My wife and I have a spare bedroom. It has relatively nice furniture. You know: suede couch, chair and ottoman, two lamps, bedside table, cast iron bedframe, Simmons Beautyrest mattress, decorative comforter with matching pillow cases, a flat-out seriously cool dark wood/cast iron leaning desk, Japanese screen…you get the drift. It’s very feng shui and basically just our old studio apartment at Toscana with a new view of the Bordeaux driveway.

Either way, last fall we decided to rent it out. I even advertised the space right here on my blog. And the one and only renter we’ve been lucky enough to share our digs with in the last year-and-a-half is a young, up-and-coming volleyball superstar by the name of Christal Morrison. Although, I have to be honest, she only rented our spare room for two months before accepting an indoor contract in Puerto Rico and managed to spend, well, not even one single night at our pad during that 60-day stretch. I’m not kidding. Not one single night. She was arguably the best roommate in history. Wait, what am I talking about? There’s no argument, she was the best roommate in history. And on top of her magical ability to never sleep at the apartment she’s renting, she also appreciates tremendously good music–I heard a few acoustic jams leak out of her room the one day she decided to stop by and see what she was paying for, but don’t worry, she left later that night.

Bottom line: I convinced her to send a mini-musical playlist my way with some of her latest favorites. And if I’m lucky, she might even send over a few more as she works on her official wedding playlist. Yes, that’s right, all those nights we didn’t see her, her new fiance, Evan Engle, did. It didn’t take long for Melissa and I to agree: solid decision making by her. And we both wish the two of them the best of luck as they tie the knot later this summer.

I know it’s only four, but it’s a good four…     

  “Cold Summer” by Seabear

  “Your Side Now” by Trent Dabbs

  “Home” by Marc Broussard

  “Electrocution and Laughter” by Jeremy Lister