Sometimes I just miss college. It seems with the coming of warmer weather I find myself reminiscing of days past spent in the wonderful town of Cape Girardeau where life was simpler. The only responsibilities included going to class at 10am (if you could make it), taking a nap until 3pm, and then getting to D'ladium early enough to snag the bar table and a dart board.

Facebook is my nemesis right now, logging on I am bombarded with pictures and status updates about how wonderful Bel-Air is this time of year, going to the baseball games, and general Cape Giradeau fun from the girls who are finishing up their senior year. I know my friends are jonesin' too...we have all got Cape on the brain. I know it is never the same when I go back and visit but it makes me cherish my college years all that much more.

OK so I really can't see the future, but right now if I were to shake my Magic 8 ball it would tell me my "Outlook good." I found out last week that I am officially hired back in my position at West Middle! I can not even describe how good this feeling is, knowing that I have a job 4 months before the school year actually begins. And it is a full contract so I am (hopefully) guaranteed a position in the district somewhere  until my happy ass decides to leave. We (the teachers) do not have a contract yet because of some negotiation issues but hopefully by this Sunday we will know what is going on, then I will be "officially" official!

I have already started a gigantic to-do list for this summer now that I am staying put, lots of planning, maybe a little classroom painting, and teaching summer school. I am pumped for summer school because I am teaching scrapbooking...and I use the term "teach" lightly. I pretty much intend on crafting for 4 weeks with a bunch of 6,7,8th graders for an extra 2 G's....yes please!

The weather has been fantastic lately, except for today (what was with the 2pm torrential downpour?) lots of sun and over 80 degrees. It makes me crave the summer...lots of fun events coming up, our friends Natalie and Joel's wedding, Lake Trip 5, our 4 year anniversary, my 25th birthday (holy hell!), and my first summer where I don't have to look for a job. Can't wait!

John Mayer was flippin' amazing last night, it is amazing how much better his show is in an arena (I have mostly seen him play outdoors). Elyse and I had a great time dancing and singing even though I could not believe my (bad) luck. One of my students said he was going to the concert and I thought to myself, "No big deal, it is a crowd of a couple thousand, no way I will run in to you." Boy was I wrong...he sat DIRECTLY behind me with his entire family. Nothin like having to watch your language and behavior on your day off.
The setlist was fantastic, a mix of old and songs from his most recent album, "Battle Studies."
1. Heartbreak Warfare
2. Why Georgia > Message in a Bottle
3. Vultures
4. Something's Missing
5. Slow Dancing in a Burning Room
6. Perfectly Lonely
7. Assassin
8. Wheel
9. Daughters
10. Crossroads
11. Waiting on the World to Change
12. Half of My Heart > Dreams
13. No Such Thing
Encore: Who Says, Gravity

Assassin, my favorite song off the new album was insane, he played on our side of stage for a majority of it and it sounded amazing. If you are looking for some new music to download, make "Assassin" a priority. Also the encore was enough to give you chills. Everyone took out their cell phones and the glow from them looked like stars in the middle of a summer night, he actually played most of Gravity with the lights out.

Last night we had a fun date night out with our friends Natalie and Joel, we went bowling at Flamingo Bowl on Washington St. It was a mix between a bowling alley and a lounge/bar, decorated like a joint out of the 1930s. I thought it was neat and not too badly priced either...we reserved one lane for $30/hour so it worked out to be about $5 a game (we played three games in two hours).

What do you say when someone dies? It's one of those things we hope we never have to think about, but when it happens we are automatically dumbfounded. For the last two weeks I have been speechless. A good friend of Chris and I's died unexpectedly two weeks ago in an unfortunate car accident. Tragedy doesn't even begin to describe the loss of his life. He was getting married in May, just graduated from college, and was just a fantastic man. I have known Matt for about 4 years now and he was a person I always enjoyed being around, he had a wonderful smile and like most of Chris' friends could make you laugh. I joked with Chris often that he reminded me of Sacha Baren Cohen when he played Ali G (but Matt was way more handsome.)

Chris, Mike, and Matt

I will never forget waking up to Chris answering the phone at 4:30am Saturday morning, I sat straight up on the futon as soon as I heard Chris say, "Borage? What?" We were supposed to attend his wedding shower that Saturday night, I had been planning on  getting up and going to get him and his fiance's present. What I can't even begin to imagine is the pain Becca, his fiance is going through. I felt like such an imbecile at the wake and funeral because I only had tears and hugs to offer her. There is nothing I could possibly say that would make things better and I don't think there ever will be. I still can't believe he is gone. I am sitting here staring at the program from his funeral with his bright, happy, smiling face and it just seems so surreal. At his wake, I kept thinking I was seeing him standing with our group of friends, or hearing his voice.

I tear up even now just writing this because it just didn't have to happen, but it did to a person who meant so much to so many people. We will spend a lifetime missing him. My friend Amy, who is much more eloquent than I, captured my thoughts exactly....read her blog here.

I just love the smell of a new car's interior....I have been getting a few good whiffs of that wonderful scent because I just bought 2009 Nissan Altima! Last Saturday I went out to test drive a few cars and lo and behold I made a purchase. I figured I might as well get it out of the way...Lindsey's car (the Sunfire I drove all through high school) is on its' last leg and it is just a matter of time before it bites the dust. I really am in love with my new car it just feels so luxurious, such a smooth ride, everything works like it should...just all around heavenly. I took a picture but due to the ridiculous amounts of snow St. Louis has been receiving lately it looks quite dirty, so here is a stock picture.