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No doubt about it.  Thanksgiving is my very favorite holiday!  I love everything that comes with it….cool fall weather, great food, football, pumpkins (of course!), and most of all, taking the time to be extra thankful for what God has blessed us with this year!  ....

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This year we are blessed to have Mike’s family coming down from Michigan to celebrate with us!  My parents are here in Nashville, so we will all be together!  Of course I have amazing family in Oklahoma and Texas too that will be in my heart as well.  I’m SO very thankful for ALL of our family…. AND our friends, who are like extended family to us!   ....

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I’m also thankful this year for the consistent work that God has sent our way.  Being self-employed musicians can be a struggle at times, but we love what we do, and are thankful that we get to make our living doing what we love so much!....

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Of course life is not without problems, heartaches, struggles, and disappointments.  Those are always there, but especially during this special time of the year, I try to concentrate on what God has blessed me WITH and not with what I think I might be missing.   ....

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SO… what are YOU thankful for this year?  ....

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Hey ya'll...

Anyone still have any Halloween candy lying around??  Not us!  But I'm still enjoying LOTS of Pumpkin!  Pumpkin Spice coffee, coffee creamer, pancakes, Hershey's kisses, lotion, candles AND I just got a recipe for Pumpkin Spice Bread Pudding that I'm dying to make!!  Mmmmmm....  I love all things Pumpkin!!   Now on to some important business........

I'm playing this week on Tues. Nov. 10th at The Listening Room Cafe in Nashville, TN.   I'm going to be a part of a great night of amazing singer/songwriters playing at Rachel William's Anniversary Party!  Come out and see me, Rachel and her friends, Tim Buppert, Angela Kaset, Lisa Carver, Wood Newton, Bonnie Baker, Vickie Carrico, Craig Monday, Ronnie Kimball and Joe Spivey!!  Now THAT'S a LINE-UP!!  Don't wanna miss it!!

Also, everyone be sure and watch my baby boy, Derek Wells playing on the CMA Awards with Lady Antebellum this Wed. night Nov. 11th on ABC!!   He has been friends with Hillary Scott (the girl in the trio) since they've been little kids.  For those of you who don't know, Hillary is the daughter of Linda Davis and Lang Scott.   So Mike and I will be over at Linda and Lang's watching our kids perform TOGETHER on the CMA AWARDS!  How COOL is THAT???    We'll probably have to break out the tissues!  Proud Mama's we are!!

Hope everyone has a great week!!

Hey ya'll...

I hope everyone is having a wonderful fall! This is my very favorite time of the year.... football, cool weather, the leaves turning beautiful colors on the trees, making homemade soups, and pumpkins too!! Mmmmmmm.... Now if my Titans would just WIN a game, things would be pretty perfect around here!! C'mon boys! Don't give up!! Gimme a "T"!!!! :-)

I'm playing The Bluebird Cafe this Sat. night... Oct. 17th at 6:30pm. I'll be ITR w/Kaci Bolls, Josh Rush and Ben Glover and it's gonna be GOOD! Ya'll come see us.... no cover, $7 food/drink minimum, reservations highly recommended. Go to www.bluebirdcafe.com for all the info!!

Ya'll have a great week.... be good to each other.....M

July 4, 2009

What a crazy day…. We were in Freeport, ME for the L.L. Bean Summer Concert Series Festival.  LOVED the cooler weather, but when the thunderstorms suddenly rolled in early afternoon, we started worrying that the show might have to be cancelled.  I had been SO excited about the opportunity to open for Miss Patty Loveless and was really bummed about the weather possibly interrupting that chance!!    However, I told Patty that she must have a little “Moses” in her, because close to showtime the storms just parted north and south of us and left us with perfect weather for the concert!!  

The biggest damper of the day was hearing the sad news about Steve McNair, our beloved former Tennessee Titans Quarterback, who was tragically shot to death in Nashville earlier in the day.   We all spent most of the afternoon being glued to the tv on the bus, going back and forth from ESPN coverage about McNair to The Weather Channel so we could find out if we were actually going to be playing a concert that night.

When they storms parted, I finally took the stage around 7:15pm with my friends Garry Murray and Matt McKenzie.  They so sweetly offered to help out during my set, playing mando and bass with me!  It was SO fun!  The crowd was amazing and attentive and it is always a joy to hear what Garry and Matt bring to the musical table….   My friends, Kat and Monica had brought me “Peace and Relaxation” gifts earlier during the day AND they had a cool poster which read “NY and NJ loves Marcia” which they held up during my set!!   THANKS GIRLS!!   You make me smile….

Also got to see friends and PL supporters, Bob and Barbara, Richard and Patti, and Nicole Spaller who runs the biggest PL fan based website out there.  If you are a true Patty fan, you need to check out her site…www.patty-loveless.net

Patty came out for her set around 8pm and did an amazing job as usual.  That woman is simply one of the most gifted voices God ever made…. And a wonderful person on top of that!!   I have thoroughly enjoyed working with her and her amazing band!   This was my last show with that group for awhile and I will miss them…..

Thanks again to all the folks behind the scenes at the L.L. Bean Summer Concert Series for taking such great care of us and making such a wonderful place for music to be enjoyed!!   Thanks to PL and the band for allowing me to be a part of such an amazing group of musicians and individuals…. And thanks to the fans, who are the heart and soul of the concert experience!!  Love you all……

Making a change…    


Changes are hard sometimes.  But I’m going to have to make a change concerning my Facebook and I hope everyone understands……

 I love people.  ALL people!!  That’s probably why I have so many “networking” pages on the internet, because I love staying in touch with family and friends.  I also love hearing from fans!!  It warms my heart to hear that my music has touched someone, so I love having a way for anyone to get in touch with me concerning my music.   However, recently I’ve had some issues with the privacy of some family members on my Facebook, so I am closing my “friend” list down to ONLY family and close friends.

 I STILL have four different “open” forums for anyone to stay in touch with me…. They are:

www.marciaramirez.com

www.myspace.com/marciaramirez

www.marciaramirez.blogspot.com

www.twitter.com/marciaramirez


Just because I choose to live my life out in the open, doesn’t mean that everyone I love wants to have THEIR lives on public display.  I want to respect that.  So my Facebook will be kept “private” for now.

Thank you guys for understanding my need for this change!   

Hugs,
Marcia

I just realized that I've been terribly neglectful of my myspace..... ever since I got my own blogspot.... I don't blog here much.  Too bad there isn't a way to link them.  Or IS there?!?!?  Anyone know???

In case you don't know:  www.marciaramirez.blogspot.com

I haven't posted any new pics either on here... BUT I will try to do better....

ON the NEWS front... i'm getting to OPEN for Patty on a few dates this year, so please come see me if you can!!    I'm so excited to have this opportunity! 

I'm also beginning to work on a new cd..... can't wait to share some new music with you!!

Wish I had time to write more, but I'm SUPPOSED to be doing my taxes right now, and when my husband comes home to find me BLOGGING again instead of getting ready for our accountant tomorrow, I'm going to be in deep trouble!!   So, bye for now!

Ya'll behave....
Hugs,
Marcia

Monday, January 12, 2009

Heading to The Big Apple...

It is 2am. I can't sleep. My brain is too full. Too full of lists. Lists of things that I must get done before I leave for NY. The weirdest thing is, instead of the list getting shorter as I get closer to my trip, it seems to somehow be getting longer. So tonight, although I went to bed at 11pm, i woke up at 1am with my brain going over and over all the things I need to do tomorrow before we leave on Tues. morning. I just decided to get up, have a bowl of cereal, and type up the list of things to do, so maybe my brain wouldn't be so full anymore and I could sleep.

The list is done. But here I am, still awake. SO, I'm blogging. Blogging about not being able to sleep. Maybe one of my sleep issues is stress. I always stress out before I have to fly anywhere. The whole experience of flying is SOOOOOOO stressful to me. Starting with making sure you have packed correctly, so that the airlines won't:

A. Break something
B. Make you leave something behind because it's not packed correctly
C. Ruin something
D. Lose something
E. All of the above

Then after the packing issues, I always feel like I'm going to over-sleep and not get to the airport on time. THEN, just being in a airplane for a claustrophobic like me is hard to deal with. So, until I land in NY on Tues. afternoon, I will be a mess. And I probably won't be sleeping much either..... Give me a comfy tour bus ANY day over flying. Unless, of course it's a west coast run... -grin

OH! Just in case you are wondering what I am doing in NY..... I will be on the "Late Night with Conan O'Brien" show on Jan. 14th with Patty Loveless. It airs at 10:30pm CST on NBC. You may not SEE me on the show, as just being in the band certainly does NOT necessarily give you any airtime, but if you are up, tune in and watch us anyway!! On Jan. 15th, we will be playing the Allen Room at The Lincoln Center. I will, of course, try to update this little blogspot with pictures and interesting tidbits of our trip along the way. It's never dull with the PL gang... someone's always doing something silly in that bunch!! LOL

Ok... i'm going to put on one of my hubby's History Channel shows. That should put me right to sleep. "Civil War Journal" is my Ambien.

Hope you all have a great week!!!!..

Well, I have to admit...I'm terrified. And thrilled. And then terrified again. 2009 is here. I can't believe it. How is it possible? What will this new year hold for me and my family and friends? The only thing I know for sure is that there will be happiness and sadness. Joys and grief. Wonderful surprises and heartbreaking losses. High and lows, ups and downs.... you get my drift. It will be a year of everything..... just like 2008 was. And 2007. And all the years before that. I wrote a blog about my New Year's Resolution on my blogspot.

www.marciaramirez.blogspot.com

What about you guys? Any big resolutions for you? I actually HAVE decided that I need to make some changes in my life. One biggie is to simplify. I'm really over the whole "MORE!" attitude that our society seems to bang into our little heads. And I don't mean just material things. That's bad enough, to feel like you need more clothes, or cars, or a bigger house, or new furniture etc... I just can't take the pressure anymore of feeling like I have to exercise MORE, work MORE, eat healthier MORE often, drink MORE water, go to church MORE often, spend MORE time with friends and family, etc..... it's enough to make a girl like me shut-down!! I can't take it!!!!!! I'm not super-woman!! LOL I'm not saying that all those things aren't something that I'd like to do... they are all things I strive for, but geez...... sometimes I don't think I'm capable of doing it all. At least not do it all WELL.

Do I sound a little stressed?!?!?!?! LOL Anyone else feeling this way? Or do I need to up my estradiol intake????? :-)

I just re-read this blog..... and thought, "Well now, THAT was a CHEERY first blog of the year, huh?" I'm not as down as I sound.. just frustrated. And tired of pretending that I'm always cheerful, 'cause I'm not. I'm usually a happy, joyful girl. And I'll probably be back to my old self tomorrow...... but blogs are supposed to be about real life, right? And we ALL have days where nothing feels right. Everything feels out of sorts. Guess I'm just having one of those days. And it's only Jan. 1st!!!!!!! Arrgghh!! I better get out of this funk SOON, or '09's gonna be a LONG one!! ha!

Hugs,
Marcia