Day Two

this photo--- looks like Alabama.. (where I'm from)... and Tennessee (with which I'm in love) and it gives me a sense of security and serenity when I look at it. grounds me.

..it's also a little magical. :)




(image found at le love.)


enjoy your day!

-C.

Recovery.

so, because this business can literally suck me dry as a bone some days, i've decided i need a Recovery Plan..

Recovery from this brittle, breakable feeling means adding the good stuff back to my artistic sponge (i know, so many metaphors!).
the good stuff = what i'll be blogging about for my 7 day-Recovery Plan. for the next 7 days, tell me what inspires you. i'll tell you what inspires me..

so, Day One of Recovery was found with this video.

quote of the day-

"just because i enjoyed it."

bon appetit.

-C.

New music..

Well, if you didn't know already, I have recently added new music to my website and myspace page. I've gotten some really sweet messages about the new songs and I am loving that you are enjoying the tunes! I decided to post a little about the songs so you had a bit of insight on where they began and the stories behind them. :) Hope you enjoy.. thank you so much for listening!

"Here"- Began as a pretty guitar melody that Matthew was playing with. We were both in the studio and he just pulled it out of the air (like he so awesomely always does). He started playing, I began humming and the rest was history. The lyric came so easy, starting with the opening line, "Spinning in circles..", which seemed to fit so well with the music beneath it. Words just kind of kept falling out.. I could barely keep up with them. We laid the vocal down that night after we finished it, which is the vocal you hear in the recording. It took so long for me to share with all of you, because I wanted so badly to record a "real" vocal on it. But after listening to it and trying to recreate the dreamy-romantic feel that had hung in the studio the night we wrote it, I realized the vocal mood was too special. I had to share it the way it was.


Here
(lopez/mckinney)

Spinning in circles inside of myself
I'm alone and in love and it's life or it's death
just a scared little girl falling faster and faster for you
When I'm at my best it's still not all that great and
I wish for one second that I could just think
it's distracting my life is a whirlwind that I can't undo

Tossing and turning me this sense of urgency
classically vague and imperfectly clear
still I wouldn't mind spending all of my time
here

Speaking of silence, there's none to retrace
It's like I've searched for you for forever this way
The echoes of others have faded, turned into the words
that I've heard you say, oh they're only repeating,
a thousand times over and none of it leaves me
just over and over the sound of your voice is the verse

The first of the day of the hymn that I sing in your
name just for you, oh my love just for you
and I pray that I spend all the rest of my time
Here

Standing here staring
at handsome and daring
Nothing is moving
Nothing's confusing
My love and me,
nowhere to be but
right here








"Leave The Keys"- After I finished my Exit Interview on American Idol, I got in the car with my mom and sister (who had flown out for the results taping) and we began to drive away. Stuck in Pasadena traffic, mom and Katie were talking about what had just happened and picking apart the details, consoling me, etc. I faded in and out of the conversation. I was beyond any kind of exhaustion I had ever felt and I thought to myself, "I could just jump out of this car and leave the keys behind me. Leave everything that has happened in the past 6 months behind me." Somehow, though all I wanted to do was move on, I was still stuck! I wanted nothing more than to move forward. The American Idol experience is a long one! I was so ready to just.. start walking.. out of LA and home to Nashville.
Upon returning to Nashville, I was suddenly hit with reality. I hadn't had a job while I was on the show and had to start job searching immediately. What a bummer! That sucked. I got a job at a jewelry store and slowly worked my way back to real life. The store was on the corner of a shopping mall in an upscale suburban area outside of Nashville. The entire front-half of the store was floor-to-ceiling windows. Windows upon windows, all for me to stare out of and dream. It was a frustrating time. All I wanted to do was sing, write, act, etc. and those things didn't pay any money (at the time). Anyway, I'm looking out the window one day feeling.. like I'm working a 9-5 and not singing.. and... who is that I see? A beautiful, tall, curly blonde in a t-shirt and gym shorts. She walks by and smiles. I smile back...

"Hi, Taylor. ....Swift."

I think I slammed my head on the counter in front of me. I knew I had to write a song about it. It was a brutal reminder that I was working at something I had no passion for, and girls like Taylor were doing what we loved and being successful at it, looking at poor girls like me, being thankful they were no longer in that stage of their lives. Ha ha ha. It still makes me laugh. How in-your-face can life be? ha ha. I laughed and laughed afterward. There was nothing left to do. No more tears to cry. I had found peace with everything that had happened and finally understood what gaining great experience can do for a soul. Matt and I penned this and every word came from a true event and true experience.



Leave The Keys
lopez/mckinney

something came along just yesterday
i was sittin in the middle of the freeway
there's somethin about sittin where you can't escape
makes a girl wanna go crazy
you know what I mean when you're still alive
and your life flashes before your eyes
you really can't recall which exit sign
belongs to you or that trucker guy
park the car, just leave the keys

once upon a time i was flying high
everybody said they saw me on A.I.
in an elevator tryin not to cry
then simon says he wanna change his mind
soon you realize it was all pretend
all the people comin' round wanna be a friend
throwin' out a pound to the lot of 'em
headin' right back down to the bottom
park the car, just leave the keys

she know the way
everybody
keep out the way
cause that lady
she not afraid
dont worry 'bout a
thing people say
not a single tear on her face
cause that lady..
she know the way


so tell me what it is about a 9-5
leaves you lookin' out the window just hatin' life
swallow every bit of your wounded pride
watchin' pretty taylor swift go bouncin' by
when every single second of your life is split
between payin' dues and this payin' rent
boss man just wont let me breathe
sayin' "you're with them, or girl, you're with me"
park the car, just leave the keys





"I Miss You Tonight"- was written by my Matt Lopez, our friend and Lady Antebellum career-starter Victoria Shaw, and from American Idol Season 8, Matt Giraud (finished 5th last year). I heard it, hung out with Matt and Matt while they recorded the vocal and talked my Matt into "putting a female vocal on it". I sang a few takes, he took the one he liked best a slapped Auto-tune on it. We called it the C-Pain version for a while and still do.
The day Matt wrote it, I listened to the worktape on repeat. I am in love with this song and am certain it will rake in the big bucks in the future. I am so lucky to have gotten the opportunity to put my voice on such a great song.


I Miss You Tonight
Lopez/Shaw/Giraud

Another night trying to sleep, but who am I kidding
I toss and I turn again, just like last night.. everynight
Talking to myself is getting me nowhere
I need to say this to you

I'm going out of my mind missing you like crazy
I'm broken, trying to make sense of this wall between us
I said I wasn't gonna call you and I swear that I tried
I can keep playing games or just swallow my pride
I know I said I didn't need you but baby, oh baby, I lied
I miss you tonight

The clock on the wall keeps in rhythm with my broken heart
It's pounding the truth to the point that I can't shut it out (I can never shut it out)
I thought it'd be easy living without you
I've never been so wrong

I'm going out of my mind missing you like crazy
I'm broken, trying to make sense of this wall between us
I said I wasn't gonna call you and I swear that I tried
I can keep playing games or just swallow my pride
I know I said I didn't need you but baby, oh baby, I lied
I miss you tonight

Tell me what I need to do here to change how this ends
'Cause I don't wanna be with you ever again

Chorus



Thanks goes to the writing talents listed above. Matthew created all tracks and played the instruments. I greatly look up to him, he inspires me every day.

And the people who push "Play" inspire me as well! Thank you again for listening and for your kind words. :)

xo




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Penelope.

future blooms of Penelope, found on www.marthastewartliving.com

Penelope the Peony (yes, we named her). I planted her today in Matt's garden (as I live in an apartment and do not have a garden of my own to plant in.)



I love Peonies more than any other flower. I bought myself a plant of Pink Peonies as a birthday present to myself and planted it this afternoon. I was ecstatic to get my fingers in the soil (which I just adore) and plant a pot of my very favorite blooms in the world.



So, I hope you enjoy these photos. Tell me about your Spring gardening! This is my favorite Spring/Summer activity. I'd love to hear about your favorites. Include some secrets!
































xo


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Goop.

Friends. I urge you to check out GOOP, Gwyneth Paltrow's online blog. It's fantastic.

When I have some down time and can no longer stomach the self-exposing nature of the Facebook/Twitter worlds, I like to surf the web a bit and try to get my creative juices going with a little bit of introspection. GOOP is a great place to enlighten your senses, literally. Gwyn and team bring you her inner reflection, favorite places, intriguing new recipes, refreshing activities and much more.

A great place to start would be with "Go". Her latest entry about her stay in Nashville is wonderful. :)

So there you are. Make, Go, Get, Do, Be and See.

Goop.

formspring.me

formspring. have you tried it?


Find me at formspring.me/mcktweety

You can "Ask Me Anything".. We're playing on twitter and it's a lot of fun. You can also come back to my formspring.me profile to read the answers if you don't have a Twitter account. :)

Looking forward to your questions.

x




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oh, oh it's magic.

i had a magical day. blu sanders and i got together to shoot and he is fabulous. he's completely unaffected by the "way" to shoot and has such a beautiful style that captures everything ethereal and good that could fit into one photograph. my favorite part about what i do is in the creating (you know that by now, right?). being the subject of a photograph is a rush, because the creation is much like film and music. the photograph is completely manipulated by one look, one emotion. a photographer can either pull out the subject's creativity or block it. being blocked makes for a painful few hours.. but creative energies being shared is so... (sigh) ... empowering.

take a look at a couple of our shots...
my creative juices are on overdrive and i'd like to take myself to the craft store right now, buy a new panel of canvas and paint it to my heart's content until sunrise.

:)







i'd also like to say.. that today also came with too much bad news. just too much. remember you are one person who affects many people. you're loved. love somebody and be good to them. be you. no one else can do that better. and forgive. forgive and breathe and love.

amen.
x



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babyphat.

Ah. I'm tired! I like that feeling. :)

Awesome day.

Went in for a fitting for a shoot I booked Thursday.. I've been so busy, when I auditioned for the job, I didn't really do any research into it (I was just happy to have another possible way to pay my rent! ;)..). Today, on the escalator up to the 3rd floor at Genesco's Corporate office, I bashfully asked what exactly this shoot would be used for. My kind escort then informed that these images would be for the new BabyPhat for Prom Footwear ads for catalogs, website promotion, email marketing, and the in-store campaigns for

170 stores
..nationwide.

What?!

How did I miss that?! What a nice surprise. :)

If you go here, you can sign up for the email list to catch the first glimpse. Find a store in your location here.

Popular questions.
When? - This is for Prom season. I imagine the campaign will begin ASAP.
Where?- The Underground Station is a sister store to Journeys, Shi, Lids, Johnston & Murphy and Dockers. Click the link above for a store locator.
How will I recognize your feet? - The images are of my entire body and head. Since my face is attached to my head, you are more than likely to recognize me.


.. I'll tweet during the shoot Thursday. Hope you can join the convo.

xo and love. :)



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Excited.

On air-interview with Gerry House, Noshville yummy cheese blintzes with blueberries, easy breezy auditioning... this was my day. And a great one, at that! Very happy to be setting up some exciting things for 2010. I'm so inspired today. Lots of good things are cooking and loads of motivation and excitement have traveled alongside them. Did you see the new shots and videos from my Tuesday shoot on facebook?







I'm digging. Shoot tomorrow should be great. The photographer and makeup artist have some really beautiful ideas. I'm very excited about that as well.

Well, just giving an update. Park City in T-minus 4 days! Remember my blog from last year? Sledding, skiing, snowmobiling, hot tubbing in the snow, fancy parties, delicious dinners, and best of all-- the DW family together again! :) I love those people. I'm so excited. Did I mention I'm excited? :) Title of blog: Excited.

Ready To Listen Again.

Our friends Lady A have a new album coming out January 26th. Every Tuesday until then, they'll be releasing one song from this new album to iTunes. Have you heard this week's release, "Ready To Love Again"? Wow. Blown away.

Check it out. Looking forward to the 26th!

no day like a Snow Day

Snow! We played in it all day. Check it out.

our friends' kids.



my wyoming boy was in heaven all day. he's missed the snow so bad! we got the hot chocolate ready, four wheelers and snow clothes out, and cruised.

always helping someone. cars got stuck on this road all day and boyfriend (in red) helped them all. he even drove one lady's car for her. :) makes me proud to be his. good job, boyfriend.

morning snow.


..yep.


good day.

Sandra Love.

Tonight at the People's Choice Awards, Sandra Bullock gave the best acceptance speech I have ever heard. She is gracious, spirited, humble, funny and seemingly unaffected by her glamorous surroundings. I could go on and on! I'm completely in love with her work, and now with her as a person. What an unbelievable girl. Sandy, my queen of 2010. It's official.


In other news:

:: gym feels so good. thanks new year!

:: snow is coming! right now! eeee!

:: olay regenerist night cream is transforming my face.

:: ROLL TIDE, baby!

;)

Stand-Out.

I'm just giggling to myself because I was reminded tonight why what I do to pay my bills can be a little silly sometimes.

I didn't get a job because I didn't look as much like her...

photo found on thebosh.com

...as someone else did (was a stand-in position). I was a little bummed out until I thought..


I don't want to look like someone else. I want to look like me.

Oh, Hollywood.

Stand-in...

..Stand-out.

I pick the latter.

Forward we go.

her.

Have you read it? I am completely elated when I see a new copy on the stands.

I love this magazine. Women of Nashville, if you aren't reading it, you're missing out. Not only are the articles quick-witted, smart and inspiring, they're about a woman's lifestyle in our favorite place- home! Nashville.. :) ..(sigh)

There is a personal quality to this publication that I've never before experienced in any other women's magazine. These women go through what I go through daily on a local level and I'm reminded of my affinity toward this city with each issue. So many reasons why I love Music City and I feel like each is spotlighted, a few at a time, with every article. It's also amazing to feel a connection with the authors or the characters in it's wildly funny or deeply touching stories. I drive those roads. I frequent those restaurants. "Want to find outfit "x"? Shop here.", "Did you know Nashville offers Aerial Yoga? Well, now you do. Try it. I did...Amazing."

Finally! Something sweet and charming with information I can really use in my life... with articles rich in substance that even rival some of my favorite novels. MmmMM.

Thank you, her. I love you.

Tough Trade and LA la Land

Word! :) I'm stoked. I just booked six days of work on the HBO series Tough Trade. I'll be the stand-in for one of the lead actresses for the series. Basically, a stand-in does the actress's scenes while she is doing hair and makeup so lighting can be adjusted. I'm stoked because I'm getting a little dough to hang out with the cast and crew for six days.. and what better way to learn the ins and outs of the film shooting process? Which I will need, because I'm currently planning a 10-14 day stay in Los Angeles in January! Feeling like it will be the first of many. Cross fingers! I'll update you on that news in another blog.

So, bring it on, 2010! And stay tuned in on Twitter to read my updates of my encounters with the cast and crew of Tough Trade, coming to an HBO screen to you soon. ;)

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

My Old Friend

.. there you are!

I haven't blogged for so long due to the twitter craze. My micro-blogging seemed to do the trick for a while, but after reviewing my blogs from earlier in the year, I'm realizing there is a part of me that I'm missing in tweeting. I'm not sure what, yet. But blogging itself just gives me a whole pie to snack on, so to speak, instead of only a few slices at a time. And hey, I like pie. :)

Well, let's pick it back up, then. I've missed you, friend.

Sonic Mangolade Webbie

Sonic. Mangolade. We made a video. Fancy.

Webbie the camera. Webbie the vblog. :)

Violet the Webbie is purple and lovely. She is a HD Video Camera that allows me to do video blogs and looks like this:

My Matthew set out this morning looking for a digital HD hand held camera, and I went with him to help. After finding his favorite (I agreed!) he got ready to purchase and spoke to the cashier. He said, "I'd like an orange one.... and a purple one," and looked at me and smiled. I was so surprised and excited! He is the sweetest. We rang up Violet and Pumkpin Head and were off to the "lab" (Matthew's studio in his house) to check out our new toys. So. Here is my first Webbie video blog with so many more to come:

:) Thank you, sweetest Matthew.

Closer To ... Your Television

Good news! Word has it, my Mat Kearney video, "Closer To Love" is in rotation at Vh1. Isn't that great? I'm really so excited!!

You can now VOTE for the video on Vh1.com's Top 20 Countdown!

So, what are you waiting for? Vote!! :)

Yay!

words, words, words.. words.

"dear life, i want you to float me in the Dead Sea.. write a book. hold my child. watch her grow. adopt. a pet? speak new languages. play tunes on front porch. with neighbors. after southern dinner. spin pottery wheels. own land.. with horses. and flower gardens. become wise, let my hair grow long and gray. thanks. love, me."

i reassessed what i want out of life.

i wrote those things out.. (above).. stared at them.. and began to write again.

and i can't stop.

finally, words. they are everywhere. in my shower, in my sandwich.. everywhere.

phew. and i thought i lost them..

there is a story out there somewhere and it is begging me to write it...

ready, go.