This was the 10th New Year’s Eve I’ve spent with my husband.

We rang in…
2003: Billy Bob’s Texas, Ft. Worth, TX
2004: Cowboys Red River, Dallas, TX
2005: Sixth Street, Austin, TX
2006: Jubitz, Portland, OR
2007: Flag Hall, Cyclone, TX
2008: Lexington, KY
2009: Fiddle & Steel, Nashville, TN
2010: Flag Hall, Cyclone, TX
2011: Fiddle & Steel, Nashville, TN
2012: Fiddle & Steel, Nashville, TN

This was the first year that we BOTH worked the night, which meant we were together, but not. My husband taking the cover charge at the door; me, slinging drinks behind the bar.

It was a crazy  night, a bigger New Year’s Eve than I’d seen in… well… ever. SO many people downtown Nashville, and it got scary to look up at the bar patrons. Lined four deep, it got overwhelming at times, trying to keep up with the demand. We ran out of most of our beer, and we actually called it a night a little bit early.

Didn’t help much, as we still didn’t leave the bar until 5:30 am… but I have to say, I can’t think of a more satisfying way to open 2012. Working hard as the clock struck midnight. Lets hope this year is full of hard, satisfying work, where we end it looking back feeling like we’ve been successful in all our endeavors.

Happy New Year, everyone!

*Photo taken with my camera by Rose Jonas*

Most of my Nashville Family in one photo. Celebrating 15 years of our “home away from home.” A family that began in 1996 and has grown over time. SO thankful to call all of these people friends.

I’ve been a bit “off” for years now. I’d say since around the time I moved to Nashville, because I opted to be on my husband’s musician schedule. One that consisted of night shows on the road, or late night shifts downtown. We would joke that, “There’s another 10 o’clock?” Because 10 AM to us was like 4 AM to “day jobbers.”

Ever since I started bartending, its gotten wayyyy worse. Why? Because of that unseen-never-thought-about fact that people who work at the bar don’t go home as soon as the doors close. And depending on the night, I could be headed home as late as 5 AM. (In the summer, I’ve driven home watching the sun rise a time or two.) Keep in mind, 5 AM is like 5 PM to the rest of the world. I get home and sometimes I’m hungry. So I have something to eat. I ALWAYS take a shower before I go to bed after working. I have to get the cigarette smoke out of my hair, and the sticky drink mess off my arms. Then I usually want to decompress with a little news on the TV and a quick look at Facebook.

Once all this happens, I will be crawling into bed around 8 AM. And then, yes, I sleep until at least 3 PM. And, as I said, I don’t get a full 8 hours even in doing so… Really, when it comes right down to it, I’m keeping a schedule just like everyone else… only its tilted backwards by about 9 hours. Get up, go to work, put in 8 or 9 hours, come home, do the at-home thing, then sleep. Get up the next day and do it again.

Nights I don’t work, its possible that my husband plays somewhere. Generally you can knock that arrival-home time back by about an hour (maybe 30 minutes) on those nights. And, honestly, even on nights neither of us work, we end up staying on the same schedule as we would if we were working. Its not that easy to flip flop around. At least its not for me!

Anywhere else, this would be so extremely weird… but not here in Nashville. No, any given night of the week, I could call almost half my phonebook and find the person on the other end awake at 2 or 3 AM. It is almost its own little sub-culture to the city. The night owls. We’re the ones up, watching the neighborhood through the night. We’re the ones there if you just need to get out awhile. We’re the ones keeping the tourists entertained. We’re the ones doing it because we love it. Because it works for us.

We’re not weird. We’re not different. We’re just living our lives one night at a time.

This week, I received a Facebook message inviting me out to network and sample the new 3 Musketeers bar. Not only was I going, “Free chocolate? Uhm, YEAH!” but it happened to land on my birthday, a day I was lamenting I had no plans for at that time.  Double YEAH!

So yesterday, I got dressed up and headed down to the Loews Vanderbilt Hotel. You know, I’d driven by that hotel 489,567 times and never noticed it. Had no idea it was so fancy!! SUPER nice!

I pulled in and decided to just valet the truck. The price between self-park and valet was not enough to make me want to bother with trying to find a spot. I got my valet receipt, and I went inside. I had no idea where to go, so I just started to walk.

I noticed a woman and a teenager asking an employee something, and I squinted. Sure enough, it was a woman I’d followed on Twitter for about two years, and had friended on Facebook almost that long. I called her by name and I think I startled her. I’ve had it happen to me! People I know just from online approach me and there’s that brief moment of, “Who are you and how do you know me and why are you talking to me oh my word are you a stalker please don’t kill me.” I introduced myself and sure enough, they were heading to the meet-up as well. WHEW! Already a familiar face!

 She had asked where the meeting room was, so I walked with her and her daughter to the room. As we got name tags and checked our coats,  pulled out my camera and dug for my phone. And dug for my phone. And verbally went, to no one in particular, “Oh I did NOT just do that!”

I’d left my phone in the truck. The truck I’d just valeted. So with a sigh, I walked back to the valet booth. The man who had parked my truck was standing there and I explained what happened. He just grinned and went, “I’ll go get it for you.” I heard a laugh behind me, and a man went, “I did the same thing.”

So while we waited for the valet to come back, the man and I made small talk. He was from New Orleans, but come to find out he has family in Bryan, TX and Marlin, TX. I laughed and went, “I attended Texas A&M and my first job was the newspaper in Marlin.” He laughed and we both couldn’t believe the small world nature of our discussion.

The valet returned and handed me the phone, and I handed him a tip. I dashed back inside to the meet up.

 I snapped a few photos, and then hit the open bar. Yes, folks, an open bar. The night just got even better. Chocolate AND liquor… free… somebody hold me. I think I hear angels singing.

Most of the people were drinking wine, and while I love wine, it tends to make me super sleepy. So I decided I did NOT need wine. I noticed a bottle of Jack Daniels on the bar, so I requested a Jack and Coke. Its safe. The bartender asked if I had ever tried Jack and Ginger. I told him I hadn’t, but I knew a lot of people who liked it. I told him to go for it… lets try it. Glad I did! YUMMY! (Side note, I loved their bartender. He was SO nice and an absolute hoot to me! And he poured one heck of a drink!)

Finger food was circulating. Delicious little finger foods. My favorite was the pulled pork on a soft cracker, followed by the mushroom stuff on top of a little biscuit. Truth be told, had it not been rude, I might have chased the guy with those plates and tackled him. But, first impressions and all that. I will save it for the next meet up.

I mingled and got to meet several fabulous women! I finally met in person Malia, who I “met” through Lotus‘ Weekly Winners. I was able to talk in length with Liz of Red Hot and 40 Plus and Kasandria of Southern Bella’s Ways To Save. A moment I found particularly funny was when we all exchanged business cards, and I found myself mentally naming the fonts used on the cards instead of actually reading them.

Yes, folks, I am a nerd. What’s it to ya?

They had these rich, delicious chocolate desserts in shot glasses made with the new 3 Musketeers bar in mind. SO rich, but SO good.

Which, at this time, I’d like to take a moment to say the new 3 Musketeers bars are quite good! VERY rich, though. I can see myself buying them in mini form versus the whole bar in the future. One bite of its chocolatey, soft goodness and I’m good for awhile. Which, personally, I like. Because it’ll help me keep from over indulging on the sugar and calories all at once.

There was a giveaway of a spa package, $200 towards American Airlines tickets and a box full of chocolates. I was ONE NUMBER off from the winner of the airlines tickets. I was bummed. We could really, really use that to get to Oregon for Christmas. Pooh. Oh well.

The meet up came to an end, and it made me just giddy for the next one. Whenever it may be. Wherever it may be. I’m ready! Meeting and networking is such a boost! And I am more than ever determined to make it to the Blissdom Conference this coming February.

Thank you, 3 Musketeers for hosting this wonderful meet-up!!

Disclaimer: I was not asked to blog about the meet-up or the product. I simply chose to do so on my own!!!

And it is a process!! By the time you purchase a CD (or download a song from iTunes) hours upon hours of time went into that final product. Which is precisely why music pirating is SO damaging to the music industry! (No, this blog post isn’t going to be a huge, “Music sharing is evil!” post. So don’t run away!)

I am not going to claim to know all the ins and outs of the recording process, but I have been around enough studios to know a few things. One of those things is that I could seriously sit and watch it happen for hours. (Well, given I have slept the night before… going into the studio on no sleep is pretty much a bad idea.)

A song starts with a songwriter. The person or people who conceive an idea. It might be a throw away line someone overheard in a bar. It might just be a single concept. For example, a song that I absolutely just love written by friends came to be just because they thought it might be fun to write about tattoos.  Yes, tattoos. What came to be is a beautiful song that you should go listen to. (Visit here and check out “These Tattoos”… then go ahead and listen to everything else on that page. Kay?)

Skipping ahead a WHOOOOOOLE LOT OF STEPS, like years of tedious steps (did you know a lot of the songs you hear on radio today were probably written years ago?), lets pretend a song has been chosen to go on an album. Hallelujah, that songwriter whose heart is in the words celebrates, here we go!

Here is where the studio time comes in…

I posted on Twitter the other day that the recording process reminds me a lot of the writing editing process. You take the whole story/article/post in general, then you take it apart piece by piece. Word by word. Sentence by sentence. Perfecting it. Tweaking it. Making it a masterpiece.

Now take a song. You have the basic song — the whole story. It has a groove. Then… it comes to life as piece by piece is added. Music. Vocals. Background vocals. Each piece can take hours as you perfect it.  Bobble a segment, that’s okay. You can do it again. And again. And again. And that moment it just comes out PERFECT? You can get goosebumps its just so good. Some little pieces might get scrapped for a better idea later. Often when you leave the studio after you’ve done your part, you still have no REAL grasp of what its going to sound like in the end.

Once all the pieces have been recorded, it goes to mastering. This piece is louder than that piece. Maybe we decide we don’t REALLY want background vocals in this line, so lets cut those out. The guitar laid down a great solo over here, but the piano’s solo just fits better, so lets put that in instead.

HOURS go into the recording and editing processes. By the time you listen to that song on your iPod, a producer, artist, engineer and musicians will have spent the equivalent of days of time on it. Not to mention the love and soul of the writer that started the whole thing. Its these hours that are forgotten that I got to photograph this week. These hours that no one sees in little studios all over the place. On any given day, the #1 hit of next year could be finding life through the talents of the people whose names you may never know.

It’s a true labor of love.

Today was good for me… SO good for me. I’ve been having a few moments of uncertainty about things in general. Chasing the almighty dollar versus doing what is my passion. And beyond that, my passion seems to be everyone’s passion these days. But today just put a lot of confidence back in myself… reminded me of my passion and ever-evolving skills with the camera.

Anyway, I thought I’d share some of my favorite shots from today.

Growing up in Texas, Fall basically meant football season. The temperatures would go from sweltering to warm with the occasional chill in the wind. Past that, Fall = Football. Period.

Oh okay, it meant a bunch of birthdays, Halloween and Thanksgiving. And school pictures. But past that? Fall colors were what you saw only by cutting out construction paper leaves. You saw them in decorations bought at arts & crafts fairs. Or you saw them in magazines and on TV. But in Texas? It just goes summer leaves to no leaves at all in the blink of an eye. No magical color change.

Then I moved to Tennessee.

I still remember I had just recently moved here, and I was driving to our apartment from the store and I was struck by the colors all around me. I called my brother to squeal on his voicemail about how pretty it was. I don’t know why that memory remains with me, but it does.

Fall tends to not love me back. I get a yearly sinus infection, and I end up staring out the window at the pretty in misery. But it never stops me from still anticipating the season with glee.

My first visit to a "pumpkin patch" in 2006

Pumpkin patches to visit. Corn mazes to traverse.

There’s Pumpkin Spiced Lattes to drink.

Its time to get out warmer clothing.

And the colors… oh the colors! It starts with a little tinge of color in a tree here and a tree there. Then you start to notice all the trees are slowly changing from green to reds, yellows and oranges. The leaves that have already fallen crunch under your feet as you walk through the grass, and they speckle the drive way with their brilliant beauty.  Sometimes when the wind blows, they fall around you like glitter.

My husband and I like to go on drives through the country to look at all the colors. Those construction paper leaves of elementary school have nothing on the real thing! I stare out the window — be it my living room window or the passenger side window of our truck — in awe. Mesmerized by the changes this season brings.

We’ve had our first freeze warning of the year… though the extreme cold is short lived for now. We’ll be back in the 70s this weekend, just in time for a group trip to a corn maze where we’ll laugh and get lost among the cornstalks. A hayride will make us feel like kids again, and a cup of apple cider will warm the soul as much as the tummy.

Yes, Fall is definitely my favorite season of the year. And I plan to enjoy everything I can about it before winter gets its grip on the area.

Anyway, I thought I’d share my moving recap from my private journal. As I said, I moved on October 3rd, but just a couple days later I was already headed back to Texas… in one of my very few actual trips on the tour bus…

01:51 am October 3rd, 2006

Well. I’m all packed up and ready to roll. All that is left is a few things that I need tomorrow and then Sully.

I was in a reflective mood all day, and I was also a little snippy. I’m excited to be going! But I’m also… I dunno. Not sad, really. But I’m definitely… reflective.

Anyway, keeping this short. Gotta go to bed. Headed Nashville-way tomorrow! Should be there tomorrow night. :)

03:28 am October 4th, 2006

Made it to Nashville fine. Will give better update tomorrow when more coherent. But we’re here and all doin’ fine.

04:38 am October 7th, 2006

I’m writing this somewhere in Alabama. At least that’s what my cell phone cames back with when I do a “Find Me” on my Weather Channel application a little while ago. We might be in Mississippi already. I have no idea.

It’s hard to keep up with where you are on this bus. C and I are in the back lounge for the night. He’s already trying to sleep since he has to get up and drive in the morning. Me… it’s only 12:14 am. I’m not the least bit sleepy. So I thought I’d write a journal entry to be posted later….

Monday we spent the entire day packing me up to move. Loading the U-Haul up. I found myself very short tempered as the day passed, and I snipped at C a lot. He was giddy-excited. Me? I was happy and excited, sure! But there was the underlying sense of sadness and reflection. So his playfulness ended up, well, he said it himself… annoying me.

That night, I apologized for being so short with him, and I asked him to please be patient with me. This was a big deal for me. He said he understood and tucked me into my bed. He left to his room, and I sat up on the edge of the bed… I looked around the room.

All the walls were bare. My laptop and cell phone plugged in but sitting on the floor. A few empty boxes we hadn’t needed in one corner. Boxes of things I’d still need in the morning stacked in another corner. Slowly… silent tears started to fall. I turned off the lamp, crawled into bed and quite literally cried myself to sleep. I was excited for my future, but I mourned the end of what had been my life for the last (almost) 26 years.

The next morning, I’ll admit that I got started later than I had planned, and yet somehow I didn’t care. I showered and then got C up to go shower as well. I called my parents to come say good bye, and when they did we all realized it would work out to have an early lunch together.

We loaded up the last few items. Put Sully in his crate. I got C to take a picture of me with my parents at the house before leaving. And we headed to Dairy Queen for a quick lunch.

We ate and then it was time to really say good bye. I held back tears as I hugged my parents and told them good bye. It was emotional! Even though I knew I’d be back in a few days, I also knew that this was it. When I came back… yeah, it would be home. But it was never going to be the same.

We climbed in the truck, gave Sully some water and we were off. I let Sully out of his crate, but he chose to stay in there for a long time. When he DID crawl out, we both realized… neither of us had grabbed his litter box. OOops.

Sure enough, he chose to use his bed as a liter box… the smell was AWFUL. We had to roll the windows down and find the first place to pull over and dump it out. Once we did, twenty minutes later he did it again! UGH! This was going to make for a long trip! But, luckily, that was it. And not long after we were able to stop at a Wal-Mart and buy a small box that fit on the back seat perfectly.

I took the wheel for a few hours – all the way into Arkansas. We stopped for supper in Texarkana before continuing on our way. C drove the whole rest of the way into Nashville. The drive was good. Not much traffic. Sully came to life and paced a lot. He sat in both our laps at times. Then would perch on the center compartment in the front seat. Then he’d get on top of his crate and watch the world go past us. Trucks fascinated him. He only got panicky one time, but it only took a few minutes to calm him down.

We made it into the apartment complex around 2:30 am. Unfortunately, even with as tired as we were, sleep would not come. So we sat watching TV until almost 5 am before retiring to bed.

It was around noon when we got up and moving. We ordered a pizza to be delivered so we could eat while we moved everything from the trailer to the apartment. It was low 90s and we kept having to take a break. Second floor apartment. It was hot. It took it out of us! Plus, we were snipping at each other non-stop. It was borderline worrisome how we kept bickering over boxes and stuff.

J showed up finish cleaning out her stuff, so we ended up helping each other. We’d take stuff down of hers, and she’d help carry stuff of mine up. ‘She also left boxes of clothes she was going to toss – one even still had its tags! So I grabbed a ton of clothes that are like new! I love that we are the same size of clothes – except for jeans of course. LOL Once we emptied the trailer, C and I returned it to U-Haul. Then we went driving around to just relax and get away from it all for awhile.

C and I spent all evening cleaning the apartment up. Putting my things in place. I took over J’s bathroom, and its MY room. It the one room that is all mine in the apartment. The other bathroom is C’s. It’s kinda nice to each of us have one room all our own. It’s our sanctuaries, if you will.

Once we decided to call it a night on unpacking me, we sat on the couch and talked for a long time. We ended up discussing out bickering – discovering why we were on such different pages. Mending fences. Agreeing that it’s going to happen from time-to-time, it was just that this was our first time to really bicker for a long period of time. Nothing serious, just individual frustrations that we needed to discuss.

We again stayed up way late before crashing. I got up today “early.” I was so excited about my bathroom that I wanted to go play with it some. Arrange my closet. Take a shower. Etc. Lovely!! It’s silly how excited I got over it.

We had a 6:00 pm bus call, so the day had to be quiet and simple.  I got to meet the new guitarist and bus driver upon bus call. Everyone was thankfully cool with my riding down tonight. I love that they’ve all figured out they don’t have to sensor themselves around me and stuff. I’m one of the guys now. Only, you know, not

Mom and Dad should get to Pasadena mid-afternoon tomorrow. We’ll all have supper together, watch the show, and then I’ll head back to Cameron. Two busy weeks and then its off to Billy Bob’s.

I’m very happy to be in Nashville now. Even though I’ve only been there two days. My sadness has given way to excitement. It’s still going to take some getting used to, this new life of mine. But I’m happy for it. I respect and miss my past. I appreciate my present. And I anticipate my future.

I’m sure we’re in Mississippi by now. I need to call it a night. I’m starting to fade a little bit.  C has to get up and drive in the morning, and I figure I’ll get up with him and sit in the jump seat while he drives. So I should get some sleep. It’ll be a long day tomorrow.

Tuesday night, I honestly was braced to be denied entry. It was George Jones’ 80th Birthday Bash, and I knew there would be big names even just hanging out. I fully expected extra tight security. I fully expected to be told, “No guests.”

But instead, I got to go! TOO COOL! Just getting to attend the Opry and be backstage continues to be a surreal event. Getting to attend the Opry on such a big night? If there’s a more dramatic word for surreal, that would be the word.

Group-sing rehearsal

I was a bit surprised how many people were in attendance backstage — both artists and random guests. My expectation of it being tighter than ever seemed to be incorrect… which was equal parts really cool and a little overwhelming. Even in a place as big as the Opry, a lot of people backstage can get crowded quickly.

We saw lots of friends from other bands. It’s always funny to me how we all live in the same city, but it takes a show sometimes to see your friends. .

It was, as I said, a mix of artists and random guests. I’m a funny one, I suppose. I just really don’t ask artists for autographs or to take a picture with them. Oh, I do all I can to sneak a candid shot of them talking to someone else, or whatever. But to actually ask for a photo? Really not my style. (Which is precisely why I have only TWO photos with artists my husband has worked for… and one was because I took my cousin through the meet & greet one night.)

I’m not opposed to take a picture with an artist. I mean, the shots I have with Steve Cropper still make me grin ear-to-ear. But on a whole and in general… eh. Whatever. That mind set is precisely why I didn’t get a photo with Carrie Underwood that night. Oh I could have asked. I mean, she was standing less than a foot away from me at times. But I just couldn’t do it. I just couldn’t interrupt her evening.

Similarly, my husband and I got a poster they were selling as a memento for the night. We both really wish we’d had George Jones autograph it. But we just couldn’t bring ourselves to do it. As cool as it would have been to have, we both wanted to give him his space. He was getting mobbed enough, no need for us to join in the crowd.

I’m content with the photos I took during the show. I’m content just knowing I was there. I’m content having gotten to feel the vibe and have that experience.

George Jones coming off stage after the show

I guess you can call this one of those “married to a musician” perks. But definitely one I never, ever, ever take for granted. SO thankful to get to see such a great show. So thankful to be in attendance for such a special night.

This show will be televised in October (or so I’ve heard) on GAC. I have no idea what parts will make the show, nor do I know what parts will hit the cutting room floor — making room for backstage interviews, etc. I’ll be curious to see how it comes out. And I’ll watch going, “I was there!” and THAT is still too, too cool.

We haven’t gone on vacation in a long time, but we want to be able to go to Oregon to see my husband’s family for Christmas this year. So our logical brains prevailed and we decided to, basically, go on a stay-cation. Every day, we got out and did something different… and it was wonderful!

One day we just took off for a drive and discovered a cool “Wall of Honor” literally in the middle of nowhere.

The next day, we visited the Farmers Market, where pumpkins are already on sale…

… then over to Yazoo Brewery’s Tap Room,where we finally got to have dinner from the Grilled Cheeserie, a popular food truck in Nashville…

…then ended up having drinks on a patio in an area of town I’d only visited once before.

 The next night, we headed out to a small Cruise-In and had dinner at a Drive-In. Hamburgers, tater tots and a milk shake for dessert! Yum!

Finally, after finding we couldn’t watch the Oregon game after all, we headed out to Arrington Vineyards. We’d heard it was a fun outing, but we weren’t prepared for the beauty of the area, the delicious taste of the wine, nor the romantic mood the whole thing created. Heavenly! We will SO be back… often.

I often remind myself and my husband that we live in a city that people come to on vacation… perhaps we should take the time more often to explore areas we never visit. I am SO glad we took the last several days/nights to get out and visit different areas of our city. Can’t wait for our chance to do it again!