Kick Off Your Shoes, Take Off The Blues And Come To Me....

Wow, what a great little vacay I had. I have a smile on my face, I'm calm, relaxed and that heaviness/tightness in my chest has almost completely disappeared. It goes to show you what time off, good friends, music and laughs can do.

A bunch of little things didn't go my way the day of the Foreign Exchange show that I won't really get into. The main thing that really upset me was that we got to the venue really late and couldn't get a spot close to the stage to watch the show. My boy, Rosean and I were stuck at the back which meant no show pics or videos for me and I had so many people counting on me for that. I'm still salty about that. The show itself was truly, truly amazing. I was in awe most of the time...it didn't matter that I knew a few of the people on stage (Zo and Tay) including a close friend (Darien), I was a total fan that night. My favorite moment of the night was seeing Darien perform, Come Around. That song was the first song of Darien's I had heard and I immediately fell in love with that track. This was the first time seeing him perform it live. I have a hard time explaining how it made me feel. I even had trouble telling Darien when I told him on the phone. All I could say is that it gave me goosebumps, it almost made me feel emotional. It made me even more upset that I didn't get to film it. Luckily, someone did and posted it on youtube...I'll include the clip here later.

After the show, it was time to meet up with them. First, I met Zo who is a very talented musician and producer. He was playing the keys that night. We had never met in person but I think we've been talking online for at least a year. It was so good to finally meet him. Then, I ran to Duane Powell. Duane is a internet radio personality and we have a bunch of friends in common. We msged each other on Facebook a few times. Duane had the honor of bringing FE to the stage. I was a lil' shy in approaching cuz I'm always afraid someone's not gonna remember me. When I introduced myself, he gave me a big hug and he is such a sweetie! He started to introduce me to some folks sayin', "This is my friend, Lady Vee from Canada!" I was a lil' shy and embarressed but happy nonetheless. After that, I saw Tay who was funny and cool as always. I introduced Rosean to him and I was happy I could do that cuz I know Ro's a huge fan of Phonte's. I got meet Yahzarah for the first time. She was such a sweetie and I was floored cuz when I introduced myself, she actually remembered me as one of her first facebook friends! LoL! I got her to sign my CD but unfortunately didn't get a pick with her cuz we really got to talking and forgot! After looking for him for a long while, I finally found Darien. For some reason I had trouble finding him and of course, he was standing at a spot that I didn't look. It didn't help that he was standing next to a pillar and I couldn't see him! It was really good to see Darien. We just talked for a bit, he asked about my mom which was really sweet. I introduced D to Rosean and Ro made me tell D that he was responsible for me finding him. See when I first saw LB and Darien, I wasn't too familiar with them. My cousin, Jojo took me to see a Fort Minor concert and LB happened to be opening for them. That was the 1st time I heard D sing and immediately called Ro to find out, "Who's that dude that sings with Little Brother?" Lol. Ro told me and suggested to join myspace and hit Darien up there...and the rest is history! Wow, that was in 2006! Damn! So we took some pics together...I ended up taking 2 cuz I thought I was blinking in the 1st one. D's pic with Ro is funny cuz Darien tip toed to get closer in height with Ro who's about 6'9! Last but not least, I met Nicolay. It was an honor to meet him. He's such a great guy. Wow, he's a tall dude too..about 6'8. When I told him where I was from, he told me that he wants to come to Toronto and told him he should! I hope they do!
The show was clearly the highlight of my time out in Chicago but I had a lot of fun hanging with Rosean too. I even managed to get some shopping done! (Two Coach purses! lol...I'm hooked! I admit, I have a purse problem!!) Thanks Ro! xoxo

My favorite moment of the show...Seeing my boy singing one of my MOST favorite songs live! (Don't forget to pause the MP3 player at the top right!)



Me & the homie, Zo!



Ro & I with Phonte





Darien & I Take 1



Darien & I Take 2



Darien tip toeing, trying to be as tall as Ro! LoL!



Ro & I with Nicolay





I'm so proud that my Foreign Exchange CD is fully autographed! So proud I'm posting pics of it! LOL!

Phonte & Nicolay



Yahzarah



Darien

Mama Updates

I haven't written in a really long time. Haven't felt much like writing or doing anything for that matter. So much has been going on in my world that I don’t have time or energy to do a lot of things that I want to do. I usually do a blog in the New Year summarizing the year that passed, hopefully I’ll do that soon so until then that is postponed or I may not do it at all.

2009 hasn’t started off very well. Last entry, I mentioned that my mom was going through investigations for cancer. We found out that the small node she has in her right lung did in fact show cancer. She was to go through a bunch of tests to find out if it had spread anywhere else before proceeding to surgery to have it removed. If everything else was clear, she would have surgery to remove part of her right lung. A few days before the surgery date, she had minor day surgery which unfortunately showed some more cancer cells on the left side in one of her lymph nodes. She also had a low oxygen count when she was done surgery so they decided to keep her overnight and was discharged from hospital the next day. We had an appointment with a specialist to discuss radiation and chemotherapy shortly after that. They want to do a few more tests and have her heal from the minor surgery which left her with an incision in her chest. As of now, the plan is to proceed with just radiation in a few weeks time. I think they've finally made a decision not to go with chemo. Through all these investigations, we found out mama's kidney function was borderline normal and the oncologist is worried about it. His basic words were, "Sure, we have a better chance of curing the cancer if we do both but, what's the point if it makes you go on dialysis? You'll lose your quality of life." and I totally understand that. Our family still has hope but it’s a little tainted at times. Mom’s not taking it very well either which is understandable. For the longest while, she’s been a very nervous person but this has affected her a great deal and has gone quite extreme. I’m trying my damnedest to keep positive and strong but I’m struggling. I never can get enough sleep these days and my mind is working over drive with worry and ‘what if’ situations. Thank goodness for the friends I have, both near and far, for being there for me and giving support.

I did have a little something to look forward to through all this. I decided to go back to Chicago for a short trip. Since December, I had been planning to go to Houston to visit to some girlfriends I have there. Unfortunately, the prices went up way more than my budget when I was ready to book so I postponed it. Then I was talking to Rosean and we spoke about an upcoming show that Foreign Exchange has in Chicago. I was encouraging Rosean to go because not only would he be able to see Phonte and Nicolay live but also Yahzarah, Zo and Darien would be there. Then it hit me, I wondered how much it would cost to go there myself. When I checked it out, I was able to get a flight and a 3 star hotel right smack downtown for under $450! Once I confirmed a few things, I booked it. Although I was pretty excited to go away, spend time with Ro and see Darien etc., I’m also torn with what’s going on at home. A part of me doesn’t want to leave mom and the other part knows that it would be good for me to get away for a bit. All of my friends say that it would be good for my sanity, to de-stress and all that. Good music and laughs would do me good, they’ve told me that and I know that too. My sister even said, “Vee, it’s just a long weekend. It’s no big deal.” When I felt excited about it, I felt guilty for feeling excited when my mom is struggling at this time. *sigh*

Thanks to all that have sent me messages and calls checking up on me and my fam. Also, thanks for the prayers, they are greatly appreciated…keep them coming!

Here’s hoping 2009 gets better for me and my fam and you all have a great year!