Our Next Move

We're On To Something Good Here

I cannot believe that less than 10 months ago, Matt and I got married. So much has happened since our wedding.

We have bought a beautiful mansion in Huntington Beach (where else would we live?) that has 5 bedrooms and 6 and a half bathrooms. It also has a beautiful sunroom, huge kitchen, a pool/jaccuzi and a fenced in backyard for our new Lab puppy, Bella (although Bella is a boy) and my dogs, Kisses, Tigger and Pooh Bear.

I have also gotten a tattoo, Matt has gotten a matching one. I have a treble clef on my left wrist and Matt has a whole range of music notes on his right arm near his shoulder. I am hoping to get more soon, that was amazing!

Avenged Sevenfold released their newest CD, City of Evil on June 7 and I could not be happier for them. All of the songs are beautiful, especially Seize the Day, which if you remember, was written for me. I still cannot get over that, I have a song written for me by my husband and our best friends.

Sadly, only about 2 weeks after the release of City of Evil, Matt and the boys left for the annual Vans Warped Tour. I decided not to go with them since I had to take care of the four dogs (who are like our children until we decide to have children). I also wanted to see what it would be like when Matt did leave me home alone while he toured for other things and I could not join him (for instance when we have children).

Sure, I missed Matt with every fiber of my being and he missed me (I got texts and tons of missed calls to prove that) and I cried myself to sleep for the first few nights, but I remembered that he was doing what he loved and he would come home to me. During this time, I decided to hang out with Courtney, Heather, Alexa, Michelle, Leana, Gena and Lacey. On June 28, we came up with a brillant plan...we decided that for Matt's birthday, I would fly out to Detroit and surprise him, but we told the boys to keep it a secret.

So, on July 30, 2005, I flew out to Detroit and then went to the hotel room that we had planned for me to stay in. It was the same hotel that the boys were staying in for the night/afternoon. I got dressed in a sexy corset, my sexiest heels and a lace wrap.

Then I went down to Matt’s floor and called him.

“Hey Baby! Happy Birthday! I miss you”

“I miss you too Ashlyn, I wish you could be here with me right now, my bed is so cold without you.”

Right after he said that, I made my way to his room number 546 and said in a disguised voice,

“room service!”

“Hold on Ash, one of the boys must have ordered room service or something.”

When he opened the door, I hung up my phone and healmost dropped his phone.

I jumped up into his arms and we made out like love struck teenagers.

Once we broke apart, he said,

“What are you doing here? Not that I am complaining, I am just shocked.”

“I just thought it would be nice to surprise my husband on his birthday.”

“You sure surprised me, now, do I get to see what is under that robe?”

“Only if you are the birthday boy…oh wait, you are, so yes you do!”

After that, my corset was ripped from my body and Matt spent several hours worshipping my body in the bed, in the shower and on the countertops in the room.

I sat in the wings while he and the boys preformed that night and it hurt me to leave him but I knew I had to go back to Huntington Beach. Matt took me to the airport and promised me he would call every night, no matter how tired he was from performing.

fast forward to October 6/7 2005
This week has been a hectic week, what with finalizing plans for the tour, making sure the dogs would be ok with our parents, packing and finding time to just relax was hard work. Thankfully today is almost over and we can get some sleep before leaving tomorrow at 4:30 A.M. We are leaving so early because although we are only going to San Diego (about an hour and a half drive), we have to get settled into the bus, pick up all of the boys, get to Soma, make sure everything is working, make a set list and many other little details.

3:30 A.M. October 7, 2005
I woke up when Matt got out of bed why you ask when I am normally such a deep sleeper. Well, Matt likes to have one of his arms over my waist when he sleeps and when he moves, I move to try and move closer to him. and immediately thought ‘coffee, need coffee!’.

We both showered in separate bathrooms, we were too tired to try anything and then got dressed. I decided to wear an Ed Hardy tank top and Victoria’s Secret yoga pants, today was going to be a lazy day. We decided that we would get coffee and breakfast after picking up all of the boys. The bus driver would come to our house, then go to Jimmy’s house, then Brian’s house, then Zacky’s house and finally Johnny’s Condo and then go to breakfast at Dunkin’ Donuts or something like that and then hit the road around 7:00 A.M.

We brought our suitcases downstairs and we only had to wait about five minutes before the huge tour bus pulled into our driveway. I saw the door open and Matt walked in first and introduced him and me to the bus driver, Lennon.

We looked around the bus and immediately claimed the back bedroom for ourselves. No bunks for the Sanders’. Lennon put our suitcases under the bus and thankfully I had brought a pillow and blanket in my Vera Bradley purse/carry on to put on the bed. Matt and I talked to Lennon until we got to Jimmy’s house and then, after saying good-bye to Lena and hello to Jimmy, I went to the back room and fell asleep.

Sadly, I woke up just a short time later to Jimmy jumping on my bed screaming,

“Ashlyn, wake up! Come play with us Ashlyn!”

I got up and out of the bed, checked myself in the mirror and walked out to the main living area of the bus. I saw Zacky starring at me with a strange look on his face. When I said,

“What Zacky, do I have something on my face?”

“No, we just got you breakfast and coffee and we know how you are if you don’t have your coffee.”

“Don’t worry; I won’t bite your head off…today.”

For the next hour, all of us talked and tried to figure out what we were going to do once we got to San Diego, since we were only going to be there for the day before leaving for Arizona. Before we knew it, we were at Soma and then we separated.

The boys went to the director’s office to meet and greet everyone who would help make this show possible (the Berry brothers were already here but we had some Soma people helping us too), while I decided to look at the merchandise table with Val she would be riding with the Berry brothers.

The next thing we knew it was time for lunch and we all ate together at a place called Corvette Diner. This place has a burger that comes with peanut butter and bacon eww! Not only is it gross because it has bacon on it but peanut butter too? WTF?

We were there for about 2 hours before we decided we needed to get back to Soma to do a sound check, rehearse and get ready for the show.

We got back and I listened to the boys’ sound check and rehearsal and then we went
backstage. We met some fans and then it was almost time for them to go one. Right before they did, I asked if I could pray for them even though I know not all of the boys are Christian, it makes me feel better knowing that I did this before the show, they agreed, since I am like a little sister to most of them and they can’t say “no” to me.

Once I was done praying, they left to go on stage screaming,

“How the fuck are you San Diego?”

I stood in the wings while they preformed and it was truly magical watching them. Once they were done, they all tag-teamed up on me and gave me a group hug, ew, sweaty boys! and then I told them to

“take a shower please before you get on the bus! That is gross!”

“Yes Mommy,”

they said.

So, while they showered, I got dressed in my pj’s, called Claire Matt’s mom if you don’t rememeber, left little notes for each of the boys to put on their bunks and then sat on the bed, waiting for Matt.

When they all finally came back to the bus, they were already in their pj’s, Jimmy looked especially funny in his pj’s which were Snoopy from Peanuts.

Then right before we all went to bed, Brian took out a six bottles of water since we were about to go to sleep and I can’t drink yet and said,

“Congratulations boys, the first headlining tour of Avenged Sevenfold went off without a hitch! Let’s hope that the rest of the tour is just as smooth! To us!”

“To us,”

We all repeated.

We all went to our beds and Matt slipped his hand around my waist and pretty soon I was off to dreamland, hoping that I wouldn’t have to wake up early tomorrow morning.

♠ ♠ ♠

Well, here it is! The first chapter of the first sequel, I hope you all enjoy it! Title credit "Pressing On" by Relient K
Links
house
description of house
Master Bedroom
Kitchen
Pool/Jacuzzi
Tattoo
Happy Birthday Matt
Leaving for tour