Tag Archives: tour life

August 14, 2013
7 Comments

Greetings from: Nashville (Part Two)

I don’t know about you, but when I go to new cities I want to see what’s new and unique to that spot, but I also love to do the things I’m already obsessed with at home. For example, I love vintage and flea market shopping in Springfield (believe it or not, we have some fantastic spots), so I really wanted to see what Nashville vintage shopping was like as well. I heard that we just missed one of the bigger outdoor flea markets, which bummed me out, but we did get to stop by a few vintage places before Todd’s Mutemath show that night and see what Nashville has to offer.

While we didn’t bring home any large ticket items, I did score a silver bracelet that looks like three long claws have a death grip on my wrist. Nothin’ says “high society” like dragon talon jewelry, am I right?

We also got to spend some time out on a nearby lake, courtesy of Todd’s buddy and his new boat. It really was perfect boat weather, and even though I got a really attractive sunburn on my nose (complete with sunglasses white spot between my eyes), it was a fun memory to zip around the Tennessee water for a bit.

Lately our other favorite thing to do when we’re home is go to brunch (like here), so we made sure to stop by Sky Blue Cafe on our last day in Nashville before Todd sat in on a studio session. We chose to sit outside and had to keep scooting our table further into the shade to escape the hot sun, but the food was delicious and they make a perfect café au lait. 
As you can see, we weren’t about to leave Nashville without making a furry friend, and pretty girl Swiss here belongs to Katy + Gavin, a delightful couple that we met. Todd swears up and down that they are our Nashville alter egos: they have the same furniture as us, been married as long as we have, own a cat like us, met in a similar way like we did. They also like food and air. It’s pretty astonishing actually…

As if we didn’t already love the food and atmosphere in Nashville, just throw in cute kitties and we’ll be coming back for life.

xo. Laura

August 12, 2013
7 Comments

Greetings From: Nashville (Part One)

So, I am a bit ashamed to say that last weekend was my first official trip to Nashville, TN. Technically I’ve been there before for a quick whirlwind visit in college nine years ago, but we didn’t get to spend much time in the city and only got to visit the touristy areas. Even though we were technically in town for Todd’s show, I was thrilled that this time around I got to spend a few days tearing around the city with my guy. Thankfully we know a bunch of people that are current or former Nashvillians, so we got the skinny on all the good places to go.

First on our list was Barista Parlor. Apparently it is THE place to go for coffee in Nashville, and it’s pretty obvious why as soon as you walk in. It’s definitely the most hipster coffee spot I’ve ever been to (I’m pretty sure that we’re not nearly as cool as we need to be to hang out there), and I’ve never seen an ambience theme that’s half nautical and half motorcycle. I’m not much for sailor stripes, but I dig the motorcycle look, so I still had plenty to appreciate.

We also scored some gourmet popsicles at a place called Las Paletas. Oh, who am I kidding, we went there more than once while we were in town! The first time I got a chocolate with mint popsicle and the second time I chose the lime with mint flavor. SO good. I heard they have an avocado flavor sometimes, but it wasn’t on the menu while we were there. Oh, well! We were too busy licking up the popsicle goodness to care…Coffee? Check. Delicious sweets? Check. So far Nashville is looking pretty good!

Let’s see what else they got to offer…

xo. Laura

August 9, 2013
5 Comments

Nashville Jungle

Ok, ok, I know that Nashville, TN doesn’t exactly count as a “jungle” per say, but Todd and I took a trip down there last weekend for a Mutemath show and couldn’t resist a few photos when we found this little cove of leafy greens. It was raining a bunch that day, so everything looked super lush and shiny clean.

You can see that I couldn’t resist a jump for joy to be on a real road trip with my guy. I’ll put up some more photos from the rest trip soon, but, as a side note, isn’t my guy so handsome?

Yes, you’re right. He is…

signature

July 24, 2013
4 Comments

Mutemath Show: Tulsa, OK

Although living the Band Wife lifestyle has it’s ups and downs, one of the perks that I enjoy is getting to tag along and visit cool places from time to time (like here and here), and I got to stand by my man this past weekend at a MUTEMATH show in Tulsa, OK.

The funny thing about going to a Tulsa show is that almost exactly two years ago Todd stepped out on stage in Tulsa to do his very first show with the band, only to have a mini tornado rip through the outdoor festival moments before they started their first song. Aside from a few broken guitars (gasp) and a smashed 200k video wall owned by The Flaming Lips (yikes), everyone escaped safe and sound, but needless to say, Todd had to have his first show with the band another night soon after.

This festival in Tulsa was, thankfully, tornado free, and I liked it much better that way. The show was extra fun because I was also joined by fellow band wife Stacy King (of Eisley and Sucre fame and married to Mutemath drummer Darren King) and got to spend some girl time with her and their baby Scarlett (so cute!). The band was also playing with OK Go and Neon Trees and it’s always fun to check out bits of what the other bands are doing during their sets.

It’s really important to me to make sure I get to as many shows as I can. Aside from shows being a generally entertaining time, it’s crucial that I remind myself from time to time just how good Todd is at what he does. Seeing him perform makes me remember that it’s really worth all the sacrifices  we make to allow him to do what he was born to do. I’ve seen him play so many different shows, on lots of different instruments, but I always leave impressed. It’s easy to forget he’s a musical genius when most of the time I see him sitting around the house, usually in his underwear, being a total goof. What? That guy? Good at musical stuffs? For realz?? For realz.

(I took a couple of these photos with my iphone and edited them with the A Beautiful Mess App. If you don’t have that app yet, you really need to get it- so fun!)

This was my first show with my “real” camera, and it was both frustrating and fun to try and take as many pictures of the show as I could. I still have a long way to go my skills, but it’s always a learning experience to try and capture moments in a new type of setting.

The last picture is from a hotel room late that night. About a half an hour into our drive home, we hit a giant rainstorm that was so severe we had to crawl to the nearest hotel and spend the night. That car ride was probably the most scared I’ve been in a while and my stomach was in knots until we made it to the hotel. We could still hear the storm for the rest of the night and I felt terrible that we weren’t going to make it home to cuddle with furry baby Charlie, but I was so glad to be safe and curled up with my guy in a warm bed.

And I’m totally stealing that Freddy Mercury shirt Todd’s wearing. Consider it mine.

signature

April 17, 2013
5 Comments

Todd Talk: Singapore

So, most of the time on this blog you have to hear me blabbering on about pillows and cats and how I wish everything was either blue or teal, so I thought I would give your eyeballs a break and let you read a bit about the other side of the Band Wife life from my husband Todd‘s perspective. Todd got the chance to go to Singapore and Australia a few weeks ago with the band, and he charmingly agreed to answer a few questions and share some iphone photos from the Singapore portion of his trip.

Did you get to do anything new that you haven’t done before on this trip?

Well yes I suppose so.  That’s usually one of the goals when I go overseas.  I was able to contact a mutual friend that’s lived in Singapore for several years, and he and his wife generously squired me about town and took me to some of the best spots.  We went to the world’s highest microbrewery called LeVel33 (which I guess is just physically the highest off the ground), and it gave a fantastic view of the city. That view was almost as good as the view from atop the world’s most expensive casino property/hotel the Marina Bay Sands, which we also checked out.  That place is amazing from the ground and especially from the top.  Just Google some images if you’ve never seen pics of it.

Other firsts were getting to experience the fancy airport lounges in airports (we went to the Qantas Lounges usually).  I’ve decided that’s the airport version of being on a tour bus.  It made the airport experience go from dull and lifeless to “let’s just go fly somewhere so we can hang in the Lounge for awhile.”  Also I got to try first class for the first time from LA to Chicago.  There were 15 buttons just for how I wanted to recline my fancy seat.  It was fantastic.

Did you eat any cool or weird food?

Yep!  Dragonfruit, waffles on a stick, Yeo’s grass jelly drink, an iced milo, pie face (a chain that makes tasty shepard’s pies), and Kickapoo Joy Juice soda.  Also Australia has very tasty red wines in general.  I didn’t get too adventurous when it came to the foreign foods.  Last time I tried a kangaroo burger, which was just okay, so this time around I just decided to play it safe for the most part.

Was Singapore different from what you thought it would be?

In some respects, yeah.  All I heard in advance was that it’s a fairly clean place with similar living standards to the US (which was true), but I didn’t do any other research before going.  So when we landed and started driving around and I saw all the street signs were in English I was totally surprised!  I had no clue that English was one of the four main languages spoken there.  So it made it a lot easier to get around when we were there, but it was still confusing to me the whole time.

Oh and their death penalty for illegal drugs is always intimidating, even though I’ve never even touched an illegal drug in my life.  Also scary was this one sign that said “Warning- anyone caught stealing will be eaten,” and they didn’t seem to be joking…

What was one of your favorite shows while you were there?

Well for the Mutemath shows, it would have to be a toss up between the Singapore show, because the venue was so nice as well as the fans, and the Melbourne, VIC show at Billboard, because the crowd was so amped.  But I also have to say that I had just as much fun at two other shows while we were there.  The first was Big Scary, our Australian opener for most of the shows.  Their stuff is so great and they have really catchy melodies and cover a ton of ground for just a 2-piece.  The second cool opportunity was getting to see My Brightest Diamond for the first time, which (for this show) was also just a 2-piece.  Their singer does some amazing things vocally and musically.  It was my first time hearing her music and I was really impressed.  Also her drummer, Earl Harvin, was ridiculously good.

How much did you miss me?

At times, I’d say it was as much as a soulmate can miss it’s opposite.  But some times were easier than others.  The 3 days in Singapore actually felt like 5 and a half days, since when I first left you.  And then the week after that just felt like a normal 7 days.  But then the 8th day actually felt like 4 whole days stuffed into one day, and I wish you would’ve been there to help pass the time…and so on and so forth.

If you didn’t catch it, he’s quoting parts of the move “The Jerk” in that last answer. We love that movie. Thanks for sharing your trip Todd, so glad you’re home safe and sound!

xo. Laura