315/365

He's my cousin. He's my lifelong friend. He was the king to my homecoming queen back in the day. And he's also the Hesston College men's head basketball coach at the age of 26. That's Dustin Galyon. I've always admired his passion for life and his extreme work ethic. I guess if there's one thing we have in common, it's that we are not afraid to just GO for what we want. And I am so glad that we have somewhat parallel lives in terms of dreams and relationships and faith. I mean, how many people can say they talked to their cousin (who's a dude) for 2 hours this morning about love, life and looney tunes. So glad I got to watch him lead his team to a victory this weekend. Go Larks...and Go D-Gal!

314/365

Black Friday? Not through his eyes...

313/365

Forget whatever Mastercard says. THIS........is priceless. Secretly got this footage of Grandma Jean talking about Grandpa Ed [who passed away of cancer about 13 years ago]. You can see where we get our strong will.

312/365

I don't even really remember how it all started, but I'll never forget how one of the greatest Thanksgivings I've ever had ended....with everyone hugging and telling each other how much they loved them anyway. No matter how different we all are. You probably wonder why the "anyway". Well, you'll have to be a Galyon to ever really know how the script read, but I can tell you this much. We are a passionate group of people who are all doing the best we can to know God, regardless of our different realities. And when you get that many convicted people in the same room at the same time, sometimes it leads to discussions. Very loud discussions. Where someone may or may not start crying. And someone may or may not point their finger. And someone may or may not get frustrated and feel misunderstood.

But the beauty of family is that everything is trivial in comparison to the fact that we are family. And family is family is family. Our love is deeper than our opinions. And our unconditional support system is stronger than our opposing views. And at the end of the day I am thankful for a family where we all feel safe to disagree and secure enough to say how we feel, because we know that there's nothing we could say that could sever the unity we have.

311/365

This is the scene within one hour of getting home. And I'm supposed to sleep in this room? Girl can't get no privacy up in here.

Lets just talk for a second about what's really going on here. One is playing a computer game, one is playing xbox, and one is checking a new demo mix. No matter what the technology is, none of them are speaking to one another.

310/365

Operation Red Lights- hang Gammy's Christmas lights come hell or high water.

309/365

Let the games begin!!!!!! (Thanksgiving, that is.)

308/365

1700 down, 1100 to go. The cross-country, roadtrip adventure is well underway. I knew I'd clocked quite a few hours on the road when I actually passed on a Sonic Breakfast Burrito this morning. And not only that...but I ordered a banana. A banana! Says the girl who takes to fruit like oil takes to water. I guess that was my body's way of entering into fast food detox. It's ok, though. We're at Gammy's now. Should get plenty of nourishment in the form of barbeque chicken and mashed potatoes in the next few days...

Which brings me to my point: it's always worth it for family.

307/365

Wander the Gulf Shore beaches by yourself for long enough and you're bound to make a friend or two.

306/365

What I didn't mention yesterday was that I'm a real "bloom where I'm planted" girl. What does a songwriter stuck at a songwriter's festival but not playing the festival do?

Whatever she wants.

305/365

Thanks to BP's effort to "restimulate" the economy in the Gulf, I am riding the coattails of my beau at the 1st Annual Northwestern Florida Songwriters Festival. Like I tweeted, being married to a songwriter and being a songwriter are two totally different things. All weekend I got to brag on how great of a writer my husband is and just be proud of him from the shadows. That's fun. Because I know that someday if the tables turn, he'd be right there doing the same for me. I'm gonna be transparent for a minute here, though. Everytime I go to one of these things, the other writers, the great people at BMI, etc. try to et me up on stage to do a song or two. But I duck out everytime. I can't enjoy something just being handed to me because I'm somebody's wife. I have to believe that one day I will do something worthy of being asked to be there exclusively by myself. And when that happens, I will eat it up. But, until then.....it is his time.

304/365

I see live music in some capacity 2-3 x's a week. So please understand the weight of this next statement. Show of the year. I present to you my personal highlights from Needtobreathe @ The Ryman. I literally had tears in my eyes more times than I can count on one hand. Sometimes I forgot that I was a concert. It felt more like church. A really, really, really badass church. Where no one was looking at each other. Everyone was there to celebrate something wonderful. And all the glory was given to something bigger than the room we're standing in. That is good music.

303/365

"Let the sirens sing, sit back and watch the show. Let em call our county name out loud on the radio."

302/365

Julie's hooking up with her married teacher's assistant. Tammy's all up in a tizzy about Epic and the drunken girl youtube video. Becky's dad and stepmom go berserk, causing big bro Riggins and his former-stripper wife to turn a corner in their relationship. Buddy manages to get his troubled son on the football team in an effort to clean up his act. By no means have the Friday Night Lights grown dim. And in no way has Dillon, TX let me down in our 5th season rendezvous.

301/365

"Sometimes I wish I had a little dirt here on my hands. A little piece of my own land. And the sun on my shoulders."

300/365

300. Repeat. Day 300. It's safe to say I'm rounding third base on this thing. And to think I had doubters. They never knew me in the first place if they didn't think I would finish what I started.

So, I'm driving home in what you can see is some snail-paced traffic, when what to my wondering eyes should appear? But the new Chuck Wicks single, "Old School", written by my deer-hunting, slow-talking, truck-driving, Texan. Yup. RDC. It's a song that I've been grooving to since spring when it was written (for the one or two of you out there that are dying to know...*wink wink*), and squealed like a little girl when I hear it for the first time on the radio. It truly made my evening commute lovely.

One more time. All together now. THREE-FREAKIN-HUNDRED.

299/365

Today in one word: mellow.

298/365

Always the piano player, never the bridesmaid. And so it continues..

297/365

Greetings from The Hatch, aka the Jones studio. Seth had no idea what he was getting himself into when he asked to write a Christmas song with us. For reals.

296/365

My feet feel as if someone has beat the bottom of them with a baseball bat. Being social comes with its consequences. Woohoo....cma awards!

295/365

bmi awards = 6am

294/365

Throw on a hoodie and leggings, head to a Sunday evening movie. And then you find yourself chauffeuring a rockstar around town til 6am. Long live Nickelback.

293/365

Falling in love.

292/365

Uh oh...I'm being me again. A song about God. And a dirt road.

291/365

A routine doc appointment. I rushed out of a co-write and flew down the interstate just to sit in an empty room for over an hour. I was ready to check into an asylum by the time I checked out. I will never understand why they don't just let you sit in the waiting room until they're actually ready for you.

290/365

They're BAAAAAAAAAAACK! Friday Night Lights, Season 5, Episode 1-2. BOOM. Does it require a party every week? You bet your Texas arse it does.

289/365

Few things bring me more than joy than seeing a young person learning to play piano. I know this probably qualifies me for eternal nerd-dom, but when I was growing up, it was almost as exciting as Christmas morning to complete a piano lesson book and run to Johnson's music w/ mom and buy the next level. (If only the songwriting game was so linear.) And then in junior high when everybody else quit because they either hated it or were too busy chasing boys, I continued. Practicing and competing. And then in high school, I spent my summer afternoon in solitude up at the church sanctuary practicing and memorizing 30 piece Concerto pieces. Only to move to Nashville where....no one....reads.....music. Wouldn't ya know..

But then tonight I walked into my friend's house and her daughter, Caroline, was in her pj's and couldn't wait to play jingle bells for us. It truly takes me back to see notes on a page.

This summer I had lunch with my former piano instructor and she told me that students achieving less and less every year. She says that technology has given kids such a need for instant gratification that the concept of self-discipline and truly STUDYING something (like piano)--as opposed to just Googling something, has really hurt the arts. Anyway, it's just really inspiring to see young people who WANT to play and are EXCITED about it.

288/365

"It echoes down these halls. Paints pictures on these walls. The sound of a simple song from the 6-string in his hand."- Gibson (Galyon/Morgan/Hummon)

287/365

As they say, the show must go on. And I can't keep my fans at my undisclosed location hanging. In honor of Miss Carey releasing her 2nd Christmas record today, we changed it up a bit and paid tribute to all things Mariah tonight. I mean, talk about a song that just gets me goin every.single.time I hear it.

286/365

I hear so many people complaining about how modern technology is such a detriment to our quality of life. And they make alot of great points. But as I was blow drying my hair, folding laundry and getting ready to go play a show ANDDDDD watching my little bro play in the bi-district playoff game live from Smith Center, Kansas, I was so grateful for all the brainiacs of the world and what they've done for my life :)

285/365

I would like to call this one "rehabilitation". I'm currently a sick-o, popping Mucinex and Z-Pacs left and right. Breathing through my mouth and pulling the covers over my head. The only upside is that I have completely caught up on Oprah, Dexter, The View, Terriers, Modern Family, Eastbound & Down...you get the picture.

284/365

Happy Halloween! No Trick-or-Treaters in this neck of the woods. You would have to be a horrible parent to let them venture down this street. So instead we treated (pun definitely intended) ourselves to adult things...like football and wine and smoked turkey. And then the neighbors walked over and delivered pumpkin cheesecake. Don't even get me started....

283/365

Working on a Saturday night.

282/365

Don't you wanna ride-ride in my convertible? Don't you wanna fly-fly in my convertible?

281/365

"All the good old boys who wanna drive too fast and all the girls next door with too much time on their hands."

280/365

This was a big week for my co-writer, as his labor of love, Speak Now, the new Taylor Swift record was just released days ago. And it was so inspiring to hear my Grammy-winning producer/writer/friend Nathan say that there truly is no better life than the life of a SONGWRITER. Amen to that, brother.

Today's lyrical journey was about moving on from to the things that you can't change. This was ideally therapeutic for me because I hold "the way things used to be " and "the good old days" on a pedestal, as if the world is moving backwards or something. It's not. The world is moving forwards. And the things that we can't get back (our childhood, lost loves, Elvis)....all have their day. And if they lasted forever, they wouldn't be as valuable.

"Live is short and love is too. You take it as it comes, as it's comin' to you..."