Concerts and Trains

Hello!

Sorry my world has been flying at 200 mph..I know, I know...Not an excuse. :) Since I last blogged, my life has truly been..well...very boring! I seem to be living that day-in, day-out lifestyle that so many adults used to talk about. :)  It is now my life! But I appreciate the predictability though and am very blessed to have a job!

If I forgot to mention this earlier, I have decided I would like to marry a male country singer; preferably one  who is single so I don't have to be considered a home-wrecker.  What brings this on, you ask? Well, in February Sam, her boyfriend, Chris, and I went to a Brantley Gilbert and Eric Church concert in Greensboro.  It.  Was.  Un. Be. Lievable.  When both were singing, it was like they were giving a private concert just for me. And I  believed they were.  Especially during the love songs as I swayed to the music in pure bliss...

Now, Sam and I have been to MANY concerts in our days so we know what a good concert consists of.  This, however, was one of the top we have ever attended.  The crowd was out of control.  They knew every single word both artists had to sing.  They were loud.  They were crazy.  They were energetic the ENTIRE CONCERT.

You know that feeling you get when a really amazing, feel-good, happy song comes on the radio where you can't help but drown all your sorrows and just smile? That's what this entire concert was like! I feel like my words can't even begin to describe the energy.  When Eric Church's new song "Springsteen" comes on the radio, I can still here the coliseum singing to it as he went acoustic and help up the mic.  Between the concert and just a weekend getaway, the weekend was perfect!  I will attach pictures of this life-changing experience.

In my recent travels, I have also added to my list of "new experiences" by taking the train.  My grandpa's brother, Jerry, lives out in Alexandria, VA with his wife, Corinne, and their kids also live in the area.  While I was student teaching in VA, I had the pleasure of living with Corinne and Jerry and getting to know them better.  I wanted to go back and visit them so I took the train a few weekends back and stayed with them for the weekend.

Let me just rewind here for a minute.  While I was living with Corinne and Jerry last Fall, I found a very unexpected friendship in both.  I found that I could talk to both and really open up about many, many things.  Corinne soon became more than just my "great-aunt" (or whatever that relationship is).  She became a dear friend.  It was for this reason that, while returning to VA just a few weeks ago, it felt like going home.  I had the sense that when I walked into the house, I was walking into my house and my bedroom.  It was definitely a feeling I have missed being so far from home.

While in Alexandria, Corinne and I got busy doing "me-time" things.  We ate out, we shopped, we explored, and we visited her kids and grandkids (who are, for obvious reasons, adorable! :) Hi Harrison, Harper, Jackson, and Brooklyn!  We talked and read, we ran errands, and just enjoyed each other's company.  While Jerry was busy helping fund raise for their church, we were living in the moment! I was also able to catch up with my cooperating teaching from student teaching! This was especially exciting as she is expecting in June! :)

My weekend with Corinne and Jerry was memorable but, more unexpectedly, heart-warming.  It's like that feeling when you are away at college for long periods of time where you sometimes forget "who you are" and where you came from....then you go home, feel grounded again, and return to "yourself".  My weekend was very similar in that aspect.  I left feeling grounded and complete again.  :) So thank you again to Corrine and Jerry and family, for making my mini-vacation so "perfect"... ;)

Besides these eventful weekends, here is what I have done in the past two months:

1) Went to the Hunger Games....twice

2) Had 13 conferences in one night

3) Been called the "best" and the "worst" teacher...all in one day
4) Taken on my own car insurance... eww
5) Had bonfires and roasted marshmallows!!
6) Laid by the pool, in my swimsuit
7) Played the Finger Game at Happy Hour
8) Given up candy and pop for Lent...Easter can not come soon enough!
9) Balanced an egg AND a broom during this freaky "planet alignment/gravity" thing
10) Become obsessed with and made my class obsessed with the Decorah Eagles.  (We are watching them hatch this week!)