Philly last month, New York City this month…, anyone need me to head over to L.A. next month? Anyway, how did I get to NYC? Well, it all started with winning a songwriting contest for an amazing organization called Constituting America. And you can read up on this awesome organization and info for next year’s contest at: www.constitutingamerica.org.
To my utter surprise and gratitude, (after taking an amazing trip to Philadelphia in September) I was privileged and honored to be invited to play on the Huckabee show on October 15. How cool is that?! Not only was I able to meet the Governor, but also got the opportunity to perform my winning song on stage with him. Not to mention the free trip to New York City, including a luxurious hotel, and a trip that I’ll never forget. (Plus, I WAS ON TV!!!)
So that’s how I got to New York in the first place, but I’ll bet ya’ll are just dying to know what happens when a country girl like me hits the Big Apple…
As soon as I stepped out of the airport, I admit, I wasn’t really amazed or anything, considering the idea I had made up in my head. (Which was more along the lines of: I step outside, take a deeeeep breath of fresh air, with the birds singing, and everything sparkling and glowing all happy like…. Silly little country girl, she’s obviously never been to New York City.) Actually, I was in Queens, (which I didn’t really know right then) so it was a little bit of a drive to our hotel in Manhattan. But as soon as I saw the skyline of the city, it took my breath away. I was like ‘umm this is a lot bigger than Cleveland…’. Driving through NYC to our hotel we saw So. Many. People. And our driver told us “You guys lucky, this not crowded at all, there’s hardly any people out today. It’s a Jewish holiday. Traffic very good” Uhhh… Okay.
Of course it was raining, which was a bummer, but after checking in to our hotel, we decided to try and see some of the sights if we could. Which led us to discover how, ummm… interesting it is to try to walk around the already packed streets with an umbrella and not injure anybody. I’d have to say the most amazing thing I saw that day was Time Square. It was awesome! I didn’t know you could put that much cool stuff in that one little area without it bursting.
I woke up the next morning in my comfy bed and realized: ‘Woah. I’m gonna be on TV today.’ It was a little freaky. Once we were all ready, we went down to meet the car they sent to pick us up, and were on our way. We walked in the door of Fox News Studios, and waited for somebody to take us to the studio. 
With butterflies in my stomach, I waited until it was time to rehearse, and then was led into the studio. As soon as I walked in, I stopped in complete awe at all the cameras and lights that were going to be pointed at my face in less than an hour. Immediately, I thought to myself: ‘Wait! What if I sneeze during the show? What if I trip over my guitar cable?! What if… What happens when… What do I do if I… ya know… Argggg!!!” But I kept walking. After being introduced to the Governor, who is very nice and made me feel very comfortable on stage, we started rehearsing. The whole band seemed to know exactly what I wanted and they just nailed it. I was so happy :)
The rest of the day included more adventures in New York City land, including restaurant trips, adorable pictures, museum visits, sightseeing expeditions, subway rides (in which you have as much space as the width of my computer screen) and memories I will never forget.
Even though I was nervous before the show, (how couldn’t I be?) all of it disappeared when I got my guitar in my hands. Right where it belongs and put my heart into the music. Right where it will always stay.
Thanks NYC…I’ll be back soon!
You can check out the rest of my NYC pics on Facebook!