You would have loved it here tonight.

This morning, I woke up for an 8:00 class, took a test, and went to Starbucks for my tri-weekly coffee break between my 9:00 and 11:00. Upon arrival, I received an email informing me that my 11:00 clas was cancelled (ah, the beauty of irresponsible professors!). So, even though it is uncharacteristically warm outside for February, I decided to go back to my room and pretend like it was just too cold. I succumbed to my inner grandmother and put on my Christmas bathrobe, made myself a cup of coffee, lit some candles, and cleaned my room, Julie and Julia playing in the background. This is the college life, folks. I must say, Meryll Streep never ceases to amaze me. Whatever she does, she does it well, whether it's playing a carefree mother, an uptight designer, or an aspiring chef. And Amy Adams... a discouraged, middle-aged woman working in a cubicle was never so adorable.

So there's my morning. And here's my week: Wednesday I'm going home for a dentist appointment, Thursday night the band that I'm singing with now has an out-of-town gig, Friday I have to come back to school for a test (even though I was planning to attend a Brandi Carlile concert back in the ham), and then Saturday I have another out-of-town gig. So even though my Monday has been strangely idyllic, the rest of my week is going to be filled with a lot of time in the car.

And you probably didn't care to know all of that. But it all goes to say that my new policy of optimism is going great. Even though I have to do a few things that I don't particularly want to do this week (I hate the dentist more than anything, and I don't exactly love driving for extended periods of time), I had a lovely weekend at home with my family, and my Monday has been just gorgeous. And I really love Mississippi State. I love the early spring; I love swinging with my new friends. I love going to parties where I actually know people, and the people there are happy to see me because they have missed me since I've been home over the weekend. And I have actually missed them too!

But I do miss my friends from home. You know who you are. The title of this post goes out to you, because even though I love my life here, every fun thing I do is slightly dampened by your absence. As the moon hung proud and bright, you would have loved it here tonight.

I recently read that Charles Darwin proposed our physical appearance (smiling or frowning) heavily influences our mental attitude. Now, while I'm  not exactly a strong proponent of Darwin's teaching, I definitely think he was onto something with that. You're never fully dressed without a smile!

So put a smile on. Because the song below is beautiful.

Clumsy Kim.