A long long time ago, I was in high school. I had this darling friend named Chantell Jackson. Fast forward a million years, and she sends me this amazing video of her darling little daughter with a huge voice! She is trying to get noticed, and possibly get her big break
SO
If you have any kind of connections that you want to share with her, let me know! You are actually helping out by just watching this video because the more hits she gets, well the better it is!
Also, if you want to REALLY make her happy, you can click here and “like her” on facebook!
Go ahead, give this little sweet heart an early *free* Christmas present!
***********************
Speaking of being famous and all that sort of stuff, I have a new famous friend.
I didn’t even know she was famous until I just happened to find proof of it on her facebook pictures. She contacted me originally on linked in and called to go to lunch. I have never cyber dated before, but I thought I would take her up on the offer because I was so intrigued that she didn’t know who I was, called out of the blue…and wanted to meet. She told me her intent was to find out how I balanced life with seven kids, business, and non profit work.
Ever since our first meeting, it has been a whirlwind romance. A match made in heaven.
She reminds me of one of my best friends in the world *Kori* that was my room mate in college, and THAT is a compliment. Kori moved away from me just like most of my good friends, and I miss her. SO, when I had a two hour long conversation with Heidi without either of us taking much of a breath,
I was very happy. I was more than happy.
So did you ever see the show “Just the 10 of Us”
or “Rags to Riches”
Well, my friend Heidiis the cute littlest one with dark hair.
Isn’t she a dream? The funny part is that the first time I met her I WENT OFF on people that name drop just to sound “awesome” I can’t stand when people do that….and here I am shouting it to blogger land. I believe it is different when they are you actual friend though and not just whoever.
So I guess when she was about 13, she chose to go to normal public school. She hadn’t experienced that in her entire life, and she loved education. So she left show biz and eventually ended up moving to Utah and taught school for a while. She recently became fed up with the public school system and quit teaching to pursue her dream, bringing the Arts back into education.
I guess that’s where we fit together.
Somehow, someway that I am not sure of yet.
A few weekends ago we decided to go to a formal networking thing together. Because it was that same night, we were scrambling to find a dress. I went to Nordstroms and found a perty little grey number that was comfortable and long enough for the below freezing chill in Utah right now. I found a darling *faux* fur shall that matched it perfectly that warmed my tan-less shoulders just right.
After wrangling all of the kids, getting them dinner and babysitter, it was time for me to pick Heidi up. I looked down at my phone, expecting a text because she was late and sure enough
“come get me at Nordstroms” I text back, “ok but don’t buy a grey dress”
It’s every girls worst nightmare to find their best friend in the same dress, and although I am 36 years old, this hasn’t changed. I remember giggling at the girls that matched at high school dances years and years ago.
It was obvious when she walked out of Norstroms *after I circled around the parking lot for 20 minutes* that she didn’t get the memo, because she was wearing MY EXACT DRESS! Out of 300 dresses in the store, she bought MINE! It was like something out of the movies. I actually thought she was kidding at first, but then reconciled thinking “who would have enough money to buy an extra dress just to get a good laugh?” and “who would think it is funny to wear the matching dress for the kicks of it when we are 30 minutes late already?”
“HEY DORK!!” I yelled out the window. “I TOLD YOU NOT TO BUY THE GREY DRESS!!!”
“WHAT?!….. Oh my! We have the SAME dress!!!”
(yes I feel comfortable calling her a dork even though I’ve known her for only a few weeks)
Yes Heidi, we have the same dress. We decided there wasn’t time for her to change it because it was already half over. SO we went as a date, in the same dress…. amused every step of the way. The people at our table stared and the couple in the elevator could barely hold in their sentiments, almost shaking from interior laughter.
h.i.l.l.a.r.i.o.u.s.
I wish I had a picture! Since that night, we have enjoyed many more conversations that cannot be repeated, but the best night was when we were invited to talk on 97.3 Kate Taylor . Let me rephrase that. Heidi was invited to speak on her talk show, but she felt more comfortable if I was along for the ride. I DO believe in fighting for the Arts in education, but I am not a pro on the subject like many of her colleges.
She called on her way to my house and said, “Janae, we need a land line to call the talk show, do you have any ideas?” “Um…well we could use my office.” I offered. “It is quiet and we could link calls.” (because she was planning on me sharing my story of music and dancing growing up)
“Sure Janae, that sounds great!”
So I explained how to get to my office and met her there. She jumped out with only slippers on and ran into the office as she text. When we got inside I introduced her to our VP and asked him if he knew how to run the phones, because I didn’t know how to link calls. The problem was, we only had a few minutes to figure it out before we were live! Sure enough we made it work 2 minutes before the show started.
Heidi was a wreck.
She was pacing back and forth, shaking and so nervous. Funny coming from a girl that acted for so long. I walked out of the office and into the adjoining office to try and connect both phones. When I went back to click it over, she had shut and locked the door to my office.
I couldn’t get in!
I peeped through the blinds and cracked up watching her talk about the Arts. She was so passionate and knowledgeable. I decided to sit down on the table outside of the office and swung my legs back and forth like a four year old on an over-sized chair. Ron, our VP walked over and said,
“Janae, do you want me to unlock the door since your keys are locked inside?” His face was all twisted up wondering why she had locked me out.
“Ah, no…she will let me in when she is ready.”
I pulled out my phone and started commenting on her facebook page things like
“I am about ready to flick Heidi in the forehead for locking me out of my own office” It didn’t take long until her friends that were also listening to Heidi online where trying to teach me how to find the radio station and laughing at the situation with me.
Next thing I knew, she busts through the doors and says,
“How am I doing? How do you think I sound?“
“Ummmm, well, if I could hear the conversation I would TELL you!”
“What do you mean?”
“Well, you locked me out before I could link the calls!”
“WHAT! I thought you were listening from the other office the whole time!”
“Nope”
and the next thing I knew she was back on the phone after the commercial break. She did a great job. So great in fact that tons of listeners were calling in and the owner of the radio show offered to pay for a documentary that Heidi has already developed for “Kids Need the Arts”. You can go to her facebook page and “like” her also if you want to support us for free!
Later Heidi told me that I was making her giggle when she tried to talk and was looking at me. That was not my intention, nor was the time I accidentally turned on the computer next to her and BLARE sound from it during her call.
**************************************
Sorry this update was SO long.
I have been painting and decorating for Christmas. My house is coming together nicely. Maybe I will post a few pictures when I get the Christmas tree up! The paint on my walls is kind of a robin egg blue. This is the color my laundry room has been for 8 years and I LOVE it. For the first few days it made me feel like I had laundry to do everywhere I walked…but it is settling in!
Today Handsome grabbed my cheeks and pulled them down to his face, stared at me with those big brown chocolate eyes and kissed me right on the lips. He didn’t have anything to say, but it melted my heart. He is growing up so fast and I plan on posting a video soon so you can see how well he talks. It is remarkable.
Happy Holidays!
We had a great time at the cabin. Hopefully I can post more pictures of that as well soon. I feel so behind on my blog right now, but I can’t let it bring me down or it is no fun anymore and I have to blog because it is fun and not because it is something I feel like I have to do.
