279/365

I'd like to present "Giver & The Gift: pt 2".

278/365

Some days you just need to tell the music business go fly a kite. In a song, of course. That you will eventually turn in. To a publisher. In the music business.

It's like I can't really remember what started the whole thing, but somehow in our conversation we decided that we are not going to settle for letting some suit behind a desk decide if we are special or not. We already are.

277/365

So I drove four hours to Kansas City, flew to St. Louis, sat for 3 hours, flew to Nashville, drove straight to the party to see Lindsey's song on "Brothers & Sisters".....and then the screen switched to a tornado warning. [clarification- Matthew Perryman Jones (no relation) singing Lindsey's song]

Don't even get me started on how disappointed I was. But thankfully someone in another state facetimed the show through their iPhone so that they could see their first sync license come to life! I am so proud of my girl, Lindsey. She was writing songs long before I was and she has never. given. up.

276/365

Part of why I'm "one of the guys". Because this is my reality. Typical. Galyon. Saturday. Afternoon.

275/365

If only I had known that I could be a songwriter when I was 9. Cooper leaked his first song to us today on the front porch. This is called "Superman". Watch out Biebs. C-Pain is ready to put the hurt on ya.

274/365

It was supposed to thunderstorm. It didn't. Hoisington was supposed to kill us. They didn't. They weren't supposed to have crunch cones at DQ. They DID! Thank God for the unexpected. It was truly a great night all around and well worth the long flight to Tulsa and the long drive to Sterling, then the long drive to Hoisington. I had to stop screaming in the middle of the 2nd quarter for fear I might lose my singing voice for tomorrow night's fundraiser. I think that this is a sign that Sterling needs to get astroturf on their field. Anyone?

273/365

"So this is what it feels like to hang with the cool kids."-mom

Just trying to be a good daughter here and give my mom a good birthday. I think Josh Kelley's birthday serenade and hanging on Miranda Lambert's airstream sufficed. If not, I'm running out of cards to play.

272/365

Nerves of steel, baby. That's what it takes to sit through a 3 hour song meeting with your [big, bad, mean] publisher. "That doesn't kill me." "Hmmmm." "I think I like it?!"

This is my least favorite part of writing songs. Actually playing them for the gatekeeper. Not because the gatekeeper is cruel. But because no matter how hard I try to listen through an objective lens, I always have and always will have expectations. Songs I believe in (but maybe they won't). Song I think are good (that maybe they don't). Songs that I don't love (that maybe they'll deem as ok). And it is an emotional rollercoaster. But if that's the roughest aspect to my job, then I'm a lucky sonuvagun.

271/365

And so it begins....2.0

270/365

I loved the song "That Summer" before I was even old enough to understand what it was about. And I guess that says something about a great song. It makes you feel something even if all the words don't translate. And it also says something about a great vocalist. They can communicate that emotion in a believable way. Such a way that makes a 10 year old way receive a song about a teenage kid hooking up with a widow woman. So, thank you country music, and thank you Garth Brooks.

Tonight was a special night and instead of putting up a 30-second clip and going for the mysterious, less-is-more delivery, I thought it would be neat (I hate that word, but its appropriate here) to give you non-music business folks a little peek behind the curtain. This is from the Nashville Songwriters Association yearly dinner where every year members vote for the 10 songs they wish they'd written that year - this year's recipient was "The House That Built Me". Duh. They also induct several members into the hall of fame. And Mr. Brooks was there to honor his co-writer and good friend, Pat Alger. I was sitting there a few tables away from him all night remembering the nights I laid in bed listening to the "No Fences" cd on my Walkman. Yes, Walkman.

All in all, it was a fun night and I, once again, was asking myself "How did I get here, again?!"

269/365

I don't really have an explanation, other than that they are my friends and I love them anyway ;) I almost said "don't quit your dayjobs" and then I listened to the #1 song on both the country and pop itunes chart....

268/365

It's a bird! It's a plane! It's a bee that looks like a wasp but doesn't sting! We are up to our eyes in some kind of insect plague here. And although this is the first I've mentioned it in writing, it has been a constant source of domestic turmoil in my life for the past month. I don't even know how to begin explaining how much it pains me to walk into our basement and see these little boogers every morning. I have done everything but scream obscenities at the top of my lungs and hope they fly away out of fear. Any entomologists out there?

267/365

"I spent my Friday night at botanical gardens viewing a blown glass exhibit." Words I thought I'd never hear myself say. At least not before the age of 50. But when fall hands you a night with friends drinking wine and wandering through the darkness with flashlights, you go. And don't ask any questions. For those of you outside of Nash, we spent our night at the Chihuly exhibit at Cheekwood. If you really care, I guess you can Google it or something. Basically, it's a field of dreams for the upper middle aged, upper middle class. Neither of which applies to me. All in all, I had a great time and was truly intrigued by the phallic glass in the center of the park.

266/365

If there was one word to describe marriage, I think it would be compromise. To some that may sound sad. But in the case of our 3rd anniversary it is a beautiful thing. It is a well known fact that I have always been a big fan of the gray hoodie. It's like wearing a big bear hug all day long. A bear hug coupled with a comfort of a snuggie. But the unfortunate downside of the gray hoodie is that in the mind of men it is also synonymous with "frigid". So I don't wear gray hoodies very often anymore. [example 1 of sacrifice]

So for our 3rd anniversary Rodney bought me a bag of Skittles (my favorite candy of all-time) and a brand spankin new gray hoodie. [example 2 of sacrifice] And that's why it works, people....

In all seriousness, I love that man more than life itself. I don't really remember life before him.

265/365

Wouldn't YOU like calling this your workplace?

264/365

Can't wait til Morgan figures out that I'm her favorite aunt.

263/365

How embarrassing. Raised in the great state of Kansas and don't know how to ride a horse. Well, not really. I'm not that torn up about it. In fact, the entertainment value of my extreme ignorance is well-worth the extreme ignorance...if that makes any sense. Ahh, who am I kidding?! I am 263 days in. Making sense is pretty low on the list of priorities anymore.

Back to the point. We ventured down to Inglewood, KS ($50 to the first person who can find it on a map.) for a family picnic. And when I say picnic, I mean pic-NIC. Catered bbq, horse riding, buggies, bonfires, basketball, cowboy hats, and lots of Clawson's. I was talking to Rodney on the way home and we both agreed that it is so nice to be a part of a family that values "the way it's always been". For the most part, we live these somewhat unconventional lives comprised of unique social networks, jobs and family structures. But at heart I love that at least one part of my life is old-fashioned. A family who still wears cowboy hats and lives on ranches and eats dinner together at night and works together on the farm and makes it to church on Sunday morning. God Bless the Clawson's.

262/365

Homecoming means coming home. So, of course, I obey. And for the next 3 years my new favorite number shall be #10. Go, Galyon, Go.

261/365

I think I was in 5th grade, so that would have been......(carry the 2, borrow the 9).....15 years ago. Yup. 15 years ago I faced the sub-zero temperatures and watched as Bill Snyder's Wildcats took on Tom Osborne's Huskers. And, unfortunately, the outcome was the same then as it was this year. The Huskers didn't SHUCK, as my shirt so boldly stated. But, we had a great time. And in some way, I felt a bit of the baggage from attending a college w/o a football team float away. Belmont Bruins, you steal my money. But Kansas State Wildcats, you have and always will steal my heart. EMAW, baby.

260/365

I don't know where she went. The girl that used to finish papers weeks in advance. The girl that used to remind others when assignments were due. Somewhere in the transition from golden girl to starving songwriter, I lost her. Because I showed up to book club (which was partly my idea) without reading a single page of our book (which I helped pick). And the worst part? I was ok with it. Ughhh....songwriting is making me die to myself.

259/365

Thank GOD i reached for my camera when the Birthday Song started. I have no explanation for these 3-and-a-half minutes. But the moral of the story is this: never underestimate some good cheer. Happy Birthday Seth Jones! If you'll remember it was his wife, Betsy's bday, that took us back to the previous decade. I'm seeing a pattern of epic celebrations here.

258/365

How did I get here on a Sunday night?!#*$^)@

257/365

Andy Davis hath become a star of rock.

256/365

I've been discovering lately how much of my past I haven't tapped into in terms of material. I think that what a writer writes is mainly dictated by where they are in their life currently. But, in my case, there's a lack of tortured songwriteress lately. So I've been in a bit of slump. So why not flip back a couple decades and write about some of that, huh? Yeah, that's what I thought. Brilliant.

Anyway, there's a girl I grew up with who shall remain nameless. And I've had this idea in my handy dandy ideas folder for months and months now. And I scan that folder every day for something to write. But it's never jumped out at me for 2 reasons: 1. I wasn't 100% sure how to execute it and 2. I never felt like the person across from me would be into it.

Until today. Thank you, April Geesbreght, for "getting it". This song was inspired by running into a childhood friend I hadn't seen in years in the grocery store back home. In short, she looked sad and weathered and you could see the toll that life had had on her. When you encounter someone like that you expect to see the girl that you rode bicycles with, not the girl with pain in her eyes. Anyway, we wrote this song called "Jenny" about a girl who shall remain nameless. And although it was written by me for me, I think that everyone has a Jenny somewhere in their life. The person that your heart breaks for and you wish you could just hit rewind and undo what's been done to them. Jenny, I could love you if you'd let me.

255/365

I'm starting to think that birthdays are more of a reminder of what really matters than a celebration of a person's birth. Wether it's a late night limousine on the town singing karaoke or an intimate sit-down dinner in the comfort of a home, there always comes a moment of sentiment somewhere between the killing of the lights and the first few words of the birthday song. It is in that moment that no matter how I've had to drink or how distant my relationship with the honored guest, that I go to that warm and fuzzy place. In a matter of seconds I appreciate the beauty of friends and life and death and all the time in between more than ever. I guess it's because I realize (as was stolen off a friend's facebook wall earlier this week) that we ourselves cannot make our own hearts beat. It is but the mercy of God that we have life at all. And every year when we stop and stare into those candles, it becomes glaringly obvious that we did nothing to deserve another 365 beautiful rotations on this rollercoaster of a life. And I think that this time of year, especially, as it seems that I have a birthday party or two everyday (thank you, Christmas lovers)....I am thankful for this wave of reminders that God is up there pulling the strings. Every. Single. Breath. I. Take.

254/365

"I don't wanna celebrate my birthday this year."-Rodney

Well, take that.

253/365

For someone as competitive as myself, it is difficult to confess that I do not get soccer. It's a frustrating race against the clock. Hours worth of trying to get the ball rolling in the direction you want it to go, but not even the best of intentions, the strongest of skills, or perseverance guarantees that your ball will EVER make it in the goal. I'm sure that statistically the number of attempts in ratio to the number of successful goals is in layman's terms, is nothing short of a crapshoot. But these players continue to run distances and bang their head against the wall for grueling time spans, with just the simple hope that one split second of opportunity will open up, and when it does, they are fully prepared to score. I mean, how could you love a game like that?

Wait, am I still talking about soccer....or the music business? Whatever the case, go Lee U!

252/365

Today I met one of the products of the baby shower marathon! Morgan Avery Winn. Daughter of my childhood bff, Brenna.