this is what we did friday…

and this is why….

our 2 greatest friends in country music reuniting for a tour together.

miranda lambert. & dierks bentley.

reunited…and it feels so good.

and when they asked us to work up the official logo for this epic tour…we knew it had to be nothing short of rockstar awesome.

no guts. no glory.

we channeled southern rock, old-school country, and ZZ top’s “i’m bad. i’m nationwide”

{"with my new york brim & my gold tooth displayed". thanks to thestate.com for this image}

{the offiicial tour stage backdrop...yep, we're pretty dang excited about JG art being blown up 50 ft X 30 ft!!! thanks to a fellow tweepster 4 this image!}

and then we decided to capture our own interpretation of the tour theme…

{locked & reloaded tour sweatshirt}

{mama's broken heart burnout raglan...totally awesome}

and you know us gypsies love our buckles….so we designed a couple o’ new ones…

both with custom engraving on the back…

we channeled badassery. we channeled the wild west. and then we wrapped up our high noon shoot…

{high noon. ranell rockin our new LUCY in the SKY lace pants}

we’ll be seeing y’all down the trail…and by trail, we mean we’ll see y’all down the road where we’ll be screaming our heads off like crazy teenagers at the locked and reloaded tour.

rock on, country rockstars.

i found some words…

 sending you warm fuzzies today…..happy thoughts of shiny red tractors, small-town christmas parades, and big blue skies. our hearts are big. our nation strong.

december 14, 2012.

the day the world stopped turning. the day that will change all of our lives forever. the day that we will mourn as a nation. as moms and dads. as sisters and brothers.

there are no words. i have no words. maybe because i’m one of those “never-can-think-of-the-right-thing-to-say-at-the-right-moment” kind of people or maybe just because THERE. ARE. NO. WORDS.

but we, as a company & as a family, instantly felt the need to be off the grid digitally so to speak. no tweets (what?!). no instagrams. no facebook posts. i’m not sure why…it’s not social media’s fault that the world stopped turning. but for some reason, it just seemed the right thing to do.

we, like all of y’all, want desperately to help. we want to turn back the clocks. we want the families of newtown to be able to send their sweet babies off to school, with backpacks and lunchboxes, new crayola boxes & glue sticks and then to come home to stockings and letters to santa.

we want to close our eyes. stick our heads in the dirt.

but for now, we’re going to do all we know…we’re going to donate to the UNITED WAY …. and in the meantime, we’ll look for a time machine.

to newtown, connecticut…we send you our broken hearts full of love and prayers. we send you peace. we send you strength. we send you our tears. we send you healing.

Psalm 34:18 “The Lord is close to the brokenhearted. . . “

for thanksgiving, we did what we always do. we did what is tradition in the sikes family. we went to our 3rd-generation family farm in arkansas.

{crossing the state line...smokey & the bandit-style}

it’s kind of like a redneck prenup…when you marry a sikes, thanksgiving at the farm is non-negotiable. and this is why.

{on the banks of the little river...where heaven meets earth}

{the road to the cabin}

{early morning fog on the farm}

it’s where the gypsy met the cowboy…

and in true gypsy fashion, we took several days to get there…because truly, the best roadtrips have no destination.

we realllllly got held up in good ole east texas…our old stomping grounds. where majestic pines reach into the heavens and the fall colors are pictureseque…amazingly beautiful this time of year.

let’s just say it took us 2 nights & 3 days on the road to travel about 320 miles…

to us, roadtrips are measured by the number of griswald-esque moments.

including but not limited to…

football stadiums…

{stopping to admire possibly the coolest high school football stadium ever. jacksonville, texas}

museums…

{the east texas oil museum. seriously cool}

thrift shops,

{the kids scored some goodies...camo, old wranglers, homemade angels, and magic tree house books}

and fried catfish…

{oh good lawdy...fried goodness. come to mama.}

and of course a trip to east texas wouldn’t be complete without a stop here…

{not that we made any purchases here or anything...}

and then…we all got a little teary when we stepped through these doors…

{the restaurant that built us.}

OK…that’s a bit of an understatement…we bawled like babies.

“people used to take roadtrips to have a good time, not to make good time.” -sally the car, cars movie

and finally…we were off to arkansas for a little nature therapy…bald eagle watching, hunting, hiking, river wading, 4-wheelin’, and priceless family fellowship…

{the cabin. oh, the stories it could tell...}

{cabin decor. years of shirttails cut-off from missed shots}

it’s what you might call a downright good ole time.

and lest i forget the food…

aunt alice’s homemade rolls (honey  hush), our cousin robert o’s (he’s so cute it oughta be illegal) caramel apples & fudge…

and more food than you can shake a stick at…(although i pretty much go straight for the rolls and commence upon challenging myself to eat at least half a dozen at one sitting)

here’s to my granny…mama to 7 boys, nurse, farmer, wife, cinnamon roll baker extraordinaire…

and although i have many years of practice before i can proudly carry on her bread kneading prowess, her legacy of love is alive and well at sikes farms.

here’s to long roadtrips and taking the realllllly long way to get there. here’s to family. and bread. and knick knacks from the crisis center. here’s to east texas and arkansas. and biscuits. and pink liquor stores. and pine trees. and oil wells. and rolls. and lone star beer. here’s to the stars at night that shine extra bright in arkansas. and to unknown destinations. here’s to god’s great amazing beautiful world.

one of our favorite things is the blues. i’m talking raw. gritty. deep down in your soul kind of blues. i’m talking ROOTS music.

growing up, mom and dad would take us to a little east texas hole-in-the-wall joint called auntie skinners in jefferson, texas…where we would watch authentic blues singers…everything from muddy waters’ hoochie coochie man and bb kings’ lucille to roaches in my kitchen (pretty sure this one was an east texas artist original).

which is why, as business owners, we donate to MUSIC MAKER RELieF foundation every year. in support of american roots musicians & the forgotten heroes of southern music.

“the blues is life.” – brownie mcghee

but there’s something about the blues. something about the way an artist who REALLY and truly feels the blues can express the lyrics. they don’t just sing the lyrics. they FEEL the lyrics.they LIVE the lyrics. they ARE the lyrics. there’s something about the gravel in their voice, the wrinkles in their face, the strength in their hands as they strum their steel guitars & play their harmonicas all in a smoky haze.

and i digress….

this week, the girls of JG, amie, and i found ourselves very excited about our new gypsy goods in the house…and completely inspired by the blues. by the deep south.

by the crossroads.

i’m talking sequins. fringe. classic bandanas. american flags. fringe. leopard skinnies. concho belts. turquoise. did i say fringe…?

and this is what happened…

“i’ve got the key to the highway. feel i got to go. gonna leave her runnin. walkin is both too slow.” – bb king