#Tourlife

My Danny left me this morning for a tour to California.  We always go on a date the night before tour.  We do not use our phones on dates - unless it's an emergency or a last-minute tour problem from one of the band members.  This last date is our special time to make sure we can get through the next 7-14 days without wanting to die.  After touring for a year we've noticed a few things.  On a tour that's longer than a week, day 8 and 9 are the worst.  So, we're planning on doing some extra-special things on those days.  I plan on sending him love letters and [wifi-permitting] doing a Skype video-chat.  He will hopefully send me flowers.  (Not gonna happen but a girl can dream).  Tour life is hard but ... it pays the bills.  They are working their way to larger shows and hopefully staying home more often so it's a sacrifice I'm making in hopes for a better future.  So far, it's been good for us both.  We are growing closer and learning so much about our relationship. 

The Band

I am NOT a live-music-photographer.  In fact, I kinda suck at it.  But it's fun - especially when it's my husband playing in front of thousands of people!  Here are some shots I got on Saturday at Creation Fest.

I am so happy that we decided to do this - to rent out our house and change our lifestyle so that Dan could tour with Dewey and Chris - because Dan is happier than he's ever been.  I knew when I met him 11 years ago that the music industry was his passion and it was something that never went away.

I know not every show they play will be awesome.  Unless you're Coldplay or Britney Spears you're gonna have lame shows every now and then.  It's part of the business.  If you gain a fan then it's worth it.  It's been an awesome journey and I'm excited to see what happens next.

Step into My Office

Welcome to my office!  I am fortunate to work from home and I wanted to share my space with you.  It's nothing special....  AT ALL.  I just felt like sharing.  You should be aware of several things:  Unless I have a meeting or a rare morning-workout (and subsequent shower), I do not put on makeup until after 5pm.  I wear yoga pants and large T-shirts or sometimes a skirt and tanktop or a simple dress.... but mostly the yoga pants.  I have a view of UW-Tacoma.  It is sometimes interesting and distracting.

Oh, and I just got a Macbook about 4 days ago so I made this video.

Stuff I like!

My desk, obviously.

This is a photo of Dan from high school.  It got 92% on Hot or Not.

Goodbye, Little Buddy

I cant even believe this.  My precious, fluffy bunny passed away this morning.  He was seeming a little weird on Friday night.  His eyes were goopy and he was shedding.  I just thought he was shedding because of summer.  He was still eating so I didnt think there was a problem.  Then on Saturday he was a little slower, but still moving around.  This morning he was barely moving and his heart rate had slowed.  I made a vet appointment but a half hour later he was gone.

The worst part was seeing him in pain and not knowing A) How bad it was, B) How to make it stop.  It's also not fair that I have no idea what happened.  Did I give him some bad celery?  Did he get too much exercise?  Not enough?  Did he get too hot?  Was he depressed?  I will never know the answer.

You can read in a post from February of this year and a post from the week that I brought him home how much I loved this little guy.  He will be dearly missed.

Midwest (3 of 3)

Fourth of July in the Midwest is TOO FUN!  Apparently, every town has a parade - which I didnt get to see - and a fireworks display!  So awesome!  We were at Dan's oldest sisters' house.  Her birthday is the 4th of July so she always has a party.  She has four girls, all "K" names and she blogs!  Her youngest has all sorts of medical problems that I don't want to pretend to understand.  I believe the main problem is an autoimmune disease called mitochondria as well as metabolic issues. So, if you want to read some of the funniest and saddest stories you'll ever read in your entire life, read Terra Talking!  Dan's younger sister and brother were there, too.  They're both married.  His sister has three kids, two are twins!  And of course we were there and Dan's parents, making the kid to adult ratio about 1:1.  It was chaos - but the good kind.  We BBQ'd and swam in the neighbors pool and built bombs.  It was so much fun.  This was our third midwest "4th" and we plan to continue the tradition!

Hope you had a happy Independence Day, too!

Keywords

I took a look at my blog stats -which I never do - and found some interesting data.  These are the key words that are getting people to my site as of recently:

• Christmas Decor
• Rage Blackouts
• Go Skate Tacoma
• Types of Photo Albums
• blogspot.com Wedding Photography
• is it in style to paint one nail a different color
• Photo Editing Play List
• LMR photoshoot?
• LMR portraits

Rage blackouts is obviously my favorite!

Midwest (2 of 3)

The Lake

Floating on her lilypad and trying to drink the lake!

Photo of the Day. 07/03/11.

Brittny woke me up Sunday morning with a phone.  "It's Dan," she says.  I knew it wouldn't be good news.  He hadn't moved since the last time I talked him.  I found out later that he and Sam walked 7 miles at 2am and got picked up by a police officer.  Did they really think they could find tools and a fuel pump at 2am in the middle of NOWHERE?

They needed Uncle George to come get them.  They found a place to junk the van and Brittny went with George to help him figure out where to stop and find these two crazy men.  So, that leaves me at my husband's aunt and uncle's house.  It wasn't weird.  We're very close.  I spent a couple hours chatting with Grandma Marge and Aunt Margie.  Then, Brittny's brother, Marc, and his wife, Melody, asked me if I wanted to go to the lake to visit Brittny's OTHER brother (there are five kids in their family).

It was 5 hours to where Dan and Sam were so I knew they would not return until about 6pm.  So, I went!  And it was so fun. They have a daughter who was born on our anniversary last summer (8/23) and she is a DOLL!  She just learned to walk so she was all over the place.  It was so fun to run after her.

The midwest is full of lakes and since it's so cold and snowy all winter they really take advantage of the weather.... as long as it's not TOO hot and muggy.  July 3rd was perfect, high 70s and not too humid.  The lake was perfect temperature, too.

Midwest (1 of 3)

Stopping to take photos with an old Minolta 35mm.  Photo by: Dan

I love this one!

Photo by: Dan

The GMC Vandura.

One year ago, each member of Dan's band chipped in $300 of their own money to buy the 1991 GMC Vandura that you see in these photos.  They purchased it from a 15-year-old boy and it died on the way home.  It has since been sitting in Dewey's mom's driveway with a FOR SALE sign and has been posted on Craigslist countless times.

Several months ago, the band decided to record some of their new songs and this guy, Zach, from somewhere in Illinois donated $5,000 of his own money to support their cause!  In return, he wanted the old GMC.  This worked out perfectly because A)  Dan and I love road trips, and, B)  Dan's family lives in Illinois.  So, we started to plan a trip out there to drop off the van, see family, and fly home.

One week ago, Dan's cousin decided to move home to Milwaukee, WI.  We offered to take her because, obviously.  The van is big and the seats for down into a bed so it wouldn't be too comfortable with three people and bunch of stuff but we decided to give it a try.  She was going to leave her car and most of her stuff here in Tacoma.  So, she calls me an hour before her going away party to ask if she should just take all of her stuff.  She wanted to fully commit to Milwaukee and have no excuses to leave no matter how hard it got.  So, she ended up packing her Ford Escort FULL and loading a ton of stuff in the van and bringing Sam along for the ride.

One day into the trip we hit a deer.  Sam and Brittny were about 15 miles behind us.  We were on a little 2-lane-highway at dusk.  It was a full grown deer, so it should have known better!  It came darting out from some tall grass and ran right in front of us.  Dan screamed like I've NEVER heard before.  I screamed like a little girl.  We pulled over to inspect the damage, our hearts still racing and both laughing nervously.  The hood was dented and there were...um... remains all over the front end.  It was disgusting.

Two days into the trip, we awoke after a nice stay at the Thrifty Motor Inn.  I wanted to ride with Brit so Sam and Dan were in the van.  We met at a Burger King for $1.04 Chicken Sandwiches (the $1.04 was for 4th of July weekend).  Sam had grease all over his hands and face and the guys said the van had started leaking oil.  I figured they knew what they were doing so we all hit the road and Brittny and I continued to sing at the top of our lungs and listen to educational tapes about the great state of South Dakota.  A few hours later, Dan calls and I find out they're still somewhere near that Burger King we all ate at.  Not only is the van leaking oil, it's also got a fuel blockage and the fuel pump was going out.  He's 99% sure that this was all because of the deer.  He told us to just to keep driving.  So, we did.

We got to Milwaukee late on Saturday night.  Dan and Sam were somewhere in Minnesota.  I was too tired to care very much.  We chatted with Aunt Margie and Brittny's bother Marc and fell fast asleep in Brittny's new room.

More to come....

Photo by: Dan

The Tacoma-Mobile.  

The Thrifty Motor-Inn.

Self-portrait.

This is the only cowboy I saw the whole time.

Beautiful sunsets every night.

$1.04 Chicken Sandwiches. Thanks, Burger King!

I-90 East... the whole way