Janesville Performing Arts Center & The Cutting Board

Y'all. I walked into the hotel room and this is what I saw:



Because we ALL need a cutting board attached to our bathroom counters....

After I noticed the cutting board, I then realized I had just seen a lady walking down the hall with a giant block of cheese. These people in Wisconsin are SERIOUS about their cheese! There's no microwave or refrigerator in the room, but there's definitely a cutting board. Guess that's just how they roll up here.

Tonight we played in Janesville Wisconsin at the Janesville Performing Arts Center. It is a really beautiful auditorium!!! The first thing I noticed in our dressing room was that they had put Gerbera Daisies in there with my name on them!! :)


And then they brought in the longest sandwiches EVER. I just figured it out.... if we had laid our 4 sandwiches end to end.... they would have been half a foot taller than me.... WHOA. That's a LOT of sandwich.


Have I mentioned how much I love Hootie? Cause I do. What's not to love about that guy? Look at him! :)

There were SO many people responsible for putting on the show tonight! It never ceases to amaze me how many people it takes to put on a great event. And everyone at JPAC went way above and beyond the call of duty to help us out. This was the main group of people we worked with tonight. Between escorting us to and from stage, working our merchandise table, making sure we were fed, and working the ticket office... yeah... they rule.


And this is the group from Lamar - who were sponsoring the show tonight!! They were a HUGE reason this show was possible. Thank you!


SUE!!!!!!!!! We got to know Sue a little over a month ago in Peoria when we played one of her events for BASF. I had no idea she lived up here. She lives 2 hours away, but her hometown is right down the road from Janesville. She brought her whole family with her, and it was so great to meet them! It was a GREAT surprise. :)


Her youngest, Lane, was all tuckered out at the end of the night, though! This is how we found him after I had finished up talking with everyone after the show. CLASSIC!


Aunt Carol came all the way from Iowa to see the show tonight! And she brought her friend Eileen! I could barely see past the first row because the stage lights were so bright. But I could see their Peace Love Fiddle t-shirts in the 3rd row, so I knew where they were :)


Lots of kids came out tonight - which ALWAYS makes me happy :) Here's just a few of the beautiful girls I had the honor of meeting.


I loved this guy's purple sweater. :) It is a GREAT color. That lead us to talk about how much we love the color purple... and then they gave me a purple sharpie. YES! It's one of the adorable key-chain ones. He is one of the board members responsible for bringing us to Janesville. ; )-



Tonight was a really great show. I felt very much at ease with this audience and took my time. I was able to talk with them a lot between songs.Vocally, I had to work a lot harder than I have in a long time. I am SO glad that is the exception and not the rule these days. My voice is still a bit worn from singing in smoke a couple of nights ago. It's not a big deal. But I almost forgot how hard it used to be... not all that long ago... when we played a LOT more often in bars with smoke. I wish it didn't affect me so dramatically... definitely makes me feel a bit like a drama queen. But also the fact that we play less of the 4 hour shows and more of the 1-2 hour shows makes a huge difference as well. I've gotten quite spoiled this year with our shows! I'm not gonna question it though - just gonna keep counting my blessings!!!

Speaking of.... we have a few days off!!! It's so weird. We don't play again until Thursday in Massachusetts. :) We'll start heading that way tomorrow, but there won't be any need to rush. :) I have plenty to keep me busy though - I've got about 20 different songs running through my head that I need to finish and I plan on working a bit on those in the next few days.... and sleeping in... and maybe catching a movie... (Hootie is DYING to see Watchmen) But send some good songwriting vibes my way if you got em! :)

Peace, love, fiddle,
~nat

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