New Year's Resolutions and a Thank You from Africa

First of all let me say THANK YOU. I have heard from so many of you about the Raining Season blog I posted yesterday. And many of you have already said you will donate to the cause. The girls said the first thing they did yesterday morning when they woke up in Africa was read my blog. That BLOWS my mind. I didn't eve realize they would be able to see it. But all of your comments, help, and prayers only strengthens them to do even more good. So keep it coming and THANK YOU from The Raining Season in Africa!! I know that it sure has inspired me even more!

Tomorrow I begin a week of writing with Gordon Brown. He and I have an incredible musical relationship and I am so excited to see what will materialize from this next round of writing! :) I am already excited to share the music with you and we haven't even written it yet! (It reminds me of the scene in Pretty Woman when Vivian tells Edward "Thank You" in the elevator on the way to the opera before they have even started the date!) And yes, I just referenced "Pretty Woman" I'm a dork, I know :)

So it's been a few years since I have actually written down New Year's Resolutions. That's just unacceptable! :)-

Natalie's New Year's Resolutions:

1. Write hit songs.

2. Blog EVERY day :)

3. Write MORE hit songs. LOTS of hit songs.

4. Work out.
Yep, the typical New year's resolution. My sister, who is a personal trainer gave me some workouts that are hotel room-
friendly for the road. So now there is NO excuse. I love working out and running... I've just gotten out of the habit.

5. Write beautiful, inspired, meaningful hit songs.

6. Respond to emails/phone calls immediately after I get them.
I get into this thing where I would rather sit down and write emails when I can REALLY respond. It happens on myspace,
facebook, and especially with work. But by the time I have time to get to them.... there's a million other things that need
more immediate attention. My intentions are good... but..... too many times, things get lost in the shuffle. It makes me
sad. So NO MORE!

7. Ummmm.... can you say #1's??

8. Use my time more efficiently on the road.
It sure is easy to get into bad habits on the road. EVERYTHING has to be adapted, so the things get put off. But I am
learning (and also just being more conscious lately) of how I can make normal stuff work better from the back of my little
nest in the Suburban. :) It sounds simple... but it sure is easier to just play games on my iphone than actually sit back
there and act like I am "in the office"

9. Eh emmm..... Billboard, chart-topping, Number ONES, people!

10. Do more for those in need.
If you can't tell from my blog yesterday, I am so inspired by the Raining Season. And charity work has been heavy on my
mind lately. There is SO MUCH MORE that I could be doing. I already have a bunch of ideas stewing!

So yeah. Now you guys can hold me accountable since I am sharing this with the whole world! :) I am really excited about this year though. I have lots of good creative juices flowing. And I feel a lot more renewal happening within my own life than I normally do around this time of year.

It is very easy to get caught up in this crazy record industry world and listen to what you are told. EVERYONE has an opinion. But I am not the person who will ever be content with doing "just enough". I don't just want the next big hit as a country artist. I want the next HUGE career. The type of career where your songs mean something. The type of music that is inspired. Too many times in country radio I hear songs that may be good songs, but they could have been sung by anyone. And no matter how hard I try, I can't for the life of me distinguish who the artist is.

But I am ALL about dreaming BIG and reaching for the sky! It's what we sang about each and every day in the Kid's Club show. And I KNOW that we can all do ANYTHING we put our minds to.

This is such an exciting and rejuvenating time for music. The internet allows us to connect with people in such a HUGE way! We can connect with people in a way that has never been possible before. And it forces ALL of us musicians to work harder and persevere. I can tell you right now, that there is no disillusionment in my mind to where I expect a record label to sign me and do all the work for me! It is up to ME to get my music out there. And in utilizing every tool I can find.... eventually people will come on board that can help me take it to the next step whether that's a record label or my own version of that. But I'm just saying that I don't expect anyone to do it for me. That is for sure.

So here's to dreaming big, inspired music, doing what we love, and helping those in need!

2009 Here I come!

Fun In Hartford

We were in Hartford CT for NACA Northeast this last weekend. It was a HUGE conference for us, so we went out to celebrate afterwards! Dennis Haskins (Mr. Belding) and I are becoming good friends after all these conferences! And his good friend, Horatio Sanz (yet another Chilean-American) was hanging out too! Horatio was one of my favorites from SNL! What a fun night! :)

His watch.... AMAZING.


Look at those good-lookin Chileans :)


I NEVER thought growing up watching Saved By the Bell EVERY DAY after school, that I would be hanging out with Mr. Belding!!! He had to get a special pass to get in to see our show... and he was so sweet afterwards and told me that he is a huge fan. ARE YOU KIDDING!?!? I've been a huge fan of HIS for YEARS! My life is amazing.


As soon as I steal some more pictures from facebook, I'll show off the highlights of the conference :)

PEACE, LOVE, FIDDLE, Y'ALL!!

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!!!!!

I hope everyone had a very safe and awesome halloween!!!! We had a blast in Asheville, NC at Wild Wing Cafe. They were having a HUGE costume contest, so it was EXTREMELY entertaining for us from stage!!! I was Pippi Longstocking, Hootie was "Emo Joe", Miguel was The Crow. and James was ummm... something. The sound guy asked if James was dressed up as me. cause I usually wear a red feather boa. :)-



Hootie reminded me of Todd in "Wedding Crashers" One of my favorite characters EVER.

Slash was put to shame with Miguel's playing on "Sweet Child" :)-



Ghost Busters won the costume contest!!!!!!



This guy actually takes care of us - that was NOT a costume! Security had their hands full!!!



KISS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!



Cousin IT!!!!!!!!! I felt soooo bad because the end of my pigtail (actually, the coat hanger that I braided it around) got stuck in her hair and ripped her glasses off.... took us a while to get untangled, but we eventually did!



Ummm.... this guy?



Yeah. SO it was awesome!!! I have more pics, but that is all I can handle right now.... I am falling asleep at my computer - we're playing in Knoxville tomorrow night. I better get some good rest so we can get up and do it all over again!!!

night night

Baby-Criers UNITE!!!!

Never thought I would see the day! Actually - I never really thought about it :) This lady was at our show at UNC tonight in Charlotte North Carolina - and she, too, did a "baby-cry" for Oprah!!! Watch and see :)

Hold me closer Tony Danza

Today James and I were meeting a friend for lunch in Green Hills. As
we were walking in our friend tapped me on the shoulder and said,
"Hey, isn't that Darryl Waltrip?" Sure enough there he was getting out
of his car... As we got closer our friend heard him saying something...

Was he on his cell phone?

Nope...

Was he talking to someone still in the car?

Nope...

He was definitely singing "Tiny Dancer" to himself...

That is awesome... Of course he would be. I wanted to jump up on the
hood of his car and join in for a big dramatic "Almost Famous"
moment... but he probably would have just called the cops.

Maybe next time...

The Suburban Chronicles: Mud-Wrestling Incident

We played a show at Amarillo College back in April and after the show, this girl came up to me and said "Hey, you should mud-wrestle me!" I told her I would love to but I really didn't want to get my performing clothes dirty and I didn't have anything else to wear. (All of our bags were already at the hotel so I thought I was off the hook!) Immediately this one guy said - "I've got basketball shorts you could wear!" And the college had just given each of us a t-shirt. So I had kinda committed without even meaning to!! But as soon as I realized that I was REALLY gonna mud wrestle this girl... I realized that she looked like she had already taken some people down..... and I was smaller.... and I was about to get killed....
But hey! I think I put up a pretty good fight. Notice how she says "She won't go down!" towards the end. I am really proud of that part - cause girlfriend just TACKLES me at first and I was NOT ready for that!!!

Boyd, Big Byrd, and Train Ridin'

So I am a little late on this.... but I have to go back to our show in Columbia, SC at Wild Wing Cafe.

1st of all.... one of my favorite people in the entire world showed up to surprise me! BOYD!!!!!!! He ad I met at NACA a little over a year ago, and we discovered we are both from Columbia, TN - Mule Town USA!!!! We grew up 2 streets away from each other and his Daddy was always the BEST host of the Liars Contest :) That is a tradition from Mule Day - one of the most fun events of the weekend.




The show was AWESOME. The "Ruth" party :) brought about 15 of the most fun people!
It was Big Byrd's birthday. :)
What is it with these unbelievably tall people at the shows lately? I mean, I know I am a shorty, but seriously?




The night ended with a conga line to "Come On Ride The Train" - I never noticed how LONG that song is!!!! I was one tired girl at the end of the night!

Band Practice in the living room!

Working on all kinds of new surprises.

The Jack is always so much fun!

An amazing group of people were sitting at the table closest to the stage - they were really impressing me on the "Funky Music Dance" - Jim, as I came to find out later, just about had the best "wiggle" of anyone I have ever seen. I think it must be because he is from Scotland :) The whole table was from Scotland and they cheered every time I said Y'all! :) Which only made me the happiest southern girl in the room! It was Dave and Sandra's 25 wedding anniversary - so we made them dance to a little Marvin Gaye :) It was awesome.



And THEN!!!!!! The tallest guy I have ever seen walked up to buy a cd. I had played Rocky top for him earlier cause I noticed his UT hat.... WOW. And look at how cute his girlfriend is!!! She is so tiny and he is.... 6'10" Yeah. I was really excited to stand next to him. Thanks for letting me take this pic, Justin! I wonder what the world looks like from up there :)