DVDs and my assortment of gadget accessories. Room to set a plate and a cup would be necessary, too, since I eat lunch at my desk everyday (hold the lectures about too much time at my desk – I do walk my dog after lunch every day just to get out of the house). Room to write and spread papers out would also be a plus. The more I looked at this particular desk, the more I knew that it was the right one. So we bought it.

And then I had to wait for it. For three long, LONG weeks I waited for them to deliver it. At the same time we bought the desk, we also bought several other pieces of furniture. When delivery day arrived I was ready. The old desk had made its way to the thrift store and all my stuff was stacked neatly in piles on the office floor awaiting its new home. The delivery guys tortured me to no end as they moved each piece of furniture off the truck one by one. Everything but the desk, which they brought in last. Go figure.

Once they had it in place, I began the process of moving in to my new workspace. First I started with the speakers, of course, positioning them in perfect symmetry with the sub-woofer stacked on the shelf below. I carefully threaded the cables up through the pre-drilled holes, tucking the excess behind the wooden panels so they were out of site. I placed the power strip right on top of the desk behind my laptop just as I planned so all of my gadgets were now within arms reach of unplugging (see photo). Next came the printer – shoved off in the far right corner where it was accessible but out of my way. I left the paper tray OPEN and filled it up with paper for the first time ever.

All of the little gadgets like my video camera, daily calendar, headphones, remote, etc. went back on the organizer that now fits neatly on shelf above the laptop within easy reach, freeing up one extra paper tray for my inbox. My mobile computer bag which normally sat in front of the old filing cabinet now has a place of its own in the cabinet to my right and the tray meant to house a keyboard is now being used to either sit my lunch on or spread out paperwork. Everything has a place and I still have room left over! Best of all, my cup of tea is on the left.

Amazing how much better you feel with a little breathing room. Now I’m on the prowl for the perfect chair…

Related posts:

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2. Half Empty is Optimistic
3. The Picture of Organized

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I am leaving the fabulous Kel1 in charge while I’m gone. Her duties are to moderate comments and to fend off the trolls. I told her she could even do some guest blogging, so who knows what she might have to say.

Anyone else who wants to join in the blogging fun is also invited to speak your mind while I’m gone – or any other time for that matter.

To pass the time while I’m away, I dug through the archives and I will be highlighting some popular posts from the past year that will pop up at random over the next week. Enjoy!

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1. Right Outta Nowhere / Christine Kane (Lyrics)
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3. Business and Professional Women’s Foundation

1. Opening Credits: “Bittersweet” – Galactic
2. Birth: “Hell” – Squirrel Nut Zippers
3. First Day At School: “Try to Explain” – Mudhens
4. Falling In Love: “The River” – Garth Brooks
5. Fight Song: “My Lonely Sad Eyes” – Maria McKee
6. Breaking Up: “Bedbugs and Ballyhoo” – Echo and the Bunnymen
7. Prom: “The Riddle”- Five for Fighting
8. Life: “Scattered”- Green Day
9. Mental Breakdown: “Chuco’s Cumbia” – Los Lobos
10. Driving: “Come Original”- 311
11. Flashback: “Somewhere Over the Rainbow”- Israel Kamakawiwo’ole
12. Wedding: “Open Ended” – Sebadoh
13. Birth of a Child: “Clamp Down” – The Clash
14. Final Battle: “Take Down the Union Jack” – Billy Bragg
15. Death Scene: “Personal Jesus”- Johnny Cash
16. Funeral: “Turn the Light Out” – Big Head Todd & the Monsters
17. Ending Credits: “Steve McQueen” – Sheryl Crow

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