No More Scrapple For Me

What a great day today!!!

We had 2 awesome shows. The first was at the College of Staten Island and the second was at Delaware Valley College. I started writing my full blog on both these events, but y'all it is already 3:30am, and I can't barely keep my eyes open. We have been going NON-stop and there's no stopping soon! We get up and head to Waynesburg PA tomorrow morning.

MAN! Time flies when you have 2 great shows! So I am going to give a couple quick highlights and I'll write a lot more tomorrow. I promise :)

At the first show - I signed my first skateboard. I was pretty excited about that... not gonna lie.



And at the second show... THIS was our stage! I LOVED it :) They did ALL this just for us.


SOOOO many people came out to the show tonight. Even a friend from Columbia, TN came out!!! YAY! :) Representin' the hometown. That's right!

And after the show.... as always.... we were starving. We found a little diner that was open right down the road from our hotel. I couldn't resist the eggplant parm sandwhich... and it was everything I hoped it would be.

Scrapple? Not so much. (I just shivered a little thinking about it) Hootie has talked about "scrapple" since I've known him... and he got all giddy when he saw it on the menu. I've never heard of it other than from him and on menus in PA. He looked it up and the description was "a savory mush of pork scraps" and it is really crispy on the outside. Yeah. Not my thing. AT ALL. It tasted like liver to me.... which I can't stand. So Mamma, you'd probably like it. :) Oh well. At least I tried. I haven't had to spit something out in a napkin in a long time. Wait. No. I just remembered that I had to do that at the Chinese Buffet in Nacogdoches... hmmm.

But Hootie loved it! And Miguel tried my eggplant sandwich. He's NEVER had eggplant before!!! I find that hard to believe. That boy loves food - so I was shocked he had never had it before.

I'll be back to write more from the back of the Suburban tomorrow. :) See you then.

Peace, Love, Fiddle

Picture of the day:


This pic is from SFA in Nacogdoches, TX - just popped up on facebook. :)

Penn State Altoona

West Virginia sure is beautiful! The interstates twist and turn so much more than normal! :) We made it to Penn State Altoona right on time. They had a great room set up with a stage and lights. And we got all ready to go.
But....
There were a few things missing...
Miguel left his boots at home.... I had never seen him play in tennis shoes before! It was funny looking. :) And it turned out that there wasn't any monitors. But it wasn't a big deal at all. We just did without!
But Hootie had something new. A Bass! He played his first show with it tonight. It sounded awesome, and it's a 5-string, so he had a whole extra string to play than normal! :)

Apparently, at Penn State Altoona it takes 3 good-looking guys and one British accent to put on a show!


These girls were all musicians, too. They were so sweet!


Totally his first country concert! He said "country's not really his thing" but, hey! He stayed the WHOLE show :) Nice.


And Jenny bought a cd for all of her friends! What a sweetheart!


So now we are driving to Staten Island. We play an afternoon show there, so we are already heading that direction. We are all starving right now, but there wasn't anything open in Altoona.... so we got on the road. Just tried to stop at a Perkins but it was CLOSED! We've found a Denny's in 45 miles though. SCORE. :)

Peace, Love, Fiddle,
~natalie

"I Made It All The Way To West Virginia"

This afternoon I was running on Belmont Blvd in Nashville, TN. Tonight I just checked into a hotel in West Virginia. :) I love that this feels NORMAL.

I spent the first 5 hours of the drive entering emails from the email list. It was almost an entire month's worth of emails! I tried to write a new email for everyone, but quite a few roadblocks appeared. But it's coming soon :)

As we were packing up to leave, I wanted to restock the cds. And to my surprise I emptied the LAST box of cds for this trip! That means it is time to reorder cds AGAIN! And the best part is, I will be reordering the first one at the same time I will be recording the new one :) YAY!!! Pretty excited about that. This means I have sold nearly 3,000 hard copies of cds with well.... I'm not sure HOW many have been sold on itunes, but it's quite a bit as well. :)

Tomorrow we are playing a show at Penn State in Altoona, PA. Every time I read "Altoona" I hear it in Arnold Schwazenegger's voice. You know... like, "It's not a Tooomar" :)

Ok. yeah. I should probably try to sleep or something. It IS 4:30 and the birds are already chirping...

Peace. Love. Fiddle.
~natalie

What a Whirlwind of a Week

Man. Texas was a blast. I am now home in Tennessee for a few hours. But this whole last week feels like a blur. We were working at such a fast pace and it never stopped! We got home tonight around 11 and leave tomorrow for PA :) It is so great to get to do laundry and sleep in our own beds for a night!

I can't believe how allergic to Texas I was this week! And that's coming from a Tennessee girl!!! (The Tennessean's understand to what I am referring) But almost as soon as we crossed the state line... my eyes started to clear up. Whew. Something in the water or the pollen did NOT like me there. And it makes me sad because I love Texas. It won't stop me from going back.... Probably the fact that we did 6 outdoor shows didn't help the whole "pollen" thing. But yeah, that was crazy.

You know something that is funny? We sold less merchandise (cd's t-shirts, posters, etc..) in all 7 shows than we sold at almost every single show the last few weeks. It's not something I am upset about - just an observation. As an artist - the cd's and t-shirts we sell are our lifeline. So naturally, it is something we pay attention to. The enthusiasm of the audiences weren't down a bit. And I signed just as many or more t-shirts, cups, and scraps of paper this week than I usually do. But not nearly as much was purchased. It's so intriguing how things like that can be drastically different from show to show. But that's the fun of it :) If it were easy, everyone would do it!

Time sure is flying. I can't believe we only have 2 weeks left on this tour. It seems like it was just yesterday that we were putting the Tour posters together and gearing up for Winter driving! Now we're all sunburnt and the suburban is back to full on AC mode.

It sure is fun to look at this tour poster and think about where all we've been and how far we've traveled together!


Hope everyone is having a happy Monday! See you somewhere on the road.

Peace. Love. Fiddle.
~natalie

Nacogdoches, TX Knows How to PARTY!!

Today was a blast. We played at Stephen F. Austin University at their Springfest. And MAN! They know how to put on an event! It was a huge outdoors festival - they had Mud Volleyball, inflatable games, BBQ, 4 different bands TONS of people - students, kids, adults, and SOOO many sweet doggies were out, too. :) It was BYOB and seriously just a freakin blast!

The bands were:
Josh Abbott Band
Rich O'Toole Band
Me :)
Casey Donahew Band

They are all really successful Texas bands. It is so awesome how Texas has a whole other level of appreciation for independent country music. You can sell out arenas and ONLY be known in Texas as an artist and only be played on Texas radio. Crazy, right? These kids knew every word to all of their songs - it was so great. And they welcomed us with open arms! It was REALLY fun to be put in the middle of all those great bands.

I had more fun playing today than I have in a while - which is saying a LOT because we have had a lot of great shows lately. But you know, it's all about the crowd. If they are giving me love, then we are all giving it right back. And then they give more, and then we give more, and it keeps escalating. The first few songs started out with only a few people up front... but the more we played, the more they came running!!!

When we were hanging out listening to Rich O'Toole - I was watching the crowd a bit. This one girl set her purse down on the ground and started pulling stuff out of it. I wasn't thinking about it at first - but normally, you'd see a girl pulling out a wallet or sunglasses or cell phone, right? Well, not this girl! She pulled out a beer, and put it in a koozie... and another beer, umm and another... and another... girlfriend pulled out 6 beers and koozies. It's all she had in there! And THAT my friends, set the tone for the day :)

You know... just hanging out with my friend the crawfish


This guy was getting the entire crowd dancing!!! And I even got to join in on Miguel's solo during "Fancy"!


Can you tell who played mud volleyball in this pic? Ya'll, the mud was up to their KNEES. It was ridiculous. There were so many people running around all day long that were completely COVERED in mud :)


My awesome Merch girl!!!


Signing the jeans. Oh yeah.


Casey Donahew was so great. They put on one hell of a show. :)


These students were incredible today. And this isn't even 1/4 of the kids that were helping out. They were so organized and there were a LOT of moving pieces to this event. I couldn't count how many games and booths there were. But they had everything under control and made us very comfortable all day.


I love Nacodoches - plus it's fun to say :)

Next stop.... Penn State in Altoona PA

Peace, Love, Fiddle,
~natalie

UT Tyler and Tyler Junior College opening for the Los Lonely Boys!

Y'all. I think I am allergic to Texas. That is NOT cool. I don't even sound like "me" anymore. The schedule hasn't helped... but LORD! I've got the whole itchy eye / crazy head cold thing going BAD. Tonight - at the second show, I felt like such a dufus. My right eye was watering uncontrollably. I REALLY wish I had worn my sunglasses - just to cover it up. But I had no way of knowing that would happen. I kept having to wipe it when I could get a long enough spot where I wasn't playing and singing both... But I figured I was smearing my eyeliner all over my face... luckily I wasn't :) Whew. I didn't look like I had a black eye. Thank goodness for waterproof mascera!!! Right girls?

We arrived at our hotel in Tyler this morning at 6:15am. We had to leave around 9:30 so we didn't get much sleep.... but those couple of hours of laying down... man, that was good stuff.

But once we were up - we were right back to it! We played an outdoor show at University of Texas, Tyler at noon. It was a gorgeous day AGAIN. They had a stage set up in front of their brand new student center. The volleyball nets were next to us and a scenic lake was behind us. Beautiful.

This is Jenn :) She was our coordinator and the girl who made stuff HAPPEN! She was awesome and took great care of us!
We love you!


And this is Samantha. Girlfriend did her research before she came to this show!!! First thing she asked - "Will you PLEASE do the baby cry for me?" SO FUNNY she knew about that! I was quite impressed. And THEN she asked me if I would sign her Red Bull can :) That was a first!


And of course John - our hard working sound dude!


So we quickly got packed up, grabbed some Subway on campus and then headed on over to our Los Lonely Boys show. :) We were really excited. The stage was a monster.... and apparently... that thing is a SEMI truck unfolded. Not sure how that works exactly, but the wheels were underneath and everything. I think the cover is part of it too... or maybe a separate one? Who knows. What I do know is that I was impressed!


The show was awesome. Well... minus the whole crying profusely from my right eye thing. But it is always such a treat to play on such an enormous stage. The fun part is that I feel like we have done these types of shows more often lately. It's really encouraging! And it's the only time Miguel really gets to crank his amp the way he wants to. :) Which makes him happy which in turn makes ME happy!

It was funny though - there was a building at the opposite side of the field... maybe 100 yards away. And WOW! The sound would hit that and bounce back a half second later. At parts of the show I had to concentrate like I was back in an arena or football stadium singing. The closer the crowd was to the stage - the less THEY heard that. But it definitely called for some extra concentration. (Although, I will admit that MOST of this show I was concerned with how black my face look due to mascara running....)

We went on at 5:30 and were asked to play a 45 min set. And then the Los Lonely Boys were supposed to go on right after us... They were supposed to have soundchecked by the time we got there at 3. But the whole day everyone was really nervous because they weren't sure where the Lonely Boys were. The school was on a time crunch since there's an early city noise ordinance around 8:00pm. But the Boys didn't arrive until 7:30. They were still playing when we were packing up at 8:10, so who knows what happened with the noise restrictions. They were really good, and I wanted to get to meet them, but we HAD to go eat. We were all about to keel over.

But I hope everything worked out for all parties involved. That is a rough situation for ALL SIDES. It was pretty educational to watch the event staff. Some things can't be avoided. But it is a wonderful thing to be able to observe and learn from every experience. I have gotten such an incredible education (and continue to every day) by just listening to what the college students and staffs have to say about the acts they have worked with.

As always I met tons of amazing people after the show. I took a BUNCH of pics before I could make it to the merch table to get my own copies of them! But I still snagged a whole bunch of my own :)

Talk about getting thrust into a new position as President! What a "first event"!


This kid was CUTTIN a RUG on "Devil Went Down To Georgia" I could see him from stage and was SO happy he came over to meet the guys and me!


I signed quite a few shirts on my way over to the booth, but this guy came back to get it re-traced. The first time was with a pretty thin sharpie, so I went back over it with a normal one after this pic for him to make it show up better :)


I could go on and on, but I must stop here. We have another very early morning, and it is already 1am... where does the time go?! 1 more show in Texas! So sad. I love Texas. But I love PA too, and that is where we are headed next.

Peace. Love. Fiddle.
~natalie

University of Texas San Antonio

I am sitting in the front seat of the Suburban, it's nearly 2am, we're watching "Lord of the Rings" (well... James and I are listening and Hootie and Miguel are both sleeping through it) and my belly is full of Jimmy John's. God Bless JJ's for staying open until 3am. It was sure a life saver tonight! And it wasn't the first time!

Let me start at the beginning of the day to catch you up :)

We left Randy and Stacie's place this morning to head to San Antonio. I hated to say goodbye to their 3 dogs and 3 cats. They have some of the best pets ever - so sweet and friendly. We ate at a Schlotzsky's Deli. The guys had never eaten there - but I think we definitely discovered a new restaurant to add into the frequent rotation! MMMMmmmm.

We hit quite a bit of traffic in Austin.... which we expected.... but then we hit more.... and more.... We were pulling into campus RIGHT on time, but who knew that UTSA has TWO capuses in San Antonio? Ummm.... not us! So once we thought we had arrived, we figured out we had gone to the wrong place - crazy confusion with the street names and GPS. It was all good though. We still had PLENTY of time to get to our soundcheck. PLUS the soundcrew was incredible! They were there to unload the entire trailer, and they already had the entire stage set up. They put a LOT of work into this show. First to arrive and last to leave - these guys always have the longest night in the biz!

They got a great recording of the show and let me listen to a bit of it. They're gonna send it to us later :) Can't wait!

The stage was awesome. UTSA has a beautiful campus, and the festival they had going on was so much fun! Candy apples, and popcorn RIGHT in front of the stage (the aroma was amazing the whole night)

WHOA interjection: we JUST passed the Schlotzsky's in which we ate this afternoon :) Crazy.

Back to the gig. The entire quad had games, balloon animals, food, goodies, and then our big ole honkin stage. The whole area was packed the whole night. It looked more like a street festival than a college event. It was REALLY cool.

Here's the AWESOME group that put on the show!


These 2 sisters were 'cuttin a rug' the WHOLE show. They even recruited other kids in the crowd to dance, too. :)


Speaking of dancing.... I LOVE being in Texas. There are ALWAYS dancers here. People were two-stepping, line-dancing, swing-dancing, ummm... freestyle of course, too. And one kid was even doing some crazy gumby-like, almost break dancing during part of the show. The photographers went CRAZY on him :)

I had my first "Street sign" signing! It says "Mercer St." on the back... which is coincidentally her last name... probably why she bought it... you know, if I were to GUESS a reason. :)


These guys sat in front the WHOLE show. And they even busted out a lighter during "Angel".


A REAL LIFE college student :) I just love that this guy had his backpack on the whole time, and had his book in hand for the pic!


So UTSA was gorgeous, the breeze was constant so it wasn't too hot, and the people were wonderful.

On to TYLER! Only 3 hours to go!

Peace, Love, Fiddle,
~natalie

Happy Earth Day with UNT and TWU!

I spent more time outside on this gorgeous Earth Day than ANY other day so far this year. It was one of the most "Earthy" Earth Days I have ever had!!! No free ice cream... still... but a WONDERFUL Earth Day none-the-less. (I used to always tell myself I would go to Ben &Jerry's in Boston on Earth Day because they give out free ice cream that day.... but I never did make it!)

We began this beautiful day at 6am when we left Commerce to get to Denton. We began loading in at the University of Texas at 9am. This was our second time at UNT. They were having a huge Earth Day celebration -lots of booths and things out on the quad. And y'all - it is HOT in Texas!!! I was wearing a coat last week in Maine... no coats needed here! The stage was in a beautiful spot, but there wasn't a cover for it.... so this little fiddle playin' white girl got BURNT UP! I actually burned myself once on my instrument, too. I had put the fiddle down to sing a song, picked it up for the next, and the chin rest was so hot it burned my face!!! CRAZY!


This is Brandon - he gave the BEST intro for us last year... but he was in class when the event started so he didn't get to today. I missed him :)


This lady was so sweet. She was visiting the school to pick up materials for her daughter who wants to go to UNT after High school :) We had a good chat.


And seriously?! This was the SMALLEST SNAIL I HAVE EVER SEEN! It was on my fiddle case - definitely had a hard shell. We put Miguel's guitar pick next to it so you could see how tiny it was! And you can see it's awesome trail... that trail took him at least 20 minutes :)


SO after the show at UNT we had to quickly pack up and head to the next gig!! We played UNT from 11-1. And then our load-in was at 3:30 at TWU. So we had just enough time to run by Jason's Deli (love that place) for lunch.
Texas Women's University was another outdoor Earth Day/Spring Fling/ Home Week event. They had EVERYTHING!!! Inflatable obstacle courses, inflatable gladiator games, one of those harnesses so you can flip around on a trampoline, and a PARADE!!! It was so cute. All the different clubs and organizations had decorated golf-carts. And they gave out prizes galore to the winners in the parade. SO MUCH FUN!
We played at the end of the event, and it was a great show. But by this point.... I had turned into a lobster. I was REALLY red. Even Miguel burned a little bit today.... and he's CHILEAN! So you know it's bad! Even thought we played from 6-7 - the sun was still really bright. SO I decided to wear my hoodie onstage to cover my arms. I know I'll be thankful later (you know, for not layering myself ONE more time with that lovely bright red sunburn), but it sure was UNBELIEVABLY hot!!! :) Oh well...

At least my arms match my shirt :)
These girls were AWESOME! They knew all the words to "fancy" including the back ground parts. It was impressive!


These kids were CRAZY during the show. I loved them. They were all singing and dancing and we hung out and talked a while after the show.


We all had problems with our instruments. Instruments + direct sunlight for extended periods of time does NOT = a good thing. As I was trying to start "Even Alaska" the D string popped on me.... so I just detuned the white one and retuned it back up for the next song. But then my bow... my poor bow...
Good thing this was an extra and not my nice one!


And let me just say - Stacie and Randy are the most incredible people in the world. We are staying with them tonight in Dallas and they always take such amazing care of us. Stacie even bought wash cloths because I was asking about them the last time I was here. We all played a little shuffle board earlier.... that game is AWESOME. I had never played before but I loved it. James and I got beat by Randy and Miguel... 2 out of 3... but it was CLOSE! ;) Randy's almost a freakin professional!

It is so wonderful to stay with friends and family on the road. We don't have the luxury of being able to do it often. But that's probably good because we sure do appreciate it when we get to!

Peace, Love, Fiddle, and Shuffle Board.

Texas A&M Commerce and The Red Chair in the Street

We played an afternoon show at "The Club" on Texas A&M Commerce's campus today. It is a BRAND new facility for students and is a really cool place. They have a stage built in complete with lights and sound... cafes and little stations for food. And today there was a huge high school bilingual competition going on. So there were hundreds of kids just hanging out! It was really fun. They had ALL kinds of competitions... music... plays.... poetry.... pretty cool stuff!
The show was great, and Rick, our wonderful contact who took GREAT care of us, introduced me to some new green tea with Goji berry that I LOVED! MMmmmm.

Kathrin is an exchange student from Germany and was one of the judges for the (take a guess!) German competitions.


Fellow musicians :) They were competing in the music categories... in spanish! And they totally rushed the stage and did the "We're not worthy" bows during "Devil". I <3 them.


My first wallet signing. :) It was a fancy one too! I may need to reevaluate my big ole ugly wallet... hers was adorable. And now it says "Peace, Love, Fiddle" YAY!


Another one of the awesome guys taking care of us all day. He was running sound, loading and unloading equipment, making sure we had everything we needed. He was all-around awesome!


Some actual college students!!! :) There were a lot of students at the show, too. But the high schoolers made up most of the crowd.


And AFTER the show.... we headed on to Frozen Fire Films in Dallas to do a photo shoot. It was SO much fun!!! We did this one shot in this awesome red chair...
Travis, the photographer, said "What if we did some shots in the red chair in the middle of the street with the skyline in the background?" We were all game... but it was a TEAM effort! There was traffic... it was a little crazy. We were having to do it when the traffic was stopped at a light. Stacy was on the corner making sure nothing unexpected was coming, Randy had the reflector, Travis had the camera, Miguel had the chair, and James was helping me with the fiddle and the video camera!!!
We'd run out - Miguel would put the chair in the street, we'd get a few shots and then have to strike it all to let the cars pass.... and then we'd do it all over again until we got everything we needed. It was like an action movie :) Well... not really.... only in my head.... but it was really funny.... AND exciting. I loved it.

I can't wait to see all the pics - especially the ones in the street! We bought a hard drive tonight at Walmart to download them all tomorrow. The files are huge so it will take a TON of space. These guys do such great work though. It will be REALLY nice to have some new pics!

I have to get up on 3 hours for TWO shows! :) Life on the road!

Peace, Love, Fiddle, and GOODNIGHT!
~natalie

7 shows in 5 days

Today?

We have been driving to Texas! We found a Jimmy Johns in Jackson, Tn which made us all very happy. That makes 3 days in a row for me + Jimmy Johns. Yesterday, I had Jimmy Johns DELIVERED! That's the best :) The +avocado is KEY to any sandwich at JJ's.

This week we have 7 shows in 5 days. Whoa. That's craziness. But the GOOD kind of craziness. I am excited. We have this week jam-packed. Tomorrow we have an afternoon show at Texas A&M in Commerce, TX. And then afterwards we are heading over to Frozen Fire Films in Dallas to do a photo shoot!!! FINALLY! I am getting new photos done :) Plus on Friday, we open for the LOS LONELY BOYS. YAY! That is one of our two-fer days :) We play two shows on Wed & Fri.

Whoa. Hootie just laid down on the floor... and I was REALLY confused. Turns out, he's doing stretches for his back. But I thought he was just opting NOT to sleep in the bed! The other day when we arrived in Providence at 7am, we had 1 room with 1 King size bed.... We had to leave at 9 so we weren't gonna get to sleep for all that long.... but we all wanted to nap a bit. Hootie and Miguel immediately took the floor :( Made me feel bad. And James just left! The man who had been driving the ENTIRE night.... just disappeared... we all thought he would come back and get in bed, so the guys just stayed on the floor. But nope. James went and got caffeinated and walked around downtown Providence. He figured sleeping for an hour and a half was much worse than not sleeping at all. I completely understand, but.... I just wanted to sleep. So I ended up sleeping in that big ole bed by myself. I would have slept just as well on the floor though, too. We were all pretty out of it!

Thankfully, by the time we got back from our show, we were all able to check into our separate rooms. And whew. That was one of the best night's of sleep I had in a looong while.

I saw this: in the bin at the gas station today!!!
(For anyone who may not know... "If I Run To You Now" is played in this movie.)

It made m so happy! I think it is the first time I have seen it without looking for it!


We've been watching the Sopranos in the Suburban... and we only have 1 1/2 episodes left in the whole series. I can't wait to see what happens!!! I've heard mixed reviews about the ending.... either you HATE it or you LOVE it... apparently there's very few "in betweens". I'm sure I'll have more to say on that later. But I just love how well written that show is. I NEVER thought I would like it. I figured it was all about killing and beatin people up. But there's SO much character development that I can tolerate the violence. I mean, it IS the mafia... so there violence has to be there... but it's not ABOUT the violence. I have to look away.... A LOT... but the rest of it... well, it's so good.

See you tomorrow from Texas!

Peace, Love, Fiddle,
~natalie

APCA... 2 Years Ago

Whoa.

I got a google alert for a new video posted and I figured it was from a recent performance at a show. :) Buuuuuuuut NOPE!!! It is from almost 2 years ago. This was from our first National APCA (Association for the Promotion of Campus Activities) Conference. My.... how far we've ALL come :) I forgot about this hairdo! I LOVE doing my hair like that but just haven't in a while. :) This was one of Hootie's first gigs with us.... his hair is so shaggy, I'm still playing my wood fiddle, Miguel has REALLY short hair, Charlie was still with us, James still wore his Red Sox hat onstage, and we just start "Devil" outright without any kind of intro!!

This is one of those conferences where we only have 15 minutes and I LOVE our song selection :)

We JUST did this conference again about a month ago (you're only allowed to do the national conferences every OTHER year). We had one of the best conferences we have EVER had at this last one. And it's pretty eye opening to see how we approached this show 2 years ago compared to a month ago. I have to say that I am so happy that my "best" song is no longer a ballad. :) I love "If I Run to You Now' but it sure helps to have more of an uptempo song when you only have 15 minutes for the whole set!

Enjoy this blast from the past! I sure did!


Peace, Love, Fiddle,
~natalie

Time Will Do The Talking

Time is such a beautiful healer. I've been on a Patty Griffin kick lately... and one of my favorite songs "Time Will Do The Talking" was bringing me back to something I was JUST pondering a few days ago.

It's amazing how we can go through relationships or events in our lives and feel like there's NO WAY we can ever get over something. And there are times that YEARS go by and we still suffer with the pain of a specific event or relationship. But it is easy to forget to TRULY have faith in the healing power of "time". Eventually, those feelings start to wear down and they don't hurt as badly.

I think back to things that went on in college that consumed my whole life. Relationships with people that I felt like I would NEVER stop crying over... or stop stressing out about. And now? I can't even remember details about some of those crazy times. The biggest thing I remember? How stressed out or upset I was. The way I felt is a memory that doesn't fade. But many of the things that made me feel that way... can't remember a dang thing about it.

I say all of this being in an incredibly happy place in life. But I think it is important to acknowledge these things as they pop up in our brains. There was a long time that people would say "give it time". And though I had faith... it is a lot harder to believe in something when you have yet to truly experience it. Now that I have? I want to make sure I remember this feeling RIGHT NOW of knowing that "time" has healed so many wounds.

It is important to me to really FEEL an emotion. Sometimes I just need a good cry. And sometimes I really don't want to wipe the tears away.... I want to feel them roll all the way down my cheek and drop off my face and splash down on my knee. I want to wallow a bit in the emotion so that I can get it out of my system. I am generally a happy person so when I am upset... I just need to be upset. And then, I am completely free to start focusing on the things that I DO want, rather than the things that have caused me pain. Cause that's what it is all about. It is a lot easier to get stuck in a rut of negativity than it is to focus on the positives. ESPECIALLY when everything in life isn't necessarily falling into place. But the more we focus on what we DO want - pray for it, meditate on it, visualize it - the more those things start to come into being. I've seen this first hand over and over in my own life. It's constantly a work in progress! But I try with all my might to be thankful for what I do have. It may not be fancy, but I sure am happy!

I am going to attach the lyrics of the Patty Griffin song because it is so beautiful. And SHE is so good that it is beautiful read as a poem. I wish I could post the mp3... but there's not a good way to do that on here. So if you get a chance to check it out it's called "Time Will Do The Talking". I definitely understand why the Dixie Chicks always put a Patty Griffin song on their records. Who knows... maybe I'll just have to post my own acoustic version of this one soon :)

You were so cruel
I hated being your fool
So I got a little bit more mud on my face
But the years will bring a bigger scheme of things
And make a pretty memory out of my disgrace
I don't believe there is such a thing as saying too much
There are those who like to look and
Those who ain't afraid to touch

Oh baby don't you know that the
Time will do the talking
Years will do the walking
I'll just find a comfy spot and wait it out
Time will do the talking
Years will do the walking
Time will tell you baby what you can't hear now

Well we dig our heels in
And wonder who's gonna win
Who is gonna win it or wear it out
I change the lock on the door
Or learn how to take a little more
I can outrun all of the devils there
But never the doubt
Try not to throw all your money into 20/20 vision
For the world won't wait on politics or indecision

Oh baby don't you know that the
Time will do the talking
Years will do the walking
I'll just find a comfy spot and wait it out
Time will do the talking
Years will do the walking
Time will tell you baby what you can't hear now

Can you hear the voice inside you
It calls you back to where you belong
Can you see the one beside you
Who's been standin' there all along
Baby, well you were so cruel
I hated being your fool
So I got a little bit more
Mud on my face
But the years will bring
The bigger scheme of things
And make a pretty memory out of my disgrace

The time will do the talking
Years will do the walking
I'll just find a comfy spot and wait it out
Time will do the talking
Years will do the walking
Time will tell you baby what you can't hear now
Time will tell you baby what you can't hear now
Time will tell you baby what you can't hear now

Peace. Love. Fiddle.
~natalie

Virginia Wesleyan College

We played Virginia Wesleyan tonight. This is the second school so far that we have returned to for a 2nd show! They had a huge Seafood dinner for everyone along with a DJ and well.... US! SO fun :)

It was a GORGEOUS day. Couldn't have really gotten any prettier. Not a cloud in the sky. 70 degrees. Yeah. Awesome day for an outdoor event!!! It was the PERFECT day to model my new clothes I got in Providence on our sleepy shopping spree :) I usually don't like to shop... I either don't find much I want or I refuse to pay the ridiculous price tags on the things that I do want... BUT NOT IN PROVIDENCE!!! We found a Delia's in the mall... which I had never seen an actual store of! I used to get the catalogues as a kid.... but never seen a store. So I sported my "ManEater" graphic tee along with my fun crazy jeans :) Sorry to be so girlie right now... but I was REALLY excited!

These were the girls that took care of us ALLLLLL day and night!!!


This was one of the Deans!!! I love that she came out. She's a big country fan. I actually met and talked with the President of the school for quite a while at soundcheck. It is always so cool to get to meet the President and Deans of a renown School like Virginia Wesleyan College!


This is WAC - they are the group of students that put on this event :)

I am proofreading and just made myself laugh out loud.... sounds like I am getting all ghetto on y'all. "This is WAC! Fo Shizzle"

And here we are in my favorite GIANT CHAIR!!!!!! I was SOOOO hoping these huge chairs would be back this year. I love them.


This is Scott. We have been talking back and forth for WEEKS now on facebook about this show. He was gonna rally the front row lawn chair peeps... he ended up being stuck in 4 hours of traffic and being late.... but he made it for most of the show!!! It was really cool to see him after talking and corresponding so much. Felt like we were old friends :) I love facebook.


These girls ran my merch table for me during the show. They were SO sweet. I had no idea they were gonna be there, so we didn't get to talk before the show. They had to find everything out themselves.. Me and my 3 crazy bags of merchandise.... But they figured it all out and were so helpful!


Hannah and Carter were Adorable. Hannah plays piano... but "when she's done with that, she's gonna start playing the violin" :) Pretty cool, huh? She's got a plan! Obviously - there were a few cameras going here. FOCUS NAT!


I love what I do. And I love when we are asked back to a campus to do "what we do" a second time around. We had a lot of fun today. I just love being outdoors. It's good for the soul.

Now we head to Texas. But instead of staying in random hotels the next 2 nights... drumroll PLEASE!!! We get to stay at HOME in Nashville!!! LOVE it when it works out that way :) Miguel and I were trying to figure out if he left his car at our apartment on this last trip... but neither of us could actually remember leaving Nashville. That's funny...

Peace. Love. Fiddle.
~natalie

P.S. We ate at Red Robin for dinner. Just like we did last year... but there was no carnival in the parking lot next door like last. But it mattered not, for Red Robin IS off the Hizzle!!

Fiddler On The Quad

You know something that is funny? Sitting in traffic for the George Washington Bridge seems normal. :) And I don't live in New York. But we have passed through both Boston and New York so many times recently... 4 times in the last week alone... it all just feels like home. Being on the road sure does make the world seem smaller. I used to feel like Boston was so far away when I went to school there. Now... it just seems like a hop, skip, and a jump from Tennessee!

I drove most of the day today. Today's showings in the Suburban included Season 1 of 30 Rock, Dr. Laura, Top Gun, and Pineapple Express.

One of the weirder things happened while we were sitting in traffic for the George Washington Bridge... On 30 Rock, Liz Lemon had the radio on in the background and they were talking about the heavy traffic on the George Washington Bridge... for a brief moment, my brain was unbelievably confused. I KNEW I was listening to the DVD player, but thought maybe I was simultaneously listening to the radio? But I got that all figured out pretty quickly. :)

I hadn't gotten a chance to see the poster they put up on the wall at Rhode Island College. But they gave it to us as we were leaving, so we brought it in tonight to look at it. I had to hold it up because it was bigger than the bed!!!



Close-up, it almost looks like a water color of me :) And I love that the headline is "Fiddler On The Quad".

They had it up in the main dining hall and it was next to another giant poster for the school's "annual drag show" :) I thought that was pretty awesome.

We only have a couple hours to go for the drive tomorrow. This is the route we are taking:

View Larger Map

So tomorrow we get to go on the Chesapeake Bay Bridge!!! It's a 20 mile long bridge with a 1-mile long tunnel in the middle.
I am pretty excited about that!


Peace. Love. Fiddle.
~natalie

Rhode Island College

First outdoor concert of the year was today! You know Spring is trying to come out when the outdoor shows start getting booked. We haven't played outdoors since Ribfest in St. Petersburg this last November.

We played at Rhode Island College on their Quad for a BEAUTIFUL afternoon show.

On my way to the stage... THIS is what I saw:

"Fiddler" with an arrow pointing to the stage. CLASSIC!

Plus they had one of the LARGEST posters I have ever seen of myself up on the wall! And they had hundreds of flyers they had been handing out to the students. It takes a LOT of people to put on a great show. SO MUCH goes into planning, preparing, promoting... and attention to detail is KEY. This group knew what they were doing! Oh... and having a raffle in the middle of the show doesn't hurt either :) Someone won a $250 gift certificate to a music store!!! SO COOL!
(I loved that they handed out free hats and bandanas to everyone, too!)


We played a 2 hour set and we were only the start to the day. They had a HUGE carnival tonight, too. It looked like a LOT of fun.

Nate was our main contact. He was wonderful to work with. He called me this morning because they couldn't find part of the stage. We have requirements in our rider that he was trying to fulfill. He left me a message saying he would "go in EVERY building on campus if he had to in order to find the rest of the stage... if what they had wouldn't work" :) WHAT A SWEETHEART! What they had was fine, but they ended up finding the missing pieces anyway. Plus, Nate is going to TSU for a semester in the fall!!! He just wants to be close to country music which I think is just the coolest thing ever. Who knew that you could trade semesters with Rhode Island College and Tennessee State University!?!?


I ended up selling my very last RED Peace, Love, Fiddle, T-shirt from the first design! :) I can't tell you how accomplished that made me feel :)


George pretty much stole the show... not gonna lie.


These girls were adorable. They were dancing and singing with me the whole show.


Kristen and Sadie made it! They came all the way from Boston :)


Kristen got some great pics that she has already uploaded onto facebook :)



And my good friend Sarah got to come today, too. We ended up getting to spend a bit of time together this afternoon and again this evening. I normally am not in a city long enough to do things like that. I was so thankful to get to spend time with her!!!


And I have gotta say - James is SUCH A CHAMPION!!! He drove the ENTIRE night last night. It is currently 1am and he is JUST NOW going to bed. I at least slept a few hours in the car while he was driving. But him? Not a wink. And we ran errands this afternoon... so the time we had planned to nap (before Lost came on!) ended up getting filled VERY quickly.

But we are staying at the Biltmore in downtown Providence. It is a beautiful hotel. And it is so nice to get to stay in a really nice hotel for more than 8 hours. :) Nice hotels are by no means a necessity. But we sure do live it up when we have one!

Tomorrow? We drive to Norfolk Virginia. But we wait until check out to leave. Oh yeah.

Drumroll please. I'm going to bed!

Peace. Love. Fiddle.
~natalie