College Eel at Eastern Connecticut State University

We left DC at 9am. At 7pm we pulled into our destination. That was a looong day. We even ate lunch in the car... to go. The traffic was ridiculous in Ct. From the second we got over the George Washington Bridge, it was just a nightmare.

But we were still at Eastern Connecticut State University with plenty of time to load for the show. I had to get ready like a speed demon in the ladies bathroom... I'm used to that, but I usually have a little more time than 15 minutes. It takes me about 15 minutes to brush this mane out half the time ;) Isn't being on the road glamorous?

Gordon Brown - one of my FAVORITE people and co-writers in the world lives in NJ. His niece goes to school at University of Connecticut (which we are playing tomorrow), but she and her boyfriend came tonight! It was so good to meet her. I feel like Gordon is family - therefore any of his family feels like family :)
Here's Mandy!


This was one of my favorite audience members! She was so cute singing along right up front!



This is Chris, he's the entertainment director for the Campus Activities Board. He took REALLY good care of us. I had a yummy buffalo chicken sandwich from that Mondo's SUBS place behind us :)


They had a bunch of activities going on after the show - they had a roaming magician, you could make your own bags, chia pets, and Transformers 2 was playing in their really nice theater they have in the student center. We were all hanging out eating, and Michael Kent, the AWESOME magician came up to us and showed us some card tricks. I was blown away. I have NO idea how he was doing it. I even wrote my name on the card - and it was showing up in his shoe.... would appear out of nowhere. His sleight of hand was truly remarkable. It was so cool to meet him! (And he's hilarious, too. VERY good at what he does. He was like Dane Cook, but way cooler because he does magic.)


And yet again - Chris was being adventurous in his eating. On our first trip he ate "Mall Eel". As in, eel sushi in a mall food court. That is WAY braver than I would ever be. Tonight, he tried "college eel". I'm not sure why they took this picture. But Chris said something that made Miguel really uncomfortable right as I pushed the button. I don't want to say what... but yeah.


That's our day in a nutshell. Hope you had a great day. Here's to a two-fer tomorrow. UConn and New England College.

Peace. Love. Fiddle.
~natalie

Our Weekend in Stowe!

If you ever go to Stowe Vermont, it would be hard not to end up at the Matterhorn. It's this great little bar right next to the mountain with incredible food (the sushi is amazing!), live music, and an "everybody knows everybody" kind of feel. It's great because most of the people are from out of town and are just there skiing - but EVERYONE knows Charlie - the owner.


Charlie is the one in the Black shirt. :)

It reminds me of Sam Hill's in Columbia, TN. (My favorite bar in the world) EVERYONE knows Peter, the owner of Sam Hill's. And if you don't, you will before the night is over. :) So I felt right at home at the Matterhorn. Well.... except for the -12 degree weather.

It's amazing how quickly we adapt, though. When we were loading our gear to leave on Sunday afternoon, it was 14 outside. And I was thinking, "Wow, it isn't THAT cold today".


I had a lot of "Firsts" at the Matterhorn. :)

My first time in Vermont.

My first time to play 2 full shows in one day at the same bar! We played happy hour from 4:15-6:30 and 9-12:30. WHEW!

My first time to experience -12 degree weather.

My first time to watch a snow storm from stage.

The first time I have ever seen liquids explode from a can because of the cold. (oops. we left some sprites, waters, red bulls, and cokes in the car that were left over from our Greenroom in Peoria. I didn't know the difference!!!)
This is Hootie licking his frozen Propel....


My first time to witness a volleyball tournament in the snow.


My first time drinking out of a mug that had just been carved out of a block of ice.



My first time to help give away a snow board from stage. (Jagermeister gave one away Friday and Heineken gave one away Saturday during the Happy Hour Show)

My first time witnessing a "frozen t-shirt" contest. The way Heineken gave away a snow board was by the frozen t-shirt contest. They got 8 volunteers and handed them shirts that been dipped in water and then frozen.... the first to get a shirt on over their clothes won! It was really entertaining!

The first time we've ever stayed in a hotel where Miguel and Hootie had to sleep in bunk beds! HA! There was one full bed for James and me and then bunk beds for the guys. It was such a cute little "mountain lodge" room. :)

The first time I couldn't hear myself at all in the monitor during the last set because the crowd was singing so loud.


My first time at the Ben and Jerry's factory :)


So yeah. It was a REALLY REALLY fun weekend. Driving into Stowe just looked like Santa's village (as described by Hootie). They tried to open a Walmart and a Dunkin Donuts in Stowe and it was voted down by everyone. That's how cool and quaint this town is! I would love to try ALL the restaurants. They all look so good!

I shall leave you with a few more fun pics from the evening. ALL of them can be seen at:
www.nataliestovall.com

This is sweet Ava. She's Charlie's daughter and she made me the sweetest picture that says "You are a great singer!" Isn't she beautiful?



DAVE-O!!!! Go Red Sox!!!




These girls thought that Hootie looked just like Agent McGee from NCIS. :) And they wanted us to play a Pussycat Dolls song.... but we didn't know that one :)


These two got engaged at the Matterhorn a year ago. They had a huge party with 50 of their friends. They were all divided into teams that were competing all weekend. I was told that whichever team could convince us to come back to their lodge after the show WON. Awesome. :) But after 3 shows in 2 days, needing to load gear in 0 degree weather and a 22 hour drive ahead of us... we didn't quite make it to their cabin. But I thought that was pretty funny :)-




And this was a group of Chileans!!! They are in Stowe working for a few months in a foreign exchange program! They were all VERY proud of Miguel!



I think we ALL have come away from the Matterhorn with a BUNCH of great stories. Many I have shared. And as usual... there are quite a few that I can't ;) But I think it is safe to say that none of us will forget our first weekend in Vermont!

Peace, Love, Fiddle, and Ice Cream

~natalie