ROAD TRIP:
My mom and my dad came with me on this long trip to Iowa City. My dad was the driver. We left our house at about 2:30pm thinking that would give us plenty of time to get there. It was a long 4 to 5 hour drive. I worked on some of my homework for most of the trip. When we were getting closer, I got a call from Denise (ddker) and she was telling me that she had just gotten to the auditorium. I still had a long, long ways to go. When we did get closer to Iowa City, it was quite easy to find the Hancher Auditorium. My dad drove us up to the door and let us out. We made it quickly through the entrance and away from the brochures and pamphlets being passed out. The news crews were in the entry interviewing people. I decided to give Denise a call to let her know that we had arrived. No one answered. We headed inside with our tickets. They didn't search our purses, didn't tell us no cameras ...nothing. It was nice! Once inside, we headed for the Hancher Cafe. Once there, I decided to call Denise again. I left a message on her voice mail and then I decided to call Shanna (shannabanana) and let her know that we were there too. Turns out she was sitting in her seats so she made her way up to where I was. After a hung up, Denise walks up to where we were. We all chatted for a little bit then got ready to take photos with each other. My mom took the pictures - one with Denise and I, one with Shanna and her friend Sarah , and then one with just me and Shanna. We checked our watches and decided it was time to head on in for the show.

	Martie Maguire

THE SHOW:
My mom and I found our seats and we sat down. I spotted Shanna and Sarah in their seats (which were 4th row) and I went on down and sat beside them. James Taylor walked onstage first and did a few songs with him and his guitar. Then he introduced the girls and had them come out. Emily looked gorgeous! She had on jeans and a black top with a green jacket and her hair was nice and full with wavy curls. Natalie looked excellent wearing her black once again and a jacket. Her hair was in a little poof with braids on the side (kind of how Em wore it a lot during the TOWT Tour). Martie was stunning with her unqiue outfit and her hair in extensions .. nice and long. I managed to sit by Shanna and Sarah for at least 3 songs before the couple came and took their spots. So I headed back up but let Shanna keep my camera to continue getting pics for me. The ushers were getting stricter though and were constantly taking away people's cameras. So Shanna told me that she never took pics. At intermission I went and found out there were some empty seats down by Shanna so my mom and I went and sat down there for the rest of the show. The audience for this show rocked! So many times was the place quiet and someone would holler out something. Someone yelled out, "I love you Martie!" "I love you Natalie!" "I love you Emily!" and James replies, "What am I? Chop liver?" Here's the songs they sang:

"Something in the Way She Moves"
"Sweet Baby James"
"October Road"
"Some Days You Gotta Dance"
"Truth No. 2"
"Travelin' Soldier"
"Mississippi"
"Shower the People"

(intermission)

"Sin Wagon"
"Long Time Gone" "Cowboy Take Me Away"
"Ready to Run"
"Carolina in My Mind" (dedicated to John Edwards)
"Live It Up"
"Slap Leather"
"Fire and Rain"
"Wide Open Spaces"
"Landslide"
"How Sweet It Is"
"You Can Close Your Eyes"

	Meeting James Taylor

AFTER THE SHOW:
Shanna and Sarah were planning on hanging out around the buses to see if the girls would come out afterwards. So I decided I'd tag along. My camera decided to be all screwy around that time so I was a little peeved. I had put new film in it and it didn't like it. I was fumbling with it when Emily came out and walked straight onto the bus. Then a couple minutes later Martie and Gareth came out and got on the same bus. I turned to Sarah and said, "I saw Gareth's head!" haha .. Then a few minutes after that, Natalie came out, paused, did a little pose for all of us cheering, then headed for her bus. We waited to see if they were going to hang around but nope, the buses backed out and off they went. I spotted Tony and the girl's hairdresser .. which was cool. We were about to leave when a small little crowd was forming in front of me. It was James Taylor. So I tried to figure out what I could have him sign. I decided on my jacket. Shanna and Sarah returned and Shanna said that we should get a picture of the three of us with James. We used her digital camera. James was all nice about it. After my mom took the picture, we all complained about the flash and he asked, "Ok, you got that? Did it work?" ... I was about to ask him to sign my jacket but someone else asked for him so I figured a photo was good enough. We looked at the photo and it turned out great! James and I matched with our jean jackets! lol! Shanna told me she'll send me the photo when she returns home. What an awesome night!!

THANK YOU'S:
Denise for the tickets, you rock! Shanna for using her digital for the meeting pic, my dad for driving my mom and me down to Iowa, and the lovely ushers and workers at Hancher Auditorium for never catching me using my camera!

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