Hanging With the SeaBees!

Happy Birthday Stephanie!!! It's my sister's birthday today. And I didn't call her. :( I'm fired. I thought about her all day and was planning on calling at night. But why would I make that my plan? I know better than that on "show" days. We get so busy between getting there, unloading, sound check, me primping, playing, and loading back up... that it is always so late when we get done.

BUT I LOVE YOU STEPH!!! And we'll talk tomorrow :) Here's a great photo of Steph, Mamma, and me. I just put this up as my profile pic on facebook.


We played in Gulfport Mississippi today at the NCBC Base! Back with our Seabees!!! We played here last May, too. Oh what a difference a month makes! By May, it will be sweltering down here. But by the time the sun went down today, it was perfect. Still humid! But that is Southern Mississippi for ya! :) We had a great show. Lovin the new in ear monitors and sound system!

It was awesome as we were driving in. Battalion 74 came home YESTERDAY from Afghanistan. And there are rows and rows of homemade signs welcoming them home as you drive through the base. It was quite a sight.

We had so many soldiers that will be deployed in a month or two at the show. It is always so crazy to talk to men and women younger than me who are getting ready to go to Afghanistan. But they were all in very high spirits tonight and made this civilian feel nothin but LOVE! Thank you so much for having us and ALL you do for this country!







I actually signed one guy's "demerit"... not sure what the official name would be. But it was basically a military demerit. I should have asked him what he did... But we couldn't take a picture because he doesn't want his CO to see that he made something fun out of it!

And look at my coin!!! I LOVE when we get coins on each base :) They are so awesome. I'm gonna have to get a huge display case soon. :)



Peace. Love. Fiddle.
~natalie

Brother Willie And The Market Crew

We're in Seattle right now!!!! It's hard to believe that we were in San Diego this morning... We played a show at the Naval Base San Diego last night, and were in California for less than 24 hours. Today, we flew into Seattle, picked up the rental, had breakfast with my father-in-law, went back to pick up the boys (they were on a different flight), and then went to Teriyaki!!! Anyone who has been to Seattle would have a hard time missing the fact that it is jam-packed with teriyaki restaurants. James didn't realize what an incredible thing this was until he left Seattle and realized that no one else has amazing tryaki restaurants at every corner. Believe me, we've scoured Boston, New York, Nashville... Nashville FINALLY opened one (in Brentwood) and it was amazing for a while. But then it changed owners and the sauce just isn't the same...

So then we took the guys down to Pike Place Market. We stumbled across the most incredible a capella group. James and Chris got hooked because Miguel and I wanted to go into the original Starbucks to get a drink. Big Willie and The Market Crew were right in front of Starbucks. They had the guys mesmerized - which is hard to do!!! But these guys were the real deal. I got a quick video - the main guy singing isn't even Big Willie (you can see Willie sitting with his cane in the back ground.) But James and Chris went on and on about how heartfelt and intense it was to watch Big Willie sing. I loved this guy, too. Willie was on his break though, so I couldn't capture any video...



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

I Rock The Pink Socks

We just got back from bowling again on base! :) So fun. We had the whole place to ourselves. After some good ole Mean Gene's Chicken fingers and garlic cheesy bread (and of course cookies)... the guys filled up their pitchers and we hit the lanes. I didn't win any games this time... but I think I took the award for best outfit.

PINK SOCKS!


We played TWO shows today. One from 2:30-4 and again from 6-7:30. I was told that two of the commanding officers took the red-eye flights back to get back in time to see us play. How COOL is that?!?! They had some of the most fun inflatable games and water slides at the event. And all the guys were hilarious. I can't repeat some of the things said to me. Well... I guess I could but I don't want to.

The whole band signed a tailgate today!!! I have some awesome video of that.... have to put that up VERY soon.

I also signed my first golf ball. Whole band wouldn't fit on the golf ball!! But it's from Jamaica :)



This sweet boy, Chris, says he's gonna be the next Nashville Star! :) I believe him, too. Look at how awesome he is! Every time I looked at him from stage, he would get the sweetest and biggest smile on his face. Priceless.


And we had a princess ballerina at the show, today, too! She was bustin out all kinds of beautiful pleas and arabesques :)


Krystle took care of my merch table for me all day!! THANK YOU SO MUCH!


Neva took care of us and helped us out ALL day. You're the best!


We met and hung out with so many awesome people today!















Peace. Love. Fiddle.
~natalie

It's Official. Miguel is REALLY Important

WHEW.

We are always prepared for it to be difficult to enter the military bases. For obvious reasons there should be LOTS of protocol involved when civilians are allowed on base.

Since we are supposed to be here, we've never had any issues with getting on. But today well... not so easy.
For some reason, the computer system would not allow them to enter Miguel's information. He's a permanent resident, not QUITE a citizen, but he has a social security number, license, and green card.... (has been here for 4 years AND is married to a beautiful corn-fed Nebraska girl) But he lost his wallet in PCB and is still waiting on his replacement green card, so he didn't have it as extra proof today. But he had his license and in Tennessee, you can' get a license without a green card...

After a couple of hours of speaking to one person and then the next, showing all the proof he had, yada, yada...

The Commanding Officer of Pax River Navy Base gave Miguel special permission to be on base today. So Miguel is WAY more special than the rest of us here!!! :)


The Barracks Bash at their BRAND NEW Liberty Center was awesome. They had planned to do a big outdoor concert, but they decided early in the day to move it indoors because there was a 50% chance of rain. And as we've learned before.... better safe than sorry!! Their new facility is great though. It was funny because the best place for the stage was where they normally show movies. So there were what I will call half-walls up to act as dividers for this part of the room. If I were taller, it would have helped. But unless you were standing in front, you could only see me from the neck up! And I noticed that when Miguel was soloing, I am sure you couldn't see his guitar... which is just funny to think about! But it mattered not to ANYONE in the room. They were full of free hamburgers and hot dogs, and were singing along!

Not sure what it is lately about these soldiers all being drawn to the ladies pink tee... but I hope this continues to happen!


Charlene is 6 months pregnant and had me sign this poster for little James to be born in 3 months!


It's a "Michael from Tennessee" sandwich!


And another TN boy who grew up in Lawrence County right down the road from me! He's even worked Mule Day before :)


TOM!!! He took care of us all day!


I kind wish I was looking at whatever he's looking at... because it looks like a lot of fun:




Peace. Love. Fiddle.
~nat

HOORAH

The hotel we are staying in smells really musty. MMmmmmmm.

We are right outside our destination for this weekend - we alternate bases in MD, VA, MD, & VA!

Before we start playing again tomorrow, I better post some of my favorite pics from this last weekend! And I can't wait to get Mamma's pics from the audience perspective!

Halsey. Best model EVER for the pink tees. HOO RAH!

He was also responsible for much of the dancing, beach ball throwing and hand clapping during the show. He was the main instigator - I need him on the road with me to be my Hype-man. My very own Flava Flav :)

Don't worry - I would only sign the t-shirts! No defacing of government property!!!


There were over 200 soldiers rocking out at the front of the stage by the end of the show. It was incredible.


Postcard!


More of America's Finest.







Sunday was amazing, too. In true Gulfport Mississippi form - it was a big ole shrimp boil - complete with a watermelon eating contest. I wanted to get in on the fun... but the contest was RIGHT before show time. I don't think that would have been good for anyone involved.

Grace had to escort our butts around the whole time. We went to ihop after the show, and she even came BACK from her house to drive us back to our hotel on base. Thank goodness. The base was HUGE and we definitely would have gotten lost.


Here's some of the Seabees I met!

I love the expression of the guy on the right:







FRONT ROW!


Peace. Love. Fiddle.
~natalie