One of the fun things about working in radio is the events I get to go to; and some I get paid to go to! At the end of November, I was asked to work at the Dylan Scott concert. The best part was that I could bring a guest with me. I was stoked to be able to bring my friend, Jane, with me. I was tasked with bringing the station van there, hand out posters, play music, and get folks HYPED to be there. Note: I made the posters we handed out. Jane met me at the office, we grabbed a bite to eat, then we went to the venue. I don’t know if the guests were hyped, but Jane and I definitely were.

When we got there, people were already lined up at the door with their tickets. We started playing music out of the van and gathered our posters to hand out. I think the people were a little confused at first as to who we were and why we were handing them things. It was awkward at first. After a few rounds of handing out posters, my boss, Jon, showed up. He grabbed a stack of posters and started handing them out as well. He didn’t give them a choice. He was pushing them! I took by his example and started practically throwing the posters at people. By the time the show doors opened, we were flying through the stack of posters. It was great seeing people get so excited about the show as the time got closer. I went up to the box office to get our tickets. Turns out, we also got access for the Meet and Greet! The excitement only grew. Once all the posters were gone, we packed and locked up the van. It was show time!

Jane and I headed in to enjoy the show. There is something about entering the venue that is indescribable. The excitement and nerves rolled into one; it’s exhilarating. We walked around and grabbed some soda while the opening acts started. It’s tough finding “just the right spot” in a venue like that. Finally, we made our way up to the balcony and found some seats in a great area. The show was incredible! The musicians did a fantastic job, the lights were so cool.

During one of the earlier songs, everyone was holding up the posters and Dylan noticed. After the song ended, one of them was handed to him on stage. Someone had changed the I to MILFS so the poster read, “MILFS ❤ Dylan!” It was so funny and I was so honored to see him holding one of the posters that I made!

When the show was over, we made our way down to the Meet and Greet line. The rules were a bit strict which was kind of a bummer, but we understood why they have to do it that way. We were able to get one item signed and get a professional photo taken. Jane had Dylan sign one of the posters and I had him sign my station hat. I got a chance to tell him I made the posters and he thanked me for doing it!

Here are some pictures from that night:

It’s rare these days I get to make music with other people. I spend a lot of time recording and editing by myself. Don’t get me wrong, I enjoy it. But it gets a bit lonesome. Before we went our separate directions, David Hansen, David Young, and I got to make music together all the time; weekly at a minimum. Piano Dave would give us so many musical challenges. I’m grateful to him for the skills and knowledge I have now.

One of our biggest musical obstacles was a jazz version of His Eye is on the Sparrow. This song came with struggles and labor that I hadn’t experienced before. It tested my range, endurance, and understanding of music all together. It was a peak for me for sure. However, through all of the hard work of making this song come to life, it was so wonderful being able to create something so incredible with these guys. I miss these days.

The Davids and I performed His Eye is on the Sparrow on Easter Sunday in 2016 and I want to bring it back for those who didn’t see it. Thank you for watching and Happy Easter!

If you’re a member of Faith Lutheran Church, you’re no stranger to this song. In fact, if you’ve ever been to our events, you’ve probably heard us sing it more than once. This song is so much fun with a group of voices, it’s hard to live up to it by myself. Since I can’t exactly mimic everybody’s individual voices, here’s my very different rendition.

My best friend, Ashley, commented on a Facebook post I made a while back. I was asking for suggestions on things to write. She wrote about how she had to write a haiku for a school assignment back years back. In my personal opinion, a haiku is not long enough to tell a story. Here are six haikus to tell you my feelings on broccoli.

My love for Anna Kendrick is no secret. Her voice is so beautiful and it’s an honor to sing anything she ever has. I had the honor of watching Trolls, several times, with Tommas’ little sister, Samantha. Admitedly, this song has given me such a hassle. I don’t know what my problem is, haha. I changed keys, registers, harmony patterns, it just wasn’t working. I would like to revisit this again sometimes, as I do not feel like this was the best I could do. True Colors has been covered and stylized in many different ways, but here’s my take on it!

I’m realizing this has been sitting in my drafts for over a month. I was scared to post it and I don’t know why. This page is about improvements, right? This is not my best work, but certainly not my worst. From the vault, here is True Colors.

It’s so hard to believe I posted my virtual concert a year ago today! What an adventure this past year has been. So much has changed. There have been lots of great experiences and some not so great.

I loved making this video so much. It took so much time, but it was the project that got me excited about music again. Hiding away in my closet and singing was such a comfort. It was also so much fun. As many know, I also loved the editing process.

Thank you to everyone who watched this back then and to everyone who checks it out again. FYI, if you want to support me, but don’t feel like sitting down for the full video, just leave it running in the background, haha. Click HERE to watch!

I hope everyone gets a chance to have a slice of pie today!

Back in 2020, my friend, Jane, and I took a crazy road trip from Maine to Minnesota with four dogs! Two of them were eight week old puppies and the other two were Jane’s older dogs. I don’t think we had any idea what we were getting ourselves into when we starting to plan this journey. It was an experience I don’t think either of us will forget. Travelling that far is exciting on its own, but adding four dogs to the equation; what a crazy time! It’s hard to remember everything that happened since it was over three years ago. Here are some key moments.

We stayed at a hotel in Madison, WI. We were right around the block from the Capitol Building. It was late at night when we arrived, but that city had some incredible views. The streets were lit up with beautiful colors. When we checked into the hotel, we told them we had a service dog with us. That was not 100% true. We had four dogs with us; none of them service dogs. We sneaked the dogs in through the back door from the parking garage. Eventually, we did have to take them outside to use the bathroom. We got into the groove of this routine after a while, but it was still tricky and definitely not sneaky. We took the elevator downstairs and had to go through the lobby to get outside. It was nerve wracking because we knew we weren’t supposed to have them there. The receptionist saw us walk past and was so excited. She came over to pet the dogs, of course. She was so kind and kept our secret. We were super grateful for that.

I asked Jane for a few quotes about the trip. Here are some things she mentioned!

“My favorite part of the trip was when Kole stole your Sonic burger. Lol,” Jane wrote. Kole was one of the puppies on our trip. We went to Sonic, Jane’s first time there. We ordered our food at the stall and parked to eat in the car so we could quickly get back on the road. I unwrapped my burger and set it on my lap. As I was putting my straw in my cup, Kole jumped over the seat, grabs the top bun off of my burger, then jumps back. He moved so fast, it took me a moment to even realized what happened. Jane and I laughed so hard.

During the first part of our travel week, we stayed at hotels. The big dogs got comfy pretty fast, as it had been long days for all of us. The puppies, however, we ready to play. They would lay in one spot for a few minutes, then get up to go to another. Jane said, “they would run back and forth on the beds by crossing the nightstands.” I’m pretty sure they thought the floor was for suckers.

Since we had four dogs with us, getting exercise on this trip was important. There were lots of rest stops, but they had to be on leash there. Jane wrote, “I loved finding and going to different dog parks.” We must have gone to about five or six dog parks. There were all quite different. We found one in Syracuse that was completely empty, besides one other lady and her one dog. She knows what she’s doing. In Gary, Indiana, we found a park that was so full of dogs. We were there on Halloween and some folks, including us and our dogs, were in costume. It was adorable.

There were many new experiences I got to have on this trip. I went through three new states, saw bodies of water I hadn’t seen before. While in Minnesota, I even got to dip my toes into Lake Superior. Since it was late October, it was freezing cold, but so worth it.

Thank you, Jane, for inviting me on such a special adventure. There were some frustrating moments for all of us, I think. But it was such a blast and gave me new experiences. Here are some photos from that trip! Photos were taken by Jane or me.

Sound of Silence is another song that has appeared many times in my life. I’ve been hearing it for ages and another one I’ve gotten to sing many times. Luckily, it’s one of Tommas’ favorites, so he doesn’t get too sick of hearing it.

Throughout this song, there are certainly parts of it that feel uncomfortable. The instruments sound warped. The vocals jump around. That’s partially intentional. Sound of Silence is a song that is supposed to make you think. It’s supposed to make you uncomfortable. The idea of the song is to get you to pay attention to parts you might not usually think about. Battling bronchitis is a great time to use this a coverup, so like I said; partially intentional.

Here is the latest cover!

My best friend, Amelya, is graduating with her Master’s Degree in May of 2024. She asked if I would make her graduation party invitations for her. As somebody who’s known her for almost 20 years, I can safely say that she is quite particular so I knew this would be a great graphical challenge. I gave her a few options and asked what particular elements she wanted. After a lot of back and forth, this is the final design we came up with.

Personal contact information has been blurred out for the privacy of the event hosts.