Day 14 in the Studio

Everyday has just been an incredible experience, and the only thing missing was my Sammy. He text me early this morning to let me know that he still wasn't feeling up to coming in. Well the show must go on, we committed to this project so unless something critical happens we will continue forward. Even when we were having technical difficulties we still continued to create. I think by Monday we'll all be together again. So although it was just John & I, we had a very productive day. John was in an especially fun mood today. But I guess anytime you roll up in a Mercedes (well excuuse me) everyone better look out!

We still needed words for our fourth song. So we set to work on our second verse and a piece of the bridge. John is the incredible lyricist so I just kind of let him go and we bounced ideas off each other - this helps so we keep perspective of where we want the song to go. We always want to convey a complete thought and so the song is appropriately called Good Times!

I am so anxious to let everyone hear the songs, so far they are all my favorites. Really you'll understand when you hear them. So for now we'll just keep doing what we're doing and soon the music will be ready for you to download. But in the meantime I hope you will continue being faithful in your reading, listening, viewing and just being a great encouragement to us.

<3 Lizzi

Day 13 in the Studio

Now the tables turned around
Feels right just being me
I've given all I can,
There's something left for me
Youth escapes me, but wisdom is on my side

I am who I am, but not who you want me to be
The time has come, to let the dream of me be free

Dreams delayed as seasons change
Still keeps calling me
There's so much left to do
Ain't got nothin' to lose
Youth escapes me, but wisdom is on my side

Lyrics to my song 'I am who I am", it's getting so exciting in the studio. Sammy wasn't with us today, he was laid out with the stomach flu : /. Talked to him this evening and he seems to be on the upswing. So hopefully he'll join us tomorrow. We still accomplished quite a bit, today we attacked the lead and background vocals on song #2, I am who I am (I have to get used to calling these songs by their names) I had a great time in the booth. John always manages to challenge and stretch my boundaries. For instance he had me kinda sorta rap bits of the song. I thought I might have to call in Yung Rizzo for a quick lesson, but I thought of Teena Marie and how she used to attack songs. She was one of my favorite singers when I was about 20 years old. I used to play her album over and over, and I was happy to find her on Itunes. So I completed the lead and background vocals. Very proud of myself. Big Sam came in for a bit and said I sounded better than ever, I think with time I have found simpler is best, don't need all the trills and spills. Seems like I am so comfortable that it shows in my vocals.

Can't wait to see what we will be working on tomorrow. I know I need to work on lyrics for song #4 (this one doesn't have a name yet) But sometimes it's hard for me to even hear myself think. When I left the studio this evening, I came home popped a DiGiorno pizza in the oven, Senia picked up Rocky around 6:30, we loaded ourselves into the truck along with a couple of Felice's friends and went to watch a soccer game. While the kids watched I got some walking/jogging in, about 2 miles. Not bad, I'm gonna try and discipline myself to exercise a bit more, maybe not the Insanity way, but steady and consistent. Oh I almost forgot I promised Dusty when we got home we would play the game "LIFE" the 7 year old beat me. Well I know I should get to sleep (12 o clock) but my Felice just invited me to watch "Gone with the Wind" one of my all time favorite movies. Here's to almost TGIF!

<3 Lizzi

Day 12 in the Studio

Incredible, amazing day in the studio and we accomplished so much. I had been practicing with the cd's that the guys had made for me. Of course they had my scratch vocal, some parts John even sang so I could learn the melody. This made it very convenient for me to practice whenever I had time at home. I felt very confident with the lead, but I knew John would have me do background, harmonies, and add libs. This made me slightly nervous because I knew it would be on the spot (something I hadn't practiced), and I was worried that I wouldn't be able to sing the parts. As usual the guys put me at ease, they set me up in the sound booth, had me sing along with the scratch vocal I had laid down - I couldn't believe how the words just flowed out. I wasn't at all worried about remembering the lyrics, since I had practiced them thoroughly. We got a great lead vocal, then moved on to background vocals.

If I didn't have to leave to get Felice to work at 4 o'clock we would have finished the song. Oh well, tomorrow we will complete this song. And if time allows we will move on to the other song. This was a monumental moment for me, it feels like we have all put our heart and soul into this project, but I'm sure every artist feels like that. I am giving this project my all, so I celebrated this evening by eating my delicious Rocky Road candy bar. Gonna try and get a good night sleep, so I can be fresh, and ready to go tomorrow. Thank you all again for all the encouraging messages and for coming along on my amazing journey.

<3 Lizzi

Day 11 in the Studio

My but the days are flying by, hard to believe so much has been created in such a short time. It's always amazing when you see something come from nothing, and that is exactly how we started no lyrics, no music, no ideas for music. Just turned these guys loose, let them do what they do and as the late Ray Charles said "It's gonna do what it's gonna do baby" indeed it does! Samuel had worked on guitar parts for the song Get Away. We took the time to officially name the songs so instead of song 1 2 ... we have real names. Sam posted a couple of new you tube clips, feel free to scope them out and by all means rate and leave a comment. We'd love to hear from you, and if you want to get updates on our project you can follow L2L project or the Iklectics, on Twitter. John is really good about posting and updating his status, he's gonna give me official Twitter lessons. This is all so new to me but I am jumping into the whole technology social thing and I must say I like it! What an amazing way to connect and reconnect with friends, and family. I was trying to explain it to my Mama and I must say although she didn't really get it, she loved seeing all the pics.

Samuel wanted to redo some of his guitar parts today, so it was a light day for me. Mostly I just listened, and played on my iPad. I am just content to be there right in the midst of all that creativity. Well today I'm pretty pooped since I've decided to start doing a little bit of activity, so Dusty & I walked to the park, does anyone know how many calories you burn on the swings : ). It was about a mile walk and when we got home the girls came in very excited about a new exercise DVD called Insanity, boy was I in for it. I should have known just by the name right? Their lucky I didn't have a heart attack, I was breathing so hard. I think I'm gonna stick to walking and the swings. So until tomorrow....

<3 Lizzi

Day 10 in the Studio, really?

My how quickly things are moving along, our goal was to record one song a week and we are on our fourth song. Amazing right? Well it's those Iklectix, they are amazing. I can't wait to start putting the music out there so you can truly be a part of the project. Today Samuel and John continued with the musical aspect of the songs, adding, layering sounds that create an honest to goodness song. We actually had a few visitors during our session, which the guys very graciously took time to stop and chat. I am using this time to really learn the lyrics so I won't have to depend on a sheet of paper when I do my leads. If you've seen any of the live stream then you know that I'm blind as a bat without my glasses. The kids think it's a hoot that all my glasses are either broken or crooked beyond help. That's okay I'm a practical gal and I can't see spending hundreds of dollars when these still work.

I hadn't had a chance to see a couple of the YouTube videos that were posted last week, so I took some time this evening to watch, now I had heard from others that Samuel said something off color during the session. So I made it a point to listen very carefully, and there it was right during our lullaby session tsk, tsk, tsk. Let me tell you where the line originated from. My son Jeremy actually said this line to his Grandpa, when he was around 4 and G-pa around 80, so thankfully his hearing wasn't so great. We were sitting around the table just having a nice visit when Jeremy comes and taps Grandpa on the arm and says "Grandpa, Grandpa, yes Mijo...I like to make love with my boots on" What's that Mijo...again Jeremy proudly repeats the line. Grandpa couldn't hear exactly what he had said and looks at us and says "what did he say" we replied oh he said he likes to play with his boots on. Oh that's nice Mijo. The funny thing is that Jeremy has always been very quiet, and for him to be so insistent on saying that was really funny, and kind of disturbing, where did he get that from, we to this day have no idea. Kids do say the darndest things don't they? I really believe God gave us children to keep us humble, because they always say it like it is, bless their little hearts. So when you watch the YouTube video you'll hear Sammy say the line to Rudy.

Tuesday we'll see what happens, maybe I'll sing lead vocals or maybe I'll sit quietly on my iPad while they work on the music. Whatever happens, it's all good, and one thing is for sure, we have a great time. Hope to see you tomorrow, or shall I say you see us tomorrow.

Until then, <3 Lizzi

Saturday

I love Saturdays, it's a catch up day, a fun day, and really an anything you want it to be day. I had a couple of things that I knew I absolutely had to do. Started the day with my coffee and toast in bed. My Hubby is really good about making sure I get my caffeine fix, since he's seen me suffer severe headaches if I wait too long to have my coffee. He came and sat with me while I shopped on ITunes for some new music. Today Michael Buble really caught my attention and I bought about eight of his songs. I also tried to revisit the past and listened to some Teena Marie, yes she was my favorite. Portugese love, I used to have her record and would play it over and over. I'm gonna hip you to the T, what's the T, now you know that's me! We had fun with that for awhile, then it was time to get up and atom. I cleaned out the refrigerator, made some delicious spaghetti for lunch. Rode my bike around the gazebo a few times, I'm still a little shaky turning, stopping, and starting, so I figure if I can do it in the backyard, then on a straight path it would be a cinch. I dropped Felice off at work, and from there met Sam at the studio to do a summary interview of this past week. I've gotta say I was pretty disappointed when I saw how big I looked on camera, turns out Sam had a wide angle lens on the cameras...rude! Hopefully I'll look way slimmer from now on. Last week I had sent a text to Rudy (the audio/video tech) "Do you think there's a way besides a diet that could make me look thinner?Seriously". Anyway, now that that's taken care of : ) I went in, put on my make- up, was mic'd up, planted in the chair, bright lights, asked a few questions, and again totally out of my comfort zone. Did it, then made it to Cathedral of Faith for their guest speaker Bruce Wilkinson. Fabulous teaching, very practical, applicable lessons.

My must do today, visit my Mama. My week was so busy that I had missed spending time with her. So I picked up some tacos, and enchiladas (her favorites) so we could visit and chat. I showed her my Ipad, which she was totally amazed by. We enjoyed going through the family profile photos. She saw most her grandchildren without even leaving the house. We had a very nice time, and of course like all Mom's do, sent me home with a bag of peaches, freshly picked from her tree. I love that about my Mama, she never let's me leave empty handed.

Well look out for the summary clip of Week 2 and there's quite a few other clips on YouTube. My incredibly intelligent husband found a way to increase our viewer capacity, so hopefully that will all come together this week so we can all be in the same place at the same time. Isn't technology great - I love technology! I think so, me and Napoleon Dynamite or was it his brother? Anyway, have a great Sunday, and I'll see you again on Monday.

<3 Lizzi