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

Videos That Appear As If From Nowhere :)

I love it when I wake up and a new video has appeared on Youtube of one of our shows. :) That's a GOOD surprise. And it never gets old.

Someone posted videos from the audience at one of the NACA shows we did in the fall. :) It's so fun to see something like this from the audience perspective!!!


And she also posted "Even Alaska". It was funny to watch this one :) This was before I had settled on a key - so it is a half step down from where I sing it now. It sounds so low!!! Originally, we started a whole step up from this key... but after a few tries I didn't like it. Then we went down to F.... and now we are in F#. And F# seems to be the key of the year :) I always do that - not intentionally - but I'll go through phases where I gravitate to a specific key. It use to be "D"
It's also before Miguel and I added the fiddle/guitar jam at the end. I like the way it ends now. :)


Happy Monday!

Peace. Love. Fiddle.
~natalie

How Do You See The Days of the Week?

We woke up to a bright, beautiful day in Arkansas. The snow had mostly melted away and we were off on a safe journey here to Topeka, Kansas. :)

We stopped at iHop for lunch - it was PACKED. That was really strange for us to see :) We are usually in iHop in the weee hours of the morning.... when no one is there... but lunchtime on Sunday is hoppin!! (hehee, I just made a funny) They got backed up in the kitchen (or maybe our order got overlooked) and we sat and sat. We weren't a bit annoyed - we were just talking, but I had noticed that people who were seated after us had already finished, and we hadn't even gotten our food yet. They finally brought our food out, apologized for the wait, and told us they were going to take 40% off. Well, heck yeah! I hear that!

Heeey.... I like ihop. Jim Gaffigan? Anyone?

So while we were waiting... and waiting :) We got into an interesting conversation.

How do you visualize the days of the week? When you are picturing them in your head, do you see them in a straight line? A vertical line? Are there colors assigned to each day... or shades?

I'm not sure when I became conscious of it, but I visualize the days of the week in an oval-like shape. Kind-of like an egg with Wed at the top and Sat and Sun at the bottom at the base.
They don't really have colors, per-say, but just shades. Mon and Fri are the brightest... like a burst of light is hitting them, Wed is a warm color.... like a darker blue.... Sat and and Sun are darker.... brownish to green.

I know I can't be the only one who thinks about this. But I do think maybe it is strange that I visualize them in a circle.... cause my whole life I have seen them written out in a line. I wonder why? I picture the alphabet in a line... And numbers are in a line.... kind of a diagonal line... going upwards... slightly.... but each group of 10's has a different shade.

But I'm curious how everyone else thinks about this. The guys all say they visualize them in a straight line. But Miguel agreed with me on the shades.

K. I'll stop.

Peace, Love, Fiddle,
~natalie