FINALLY AN UPDATE!!!!

It is hilarious how I said I was going to keep up with this blog but I haven't! Honestly, I lost the password and couldn't get in to update it!! LOL!! so irresponsible! Anyway, SOOO much has happened between now and last year. For starters, IM ENGAGED!!!!! WOO HOO!!! Otis asked me to be his wife on his birthday, December 26, 2008! ...and OF COURSE I said YES! *sigh* if your a member of faccebook, the proposal video is on my page! It was sooo beautiful (but I look a COMPLETE MESS! Head wrapped up and the whole nine!! LMBO!!!)

So now its March and life STILL IS NOT NORMAL! Alot of industry and non industry things are pushing the events of my existence forward DAILY! Music is slow (financially) so, I've picked up teaching again! ...and, believe it or not, IM LOVING IT!! It reeealllly gives me a sense of normalcy (is that a word??) in my crazy everyday.... I substitute teach K-8 (which is decent. The kids can be a challenge at times tho) and then I teach private voice at a music store in the suburbs of Detroit.... and this is what I love. MUSIC!!! :-)

Industry stuff... *sigh* Well, we've got a few songs floating out there.... on Ciara and J Lo. Mary J is cutting a few of our records and I'm headed to NY (tomorrow actually) to do some commissioned work with Def Jam. I'm looking forward to writing great songs... and thats pretty much ALL I'm looking forward to... Its still cold in NY (like it is here in the midwest) so thats a drag... Late hours, greasy take out, no Otis.... But, don't get me wrong, I am ALWAYS grateful for the opportunity to write... it really is a blessing from JESUS CHRIST to have people who barely know you believe in your music and the gifts God has given you! I certainly don't take that type of favor lightly however, I do feel soggy about the things that come along with road travel... Unlike my sister Angela (who lives out of a suitcase and tours year after year after year AND LOVES IT!) i like home.... Oatmeal for breakfast, coffee or tea out of a mug NOT a plastic cup or thermose, hugs and kisses from my fiance WHENEVER i want them and comcast cable at my ma and dads house... which has become surprisingly comforting over the years... lol... Im so sappy.. I know... but I can't help it! Seems like the older I get the more I'm starting to realize what is a necessity for my life.... and it sucks when I have to leave those necessities behind to go away...

Now about the wedding... LOL... *sigh* so expensive, so stressful and SO on the back burner right now. We have set the date at February 27 2010. Its soooo far away because I have to assure that my publishing situation is secure before I get married, WHICHEVER way it pans out (thats a WHOLE DIFFERENT BLOG!!) and that we can afford to live comfortably for two years without a nine to five gig so we can BOTH do our music full time... In the meantime, we are having a lil Engagement shindig for our friends and family. We're hoping to get a bit of money from this party to go towards our wedding expenses as well as really have a WONDERFUL celebration with the people we love.....

So that's all folks!! :-) Consider yourselves 100% updated!! I'll hold on to my password this time so I can update more often!!!! Ciao!!

A brief mid december update

It's been awhile since I've done a blog. I've been INCREDIBLY busy. Anesha and I are in "grind camp" with Darkchild right now... So its keeping us SWAMPED!!!! Good thing we haven't had to leave in order to particpate in this years camp. Praise the Lord. We not too long ago were out in Cali with J Lo. That was fun... 3 records in with her... YES! On a dimmer note, we've been trying to recover from our ONLY ciara placement leaking. I hope her a&r picks up a few more of our records. That will help our recovery efforts. Its always hard being the "new kid on the block"... Its ok though. SOMEONE will be gutsy enough to choose us for a single as opposed to a "name" just for names' sake....
Enough about music. TOMORROW IS MY BIRTHDAY!!! I don't have much planned on my actual birthday however, alot is going on around my birthday. Last week on Thursday I WENT TO SEE BOYZ II MEN!!! OMG!!!!!!!!!!! lol... listen, you have NO IDEA how I feel about these guys but thats an entire different blog ALTOGETHER! Friday, Otis and I went to the the double six lounge to hear the Killer Flamingos. LOTS OF FUN. Saturday, we ate pizza and fell asleep on the couch. lol. Yesterday we had birthday ice cream (cold stone) and played scattergories. Today I'm hanging out with Becky and Joi... Something I havent done in FOREVER! Tomorrow, my mom and dad are cooking dinner and having cake for me. We're probably gonna play some games too. THHEEENNN the day after Christmas (Otis' Birthday) We're heading to Chicago for the weekend! This is our Birthday/Christmas gift to each other... I'm looking forward to it! :-)
So I guess thats it. Happy Birthday to me! :-) I'll blog again soon enuf!

another day.... another weekend.... lost in the shuffle....

Today is October 24th, Friday. It's 9:30am and I am awake... running on about 3 hours of sleep in a classroom full of 3rd graders... lol... needless to say, I'm pooped! I just got back from New York earlier this week. My experience there was WONDERFUL (as it always has been when I'm dealing with Chris and Shani from Warner Chappell. They always take great care of us!) We worked with J Lo. Very sweet person she is... and her twins are SO FREAKING HAPPY and cute. I guess I'd be freaking happy, too, if I were that rich! lol We are going to California next week to continue working with Jennifer. She cut 3 of our songs and has 2 more to cut in California... all in which she is keeping. I spoke with Mark Pitts yesterday (Ciara's A&R) about the status of the record we did on "Fantasy Ride". He said that they are keeping it but, he does not know if it is still contending for the single. In his words "We are pulling back and re-grouping and dropping the project next year. Hey, you never know what can happen" So, in other words, "I'm On" just may not make it to being a single... Its okay though. Shani (from Warner Chappell) has some AMAZING things lined up for us in the upcoming weeks. Chris Brown, Mary J and Keyshia Cole... IM EXCITED.... I must admit thought, I am QUITE dissapointed we missed out on Beyonce's project... Next time BEY! lol

ok ok ok enough about the industry crud (said i wasnt gonna write about that in this blog). On a personal note, I'm looking forward to this weekend. SAW V is out today and, of course, I am DRAGGING Otis to the movies to see it (eventhough he really isnt into horror flicks). I'm excited to see how long Megan Goode is gonna stay alive... I watched her in "One Missed Call"... She died in the VERY FIRST SCENE.... it sucks how these movie directors cast black "hotties" in their scream flicks to draw a more divese audience and then kill them off in the opening credits!! At least give 'em a FEW lines!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! lol.....

Anyway. On an even MORE personal note. There are a few things happening around me that are unfortunate. I can't really openly discuss them but, I will say this; its making me sad. Sometimes I really don't understand why negative things happen to people who I think don't deserve it... Especially when its someone I love so very much. *sigh* it sucks.... I'm tryin not to let these things effect my life personally but its becoming more and more difficult everyday. Pray for me guys.... "The darkest hour is just before day..."

Monday after the cruise...

HEY! Today is October the something and I'm back in Detroit... Disoriented and still on vacation in my mind... I'm dizzy and bloated and COMPLETELY dark skinned (from the hell hot sun in the Carribbean). Strange thing is, I LOVE IT! lol... I feel odd right now. "Out of Body-ish". Almost like I'm on auto pilot. Maybe I'm just that darn relaxed that "reality" just has not kicked in yet... lol. "And I thank GOD! EE BEE BEE AH SHANAMAH!! (inside joke)"
Anyway, I made some phone calls today, read some emails and wrote a song and now here I am. Sitting. Staring into the computer without a care on my mind. Oddly enough, my body is rocking back and forth and my head is still spinning from the cruise ALL LAST WEEK. I think my poor brain hasn't registered the fact that I'm BACK ON LAND. I swear I'm still dizzy like I'm on the sea. Feels like the whole room is rocking left to right. I guess my body has to "re-adjust" itself. lol
Vacation was GREAT! Like I thought, I missed Otis TERRIBLY. So many moments I wish he was there for (like when I entered the "Ms Margaritaville Booty Shaking Contest" or when I performed "Baby Got Back" at karaoke for my dads birthday or all the nights I stood on the deck and stared at the dark black sea with the warm breeze licking my skin, eyes closed Thanking God for such a great feeling... *sigh*).
Family time was SO NEEDED and very much appreciated! It was tons of fun to say the very least. We got alot of the moments on the "Flip" video recorder and OF COURSE pictures... I'm eager to post my lovely Bahamian tan on Facebook. I LOOK SO FAB!! lol
And tomorrow....? Well, reality arrives again. I'll be headed to New York for work (back down into those dang tiny airplane seats.. Humph!).. chasing placements, paper and a better life... *sigh* Hopefully my autopilot mind will remain all throughout my work week CAUSE I'M LOVING IT!!!!

Saturday B4 the cruise & my formal intro

Hey! So i was surfing online and found an OLD OLD blog that I started back in 2005 when I was "AnteaJoy" on WMUZ for "Joy and Jones in the Morning". If you DON'T know what that is, that was when i was a RADIO HOST/DJ at a gospel radio station in my hometown, Detroit. Anyway, I thougt it was pretty cool...eventhough I only did ONE entry and never returned back to it again. So, I'm deciding to start it up once more. An online journal so to speak. This blog won't be about industry gossip, who I'm working with right now or Aplus. This is all going to be about me. My brain. My heart. My life... from the inside. :-) ......................Here we go!

Today is October 4th, 2008. Its Saturday. 4pm and I am STILL IN BED. Sitting here with my computer on my lap, procrastinating (what I do BEST lol. j/k). On Monday morning, I am boarding a plane with my mom and dad and Anesha and heading to Miami to board a ship for a week long cruise. Fun! I am looking forward to it however, its odd these underlying feelings I have. Hang ups I guess. Worries. For one, the airplane seat. ALWAYS TOO SMALL for my 54 inch hips (yea... thats right... might even be bigger now...). I feel so bad for whomever is forced to squeeze down next to my hips and be smashed for the whole ride... terribly embarrassing.... Second, the cruise aftermath. Since I'm such a fastforward thinker, I have skipped past the crusie and I'm thinking about the FOLLWING Monday morning when Ill be squeezing BACK down into an airplane seat as "Antea from APLUS" heading to New york for work having gained these "cruise 7lbs" everyone keeps warning me of... as if I'm not big enough already.... *sigh*
And then there's Otis. Oh Otis. Leaving him here.... My dad wants him to stay at their house with the dog and "house/dog sit".... I really wish he was going to be with me next week. Sippin umbrella drinks, sand in our toes, cuddled up on a beach somewhere in Grand Turks... *sigh* So, needless to say (but I'm saying it anyway), this is a bittersweet vacation.... Good thing i have sexy/comfy sundresses for everyday of the week. At least I'll feel sexy and thats ALWAYS a plus in my world... I'll post pics! Ciao!
~antea