Officially Engaged!

My delicious hubby (to be) asked me to marry him while we were on vacation.
It's a whole story, that I don't have time to share... (break's over)
But I'll tell you some time when I see you. (then I can also show my beautiful ring that goes with it).

As for when the big day is.... not any time soon.
We're talking years from now.
We both desire our little one to be aware of what's going on, be able to show of her cute little dress, and verbally share her opinions of the day.

So no hurries...

Oeh... I'm late... gotta go..

Thoughts on life....

Oeh,
Just got back from Greece (Kos), and read a lot of good books there.
One of them was 'The Witch of Portobello' and Paulo once again had me hooked.
But the one that left a bigger impression was 'One' from Richard Bach.
My Saggi/Horse collegue once advised me to read it, and so I bought it a while a go.
It's great. It's not so much the contence as it is the concept.
It discribes the matrix of different worlds all co-exsiting 'now'. It's done in a novel type way and it got me thinking about the world we live in at the moment.
A lot of people say that things in general are getting worse. And 'terror' is being spread all around to imply that these people are right. But some how I don't believe it anymore. I think we are doing a lot better. It seems like Humanity is rediscovering it's mind. In the past there have been 'genious' ' that influenced our thinking, but now it seems the doors are opening to all of us.
There's a lot of distrust towards different cultures and different parts of the world. But if you think about it, how long have we known these other cultures? In the past there was a lot of civil war in the now so called developed countries, but now we're learning to understand each other.
Wars within the West has now shifted to West vs. East wars. The west among each other are getting along a lot better now... 'we know what we can expect from our neighbour'...
Somehow I think we'll one day 'know what to expect from the East' and the whole 'terror-campaign' will fail to work.
I saw a film last night 'Mighty Heart'. Great film. It taught me a very valuable thing.
Where ever there is conflict, there will be 'terrorists', people that feed on the conflict and exploit it in various ways. I've never heard a better definition of the word. It's become clear to me who I consider a terrorist, and what the word means.
It also combined with this new look I have on wars, has given me the reasurence that it can't go on forever. At some point I expect a solution, new understanding, harmony, peace....
Nice thought.
I'd love to say more about the book One, cause I didn't really go in to it (kinda side tracked) but that will have to wait till some other time.
My break's over :(

www.ratje.kindjeopkomst.nl

Oh Yeah,

Coming tuesday I'm six months pregnant! And DeeDee won't stop moving!
It's a crazy (new) feeling that there is constant movement inside you.
My Cancer-Ox collegue can't get over the 'alien' idea of having something grow within you.
It never bothered me before, but I'm starting to feel the weirdness of it now.

I've started a website for her (it's in Dutch):
www.ratje.kindjeopkomst.nl
I tried DeeDee in the name, but that was already taken. Funnily enough ratje was stil available. Guess no-one wants to cal their baby-site 'little rat'... understandable.
It's only cause D will be born in the rat year, and I love the characteristics of 'the chinese rat' that I decided to make it her site name.
I could have done her 'official' name, but it seemed so boring.

I've also started her very first baby book.
I've decorated quite a few pages with pictures and stickers and a little story around it all...
If she turns out to be a boy after all, I'll just have to write a big OEPS on the next blank page and continue the book for a boy. Kinda funny if your baby book so obviously reveals that your parents had your sex wrong.

Oeh, gotta get back to work...
X
Nyj.....

I'm terrible

That's 4 months ago...

Today I decided to check out blogs of friends, and ended up checking my own....
I'm terrible...
So now, even though I don't have a real subject, I just decided to jot down whats on my mind these days.... anything.... 4 months... that's really bad...

Ok, nr. 1 I'm pregnant!!! Yes, this is a really good thing. What is even better is that I haven't had any scary cramps or other unpleasant feelings in my basketball, apart from nausia... for some reason that won't stop. But as that's not a bad thing, I'm happily keeping my fingers crossed and enjoying every odd little movement or thump that I feel.

I've been preforming a lot this last month, unfortunately that also meant many late nights, and midnight drophomes by either my hubby, my agent or the Sweet Lake City Taxi Cab.
I was so busy that I missed all the Aries birthdays... (Sister S, Sister Z, Big Bro D, Little friend N, Big friend R) Sorry!!!
Last night was one of the last late escapades, it didn't need to be, but when traveling back from a gig in Nijmegen, there was a hold up in Utrecht. The train was on time and could have left, but NS decided to wait for some passengers that came from Brussels and 'needed' to catch this train to get to The Hague. This meant a 10 minute delay, causing me to miss the last train in Gouda to take me to Sweet Lake City.... When I found out that I'd missed the train I burst into tears. I was soooooo angry!
So the conducter tried to calm me. He told me to take the train to the Hague and on the way he'd arrange for the train to stop in Sweet Lake (there were more people that were stuck due to the 10 minute delay). In the end he was unable to stop the train, so he arranged a cab to pick us up at The Hague and drive us back to Sweet Lake. By the time I got home it was 2 AM, but the cabby brought me to my door, which was sweet.

I'd continue sharing, but my breaks over....
Time to get back to my bookies...
I love my job...

Happy New Year!

(I'me sure ninty percent of the first blogs in 2008 have a similar title, but never the less I sinscerely wish to everyone)

Soooooooo,
I've seen about 3 music dvd's since the year began. (U2, Christina Aguilera and Destiny's Child). I think someone's sending me a message :D
I do have some big themes for 2008 and music is one of them. I don't like the words 'new year's resolutions' cause they are somehow linked in my head to 'only lasted a week or so'.
But I do have a process I go through every year.
Somewhere around November I become very critical of my life and spend the whole month thinking how I want to fashion my future. In December I have a few similar moments but usually I'm too busy with Christmas and all that goes with it. Yet after Christmas I start to make concrete plans for the new year and on the last day I write them down.
So today (on my birthday) I have many plans for this year.
One is to dress a little more feminine. It's not that I dislike feminine clothes, but I like to 'hide' in wide jumpers and messy jeans with Crocs on. Not only that but I've buit up a fobia for the summer due to all the unflattering and styleless comments one gets the moment you don't 'hide in wide clothing'.
Well, this year I have decided to 'get over it'. I love looking good too much to not do it for a life time for fear hoochie-cootchie remarks that foolish and often distastefull men can not seem to keep to themselves.

It's a new dawn... it's a new day... it's a new year.... for me, and I'm feeling GOOD.

PS: this is only one of my plans, I'd love to share more, but I need to do a little shopping for my hubby before my break is over.... so I guess more will folow next time.

Officially a Jazz Singer

I DID IT!!!!!I DID IT!!!!!I DID IT!!!!!I DID IT!!!!!I DID IT!!!!!I DID IT!!!!!I DID IT!!!!!I DID IT!!!!!I DID IT!!!!!I DID IT!!!!!I DID IT!!!!!I DID IT!!!!!I DID IT!!!!!I DID IT!!!!!I DID IT!!!!!I DID IT!!!!!I DID IT!!!!!I DID IT!!!!!I DID IT!!!!!I DID IT!!!!!I DID IT!!!!!I DID IT!!!!!I DID IT!!!!!I DID IT!!!!!I DID IT!!!!!I DID IT!!!!!I DID IT!!!!!I DID IT!!!!!I DID IT!!!!!I DID IT!!!!!

I am sooooo relieved & so happy! But let me start from the begining.
3 weeks ago my booking agent called me up. A potential client had seen me perform and wanted to book 'Lady Grey' for the 21 of December with a Jazz Combo. Now booking The Lady Grey act is no problem, but I didn't have a Jazz Combo. Still, my agent confidently told the client that it would be no problem to book Lady Grey with Jazz Combo for the 21st of December if she was was not committed elsewere. So Carola (my booking agent) calls me up and asks me if I'm free the 21st (I was) then ever so carefully adds that I've been booked with a Jazz Combo. We both new I didn't a Jazz Combo, and after a streched silence in which I wondered how on earth was I going to get a Jazz Combo together in 3 weeks to play at this gig (at that time I thought it would be a gig of an hour.... little did I know...), I let her know we'd arrange it some how.
So I started calling all the people I wanted to work with, that liked Jazz and would enjoy the gig, but EVERYONE was busy, no one could make it. Then I got nervous. this meant I had to go up a notch... I had a few people I could call, but these were astablished guys. I knew I could call them if I'd do my own thing, but for a cover gig I wasn't sure. I started with the easiest aproachable person, Richard Heijerman. His a drummer I worked with in the Blues Brothers. He plays a lot and is very good, but still easy going. I called him, and he was all for it. Then I let him know who else I intended to call. See the threshold wasn't only the fact that I looked up to these people, but that they had to know Jazz. A few people in a jazz setting would turn it in to rock or soul and loose the Jazzy feeling I needed to create. I had a bass player in mind the only one I know that plays a Doublebass, turns out Rich plays with him all the time, so I called him. He loved the idea! He also recomended a piano guy he loved playing with who loves Jazz, so my Combo was together. After that I had to break the news to them that it was 3x40 minutes and not just an hour, but they didn't mind (too much).
Seeing as 3x40 is a lot of songs, I wanted to make it as easy for them as possible, so I made a list of every Jazz song I had on CD and sent it to them saying: "I can sing this, let me know of these songs what you can play, and we'll take it from there. Turns out they knew about 33 songs on my list, so they were set. I sent them the songs on a CD as an extra refrence and added al the sheets that I had too. Then the learning began. By the time I had every thing aranged, I had 4 days to learn 33 songs. Fortunately I'd selected songs that I always liked the sound of, or always wanted to be able to sing. About 7 I'd sung before but that left me 25. My hubby was an angel during these days. He must have heared my rehearsing CD a gazillion times, but he never complained. (He did at some point start drilling in the wall, but it wasn't out of frustration)
On the day itself I still had 4 songs to go, so I was working on them in the car. When I got there I felt nervous, but confident. I'd learned all the songs, so now I just hoped I wouldn't get a blackout on stage.
The guys were very supportive. I'd never met musicians that easy-going, and yet professional at the same time. The made me feel so relaxed, and they were SO GOOD!!!!
As a result, the show was teriffic. I sang so freely that I suprised myself, I even scatted on some of the songs. It was a great success all round. The piano guy (Guus) even told me he'd recognized Ella in my singing!!!!!! That blew me, cause I LOVE the way Ella sings. I think I've never sung better Jazz in my life. So I now officially regard myself a Jazz Singer. And it feels sooooo goood!!!!!!

Happy Joy Joy Moments...

1) It's official, I need not have an operation (no 6 weeks doing nothing with heavy belly pains)
2) It's official, We have the key to our new home. We started moving yesterday (Little things)... It looks really cozy already...
3) It's official, My Hubby's a reader... Terry Goodkind tickled his fancy, so now he's reading his first fantasy series... If it's good, I'll start it in English too, so we can chat about it before going to bed.
4) It's official, 'The Secret' has grabbed and changed more lives within my family than just my own.... I'm not the sole believer in the 'Law of attraction'.
5) It's official, my little brother will be the opening act of GOLDEN EARING!!!!!!! on the 15th of december. Unfortunately I have a gig myself that day, and can not be there to make pictures and support him, but I'm Sooooooooooooooooooooo proud!!!

:)