I love big goals! Sweet-D (that’s my new nickname for my husband… it’s a long story, I’m on a nickname kick), started learning to the play the guitar this week.  For anyone who knows Sweet-D, he is sick on Rock Band and Guitar Hero, almost to the sadistic level. He get 100 percent on expert first try on just about every song out there.

Apparently the fetish for maxing out guitar on these games stems from his hidden desire to learn to the play the instrument. So I introduced him to a dandy little program on my lappy, Lola, called Garage Band.  It’s part of Apple’s iLife package.  You can take guitar and piano lessons.

So far he knows six chords and his fingertips hurt bad enough that he can’t play for more than hour, but he’s doing great, (although he would tell you differently).  Not to long ago, he showed me what he wants to be able to do before he turns 30 (in four years).

Check it out… he’s definitely got his work cut out for him.

but I just can’t help it!  I love this guy more and more every time I hear something about him!

I first heard about this on a local radio station the day after it happened. I remember telling myself to not write about it.  I’m sure “Uncle Johnny” wouldn’t like people bragging about his good-natured ways, after all everyone who meet him mentions how soft-spoken he is.  But then I started thinking about what I could learn from his most recent act of kindness.

In case you’ve been hiding under a rock, Johnny Depp left a waiter at a Gibsons Steakhouse in Chicago a $4,000 tip after he and about dozen others stopped by the restaurant after the premiere of his new movie “Public Enemies.”  The film was shot in Chicago, so the cast was very familiar with Gibsons, and the waiter had served Mr. Depp on several occassions.  “Uncle Johnny” told the waiter, Mohammaed A. Sekhani, according to Access Hollywood and Radar Online, that he would be back after the premiere and even nicknamed him “Mo.”

Think about what we all can learn from this one act of kindness.  Johnny Depp is a rich man, so he shared a little of the abundance he had to thank someone who was kind to him.  What if we started to follow in his footsteps?  Help the single mom in front of you in the grocery store line when the cashier tells her the total and she starts to look for what she can put back on the shelf.  Even if it’s only the few dollars in your pocket, to her those few dollars could mean being able to brighten her child’s day with his favorite cereal.  Take a look on the floor of your car for spare change, you just might walk past a parking meter that is flashing red because the time ran out.  What if the driver of that car is one ticket, one bill, one hardship away from the bottom falling out?  Or the elderly widow down the street, what do you think five minutes of genuine conversation might mean to her?

Think about what you have excess of that you could pass on to someone who might need it.  Even it’s only an extra smile, it could really brighten someone’s day and make more of a difference than you could ever realize.

In our house, there is one Hollywood man held in high esteem. He’s around so much that my two year old lovingly refers to him as Uncle Johnny. One of our family tradition, which started the Christmas before we were married (a week before our wedding) is to watch a Johnny Depp movie every holiday and birthday. So at this point, Will has seen him more than he sees his real-life uncles. Not to mention, what 2-year-old boy wouldn’t want the guy who dresses up like a pirate, a gangster, and Willy Wonka as his uncle?

My affection for Mr. Depp started innocently enough, as a school-girl crush when he was sucked into the bed by Freddy Krugar. I rode those lustful thoughts out through high school and early college, but as I grew into an adult (or closer to that term. I don’t think I’m there yet… I hope to never to be!) I started to really tune in on who this man is and why he stands out so much from the other “Hollywood hotties” out there.

This interview is the perfect example of why Mr. Depp is so respected in this house. He’s so far from the “Hollywood hottie” label that it’s hard not to like this guy.

Uncle Johnny is one of the truest and most talented actors who has ever stepped foot in Hollywood. While leaving his mark on the often merciless and unforgiving Tinseltown, he has figured out a way to remain at arms length, never letting the bribes and insanity of the movie star lifestyle to change the humble and somewhat shy person he is. Every time I see or read an interview with him, my respect grows! What a true human being he seems to be. This guy really loves his art form and isn’t so proud of skills that he pats himself on the back, even when prompted to.

Keep up the great work, Mr. Depp. I hope you don’t mind being adopted as an uncle… in this house it’s a term of great honor and endearment!

I’ve never been moved to tears before at the sight of someone famous… until this past weekend.

My husband surprised me with tickets to the reunion tour of my all-time favorite band NO DOUBT. Little did my husband know, this band really defined my life in more ways than even I could have imagined. Music has a strange power. It gives a group of strangers the power to change the life of a person they have never even seen and will probably never meet. It’s a power with a lingering effect to really change the course of someone’s life.

For me, No Doubt started as music I really loved to groove to, music I loved to sing and music I enjoyed with my friends. When I first heard this group, after my cousin from Southern California sent their music my way, I didn’t even think about the affect this just beginning ska band could have on my life. I loved music and I loved to perform, but beyond that music had never really shined it’s magical powers on me.

As I battled through late middle school and early high school trying to hide an eating disorder, this poppy ska band got me through each day. Even now it seems silly as I’m typing it, but I’d come home, crank up No Doubt on the boom box I won in a Cap’n Crunch contest, and find my second wind as I danced around my grandfather’s family room (that also served as my bedroom). At the time, my grandfather, who I moved in with when I was seven years old to help out after my grandmother broke both her legs (she died a few years later), was just beginning to feel the harsh side effects of old age. When I wasn’t in school, I was trying to take care of him the best I could by cooking, cleaning, making sure he took his medicines, running errands, and really just trying to make life as easy as a 14-year-old could for a man in his 70s. When I came home from school, I needed all the energy I could get. Often, I needed that energy (at least in my mind) for the sole purpose of not worrying my ailing grandfather.

No Doubt was the only “new age music” (as he referred to it) that my grandfather enjoyed. He’d often say, “I don’t like that new age music, but that girl can sing.” Of course, he’d follow it up with his usual banter for my generation: “but she needs more clothes and less makeup.”

Although he never let me perform any No Doubt music when he booked solo gigs for me around town (he wanted me to stay with the classics like Patsy Cline and perform gospel), he would let me practice to them. I felt like it was the one thing I brought to the table as far as musical influence. Most of my performances were for civic events, so my grandfather was right to not let me perform ska. I’m not sure all of his generation would share the love of No Doubt like we did.

After my grandfather’s death, I stopped performing (eventually I even quit singing at church). But I never stopped dancing and belting out No Doubt in my living room, car, shower… basically anytime I was alone and needed comfort. I was known as the person who found the bright side of things and often, especially after my grandfather’s death in 1999, my bright side would be “at least No Doubt is still turning out great music.”

Anyone who has followed No Doubt or listens to even a hint of pop culture knows that bright side came to an end, actually it ended about the same time that I lost touch with most of the things I loved about myself. No Doubt was the last thing I held onto from my grandfather. It kept me connected to him. I wasn’t on stage anymore living the dream my grandfather planted on my heart, but I was still practicing the poppy ska in my living room. And I’d sing each new song with all my heart, so my grandfather could hear it in heaven. I’d often follow it up with, “No Pop, she’s still not wearing any more clothes or less makeup. But she’s smokin’ so she can pull it off!”

When No Doubt announced their “hiatus,” I, like everyone else I knew, considered it a nice way of saying “it’s over.” After a few days of depression, I moved on and tried to forget my bright side (although I did still rock out in my living room secretly hoping they would get back together).

I continued to follow Gwen Stefani, who I held near and dear because of the happiness she brought me as the headliner of No Doubt. My husband and I met after they disbanded, so he never really knew why I followed Gwen Stefani so closely. I bought every solo album, but it just wasn’t the same. I still loved the music, but the magic was gone. I did love when she had her first son on my birthday though. I’m sure she knew that would be special.

When my husband gave me the concert tickets, I was so excited… but I was afraid to show it. The last (and first) time I had enough money for tickets, they broke up. I didn’t believe it could be true that I could actually see No Doubt live. I was honestly afraid to get excited. I didn’t know what would happen emotionally when I saw them together again. I was afraid the magic wouldn’t be there.

Boy was I wrong! When the large white curtain dropped and they took the stage, I burst into tears. It was like my grandfather pulled the cord to unveil the people responsible for the magical connection we shared even after his death. A flood of emotions hit me. It was as if five years of needed comfort shot through me in an instant. Even though I felt like a 12-year-old girl seeing a preppy boy band for the first time, I couldn’t fight back the tears.

I didn’t realize until that moment how much this band has truly meant to my life. I think I’m still processing it all, but it was if all of the confidence and faith I had in myself and the person I loved inside instantly returned. Who would have thought that a band could define someone’s life.

I know good things are to come, not only from No Doubt, but also from myself. I think when I wrote off No Doubt, I wrote off the person I was because of my grandfather and the magical possibilities of music. I had already lost a big part of myself when he died, and then in 2004 the last spark fizzled.

It will be a fun ride to see what happens next. But right now, all I can say is: Thank you, No Doubt. Thank you for all of the great music through the years and the great music to come. Most of all, thank you for reminding me of who I am and who I want to be. I can only hope that somehow, some way you stumble upon this blog and get to receive my message. Keep on rocking! I promise I’ll find a way to be in the front on your next tour, so I can at least yell thank you from where you’ll hear me!

Technology has come so far, even in my short 20-some years of life. For instance, the Internet. We use it for everything… to pay bills, keep in touch with old friends through e-mail and social networking sites, gather news that interests us, procrastinate on just about anything and even watch the television shows we missed on prime time.

One thing that has always amazed me about the Internet is how it draws people from very different backgrounds together through common bonds. One of my favorite mommy bloggers over at We Are THAT Family touched on this subject this week in her blog “When Bloggers Don’t Blog.”

Bloggers are a community, and we tend to stick together and support each other in ways we’d never imagined. We discuss issues, update on our lives, and even disagree on a regular basis. But when it comes time for a member of our community to need a lift, whether it be in prayer or hit count, we rally to help.

I still feel like I’m a new member of this community. I just joined a mommy blogging community and have started to find my blogging voice. It’s tough to move from the news world to the opinion blogging world. I wasn’t allowed to have an opinion before when I was a reporter, and now I am part of a very diverse conversation that seeks out and welcomes all points of view. In many ways, it’s a very refreshing change. I love being a part of this movement.

I look forward to meeting more bloggers out there in this online universe. And, following “We Are THAT Family,” leave me a comment and I’ll stop by your page. It’s nice to share some love. And if you’re reading the comments on my page, share some love with other bloggers out there. It’s how we keep in touch and build our communities.