WISH FOR WHAT YOU WANT

I BELIEVE IN WISHFUL THINKING.  I BELIEVE IN THE POWER OF THINKING POSITIVE.  Not in the fictional kind like I dream of Jeannie, Bewitched or Disney fairy wishes coming true.  But, in real life I believe with hard work, goal setting, and determination you can take your skills and make the life you always dreamed of living.  This is a picture of my son and daughter at the Brooklyn Museum at Yoko Ono's Wish Tree.  I never asked what their wishes were.  I did write my wish and all I have left to wish is for their wishes to come true.
One part of our life that has been rekindled for Glen and I is going out and listening to live music.  This is how Glen and I met and like he says we went out "eight days a week"  to different bars to listen to our favorite bands.  When Ian got the call to play with the Billy Walton band we were thrilled.  I knew who they were right away, because Billy Walton played with Southside Johnny.  After we saw them the first time we were hooked.  We would stay for every set, and at our age that is becoming more and more challenging.  But, it is like we were in our early twenties, and believe me that is something I wished for.  Never getting old.....ha!  But, the trick is you really can feel like you are not getting old with the power of good music.  I highly recommend you attend one show this year and that is Billy Walton Band's CD release  on March 29th at the Saint in Asbury Park.  It is a Sunday afternoon show at 2pm and promises to be a great time with great people.  Ten dollars gets you in the door and you get a CD with the price of admission to take home.  So, come on Wish for What You Want with us!  More info on the Billy Walton Band can be found here.

International Women's Day-My tribute to Donna Summer

I have been enjoying facebook and all the attention to International Women's Day.  I love to blog,  because I feel it gives me the chance to be a student again.  I really did love school.  I wasn't the best student because I didn't have confidence in my choices of the subject, or what to include, without copying what I read.  When I took composition in college and recieved a D in my first semester and then a B in Composition 2, I couldn't really figure out what I did differently in the two semesters.  With me, anyway, it took age to understand more that writing is about you AND the reader.  But, the you has to come first, and then the hope you are connecting with your readers comes next.  I wrote more from the heart my second semester and the teacher  encouraged me and would write paragraph reactions to what I wrote.
I  find it fascinating  how easy it is to find and share information in today's age.  So, to do this blog post I googled Donna Summer and I read her record album covers.  I wanted to choose a woman to honor that I didn't see anyone else paying tribute to.  She was referred to as a the Queen of Disco.  A true talent who perfectly represented the music of the late seventies.  She was a wife, mother, songwriter, singer, actress and later became a painter.

One of her later albums was called "Once Upon A Time".  To me it sounds autobiographical.  It is about living a dream and afterall she is referred to as the Queen of Disco.  She in her own life was able to have her own successful career and then spend the rest of her life out of the public life at home.  A life she created. She totally was a reflection of the disco era.  A modern day success story.  Able to have career and family life.  A person to admire and remember as an honorable woman.  Interested in her art work? You can find it here.  I also love the video she did for:  "She Works Hard for the Money".  A great tribute to the working woman.

Happy Birthday Mickey Dolenz

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 As I drove to Convention Hall today I was listening to Steve VanZandt's Underground Garage station on the radio.  He was playing some Monkees songs and one that struck my in particular was Going Down sung by Mickey Dolenz and then they announced it was Mickey's birthday.  What a cool song...love the horns.  And, I don't know, but I think he may have started the whole rap thing with that song.

I started thinking how cool it was when I met him at one of the Happy Together shows at Convention Hall and he signed a record cover for us.  I started thinking how I loved the tv show and when my brother said to me once....."you know they are not real?".   It was like he told me there was not really a tooth fairy or a santa.  But, I came to their defense very quickly.  And he went on to say they were nothing but, lip syncers and they didn't really play the instruments.  It was all pretend. Yes, Geralyn they are a want to be, totally made up band to compete with the Beatles.  The American's defense against the British Invasion.  It all broke my heart.  A lot of time has gone by and now with the store I started looking at the album covers and reading the song writers.  It was Neil Diamond and Carole King who wrote a lot of the music.    I started thinking so what if they were made up....they still played an important part of American's contribution to rock and roll music.  One of my other favorite trivia I learned was David Bowie's real name was David Jones, but he couldn't use the name because Davey Jones already was in the entertainment business using the name.  Also, Davey Jones was about 11 playing Oliver in a play on the Ed Sullivan show the same night the Beatles were on and watched them perform and decided he wanted to be them.  So, after thinking and listening to that then they played a song from the Weeklings a new local band.  Their cd release is next weekend at the Wonder Bar and they have a sound a lot like the Beatles.  So, then my serendipity moment when I walk to Convention Hall and see the Monkees car.  So,  I am daydream believer, but you already knew that.  Here is the song in case you want to give it a listen.  I think it is a really cool song, that I don't really remember.

I am the luckiest person.....well, I think so anyway.....

This was a picture of me as we were going to the Southside Johnny and Asbury Jukes show at the Stone Pony in 2013.  It didn't rain.....I was wearing the perfect shirt in front of a VW bus parked outside with a LONDON PARIS ASBURY PARK sticker in the back window........the weather was nice.....I was with my husband who actually took the picture without complaining....(too much) and we had someone watching the store so we could attend.  So, as each year passes I wonder how many more perfect moments can I keep having?  Well, they just keep coming.  Call it serendipity.....call it karma...I don't know what it is.  But, I have the kind of luck that when I really enjoy the moment and dare to talk about it I feel jinxed.  I am here today to declare I am not knocking on wood.....I am going to live and enjoy every moment of what life has to offer with NO regrets!!!!
As I go into each year I make some loose resolutions.  This and last year I resolved not to buy as many concert tickets as I have in the past.  So far, so good.  This weekend was a challenge to get through the weekend without regretting this decision.  But, the way the events of the day yesterday played out for me really made me proud  of myself!   We left the store yesterday to attend a Memorial Service and our neighbor store kept an eye on our store while we were gone (yes, lucky we have such nice neighbors to make something like that happen).  When we called on the way back to the store our friend watching our store said there was someone who wanted to give me a ticket to the Southside show last night.  He wouldn't give me any information over the phone.  So, as we drove there Glen and I went over a lot of scenarios of who and what was going to happen.  Glen had some errands to run, so he dropped me off. Well, the first thing she said was that she paid $800 for the ticket.  And, that made it real easy for me to say no.  Then she said she wanted me to have it and she was just going to give it to me, and it was still really easy to say no.  I think she needed to see the show more then me.  So, I don't know what happened, but I said the ticket was meant for her to see the show not me.  Then she thought I could maybe I could sell the ticket for her.  No, again I said.....I don't sell tickets and don't want to get a reputation for doing so.  So, she left and a little time went by.  A person walked in the store and the conversation started and she was looking for a ticket.  Oh gosh....I walked the whole Arcade to see if I could find the person selling or giving the ticket away.  Well, what happened after that was an hour of pure joy.  It ends up the person who would have the bought the ticket was  from Japan and went to the show Friday night and was still trying to find a ticket.  But, the conversation between my husband and her was really special.  When I meet people who come far away to enjoy Asbury Park's music scene it puts everything in perspective with me.  Glen, of course, could not stop gushing over our son and started sharing videos with her and she seemed so interested he just couldn't stop.  For me, though as we talked she just put a lot in perspective for me.  It was funny as I realized she had been to my store before and she was the first customer I ever took a picture of.  She was here four years ago the day I was on channel 12 news for talking about the wind.  But, anyway why do I feel so lucky?  Well, as I spoke to her comparing Asbury Park to Liverpool ( I know almost as hard as comparing Lady GaGa to Julie Andrews)....I said it and I am writing it down so I don't forget.  Liverpool knew it was special because it is where the music of the Beatles began.  But, the Beatles broke up and where they began became extra special.  I have never been to Liverpool, but my daughter was lucky enough to attend school for credit for a few weeks.  And, sorry there is no comparison as far as the city goes.  But, she did say she went to a few clubs for the music and there is a good music scene there, but Liverpool is a true city.  Well, I don't know what to call Asbury Park anymore.......it used to be a city.  But, here is where the lucky part comes in.
    I have said it to many people who have graced our doors at Greetings from Geralyn.  Yes,  my husband and I grew up in the area.  Yes, we raised our children in the area.  To be able to see Asbury Park literally raise from the ashes of it's troubled history makes us very lucky.  To do this without fear again is all about a feeling we get when we are in Asbury Park.  Yes, there are still people who we have grown up with that are still fearful of the stigma of Asbury Park.  So, that is their loss and again I will declare we are lucky for every second we spend there.  Especially sharing it with visits from people who have traveled from Chicago, Iowa, Cleaveland and Japan (that's just a sampling of the people we encountered yesterday).   Then there are the musicians who graced the stages of all the venues in Asbury Park last night.   As we walked to our car to have dinner at Jimmy's last night there were the neon lights on at the Wonder Bar hosting a Grateful Dead tribute band Juggling Suns......there was a van of people going into McCloones to see  Grammy award winner James Cotton and........                             Langosta Lounge was hosting Karmic Juggernaut a very young and hip group playing original music who made history last year using solar energy to play on the roof of Langosta.  Then there was Southside Johnny and the Asbury Jukes who played a sold out show playing the music of Bruce Springsteen.
      So, how lucky and happy would have I been to attend a show like that?  Well, very, but when we got home from having an excellent meal....Glen went fast asleep and I opened my computer.  I saw a picture of Southside and gladly a lot of friends I have on facebook were at the show.  Was I full of regret......no, I  was looking forward to  seeing the posts and I fell asleep.   I woke up at 11:30pm to be able to listen to Saturday Night Live as I write this.  And, this is why I consider myself so lucky.  Forty years later after hearing Bruce on the radio and  watching Saturday Night Live television we still have live music venues playing live music in Asbury Park.  God Bless America and thank you for keeping on keeping on.  Learning the lesson of appreciating all that Asbury Park has to offer and looking forward to  the future with no regret.  Like, wondering if Bruce will show up......oh, please who cares.....but, you never know!  The bottom line......I Want to Be Where the Bands Are!!!!

Yes, I Felt like a Modern Day Esther Howland

 Well, I wish I was comfortable at the store.........so, I brought my chair to the store.....I wish I was in Paris enjoying a macaron.....went to Confections of a Rock Star on Cookman Avenue in Asbury Park and Glen bought me a box!  Was able to share some and eat two.....yum...they are a little taste of heaven to me.

 I wish I could see some Victorian inspired flowers all day.  Well, Faye and Renee set up a pop up flower shop right across the store.

 I wish I was Esther Howland and I had the time to make a bunch of Valentine cards.  Not only did I make a lot of cards, but I was able to join the pop up shop with their beautiful displays.

 I wish I had a nice photo of Glen and I (wallahhhhh!)

They took pictures with a little polaroid camera.  I wish I would take some time to scrapbook again.  So, I will be making a little book of this post today with supplies I found this week.  So,  I hope if you are reading this you are still making wishes.  But, most of all, wishes don't just happen, it is up to you to make them come true!  And, with a little help from cupid, who can read your mind and make things happen for you helps too!

The Art of a Greeting Card

Art in a Museum is so simplified and easy.  Curated by professionals, it is a feast for the eyes.  But, what in your life is a treasure?  And in someone else's eyes trash or garbage?  What do you keep and what do you throw away.  What is it that makes you love something and keep it forever?   I am so glad no one threw this card away!  I love everything about it.  The color of the of the card.  The paper lace hearts are exquisite.  I love the scrap images on top.  It feels so good to be able to take some time and really appreciate my collection of old valentines.  I am taking some digital images of some to share in the next few days.  Then I will share the Valentines I am making for the store.  I am really enjoying this!

Come sail away......

One of the first things I did  this year was to buy a handmade card to send to my mom.  I also bought the sailboat made from driftwood.  I could buy everything I see when I see Kimberly's shop.  But, I resisted at these two have to haves!  The heart and clothespins were a big and welcome surprise.  I love etsy for when you need some inspiration and to do a little shopping for myself.  From time to time I will buy something for myself to lift my spirits.  I really love the sailboat and it is hanging in my back porch window.  Right now, it is against a backdrop of snow.  Here is the link to Kimberly's shop:  A Joy to be Held.  Here are  the lyrics to a favorite Styx song:                                                                                 I look to the sea reflections in the waves spark my memory
Some happy some sad
I think of childhood friends and the dreams we had
We live happily forever so the story goes
But somehow we missed out on that pot of gold
But we'll try best that we can to carry on

A gathering of angels appeared above my head
They sang to me this song of hope and this is what they said
They said come sail away come sail away
Come sail away with me
Come sail away come sail away
Come sail away with me