Miami, FL: I'm sitting in the Miami International Airport, waiting to board my flight to Port-au-Prince to work on a photography project for the Haiti Water Project. Though my bags are packed and I'm ready to go, I don't think I'm mentally prepared for what I'm about to experience. As of now, it's not for the fact that I'll be entering a Third World Country and experiencing the face of poverty and hunger head on, but rather, I haven't had enough time to digest what I've been doing over the last couple of weeks. It's been a bit of a whirlwind and I need a minute to reflect on the beauty and excitement that mid-March has offered me thus far.
On the
11th, I shared a quick nosh with a former president and offered my well wishes to a
former first (and second) lady. The next day, instead of going directly home, I flew with the boss to NYC. (Side note: sleeping on a plane in first class is the same as sleeping on a plane in coach. Except when you wake up, you get free food and wine, if you'd like.) Since I was already there, I took the opportunity and visited my college friend / former roommate, her husband and their baby in Brooklyn. (PS. He is a super cute baby and a total flirt! A kid after my own heart....)
I returned home on Friday evening and began my four-in-a-row-concert-hopping-experience, starting with
Madeline Peyroux at the
Schermerhorn Symphony Center. I surprised the boy with tickets and it turned into one of those romantic movie-type evenings, with jazz and wine and rain. It was also a good way to buy preemptive forgiveness for any unforeseen actions that may occur during my experience at the upcoming
NKOTB concert.
I met my sweet Goddaughter,
Lennox Esmee Wilson for the very first time on Saturday, March 14. She is TINY. And precious. And slept the entire three hours I held her. I couldn't stop staring at her because she is so amazing. I'm excited to see her open her eyes. And learn how to talk. And grow into the "
If You Think I'm Cute, You Should See My Godmother" onesie that bought her.
That evening I returned to the concert trail and caught
Ryan Adams & The Cardinals at the
War Memorial Auditorium. As expected, the show was awesome and I was pleasantly surprised to find myself singing along to
some of the songs I once couldn't bear to listen to, in hopes to avoid the old heart war wounds they seemed to pour salt into every time they came across my ipod.
Sunday night was a performance by
Nikki Jean, a hip-hop, singer/songwriter who recently got signed to Columbia Records. She was in town, writing with
Marcus Hummon, accomplished songwriter and husband to
Becca Stevens, founder of
Magdalene and Thistle Farms. She performed her first solo gig at
St. A's and is really interested in doing more to spread the word about Mag & TF. She's gonna be huge, I just know it. And she's gonna take us with her, I just know it.
Monday night was
THE NIGHT and I've already blogged about it, so I don't need to go over every detail again, but in short: NKOTB + me + the boy =
fan-f*ing-tastic!
Tuesday and Wednesday, I spent some time finalizing details of the blog tour for “
Find Your Way Home” (happening this week!) and interviewing Peggy, one of the residents of Magdalene, for her story in the March
Thistle Farms newsletter.
I celebrated my 34th birthday on the 19th with some of my favorite people. The boy and I went out for drinks at a greenhouse-turned-bar then enjoyed a lovely dinner at one of my
newest favorite restaurants. Afterwards, I got my groove on with some of the Magdalene women at
The Mercy Lounge at a benefit in their honor.
Kid Electric Concerts put on a concert performing the entire album of “
What’s the 411?” by Mary J. Blige, originally released in 1992. In high school, I listened to that CD every day so hearing it done live, by some of Nashville’s top performers, on my birthday, made it seem like it was put on just for me. Plus the fact that it benefited Mag AND I could spend time with some of the ladies made it even sweeter.
I was out the door to Chicago the next day for a
private show on Saturday and am now caught up to the current moment, here in Miami. Whew! I’m tired just writing all of that, yet it seems as though the last couple of weeks have flown by. Hopefully, now that I have emptied my brain of these current memories, I’ll be able to make room for the new beautiful and, at times, possibly heartbreaking, memories I’m about to make in Haiti.
I met my sweet Goddaughter, Lennox Esmee Wilson for the very first time on Saturday, March 14. She is TINY. And precious. And slept the entire three hours I held her. I couldn't stop staring at her because she is so amazing. I'm excited to see her open her eyes. And learn how to talk. And grow into the "If You Think I'm Cute, You Should See My Godmother" onesie that bought her.
