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.
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.
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!
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.
Just when I had started to be a real life blogger, I threw it all away and skipped this weekend.
We spent this past weekend in the Hamptons with some of our close friends (and their cute baby, Max). As you might remember, Ron and I always spend a weekend in the fall out here (read: Anniversary Trip), so it was nice to enjoy some springtime beach weather. Up here "springtime weather" almost always means still very cold -- definitely no swimsuits.
It's been basically all studio days and nights here lately. I usually pop by once a day to see what they're working on... and the rest of the time I relish in the silence that is my house when Ron isn't here. I MEAN I SIT AROUND MISSING RON'S VOICE. I kid, of course. I do miss that stinker when he isn't around asking questions and thinking of things to write on his white board.
I've been thinking about Beijing a lot lately. No real reason, just reminiscing I guess. We incorporated a trip to China as part of our honeymoon, which is something most people are surprised to hear. It's not exactly a top destination for newlyweds. However, we wanted to use our honeymoon as an opportunity to explore parts of the world we never would otherwise. China isn't on the horizon for touring and we were craving a bit of a cultural shock.
About 6 years ago, my main man RP and I started a really sweet tradition of going on a day-trip to the Hamptons each year in the fall. I wrote about it once before in a really lovely post (If I do say so myself) on my old blog that I actually used to keep up. Slowly that day trip became a stay over trip, and then this year we finally jumped into a weekend trip. However, it was with good reason that we indulged in a little Hamptons R&R - we were celebrating our very first wedding anniversary. Cheers to us, we made it through a year of wedded bliss.
Heyoooo! Here we are almost on tour again. As you may know, Ron and the guys have hunkered down at a lake house in our home state of Georgia and are working on the new album (yayyy x a million!). It's seriously so ridiculous, I can't even tell you. I mean, I could tell you, but then I'd have to kill ya! While I DO have pics of the happenings inside the house, I'm not allowed to share them yet. I still thought it would be fun to take you around the area and show you what we're dealing with out here. The wild flower situation is out of control and I borderline can't handle it.
I'm on the last leg of my flight back to New York, so I thought I'd get the Australia post party started. I think I may have beat jet lag... but that could just be the delirium talking. Or the pink elephants next to me. 24 hours of flying time -- hooray! My main goal at the moment (other than writing this post) is to get to New York and not forget to collect my bags. My second goal is to not forget to order pizza the second I get in the cab so it arrives at my apt 7-13 minutes after I get home.That's where I'm at right now (I feel I should preface anything I write right now with some sort of disclaimer).
Knoxville is one of the best places on Earth. Yes, I'm completely biased as I lived there for 4 years while going to college, but it's seriously one of the cutest little American cities. I've taken Ron back there once before, but that was during an SEC football game so the experience was a bit different (think a massive sea of people wearing head to toe orange, drinking whiskey at noon, and doling out high fives). This time we went back for Ron to play a show. It was also the day before Easter, so this Bible-belt city was much more relaxed.
Lately I've really had a crush on ramen. And by lately I mean since November. No, I'm not talking about the kind you buy for .50 a pack and toss in the microwave and live off of during college (ahem, university for you abroad people). I'm talking real-deal, almost positively tastes slightly like fish even if there is no fish, comes with a boiled egg, RAMEN. Now that I've lead with that... this title is slightly misleading. I'm going to talk about ALL food in the wonderland known as Tokyo. Let's break it down by meal.
've gotten used to birthdays in random spots. Last year was in Paris... this year we were in... Bristol, England I think? Wherever we were, I gave Mr. Pope explicit instructions to NOT tell anyone it was my birthday and that I didn't want anyone to feel like we had to do anything for it. And before you think I'm one of those ladies that says that and then expects the opposite - you couldn't be more wrong.
So, everyone always asks about the bus. I mean EVERYONE. Like it's some grand thing. The reason I have never written about our giant mode of transportation is there's just not really anything to say about it. We sleep in coffin sized bunks (no telling HOW Kyle gets by in them), we sometimes eat on it, we make it a mess the instant we set foot on it, and I change in a teeny tiny room in the back and pray to God that no one comes barging in. However, this is not to say that I don't love the bus. I actually really enjoy being able to go to sleep and wake up and be in the next city. Pretty neat. And much more leg room than our stinky old van.
on our last day in Stockholm we decided to check out their open air museum, Skansen. This was the first of its kind in Sweden and after I read about it, I had to go! I relish every second we have off the bus and it's even better when there is something to see/do outside! While I visit museums in every city where I have time to, admittedly, they all start to look the same. This place is SO DIFFERENT
Well, it's been a little over a month since we got home from tour and it's time to catch y'all up! If you've paid attention so far at all, you know that we LOVE Sweden, so that's where we shall start. To kick off the tour, we spent a couple of extra days in Stockholm to adjust and hopefully outsmart the dreaded jet lag. It might have worked... but we didn't account for the fact that the sun stays up until 11:30pm. That was a bit of an ass kicker, but pretty cool to see. Plus, can I mention again - WE LOVE IT THERE! I love the people, the city, the culture - alllll of it. So much so that we even took a few Swedish lessons before tour (Hej hej! vi ses! tack så mycket!). If it didn't get so damn freezing in the winter, I might consider living there for a while, but this southern lady needs a few months of mind melting heat.
