Ho Ho Ho!

I am feeling energized and ready to take on the world after these past couple days off! Sometimes thats all you need is just a couple days to not have to worry about anything. This Christmas was really great. I loved spending time with my family and eating till the only way I could transport myself is a wheelchair or to roll!! HA. (Thats the best.) I got to lay on the floor and fall asleep in front of the fire, while we watched Christmas movies.

One of the things that kept coming up in conversations over the season, was about the meaning of Christmas. I was watching The Grinch on Christmas Day and he said something very insightful to me... He was talking about how all the Who's care about are the presents, and then when the day is done, all the presents come to him in the TRASH. I laughed at that part because inside I saw how true that was. I didn't want to be one of those people that got so caught up in the gifts, that I lost the true meaning and beauty of Christmas. The Grinch got me to look in the mirror at myself! Who knew? ;)  At the end of the season, the memories and time spent with the people you love are what you keep close to you forever. I don't mean to get all sappy, but my most enjoyable moments and memories of this Christmas were the simple ones, like laying in front of the fire and relaxing with my family.

Later this week I'm flying back down to LA. Im really excited, it seems like forever since I've been there! I have just a few days to get caught up on all my work, and then off to the sunshine for a week. New Years Eve there should be really fun.. I'm not sure what ill do yet, but I'm sure theres plenty of parties and events to get in on. With the year coming to an end, I have spent a lot of time reflecting on what I accomplished, where I need to go, and how to re direct my course in 2012. Im feeling very confident that big things are coming in 2012.

This year has been a whirlwind, but I would not take back any of it. I have become strengthened, and know now more than I have ever known. I feel empowered and inspired. I have gained more knowledge and success in this past year than I have in my entire life! God is good, and I continue to be blessed everyday. I am really pumped and excited to see what 2012 stores!

I hope you all enjoyed your holiday weekend and wish you all a great rest of 2011!

Love Always,
Tiffany

Photo shoot and NEW song coming out!

This week has been very busy but so rewarding! There have been so many technical difficulties and bumps in the road, but with the end of the week coming up, I feel that I got through most of the hard stuff. I am actually starting my hiring process tomorrow, to get an incredible assistant to help me out with everything I suck at! ;) Getting an assistant is WAY overdue, and after this week its even more obvious that I can not do everything on my own. I need at least 3 of me, and as far as I know I'm not a triplet, and am in serious need of some help! Im really excited to start looking for the right person(s). Its great to have someone to learn from, and not having to spend 2 hours doing what they would do in 10 min!

I also had my photo shoot yesterday, that went really good! Ive been wanting to get some amazing pictures for a while now, and we got some great shots! We played around with some motion photography of me dancing and moving around, They turned out so cool! Im really excited to see them finished, and be able to share them. We started the shoot on a white backdrop and then went out to the city to take some pictures with some cool architecture, doors, and scenery. Theres a ton of variety from this shoot! I will be posting those soon.

And the most exciting part of this week for me is being able to ANNOUNCE the release of my new song "Need to Be Free" Tuesday, December 20th! Ive had this song done for a while, and have been waiting for the right time to release it and the time has come! I really love this song, it was a lot of fun for me to write and record. I was inspired by a common story among couples and people in general. I started to see this trend and felt like writing a song about it. The song is about feeling suffocated by another person. This person doesn't leave you alone, constantly trying to control, or just simply all up in your grill!! In this song I'm saying "Back off me" and standing up against this person that I've been allowing to treat me this way. Its an empowering, sassy song but also a really fun, dance vibe too. I can't wait to have you guys hear it! Its one of my favorites and I hope it will be one of yours too :)

It will be available to listen to on Facebook, www.tiffanyparker.com, and my Reverbnation page on Tues, December 20th! Although, it will only be available for download through my mailing list.
To get it first and get your free download, sign up for my mailing list here: http://www.reverbnation.com/page_object/join_mailing_list/artist_1345888


Much Love and Blessings, 
Tiffany :]

Thanksgiving and Black Friday!

Thanksgiving is one of my favorite days of the year mainly for the food and its the official kick off for the holiday season! I still get just as excited about Christmas as I did when I was a little girl. I think thats one thing I love most about Christmas, people get to go back to their childhood and a season where real life can sometimes take a break. It lets us tap into our imaginations and create the world we want to live in. I know I am going to be turning my whole home into a elf workshop, haha, its going to be so fun!

My Thanksgiving had a bit of  a rocky start, but turned out amazing. I got to free my mind of any obligations, or work deadlines for the day. I did absolutely NOTHING and it felt great. I got to spend time with the people I love, and fill my belly up so full, I couldn't even walk! I hope you all had an amazing Thanksgiving!

After dinner we saw WalMart had a black friday sale going on starting at 10pm, we were planning to leave around then and thought why not? After the meal was over and everyone went home, a couple of us decided to check it out. I have never done any Black Friday shopping before and couldn't believe it! The road that leads to Wal Mart was bumper to bumper for miles, the parking lot was overflowed. People were parking on the lawn and in the flower beds, all the surrounding business and churches were full of shoppers too! It was crazy! We decided to park outside of the madness down the street a ways. We just had to walk but it was worth it to be out of the crowd. When I got into the store it was packed! People were in line throughout the whole store just waiting to pay, some people had been in the line for a couple hours already! This was my first experience with this crazy shopping day, and I have to say I don't think ill do it again. I would rather pay more to have a peaceful experience than stand in a line full of pushing, stressed people for 3 hours! Time is money for me and 3 hours for a discounted movie, is not a valuable way to spend my time! Needless to say I left after one loop around the store to see what it was like. It was interesting to see, but not for me! Good for all of you that stuck it out, and got the great prices   :)

I have been working a lot on my inner self these past few weeks. Ive realized how much mindset and perspective can directly affect my life. Waking up every morning and being thankful and grateful for all the blessings I have has made such a change. Its so easy to see whats right in front of you, but so many times I don't realize how small and pathetic this block is. There is a HUGE picture of what Im doing and where Im going, and thats where I need my focus to be. That will continue to move me forward. Ive been immersing myself in teachings, conference calls, programs, mentoring, etc and the common factor of all that is mindset, I am in control of my career, my life, and where I go. I have been so empowered and inspired these past couple weeks, especially, to realize how POWERFUL your mind and thoughts are.

To keep my mindset and thoughts on the right things I have created a vision board. This has been amazing! I looked through google, magazines, and some other places for pictures that represent where I'm going in life. I chose my dream house, my career accomplishments, places I wanted to see, charities I want to work with, etc. Every day I look at that board and visualize myself in every image. Its powerful and amazing how quickly it can change my day around or push me over a speed bump in the road. Im really excited to continue to add to this board and see my vision come alive!

Happy Holidays to you all and much love always!
-Tiffany

Mindset.

This week has been challenging for me. Every day I know exactly what I need to get done and what I want to get done. The problem is the 2 usually clash and in my mind everything NEEDS to get done. In order to get everything done, I don't enjoy myself, I rush, and I stress myself out. Not fun right? Every once in a while I like to take a look at my life and reevaluate. Sometimes I get so stuck in the to-do lists and craziness of running my whole career for the most part single handedly, I forget whats important. I've made a pre- new years resolution to relax and enjoy where I am all the time. I don't want to go so fast and realize that 5 years, 10 years, etc have gone by and I have no memory of those years other than stress. I realize that being productive and self motivated is a key in this industry, and for any level of success, but that and insanity are 2 different things! I catch myself getting overwhelmed and I just have to take a breathe and say to myself " If this doesn't get done right now, tonight, will my life be over?" The answer 85% of the time is NO. It could be done another time, or later. This has been my biggest struggle with myself, especially as my career moves faster. So between now and my next post, THIS is what needs to happen. I need to be in each and every moment, live, enjoy and have fun with every step of this journey.

This past week I got an awesome new studio set up and recording equipment. I am so excited to be able to record myself and make so much more music! Im still learning it all, because its some high tech stuff, but I'm thinking in these next couple weeks I will have it down!

This week is going to be powerful, so many new opportunities in my life, a new mindset ;), and I'm constantly showered with love. I am feeling very grateful for everyone in my life and my amazing fans who show me that what I'm doing is appreciated, and they encourage me every day. I love each and every one of you!

Much love,
Tiffany

Nefarious Merchant of Souls

Last night was a powerful night. I felt sick, weepy, empowered, inspired, angry, blessed, happy, and overwhelmed all in a couple hours. I went to a screening of Nefarious Merchant of Souls at Union Church in Seattle. It was a documentary on the global sex trade aka human trafficking. Iv'e always had a special place in my heart for this issue, but until last night never understood the vastness of it. The US Department of Heath and Human Services calls it "The fastest growing criminal industry in the world". That to me is shocking, because very few even know or realize that its going on! Even in your hometown. Seattle is considered a "hub" for sex slavery. It makes me sick to think that while I get dressed up and go downtown for a night on the town, there are woman being tormented and sold like merchandise right down the street. This film turned a light bulb on in my mind, and I'm sure just about everyone who saw this film.

Many girls and woman who find themselves in this industry, were abducted and "beaten down" physically and mentally so they are "ready and equipped" to do the work they were taken to do. This documentary showed it from so many angles. In eastern Europe in hard times, parents will leave their children in orphanages to go find work, traffickers prey on these young children, since no one will know their gone. They take them sometimes locally, sometimes far away and sell them. Many traffickers are ex drug dealers, but change to the sex industry when they see how much money they can make. The explain it this way: "When you see drugs, you only sell it once and its gone, a woman you can sell over and over, one woman can guarantee 7 years of income minimum."

In Southeast Asia parents will even sell their own daughters daily to make enough money to live. I am not a parent but I can't even imagine sending your sweet, trusting little child out into the hands of some corrupt man for a loaf of bread. I know most people looking in on that situation would agree.

I could go on for ever about the different real life HAPPENING stories that are going on, but honestly it just makes me fill with emotion.  The fact that there is only a small percentage of people who know about this issue, let alone doing something about it, is heart wrenching. I will not be a interested observer of this issue. It is SO EASY to feel something and then go back to your regular life, because its simple, comfortable, and theres no hurt. But the reality is this, there are woman, young children, and men out there who are living a life worse than a farm animal. They are beaten, abused, assaulted every single day. It certainly makes the complications in my day pathetic. I want to make a difference in these valuable human beings lives.
There are select screenings of this documentary all over the country, for people located in Washington there is one tonight and also tomorrow night in Kirkland. I encourage anyone reading this to take time out of there day to be aware of how you can help in this world. It can be stopped and I believe that transformation is going to happen in that industry. I hope I have some believers in that, to come along side me and make a difference.

Check out www.nefariousdocumentary.com for screening and information on this issue, as well as how you can help.

God Bless,
Tiffany

Live Shows

I finally took a couple days this weekend to relax a little bit. Its refreshing to take some time to rest and spend time with people you love! But today is Monday and its back to work! This weekend I went out to downtown Seattle, like always the people there keep you throughly entertained! It is sad to see how long gone some people are who live on the streets. I have lived in the Seattle area my whole life and traveled to various cities around the world, and Seattle seems to have the most homeless and mentally unstable people that I have come in contact with. It would be great to know how to make a difference in their lives, but it is hard to know what can be done. I have spent quite a bit of time in the city these last couple weeks because I am looking for good music venues to have shows at. I have made the mistake in the past of booking a show with a venue I didn't know much about, and regretted it. SO now Im doing my research, especially with local shows!

Unfortunately, there doesn't seem to be many venues for my style of music. Seattle has a great Rock/Indie music scene, but pop is lacking here. Im hoping I can start touring to the LA area soon, but in the meantime I'm doing shows around the city of rock :]

My next show is going to be at the SeaMonster Lounge in the Fremont district of Seattle this coming Saturday Oct 22nd at 8:30pm. Its a really small venue/lounge but it will still be a lot of fun. Maybe I can find a great following of people who like pop music here in Seattle so I don't feel out of the local music scene. Otherwise I'm leaving this state and headed to the sunshine state! Maybe.

Till next time,
Tiffany

Incompetence

I have recently come back in contact with a person that I had purposely removed from my life. This person will stay anonymous, but since blogging is my "diary" you get to here ALL about it. This is a person that I have worked with in the past, an incompetent, horrible person that has made every effort to change who I am professionally, and personally. At one point it felt like this person "held" my career in their hands and that was a very vulnerable and scary place to be.

They actually made me second guess myself to the point where I thought giving up and "quitting" my career would be better than having to spend another day working with them. By the grace of God I was able to get out of the situation and have grown immensely in the months following. I have moved on to a whole new team of people, I'm in a place of power and joy in my career, and in my personal life as well.

The "name" had become a distant memory and something that I no longer needed to think about, or worry about. Unfortunately, I found myself needing music from this person that they had after over a year..STILL NOT GIVEN ME. Its amazing how all those negative emotions and feelings that I had left could come rising back after a 3 minute conversation with this person.

I had to spend some time reiterating the fact that this person NO LONGER had control over me, my career, my life, or my success, and NEVER had. Listening to them "brag" about their successes, and putting themselves as high as they possibly could to cover who they really were, made me want to punch this person in the neck ;) but also caused me to feel sorry for this person.

I have been blessed and have grown up to realize that the most important thing, especially in a working relationship, is to treat people good. To follow through with your promises, and to go above and beyond to make a change in someones life. I pray that this person will realize the value of life, and be able to move forward from who they've been. I know it seems funny that through that whole rant this is where I end up, but its TRUE. I believe that person was put in my life for a reason, sometimes that reason is as dark as the ocean at night, but sometimes I feel a peace knowing that I could not have grown to where I am now, without that situation to make me stronger. I handle situations powerfully, and  know now that NOONE can change who I am, and my success is NOT measured by the level that I stoop, or by any other human being.

Being who I am, and who YOU are is the most important thing.

-Tiffany

A rainy day

Today was pouring rain, and most would hate it, but not me! I have always loved the rain, the harder it rains the better. I've been doing this exercise tape (I know embarrassing, haha) called 10 minute abs and its kicking my butt! So as I write this I am stretched out on the couch trying to relieve my muscles of the pain!

One thing I have been really needing to do is do another photo shoot. My pictures are getting boring! I went and got my makeup done from my favorite place My Flawless Tan and Makeup this morning and then head off to my photo shoot. It was a really basic photo shoot but there were some great shots! Cant wait to share them, and see the final product.

I also just released my new music video Beauty of a Dream yesterday! So far there has been a lot of great feedback. It was a really fun shoot. That song is actually one of my older songs, but it seems to be a favorite even still. The song is very personal to me. Its a song about realizing that you can accomplish anything. That sometimes it doesn't seem like your getting closer to your dreams, or to a goal but thats part of the beauty, it surprises you with different paths than you make out for yourself.  In the beginning its noticing that what you desire and dream about is "bigger than you" but even still you can conquer it and accomplish whatever that is in your life. Towards the end, its about realizing its not that much bigger than you, when you dive in and put your all in to your dream. Its a really relevant song in my life, and was a topic I feel passionate about. I am clearly a dreamer and believe in the impossible and I wanted to let people see the reality of that in their lives.

Anyways I'm starting to ramble, theres just so much to talk about! Im out for now, and will be back to blog my journey soon, ciao!!

-Tiffany

Tiffany Parker- Beauty of a Dream

Starting Out

Ive always found that my diary and release is writing music, but I'm going to try another way of documenting my journey in my music and in my life, through blogging! I have always wanted to keep track of everything that happens to remember, grow, and share my story. 

I have found myself  frustrated lately, being an independent artist I operate all of the business aspects of being a recording artist, and by the end of the business day sometimes I don't even have the energy to write and do the creative side! My favorite days/nights are the ones where I'm able to just lay in my "music cave" and write everything I feel. My "music cave" is my spare bedroom that I have turned into a music room, with instruments, recording equipment, and the dim lighting to inspire me. Thats where most of the action happens! There have been so many opportunities, and amazing doors opened in my career over these past few months, and everything from here on out will be documented via this blog :)