Mine baby Mine!

Taylor Swift released her new single!!!!  It's called "Mine" and I LOVE IT!!!  It's a wonderful song, and it makes me so excited for her new album!!  She has already shot the video, so I'm just anticipating it's debut :-) 

Oh, oh, oh
Oh, oh, oh

You were in college, working part-time, waiting tables
Left a small town and never looked back
I was a flight risk, afraid of fallin'
Wondering why we bother with love, if it never lasts

I say, "Can you believe it?"
As we're lyin' on the couch
The moment, I can see it
Yes, yes, I can see it now

Do you remember, we were sittin' there, by the water?
You put your arm around me for the fist time
You made a rebel of a careless man's careful daughter
You are the best thing that's ever been mine

Flash forward, and we're takin' on the world together
And there's a drawer of my things at your place
You learn my secrets and figure out why I'm guarded
You say we'll never make my parents' mistakes

But we got bills to pay
We got nothin' figured out
When it was hard to take
Yes, yes

This is what I thought about:

Do you remember, we were sittin' there, by the water?
You put your arm around me for the fist time
You made a rebel of a careless man's careful daughter
You are the best thing that's ever been mine

Do you remember all the city lights on the water?
You saw me start to believe for the first time
You made a rebel of a careless man's careful daughter
You are the best thing that's ever been mine

Oh, oh, oh, oh

And I remember that fight, two-thirty AM
You said everything was slipping right out of our hands
I ran out, crying, and you followed me out into the street

Braced myself for the goodbye, cause that's all I've ever known
Then, you took me by surprise
You said, "I'll never leave you alone."

You said, "I remember how we felt, sitting by the water.
And every time I look at you, it's like the first time.
I fell in love with a careless man's careful daughter.
She is the best thing that's ever been mine."

You made a rebel of a careless man's careful daughter
You are the best thing that's ever been mine

Do you believe it?
We're gonna make it now
And I can see it

I can see it now

Sugarland Concert

I have this sort of "luck" sometimes when it comes to winning things.  One of my recent winnings was 5th row SUGARLAND concert tickets up at Harvey's Lake Tahoe.



A few years ago, I had 5th row Tickets to see Sugarland as well.  I was bailed on by my date at the last minute (because he "forgot" to get the night off work) so I asked another girlfriend of mine to go.  She bailed on me a couple of hours before the show.  So I ran to Lina (we were all living in the sorority at the time) and beggggggggged for her to come with me.  Pleeeeeeeease!  1st my date bails, then a friend bails, I can't have my best friend bail.

1 problem - My little bolivian friend doesn't like country.  BUT she willingly said she'd come with me, threw on an outfit and off we were to dance away at the Sugarland concert.  This is when she fell in love with Sugarland :-)  Thanks Lina!

(This is how close we were!)

Anywho, since she ended up really liking Sugarland, I asked her to come with me again.  Hey, maybe we'll have to make 5th row Sugarland concerts a regular thing? 

Anyhow, the show was spectacular.  Jennifer Nettles has such a beautful voice and is filled with talent.  I like to think she should be Taylor Swift's mamma because she puts on an amazing performance and has so much PASSION.

A Night in the Country

This past weekend was the country music festival called A Night in the Country (Website) in Yerington, NV.  The performing artists this year were: Diamond Rio, Terri Clark, Chuck Wicks, and Blake Shelton (headliner).  To sum it all up, it's camping + country concerts + booze + friends + cowboy boots.  it doesn't get better than that :-)

We camped with the same people we camped with last year... I like to refer to it as "Brett and co."  We were in TENT CITY and we were part of the minority camping in tents.  The lucky ones had RVs = Air Conditioned Luxury.  There were probably close to 10 tents in our group, ours held 5 girls (Me, Kimmy, Leslie, Marie, and Ryann).

Last year, we all arrived with our country boots, an ice chest, and a tent.  So this year we came a little more prepared with an EASY UP for the crazy July heat.  Luckily we had 4 Easy Ups total so we had plenty of shade.

At the end of the night, Kimmy and I made friends with the guys at the KBUL tent trying to get free stuff.  Yes, we were those girls.  BUT we walked away with free tickets to the Knitting Factory show, some CD's, chapstick, and most importantly: MEET AND GREETS!!  Unfortunately, we missed the memo that we were supposed to arrive before 5pm to receive our meet and greets so we forfeited them.  Sad mittens, I know.

I also ran into my favorite ginger, it was so glad to get my dance on with her :-)  One of the booths this year had STRAWBERRY margaritas and they were amazing!  So delicious, probably the best selling item all night (at least according to my wallet).

The next day we went to the pool in Yerington.  The heat is unbearable so it's the best bet there is because we can get ready in the bathrooms before the show.  A lot of the kids our age go to the river and get trashed, but we were ready for some relaxing pool time with children and old men.  After we got ready we prepared for Night #2!  We again put on our dancing boots.

After the concert, Marie and I wandered around the camps for a bit.  I wish I would have gotten a picture because it's hard to describe the campsite area.  Basically, it's rows and rows of RVs and tents, and at night time it's one massive party!  You walk around the area, run into old friends, and conveniently make new friends.  It's a ton of fun!  This isn't something I would typically do... I've always stayed away from the party scene, but there's something so summer-y and country about camping in a field with country music blaring everywhere!!

So the second night Marie, Brett, and I were walking around and dancing at one of the campsites (there were probably 50 people dancing there) and Marie yells "I lost my phone!!"  So here we are, the three of us looking for her phone in a massive field of DUST with too many people around.  I'm creepily feeling around everyone's dancing feet... I think everyone was thinking I was crazy.  I even got one boy to lend me his massive mag-light so I could at least SEE something.  We checked the port-a-potty, we checked the truck, we checked everywhere and Marie finally found her phone!! .... in her pocket.  We took a photo for giggles.

Oh, hello phone.

That was my wonderful weekend in Yerington, NV :-)

P.S. I lost my ID :-(  If anyone finds an ID of a little redhead named Ashley Cray, I'd like it back please ok thanks.

Brooks and Dunn

(Sorry it's a blurry image, it's the only one I had of both of them)

WHAT A GREAT CONCERT!

Courtney and I had amazing seats. We went to the concert in Marysville, CA. Unfortunately we missed Jason Aldean because we were stuck in horrible traffic the entire way. LUCKILY we made it to our wonderful seats during intermission!!

And we DANCED the whole time!

It was wonderful.

Jake Owen!!!

So this last weekend I went to the Jake Owen concert at the Knitting Factory with my cousin Sam, and friend since 7th grade Lisa Cohen.  While waiting in line, Sam ventures off to find where we purchase tickets.  While she's on the phone explaining the ticket process, Lisa is talking to a man asking her some questions.  Before I know it, I get off the phone and the man is handing us MEET AND GREET passes to meet JAKE OWEN!!!!!!!  Thank you to Lisa for answering whatever question he was asking CORRECTLY!

So after one of the most AMAZING concerts I think I've ever been to (next to Taylor Swift), we got to meet JAKE OWEN!!  I couldn't be more excited.  Finally, the pictures posted on his website!!!  When I met him I walked right up to him, gave him a hand shake and said, "I'm Ashley!!"  He goes, "Did you have fun?  You looked like you were, I saw you dancing the entire time."  JAKE OWEN SAW ME DANCING!  I wanted to say "Yep that was ME!  Dancing!  The whole time!  Dancing!  ME!"  But instead I played it cool and and said something along the lines of, "It was an amazing concert!" 

Not only did I get to meet Jake Owen, but he saw me DANCING!  Weeeeee!

Dear Jake Owen,  I should be in your next country music video!  

(P.S.  Being in a country music video is my lifelong goal.  It'll happen one day.  You'll see.)