Saturday, June 4
What’s not to love?
After leaving the Grand Canyon, Kale and I drove to Albuquerque, New Mexico and spent the night. We wake up early the next morning, stopping at the Texas state line to make another video and take pictures. Then we drive to Dallas.
It’s a ten hour drive from Albuquerque to Dallas, so we are exhausted by the time we get there.
“How do you feel about marking another item off your list tonight?” Kale asks, once we get to our room. We edit the video of us in Nevada and Arizona and upload it online for the world to see.
“Um... what item?” I ask.
“Hand me your list,” he says.
I pull it out of my pocket and hand it to him. He unfolds it and points.
5. Sing karaoke in front of a huge crowd.
Of course.
“We’re in Texas,” he says.
“I don’t know any country songs,” I say, feeling nervous.
“Come on, Juliet.”
I don’t know why I’m nervous.
He’s right.
We are in Texas. Nobody knows me here and I probably won’t see any of these people again. Sure, Kale will probably record it and upload it to the internet for the whole world to see, but what does it matter? I’ll be dead in six months. I want people to look at me and see how brave I was.
“Okay, let’s do it.”
“Awesome,” Kale says. “I found a bowling alley that has karaoke tonight. I already called. You go on at eight.”
We still have a few hours, so I get dressed and fix my make-up, so I can record a video for my main channel. I’ve been uploading a ton of daily vlogs, but not a lot for my main channel.
I try my best to get some good lighting. I sit by the window and take the shade off of a hotel lamp. It’s not the best, but it will do.
I set up my microphone and turn my camera on.
Kale sits at his laptop, editing the footage from our trip so far. He is editing vlogs for the both of us right now, giving me half the footage, and half for himself. Because of it, people have been watching both our channels and we’re getting a ton of hits for our “honeymoon” vlogs.
“Do you mind if I record a video real quick?” I ask him.
“Go ahead,” he says, pulling a headset out of his computer bag.
YouTubers are prepared for any situation.
I record an outfit of the day video, or an OOTD. People seem to love those kinds of videos. It’s short. I also updated people on our road trip and tell them a few places we’ve been. I will put a link to my daily vlog channel on the video so they can check it out.
When I finish recording, I look over at Kale who is watching me.
“What?”
“Nothing,” he says. “It’s just... how can you make a video about clothes be so fascinating. I see why you have three million subscribers. I bet you have a lot of guy subs.”
“Not a lot. Maybe, like, thirty percent,” I say, shrugging. “And of the thirty percent, forty percent are fifteen to seventeen, fifty percent are eight to twenty five, and the rest are twenty-five and older.”
“And you think those thirty percent of guys are watching for makeup and fashion tips?” he asks.
I laugh. “You never know these days.”
“I bet they all think you’re hot.”
“Whatever,” I say. “Are you jealous?”
“No. Because I’m married to you, remember?” he says.
“Right.” I almost forgot. “So, my viewers want us to do a Q&A video together.”
“Mine, too,” Kale says. “Well, it’s about a seven hour drive from here to New Orleans. Maybe we can spend a couple of days there and we can record a few videos.”
“Sounds good,” I say, thinking New Orleans is going to be one of my favorite places to stop.
Good food.
Good music.
What’s not to love?
8 p.m.
Sing karaoke in front of a huge crowd.
I think I’m going to vomit.
I’m standing up on stage in front of a room full of people.
Kale tweeted the location of my karaoke performance, and there is standing room only. I am mad at him, but also love him for it. I asked for a huge crowd and here it is.
I grip the microphone and nod my head to the guy so he will start the music.
I end up singing my favorite One Direction song. I’m not a good singer, but this song should be easy. And hopefully I won’t make a fool out of myself.
Kale gives me a thumbs up, and points a video camera at me.
The beat hits, so I move a little bit, trying not to look so tense.
Then I sing.
People are cheering for me in the audience, so I loosen up. I dance, even though I’m worse at dancing than I am at singing.
About halfway through my song, Kale gives somebody else his vlogging camera and he comes up and stage and dances with me. I laugh, because he might possibly be the only person in the world who dances worse than me. He grabs the other mic and helps me sing.
I love him for it.
At the end of the song, Kale grabs my hand and we take a bow. I’m still laughing hard.
We put down our microphones and then Kale picks me up, carrying me off the stage. People are screaming and cheering. And I feel like a rock star. It’s such a rush. Why was I so afraid to put myself out there?
The guy that finished recording us hands the camera back to Kale.
“You guys rocked,” he says.
“Thanks,” we say.
We spend the next hour and a half meeting fans, signing autographs and taking selfies. And sure, I’ve done this at VidCon before, but this is different. People actually drove here to see me. And it’s a good feeling.
The owner of the bowling alley asked us to come back. We said we couldn’t, of course.
But it was possibly the best night of my life.
And I get to scratch something else off my bucket list.
5. Sing karaoke in front of a huge crowd.