hearts beat loud. [icecream scoops]

Today is my last full day of work. I'm so excited/weirded out/nervous/DISTRACTED.
OK ok. let's begin at the beginning... When I woke up at 4:10 am on Saturday morning to get the last bits of overtime in. Came home and took a couple of catnaps. Had a lunch by the river with blues music that Clive would've loved, hit Starbucks and sang my lungs out on back roads to warm up properly. Warm up for what? you say... Well, I had a going-away show at church, and... I don't have any words. It went so well. It was so much fun...and I am overwhelmed by the extravagant giving of my family and friends and acquaintances in this little town of Fredericksburg. Everyone was so encouraging. As always, I was nervous at first, and then it just fell away... I love when practise makes for a good performance. Made a couple of contacts (in Fredericksburg? I mean, who knew, right?) AND through the sale of cds & donations to support what I'm doing, I can now breathe a little easier about the move in the financial sense... and get the computer I need to keep things moving. :) Afterward, Dan and I went to a place called Firebird for the most surprisingly lovely salad & creme brulee cheesecake. Hello new obsession. That night I was followed around by Motown, which mostly made me think of a certain Nashvillain. This turned into a phone conversation which was highly amusing among other things and because of this, I FINALLY laid my head down around 3:30am. 5 hours later, I was awake, and not cursing anyone or anything, because I was just a happy girl.
Sunday morning, was extra wonderful... can't say why. Just was. My grandma, Dan and I went to brunch at Bravo's. LORD. Crabcakes Eggs Benedict. GLORY. Our server was this older gentleman with some ridiculous energy and the most amazing personality I've encountered in a long time. He happened to be from Nottingham annnd used to be a biker. Do I need to say more? Not really. Had he remembered the phone number of one of his friends, he would've given it to me for my upcoming trip... just in case I needed anything. (i can't even... so sweet.) From there, Dan and I went to Weigmans (another favourite thing that isn't in Nashville. boo.) where I purchased some raw honey for a mask. (thank you Elle UK for the idea. annnd it kiind of is awesome) All the while experiencing a giddy 3rd wind before exhaustion hit me like one of those acme tons in a looney tunes cartoon.
Which brings me to Sunday evening which involved body aches and fever... I kept hallucinating (woke up and swore I saw the cat next to me, but i'm not sure that happened) had the craziest dreams... including one where I was drumming on a table with silverware and kept making this older man angry. I thought it was kind of amusing, though I hated to have someone upset... Needless to say I called out of work yesterday morning (fail.) and slept for about 13 hours. I now feel much better. I managed to book myself a gig in London (lock tavern, sept 9 - 8pm - FREE) and had a chat with Lucy which was very encouraging, indeed. Got a few little things up my sleeve... meetings and whatnot, and let's all petition the heavens for something good to come of it. I think I'm mostly excited that interest is being stirred and that something is moving. I'm also excited about the fact that I took the bull by the horns and got the ball rolling. Whatever happens will happen, but I'll be landing on the fair shores of England on Friday morning... and who KNOWS what will happen. Could be a little. Could be a lot. but it WILL be good.

In just a couple of weeks I'm moving to Nashville... east nasty to be specific, in a really cute little house with my lovely friend Emilia. But more on that later...

Meanwhile, my co-worker Josie is making things difficult, by sending cute cards with snoopy on it! AHHHHHHHHHHHHH. and giving hugs. The guy at the bank even got real sober yesterday, at the fact he "wouldn't see my smiling face." I've fallen in love with 2 kids on my street... These little babes climbed up in my car yesterday and proceeded to "drive" us to chuck e cheese. I then let them jump out of the driver seat into my arms where they were swung through the air like superman. I received a round of applause. I'd say my kid magnet is still working... MaryPoppins v. 2.0. My family and friends and everyone is so encouraging, and yet letting me know how sad they are that I'm leaving. This makes it so hard... but it's the nicest hard I'd like to encounter. My heart is swelling. I feel so full. This is good.

p.s - I'll let you in on a secret. i've got butterflies & rosy cheeks too. eeeeeep!