April 2011 – Page 4 – Concert Katie

The Daily Post

Katie April 14, 2011 0 Comments

It’s been a while since I did one of these prompts…
Have you ever considered writing a book? If so what would it be about? Make a list of the ideas you want to cover, or the themes it might have. If you’ve never considered writing a book, what other major work have you thought about (a movie? a symphony?). Write a paragraph or two about what you imagine it would be like.

I am actually writing a book right now that I intend to release as an e-book. It will cover some of the questions I get a lot about concerts – how I win tickets, how I meet so many people, etc and will go over how I find contests to enter and all that. I am hoping to have it available for sale by the end of the year, it just depends on how motivated I am to get everything written out and then to put it in some sort of organized order. I do touch one some of these topics in past blog posts, but this will be much more in-depth and even step by step in cases!

American Idol

Idol Thoughts

Katie April 14, 2011 0 Comments

Last night’s theme was Songs from the Movies! There was a wide variety of genres selected and some of the performances were awesome while others… weren’t. However, the judges told everyone they were wonderful, as usual!

My favorite of the night was Stefano. I think that he did his best performance of the season last night! Him staying over Pia last week seemed to really affect him and I am glad that he turned it positive and gave an amazing performance rather than rolling over and dying and being the next to go. I also put my new texting plan to good use.. and put in a few text votes for him last night (it is SO easy! lol I’ve been in the dark all these years without a texting plan)

My picks for the bottom 3 are Paul, Haley and Jacob. I would say it is a toss up between Paul and Haley going home – but with the all girls going home that seems to be going on, it makes me want to say it will be Haley. DialIdol on the other hand has Haley, Paul and Casey on the bottom, with Casey set up to go home. I was not a fan of his performance (plus he seems to keep changing up “who he is”) but I didn’t think it was enough to send him home. Stefano, James and Lauren are also yellow and therefore in danger of being in the Bottom 3. Hey Dial Idol, it’s pretty easy to predict it right when you only have TWO contestants of 8 listed as safe! lol

Paul – I thought his song choice was good during the rehearsal footage, but not so much when he came out on the stage. It seemed to fall flat and it might have had something to do with running down all the stairs in the beginning. The performance was really awkward.

Lauren – She sang it better than Miley, obviously, but I was kind of bored with the performance.

Stefano – I think this was one of his strongest performances yet! Looooooved it.

Scotty – I don’t like ballads. This was putting me asleep lol He can sing… but country + ballad… I’m not into it. (It is weird how I like the more pop/rock country… but whatever type Scotty is doing I don’t dig)

Casey – I like that he shows a new side to him almost every week. I’m not sure if this was the best choice for him though. (Not sure the Phil Collins song would have been any better – and that is one of my fave songs of all time) Although… the studio seemed to love it!

Haley – I’m not sure I liked this performance. It seemed a bit shouty at points. I figure she’ll be in the bottom 3.

Jacob – I don’t like when they choose songs that were HUGE for other Idol contestants because in my mind it is all I can think of. This was a good rendition but I think it would have been better if he did something that had never been done before.

James – ugh. the screeching. enough. I don’t even want to think about the rest of the song because the screeching just turns me off so much. And I think the whole Jimmy not liking it + giving James the pimp spot was some heavy orchestrating by the producers.

Charity

Charity Week: Just BCause

Katie April 14, 2011 1 Comments

Just BCause is a site where you can get a custom blog layout. Except it is with a twist! Smitty offers to re-design your blog for you in exchange for you making a donation to the charity of your choice in the amount of your choice! I have not personally worked with Smitty, but my friend Laura at Wine and Cheese Please has. I just think this is such a great idea! Kudos to Smitty for offering her skills to raise money for others! I know that there are a few bloggers out there looking for custom layouts for their blog so be sure to check out the portfolio at Just BCause!

Concert

Stealing Angels in the Dunkin Donuts music lounge

Katie April 13, 2011 0 Comments

Yesterday Stealing Angels performed at Country 92.5’s Dunkin Donuts Music Lounge. The group is made up of Tayla Lynn, Jennifer Wayne and Caroline Cutbirth. While Jennifer and Caroline had known each other for a while, they met Tayla when they were going to do a reality show together. The reality show would follow the lives of descendants of famous relatives. Tayla is the grand daughter of Loretta Lynn, Jennifer Wayne the grand daughter of John Wayne and Caroline Cutbirth, a descendant of Daniel Boone.

They played 5 songs for the small crowd at the music lounge and were very high energy. You could tell that they had a lot of fun on stage and at points were laughing so much they couldn’t sing their lines! After the set Bosh and Cory did a bit of a Q&A; with them, asking how they got their name, how long they had been a band to help us get to know them a little bit better. Then it was time for autographs and photographs. The girls were all very happy we had come out to see them and were so sweet and so beautiful!

You can find out more about the band and hear their single “Paper Heart” at www.stealingangels.com!

Married, Single
Girls Gotcha Back
Paper Heart
Not sure the title – it had the line “the only light on this road is the moon” in it though…
Lightning In a Bottle

Charity

Charity Week: Donors Choose

Katie April 13, 2011 2 Comments

Donors Choose is another one of my favorite places to donate. You get to read the story of a classroom and donate to helping them get the supplies they need to learn. I believe education is important and having the tools they need for hands on activities can be the thing that motivates students to continue with their education. Recently I was the last donor for a project for a classroom to get the supplies they need to get pen pals around the world. I chose this project because I collect postcards and through postcrossing I get to find out about people from around the world and it is a fun way to learn about how people live in other countries. Since I was the last donor, I was sent several letters from the students thanking me for the donation.

Book Review

Book Review: Galileo by Mitch Stokes

Katie April 12, 2011 2 Comments

Galileo is one of the books in the “Christian Encounters” series published by Thomas Nelson Publishers. It was written by Mitch Stokes. The book tells the life of science great, Galileo, but includes many details about his faith as well, and how it guided him.
This book is a great resource and is very detailed. It would be a great book to use for someone who was doing a report or project on Galileo. It would also be a great read for any science history buffs who are looking to learn more about Galileo from a bit of a different perspective. There are not any other books to my knowledge which include so much information about Galileo’s faith. (Something that the Christian Encounters series is trying to change – by profiling many great historical figures with more details into their Christianity and how God guided them to greatness)
For the average reader, it is a bit detailed and at times was tough to get through. I was familiar with some of Galileo’s works from my math and science classes in college, but this book went above and beyond anything I had learned.

Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from the publisher through the BookSneeze®.com <http://BookSneeze®.com> book review bloggers program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255 <http://www.access.gpo.gov/nara/cfr/waisidx_03/16cfr255_03.html> : “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”

Charity

Charity Week: World Vision

Katie April 12, 2011 0 Comments

Through World Vision I sponsor a child, Moses from Sierra Leone. Moses just turned 6 at the end of last month and I have been sponsoring him since he was 3. Every year I get a progress report from him and what he wants to be when he grows up always seems to change! But I can’t blame him, when I was his age I couldn’t decide either. Every couple of months I send him a care package with small items for him and his friends to share (stickers, colored pencils, silly bands, etc). World Vision also provides relief to countries who are dealing with the clean up from Natural Disasters (Haiti, Japan) in addition to offering children to sponsors. They are a really great organization.

Moses. Isn’t he cute?

Hops

Lower Your Alexa Ranking Blog Hop!

Katie April 11, 2011 14 Comments

Once again I am participating in the lower your alexa blog hop!

The last time I participated in this hop, my alexa ranking was at 2,699,540 (March 29th) This week as I post this my ranking is 1,194,022. My goal is to get to 500,000 but I will be pretty excited when I drop under 1 million! (One step at a time!)

For the hop – you need to DL the Alexa Toolbar and then visit all the sites in the hop. Alexa uses the data from the toolbar to help calculate the ranking. I have the toolbar on my PC through Google Chrome and on my laptop on Firefox. I prefer the Firefox toolbar because the ranking is up at the top on the toolbar for every site you go to. On Chrome, I have to hit the alexa logo on my bar to see what the ranking is. It is a lot of fun to visit some of my favorite non blog sites and see if my ranking is better! haha.

Charity

Charity Week

Katie April 11, 2011 0 Comments

I have declared this week “Charity Week” at Concert Katie. Each day for the rest of the week I will highlight some of my favorite charities or websites that help earn money for charities. Obviously there are a lot more than just 4 great websites out there, but these are the few that I wanted to touch on this week. Feel free to share some of your favorites in the comments and who knows, maybe I’ll feature them on a future charity week 🙂

Book Review

Book Review: Knock ‘Em Dead by Martin Yate

Katie April 10, 2011 2 Comments

Knock ‘Em Dead by Martin Yate is the Ultimate Job Search Guide and has recently been updated for 2011. Whether you are unemployed or looking to switch jobs (either now or in the future) this book is a great guide and full of great tips to help you get not only your resume, but also your mind, in shape.
The first part of the book goes over how to make your resume be competitive. At the end of each chapter there are activities for the reader to do to help figure out what items need to be added to the resume as well as how to phrase them.
Once you have your resume and cover letters set, the next part is all about the next step in the job hunt – the Interviews! There are examples of questions that might pop up in interviews and how you should best answer them to promote yourself in a way that will keep the company interested. There are tips on how to ace a phone interview, in person interview, and even a meal time interview. There are details on what you should wear, what your body language should portray and what you should ask.
Of course after you learn how to rock your interview – the next step is how to negotiate a winning job offer!
The end of the book lists more detailed information on certain job types. There are a LOT listed and I found some similar to the job/career that I am applying for – I will have to check out all the links that were mentioned soon. There are also lots of other helpful links throughout the book on where you can post your resume, find jobs, etc. I fully intend to use what I learned in this book to re-work my resume and cover letter and hopefully it will yield a couple of interviews for me! (And then, a job!)

Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from the publisher through the BookSneeze®.com <http://BookSneeze®.com> book review bloggers program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255 <http://www.access.gpo.gov/nara/cfr/waisidx_03/16cfr255_03.html> : “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”