Okay, watch out--this blog is LONG!!! It might not really interest you. If not, then just wait for the next short one. Otherwise, you might have an enjoyable time reading about my happenings this weekend. Mebbe not. It doesn't matter really....

I just got done with one of the best weekends I've had in a long while, but not too long, cause my life is purty darn fun most of the time. Friday night, I went and saw one of my friends Elizabeth's dance concert, and boy, did she look beautimous. She's been doing ballet since she was little and she had a featured couple dance (pas de deux?) in the middle of a classical ballet piece, and I felt like crying, I was so happy. See, like 2 years ago, she and I worked together at Applebee's and got along really well. We decided to live together on campus and did for a semester. During that time, she had been an Anthropology major but decided that that wasn't for her, and I suggested she be a dance major. We talked about it and she thought about it and changed, even though it meant she'd been in school longer than planned. Well, she's satisfied now and I'm so proud of her. Do I sound like a parent? I love that girl. There was also a piece with Bach, she'd told me earlier, and it turned out to be the first movement of the Brandenburg concerto, which just happens to be my favorite Bach piece to play on the violin!

After the concert, I called up Fufanu and girl_in_well, (Dana and Kristin), to see if they wanted to hang out at Jerod's with me and meet Mandy, who was comin' down. So they came over and waited for me. She was gonna pick me up at 9:45 but still wasn't out front by 10, so KP let me call her on her cell. Mandy had been in the parking lot leaving about, oh, let's see, eight messages on my machine that basically said,"Um, yeah.......yeah." mixed with some 96.5 jams radio (eewww!!) So we headed out and I got to see her engagement ring and we went over and she met Philip-ee and Jerod and Charity were there and we all sat and talked for a while. I felt bad about D and KP but they were cool and put in Edward Scissorhands to watch. Moo and I got hungry so went "out on the town"~drove around listenin' to Veggie Tales remixes. I had told her about my friend Sean, and as we were driving downtown we saw him walkin, so I said hi, and he asked for a ride to Walnut St. (it was like, one block away) and so MOo (bein' the studette she is) was like,"Sure, hop in!" and met my wasted friend Sean and we took him to the Mudhouse lounge. After I introduced her he kept calling me Mandy...it was hilarious. We eventually ate at McD's (bad choice) and went and got D and KP and went home and talked and slept.

Next mornin' she took me to Salina and Mel's to prepare for Mel's shower, and I got to talk to Salina~she's such a wise woman of God, I love her. She's great! I made two cheesecakes and bought chips and salsa and made some Jell-O to make jigglers that said, "Mel and GJ." Salina took me home, then KP and I packed up and bought some food at Dillons, some bread at St. Louis Bread, and picked Dana up. We were gonna go CAMPING!!! So we headed down, following Phil's doofy directions. We got there around 4:15 or so and I got to meet his dad, mom, and sister....they were SO nice! I especially like his dad, who was outgoing and goofy and really friendly. They showed us their flowers they'd been planting and then we went inside the house to prepare the coolers and stuff for food. Wayne, Andrew, and Keith were also campin'. In the kitchen Phil's runnin' around like,"Woah, we got TONS of food..this is gonna be so awesome!" His mom had bought some stuff for us too, and some stuff to make foil packs. YES! So Dana and I cut up some onions, carrots, potatoes and celery for 'em, and put it in the cooler with S'more stuff and other food. MMmmm. We saw the new baby kittens and hung out for a while, then packed up the truck and headed for the site. D and KP rode in the truck cause KP's still injured, and the rest of us walked the trail to the site. I got so....jealous!!! I miss living in the country so much!! I was so at home and at peace and happy, happy, happy! UGH!!!! It was such a great day, temperature and everything, and I kinda walked behind everyone for a while. After jumpin' a little creek we got to the pond and campsite, and soon the truck drove up from the other side and we unloaded and set up our tents. Kristin needed her chair, so Dana and I walked the trail back to the house to get some TP and the chair. We talked about poison ivy and other things, and tried climbin' a tree at the house. We went in and got the TP and I met their oldest son, Barefoot (actually a teddy bear filled with walnut shells that sits between the family pictures, he he, Phil's dad made him sit on my lap and look up and listen at me and stuff) and then we walked back. We all cooked up some dogs and then prepared the foil packs and ate those, then partook in some guitar and worship and silly made-up songs for a while. Eventually we decided that the big field behind us was good to hide in and played some hide and go seek in the dark. Phil's pal Jason came over and whoever was 'It' used the flashlight. I went to hide just in the field. I was just layin in that foot-tall grass, lookin' up at the sky and stars, and I felt so small and felt a Godly fear~it was neat cause it wasn't me bein' scared of animals or aliens or whatever I used to be scared of when being outside in the dark out in the middle of nowhere (I actually felt really comfortable for the most part), but just knowing how little I am and...oh well, I can't explain it, but it was amazing. Then Dana came over and laid on my tummy and we looked up there and whispered and giggled and listened for Keith, who was 'It', looking for us. We got found first, I think, and we helped him look for the others. Back at the site, we decided to play again and I got 'It' by losing paper-rock-scissors to Dana. So I waited and went searchin'. I found Wayne, then I found Jason and he almost killed himself running away, and then Keith. After that, it was a long search for Dana, Andrew, and Phil. Finally, after having some thoughts like,"I'll bet they're at the campsite laughing at me cause I'm out here lookin' for 'em," I yelled out that I needed some hints. KP was like,"Nobody's out there," and my first thought was, "I knew it!" But after I ran back, no one was there but the caught ppl, so they finally decided to tell me when I was warm, hot, cold, etc. So the Dour and Dana were underneath the boys tent, and I went to our tent to find Phil but KP said,"Freezing!" so I finally found him underneath the blanket right in front of her! It was great. Jason then told us a million stories about him and Phil and their other friends; it was hilarious, and after he left, KP went to bed and me, Phil, Dana and Andrew decided we wanted to sleep outside so we set up our sleeping bags (or blankets). But right when we were trying to warm up and fall asleep, it started raining so we ran into our tent and set up, but then we realized there was a sheer hole in the top so Dana and the Dour saved us by setting up a makeshift rainfly. It stopped raining (dang it!~I was gettin' excited) though and eventually we all fell asleep to the sound of the billowing tent. I woke up to go pee at like, 6:30, and the sun was up and it looked so beautiful, and I just sat out there for a while, thinkin'. The rays were comin' out of the clouds and making it look all shiny and stuff. The weather was really Scottish all weekend, but I was nostalgic about my country days. It was nice and blustery all night and so that made the sounds even better, with the grass blowing around--it sounded like the ocean a bit. We woke up at 8:30 and brought the truck back, then came back with Keith's car and loaded the rest of the stuff up and went to church. It was awesome, and I got home and called Moo, so we could go to the shower. I did a sucky job hosting (well, I thought so) and cute Mel got some interesting gifts, and then Moo and I went to David's Bridal to try on my bridesmaid dress she'd picked out earlier. She was like,"I have NEVER seen you in a real dress, so I have to before I get these." She loved it and I was all embarrassed, but it is a beautiful dress. It's apple and not satin and swishy and lovely. I get to look pretty three times this summer now at all those weddings. He he. Well, we went back and the weather was a' brewin'. She and I went to my room and I cleaned up and we talked, then she got to talk to Joel for a while, then the tornado sirens started goin' off. We were dumb and went out of my room, where we were told to go to the 1st floor west wing. Ugh, boy floor. We had to sit down there for like, 45 minutes smelling stinky boys and listenin' to vulgar boy talk. We went back up and played some guitar and she talked to Joel more and then we talked a bunch about silly boy stuff and giggled and she made fun of me and we had such a good time. She left this morning after I went to work.

I'm spent, but I told all that because I want to have it down to remember, and to let all of you know how much you mean to me, seriously. I had such an amazing time, so that my worship Sunday morning was a lot about thanking God for all of you being in my life, for making the world such a beautiful place full of beautiful people like my friends. I fell asleep a million times during the service, but..that's another story :) I will check ya'lls later. Praise God!!!
oh yeah...our Scotland money's almost all in...only 13 more days!!!!