5 Things I Love About...

I wrote this earlier today just as I was leaving Frankfurt on my way to Paris. When you travel a lot I find it’s good to notice and appreciate your surroundings in order to keep your spirits up and your heart light. Here are things I love about this airport:

1. I love listening to the beautiful whisper of the German language all around me. Over the loud speaker, between parents and children and between spouses, there is something so exquisite about German.

2. I love the vibrant and intense sunniness of the orange-yellow Lufthansa logos and colours displayed throughout the terminal and on the Tarmac. It’s a real pick-me-up after a long international flight.

3. I love the display of varied bratwurst and sandwiches in the display windows of the snack shops. The deliberate artfulness really feeds the mind as well as the body.

4. I love the feeling of rush and confusion I get in trying to zone into to all the many languages crisscrossing around me. It’s that special facet of an international hub.

5. I love the new self-boarding kiosks at Lufthansa. That was one of the fastest boarding experiences I have ever had!

I just received news of his death and I knew that I needed to pay tribute in the best way I know, by pondering the 5 things I loved best about him.

1. I loved his perfectionism tempered by the ability to deliver. He let his unbelievably cutting edge and amazing products come to market and continued to perfect them as he went along. So, he wasn’t just a dreamer. He made his dreams a reality. That’s inspirational.

2. I loved his strength. He just seemed so tenacious and sure of his vision. For an artist like me, that ethic is inspirational.

3. I loved his vision. He was such a gifted problem solver, resolving issues I never even know I had. I never realized how much I needed an iPhone until I held it in my hands for the first time. Now it’s my fourth baby.

4. I loved his image. Again, it spoke to the strength of his character that he stayed so true to the image he laid out for himself all those years ago. When I think of him, I see his black turtleneck, jeans and sneakers. And that image triggered something inside me that got me excited for what might be coming out next. Like a Pavlovian reflex.

5. I love how the beautiful products he created are such a part of my everyday life. I love how he has changed my world for the better.

I love/loved Steve Jobs!

Yeah, I said it, I love Brad Pitt. I just came back from seeing Moneyball and I left with this list:

1. I love the choices he makes. Some of my all time favorite movies star Brad Pitt. Fight Club, Seven, 12 Monkeys, Snatch - the guy has good taste. And you’ll find that both genders are well represented in the audiences of his films.

2. I love the humanity he brings to his characters. He really makes it seem as though you know him intimately, like he’s just an average joe.

3. I love his physicality. He’s always in motion and you want to see what he’s going to do next.

4. I love his humor. Again it brings a certain humanity to his creations. He doesn’t overuse of gravitas.

5. I love his sparkle. Stars sparkle. There’s something about Hollywood A-list stars. Their confidence and success imbue them with a certain glow that is infectious. We can’t look away.

I love Brad Pitt!

We spent a couple hours this morning at CHEO, also known as the Children’s Hospital of Eastern Ontario.  I remember walking in thinking, ‘I don’t want to be in this place’ and I imagine so many other people were thinking something similar.  But I left really feeling a great deal of love for CHEO.  Here’s why…

1.  I love the people who work at CHEO.  I don’t know if it is the knowledge that they are spending a lot of time with children and parents that inspires that level of patience and caring, but I do know that I appreciate the way CHEO staff operate.

2.  I love the bright colours and warmth of the building.  All hospitals should be so solidly devoted to living!

3.  I love the amazing gift shop filled with toys and mini-adventures to keep kids and grownups alike entertained.

4.  I love the grounds of the hospital complex.  The whole area is surrounded with trees and greenery.  Once again, surrounded by life.

5.  I love knowing that it is one of the best facilities in the entire country and that people travel from far and wide to access it.  I know that they will do right by us, to the best of their ability.

I love CHEO.

I had an awesome gig last night in Montreal which really led me to thinking about what makes this city so special.

1. I love how unlike every other city in the Montreal is. You feel it’s uniqueness the moment you reach it’s outskirts. From the way it’s industrial area is laid out along the highway, to the spindly metal staircases leading up to their apartment houses, this city is amazing.

2. I love that feeling you get when you finally find your way in Montreal. Montreal is the one city I know in which I need a GPS when I visit.

3. I love the harbour and the activities our family associates with it. Taking a ride in a horse and buggy, going for an ice cream, visiting the science centre. Summer at the Montreal harbourfront is such a treat.

4. I love the jazz festival. What a great way to appreciate live music of all genres. From free plein air concerts to concerts in grand halls the festival knows it’s stuff. One of my all-time favorite concert experiences was performing to thousands at the festival and having the audience be so quiet you could hear a pin drop. Wow.

5. I love their Chinatown. I love food, clearly. Montreal has some of the best in the world.

I’m sitting in my greenroom waiting to go on and perform at a surprise party. Listening to the excitement outside really has me thinking of the 5 things I love about surprise parties. Here they are:

1. I love seeing all the friends and loved ones of the birthday boy or girl gathered.

2. I love the sense of excitement and anticipation.

3. I love the planning that goes into the creation and perfect execution of the final surprise.

4. I love awaiting the reaction of the guest of honour. The response is a mystery for everyone involved.

5. I love the contentment and pride of the guest of honour in knowing that they are so loved that someone would go to all that ‘trouble’.

1. I love being able to look forward to them every year. I love the cyclical nature of the celebration.

2. I love the mix of fun (rides, games and treats) and education (exhibits and the animals). We try to get in as much as possible from both sides.

3. I love the sense of abandon and generosity the fair inspires. I want to go on as many rides and eat as many treats as I possibly can before the day is over.

4. I love the flirting Carnies. Need I say more?

5. I love the treats. When I was little and saw a ferris wheel in a suburban mall parking lot, I used to beg my mom to pull over and buy me cotton candy. Now that I can buy my own cotton candy and eat the whole bag in one sitting relatively unchecked, I feel like a real grownup.

I love fairs!!

Okay, I admit it.  This is going to smell suspiciously like an advertisement, but I have to say it.  I love Andrew Craig’s Gospel Christmas Project.  It is hands down one of my favourite concerts to be a part of every year.  We will be performing it this December 19th at the Young Centre in Toronto, Ontario, Canada.  Here are all 5 reasons I think you should be there:

1.  I love performing with Faith Chorale.  This choir is sick.  And if you don’t know that ‘sick’ means unbelievably good, today is a good day to learn.  Sharon Riley, the choir director and vocal powerhouse who leads this group of vocal revolutionaries, is one of the most phenomenal talents in the world.  Yes, I said it - IN THE WORLD.  Nuff said.

2.  I love being on stage with Alana Bridgewater, Jackie Richardson, Chris Lowe and Toya Alexis, my partners in crime and song.  I love seeing these masters at work up-close.  To stand a foot away from them and hear the sounds emit from their well-honed vocal chords and witness the intricate manner in which they create the sounds we hear … well, it’s a blessing.  I thank my lucky stars to be able to share the stage with them.

3.  I love the band.  Good LORD, what a band!  I love the way they play with fire and passion and nuance and beauty.  Every note is a miraculous event. 

4.  I love the music we perform.  My personal favourites are Chris Lowe’s rendition of ‘In the Bleak Midwinter’, Alana and Ms Jackie blowing on ‘Go Tell it on the Mountain’ and I love love love love singing ‘The Huron Carol’.

5.  I love our fearless musical leader, Andrew Craig.  The man is a genius.  Every arrangement was created by Andrew.  I love the way he inspires each and every one of us to achieve our best.  What a blessing to work with someone like that.

You can download a copy of the studio album here: http://bit.ly/gNmd2A

You can buy tickets to the concert here: http://bit.ly/9pIrgf

You can listen to a bootleg of ‘The Huron Carol’ here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i-ZSuQsaj_o

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 I’m an ‘at home junkie’.  I love being back home.  Doesn’t matter how much fun I am having out on the road on tour in whatever country - when I arrive home, it’s bliss.  Here are 5 Things I Love About coming home:

1.  I love driving down our secluded, tree-lined, gravel road, dodging muddy puddles and potholes big enough to house a cow. 

2.  I love stepping out the car at night and feeling the intense pressure of the millions of stars punctuating the sky above.

3.  I love the smell of my pillows, of my sheets, of the dirt road, of the cedar trees, of the much-too-long grass.  I love the smell of home.

4.  I love my own personal crazy disorganized, yet organized chaos.  I can be a nut in private.

5.  I love loving my home.

PS:  That photo above is not my home.  But wouldn’t it be nice if it were?!

What do you love about coming home?

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Some people use drugs or alcohol to relax. I use clouds. Here’s why:

1. I love their beautiful shapes. They stretch the imagination.

2. I love the wide array of rich colours. From white and grey to yellow and purple, clouds are freaking beautiful.

3. I love getting lost in cloudgazing. Incredibly calming.

4. I love the interplay between cloud and sky. The coolest vistas are created when one seeks to dominate the other. It’s fascinating to witness bits of sky poking through fluffy clouds.

5. I love the luxurious feeling of fluffy clouds.

What do you love about clouds?

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