Hey friends! As you can tell, we are horrible at fulfilling our promises of podcasting and blogging while touring. We're the worst! Luckily, the shows have just been TOO GOOD so that made us too busy to attempt to continue these side projects. I can't even believe anyone really listened to that podcast outside of our parents, so it has been neat to hear that you guys miss it! Whenever someone tells me that at a show, I'm shocked and suspicious. 

Hello my loves! So, it's here. I'm boarding a plane and we're headed over to Europe for the Hell or High Water world tour! I honestly can't believe it's here. Over a year spent working on this record and it's finally out and available for your ears. 

First things first! I've partnered with a new app called GPSmyCity to do a little giveaway! I've tested tons of apps like this and so far this is one of the coolest I've come across. The little map will pull up all sorts of things that are around you and will give a little synopsis of each place. Plus it offers various routes depending on what you want to do (shop 'till you're broke, eat your face off, see old things, etc). Plus it works completely offline so you don't have to use international data - woooo! They are giving 20 readers a free full version of the Paris app (iOS only). Why Paris?? Because I love it and you need to put it on your travel bucket list if it isn't already there. Here's what you have to do:

Happy New Year, Dears!

We're back in Brooklyn, celebrated the new year, and now my brain is pretty much ready to roll into 2016. I have a few resolutions that I plan to keep to myself this year. Not for fear that I won't accomplish them - they are just personal things I know I need to work on. 

Who can even believe that there are FOUR days left of 2015? This is pure insanity. I, for one, am ready to say sayonara to this year. No thanks, 2015. Please pack your things and go. 

Morning! We've been busy busy wrapping up work before we go on tour, so it's been a little insane around here. However! We found some time to record our little beloved podcast... which I must say, we've done a great job at keeping up with. YAY US. We talk about how we got into the Christmas spirit and Ron tells a story about naked pie eating. Y

It's that time of year again! Holidays mixed with the frantic realization that I only have a few short, sweet weeks left at home before I reside in a bus for a few months. I get lots and lots of questions about how I pack small for these shenanigans. I'm not going to lie - it's hard. However, I've created somewhat of a formula to this whole mess so it's gotten a tad easier. 

Morning! Hope you had lots of turkey or tofurkey and whatever sides you love the most! To me, the sides are probably the best part, but I am pretty damn proud of the bird that I cook. If you want to look over that, go visit this little post from last year where I talk turkey (fo real).

We don't really participate in black Friday at this house, but we DO participate in finding the perfect Christmas tree, so that's how we spent our post-thanksgiving Friday. However, today is Shop Local/Shop Small Saturday and I'm more than happy to comply with that made up holiday. Shopping local has become very trendy and I am thrilled for it. New York made me into a minimalist, so basically every purchase I make now is something I truly want and care about. Really doesn't get any better than locally made goods. Luckily Nashville has some amazing artisans and I just fell right in love with them! Here are my favorites if you're on the hunt for some gifts for yourself or your most-loved!

Hello my loves!

Another busy week done and done! We're back in New York for the next week... we've got meetings, a music video shoot, tour rehearsals and two weddings! I have a few moments of quiet in the hotel before I have to start running around so I thought I'd take this opportunity to share a little bit of the past week. 

Happy Friday, my loves! It's currently 5:30am and I have been in insomnia town for about 3 hours. Blah. If you listened to Popecast numero 4 then you probably remember that our roof sprung a leak during Nashville's latest torrential downpour. Because of that we've been sleeping in the guest bedroom ('cause we have one of those now, whaaaaaat) so maybe my brain is just out of sorts. I don't know. I'm not a brain scientist. Anyway, I decided to give up the fight against awakeness and go ahead and make some tea and write about my feelings. 

So if you read my last post, you know that it's been a bit crazy around here. I mean, really, when is it not, but we have gone overboard even for ourselves! Ahhh, we are idiots. If you are interested in what's going on work-wise, you should listen to Popecast #3 up on Soundcloud! The podcast has been such a fun little side-project for us. It's neat getting to interact with Ron's fans on a more regular basis. 

WHAT THE HELLLLLLL. So much has happened and my brain is totally fried. But it's ok! I'm so excited about all of the things that are going on. Let's recap!

One of the things I always do when we get to a new place is seek out a park. Blame my dad for my obsession. He works in Parks and Rec (think Ron Swanson, but he actually does his job), so I feel it is my duty to document them all over the world for him. Maybe one day I'll make a book - who knows. I love seeing how different they all are across the world and how each culture uses them. In New York there are as many people napping as there are exercising. In Spain it's half circus half party. Parks in England are full of dogs and perfectly manicured gardens. I was ridiculously excited to see what Japan had in store for us. We found that parks here are incredibly tranquil you feel a sense of peace almost the instant you step foot inside. Most are dedicated to a shrine, but there is this beautiful energy all over. I loved it. 

Since my brain has been all "tour tour tour" lately, I thought I'd take you guys backstage to see how we live on the road. I'll keep this up through the upcoming tour. I actually really dig checking out the green rooms at different venues. Sometimes they are TERRIBLE (nasty bathroom, smell like puke, no food, etc)... sometimes they are filled with magic. Magic meaning, good stuff to make sandwiches out of, a well stocked refrigerator, and a couch that doesn't look like it's 2000 years old.

Since we left Brooklyn on June 30, pretty much everyone and their brother has asked us if we miss New York yet. While my immediate answer is no, I feel like I need to go a little more in depth... and add why I'm just about to the breaking point.

Ok, so this is not a place where I normally do this, but I'm going to respond to something that's been making the media rounds lately & has made me feel slightly uncomfortable. I hadn't been able to put my finger on exactly what the feeling was until just moments ago... but that's it. I'm uncomfortable with the whole thing. 

I'm feeling ridiculously inspired & focused lately. Rp and I are working on a couple of projects together and I'm over the moon about them. Maybe it's the fact that we've been in Nashville for more than one week; maybe it's the fact that my little Kadydog is living with us and is therefore keeping my stress level to a minimum, I DON'T KNOW, but I will say that I'm thrilled. Thrilled and terrified all at the same time. We're putting a ton of time, money, and energy into this and it ALL COULD FAIL. I'm really trying to keep those negative thoughts to a minimum, but honestly the knowledge that all of this could just be a disaster helps to keep me on track to try to avoid something like that.

Following our casino nights trip, we met my family in the gulf for a little family vacation. We haven't been able to get everyone on the same beach vacation in 10 years, so this was pretty special. I grew up going on massive family vacations that included grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins, and the occasional friend. They were a blast and we desperately wanted to get back to those. So we loaded up our respective families and drove to Santa Rosa Beach, FL for a week of R&R. We wrangled babies, we played games, we drank more than our share of Miller Lite, and we got more sun than I thought my pale butt could handle (reapply sunscreen, people! It really works).

It’s rare that we have a summer like this one - free of any and all touring, press, and recording. While it doesn’t mean we’re free from work (still have to promote singles, get the tour together, and all of that jazz), we’re trying to relish every second of our low-key summer. Who knows when we’ll get another one like it, yaknowwutimean? So we decided that in order to make the best use of our non-existent vacation fund we'd go visit family in Florida for week one of FLORIDAPALOOZA 2015.