Springtime, country music, and white lace dresses (also my redneck ex-husband)

switching it up from Olan because I'm whimsical like that ;)

Good afternoon gurls!
    Well, it's happening- spring is springing! I always think spring just pops up all green and warm and flowery, but every year it slowly creeps up on the dead ashes of winter, taking forever but totally worth it :)
    I loved all your posts from last week. Mercy, thank you for posting that Dan + Shay song. Guess what it did? It rekindled my long-buried country music obsession. I'm listening to my brand new Hunter Hayes station on Pandora as I write this (Eli Young Band isn't half bad!). Here's some Scotty McCreery that takes me back to sophomore year:

    Basically, in 10th grade my friend Chris and I were married. This was our song. He drives a truck and makes his own maple syrup. It didn't work out, but we're friends now after the divorce.
    Roooooose! Your post made me want to reread An Abundance of Katherines. The footnotes totally confused me but I loved all the Psych GIFs.
    And Gracie darling- I'm going to steal Millie. I love her already and I haven't even met her. I love all the pictures you've sent me, and I'm sure she's a handful, but an adorable one.
    Anyway. Back to springtime. This past week has made me undeniably happy- yes, I was sick and isolated and overwhelmed by schoolwork, but the weather was in the 50's and the sky was a cloudless, deepening blue. I sat out in the hammock, wore flip-flops, and finished the Return of The King as the April sun set (yes, I cried, but my sinuses were inflamed and that ending was too beautiful). It's amazing how happy warmer weather can make me after a cold winter. I wore a dress to church yesterday, and spent the rest of the afternoon with my crazy neighbor and Rosie, walking all over town and drawing with sidewalk chalk and party-hunting like silly little girls, wild and carefree and full of laughter. Today, I have a sunburn.
    It's finally beautiful again. In the winter I become this ghostly pale, introverted pessimist with cold little hands. My hands are still cold, but I'm tan and loud again, looking forward to Easter and letting Tim McGraw make me cry. And all my friends are making their college decisions and getting ready for prom, and I'm honestly relieved not to have much of that to stress over, but happy for them because it's senior year, and I'm older and wiser and have a cool enough haircut to stop being petty and bitter, able to laugh with them as we say goodbye to this forever phase of life.
     Okay. I love Blake Shelton. His lyrics tell the best stories.
    Anyway, I'm so looking forward to this season. I can't wait to celebrate Greek Easter in my white lace dress with my mom's crazy family, to watch Mary-Kate graduate college and attend her nurse's pinning, to graduate myself and have an awkward graduation party, to see The Fault in Our Stars with you gurls and bawl my eyes out. There's going to be final school projects and (ugh) college orientation and VBS music practices, but there will be days when I can read in the backyard while tanning and have picnics and wear shorts and t-shirts again. And for those days I am so freakin excited.
    Mercy, I really can't wait to read your post again. I love how unashamedly Mercyish you are- don't you ever change. Also, keep posting music and bands and lyrics, because this country music kick I'm on is all because of you, and for that I am eternally grateful.
--Laura :)