Ole Miss and ‘Ol Mr. Ornery

Being pent up on a tour bus for hours on end can make one crazy. Arriving in a new city just as the sun is coming up, and the world is still asleep, (and of course, there is fresh coffee at hand…)
…that time of solitude makes the long drives worth it.

Ole Miss (Oxford, Ms), is a cutesy little city straight out of a Norman Rockwell painting.

As soon as we arrived, we grabbed a cup of coffee…

…and had our run of the town-as its inhabitants slept.

When you throw a little caffeine in Biceps after driving all night, he starts to get extra wily.
Especially in front of his most preferred audience of one-me.

He started by jumping into the frame over and over. That’s his blurry, cute face in the frame far left.

And then he started doing this with his coffee cup-over and over and over and over and over….

Boy, did he think he was hilarious.

Knowing he would continue to do this with each shot, I decided to dig into this man’s psyche.
After a thorough analysis, I was able to comprehend the motivation for the orneriness.

Like a little kid, he just wanted his picture taken.
My cute, ornery man can be so easily appeased sometimes.

Naughty Biceps

He may look innocent enough. But underneath that sweet exterior is a man fraught with all sorts of naughtiness. At a recent festival, Bicep’s naughtiness got the best of him.

And, Biceps got into trouble. Real trouble.

The show was at midday with all sorts of promise. The best thing about a midday show is the ability to photograph the band well lit.

Another bonus to a midday show is the ability to go to bed at a decent hour and not have slumber party stomach the entire next day.

But, I digress. I wanted to tell you about Biceps’ naughtiness. See the back of this lady’s head who is sitting side stage, far right in the picture?

All heck is about to break loose.

Biceps precariously climbed up onto these speakers for a dramatic emphasis during the set.
There’s a man in the back of the shot with wispy hair, and he is rather concerned and alerts side-stage lady .

Oblivious, Biceps rocks on.
Until the side stage lady weaves her way past the drummer-during the song-points her finger at Biceps and tells him to get down. Tisk, tisk!

Naughty Biceps…I don’t think he was very happy about being chastised by a mother figure during his cool guy rock and roll show.
But, we laugh about it now. Or at least I do.

The Best Sight to See

Biceps went away on tour. For too long and without me.
The night before he was due back, I stayed up way too late, prepping for his return.

I put these little notes, ‘I missed you here’, all over the house. He was finding them days later stuck to his yoga mat, his coffee mug, his t-shirts….

I got a wild hair and made this dress from a pillowcase that same night. Nice tan lines, eh? He liked it. Boy, did he like it. Dress=success.
I’ll teach you how to make it down the road, don’t you worry.

The morning of his return, I donned my new cute dress, made Biceps a ‘Welcome Home’ sign and arrived at the airport 20 minutes before his flight landed. I was a little gung ho. That’s him coming down the pike, or is it pipe? Whatever…that’s him. He’s calling me to tell me he’s here.
What a silly boy.

I am telling him at this point that ‘I’ll be the one in green, just in case you forgot what I looked like.’

We are saying ‘goodbye’ on the phone and ‘hello’ in person. We are such nerds, and we just don’t care.

He’s back in Tulsa, with me. I laughed, I cried, I asked him what my present was….He brought me fancy lotions from all of the posh hotels he’s been staying at.
What a good man. I am so glad he’s home.