CMA Awards

Tonight is the much anticipated CMA awards hosted by Brooks and Dunn. And I hope to be leaving work early enough to not get stuck in too much traffic. The preshow starts around 6:30pm, and the actual show at 7. They're being hosted at the Gaylord Entertainment Center, which is only two blocks from where I work. I normally drive up 5th Street to head to the office, but today it was blocked off by police officers and the red carpet. It was kinda cool to see it being set up after watching it on TV for so many years. Our friend Jeff Batson is going tonight and taking his girlfriend Lindsey. Must be nice to afford tickets at $500 a pop!! Jason has already been seeing some of the celebrities here in town for the show. On Saturday night Jon Bon Jovi came into Mortons for dinner and on Sunday he told me that Kenny Chesney and George Strait had reservations for dinner. Jason was off last night, and we almost went into Mortons for dinner, but decided to have pizza at the Mellow Mushroom instead. Kati, you still breathing? :-) But we do plan on watching the Awards show from the comfort of our home and we've invited a few friends over to hang out with us.

It was a great weekend hanging with the hubby. We looked online for a cabin to rent in the Smoky Mountains over Christmas. We also checked out the local farmers market yesterday - yah, not so much. I had in my mind Pike Place, and it was more like a glorified garage sale. We still had a great time though and after pizza, we stopped at Starbucks and went to Target to buy some fun things for the apartment and then headed home to watch a disney flick - Eight Below. I don't recommend it - I cried and not just a few glistening tears either, like weepy crying. So much for staying safe with Disney. I also finished a puzzle that was started back when my inlaws were in town. I'm noticing a pattern here. They visit - we start a puzzle together - they leave - and Kim obsesses over finishing it. Not to long ago, my husband looks over at me and says, "you really are a grandma aren't you?" No comment. Wickie..wickie..wickie. They don't call me Grandma Scribbles for nothin.

A little update for those of you who don't know. A week ago, Jason and I had the opportunity to meet Billy Currington. He was having dinner at Mortons of course, and when I came to pick up Jason from work, I had brought a CD with me of a few of Jason's best songs. I walked over to Billy's table where Jason was talking with him and his girlfriend and Billy introduced himself. Girls, he's not as cute in person. We gave the CD to Billy and three days later (last Wednesday), Billy was at Big Yellow Dog Music publishing company, when the general partner and manager, Carla Wallace asked Billy if he had heard of any new writers. Billy remembered Jason's CD and retrieved it from his car and he and Carla listened to it. On Wednesday afternoon Jason got a call from Carla asking to meet with her on Thursday. They had their meeting and it seemed to go well. Jason brought a few more songs with him and she really liked some of what he's written. So where do we go from here? Carla has asked Jason to drop by some more of his music by her office and she would like to get to know him a bit better to see what he's about and more of his style. This is encouraging. What I'm learning from this music business, is you have to choose to see God in every circumstance and how He might be working in it. Here's where you come in. You all know Jason and how incredibly hard-working, dedicated and passionate he is about songwriting. Pray that God would show His favor in this situation and if it be God's will, that Jason would be offered a publishing/writing deal. One very exiciting and encouraging thing that we learned from this meeting was that when Carla pulled out the CD of Jason's music during their meeting, it was not the same CD Jason gave to BIlly. Billy had kept his copy and they made a seperate copy for Carla. Carla also told Jason that Billy really liked Right Where We Belong a whole lot. He should be starting on his next album in January, so it wouldn't be surprising if he was already looking for songs. AGAIN, pray for favor. This one divine appointment could possibly have two very significant outcomes. Either way, even if nothing comes of it, just knowing that this top executive at Big Yellow Dog wants to get to know Jason better and that Billy Currington really likes Jason's song is extremely encouraging. After all, we all know Right Where We Belong is a hit, its all just a matter of time.