Jury Duty Cutie

Once again, another month has flown by since the last time I posted.  So much has happened and I'll do my best to remember it all!  Chris and I have been seeing each other an awful lot....I think that phrase is funny "awful lot" because nothing has been awful about it.  I went to visit him the weekend following MLK day and he came to visit the next weekend.  We're always looking for fun things to do with our time together that is something out of the ordinary.  When we're here we sometimes make a trip to Springfield which is nice for the shopping and the plethora of restaurants.  Normally we end up just hanging out and watching tv, but it's always nice to be together.  The last time he was here I talked him into going to one of the boys' basketball games.  It was a tournament championship and they lost, but it was definitely a lot of fun to go.  My students were also really excited about getting to meet him.  They're insisting that he comes to prom though.

That next week was a relaxing one!  We only had school for 1.5 days.  We got out early on Monday because of the sleet that started at about 11 and we didn't go back til Friday.  I didn't do any planning during that time because I was super lazy, but I did end up reading a lot.  Now is a good time to plug my most recent book....

This was book #6 and also a Borders clearance book.  I LOVED it.  I don't remember the last time I enjoyed a book so much.  It was hard to follow at first, but once I kept track of all the characters, it was really great.  I will definitel be reading more by this author.

Speaking of Borders....
1. Those clearance books I think may be one of the best ideas ever.  My mom and I end up reading them and then looking for books by the same author because we enjoy the $4 ones so much....so definitely a great play on their part.
2. Borders filed for bankruptcy.  They have started closing stores, but the one I frequent (when I'm home) isn't one of them.  Thank goodness!  I think if the whole company went under, I might be shattered.  I thought about that on Monday when they announced it.  I think the 2 stores that I could not live without would be Borders and Kohls.  I know what you're thinking....that's a bit dramatic.  Yes, maybe it is, but here's why....a. B&N doesn't have the same cozy feel to me that Borders does. b. Yes, Amazon may be cheaper, but ordering online is not as fun as browsing the store and finding those great books you weren't even looking for (especially clearance!) c. Amazon doesn't have price tags on their books.  Make fun of me if you want, but my favorite part of returning from a book shopping spree is peeling the price tag off the book.  That's the moment I feel like it's really mine, because I don't intend to return it then.

While I'm on the book subject (yes, I'm obsessed).  Julie is thinking about getting a Kindle/type of ebook reader.  It makes me wonder if I'll ever own one since I love books so much, but I fear that some day there will be no books for me left to buy that are not digital.  While I was contemplating this, I found this post.
How To Read A Book  <I think this is such a wonderfully, well-articulated tribute to the printed word in book form and it reaffirmed my love for physical books.

Ok, moving on from the book tangent.

I saw Despicable Me the last time I was at Chris' house.  LOVED IT!  It was really great and I enjoyed it the whole time.  Chris was not incredibly excited to watch it, but he also enjoyed it, but I think enjoyed watching me watch it even more.

I was home last weekend because I had jury duty on Monday (Happy Valentine's Day to me).  I'm glad I went home right away because it was a fantastic weekend!  We went out for Julie's birthday on Friday night to Joe Boccardi's.  It was delicious and I had a really great time with Julie, EJ and my mom.  Then later that night while I was sitting in my room I looked up to see Chris standing in the hallway.  He's starting to get really good at surprising me.  Saturday we played with Hailey and Jacob most of the day, had roast for dinner (mmmmm) and met Chris' brother Brandon at TGI Fridays in St. Louis. Brandon was in town for a Greek conference for school.  It was a lot of fun and I had a great time with both of them. 

Monday was my first ever jury duty experience.  I was there for 2 hours and released because only one trial actually went to court.  A guy I went to high school with happened to also have jury duty the same day so we got lunch together at the mall when we were done.  I had to go back on Tuesday for a whole 25 minutes just to find out I was released again.  I went back to work today and found other this afternoon that I've been excused!  Overall, jury duty was pretty easy because I never even got assigned to a trial.  So now I'm hoping that it'll be awhile before they call me again.  I really hated being gone for those 2 days and it was just really stressful to have to plan everything and worry about how the kids were doing.  They were a little disappointed to see me back because that meant they wouldn't get to watch some of the movies I had planned, but I decided that some of my classes will finish the week with the movies and the other ones will watch them later. 

I'll leave with this....I just found it in my saved pictures file and I like it

*Besos*