Methodist University Blooper Reel

A long drive.... a whole lot of rain... and lots of 30 Rock later.... we made it to Fayetteville, NC today! We played at Methodist University this evening, and by the time we got there, there was so much rain... they had already delayed schools in the area for 2 hours for tomorrow morning. They are getting 8 inches of rain through the night tonight and there's supposed to be a lot of flooding. Us Nashvillians know a little bit about that, eh?

The rain isn't kidding around either! We should have had a blooper reel running today... when I walked into the school, I COMPLETELY wiped out and fell backwards on my hiny. I couldn't even get up at first... I just sat there painfully laughing for a while. Lots of sweet people came up to me... they were all in our audience later. :)

And then as we were leaving... Miguel was running up to the car to get some directions from James and a sprinkler came out of nowhere and beat upon our poor Chilean - it didn't even look like a sprinkler... it looked more like a hosepipe turned on high. We heard Miguel scream and saw a flurry of guitars running away... all we could hear was "It doesn't even make sense!!!! It's RAINING!!!"
So funny.

They had to move the event indoors, but we still had a blast - they had snow balls (Like a snow cone but BIGGER), BBQ, a mechanical bull and the Student Activities Committee got us the most fun stuff!!! We got Halloween Oreo's with orange stuffing and ghosts on the outside. Plus they provided an array of other cookies, snacks, and fruit. I was in heaven. :)

One kid told me that one of my songs from the first record was his alarm for a really long time to wake up in the morning. How cool is that? Stuff like that doesn't even really sink in to me sometimes... I can't believe that someone I don't even know, wakes up to me singing every day!

The other thing that was really funny about tonight's show is that when we got back to the hotel... we saw that someone tweeted about being in the bathroom with me. Hmmm....

The guy on the right made me write a get well note to him.... because he... eh... em... had to get stitches in his booty... He landed on a pole. Ouch.


Look at how cute all the hats and country outfits are!!! We all had a blast!













Peace. Love. Fiddle.
~natalie

Bye Bye Florida

When I woke up this morning... I never in a million years thought, "I'm gonna see my good friend Elizabeth who lives in Jacksonville today!" But in keeping with my crazy life... things like that happen all the time!

I didn't even know we were gonna be driving through Jacksonville, but as soon as I realized it, I called my friend and she was able to meet us for a late dinner. It was excellent :)

It was sad to leave Florida... but of COURSE we left on a high note... we stopped at our favorite little place to eat, Liza's Kitchen, on our way out. I'm so glad the boys are just as hooked as I am! :)


Miguel is meeting us in North Carolina tomorrow. He's been going back and forth as much as possible to be with his girls. Jenn, his wife, needs lots of prayers right now. She had her spleen out yesterday and is still in a very painful recovery. Vanderbilt is working tirelessly on getting her healthy again, which EVERYONE is looking forward to. She's a very strong woman, and is doing amazing through this whole process.

And our Angels have been watching over us. We've NEVER had the kind of schedule like we have the last couple of weeks... that would have allowed Miguel to be home AND still able to meet up for the shows and work for his family. Two more and then he gets to be home for an entire week! YAY!

Speaking of Miguel... I just saw this online... I LOVE having wireless capabilities! Miguel now has a wireless guitar and my mic is as well, so we can jump out into the audience! This was when we jumped down to sing with Deanna for her birthday at Spinnaker the other night. I LOVE it when Miguel jumps down for a big solo and everyone in the audience freaks out! :)



Peace. Love. Fiddle.
~natalie

Next Big Nashville Show!!!!

YAY!!!! Hope you can come :)





Peace. Love. Fiddle.
~natalie

Battle Scars

I forgot my camera BOTH nights at Spinnaker... BUT there have been plenty poppin up on facebook today :)

Friday night was Deanna's birthday! I was SOOO glad we played on her birthday. We had a blast with her! She and her sister Brittnie are two of our favorite people in PCB! I also love Deanna for taking the "bad Nat photo of the day" in the last blog. :)


Another one of our favorite peeps is APRIL!!!! April was at our very first show at Spinnaker a few years ago. And this girl has an eye behind the camera! She posted so many great pics!!!


April was there when I signed this dude's chest - he was out celebrating. He's heading to Iraq in 2 weeks.And his friend told him he'd buy him a drink if he got me to sign his chest. :) God Bless our troops!!


One of my favs! I love that you can see James in this pic. I wish I wasn't blocking Panther's head... But it's still pretty epic.


SWEATY NAT!!!! I mean... GLISTENING NAT!


Ladies Love Miguel


And Panther!


Spinnaker!!! :)


Thanks for posting, April! We had an amazing last night there. It was so good I got clocked in the head by Panther's bass MORE THAN ONCE! :) Battle scars... signs of an excellent show.

Peace. Love. Fiddle.
~natalie

Bad Nat Pic of the Day

I love it when people post pics like this online. It's just so excellent.



Peace. Love. Fiddle.
~natalie

Last Night at Spinn

Awwww.

Booo.

We just finished our LAST show for the year at Spinnaker Beach Club in PCB. I <3 that place... mostly because of everyone who works there. It's amazing how you create families along the way - we definitely have a family dow here in PCB and we LOVE them!!!! Last week when Jenn was so sick, Miguel was able to call some of our friends here to come be with Jenn and the girls. Isn't it amazing that we can be all the way in Panama City and we have good enough friends that will come at the drop of a hat to help us? Amazing.

We sure had a fantastic show tonight. It wasn't as packed as it has been times before - but Saturdays are always fun down here. And our crowd more than made up for it in their strength of enthusiasm. And it was WAY more people than are normally in a college cafeteria! :) SO win/win for everyone.

I forgot my camera AGAIN tonight. But I have a feeling I will see a lot of facebook pics surfacing over the next few days. I promise to share :) I'm also looking forward to seeing pics of my friends' shows that are down here. Mustang Sally is playing in town this weekend along with Anthony Orio and the Goodfellers. :) PCB is DEFINITELY not lacking for good entertainment this weekend!

But the one thing I will caution everyone from:
Doing yoga outside is a BAD idea. I was all excited and inspired to continue my yoga DVD I bought... but the mosquito's felt differently.


I ended up with TONS of bites all over my arms and legs and finally had to just come inside and finish in the AC. Ahhh well. You've got the beautiful white sand beaches, Florida... so I really can't complain.

Peace. Love. Fiddle.
~natalie

On the Spinnaker House

Sooo... tonight, I checked something off my list that I didn't even know was ON my list.

Is that weird?

It's just that... I've never really thought about this specific scenario happening in my own life... you see it in movies a lot. But I am really glad I was a part of it ACTUALLY happening. :) And I must say, it was fun to be the one with the microphone to be the bearer of good news.

It was being a part of/ witness to/ and announcer of: shots on the house.

There were a few birthdays tonight - HankFM was having a huge birthday party/celebration... and then there was Pete and Deanna.

Now. Late in the evening Pete decided to buy shots on the house for EVERYONE AT THE BAR (Spinnaker is HUGE and there were a lot of people there) in honor of Deanna's birthday (even though it was his birthday, too). It was really fun to see it register on people's faces. When I first announced it, I must have not made the "on the house" part clear enough... or maybe they just didn't believe me. But when I said it again and made it LOUD AND CLEAR.... it was a mad rush to the bar!!!!

Now I'm not a huge drinker.... I never drank underage... and even when I turned 21 I didn't drink much at all. But I spend a LOT of time in bars and clubs and getting to be witness to this tonight was just awesome. I know it seems like a small thing. But there's always that guy in the movie - that buys shots/drinks/ for the house. But tonight - that guy bought my cd!!! And drinks for everyone there. :)

Hey... come to think of it... I should have told him to buy "cd's on the house" cause they'd last a lot longer. DANGIT! Next time. I'll work on my salesman skills.

Peace. Love. and Fiddles on the House. (Is that like Fiddlers on the roof??)
~natalie

I Shall Call You... Babaganoush

We just had the most excellent rehearsal in the band house :)

Got a couple new songs to add into the set now... which is always exciting :)

We are again back at a band house... and I have my Babaganoush which I can ONLY find at Publix and is directly across the street from us here. It's like a Chacarero. Not only is it fun to eat... but it is fun to SAY!


Here's some fun pics from our show yesterday! USF St. pete!
My BFF's! Jeffrey and Austin :)






Workin on the trailer door! :)


Peace. Love. Fiddle.
~natalie

PCB? St. Pete? BOTH.

Farm Boy, You and your comments are so beautiful and appropriate and I so much appreciate them. Thank you for sharing your words and thoughts with us! And words of Scripture!

We made it BACK to PCB tonight.

So funny - yesterday we drove from PCB ---> St. Petersburg.

Played in St. Pete today.

Then drove from St. Petersburg ---> PCB tonight :)

This band has so much fun. We don't even have to be doing anything... but we have a blast anyway. And tonight, I laughed harder than I have laughed in a looooooooomg time - the kind of laughing you wish for - streaming tears, non-stop, can't breathe.

The thing is - it is so silly what sparked it. This works pretty consistently for me! James will put his hands up around my face... cause he knows it makes me want to puff out my cheeks... and then he waits and pops them. SO RIDICULOUS. But just building up to the point where I can stop laughing long enough to puff up my cheeks takes about 10 minutes... I had all the boys rolling, too. I love how contagious laughter is!

And by the way... we found heaven.


Peace. Love. Fiddle.
~natalie

Pics from our show today coming soon - can't get them uploaded right now. But hopefully tomorrow. It was SOOO fun!
.

I Like Coming Back to St. Pete :)

Made it back down to beautiful St. Petersburg. There's no longer a Chilean-sized hole in our hearts. We picked up Miguel at the airport this evening and feel complete again. Miguel's girls are doing better... still trying to figure out what is going on with Jenn. Let's hope Vanderbilt can get her the help she needs and get that woman out of pain.

We are all thinking about you JENN!!!

Tomorrow we are playing the Autumn Carnival at the University of South Florida and I'm getting excited!!! It sounds like so much fun :) Carnival games, prizes, FREE BBQ & carnival food, inflatables... It's like going to the fair, USF style.

Plus we ate at Chipotle in Gainesville.... home of Tom Petty... so we are full of good food AND inspiration. :)

Peace. Love. Fiddle.
~natalie

That's Just Joel.

For the "That's Just Joel" segment of the day:
Somehow standing up, sitting on the railing and putting his feet in
the chair made more sense than just staying seated. Don't ask. We just
had a thorough conversation and he's sticking to the fact that it will
take less energy to stand. Hmm.

Mother Nature's Chalk Board

As I found myself on vocal rest this evening... I found that the sand makes a GREAT chalk board. And the moon makes a great reading light. I had an entire conversation by listening and then writing minimal words in the sand, taking my leg to erase and re-smooth the surface and writing more.

God always provides.

And then it made me think of how I get frustrated when I have to go on vocal rest. Yet in many religious practices, including Christianity, sacrificing "speech among men" is thought to be an aid to the service of good - by not speaking to men, you can better speak to God. And also, because it requires self-restraint, it is thought to be a form of penance.

Perspective can be a beautiful thing.

Having that one thought of frustration, led to a thought process which brought me to the conclusion that I should welcome these times with more open arms than I normally do. Instead of viewing it as "Dangit. I can't talk. Woe is me." I need to recognize the importance of listening and the beauty in silence. In every day life it isn't necessarily the most practical form of communication. I end up waving and smiling a lot at clerks and gas station attendants :) But it sure can be a great lesson in patience and listening.

Peace. Love. Fiddle.
~natalie

Silence in PCB

We are having one of our first days off in Panama City EVER! It was made complete with a little sleeping in, vocal resting, football, late afternoon beach time, and AWESOME dinner at a local family owned beach restaurant called J. Michael's which I would HIGHLY recommend!

Miguel drove his ladies home today because Jenn got really sick while she was here, and Ella was running a fever. Luckily he's used to a ton of traveling... We all miss them and are thinking about them.

I just came across some great photos on FB that I wanted to share!

These are from our show at Coastal Carolina University. Thank you so much to Julie Hamer for these great photos! There's a whole bunch more on facebook but these were some of my favorites. :)











Hope everyone had a happy weekend.

Peace. Love. Fiddle.
~natalie

Schooner's Lobster Fest Done RIGHT!

Awwwww YEYAH!!!!


TONIGHT WAS UNBELIEVABLE!!!!!!!!!!! We had one of the best shows we've had in a while. What a difference a day makes, huh? I am so thankful we have a couple days off - I am so hoarse from all the awesomeness of tonight! (well... thats not exactly true. I mostly suffering from the terrible sound from last night) But tonight we set up our own sound and WOW! It made alllllllll the difference in the world. Everyone could hear me. YAY! :)

The quote of the night.
"If I was a rockstar, I would be YOU." -random drunk dude talking to me at the show.

And lordy how right they were about Lobster Fest weekend being nutty at Schooner's. We went this afternoon and there were cars parked half a mile down Thomas drive. It's just incredible!!! I wish I wasn't needing to rest my voice tomorrow. I would love to go see the competition and Lobster Feast.

The actual competition happens tomorrow where they give divers an hour to go dive for a lobster. Best part that a friend was telling us about tonight? They have to give them all lie detector tests! So many of the people have been caught cheating from years past! Lobster's are very territorial creatures, so you can place them in a hole and they will pretty much stay there. Diver's have been caught placing lobsters in a hole where they have been feeding them and fattening them up all year long just so they are maximum weight for the Lobster Fest competition. They go back and "find" them during the dive. How funny is that??? I would have NEVER thought of such a thing. And even if that story as it was told to us tonight is embellished quite a bit.... I still think it's quite the tale! :)

Happy birthday to Renea! Thank you and ALL your sweet friends for driving down from Dothan after the baseball tournament just to see us play tonight! We had the best time!



Kenny and Debbie were sporting the ORIGINAL Peace Love Fiddle Tee's tonight :)


This dude was from Lithuania and serves in our military and was VERY happy that we play for the troops!


Mr. Surf! As in Mr. Surf's Surf Shop here in PCB. We had a celebrity in our audience!


Awww. Rebecca! We have so many great friends down here in PCB and Rebecca was at our very first show. She's such a sweetheart and we love her!


Josh. OH Josh! He had a Peace Love Fiddle Tattoo on his FACE! Yeah... so he got up to sing "Friends In Low Places" and it was so fun. He and his friends were up front dancing all night :)


Peace. Love. Fiddle.
~natalie

Yup. I Can't Do That.

The Rock House

Well...
tonight was just one of those nights that luckily we don't have very often. We couldn't seem to get the sound to work with us no matter how hard we tried, and we all had one of the hardest shows we've had in a long time.

BUT there's ALWAYS a bright spot - tonight's???

KENNY AND DEBBIE!!!! They surprised us at Schooner's. They are dear friends from Columbia who have been coming to shows since the very beginning... I mean... VERY beginning.... like back at Opryland when I was 10 beginning! :) It was amazing to see them and catch up a bit. The silly sound prevented me from spending the time I would have liked to with them, but we'll get to see them tomorrow, too. :)


Another bright spot was Jessie!!! Jessie comes and helps us out whenever she can on the road. And she came out this weekend because she is about to move to Africa for 6 months with the Raining Season to help children. How amazing, right? I will be keeping everyone updated on Jessie a TON in the next few months. So familiarize yourselves!


And my other bright spot was my helper at sound check :)


Ella is Miguel's oldest little girl and when we left sound check to go back to the band house, she said, "Hey! Where's the rock house?"
Best name ever for the band house. I'm stealing it.

Peace. Love. Fiddle.
~natalie

Kick Off For Schooner's Lobster Fest

Well... I can't really imagine a more gorgeous setting to play on than our stage tonight. I wish I had taken pictures while we were setting up and the sun was still shining. By the time we got started... the camera couldn't show the beauty of the ocean behind our stage in the dark. But the half moon was bright and right above us during our show - shining right down on the waves. Every time I would look back at James for a count off or during a song... I would just see ocean behind us. And it was unbelievable.

The breeze was wonderful, too. It made playing outside in Florida MUCH more tolerable. Normally we are all sweating so profusely that we might as well be IN the water. :) But tonight was perfect.

Tonight was the big kick off for Schooner's Lobster Festival. This is the 21st annual and they do it up right! There were VIP tents next to the stage, a HUGE bar outside in the sand and then of course, our stage. It was perfect!

Ransom was a riot!!! And that's Beth with me - the fabulous woman responsible for bringing us down to PCB over and over again!


And oh my Lord, JONAH!!! We had lots of kiddos rushing the stage for high fives mid song (well, and lots of adults, too!) But Jonah. Now there's something special about this little boy. You can tell what a music lover he is - he would be mesmerized by whomever he was standing in front of (or behind in James' case). And afterwards I found out that he has a guitar, electronic drums, a mic, and keys! And he will find sticks and make drum sticks out of them any and every time he can - he's almost gotten kicked out of a few places for drumming!!! AND... he looks just like a little James! He looked very much like James' baby pics. I think there's definitely a budding rockstar in little Jonah!


And we get to do it all over again the next 2 nights, as well! So YAY for that!


Peace. Love. Fiddle.
~natalie

Viva Chile via Miami Dade

Well... it wasn't looking good when we showed up to play at Miami Dade today...


But it's Florida! So no worries. Soon enough, the clouds parted, and we still started the show on time! Even though we had to wait an hour in the rain :) We didn't drive all the way down to Miami to sit and watch Mother Nature!

The show ended up being a great one. We played our hearts outs... closely :) We had a very tight stage, which Panther almost fell off of 3 times. But he managed to catch his balance each time and we had the whole outside packed by the end of the show.


One of our favorite things about going down to Miami is getting to go eat at Viva Chile!!! We <3 Carlos and the staff there. It was actually written in on our schedule ever since the show got booked! Normally we go for dinner - but we had to get back on up to PCB, so we stopped by today for lunch. We had a FEAST! Miguel and I both didn't really eat before the show so we'd be extra hungry for Viva Chile. Oh and how wonderful it was.

This is the largest and most delicious looking hot dog I have ever seen. (And that's coming from a girl who can't really stomach the idea of a hot dog)
The next time I looked up at Miguel after taking this photo - it was gone :)


I couldn't decide. I LOVE the crazy corn/meat casserole thingy I always get, Pastel de Choclo, but wanted a Chacarero SO bad. So I got both and shared them both :)


Chacarero is just as fun to eat as it is to say!!! It's a Chilean sandwich that has steak, avocado, mayo, green beans, tomatos, and is on homemade bread. Green beans sound like the strangest thing to put on a sandwhich but it SOOOO works. Joel kept saying over and over "I'm so happy right now! I want to go to Chile. This is my new favorite food. That's the best combination of flavors all together at once." And he was giddy for the majority of the car ride.

Well... we've arrived over 12 hours later from our Chilean feast. Now... we sleep.

Peace. Love. Fiddle.
~natalie