Independence Day!

Soooo much to update. Where do I actually begin? It's been a whirlwind July, that's for sure. But while the first half of the month flew by, the second half is going to drag. I have finally given myself some time off!

Aside from working & being caught up in wedding shooting, what's been going on? Backing up the the holiday weekend...

4th of July was of course, fabulous with the family. Salem was visiting us this year, so we got some great Sasa time in! We really did nothing but have a great cookout by the pool, with our family & John's family.

Love my kiddos! Paige had to work - our first year of not having her around for a holiday! She was none too pleased to miss our annual fireworks, but things change when you join the working world!

and obviously, sis & I had to snapchat the twincousin. 

Because what else would we do out by the pool?

The boys did the usual firework show...giving us heart attacks. Well, I say us but it was mom, Salem (ah, thank goodness my niece is a smart one!) & I that kept panicking as Kadin kept helping with the fireworks. And we worried for good reason, since Kadin set one off on uneven surface, it tipped & shot out at us! Enter panic mode hahaha. Salem, Mom & I were the wusses that stood off to the side of the house & held our  breath everytime Kadin chimed in to help with the fireworks.

But, we had some really really beautiful fireworks! I've had little time to actually work on many of my firework pics, but a couple faves were:

New meaning to lit up the sky!

Sparklers with my Sasa! 

Mom & I went to Hurricane Mills on Saturday to see the Loretta Lynn show again - this time to see the Conway Twitty tribute. It was a great trip & a pretty great day with Mom. Since the bestie was handling things after her mother's sad passing that week, she didn't get to come with us this time around. So weird to be there without her, and given the circumstances, I certainly appreciated time with my mom a little more. 

Happy Tuesday--- can this week fly by now? Because I actually have a free weekend to do NOTHING, or even go hang out with my friends! Not only do I have this weekend, I gave myself THREE WEEKENDS in a row! Go me!

The Weekend...

So, I can totally appreciate companies that feel the need to go door to door. I loathe solicitors, so I'm not going to be overly PLEASED that you're at my door, but I get it.

But when I tell you three weeks in a row to please stop coming to my door and trying to get me to come to your church, I'm going to become unpleasant. Sigh. It's not that hard people. I say this as a church leaves my front door, seemingly aggravated I've asked them to leave.

Moving along, I couldn't have asked for a better weekend than this past weekend! It was probably time for a girls weekend in Georgia with the bestie. I'm super fortunate my best friend is only 2.5 hours away, making our Girls weekends so easy to do. I hesitated to go on Friday instead of Saturday, because I felt so overwhelmed and swamped with client work, but decided I needed a break. Best decision ever, to have three total stress-free days! Friday we literally did nothing but sat around drinking wine while gossiping.

Saturday though, we road tripped down to Cartersville (okay, so it's only really an hour and a half from Rita's house, but....still. We are ALL ABOUT some road tripping!) to see Steve Wariner!

Somehow, even after being in and out of this city sooo many times a year to see my friends  - I had never been to this theater! It's BEYOND fabulous, super small and amazing for an acoustic show. I am so bummed PL has never played here, this would have been a DREAM venue to see a Mountain Soul show in. (I'm going to make this happen.)

And of course, for a photo nerd like me - it a gorgeous piece of art that looks amazing in B&W. Yes, I really do inspect every building I see and envision them in a photograph. 

and of course, no girls weekend is complete without six million selfies, right?! literally, after we touched up our make up, it was a "we need a selfie!" moment. 

Steve really put on a fabulous acoustic show - I kind of thought he'd play a little longer than he did, but....I got my song, so I have zero complaints. We were amused we each had a specific song we wanted - and he did them as bookends, hers opened the show (If I Didn't Love You) and mine closed the show (Some Fools Never Learn), and of course one of our anthems (Life's Highway - it leads every road trip set list we have!) was in the midst of the set list too, along with some great hits like Lynda,   The Weekend, etc. He also did Holes in the Floor of Heaven, a song I struggle so desperately with since Granny passed away. 

Side note: Steve doesn't live terribly far from me and I ran into him at the post office a few months ago. I immediately thought to text my best friend and all I could say was I was in line with him at the PO & had this incredible urge to burst out into Lynda! 

Steve Wariner is STILL super handsome.  Totally old enough to be my Dad, but whatever. He has aged pretty fabulously.

Also, what kind of photographer forgets their favorite concert lens? Sigh....Somehow I only brought my 50mm f1.8 lens with me. Not exactly what I use for concerts from 4th row, but whatever.

Oh hey, another selfie bestie! Yes we purposely color coordinated our outfits. 

I suppose what might (okay, not might...WAS) be the best moment of the night was Patty & Emory decided to come out to the show as well! Steve briefly thanked her during the show for coming by mentioning when he thinks of "Greatest Country Female Vocalist", he thinks of her. So not only is he super talented, he's freaking SMART. After the show, we stuck around so Rita could get her pic from the HOF signed, so we also ran into P&E as they left. It was fabulous to hear "Nicole, I thought I saw you in there....do I get my hug?" --  I love that girl.

All this....and I beat the storms home! I win at life this weekend!

But I'm alive & well in Tennessee.....

First and foremost - who heads to the Sweet Sixteen for the 4th time in 5 seasons!?

My CATS, that's who! Go Big Blue!! WHAT a nail biter - it truly could have gone either way in that last minute & I was sure biting my nails. But my Cats pulled it off!!

In other news, the bestie & I spent the weekend with George Strait. King freaking George. No big deal. It was so hard to contain our happiness about seeing him, we've literally been counting down the days since November. 

King George bound!

It was aaaamaaaazing. 2 1/2 hours & 34 songs - which didn't even begin to cover all his massive hits! You could close your eyes and it was as if you had the record going on the turntable - his voice was so amazing. I went in with hopes of hearing my 3 favorite songs, but knew if I heard "Marina Del Ray" live, I would die happy. 

However, George must've heard me...because I got all three of my songs!

this is the result of a quick run to different seats with an iPhone!

We got so so teary eyed to 'Troubador' & 'The Cowboy Rides Away'. I hate this is his last tour, but can't blame him! I'm so happy he'll still be recording. 

Another thing that I loved was the crowd reactions. The true sing along to EVERY SINGLE SONG, no matter if they were singles or not. The massive freak out to "Unwound" - folks, it's hard to get countrier than that song! It's no secret Country Music was my first true love, so it's the little things like this that warm my heart. The want for genuine country music - and not the silly pop crap from today - is still there!

I loved this....waiting for his encore, everyone pulled out their cell phones and used the flashlight app to glow & get him to come back. It looked so awesome. (Glad my phone had SOME use - thanks Bridgestone Arena for not having WIFI and having the worst signals ever. Not being able to use our phones for pretty much anything the entire night was terrible, hahaha) 

"Oh the last goodbye's the hardest one to say....this is where the Cowboy Rides Away...
 Thanks for the memories, King George! 

Saturday was spent in Kentucky, celebrating the sis' birthday! Dolphie's was pretty packed, and we didn't get to sing as much as we normally do. But, we still had a blast and most importantly, Samantha had a great birthday! 

We totally told Metcalf to get his Strait on, we had a full set list of songs we wanted him to sing for us. Apparently, he took us literally - and showed up in his best button up plaid shirt.

The birthday girl brought red solo cup shot glasses (is this one of those "you know you're a southern girl if....you own both red solo cup shot glasses and mason jar shot glasses" things?) and wanted us all to do a shot for her birthday. To make it cuter....we popped out the sharpie and wrote our names on it. Well, kind of our names. Rita & I decided to continue channeling our inner country stars, sooooo everyone took lead from our other names.

with the birthday girl & the bestie! 

After that whirlwind weekend, I need sleep. Happy Monday y'all!

No-Show Jones....

This weekend was pretty epic. And considering how much the bestie & I are off running around on a road trip or a show --- or basically never home -- that says a lot. 

The bestie hauled it to town Friday afternoon and she & I headed to the George Jones tribute show Friday night. We technically had tickets for the show as soon as they were available, as George’s final show. We were SO stoked to see him again (and then of course P got added to the guest list, which obviously made this even better!)….and then of course, George passed away. We held onto our tickets to see what the show's future was.

with the bestie at the concert!

The show was so well put together – something I didn’t expect with 100 acts. 4 hours, 48 songs.  There were definitely acts that had us scratching our heads (or more like wincing in pain for our ears. Sorry Megadeath fans….I can’t do metal. Adding Jamey Johnson to the mix did not make the song bearable. I can totally appreciate that Jones influenced genres of all kinds, but yikes. There are some genres that don't need to sing a Country Song, and metal is one of them.), but overall, it was fabulous. (Although the photographer in me was dying at the dreadful lighting!)  Obviously, P was the best of the best, it's what happens when you're as awesome as she is.

Among our other personal fave highlights:

-Emmylou Harris. In the "did this really happen" category:  Emmylou Harris seriously sang “If My Heart Had Windows”. Granted - they put her in a group (I totally get why they had to group people together....buuuuut she's Emmylou freaking Harris, people.), but holy crap. You have no idea how I would kill to hear her sing this solo. 

-George Strait. Sigh. And not only did we get to see him, he sang not only my favorite Jones song, but my favorite song by anyone-- “The Grand Tour”. (Seriously, this is like the greatest country song ever written.) We see his full show in March, and I need this to hurry up.  I've pretty much convinced myself I will die if I don't get to hear "Marina Del Ray" live. 

swoon.

-“Two Story House” – this is totally my favorite Tammy & George song.....and no joke, we do it at karaoke every single time we go. (And because people are lame and don't usually know it, Rita always has to be my George Jones.) People always seem to forget about it! Thompson Square sang it, and we immediately freaked out and sang along obnoxiously. (Not that we didn't do that to every song, but the guy beside us was super amused by us during this one.)

-Jessi freakin' Colter! I’ve never been able to see her before, I was SO excited to see her on the bill. I love her!  Fittingly, she was paired with Shooter Jennings, and I loved their version of “If Drinkin’ Don’t Kill Me”.

-Sam Moore singing “Blues Man” was absolutely out of this world. Perfect song for him, he sounded incredible. Definitely one of the top performances of the night.

-The dude behind us. No really.  Aside from singing along with us to pretty much....everything, he was also completely entertaining. Taking advantage of George Strait's nickname of King George....when Strait came out, the guy behind us screamed "KING GEORGE!! WE'RE NOT WORTHY!!" He may have been the greatest concert go-er we've ever sat by. 

-And again: P was beyond amazing, and the best of the night. Duh. She did “Color of the Blues”, which is probably one of the best songs of George’s that she’s actually cut. Everyone used Jones band, but she also brought Emory along with her. So so proud of her! 

Emory & the Queen Bee

And yes, I’m aware my highlights once again show I was born in the wrong generation, because everyone my age was going crazy for folks like Blake & Miranda, or Kid Rock --- while I was geeking out over Emmylou Harris.

On a side note, how ADORABLE are the shot glasses from his show?! We immediately came back to the house and did shots. And it pairs perfect with my Loretta Lynn shot glass. 

Saturday we proceeded to pretty much have the best girls day you can imagine --- well for music nerds like us anyway. They put up George’s monument at his grave on Monday, and since I live 5 minutes from the cemetery, I ran over there to see it unveiled. I can’t begin to stress what a great job they did on this – absolutely beautiful. Since Rita hadn’t seen it, Saturday morning we headed to the store to pick up some Wine Colored Roses (I will give you a cookie if you knew that was a George Jones song! Pretty sure the girl in the floral department thought we were nuts inspecting the colors of all the roses!), and went over to see it, stopping by the mausoleum to pay respects to Tammy. Since last time she came up we paid respects to Conway, Johnny & June, this time we decided to go lay flowers at the grave of another that stole our hearts – Vern Gosdin. 

soooo well done!

love love love him.

I pass this every week, and I use it as a reminder of why I love Nashville.  The sun was shining so beautifully by it that I felt like I needed another picture of it. 

So, it's no secret that for Halloween next year, I'm going as Tammy Wynette & Rita is going as Loretta Lynn since we're going to Dolphie's to celebrate. It's always been our thing, she's the Loretta to my Tammy -- and quite often, I sing more Tammy and she sings more Loretta when we're at Dolphie's. Anyway, we've started researching our costumes this week soooooo at our Starbucks visit this time, we decided to channel our inner country stars ;)

What's a Saturday without hitting the record shop for more vinyl, right? Seriously, it's an addiction. Give me a vinyl record & I will love you forever.

I was going to say our vintage country music was our theme for the weekend, but is there ever really a weekend where it ISN’T our theme? Before heading up to Kentucky, we ran back over to the Johnny Cash Museum to pick up a few pieces of merch for gifts.....and then hit the road with my sis to meet up with Metcalf at Dolphie's for some karaoke! I love love love when my sister goes with us - it's hilarious to see the differences in song choices. I freaked out that Scotty now has "Long-Legged Guitar Pickin Man", while my sister was dying that was a real song. 

the sis

with the bestie!

celebrating Metcalf & Rita's birthdays a little early! (As Rita clutches her Conway Twitty DVD! Score for the best presents ever! She got a Conway t-shirt too!)

with my two favorite girls, my bestie & my sissy! 

This may have been one of our greatest & most creative karaoke sets. Almost every round we did we somehow tied to Jones. Our first rounds were our obligatory Loretta & Tammy sets, but we signed Metcalf up for "Murder on Music Row" (because it's oh so fitting, and mentions the Possum), "He Stopped Loving Her Today", while we took on "If My Heart Had Windows", "A Picture of Me Without You" -- and then brought out stuff like The Judds "Have Mercy" for the simple line of "I could hear you was playing Haggard & Jones"....or Dolly's "Honky Tonk Songs" for the great line of "I've listened to Haggard, ole Hank...and George Jones", and of course "I was Country When Country Wasn't Cool". 

Moving on, it's a short week for the Holidays, and I'm only working two days this week. I say I'm so ready for a few days of doing nothing after a full weekend this past weekend, but obviously that's not going to happen any time soon. Bring on Black Friday shopping! The sis & I have our plans mapped out.....and of course it's going to be freeeeezing this year.  Thank God for Starbucks! 

Happy Monday y'all! 

Sunday Social...

Happy Labor Day weekend! A brief update today-- tomorrow will definitely be a lazy day for catching up on this amazing weekend --- Friday, Larry took me to see Sherri Sheperd at Zanies for my birthday (she was HILARIOUS), and now the bestie is in town! We're spending our weekend at the Loretta Lynn ranch, basically. Mom came with us last night to see Loretta's show and Rita & I are heading back tonight to see Merle - I'm not sure how our hearts can handle all this greatness in one weekend!! 

Today would have been Conway Twitty's 80th Birthday. If you know me -- you know my ridiculous love for him! We're heading to his grave today to pay respects -- we had the chance to walk through the new Conway exhibit at Loretta's museum yesterday, and I think our hearts skipped a beat when we walked into this massive room of nothing but Conway! 


sigh. My favorite Conway song. 

But, a little Sunday Social before we head out to run errands:



1. What was your favorite trip/vacation/activity this summer? So freaking many! I road tripped SO much with the bestie this summer, and I went to Ohio to see my family, and ran around town with the twin cousin! This was an ahhh-mazing summer. The cherry on top was getting time with PL at the Opry, and seeing Loretta Lynn on the same night - this just doesn't happen all the time, folks! And in a year of no touring, seeing P just made the summer even better! 
2. What was your favorite outfit look/clothing item of the summer? The most important article of clothing is what's on my feet, because I have a ridiculous shoe obsession, and in the summer I can rock all my wedges! (Actually, I rock them as long as humanly possible, therefore they will be on my feet until it's too cold to do so) 
3. What is one thing you wish you'd gotten to do this summer? I have no idea! We did so much, I can't think of anything else!
4. What was your favorite song of the summer?

Yes, Roger Miller's "King of the Road" was our jam this summer, because we were always on the road!
5. What was your favorite movie/tv show of the summer? Larry and I  saw every movie imaginable this year!  The Butler was definitely one of the best, and We're the Millers was one of the funniest! And like I needed a new show to become addicted to -- Devious Maids has taken over my DVR! 

My name is Nicole & I cry too much.

Oh how I started today in such a fabulous mood---- and Adobe ruined all that in a quick 10 minutes. No, seriously, am I the only one having this total BS error in Photoshop all the damn time of "Sorry, we can't load your actions due to an unknown error"?  Seriously, someone tell me how they've fixed this error. How hard is it for shit to just....WORK?! Can I throw my computer out the window now?

Maybe I should have titled this "I cry too much AND have no patience". (And speaking of crying too much....I seriously cried in the FIRST TEN MINUTES of Monsters University. Yes, I'm serious. I mean, none of the little monsters wanted to play with Mikey when he was little, and I felt so bad for him! Kadin looked at me and started the "Aunt Nicole, are you crying already?!..." before I gave him the "Dude...just watch the movie!")

So I'm attempting to re-cap P's Saturday night Opry, which is almost difficult to do.  It was so overwhelming...

Let me start by saying there isn't much I have missed in this girls career.  I've been there through it all -- the good, the bad, and the "nothing going on" phase, even though some moments I was too young to fully appreciate or understand. Patty was there for me as a kid than she could have ever realized. As a result of having been there for everything for so long, I've got such pride for all her incredible accomplishments, because I remember the days before all that. June 11th marked Patty's Opry Anniversary, so they made the 15th a special evening to celebrate it. You know the mom at school whose kid lands the lead role in the school play and she's got the camera in the front for the whole ceremony? THAT was totally me Saturday night.  Oh, and I cried. Because you know, I cry at freaking everything. (And so everyone knows, the bestie cried when she saw Loretta, so I was not the only blubbering mess this night. It was a straight out of Steel Magnolias... "I have a strict policy that no one cries alone in my presence" moment.)

Oh I guess I forget to mention:  Loretta Lynn was on the schedule for Saturday night as well. And well, most of you know our ridiculous love for Loretta, so..this was basically going to be one of the best nights ever.

With the bestie, Opry bound! (okay, technically at the Opry already!)

So first of all, let me tell you how the Opry has these killer Hatch Prints made for like every occasion you can ever imagine. And in most cases, they sell them in the gift shop and online - you know, when members are inducted, there's an induction poster made. When big anniversaries happen, they make a poster. And since most of you know my obsession with my vintage Country Music Hatch Prints, you can imagine the hopes I had for a PL Hatch. They even teased us with it on Friday night showing it on the backdrop.

See how fabulous it is? You know who got one? Patty. You know who didn't get one? This girl. That's because they decided not to sell any in the shop. What the !($&*!( We went in and they sold 5 year prints for Carrie Underwood, but no 25 year for Patty. Sigh. (This meant naturally the first thing I did Sunday morning was email Hatch Show Prints to see what magic I have to work to get my hands on one!)

Anyway. the show was amazing, as usual --- P got tons of stage time.

easily one of my top fave pics I've ever taken of P! Love love love this one.

And then after, they brought her back out to present her poster to her. And this is when the ridiculous sap in me started to cry. (This probably should not surprise me right? I mean, who remembers my cousin & I SOBBING during the Muppets Movie when they all sang Rainbow Connection??....) The very mention of all her accomplishments teared me up, and then she started talking about induction night..And THEN they bring out Emory so she can introduce him and tell everyone what a badass he is.  (Okay, so maybe that's not exactly how she worded it, but it's how I would have... like "My husband is a badass and better than the rest of you, that's all!") 

Somehow in the midst of all this, she's all humble & stuff, and doesn't believe she's a freaking awesome as she really is. 

Totally dig this. 

P & Vince came back out to sing after the presentation, annnnd in the background, they decided to show all these photos of P in the back throughout her career. Like I wasn't ALREADY a blubbering mess.....good lord. I should have stock in Kleenex. I wish I could adequately express what P has done for me & helped me through, but I really have no words that would do it justice.

Her music saved me more times than I could probably count. I probably should have paid her in my teenage years for being my therapist. As a child, she was my ultimate hero, I had it set in my head at a young age that I was going to be "just like" Patty when I grew up. (Okay, so that wasn't all that realistic nor did  that ever happen, but I do like to think that her influence helped mold me in to the person I am today.) And let's not lie, if it weren't for her, I wouldn't haven't met the amazing people in my life now, and I sure wouldn't have found my independence at an early age -- I probably would have hesitated jumping in the car and driving hundreds of miles by myself as a teen if it weren't for a show at the end of the line!

My childhood memories are peppered with PL memories. I recently discovered the diary I kept when I was 11-12, and I'm pretty sure my entry the morning "The Trouble with the Truth" was released is the greatest thing in the world. Apparently, I did not clean my room & my mother refused to take me to get it. It said - and I quote - this is the worst thing that could ever happen to ANYONE! (Maybe acting was my calling, I totally had the Drama Queen act down!)  2 hours later I had it in hand, horrible crisis averted & updated that everything was great, and duh, this was the greatest CD ever! (And you better believe that bedroom was clean every CD release day after that!)

27 years & 200+ shows later - I have so so many wonderful memories of her - Opry Induction included (so I suppose this night was already off to a sappy night of memories for me!). I had to be one of the most annoying kids ever at gig after gig, and NEVER once did she ever make me feel like I was. I was a truly fortunate kid, who had a hero that made a serious difference in my life -- and one that I had the opportunity to grow up in front of, and not a lot of kids had that. A few years ago, my sweet Paige had her chance to meet HER favorite (well, WAS her favorite anyway!), and taking her home in tears because she was so incredibly disappointed at what a nasty person this artist was heartbreaking. I'm so thankful I never had that experience with P.

What sappy blog entry about P would be complete without an embarrassing photo of us when I was a kid? PS, the glasses were totally my mom's fault! Kids, this is what happens when your mother won't let you pick out the glasses you want!

Playing catch up...

It's a gross, rainy morning in Nashville today....which means I'm going to do everything I can to stay home & watch Netflix all day.

Sooo much to catch up on, last weekend was definitely one of the most fun weekends I've ever had in my life. Serious picspam ahead, though-you're forewarned!

Last week, the bestie drove in Thursday morning so we could hit "Nashville Dancin"  (Can I just repeat how stupid I think this name is and how I'll simply continue to refer to it as Dancin' in the District?) 18 South was on the opening night, so we decided to go since Jon Randall (Rita's fave!) is in 18 South, and it would give her a chance to see him again. The day was all for her - she was over the moon getting to hear him again! The band is also made up of a bunch of talented musicians - a few of which used to play for PL back in the day.

Paige asked me if she could come out with us one night while Rita was here. She really isn't into country much anymore, aside from P --- all these bands she's into I've never heard of before (I felt 100 years old walking into Hot Topic at Christmas to get her all these band hoodies she wanted.), so I really wasn't sure she'd have a good time, but her last few "crash at Aunt Nicole's" nights have been with Kadin, so I knew she wanted a night away from her brother. Soooo......

Yes, that's her behind the wheel.  Have I mentioned I'm so not ready for this?! Truth be told, she's actually a REALLY great driver. For 15 years old, she's much more cautious and careful than most of the adults I know. She didn't really make me nervous ---okay, just once! She couldn't see out of the parking lot and inched forward to see better, and instead of stopping when she inched forward - she just went. But nonetheless - she's a good driver and she is getting great practice. (No interstates yet!) She drove us home at the end of the night too. Sigh. Repeat, I'm not ready for this.

18 South did a great show - seriously, this is a talented group of folks (and I really did take great pictures of all them, but PL took priority in my photo editing department and I haven't even finished the 18 South photos yet! I had to prioritize, and since JR is Rita's man, I tried to start with the ones of him!):

Oh, and the 15 year old had a great time - and as we left, she was flirting with the band members from the band that opened the show? Good Lord, we are in trouble with this girl, I swear! She is soooooo my sister all over! (Yikes!)

Paige with The Lonely Biscuits -- a bunch of local Belmont Boys that she totally loved.

with the bestie

Rita & Paige

If Thursday was Rita's day, Friday was totally mine. Larry picked us up for dinner a little early so we'd have time to sit and talk for awhile --- Rita hasn't seen Larry in almost 2 years, so I had to play the "OH MY GOD, tell her about..." game the entire night. Such a great time - love these peeps, I'm so fortunate to be surrounded by such fabulous people! I say that so often, but I truly mean it.

Rita & our waitress - her name was Margarita (yes for real) --- and Rita instantly shouted "Oh my god, Margarita Rita, we have to get a picture together!" We were Margarita's most entertaining table.

Also, Friday was National Bourbon Day! Kentucky Lemonades, FTW!  

We had to drop Rita off at the main entrance to the Opry because we were only able to have two people backstage.  Larry & I started the short trek to the back of the Opry House and began a seriously awesome night!

I got so incredibly tickled when we walked in and saw they had P's picture up on the TV's in the back with "Patty Loveless Celebrates her 25TH Opry Anniversary"  - it's soooo about time they made a big deal about her --- it was the first I've been pleased with the Opry in a long time!  I am so proud of her, and when I walked into this, I was over the moon!

Larry and I spent most of the night wandering around backstage, catching up with folks, and meeting some new ones -- I swear every person we ran into knew Larry or has worked with him at some point! Either people he's working on records with now, or people that knew him back when he was Dottie's manager, he knew 90% of the people we ran into. A little pic spam of the night:

The Opry stage all by it's lonesome...

Hanging out with Larry backstage...

With P! Love, Love, Love this girl. I designed a hardcover book for her to show all these years of shows, all the great memories so many of us have with her, etc,..I've had it sitting at the house for months and finally gave it to her Friday night, and she loved it! (Although the comment that "you being here is enough!" when I handed it to her might have been my highlight!)

Larry & sweet Jennifer. Larry's been working with Jennifer on some of his projects, and was thrilled to run into her and catch up!

I love all the Opry dressing rooms, but this is one of my favorites....I'm drawn to the color scheme. It's the design nerd in me. 

And on the subject of dressing rooms, we took over the Porter Wagoner dressing room! Here's Larry sitting on the bright purple couch in it, hah. Considering how obsessed my Granny was with the color purple AND Porter Wagoner, this room could not be any more perfect! 

W/ Emory (for my uninformed friends, he's the most bad-ass bass player ever. He's also married to P.)

And if you want to know what the Queen Bee in action looks like:

love.this.girl. This is the real deal, folks. Not to mention, there's no words to describe how much P helped me get through adolescence.  (Okay, well there probably is, and I'll attempt it in the next blog)

And because Saturday will be equally as long, and I need to go fax paperwork (who bought a new car out of the blue this week?! This girl! I told you....lots to catch up on!), and seriously get going on wedding photo editing -- I'll break this into two entries..