Darton College

It feels like days ago that we played our show at Darton College! We played from 11-12:30 for their Sustainability Day event. :) I kept expecting Greenzo from 30 Rock to walk in.

This morning when we left Cochrane at about 6:30am, we were all freezing - and could see our breath. And then this afternoon when we got to the hotel, I laid out for 20 minutes at the pool because it was so hot. Go figure!

Today was a strange day. I really felt awful after I got back. I think sometimes when we have an early show, my body isn't ready for all that. No matter how awake or sleepy I am, how sick or healthy, I try to give the same energy for the show. But after some afternoon rest, and some chicken and dumplings at Cracker Barrel, I feel a LOT better. :) Plus we get to have a good night's rest tonight, and a whole day to drive to Mississippi. But I am going to be triple washing my hands and be EXTRA cautious in the next few days. (Mamma is glad to hear that, I KNOW!) I hope everyone out there is staying healthy, too!

I have another REALLY bad internet connection. Ughh. One day I'll get to upload all these cute pics! At least to facebook :)

Peace. Love. Fiddle.
~natalie

I LOVE These Coins!

Tracy Morgan is on SNL right now. And I am laughing so hard. :) I LOVE him. And 30 Rock... And SNL... and the fact that we are done with our show early enough for me to blog during SNL...

The Commanding Officer of the Base came ON stage tonight after we finished our show and got a bit emotional as she thanked us and gave us this beautiful coin. She drove all the way back from South Carolina to make it out for the show!!!



Some of the Baltimore Ravens Cheerleaders opened the show for us. :) YAY!


It was another outdoor event with tons of games, inflatables, a rock wall, face painting, a car show, and lots of vendors.
And this was one of the most awesome inflatable slides I have ever seen!


We had a HUGE RV to hang out in between sound check and the show. And it worked out REALLY well because a pretty intense thunder storm started about 10 minutes after we got off stage. I've never signed autographs so fast in my life!!! The lightening and thunder started before the rain, but it was approaching very quickly. But somehow, I made it through the whole line before the downpour. WHEW!
But I will admit... I was a little sad cause I REALLY wanted to get my face painted after the show.

I signed my first 3 hacky sacks today, though!


And I rode the jerkiest and fastest golf cart I have ever been on today to get over to the fire trucks! It was pretty awesome... felt like a rollercoaster :)








Peace. Love. Fiddle.
~natalie

Guilt-Free Consolations

Being sick is NO fun...

But having a guilt-free excuse to watch back to back episodes of 30 Rock and Lost is pretty awesome.

Fever is gone I think.... throat still hurts and still pretty useless... takes WAY too much energy to do anything. Even though James and I have the exact same thing... we're staying in separate rooms. But we've been video chatting while watching Lost. We're awesome.

(well, he talks. I type. My voice is gone still. But resting up so we can play our shows this weekend)

Peace. Love. Fiddle.
~nat

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

Happy Valentine's Day!!!

How great is it that Valentine's Day fell on a Saturday this year? I hope that everyone did something fun - whether you are with a honey or just pampering yourself, or just binged out on some good ole fashioned chocolate!!!

Us? We left Pennsylvania this morning at 10am. It is currently 10pm and we are only a few hours from Nashville, YAY!!!! We get to spend the night there in our homes :) It worked out perfectly. We drive to Oklahoma tomorrow, so were just passing through on our way there. Just enough time for a quick kiss and hug for Valentine's Day :)

The best thing that happened so far today?
Miguel and I went to Wendy's during one of our stops. I ordered a Frosty and Miguel said "What's a Frosty?"

I said, "Well, it's kind of like a milkshake." Before I could say another word...

The guy behind the counter said "It's NOT a milkshake." And in complete exasperation he said "Here, I'll show you."

He got mine and showed it to Miguel to set me straight. I really think I hurt his feelings by saying a Frosty is similar to a milkshake. That kid takes his job really seriously.

We watched the second season of 30 Rock in the car today and right now we are watching "The Dark Night" I LOVE that movie.

I'm so excited with how the shows have been going lately. It's like there's a renewed energy with everyone since the start of the year. And this first little part of the trip has gone SO well. I haven't had a lot of time to really sit and write, BUT I have had a lot of great inspiration. That just means that when I am able to sit down and work on some stuff - it will be really productive :) Which is always a good thing. I don't do real well with deciding "I'm going to write a song today". I mean, I can... but my best work comes from when the inspiration seems to strike out of nowhere. :)

peace, love, fiddle y'all!

~natalie