It's Cold. Time for Another Dance Party!

You guys may have caught on by now that I routinely have dance/singing party's in my room. I used to do these alone by myself just for fun when bored or feeling kinda down from a hard day/week/month. Now I record them and you get a tiny little glimpse into my world as a hibernating female, by day pretending to be a responsible legal professional and by night moonlighting in my own one woman show live (or not so live) from my tiny apartment in Hamilton Ontario. It's a lonely life really, but who better to share it with than Beyoncé? A long overdue tribute to my favourite diva - monologue and all (lol), below you will find my cover for Ego.

Thanks for watching and as always,

Thanks for the support!

Help! Low notes are hard...

**HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!**

I am so excited about this year and about leaving all of those yucky old negative things behind in 2013 - it's gonna be a good one.

Speaking of the new year, some of you may or may not have noticed that I did not in fact post a video of Jessie J's Who You Are which was the task that I originally set out on in my first post here. This is because, well...simply put, I ran out of time. I was delayed by about a month by basically everything around me breaking down (read about that here if you like). If it hadn't already been obvious to me at the beginning of all this, it is certainly now clear that I CANNOT control everything and this new found acceptance has been quite liberating (I think this is the first time in my life I've actually truly believed it). While there were indeed a few emotional breakdowns along the way (as predicted), I am happy to report that none of them were about this blog or stage freight - I have you all to thank for that. Your support has been amazing and I am grateful for it everyday.  

It is with this new Laissez-faire attitude that I have decided to correspondingly post-pone my goal by a month. In the meantime, I will continue to post videos. The video below is dedicated to my friend Mandi Taylor who I solely blame for the skip in my Lauryn Hill CD (never mind that it played on repeat in my car for all three years of law school)!

Also, if my vocally knowledgeable friends could provide me with some tips on hitting those low notes with more "oomph" I would really appreciate it!

As always, thanks for the support!

We Belong Together Cover

I heard someone once say that when performing music, especially vocals, you have to pretty much not care about what you look like in order to really emote and connect with the song and, therefore, the audience. I know this to be true of myself when I play flute - my sister informed me a long time ago that I look like a "compete dork" when I'm playing. I think she was referring to my animated (and I'm sure pretty dorky) body movements and accompanying facial expressions. I never recorded myself playing so I have never actually seen this for myself - taping yourself is a whole other ballgame. I am still getting comfortable in front of the camera, but I think I've come a long way from when I started. I think it helps that I record alone in my room but I used to cringe watching playbacks in the beginning thinking "omg, do I really look like that"?! I've never thought anyone else performing looked weird. In fact, I always just thought that they were extra great because they were so into the music. It's funny the self-cringing phenomenon that occurs when you see or hear yourself for the first time (and I know I'm not alone in this), whether it be on an answering machine, tape recorder, or in my case, camcorder/YouTube/internet blog. Like I said a while back...go big or go home! 

Enjoy ma face friends :)

As always, thanks for the support!

Things Broke...but nothin' a little gusto can't fix!

Hello friends. I'm so sorry I stayed away so long. I didn't mean to and I certainly didn't want to but things broke...like my computer, and my car, and my voice (again!), and the skin on my finger tips and my long streak of maintaining a pest-free home (in case you're wondering, the roach kind of pest and I ain't talkin' Papa). It took me some time to replace/heal/annihilate all of the things that broke and then it took me some more time to figure out how to use the new things (like my brand new awesome MacBook Air), but by Jove, I think I've got it! ....or maybe I'm just close. Either way, I need to upload a ton of new things. The first of which (below) I recorded a month ago after deciding that the content of these videos had become way too gloomy and serious - it was time for a dance party...in my room, by myself, on a Saturday night, cuz I'm cool like that. As you will see, I tend to make faces and sway a lot so sorry I'm not sorry because I had fun and will probably do it again. 

Emma - out.

Seriously though, thanks for bearing with me. During my blogging absence I have received tons of calls and texts from y'all asking for updates, requesting songs and offering help and I'm so very grateful. My original goal is still in the works and I will have an update on that soon.

<3

I'd Rather Go Blind Cover

So probably NOT the best week for me to take on an Etta James song, but I had to - it was on my chalkboard list!

I am still suffering from a sore throat/persistent cough so please excuse the pitchiness...it's a result of me trying to prevent my voice from completely breaking.

I might re-do this song once I'm all better, but for now, I dedicate this to my lovely friend Brooklyn Young 'cuz what happens in Naw' 'lens stays in Naw' 'lens! :)

Thanks for all of the support!

<3

For Walter

This little song is dedicated to my love, Walter Ahmet Marr. His mommy and I used to fall asleep to this song at night, sung by the strong Herzegovinian vocals of our grandmother and the slightly tone-deaf vocals of our lovely mother. Love it. Translation below:

Sve ptičice iz gore	All the Birds from the Forest	What we thought it meant
Sve ptičice iz gore x3 Spustile se na more	All of the birds from the forest Have come down to the sea	All of the birds are on fire (Ahh! ...what the heck??!) Came down to the sea (Phew…ok, they’ll be fine. Water will save them)
Samo jedna ostala x3 Koja nam je pjevala	Only one remained She sung to us	Only one remained (guess not) She sung to us (I want to cry now)
Koja nam je pjevala x3 O nesretnoj ljubavi	She sung to us Of unrequited love	She sung to us (I can’t believe you’re making her sing. Hasn’t she been through enough??) Of unrequited love (well duh, she probably lost her one true love to the fire…poor birdie)
Zbogom ostaj moja ti Moramo se rastati Moramo se rastati Moja prva ljubavi Nosit ću te u srcu Moja mala ljubavi	Farewell my darling We must part We must part My first love I will carry you in my heart My little love	Farewell my darling We must part (What! You’re leaving her too now?) We must part My first love (you're a monster) I will carry you in my heart (so sleepy) My little lo….(zzzz)

Writing on Walls

Anybody else have a noisy head? I do! Talking talking talking...aaaaall the time. Sometimes this talking makes it hard for me to remember all of the things I need/want to get done in a day, a week, a month, etc. So after one of my typical noisy-brain-induced, therefore panic induced, emotional breakdowns, a very good (and probably severely annoyed...but in the most loving way, of course) friend suggested I write all the things in my head down on a post-it and stick it up somewhere where I’d see it every day. I liked her suggestion so much that I decided to take it up a notch. 

Massive chalkboard wall (pictured below).  

And let me tell you, it was no easy task to get over the anxiety of turning an entire wall black after an upbringing of purely beige wall decor....but I figured it was time to “go hard or go home” (thanks Emi!...good motto). For the last month, I have been having fun drawing and writing and musing so I thought I’d share with all of you in case you’d like to try a chalkboard wall – I highly recommend it.

My "in-progress" shot did not come out well. This is the finished product.
Two coats are definitely required.

The fun begins!

My fancy crown...fussed over and re-done three times and then finally left alone.

Going forward and still in pursuit of my musical goal, I have decided that I’m kicking this blog into high gear and this very attractive wall is going to help me keep organized amongst the very busy daily grind.

 I will be posting another video in a few days so stay tuned. As always, thank you all for the support! 

<3