Gina's Diary
February 2007 Archives
Diary Entry #15
19th February 2007
Hi everyone!! Thanks for reading!!!
Well another busy week or so since we last spoke!!! I have been doing lots of media, radio, press and TV.
We got to be on the Kerri anne Kennerly Show which was fun! (Oh if you like getting up at 4.00 am!!)
Rod (Hubby) and I drove down to Sydney expecting terrible traffic and we had a great run down and arrived early!!! Uh I couldn’t stop thinking of the extra sleep I could have had!!!
Then my wonderful band showed up. Well poor Rudy (our Drummer) was told that they didn’t need a drummer for this show!! He got up so early and drove all the way into channel 9!! Ooh I felt really bad!!
Anyway we performed “Live It” with the full band minus Rudy. It was fun and went well I think!
Then on Thursday I was up again at 4.00am and had to fly to Melbourne for more radio and press interviews and to record “Spicks and Specks”.
That was soooo much fun!
I was so nervous that I would come across looking like a dumb blonde and not be able to answer any questions!! (Just so you know, Spicks and Specks is a music based game show with special guests.)
Well, I answered heaps!!! Though they have a section with a band playing songs in a really unusual way and you have to guess the song. I was hopeless at this one! For one they were pop songs and it was also quite hard to hear from behind them on the set!! But that’s enough excuses!!! I just wasn’t that good at this bit!!!
I also had to sing the melody of one song reading words out of a book as the lyrics! Much harder than it looks!!
I loved it though!!! Such a fun show! It’s on Wednesday nights at 8.30pm on the ABC est in Australia.
On the weekend, I went on a photo shoot with wonderful new artist, Aleyce Simmonds. I did her makeup and hair and helped her with her styling!! It was heaps of fun, though you won’t believe it, I got bitten by 2 green ants again!!! (they really have a thing for me I think!!!)
Aleyce is so strikingly beautiful on the inside and outside, I am sure her photos will turn out wonderful!
She is currently writing and recording with my husband Rod, who is hoping to make an album with her soon! I have heard all the songs and they are fantastic!! I will keep you posted coz I am sure you will love her music!
On the home front, today has been a Mummy and Jackson day at home, and it has made me think he is so ready to go to preschool more often!!
We have a lot of fun together, but he has just hit that age where he wants to do all that exciting preschool stuff at home! So our dining room table is covered in paint at the moment!!
Right now Nanna is sitting on the floor in his playroom playing cars! She is the most amazing grand mother!!!
I want to sign off this week with something I wanted to say a few weeks ago but didn’t.
My beautiful fanclub president, Dianne, lost her Mum last month. It’s a time when you never really know what to say and you can’t possibly imagine how it must feel.
Dianne, you have been in my life for 16 years as a wonderful fanclub president and friend.
Though I never met your Mum, you always spoke so warmly of her and your eyes would light up when ever you mentioned her. I am sure you were the most beautiful daughter and I am very sorry for your loss.
I was lucky enough to spend the whole day with Dianne while I was in Melbourne last week and I couldn’t help but notice she had the necklace our family bought her when her Mum passed.
I wanted to share this with all of you because I just think it is such a beautiful idea….
Rather than give flowers, our family has just started this lovely tradition.
We give a piece of jewellery with a tear drop gem stone, and put a note with it that says, “Let this be one less tear you have to cry”.
I have never heard of this before, but thought of it about a year ago and I just think it is something so special I wanted to tell you in case you ever need it.
Dianne, we really hope it has given you some strength.
With lot’s of love and thanks to you Dianne
And warmest wishes to everyone reading this letter!
Live well, Laugh often and Love much!
Love Gina x
Diary Entry #14 (part 4)
6th February 2007
Hi there!
Ok I am officially over the Tamworth Jetlag!!!! Feeling wonderful after a great weekend relaxing on the beach and at my best friends swimming pool!!!
Also really helps that Jackson has slept through the night 6 nights in a row!!! Woohoo!! I think when we first got back from Tamworth he had to readjust to sleeping in his own room again after sleeping on a mattress on the floor of my Mum and Dad’s bedroom in our apartment!!!
Anyway, all is well here!!
Now where was I with all the Tamworth goss?
Ahh Friday I did lots of media stuff again and a signing at a music shop where I saw Chad Morgan! I asked him if I could have my picture taken with him and he didn’t mind. The last time I had my picture with him was when Today Tonight did a story on new country music and old country music back when I was 22! They interviewed him with me and when they asked him what he thought of the new country sound he said, “Not much!” It’s very funny now, but back then my manager just about had a heart attack! Ha Ha!!
Then that night I got up and sang with my good buddy Beccy Cole at her show. Oh my goodness she is amazing live!! I sat out in the audience and watched most of her show and she had the audience in stitches!!! So talented!!! This year I am doing some touring with Bec and I will spend the whole time laughing!!! She is the funniest person in the world!!! Can’t wait!!
Then Saturday morning I went on the Leukaemia Foundation Float in the parade!! How wonderful it was to see all the beautiful faces from all over Australia!! It has been years since I went in the parade because we normally rehearse for the awards show all day Saturday, but this time I got to be a part of it and I am so glad!
It was straight off the back of that float (with great difficulty with my broken toe!), home for a quick lunch and then out to rehearse all day for the awards.
My Mum was so upset that I got completely ready for the awards out there and she didn’t even get to see me in my dress all done up. She has never missed seeing me get ready and was very sad, so she said to Adam Harvey’s wife, Kathy, “Please come and see me before you go out to the show, I just need to see one of you all done up!” (Kathy looked beautiful in pink!)
Troy (my trusty makeup artist) did my hair and makeup and then when I went to get dressed, I noticed my dress was hanging differently to how I had hung it. Well when I put it on, it had a big dirty mark on the front of it and I panicked a little, but Troy worked magic again and pinned it up so no one could see the mark!
My lovely mum got the stain out for me this week!!
Then the awards began. I got to walk the red carpet with a little girl called Emma who was a Make a Wish Foundation recipient. She was very excited and so was I! (Of course my beautiful husband couldn’t be with me because he was backstage getting ready to go on and be the musical director for the show!)
Troy Cassar-Daley and I were first up presenting and I was thrilled to give the first award to my mate Beccy Cole. I whispered in her ear, “Thank goodness you won, now I don’t have to swim nude in the pool!!!” I had promised her if she didn’t win I would and so had Adam Harvey and Sara Storer!!!
Towards the end of the show I got to sing “Stepped Right In It” which was fun and then got to present another award (To Lee Kernaghan) and then introduce Beccy to perform. Wow she was amazing!!
I am so glad Beccy won so many awards! She really did deserve it and her song, “Poster Girl” is fantastic!
Then it was on to the after show party! Everyone was there, but honestly, I was a bit too tired!! We got home about 3.00am and my hard working husband Rod got up at 6.00am and drove home to our studio to mix the awards for the tv show!!
I have had a busy week since I have been home too just with all the media and promo of a new album, but it’s great!!! The album is charting really well and I have my fingers crossed that it will sell really well and you will all like it!
All in all I am especially proud this week of what a fabulous job of being the musical director for the awards my hubby Rod did! He is truly amazing and so talented and respected!
We are booking in tour dates at the moment so watch the gig guide in my website, and hopefully we will come to a town near you. I would love it if you are a regular reader that you would let me know. It is so nice to know who I am writing to.
Anyway, my favourite tv show is about to start!! Yeah Desperate Housewives is back!!!! So I have to go!!!!
One little Jackson (our son) philosophy before I go…..
Tonight he said to me when I told him it was time for bed, “Mum. We are all the bosses of our own selves!”
Well isn’t he right? Only 4 years old but already knows everything!!!
Until next week!
Live well, Laugh often and Love much!
Love Gina x
Diary Entry #14 (part 3)
2nd February 2007
Hi again!
Well if you have read part 1 and 2 of this letter you will be up to speed with all this news, if not flick back for a sec so it all makes sense!
Now where was I?
That’s right I was up to telling you about Wednesday. My album launch day.
It was all suppose to start at 7.00am on breakfast radio, but I had to cancel because by now my voice was almost gone (not from singing but from talking so much!) The night before I was going a little bit husky and we all started to worry that I may not have a voice for my show!!
So I promised not to talk until my show to rest my voice. (Everyone just laughed at me and said it was impossible for me not to talk!!! Ha don’t know what they’re talking about!!!)
Anyway, I cancelled the breaky radio and settled in for a relaxing morning.
Troy, my hair and make up artist arrived about 9.30 am and we started to prepare! He works absolute miracles!!!
Then my girlfriend and her family who I hadn’t seen for about 7 weeks showed up!! It was wonderful! Jackson is best friends with Eli, her little boy and it was pure joy just watching how excited they were to see each other!!
Quick bite of lunch and we had to go out to sound check. All went really well. It seemed like only minutes had gone by and it was time for my media launch backstage at TREC. Legendary radio presenter Nick Erby hosted the event for me and a tonne of media showed up. We gave them free nibbles and drinks and they always love that!!!
After the formalities were over we all went out through the curtains and I was on!
I wasn’t even that nervous much to my surprise!!!
It was just so wonderful performing a whole show again with my beautiful band!!!!
We had a few little tricks up our sleeves to make the show different.
We opened the show with a rocking version of my old song “Josephine.”
I tried to still have lots of old favourites in the show but also do about 6 new songs from the new album.
We ran the new video of “Live It” on the big screens as we performed and then we had video footage in “Walks of Life” too. Apparently it made a lot of people cry!! I would have cried if I could have seen it too but I couldn’t exactly look back at the screens as I sang!!
The first verse of the song says, “They can’t remember life before, toys were scattered on the floor, and their world revolved around a babies face. On hands and knees they watched him crawl, and they know in no time at all, he’ll stand up and take off any day.” In that verse, we showed footage of our little boy taking his first steps. In the second verse it’s all about the Dad walking his daughter down the aisle, so we had footage of my Dad walking me down the aisle on our actual wedding day! It was all very emotional!
The show went really well I think and I had an absolute ball!!
After the show we all went back to our motel and had a bbq and a swim, which was really relaxing after such a busy week!
But it wasn’t all over yet!!
Thursday morning we had “The Walk of Life” for the Leukaemia Foundation. Every big star in Tamworth walked down the main street of Tamworth with me (hovelling on my broken toe but trying desperately not to let it show)
It was all my Dad’s idea really! I guess you know by this that I have been a patron of the Leukaemia Foundation for over 10 years now. Well we were brainstorming here at home one night trying to think of a way to help raise money and awareness for the foundation, and Dad said why don’t we have a walk with all the big stars and call it “The Walk of Life”?
Great idea Dad!! I rang all my famous friends, Lee Kernaghan, Beccy Cole, Troy Cassar – Daley, James Blundell, Adam Harvey, Adam Brand, Sara Storer, Melinda Schneider, Aleyce Simmonds and of course, they all said YES! They really are all wonderful, generous souls!!
Over 2000 people walked with us and we raised almost $10,000.00!!
I was really overwhelmed by the response!!! It was wonderful!!!
It’s all because of that little 6 year old girl Louisa that I never got to meet, who sadly died of Leukaemia . She changed my life the day I opened her letter 11 years ago and now there is not a day goes by I don’t think about her and thank God for the health of my little boy. Louisa made me a better person. She is the reason we do all this and I believe she has made us better parents. We are raising our little boy to know that we are a family who help others and I thank Louisa for that.
If Louisa’s mum is out there reading this, please get in touch again. I have lost your phone number and I would love to catch up again.
Rod and stayed in touch with Louisa’s Mum for many years and just in this last year I have lost touch and I would love to hear from her again……
After the walk on Thursday morning, I had to head back to the physio for another session!!! Aahh!!
Then it was heaps more media and interviews and running madly from one thing to another.
Later that day we got a call from the people who were producing the awards to say they wanted me to be on the Golden Guitar Awards Show!!
I was thrilled!! Normally you only get to be on the show if you are nominated for an award, and of course my new album had only been in the shops for a few days so that wasn’t going to happen and then the call came!!
What would I wear? That is all I could think!!! Well Troy, my hair and makeup artist was the stylist for the awards too and he took me shopping and we got an outfit!!! Now that was fun!!!! I do love to shop!! And quite surprisingly, Tamworth has some great shops!!!!
So now this letter is so long and I haven’t even told you about meeting Chad Morgan or performing on the awards yet, so that will just have to wait until tomorrow, coz I have to go to bed!!!
I still have the Tamworth Country Music Jetlag!!!!!!
Ooh before I go, quick funny moment from Jackson today!!! He told us he was going to ring up Jesus, tell him to call the Easter Bunny and let him know he wanted an Easter Egg as big as Daddy!!! Ha Ha!! They must have been talking about Easter today at preschool and it really got him thinking!!!!!
I guess they teach ‘em early, if you really want to get something done, you should go straight to the top!!
Anyway, until tomorrow don’t forget my motto,
Live well, Laugh often and Love much!
Love Gina x
Ps One more motto of mine…..I always say if you love someone, tell them!
