Hello Everyone,
Christmas is almost upon us and I am wishing you all a warm and happy Holiday Season!
So sorry I’ve been so out of touch and not updated since Feb! Crazy, huh?! Between learning about Twitter and Facebook and screening my directorial debut, YOU, all around the country my poor, little website just got put on the back burner. But, here I am again and we are working on my site now so that I’ll be able to post these updates with video too, which will be so great. I’m excited about finding a way to stay in better touch with all of you and also representing my music more fully here on the site.

It’s been a great year. YOU has been making a difference with so many people in many cities. I feel touched and surprised by the amazing impact the film is having on people’s relationships. The idea that YOU is turning out to be a kind of connective tissue in peoples lives is simply wonderful! Read and see real audience reactions at (www.youthefilm.com).

I also filmed the series finale of MONK where I’ve recurred as Monk’s dead wife Trudy Monk for the last 7 years. The finale just aired recently and I thought it was a great way to wrap up a wonderful show. I will miss Trudy and all the people who made Monk work so well week after week, especially Tony Shaloub, who is one of the most talented and definitely one of the nicest people I’ve ever worked with.

Last Spring I had the pleasure of performing for Clint Eastwood when he was honored at the Thalians Ball. Clint requested me himself so I was very moved. We worked together in Absolute Power and have stayed in touch over the years and it was a real highlight to be there singing for him.

My parents celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary this year which is quite an achievement in today’s world! So, my brother, Shawn, and I wanted to thank them for sticking together through thick and thin and we threw them a full weekend spectacular which included a surprise party at my brother and sister in laws lovely home, a film that my brother and I made with my fabulous editor, Jason Schmid, croquet and catered lunch in whites at a gorgeous Country Club up North and, the piece de resistance, we rented out an entire castle for dinner and music and my parents renewed their vows in the stunning chapel there in front of their closest friends and family. It was magical and my parents were blown away!

I just returned from New Orleans, one of my favorite cities, where I was starring alongside Big Show of WWE fame in a family film called “Knucklehead”. I think it’s going to be a really sweet, fun film, and Show did such a great job acting. He was so humble and warm and hungry to learn. I had a great time and Big Show is my new friend! He’s an awesome, gentle giant!
I just got an opportunity to ride with my little girls and my husband in The Hollywood Christmas Parade. I watched it on T.V. growing up and it was so much fun to be a part of it this year. It really got my Holiday spirits flowing! The holidays are here and I’m very much enjoying decorating my house since last Christmas I was in New York getting ready to debut on Broadway as Roxie Hart in “Chicago” and I didn’t get to indulge in all my decorating joys.

This Christmas is especially special because I have an original Christmas single now available on iTunes. It’s called “Come Home With Me For Christmas” and was written by my wonderful musical director, Ben Toth and Nell Benjamin (Legally Blonde on Broadway). The song is fabulous and I love the way the recording turned out. Doubly exciting is that “Come Home With Me For Christmas” is the bonus track on my first nationally released cd due out Feb 9th on LML Records. It’s called “All The Way To Mars” and was produced by the wonderful Richard Jay-Alexander (Barbra Streisand, Bernadette Peters, Ricky Martin, Johnny Mathis) and I definitely think it’s the best recording I’ve made to date and I LOVE it! I hope you’ll all pre-order it NOW at www.amazon.com! I was also fortunate enough to get to do a fabulous photo shoot for the record with an extremely talented, young, German photographer Kirstin Knufmann. She's someone to watch!

So…. If you love me and my work, which I’m assuming you do or you wouldn’t be reading this, here are 5 things you can do to help me have the best Christmas ever! (1.) Download my single “Come Home With Me For Christmas” from iTunes for 99 cents. (2) Tell a friend to do the same! (3) Pre-order my new full length, live record “All The Way To Mars” on Amazon.com (4) Tell a friend to do the same! (5) Follow me on Twitter and Facebook so you can keep up with my latest and greatest news there too! Thank you in advance for making this Holiday Season a happy one for me! Until next time….

Happy Holidays!