Call Me Grace

You know that kid in the movies that is always falling down and making a fool of him/herself and you think to yourself as you're watching how hilarious yet sadly unrealistic it is? Don't be fooled. Those scenes are based on some reality and I personally have the gracefulness, or lack there of, to prove it. My roommates are constantly making fun of me for falling up the stairs, tripping over things, and wiping out in the living room. And I'm sure you all remember the story of me crashing my bike this summer in the middle of the quad in front of about a hundred preview students. Well, now I can add yet another story. Enjoy...

On Thursdays I have meetings at work at 8am and I just walk to class after the meeting. So this past Thursday, I was walking back to my car after class, just looking around at all the construction, people eating outside, etc. All of a sudden I apparently tripped over something and was soon flailing like a chicken with its leg caught in a barbed wire fence and *SPLAT!* I face planted into the concrete. I didn't even know what happened but I immediately rolled over to see if anyone had witnessed my embarassing incident, jumped up as fast as I could, and quickly walked back to my car, laughing hysterically to myself. I then proceeded to call Molly and surprise her with a little birthday story. If only she could have been there...

In My Life

We did it! So here's the story. The Beatles' classic, "In My Life" was sung at Molly's parents' wedding. So being the maid of honor, Molly decided to get an a capella group together to sing an arrangement of it at her sister, Hannah's wedding this weekend, in place of her toast. After about 4 rehearsals, we got it all put together and Mike, Jenna, Nate and I drove up to Barrington on Saturday for the big surprise. Even though Molly may have skipped the entire last page of the song, no one really noticed and everyone loved us! Her parents and Hannah were so happy and everyone stood up and cheered for us! It was both cool and awkward at the same time... We then got to eat an amazingly delicious dinner in the restaurant downstairs followed by some incredible strawberry and banana cake. I wish we could have stayed longer than we did, but Mike wanted to get back to his dance party and we had quite a long drive home. Plus, we all had a concert yesterday afternoon. Singing at the wedding was pretty cool and molly and her family couldn't have been more appreciative of us! :)

Madrigal Mystery Tour

After being cancelled last year due to a supposed "lack of funds," mads tour was reinstated this year and couldn't have been more fun! Well...it probably could have been seeing as it didn't nearly compare to the pure absurness that occurred on tour freshman year, but still, we had fun. Our day began with performances at Normal UHigh and Normal Community West, followed by a very long drive to Frankfort where we performed at Lincolnway East and had a delcious feast at Jenna's house. Stomachs full and pants bursting at the seams, we all headed to the bowling alleys to show off our skills. We were all embarassed when we checked out and had to tell the bowling guy what name we played under. We had such characters as Lucy & Ethel, Betty and Wilma, KKizzle, Blue Pimp, etc... The best part was the 4 years old boy bowling next to us who beat Nate Coon's score! The kid later cried, ate something that looked disgusting, and threw up all over the floor. He then proceeded to bowl another game and beat Nate once again. Mike also pulled a Dad move and wiped out once. Our hotel was pretty deserted and under a lot of construction, but we still got good use out of one of the pools and hot tubs. We left early the next morning to perform at Conant B. High School and Hoffman Estates High School, both in Hoffman, had another feast at BWW's, and had our last performance at Crystal Lake.

Then the most incredible thing happened as we were leaving Crystal Lake. A girl was backing her car out of her parking spot at she was leaving the school. A guy was coming up behind her and instead of breaking while she shifted gears, the girl stepped on the gas and literally backed up on top of the guy's car. Molly and her parents got to see the whole thing. By the time we got out there, the girl had driven off of his car to reveal its smashed in hood and shattered windshield. Luckily no one was hurt, but the girl was pretty hysterical. There were tons of cops there within minutes which made our exit pretty interesting as our van was parked right next to the accident. Yikes. Imagine driving your car out of the school parking lot and all of a sudden another car is on top of you. Scary.

Basically, our hours and hours spent in the vans were full of hilarious, immature conversations, random trivia games played via walkie talkie with the other van, an abundance of priceless "that's what she said" jokes, conversations about muffins, and singing classic 80s songs at the tops of our lungs. We all passed out on the way home and were exhausted for days after... Now we just have to wait for our Madrigal Mystery Tour t-shirts...