2018 Year In Review

Happy New Year!!!  Wow, 2018 was one big amazing year.   So much happened, and the biggest word that comes to mind through all of it is GRATITUDE.   Let's recap... 

January 2018

I recorded and released my first single of the year, Northern Lights, which included a video release that I edited and put together myself.  This was my first self-released official video, and I'm proud of myself for how it turned out. 

 

My friends, Glen Gabriel and Jens Lundberg, visited for a week during Sundance Film Festival, where Glen's musical score was included in one of the feature films, "The Game Changers".  We had an absolute blast hanging out.

 

I also got to meet one of my piano idols, Helen Jane Long.  That was pretty cool.  

 

 

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February 2018

I traveled to Jamaica with my boyfriend, Matt, and experienced our first Sandals Resort.  It quickly became my new favorite way to enjoy a beachy-time vacation.  

 

I released my second single of the year, Winter, which also came with a video release that I edited and produced myself.   

 

I also collaborated with a celtic group, The Gothard Sisters, and we co-wrote a song together called "When The Rain Falls", that's released on their album, Midnight Sun.  That collaboration experience was so much fun and inspired me to be able to collaborate with more artists in the future.  

 

 

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March 2018

I travelled to Seattle for the annual Whisperings Solo Piano Radio concert and awards ceremony.  I love this hang so much as it gives me a chance to see many of my musical friends I only get to see once a year.  It's always so much fun!   I performed in the All-Star Concert and played my song "Peace".  I also taught a Marketing Workshop to my colleagues that weekend and it was nice to be able to help out in that way.

 

 

In addition, I had the chance to spend a few hours with The Gothard Sisters after our collaboration and it was such a delight meeting them all in person.

 

I also had my first Valley View Concert of the year with local Utah pianist, Chad Hewitt.  His music is so gorgeous and I loved performing with him.

   

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April 2018

My son celebrated his 21st birthday.  I met my new granddaughter for the first time (she was born in the middle of March and is my son's girlfriend's daughter).   I released my third single of the year, Alone, with a video I produced.   My boyfriend moved in and we started the next chapter of our lives together.  Overall this was one of my favorite months.

 

 

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May 2018

We travelled to New Orleans for the annual Zone Music Reporter Awards.  My album, Life, was nominated for Best Solo Piano Album of the Year.  It didn't win, but it was such fun to see everyone and have a long weekend of fun, and an honor to be included in the nominees.  I was also a presenter for one of the other awards, which was really fun. 

 

I also released my fourth single, "Beneath The Surface", with a video.  It's been the most popular video of them all.  

 

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June 2018

I had my next Valley View Concert with pianist and friend, Steve Rivera, who came to perform from Southern California.  

We also travelled to the Caribbean on the annual Audiosyncracy at Sea cruise.  This cruise featured my friend, Joseph Akins, but I ended up being a guest performer and it was so much fun.  

Here's a fun improvisation that Joseph and I made up at the end of one of his shows.  So fun playing with him!!!!  

 

The next cruise is this coming June 2019 and I'm performing!!  Come join us :) 

I also purchased a 9 Foot Fazioli F278 Concert Grand Piano, which was an upgrade from my 7 Foot Fazioli F212 that I've owned since December 2012.  It's so gorgeous and powerful and rich.  I really love it.  

 

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July 2018

I celebrated my 44th birthday!!  We had our first solo guitarist, Lance Allen, at the Valley View Concert Series.  It was a lot of fun hanging with Lance and his wife Twila, and playing both piano and guitar at the concert.  

We also took a family trip to Turks & Caicos for a week, to the Beaches Resort (part of Sandals), and it was so much fun!!!  

 

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August 2018

I had a pretty big elective cosmetic surgery at the beginning of this month.  It was something I had dreamed of doing for years, and finally made the decision to do, to help improve my self esteem, self confidence, and self love.  I worked really hard through the summer to lose 24 lbs before the surgery, and then worked really hard for the next 8+ weeks to recover and heal.  I'm currently at 4.5 months post op and I'm still recovering in some ways.  It was the best thing I've done for my personal self and I am very happy with the results.  Because of the surgery though, I took some serious down time to heal and recover, so not much else happened this month.  

 

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September 2018

Spent this month recovering, and a lot of time watching HGTV home shows.  I am now a complete expert on home renovation and house flipping.  If my career with music falls through, I'll definitely be able to have a back-up career.    I also released my fifth single, "My Life With You".  

 

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October 2018

The biggest and most exciting thing happened... I was interviewed by Rolling Stone Magazine.  They called me to talk about my success as an independent musician making a living from my music.  On top of that, Pandora Radio notified me that I hit 1 Billion Spins on their platform.   Happy Dance!!  I am so excited to be part of the 1 Billion Club.  So cool.  I had a super fun photo shoot to update my website and promotional photos (you can see all the pics here).  And we had a Valley View concert with my good friend, Neil Patton from Eugene, Oregon.  Oh, and I released my sixth single, "Little Love", which I haven't done a video for yet, but will soon.    This was a big and busy month full of wonderful things.

 

 

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November 2018

Even bigger, and more exciting... the Rolling Stone Magazine article was published online.  It was a fantastic feature that I am so honored and thrilled to be a part of.  It brings light to our little solo piano genre, which is a pretty big deal to be featured in THE mainstream music magazine.  

We took a trip to St. Lucia for another Sandals vacation, and it was probably my most favorite vacation with my boyfriend to date.

And I also released my seventh single, "Triumph" which will have a video soon as well. 

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December 2018

I had five holiday shows in December.  Two with my friend, Matthew Mayer, who runs solopiano.com, then two more in Sedona with my friend, Joe Bongiorno and Louis Landon, at his Piano Haven Studio concert series, and then one more with my local Utah friends, Jason Tonioli and violinist extraordinaire, John Knudson.  It was a busy month of concerts and music, and it was so much fun.  

I invited John to perform with me on my song, Winter.  He'd never heard the song before, and we had never played together before.  What he created was astonishingly beautiful.  It made my heart soar.  Look for future projects of us together!!!  I'm hoping we can make some arrangements.   

 

I also found out that the actual printed magazine of the December 2018 Issue of Rolling Stone Magazine featured a couple of paragraphs about me.  I ran all over Salt Lake City trying to find copies and I'm going to have it framed.  I'm on the same page as Clint Eastwood.  How cool is that!?!  

 

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This year has been filled with accomplishment, milestones, love, relationships, family, and so much joy that I'm having a hard time writing sad and melancholy music right now.  I am so thrilled and excited for all that has been happening.  I am so humbled and so honored to be on this incredible journey.  And most of all I am just so very very grateful.