Etsy Maine Team

    My Art has been on Etsy for a few months now with no results and no sales.  For those of you that don't know, Etsy is an online shopping place for small businesses to list their homemade and vintage items for sale to the public. I was seriously thinking of closing down my account after the holidays, but then I met a fellow artist at one of the craft fairs I did the fall that has had success with Etsy.  So, I took some of her pointers and joined a couple of teams.  The one that has made the most difference has been Etsy Maine Team.  They are a community of Crafters, Artists, Moms, all from Maine.  All the members work together as a team to like and share each others items so that you can get your shop out there beyond your own friends and family.       I have been so overwhelmed with appreciation for these team members since I joined a couple weeks ago.  They have all been so welcoming and supportive.  I have even gotten my first two sales from the team members.  Now I know that 2 sales doesn't sound like much, but to someone that hasn't had a single sale in the almost three months I have been on etsy, 2 sales is a huge deal!  My shop is now up to over 30 items in it and I am working towards 100 listings by this time next year. Yes, yes, I know, that is a LOT of painting to do in the next year!!
 

 I will be branching out soon to wall art, paintings large enough to put in a frame on your wall.  And maybe if I have the time to experiment this winter, paintings on fabric for scarves and such.  Right now I still have cards with my beautiful watercolors on them, as well as jewelry beads with my watercolor artwork on them. I would love it if you checked out my  shop.
     A big thank you to all the Etsy Maine Team members!!
www.pianobycheri.com
www.facebook.com/pianobycheri
www.facebook.com/maineteam

New Challenge

      Well, my art teacher Doris Rice gave us a big challenge this week, a still life with multiple items and textures.  So we have spent the last couple weeks learning to do different textures and now for the real test -- a full blown still life.  So I spent a week racking my brain as to what to bring from home to create my still life.  What to use, what to use??  I didn't want to do a bowl of fruit with a tablecloth, too boring.  I could do a picture of my dog, but what would I put with it?? Hmmm, maybe a martini glass with a mask and beads, a Mardi Gras still life, no, that's not really me.  Maybe one of my scarves, with a pair of boots? No, again too boring.
   

 And then, I finally got it!!  I have tons of old music, why not use that?? Ok, so now, what do I put with old music.  An old plaque with a music saying, yup that works, but what else?  A musical instrument would be nice but all of mine are too big.  Oooh, what about a pair of my fingerless gloves? Oh, and pearls and a flower.  Ok, I'm on a roll now.  All I have to do is arrange it in a way that looks awesome.  Well, now, that is easier said than done.  It took me 40 minutes of arranging and rearranging and taking pictures of them, and the help of another set of eyes to finally decide on one that I really liked. 

  Phew!!! That's over, well, I thought that was the hard part, wrong!!!  That was the easy part.  I bring my selections to class, set them up and think I should get my pencil drawing done of them this week, and can paint it next week.  HaHaHa!  Doris, had other plans.  She gave us all a sharpie and a cheep piece of watercolor paper.  Do a contour drawing in sharpie, she says.   OMG, are you kidding me??? I think I must of held my breath the entire time!  Just knowing that you can't erase it is enough to give you heart palpitations.  I guess, that is why its art CLASS.  I get half way through it and I think, Why did I select so many damn items?!!  But I finally finish the sharpie drawing and of course it looks awful.  But now we have to put in some of the color to make sure we are going to like the end product.  This is our "study" to make sure we really like what we are doing for a still life, to make sure everything is where we want it, to find out what background looks good with it, etc...  Oh, man, I think we were all glad when that class was over!

     So, next week, I get to actually paint this still life, and hopefully it comes out better than my "study" did!!
To see my art visit me on Etsy or on my website
pianobycheri.com

Holiday Sale!

    Well, I'm back, I know it's been a while since I've posted but hopefully I have worked it into my schedule, and will be posting at least once a week.  So, to get you caught up on how my hours have been spent the last couple months.  I have taken my art and decided to run with it, ok, maybe not literally run with it.  Although that may be an advertising option!  I have put it on www.etsy.com/shop/artbycheri and have been renting tables at craft fairs this fall.

     For those of you that don't know, a couple years ago, I could not do watercolor for the life of me.  Like a lot of people, I was drawn to it, but could not paint it.  So, I signed up for Kittery Adult Ed watercolor class.  http://kittery.maineadulted.org/  Well, my teacher, Doris Rice, was amazing, patient, encouraging (even though I was horrible at it for a while) and I just fell in love with how she taught.  http://dorisrice.com/  I have since taken several of her classes and am currently in one right now actually, through Kittery Adult Ed.  The current class I'm in allowed me to bring in all my cards that I have for sale and show Doris.  I was so thrilled to do show and tell with my teacher, you would have thought I was in school again.  LOL  Well, she loved them and she used them to give examples to the class, how to save the whites of the paper, doing birch trees, doing poked evergreen trees, etc.  I couldn't have been happier, I was like a proud puppy dog!
     Anyway, besides taking class, I have been out and about trying to sell my art.  Well, let me tell you, it is not an easy market out there.  I have been to a craft fair every Sat. since the first Sat. in November and I have to say, it is starting to wear on me.  I have done well at two of them, because I saw several people I knew at them, and bless their hearts, purchased from me.  But I'm beginning to think that cards may not be the best way to get my art out there.  So this weekend I decided to do some brain storming.  What can I put art on that will sell??  How can I get my art to be irresistible?? What are people buying??  Well, I don't know if I was able to answer all of them, but I did a little research and found out the top selling items at craft fairs are jewelry.  The top selling items on Etsy.com are jewelry.
   www.pianobycheri.com

 Ok, so people are buying jewelry, how does that help me, I paint watercolor.  Think, think, think.  Well, with a lot of thinking, and a little research, I found a way to get my watercolor art in the form of earrings. I am taking them to the craft fair this weekend to see what the reaction will be to them.    Now, I'm still experimenting with them, so you won't find them in my etsy store yet, but if you really want a pair, email me and I can mail them to you.
     Also, if you are looking for holiday cards and like my style of painting.  I am having a sale on my etsy store.  Use coupon code HOLIDAYSPECIAL2013 to save 13% on your entire purchase.  www.etsy.com/shop/artbycheri

What Is "Practice" to a 5 Year Old?

     Practice -- repeat something to get better, to do something repeatedly in order to improve performance in a sport, art or hobby.   Now, you and I know what practicing means but what does a five year old think practicing means??  Well, in reference to piano, they simply think that sitting down at the piano and playing it is practice.  Now there is nothing wrong with this as long as the parent, at some point, helps their child play the songs and exercises that have been assigned to them that week.  But I have discovered that parents either don't know what practicing is or do not have the time, energy or interest in helping their child practice.
     What I find amazing is that, most parents think that their child will like piano enough to just practice on their own. NOT SO! Now there are a few out there that once they have taken a couple years of lessons, become very passionate about it and will practice on their own.  However, for the majority of children, you have to ask them to practice, just like homework, brushing their teeth, and cleaning up before dinner.  And the younger children, need one on one guidance through that "practice" time, just like they would with their homework or sports practice.
     So, how do you get your child to understand what "practice" is??  Well, every child is different and responds differently to suggestions, ideas, and tactics.  But, here are a few that I have found to work over the years.    Get your child a small calender with their favorite characters on it.  Have him/her put a check or an X on every day that he plays for ten minutes on the songs and exercises assigned during that week.  Be sure to let your child know that after that ten minutes, they can play whatever they would like.  Some want to make up their own songs, some want to play favorite songs they have memorized from a previous lesson, whatever it may be, let them play away.  As the teacher I reward my students with stickers for each day they practice if they practice every day of the week, but if your teacher doesn't do this, then you can be the one to award the stickers.
     Another trick I have found helpful, is to make a chart at the top of every song or exercise assigned.  Seven rows across for each day of the week, and four rows down for the numbers 1-4.  This is to keep track of how many times the song has been played each day.  If you want your child to play it more than 4 times each day, then add more lines down in the chart.  The child then gets to check off a box each time they play the song or exercise.  This can also be rewarded with stickers, or with TV time or game time, or whatever fun thing that seems to motivate your child.
     I have some parents that have taken up piano to be able to help their child with it easier.  If you are a parent that can play some piano or are learning to play piano, get your child to be the "teacher" and you be the student.  Purposely playing it incorrectly, or sitting incorrectly, or acting out, to make your child correct you.  Have them show you the "correct" way so that you can "learn" how to do it correctly.  You can also have your child put on a concert for the family.  One night after dinner, have them play all the songs they have been working on and some of their favorites, while you and the family are the audience.  Even more encouragement and excitement can be given if you video tape the "performance".  Children love to be praised and the more you give them, the more apt they are to continue the behavior they are being praised for.
     One last one that is extremely helpful for the younger children is to talk to their fingers.   So instead of pointing out what is wrong, ask your child if you can talk to their fingers.  Then address the issue to the fingers.  "Now listen fingers, these are the notes each of you is supposed to be on."  and place the fingers on the correct notes.  Then when one of them plays the incorrect thing.  Address that specific finger. "Middle finger, you have to listen here to Charley (your child's name) and let the ring finger play that note, it's not your turn to play yet."  Then get your child involved in talking to their fingers as well.  Make it a game, which fingers are going to behave and listen this time around.  Then of course, rewards for when they do all behave and play it correctly.
     The rewards for practicing are so great!  For them, the feeling of accomplishment, the joy of being able to play their favorite songs, the value of having music with them the rest of their life.  And for you, the joy of knowing that you gave them the value of music for the rest of their life, and being able to hear something other than Old McDonald and Chopsticks being played on the piano!!
pianobycheri.com

The Real Reason to Take Music Lessons

     I was reading a blog today on a piano teacher's view on articles such as Studying Music Makes You Smarter. http://colorinmypiano.com  I thought that her viewpoint was quite interesting and I have to say, I very much agreed with it.  Anyone that deals with music of any kind online has seen the articles and posts that suggest studying music can improve your cognitive and social skills.  Well, I have read these articles and posts and not really put much thought into them.  The point this blogger was making was -- Did you take piano or any music lessons as a child to get smarter??  Do we as teachers teach piano and music because we want to make people smarter??    Well, the obvious answer to both of those questions for me was NO!
     So, that got me to thinking about why I did take piano when I was a kid and why I stuck with it.  I see so many kids come and go from my studio, and it's so disappointing to me, how was I not one of those kids?  What was different about me or my teacher that I stuck with it?  To help me jog my memory, I called my mom to find out about my practice routine and her involvement in it.  Well, much to my surprise, she was only involved in practice time for maybe a year.  So, I was practicing on my own at age 6.  Wow! Now back to the question, why did I take piano and stick with it?  Well, because she put it so accurately, I will quote Joy Morin. "I believe in music for music’s sake.  I believe that there is something magical about learning how to create beautiful sounds.  I believe music is a wonderful and powerful way for humans to communicate feelings, emotions, and stories with others." 
     I truly do believe that music is magical!  When I was a kid music was not only beautiful, it was an escape into a world that allowed me to speak without saying anything, to be sad without crying, to be angry without yelling, to be happy without laughing, to be frustrated without screaming.  I loved this world, and because I was not over booked and over stimulated like most of the kids today, I had the time and the energy to sit down at the piano and cloak myself in this world.

     Now, as a piano teacher, I get to see what that magic does for a child, through the eyes of an adult.  One of the best things a parent can do is give their child music lessons of some kind and help them through that first tough year of learning enough skill to be able to start enjoying the music that they are making.  One of the main reasons I decided to teach was to be able to pass on to someone else what my piano teacher gave me as a child -- another world, a beautiful world, a magical world that doesn't exist anywhere else outside of music.
     So, does music make you smarter?  Maybe.  Will it benefit other parts of your life?  Probably, but who cares!!  The real reason to take piano or music lessons of any kind is to be enriched by the beauty of music.  To be able to step away from the world around us and be able to create a beautiful musical escape.  And if you are being honest with yourself, that IS the real reason why took music lessons and now want your child to.
pianobycheri.com

Move your Hands, Move your Feet, and Them some ...

     I have recently gotten involved with the local Dance Hall here in Kittery, Maine.  They offer classes such as tap, belly dance, ballroom, african dance, hoop dance, and others, as well as, hand drum classes.  And they also bring in wonderful music and dance artists to perform on the weekends.  thedancehallkittery.org
     I discovered the little venue from a Spot Light article in the local paper.  They were having a performance featuring Guinean dancers and drummers.  I love African sounds and dance, so I grabbed my friend and we went.  This was last October.  The performance was amazing, and on top of that I discovered that this little venue right around the corner from me offers great classes at a very reasonable price!
     Well, as I've been able, I have taken classes there.  The drumming class is so invigorating.  The teacher, Namory Keita, is very patient.  He is great at working with drummers from any level, and even as a beginner I felt like I was able to learn the song that was being taught to us.  What I underestimated was just how sore my hands would be after that first class.  WOW!  It really takes some getting used to.  I liken it to the first time you ride a bicycle as an adult or the first time you take a spin class.  Your butt is very sore when you get off, but after a few times you don't even notice it =).
     Now, I've never taken any dance classes, unless you count the zumba classes at the gym, but I love dance.  And, African dance intrigues me, in fact so much so that I finally decided to join a class.  I thankfully picked a good night to start, because there were several other first timers there.  The teacher, Liz Fowler, is amazing!  She is joyful and exuberant, and takes you through every little step.  She dances in a really great medium ground, so that you don't feel like you have to kill yourself to keep up with her.  I got to stomp my feet, flail my arms, shake my butt, play drums, connect with neighbors, scream and holler, and get my sweat on!!  How can you go wrong with that?
     So this past weekend they did another performance featuring Guinean dancers and drummers.  It becomes an all day event, because they also do drum and dance workshops throughout the day.  I said, why not, I might as well take advantage of the artists while they are here in town, so I signed up for ALL of them.  Now, in hindsight I may have been a little over zealous.  I don't think I put much thought into what my body would be saying to 2, hour and a half dance classes back to back.  And clearly I underestimated the amount of energy it would take to do all the work shops.
     But, I started the day gung ho, with a drum workshop.  Ismael Bangoura was our teacher, and he is so much fun!  Always smiling, making you forget you are concentrating, and making you smile too, his energy is contagious.  If I had had him as a teacher when I was little, I would have wanted to drum 24/7.  His son was there drumming too, and he was better than all of us in the circle.  Two amazing talents right here in little Kittery, Maine.

     My first dance class of the day was with Sidiki Sylla, Now, don't let his age affect what you think this man is capable of.  Ten minutes into the warm up and I'm already short of breath and sweat is poring off me in rivers!  OMG I still have 80 minutes left of this class!  Unfortunately for me, I was in a room filled with people that have been taking African dance classes for quite a while now.  They picked up this dance the first time every time!  That left me in the back row, flailing my arms in the completely wrong direction, going right when I should be going left, standing up when I should be squatted down, and completely lost, but still sweating my ass off!
     Well, needless to say, I did not make it to the last dance class.  But, I did come back for the performance that night.  And it was everything that was promised.  Liz Fowler's classes got to show off what they have been learning, the Guinean dancers and drummers got to give us a little taste of what the celebrations in Guinea would be like, and the audience got to participate with singing and dancing.  Overall, a very exciting, joyful evening in the Dance Hall, that I hope all the neighbors got to hear, because the drumming was spectacular! pianobycheri.com
 

Owl Craze Insanity

     I have somehow been unwittingly sucked into the owl craze that is in full swing right now.  How can a beautiful, scary, head swiveling, over sized eyed, meat eating bird become a fixation for us??  Who woke up one morning and said I think I will spread that word that it is cool to go mad over owls?  I want to be that person!  I want to be the person that creates the next CRAZE!  Hmmm what shall I pick, ooh, how about the dik-dik.  Don't you want to decorate your baby's room with dik-dik? I mean who wouldn't like a miniature deer/antelope decorating their house?   Way cuter than an owl I think.  But who am I to say what pop culture will choose to fixate on next.
     So, owls it is.  I'm not sure exactly how I got sucked into the craze, but I was surfing the net one day looking for inspiration for a new painting and I found a picture of an owl with a scarf around it. So I chuckled a bit over it, and then realized that if I thought it was cute, other people would too, and that translates into sales.  So I did a painting of an owl with a scarf around it.
     Well, now, I can't just have one owl painting, I have to do a couple more so that I have a collection.  Back to the internet I go for owl inspiration.  OMG, talk about owl overload! Now, I knew that they were popular because of working in retail, but Jiminy Cricket, I had no idea to what extent. So I'm surfing and saving pictures for future inspiration and I realized that I've saved like 25 pictures!  What am I doing?  How did I get so sucked into owls?  How can there be so many cute pictures of owls out there?
     Well, with more than plenty of inspiration, I start painting.  I added two more owl paintings to the first one, to create an owl collection, that is pretty darn cute, if I say so myself. They are now on Etsy for purchase. http://www.etsy.com/shop/artbycheri
along with some of my other art.
     But, now, I have been commissioned to paint a baby owl suitable to give a mom at a baby shower.   So, back on the internet I go to look at more owls!!  I think it might be impossible to avoid this owl insanity. As long as I don't start buying any of it, I might be safe.  I'm still all for the dik-dik, anyone with me?? Together we can start our own craze over miniature antelope.! pianobycheri.com

moe. The band that brought me the love of my life!

     So, I have been trying to figure out where I want to take this blog, or maybe where the blog wants to take me.  My crazy life stories, don't happen on a daily basis, although I feel like they do most of the time.  But, what do I really want to write about?  What do I really love?  Well, that's easy, MUSIC!  But do I know enough about music to write about it?  Ok, so I'm not an expert in it, but what's to say I don't have an opinion about it that someone might want to hear?  And music is such a broad topic that there would be plenty of material out there to keep me and my readers interested.  The tricky thing is where to start?
    Well, I happen to be badly missing my boyfriend today.  He is away for the week, yes I know it's only Tuesday!  He is visiting friends in Vermont, and going the moe. shows in Burlington this week.  My initiation with moe. was at a New Year's Eve concert, which incidentally is where I met my boyfriend.  moe. for those of you not familiar with them, is an American jam band, formed in 1989.  The music as described by the guitar player is  "...an amalgamation of a wide variety of the history of rock, all regurgitated and recycled through the eyes, ears, hands, whatever of the guys in our band and all of that with a sense of adventure, a sense of humor, also a constant desire to push the envelope. All in this arena of taking chances, improvising live, and making things up on the spot."  
     As with any jam band, the magic happens during the live shows.  In fact, moe. was smart enough to include the audience in their album THE CONCH.  The first two weeks of recording for this album, took place in the State Theatre in Portland, ME.  Then two live shows at the same venue were also recorded, including mass crowd participation that made its way to this album.  But THE CONCH is not their only album, DITHER received a 4-star review from Rolling Stone Magazine in 2001, and WORMWOOD also received a 4-star review in Blender Magazine in 2003.  But ask any of their fans, "moe.rons." and they will all tell you that no matter how good the albums are, the live show is indescribably better.
    moe. live, well that is an experience you have to see, hear, and feel for your self in order to grasp is fully.  It definitely captures all your senses and has a way of settling deep inside of you.  The music will take you on a journey if you let it.  It will excite you, amaze you, and give you reason to dance.  The light show that goes with the music adds that extra punch to go with the sensory journey.   The crowd at a moe. show is all about good vibes.  Strangers talking to each other, sharing with each other, dancing with your neighbor even if you just met them, a community of strangers coming together to celebrate music.
     You can find out more about moe. and their music on http://www.moe.org/ .  Or if you maybe want to go see them this week at Highter Ground in Burlington, VT you can get tickets at https://higherground.frontgatetickets.com/ .

Weekend Explorations

      One of the new things that comes with self-employment is having my Saturdays off.  I have worked retail all of my working career up to this point, which means Saturdays have always been spent inside a store dealing with every variety of person you can possibly imagine.  For those of you that work retail, you know what I mean.  We get the pleasant thankful customer (very infrequently), the loud annoying customer, the can't ever please me customer, the I don't even know what I'm looking for customer, the I'm gonna let my kids run everywhere customer, the know it all customer, and the list could go on for days! Needless to say, I am not sorry to be away from that.
     Yesterday, with freedom on my mind, my boyfriend and I decided to go hiking.  So, I pack a picknick lunch and by 11am, we are headed up north with my little 5lb chihuahua, Chica, on my lap.  Where shall we go?? Yes yes, I know, hikers with any experience would have known exactly where they were going, would have been out of the house by 8am at the latest and have worn and brought proper hiking equipment.  But not us, no, we just wanted to get out in nature and enjoy our Saturday together.  So, off we went.
     Well, thanks to smart phones, we find a 5.5 mile hike up South Moat Mountain in Conway that sounds lovely.  It's described as a moderate hike 2.7 miles up, appropriate for families and dogs with 360 degree views at the top.  Perfect right? We get to the trail head at 1pm and realize that we didn't bring a backpack to carry the lunch in.  Well, now what?  Luckily I had an old backpack in my trunk that I used to use in college, not an ideal pack to carry up a mountain, but better than nothing.  Off we go, with Chica in tow.
     The trail starts off beautiful, nice wide path, uphill but not a horrible incline.  After about a mile, the incline changes dramatically!!  Chica bless her little legs, can't climb this, so up on my shoulder she goes, because I have not brought a backpack to put her in.  We are now climbing what looks more like a dried up river bed with loose rocks and boulders.  Now I'm sure we were not going straight up, but to my legs, it sure did feel like it.   I like to think that I'm in OK shape, but after twenty minutes of that, I was out of breath, light headed and had the shakes. Not off to a very good start for someone that is supposed to be in shape.  But, after a few minutes of rest to catch my breath, and a piece of fruit to get some sugar in me, off we go again.
     We finally get to a lovely plateau with a fabulous view.  This is the top I think, YES, I made it! Hallelujah!  Wrong, still more trial markers headed in the upward direction.  It can't be much farther, right??  Well, that's what my boyfriend kept telling me, and telling me, and telling me for another thirty minutes.  Now, Chica, after my bit of light headedness,
 has had to start climbing for herself and MAN was I amazed at how well she did!! We passed several hikers that were completely in awe that my little baby was climbing these big rocks.  She was a rock star. I on the other hand was half dead by the time we FINALLY made it to the top. But OMG what a view.  We had the entire top of the mountain to ourselves with views of Mt. Washington and all the surrounding mountains, a couple of lakes, the town of North Conway, and leaves that had just started to turn color.
     A picknick on the top of the mountain all by ourselves!!  The world belonged to us.  Such an amazing peace and so much beauty up there, I was so glad my boyfriend was able to drag me all the way to the top!
I may be sore today and possibly sore tomorrow as well, but what an adventure and I'm so proud of all three of us (Chica included) for tackling that mountain!

Printer Catastrophe!!

    So, I'm not just a musician, I also paint.  It's basically a hobby for me, but last Christmas I accidentally found a nitch that I'm kinda good at.  Small sized watercolor paintings that you can make cards out of.  I sold quite a few, much to my surprise last Christmas!  So, this year I thought, instead of making prints on my home computer, I would have them made at a professional printing company.  My plan was to save me a little time and headache from doing it myself.
     Well, I call up Infinite Imaging in York, ME to see if they can give me a quote, they don't have the right machine, so I'm transferred to the the Portsmouth, ME Infinite Imaging.  YES!, they have the right machine and the right paper, so I take in my art and wait for a quote.  A day later I get the email, ... $520!!!!  Jiminy Cricket!!!!   There better be gold inset into these prints for that price!  So off to the next printer I go, not the right paper, the next printer, not the right machine or paper.
     Finally I find one that has the machine and will use my paper, New England Printing in Portsmouth, NH.  They want me to pay to have one done, before they give me a quote for all of them, so I'm reluctant after the first quote, but I agree to it.  They take the one that they think will be the hardest to match, because of the pastel colors in it.  Two days later they have a print ready for me to proof.  I don't know if I have a more keen sense of color, if the guys at the printer are color blind, or what??!  But somehow my red's are pink and my pale pinks are HOT pink.  How does this happen?? and what makes them think that i'm gonna be ok with it??  I mean really, you have the original in front of you, can you not see the glaring differences?
     So, now I have paid them $40 for prints I can't use!  How is it that I can get a print from my home printer that is closer to the original than the printers can with this big huge color printer??  Fellow artists, I now know why prints are so stinking expensive!  So, with no time saved, with less money in my pocket, and definately with a headache, I have learned my lesson. I will continue to use my home printer for my prints. Want to purchase holiday cards from me? Visit my website pianobycheri.com or email me at cherichristenson@yahoo.com

Web page DRAMA ...

     So I have had the joy this week of starting my own web page, and for the people out there that are computer techies you might say "Oh, wicked easy!" but not so much for me!  I started by searching the net for sites that would help me with this process for free.  Now don't get me wrong, I'm a big fan of this massively ginormous forest of information we call the world wide web, but really?? How many different sites do you need out there to help you build a web site? The numbers are mind boggling.  So, after burying myself in all that information, I finally just took a friends suggestion and used wix.com.   I set up my account, spent the entire day uploading pictures, changing font, writing bios and taglines, arranging, rearranging, previewing, rearranging again, what would be my web site.
     By midnight I was exhausted and pretty sure I was ready to publish my site, so I hit the publish button.  Then I get a little message that says your site can be found under cherichristenson.wix.com/pianobycheri.  WTF!  Who in their right mind is going to remember that address?? Nobody, that's who.  So I see down below it, it says to create your own domain name click here, so I do.  It takes me to a site where I can purchase my own domain.  Ok, not so bad, only $14 a year to own pianobycheri.com  I can totally handle that, I think to myself.  I purchase my domain and put it into the address bar, and ... nothing! Ok, so I go back to the wix editing page and find out why my site won't come up.  Well low and behold I have to link the page I just created to my new domain, so I click on that button, and where does it take me.  Yup!! for those of you that have gone through this you know.  To the upgrade page with all the pricing!  So now that I have spend all day creating this "free" web page, I now have to pay to link this web page to my newly purchased domain.
     Well, it was all too much to take in at 12:30 at night, so I went to bed, and I'm pretty sure my night was filled with web page nightmares!   Well, in the end I payed the least amount I possibly could, $50 a year, to have them link my domain to my web page.  And of course, because I think the computer just wants to laugh at me, I found on accident two days later a site that would have done everything I just did for free the first year. You can check out my new web page at  www.pianobycheri.com

Well, now What?

     So, I have decided to make the plunge into the world of self employment this week.  Last Saturday was my last day of work and I have found myself saying several times in the last few days, well, now what??  So I am a musician, I play the piano.  I have two churches that I am a paid musician at, and I teach piano. www.pianobycheri.com  But I have been doing all that plus working a full time job, but now, I find myself with many extra minutes in the day.  Part of me feels like I'm on vacation, and the other part is, well, now what??
     I have decided today that the gym is going to be my new best friend, off setting at least some of the extra time I know have on my hands.  I also decided today to start blogging.  This may not turn out to be a good idea, but who's to know until I try it.  I certainly now have free minutes in my day to do it.
     My life up to this point has been a scheduling nightmare, practically every minute accounted for so that I could squeeze it all in.  Now I feel like I need a whole new schedule book to write in it things people only dream of being able to fit into their schedule.  For example, today I did an hour of zumba, then I took the dog to the beach and we went for a walk, still giving me time to do some painting before my first piano student arrived in the afternoon.  I mean, really, could there be an any more relaxing day?