Home Is Where The Heart Is

And that's exactly where we've been lately. James and I have so many wonderful homes. We have moved from our home in Iowa back to our home in Tennessee today.

The past week has been a tough one. But getting to spend it surrounded by family and love is what makes it a beautiful thing. I have so many memories that I will take with me forever of this last week and these holidays. Some are very painful. But most of them are filled with joy and laughter.

That's what this time of year is all about.

Merry Christmas.

Peace. Love. Fiddle.
~natalie

I Made It!!!

Whew. We've had ummm 15 or 17 shows in a row with no break... I can't remember right now and I don't have the energy to go count. This whole year I have seen this stretch of shows on the calendar and it was the leg of touring I was the most concerned about. If they were all college shows, it wouldn't have been a problem. But when the book ends (3 days on the front and 3 days at the end) are at some of our longest club nights... well, I just have to be extra careful with my voice.

But yay!!! I made it! I won't be speaking tomorrow at all on the drive home. Give my voice some rest. We won't sleep much tonight - it's already 6:15am and we need to be out of here by 11. But hey, at least I am not singing tomorrow!!! I can always handle little sleep. but when you pair little sleep with lots of singing... it can be rough.

I love Spinnaker. I really do. I went to the beach this afternoon before the show. And James and I just stood up on the balcony at Spinnaker before we packed up and took in one last look at the ocean.

It's been really fun having Justin back on this trip. He is an incredible singer and an extremely charismatic performer - he knows how to get an audience all riled up! I'm gonna miss him!

Heading to bed. And tomorrow I head to my own bed for a few nights! WOOO HOO!!!


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

Whoa. I'm on a Milk Carton :)

As I sit here working on a song and realizing I only have 2 more days until we go out for our final leg of the tour (our longest venture yet - 6 weeks without coming home) I can't BELIEVE how long it has been since I have played at home. It is so weird when I think about how just 2 years ago I only played shows in Nashville and Columbia... and I didn't even own a Suburban....

Now I have gone through 3 Suburbans and living on the road is a way of life.

All of this was rubbed in this morning when I awoke to an email that had me laughing out loud.



OK! OK!!! :) I GET IT!!! I PROMISE we will play a show here at home very soon. And I promise to make it worth the wait. There are SO many good things in the works right now and I have a lot to process before the next big Nashville show. :)~

I do however, think that was the cleverest and sweetest way for a fan to get his point across :)

Just give us this 6 weeks out on the road... (which is 27 shows... I just counted... there's a few 2-a-days in there) And I promise to have lots of fun surprises when we're back. We'll do it up all country-rockin style and have a big party when we get to come home! There will be LOTS of reasons to celebrate.

Peace. Love. Fiddle.
~natalie

E-TOWN!!!!

Today, Hootie MORE than made up for no one coming to see him at Mt. Ida in Newton. :)
We all FINALLY got to meet his sister, Hannah, his niece Sydney and his good friend, Ben. They all drove up to hang out with Joe before the show. Glenside (where we played last night) was only an hour away from our location today. Whew. What an easy drive!!! We ended up sleeping in AND getting to our hotel 3 hours early. Perfect time for hanging out with friends and fam. :)

Sydney is SUCH a beautiful baby and she is SOOOO good. Plus I have wanted to meet Hannah for ages now. I have heard SOO much about her from Joe. :)
Look at Uncle Hoot!


And I have to include this one... She looks like she is practicing her karate moves.... Mr. Miyagi would be proud :)



We played Elizabethtown College tonight in Elizabethtown, PA. We weren't sure of where to go on campus when we arrived. Sometimes it's pretty obvious, but this is a very large, beautiful campus and we had NO clue where to go.
Wanna know how we figured it out? James and I found a poster of myself that had all the information for the show on it... including the location of where we were supposed to be. How funny is that? LOVE IT.

We were playing in a really cool room with a very intricate and impressive lighting rig. They had free pretzels and a root beer keg at the show! It was so fun!!! The show went REALLY well. I <3 the new song we've started opening the show with "The Power of You and Me". It is one of those songs that just makes me happy to sing!

They asked for an encore so we did some Journey! Bangor - you started something!!! I love it when everyone is singing along with me right up in the front of the stage. It is SUCH a great feeling!!

These girls were in the front the whole night. Look at those beautiful basketball players that make me look SO freakin short!!! I even have my boots on... The two girls on each side of me actually started crying during "Angel", which made it hard for me to look at them. It gave me chills... I get choked up enough on my own on that song. It means so much to me when something I've written touches other people - ESPECIALLY Granny's Song.


Jim and Todd!!! Another great team of sound engineers. All the sound guys on this leg of our trip have made our lives so much easier on stage.


This sweet girl is a huge country music fan!!! She just fell in love with country in the last couple of years, and she is coming to Nashville this summer for the first time. I told her to come during the week of CMA Fest. Right y'all? Back me up here!


Annette! She took care of us all night and was definitely running the show. Thank you for everything!


Marilyn! Yet ANOTHER person who came for Hootie tonight! Marilyn first saw Hootie at an Irish Pub he plays in his hometown. She came out to our show in Savage Maryland in September, but I barely got to talk to her that night. So I was really glad to see her and actually get to catch up with her tonight!


And I ended the night with something I've been craving (but have resisted for a while). A Snickers Ice Cream bar. All is right with the world :)

Peace, Love, Fiddle,
~natalie