more pics

These are some pics from the various shows during the tour

Here are some pics of the last tour

This is me in Sarajevo.
From these bluffs, snipers killed over 10,000 people over a four year period. It was strange to know that this beautiful land had been used for such destructive purposes years before.

Hi there, back in Nashville

Hey folks,
We are now back home. It was a wonderful tour and we had a blast performing for troops of all nations all over Europe. There were so many moments that we laughed and made memories and learned things that we will carry with us for the rest of our lives.
One of our last days in Germany, we played in a Castle that is now in disaray. We jumped in the window sills and sat and watched "real life" down below in the city down the hill. It's funny to wonder what life would have been like a few hundred years ago. I feel so grateful to be alive now.
Anyway, we have all had serious jet-lag, and are glad to be getting some sleep!

Thank you to all of the companies who really helped us on this last tour- Bose, Bumble & Bumble Hair products, Goodbuyguys, and Safe Skies Locks- you are great and we really appreciate your support!
hope to hear from you soon!
Carly

Howdy from Bosnia

Hello there,
Here is the next installment from my travels- it is our first rainy day during our whole trip- and our mood sort of matches the day.
Right now we are at Camp Eagle- in the northwestern part of Bosnia. We arrived in Bosnia last night via Frankfurt and were taken to Camp Butmir right outside of Sarajevo. We went out into Sarajevo after negotiating with our hosts and were taken to a brewery in the city that has been there since 1864. We had a great dinner with many of the higher ups in the military and it was nice to be there. In the city, there are still building that show signs of bullets lodged in the sides of them. It is strange to me that a city that had the Olympics only 22 years ago could have since gone through such strife. The air feels sad and heavy and the locals don't like to talk about what has happened very much.
The base we are staying on is a NATO base and has PXs (shops with supplies) for many countries, and Josh and I have had a fun time perusing them and seeing how cheaply we can find good wine...:)
It is quite bleak here. They are closing the bases we are at after almost 10 years of them being open- and they are just down to their bare bones. no computers, phones, etc. They are transitioning from US bases to Euro bases and so our supplies are being shipped out. We have another show in a few hours and we are looking forward to that.
This morning on our 3 hour drive to Camp Eagle, we watched "Welcome to Sarajevo". If anyone is interested in seeing what has happened here, watch this movie. It was very very disturbing, and then to get out of the bus and see the places that these attrocities took place was creepy and left all of us in a pensive state. I will never understand how such a simple thing as religion can garner the right to destroy others in the name of God. In the states we hear about it, but we don't really see the remnants of war- and here they are everywhere. bullets in buildings, trees growing up in the insides of houses where the roofs were blown off by bombs. Someone in our group said it looked like Katrina- but this was done by one human to another. Sarajevo was a celebrated city of equality and understanding- within 4 blocks, all the major religions stood next to one another and coe xisted together in peace until the breakout of war. and the story here is a complicated one. it spans years, and history and personal lives and stories and I just can't understand (and hope I never do) how some people can hate other people for believing something different than they do.
A few days ago, we were in Manheim, Germany and performed for the troops there at the SHAPE base, and we performed inside of an old NAZI officer's club. The show was amazing, and they gave us the tour of the basement of the building that was left intact as it was when the US troops took it over. It was beautiful and eerie- there was even a tale of a ghost that lives there! So, it has been strange feeling the remnants of not only one war, but two- and really wondering what does matter in life and where we should put our energy and love and energy.
The trip has been wonderful and enlightening and the chocolate and cheese are great! We are laughing a lot and bonding and creating our days with intention and joy. If you want to watch a movie that will inspire you and change your life, watch "The Secret". It is a film that was sent to me before I left and we have watched it on the bus and it has put all of this in perspective and helped me understand where I fit in the world and to do things to follow my bliss. So, this has been a trip of growth and change and wonder. I am grateful for all that I am seeing and hope that I will always help in any attrocity that I see in the world.
Oh- one more thing. we went to Amsterdam too! It was a short 22 hour trip- but it was amazing! the history- the art! Josh and I walked so much in the city and it was great. We walked through the red light district and saw the women standing in the windows, for sale. They rent the windows themselves and have to get health screenings and all of that- but it was so objective and almost made me sick. I can't imagine anything more fearful than being for sale in a window to all strangers with hardly any clothing on, etc. We also went to the Van Gogh Museum and had a great time looking at the 60 + painting they had, and seeing his progress as an artist. I think that in lifek like Van Gogh, we are often too hard on ourselves when we think we aren't getting far enough fast enough. I am trying to slow down on this trip and let things be an intended and envisioned.
Love to all of you!
With love,
Carly

Hello from Kosovo!

Hey there,
To my dear friends and family and fans- just wanted to email you and let you know how things here are going.
We are in Kosovo right now, and have been incredibly busy these past few days on tour. We arrived here on Thursday, and played a few shows in Germany at Ramstein and another base close to it. Did you know that Germany (Ramstein) has the largest population of Americans outside of the USA? It was strange being at a base that really felt like anywhere in the states. We had some time to go out into town and explore, and that was great. We are really having a fun time and our group is great. We have played several shows at this point- we even played in a country bar where people line danced to "How they do it in Dixie" when the DJ played it- they didn't know that Josh had written the song- it was really cool. They had an electric bull and everything- it was crazy. no, none of us rode it- we were all too concerned about hurting ourselves.

We are encountering many people and hearing their stories and connecting with them too, and that is great. Aside from checking out Kaiserslautern, Germany and watching the boys drink beer and all of us eating cheese and chocolate, yum!- we have spent time on the banks of the Rhine too- in little villages that seemed like they were right out of the middle ages- it is wonderful to see that so many people have been here for so long. It is really amazing. Europeans seem to value their land more, and it is just gorgeous. There are huge windmills everywhere for wind power too! so big that the central inside pivot point is the size of a school bus.

So, yesterday we took a 3 hour plane ride from Germany and arrived in Kosovo. When we landed, many of the people in line at customs were from the UN. The land here is baren and there are hundreds of half built houses that people are living in because they don't have to pay property taxes until they are complete. It is like life stopped half way here in general. Everyone is unemployed. There is nothing to buy. Everything is corrupt. We went into town last night and went in with 5 armed guards- I'm talking walking around with 5 guys with m-16s in US military garb. stopping traffic and everything- it was bizarre. It felt like we would have been safe walking around- but there is a lot of human trafficing here, and they wanted to make sure that we were protected and safe. We walked into a bar and everyone just stopped talking while gaping at us. I get it- I can't imagine being at a bar in the US and having anything like that happen. The things that are normal here are qui te different than anything we experience on a daily basis.
The base that we are staying on reminds me a lot of Iraq. We are staying in 8x16 trailers and although it is somewhat nice, these people have been deployed here for a year and many of them head back home to the states for only a few months before heading to Iraq a few months later. Their stories are incredible, as usual. Last night, we sat around a table with the MPs that were protecting us in town and our band, and we just talked to these guys. Many of them are our age- although most of them are younger. We met one guy who smoked one cigarette after another- his name is James and he is 19 years old- and he told us he was upset because the last few months have just been incredibly rough. He told us his girlfriend dumped him, and is brother just died in Iraq- so he is going home to raise his neice and nephew. His story was like so many others- it is just incredible to see what war can do to people. I think what shocks us the most about this base is that these people are all Nation al Guard- they never anticipated leaving the USA, let alone going to war or being deployed to a different country for a year at a time. I understand that the US needs a military, but it is hard to see what being in the military can do to someone. These guys are so young and have already seen so much.
I am grateful to be an American, but I think it is important to remember that our way of life is something to be valued and that the things we take for granted are in question in so many parts of the world. Celebrate your life! It is the 5th Anniversary of 9/11 today. I remember 5 years ago. I never would have anticipated being here 5 years later. If there is one thing that I have learned from all of this, it is that we should teach peace and promote peace and do all we can to keep peace throughout the world through kindness rather than forcing peace through greed, death and destruction.
Thank you for being in my life and for your support.
With love and gratitude,
Carly