Under the boardwalk....

So, our third concert production at Carlson is over. Let's go day by day and remember what happened. This could turn in to a really long post. ;)

Sunday: We had church, then came at 2:00 PM to set-up the stage. We finished in record time and then went out to eat at P.F.Changs for Father's Day.

Monday: Concert day! It was surprisingly chill...we went to the church at 10:00 AM while Grandpa or "Mac" was picking up Article One at the airport. We set-up and then went out to eat at Forrey Grill. Yummy...Let's elaborate a bit on my grandpa picking them up from the airport. He was super excited, and even make a sign that said "Article One Shuttle Service". He took them to Shrimp Shack and fed them until they about burst. Nathan didn't even finish his dessert...tsk tsk. Grandpa even almost got them a gig to play there. It was going to be $600 for the first 15 minutes..and then if they liked it it would cost them more to have them stay. Boy am I glad that he really isn't their manager..we could never afford to bring them down. ;) The rest of the night was fun...the concert was a bit crazy. We helped Deas Vail unload their stuff (very nice band), and then left to pick up AO from my grandparents house where they were watching the soccer game. This was the beginning of our realization that Nathan sleeps...a lot. They came to the church, and the sound-checks started. It got kind of crazy and a little behind on the schedule, but all worked out well. Nevertheless's trailer had broken, so I had to make an emergency trip with Josh (lead singer) to Ace Hardware for some zip-ties and to Lyons Printing for some sharpies. The rest of the night may come up in the highlights. All the bands did amazing, though I must say that I think AO put on the best show. Great job, guys!

Tuesday: After waking up at 8:00 AM to get ready, we met at my grandparents house at 9:30 AM to go to the beach! Emily rode with Nathan, Mark, Dave, and I on the way over. Anna rode with Cathy, and Matt rode with Jessi. We got a bit lost on the way over, and Mark (a Canadian for heaven's sake) actually led us to the park. It was really funny. Once we got there we put on sunscreen (hilarious), laid our towels out, and all the girls immediately ran in the ocean. Eventually the guys got in, and we played a game called 500. It's so much fun..you should learn it if you don't know how to play it. We ate sandwiches that Mark and I made that morning, and then just laid out for a while. On the way home, we stopped by Starbucks (divas!), and then came back to watch the soccer game..go Netherlands! Later that night everyone came back over and we started to play Rummikub. I'm definitely not very good at it, but my teammates were, so we won 2 out of 3! We had a delicious dinner of steak, potatoes, salad, rolls, and cobbler (except for 'brownie boy' of course..:)). We swam after dinner, and then hung out for a while before coming home to sleep.


Wednesday: This day was really laid back. We woke up and went down to my grandparents to have breakfast with them and the rest of the band. After breakfast, Matt, Dave, and Nathan worked on band stuff while Mark came with Grandpa and I to help at the church. I got some much needed work done, and then we went to lunch at Forreys. We had a scary waitress (more later), and lots of fun discussions. We said goodbye to all the friends there and then went by the church to get their stuff. We stopped by the grandparent's house to say goodbye to mom and grandma and to get the rest of their stuff in the 'Chrysler navy blue conversion van'. We stopped by Dairy Queen on the way to the airport (I thought I may burst), and then dropped them off.

Today: Emily, Anna, Chelsey, Pastor Benton, Grandpa, and I all cleaned up the church. After that, Emily, Anna, and I all went swimming. It was a good day, but kind of lonely without all the commotion of having the guys here.

So now for some highlights of this week:
1. AO's relationship with my grandparents. They want both of them to come on tour with them now (grandpa to be their manager and grandma to cook)
2. The beach...the Canadians waiting 15 minutes after applying sunscreen before getting in the water (which I guess worked for them b/c after an entire bottle of sunscreen, the did not get burned and the Floridians did!)
3. The guys getting in the water...priceless. Let's just say that they took the 'sting ray shuffle' very seriously.
4. Nathan sleeping. Every time we were still for more than 10 minutes he was out. Poor guy, he must've needed the break. (oh..and his hair after the naps was hilarious as well)
5. Starbucks...Matt and Dave used their 'charm' to get the lady at Starbucks to make them both new drinks at no extra charge. Everyone should take notes..
6. Rummikub tournament. Who knew that a board game could get so competitive?
7. Getting pelted by balls every time one of the guys jumped in the pool.
8. Nathan getting viciously sprayed by the hot tub when he was trying to put the cover on. I so wish we could have gotten that on video.
9. Dave, "Watch Out!". :)
10. The discussion at the dinner table (the canadian national guard (bows and arrows, moose, and a fleet of beavers), how bout that holocaust?)
11. Jay Leno (and the fact that two Canadian guys knew our national anthem better than all the Americans he interviewed)
12. Forrey Grill...Matt tried to take the top off the salt shaker and switch it with ours as a joke...and ended up making a big mess that the waitress almost beat him up over (and she totally could have...scary). Oh, and we arranged the tables in a way that the lady didn't like, so she didn't really like us from the beginning.
13. Priceline.com (did you guys have fun staying at the Hyatt last night?).

There are soooo many more things that I could have written about, but since I've written so much already...I'll just leave the rest in our memories. Thanks for coming, guys! We really had a fantastic time helping you live like Floridians for a little bit. See you in November.

Whew..I'm tired from writing all of this. I need sleep. :)

Brit

What's happened with Brit today? Well...

I woke up at 11:00 AM (and was still tired!), got up eventually and got a shower and then went to the church to make a CD of music camp stuff for Emi to listen to (yay!). On my way home, I picked up Emi so that we could watch the Hillsong kids DVD and learn the hand motions. Hopefully she posts the video soon..it was pretty hilarious!

Because I had not had lunch and we had no food here in the house, I went to Subway after dropping Emily off. Came back, had lunch, and started cleaning! I got a lot done, but then had to run into town to get the wood for building the stage tomorrow. I came back, and continued cleaning my room, my bathroom, my brother's room, the kitchen, and the living room. We even cleaned out our fridge, and my brother is currently cleaning off his desk. The cleaning bug must have bitten my family today. Odd.

So now I'm just sitting avoiding writing my thank you letters for graduation. Oh how much nicer (well maybe not nicer..but less stressful) it will be when the thank you cards are done, and the concert and music camp have passed. Maybe it will finally start to feel like summer. Who knows!

That's all for now! Have a great night, and I'll see most (if not all..ha!) tomorrow at 2:00 PM to set-up!

Brit

Sunday Already?

So the results of my test came back about a week and a half ago, and the mole was precancerous. (In case you don't already know..) I had to go back in and get more removed, and that test came back so now I'm clear! Yeah!

Moving on to more 'current' events, the Cross the Line Tour is coming on Sunday! I really cannot believe that this will be happening in less than 48 hours. Kind of insane if you ask me. We are almost sold out (less than 50 tickets remaining) and it looks as if we may actually sell out. I'll be sure to post about the concert once it happens. Tomorrow we are setting up..fun fun!

I sure don't know why, but God has been blessing us with even more opportunities for concerts. On June 16th, a production company wants to bring Wavorly, Ruth, and Nevertheless to our church. We wouldn't have to pay anything, but get a percent of the profits! We may even be able to get Article One to play at that show as well (the idea is going through management right now). It's so exciting! I'm actually really excited that for the June 16th show, we don't have to do anything; including sell tickets...*hallelujah chorus*

Just thought I'd write a short update as I sit here in the office waiting for a lady to call about tickets. I hope she calls soon, because I'm hungry. :)

Brit

I can't think of a title

Dave (Matt is in the one above)

All of us after the show!

Mark

Nathan

All the photos posted here were from Emily Hunter. She did an amazing job!

So. Jubilation Jam is finally over. I thought that I would be happy to finally get some sleep, but I find that I just want more time. I just want it to happen again so that we can have more time getting to know each wonderful person that was there. I don't think there could have been a more wonderful group of people at that event last night. So...here's a run-down of what happened each night.

Wednesday:

Most of the work on the stage was completed on this night. The extension was done by the Methodist Men so that we could get everything else ready on Thursday. It was a good day, but nothing particularly interesting happened.

Thursday:

Emily and I arrived at the church at 3:00 for a lonnnng night. We finished clearing off the stage, and put the black panels up to hide our equipment. Actually, we attempted to do that, but once again, the Methodist Men ended up taking care of that. While they did that, we set up the merchandise tables for the bands. The sound company arrived later on, and they are such amazing guys. I tell you, if you ever need a production company, just call Creative Sound Solution in Cape Coral. They are a very talented, knowledgeable, and fun group of guys that really do a great job. The lighting guys were also there, which was just a blast. They experimented with fog, which caused all of us to sit around and just watch out of amazement at what was actually going on in our church. We never dreamed that it would look like that. Then, we took a break with Frappuccinos and peanut-butter m&ms. Yummy. This is also when some of the work was done on the name-tags. Good times Emily, right? =) As the night went on, the people started to leave. Emily, Anna, and I were sent off on a food run to KenTacoHut. Unfortunately it was closed, so we went to McDonalds. Emily had Cody on the phone and was calling out the orders to me. Let me tell you they were very specific. McDonalds now thinks that we are crazy. Access 218 arrived soon after that, and then we went home. The night did not end there however, as the cops were called on our church at 3:30 AM because they were 'sound-checking'. Haha.



Friday:

We arrived at the church at 9:30 AM for an even longer day. We went around and got raffle prizes (my personal favorite was a 'guitar-star' that was donated from Ace-hardware that we had all the artists sign). Then, we walked around the neighborhood warning the neighbors about the noise level. Actually, I think that only two people answered their doors, but hey, we tried. Article One was running a bit late because of traffic delays, but were there as we arrived in the church. Let me mention again that these were some of the nicest, most fun guys that I have ever had the pleasure of being around. My great aunt passed away on Thursday, so it was great to have a support system of friends that lifted me up and made me laugh. I don't even know how to explain how the rest of the evening went, but I'll copy Emi once again and just give some highlights:

1. Being beaten by Preston 'the fooseball master'
2. Challenging Dave that he couldn't make a paper airplane. Get ready Dave..here it is: SORRY! 3. Having a huge time of prayer with most everyone for the event.
4. Praying with Article One before their show.
5. All the band's shows..they did great!
6. Scripture's guitar player's guitar breaking (I hope it is not an expensive fix, however).
7. Eating.
8. Monkey Face!!!! (probably one of my favorite moments EVER).

9. Emo pictures (ok no, this is my favorite).
10. Phillip's evil story about Wal-Mart
11. Eating
12. Seeing the lovely Shelia again.
13. Throwing grapes at Matt on stage.
14. A certain girl and her introduction to Mark.
15. Mark's hilarious impression of that to Dave (ok this might be my favorite).
16. Talk of the electric wheelchair entrance on stage (I'll have that ready for you guys next time).

There were so many more moments that I could talk about. I'm truly sad that everybody had to go, but it was so fun to make new friends! I just had an incredible time, and thank you to all who helped! Hey Dave, can you say it again please? =)

Britt

Sometimes my lack of a brain amazes me...

So today's been an eh kind of day. I haven't been feeling the greatest, so I really didn't want to go back to school for Comp 1. It wasn't all that bad though, because we had discussion for most of the class, so it was easy to stay awake.

We got some good news today, though. Over $1700 came in on Sunday for Jubilation Jam from church! Granted, that did include some sponsorship checks that we had already included, but that is still good news for the event! Woohoo! If anyone happens to live around the area and happens to read this, then call the church at 863-675-0656 to get some tickets. Plllleeaaseee come.

Also, pray for Anna's dad. He found out that he has a melanoma under his arm, and they are not sure if it is stage 2, or has spread, or anything. Melanoma is a very scary thing, so be sure to keep their family lifted up in prayer. Another prayer request would have to be my Aunt Shirley, because apparently my uncle took her to the hospital. AND, I just got one more. My brain. Miss Higgy just called to tell me that I missed another FBLA meeting. This is my 2nd that I've missed and guess what..I'm the president! My brain has just been gone for the last couple of weeks, with the stress of getting things together for Jubilation Jam. I feel horrible, but what can I say? Miss Higgy didn't send me the agenda stuff, so the meeting just slipped my mind. Not that it's her fault, because I should be responsible. However, it's always easier with reminders liek that. So pray that my chapter doesn't want to fire me already...lol

so yea...I'll post a picture of the old FBLA days just for fun.