Cinnamon and I Got Matching Tattoos

Her's is already wearing off a little :) But yeah. Everyone needs to get Peace. Love. Fiddled!



Peace. Love. Fiddle.
~nat

Mamma-ism Clarification

After a quick visit to make sure Britt was doing well and looking fabulous in his hospital gown... we went to the Diner with Tamara, ran a few errands and headed out of the city. Sadly :(

I am pleased to say that we found Matt right where we left him at the Sheetz in Scranton, PA today. :) He had a great visit with his family, and even though he probably wouldn't have protested... he didn't have to spend the ENTIRE time at Sheetz.

This chickidee got to eat at Cracker Barrel tonight!! It's only the second time so far this year. Something just plain ole wrong with that! :) But we're working on remedying that.

In case you didn't see the comment chain on yesterday's blog... I'll clarify the Mamma-ism I posted last night. (She has mentioned that she heard it HER whole life from her Mamma and Grandmamma) It didn't occur to me that you may not know what it means!!! I've heard it so much in my life...

"It won't be noticed on a galloping horse"; It means - whatever it is that you're talking about is so small that you would never notice it on a galloping horse. Comes in handy in the teenage years - blemish on the skin... small hole in your pants... the stud that fell out of my ring on stage the other day... a scratch on my fiddle...

It kinda takes "Don't sweat the small stuff" to a newer level.

We've got 3 more shows and then we get to take a little break. Not gonna lie. I am SOOOOO excited about seeing Cinnamon. I haven't seen her since Easter Sunday. It's time.


Peace. Love. Fiddle.
~natalie

The Monkey And the Restless

WHAT?!?! It's time to go back on the road??? REALLY?

That's a great thing. But I really feel like I just blinked and the holidays and this big ole chunk of "time off" was over.

We have gotten SOOOO much done. But there are still many loose ends that haven't gotten tied up just quite yet... i.e. our new trailer... we ordered it a while ago, but with the holidays... they have just now put it into production... so it won't be ready for this first trip. Not a big deal. But that also means there are other things that we can't take out on the road with us because our original trailer is too small for anything extra.

But no matter!

James and I went to Costco today and bought SOOO much stuff for the band retreat this week.

We are excited. The band is heading down to Port Stovall on the Tennessee River. We are locking ourselves in to rehearse the new material for this year.

Since Miguel joined the band 3 years ago... we have not had a full on rehearsal with sound equipment. How crazy is that??? So this is a big deal!!! I remember the days where ALLLLL we did was rehearse... and never gigged. Now we are the opposite. We gig so much, we never have time to rehearse. We learn new songs by running through them acoustically in a hotel room somewhere, run it at soundcheck and hope for the best!! This is going to be such a treat. (And great bonding time with the newbies!)

Cinnamon just found her Christmas hedge hog and is going crazy right now playing with him. He makes an awesome grunting noise, which drives her nuts. The Vet prescribed her an antihistamine today because she has been wheezing and sneezing non stop the last few days. Who knew a dog could take an antihistamine?! So cute!

I don't want to leave her. :( She's the one thing that makes me sad to leave. But that's why we're working so hard. So I can take her on the road WITH us!!!

Peace. Love. Fiddle.
~natalie

Happy Birthday Jenn!

Surprised Kitty

Even though I am SURE he's already seen it...

I dedicate this video to my 2009 Peace Love Fiddle Commenter of the year: Natalie's Favorite Farm Boy Fan



It never gets old :)

Speaking of things never getting old.... My sweet puppy hates being cold and/or wet. She's a little Miss Priss. So she will leave one foot off the ground and hop on the other three if the grass is wet or snowy... as if that actually does anything or keep her from getting any less wet. Even so... it makes me smile every time :)

She spent the day playing with her awesome Christmas hedge hog that makes grunting noises. Love it.
Santa has to hunt these days to find an animal she doesn't already have. Poor little deprived puppy dog.

THERE'S STILL SNOW ON THE GROUND!!!!! Which equals complete happiness from this chick. :)

Peace. Love. Fiddle.
~natalie

Cinnamon Likes Getting Her Teeth Flossed

I would have NEVER thought to floss my dog's teeth...
But I guess that's what "Mamma's who are hygienists" are for. Right?




Peace. Love. Fiddle.
~natalie

Grandpa is a Champion

First things first.

Grandpa is doing SOOO well. I want to thank everyone on here that has sent us well wishes and prayers. I am truly amazed at what can be done these days. He went into surgery yesterday. The doctors took out his esophagus (because of cancer cells) and then stretched his stomach up... so the stomach becomes the esophagus AND the stomach. So it's kind-of like getting your esophagus out and your stomach stapled all at once :) We're gonna miss that big belly of his :)

But the surgery went wonderfully and now the long road of recovery has begun. We were there with him this morning for his first "walk" after surgery. Whew. What an ordeal. But he did so well. And he looked right at home with his army of ladies fussing over him :) There were 2 nurses and a doctor and Grandma all with him. Tamara, James, and I stayed in the room and cheered him back to his finish line. :) And I dropped off a pie for the nurses before we left to give them even MORE incentive to fuss over him :)

Things worked out perfectly for James and me to be in Iowa. We are so grateful we could be there with the family for the surgery. Tamara (James' ma) is a doctor, and she is able to stay for the next couple of weeks to help out. Again - SOOOO great she can be there. It's such a comfort to everyone.

So keep the prayers coming!!! We want to get the tubes out and the pain away!!! But Grandpa has already been giving the nurses a hard time... so we know he's gonna be ok :)

James and I worked on the set lists for next year for about 7 hours in the car tonight. It was pretty awesome. We have so many ideas and plans. It doesn't seem like you could talk about set lists for 7 hours straight.... oh but you can! We talked about everything from order... to song selection... to seamless transitions... to optional versions. It's pretty amazing what all you have to consider when it comes to the set list. It's time to breath some new life into the show. And we're very excited to do it!!! Can you tell??

We're home now. We're sleeping in our own bed tonight. Cinnamon is a very happy little pup.

Love you Grandpa!!!

Peace. Love. Fiddle.
~natalie

My New Baby Girl

Ain't she a beaut??



I can't wait to test her out in a show. She's a custom made - sparkly white, FIVE string (which is a new one for me!), solid body, Sabre, Wood Violin! Wood Violins are some of the best in the electric violin world. I LOVE the way she sounds. I played her for a while today in my living room and drove Cinnamon nuts.
I'm a pretty big snob when it comes to electric violins - no one makes them to LOOK like a violin. And it drives me crazy. But if she's not gonna look like a violin body... well... then this is the next best thing! I think she's beautiful! She might have to get a counterpart pretty soon. We'll see.


Peace. Love. New Electric Fiddle.
~natalie

We're HOME. Cinnamon is Happy.

WE MADE IT!!!

It was a LONG ride, but we are home. And Cinnamon is VERY happy. She's in my lap right now... making it more difficult than normal to type and I am loving every second of it. :)

My body is shutting down very quickly. But I have faith the sore throat and sickliness is going to be gone as soon as I... well... stay in bed ALLL day.

If you are planning on calling me tomorrow... don't be offended if I don't answer. I'm not talking. I'm resting and living up at least ONE day of time off. :)

Today included a stop at the World's Largest Truck Stop. And it was a GREAT sandwich day. We hit up both Planet Sub AND Jimmy John's. But Jimmy John's need to rethink this sign... it seems slightly inappropriate. Either that or you're in trouble. And neither is good.


Night night!

Peace. Love. Fiddle.
~natalie

Kentucky ---> Iowa

We drove from Kentucky to Iowa today :) We made it just past the Mississippi River, but stopped right outside of Davenport to sleep. We play in Indianola tomorrow. We watched a LOT of West Wing today :) I LOVE LOVE LOVE that show. It's even better re-watching it than it was the first couple of times around.

Today we saw a little Cinnamon Min Pin with a tail and a wiener today as we left the hotel. I've never seen a Min Pin with a full tail!!! I wish they hadn't chopped Cinnamon's off. I hate that for little puppies. But that's how she came, and her nub is quite adorable. :) And I get to spend so much time with her SOOOOO soon. I am so excited. It's going to be so great to see her and not have to immediately leave her again.

Night night.

Peace. Love. Fiddle.
~natalie

Randy and Stacie are THE BEST

What an incredible day!!!

We are staying with two of our FAVORITE people in the world - Randy and Stacie Peterson while we are here in Dallas for a few days. This would be our 3rd time crashing at their place this year :)

When we arrived last night, James and I immediately went to "Our Room" to put our stuff away and I was surprised with just about the sweetest thing EVER.



AND



A framed picture (that I haven't even printed out yet) of my husband and me on the table, and a collage of Cinnamon on my night stand!!!!

These really are some of the best people in the world, and that is only a tiny example of why!

Randy had FOUR tvs set up in the game room, along with computers for Sunday Football. We haven't gotten to see a single game this season - been driving and/or playing every Sunday. But today we caught up by watching ALL of them! GO PATS AND TITANS! Plus, we spent the evening playing Rock Band and watching live concerts. And let me just say, Miguel is a REALLY GOOD SINGER! That boy needs to be singing harmony parts :)

Hope everyone else had as wonderful of a Sunday as we did. James and I even got a bunch of work done and Miguel spent part of the day practicing. So yeah. Relaxing AND productive. The BEST.

Peace. Love. Fiddle.
~nat

My Jesus Knife

I LOVE MY PUPPY!!! I really can't wait to get to a point where I can take her on the road with me. I HATE leaving her, but thank goodness my parents love her so much. :) She has a lot of fun here... so it's really the best thing for her. But this whole... getting to see her 1 day at a time thing has been rough.

Today was a great day off. I got SOOO much work done. AND Mamma and I made banana pudding because I was jealous that it was gone by the time I got here. She and my nieces made some this weekend when they were all here. So we had to make a whole new batch to let me in on the fun :) Mamma did most of the work, but I did a really good job stalking her with every addition of banana and Nilla Wafer.

AND.... I had a bunch of stuff waiting at home for me from Amazon. That' pretty much the best way ever to shop on the road... just order it, so it's home by the time I get there :)

NONE of the boys in my band have a pocket knife. Isn't that a bit odd? I keep having to use Miguel's wire cutters when I need to cut something. Sooooo after talking about it for ohhhh YEARS, I finally have my own pocket knife. It's definitely the cutest one I have ever seen :) And I have already used it 6 times today! These things come in handy! I bought some exciting surprises for the guys to take on the road with us, and I needed my snazzy new knife to help me open them all!


Mamma thought it was a Jesus knife... cause it has Easter Lilly's and a cross on it :) But Daddy explained that the "cross" is because it's a Swiss Army Knife.

We leave again tomorrow. We're headed up to Ohio, Staten Island, then back to Ohio! WOO WOO!

Peace. Love. Fiddle.
~natalie

Nurse Monkey Bear

My puppy, Cinnamon, has been soooooo sweet to me this whole time. She has taken really good care of me and has stayed by my side the whole time I have been sick. She would only leave to go downstairs and say hi to James and my parents, and then she would come back and lay back down in bed with me. Sometimes she would get a bit antsy and play with her wooly mammoth and lay on a pillow down beside the bed. But most of the time, she was curled up right in my arms, licking my face, and nursing me back to health.

My dog is awesome.




Peace. Love. Fiddle.
~natalie

It Don't Matter If You're Black Or White

James, Cinnamon, and I spent the day in the studio with the Sonic Fedora. We're so close to having this thing done. At least the sonic part of it. Everything's coming together. And I'm getting anxious! :)

Today is one of those days I will never forget. I will always remember exactly where I was when I heard the news that Michael Jackson had died. I just can't believe he is gone. He was such a huge influence on me. As a child, I was obsessed with his videos - especially the Making of Thriller and I'd learn the choreography to everything (but who didn't???) And I still cite him as a huge influence on my music, even though I usually get a laugh or a weird look when I do... especially since I'm a country girl. But I don't care!!! He was such an incredible artist.

I'm so glad he was in rehearsals for his "comeback" shows, and was at least gearing up to what he loved most in this world.

Peace. Love. Fiddle.
~natalie

This Is What

a long, hard weekend in Panama City... driving home from Panama City... recording in the studio... rehearsing the new bass player solid for 2 days... sorting through 575 photos... listening to new mixes...

looks like.



I seriously don't even remember laying down on the couch. (Cinnamon's UNDER the covers as well... worn out little monkey)

Cinnamon Does NOT Like The Devil

While I was recording the "Devil's part" on "Devil Went Down To Georgia"... Cinnamon hopped up on James' shoulder and crouched as close to his face as possible. She was completely on alert and terrified.



So I guess I did my job. :)

I had to explain to her later that it wasn't really the Devil... it's only a song where I pretend to be the devil.

I love that dog.

Being in the studio is such a crazy world. It is so easy to get really REALLY nit-picky... listening to one note at a time to make things perfect. But that's not really the point, is it? Who wants to hear perfect? It's all about capturing the best performance possible.

Sometimes that's easier said than done. I have a tendency to pick apart every squeak, every time I "accidentally hit" another string... almost like I am getting a "lesson dot" in Suzuki. (That's when you had to play a song PERFECT before you could move on to get a lesson dot on the next song in the book) But the crazy squeak's and scratches are sometimes the character and charisma that makes a specific performance magical.

I'm a lot better at determining that when I am doing vocals. But I guess recording fiddle parts is a much newer venture for me. ESPECIALLY something as intense and crazy melodically as "Devil Went Down To Georgia". Recording a cover is difficult. There is an expectation there of how awesome it should be. Charlie Daniels wrote a real winner with that one. :) And so maybe there is a little added pressure trying to put that one down in recorded form. But it's been such a huge part of every show for me for so long that it was one of the more obvious choices. Now I just have to deliver, in a big way.

James, Ben, and I (and Cinnamon) were sitting outside on a break... discussing the whole "not making it TOO perfect" thing. Cause I was talking about how someone like Aubrey Haney, Tammy Rogers, or Rob Hajacos would play on a record. (Some of the fiddle players I LOVE). And Ben was saying... "well... yeah, but you wouldn't hire Jimi Hendrix to cut guitars on your record." He was saying there's a difference between a FIDDLE PLAYER and an artist who sings, writes, and plays the fiddle. So then I was using Keith Urban as an example. He is a monster guitar player. And I strive to beas great a fiddle player as Keith Urban is guitar player. I still have a ways to go, but touring and playing as much as possible is what's getting me there.

And then tonight I saw this article and it made me all aglow. Guess I am doing EXACTLY what I should be doing to reach that goal.
Keith Urban Grateful For Lessons From Bar

Peace. Love. Fiddle.
~natalie

Cinnamon's in My Nook

After being on the road for the better part of the last 5 months...
Here's just some of the things I LOVE about being home:

NOT having to be packed up and checked out by 11am.

Cinnamon (my sweet puppy) in my nook when we sleep

Catching up on "The Office"

JJ's fruit tea!!!!

Holding hands with my husband

Laughing and reminiscing with Granny

Driving my Jeep Cherokee (even though she's barely hanging on - we've passed the 220,000 mile mark together)

Driving WITHOUT the trailer!!!!

Hanging out with my parents

Cinnamon relentlessly licking my face until I have to make her stop (cause I have to be able to breathe!)

NO housekeeping knocking and ignoring the "do not disturb sign"

Taking baths again!!!

NOT having to put a toilet seat cover on to pee (gas station bathrooms... while I feel they have improved... still wouldn't trust em!)

Getting to do laundry (never thought I would LOVE that one so much)

Coming home to honeysuckle and the greenest GREEN I have ever seen!!!

Sleeping on my awesome pillows I got for Christmas

Purity 2% Chocolate milk

Shopping at the grocery store


And that's just after one day :) Who knows what all I'll be thankful for tomorrow!!!
Now... I'm off to dream with Cinnamon in my nook... Let's hope I don't have any crazy "Jurassic Park - style - T-Rex is after me" dreams like I did last night. That REALLY wasn't cool.

Peace. Love. Fiddle. And Hopefully Sweet Dreams.
~natalie

Tweaked Apparel

Today's writing session was a bit different than the usual :) Angela Lauer, JoAnna Janet and I were writing together. And ummm.... Angela started having contractions!!! She's pregnant and due in 5 weeks. And she seemed so unfazed by it. She'd say, "oh, hold on..." And then she would look like she was in intense pain, and then she'd go right back to whatever we were working on. It was pretty spectacular to watch.

We started this really fun song that sounds like a combination of Poison and Bonnie Raitt to me :) Yeah... I'm a weirdo.... but that's what is so fun about writing!!! And co-writing especially. You NEVER know what's gonna come out. We are finishing it up tomorrow, hopefully. So more on that later.

I have to share a couple of cute Cinnamon pics... just because I love my dog. We went to the park today so I could eat my Jimmy Johns and take a walk. Cinnamon was going NUTS... She was just so excited about life. :)

Cinnamon just chillin in front of the Parthenon.


We LOVE the blanket Tamara!!!

DUCKS!!! Cinnamon"Why won't they be my friend??"




James and I have the best roommates in the world. :)

Katie is probably the craftiest person I know :) She is a designer and is always coming up with the cutest stuff! She makes purses, messenger bags, clothes, hair accessories, bracelets, pins.... I am amazed when I watch her because she never seems to have a plan. She just starts cutting and sewing and then BAM! Cutest thing you've ever seen appears. You should probably go check out her website because she's so awesome:
Tweaked Apparel

She can do anything!

We were hanging out tonight and I was commenting on how cute this piece of fabric was. And then she started making a bracelet which was a new adventure... I thought it was adorable... and then I dozed off....

When I awoke - she had made ME a bracelet out of both of the fabrics I commented on today with a cute flower on top. AMAZING! I don't know how she does it!


So if you're ever looking for a really cool unique gift to give someone - Katie can make anything.

Today was a great day. Nothing monumental. But Katie did let me borrow a Patti Griffin cd. And I can already tell... my world is about to change.

Peace. Love. Fiddle. And Tweaked Apparel.
~nat

Saving Cows and Reindeer Cookies

Ahhhh. What a wonderful day of resting :)

My voice is feeling better today - not back to normal yet, but that always happens when it is THIS tired. I hung out with Cinnamon all day - we went on a walk and as always, she got ALLLL the attention :) And tonight I hung out with my parents. They both cooked dinner.... mmmm... mmmm.... And we celebrated my birthday! I hadn't seen them since my birthday earlier this month, so we finally got to hang out.... eat a little Baskin Robbins Choc Chip ice cream cake.... only the BEST cake EVER. It was so nice. It is always good to catch up with them and just hang out. :)

I had bought Cinnamon a "Dog Cookie" at the Ben & Jerry's in Vermont. I think it was supposed to be a reindeer, so it looked just like her :) And SHE was Sooooo excited. She ate part of it. And then she started looking for a place to bury it. The ONLY other treat she does that with are those Iams toothbrushes - those are her favorite. But she must have REALLY like this one because she buried it, too!!! But she only waited about 5 minutes before she dug it back out of the clothes basket and ate the rest of it :) I love my dog.


WOW. And as I was uploading that picture... She definitely just scared herself. She does this all the time and it is adorable. But she'll eh emm.... let one rip (usually silently) and then she will quickly turn around and look at her butt sooooo confused, like "What the heck just happened back there??" And she'll stare at her rear for the longest time. SO funny.

In other resting/relaxing news....

I was playing my favorite iphone game "Cowabunga" today. I hadn't played it in a while, but Hootie beat my high score recently, so I needed to make a comeback. I held the high score in the band for a long time. But Hoot is really good at saving those cows, too. :)

I had by far the best game I EVER had. I saved 223 cows. My previous record was 181. But I got SOOOO excited that I didn't save my score. I immediately clicked out of it to text James to tell him.... and then I realized what I had done. I went back in and looked at the high scores, and there were TWO that had 222.... they probably had way higher points, so I still probably wouldn't have made it on the board. But STILL. Dangit! Oh well. At least I beat my own record - even if I can't share it with the world :)

Natalie Stovall: Saving cows... 200 at a time...

Paul texted me and said it is 16 in Boston tonight with a windchill in the single digits :( Booo for that. I am going to make sure I take advantage of this beautiful Tennessee Spring weather as much as possible while I am home! Here's to a week of Sunshine and hit songs y'all!!!!


Peace. Love. Fiddle.
~natalie

Birthdays are awesome.

Today didn't begin all that different from most days. I woke up in a hotel in the middle of Nebraska, we had an 8 hour drive, I did a radio interview in the car with a station in Wisconsin... and THEN we made it to Iowa. We got to James' Aunt Deana's and a whole bunch of the family was there to surprise me. WHAT AN AWESOME SURPRISE!!!!

Let me back up and talk about the first part of the day.

I had an interview with Justin Brown at WJVL - Janesville, Wisconsin.



We are playing at the Janesville Performing Arts Center tomorrow night and Justin was so great to have me on his show today! He recorded the interview and put it up on their website :)

You can go listen if you'd like! Click here for WJVL interview

I was so nervous my signal was going to get splotchy on the phone. We needed to keep trucking, but we had good service, so I was just hoping that wouldn't change!!! Whew... we made it the whole 5 minutes :)

And then... at the next stop... we went to (surprise!) Subway for lunch. While at Subway, I found out that I came in runner up for "Best Female Performer" in Campus Activities Magazine!!!! YAY!!!! How awesome is that?? So exciting! I was up against all these comedians and people that are constantly on VH1 and Comedy Central. So I am pretty stoked to be in this category! I still haven't found out who won. But they said they have attached all these fancy schmancy "silver star logos" to my name now :) Movin on up, y'all!!! Brick by brick.... inch by inch.

So at this point.... it's already a great birthday. I was really feeling the late night when I woke up, but all these fun things to do got my adrenaline pumping :) Well... and the Subway... umm.. and the cookies from Subway...

So we are staying with Uncle Tim and Aunt Deana tonight in Iowa City. They have become the official Aunt and Uncle of the band since they are always putting us up in their house!!! We walked in and so many people were here to celebrate!!! James did good :) I LOVE surprises and I had NO IDEA anyone else was going to be here. How fun. There is nothing better than getting to see family on your birthday and especially when you're on the road and not expecting it!!! I love my family. Getting married is awesome. My family tripled this last June. :)- And I LOVE it. I like for it to be "official" because James' family has felt like family to me since before we even started dating... back when we were just "in a band together."

They had food and a cake and more food.. and more food to take with us..... You'll NEVER go hungry in this family - that is for sure!


Aunt Traci told me that she made my recipe of Tortilla Soup this last week!!! Made me SO happy.

I was determined to get of picture of EVERYONE. I (well.... James...) found the timer on my camera...
Take 1:


oops.

Take 2:


MUCH better. :)

Deana had a cake made from a lady in town that is starting a new business. She is from Peru, so we all KNEW it would be good. Miguel has told us a LOT about Peruvian food and how amazing it is... he's not lying. This cake was amazing.


(James is talking in his sleep right now... it's gibberish... but it's funny)

You know what was so great about today? It wasn't a glamorous or big crazy birthday. There weren't any big gifts or grand presents. But it was a day filled from beginning to end with texts, phone calls, wall posts, emails, voicemails, comments, twitters, surprises and hugs from people I love, and it made me so thankful for all the wonderful people in my life. I am on the road living my dream and doing what I have always wanted to do. I am watching this dream come to life in bigger and better ways every day. Who could ask for more?

Cinnamon (my sweet puppy) even sent me card. It's pretty great.... not gonna lie.
Click here to see Cinnamon's Birthday Card to me.

It's funny how birthdays start to change. Miguel asked me last night if I was ready to be 27. My first response was "Can we just not talk about the 27 part?" I KNOW 27 isn't old.... But when you're little... you think 27 is "grown up". Heck you think college is "grown up" therefore, you think (or at least I did) that you'll be in this big glamorous place in life. But 27 is just getting started. And that's the beauty of country music. Most of the people I look up to weren't huge stars at an early age. In the pop world - there is a lot more pressure to "hit it big" by the time you are a teenager. But the country world tends to be a bit more realistic! I am just now starting to figure things out in my writing and in my musical journey that I would have NEVER had to offer at 16. And I am LOVING the journey I am on. I am married to an incredible man. My family is so supportive and loving. My friends... some of the most understanding people in the world. And I have fans that love my music and are almost more impatient than I am for my next record. It's an amazing thing to see my dreams coming to life. And I think 27 is going to be a HUGE year to me. I don't know why it initially sounds SO much older than 26. But maybe it is just because there are so many HUGE things on the horizon. So here's to NEVER STOP DREAMING - whether you're like my Granny and only "2 years from 100", just getting started or somewhere in between.

Peace, Love, Fiddle,
~natalie