COWBOYZ

We're currently all hanging out in the band house after the show - it's 4:15 am... The night has been filled with a great show and LOTS AND LOTS of hilarity. We're currently waiting on the sheets to dry so we can put them on our beds and go to sleep!!! It has been one loooong night, day, and night all over again.

We had to drive through almost all of last night and most of the day today.

Last night (this morning...) I actually had to pay full price at a hotel for us to sleep a total of 3 hours. Wooo hoooo!!!

Cowboyz is great. It is this awesome club right across from the beach in Ocean City, Maryland. They are open for dinner and then party the night away. :)

I have to say thank you to CAT Country 97.5 and 105.9 for having me on the show today. They gave away Kenny Chesney tickets during my interview to help promote MY show. (Thanks, Kenny... I appreciate it) ; )

Johnny, the owner and DJ of Cowboyz modeled my shirt all night long. I love it!



James' mother and step-dad came down from New York today to see the show!!! The band, Tamara, and I went to eat at Denny's after the show.... and this Denny's DEFINITELY used to be an indoor pool. The meal consisted of lots of laughing, I was crying at one point I was laughing so hard. I love those nights.


Stanley and Donna!!! They read about the show in the paper (I talked to a lot of people who came out from reading about the show... YAY!), and stayed the whole night. Stanley is a huge fan of the fiddle, and knew quite a bit about Columbia, Tennessee. He knew Sterling Marlin grew up there and was impressed that my Mamma cleaned his teeth before :) I dedicated a fiddle song in the first set and we opened the second set with Tn Waltz just for him :) I've never done that before at a show, but it was really awesome!



Other awesome folks from the night!






We do it all over again tomorrow!

Peace. Love. Fiddle.
~natalie

Happy Valentine's Day!!!

Yes, I am very aware that Valentine's Day was over a week ago... but today was the day James and I celebrated.... we drove 14 hours on actual Valentine's Day.... we probably ate at Subway... Wait. Subway has GREAT cookies. ok. Nevermind. I have NO grounds to be knocking Subway as an appropriate "Valentine's Day" destination. Maybe not someone's typical "first choice" when making reservations... but hey! Heat those cookies up in the microwave and it's a special occasion to me!

So I woke up to a slew of phone calls and messages... pretty normal when I sleep in :) But I got everything all squared away and even had time to get my hair appointments in!!! Y'all. I feel 10 pounds lighter!!! It has been so long since I got my hair cut. And though I have made it work... it will be SOOOO much easier to fix now. At least the PA State Troopers won't make me weigh in at the weight stations anymore ;)

So I was letting my highlights dry, and I had to do a bit of multi-tasking. I had an interview with Kearney, Nebraska's Daily newspaper (for our show there March 5 at Cunnighams). I had it all planned - I knew I would just be sitting there in the dryer when I needed to be doing the interview - and it actually couldn't have worked out more perfectly. It was so funny though. I was sitting in the hair salon, looking *oh so lovely* with tons of foil in my hair, doing an interview for an upcoming show. I felt so Hollywood! :) Hmmm... not sure how I feel about "feeling Hollywood"... but it's always fun to feel like one of the cool kids every once in a while. :)

I have to say, I have had so much fun with interviews lately. The interviewers have all been asking questions I have never been asked before. They are really keeping me on my toes and making me think! Today, I was talking to Mr. Rick Brown - who just seemed like the coolest guy, and we had been talking about my writing process, the writing of my first record, how it has changed since then, where my songs come from... you get the gist. Then he asked "Do you consider yourself more of a writer or a performer?"

No one has ever asked me that before!

The only way I knew how to answer was to say, "Well, if you told me I could only do one or the other for the rest of my life... I would have to choose performing. I don't know what I would do without it. But I surely can't imagine life without writing."
That one really makes me think! I stick by my answer 100%, but wow. Can't imagine life without EITHER ONE.

I remember watching the John Mayer/Brad Paisley Crossroads and they were asked (or maybe asking each other... don't recall) "If you had to choose between singing or playing guitar for the rest of your life - which would you choose?" They BOTH said playing guitar! I surely wouldn't want to have to choose between singing and playing the fiddle. They have both been such a part of my life since... well... since I can remember. But I think my heart would be absolutely broken if I could never sing again.

So back to Valentine's Day:
After getting my hair "did" all pretty.... THANK YOU DEBBIE!!! James surprised me with dinner reservations at the MELTING POT!!!
He had surprised me all day with chocolates left outside my door. :) Did y'all know they make DARK CHOCOLATE M&M's!?!?!? WOW. And if you have never been to the Melting Pot... someday you have to go! It's not something we can do often. That is for sure. But it is such a fun experience! You need at least a couple of hours.... Fondue takes a while! Plus, you get SOOO much food. But y'all. Dessert. Heavenly. I was SOOO full by the time we made it to desert that I was having a hard time eating it all. Who am I kidding? I was having a hard time during the main entree.

This was my Everest: (Yes. I took pictures)


And we decided on the Dark Chocolate/White Chocolate Fondue. They totally make it into a Yin Yang!


I could barely walk to the car. It's so funny. I ALWAYS take home left overs. I can't eat a lot at once - I always eat lots of small meals. But you can't take fondue home! It's just not the same. I didn't even eat THAT much.... It's just that I get full so quickly. But it was worth the "waddling" to the car. We don't EVER splurge like that. So yeah. Good day. :) And Good night!

Peace, Love, Fiddle, and Fondue,

~natalie