Memorial Day weekend

Hello!

I hope everyone had a great memorial day weekend! Before I jump ahead to the weekend...let me back up a few days...

RH played a benefit concert last week for some of U of A students raising money to go on a missions trip over the summer. A friend of ours that we met in Boston (she now lives in Reno) was in AZ for a work conference, and came to the show! We haven't seen her in 2+ years, so it was quite a treat to have her there...and we originally met through RH, so it was quite appropriate for them to be playing a show! For those of you who have seen our wedding video, she was our lovely cinematographer! :)

Here's Rache and Cameron before the show...


We met up with Papa David for lunch...he's always sporting a RH shirt when we hang out...he's quite the supporter!


Now for our Memorial Day weekend in San Diego...
We drove out there on Saturday afternoon. Ryan's mom joined us for the trip...it was so nice to have her there with us! The show was that night at Lestats...a coffeeshop that has a listening room nextdoor. The place was packed, and RH shared the stage with Ari Hest, a super nice singer/songwriter from New York. We stayed with Ryan's cousin Traci and her husband, Joe that night...

Traci and Joe are also artists, so it's always interesting to talk with them and hear how similar it is to market oneself in other forms of art.

Friends of ours from Tucson drove out for the weekend, and came to the show. We met up with them on Sunday and stayed at the same hotel, which was a short walk from the beach. This was our first "couples vacation"...and it was a ton of fun!

Ryan, Jacob, and Chris taking a break from their game with the hot lava frisbee...


Melissa, Samantha, and me after our walk on the beach...


The gorgeous sunset...


Today Ryan has his first day of teaching guitar lessons! He has 11 students signed up so far. It's fun to watch him prepare for lessons...reminds me of when we first met!
Here he is all ready for his "first day of work". :)


I'm dogsitting Lily and Stanley right now....and my yoga class starts tonight!

Have a great night!

Elizabeth is here!

On May 14th, my 5th niece came into this world! :)

Elizabeth Joy, 8 lbs, 15oz and a head full of dark hair!
Here's Nichole (my sister) and Elizabeth...


Emma, Roger, and Elizabeth...


Nichole and Elizabeth are both healthy and doing well! In fact, the family is going camping this weekend...life doesn't slow down when you have 5 kids. :) I love their adventurous life!

I've been home for almost 2 weeks now! Being in the same bed has been nice, but like I've told some of you, my definition of "home" has definitely changed. Home has definitely become more about being with family, friends, each other, etc...even now, we are more excited about seeing our friends and family in Tucson than being in our house (though, being in our house is a nice place to be).

Tucson is already mad hot! It was 103 yesterday afternoon! I've been trying to wake-up between 6:30 and 7am to go running, which most of you know is not my typical wake-up time, so it's been a bit of a challenge. I signed up for the chicago 1/2 marathon that is in September, and even though I'm not technically training for that yet, it has been good motivation to keep me running. I have recently gotten pretty psyched about the Tucson parks and rec department. They have gyms scattered throughout the city with nice workout rooms, a pool, classes, etc. To use the facility, it only costs $1 per visit!!! And, I just signed up for a 10-week yoga class that only cost $33! I love this place! :)

My new favorite running wear, is a running skirt. Honestly ladies, it's the most comfortable thing to run in...second to buns that is, but who really wants to run along the street in buns. :)

buns...


running skirt...


boy shorts underneath...


They come in various lengths, material, etc...so make sure you try a bunch on to get what is comfy for you! :)

My other consumer report, is this bag...I think it was made just for me! :) (For those of you don't know, my maiden name was Brown.)


I got to go to Rachel's bridging ceremony for girl scouts the other night...she has gone from Brownies to Juniors!


We've gotten to see a lot of family since we've been back, and also our friends. This Friday we are going to a Calexico Concert with Lori (ryan's mom). Our friend Chris plays bass for the band when they tour in the states...they are incredible! In addition to the band...there are also 2 full mariachi bands that will be on stage playing with them. Then on Saturday we are going to San Diego for a RH concert...send anyone you know that lives there our way! And, on Sunday, RH is playing in LA.

Have a great week!

1,524 miles from home...

Hello!

We've done it...we've played 62 shows in 24 states, driven 27,000+ miles (nothing we're proud of given the effects that has on the environment), gotten 7 oil changes, replaced one windshield, and now only have 1,524 miles to drive until we are in our own beds!!

The past couple of weeks...

We went to an Obama rally in Pittsburgh the day before the Pennsylvania primaries...


We stayed in the silos (now converted into a hotel) of the old Quaker Oats factory...


RH played in the shower of a dorm at the University of Akron for some students vlog...


RH was asked to play their song "Gardens and the Graves" for a send-off party for a family that is taking their 4 kids (ages 11, 10, 7 and 5) on a one-year "EdVenture" biking around the world (Europe, West Asia, and North Africa). The family has a podcast and uses "Gardens and the Graves" as their theme song. This families drive to learn and travel was incredible and contagious...to find out more about what they are doing check out: http://www.blogger.com/img/gl.link.gif

RH played a house concert at Jana's...


We (Ryan and I) bought our first piece of "real art"!...the photo I've attached is from her website so it's of the whole page, our piece is just of the main painting...If you are interested in her art, you can check out her full site at www.silvialopezchavez.com


There is something that feels so good about buying local art...whether its a painting, a book, a cd, etc...I don't know if it's because we are artists, or if it's a feeling everyone gets.

Ryan and I saw a great documentary called "Blindsight"...a very short summary: it's about a group of children in Tibet that are blind and climb most of Mt. Everest...very good...we recommend it! :)


Our friend Trish Ryan's book came out, and we were able to go to her book celebration! We've read the book already and loved it! It's her memoir of finding faith, love, and happiness...you can read more about her, her book, and her book tour at www.trishryanonline.com


Our last show was in NYC at The Underground Cafe...a church sponsored coffeehouse with live music that takes place one a month in the Tribeca area. It was a GREAT show, filled with fun surprises...like my friend Meredith and Kristy coming! (meredith is a friend from Boston...so to see her in NYC was a BIG surprise!) :) ...thanks Meredith!

I think that's almost everything! Right now we are driving through the mid-west on our way to Tulsa, OK for the night. Then, tomorrow we'll be driving to Albuquerque, NM on Tuesday.

Tour de tour

Hello!

This past month has been full of weather variances (everything from driving through whiteouts in upstate New York to running in shorts and a t-shirt in Louisiana)...we've met lots of people and have gotten to experience a lot of different cultures across the USofA. I don't think I thought too much before this trip about how many different cultural regions I would get to experience while zig-zagging across the country. This entire tour, but especially these past two months, has given us a really good look inside a lot of homes and how people live in different areas. I'll try to elaborate more on this throughout the blog as I post photos...

We spent a handful of days in Michigan this month. RH got to play at my mom's high school (Greenville), Central Michigan, and Western Michigan. My family, friend from high school-Kelly and her husband Russ, and friend Jen (Willard) from Albion College came to the show at Western Michigan which was a super fun surprise!!

Dave, Jen, and me...


(Okay, just a little disclaimer that I started the first part of this blog post a month ago, and I'm just picking it up again now....so I might not elaborate on everything as much as I thought I was going to for the sake of saving your eyes from staring at a screen for hours...)

RH played another house concert...this one in the woods of Shreveport, Louisiana. The directions to get to the house were seriously, "take dirt road until it ends, turn left and take next dirt road until it ends, turn right and house is the only house at the end of the street". It was a gorgeous location for a house concert, right next to a lake. This was definitely one of those stops on the tour of getting to see what life in different regions of the country is like.

Ryan and Cameron rehearsing before the show...


The house concert folk...


Our next hi-light was in Memphis, TN where RH played at the University of Memphis, and then afterwards went out to dinner at this awesome local spot where everyone shoots toothpicks onto the ceiling through straws...so fun, although I did get a little light headed from doing it too much.


We spent about 5 days in Nashville...NASHVILLE ROCKS!! Okay, I wasn't the one to come up with that slogan, but it's true...I loved Nashville! The weather was great, neighborhoods were very communal and friendly, and the music was fantastic! This was another time of getting to spend time inside houses and seeing how people in other regions live.
I got to meet up with another college friend, Deania...her parents were also in town for the weekend.


We took Cameron to the music strip for his birthday...


Our favorite music was at Roberts...


We stayed with our friends Laura, Jason and their daughter Lily...they are friends that we've met in the college touring music scene. Laura owns her own cloth diaper business, and works at a camp every summer, needless to say, we became fast friends. :)



Who wants a weenie?!?


RH played a HUGE show at Cottey College, which is an all-women's college in Missouri. Out of a 300 person college, 200 people were there...we sold over 75 cds, a ton of shirts, etc...it was a really fun show to be at!

Another college was good to us and put us up at a Bed and Breakfast instead of a hotel...friends that we made in Shreveport even came up for the show!



We went to a NACA (National Association of Campus Activities) conference in St. Paul, MN for the Northern Plains Region. These conferences are where we book our college shows for the following semester. In the past we have gotten 10-15 shows booked per conference. At this conference, we booked 56 shows!! The response to their showcase was crazy...and it filled up our entire fall semester!

My brother-in-law was admitted back into the hospital for pancreatitis, and with my sister being 9 months pregnant, and my parents out of the country...I went home to spend time with my sister and her kids. It was a fun week of beautiful weather, playing at the park, staying up late talking with my sister, etc. I don't think I realized all the little daily things that happen when you have kids, i.e. throwing up at the park from going on the merry-go-round, a baseball pitch hitting the batter in the neck, etc. :)
Here's Emma hugging Nichole's belly...


Roger is back home recovering from a week in the hospital...everyone is anxiously awaiting the new baby's arrival!

We had 4 days off, so Ryan and I went to Maine, while Cameron went to visit his girlfriend in Chicago. Maine is one of our favorite places to go (we have a lot, but it really does rank high up there). My friend Jill's parents have a home on Round Pond that they rent out, but since they didn't have any renters for the week, they let us stay there! It felt like a real vacation for us. We played by the ocean climbing over the rocks, and then would come home and make a yummy dinner in the full-sized kitchen.
Here we are on top of a rock by the lighthouse...


A fun surprise was finding a place that sold fresh eggs! For those of you who don't know, I love buying local fresh food...so when we saw the sign, Ryan made a fast turn so that we wouldn't miss our opportunity!
The funniest thing, was the actual place where we bought the eggs...I'll show you with photos...




We got to visit Jill's parents for the afternoon...have lunch...go for a walk...it was wonderful!


Then for the best place to watch a sunset on the east coast (on a peninsula) we went to Pemaquid Beach...


Only 2 weeks of shows left, and then 4 days of travel to get home!! We're really looking forward to seeing all of our friends and family in Tucson...and so glad we got to see so many of our friends and family all over the country over the past 4 months!

Weeks 8 & 9

Two weeks ago RH had their first house concert! House concerts are this great new phenomenon where musicians come and play an intimate acoustic show in your living room, kitchen, backyard, or wherever. The audience can be comprised of people you know, or it can be opened up to the musician's fan base. To read more about how to put on a great house concert, read here: www.danielboling.com/id29.htm
If you or anyone you know would be interested in hosting a RH house concert, just let me know (abby@ryanhoodmusic.com) and I can give you more details.

Here's a group photo of some of the people who were at the first house concert...


The following day we hung out in NYC (complements of our friend Paul Ma who let us use his condo while he was gone for the weekend)! Before and after the show in Greenwich Village, we hung out at Katie Reese's apartment (Ryan's friend from high school). Katie, her boyfriend, and her roommate all came to the VT show a few weeks back. So when we got to her apartment, she nonchalantly said that something that happened since we last saw them was that she and Steve got engaged!! So, I decided to change the "pre-party" into an engagement party! :)
Katie and Steve:


Engagement Party food and flowers:


Jackie (Katie's roommate) and Chris (Katie's building-mate)


The show at Rockwood Music Hall in NYC


That night Cameron flew to visit his girlfriend in Chicago while Ryan and I drove to Boston so that we could see friends and go to church at the Vineyard (where we used to go and got married). It was sooo great to be able to go to a church service there! Afterwards we went out to lunch with a couple (Crystal and Tim) who used to be in our Marrieds Small Group. Then that evening we went to Lisa and Stace's for dinner. Lisa and Stace were in our marriage class that we took at the Vineyard just after getting married. They are the neatest couple with some of the coolest middle school kids I've ever met (and who's names happen to be Abby and Cameron).


Monday night we hung out in Brighton Center with Jess and Tim. Tim is doing great, after having been diagnosed with cancer in October...he's already undergone surgery and chemo...and is on the upswing!

Tuesday night Ryan and I cooked dinner at Will and Orla's and also had Jill and Jana over for dinner...
Here's our family photo:


While driving through Bethel, Maine, we saw the "World's Largest Snow Woman"...note that the arms are christmas trees, the eye lashes are skis, and the buttons are tires...!!


Everyone always wants to know what our weirdest road life experiences are...and last week we got to add to our collection of stories...

We got to our hotel, and Cameron took his stuff into his room while Ryan and I went to our room. A couple of seconds later Cameron came back to announce he had totally scored with his room. Usually this means that he's gotten a king size bed, honeymoon suite with a jaccuzi, or something along those lines. This time however, this is what he found in his room:

The toilet tank in the entry way...


The bathroom sans toilet tank...


A stash of cereal, bread, and an empty beer bottle on the dresser...


A pair of trousers on the bed...


And unfortunately I didn't take a photo of the other bed b/c at the time I didn't understand that it was just as odd and random...but it was covered in hotel room towels, half folded and half unfolded...as if housekeeping had been working in there and then just stopped...It was truly the weirdest hotel experience we've had...needless to say Cameron got a different room for the night. :)

We made a trip back to Boston the following Sunday so we could go to church at the Vineyard again...it's starting to become a nice habit. :) Afterwards we went to lunch with David, Yaminette, and their new baby, Naam. (to fast forward, this is the same David that opened the show at Club Passim on 3/7/08).


We got to spend a night in Springfield with Jen and Nathan (another couple from our marriage class). Jen made us a delicious home-cooked dinner of veggie lasagne! Cameron and Nathan got to share their visual art...they are both super talented! Here we are in their cute eating nook...the table is a sweet artistic creation of Nathan's...


Finally got to drive through Belchertown (we pass signs for it on the highway all the time) and of course always have a good laugh at the name...


And the creative advertising award for this blog goes to Greenfield Community College...


For anyone who lives in or around the Grand Rapids, MI area, RH is going to be playing in the auditorium of Greenville High School on Tuesday, March 11 as a fundraiser for their student council. The show starts at 7pm and tickets at the door are $5. Please come...it'd be fun to see you!! :)