I'm a little teapot short and stout!!!

The last weekend of June!  Wow! So far a great summer, except for the crazy storm on Friday, but overall pretty cool!  My mom lost 3 trees...maybe 4.  The tree doctor is checking it out, fingers crossed for #4.  She was very VERY lucky, but anytime a tree loses its footing is sad to me.  I know it's a circle of life, but I literally hug trees.  I love trees!!

Ok, done with sad things and on to happy!  One of John's sisters (my future sister-in-law!) graduated high school this year!!  I remember my senior year, graduation, open house....such exciting and yet uncertain times, yet I wouldn't trade that feeling for the world.

As a violin/viola teacher, I get invited to a lot of open houses.  I have yet to be able to attend any!!  My students do a fantastic job of planning their open houses when I'm out of town or playing!  Someday...

***Spoiler alert...I'm going to talk about graduation gifts.  Jennifer, it IS safe for you to read further.

My friend's mom was also a teacher and went to MANY open houses.  She had a really great plan of giving graduates handmade clay pots.  Mine has collected change and small trinkets for the past few years.  Since I received that gift, I wondered, what would my "Olsen Pot" be?  My friends and brother were so excited knowing it was coming.  The closest I've come to something has been an electric tea kettle.  Just like my precious Jet Boil, you can cook so many things in it without the inherent fire risks that a Jet Boil in a dorm may cause.

So friends with lots of teenage friends and family members....do you have a go-to graduation gift for these individuals?  Something special, perhaps useful?  Comment and let me know what you think!!  I'm standing behind my electric tea kettle for now, those things are awesome!!!

THIS WEEK IN MUSIC....

Tomorrow night is Johnny and my turn to play at Turtles with Jason Dixon!  This is such a fun show because we all take turns trading songs in a very relaxed atmosphere.  Plus, he always makes us great posters for Facebook.  Here's ours for this time around:

Saturday will be my first of a few summer gigs with award winning songwriter, Jerry Vandiver!  If you haven't seen the promo video, be sure to check it out on last week's post.  If I could link it, I would!!

Sunday FUNDAY!  We don't have the i like you. Happy Gnome gig this week, but The Big Adventure will be joining our good friends Black Market Brass at the Nomad in Minneapolis.  FREE SHOW!  9pm!!  Come dance!!

Happy Summer, everyone!  Take it easy on all that graduation cake!