Let the ocean worry 'bout bein blue.

Number three checked off my thirty before thirty list! Those Shakes did not let me down.

 

Things I said during my meet & greet with Sugarland.

Last night I got to meet one of my lady heros, and it went a little something like this:

THINGS I SAID DURING MY MEET & GREET WITH SUGARLAND
I have to nervous pee.
Do you think anyone is ever really excited to meet Kristian?
I hope nobody heard me say that.
DAMN IT! I almost wore my white jeans, we could have been twins!
I wish people would cheer whenever I walked into a room.
Ahh, look how cute they are.
Should I make her hug me? I should make her hug me right? I'm gonna make her hug me.
Am I nerding out as much on the outside as I am on the inside?
I need some alcohol.
I want to congratulate her on her hot husband.
If I asked her if she wanted to be friends, what do you think she would say?
Holyshitballs this is happening.
I have to nervous pee again.
It's going to feel real strange to look someone in the eye that you've spent hours stalking on the internet.
She is touching me, she is touching me.
Be cool.
Arm around the waist, that's totally how real friends pose!
Oh hi Kristian, you're here too.
Don't blink.
Ah, shit guys I think I blinked!
Of course I would blink.
Goodbye, I love you!

Jennifer and I are totally best friends now and I dare you to prove otherwise in a court of law.

haha but really, they were sweet and lovely and it was amazing to meet them, even if it was only for five seconds. :)

Two things that make everything a little better.

First. This poem:

Moment

Let him wish his life
For the sorrows of a stone
Never knowing the first thread
Of these
Never knowing the pain of ice
As it's crystals slowly grow
Needles pressing in on the heart

To live forever
And never feel a thing
To wait a million lifetimes
Only to erode and become sand
Wish not for the stone
But for the fire
Last only moments
But changes everything

Oh to be lightning
To exist for less than a moment
Yet in that moment
To expose the world to every open eye
Oh to be thunder
To clap and ring
To rumble into memories
Minds and spines

To chill the soul and shake the very ground
Pounding even the sand
Into smaller pieces
Or the mountain
Brooding, extinct
Yet gathering for one fatal moment
The power to blow the top clean off the world
Oh to last the blink of an eye and leave nothing
But nothing unmoved behind you

-Vincent Guilliano

And second. This song:

Someone Like You.

Live music is one of the great true loves of my life. I know that sounds cliche or maybe a bit corny but, it's the truth. I've seen a lot of songs be sung, a lot of guitars strummed, and have dragged a lot of people to shows they probably didn't want to be at. Each one is amazing at the time, but most of the details slowly start to fade, just as most things in life do. Set lists blend together, special effects are forgotten. There are a few moments though that, no matter how many years go by, you remember them exactly as they were. This happens to me when I remember The Chicks singing Cold Day In July and it snowing inside America West Arena, Martina McBride singing Somewhere Over The Rainbow at Celebrity Theatre and it making me cry, being inside the stage at the Top Of The World Tour and hearing, "They said you wouldn't come, ...but we knew you'd come.", singing into a mic at the same time Grace Potter was singing into a mic right next to me, Sigh No More live, and this:


I saw Adele in Las Vegas last weekend and of all her songs, this was the one I was waiting for. I don't know if it's that piano, or that every single word is arranged perfectly, or how when she sings it, she always seems to be just a second away from crying. And sometimes does. Because when she sings this song, she means it. Every song, but I think this one especially. She is singing her life to the entire world. Brave is what that is. It was the perfect concert moment.

When she let us sing the last two choruses, I was singing and literally, every single person in the theatre was singing, I stopped for a second, looked around, and thought to myself that I have never, in all the shows I've been to, heard a crowd singing so loudly before. I haven't. I hope it made her happy.

Somebody closer and with a much better camera got her face while she let us sing & her mouthing the words back. :)))

...and when that light shines on ya babe, you know it soothes my soul.

With music, mountains, thunder, bare feet, stage lights, friends, wine, flying V guitars, banjos, sunsets, red rocks, sold out crowds, sore throats, stars, tailgates, and raindrops, who could not be happy?

GPN covers.

It's no secret that I have a massive girl crush on Grace Potter (and really, on all the Nocturnals). They are the band that has gotten me the most excited in the last five years. Something I really love about them? They do amazing covers. Songs that not every band in the history of music does.


Warren Haynes & Grace doing The Rolling Stones' "Honky Tonk Woman".



Beyonce's "Why Don't You Love Me".



My Morning Jacket's "Golden"



Gillian Welch's "Elvis Presley Blues".



Tom Petty's "Night Of  The Living Zoo".



I'm pretty sure she could sing anything and I would love it, but the ones they choose are incredible. 

This is why.

The one where I go to Nashville... ✓

Important things I learned:
1. The difference between a tornado watch and a tornado warning. Who knew.
2. There are multiple winter seasons determined by plants?! One called, Dogwood Winter, which left Nashville a whopping 45 degrees on Saturday.
3. If you call your mama a bitch in the south, you will get a punch thrown at you. Even from someone who doesn't even know your mama.
4. The barbeque is GOOD.
5. I apparently drink Southern Comfort...
6. ...and am very bad at focusing a camera afterwards.
7. Famous country singers welcome you to the airport every 10 minutes.
8. Southern accents make me extremely happy. And sometimes they make me laugh.
9. Sbarros pizza provides amazing free nightly entertainment.
10. Bridgestone Arena is massive. It's really dark at 3am. And the roof leaks when it rains.
11. The diner where Sugarland filmed their Baby Girl video has really good grilled cheese and they don't even kick you out when you play Baby Girl on the juke box and sing it really loudly. 
12. Julie will steal things for me if I ask her to.
13. Dolly Parton is about as good of a driver as I am.
14. One word. Grimeys.
15. The Chicks have nothing in the Country Music Hall of Fame, but Taylor Swift does. This makes me want to drown myself.
16.  I. want. to. live. there.
17. Finally hanging out with long time friends, is awesome :)


Oh, and I took some pictures:

always.

getting psyched.

the motherland.

grammys!

:)

BBQ!! I was obsessed.

swoon.

I want to get married in Grimeys. Or really, just live there. Right under this poster.

Broadway!

Just hanging out with Julie and Danielle in Nashville. No big deal. This happens all the time.

sorry I made you lug around my redbull all night while I made out with my straw. hahaha.

ass chins.

That SoCo that I apparently drink now... 

what else do you do with a random veil you find on the floor?! 

see what I mean about the focusing? 

...and then The Stage closed, ...so we went to eat at the diner Sugarland shot their Baby Girl video because, why wouldn't you? 

"it's my birthday! will you give me a kiss?"  "how old are you?!" "22!" "Oh GOD you're a baby! ....but, alright." 

....and then the whole reason we went happened and it blew my mind for an hour and a half of course:

get it girl.

love them.

callin'!

....and then I died a little.

i want him to be the father of my children.

...and then the concert was over, and I was sad. ...and then I had to come home, and I was sadder.

(Sugarland picture quality is crap, but people like to steal my photos and they can suck it.)