This is the song I sang to Brandon as a part of our wedding vows.  When I sang it for this week's Wednesday song, I realized it was the first time I'd sung the song since we were on the altar together ("altar" being used loosely - we were married by my brother Kent and Brandon's sister Bethany on a ranch in California that had been turned into an old west town).  I was first introduced to the song by my NYC voice teacher Deric Rosenblatt (thanks Deric!), and though I always liked the song, I had no idea it would become so meaningful.  Deric played the song for me when I was struggling to find great material for dreaded auditions, and marriage was the furthest thing from my mind.  It's funny how much your perspective changes as life goes on!  This week's song breaks the rules a little (the Wednesday song tradition started when I promised Brandon a new song every week that he hadn't heard me sing before), but rules are made to be broken, right?  Enjoy!  

This week's Wednesday Song is "You and I" by Ingrid Michaelson, performed on the ukulele!  On our honeymoon on the Big Island of Hawaii, Brandon encouraged us to buy a ukulele as a post-wedding souvenir - an idea I never would have thought of but was so glad that Brandon did.  We've been having a great time learning some chords and bringing a piece of Hawaii back to North Hollywood.  It's interesting to learn how the ukulele and guitar relate to each other - there are many chord shapes from the guitar that transfer to the ukulele in a different key (though I think it's easier to pick up initial chords on the ukulele than it is on the guitar - pick one up and try it out!).  Huge shout out to Derek at Kiernan Music in Kainaliu Hawaii - we were both a little intimidated walking into a local ukulele shop, but he gave us such a warm welcome, not to mention an awesome beginning to our ukulele education.  Definitely visit the shop if you're in Hawaii, or at least go to their website and watch the video on their home page.  You'll feel the spirit of Aloha, I guarantee it.   

Happy Wednesday, and happy May!  April was busy with our wedding and honeymoon (woo!), and last week was busy with cleaning up after our dryer caught fire (boo!).  But now Wednesday songs are back.  This is a great song by the wonderful Patty Griffin.  Craig Wilson, a songwriting coach I had in NY, told me a great Patty Griffin story: she recorded an entire album of songs in her apartment using the cheapest equipment possible, and then she used that recording to get traction at a record label.  When the label funded a professional recording, it turned out everyone liked her home recording much better.  So, here's to the perfection of imperfect home recordings!