Nurse Monkey Bear

My puppy, Cinnamon, has been soooooo sweet to me this whole time. She has taken really good care of me and has stayed by my side the whole time I have been sick. She would only leave to go downstairs and say hi to James and my parents, and then she would come back and lay back down in bed with me. Sometimes she would get a bit antsy and play with her wooly mammoth and lay on a pillow down beside the bed. But most of the time, she was curled up right in my arms, licking my face, and nursing me back to health.

My dog is awesome.




Peace. Love. Fiddle.
~natalie

Captain Hook

Yesterday my big brother decided to go creek fishing with some friends. He hadn't had a chance to go yet this summer, and he loves to wade out into the water and see what he can catch.

Joe met up with the other guys and they drove down to Hampshire where one of his friends knew about a great spot. Joe caught himself a small mouth bass on his first cast! Wooo HOOO!! As he reeled the sucker in, he reached down to get it off the hook, and OOPS! Hook went right into his thumb. Dug waaay down in there.

Well, that pretty much ended the fishing trip.

They got back in their cars, and drove Joe back to his. He was in a lot of pain, so much so that he was getting a bit sick... He stopped by his house on the way to the ER to eh emm... umm... use his own bathroom...

When he got to the ER the doc put not 1, not 2, not 3, but FOUR shots in his thumb.

After the first 2 shots, Joe started growling at the doc. Yup. Like a dog. Because... well... that's my brother. But by the 4th shot his thumb was finally getting numb and he couldn't feel anything. The doc was able to get the hook out by prying it with a needle and he didn't think there was gonna be any nerve damage.

The last time Joe went fishing with our Daddy, he stuck a hook through his finger.

Today, Daddy bought him a fish hook remover and took it over to him. You know, for next time.

Just wanted to share.

Peace. Love. Fiddle.
~nat

My Sticky Shoe

Anyone get the title? Think "Phoebe's sexy flem" on Friends :)

Yeah. I could hit lower notes than normal tonight. Didn't help much with the high ones...

When James tries to talk NOTHING comes out. :(

But we made it!!! One more and then we'll rest up for next weekend. I can't BELIEVE how great I felt on stage tonight. I was a wreck today... but the show must go on.


So, apparently it is "former bass player week" :)

2 nights ago Dennis Haskins (Aka Mr. Belding from Saved by The Bell) and one of my first bass players in Green Line South, Adam Countryman, started texting me at 3am. They met each other at a bar in L.A. and somehow my name came up :) CLASSIC. That was definitely some good "get well medicine"

And tonight.... Davide Pezzini My VERY FIRST BASS PLAYER... EVER from Berklee came out to the show tonight!!! We think we haven't seen each other in 6 years. How crazy is that? Wow. He's originally from Switzerland, but now lives in Chicago! I'm all about the international band!


And we had SOOO many wonderful people come out tonight. THAT is what got me through the show. Our Iowa family was here - James' Mom, Grandparents, Aunts, Uncles, and lots of friends!!! WOOO HOO!!! I didn't get pics :( It was chaos! But we played Doobie Brothers for Aunt Deana!

Sue and her crew drove in:


Fred won the prize for furthest drive.... He drove all the way from Marquette, Mi where we originally met at Upfront and Company! So when he requested Purple Rain, we HAPPILY obliged! He had to jet out, so we didn't get a pic either, but it was SOOO good to see you Fred!

Tim got to fly up earlier in the week to spend time with his brother and brand new baby niece. John even snuck away from his baby girl to come out to the show tonight!


The wait staff had an awesome contest for who could look the most country. :) They were pretty awesome:



Jessie is with us again! I don't know what I would have done without her tonight!


And this place was packed. We had SO much fun with everybody there! I <3 Ballydoyle Pub!





Peace. Love. Fiddle.
~natalie

BreStrong!

Thank you for all of the sweet and wonderful get well messages on here and facebook and myspace. We're getting better. Every day it's been something different.... the fevers broke but then came back... the sore throat came... now the cough has set in.

James and I both were not sure how in the world we were gonna start driving tonight... we're both pretty woozy feeling... But it's amazing what you can do when you have to. We've stopped just north of Indianapolis (which is funny since we play here on Sat night!) I'm just hoping a good night's sleep will give me enough voice for 2 shows!

While I'm on the subject of "it's amazing what you can do when you have to" I just want to say a little something about my amazing friend, Bre.

Bre's story is incredible. She found out she was pregnant, YIPPIE!!! And 15 weeks into her pregnancy she found out that she had breast cancer and would immediately have to start chemo. Imagine THAT rollercoaster of emotions. I certainly can't.

She lost her hair... but the Belly kept growing!



I have never seen someone with such amazing spirits. From start to finish she was so strong. And she genuinely had a beautiful perspective on the whole situation. She is such an inspiration. You want to know what she said to me at one point? We were talking about the chemo combined with the normal symptoms that come with pregnancy (which we all know can be unbelievably intense)
She said: "Eh, it's not that bad."
I love it!!! That was always her attitude.

I know it was always scary... but she kept her faith and was surrounded by prayers. She now has a beautiful HEALTHY baby girl
named Matilda Rae. She has finished her final chemo treatment and will go into surgery in a couple of weeks to get the rest of that cancer TAKEN OUT!

Matilda Rae and Mamma: And LOOK! Their hair is growing back at the same rate!!!



To learn more about her incredible story.... to follow her surgery.... or to get your very own BRE STRONG bracelet to help support the enormous medical expenses that continue to pile on:

BRESTRONG

Peace. Love. Fiddle. & BreStrong!
~natalie

Getting There

Well... ya'll... thought we were getting better.... and I am sure we are. I don't think I've had any fever today... but whatever this is... I hope it goes away soon. James and I both feel awful. I just need to feel good enough to make it through 2 shows. At least they aren't too terribly far away. It's only 8 hours to Chicago.

Peace. Love. Fiddle.
~nat

Guilt-Free Consolations

Being sick is NO fun...

But having a guilt-free excuse to watch back to back episodes of 30 Rock and Lost is pretty awesome.

Fever is gone I think.... throat still hurts and still pretty useless... takes WAY too much energy to do anything. Even though James and I have the exact same thing... we're staying in separate rooms. But we've been video chatting while watching Lost. We're awesome.

(well, he talks. I type. My voice is gone still. But resting up so we can play our shows this weekend)

Peace. Love. Fiddle.
~nat