She's got a bumper like a billboard covered with stickers of her favorite band.

I first heard of the Eli Young Band while in Best Buy one day just wandering with my boyfriend. In the music department they were playing When It Rains and thought the song had a cool groove. I downloaded Jet Black and Jealous onto my ipod that night. I waited and waited for them to come around here to go see them in concert since most of the concerts they have are in TX or OK. They came to Bloomington, IL last November with Jack Ingram and Gary Allan. I didn't buy tickets because they had another date booked for Joe's Bar in Chicago in December. So the day came of the concert in Bloomington and they tweeted they were having a contest for tickets. We were doing nothing else that day so I entered. I didn't think I would win until I got a direct message on twitter from them saying I won. My boyfriend didn't feel like driving so I drove of course! The seats we won were pretty good, a nice side view of the stage. They came on a performed 5 or 6 songs because they were opening, then I wanted to see a little bit of Jack Ingram then leave because my boyfriend had class in the morning. I was looking at twitter on my phone during a break and saw that I had another DM from the Eli Young Band saying we were welcome to come to their meet and greet as well at 8. It was 7:45. WHAT?!?!?! so the next fifteen minutes we were scrambling around trying to find out how to get back there. Finally we found their tour manager at the merch booth and he was so nice to hook us up! We went down to meet them and it was kind of different than any other meet and greet I've been to. We were put in a holding room then taken inside their dressing room to meet them. I thanked them for the twitter tickets and they thanked us for coming. I couldn't believe things like that could happen to us until then. We still saw them at Joe's Bar in Chicago the following month which was awesome because it was a full show!I didn't think I would see them again for a while until the Country Throwdown tour was announced and they were on the lineup. The date for the Chicago show was the same day as my brothers graduation so we planned to drive to Indy the next day to see them. The drive was well worth it. See what happened that day was probably one of the best things that has happened so far this summer. So the Eli Young Band had this contest where they were hiding USB wristbands around the arena where the concert. 3 red ones and 1 blue one, the blue one gets you backstage. So we get to the venue and start searching. My boyfriend wouldn't give up and we were searching until we went to the EYB signing at like 3:15. I get up there and shake all their hands and say hi until I get to the drummer. I told him we were having trouble finding the bracelets, he looked over towards the lead singer and said there were more still out there. I glanced around looking for one and the lead singer was wearing the blue one on his wrist! My boyfriend Dave immediately pointed it out and we got it!!! We met their manager again and he led us backstage. He said to talk to the guys after the show and not before the show since they will be getting ready. Wrong. As soon as they walk backstage they wouldn't stop talking to us, especially the drummer. He even took a picture of Dave and I with a cameo by the bass player. It's pretty hilarious!
I kick myself for not getting a group picture now! The show was awesome, totally different being backstage. It didn't sound as great as it would out in the actual seats but I enjoyed watching the crowd react to them.After the show they left and said they would be back. One of the security ladies let us walk back by the dressing rooms to look at the pictures of other artists that played there. I couldn't resist taking pictures of myself by the dressing room signs.
See that was worth the drive wasn't it?!?! Can't wait to see these guys again in Madison, WI in a couple weeks. Maybe something exciting will happen again? You never know with these guys!

Dancing in Circles: The reason why I love Bluegrass

A lot of you may know I love country music. I grew up listening to Alan Jackson, Patty Loveless, George Strait etc., but you may not know I've been listening to bluegrass since I was pretty much a baby. My grandpa grew up in Kentucky and brought his love of bluegrass with him to Illinois. In one of my Dad's home videos my Grandpa was dancing around with me in the living room of his house to some bluegrass music. I can't quite remember what the song was or who it was by but he looked like he was having so much fun with me and I had a huge smile on my face. I guess I pretty much have my Grandpa to thank for falling in love with the sound of the fiddle, mandolin, and steel guitar. When we were a little older, my parents would take us down to a dance hall in a neighboring town at a campground that had live bluegrass and country music. My grandpa was always there too and would take turns dancing with me and my brother. My parents have a great picture of my brother and I dancing somewhere that I wish I had a copy of. They also have another home video of my brother and I dancing to the bluegrass music at Opryland when it was still open in Nashville not Opry Mills. Sweet Memories :)
Now to the real reason why I am writing this blog. Dierks Bentley. He is one of my favorite country artists that recently released a Bluegrass album this year. I've always liked the bluegrass tracks he put on the 4 cds he put out before this one. My Aunt Barb once said after a Dierks Bentley concert in Iowa that my Grandpa would've liked him because of the bluegrass songs he sang in the bluegrass set that night. I think he would've played this CD over and over again like we did when it came out in June. If you want to know what real bluegrass sounds like with a mix of country I would go get a copy of Up On the Ridge if you haven't already!

There's a boy here in town, said he'd love me forever

I was downstairs putting away some more stuff since we had moved when I came across my diary that I started 3 years ago before I met my boyfriend Dave. I was reading about how I met my exe's and how I wrote how much I loved them.......Kept turning the pages thinking how much I have grown since then. I don't like to dwell in the past anymore. I'm too worried about the future. As I was reading I kept thinking how insecure I was then compared to now. Like now I feel comfortable and safe even if something happens I know things will turn out alright in the end. That was just a chapter in my life that seemed out of control, but that chapter lead into the book I'm in now. It's been hard I admit sometimes over the 2 and a half years I've been with Dave but we always work it out. He may like to play video games a little more than I like but I deal with it because it's what he likes to do. Just like he puts up with me and my concert addiction although he does enjoy the concerts. I finally feel like I'm coming back into my own for the first time in a while. I've been trying to practice my guitar as much as possible which is turning into almost everyday. I want to be ready and I will be ready for when we move next year. I sure hope Dave finds a job in Nashville so I can do what I love too.
Sing. Write. Dream.

Nashville. Fan Fair, 2010 Dos

Well since I feel like I've been procrastinating enough I think it's time for part 2 of my blog! finally!

Day 3
Yikes.
So the beginning of the trip wasn't too bad, the only day I was worried about was Wednesday.....We managed to do everything and possibly more than I planned. So here is goes.....We and head downtown to the Country Music Hall of Fame for the Jake Owen signing. After about an hour of waiting in line we finally start moving and it's time to meet Jake!After we're all done there we head downtown to watch the CMA music fest kickoff parade! I thought it would be a little longer but it was really neat seeing a parade of country stars going down lower broadway!
After the parade was over we headed to the Chevy Stage right outside the Bridgestone Arena to see David Nail!He was even wearing a Miranda Lambert shirt!!!! :)
After seeing David Nail was kind of a blur, I think we went over to the Hard Rock to lunch and maybe a little shopping downtown. While we were having lunch I remember a pretty bad storm rolled through and was happy we weren't outside in it!One of the things I was looking forward to the most was the CMT music awards. I was excited because it was my first awards show I have ever been to!Our seats weren't that great but it was still really neat to have a great view of the stage and see where all the stars were sitting! My favorite performance of the night was when Keith Urban and John Mayer sang together. I still can't believe I witnessed two guitar gods playing together. Wow.We left as Lady Antebellum closed the show so we could make it to our next destination......wait not bed time yet?!?!

It's time for Dierks Bentley's Up on the Ridge/Last call ball 6!......well I don't think those should ever be combined again! I love Dierks and all but it was such a long day made longer......got back to the hotel at like 3 a.m.....Ok enough whining lol
Loved hearing mostly all of the new songs off his new bluegrass/country cd and some grassed up tunes of his own like Free and Easy :)

When the show was over it seemed like we waited FOREVER in line.....wait it was because we did! It was great finally meeting Ronna the DB congress site runner, seeing David from KY and a whole bunch of familiar faces :) Including Kristin from Indiana! Finally got to meet the man at about 2:30 in the morning. Hardly remember what I said to him but he remembered me by my shirt of course that said I'm with the Band on it. He asked me when I saw him last and I said in Purdue, IN but he was like nooooo when was the last time I met you? Oh yeah Harris, MI! Then I told him I threw him off by wearing a U2 shirt that night lol. He thanked us for staying so late and then we went back to the hotel.

I thought I would look way worse than I do in this picture.....being that I was so sweaty all day and tired. Wow what a long day!! I'm getting tired again just thinking about it! And that leads to me having to make a Part Tres for this blog. Until next time!

Nashville. Fan Fair. 2010.

It was over a month ago but I thought I would share our trip to Nashville finally on here! Probably one of the hottest, tiring weeks ever but it was one of the best weeks ever! My mom, my boyfriend Dave and I started heading down Sunday night, which continued Monday morning after stopping outside of Louisville, KY to sleep.
First thing we do when we get to Nashville is go downtown to see what it looked like. After the flooding in early may I was kind of curious what it did to my poor Nashville. Everything seemed to look alright! The same Nashville as I always remembered! It did seem kind of funny going there and not going to the Grand Ole Opry house, Grand Ole Opry Hotel or Opry Mills. We made the most of it however, just spending a lot of time doing other things downtown.
Mom and I found Elvis lol
After checking into the hotel we heading down to Greer Stadium for the City Of Hope Softball Challenge. It was kind of in a shady area but we were alright when we got to the arena. Except the fact we almost got plowed into by a semi.......anyway.......the game was soooo fun! Would love to go again! After the game we went back to the hotel and rested a little before hitting up a Nashville Walmart to buy Dierks Bentley's Up on the Ridge cd at midnight. That CD remained in the CD player almost the whole time we were in Nashville lol!

Day 2
We got up early hoping we could go to the Loveless Cafe for breakfast. We got there and there was a line outside, so we stood in it. About 15 min later someone asks us if we want to buy a ticket, we soon find out Terri Clark's fan club party was being held there! So no Loveless Cafe ended up with Sonic for breakfast. We went to the Nashville Zoo afterwards and had a good time visiting my favorites, the meerkats!When we got to the elephant exhibit there was one of the zookeepers giving a lecture with his elephant. It was very neat! The elephant even kicked a football! When we were all done with the zoo we had tickets for the Tuesday night opry. It was being held somewhere else because they were still renovating the Opry House from the flood, don't quite remember the name of it right now.....but they combined two shows into one. It was a good show with The Band Perry, Trisha Yearwood, Josh Turner, Carrie Underwood and of course Little Jimmy Dickens! The Band Perry Josh Turner Trisha Yearwood
Carrie Underwood
Stay tuned for more!

I'm a little more country than that :)

So I've decided after contemplating for a long time.....that I'm going to do a review, for every single concert I go to! Starting.....now!

Gary Allan and Easton Corbin at Joe's Bar in Chicago

So earlier this week we got tickets through Us99 in Chicago for free for this concert. We got to Joe's around 4 and stood in line for what always seems like forever for the doors to open. They finally let us inside and had to wait some more for them to let us into the concert area because they had to check off names of people that won tickets. I think this was a mostly free concert because the majority of the people there were in line with us getting their names checked off. So we get into the concert area and end up about 4th row ish. We waited there for another hour and a half for the show to start....First up was Easton Corbin, he was pretty good! He reminds me of a cross of George Strait and Luke Bryan, would totally see him again! After his set was Gary Allan! Dave and I said if he got too boring like he did previous times we've seen him, then we would leave. Well for some reason last night he was so rockin' and not boring at all!! I think he came more alive because he was playing in a smaller place rather than a festival or arena. We even got one of his picks too, it bounced off of Dave's shoulder and into his hand :) Had a great night!

Who likes when you come home to a party you know you're not invited to?

So a lot of things have gone on since I made the move out of my parents house to Dekalb, IL. I live with my boyfriend Dave and we couldn't be happier.....except the room mates have been driving us insane since I moved in. They are probably great people but they never took the chance to get to know me. Which probably resulted to them not hanging out with my boyfriend and I anymore. We got into an argument when I moved in that it wasn't announced that I was moving in but it really was. My boyfriend told them that if he met someone, that she might move down with him and asked if it was ok already. So he meets me and I follow him down here, they get mad. So we haven't really been talking to them much, and the longer we live with them it seems to get worse. Thank goodness we aren't renewing the lease this year. We did last year because we didn't want to move and save money. Well I guess saving money doesn't really make you happy sometimes. The apartment seems to be divided, like we own only our bedroom and bathroom. Other than that they have taken over the rest of the apartment. I barely use the kitchen besides a small spot in the refrigerator for my lunch stuff and sometimes the freezer. Lately the freezer has been so packed with junk that I can't put my lunch stuff in there anymore. We have a minfridge in our room, but is it too much to ask for a small spot just to put my frozen product in the freezer? I feel wierd using the living room. We barely go home now because we would just be confined to our bedroom if they are in the living room. Another issue is laundry....I have noticed that they like to do all thier laundry on sundays, if thier not home then it's mondays. So I try to schedule my laundry time around that, like doing small loads during the week. Sometimes I forget something in the dryer and if it's still in there sunday or monday, it ends up on the couch. Which is fine with me sometimes....one time we came home to find wet and dry laundry on the couch because they decided to take it out so they could do laundry.....that certainly hit a note with us.....We came home a couple time recently too where they had a bunch of friends over, like last night. They don't even tell us they are having people over and they don't even invite us. Dave says they are disrespecting us and I totally agree....why would people do that? They even vaccuum at 11:30 at night!!! So we've been trying to think of a way to get revenge on them before we move out. I'm not totally great at doing something like that but maybe do something so they get the point. Like have a party, start playing my guitar in the morning and wake them up.....need some ideas? When we aren't home, we are always at our friends house in Dekalb. They are great people and I don't think we will end up like our current room mates. We hopefilly will move in sometime this summer and trust me the sooner the better. I already feel like I live here at our friends how much time we've spent here!

Is there rehab for concert junkies?

As I said in my previous post, I enjoy going to concerts. It's a little more than just going to concerts for me, I love music. Country music in general. The past couple of years I've found myself going to way more country concerts than I have ever before. I try to go to one every chance I get if there is one out there. It's something I enjoy doing, hearing music live from the artists that I hear on my Ipod or radio. I like going to concerts with other people and meeting new people that share the same love of music. I call it my form of study also, to hear the songs some of these artists wrote and analyze them live. A lot of the artists I follow are up and coming and they almost always like to preview new songs live. Like for instance, every Jake Owen concert I go to he plays a new song. The last one I went to of his he played a lot of new songs because he is recording his new album right now. I have a lot of concerts coming up, one this next weekend and two possibly three in April. But May is a different story, almost every weekend is full....just need to find one for memorial day weekend :) June we are planning on going to Nashville for fanfair week and have at least two other concerts planned that month. I can't wait to go to all these concerts!!!!

Hello World, How've you been?

It's been a while since I've actually written a real blog, so here it goes.....I just recently deleted my previous blog that I had at another website for about 5 years. Thought I would start fresh and try not to look back on the past blogs I wrote on that one. There were a lot of deep, dark times that I would rather not remember right now. The reasoning for me finally blogging again is to try to get to know myself again. I know it sounds kind of crazy but I feel like I've kind of lost it, but I am happy with the way things are right now in my life. I have a great boyfriend who means the world to me, great parents, great friends, a good paying job and lots of activities to keep me happy like mostly concerts.
I would like to become more in sync with myself so I can start the whole songwriting process again. It's been over a year since I've written anything and if I don't do anything about it, I may lose it forever. It's just been that lately the inspiration isn't there and I really want it to be. I think it has something to do with my inspiration mostly coming from breakups and hard times in my life. So I have a problem kind of, no hard times in my life right now and there's no way me and my boyfriend are breaking up anytime soon! So what do I write about then? I have no idea. I could write love songs but they seem to be too corny and mushy when I write them. I could write songs about life but they always turn into songs of inspiration. Songs of inspiration are ok but it reminds me of going to church, which I admit I haven't been in years......I can't write songs about going out and getting drunk because I haven't really been full blown drunk. I've been tipsy and felt sick after drinking but never drank so much to the point where I have blacked out, woke up the next morning not remembering a thing kind of drunk. I never want to experience that either because I don't think it would turn out very good. So I really haven't a clue on what to write about right now......I hope I have a breakthrough sooner or later. Writing in any sense like this could help greatly, just have to keep going on it.