Pikeville College Has Won My Heart

WOW.

We saw a part of America on our drive today that I have NEVER seen before. Many times, even when we are in different parts of the country... it all looks pretty familiar with the same gas stations and restaurants over and over again. The landscape changes, but we don't always get to see much from the interstate.

Today we were driving on state highways through beautiful parts of rural Kentucky. We saw GIANT coal mines and almost every car that passed us on the highway had some sort of coal mining sticker on it. I've had Loretta in my head all day :)

And OH MY GOODNESS. I think the most beautiful rainbow I've ever seen was present today for almost 45 minutes! It was a DOUBLE rainbow, and when we came around the curves just right to line up with the mountains... we could see the WHOLE thing. We could have chased down that pot of gold on both ends if we had only had the time to stop!
I was driving but James was able to take a picture at one point...


And THEN the gig!!! There were pianos in all the dressing rooms... the auditorium we played in was beautiful... the lighting guys they hired were fantastic... and the students were SO GREAT!!! They had a student singer/songwriter open for us. Nick was GREAT. And then we played our show and had a blast! We even got em up out of their seats for that last few songs!

And let me just say.... our catering tonight? RiDONKculous. Steaks, shrimp, taters, green beans (the way Mamma makes 'em), awesome sweet tea. We PIGGED OUT. Actually, there's a trash can full of plastic fork casualties somewhere at Pikeville College tonight. Tim Denbo broke more than one at his attempt to attack his steak! :)

My awesome "Merch guy" who was mistaken as a band member :)


Cute girls!


This crew saw us at Put-In-Bay and came to see us tonight!!! They were a riot and sat right in the front row tonight!!! It was so cool to see them again :)


The students at the last few schools have been SOOO incredibly helpful with unloading and loading the trailer. And tonight was no exception. You have NO IDEA how much easier our lives instantly become when the students help out. Famous people have roadies. We have ourselves. But lately it has felt like we've had roadies because the students have been so willing and eager. Those things don't go unnoticed and it is something we ALL talk about in the Burb later. As silly as it may sound? It makes the shows more memorable for us when they start out with that kind of help.

So yeah. Great night. Again.

And we have 1 more show on the road for the year. WHAT!?!? Whoa. I can't believe it.

Peace. Love. Fiddle.
~natalie

Daddy Bought a Boat! Miguel Bought a House! I saw a Monkey!

What a day!

I saw a Monkey in Starbucks. The people in front of me were carrying the little Chimpanzee in a pink baby blanket. She was beautiful. But it was very strange. I wanted to hug her... But I restrained myself.

Daddy bought a boat :) War Eagle.
Can you see it??? I don't know... It's kinda tough... ;)~



And Mamma has already picked out a lake house to go with the boat :) I love my parents. They still to this day will scour the town to find the cheapest gas... they've always been the epitome of "frugal". They've been saving their entire lives to get to this point - where they can drive to Virginia and buy a boat. And look at lake houses. They are also the reason James would make fun of me in college because I wouldn't buy the crackers at the corner store because they were $.35 more than the ones at the grocery store.

Miguel was pulling a bigger trailer than we have tonight! We helped him pack that thing FULL with stuff tonight. He and Jenn and Ella are moving into a new house right now! So fun!!! They are almost completely out of the apartment. But of course, we have to leave again in the morning. Poor Miguel! He's only had two days to get most of his stuff moved. It's been an intense process. I know he'll be glad to get home for more than a day or 2 at a time. But of course that won't be until Thanksgiving.

Wow. I just looked at our calendar and I didn't realize how much we are gone in the next month and a half. We are only home for 3 days total between now and Thanksgiving. Ha! What a life.


Peace. Love. Fiddle.
~natalie

The Chileans Are Coming!!!

Dorky fact about me right now:
We played the University of Akron in Ohio yesterday, and we played this same event last year for them. Last night I wore my event t-shirt from yesterday. Tonight I unintentionally am wearing the t-shirt from this event LAST year.

At our show yesterday, I learned that the flowers in my hair are NOT a good idea when bees are looming! Even though they are fake... they seemed to attract the buzzy little creatures :) I mean, they were hanging around everyone and buzzing around the stage quite a bit, but they definitely liked my hair region... Although.... that's quite a LARGE region... it is kind of hard to miss...

Last year we had to drive OVERNIGHT from a show in Chicago. So this year, the flight and a half of stairs to load up was not NEARLY as daunting as it had seemed last year! :)

However... the rain seemed to follow us yet again to an outdoor event. :( We had a covered stage, so the rain wasn't an issue for us per say, but the poor audience was just getting soaked. I had to call a song that Chris could sing, actually because my cds and t-shirts were getting drenched. I ran and grabbed everything and threw it under the tent for safe-keeping.

Mark and Janice are some of our good friends that have just been incredibly supportive over the years. YOU KNOW they are supportive when they sit under umbrellas for half your show just to watch you play! Thanks, Mark for selling that cd and t-shirt for me ;)


We had some of the most wonderful and inspiring group show up for this show. Viola, was one of them. It was her birthday, and I first saw her burst out from behind the line of students waiting for t-shirts. She was very excitedly running toward the stage because she heard music. It wouldn't have mattered who or what type of music was playing. She began to dance with the most beautiful smile on her face. And she didn't stop until her class had to leave! Happy Birthday Viola! I am so glad you and your friends had such a good time! (Thanks for the pic, Mark!)


Our awesome sound crew - Greg and Tony! They were our sound guys last year, too. :) And they quized me on what my name means. Whew. Good thing I knew! "Born on Christmas Day" (But I wasn't)


We've had a car-full of Chileans following us for a week now!!! Miguel's Dad, 2 of his brothers, and his Dad's wife are all visiting from Chile. And they are getting a FULL experience of life on the road! They came to the Rathskeller in Indy, then took a road trip to Chicago, came to our shows in PA and OH, and now they are headed to Nebraska for a wedding! Ella is going to be a flower girl this weekend :)


Love this life on the road. And happy to be home with my puppy for a few days. We have FIVE DAYS OFF!!! MOST in a LOOOONG time!

Peace. Love. Fiddle.
~natalie

My Purse Is a Mini Suitacase

I would like to attribute the ridiculousness of stuff in my purse to my lifestyle on the road... there's always stuff I wish I had with me, and it's so easy to just throw it all in my purse...

But I do that when I'm NOT on the road...

James was laughing at me because in order to find something earlier, I pulled out the following:

Hairbursh
water bottle
socks (Cute one with purple stripes)
head scarf
ipod
nail polish remover
flowers (for my hair)
6 Hotel receipts
earrings
deposit book
check book
lotion
an assortment of medicine bottles - tylenol, ibuprofen, liquid badage (THANK YOU TAMAMRA!!!! That liquid bandage stuff is amazing and we have all used it!!!)
a camera
my camera uploader doo-thingy
the charger for my camera battery
Tea bags
Honey to go in the tea
And of course, the essential typical stuff:
wallet
business cards
phone

So yeah... As you can probably guess, I am NOT one of those people that always has things in a specific order and place. With certain things, I am REALLY organized. But with most things... not so much.

Peace. Love. Fiddle.
~natalie

My Jesus Knife

I LOVE MY PUPPY!!! I really can't wait to get to a point where I can take her on the road with me. I HATE leaving her, but thank goodness my parents love her so much. :) She has a lot of fun here... so it's really the best thing for her. But this whole... getting to see her 1 day at a time thing has been rough.

Today was a great day off. I got SOOO much work done. AND Mamma and I made banana pudding because I was jealous that it was gone by the time I got here. She and my nieces made some this weekend when they were all here. So we had to make a whole new batch to let me in on the fun :) Mamma did most of the work, but I did a really good job stalking her with every addition of banana and Nilla Wafer.

AND.... I had a bunch of stuff waiting at home for me from Amazon. That' pretty much the best way ever to shop on the road... just order it, so it's home by the time I get there :)

NONE of the boys in my band have a pocket knife. Isn't that a bit odd? I keep having to use Miguel's wire cutters when I need to cut something. Sooooo after talking about it for ohhhh YEARS, I finally have my own pocket knife. It's definitely the cutest one I have ever seen :) And I have already used it 6 times today! These things come in handy! I bought some exciting surprises for the guys to take on the road with us, and I needed my snazzy new knife to help me open them all!


Mamma thought it was a Jesus knife... cause it has Easter Lilly's and a cross on it :) But Daddy explained that the "cross" is because it's a Swiss Army Knife.

We leave again tomorrow. We're headed up to Ohio, Staten Island, then back to Ohio! WOO WOO!

Peace. Love. Fiddle.
~natalie

Starbucks Scat

I better stick to country...



Peace. Love. Fiddle.
~nat

Hutto's a Quarterback?

Tom Brady as....

...Charlie Hutto??

I love it.

Peace. Love. Fiddle. and Back On The Road Tomorrow!

~natalie

Whoa. I'm on a Milk Carton :)

As I sit here working on a song and realizing I only have 2 more days until we go out for our final leg of the tour (our longest venture yet - 6 weeks without coming home) I can't BELIEVE how long it has been since I have played at home. It is so weird when I think about how just 2 years ago I only played shows in Nashville and Columbia... and I didn't even own a Suburban....

Now I have gone through 3 Suburbans and living on the road is a way of life.

All of this was rubbed in this morning when I awoke to an email that had me laughing out loud.



OK! OK!!! :) I GET IT!!! I PROMISE we will play a show here at home very soon. And I promise to make it worth the wait. There are SO many good things in the works right now and I have a lot to process before the next big Nashville show. :)~

I do however, think that was the cleverest and sweetest way for a fan to get his point across :)

Just give us this 6 weeks out on the road... (which is 27 shows... I just counted... there's a few 2-a-days in there) And I promise to have lots of fun surprises when we're back. We'll do it up all country-rockin style and have a big party when we get to come home! There will be LOTS of reasons to celebrate.

Peace. Love. Fiddle.
~natalie