Days 4-6 - Long Beach, CA / DISNEYLAND / San Diego, CA

I was uploading pictures from my phone for this post and realized that I had hardly any from Long Beach but then I remembered that we went to Disneyland while we stayed in Long Beach and that's why. Right now we are currently in Austin, TX and a lot has happened since my last post. Traveling across the country is exhausting. Below is a picture from Chads show at Pikes. My old boss Jessica, her boyfriend Tom, and best friend Beth came out to see the show and it was so much fun! The one thing I love about doing a long road trip in so many cities is getting to see all of my friends along the way. I don't know how or when it happened exactly but I feel like we've got friends in every major city now. Getting to see them has been priceless. I love you guys! 

The second day we were in Long Beach we went to Disneyland for my birthday! Chad and I have both been to Disneyworld but never Disneyland. It's been about ten years since either of us have been so we were extremely excited. It was by far one of the best birthdays I have ever had. We got there just have 9AM and stayed until well after 6PM. It was super busy but somehow we lucked out and the only SUPER long wait we had was for Space Mountain. That hour and half wait time turned out to be really fun as we met some girls in line that were playing a charades game on their Iphone and they let us join in. Just imagine three people yelling clues at each other while one person guesses. Remember these were strangers but after about twenty minuets I was ready to put them in my pocket and take them home with me. It was an absolute blast. After a little while we noticed other people around us in line playing the same game - I can't think of a better way to pass time waiting for rides but enough about that ... picture purge below:




I have no idea why I'm placing my hand like that on my chest. I started doing it recently and I don't even realize I'm doing it until I see these pictures after!



I couldn't stop smiling!

The Haunted Mansion was epic and all decked out in Nightmare Before Christmas stuff.


I wanted so badly to buy one of the ride pictures of us but everyone turned out terrible so we just took a picture of the picture. I have my mouth wide open in all of them... WHY do I look so excited/crazy?

And lastly... the food. We ate a gigantic churro, pizza, and this guy. It was all yummy yummy.


After the long and crazy Disney day we woke up the next morning to head to San Diego. The 31st is my actual birthday and I decided to try out a new hair style and to put on makeup. Gotta look cute right? Well, instead of going exploring and shopping like I originally planned we ended up at Firestone for Chads car. He just had to go and run over a nail and ruin my life. Just kidding - shit happens as they say and we safely got him to the store only to find out that all his tires were bald and we needed to get new ones. Four hours and several hundred dollars later HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ME. I tell you something always happens to make me cry on my birthday... BUT I refused to let it bring me down for long. I had one request/demand and that was to watch the sunset on the beach and the timing worked out perfect. We got his car back an hour before and we got to the beach with 15 mins to spare. After that we went to the Cheesecake Factory for dinner and walked around the mall looking at all the purses I could have bought with that tire money.

Do we like the double buns? I'm loving it. 

We ended up spending New Years Eve cuddled up in the hotel room and I can't think of a better way to start off 2015. 

On the first we got back on the road to go to Tuscon, AZ. Nothing much of interest happened during that time but OH BUDDY was the next day eventful. 

Next time on the blog: Lunch with friends in New Mexico and almost dying in Texas.

Maybe we should all go to Colorado

Right now I'm at Disneyland with my husband but I have had this post ready for awhile and I figure today is as good as any...

In October we took a trip to Denver, CO to visit some friends and explore the city. I've heard great things about Denver and it's been on my must see list for awhile. I was not disappointed. It was one of the most fun filled vacations we have had in awhile. Usually when we travel it's just Chad and I off on our own but this time we had so many friends in the area that we were busy meeting up and exploring with them the entire time! The weather was absolutely fantastic - we just couldn't have asked for a better trip.

We spent 3 Days in Denver and Chad played two shows while we were there. Here are a few photos:

It was a fantastic trip. Some other highlights were Voodoo Doughnuts and Casa Bonita. Yes, the one from South Park. With the cliff divers and all you can eat Mexican food. Chad literally squealed and made us promise to take him to eat there after we visited Red Rocks. It ended up being the funnest time I've had in awhile. Blackbarts cave was better than expected and there was a huge arcade and just tons of fun stuff to do. The food is barely decent so don't go there for that but if you're looking to pretend your 12 again this place is for you! Cliff diving shows every 30 mins y'all!

Thanks for the good time Denver! 

XOXO 

Christmas Photo Tease

I was very unsure if we would be getting Christmas cards out this year at all much less one with a picture of us on it. Scheduling a day that Chad could be off work with me and hoping it wouldn't be raining like crazy tested my sanity this year. We were way late to the game... Thanksgiving came and went with no photo shoot but then Chad was able to get off work on a Saturday (CRAZY because those are his busy days at work) and the rain stayed away long enough for us to get a few cute shots. So, Monday night I ordered our cards and we are in the process now of getting them all addressed and mailed out. With us preparing to move across the country again this my friends is a certified Christmas Miracle!

Here are a few shots for a little tease:

 

We picked two different photos for our Christmas cards and I'll share those along with a special extra we did this year for my Christmas day post! It was super windy when we took these which sucked because my hair is a hot mess but I think they turned out pretty good. One of my best friends Terra took these - she is an EX wedding photographer but somehow I still trick her into taking photos of us every once in awhile. I love her style and she is the most fun to shoot with - THANK YOU TERRA! She also did our photo shoot from last year  (when I had purple hair!) and if I can get her to come visit us in Mississippi she'll be doing a few more shoots through the years as well.

Does your family send out Christmas cards every year? 

*Chad also just recorded one of my favorite Christmas songs - Happy X-Mas by John Lennon and its up for FREE DOWNLOAD until Christmas! I wanted to share it with all of you guys - Download it here free until 12/25/14 and be sure to LIKE Chad's page on Facebook to keep up with the TOUR!

The 'Bringing it Back' Tour

As I've talked about 7,000 times on this blog already my husband plays music. (Listen HERE)

 

(Local radio interview in Bellingham, WA) 

Well, he not only plays it but he writes it, records it, sings it, creates it, ignores me for it, and tours it too. I have no idea why he was blessed with such talent but God really gave him a gift and I'm so proud that Chad shares that gift with the rest of us. With our big move planned and the cities selected Chad set out to do his FIRST cross country tour. I knew that he would be able to set everything up but it was A LOT of work. Over a month of emailing/calling/networking with venues, making sure dates and times would work, and lots and lots and lots of planning -- but he did it! He accomplished this dream and we are about to live it out together on the road for over a month! I am so proud of him... I am so excited to watch him play at all these different venues and I HOPE to see a few of you along the way. Below are the official "Bringing It Back tour dates" and tickets are on sale now... JUST KIDDING. We ain't on that level yet which means all shows are FREE! If we are coming to a city near you - you should come hang out with me. 

 

*NEW DATE ADDED*   

                 1/27 - Charleston, SC @ Craft Conundrum 6-9pm

To keep up with tour details LIKE Chad Knight on Facebook and subscribe to his EMAIL LIST.

The kickoff party for this tour is TOMORROW night at Rooneys in Woodinville, WA and it will be the LAST Seattle area show. I hope all of our local friends can make it to this one... we are going to miss you guys so much and the support that Rooneys has showed Chad over the last 3 years has been tremendous.

Tomorrow nights flyer: 

In other Chad Knight music news:

Chads new song "THE DARK SIDE" (Star Wars lovers you GOTTA listen to it FREE here) is going to be featured on a compilation CD from Uplift Apparel. They are a fantastic clothing company based in California with the platform, "A clothing brand supporting the reggae scene." 

 Follow your dreams people and never let anyone tell you, "you can't do it" because YOU CAN.

Fun Fact: The 'Bringing it Back' tour got it's name from Chads song 'Lazy Mississippi'

"We are bringing it back down to L-Town - Laureeeeel Mississippi!" 

Anything is Possible

This video has blown me away. There are no excuses in life... anything is possible if you put your mind to it. I started watching this video when I lose motivation. Like right now my stomach is hurting and I'm not feeling very well but I've got 40 squats to do and dang it, I'm going to do them. Change takes time and consistency. If Arthur can do it, so can I. What are you waning to accomplish? Stop waiting. GO DO IT.

--------------
My husband is currently trying to do accomplish something right now that will be absolutely amazing if completed. He just launched his first Kickstarter project last Friday and is asking for his family/friends/fans to support him on making his next CD, Identity Crisis. He wants to record it this Spring in Seattle and is trying to get all the funds in line to pay for it. In years past, for all his other CD's he has paid out of his pocket upfront and then packaged and sold the past six albums all by himself. Well, as technology shifts and the Internet makes reaching out more of a reality he's decided to ask for support first and is asking his fans to PRE-ORDER the new CD via his Kickstarter (Only a $15 pledge)

Kickstarter is really neat considering it's success in backing projects for any person with a marketable idea. It takes a community and support for anyone to make it in this world and now there is a place where people can show that support in order for someone else to be able to create a product for the masses.

Please take a look at Chad Knights Kickstarter page and check out the pledges you can make and the rewards that they bring. Every pledge will be recognized and thanked because the people that support one another deserved to be recognized. Thank you in advance for glancing at the art my husbands trying to make and as always for taking the time to read the words that I write. Of course, if you can't donate just think about sharing this page with people you know or maybe even writing a blog to help spread the news of the project. Every bit of support means the world to us, as watching my husbands dreams come true is the same thing as watching my own.

Birthday Madness

At the beginning of August my husband decided to kill me with events for his birthday. You see he is unlike any other man I know and gets really excited about his birthdays. Normally, he likes to do a few things but this year we had so many events that just happened to fall during his birthday week that Chad scammed me into all of them.

 

Now, if you know me... I have limits. I like alone time... I like staying in my house all weekend and not seeing a soul. So, mentally prepping for the mass amount of social interaction was pretty intense. Chad didn't really have a great birthday last year so this year I really wanted to make sure he had a blast and I can say without a doubt I think this was his best birthday ever.

 

I'm going to (try) and do a short recap of events: 

 

Thursday (Aug. 1st) we kicked off his birthday week with a Pepper show at the Showbox at the Market. Chad had a gig at Hard Rock that day as well for happy hour so since we were already going to be downtown and Pepper (one of our favorite Reggae bands) was playing right next door we decided to make a night of it. The show was AMAZING. Pepper did not disappoint but the photo booth at the venue did. Our pictures came out wet and blurry - how rude. If you go there save your $4 and give that machine a kick for me.

 

Check out my Instagram to see a kickass video from that night and don't forget to follow me to keep up with all my adventures in real time.

 

We had a little down time that weekend but Chad requested my special Stromboli pizza on Friday night and a dinner date to Outback (his favorite) on Saturday. Sunday we had plans to go to our friend Terras and have a movie marathon in her complexs private theater. I got really excited about this movie event and pretended that Chad was really turning 5 instead of 31. Que the ninja turtle plates, movie candy bar, popcorn, Mexican food, and a jumbo cookie cake.

 

All of which you can see on my Instagram.

 

All of our friends suck because they are all healthy and junk so hardly any cookie cake was eaten and we ended up coming how with 90% of all the candy. WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU PEOPLE?!

 

Seriously, only the bottom half was eaten. Chad's name was still pretty much intact. Weak people WEAK. Needless to say I made him take it all to work with him so I couldn't eat any.

 

The next night was the BIG event. Chad opened for Long Beach Rehab at Rooney's in Woodinville and a ton of our friends came out. He got to meet Q-Ball from Sublime fame and play with Patrick and ex member of Bad Brains. For Chad... it was getting to play with some of his idols and he was smiling from ear to ear the entire night.

 

 

 

The next day (Aug. 6th) was Chads actual birthday and I took off work so we could spend the day together. We woke up, went to the gym, and then went to Denny's for his FREE Grand Slam breakfast that you get on your Birthday! (Just bring your ID to prove it at any Denny's location)

 

The rest of the day was spent playing video games and watching movies with a Sublime and Iration concert later that night. I kinda sorta punked out on the concert... I just couldn't deal with having to go stand in a field for 4 hours so Chad went with his bestie Jarred and had a great time.

 

His Birthday week was officially over and when it was all said and done I asked him if he had a good one. He point blank said this was the best week of my life so, I'll take that as a nod for wife of the year.

I love you Chad. Every one of your birthdays is the best to me because if you hadn't been born I wouldn't have my soul mate. You are my everything. My world. When your dreams happen mine do too and I'll always be there supporting you. You have a heart of Gold and I feel so lucky that you gave it to me. I cherish you, my sweet sweet Chad.

 

 

 



HBD CHAD KNIGHT

It's my boo thangs birthday today!

 

We are out celebrating but here's some pictures of his cute little face:

 

 

You rock my world.