Leaves, Rockstars & Reunions

Fall was crazy this year; the blur that was October through December felt about a week long. We got a ton of shows from the USO and Armed Forces Entertainment, which meant that my office was shuttling around all of the talent. It started right before Sara and I went to Akita with Trey Songz.

Sara and I had to squat so that we were shorter. Tall girl problems.

The concert was phenomenal, and was a great way to kickoff an eventful couple of months. A lot of people have asked me what he was like, and I can honestly say not only was he amazing, yet very shy, but his crew was dynamite. This was the most difficult show we had because he got stuck in Okinawa an extra day due to a typhoon, so our itinerary was blown to pieces. Our team pulled it off, with only a few hiccups. After we got back from Akita, Daughtry came to Misawa.

Another great show, and another great group to work with. They did a meet & greet for everyone, which is atypical, so around 300 people got to talk with the band. Just like Trey Songz, they were in Misawa for less than 24 hours, so we didn't get to show them a lot of Japan. Halloween was about two weeks after Daughtry, and this year we decided to take our shenanigans to Sendai for the weekend!

Not sure what the guy sitting on our lap was dressed as, but he sure was fun.

Sara and I went as Thing 1 & Thing 2, which is my favorite costume to wear with another Sara(h). When we first left our hotel, we didn't see a lot of people dressed up, since Halloween really isn't a thing in Japan. As we got closer to the bars, we saw a lot of people dressed up, and for some reason, we got stopped every couple of yards to take pictures.

"Picture, picture, picture!"

And right after Halloween, the best part of fall happened. After being deployed for seven months, Mark finally came home! It was exciting, and weird adjusting to sharing the house with someone again.

As soon as Mark got home, we went to the Hirosaki Chrysanthemum Festival, one of our favorite festivals.

So many colors - it doesn't even seem real.

We went the last weekend of the festival, so there weren't very many vendors or crowds. The leaves were still amazing, and Mark had a great time seeing something other than dirt. On the way back to Misawa, I took him to the 100 torii gates in Goshogawara.

Fields on the way to the 100 torii gates.

This was my second visit to the shrine, as I had taken Grant when he visited in May. Most of the leaves had already fallen at the shrine, but it was still cool to see it in a different season.

Mark was home for a few weeks before our next round of shows started. This time we had Five Finger Death Punch.

Five Finger Death Punch was one of our favorite groups. They were so down to earth, and ready to do anything. Luckily, they were in Misawa for a few days, so we got to talk with them about music, Japanese culture, and what it's like living in Misawa. While they were here, they ran drills with the K-9 police on base, wearing the attack suit and everything. The last group we worked with before Mark and I left for Australia was the Harlem Globetrotters.

And for once, Sara and I felt short.

The Globetrotters game was another challenging show, purely because there were so many people. They travel with the opposing team, so we had to wrangle a total of 26 people for a few days. Fortunately, they were all great to work with and had a lot of fun out in public.

Click here to see how many Globetrotters we could fit in a Japanese photo booth.

Once the Globetrotters left, we had a decent break in our entertainment hosting, which was kind of nice since we had been going non-stop for so long. The weekend before we left for Australia, we had our second annual Ugly Sweater Party.

So much delicious mulled wine!

Even the pups got in on our reindeer games.

We basically cleaned up our party, and hopped on the plane for one of my top bucket list destinations - Australia. Australia was the perfect vacation for such a busy fall.