Breathe in, breathe out, move on. So says Jimmy Buffett and I swear, some days, that is my mantra.

It’s the last week of classes here at FSU so I’m in the home stretch. There’s this week, finals week, then a week off before the first summer session starts. I’m teaching in those six weeks but not after and let me tell you: I am ready for that break!

So anyway, my weekend. I was in the office Friday morning, finishing up some work, and then I left around 11:30, getting to my house at the same time as my mother pulled up. We immediately went out to Masa for sushi, which was SO good. I just had one roll and we split some shumai, which was ok. I see why it normally comes fried, but we ordered it steamed. We then went and got pedicures, which I super needed. After that relaxing hour, we had about an hour at home before picking up the kids.

We had a long baseball night: Isaac at 6 and Elliot at 7:30. I was pretty exhausted by the time we got home! Elliot got to pitch – he did well – but they lost by one point. The kids were pretty upset but hey, it was a good game.

The next morning, we made a big breakfast but then I had to take my car up to the shop because on Friday when I got the kids, my window broke in the rolled down position. Sigh. This same thing happened about 5.5 years ago. But my morning was sort of chill because we had to wait on that. We made some really yummy guacamole as a mid-day snack because we had late lunch plans. After Ash left to play in a card tournament and Koda took her nap, we went downtown to a low country boil. OMG was it good. We had beer from the local Deep brewing company and then ginormous plates of sausage, potatoes, corn, crawfish and shrimp. It was… awesome. I was pretty full and I have come to think that some of these small local craft beers have some kind of strength aside from their ABV. I was put under by just two IPAs.

But anyway, that night we winged dinner because our lunch was around 3 PM but we did go to Big Easy snowballs, which was fun. We know the owners and they came in while we were there so the kids got to hang out in the back and watch them work. Again, I was exhausted by night’s end but what an accomplished day.

Sunday was a bit more relaxed; we had breakfast at a local place (I had this amazing veggie omelette) and then hung out until my mom left. I love when she visits but I was also ready to move forward with laundry, cleaning, and relaxing. I ended up going to the store mid-day, mowing the lawn, and then? I just wanted to be alone. After the kids were asleep, I went to the bedroom to just sit and watch TV by myself. For some reason, Ash thought this was weird but doesn’t he realize that sometimes introverts just need that? Sigh.

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The theme of “heartfelt songs” can cover anywhere from emotionally touching to sad to utterly heartbreaking. I shall pick two that seemed to stand out to me.