Hi There!

Hi Y'all!  

I haven’t written to you since Australia and I apologize for that!  I have done so much since that trip so I have lots to tell you about!!  First of all, I've got to say how much fun I had in Australia.  I met many wonderful people and was blessed to see a part of the world that I have never seen and most importantly was able to share that with my Mama.  It was one of the best experiences I've had in my life.  Singing for our military and showing them how appreciative we are of their sacrifice for us is something I've always wanted to do and I hope that I can do this forever. 

After I returned to Nashville, I slept more than I think I ever have in my life.  It took a good day and a half to get back on Central Standard Time.  A couple days after I returned, I flew out to Oregon to play a show for the Oregon National Guard.  I gotta tell you, this was a trip I will NEVER FORGET!  

It was memorable for many reasons.  First of all, the people in Oregon are SO nice!  I felt like I was back in my hometown of Lancaster, SC because they treated me like family.  From the time we landed in Portland on Thursday night till the time we flew out on Saturday, it was awesome!

Second, Oregon is beautiful!  I saw all the famous mountains like Mt. Hood, Mt. Rainier, and Mount St. Helens.  I just saw them from the car and airplane but it was pretty amazing!  Maybe one day I can hike up one of these!  I'd love that!

I also had a blast traveling with Buddy Jewell.  If you all don't know Buddy Jewell, he is a talented, genuine, sweet, HILARIOUS man!!  

I never stopped laughing this whole trip.  Being the only female on the road, you hear lots of male humor and they pick on you a lot! It's SO FUNNY!  

Buddy and I are going to be doing some more shows together later this year and I can’t wait for those.  

I'm back home now.  Been getting organized, working on some new music, and preparing for a few shows in Nashville coming up.  Tonight I am singing at Songs for the Cure at the Listening Room in Nashville and next week, I am playing at Tin Pan South in Nashville.  This will be my first time ever playing at the Station Inn!  I am so excited to be there!  I will be playing some new songs that night so if you can come out, COME ON!!  I will be in the round with Billy Yates, Eddie Heinzelman, and Chris Roberts.  Everyone asks me if Chris is a relative of mine and as far as I know he's not!  Chris is a member of the band One Flew South and is an amazingly talented singer, songwriter, and producer.  I think it will be a fun night! 

Aside from all that, I am spending time with my 4 dogs and still training for the Country Music HALF marathon!  I've missed my training for a couple weeks but been back at it this week.  This will be my first half marathon and I'm kinda nervous but still excited bout it.  I'm also going to do a trail race later this year.  I actually prefer to run on the trails because it's better on my knees so I've found a trail race I'm going to do with some of my best friends. 

Now, I'm going to go and pick out an outfit to sing in tonight.  It's always so hard for me to decide what to wear!!  I try on about 6 or 7 things and whatever I feel best in is what I wear that night.  

Hope you're having a great week!  Love you and God Bless!!

Alice Springs-Day 2

Hey there!

Today, I woke up in the house and cooked scrambled eggs. I also had some fruit and coffee!  Mama had a blueberry muffin that one of he families here made for us. 

After breakfast, we made our way over to sound check.  Sound  check was smooth and I really enjoyed it because I was outside and was able to enjoy the amazing Australian weather.  I didnt realize it til about 3pm today, but I got bad sunburn!  I couldn’t even feel it because it was SO NICE out!  Mama was much smarter than I was at sound check because she sat in the shade!!!

After sound check, we went for a long walk together and then had lunch at a hotel nearby.  The hotel had a really nice pool so we asked to sit by the pool for about 30 minutes.  Mama read a Chelsea Handler book and I listened to my ipod and just relaxed for a little bit. 

I just found a hairdryer from one of the military wives here. THANK GOODNESS! I didn’t bring a hairdryer!  I cant believe I could forget my hairdryer!  I remembered most everything else though.  Right now I am getting ready for my show!  I will write to you after the show and tell you how it went!! 

Talk soon!!

Show went great!!  The crowd was awesome and very energetic!  They danced and were so happy to see everyone from back home! The Denver Broncos cheerleaders came on stage and danced with me as I sang “Hurt So Good”!  That was fun!! I couldn’t have asked for a better night!!  I loved it!!  It’s almost 1am so I’m headed to bed now!  Tomorrow, we get to ride camels!!

Alice Springs, Australia

Hey there!!  I hope you all are having an awesome week.  Its been going fantastic here. 

Yesterday after I wrote to you, Mama and I went for a walk on Manly Beach.  We got us a coffee and just spent about an hour watching surfers and volleyball players.  I LOVE the ocean!  It’s so peaceful and relaxing!  After our walk, we went back to our hotel room and took it easy for a little bit.  Later we went out for another walk and Mama got her some ice cream!

This morning we all ate breakfast at our hotel.  It was a pretty great breakfast buffet! Before breakfast, Clay and Jason took a wrong staircase in the hotel and actually got locked between all the floors.  An employee of the hotel finally heard them banging on the doors of the staircase and let them out.  We figured out that they had taken the fire escape instead of the regular stairs and all the doors are locked in the fire escape.  They were panicked!  That exact thing has happened to me before so I know that what they were feeling in the stairwell.  Later today we were laughing about it but I know it wasn’t funny to them at the time. 

After breakfast, We flew out of Sydney and arrived in Alice Springs late morning.  Alice Springs is a very remote place. It’s mainly desert but again, they have a McDonalds and a KFC!  We ate at McDonalds for lunch!  The menu was actually a little different from the menu back home.  I had a sweet chili seared chicken wrap.  It was REALLY great. 

The weather was PERFECT today!  I think it was in the 80s! 

After we arrived and got settled, the Denver Broncos Cheerleaders, Mama, and I all went to the grocery store to buy groceries for the next few days.  We are all staying in military housing here and the cheerleaders and I are staying in houses beside each other. (All of the cheerleaders are SO SWEET!  I’m very excited to get to know them this week.) The grocery store here was kinda different from what I am used to but the big difference was the price of food.  A 20 ounce diet coke was over $3.00!  I understand why though.  They have to ship the food in because we are 1000 miles from anywhere.  So, it just costs more to get it here. 

After we bought our groceries, we brought them to our houses and headed out for an Opal demonstration.  Opal is a beautiful stone that I have seen and heard about my entire life but I didn’t know much about it.  We were taught all about Opal and were actually able to carve and shine our own Opal stone.  Mama’s stone is beautiful and will look gorgeous in a ring someday.  I think  mine will be more suited for a necklace one day.  After the Opal demonstration, we came back to our houses for about an hour and relaxed before having a potluck dinner with the military families here.  The potluck was SO GOOD!  We had all kinds of stuff and it was so nice to spend a little time with everyone. 

After dinner, we made our way up to a mountain to feed the wallabies!!  The wallabies definitely looked like a small kangaroo!  They were pretty cute. The closest they got to us was about 5 feet away.  (It was pretty close.)  We had feed that we threw out for them to eat.  I was a little nervous because they are wild animals and I had no idea if they liked us or not.  I’m sure they were nervous too.  I took lots of pic of them but I’m not sure how they turned out yet.

I don’t have internet service here but going to look for it so I can post my updates for you!  Tomorrow is our first show!!  Cant wait!

In Sydney!!

Hey yall!  We are finally in Sydney, Australia!  After about 20 hours total flying time and lots of chips & salsa in both Denver and LA airports (I fell off my diet), we are in our hotel!  I surprisingly slept quite a bit on the flight over.  Mama slept a ton!  I met an Australian sitting next to me and we talked nonstop for about 2 hours on the flight!  He was awesome and taught me some words people say over here like “Mate” and “bloke”!  He taught me lots more but I cant remember them now.  I was trying to focus on what he was saying but I was pretty tired by the end of that 2 hours.  He kept apologizing for keeping me awake but I was enjoying learning the accent and about the country.  

We had dinner last night and breakfast this morning on the plane.  For dinner we had chicken, rice, veggies & an oatmeal cookie.  I don’t really remember dinner though.  I was half asleep by the time we got dinner.  For breakfast we had eggs and potatoes and banana bread.  I ate some eggs and I had an apple I’d packed in my carryon. 

Speaking of apple, when we landed in Sydney, they had a dog sniff all of our luggage.  The dog found an apple in Gary’s (guitar player) bag and he had to go through this LONG, special security that no one else did!!  It was kinda funny after the fact but he seemed nervous when they took him to a whole other checkpoint because of an apple!!  The dog started going crazy over my bag too but they didn't search mine.  They asked if I had a dog back home and I said yes and they left me alone.  :)

I was expecting it to be hot here but it’s actually a little rainy and chilly.  I had to stop and buy a sweatshirt because I didn’t pack one.  It’s cute and was just $12.00.

Mama and I walked around our hotel for about an hour just now and stopped and had pizza for lunch at a cute little place across from the beach.  Our pizza was SO good!  I’ve never had a pizza like this but it had sweet potatoes, mushrooms, sundried tomato, goat cheese, and pine nuts on it!  The menu also had a kangaroo pizza!  I don’t think I will try that one while I’m here.

Now, I’m off to grab a coffee somewhere and walk around a little more.  I’m going to try and stay awake for the rest of the day so I can get on the Australian time clock.

I think we are going to eat some fresh seafood tonight. I like fish, especially when I’m on the coast! Well, I just looked up and Mama is asleep on the bed.  I guess our walk is being postponed a little.  I don’t blame her…I might take a nap too!! J

I hope y’all are having a great week so far!  Talk soon!!

“G’Day Mates!!!” (I saw that on a poster in the airport.)

Julie

Flying Out Today!!

Good Morning!

Mama and I are flying out today!  Im almost packed but I have a few things here and there to do and I'll be finally ready!  I've never been one of those really organized people that keep check lists and before they leave town they continue to refer back to the list to make sure they do them when they need to.  I admire those people and am going to try that before I go on a big trip next time.  

I'm heading out the early afternoon to the west coast first and then through the night to Australia!   I hope you all have an amazing week!  I'll check in with you as often as possible and tell you how everything is going!   God Bless!!!

Julie

Saturday!!

It's a beautiful day in Nashville!!  The sun is shining SO BRIGHT!  The dogs are sitting in the sun and I am still trying to get organized to leave.

I ran with my running group this morning.  We did 11 miles and started at 6am!!  It was SO early but after a couple cups of coffee, I was wide awake.  The group is so much fun so if I can get out of the bed and get there I'm good!  It's the getting out of the bed at 5am that's hard for me.

I hope you all have a great Saturday!  I am just doing laundry and fun stuff like that today, but tonight I am planning on going to a Bonfire with some friends.  That should be lots of fun!

Talk to ya tomorrow!!

Julie

Rehearsals for Australia

Hey y'all!!

It's Friday!  I hope you all are excited about the weekend!  I am excited to see close to 60 degree temperatures in Nashville!!  I'm ready for the spring!!

Rehearsals yesterday were awesome.  Here's my band (I know you may hear me talk about them in my blogs and now you will know who I am talking about).

Jason(drummer, band leader)
Gary (lead guitar)
Matt (acoustic guitar/mandolin)
Clay (bass guitar)
Mason (keyboards)
They worked really hard at practice and I NEVER heard them complain once!!  They are great!

Today I'm going to try to make time for a workout, pick up some of my new demos from the studio, go to WalMart for some travel stuff and dog food, and then start packing!  Somewhere in there I have a meeting!

I hope you all have an awesome weekend!  Take care and God Bless!  Love ya!

Julie

Less Than A Week Away

Hey Y'all!

WOW!  I have 4 more days until I head to Australia to sing for our troops!  I am SO EXCITED!  I just heard I will be on an airplane for close to 20 hours total but it will be SO WORTH IT!!  I haven't told Mama about the travel time yet (and not sure I will)!  I will load up on lots of protein bars, gum, magazines, books, and my computer of course.  The only thing I'm worried about is the life of my computer battery.  I was thinking of bringing some movies but my computer hardly stays charged when I unplug it.  That may mean it's time for a new battery.

I spent a few hours today learning from one of my best friends how to set up this blog!  (Thank you Renee).  I am so excited to have a way to be able to update you all on my trip in Australia.  I plan to keep the blog going after my return too!  It was so much fun learning today.  It will take me a few weeks to get this thing mastered but if y'all will just bear with me, I promise I will write to you as often as possible!

I have a seven hour rehearsal tomorrow with my band!  I haven't seen most of them in quite a while so it will be like a reunion of sorts!! We are going to be doing a few new songs on the trip and also working up a couple patriotic songs.

I hope you all are having a great day!  Will talk to you again soon!!

Love,
Julie