University of Findlay

I didn't turn the light out until 6am last night (or this morning? ummm... whatever....) I was falling asleep trying to proof read my blog... I felt like I was back in high school studying for some crazy test... :)

Needless to say, we slept in as long as we could. We were only 3.5 hrs away from Findlay, so we were able to get a late check out. We were all dragging a little bit getting ready this morning and no one bothered to open the curtains in our room... I remember us all laughing and talking on the elevator as we were heading down to check out. As we turned the corner into the lobby... BAM!! Blizzard. The room fell silent. Now, we were leaving with 2 extra hours... but with snow we were gonna need every bit of those 2 hours! It was a crazy drive. I've never seen this before: We would drive for a while and the snow would be thick enough it would make it hard to see.... then, all of a sudden, we'd drive out of it and it was pouring rain.... then we'd drive right back into snow. Did that quite a few times! SO strange.

Needless to say, we were VERY happy to get there. And the icing on the cake?? There were tons of students waiting on us when we arrived. I don't talk about this often, but this school sets a GREAT example. The students there were so helpful we barely had to unload. James and Joe would take stuff out of the trailer, lift it onto the platform, and then the students would take it inside faster than we could unpack it.

I can't tell you what a big difference that makes for us. We load and unload that trailer EVERY DAY. So to have any help is a big deal... And when you get a LOT of help, it just makes everything so much nicer.

We don't expect it, nor is it necessary, but it is VERY MUCH appreciated.

These students were really on their game. They did tons of promotion and had fliers up all over school for the show. They made sure our videos were played on the school's tv station and they even took the time to decorate our Green Room with "Welcome" and "Good Luck" messages. We even had a "Break a leg (not literally)" sign... I love it!!

Campus Programming Board

Hootie = "The Thinker" aka Dobie Gillis

Sharinda, the lady who brought us here, thought that James looks just like Ben Roethlisberger :) Ben grew up in Findlay and she said that James looks and acts so much like him!!! How funny is that? She said when he had his hat on especially - he was just like "Big Ben" :)

My husband: Quarterback by day.      Drummer by night.
       

We were playing in the Winebrenner Theological Seminary which was a really beautiful auditorium. We played 2, 1 hour sets, so it was another show where I really had time to have great dialogue with the audience. I really love that...

This guy. Wow. One of my favorite people ever and I just met him tonight. From the first note, he was SOOO into it. He was whoopin and hollerin and giving us so much love the WHOLE show. He had such kind words for us at the end of the night. Such a warm, crazy, fun person. I love all the people we get to meet doing this!

I think my favorite part was when we got to the chorus of "Purple Rain" and you just saw the light bulb come on. "PURPLE RAIN, BABY!!!!"
   

Students from 'round the world!! I was SO excited they came, and I admire anyone who is brave enough to go to a country where they don't speak the primary language fluently. I can't imagine - ESPECIALLY since I don't speak ANY other languages.
During intermission, I was told they had come in towards the end of the first set and started asking what kind of music it was... Someone told them that it was "country music". One of the kids said, "Oh. I like her music and her country." How awesome is that!!?? Natalie Stovall: bringing people together. ;)

Then came the part of the evening that I will affectionately refer to as: "Natalie is an idiot" time...

Let me disclaimer this first by saying: I was told these foreign exchange students didn't speak English fluently.

When they came up to talk to me after the show one of the guys asked "Picture?" and I said OF COURSE! And after we took the picture, I looked at the girl next to him and said fairly deliberately "Are you on facebook?" Hoping she would understand... The girl replied very casually "Oh yeah, I'm on facebook!" Making it quite apparent that she spoke English rather fluently...

Sooo yeah, I felt about 2 inches tall. I sure hope she didn't take offense, I felt SO stupid... I was told they would have trouble understanding me and I believed it... Burned... by life...

They were so much fun and were all rocking the "cell-phone lighters". That never gets old :)


These girls are both Equestrian Students!! How cool is it that you can go to college and study to train horses?? I think that is awesome. After the show they both ran back to their rooms to get money to buy cds! That's dedication. :)

Oh! And they knew every word to "Fancy", which makes them even cooler... :)


Hannah!!!
This sweet girl was sitting right up front. Her parents brought her out because she plays guitar AND piano. She was up WAY past her bedtime, but you would have never known it. She didn't miss a beat - she sang along, danced, and was right up in front with all the college students on "Sweet Child"! I love seeing kids with so much passion for music. Never give up on your dreams sweet girl!
Her Dad mentioned that she already writes her own songs. That's awesome... He said that, right now, her style is a bit like Phoebe from "Friends" :) I would love to hear her songs. You keep writing girl!


Kyle! LOVE that cowboy hat. I wanted to wear it :)


So thank you guys so much!!! We had yet another amazing show tonight. It's hard to believe... I feel like that's all I've been talking about lately, but the crazy thing is that it's been true. We've had such a great run of shows lately. It's been such a wonderful way to kickstart this tour and this year. I'm so happy to get to go home for a few days, but I don't want to stop cause I don't want to lose this great momentum we seem to have right now... Wow... I love it!

After all that, we ended up at Denny's for dinner around midnight, finally made it to the hotel, and now we are just praying some of this black ice will melt away so we can safely get back to Tennessee. We have a few days at home before we head out for another month. I can't WAIT to see Cinnamon!!! YAY!!! And now... take a wild guess... I'm going to bed y'all! Goodnight!

peace, love, fiddle, and breakfast for dinner,
~natalie