Christus Women's Live Well Conference 2013

I got to go to the Christus Hospital Network Women's Live Well Conference for the second year in a row. I love it. They host seminars all day you get to chose from.Classes range from creative parenting, women's health, "laugh at yourself" workshops, and gardening organically to name a few. Each year they have a famous key note speaker. Last year they had Helen Hunt. She spoke about being a mother to a young girl and her acting career and one of her latest projects at the time, Soul Surfer. She was amazing...she was Helen Freaking Hunt.

This year the keynote speaker was Jewel. The Alaskan native spoke of her tough upbringing. The loss of her mom at as a preteen and being raised by her troubled father and living on a homestead ranch where when the coal burning stove in her room would go out she would wake with frost on her eyelashes.  She spoke of the years she was homeless. She made light of it by saying that it was in San Diego, the weather was amazing and she was used to Alaskan weather so living in her car was nothing. It was exciting for her...until the car got stolen, but she said at least she wasn't in it. Always looking at the bright side.

She told us that the best advice she ever got was knowing that "hardwood grows slow". Soft wood in the eucalyptus tree can grow fast and look beautiful and lush but it can blow over in a strong wind. Hard wood like the live oak takes time but can live beautifully for hundreds of years. She said that in her career she had to make hundreds of decisions every day, to either blow up to be a big pop phenom or slowly grow her popularity through earnest talent and hard work.

She was welcoming and kind and a great speaker always with the guitar over her shoulders. She would strum it every so often during her speech. She sang three of her biggest songs to us. I was about 15 feet from her, at most, and I was blown away by her live performance.  Holy canoli that girl has some pipes. I knew she was good but live music, I keep forgetting, is wayyyy better than recorded.

She also yodeled for us. She told us that she didn't care to pass on her singing to her young son but she does want to pass on the yodeling. She said at his age she has him going oh-we-oh we-ohhh...That is something that her family will always share with younger generations. Her grandmother was a Swiss, up-and-coming opera singer when she decided to move to Alaska and start a new life away from war torn Europe. Singing/yodeling is in her people's blood.

A man from the audience, yes a few men showed up to a women's conference, asked if as a kid in Alaska she ever killed a bear. She said no, but she did have a bell on her bike basket to try and ward off creatures. She explained that she always did carry a skinning knife on her belt which was frowned upon on her first day at a performing arts school in Interlochen, Michigan.

I just became a huge fan of Jewel's.

Amazing!