Idina Menzel- a love letter

I am in no way a performer, I hold no desire to be a singer or actress. So there’s no real reason why Broadway legend Idina Menzel is a hero of mine. Yet she is. I just adore her voice. ADORE it. This is Idina, if you don’t know her.  Look how cute she is.

I discovered the musical ‘Rent’ that launched her career a few years back.  ‘Rent’… well I have a billion thoughts on ‘Rent’ but we’ll leave it at, I heard the message of the musical exactly when I needed it most. I thought she had the most divine voice and saw that she was in a new musical called ‘Wicked’. I brought the soundtrack and whilst I only had the vaguest idea of a storyline, I listened to it to death also. There is a song called ‘Defying Gravity’ that she sings and oh… it’s such a beautiful powerful song and she does it such justice. It’s become something of a theme song to me.

In recent times, she’s been on popular TV shows and movies. But I think she’s best known for her Broadway stuff. Which in my mind meant… when am I ever going to see her sing live? That opportunity actually happened. I actually got to see her sing live. In Brisbane, Australia of all places!

Whilst I don’t know much about her, she always carries this joie de vivre about her. And everything is fearless. And you can’t help but admire that. So unsurprisingly, this was magnified when I got to see her perform in person.  And see her be herself, singing the songs of her choosing.

I was kind of afraid to hear her sing live. We’ve all been to concerts where the singer hasn’t lived up to the CD. But Idina was so much more. Her voice was breathtaking. Backed by a live orchestra, she has never sounded so wonderful to me.

She sang a range of songs, some of which I wasn’t familiar with but I enjoyed it all. I think this might have been one of the best concerts I’ve been to, purely for the fact that the audience was totally enjoying it too. They whooped and cheered and laughed and you could really sense everyone’s excitement. She danced up and down the stage and chatted with audience members.

Key highlights:

I loved her rendition of ‘What I Did For Love’, a song that I only have a passing familiarity with (I know, I know, musical theatre people, I’m sorry…) that knocked my socks off with her feeling and power. And she sang it kneeling on a piano stool.  I think it would be hard to sing to your full ability in that position but she kicked it outta the park.

She talked about how she got her start in ‘Rent’ and a bit about the creator of the show and his untimely passing, which segued into ‘No Day But Today’. And she asked the audience to sing it with her, so I get to legitimately say that I dueted with Idina Menzel :)

And speaking of ‘Rent’, possibly her biggest song is ‘Take Me Or Leave Me’ which she sang. But because it’s a duet and there’s only one of her… she asked audience members to sing with her. Apparently it’s something she does at every concert, but I was unaware and it took me by surprise and delight. Hands shot up all around the concert hall and she pointed out people to come down to the front and sing with her. It was such a hoot! And you know what? Every one of those volunteers was an AMAZING singer!! It was so much fun to hear these unknown people sing wonderfully and to witness their joy at getting to sing with/for someone they obviously admire.

She closed by singing an acapella version of ‘For Good’ from ‘Wicked’ without a microphone. It was flawless. Her voice soared through the concert hall. And it hit me that this was me really getting to hear Idina sing. Plus the song is absolutely beautiful, and well, it was a recipe for tears. I’ve never really cried over something like that before. Like, I wasn’t sad, I wasn’t particularly happy, I was just overwhelmed and all these tears started racing down my cheeks. And then she followed that with ‘Defying Gravity’ (more tears). I never thought I’d ever hear the original Elpheba sing in real life, let alone sing my personal theme song.

Low points:

This woman next to me started singing along during a particular song. I glared at her several times to no avail, then I nudged her and went shh and then she was quiet. That woman was my mother but I probably would have done the exact same thing if I hadn’t known her :)

I actually haven’t listened to any of her songs since the concert. I just… nothing will live up to the magic of hearing her voice live and I want that spell to last as long as possible.

I want, I want, I want…

a puppy!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I really do.  Yo, it’s hard having to go to work every day with dogs and then not go home to one of your own.

Yes, little Nilly is still floating around but she’s not MINE.  Not mine to snuggle above all others, not mine to be the boss of.  I just really love that bond between owner and animal.  It’s so beautiful (and I use ‘owner’ in the loosest sense of the word of course) and I miss having it.

And I know there are so many little ones out there who are dying to find a home.  And quite literally dying because nobody will take them.

But in all seriousness, I can’t have a dog.

I work too long hours.  The house I live in is not my own.  I have a semi lucrative side business looking after other people’s dogs.

But that doesn’t stop me from wanting one.  Especially when cutie pies like this turn up at work…




Look at this sassy little muffin!!!!!!!!!

Daybook ii

Outside my window it’s nice and dark.  It’s not too chilly so I have my window open.  I can hear some crickets outside and from where I sit, I can see the full moon peeping through the palm fronds. 
I have been listening to honestly not a lot.  I’m not really a music person.  I have about three songs that I listen to on repeat.  One of them is ‘Take Me or Leave Me’ from Rent.  I just adore Idina Menzel’s voice.  I think she is phenomenal AND I GET TO SEE HER IN CONCERT NEXT MONTH!!!!!!!!!
I have been wearing my onesie.  Oh yeah, my roomies and I all brought onesies.  See picture.

I am thankful for the nice people that I housesit for.  I had a mix up with one of my clients and she was lovely and understanding.  And I’ve had so many buy me food and leave me chocolates.  Honestly, all the people and animals I sit for are top notch!  I feel bad for charging them!!  The work I do with them is enough to keep my head above water without having to take on an extra job and stress.
I am pondering love BIG TIME.  I have always been blessed with perennially single friends (boo for them, they are awesome, why aren’t they being snapped up, but yay for me because I get to spend time with them!) but now everyone is pairing up.  Two of my dearest friends who were also some of my favourite single ladies are now married and expecting babies.  Whilst I am over the moon, crazy happy for them, I can’t help but be human and scuff my shoe and mumble “When is it my turn?”
I am reading ,well, about to read a book called “Inside of a Dog” by Alexandra Horowitz.  It’s for the course I am doing but it’s also a bestseller at the mo in Australia, I’ve seen it floating around all over the place.  Should be a good read. 
I am creating absolutely nothing.  I have so many works-in-progress at the moment.  Maybe I can do a June Nano or something?  I have the germ of an idea floating around in my head.  It’s just a silly romantic comedy (who even WRITES those anymore??) but it might be fun to write something I don’t really care about, just to get back into practice. 
A picture-thought I'm sharing is me and the roomies in our onesies!  I am the sexy cat one.

VEDA Day 4: Zumba

So today, I am really tired.  And editing a video is beyond my capabilities. So I present an unedited version for you.

In which I talk about zumba and there is an amazing surprise in the middle.

VEDA Day 3

And here is Day 3. 

I’m trying to keep these short and sweet. A) because who wants to watch like five minutes of some random person on the internet and B) I’m trying to do these things in one take because I can not edit to save my life.

Hopefully tomorrow will be more interesting?

VEDA Day 2

What, pray tell, is VEDA?  This is Vlogging Every Day in April. 

And where is Day 1?  That answer can be found in the video.

I feel like my life has become slightly less hectic and maybe I can go back to blogging.  I’ve always wanted to try my hand at vlogging so this is a good way to combine the two.

The reason my story is so garbled is because I realised just before uploading it that it's probably not the most sensible story to tell on the internet... so I cut it up into (hopefully) unrecognisable pieces.  To protect all those involved- ok, to protect ME.

Daybook i

I always enjoy it when Danielle does these, so here’s my version.


Outside my window there’s a train arriving at the station.  I live directly opposite a train station and my room is at the front of the house, like maybe 20m away from the track.  It’s surprising how quickly you get used to the noise.

I have been listening to Brooke Fraser’s album ‘Albertine’.  I brought it when it first came out which was… 2007 according to wikipedia.  I was a huge fan of her first album and brought this one, her second, almost immediately.  And I gotta confess, I did not like it at all. I can say with an assured tone that I have not listened to it once since the first listen.  But now, like six years later (ok, the whole ‘SIX YEARS LATER’ thing just floored me), a song came up on shuffle and I really liked it.  Her voice is just so beautiful and the songs are about love and patience and I think I can relate to it more now.  I guess I’m just in a different place to where I was when I first heard the album.

I have been wearing work clothes and PJs.  I really haven’t gone out anywhere that warrants wearing anything other than work clothes or PJs. 

I am thankful for friends and family.  And things that I fall into absolutely, that chew me up (and hopefully will never spit me out), whether it be books, or TV shows, or movies.

I am pondering life in general.  Feeling a bit in a rut recently and I know it’s my own fault for being so stagnant.  Got a few big choices to make.

I am reading The Hobbit.  I’ve been reading it for like a month now and getting nowhere.  I still maintain that Tolkein is a dry writer and am very thankful for Peter Jackson for making the movies and showing how wonderful the storyline and world is.  I am also reading “Bitterblue” by Kristin Cashore, another fantasy novel.  It is a somewhat sequel to another book that I enjoyed.  However it has been so long since I read the prequel that I’m finding it hard to get into this one.  I shall persevere though!

I am creating this blog post.  And hopefully finishing up a story in time to enter an online competition.  I’m trying not to get too carried away but it’s basically the best competition ever and so I really want to win… which is giving me some crazy writer’s block.  Murphy’s law :)

A picture-thought I'm sharing is this naughty boy that I will be looking after for a week starting from tomorrow!  He is just adorable and I love him SO much!!!!  I hope he doesn’t roll in mud whilst I am looking after him though.