Connie Renda's Blog

I’ve been singing at home lots, practicing, writing and I’ve been thinking of my Grandma Ginger’s voice… a lot.  We grew up singing with her all the time.  We being my siblings, cousins and I.  And I’m sure my dad and my aunt did too.

Ginger used to record herself singing all the time.  We have cassette tapes of her singing by herself, tapping the counter to keep time or using the open shower door for better acoustics.  What a sassy lady she was. I love having our little voices on tape singing with her more more than 25 years later.  I miss her voice but I can hit play and hear her songs anytime I want.  It makes me so happy. I was just logging onto this blog (trying to remember the dang password…it’s been awhile) and one of our recorded songs played in the background. I wasn’t paying attention to it but I soon noticed I had a huge smile on my face and tears in my eyes.  What great memories.

Here are 2 songs.  The first is cousins and I singing with Grandma Ginger and Grandpa Frank, one of our favorites in 1985, Somewhere Over the Rainbow. My sister Rosalyn is crying in the background…hilarious (you’ll ruin the song!)  Of course we are singing along with Judy Garland on the record player.

Click the second link to hear me and Ginger singing I Don’t Know Why I Love You Like I Do.

SO SWEET. ENJOY.

Over the Rainbow

I Don’t Know Why…

Hello friends!
Do you practice yoga? I have been practicing for about 8 years now.  Over the last 3 years, I’ve taken my yoga practice very seriously and I am even teaching now.  Yoga has opened up a part of my artist that hasn’t been satisfied for some time now.  Lately, I am feeling so free and creative. Writer’s block? Artist block? Happiness block? Get to the mat! Chant some mantra! Your body, mind and soul may be begging you. And so is your song and passion

Check out my yoga website to see what I am up too! I also teach children!

The happiness of your life depends on the quality of your thoughts.
-Marcus Antonius

Stuck in a rut? Climb out, stand tall and feel the sun on your face. You are beautiful. You are capable. Fight the negative though patterns. Start saying YES! instead of no. I can! instead of it’s too difficult or I can’t…

If we can change our mind’s thoughts to be loving, joyful and peaceful ones, our days will be filled with just that! And we will walk through the hard times life presents with grace, humility and courage.

Be happy today.

I am having a birthday party in Manhattan tonight. I don’t go out too much lately. I keep busy working on life and careers. If I go out, I go to places close to home in Brooklyn. So planning a gathering for my birthday proved to be annoying. I didn’t know where to start. Not to mention the pressure of choosing the perfect place for all to have the time of their lives!!!!!

I turn to Yelp. One bar keeps turning up as #1 on the favorite bars list. No matter where in town I put as a search, no matter what type of bar I select, the same bar shows up. It’s one I know so well. The bar is owned by my dear friends, Raylene Gorum and Mike Uy. I tend bar there on Friday nights. The #1 bar on Yelp happens to be Baby Grand.

I had to blog about it. I’m so happy for my sweet friends and I must congratulate them. Their collaborative efforts leave people singing, smiling, laughing, meeting new friends, and always coming back for more. Inside, candy for your eyes as every inch has a thoughtful and creative touch. Not to mention, each month a special artist’s work displays for all to admire. You haven’t heard karaoke in the city like there, in Baby Grand’s intimate space. I love Baby Grand. Everyone that comes in loves it. And it’s all because of Mike and Ray and their vision, determination, passion, joy, and teamwork. Cheers to Baby Grand!

I love children.  They make me laugh. When I babysit we play all kinds of sports, we create art projects, we sing, we bake, we curl hair.   I’d like to share some pictures of the brilliant little people in my life.  They have given me so much love and laughter and I have learned more from them then they will ever know.   I’ve also really enjoyed photographing them… they are good sports about it.

Kids! Click here to see the slide show

Grandma Ginger had this thing inside her. It was like she was always moving, like there was music inside of her that needed to get out! She danced through life. She could have been a movie star. Her vivacious and feisty spirit could have lit up every screen. Instead, she graced our lives with her song.

When our grandpa frank came home from the service, he was at church when he laid eyes on my Nanna Ginger (in her heels and fuchsia hat). He said to himself, ‘I’m gonna get a hold of her before someone else does!’  Well grandpa Frank, you got her good.  On Wednesday morning,  as he was smearing relief on my grandma’s lips, Ann said to Grandma Ginger,  “Oh Grandma, you really found your life’s true love.”  And grandpa said with a kind smile, “yeah she did!” Grandpa we love you so much. The way you cared for your wife, so tenderly, selflessly, tirelessly- that is the true meaning of love. In fact, I don’t know that there is a WORD to describe the way you loved her.

I loved looking through all of these pictures the past few days and let me tell you, the sorting through should have started months ago. My grandma and grandpa took pictures all the time and Ginger loved to pose. So many pictures with the same scene: celebrating, eating, singing, dancing and laughing together as a family. What a gift to have such a loving family and to enjoy every minute together. That is how my Nanna lived. She relished, she reveled, she cherished each and every moment. What a way to live. And I think we should take this gift with us as we walk out these church doors today. Smile and sing and say I love you.  We love you Nanna.  We will see you somewhere over the rainbow.

October 5: My anniversary with New York City! The day I moved to the city the air felt crisp and romantic just as it does today.  I breathe in today and I am taken back to that day, the beginning. I see the moment where I stepped out of my mom and dad’s minivan and on to the cold sidewalk in queens.  WOW! Here I am NYC!  I’m about to take a chance to make my wildest dreams come true.  That is the stuff NYC is made of…dreamers dreaming.  I exhale and here I am today in Brooklyn, handholding, on a romantic autumn Sunday afternoon.  What is different? What is the same?  I wonder when I will consider myself a New Yorker…maybe I do.

Autumn’s beauty leaves me reflecting.  It marks another year that I am here, I always check in to see how I’m doing (mostly with my career).  Am I happy? Am I working on the things that I need to be working on to get to where I want to be? Where do I want to be? HOW DID I GET HERE!?   Sometimes it’s a conversation with myself that makes me feel anxious. Lots of times I feel like I need to hurry up and get “there.” Sometimes I can slow myself down and be in the moment.  In fact, I believe I am more present in my everyday than I have ever been.  This feels great and helps me to not judge where I am in my journey.  Because life is about the journey, right?  That ‘s the motto we hear.  But what does that really mean to us?  When you accomplish the very goal you set out to achieve, you look back on what it took to get there.  When I get “there” I want to look back and know that I felt every moment of joy and pain.  I have been doing my best to find the joy and celebrate being here now with the people I love. I am going to take some more chances! Smile more! Laugh a lot! Make great memories and connections with those I love.  We won’t get to do today over again.  Instead of worrying about when the next audition will come, I can only be here now and work on me.  So when the next audition happens, I am grounded and loving.   All we need will come to us.

Lets all take a moment to take in all the beauty that surrounds us and all that autumn brings.  And when that crisp air gives us a chill, lets snuggle with the ones we love and enjoy the company of our friends and lovers.   No day like today!  After all, it doesn’t last long enough most of the time, does it?

I love this book.  Just thinking about this.  Enjoy!

…It was the pure Language of the World. It required no explanation, just as the universe needs none as it travels through endless time. What the boy felt at that moment was that he was in the presence of the only woman in his life, and that, with no need for words, she recognized the same thing. He was more certain of it than of anything in the world. He had been told by his parents and grandparents that he must fall in love and really know a person before becoming committed. But maybe people who felt that way had never learned the universal language. Because, when you know that language, it’s easy to understand that someone in the world awaits you, whether it’s in the middle of the desert or in some great city. And when two such people encounter each other, and their eyes meet, the past and the future become unimportant. There is only that moment, and the incredible certainty that everything under the sun has been written by one hand only. It is the hand that evokes love, and creates a twin soul for every person in the world. Without such love, one’s dream would have no meaning.

Paulo Coelho, The Alchemist