Blogs

Puns about snow… ready for cooler weather

by Peggy Hustad, posted in Creativity, Humor, Life, Success

It seems like people liked my “puns about sand”, so I thought I’d come up with some jokes about snow since it’s so hot outside…  ;-D

Snow:  Where do you go after you’ve reached the top of your career as a skier? It’s all downhill from there…

Ice:  I guess you could go into snow business…  you know, like Vanilla Ice, Crystal Gayle, Jack White, Ariel Winter, Amy Poehler…

Snow:  Aren’t people a little “flaky” in snow business, though?  You get my drift?

Ice:  I know… one day, there’s a flurry of activity about you, the next day, you’re a snow bunny…  but you’ll always be cool to me!

Jill of all trades, master of many

by Peggy Hustad, posted in Creativity, Life, Movies, Music, Psychology, Songwriting, Success, Writing

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Stacey K. Black                       http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/staceykblack

 

What do Hedy Lamar, Oprah, Rita Moreno, Joan Chen, Florence Nightingale, Debbie Allen, and Laurie Anderson (and many other famous women) all have in common?  They are all Jill of all trades, master of many… women who are multi talented “Renaissance women”.  And we could add another woman to that list, Stacey K. Black, pictured above.  Stacey has been a top hairstylist for major TV shows, a film and TV director, a writer, a filmmaker, a singer, and a songwriter… and she loves telling people’s stories with all of those skills.

There are lots of example of people who have managed to be a generalist and a specialist.  They don’t have to be mutually exclusive.  There are many reasons remarkable, talented women like Stacey are able to achieve mastery of several different skills.

  1.  Although women traditionally only had a few choices for careers (nurse, secretary), the options for careers for women now are greater than ever.  Men have had those opportunities for centuries, so there are many examples of “Renaissance men”, but in recent history, women have been allowed to show this creative diversity as well.
  2. Like cross training in athletics enhances performance overall, learning one skill (such as writing) can help you learn another skill (like directing) more quickly and deeply than specializing may.
  3. If it’s true that it takes 10,000 hours to master a skill, we are living longer than ever before, so we have more time to learn multiple skills than we ever have before.
  4. We are more open as a society to changing careers than ever before, so we have more support and encouragement to try different careers.
  5. Many careers don’t require professional credentials to show mastery.  So, although you still have to go to medical school to be a doctor, you can discover how to write or make films with all kinds of avenues.  And technology is making it easier to learn those skills as well.

The opportunities are greater for all of us to be multi talented than in any time in history.  So, let’s recognize and be inspired by the creative potential of the generalist and the specialist, the women and the men, who continue to make this world a better, more innovative place to live!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Lessons from a contented cat

by Peggy Hustad, posted in Inspirational

Casey 2014

Give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus

1 Thessalonians 5:18, NIV

Our cat, Casey, can purr very loudly, when he is inspired to, especially when it comes to food. For sixteen years, almost every time he has eaten in our presence, he purrs while he devours his food, in sincere gratitude. A person could easily become bored with eating the same meal, every morning and every evening, but not Casey. Every meal seems brand new to him, and is always received with great excitement. The sound of him crunching his food, paired with his ecstatic purring, resonates especially loudly when he has his face deep in his food bowl. It makes my husband and I smile to hear him respond with such enthusiasm to the small gift we’ve given him.

Watching and listening to Casey recently, I thought about how God might feel when we’re truly grateful to Him for blessings he’s given us. It must give God great pleasure when we are filled with thanksgiving for all the many gifts he offers us. I realized that it also feels good to us personally when we’re grateful and when we express the love and peace we feel to others and back to God. And though it has been especially challenging for me to be thankful when life is painful and difficult, I am inspired by Paul’s and by Jesus’ examples of gratitude in the face of suffering. Even when facing persecution from others, Jesus taught us, “Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven…” (Matthew 5:12). And as I write this, Casey is purring as he lays in the sun, showing me how to be content in all circumstances.

Two singers, same song

by Peggy Hustad, posted in Music

Here is the “guy version” of a song I wrote with a great songwriter, Scott Jarman.  The song is called “Chase an Old Memory Down” and I thought it would be fun to compare my version, with me singing at the Bluebird Cafe (see my previous post), with this version, which has a guy singing and a guitar playing, at mid-tempo…    Enjoy!

Two singers, same song

by Peggy Hustad, posted in Music

Here’s a song I wrote with a great songwriter, Scott Jarman, called “Chase an Old Memory Down”.  I got featured in a movie called “Send My Mail to Nashville” because the director, Stacey K. Black, heard me singing it in Nashville.  I thought it would be fun to compare my version with the one I recorded with a guy singing.  So here is my version…

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dR-MRkybnr0

Music and cats

by Peggy Hustad, posted in Music

Casey 2014

My cat, Casey, has always had an uneasy alliance with my songwriting career. When I first moved to Nashville to be a songwriter, he used to go to his kitty litter box every time I started singing one of the new songs I had written. “Everybody’s a critic” I would say, in response. But he should be glad about my new album “Life Waves” because it literally could provide his daily sustenance. Buying my album (or even a single song) could help pay for my cat’s expensive prescription cat food! ;-D

Fortunately, my singing and songwriting has had some positive reviews more recently, including this one from Walt Aldridge (thank you, Walt!)

“Peggy’s writing comes from that heartfelt place where real songs are created. They stand the test of repeated listening and touch the places great songs are supposed to touch”

http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/lifewaves

With me in the waiting

by Peggy Hustad, posted in Inspirational

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One of my songs, “You’re Here for Me”, has a line “You’re with me in the waiting and nothing in creation can keep me from You”. It’s about how challenging it can be when you’re “not there yet” and you can’t see or can’t believe the best is yet to come. You’re trying to find the balance between accepting and loving yourself as you are, no matter what has happened in the past, and continuing to learn and grow into the person you were made to be. And trusting that God is with you as you grow in your faith.