Thank God its Friday night (and I just got paid)

(Beginning note: The title of today's blog is actually the title of a song by the hugely successful boy band N'Sync and since I am running out of creative titles this is what I chose)

Today I woke up fairly happy in anticipation of going out to eat tonight at La Parilla at Marietta Square and then moving down to Hemmingway's Bar & Grill to see 7 Sharp Nine (a local band). That mood quickly faded as I rounded the corner of Barret Pkwy and Cobb Place Blvd on my way to work. What I saw: the Exxon station sign, announcing that regular unleaded gasoline was now $3.39 per gallon. That gloom disappeared almost as quickly as I got to work to find out that today was going to be a silly day. Stacy, who was off yesterday, started playing the new children's CD's for all of us to hear and we soon had a sing along going to the ABC's Song. (This is also the point where Tausha and Stacy stood on their chairs singing, and we discovered that I am about 3 inches shorter than them while they are standing in their chairs.) The creative juices started flowing eventually and I came up with more ideas for the Summer Catalog cover (seen here). I ran a few quick errands to the bank and Target before devouring my lunch at my desk. I was unusually hungry today, so I am glad I brought a fairly large lunch of the leftovers from the night before. The rest of the work day was equally as fun, an unfortunately not very productive. I did witness the best prank I have seen in a while. You can see evidence of the picture here. Several of the girls grabbed a Kennesaw Singles sign that was posted in the ground like a real estate for sale sign on the corner near our building. The sign read, "Single? kennesawsingles.org" and then they made it say "Single! skarafel@gmail.com" They posted Stacy's email address over the original website name and then stuck it at her desk for her to see when she got out of her meeting. She about died, but was glad that they didn't do something more crazy like post it back on the corner!

I went home to pack for my brief visit to Knoxville this weekend and then got ready for a night out on the town. I picked Stacy up around 7:00pm and we met Leslie and Brian at La Parilla Mexican Restaurant for dinner. It was extremely crowded and after we ate I realized it was because the food was so good. We waited just a few minutes for the rainstorm that unleashed itself during dinner to let up and then we piled into the cars to travel to Marietta Square. Brian and I dropped the ladies off at the door to Hemmingway's as it had once again begun to rain. I found a parking place just around the corner, paid my $3 cover charge, and found my friends at our table. 7 Sharp 9 was already playing and from their cover version of "Rockstar" by Nickleback I could tell that they were pretty good. The sound quality was actually pretty nice for a medium sized bar and there weren't very many people smoking so that was a bonus as well. We listened to them do some more covers and several of their original songs. I will probably now be forced to purchase their album to enjoy their music after tonight. We hung around there laughing and listening until 11:00 when Stacy's friend Stephanie (no not the one from Smyrna or Miami, but this Stephanie is from Charlotte, NC) arrived and then she headed out with her. About 2 minutes later I departed and I think that Leslie and Brian were not far behind me. I found my way home without getting lost (except for missing one turn, but it was easily corrected) and then fell down and went to sleep almost immediately. I was sure to need rest for my drive to K-town in the morning.

Meditation of the day: Psalm 145:7 " They will celebrate your abundant goodness and joyfully sing of your righteousness."