Sunday, March 19, 2006
NS4: Update Journal Entry 2
Current mood: anxious
Hey Everyone! Sorry that it has been so long since my
first entry! Hopefully I will be able to do an entry
every Sunday from here on out. As you may have
guessed, we have been really busy. So much has
happened so I'm going to get right down to it and tell
you the big important stuff!
Over the past few weeks we met Wynnona Judd and Cowboy
Troy! We actually got to have dinner with them the
Friday before we taped episode one. What an amazing
honor and experience it was! Troy is hilarious and so
nice! Wynnona is even more beautiful in real life than
you can imagine and she is such a wonderful person!
She has really stepped in to be a friend and mentor to
all of us!
After hours and days of rehearsing the time finally
came to tape episode one! I was so excited and
nervous! I was feeling every positive, exciting,
nervous, and scared emotion humanly possible all at
once! While we were all in wardrobe, hair and makeup,
Wynnona had gift bags sent back to all 10 of us!
Inside we found personalized and autographed t-shirts,
CDs and DVDs of Wynnona's newest release, "Her Story,
Scenes from…" They are great so you should all check
them out! We also found three more very special items
in our bags! There were 2 books, "The Red Sea Rules"
by Robert J. Morgan and "Going Through the Dry Times"
by James Ryle. Both of these books are
religious/spiritual guidance books and are very
definitely appropriate reading for this time in all of
our lives when things are going to change very
drastically either for the good or the bad. I believe
that in giving us these books, Wynnona hoped to
influence us into making sure that things were going
to be for the good regardless of their outcome! The
final item in the bag was a New King James Holy Bible
that has our names engraved on the front. On the
inside Wy had written a message to us and had filled
in the page where it says, "This Bible was given to…
by… on this the day of… etc."!
After opening the gift bag and looking through all of
the wonderful gifts it bore, myself and a few of the
other contestants headed back to the makeup chairs for
retouches! Tears are a powerful makeup remover! =0)
Now it was time to start the show and we could all
hear the excitement and anticipation from the fans and
audience! As nervous as I was, I felt completely
comfortable and at home once more as soon as I hit the
stage for our opening all sing! The energy was amazing
and made it that much easier for all if us to really
get into our songs and put on one heck of a show!
After I sang I had to hear what the judges had to say.
I have to say that even though it wasn't all peaches
and cream I don't feel like there was anything
negative said to me. My grandma taught me in these
situations to take everything in stride whether or not
I agree with it, or whether it is positive or
negative. I tried my best to make her proud and remain
a lady and respectful person. I was absolutely floored
by what Wynnona said to me, as you could probably
tell, and I intend to hold her to it! I think a tour
with Wynnona would be an outstanding and fabulous
show! I'm looking forward to it and I hope to see you
all there! =0)
The show flew by so quickly and before I knew it the
time had come for one of us to go home. My heart was
in my throat and there were a million butterflies in
my stomach. We had all done so fantastically that I
knew it was fair game and it could be any one of us. I
really do believe that it was a hard decision for the
judges, and I would not have wanted to be them that
night! When Troy called Jewels' name I thought he was
kidding and I think the audience did to. It was
totally silent for quite a few seconds and then the
booing began. I started crying. I never imagined that
I would lose my roommate so soon. Jewels and I became
really good friends right after regional auditions and
were both really excited to be on the show together! I
was heart broken and even though I am friends with
everyone here Jewels was so accepting and made me feel
instantly comfortable and I felt a deep bond with her.
We all get along great and are all very supportive of
each other, but as in real life each of us has found
another whom we feel connected to. It's going to get
harder and harder each week to be let go or let
someone go because we are all really starting to mesh
and build close friendships. Now I am rooming with
Nicole Jamrose who is so much fun and incredibly sweet
and talented! We have had fun together so far and I
hope we continue to!
After the show's conclusion I stayed out on stage to
say hello to my family, friends and anyone else who
wanted to say hi! So many people came up and asked for
our autographs on hats, shirts, issues of Country
Weekly, and all sorts of things. Everyone was so nice
and had nothing but great things to say to all of us!
For me the interaction I get to have with the fans
after the show is a big part of what keeps me going!
Knowing that you have just touched someone through
your music and entertained them is a wonderful
feeling! I am honored every time I hit that stage and
get to do what I love for all of you; and I am honored
every time someone comes up to me to tell me that they
enjoyed my performance. As an artist I know how
important the fans are and as a person I know that you
don't have to go out of your way or stand in line to
say hello to us and let us know how much you love us!
I know I can speak for everyone of us in saying that
we appreciate you all so very much!
I had quite a few very special people come out to the
show and I have to take a moment to thank them!
Destine', my best friend, my Desi-kins! My dad,
Russell, they both flew in from California to be here.
My uncle and aunt, Bill and Donna who drove down from
Pennsylvania, my friend Candace and her sister
Stephanie who drove up from North Carolina. Jaysen
Hawks, a good friend and phenomenal drummer, Jay Teter
an awesome singer/songwriter, and Heather, his
beautiful wife, and Sammi Moore a very talented
singer, and her parents. Thank you all so much for
coming out! Your presence, support and awesome signs
mean more to me than you'll ever know! I love you
guys!
We have now been rehearsing and preparing for episode
two. I am ready to rock and incredibly nervous all at
the same time! I am definitely ready to be in this
thing for the long haul but I also know that my fate
on this show is in America's hands and I could go any
week. This episode is going to be somewhat torturous
because we don't know when or if we will get to
perform. We have to sit there until we are called and
hope to God to make it through to the next week's
show! YIKES!!!!! I hope I don't start biting my nails
on national television!
On Tuesday March 14th, while you were all watching at
home, we were all at the Wildhorse for the premier
party. We performed the song that we did for episode
one in it's entirety for the sold out audience and
then went up with our family and friends to the
"V.I.P." section on the 3rd floor to watch the show
and have a great time!
Now it's back to the grind and trying to prepare for
episode two! There has of course been much more than
that but you get the idea and you'd be here all day
trying to read it all! So, I will leave you all now
with that and hopefully report back again on Sunday
with more once in a lifetime experiences! Again I
truly appreciate all of your comments, feedback and
support! Please keep it coming! Until we meet again,
all my love and best and keep the faith! ~Monique
Remember to:
-Check out the official website for cool inside info
and extras!
www.nashvillestar.usanetwork.com
-Show your support for myself and your favorite
artists on the Nashville Star message board!
(It can be found on the website)
-Tune in for Episode Two on Tuesday March 21st! AND
VOTE!!!!!!!!! It's live and should be even better than
episode one!
-VOTE!!!!!!! And tell everyone you know to vote!!!!
You can vote 10 times from each phone line and 5 times
from each e-mail address. You can see the official
voting rules on the website.