Virginia Wesleyan College

We played Virginia Wesleyan tonight. This is the second school so far that we have returned to for a 2nd show! They had a huge Seafood dinner for everyone along with a DJ and well.... US! SO fun :)

It was a GORGEOUS day. Couldn't have really gotten any prettier. Not a cloud in the sky. 70 degrees. Yeah. Awesome day for an outdoor event!!! It was the PERFECT day to model my new clothes I got in Providence on our sleepy shopping spree :) I usually don't like to shop... I either don't find much I want or I refuse to pay the ridiculous price tags on the things that I do want... BUT NOT IN PROVIDENCE!!! We found a Delia's in the mall... which I had never seen an actual store of! I used to get the catalogues as a kid.... but never seen a store. So I sported my "ManEater" graphic tee along with my fun crazy jeans :) Sorry to be so girlie right now... but I was REALLY excited!

These were the girls that took care of us ALLLLLL day and night!!!


This was one of the Deans!!! I love that she came out. She's a big country fan. I actually met and talked with the President of the school for quite a while at soundcheck. It is always so cool to get to meet the President and Deans of a renown School like Virginia Wesleyan College!


This is WAC - they are the group of students that put on this event :)

I am proofreading and just made myself laugh out loud.... sounds like I am getting all ghetto on y'all. "This is WAC! Fo Shizzle"

And here we are in my favorite GIANT CHAIR!!!!!! I was SOOOO hoping these huge chairs would be back this year. I love them.


This is Scott. We have been talking back and forth for WEEKS now on facebook about this show. He was gonna rally the front row lawn chair peeps... he ended up being stuck in 4 hours of traffic and being late.... but he made it for most of the show!!! It was really cool to see him after talking and corresponding so much. Felt like we were old friends :) I love facebook.


These girls ran my merch table for me during the show. They were SO sweet. I had no idea they were gonna be there, so we didn't get to talk before the show. They had to find everything out themselves.. Me and my 3 crazy bags of merchandise.... But they figured it all out and were so helpful!


Hannah and Carter were Adorable. Hannah plays piano... but "when she's done with that, she's gonna start playing the violin" :) Pretty cool, huh? She's got a plan! Obviously - there were a few cameras going here. FOCUS NAT!


I love what I do. And I love when we are asked back to a campus to do "what we do" a second time around. We had a lot of fun today. I just love being outdoors. It's good for the soul.

Now we head to Texas. But instead of staying in random hotels the next 2 nights... drumroll PLEASE!!! We get to stay at HOME in Nashville!!! LOVE it when it works out that way :) Miguel and I were trying to figure out if he left his car at our apartment on this last trip... but neither of us could actually remember leaving Nashville. That's funny...

Peace. Love. Fiddle.
~natalie

P.S. We ate at Red Robin for dinner. Just like we did last year... but there was no carnival in the parking lot next door like last. But it mattered not, for Red Robin IS off the Hizzle!!

Johnson and Wales University, Providence, Rhode Island

Tonight we played at Johnson and Wales University in Providence Rhode Island.

It is VERY good to be back from Spring Break!!!! :) I think we ALL really enjoyed getting to take a week to spend time with family and I know it was great for me to get to write a bunch. But there's nothing like playing live! It's why we do what we do :)

The room was so cool tonight. We used our own sound system, but I did NOT have to use any reverb :) The room naturally had plenty of reverb. And all the students with UIB tonight helped us out so much!!! They were great about helping us load and unload gear. Thank you so much!


Tonight I had my first iphone signing :) I felt WAAAAY cool about that.


Signing the "guns"


Ya'll know I am partial to any Boston girl!


One of my best friends from Opryland days came to the show tonight!!! This is Sarah Mattingley, and we haven't seen each other since we were 14! Her dad lives in Nashville and he had a booth at the Opryland themepark - he made all these cool leather bracelets and belts and things. She used to come hang out with us at the Kid's Club Show. I told her I felt like I was 12 again looking out in the audience and seeing her there!



The show was great, the audience was great, the school was amazing. Good first day back on the job! Thanks Johnson and Wales!!! See you soon!

Peace. Love. Fiddle.
~natalie

Big Az Driving

The desk clerk at the hotel just laughed at me when he asked how many people in our one room and I said "4". He said, "2 beds, right?" "Yes" "4 people? Hahahahaa"

ummm.... why is that funny?

We're back at it! Driving.... that is :) We have driven ALL day long... And we STILL have 7 1/2 hrs of driving to get there. Providence is a LONG way away from Nashville, y'all!

But I LOVE Providence. I used to always fly out of there when going home from Boston - The Providence airport had the cheapest flights. It's a small airport, though, so it closes down at night. I'd take the latest bus out of Boston and then just sleep in the airport until they opened back up for the early morningers :) There were always lots of us that had to do that :) Especially since the buses don't run all night.

It's a beautiful city - it always impressed me at how clean and new it looks.

Not a very eventful day today. We left Nashville, and I caught up on a LOT of work in the Suburban. But it felt like one of those days where - the more you get done, the more you discover what needs to get done.... like it never ends... :) But that's good! I'll never be bored! :)

This cracked me up at the gas station:


I don't know who can eat this stuff while they are driving!!! But apparently a lot of people do. They also had a Big Az Rack o Ribs and Big Az burger. :) I told Miguel he had to eat it all. But he also laughed at me.

Peace. Love. Fiddle. Laughter. (even if it is AT me.)
~nat

Roger Williams University

Look at what was in our hotel room when we got here tonight!!! I shall call him... Franz. The Elephant. Why? Cause it just feels like the thing to do. HE HAS GOOGLY EYES!!! LOOK AT HIM!!!!




Franz was only the icing on the cake. Actually... he was the flower icing on top of the main icing. Tonight's show went so well. We played at Roger Williams University in Bristol, Rhode Island. You could really tell they had promoted it a ton. Not only were there lots of students there - they were really interacting with us and giving us great energy.

The lights were all run by students (they had a VERY impressive lighting rig) and they were REALLY into the fog. There were times where I couldn't see the crowd because of the fog. IT WAS AWESOME. There was one time that I looked back at James and he looked like he was just smoking from awesomeness. It was like he had just emerged from a cloud of smoke... as if they were introducing him in a movie and he was about to melt your face with the best drum playing you've EVER heard. :) It was pretty hardcore. :)

The show was complete with lots of "cell phone lighters" swaying in the way back on the bleachers to people knocking chairs over in he front because they were dancing so hard! Yeah. It was a good time.

So I found my downloader doo-hicky in the back of the Suburban today!!! YAY!!!! Many pictures have been uploaded on facebook and myspace today thanks to well... possessing the technology to do so.

So now I can get back to my normal way of doing things and show you come pics!

These are my dancing girls!!! I made a comment early in the show that they must be on a dance team together... ummm and they are! It was great cause one of them would start doing a move and then the rest would join in. Their dancing was getting everyone pumped up! Actually, on "Even Alaska" that whole side of the crowd was jumping up and down to the music.... which definitely made me feel like one of the "cool kids".


These guys were great. I had just gotten done cleaning off the stage, and I could only find 2 set lists. These guys came up to us and said "Hey, we found these on stage and wanted to know if you could sign them" So see?! I'm not crazy! Plus, that is way better than just reusing them for tomorrow night. I like it when people want us to sign set lists. I spend so much time writing them all out - it is cool when they get appreciated like that! :)


If I were to take a WILD guess.... probably the youngest fans of the evening!!! Meagan and Michaela


JILL!!!! Jill and I were keeping in touch ALL day, just getting details ironed out for the show. I feel like we are best friends after all that phoning and texting! She took SUCH good care of us. AND she's wearing a Peace, Love, CEN (Campus Entertainment Network) t-shirt. ROCK ON.


Boston HERE WE COME!!!

Peace, Love, Fiddle
~natalie