The Monkey And the Restless

WHAT?!?! It's time to go back on the road??? REALLY?

That's a great thing. But I really feel like I just blinked and the holidays and this big ole chunk of "time off" was over.

We have gotten SOOOO much done. But there are still many loose ends that haven't gotten tied up just quite yet... i.e. our new trailer... we ordered it a while ago, but with the holidays... they have just now put it into production... so it won't be ready for this first trip. Not a big deal. But that also means there are other things that we can't take out on the road with us because our original trailer is too small for anything extra.

But no matter!

James and I went to Costco today and bought SOOO much stuff for the band retreat this week.

We are excited. The band is heading down to Port Stovall on the Tennessee River. We are locking ourselves in to rehearse the new material for this year.

Since Miguel joined the band 3 years ago... we have not had a full on rehearsal with sound equipment. How crazy is that??? So this is a big deal!!! I remember the days where ALLLLL we did was rehearse... and never gigged. Now we are the opposite. We gig so much, we never have time to rehearse. We learn new songs by running through them acoustically in a hotel room somewhere, run it at soundcheck and hope for the best!! This is going to be such a treat. (And great bonding time with the newbies!)

Cinnamon just found her Christmas hedge hog and is going crazy right now playing with him. He makes an awesome grunting noise, which drives her nuts. The Vet prescribed her an antihistamine today because she has been wheezing and sneezing non stop the last few days. Who knew a dog could take an antihistamine?! So cute!

I don't want to leave her. :( She's the one thing that makes me sad to leave. But that's why we're working so hard. So I can take her on the road WITH us!!!

Peace. Love. Fiddle.
~natalie

Happy Birthday Jenn!

Thank You Darsey's!!

We are back home in Tennessee. It is hard to believe that we were in my father-in-law's this morning in Seattle!!! James and I flew back to Atlanta, called our favorite Nigerian limo driver (who had JUST bought a brand new Suburban - new from the one he picked us up in last week) and headed out to Norcross to pick up our own Suburban and trailer.

We had parked it at the Darsey's who graciously let us park it in their drive-way while we were on the west coast all week. We were able to leave it there for safe-keeping - even though they had never met us before we showed up on their doorstep at 3am the night before we left!!! They are friends of my mother-in-law, and now friends of ours :) And don't the kids look AWESOME in their Peace, Love, Fiddle Tees?? They were wearing them when we showed up!


(I'm not sure who to credit for the awesome photography skills, but she was one of the neighborhood kids, and she was only about as tall as my waist. I see real photography potential in her future!)

We left not one but TWO permanent marks on the Darsey's pavement right in front of their driveway. We felt horrible, even though they reassured us it was no big deal. The angle of the driveway did NOT like the bottom of the trailer... there was just no avoiding the 3 foot scraping.

James and I were beat on our drive back to Tennessee. We weren't sure how we were gonna make it. But Austin Powers, Arrested Development, and Starbucks helped us get back home. And now we can spend time with our sweet puppy who has been very sick while we were gone. She's back to her "boiled chicken and rice and cottage cheese" diet per the Vets orders. So she's a happy monkey!!! She loves her chicken and rice. :) And I love being home to take care of her. Even if it is only for 1 day. Soon monkey. Soon you'll get to come with us.

Peace. Love. Fiddle.
~natalie