Maybe it's just me...

My attempt to be cool...

2012-02-01T15:04:00.005-05:00

I have a confession to make: I am a blog stalker. I look at other people’s blogs all the time. They’re mostly of people that I know, which I suppose makes it better, but even I think there’s something wrong with reading about another person’s life without their knowledge. I guess if they didn’t want the world to read their blog then they would make it private. In that respect, I feel a little less like a creeper.

Some people are quite clever in the things that they write, making up fantastically funny lists or talking about something adorable that their kid did. We don’t have kids and I think people wouldn’t find it as amusing if I blogged about the cute things James does (he occasionally comes up with one liners that leave me in tears – those are rare, cause let’s face it, I’m the funny one. < see what I mean – I’m hilarious.)

I used to be the queen of making lists on all sorts of things. Now, the only list I make is a grocery list. And let me tell you, that has lost its novelty. When you realize that the dreams for your culinary creations far exceed your pocketbook, grocery lists go from being this:
- Roasted red pepper strips
- Artichoke hearts
- Ricotta cheese
- Hoisin sauce
- Quinoa

To this:
- Manwich
- Tomato soup
- Peanut butter
- Bread
- Spaghetti

Both of these are actual grocery lists.

It’s a sad state of affairs I tell you. But, I still have high hopes for being a culinary master someday. Well, maybe not high hopes; we’ll call them mediocre hopes. There are a million and a half other blogs out there that talk about cooking and I’m way jealous of their genius (if they are in fact the ones who come up with these magical recipes)

Where was going with this? Oh yes, blogs that are way cooler than mine.

So I figured in order to be as cool as the rest of the bloggers, I had to actually blog. I know I have cool potential within me somewhere. And I know I’ve mentioned it at least a dozen times before that I need to do better with blogging. This is my attempt. Think of it what you will.

In other news, James and I recently started going to the gym again. We found out that we could have been taking advantage of a FREE membership to the YMCA that I get through my work. Instead, we’ve been sitting around the house trying to figure out how to get in shape without going broke (gym memberships can be pricey and I have to admit, I’m a bit of a gym snob. It’s the YMCA or nothing. I’m not intimidated when I go in there because of the diverse group of people…) I found out this little nugget of info right after we ordered a treadmill. Whoops. Thankfully we were able to return it and have since jumped on the fitness bandwagon.

I’ve taken to going to exercise classes (and when I say “taken” I mean I went to one on Monday. I didn’t feel like going to the one last night. Tonight’s class remains to be seen…) When I re-entered the world of aerobics on Monday night, I swear I started sweating before the class even began. And it’s all because of one little piece of equipment: the step. I HATE the step and in return, the step hates me. Ask anyone who knows me well and they’re sure to tell you that I’m clumsy. I can’t help it – I was born that way. When I saw the step, I knew my doom would be met in a room full of strangers (with the exception of one co-worker in the back of the room. I prayed she couldn’t see me for fear of being mocked at work the next day…)

When the class began, I took it slow. I’m not horrifically out of shape, but it has been a while since I’ve worked up a real good sweat. That streak ended on Monday night. I felt like a goob as the old lady a row in front of me was attacking the step like a beast while I maintained a mantra in my head of “don’t trip, don’t trip, don’t trip.” Midway through the class, I told the step sayonara and just did the exercises without it. And yes, granny in front of me was still getting’ it like a champ.

Finally the class was done with the step and I could continue on with the group. We get down on the floor to do some crunches – something I wasn’t afraid of. I used to be able to handle crunches. Now, apparently I only know how to do crunches with my neck. Ya think that’s the right way to do it? Negative, ghost rider. I woke up Tuesday morning in a pretty good amount of pain (I almost said excruciating, but that would be a gross exaggeration, and I’m all about the truth people.) From my neck to my abs to my calves, I could feel every body part that was attacked. I thought a hot shower would loosen up the muscles a bit, but no such luck (I would hate to see our water bill if I stayed in the shower for as long as it’s probably necessary to work out my issues). Have you ever tried wrapping your hair in a towel with a stiff neck? It’s next to impossible. I walked around all day with a stiff neck (or something like it…) but thankfully today, I’m much better.

My abs are a different story. I can only guess that we did something like 150 crunches on Monday night. That’s not an exaggeration. Now I can’t even cough without inflicting pain on myself. Overall, getting back into a fitness routine has been a delight. Kind of like getting a root canal or going to your girl doctor for an annual visit.

Tonight’s adventure is cardio kickboxing. As long as there’s not a step, I should be ok. The plan is to pretend I’m a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle as I’m kicking and punching. That should get me through the hour long class (I’m such a wimp, I know.) Here’s to skinny jeans and more hijinks…

Rat-ta-tat-tat...

2011-12-28T15:37:00.002-05:00

...I'm back! I took a brief hiatus from this blog to start a cooking blog. I discovered a blog called Our Best Bites that was fabulous with recipes that were practically fail proof. They also have a cook book so I thought that it would be easy to replicate their success. Wrong-o. When I got out there in the world of Pinterest, I discoverd more blogs about cooking than I could even fathom. Yeah, my puny little blog wasn't going to "take off" like I evisioned that it would especially considering my readership never got past 20 people a day (half of which I think was me or James)

I also took some time off from writing because we moved into a new home which has been really fun. It's kind of still surreal to me that we have this "huge" house that's all ours (I say "huge" cause when you go from a one bedroom to a four bedroom, that's pretty huge...) I've really enjoyed making it our home and the kitchen is undoubtedly my favorite part of the whole place. Plus, James got me a purple KitchenAid mixer for my birthday and I'm pretty much on cloud 9 whenever I cook. I still hate the dishes. That will probably never change. It's been a bit of an adjustment to be in a 2 story home since neither James nor I grew up in 2 story homes. I think because of that (and because we might be a little bit scared...) we don't generally go to another floor of the house without the other one. We've been so blessed this last year and have so much to be thankful for.

So we got the house. That was awesome. And then... I turned 30. Holy. Crap. Honestly, I've always thought that I'm younger than I am; like, when people ask how old I am, I would say 22, when I hadn't been 22 for years... I know they say that age is just a number but 30 is one of those numbers that makes me freak out a little bit. I'm not completely sure why - it could be because I have a hard enough time believing that James and I are homeowners, let alone that we're actually married (I guess I still think I'm single and 1 year away from getting the boot out a singles ward? Who knows...) 30 is one of those numbers for women that can cause a freak out. And it most definitely did for me. I had a perfectly fine birthday... well, I had a fine birthday party. The actual day of my birthday kinda sucked. I'm kind of a darling on my birthday - showered with lots of attention and love. But this year was the first year that I got no such attention. At work it was, "oh hey, it's your birthday. happy birthday." said with about as much enthusaism as it seems. No birthday lunch. No birthday cupcakes. No happy birthday song. All that coupled with turning the big 3-0 and I was a pouty little birthday girl. Don't get me wrong - like I said, James got me an awesome birthday gift, took me out to dinner the evening of my birthday and made a special effort to get me a giant birthday cookie and a birthday cake for my party the following weekend. But all the fanfare and hoopla that I was used to just wasn't there. And I'm sure you're thinking, "is she being for real? What is she, a 4 year old?" Which probably means that you don't know me very well because if you did then you would know how I absolutely love my birthday. What, was I not loved enough as a child and I need attention so badly that I pout when my birthday isn't perfect? Quite the opposite actually. I just happen to love my birthday because it's (generally) a fabulous day when you feel loved more than any other day. Why WOULDN'T someone want that? All you ba-humbuggers out there can kiss my grits if you think birthday's are just another day. Cause they're not.

And now I've ranted more about it all then I intended to.

I hope to get back on track with blogging. And list making. Ah yes, the GLORIOUS list making. Let it all begin (again)....

Mmm... cookbooks...

2011-05-20T16:33:00.006-04:00

I have what might be considered an obsessive personality. If I find something that I like, I latch on to it pretty tightly and don’t let go for a while. Those of you who know me well are probably nodding your head in agreement as you think about the following things that I have found myself “obsessed” with over the years:

New Kids on the Block (from the ripe young age of 8 until they decided to be “tough”)
Backstreet Boys (to replace NKOTB, from 16 until about 20)
Cameron Ek (from about 14 until 22… if that one doesn’t make you burst out laughing, I don’t know what will)
Weddings (from 18 until… I’m still obsessed with weddings…)
Martha Stewart (see previous obsession)
Martha Stewart Wedding magazines (see previous obsession)
The color purple (the actual color, not the book or movie with Oprah; since I was at least 4 and it’s still my favorite)
Butch Walker (only in the last 4 years, but I’ve traveled to Atlanta to see him and I love him… like, a lot)
Paramore (again, only in the last 4 years and I’ve also traveled to Atlanta to see them and gone to a show in Charlotte by myself and skipped out on the John Mayer part)
Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups (if I could remember when I had my first one, then I would say it started then…)

Those are just a few of them that come to mind right away… I’m sure there are loads more. That’s just how I am.

Someone recently told me about a website called ourbestbites.com. It’s a blog by 2 young Mormon moms who share mostly recipes and a few crafty ideas. And while I’ve never tried ANY of the recipes, seeing the pictures on the website was enough to have me hooked. As I looked over the entire blog (which goes back to March 2008) I fell in love with what I saw. Again, I haven’t tried ANY of the recipes so I really don’t know if they know their butt from their elbow. The pictures looked good and the ingredients are simple so I was sold. Then I found out they have a book so I decided that I HAVE to have that book. I don’t care how much it costs (ok I do, but I’m trying to prove a point…) if it looks half as good as the website, it’s gotta be worth it! Next thing I know, I’m hitting up the Barnes and Noble website to see if I could find it at the local store. Of course they didn’t have it so I added it to my online shopping cart because that’s probably the only way I’d be able to get it.

Just when I was about to check out, I see that if I just spend $8.14 more, I can have free shipping. Well yeah! Gimme that too! So I think to myself, what other book could I possibly need right now? You could almost hear the sound of the light bulb dinging above my head as I realized, “MARTHA STEWART HAS A CUPCAKE BOOK THAT I HAVEN’T BOUGHT!” I kid you not, a feeling of euphoria swept over me as I became giddy with joy at the thought of another Martha Stewart cookbook. Anna bought me the Martha Stewart Baking Handbook and it is BEAUTIFUL. I’ve only tried one recipe out of it and it wasn’t that good, but I think that’s because the recipe was quadrupled and something was left out. I digress. So I ended up buying both books and yes, I got the free shipping too.

At this point I’m sure you’re thinking that I’m completely unhinged and I’m sure that my husband can attest to the truth in that, however, I know I’m not the only one that finds cookbooks (and a lot of other picture-type books) to be beautiful. It’s something about the subject matter in combination with the way the photos are taken that just makes books like that so eye-catching to me. I think it appeals to my domestic side as well as my artistic side. Combine those two and you’ve hit on my sucker side. I would have every Martha Stewart cookbook in her collection (like the one about cookies and another about pies and tarts) but the reality is that my eyes are probably bigger than my stomach and wallet (cause a lot of her recipes call for some unusual stuff that your average person just doesn’t keep in the pantry and I’m not looking to break the bank on trying something out), so I don’t usually buy them on a whim. But the next time I’m in a book store and I have $15 burning a hole in my pocket, I might have to pick up the Martha Stewart Cookies book (actually that “might” can just be considered a “will”) If you feel the need to show me how much you love me through gifts, I would gladly accept that as your token of affection – no need to wait for my birthday or a holiday.

The whole point of this is to rave about how newly obsessed I am with cookbooks. I guess I’ve rediscovered my fascination with them and I cannot wait till I get my new little lovelies to add to my collection. I’m Lauren Dillon and I’m a cookbook obsessed nerd.

10 AWESOME things that I appreciate right now

2011-04-29T10:31:00.006-04:00

If you’ve ever heard of the book “1000 Awesome Things” then you will have an idea where I got this from… I’m sure everyone enjoys a few of these things too.

#1 – The one concert you’ve been dying to see comes to town
It doesn’t matter how much it costs or what day it is, when that one musical act finally comes to your town, you’ll do just about anything to be there. Sometimes the urgency can’t wait and you end up traveling further than you normally would just to see them, but when they’re right at your back door, how can you resist? AWESOME.

#2 – Friday’s at quitting time
It’s almost like the smell of the air changes as your heart practically races in anticipation of that quitting bell to ring. You imagine yourself leaving work with the enthusiasm of Fred Flintstone as he slides down the back of a brontosaurus. You can’t beat the feeling of leaving work for a glorious weekend ahead even if you have nothing planned. AWESOME.

#3 – The crack and pop of opening a can of Dr Pepper
What they say in the commercials is true. Who can really resist the amazingly smooth taste of 23 flavors that make up every delicious sip? Throw some cherry flavoring on top of that and you have the makings for a near cosmic explosion in your mouth. AWESOME.

#4 – The chime of receiving a text message
Everyone loves to be loved and in our day of modern technology where communication is practically as instant as thinking, you can feel the love with every “bing bong” of your cell phone. It doesn’t matter if the text is from your mom or your best friend, there’s still something about the instant connection that is made with every smiley face and LOL that’s sent. AWESOME.

#5 – Purchasing clothes on a big sale day without knowing it
Your arms are full of every article of clothing you could ever want in every color you’ve ever loved but you come to the dreaded part of having to put back that one shirt you thought you couldn’t live without. But wait! What’s this?! Every item in the store is at least 30% off?! Oh happy day!! No need to put any of it back – I’m getting it all! AWESOME.

#6 – Buying a new CD
I think they purposefully wrap CD’s in nearly presidential style security cellophane just to build up the anticipation of getting your new purchase into your CD player. Once you’ve conquered that 32 square inch piece of maximum security and somehow managed to break through the heavy duty adhesive sticker hermetically sealing the case shut, what you finally have in your hands is the ability to blast musical gold until you become deaf. AWESOME.

#7 – A good hair day
You’ve washed and conditioned. You’ve dried and straightened. You’ve brushed and fluffed. After much effort and care, you look in the mirror to find your hair perfectly parted without a stray hair to be found. AWESOME.

#8 – The perfect snuggle
Life can be rough, sometimes unbearable. But at the end of the day, when you crawl into bed barely able to keep your lids open long enough to make it to your pillow, you find the sweet spot, nuzzled up in the crook of a loved ones arms. *SIGH* It’s perfectly comfortable and a feeling like no other. AWESOME.

#9 – Duke beats Carolina
No matter who’s ranked higher or who has the better team on paper, you can always count on a battle of epic proportions between the two college basketball powerhouses. And though your heart races and your palms get sweaty, when those final seconds tick down and you know that Duke has conquered the beast, there’s no sweeter victory. AWESOME.

#10 – The smell of a Sharpie
The intoxicating smell dances it’s way to your nose as you gently inhale the fumes of the best marker/pen ever invented. It doesn’t matter if it’s purple or black, yellow or teal, you better believe that you’ll be a little happier when you’re done writing with it. AWESOME.

America's diner is always open...

2011-04-26T16:59:00.002-04:00

The new job is currently underway! It’s only been 2 days, but so far, so good! I think I’m really going to like it here, at least for a little while. My supervisor is really chill and laid back and best of all – he listens to my suggestions instead of immediately shooting them down. Whether or not he uses the suggestion doesn’t really matter to me because at least he’s open to new ideas, which is something I really need in order to do well. The attendance policy is awesome – no penalties for being late. I can go to lunch when I want, for as long as I want. I can leave for the day when I want as long as I put in 40 hours a week. My desk looks out over a park with a fountain and my floor in general is really quiet. Basically, it’s the complete opposite of what I experienced at FIG. FIG was fun for a while, but right now it pales in comparison to how great Denny’s is. I’m excited to really get into my work because I’m not really doing much but observing and learning. Once I get to work on my own then I think it’s going to be awesome. The work we do is to get the restaurants the information they need to introduce new promotions and products (modules) as well as instruct them on what changes need to be made because of each module. The one little hiccup that I see is the lack of creativity used in a lot of the materials that are sent out. The information is valuable, but the presentation looks pretty elementary. Hopefully I’ll be able to use my graphic design skills and spice things up a bit or at the very least, get them to align things better (drives me NUTS)

Of course one of the drawbacks is not knowing anyone here. I miss the people that I worked with at FIG; after almost 6 years, I picked up a few friends. I hope the same will happen here, but with the size of the department right now, I’m not sure when that will happen. Plus, a lot of people that I work with are probably 40’s or older which is a big change from all the 20-somethings that I worked with before. That’s not to say that I can’t be friends with older people, but I think it’ll be a little more difficult to have the same relationships that I had before. At least I still have my sweet husband to come home to; he’s my best friend anyway, so as long as I have him then I’m doing pretty good :)

Adventures in moving...

2011-04-20T21:49:00.003-04:00

Finally moved in to the new place and it was more of an adventure than I thought it would be. Don’t get me wrong, I’m sure it turned out better than a lot of people have experienced, but it still didn’t turn out as well as I would have liked. Allow me to explain… Saturday morning rolls around and we have the house all packed up and ready to go. We literally sat there and waited for them to show up because we were THAT prepared. The movers from All My Sons were supposed to be there between 8 and 9 am. I naively thought that they would be earlier rather than later. Wrong. They showed up at 8:45 and all James and I had to do was sit there and watch. I expressly pointed out to them the boxes that were most fragile, in addition to having written all over the boxes in big, black letters “FRAGILE.” I had a point to make. One box in particular was loaded with picture frames, candles and Willow Tree figurines and though those items are not particularly valuable, I still didn’t want any of it broken – obviously. The box was also really heavy and we debated on taking it with us in the car, but since they had the proper equipment, we assumed they would be able to handle it. After about 2 hours of loading up the truck, they tell us they’re going to go by their shop to pick up an extra mover to make things go quicker so we could stay in the estimated price range that was given to us. I’m thinking, “yes, please do, cause this is already costing a freaking fortune and you guys aren’t exactly hauling tail here…” James and I headed down to Boiling Springs to finish up the paper work for the new apartment and then waited some more on the movers to arrive. When they finally showed up with their new cohort in hand, I expected things to really pickup and they’d be outta there in no time. Wrong again. The first thing I heard when they arrived is that the one box that I pointed out to be the most fragile and most important WAS DROPPED. DOWN THE STAIRS. AND STUFF DEFINITELY BROKE. I was FURIOUS. When they brought the box to me, they said that it looked like only one thing was broken but upon further inspection there was far more than one thing broken… like several picture frames, busted up candles, a broken Willow Tree figurine, and broken candle sticks. After totaling up the damage, I figured they broke about $150 worth of stuff. I get to turn in a claim on the items once they send it to me in the mail, so we’ll see how much of that I actually get back.

So as things moved right along, I noticed that even though they’ve picked up another compadre, they’re not moving any faster. And oh, by the way, go ahead and pay up until 3:30 and if we don’t get done, then you don’t have to pay past that point. That seemed kinda fishy, but they brought another person with them to speed things up so I thought that would mean that they’d definitely be done by 3:30. Wrong. They took about 4 breaks in the span of 2 hours, which cut into the schedule more than you would think. In addition to their breaks, they couldn’t seem to carry as many boxes up the stairs as they took down the stairs, despite using the same equipment and – I MUST SAY THIS AGAIN – another mover. They falsely lead us to believe that unloading goes quicker than loading, but I beg to differ. When it was all said and done, they finished at 3:00 but when the head mover called in to say they were done, we were charged as though they finished at 3:15 because they charge by the quarter hour. How that even makes sense, I’m not sure… so it took 2 ½ men to move a 1 bedroom apartment 5 hours (not including travel time of 1 ½ hours.) That hardly seems reasonable to me. Granted they moved us from a 2^nd floor apartment to a 3^rd floor apartment, I still find it hard to believe that it would take professionals that long. I think they were just trying to milk it for all it was worth. From the beginning all we heard was “Oh wow, you got a lot of boxes” and “Man, that’s a big TV” or “There’s a washer and dryer too?!” I’m sorry, is this the first time that you’ve moved someone? Be glad that you don’t have to move a whole family with multiple beds and 3 times as many boxes! Thinking about it gets my blood boiling all over again… It was great to not have to move anything ourselves or have to put anyone else through the ordeal either. But when we pay good, hard earned money for a professionally done job, I expect a good job to be done. Imagine that.

Now that everything is done, I’m glad we did it, but I think next time we’ll hire movers to load up a U-Haul, drive the truck ourselves, and have them unload it. Hiring movers is not cheap. I have the week before I start my job at Denny’s to put the place together and so far, most of it’s done. I have a few more boxes to unpack and some more pictures to hang, but other than that, it’s practically home again.

On Monday I made my first grocery run to the Wal Mart down the street. It made me sad cause it’s not like the Wal Mart in Mooresville. For starters, the groceries are on the wrong side, which totally threw me off. I ran all across that store trying to find what I needed. Kinda frustrating, but at least there’s a Wal Mart close by. I’ve always said that no matter where I am, as long as I know where Wal Mart is, then I can feel like I’m home. I really like our apartment; it feels bigger even though it’s technically 36 square feet smaller than our last one. It’s short on drawer space in the kitchen, so I asked James for a big kitchen when we buy a house. And I never thought I would find a coat closet valuable until we didn’t have one. Thankfully, most of the space that we’re missing from out last place seems to be utilized in a pretty big storage closet outside on our deck. That thing is a DREAM. So much got to stay in boxes because I know we won’t need it anytime soon (if ever again) so when we move next time, it will be that much less to have to pack up.

I’m still getting acclimated to the area, even though I’m pretty familiar with it from the time I spent here while James and I dated. It’s nice to have him home when normal people get home, so I really look forward to establishing that sort of normalcy that most people experience. Hopefully that won’t change when I start work on Monday – fingers crossed that I’m not pulling super long hours where I become the one who comes home late. That would really suck.

That’s life for now. More to come when I start work on Monday, but until then, I’m loving sleeping in late and being a wifey. Gag, that was cheesy. I’ll refrain from that in the future.

The Good, The Bad and The Ugly

2011-04-11T15:17:00.002-04:00

Things have been trucking right along with our big move down to Spartanburg. After a lot of searching for an apartment, we finally got the one that we wanted. That's the good. They originally had 2 one bedroom apartments on the 2nd floor, when we went to snatch one up, they were already gone. So we kept looking and and even paid an application fee for another apartment. That's the bad. But like I said, after trying out many other apartment complexes, the one we wanted most of all called back and said they had a cancellation for a one bedroom...on the 3rd floor. That's the ugly.

It's not ideal for us to be on the 3rd floor, but the benefits of where we will be living outweigh the pain of living on the 3rd floor. I'm familiar with the area where the apartment is located, I feel safe and we're paying less rent than we are now in Huntersville. Unfortunately, since no one in my family is in any condition to move us from the 2nd floor to the 3rd floor, we decided to use movers to make it easier. I didn't want to burden volunteers beyond helping us move, so even if my family couldn't help, I still didn't want to imposition friends and people from church by moving into a 3rd floor apartment an hour and a half away. Movers aren't cheap, but hopefully it will be well worth it. I'm thinking it will....

Tomorrow is my last day at FIG. At first, I was really nervous about leaving since I've been there for so long. But now, I'm getting kind of excited to leave and go start a new adventure somewhere else. I'm going to miss the people that I work with a lot, but I know I'll meet new people at Denny's and find my niche again. I'm pretty blessed to be able to fit in wherever I go. That's not to sound conceited, but I generally don't find it hard to get along with most people. And if I find that they're a tough nut to crack, that makes me work even harder to get them on my side. It'll be a good transition and I'm excited to be at home with James in the evening like normal people do.

We began the arduous process of packing up the apartment on Saturday. We literally have about 40 boxes of stuff already not to mention our furniture. I don't know how we've ever fit so much stuff into 828 sq ft of space. The apartment reeks of boxes written on with Sharpie (a smell I generally love...) and you can barely see from one room to the next because of boxes stacked taller than me. I'm anxious to get all of it packed up and moved out so I can clean the place (who would've ever thought that I would WANT to clean...) and we can get on with unpacking everything. I don't know how people move all the time like they do; what an exhausting process it must always be.

That's it for now. Time to finish up work at FIG then get on with the rest of moving. Fingers crossed that someone snatches up our apartment in Huntersville so we get out of there as cheaply as possible!!

Moving to the country, gonna eat me a lot of peaches...

2011-04-02T18:25:00.004-04:00

I know it's time to blog when James asks me if I'm going to blog any time soon... Occasionally I will blog about nothing in particular, but I would rather take the time to write when I have something good to share, like right now...

Big changes are coming our way in the next few weeks. I'm scared and nervous, excited and hopeful, anxious and worried, happy and confident all at the same time; simply put, I'm a kaleidoscope of emotions. Just ask James, I'm sure he'll quickly tell you how nuts I am! Despite all the contradictory feelings that I'm racked with, I know that they're all for the good. James and I have been praying for a while about making the move down to the Spartanburg, South Carolina area. Right now, he commutes at least an hour and 15 minutes each way to work in Gaffney, getting up at 4:30 in the morning and sometimes not home until 10:00 at night. I have a fairly quick commute to my job in Cornelius where I've worked for the last 6 years. It's been pretty easy on me, but not so much on James. We both end up going to bed every night around 8:30 or 9:00, and both get up at 4:30, even though I get to lay in the bed and fall back asleep until 7:00. It's been taxing on us both, but more so on James than me. Really I just want him home at a normal time and not be exhausted at the end of the day because of all the driving in addition to waking up early and working.

Our lease is up at the end of July for our apartment in Huntersville and having cleared out quite a bit of our debt in a short amount of time, we began considering buying a house in the Spartanburg area. We probably would have bought the first one that we looked at, but because of advice given to me by my parents, we decided to pull the reigns back a bit on the house hunt and focus on getting me a job down there first. I often search the postings on CareerBuilder.com and though most of them are geared towards graphic design, I found one that was less design driven and more about communications for Denny's corporate headquarters in Spartanburg. I'm a firm believer that you never know what you can get until you ask, so I applied for the job with no real thought put into it other than the fact that it sounded interesting and it was in the right place. Shortly thereafter, I received an email from Denny's HR that said that though my background looked interesting, my resume wasn't attached to the application. In all the time I've been searching for a job, rarely did I receive any sort of response, let alone one that asked for more information, so I quickly obliged. I was asked to do a phone interview with HR and then another phone interview with the director of the department. Both went really well and I was hopeful that things would continue to progress, because even though the position isn't related to graphic design, the details of the job are similar to my current responsibilities. After some waiting, I was asked to come in for an in-person interview and then given a writing assignment a week later. Then there was more waiting. I'm used to seeing a much quicker hiring process at FIG, so to see the entire process take almost two months was beyond nerve wracking.

Finally, after a lot of waiting, I was offered the job with the salary I wanted and the benefits of my current job. It was truly an answer to our prayers. This past Tuesday I put in my two week notice with FIG where I've been for the last 6 years. There have been many, many times where I have come home from work frustrated and ready to quit due to a variety of reasons. And even though finding a new job has been a long time coming, I still feel a twinge of sadness because I will be leaving a group of people who I have grown to know and love. Likewise, the response I have been given to my resignation has been mutually sad. It makes a girl feel good when you hear, "Oh man! Who's going to do my stuff for me now?!" which translates to: "who's going to take good care of my agents?" It'll be a bittersweet exit and I can already foresee lots of tears will be flowing that day. Even though my time there hasn't been without a lot of turmoil and anxiety, there is a deep level of comfort that I feel because of how long I've worked there. I'm as familiar with my job as anyone could be and I understand how to take care of the responsibilities that I have been given. But, despite my comfort, I know that I can't - nor do I want to - stay forever. There's only so much growth that you can experience there and I think I've reached the highest level that I'll ever be able to obtain.

We'll be pulling up stakes and heading down south in a couple of weeks to move into our apartment down in Boiling Springs. I dread the thought of packing this place up, moving it out and then unpacking it all. Add to that the pressure of starting a new job and I'm pretty sure I'll need a straight jacket in a matter of weeks. I'm scared to leave the only home that I've ever really known. Spartanburg is James' home and he gave it up to come up here for me. Now I return the favor so that we can be where our family has the opportunity to grow, both in our careers and in our home. The cost of living in South Carolina is so much less than North Carolina... from the cost of gas and groceries to the cost of rent and homes, nearly everything is less. Because of that, we'll be able to put away more money for a home while I get acclimated to the area and find a good place for us to really settle down.

I'm excited for the opportunity and I certainly could never make the move on my own. I'm glad I'll have James there with me for the times when I get homesick. Thankfully, we're not going to be that far away from home - just an hour and half at the most, which was a piece of cake when James and I were dating and would make the trip every weekend to see each other. Please keep us in your prayers as we make this transition in our lives, because I know for me it won't be the easiest. Anyone who knows me knows that I much prefer the familiarity of home to that of an adventure out in the unknown. But we really feel that this is answer to our prayers and are so thankful for a Heavenly Father who has blessed us how and when we needed it. Change is good, but it just takes me a little longer than most people to adjust to it :)

Thanks...

2010-12-09T18:59:00.000-05:00

I’m thankful for…

my husband
my family
my friends
my faith
my job
my health
a warm home
photographs
music
love
chap stick
lotion
blankets
Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups
purple
good food
kind words
loving hugs
thoughtful gifts
holiday cheer
forgiveness
nail polish
eye liner
support
a warm bed
a soft pillow
cookbooks
flowers
snow
falling leaves
sunshine
Sharpie pens
frozen fruit

Most of all, I’m thankful that I have so much to be thankful for…

O Christmas Tree...

2010-11-22T14:59:00.004-05:00

One of the small joys of being a newlywed that I have come across is the holiday season. I’ve always loved the holidays – ANY holiday, so I’ve practically been salivating at the opportunity to decorate for them. For Halloween, I was going to carve pumpkins and harassed James about when it would be suitable for me to buy a pumpkin. When I finally did, I didn’t even bother carving them. I just set the two little guys outside our door and… that’s it. But at least that way they’d still be able to stick around through Thanksgiving so the decorations carried over. That’s all the decorating amounted to for Halloween and Thanksgiving…

But Christmas is a bit of a different story. It was almost like a light bulb went off when I realized, “Oh my gosh, we get to have our own Christmas tree this year!” Then my mind went into overdrive, trying to figure out a budget for whole thing, planning on what the scheme would be, blah, blah, blah… I honestly think I started looking for a Christmas tree sometime in October, maybe even September. Anyway, as I tried to remain cool, I asked James when we could make the big purchase (cause you know it’s not just the tree that you have to buy… it’s the ornaments, the tree topper, the tree skirt, the ribbon… add it all up and it’s not the cheapest thing in the world) He told me we could get it this past weekend and I practically counted down the days. I even pre-shopped for it all one day during lunch. The next day I bought all the ornaments and this past Saturday we bought the tree: a 7.5’ pre-lit sienna pine. It looked kinda puny until I added all our sparkly balls and snowflakes then it turned out to be quite a pretty tree. I strongly resisted the urge to buy purple ornaments even though James wouldn’t have carried what color ornaments I bought. But, I operate under the idea that it’s not my Christmas tree, it’s OUR Christmas tree. And even though he couldn’t care less what the ornaments look like, I still didn’t want to make it a girly tree. We also bought a couple of stockings that James picked out that are hanging from the door chest in the living room (no fireplace to hang them on...) A strand of lights around a column in the apartment and I feel adequately decorated for Christmas. It just makes the apartment feel homier, like it’s really our place with our stuff. That’s all I really want is to have a place to come home to where I feel like I’m home, not just living somewhere until a lease is up. Now that I think about, we could probably use some nice big pillows on the floor and some soft blankets to curl up with… maybe a nice area rug to add extra coziness… I think I already know where my birthday and Christmas money is going…

Oh, and by the way, zesty pot roast is pretty good. It tastes like regular pot roast, but with a little bit more of a taco flavor. Nothing out of the ordinary, but definitely worth a shot again.

Cooking with Lauren, part 3

2010-11-13T14:31:00.004-05:00

Days 2 and 3 of my cooking adventure turned out half and half... I didn't make James a believer out of Chicken Pot Pie because the Chicken Cobbler wasn't that great. His words were, "It's edible by my standards" which isn't what I ever want to hear again. I'll skip the part where I share that recipe; I'm sure there's a better one out there that's just as low in calories and has a lot more flavor. It was just too bland, and that's coming from someone who doesn't mind bland food.

On to Wednesday night when I tried out my first meatloaf... this one was a success and a recipe that I would recommend to anyone. It didn't taste like regular meatloaf; it was Italian market style (whatever that means) so it had more Italian flavor (parsley, sun-dried tomatoes, Italian seasoning) I guess what makes it a low calorie meal is the fact that you use ground turkey rather than ground beef. With a side of mashed potatoes (admittedly, from a pouch but they're only 80 calories a serving) it was really filling and delicious. I will definitely make this one again, but probably just on a Sunday afternoon when I have a little more time to make it. It takes an hour to bake so this isn't really the best for an weekday evening (at least not for us, since we generally eat around 6:30 and go to bed by 8:30)

I'll post the recipe later as it is one that's worth sharing. Sunday's endeavor is zesty pot roast which I think will probably be the best of all that I'm testing. As usual... I'll keep you posted!

Cooking with Lauren, part 2

2010-11-09T18:22:00.000-05:00

The week of all new recipes has begun! Last night I tried out the Barbecue Chicken and Onion Pizza. It wasn’t too bad but it definitely could have been better. The recipe calls for ½ cup of barbecue sauce and an additional 2 teaspoons of barbecue seasoning which kind of makes the barbecue flavor too overwhelming. The chicken, onions and turkey bacon don’t even taste like they should because everything is overtaken by barbecue. The recipe also calls for two packages of refrigerated pizza dough which I thought would be too much for the two of us, so I just used one. This time I had a little helper in the kitchen that helped me put the pizza together and while James was a fantastic assistant, I think it’s probably best that dinner is ready most evenings when he comes home :)

Next time around IF I make this again, I’ll probably layer it like you would a regular pizza so that you can actually taste each ingredient rather than think “was that chicken or bacon I just ate?” Definitely less barbecue sauce, leave out the extra seasoning altogether and no fat free shredded cheese. Once the pizza was done, the cheese hardened like a rock on top of the pizza, kind of keeping it together, but also making it a little more difficult to eat. No need to mix all the ingredients together like the recipe suggests. Make it like a regular pizza and I’m sure it’ll be pretty awesome. You can’t really go wrong with chicken, barbecue sauce and bacon!

Tonight’s endeavor is Chicken Cobbler which is essentially a chicken pot pie, minus the bottom crust. James isn’t a fan of chicken pot pie, but I hope to make a believer out of him when this one’s done. So far, I haven’t disappointed him with my “culinary skills” but I’m also really lucky that he’s not in the least bit picky so if he turns he nose up at something, I must have REALLY botched it.

Here’s the recipe for Barbecue Chicken and Onion Pizza. With the modifications that I suggested above, I think it could be really awesome!

1 large onion, sliced
2 plum tomatoes, sliced
4 slices of turkey bacon, diced
2 garlic cloves, pressed
½ cup smoky barbecue sauce
2 teaspoons barbecue seasoning mix
2 cups diced cooked chicken
2 packages (10 ounces each) refrigerated pizza crust
1 cup (4 ounces) shredded cheddar cheese
1 tablespoon parsley

Preheat oven to 425. Slice onions and tomatoes and dice bacon.

Heat skillet over medium heat until hot. Lightly spray skillet with nonstick cooking spray and add onion, bacon and pressed garlic. Cook and stir until onion is tender and lightly browned. Stir in barbecue sauce and seasoning; remove from heat. Stir in chicken; set aside.

Unroll both packages of pizza dough and arrange side by side, shaping into a circle. Roll dough to edge of baking sheet, pressing seams to seal.

Spread chicken mixture over dough to within ½ inch of edge. Arrange tomatoes evenly over top of pizza; sprinkle with cheese. Bake 18-22 minutes or until crust is golden brown. Remove from oven and let stand for 10 minutes. Sprinkle with parsley, cut and enjoy!

Cooking with Lauren...

2010-11-04T11:31:00.004-04:00

My new fascination: Finding delicious recipes that are healthy too.

My most recent discovery: My Pampered Chef cookbook, “It’s Good For You” that is full of low calorie and yummy meals.

I bought the book a while ago when I hosted a Pampered Chef party, but when you live at home and mom does all the cooking, there’s really no need to bust out the cookbook. Since I’m a domestic goddess in training, I’m putting my culinary skills to the test and sticking to my plan of James and I not getting fat in our first year of marriage (or any year following, for that matter…) This past week I tried out Chicken Stroganoff and Sausage and Peppers Penne, both of which I thought were pretty tasty. Next week’s menu will consist of Barbeque Chicken Pizza, Italian Meatloaf, Chicken Cobbler and Zesty Pot Roast. Each meal is less than 350 calories per serving with 6-8 servings per meal. I thought that was pretty phenomenal and the taste doesn’t suffer because of using low fat or fat free ingredients.

If you know me, you know that I’ve had a pretty long journey to be thinner, something I’ve struggled with my whole life. Since I lost about 80 pounds almost 4 years ago, I’ve tried my best to maintain (pretty successfully, I might add…) my weight. I still indulge in chocolate (I’m human, I’m not super woman…) and have the occasional french fry or cookie, but for the most part I try to stick to the way of eating that I learned to initially take off the weight. I think now it’s become a learned behavior, so I hope I can maintain my weight and even lose some more in the future.

So far, we’ve done pretty well in eating healthy. I buy wheat tortillas for my infamous chicken enchiladas, wheat pasta for any pasta dishes, turkey burgers, turkey hot dogs, baked chips, etc. I’m still weary of making any fish, so I admittedly use frozen beer battered fish for fish tacos as well as jalapeno cheddar cheese dip for the sauce which probably doesn’t make for the healthiest dish… but man they’re good! That’s one of our indulgences about every other week and I’m just proud of myself for concocting the whole meal myself!

I’m also quite enamored with my slow cooker… whoever thought of throwing meat and vegetables in a pot and letting it cook all day was a friggin’ genius. If I could find a cookbook with healthy slow cooker recipes… gah, forget about it - I wouldn’t use anything else. James thinks I’m nuts for using the slow cooker when it’s just the two of us, but those lunch leftovers are better than peanut butter and jelly sandwiches any day.

The journey continues to be an awesome cook so I’ll keep you updated on how it goes and share some of my favorite recipes along the way…

Recipe for Skinny Chicken Stroganoff

INGREDIENTS
4 slices bacon, cooked and crumbled
6 ounces egg-noodles
3/4 cup sour cream
1/4 cup flour
1 can chicken broth
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon black pepper
8 ounces sliced mushroom
1 cup chopped onion
1 pound boneless, skinless chicken cut into 1/4 inch strips
1 clove garlic, pressed
2 tablespoons snipped parsley

DIRECTIONS
1. Cook and Crumble bacon. Set aside
2. Cook noodles according to package directions. Drain. Whisk together sour cream and flour until blended. Gradually whisk in chicken broth until mixture is smooth. Stir in salt and pepper. Set aside
3. Heat skillet over high heat. Add chicken; cook and stir 5 minutes or until no longer pink. Remove from skillet. Keep warm.
4. Reduce heat to medium. Add mushrooms, onion and garlic. Cook and stir 3 minutes. Return chicken and bacon to skillet. Stir in sour cream mixture: bring to boil. Reduce heat and simmer 2 minutes, stirring constantly. Stir in parsley; serve over noodles.

Love Nest

2010-09-11T10:36:00.007-04:00

We've been in our apartment about a month and a half now and I've diligently worked to get it together... boxes unpacked, shower gifts unwrapped and put away, art on the wall, pictures in frames... for a while now I've wanted nothing more than to have a place to call my own (obviously with James now...) Finally, we have the place unpacked, put away and as together as it's going to be. So, I wanted to share the fruits of our labor. Our dining room table and couches were graciously donated to us from my grandmother and aunt, so feel free to come recline at our casa anytime. In the interest of saving money and recycling, I painted several canvases to fill wall space; they're nothing spectacular, but they're better than bare walls. Instead of spending money on the letters out of found objects pictures, I made my own to spell DILLON across the ledge separating the living room and dining room. But I think my favorite piece of art out of it all is the one James thinks is the ugliest... I bought a plate collage wall plaque that matches our living room furniture really well and it includes colors from the kitchen too so I thought it was perfect. James thinks it's just ugly. He has his little music nook with his guitar hanging on the wall, so I think he's probably ok with anything I put up. I tried really hard to make this place feel like a home because for so long my home was Mom and Dad's house so I'm a bit like a fish out of water being in a place that's completely our own. With the exception of our excessively noisy upstairs neighbors (I think they're practicing for the running of the bulls with actual bulls...) I love our place. Click on the picture below to see the details of our sweet little pad!

Glory days

2010-09-05T21:16:00.000-04:00

It's hard to believe that more than 10 years ago I graduated from high school. It seems like high school was a million years ago and funny enough, I don't miss it one bit. People often speak fondly of their high school days like those were their "glory days." Not that it's a bad thing, but it kind of makes me laugh to see all the people who still hang out with the same people that they did in high school. With the exception of Anna, who I worked with for 4 years, I don't see or speak to ANYONE that I went to high school with. Part of me is bothered by that, but then I see the people who are still hanging out with the same people they've known since elementary school and I'm glad that I've left that part of life sort of frozen in time. That doesn't mean that it wasn't a great time of life, but I'd like to think that right now is when I'm living my glory days. Parts of life suck, like paying bills but life is so much better now than it was then... no homework, no studying, no tests, no wondering if the boy you like likes you too... Not to mention the fact that there really wasn't anything spectacular about my high school - we sucked at football and basketball, we were an unimpressive size so there's really nothing to revel in.

October 30th is when my 10 year high school reunion has been planned and somewhat unfortunately, I won't be going because James and I have long planned to go to the Carrie Underwood concert for his birthday. My eternally nosy side is dying to go just to see what everyone else has been up to, but I'd rather do it in a "fly on the wall" kinda way where I don't have to actually engage in conversation with these people, but rather get the low down from afar. But truthfully, most of the people I graduated with I kinda couldn't careless about what they're doing now. I guess it's just one of those things that people so look forward to that not going almost seems un-American. Thankfully, I don't feel like my patriotism is connected to my high school days, so I can still hold my head high. Looking back on that part of life is fun but I think I'll just keep on enjoying my current glory days and leave those other times frozen where I left them...

Wedding weekend...

2010-08-03T20:11:00.005-04:00

The wedding of the century has passed and we made it to the other side alive! All the planning, all the stress, all the anticipation of one of the best days of our life was totally worth it. It was quite possibly the best weekend I've ever experienced. Yes, better than Butch Walker weekend, if you can imagine that. The extravaganza started on Thursday with James and I going down to Gaffney to apply for our marriage license then spending the rest of the day with my mother-in-law and getting the church ready for the reception on Saturday. To cap off the day, both of our families got together for dinner at Hickory Tavern to meet before we became eternally connected. Friday, James and I went back to Gaffney to pick up our marriage license and to be honest, I thought he flew the coop on me! He ran inside to pick up the license and I waited in the car. After about 20 minutes I became a little bit worried because it didn't take us that long to fill out paper work, so why was it taking so long to just pick up the thing? But alas, the speediness of our government and its workers was the culprit of the slow down and we were on the road again to Columbia. Traditionally, the bride and groom shouldn't see each other on the wedding day until they meet at the altar, but I guess James and I aren't very traditional. It was actually pretty nice to get to spend the day together just me and him before all the hoopla began. To make it even better, there wasn't a hint of nerves for either one of us. Once we arrived to the temple, things went pretty quickly and we were done with the whole ceremony before we knew it. After some family pictures we were outta there and on our way to the hotel in Charlotte. The details of our stay aren't any of your business, but use your imagination :)

The reception was everything that I could have hoped for and more. The room was lovely – almost downright gorgeous and I’m so thankful to my family and friends who worked their butts off to make sure it was practically perfect. The reception flew by but every moment of it was just how I would have wanted it to be. One of the only hitches amongst all the details of the weekend was that the color icing on my beautiful wedding cake was – of all colors – MAUVE. Thankfully, I have a sweet man who talked me down and helped me realize that while it wasn’t even close to the color that we had intended for it to be, if that was the only part of the wedding to go wrong, then we were doing REALLY good. Plus, in a dimly lit room, you could hardly tell. We couldn’t have had a more perfect weekend and it was so nice to be able to spend it with our closest family and friends.

Now we get to move on to the best part of it all – normal life, where I get to be domestic and James gets to be handy. We get to create our own home and fill it with our own things. And while it doesn’t feel quite like home just yet, I think once we hang a few more pictures, unpack the rest of our boxes and really get settled into daily life (it’s only been 5 days… it doesn’t happen THAT quickly…) then it’ll be nice to have a place to call our own.

Thank you to everyone who made our whole weekend so special. In no particular order, thanks to: my mom and dad for vigilantly working to get those Christmas lights to work and for all the funds that were forked out to make sure I had everything I wanted – within reason, my sister Jennifer for understanding what I wanted and being so willing to execute it, my best friend Amber for being my photographer, personal dresser and florist as well as being at my beck and call throughout the reception to make sure we stayed on schedule, Jennifer S. for being a fantastic co-florist and sounding board at work, my mother-in-law Clarice for her help in putting up fabric and ribbon “seamlessly,” Melanie and Madison for de-thorning 250 white roses, and all the various other people who I may or may not have seen helping at some point during the whole she-bang. Lastly I want to thank my sweet new husband James who tried to help me stay sane during all the planning and actual wedding and reception - I couldn’t ask for anything more.

Disaster in the kitchen...

2010-07-27T06:23:00.002-04:00

We finally got moved into our apartment this past weekend and we were really lucky to have more than enough people who showed up to help. Now it’s onto the chore of unpacking boxes while I also finish up wedding plans. The thought of taking on the task is enough to drive me mad but I’m making it through, day by day. I admittedly had a meltdown last week which freaked James out because that’s not how he’s used to seeing me. I assured him that I wouldn’t always been like that it was just bad news on top of bad news that compounded with the stress of moving and getting married that sent me into a tailspin. I’m better now though and looking forward to surviving the next few days with my head on a little straighter :)

I don’t care what anyone says, I think a man benefits from being married more than a woman. Sure, there are its perks for the women (like the fact that he’ll be the buffer between me and the bedroom door should anyone break into our apartment, thereby ensuring that I won’t be attacked first…) and there is the protection and security that you get from having a man in the house to take care of things. But the man gets to come home to a lovely abode, to the aroma of a delightfully prepared meal and simply unwind at his leisure. I’m not complaining about the balance of home life between a man and a woman. In fact, I firmly believe that each has their role in the home – the man provides and protects, the woman cares and nurtures. But it was on days like yesterday that I almost felt “overwhelmed” in holding up my end of things. After getting off work at 5:30 yesterday, I eagerly drove home to “prepare my man a meal.” Gag me, right? I guess I felt like I had something to prove in the kitchen and was shooting for the stars when I conjured up my “gourmet meal” for when James got home from work. I picked up a few more things at the store on my way in just to ensure that dinner was “extra special.” I was anxious to show off my culinary skills in the kitchen which James has never really experienced before (we eat at Subway and Chic-Fil-A more than I’m in the kitchen) So I get home, start cooking some chicken, mash up some avocados for guacamole and wait for the frozen chicken to cook. The boiling water starts bubbling over, but that’s no big deal – that just means that the heat will evaporate the water. Then juices from the chicken begin to form a foam that then begins to bubble over and again I think, no big deal except for the fact that it’s starting to stink a little bit. But I go on about my business getting everything else ready until I notice that the boiling over is starting to cause smoke in the kitchen. Fine – I’ll turn on the obnoxious fan over the stove. That doesn’t really help so the smoke lingers on into the other rooms of the apartment and before I know it, the fire alarm is going off not only beeping annoyingly loud but also TALKING to me, saying “there’s a fire” “beep” “there’s a fire” “beep” and on and on and on… So I open the front door and try to scoot the smoke out, but it’s not going anywhere. I get the brilliant idea to fan the smoke away from the detector so I take some papers and work vigorously to redirect the smoke. Still not working and I realize at this point it’s because I’m trying to direct it away from the carbon monoxide detector not the fire alarm. I search around the room for the annoyance and remember that – DUH – the fire alarm is on the ceiling. I try fanning the smoke away again, but it STILL doesn’t stop. Ah, but there’s a button in the middle of the fire alarm that I begin jumping up to furiously to stop the screeching alarm and silence that stupid voice that’s falsely telling me that there’s a fire. Finally, after about 5 leaps up to our 8 foot ceiling, I shut the thing up. Hallelujah…

But the fun doesn’t end there…

Now that I’ve brought silence back to the apartment (who knows what the new neighbors must be thinking…) I get back into the kitchen to finish my gourmet meal. The chicken is done and I begin to shred it so that I can finish the chicken enchiladas. Throw some white American cheese and low fat sour cream in a wheat tortilla shell with the chicken and you nearly have a completed chicken enchilada. The only thing missing is the sauce. That’s in a can. That requires a can opener to open it. And through the many gifts that we’ve received, we have yet to acquire a can opener. How in the world do you open a can without a can opener? So, I get a screw driver and start pounding at the lid. But this can of enchilada sauce appears to be hand crafted by Kevlar therefore making it virtually impenetrable. Wonderful. Thankfully, James has a can opener somewhere in the wilderness of boxes that litter the apartment, I just have to wait until he gets home to find said can opener and finish this “delightful” meal.

With a sigh of relief, the meal is done and my first foray into truly being domestic was a bit of a debacle. However, after all is said and done, the meal itself was pretty darn good (ask James, he’ll verify) And believe it or not, nothing was actually burnt in the preparation of the meal - only my ego (I told James that for whatever reason, I was so embarrassed that happened to me. I’m supposed to be like Martha Stewart and here I am acting more like a third grader cut loose in mom’s kitchen…) I only hope this is the last time I have a story like this to share but I’m afraid that this is only the beginning of my “prowess” in the kitchen…

Moving day...

2010-07-15T19:22:00.002-04:00

I guess life can get pretty consumed by unimportant stuff when you're planning a wedding. We've been so blessed with all the wonderful things that friends and family have given thus far. I really couldn't ask for anymore but I have to admit something... I am completely obsessed with checking our registry. For whatever reason, I have to check it on a daily basis, mostly to see if we got one of two sets of kitchen gadgets that we registered for, but also to be reminded of all the great things we have too. I'm so excited to move into our apartment in a week and even more excited to have a place to come home that is completely our own. I know it's not going to be some "miracle of life" type deal where I realize everyday how great it is to have our own set of dishes... our own set of towels... our own couches... but man, for a while, I think it's going to be pretty awesome. For 28 years, I've lived with my parents and kept to one room that's all my own. But now I finally get to branch out into other rooms of the house. Hallelujah for that... What's even better is that I'm not just talking about moving out like I may have done in the past. This time it's actually going to happen. Honestly, I've always known that when I finally do move out my house and in with someone else that it was going to be a permanent roommate, i.e. - my husband. Looks like I was right yet again :)

The big moving day is July 24th so if you find yourself with nothing to do on that Saturday morning, feel free to come over and help us move. It'll be awesome :)

Something clever as the title...

2010-07-02T16:00:00.005-04:00

It's been too long and I've missed all your smiling faces. It's time for another list.
1. Wedding planning used to be a dream of mine. Now I find that I'm more excited to get to the marriage part of things rather than the wedding. With that being said...
2. I can't wait to spend the rest of my life with Jimmy D.
3. We're going to have cute kids because he was a cute kid. I, on the other hand, was not so lucky. I've been assured that I've grown into a beautiful woman, so there's hope I guess.
4. Our trip out to Oklahoma was a reaffirmation of how much I love North and South Carolina. It may very well kill me if I have to live anywhere else.
5. I can't remember the last time I watched television. It used to be what I scheduled my life around and now I couldn't even begin to tell you what I do with my time instead.
6. I practice writing my new last name to see if I'll be able to do it naturally when the time comes. So far, I can't.
7. My new fake hair is awesome. Thank you, Jessica Simpson. I don't care what anyone says, I think you're brilliant.
8. I think I used to love going to the beach because it meant going on vacation. Now the thought of being sandy and dirty grosses me out. I'd rather just hang out at the swimming pool.
9. I don't get the hype about soccer or the World Cup.
10. I saw Butch Walker for the 3rd time and despite being completely exhausted from a non-stop weekend, it was perfect.
11. I'm trying to be a sweeter person. I'm not sure that it's working, but gosh I'm trying.
12. Rest easy, peanut butter and chocolate are still perfect together.
13. Our apartment is going to be awesome.
14. If there's a disease where you're constantly cold, I'm pretty sure I have it.
15. I can't wait to eat a hot dog on the 4th of July. They always taste better that day.
16. My new obsession is about to be couponing and I'm bound and determined to be really good at it.
17. I usually don't miss people, but I find myself missing my grandpa and dog a lot lately.
18. Don't buy an Infiniti at Lake Norman Infiniti. It was not the luxury experience that it should be. However our G37 is an awesome car it just wasn't sold to us by awesome people.
19. I might learn how to garden which makes me feel really old.
20. I suck at blogging.

Going to the chapel...

2010-06-07T19:47:00.004-04:00

Life gets kinda busy when you're planning a new life and a wedding... If you told me 6 months ago that planning a wedding would be this stressful, I would have laughed in your face. I'm not laughing right now. Honestly it hasn't been that bad, but it definitely hasn't been what I ever thought it would be.

For about the last 7 years or so, I've gone about life with stars in my eyes thinking that weddings were surely the greatest things ever imagined. And while I will wholeheartedly agree that marriage is probably the greatest thing ever (or I should say, will be the greatest thing ever...) weddings are a completely different story. There is unimaginable stress that I never thought that I would feel. See, I used to think that a wedding was - in theory - the greatest day of your life. Who wouldn't want to be surrounded by all their family, friends and loved ones, receiving attention, praise and gifts? It's like your birthday on crack. I love my birthday, so why wouldn't a wedding be equally - if not more so - fantastic? But I hang my head low and shake it slowly as I admit that weddings aren't the barrel of monkey's they're made out to be on TV and the movies. First, they're expensive - really, really expensive. Like the kind of expensive that even a big spender like me can hardly conceive of spending more than $5000 for what's supposed to be one of the greatest days of your life. Do you know how many practical things you could buy for $5000? Do you know how many bills can be paid with $5000? Blows my mind... Then there's the whole decision making process. I used to think that I was pretty good at making decisions. I see something, I like it, I buy it. But with wedding planning there are so many choices that your judgment gets clouded and your confidence in your decision making begins to wane... Does it really matter what your engagement ring looks like? Is it vitally important that you have garlic mashed potatoes instead of roasted red potatoes at your reception? Will the earth refuse to spin if that long lost relative that you haven't seen since your grandfather's funeral isn't invited to the festivities? It's enough to drive me insane. I'm going to take this opportunity to admit to one tiny little thing that I've been doing to help me maintain sanity... I've roped my ever so sweet finance into the decision making process to lighten my load. He couldn't care less if we have white tablecloths or orange tablecloths but having him help me make the choice confirms to me that a good decision is being made. A large part of involving him does include the fact that this isn't just my wedding, but just the tiniest little part helps take some of that burden off of me too.

I'm anxious for the day to come and anxious for it to be over... but I guess what's most important to remember amidst all the chaos of the "big day" is that the end result of an eternity with my best friend is worth the stress of it all. And honestly, I can't wait.

Infiniti and Beyond...

2010-04-14T18:30:00.000-04:00

I think probably everyone has a dream purchase that they say, "If I win the lottery, then I'm going to buy ________" But how many people ever really get to realize that dream? I'm guessing not many.

But sometimes fortune smiles on people and their dreams are within reach... and within reason.

Saturday, James and I went out to do some preliminary car shopping. We didn't completely have the intention of buying a car, but we wanted to evaluate our options and test the waters on some choices. We had in our mind that we would check out a nice, practical Honda Accord - a good, reliable car that still had visual appeal. However, on our way to the Honda dealership, we thought it'd be fun to stop by the Infiniti dealership just to see what they had available. For most people our age, an Infiniti is not even an option but looking never hurts and I guess sometimes we all like to torture ourselves with the things that we know we can't really have.

As we enter the dealership, we're greeted by two gentlemen who ask us the standard questions: "what are you here for?", "how much would you like to spend?", etc. We really just wanted to see what they had more than actually getting the full details for purchasing, but they always hook you when they ask if you'd like to test drive. Again, a completely harmless thing to do - after all, test driving is NOT purchasing. Mathias was our assigned salesman who told us about a brand new 2010 Infiniti G37 sedan that was just traded in by it's previous owner after only being off the lot for a week. The car only had about 175 miles on it, was fully loaded and best of all, BLACK. Would we really be able to afford this car? Not likely, but we wanted to have a little fun so we took the bait and got in the car for a test drive. Mathias took us to a test driving stretch of road and asked us if we were ready to feel the power of our new car (a little presumptuous on his part, but that's his job...) He floored the car, going 0-60 in about 5 seconds. I kinda thought we were going to die. Then we switched drivers and I was in the driver's seat and Mathias suggested that I try the same thing. While I love to go fast, there is NO WAY I was going to hurtle an unfamiliar car down a narrow road and expect the passengers and driver to all make it out alive.

After taking it out on the highway, we tell Mathias that while it's a great car, we were really interested in a coupe. The only coupe on the lot was a 2003 that had over 60,000 miles - not quite what we had in mind, so we passed. Then we started the debate on whether or not we should really see if the G37 was a feasible purchase for us because the clincher in the whole deal was the car is still considered to be brand new, the week long stint with the previous owner qualified it as a used car which meant that the price would be knocked down quite a bit. Maybe this wouldn't be so far-fetched... We had a monthly payment amount in mind that we wanted to keep it around and if it didn't meet our expectation, then it was fun but not for us. Mathias gives us a "I'll think about it" price quote and a "I'll take it home today" quote. Of course the first set was outrageous and completely out of our price range. But he knew that it would be so the second set was a bit more realistic, but still not what we were hoping for. So the dickering began. We really wanted the car but we also didn't want to give up our first born to be able to afford our dream car. With a little bit more haggling, we were able to get them down to the monthly payment that we were hoping to make but I still wasn't completely convinced that we should do it... We took one more look at the car, I look at James and say, "are you sure?" He's sure. I know I want it. So... we're now the proud owners of a black 2010 Infiniti G37.

By this time, you might be thinking that we're completely crazy. And there's an excellent chance that we are. But there's probably no other time in our life that we'll be able to get our dream car (yes, it was a dream that we both shared and vowed that if we ever won the lottery, we'd both get one...) so why not take advantage of the opportunity that seemed to be meant for us?

Mr Bojangles

2009-12-12T16:42:00.003-05:00

On Saturday, December 5th my friend Bo Johnson passed away. I've never had the pleasure of knowing someone quite like Bo. From the first day of meeting him, he was my friend. I had to slowly win him over to become one of his favorites at work (a honor that I shared with Anna) but eventually we formed a mutual admiration for each other. The best thing about Bo was that he always treated everyone like a friend. I love him and his family dearly and was able to take care of their house and dogs while he was away last summer recovering from his double lung transplant. He fought long and hard to beat lung cancer but his spirit couldn't keep his failing body going. Our relationship was based on teasing - whether it was about my Mormon ways or our Duke/Carolina rivalry. There was hardly a time when our exchanges were serious. Not to mention the many times he saved my butt from getting fired for one thing or another. He was a great man who's spirit lives on in his sweet little girl Addi. He and his wife Christi will forever be my heroes because of the grace and courage that they showed while battling lung cancer the last 3 and a half years. I've shed many tears over this loss, but I'm comforted in knowing that a man of his caliber couldn't be anywhere else but with our Heavenly Father.

Raindrops on roses

2009-11-20T13:01:00.002-05:00

It's been a while...here are some of my new favorite things:

1. sushi - yes, it was overrated and now it's not... whatever.
2. macbook pro - that's my sweet new laptop
3. vitamin water 10/sobe life water - the pomegranate flavor in either is killer
4. pandora - cause its all the music i love and then some...
5. dove body scrub
6. my nose ring - have you seen it? its so hot...
7. converse all stars - my new navy ones are so bad a...
8. waffle house grits and raisin toast
9. postsecret books and postsecret.com
10. skinny jeans - cause i never thought i could pull them off before and now i love them...

Here it is...

2009-10-25T21:29:00.003-04:00

Call me a narcissist, but I think it's hot...

Not quite a tattoo...

2009-10-21T18:10:00.008-04:00

So here's the story... I talk a lot about doing things that I probably will never do such as... getting a tattoo, finding a new job, and perhaps even moving out of my parents house. While I really would like to do all of the above, the pieces never have fallen into place for any of those things to happen just yet. I've figured out that I'm the type of person who has to decide what I want and then just do it. So I decided that I wanted to get my nose pierced. I mulled the idea over in my head for a little bit and finally decided that it was a non-permanent solution to my tattoo fascination. I'm realistic enough to know that any real desire I have to get a tattoo is just a phase and I don't want to be stuck with something that I'll regret having when I'm 47. Piercing my nose however, can be taken out at anytime necessary so why not just go for it?

Before I settled upon the idea of getting my nose pierced, I tried to gauge my ears myself, but that didn't work. They would have to be professionally done so we headed to one of Mooresville's finest tattoo and piercing shops to have them take care of it instead. Somewhere between trying to gauge my ears and getting to the tattoo shop, I decided that I didn't want to do the gauge thing, I wanted to pierce my nose. I thought about piercing my cartilage again but decided against it. Decision made - let's do this. I chose a small rhinestone stud as my jewelry, went back to the room where they do the piercing, line up the spot on my nose and let them pierce me with a needle comparable to the size of what they use to give blood. IT HURT LIKE A MOTHER, but once it was done it looked so good that any amount of pain I had to go through was completely worth it. Cringe if you will at the thought of nose piercings, but it was HOT and it looked good.

But now comes the backlash... what are my mom and dad going to say about it? Are they going to be ok with it at my quite corporate job? We get home that afternoon, sitting on the couch talking with my mom and she says "what's that?" I dodged the question, focusing on other things but she wasn't deterred. So I gave in, showed her that it was a real piercing and braced myself for the fall out. At first, she was shocked - in fact, I think she was in total disbelief that her sweet little angel would do such a thing. But then once that wore off, I'm pretty sure she decided that she liked it even though she wasn't completely willing to admit it. Somehow I managed to avoid my dad enough for him to never even notice despite having a face to face conversation with him. Some guys really aren't observant... Now judgement really came on Monday morning when I had to face the powers that be at work. I thought I would be able to make it through the day without any repercussions but unfortunately, that wasn't the case... I got called into the Human Resource office where our director said to me, "tell me that's a stick on..." My silence in return was enough of a confirmation that it was a little bit more permanent than that... Apparently it's office policy that you can't have any piercings other than ears that are visible - a minor detail that I failed to see when I read the employee handbook. I was advised that if I didn't remove the piercing right away that I would have to go home. A little thing like a piercing is no reason to lose a job in this economy, so I quickly obliged. Since the policy states that the piercing can't be visible, it was suggested that I get a clear ring to put in while I'm at work, which would satisfy both sides. However, I didn't anticipate how quickly the hole would close up after taking out the ring, so when I went to the tattoo shop later that evening, they said they wouldn't be able to re-pierce me with a clear ring... and in reality I shouldn't put in a clear ring until I had the piercing for several days. CRAP.

I'm not one to be easily deterred when I want something and I was PISSED that I had to take the thing out to begin with so my next option is to wait until Thanksgiving when I have several days off from work. I can get it re-pierced, wear the stud for the 5 days that I have off and then when I go back to work the following Monday, replace the stud with a clear post that should hopefully keep me in the clear until the piercing heals and I can get away with not wearing any jewelry while I'm at work. I wish I had pictures to put up because it really did look good, but when I get it done again in about a month, I'll definitely show it off then. Everyone that saw it was surprised at how much they liked it - I have to say that it surprised me too how well I pulled it off.

So I bet you never thought you'd see the day when you read a post about me getting my nose pierced, huh?

What I know

2009-09-16T22:56:00.003-04:00

My parents will never let me down and will always be the 2 people I can count on.
Everyone gets a second chance, even if they might not deserve it. If that second chance doesn't work out, then there aren't anymore chances.
It is impossible for me to not fight an injustice.
There is no better feeling in the world than knowing that you've changed someone's life for the better.
There is no worse feeling in the world than knowing that your efforts weren't enough.
You should only forgo sleep for one thing: fun.
I am wrong just as often as I am right.
Singing at the top of my lungs is a sure remedy to a bad day.
"Things will get better in time" isn't always true.
When I find something that makes me happy, I try to not let it go, whether its a person or a thing.

Did you know...?

2009-08-31T20:33:00.003-04:00

I was born in Bluefield, West Virginia. I'm pretty sure I was an accident - my dad says I wasn't, my mom says I was.
I was almost named Laryn, as in the root of laryngitis...imagine me being speechless...
I scored the first perfect score on the end of grade test in Kindergarten.
I have the uncanny ability to mimic the sound of a baby crying.
I used to lose sleep at night thinking about the end of the world - when I was a kid.
I gave my first primary talk when I was 3 without the help of any adults.
I've always wanted to be the kid who chased after the lose tennis balls at Wimbeldon.
I enjoy giving blood.
I have intentionally evaded the law, but still got caught.
I have an addictive personality.
I've changed the color of my hair in some form or fashion since 7th grade.
I now own my car, paid it off a year early and paid for every bit of it on my own.
I only applied to 2 colleges. I didn't get into my first choice of BYU so the decision was easily made when I got into UNCC.
There are 5 specific days in my life that I would consider to be the best days of my life.
I'm generally not afraid to try new things.
I can play the flute, clarinet and piano.
I am the tallest woman in my family... immediate and extended.
I've never smoked a cigarette, drank alcohol or done any illegal drug.
I really don't like to say I love you and will only say it when I mean it. I can probably count on one hand the people who I've said it to - and meant it.
I tend to break more rules than I follow.

Perspective.

2009-07-27T21:48:00.003-04:00

My 2 favorite websites:

http://www.fmylife.com/
http://mylifeisaverage.com/

Painfully relateable and jaw-dropping hilarious - everyone can read these and find something to shake their head in embarrassment or nod their head in agreement to. Go ahead, get sucked in - I do everyday.

Be warned: they might be a little crude...

Good deal. Right on. Woo woo. I'm a mute.

2009-07-19T21:14:00.005-04:00

Let me know if you want an autograph, I got the hook up. And it'll cost you $10.

FROM TOMORROW - Sleeping With The Fishes (OFFICIAL)

More random things about me...

2009-07-09T20:55:00.004-04:00

1. Most people have their favorite meal item at holidays... well, mine are black olives.
2. I don't have a close relationship with my only sister despite having shared a room with her for 16 years.
3. Sometimes I don't hate the smell of skunks. I can admit it because I know I'm not the only one.
4. They're called lightning bugs, not fireflies.
5. I race people off the line at signal lights even if they don't know it and I usually win.
6. I used to think that cars in other parts of the country would be different than they are in North Carolina. Coincidentally, they're not...
7. My first car was a silver '97 Honda Accord named Bernice and I traded her for no good reason.
8. People come to me quite often for advice and I'm not sure I'll ever understand why they want to listen to what I have to say.
9. I used to be able to sleep in like a champ, but since becoming "an adult" I can barely sleep in past 8 am.
10. I hate running, but completing 2 5k's is just about the most accomplished feeling I've ever had.
11. I'd like to think I always pick the winner to cheer for, but in my heart I'm rooting for the one that no one else wants to see succeed.
12. It's easier for me to cry when someone wins on a game show than when someone dies.
13. As long as I know that there's a Wal Mart nearby then I can feel at home just about anywhere.
14. Awkward situations are funny... when they don't involve me.
15. I love finding similarities and common ground with people because then I feel like I met them for a reason beyond coincidence.
16. I used to be strongly opposed to cosmetic surgery. (Note the past tense of that statement...)
17. I think I'm a wonderful mix of my mother and my father, but I'm also nothing like them.
18. Regular manicures and pedicures are pretty much a necessity in my life and perhaps the one thing that makes me a high maintenance girl.
19. I feel bad for not being an animal lover, but if I never had another pet again, that'd be fine with me.
20. When I use my credit cards it still makes me feel like I'm playing make believe.
21. I have very little sympathy for misspellings.
22. Sometimes I don't stick up for myself like I should, but other times I can be cutting and mean. I'm not sure which is worse.
23. I think it's okay to laugh when someone falls because I'm the clumsiest person that I know.
24. I want 15 minutes of fame for something that's not a flash in the pan.
25. I love wearing dresses.
26. The least girly thing about me is the humor that I find in hearing a fart. It makes me laugh every single time.
27. When I sing in my car and I know people are looking, it makes me sing with more intensity because then I feel like it's a performance.
28. Stage fright is a foreign concept to me.
29. I'm a sucker for a compliment, but you better mean it when you say it.
30. Despite having a queen size bed to sprawl out on, I still sleep on one side of the bed.

No, no, no...

2009-06-19T14:01:00.004-04:00

Usually I share the good things that I love, but here are a few things that I can't stand... This one goes out to Jamie :)

Gravy – I used to like gravy as much as anyone else. But I think I became horribly turned off by it when I realized how it was made. Somehow after that, it just tasted different.

Liars – Occasionally, everyone lies – even me. But I try my best to be honest all the time. Call me idealistic, but I expect the same thing from other people. If you have the need to lie, then you probably shouldn’t be doing whatever it is that you’re lying about.

Mauve – I’m already a little annoyed by muted colors in general – it’s the art geek in me. But mauve in particular is a horrid combination of muted pink and muted purple. Not appealing.

Jam bands – I don’t care how awesome Dave Matthews Band, Phish or the Grateful Dead are… when they start in on a 15 minute guitar solo, I’m out. If I wanted to listen to an instrumental, I’d ride in an elevator.

Liberals – I mostly can’t stand them when they accuse Conservatives of the same close-mindedness that they’re also guilty of.

Flaky people – If you say you’re going to do something, then just do it. Don’t back out at the last minute just because the wind blew a different direction. Have a little backbone and just suck it up. You’re not in kindergarten anymore, so not doing something just because “I don’t want to” is lame.

Squealing – I understand enthusiasm and being excited for whatever reason, but busting the eardrums of bystanders with Mariah Carey-esque squeals of delight are uncalled for. I don’t care if you’re 13 or 43. Please stop squealing.

Clothes on animals – God already blessed them with a coat of fur. Please stop dressing your neurotic poodle in cheerleading outfits. It’s not as cute as you think it is.

Hummers – Last time I checked we’re not in a post-apocalyptic state, so there’s really no need for you – Soccer Mom – to take up a lane and a half on the highway so Junior can get to basketball camp safely.

Early mornings – I should not be up before the sun. Early to bed, early to rise does not make me healthy, wealthy and wise… it makes me tired and annoyed.

Fake smiles – I’d rather not smile at all then pretend like we’re friends by faking it.

Fence-sitters – I understand that sometimes it’s hard to make decisions. But really, unless you’re deciding the fate of the world or someone’s life is on the line, it’s not going to hurt anything if you just pony up and make a decision. Without being flaky, it’s ok to go back and change your mind if you see that you made the wrong choice.

Hunter green – It’s just as bad as mauve.

Happy Butch Walker Day

2009-03-29T22:26:00.004-04:00

My blog got it's name from the incomparable Butch Walker song by the same title. It's from his 2004 album "Letters" which is probably my favorite album of his, and maybe my favorite album period. By now you all know how much I love Butch. My love for him was one of the first things that I blogged about. I went to see him for the first time this last summer and it was probably the best concert I've ever been to. I've said that about a lot of concerts, but this time, I really mean it. Considering how much I loved the concert and even more how much I love Butch, I nearly lost my mind when I saw that he would be coming to Asheville for his current tour. And, if I was one of the first 30 people to purchase tickets then - holy crap - I was going to get to meet him. I took off 3 days for this concert because the plan was to go see him in Raleigh the night before he played in Asheville... but when I got the news that I was one of the first 30 ticket purchasers, I scraped the idea of traveling all over the fine state of North Carolina and just let the beauty of meeting him at the concert be enough.

To be able to meet him, you had to be at the box office no later than 5 pm. I brought Anna along with me for the ride just because she came with me when we saw him in Atlanta and she's the closest one that I have who understands a small measure of Butch's greatness. We left my house by 3 and HAULED IT up to Asheville as quick as legally possible. I was so nervous that I wouldn't get to meet him especially when we ran into 3 separate instances of road construction. I honestly thought I was going to lose it, but that wouldn't have gotten me to Asheville any quicker.

Finally at 4:50 we make to The Orange Peel and wait at the box office to go into the concert. On the inside, I was like a giddy little school girl but I tried to keep it together so I didn't embarrass myself. So we go in with the 30 other people who get to come along for the sound check and meet and greet. I see Butch - he looks like a dirty rock star who just rolled out of bed and I love it. They played 2 songs as part of the sound check and then he says "Ok, let's hang out" (not just to me, but to the crowd in general...) and then... I freakin' got to meet him. I didn't know what to say except "so how awkward is this for you?" because let's face it, he's meeting a bunch of complete strangers who he has to be polite to and make weird conversation with and take awkward pictures with... and he replies that the meet and greet is fine, it's the sound check that he doesn't like... blah blah blah. Overall, he was SO NICE which I was glad to see. Completely normal by all appearances and just flat out cool. It couldn't have been a better moment for me. Thankfully, we also took a great picture which I have plastered all over the place. It makes me smile, so why not?

The concert itself was awesome - I was front row like a psycho fan, singing along to every song. Even an across-the-room encounter from my past didn't keep me from having a blast. My only complaint from the whole evening is that it just didn't last long enough...

You had to know that pictures and video were coming...

Back by popular demand.

2009-03-14T23:55:00.004-04:00

#1 - I firmly believe that I'm the best girlfriend any guy could ever have.
#2 - My love for Butch Walker grows more and more each day and I might get to meet him when I go to his concert in Asheville on March 24th.
#3 - I love weddings and can't wait to have my own.
#4 - I'd like to combine #1-3 (i.e. - meet Butch Walker, be his girlfriend, then marry him...)
#5 - I have a hard time talking to anything that is not human and don't have discussions with myself like some people do. I sort things out in my head.
#6 - If I had to list all my favorite things in the world, cuddling would be at the top.
#7 - I couldn't think of anything to write in my blog, but since it was mentioned that I was missed, I decided to make another list of random things about me.
#8 - Toe socks annoy me almost more than I can convey... I hate the thought of anything going between my toes and think it's weird that some people love socks as much as they do.
#9 - Spring is my favorite season, mainly because I love seeing everything in bloom. The red buds on the side of the interstate alone make going to work bearable in the morning.
#10 - Nothing can beat sleepovers at my grandma's house.
#11 - I'm really annoyed by people who like to portray that they "go with the flow" or are "carefree" when in reality, they're just flakey and indecisive.
#12 - Midgets make me laugh every time I see them and because of that, I can't watch "Little People, Big World." Since they're real people, I feel bad laughing at them.
#13 - My bedroom is filled with pictures of my closest friends and family because they make me happier than just about anything. I could look at them all day long.
#14 - I hate the words panties, tender and moist.
#15 - Twizzlers are my favorite non-chocolate candy and I have 2 different strategies when I eat them: either tie them in a knot, eat the knot and then the loose ends or bite off each end and use it as a straw.
#16 - I never knew that the caps lock key is not supposed to be used for every capital letter... I'm pretty sure that's how I was taught while most everyone else probably just uses the shift key.
#17 - I'm back on the tattoo bandwagon and I don't know why.
#18 - I can't stand not knowing the answer to questions and am so glad I have my BlackBerry so I can Google answers at anytime.
#19 - I love getting into a freshly made bed but I hate making my bed.
#20 - I love an organized closet (especially if it's color coordinated, following the ROYGBIV idea) but I absolutely hate putting away my clothes.
#21 - I would be really distraught if Bath and Body Works ever discontinued Midnight Pomegranate.
#22 - My niece is so much like me she can be annoying. Upon this realization, I want to apologize to everyone for being so annoying. But, like me with my niece, I hope you still love me.
#23 - Eventually, people spill the beans to me and sometimes I don't have to even ask. It doesn't matter what the beans are, I end up knowing a lot of inside information when I probably shouldn't
#24 - With #23 in mind, if you have a something to share with me, I'll keep it a secret if you ask me to... otherwise, I make no promises that one other person might find out.
#25 - I love to win - this you know - but I'm not above cheating to win. If I can see your cards in a card game, I will look. That's why they say to play 'em close to the chest.
#26 - All Carolina fans annoy me. All of them. Even Michael Jordan and especially bandwagon fans.
#27 - The thought of gravy makes me nauseous.
#28 - I never knew I had so many quirks until I went back through and read all my lists. Wow.
#29 - I was kind of falling asleep when I was making this list, so I went to bed with #29 being blank.
#30 - Anybody who can make me laugh on a regular basis is automatically my favorite person.
#31 - The idea of working out or running to clear my mind is a foreign concept to me. In fact, exercising in general just makes me think harder. I'm incapable of clearing my mind in any situation.
#32 - I think I've run out of random things to put in this entry, but I hate ending on a weird number, so I'm going to continue until I get to #35. Be aware that #33-35 might be fabricated.
#33 - When I meet people, I try my absolute best to be normal with them from the start. I don't like putting on fake voices or being overly enthusiastic - what a fake way to start a relationship.
#34 - I like the idea of being influential and wish I had better powers of persuasion. I would only use my powers for good of course.... at least as I see it.
#35 - I'm going to try to do a better job of writing in my blog again... I'm not sure who reads it, but if you do, I'd honestly like to hear from you. The end.

The Perfect Day

2009-02-02T15:51:00.003-05:00

Money is no object. Travel time is irrelevant. What would a perfect 24 hours consist of for me...?

8 am – Wake up to a completely guilt-free breakfast of French toast and pancakes cooked by my grandma or - so she doesn’t have to cook - go to breakfast with her and my aunt at Cracker Barrel and eat the same thing.

9 am – Manicure, pedicure, and massage with my mom then a motorcycle ride with my dad.

11 am – Visit an aquarium - ANY aquarium – with my niece and swim with dolphins.

1 pm – Panthers vs Bucs at Bank of America stadium with Anna and Amber, club seats at the 50 yard line; eat a hot dog; Panthers win big and Jake is carried off the field on the shoulders of his teammates because of his perfect game.

4 pm – Go to Duke vs Carolina at Cameron Indoor Stadium and sit with the Crazies and all my Carolina fan friends; Duke CREAMS Carolina, Tyler Hansbrough leaves the court crying; my friends realize the error of their ways and switch to being Duke fans.

7 pm – Dinner with my family and best friends at the Cheesecake Factory – again, completely guilt-free cuisine and the best conversation anyone could ever ask for.

9 pm – Butch Walker/Paramore/Bon Jovi/Foo Fighters/the original Journey/Lynyrd Skynyrd concert; front row seats with the people who can appreciate each musical act, I get pulled up on stage to sing my favorite song with each band.

3 am – Dancing at the perfect club that has no smoking, no hoochies, and just the right mix of 80s music so that I can dance to every song. This is also my work out for the day.

5 am – Cuddle time with my favorite guy until the next day starts

The sun is shining, I’m wearing the perfect pair of blue jeans, my rainbow flip flops and it's a great hair day… But most importantly, I’m always with the people that I love and a smile never leaves my face...

The Unthinkable.

2009-01-28T22:41:00.003-05:00

I did an unforgivable thing... perhaps the one thing that I adamantly vowed to never do... and in so doing, I find myself filled with regret for ultimately making the choice that I did... I'm as good as a cheater... a fraud... a miscreant...

I went to a UNC basketball game. In Chapel Hill. Of my own free will.

I feel better admitting it... like I've cleared my conscience. Every night since that wretched game, I've had dreams of Coach K looking at me with disappointed glances... images of JJ Reddick shaking his head in disapproval... the Blue Devil mascot shedding a tear... But now, I feel like I've made restitution for what I've done.

I went to the game with the hopes of seeing Clemson cream UNC on their home court - how sweet a victory that would have been... I did not cheer. I did not stand up. I did not participate in any of the demonic rituals that take place in that dreaded dome. But, as in most mistakes, I did gain something valuable: a reaffirmation of my unyielding love and devotion for the Duke Blue Devils. While my allegiance never wavered, the nausea that I felt in being there was enough to make me rededicate myself to the cause.

So if I haven't made it clear before, let me make it clear now... "Rah rah, I hate Carolina... Rah rah, I hate Carolina..."

Always an adventure.

2009-01-12T13:53:00.000-05:00

Anyone that knows me knows that I’m generally up for any kind of adventure. I’ll go anywhere and try just about anything – within reason. When you sign up to do something with me, it could either be REALLY uneventful or painfully entertaining. That’s just the chance that you take when you hang out with me. For quite a while I was trucking right along with very little incidence of interest. Then this past year, I had adventure after adventure… it started with t-boning a van in a rush to get back to work at lunch, then a few days later going up to Raleigh I ran over a dropped drive shaft on the interstate and took out 2 of my wheels/tires. I’ve shown up at buildings for church dances on nights when it wasn’t going on (2 hours from home.) I got a speeding ticket going to church, less than a year from the last ticket I got. Deer have run into my car. I’ve danced with slimy, gross guys a good 6 inches shorter than me because of my inability to say no. Whatever I do to try to have fun, there are usually some sort of hi jinks involved. This last Saturday was no exception…

I love the Carolina Panthers. They’re my team and have been since day 1. I was lucky enough to get playoff tickets for this past Saturday’s game. I was excited more than I could express. The plan was to bring Anna or Amber so I had one of my girls with me. At this point, I feel like it’s necessary that at least one of them is with me at the games. But, neither one could come. There was a surprising struggle to find someone to come with me… especially someone who would appreciate football and the Panthers. I decided to bring Julie and was grateful that she was pumped about going too. We met at my usual parking spot – a set of townhouses where my friend Justin used to live. It’s free, right across from the practice field and free. With the exception of 1 game, I’ve always parked at his place, despite the fact that he hasn’t lived there in a few years. So Julie and I park our cars, facing the right direction unlike the cars on the opposite side of the street who parked facing traffic. We go watch the game, leaving early because I couldn’t bear watching the Panthers crumble before me and head back to the car… I get out my clicker and push the button… and push the button… and push the button… but don’t hear the familiar beeping of the car unlocking. As we approach the spot where we left our cars I tell Julie, “Our cars are gone.” After a moment of general disbelief, a bit of panic and searching around to make sure that we came back to right parking spot, I resign myself to the fact that both of our cars have been towed for parking on private property. Awesome. Then it started to rain. Even better. I call my parents, never having had the pleasure of being towed before, to see what I needed to do. How do you know who towed your car when there’s no evidence that that is indeed what happened…? But we found a sign that detailed what would happen if we did end up parking there… “you may be ticketed, booted or towed…” then they so graciously give the number of the towing company. We call and learn that yes, they do have both of our cars and if we could be there in 20 minutes, then we would be able to pick them up that night for the small fee of $120. How are 2 car-less individuals supposed to make it to the west side of town in game traffic in 20 minutes? It’s nearly impossible. So we make an appointment to pick up our cars the next morning at 10 am.

Now we wait for my parents to kindly pick us up. Julie and I are waiting on the side of the street, watching the traffic inch by and spot a very drunk girl across from us. She’s stumbling around, nearly getting hit about 3 times, falling on the ground, talking on the phone and hardly paying attention. We decide that it’s probably a good idea to go to the other side of the street in case she stumbles out. Plus she was really funny to watch and we wanted a better view. We needed a little entertainment while we were waiting anyway. This girl – Megan from Monroe – is on her cell phone cussing out her boyfriend who abandoned her, so we take it upon ourselves to protect Megan from the cars and herself. We corralled her over by a brick wall where we were waiting, introduced ourselves, and spoke to her delinquent boyfriend to tell him where to find her. She slurs out “This is AWFUL! Why are you guys being so nice? You’re so nice! You don’t even know me! This is AWFUL! My boyfriend is a…” Retelling this doesn’t even do the comedic level justice. So Megan gets on the phone again with her boyfriend and then he hangs up on her. She calls him back and says, “I’m sitting with *blank* strangers right now because you left me!” and the conversation goes on and on… until her boyfriend crosses her path and they realize that they are right in front of each other talking on the phone. So Megan gets rescued.

While we were baby-sitting Megan, another girl comes up and stands beside us, simply asking if we were waiting for someone. She makes no introductions, but was more or less just standing with us for her own safety while she was waiting for her brother to pick her up. By the time we got Megan taken care of, my parents were within walking distance to pick us up, so we start heading off to meet them. Our new friend – Jennifer – says, “Are y’all leaving me?” to which we had to reply yes, because our ride was almost here. Sorry Jennifer, we only have time to protect one person tonight. So we head home fairly uneventfully and plan to rescue our cars in the morning.

Sunday morning, Julie and I get up, get ready and head down to south Tryon street to claim our cars. As luck would have it, we’re not in the safest neighborhood in Charlotte, but the good ol boys running the company seem to have taken care of our cars. They sat safely behind a gate complete with a deputy and 2 guard dogs (like straight out of a movie or something…) SO… I’m anxious to get the heck out of there and forget the whole ugly incident. I’m fishing around my purse for my keys and realize that I left them in my jacket pocket back home… 30 minutes away. Sweet. So Julie decides that we’ll go to church, the towing company will move my car out of the lot and into a vacant parking lot so I can pick it up later. Well, that idea doesn’t sit well with my father who knows that my car will be left unattended in bad part of town. So my mom goes home, picks up my dad and they head back down to Charlotte for the 3rd time to pick up my car.

The moral of the story:
#1 - DON’T PARK ILLEGALLY, NO MATTER HOW MANY TIMES YOU’VE PARKED THERE WITHOUT GETTING CAUGHT. EVENTUALLY, YOU WILL GET CAUGHT.
#2 – DON’T DRINK OR YOU MIGHT GET HIT BY A CAR
#3 – DON’T FORGET TO BRING YOUR KEYS WHEN YOU’RE GOING TO PICK UP YOUR CAR
#4 – TREAT YOU PARENTS WELL SO WHEN THEY HAVE TO RESCUE YOUR BUTT 3 TIMES, THEY’RE WILLING TO DO IT
#5 – IT’S ALWAYS AN ADVENTURE WHEN YOU’RE HANGING OUT WITH LAUREN.

the end.

My Duke

2008-12-22T13:07:00.005-05:00

On December 12th, my 4 year old golden retriever Duke died suddenly. I got him in June of 2005 when he was already about 6 months old. I've always wanted a golden retriever and when an email went out at work about him, I jumped on it only to find that we were too late in trying to claim him. A few days later, I got a call that he was returned and I could have him if I wanted. I knew that he was supposed to be my dog.

I'm not going to get all sappy and go on and on about him but I will say a few things:

#1 - I believe that he was HANDS DOWN the best dog that my family has ever had. We've had several dogs and they were all great, but Duke was particularly sweet natured, loving, and all-around well behaved (except for when he tried to eat my mom's car - he was a puppy though, so I think he gets a pass...)

#2 - He was the epitome of unconditional love. It's no secret that I had a crappy year but I'm sure he did too as his best friend and yard mate, Max our boxer, died last December. When I was having a particularly rough day, I brought Duke in the house and he immediately put his head in my lap, sighed quietly and gave me the sympathy and love that he knew I needed.

#3 - He was a constant in my life for the last 4 years who was always happy to see me and always willing to show me love even though I know that I wasn't the best owner. He wasn't one of those spoiled, pampered dogs who wore clothes or was even trained to do much more than sit and fetch. He was a free spirit kind of dog who chilled in the yard or in his swimming pool and I liked him that way.

Duke was the best dog I could ever want or need. I miss him a lot. That's about all I have in me right now...

Go Go Gadget!

2008-12-06T00:54:00.010-05:00

I'm a lucky girl, this I know, and I have more stuff than one person should. That fact aside, I love stuff and am quickly becoming a bit of geek (if I wasn't already.) A chic geek, but a geek nonetheless... I think it must come with the territory of being a graphic designer - that's what I'm going to tell myself anyway.

I never believed that when you reach a certain age that you just didn't have stuff that you want anymore, like for birthdays or Christmas. This year I've struggled a bit to come up with anything that I wanted when usually I can put together a lengthy list that I begin around September - I'm not lying. Since I was at a loss for gifts this year, I really had no suggestions to make to my parents or friends as to what they should get me for either holiday. But sometimes the light turns on in the heads of my parents and they were smart enough to see a need that I failed to recognize. This last birthday they so kindly got me one of my favorite new gadgets - the Garmin Nuvi 200:

This is Gladys, my new co-pilot. She's pretty handy, not to mention British.

As I'm sure you know by now, I love music. I firmly believe that my iPod is one of those things that I couldn't live without or at least don't want to have to live without. My video iPod was perhaps one of the best purchases I ever made and it proudly houses nearly 3,000 songs and countless videos and photos. It goes with me everywhere (like My Buddy) and I simply love it as much as you can love an inanimate object. Since I got my iPod 3 years ago, Apple has come out with several new styles... I got the original shuffle as a gift one year, which was cool. But it wasn't until they came out with their latest nano that I took a second look at the new generation of iPods. The commercials alone were enough to make me want one because of the fantastic array of bright colors the new nano offers. But the purple one not only caught my eye, it also held my attention... so on a bit of a whim, I bought one and my goodness, if I haven't fallen in love all over again. It's so shiny and pretty and purple... I mean, just look at it:

You may not agree with me on how fantastic it is, but sometimes it's the small, stupid things that can make you happy. For me, it's this cute little guy.

That's all.

DEER!

2008-11-28T18:52:00.006-05:00

As an experienced driver who is no stranger to being out at night, I am usually fairly prepared for the random things that might pop out and cause damage. There have been MANY instances when my friends and I have seen deer on the side of the road and would promptly alert the driver to the roadside danger by screaming "DEER!" That usually worked to help the driver refocus on their surroundings to keep everyone safe. If I happen to be driving alone and couldn't alert myself by screaming "DEER!" at myself, then I would try to keep the deer at bay by honking the horn every so often, especially in wooded areas.

Last night as my friend Melina and I were coming home from Julie's house, we were cruising along, doing the speed limit and chattering away when a Bambi impostor decided he or she no longer wanted to be apart of this frail existence and promptly threw itself into the side of my car. Fan-freakin'-tastic. The little bugger creamed my passenger side headlight, side panel, hood, and door, not to mention the smell of deer that lingered in the car for the remainder of our ride home. I think the deer population must be out to avenge the death of one of their fallen comrades that Melina took out about a month ago with her car. Stupid country roads with stupid poorly lit roadsides and their stupid woodland creatures. Now my poor Toyota Solara, Stella, sits in my driveway with the equivalent of a missing eye, broken nose and broken arm. Thankfully, no one was hurt (I'm not sure how the deer fared in all of this) and my deductible is only $100 (because when something hits you, then you're deductible is lower than when you hit it... sweet.) But I'll also be out of a car for about a week leaving me with some smoke riddled rental. But, like I said, I'm thankful that no one was hurt and all in all, the damage is relatively minor. See for yourself...

Truffle shuffle

2008-11-25T17:03:00.002-05:00

Step 1: Put your music player on shuffle.
Step 2: Post the first line from the first 20 songs that play, no matter how embarrassing.
Step 3: Strike through the songs when someone guesses both artist and title correctly.
Step 4: Looking them up on Google or any other search engine is CHEATING!
Step 5: If you like the game, post your own.

1. Turn the TV off, put down the Cosmopolitan...
2. Tonight I'm tangled in my blanket of clouds...
3. Somehow everything's gonna to fall right into place...
4. And do you ever feel like you're alone?
5. An angel's smile is what you sell...
6. All my life I've been searchiing for something...
7. And I was the kind of guy who never let you look inside...
8. I woke up Sunday morning with a shoe that wasn't mine...
9. There was a blackout in my heart in the summer of '03...
10. So there you are, and here I stand...
11. Seems like only yesterday life belonged to runaways...
12. I never want to be part of the herd, I guess I was in case you haven't heard...
13. 7 hours til the moon sleeps...
14. I dreamed I was missing...
15.The best thing about tonight's that we're not fighting...
16. Before '99 I was born again...
17. You said you didn't need her...
18. Can you please remind me how you feel...
19. Clock strikes upon the hour and the sun begins to fade...
20. Laurel was a girl i knew, made of dirt and stone...

Cheese: The Fall/Winter Edition.

2008-11-25T12:10:00.008-05:00

Here are a few things that make me happy in the fall and winter... again, in no particular order.

soup
Uggs
scarves
Midnight Pomegranate
Burt's Bees chapstick
whoopie pies
Granny Smith apples
cable knit sweaters
football
college basketball
hot chocolate
boots
Aussie 3 minute miracle
Old Navy camisoles
peacoats
The Office
snuggly comforters
sugar free fudgsicles
Ace of Cakes
plank position
Guitar Hero World Tour
fuschia
Sycamore Meadows
dancing until my calves hurt
cowboy boots

Making whoopie.

2008-11-19T23:08:00.005-05:00

In another life (and by another life, I mean about 4 or 5 years ago...) I was often affectionately referred to by my friends as "Martha." No, not like Martha Washington, not like Martha's Vineyard, and not like your Aunt Martha. I earned the moniker because of my near idol-like worship of the incomparable Martha Stewart. I. Love. Her. She's a genius when it comes to all things domestic: crafts, baking, gardening, etc... she's about as good as it gets. For years now I have collected her wedding magazines - yes, I do want to get married, but no, I have not planned my wedding despite the pretty impressive stack of magazines. I love her simplistic, orderly (if not neurotic) style. I know she's not the nicest person in the world and has even done "hard time," but I still think she's BRILLIANT. You might have noticed a little shout out to her on the right-hand side of the blog titled "Domestic Genius" and that can only be Martha Stewart.

Her new daytime show isn't as good as the pre-prison "Living" show, but I still DVR it everyday just in case she's doing something that I'm interested in. On the Monday, November 3rd episode Martha made pumpkin whoopie pies with cream cheese filling. Whoopie pies are a Yankee thing so it's not something that I grew up with, but since Martha is about as Yankee as they come, she often features them on her show. So instead of going to the gym tonight like a good girl should, I went to the grocery store and bought the ingredients to make pumpkin whoopie pies. As I write this, the last 4 cookies are baking. They look like they're going to turn out pretty nicely but I won't finish them until the morning. I plan on taking them into work tomorrow to see how they are received (the healthy pumpkin muffins that I also made will probably NOT make it to work - they're not nearly as tasty... go figure) They look very much like they should, and I was quite proud of myself for having most of the same equipment that Martha used when she made them on the show (not everyone keeps a small ice cream scoop in the kitchen... I have one just for baking. Aren't I handy...)

We'll see how things go...

Blog about nothing...

2008-11-17T22:27:00.006-05:00

Not much is going on. I suppose there were more interesting things to write about a few months ago or I had more time on my hands to write about silly things.

I've been reading a lot lately and decided to try to finish reading the Twilight series. I made it through the 3rd book, which was good and moved on the the 4th book - it's the longest book I've ever read. I'm tired of reading it simply because I'm used to finishing a book up in a couple of days... this book goes on and on and on... The Twilight movie is coming out at the end of this week so I'm trying to finish the series before the movie comes out. I don't think I've actually read the book before seeing the movie, so I'm on a bit of a mission to make it through the next 200 pages before Friday so that I'm completely done with the series.

I bought the soundtrack to the movie and it's pretty good also; I know you're probably recalling that I called the series overrated - a statement which I still stand by - but the soundtrack has 2 Paramore songs on it, so I couldn't NOT get it. And I'm pretty intrigued about the movie. I'm not one of those readers who got their tickets early (I won't name names, but you know who you are ;)...) and I've heard that some fanatics are going as far as making t-shirts for the premiere. Wow. I'm planning on seeing it next Monday when movie tickets are cheaper and hopefully the theater will be void of hormonal, vampire-obsessed pre-menopausal women. Fingers crossed.

I also got my new Butch Walker album this week, "Sycamore Meadows" and I have to say, it's quite a delight. He just makes me smile. On top of getting the album, I also got a sweet shirt so it was a pretty rockin' deal.

I ran tonight at the gym and ran the furthest I have in the 35 minutes that I allot for the treadmill (3 miles...) I know that probably sounds incredibly slow, but I don't run the entire time - I'd probably kill over if I did that. I walk for 3 minutes, run for 3 minutes and however far I get in 35 minutes is it. Slowly but surely I'm shaving minutes off my time. Yay me.

Finally... my birthday is coming up in 2 WEEKS. Everyone knows I love my birthday. LOVE. IT. This year I'm going try to have the time of my life. It's been a REALLY hard year and part of me is feeling a little bit down about getting older. But, this is the perfect opportunity for me to have fun, let go, forget about all the crap and just lose my mind on the dance floor with my favorite people. I'm really looking forward to it. If you're reading this and have either #1: gotten a Facebook invite, but haven't decided on whether or not you're coming, #2: didn't know about my bash, but would love to come, or #3: didn't get the invite and don't want to come, I say "COME PARTY WITH ME!!" I have to say I'm probably the one person who knows how to have a great time without the use of any alcohol, drugs or other intoxicating substance. I'm what you would call "a good time". So come to my party... it'll be so great...

That's what I got for you right now... I think I have some other lists in mind that I might throw up here soon, but until then...

I love you.

I thought of some more...

2008-11-04T22:28:00.005-05:00

1. I can't stand it when people misspell things and often find myself being used as a personal spellchecker for others.

2. I used to have an extensive collection of Backstreet Boys memorabilia, including posters, magazines, video tapes, CDs, and figurines.

3. I took my first ride on an airplane last summer. I honestly thought I was going to die simply because of that stupid Alanis Morrisette song "Ironic" because "Mr Play-it-safe was afraid to fly..."

4. I sucked my thumb until I was 5... or so my parents thought... I would sneak and do it until I was about 7.

5. My brother used to sit on me in my crib, a tradition he carried on well into our adolescence when he would sit on me as torture.

6. I once fell out of a pool.

7. I have the strange ability to recall facts that most people can't... like what I wore to my 2nd day of kindergarten, learning that the word "jeep" begins with a "j" and not a "g," what people were wearing when I first met them, etc.

8. Because I didn't know the names of any of the Great Lakes, I lost my 4th grade Geography Bee. I still resent the girl who beat me.

9. I'm pretty good at lying when I want to be. That might not be good, but it's true. Or is it?

10. Sometimes I can be neurotically orderly to the point that even when I try to go out of the lines, I still end up being linear.

11. My brother (the same one that used to sit on me) couldn't say my name when he was little, so he called me "Yoren" which sometimes ended up sounding like "urine".

12. I can make anything a competition.

13. People often listen to me when I ask them to do something for my amusement. I once paid a guy $5 to fall down a flight of stairs.

14. If I know the lines from a TV show or movie, it's nearly impossible for me to not say them.

15. My brain is full of trivia about music, movies, TV and entertainment in general, and I'm not sure why.

16. I have a writers hump on the ring finger of my right hand because of how tightly I grip a pen.

17. I took the SAT for the first time when I was 12. I think my score was based on getting my name correct.

18. I've worked at my job for nearly 4 years and still have a difficult time explaining to others what we do.

19. It probably wouldn't take much coaxing to convince me that I was adopted. For a period of my life, I kind of thought that might be true.

20. I firmly believe that I can make anything that can be bought at Wal Mart.

21. As a preventative measure, I think I would like to have my appendix taken out.

22. I had my tonsils taken out when I was 11 in preparation for braces that I never got.

23. I've wanted to visit Maine since I read the book "Sarah, Plain and Tall" in 3rd grade.

24. I have a phobia of wide open spaces (like the desert) or all white rooms.

25. I've never had a dessert that I would consider to be "too rich" - that concept is foreign to me.

26. It's nearly impossible for me not to correct people when I know they've made a mistake. However, if I make a mistake, I'm pretty good about taking full responsibility.

What's one month from November 1st?

2008-11-03T17:02:00.003-05:00

I'm in the last month of my 26th year... and I'm not as happy about my approaching birthday as I usually am. Rest assured, it's still my favorite holiday. Yes, more than hot dogs on the 4th of July. In honor of my 26 years, here are 26 things about me that you might be interested to learn.

1. When I was only about 3 years old (maybe younger) I interrupted an adult conversation that my mom was having to tell the lady that she was speaking to, "Let me tell you about my husband." I thought I was grown.

2. I love most chocolate with the exception of white chocolate because that pretty much means it's vanilla. I don't like vanilla.

3. I learned how to tie my laces when I was 3... and I figured it out myself.

4. I have always wanted to go to Ireland.

5. I met one of my best and oldest friends in 3rd grade. In high school, we dreamed of opening our own company and calling it Beaver Fever. We work together now as graphic designers and have decided not to call any independent endeavors Beaver Fever for fear of the negative connotation.

6. My favorite color is and has always been purple.

7. I had to share a bed with my sister who is 9 years older than me until I was 16.

8. I have considered becoming a vegetarian just because.

9. I love a good cold bottle of Cheerwine.

10. I'm the youngest of 4 kids.

11. I used to work on the production line of a frozen pastry company. I also cleaned the restrooms and office space of that same company.

12. People have always thought I was considerably older than I am. I was taller than the tallest boy in my elementary school classes. When I was 9, someone asked me to babysit their newborn baby because they thought I was 12. When we were having a family picture taken when I was 12, the photographer thought I was 16 and asked if my parents had me on hormones.

13. My most memorable birthday was my 21st when Amber threw me the surprise party that I always wanted. I ask for a surprise party every year.

14. I like to listen to a CD over and over again until I get sick of it. Then when I go back to listen to it again, I don't love it as much as I first did.

15. I didn't go on my first real date until I was 24.

16. I am addicted to OPI nail polish and usually choose my colors based on their unique names.

17. I prefer sleeping in a pitch black room with the temperature set at 74 and my favorite music playing low.

18. I love getting mail, even if it's a bill.

19. I procrastinate doing most work that I have to do because I know I can get it done quickly. I'm more productive in the later part of my work day than in the morning.

20. My mom gave away my cat without telling me. His name was Javy and was named after the Atlanta Braves catcher Javy Lopez.

21. I'm so superstitious when I watch college basketball that I won't move if Duke is winning. I also get quite nervous if they're losing to the point where my hands begin to sweat. I prefer watching Duke games by myself.

22. I'm so clumsy that I'm scared to go hiking for fear that I might fall down the mountain.

23. I only increase the volume on my stereo and television in increments of 5. Anything else can be kind of unsettling to me.

24. I didn't take an art class nor did I think about being an artist until I got to college. I wanted to be a lawyer or journalist.

25. I love writing for pleasure and have started many stories about many different things. The earliest story I remember writing was about a girl who had a Golden Retriever and a Palomino horse. My stories have most always been semi-autobiographical.

26. I used to get in trouble in kindergarten for helping the other kids in my class with their work.

Well... I did it.

2008-10-24T13:02:00.009-04:00

I know that pride is a sin and that it comes before the fall, but I gotta say, I'm pretty proud of myself. I think it's probably ok that I'm proud because it's in a non-prideful kind of way... if that makes sense. Whatever.

So last Saturday at the butt crack of dawn (7 am - that's early on a Saturday, I don't care what anyone says...) I got ready to participate - and potentially run - in the LungStrong 5k. I mentioned this race before, which is held annually to raise money dedicated to lung cancer research and support. There's a bit of a misconception about what the leading cancer killer is and bigger misconception of how people get lung cancer. Not everyone who has lung cancer smoked. Unfortunately, people tend to view it as a self-inflicted disease so the funding for research is seriously lacking. Bo, who many of you know as my boss and whose house I have been staying in for the past 5 months, received a double lung transplant because he had stage 4 lung cancer. Bo was one of the many who did not smoke. Because of his specific circumstances, it was difficult to figure out the best way to treat his cancer since there aren't many options. Chemo and medications were used to treat it, but there is no cure. Ultimately, Bo had a lung transplant which doesn't insure he's cured forever, but hopefully it has bought him a significant amount of time. The point is, if there was more funding for lung cancer research, a lung transplant might not have been necessary. In support of that point, I wanted to do my part in funding research, so I signed up for the race.

Back to race day... I knew it was going to be cold (maybe in the 40s?) and I hate running in the cold... you're sucking wind, your throat gets cold, you can't feel your nose, there's no appropriate way to dress for being hot and cold at the same time, and running in general sucks. Additionally, I only got about 5 hours of sleep which is not ideal when you need to have a little extra pep in your step. I threw on my clothes, layered up good since I would be walking. I was a little disappointed in myself because I didn't want to wimp out and just walk. When I got to the starting point, it was like I got some kind of jolt and suddenly I felt like I could actually run. I can do this! If I don't want to run anymore, then I'll walk. No big deal. Anna and I are hopping up and down, getting revved up and decided to start out running, then see how it goes. So we ran a little bit and walked a little bit but were sure to cross the finish line running cause we're not sissies.

We finished the race in a little over 41 minutes - not exactly The Flash, but 20 minutes faster than last year's race when Anna and I walked the whole time. I'm really glad I did it; it's a pretty big accomplishment for me considering I'm not a runner, don't like running, and have never really been fit enough to give it a shot. I'm looking for other opportunities to do another 5k - it's good for me and they're usually for a good cause, so it's a win/win situation.

Here are a couple of pictures from the race. One is me at the start of the race, getting my stride on. The other is Anna and I crossing the finish line together - we're so awesome.

Name that tune - Lauren's Favorites Edition

2008-10-23T13:31:00.008-04:00

I got this idea from another blog... I'm surprised I didn't think of it myself. I'm not really one to quote famous phrases, usually that's because I get it wrong (ex: I tend to say, "rode hard and hung out to dry." rather than "rode hard and put up wet.") But you want to talk lyrics to songs, and I'm a stickler for getting it right. If I don't know what the lyrics are, then I'll look them up so that I'm not singing them wrong. I'm a nerd, I know. I had to trim down the list of lyrics that I love but here's a healthy serving of some of my favorites, list-style of course ;) Just for fun, do you know who sang these songs and what their titles are? Wanna take a guess for a prize to be named later...? Go for it.

"I’ve got another confession to make, I’m your fool."

"Please remind how to smile, I lost track after a while. This happiness is so hard to get. Time can move so slow when we got no where to go, the silence is so deafening."

"I’m not so naïve, my sorry eyes can see the way you fight shy of almost everything. Well if you give up you’ll get what you deserve."

"I can wait for you if all you need is time for you to talk things over, time to talk the drama down. It’s not a contest of who’ll try harder or who’ll cross the finish line."

"I once had a grip on everything, it feels better to let go. Was it all a joke? Never had control, I’m not better on my own."

"All my life I’ve been searching for something, something never comes, never leads to nothing, nothing satisfies but I’m getting close, closer to the prize at end of the rope."

"Everything’s supposed to have a happy ending, but the record keeps spinning and the needle keeps bending, like the road I’m driving to the bridge that has no end. I want to take back everything I’ve broken but the bridges behind me are burning and smoking. I guess this is the end."

"I’m just a notch in your bedpost but you’re just a line in a song."

"And I wonder if everything could feel this real forever, if anything could ever be this good again. The only thing I’ll ever ask of you, you’ve got to promise not to stop when I say when."

"Why’s it gotta be that everybody’s gotta see the sadness? Everybody’s lonely, we don’t have to be lonely baby."

"Second chances they don’t ever matter, people never change."

"You’re always on display for everyone to watch and learn from. Don’t you know by now? You can’t turn back because this road is all you’ll ever have."

"I wonder, how am I supposed to feel when you’re not here? Cause I burned every bridge I ever built when you were here. I still try, holding on to silly things. I never learn."

"Some things I’ll never know and I had to let them go."

"With all the people we need to love and hate, everybody makes the same mistakes. Divided by these walls, together we are lost. We are the same blood."

"You pulled all the right strings, saying all the right things. Now that you’ve gotten what you wanted, you don’t want it anymore."

"Can you make me a promise? Stop it before we begin. Will you hold onto my head? If I ever lose it again…"

"Do you ever think of me? You’re so considerate."

"You live for the fight when that’s all that you’ve got."

"I thought we’d make it because you said that we’d make it through. And when all security fails, will you be there to help me through?"

"I am a new day rising, I’m a brand new sky to hang the stars upon tonight."

"Somehow everything’s gonna fall right into place, if we only had a way to make it fall faster everyday."

"I don’t want anything from you. I just want every bit of you to want me. I don’t need anything to do, just drive me into you and wreck me."

"I just want to thank you from the bottom of my heart for all those sleepless nights and the tearing me apart."

"I’ve notice that people, they all have motives – different but all the same."

"The first time’s the worse time then you become so uncomfortably numb that you can’t hide the fake smile"

"Time out if everyone’s worth pleasing."

"You say hello, inside I’m screaming I love you."

"Don’t turn around and say bye again, yeah it crushes my head when you call me your friend… No I can’t find the words cause I lost them the minute they fell out my mouth, yeah it’s love and I’m in it."

"I’m too tired to fight your rhyme."

"And I’ve come too far to get over you, and you don’t have a clue. You don’t know what you do to me."

"When you act like nothing ever happened, I feel like I should feel bad but I can’t like someone who thought they’re the only that mattered, I hope that you’re flattered cause you broke this down, the best thing that you never had."

"So, since you want to be with me you’ll have to follow through with ever word you say and all I really want is you to stick around… but you have to follow through."

"I’m a stitch away from making it and scar away from falling apart."

"I’d scream this song right in your face if you were here. I swear I won’t miss a beat, cause I never have before."

"What hurts the most is being so close and having so much to say and watching you walk away."

"And you are the dreamer, and we are the dream. I could write it better than you ever felt it."

"If I don’t say this now I will surely break as I’m leaving the one I want to take."

"One day you’ll get sick of saying that everything’s alright and by then I’m sure I’ll be pretending just like I am tonight."

"I’ve gone for too long living like I’m not alive, so I’m going to start over tonight beginning with you and I. When this memory fades I’m gonna make sure it’s replaced with chances taken, hope embraced."

"I’m so obsessed that I’m becoming a bore"

"I understand about indecision but I don’t care if I get behind. People living in competition, all I want is to have my peace of mind."

The Good Life.

2008-10-12T23:53:00.012-04:00

Unfortunately, I think there are times in everyone's lives when something happens to make them realize how good they really have it. Sometimes these epiphanies come because of tragedy or because of great moments of joy. My personal epiphany has come just because I'm tired of being in a rut. I know I live a charmed life and have been blessed beyond expression. But even the luckiest of us get stuck in the doldrums of life and forget how good we really have it. So, in keeping with my list making thing, I wanted to remind myself of a small portion of what I've been blessed with...

1. I have the best parents anyone could ever ask for... both my mom and dad would do anything for me and my brothers and sister. They would lasso the moon for me if I asked or at the least give it the best shot they could. My mom still takes care of me when I'm sick. My dad still talks to me like I'm his little girl. They both mean the world to me... and I'm getting teary-eyed just thinking about how great they are... so I'll move on.

2. My friends are my world. They have loved me and listened to me unconditionally. This past year has been quite possibly the hardest year of my life. When I needed them the most, they were right there, listening tirelessly. They're my shoulder to cry on. They're my audience to laugh with. They are the people who allow me to be myself and I don't have to apologize for who that person may be. They have shown me unconditional love, even when I may not have deserved it and for them I would go to the ends of the earth (or at the very least, travel long distances...) Mamber... Kelanie... Shastin... Pattilicious... Dubya... they're my people. And I love them - no air quotes necessary.

3. If my family and friends are my world, then the gospel is my core. I don't know where I would be or who I would be if it weren't for my membership in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. I'm not a perfect member and I know that I falter on a regular basis. But I'm trying. My favorite saying when it comes to my feelings about the church is "fences are freeing". Many people think my beliefs border on ridiculous, but to me, my beliefs have kept me from finding out who I might have become - for the worse, not better. The "fences" of the gospel have allowed me to be who my Heavenly Father intended me to be. I'm not perfect, but I'm doing the best I can and I hope someday my efforts are enough to live with my Heavenly Father again.

4. I have always been provided for and feel confidant that I will never want for anything in my life. That might make me spoiled, but at least I recognize this as a blessing rather than considering it as what I am owed just because...

5. I live in a country that affords me the freedoms that many do not enjoy. I have a say in who I believe should lead this country. I have men and women who sacrifice their life so that I can continue to enjoy the freedom that was sought so diligently by the founders of this country. I've never lived under the thumb of oppression. I've never been forced into believing anything that I didn't choose of my own free will. I don't walk through the streets of my community, fearing for my life. I was blessed to live a great country with freedoms that many will never know, and for that, I am grateful.

6. I'm in relatively good health.

7. I have a job. Tomorrow is Monday morning. I don't want to go to work. I want to sleep in. I want to go to the mall. I want to go to the gym. I want to be just about anywhere else but under the fluorescent lights of my taupe cubicle. But, since I wasn't born with a silver spoon in my mouth, I know I must work. And since I must work, I realize that I have a great job. Yes at times it sucks - a lot. I don't always like the work that I have to do or who I have to do it for. And I could definitely use a pay increase. And sometimes I feel undervalued. But, I have great health insurance benefits and a 401 k plan. I get to work with one of my best friends and like most of the other people with whom I work. So do I really have it THAT bad? No. I should really just be grateful that I have a job when there are so many who are struggling just to make ends meet.

8. I'm not quite sure how to put this one... I don't think I've ever been "in love" and I don't generally throw around the word "love" in a meaningful way. If you get an "I love you" out of me, then you must be pretty special. Since I can't say that I've ever really been "in love" I do have to say that I consider myself blessed for the bits and pieces that I have been taught about being in love. Through those experiences, I learned my own capacity to love that I didn't recognize before. For that capacity to love, I am grateful.

9. My ears are able to hear music... Music is vital to me. I feel blessed to be able to hear the songs that make me dance, that make me scream, that make me cry, that make me sing at the top of my lungs.

10. My eyes are able to see colors... As an "artist", I think I probably view things differently than others. I find joy in the colors of trees, a box of crayons, neatly folded sweaters... A rainbow of colors is one of my small joys.

11. My mouth is able to taste... you know what food I love. I'm thankful that my taste buds work so well that I'm able to enjoy chocolate and peanut butter.

12. My hands are able to feel... I'm a very tactile person and I feel the need to touch everything that I can. Nothing makes me happier than holding someone's hand... or getting a great hug... or getting a pat on the back for a job well done... to be able to feel the touch of approval/affirmation/affection makes me smile.

13. I have a cold right now, so my nose doesn't completely work - I'm not any more or less grateful for my sniffer, but we're at odds right now.

14. I was so blessed to have my grandfather with me for 26 years. He was a mainstay in my life - he was always there, kind of in the background just watching me and my brothers, sister and niece grow. He encompassed everything that a grandfather should be and I miss him everyday since he left. I had him for 26 years and though it makes me sad that I won't get to have him here with me any longer, I'm so grateful for the time that I had with him.

Seriously?

2008-09-24T22:45:00.004-04:00

Why is it that when someone does or does not like someone, their defense seems to fall back on the appearance of the person? I'll give you an example... Friday night, I'm shopping at the Gap. While in the dressing room I hear this lady prattling on and on about Barack Obama, so naturally, I tuned her out. I came out of the dressing room and I hear the same lady still singing his praises to one of the sales associates who she apparently knows. At this point I notice that the conversation must have been started because she has on an Obama pin. I hear a dig here and there about why McCain isn't the man for the job and then I hear, "Besides, Obama just looks so presidential, you know?" Really? That's one of your reasons for supporting him as a presidential candidate? Wow. I'm glad you're able to vote. You seem so well educated. Let's choose the next leader of the free world based on how good he looks behind his mahogany desk.

I've heard comments made about how "ugly" or "cute" particular college basketball players are, which seems to be directly connected to how good of a player they are. You're right, Duke is full of barking car chasers and everyone that has come through the Carolina basketball program stops traffic (case in point: Serge Zwikker) It seems that once a person has run out of valid reasons to love or hate someone, they just rely on how the person looks to be the final straw. I'm not saying that I've never done this - I can be just as judgemental as the next person. But it's really annoying when you hear someone use such a weak "fact" as a selling point.

You know what, you're right - Barack Obama does look presidential. I'll vote for him. For that matter, that frozen pond looks solid, I'll skate on it. That shark doesn't look hungry, I'll swim with it. Forget all other logic or facts - I'm relying only on my eyes from now on!

Idiots.

Redacted.

2008-09-20T18:38:00.003-04:00

I was trying to think of something profound to blog about and this is the best I can do... I read through my past blogs and am kind of surprised that I've been doing this since June - it's almost October. Wow. Anyway, I seem to have the propensity to make statements and declarations that don't really have much of a foundation.

Example #1: This and tats. was my very first blog entry. I rattled on about my new fascination of tattoos and mentioned that I'm not really the type to actually follow through with this notion, but I still wanted one. I also mentioned that it was probably a phase and looks like I called it correctly (I guess I know myself pretty well) I'm pretty much over the whole tattoo thing. It never was my style. Like I said, I'm a Gap girl at heart.

Example #2: The Real Question posed the question to you, my readers, about what color I should dye my hair. The votes came back as split decision and I said I was going to do what I wanted to do anyway... and I did. However, I didn't go in one direction or another. It's not darker. It's not blonde. It's subtly highlighted and only a handful of people noticed.

Example #3: Missing: SPARKLE. I'm not sure why exactly I felt the need to whine about life's "problems" through my blog. I guess I was having a bummer of a day. Looking back on it, it was probably a bad move on my part because it sent the red flag up for a couple of you readers. Rest assured that I am fine. I might not twinkle like I used to, but my life is not nearly as dire as I may have made it sound. I have a fantastic life filled with really great family, friends and clothes. What more could a girl want?

Example #4: Guitar Hero goes on and on about my type of guy - the "rock star". Eh, I'm over that one too. I don't really know what I'm looking. Yes, I did lay out quite a lengthy list of What It Takes (1- 15, 16-30, 31-45, 46-60) but that could be ANYBODY. And like I've said, I'm never saying never...

So there you have it. I hope you've enjoyed this look back on the past 4 months of my blog. Thanks for reading. You know you love me.

Coal Miner's Daughter

2008-09-13T23:17:00.005-04:00

It's funny the moment that you realize that you are truly a product of the people who created you. I went on a motorcycle ride with my dad today and I was happy as a clam. There's no place I would rather be than riding through the Blue Ridge Parkway on the back of my dad's bike. Definitely one of my top 10 favorite places to be. And my dad was more than happy to ride me around despite the astronomical gas prices, simply because he's a man of his word. I asked him to take me for a ride today, he said that he would and he did - no matter what. That's one of many things that I admire about my dad. He's loud - so am I. He's opinionated - so am I. He loves rocking out to music - so do I. He can be a couch potato - so can I. He can be a hard worker - so can I. I often tell him that I'm just like him, but the new and improved model - version 2.0. He taught me to never quit and never back down. His family is most important to him and he has always done his best to make sure we had everything we ever wanted, not just needed.

Some of my favorite memories as a kid involve my dad. He used to bring home his metal lunch box and I'd rifle through it to see what treat he left me. Then, when I was about 4, he got laid off from his job at the coal mine (yes, that does make me a coal miner's daughter...). So he went back to school and every morning, my mom and I would drive him to his school and drop him off. On one of those trips is when I learned how to tie my shoe laces. My dad taught me how to swim, how to ride a bike, how to drive, how to be a good person, how to love unconditionally. My dad and I don't often exchange "I love you's" because it's not necessary. He knows I love him and I know he loves me. We don't have to say it to each other at every available moment to know its true.

So if you ever wonder why you can hear me on the other side of the building, why I can be so outrageously competitive, why you don't hear me tell everyone I love them, why I want every one around me to have more than what they need, why I love riding a motorcycle, why I have any amount of quick wit, why I am who I am - you can attribute at least 50% of that to my dad.

Overrated

2008-09-12T11:28:00.002-04:00

Yesterday I read a list of 25 things that are overrated... the list ranged from Angelina Jolie (who is totally overrated...) to Charlotte, NC (seriously?) So that got me thinking... there are a few things that I too find to be overrated mainly because they're so fantastically trendy. I'm not completely immune to trends - I own a couple of pairs of leggings, wear Rainbow flip flops and watch The Office religiously. I'm open to trying things out before I judge them... so here are a few that I've put to the test and found to be completely overrated.

Sushi - I just don't understand how sushi can be considered a meal, and a raw meal at that. If we're talking California roll, then I'm OK with that. But the rest of that crap can't possibly taste good because you have to dress it up with sauces and what not. Ew. I'll pass.

Starbucks - To be fair, I don't drink coffee however, I have had their hot chocolate and it's OK. I'd rather have a packet of Swiss Miss. And what's with churching up the sizes? Last time I checked, Starbucks originated in Seattle not France or Italy or any other European country.

Hannah Montana - I can easily be entertained by children's programming and have admittedly enjoyed Spongebob Squarepants and Jimmy Neutron. So, I gave Hannah Montana a shot. It's not funny and not even mildly entertaining. Not even Mr Achy Breaky Heart could save that show. It's baaadddd...

Crocs - I just don't get them. They're big, clunky plastic shoes that make your feet smell and you pay $40 for that? Seriously? They're not cute. They're not fashionable. They're not practical. As far as I'm concerned, they're this generations Fanny Pack... and we all know how that turned out.

Sex and the City - I've given this show a shot many times and can't seem to understand the appeal. Maybe I'm not a real girl. Correct me if I'm wrong, but shouldn't there be more to a plot than a group of 4 women who just drink and talk about sex? I guess the storyline was given away with the title of the show...

The Twilight Series - I said it before and I'll say it again: these books just don't live up to their hype. They're fine reading, but they're by no means the spectacular works of literature that so many think they are. At best, they're good, though I didn't even bother reading the 3rd...

Celebrity Liberals - OK, I'm a Conservative, so there's objection #1. That issue aside, I get really annoyed when celebrities try to push their political agenda on their adoring fans. All that leads to is a bunch of misinformed drones voting for the Democratic candidate because Matt Damon said so.

Cruises - I can handle a rocking boat. I can handle cheesy entertainment. I can handle bright neon lights. But you put all that together and offer no escape should you grow tired of any of that, then I'm out. A day at sea is fine, but what do you do when you don't gamble, drink or worship the sun? ...You fly to the Bahamas.

Shows about dancing - Dancing with the Stars, So You Think You Can Dance, America's Best Dance Crew... what happens once they win? Do they go on to become...what exactly? Celine Dion's choreographer for her Vegas show? At least with American Idol the winner has the potential to go on to success, but when was the last time you bought a dancing DVD?

BlackBerry’s - Do you need your email that badly? Or access to your Facebook account? How in the world did we manage to make it through the last century without them? Quite easily, it seems... And people wonder why they get burnt out their jobs? Hey, maybe if you stopped checking your email...

Barack Obama - I'll keep this one brief because I have one beef with Barack Obama: just because Oprah puts her stamp of approval on him does not mean he's a qualified candidate. Trendy does not equal change.

UNC Tarheels - I understand that Micheal Jordan went to Carolina and now it's the standard by which all college athletic programs are measured, however if you've taken the time to watch a Carolina basketball game, you may observe a team of overrated players who whine and complain better than a room full of toddlers. Plus, I'm a Duke fan.

Small dogs - Another trend that I can't wait until it passes... they're yappy and needy. Do you like people who are like that? Me either. Make it a dog who's poo I have to clean up and I'm out. Give me my big Golden Retriever any day. He's chill and obedient - just like a good dog should be. Thanks, Paris for starting the most obnoxious trend since you taught us "That's hot."

Expensive purses - Your label splattered Louis Vuitton bag is ugly. My Target bag is not. You spent $500. I spent $20. I guarantee that more people like my retail store purchase than your price gouging French import. That money could go towards buying a pair of Crocs in every color...

My favorite t-shirts.

2008-09-09T15:34:00.006-04:00

Whenever I need a good laugh, I go to BustedTees.com and giggle at someone else's genius. If any of the shirts offend you, then those aren't the ones that I like. If you think they're funny, then I do too.

My favorites:

Maybe it's just me... all me...

2008-09-03T23:31:00.004-04:00

I have an odd affinity for these things, so I thought I’d post one. Enjoy learning these shallow little details about me…

Have you ever cried and didn't know why? No… I always know why I cry, I’m a fairly honest person when it comes to my “feelings”
Do you like being in pictures? YES. I’m quite vain. (See? I’m honest.)
Do you have any tattoos? No… if I was the bad girl I thought I was, I would have one. I wouldn’t really know what to get though…
Is there someone you want to fight? I’d rather just do the punching/hitting/slapping and they have to sit there and take it. ‘Fight’ means they get to retaliate, and I’m not ok with that.
Would you do anything for someone else? Yep… If I care a lot about someone, I’ll do anything for them.
Do you have any music you're ashamed of? Yes… I have an obscene amount of Backstreet Boys…
Do you have one or more Britney Spears CD's? Yes. Non-crazy Britney was awesome.
Do you ever sing in the shower? All the freakin’ time… I love to sing.
Can you sing? I'd say I have the ability rather than the talent… regardless, I’ll sure give it a try. And probably at the top of my lungs.
Have you ever made anyone cry? Yep. Apparently I’m mean.
Do you know how to knit? My grandma has tried to teach me many times and I just get bored and stop paying attention. Sorry Grandma. I’m a failure.
Do you know how to play poker? I can get by… I probably won’t win, but that’s because I get cocky and bet bigger than I should. I haven’t mastered the art of the bluff… or have I?
Fly or road trip? I love a good road trip, but flying is good for the long hauls… it all depends on your company too.
How many people have you completely fallen for? Probably just 1… but maybe 2.
Are you an honest person? Painfully so. But I think I’m pretty tactful about it.
What are you addicted to? Shopping.
What makes you mad? Liars, stupid people, abuse of power
What are you scared of? Death, failure, becoming a crazy cat lady
Do you trust people? I want to, but I’m pretty skeptical of their intentions. Thankfully I think I can read people pretty well.
Does it take a lot to make you cry? Not at all... I could cry right now if I wanted to.
Does the thought of marriage scare you? Sometimes… when I hear about people my age getting divorced cause they got married too quickly or when I hear about husbands cheating or being addicted to porn. None of that sounds good to me.
What are you obsessed with? Music, concerts, napping
What’s your favorite song at the moment? "The Test" by The Academy Is...
What's something you wish you could understand better? How the male mind works… it’s supposedly simple, but I beg to differ.
Have you lost friends in the past year? Sort of, which bums me out a little because they were kind of important to me.
How did you get your last bruise? I never REALLY know where my bruises come from... I'm not what you would call graceful...
Do you think you have made a difference in anyone's life? I’m sure I have, but I’m not sure who.
When a friend walks out of your life, do you go after them or let them go? It depends on why they left. I’m not one to really “go after” people. If you don’t want me then I don’t want you. Most of the time.
Where do you go when you need to just get away? I really like driving in my car with my music cranked up
Do you believe everything happens for a reason? Yes, though it’s hard to always accept that theory.
Have you ever thought about moving far away and starting all over? I’d kind of like to…
Have you ever pretended you were happy around your friends when you really weren’t? Fake it till you make it, right?

My hero... at least one of them.

2008-09-02T23:54:00.001-04:00

There are certain people in this world who are so admirably strong that you can only hope to be like them. Christi Johnson is one of those people. I’ve mentioned that my boss, Bo Johnson, recently had a double lung transplant. Christi is his wife and quite possibly the most amazing woman I’ve ever met.

Bo’s story is pretty unique, even going so far as being called a medical anomaly. In 2006, when Bo was only 34, he was diagnosed with stage 4 lung cancer – the final stage of lung cancer. And Bo never smoked. So, he immediately went on the defensive and worked to fight this disease however he could. Christi was only 30 herself, and they had a 1 year old on top of it all. Their situation was undeserved – a family in their prime, forced to deal with a life changing disease with a grim prognosis. After a couple of rounds of chemo and experimental treatment drugs, Bo’s only other option was to be listed on the donor transplant list and hope that he would receive a new set of lungs before it was too late. Thankfully, almost 2 years after he learned of his cancer, Bo was called up to Duke Medical Hospital to receive his new life saving lungs. Only his body rejected the lungs. There was a 4.5% chance that that would happen and once again, Bo beat the odds – in reverse. So the doctors re-listed him to receive a 2nd lung transplant just 5 days later. This time, the lungs were successfully received, but not without other complications along the way. By all appearances and because of Bo’s general good health before going in for the transplant, the surgery should have gone smoothly with little to no complications. But it’s been an uphill battle from the beginning and nothing has gone according to plan. There have been trips in and out of the ICU to be put on a ventilator; other surgeries have taken place to control acid reflux and to remove fluids. But through it all, through MANY valleys with very little peaks, Christi has remained brave and courageous, putting on happy face for those who offer their support. Her strength in the face of what I can only imagine is the most difficult trial to endure has been nothing short of remarkable. She has cared for her husband and daughter through a time where most people would give up, not for lack of caring but rather from complete exhaustion.

Christi came home today for a short time and I was able to talk with her about a lot of the things that have been going on from Bo’s progress to her feelings when the prognosis seemed most grim to getting to come home for good. I could only sit in awe as she called herself neurotic while all I could see was a ridiculous amount of resolve and resilience. Bo has many people praying for him, but I feel sure that Christi does too. They both worry about the normalcy that their daughter Addi is missing out on as she lives with Christi in their “summer home”, also known as the Residence Inn in Durham – 3 hours from home. Christi epitomizes true love and I’m sure when she vowed to be there for Bo in good times and in bad, in sickness and in health, she would have never imagined that it would entail such a great trial. Sadly, their story helps to put my life in perspective and help me to realize that I have a great life. I live comfortably surrounded by friends and family who love me. I drive to a stable job every day in a car that is far better than many. I’ve never gone without a meal. I’ve never been mistreated. And I’ve never had to go through the pain of watching the one that I love most on the verge of death. Christi Johnson is my hero. When I grow up, I want to be just like her.

If you want to learn more about Bo and Christi, please go to their website at www.addiscure.org (I designed the website and have had a bit of a hand in a lot of what the organization does) or read Bo’s blog to follow his journey.

I was running...

2008-08-27T20:22:00.000-04:00

I haven't mentioned my "progress" in my running endeavor in a while... and don't worry, I haven't given up. I'm no Olympic athlete or even 5k caliber just yet, but I'm kind of proud of the amount that I managed to eek out today despite my lower back and butt pain from yesterday's work out. But hey, I'm not giving up. I hate the gym - HATE IT. I have to run on a treadmill that allows me to see my reflection that way I can see the sweat and know that I'm actually making progress. But there's something quite rewarding in leaving the gym soaking wet with sweat, sore as all get out and feeling like your limbs could quite possibly fall off. Feels good, you know? The hot bath I took when I got home felt even better. So yay for me for 2.87 miles on the treadmill today (remember, I'm NOT a runner...)

We'll see if I'm able to take on a 5k in October - .23 of a mile isn't that much more, right?

New music.

2008-08-26T22:34:00.005-04:00

I feel like it's my obligation to share the good things that I find with those of you who read - it's kind of like when you find something that's so great that not sharing would make you selfish. Well I have no problem sharing (i.e., dark chocolate peanut butter, Paramore, Butch Walker... you're all welcome) And sometimes, I do like to use my influence for good instead of evil - imagine that.

My most recent find: The Academy Is...
Where you may have heard them: On Warped Tour or if you watched the Hills this past Monday night. They're also featured on my playlist to the right.
What they sound like: Fall Out Boy with less confusing song titles and lyrics and more indie.
Why you might like them: Because I recommended them to you.
My favorite songs: "About a Girl", "Everything We Had", "Same Blood", "Bulls in Brooklyn", "Down and Out", and "The Test"

So, if new music is your thing (though they're not really new - their first album "Almost Here" was released in 2005 and their second album "Santi" was released in 2007) then check out their newest album "Fast Times at Barrington High" (it's only $9.99 at Target) They've become part of my morning routine as I listen to them while I get ready.

Here's a pic that I took when I saw them on Warped Tour... now go buy the album!

It was rigged.

2008-08-24T00:13:00.005-04:00

You guys are no help. The poll ended in a tie and I'm not sure who is to blame. I guess I'm going to color one side blonde and leave the other brunette. I hope you all will be able to deal with what that might look like. Thanks friends.

Hallelujah.

2008-08-19T23:06:00.007-04:00

I think I've made myself clear on at least 2 things in this blog: #1 - I love going to concerts. #2 - I love Paramore and Butch Walker.

Tonight was the John Mayer (gag me) and Paramore concert. Paramore was fantastic but then I peaced out on John Mayer. One of my favorite Paramore songs is "Hallelujah" and I was really excited when they started it out by covering another famous "Hallelujah" by Leonard Cohen (Jeff Buckley's version is most famous...) It was pretty great... hope you enjoy... and pardon my singing along... and the shaky camera. It's hard to film, sing and rock out all at the same time.

The Real Question.

2008-08-17T22:29:00.007-04:00

All right, let's dial the serious down a notch and be superficial for a minute. I just added a poll to the blog that I would like everyone who reads my random thoughts to help me make the biggest decision I'll make this week. I've been a semi-blonde most of my life but highlights are a pain to keep up. Within the last year, I've been doing the brunette thing, going darker than my natural color (which is just kind of a blah mousy light brown - I think...) But I'm not sure if I want to keep doing that or go back to being blonde-ish... In the end, I'm going to do what I want, but the opinions of those who take the time to read interest me, so I'm throwing it out there for you all to help me with.

Rock on.

Question.

2008-08-13T23:14:00.001-04:00

If you knew someone was about to make a mistake, would you tell them?

Revisiting ATL.

2008-08-12T01:25:00.001-04:00

My new favorite song:

Is there any question why I love him so?

Celebrity.

2008-08-11T13:12:00.005-04:00

Football season has started again and I couldn't be more excited. With the exception of college basketball (namely, DUKE BASKETBALL), professional football is my favorite sport to watch especially the Carolina Panthers. This past Saturday I was lucky enough to get tickets for the first pre-season game in some really good seats (right over the Panthers tunnel - 4 rows or so back) and I brought my best girls with me. I make it my goal at every sporting event that I go to to get on the jumbotron if I'm in range of the camera man. I've done it several times in the past at Bobcat and Panthers games, but this particular game was special becuase Anna and I made it on the screen 4 TIMES. I had my camera with me and had Amber take a picture as evidence of our new found celebrity status. And thankfully, the Panthers won the game 23-20.

Here's the proof:

Missing: SPARKLE

2008-08-07T23:09:00.006-04:00

Have you ever been so tired, so completely exhausted that you just don't know what to do? Your body feels tired. Your heart feels tired. Even your brain feels tired. I am completely and totally worn out. I got nothing left. Everyone has their moments when they feel like they have more than they can handle, like they couldn't possibly take on one more thing. And then it's like out of no where, you get sucker punched right in the stomach and feel like you could possibly be down for the count. Even if you're not completely out of it, you want to be.

This is a bit of a departure for me. I'm usually fairly upbeat - I might complain about things here and there, but generally, I know life has been good to me. Now I feel a culmination of things that are sitting on top of me and all I really want to do is give up - and I don't give up. Ever. My dad always says that he has never lost a game, time just ran out and the other team stopped playing; that's generally the attitude that I take on too. But I feel quite broken and I want to quit. I don't want to have to think. I don't want to have to feel. I don't want to have to do anything that anyone tells me to do. I want to sit and just be until the whole thing passes. Unfortunately, that's not an option and all the peanut butter in the world won't fix it either. Because whether or not I just sit and wait, this won't be the only time that I feel this way. Going through it once doesn't satisfy the trial. I'm sure it will happen many other times in my life. I'm sure this time is simply grooming me for when bigger storms rage - I'm painfully aware of that fact.

The details of how or why I feel this way aren't important but are kind of personal. Some things people might already know - at least a few of them other people are going through with me. Others I'm keeping to myself, sharing what I want with who I want. As I go back through and read this, I realize that I sound like a whiny, ungrateful person who is seemingly choosing to focus on the negative. And that could be the case. But in what I would consider my weakened state, this is about all I have in me. I know this will pass as do all trials, whether they are physical or emotional. Fortunately, I haven't stopped smiling, I haven't stopped laughing and I haven't cried yet (ok, maybe once...) so I know it's not that bad.

My request is simple: I just want my sparkle back. I want that twinkle in my eye again, the feeling of complete optimism. So, let me know if you find it and I promise the reward will be worth it.

Oh, and thanks for listening :)

The Perfect Storm.

2008-08-05T22:13:00.007-04:00

I thought Reese's Peanut Butter Cups were the greatest thing ever invented. Mr Reese's, whoever you are - you're brilliant. And I thought to myself, if peanut butter is so great, and chocolate is so great, and they're definitely great together, then why do they have to be enjoyed seperately, even though they're together in a cup? Grocery shopping led me to quite possibly the NEXT greatest thing ever invented. Peanut Butter & Company created Dark Chocolate Dreams Peanut Butter and it's good. Really good. Not to mention that it has LESS CALORIES than regular peanut butter, reduced fat, natural, organic... all of that. For 2 tablespoons (the standard serving for most peanut butter) it's only 170 calories, where most peanut butter is 190 or more.

At this point, you may be thinking, "she's lost her mind.... who blogs about peanut butter?" and you're probably right, though I'm certain I lost my mind a long time ago. Still, I already warned you that peanut butter, chocolate, and peanut butter with chocolate makes me happy so... it's only natural that when I find them in a practically perfect form, I have to share. It's almost an obligation. And you know you're just hanging on my every word anyway so just be thankful I've shared anything with you.

best. day. ever.

2008-07-31T23:22:00.005-04:00

This past weekend Anna and I made a road trip down to Atlanta, which is quite possibly my new favorite place. I love that it's Southern but still a big city... I think it's great. But I digress. The original plan was to go see Butch Walker play one of two remaining shows since he cancelled his most recent tour. Anna - not being the Butch Walker fan like I am - had to be persuaded to go for more than just a concert. So, I dangled a little something called free hotel and concert ticket and she was sold. To add to the benefit of going, we could also visit the largest aquarium in the world, the Georgia Aquarium.

Friday we went to check out IKEA and I have to say it was a disappointment. Too much stuff, too much building, too much period. We left empty handed, but were not going to be deterred in spending money. So we went to the sparkly mall across from our sparkly hotel but... didn't buy anything. I know. It's rare for me to leave a mall with NOTHING. There's always the aquarium gift store... We were dog tired by the time we got back to our hotel, so we called it a night at Grandma time of about 9:30 so we could be well rested for....

Saturday was aquarium day. We wanted to maximize our time there and get there as early as we could. We spent 3 hours watching the beluga whales, whale sharks, sting rays, penguins, sea lions... it was nothing short of fantastic. I nearly cried and questioned what I'm doing wasting my life away under fluorescent lights when I could be working with marine life like I've always wanted to do. On our way out we went through the gift shop, but let's face it, I'm not a little kid so stuffed whale sharks and picture books on sea turtles doesn't really strike my fancy. Again, empty hands as we exit. Oh but wait... isn't there a H&M in Atlanta? If I weren't so loyal to the Gap, I'd consider this store to be the best store ever. Cheap, cute clothes. What more could a girl want? A nap, that's what.

After finally spending money on something, we went back to the hotel to rest up some more before the concert. When we got there, we saw people that probably don't even exist in North Carolina. Mohawks (SERIOUS mohawks, not this faux hawk crap), ripped jeans, Chuck Taylors... it was like punk threw up everywhere. Strangely enough, Butch Walker is pretty pop rock. The show was quite possibly the best concert I've ever been to - and I've seen my fair share of shows; yes, it might even trump the Backstreet Boys and Bon Jovi; it was THAT GOOD. Saturday was probably one of the best days I've had in a while... the last one I can remember was all the way back in November... I needed this vacation pretty badly.

Sunday was pretty uneventful... driving back home, trying to stay awake after a jam packed weekend. I would elaborate more on how great it all was, but there are hardly words. Here are a couple of videos... one from the concert and one of the beluga whales mating. That's right, MATING. Enjoy.

Cheese.

2008-07-21T17:20:00.004-04:00

25 things that make me happy, in no specific order.

Peanut butter
Chocolate
Peanut butter with chocolate
Flip flops
Make up
Gum
Leggings
Things that smell like coconut
Dolphins
Naps
Cheerwine
Diet Dr Pepper
Cherry Coke Zero
Getting done with a workout
My iPod
Concerts
Magazines
Nail polish
Hair products
Straws
Pictures
Lotion
Ice Cream
Watermelon
Dictionaries

My Playlist.

2008-07-17T23:17:00.005-04:00

Some people don't like the trite, get-to-know you questions like, "what's your favorite movie?", "what's your favorite TV show?", "what's your favorite song?” etc. I think those very questions are the ones that can be the most telling about a person. They can say a lot about someone's personality, sense of humor, and general attitude. If you don't know me already, get to know me through this blog and my affinity for list-making. If forced to pick a favorite song, I'd be able to choose one, but really "I could no sooner choose a favorite star in the sky..." ($10 to whoever knows where that's from...) But since this is my blog, I'm just going to list off my favorite songs. And yes, you can probably expect subsequent lists of my favorite movies and TV shows in later posts.

"Living on a Prayer" by Bon Jovi (this would probably be my choice for my absolute favorite IF I was forced to choose)
"Best of You" by Foo Fighters
"Keep Your Hands to Yourself" by Georgia Satellites
"Like a Prayer" by Madonna
"Breakdown" by Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers
"Renegade" by Styx
"Look after You" by The Fray
"Follow Through" by Gavin DeGraw
"To Be With You" by Mr. Big
"Fat Bottom Girls" by Queen
"Life is a Highway" by Tom Cochran
"If You Could Only See" by Tonic
"I Wanna Dance With Somebody" by Whitney Houston
"California Dreamin'" by The Mamas and The Papas
"Wouldn't It Be Nice" by The Beach Boys
"Possession" by Sarah McLachlan
"Always" by Bon Jovi
"All I Want Is You" by U2
"Brandy (You're a Fine Girl)" by Looking Glass
"I Won't Back Down" by Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers
"Losing My Religion" by REM
"Wonderwall" by Oasis
"World On Fire" by Sarah McLachlan
"Born to Run" by Bruce Springsteen
"I Just Wanna Love U (Give it 2 Me)" by Jay-Z
"The Good Life" by Weezer
"Sweet Child O Mine" by Guns N Roses
"Say It Ain't So" by Weezer
"Wicked Games" by Chris Isaak
"Wild Horses" by Rolling Stones
"Machinehead" by Bush
"Just Like Heaven" by The Cure
"I Want You To Want Me" by Cheap Trick
"The Ballad of Curtis Lowe" by Lynyrd Skynyrd
"I Just Called To Say I Love You" by Stevie Wonder
"TNT" by AC/DC
"Rebel Yell" by Billy Idol
"Pour Some Sugar On Me" by Def Leppard
"Take Me Home Tonight" by Eddie Money
"Everlong" by Foo Fighters
"Who's Crying Now" by Journey
"Your Love" by The Outfield
"I Wanna Be Sedated" by The Ramones
"Blister in the Sun" by Violent Femmes
"Best Thing You Never Had" by Butch Walker
"Cigarette Lighter Love Song" by Marvelous 3
"Miracle" by Paramore
"Peace of Mind" by Boston
"I'm on Fire" by Bruce Springsteen
"I Guess That's Why The Call It The Blues" by Elton John
"What I Got" by Sublime
"Santa Monica" by Everclear

I realize this is quite a lengthy list... I probably could list all of Bon Jovi, Weezer, Butch Walker, Paramore, Journey, Def Leppard and Tom Petty songs as my favorite. I'm sure I've left out many, many more but I bet you're scurrying to your Limewire right now to steal one of the songs that I mentioned that you forgot that you loved too. So for that, you're welcome.

Tour de Lauren.

2008-07-13T20:34:00.003-04:00

I'm going to preface this blog by first saying that I am in no way in great shape. I would say I'm in the best shape of my life having proudly lost a considerable amount of weight over the past year. I won't apologize for bragging about that cause I'm dang proud of it. And there have been little milestones along the way that I'm also quite proud of: I'm taking on the 100 push up challenge, working up to doing 100 push ups at once over the course of 6 weeks. I started out by doing 14 and will begin my 3rd week tomorrow having last done 34 on Friday. Prior to this challenge, I could barely do 5 push ups, let alone 100. It's going to be tough, but I think the bragging rights alone will make it worth it. And I've already mentioned taking on running and so far so good. I haven't run since last Tuesday because I took a break on Wednesday and picked up a new hobby on Thursday which is... biking.

Anna and I took a cycling class at the Y about 2 years ago and that crap kicked our butt. Cycling is not for the faint of heart or for the weak of butt. If you've never experienced being "saddle sore" then count yourself lucky. I won't go so far as to say it's excruciating or anything that extreme, but it's a different kind of sore for sure because it's not in your muscles per se... I digress. So the cycling class sucked, but doing the exercise bike as part of my cardio workout is completely tolerable (mainly because I control the speed and resistance) and it's been my goal for a while to get my own bike to take on some trails and what not. So, instead of hitting up the gym on Thursday, Amber and I went for a good little bike ride around the neighborhood of which I'm staying. It was hot and muggy and probably would have sweated pretty good just standing outside. After about a 30 minute ride through the neighborhood and around the trail of a park, I was once again introduced to the wonderful feeling of being saddle sore... But I had so much fun biking that Amber, Matt and I went for a ride on Friday night taking on a little bit more of a lengthy trek. We biked 9 miles through the neighborhood and while the first mile or so wrecked havoc on my bum, after a while I couldn't feel a thing and just enjoyed the ride. Hot and sweaty all over again, the hour long ride was one of the better ways that I have spent a Friday night. I would say this is inspired by the Tour de France, but I couldn't care less about that. I just like being active instead of sitting around like a bump on a log doing nothing, which is quite a departure from my usual disposition to sit around and watch TV.

Now excuse me, I think Miami Ink is on. I need to go watch my new boyfriend Tim Hendricks tat someone up.

To Do.

2008-07-09T18:37:00.002-04:00

I've already established that I like to make lists. I'm going to the grocery store soon, so I thought I'd share my grocery list.

Just kidding.

I read a book a couple of months ago that was something to the effect of 100 things to do before I die. I don't like the idea of a "bucket list" but there are some things that I would like to see, do and accomplish in my life. Lucky you, this list is much shorter than my "What It Takes" list :)

#1 - Go to Italy - Yeah, it's the motherland. I think we have some "familial connections" that would insure my safety while visiting and that's pretty dope.
#2 - Go to Ireland - I'm a fan of green. I like that there's grass and hills everywhere. I think it'd be a cool place to go and can't really explain it any further than that.
#3 - Go to London - It looked fun on that episode of Friends and I'd really like chat it up with one of the Buckingham Palace guards - they look like they have so much to say but no one really talks to them.
#4 - Go to Australia - I mean really, it's Australia. They gave us a steak house, Ugg boots and Crocodile Dundee. A place that giving has to be great. And I'd like to scuba dive in the Great Barrier Reef.
#5 - Road trip across the USA - This would only be with someone I could tolerate for days on end (and that could obviously tolerate me...) but I think it'd be a lot of fun to see the country that way - minus the Great Plain States; I've seen Children of the Corn.
#6 - Go to the zoo - No, I haven't been to the zoo. Pick your jaw up. I want to quite badly, but just haven't gone yet. I'm up for going anytime if someone wants to take me!
#7 - Go to Sea World - It was once my little 13 year old dream to work at Sea World. Now that I'm chained to a desk in the "corporate world", that little dream will most likely never happen. So, I'll settle for visiting Shamu instead of training him.
#8 - Get a passport - I've been out of the country twice (once to Canada and once to the Bahamas) but that was before a passport was required. I'd like to have a passport and actually put it to use. Perhaps for #1-4.
#9 - Go to Nauvoo and Kirtland - I've been to a few LDS church history sites, but haven't made it to these 2.
#10 - Shop in New York City in the fall - There's something almost romantic about the idea... and I hear they have a 3 story Gap. I think I just heard my heart flutter.
#11 - Have a place of my own - I've lived with mom and dad for a way long time. I'd like to have my own house where I'm the queen not the princess.
#12 - Get a Vespa - I think they're fun. I'd get a pink one.
#13 - Learn how to drive a motorcycle - If my mom can do it, so can I. There's nothing like riding a motorcycle as a passenger, and I can only imagine that driving one is even better.
#14 - Learn how to flirt - I am a horrible, horrible flirt. I just don't know how to do it. It always just ends up with me mocking whoever it is that I'm flirting with. Then they get all offended because they don't get that I'm joking. So, I'd like to prevent that by learning how to flirt while keeping my intelligence in tact.
#15 - Take voice lessons/learn how to sing - I've always thought that I was a rock star but have never sounded like one - not even the bad ones. But if Paris Hilton can do it, so can I.
#16 - Buy a bicycle - There's a hot pink Schwinn that has my name all over it. I just have to go get it.
#17 - Become a certified scuba diver - You know, for when I'm down at the Barrier Reef. Or at the pool at the YMCA.
#18 - Learn how to decorate cakes - I'm an artist of sorts and like to be crafty and I also like cake - seems the two merge in cake decorating.
#19 - Be my own boss - I know that no one likes to be told what to do. I especially don't care for it when it comes to my professional life. I'd really like to own my own company someday so that I'm the boss calling all the shots.
#20 - Ride in a hot air balloon - I've been in a tethered hot air balloon, but there's no way that can compare to the real thing. And again, I think it's romantic.
#21 - Swim in a waterfall - It just looks like fun.
#22 - Go to Hawaii - I had my chance about 2 months ago and didn't take advantage of it... some say that Disney World is the happiest place on earth, but I think it has to be Hawaii. I mean really, they have pineapple.
#23 - Visit New York City at Christmas - Rockefeller Center... FAO Schwartz... Times Square... it just seems like so much fun. Not to mention the shopping...
#24 - Get a BMW/Porsche 911 - I'll take either one. Preferably in black.
#25 - Write a novel - I've always enjoyed writing stories - I even sold a few to my grandma when I was little. If I could ever write more than 55 pages before losing interest in my own storyline, then maybe it could happen.

I'm sure there are many, many other things in this world that I would like to do that I haven't thought to mention. I haven't done a TON of things in my life (a list of things that I've never done that most people have will probably be next) but the things that I want to do, I generally do.

And it looks like this is just as long as my "What It Takes" list... thanks for bearing with me.

Run Forest, run.

2008-07-08T23:00:00.003-04:00

I used to be the person who would say "never" - a lot. I would say, "I'll never listen to any country music, let alone buy the crap" until I bought a Rascal Flatts CD. I've said, "I'll never wear leggings again - that's such a lame trend." until I bought some black leggings for Halloween last year - they're one of my favorite pieces of clothing now. In my adolescence, I swore my allegiance to the Backstreet Boys and turned my nose up at *N Sync, but now I think Justin Timberlake is really good. I "will never", "would never", "could never" has littered my vocabulary for a while as I'm sure it does many other people. But, I've recently learned that you really should NEVER SAY NEVER.

Anytime someone brings up the notion of going for a run, I immediately cringe. The mere thought of running is exhausting. The only times I would ever be inclined to run is on 2 occasions: #1 - if I'm being chased, as in - someone is after me in a violent and malicious way and if I don't run then there is the great potential that I may die. #2 - if I'm playing basketball. I like playing basketball (whether or not I have the skills is a different story) so I don't mind running while playing basketball. I'll jog if I'm playing other sports. Jogging is not running. I said that I would never run for "fun". Running to me is not "fun"; flying a kite is fun, going for a swim is fun, writing this blog is fun, popping bubble wrap is fun. For that matter, spinning around in a chair is fun. You get the point - there are many other things in this world that would qualify as being "fun" and running is not one of them.

I've decided to start running. There are parts of my body that I wish were in better shape and I have learned that running is one of the best ways to make that happen. To put it bluntly - I don't have much of a booty. I wish I did so I'm going to run to get a booty in a healthy, non-ice cream induced fashion. In taking on this new endeavor, I have learned 2 things (to counter my previous 2 objections) #1 - running is not that bad - I wouldn't necessarily call it fun just yet, but I can handle it better than I thought I could. I have proudly made it through 4 sessions at the gym where I have now worked my way up to running on the treadmill for 15 minutes in a 35 minute session. #2 - There is a certain boost that you get when you run called a "runner's high" (I read about this in my Women's Health. It gets all scientific and what not, but basically running can make you happy once you're done.) I will admit that I do feel pretty good and sort of accomplished when I get off the treadmill after having successfully finished a good hearty run. Today's run was so "hearty" that my hair was soaking wet - the likes of which hasn't happened in the hour long kickboxing class that I take which can burn up to 500 calories in an hour.

So there you have it. I said I would never run for the sake of running and I did. I eat my words on a regular basis and this is just another one of those times. Now, when the shin splints kick in, there might be a post of a different color that you read. Until then, yay for running.

Speed trap.

2008-07-06T23:40:00.004-04:00

Every Sunday morning I get up at 8:00 am, jump in the shower and begin the beautifying process. I try to smell good, generally reserving the use of my shower gel and poofy thing for Sunday showers. I put a little extra effort into my makeup, hair and general appearance - they don't call it your Sunday best for nothing. This morning was no different with the exception that I was leaving from the house for which I'm house sitting. It's about 10 minutes further south and I should - in theory - be able to leave the house a little later and still get to church on time. Last week, I think I was actually early. With that in mind, I had a little bit more of a leisurely morning as I took the time to actually eat breakfast - an English muffin with peanut butter (delicious). Maybe it was a bit too leisurely as I didn't leave the house right at 9:00 am like I would have liked to; no big deal, I left 5 minutes late and head out on the highway. Feeling good in my new dress (I got it at Target the day before - retail therapy was necessary) I was moving along at a good little speed - admittedly above the speed limit, but it was a Sunday morning on a lightly traveled neighborhood street. Whatever, I'm above the law, I won't get caught. Oh, except for when a cop is traveling in the opposite direction and clocks me going 46 in a 35. One of Cornelius' finest throws on his blue lights, whips it around in the middle of the street (another indication of how lightly traveled the road is, especially at 9 on a Sunday morning... I digress...) and tells me that he clocked me going blah blah blah... it's also a misdemeanor to not sign your registration (which I honestly didn't know... add salt to the wound buddy, I know it'll make you feel better) Oink, oink... snort, snort... I can't stand cops. As my dad so brilliantly puts it, the only time they're helpful is when you call them - otherwise, they're the enemy whose sole purpose is to catch you - villain or not - doing something wrong. Am I the victim here? I'd like to think so, but I understand that TECHNICALLY I was breaking the law by speeding. But my goodness, if it's no skin off your nose - "Mr Officer" - to reduce my "citation" to 9 over instead of 11 over, then why can't you just let the whole incident go and let me get to church on time?! That's all I wanted anyway! For heaven's sake I'm trying to do a good deed by taking care of my hospitalized boss's dogs (who are little crapping monsters to say the least) and this is what I get for speeding through their neighborhood?! Eh, it's all a bunch of crap. As the d-bag cop pranced his way back to his car, I threw in a "Have a good Sabbath." It's the most power I had in the whole incident.

So this is my 2nd speeding ticket within the last year not to mention the 2 accidents that I was in one right after the other in May. I'm thinking maybe the universe is trying to tell me to take the bus.

Hot dog.

2008-07-02T16:05:00.002-04:00

I love hot dogs. I love the 4th of July. I love laying out by the water. This weekend is going to be the perfect storm for me.

So don't bother me for the next few days - I'll be working on my tan. Yay for independence and no work.

The Type.

2008-06-30T23:05:00.003-04:00

I've noticed something recently in the way that people seem to perceive me and thought it was kinda interesting. You might think this is silly - I kind of do too, but what's a blog if not silly?

One day about 5 months ago I was talking with my parents, crying about boys and how I was convinced that there wasn't someone out there for me. My dad's reassuring words were, "You know, you are the only one of my kids that I ever really saw with someone successful." Interesting. I'll take that little prediction.

About 2 months later, I had another conversation with someone where they told me, "You know, I bet when you meet someone you're going to date him for 3 months and then get married." Wow. That'd be super quick. I'd like to think I would give such a big decision a little more consideration then to just BAM! marry someone after only dating for 3 months. But ok, whatever you think...

Then, a few days ago I was talking with my best friend Amber who had spoken with an old friend, Kellie. Kellie was trying to catch up on all the gossip and asked Amber if I was dating anyone. Blah, blah, blah... then Kellie adds on, "You know, Lauren's going to marry the best looking guy out of all of us." Another interesting observation...

Now I wonder how these theories came about? I would like to think that whoever I end up with will be a successful and good looking guy - hopefully we'll be together more than 3 months before we pull the trigger (I think anyone who does it that quick is RIDICULOUS... I might eat my words later, but that's my stance right now) But seriously, where do people come up with these things? I know I have a very specific personality as everyone does, but are there people out there who you look at and think, "Man, she's going to marry a loser." or "She's so ugly that I bet she can only pull someone ugly too." Is that what it's about? I won't even touch on the 3 month dating thing... the thought of it makes me sick, especially when I see people about to get married when they have no idea who they're marrying. (Looks like I did touch on it, huh?)

So, if you're brave enough to help me out with this one, let me know what you think...

Twilight.

2008-06-30T00:15:00.003-04:00

In keeping with this bandwagon jumping thing that I tend to do, I've done it again... I just finished reading "Twilight" - you know, that teenage vampire romance mystery that has just about every woman I know gushing about Edward the Vampire and the movie that's coming out in December. Well, a good friend of mine read the book and went on and on about how great it was so, I decided I would find out for myself. It's a pretty thick book... at least for me it was - 500 pages. I started reading it on Wednesday and finished it up tonight. It was a good book I will agree, however - I can't say that I came away from it with this unnatural lust for a non-fiction character. To me, it was like reading Buffy the Vampire Slayer with more romance and less action. Putting it kindly, I wasn't enthralled. But wait - I finished a 500 page book in 4 days and managed to carry on regular activities and I call that not being enthralled?! Well, yeah... Now I just finished watching the movie trailer - putting faces with the characters that had only been described in vivid detail in the book. Eh. They're not that hot. Especially not Edward. Basically, I've come away from reading this book unimpressed. Maybe a year ago or so I would have been right there with all the other girls I know just drooling over this uber-sexy vampire. But... for me, I'd rather have the real thing (not a vampire... but a real man) I'm sure they would too, but to me the reality is so much better than the fantasy. I used to be of the mind that the fantasy is just as good as the reality - now I know better. Now, I'm left to decide whether I will read the next book which will be equally as long, or if I'll forgo the hulabaloo and find something else to read. I haven't decided yet... though I do enjoy having something to read on my Saturday afternoons as I lazily lay out on the dock. I'll let you know if I keep going with this over-hyped little fascination. For now, call me unimpressed.

Make me swoon.

2008-06-29T01:11:00.003-04:00

I think all of these are pretty special... they required a little bit more thought...

#46 - Unselfish (Another one that might go without saying, but sometimes, it needs to be said.)
#47 - Willing to scratch and/or rub my back (I know it's a cliche Mormon thing to do, but I like it. It's part of my PDA thing...)
#48 - Personable and friendly (Brooding is fine, but seriously you have to have some kind of personality and ability to be friends with other people.)
#49 - Uses common sense
#50 - Wants to make me happy (I'm a people pleaser... but make no mistake about it that I like for attempts to be made to make me happy too.)
#51 - Shows great potential to be a great man
#52 - Good looking/attractive to me (I don't care if everyone thinks that he's a barking car chaser - if he's hot to me, then that's all that really matters.)
#53 - Independently interdependent (Meaning... relies on me but can also handle business on his own)
#54 - Understands my sense of humor (I know where Utah is, but it's funnier when I pretend that I don't... if you don't get that, then you probably won't get me.)
#55 - Appreciates wit and sarcasm (This flows from me like LAVA. I can't control it or stop it and certainly don't want to. If you can't handle it, then we should probably part ways)
#56 - Persistant but not stubborn (Show me that you're not a quitter, but be realistic and know when it's time to let go)
#57 - Lovingly motivates me to be better (Don't tell me I look fat, offer to go to the gym with me. Subtle, but smart and loving.)
#58 - Realistically romantic (The stuff on movies and TV is great, but it's not real. Make the effort to be romantic, and I'm putty in your hands.)
#59 - Regularly attends the temple
#60 - Won't make me cry (I've shed too many tears over guys who probably didn't cry one bit over me... I should have seen those red flags from the beginning, but the heart wants what it wants... If he's doing his best to make me happy, and I'm doing the best to make him happy also, then the only tears that I expect to shed are those of pure joy.)

A little shallow. A little not.

2008-06-27T13:48:00.003-04:00

#31 - #45...

#31 - Not a pansy (If you can't handle minor pain, even that which might go along with teasing, then you might be too much of a pansy for me... play fighting is fun. Until someone gets hurt.)
#32 - Needs to handle adversity well (I don't want someone who's going whine and complain about all their trials and not try to do something about it. Life isn't always going to be easy and I need someone who can calm me when I'm not able to deal. This also goes back to not being a pansy.)
#33 - Values my opinion (I'm a pretty smart cookie - people should listen to me more often. When I know someone cares about what I think, then it makes me feel like I'm important to them)
#34 - Let's me help him when, where, and how I can (Another thing that won someone brownie points and also lost them brownie points - just cause I'm a girl, doesn't mean I can't lift heavy things. I don't go to the gym for nothing...)
#35 - Physically active - not lazy (If your couch is perfectly imprinted with the shape of your keister, then you need to get going lazy boy. I make the effort to go to the gym, so should you.)
#36 - Cool with doing nothing, but always up for something (This is me as long as I'm with someone I care about... I don't want to be on the go constantly, but I don't want to be a homebody either... it's called BALANCE)
#37 - Likes movies and TV (Most people do, I realize, but I know quite a bit about pop culture, so it'd be cool if he did too...)
#38 - Not a nerd or dork (Do I even need to explain this one... every girl wants a cool guy - I would prefer if he's rocker, but that's just me.)
#39 - Must be a good kisser (I've kissed guys who knew what they were doing and guys who didn't - let's just say it's the difference between putting on lipgloss and being attacked by a St Bernard. Which do you think is the better of the two?)
#40 - Respects my thoughts and feelings (Don't discount a genuine concern of mine as being stupid or petty - if it bothers me, then respect that. I'm not asking that it bothers him too, but I'd like to be understood.)
#41 - His #1 prority is me (My #1 priority would be him, so I expect the same in return. It's not fun playing 2nd string to anyone or anything... no matter how important it may be to him)
#42 - Likes to slow dance (That's just hot...)
#43 - Likes to go to church (Church is important. End of story.)
#44 - Makes me feel good about myself (If I'm feeling good, then everyone is going to feel good)
#45 - Buys me flowers (This is negotiatable, but it'd be nice... I'm just sayin'...)

What it takes...some more.

2008-06-25T18:14:00.004-04:00

And so the list continues...

#16 - Good dresser (Unfortunately, clothes are important to me so I think it should be important to my guy too... in a completely hetero way.)
#17 - Hard worker
#18 - Likes to cook (I already mentioned GOOD at cooking, but I think it's important that he LIKES it too.)
#19 - Willing to try new things
#20 - Wiling to watch a chick flick (It doesn't have to be all Die Hard, all the time... plus, he could probably learn a thing or two...)
#21 - Likes kids (Cause I'm looking for a baby daddy...)
#22 - He needs to possess a unique edginess (In other words, geeks need not apply. If the most interesting thing about you is your Star Wars figurine collection, then... I'll pass.)
#23 - He has to pump my gas (This one is almost as important as buying tampons. Plus, it's manly.)
#24 - He needs to be passionate (Again, preferrably not about Star Wars, Lord of the Rings, etc. but something cool like photography, music, sailing...)
#25 - He has to be affectionate (If you don't like PDA then... I'll pass, thanks)
#26 - He needs to be thoughtful (Buy me a shirt when you're someplace cool, let me know when a song reminds you of me...)
#27 - Likes basketball and football (Play it, watch it, be interested in it... real men watch sports and I don' t mind it.)
#28 - Need to be handy and able to fix things (Soft hands are nice, but rough hands are hot)
#30 - Has to be my best friend (We're not talking girl talk kinda crap, but rather be the one person who I can just hang out with as well as make out with...)

We're half way there... livin' on a prayer...

What it takes.

2008-06-24T22:24:00.002-04:00

I am a list maker. I do it on a regular basis. Each day at work I make a list of the things that I have to do that day. When I'm going on a trip, I make a list of everything that I need to bring. When I'm cooking a specific meal, I make a list of grocery items to buy. You get the point - list making is what I do. I'm not sure if it has to do with gratification that I get from systematically mark things off or if I do it as a protective measure to ensure that I don't forget to do something. Whatever the case may be, I feel the need to make lists.

That being said, I eagerly followed the advice of a "friend" to make a list of what it takes. Now this list isn't one that can necessarily just be checked off and called done once everything has been marked out. This is more of a qualifying list to make sure that the guys I date meet a certain criterion that I find to be necessary. The list itself has gotten to be pretty long... I thought I'd share just the tip of the iceberg... these are in no particular order, even though the most important ones are going to come to mind first:

#1 - Good priesthood holder
#2 - Tactfully honest (Cause I've met a few who weren't...)
#3 - Funny ha ha, not funny queer (In other words, he's gotta be funny, and more importantly, not gay)
#4 - Intelligent, not necessarily book smart
#5 - Good at cooking
#6 - Taller than me (Listen up short girls, leave the men 6 ft and taller to those who can actually reach them - I'm just saying.)
#7 - Opens doors for me (No, chivalry is not dead. Thanks feminists for ruining it for the rest of us.)
#8 - Willing to let me pay, but still able to pay (I'm not looking to be someones sugar mama, but I can help sometimes...)
#9 - Interested in me (Sounds simple, but you'd be surprised at how much one can drone on and on about themselves... and we're not talking about blog-style either.)
#10 - Willing to teach me things that he knows how to do that I'm interested in learning.
#11 - Must like music (And I'm not talking the soundtrack from The Lord of The Rings.)
#12 - Must smell good (I mean really... this one is simple, but makes a BIG difference.)
#13 - Willing to buy me tampons (Cringe if you will, but this willingness shows a selflessness that I appreciate - it's more the act rather than the purchase. It won major brownie points with me one time...)
#14 - Willing to compliment me (It's what I need for validation... it's just how I'm programmed. And compliments will get you everywhere.)
#15 - Likes to talk on the phone (I'm a girl. It's what we do. Deal with it.)

To be continued... it only gets better from here.

Guitar Hero.

2008-06-16T23:07:00.006-04:00

Some girls have a weakness for blue eyes, maybe a good smile, some love the All American boy, while others want the statuesque movie star. All of those are fine with me, but I can't say I really have a weakness for any of those types. My weakness is much more of a goose chase, more allusive, more unlikely to be attained. My weakness is the rock star. I'd be lying if I didn't attribute part of that to a guy I dated who was the lead singer of a band but I'd say it also predates that encounter. Abercrombie models are great... undeniably hot. A preppy guy in a great button down shirt and some good fitting jeans... makes my heart flutter. A good country boy in a ball cap and plain t-shirt... yum. But you give me a guy with some tattered jeans, messy hair, black boots and a guitar... you just made my heart melt. I'm not quite sure what the appeal is though I've constantly been surrounded with images of rock stars nearly my entire life: Jon Bon Jovi was plastered all over the walls in my bedroom from the time I was 5; Mom rocked out to the box set of Bruce Springsteen and the image of his butt in those jeans on the cover of "Born in the USA" is permanently ingrained in my brain; I want the bad boy... I want the troublemaker... I want the motorcycle rider... You wear leather pants? Awesome. Guyliner? I'm OK with that. Oh, you want to write a song about me? Done. I love nothing more than going to a great concert and singing along with the bad boy rock star on stage. Gimme Dave Grohl, gimme Rivers Cuomo, gimme Pete Wentz (though he's a bit scrawny), I might even take Tommy Lee sans the Hepatitis (I'll pass on Kid Rock - blonde rockers look dirty). If you can rock out on an acoustic guitar, wear an authentic Von Dutch t-shirt, and still manage to look hot while sweating then I'm yours. So be warned - I'm on a mission to find probably the one thing that completely defies the natural order of the universe: the Mormon Rock Star. If he's out there, send him my way, but I won't be holding my breath.

Stop this song.

2008-06-16T16:28:00.004-04:00

My musical taste has ranged from Backstreet Boys and New Kids on the Block to Bon Jovi and Def Leppard to Jay-z and P. Diddy to Nirvana and Stone Temple Pilots. It has run the gamut. I already gushed about Butch Walker and I still love him just as much as ever. But I can't continue to blog if I don't equally gush about Paramore. They are what might be considered emo... though the band themselves call it alternative/pop/regional mexican so I'd like to think they don't fall into the category of emo. I don't know if that makes me feel better about being a 26 year old chic who loves the music that only teenagers can relate to but I'll take it for now.

I've tried to get others to listen to Paramore with some mild success... I dragged my friend Patricia along with me to their show in Atlanta. To say that we were the oldest ones there would be an understatement. We probably could have been the parents to some of the kids there... or at the very least their super hip aunts. At least we weren't drawing attention like the silver haired fox of a grandma who managed to somehow get closer to the stage than we did. She must have been hard core. Anyway, while Patricia enjoyed the show, I don't know that I've made her into the fan that I am. The only converted soul that I've been able to find is my co-worker Jamie who is married with a 6 year old; thankfully she has become as obnoxious about listening to their music as I have. We're going to drag my friend Anna to their show with John Mayer in August. It will be awesome.

At the Atlanta show, somehow a song snuck by me - I actually didn't know it, but now it is my favorite new little gem. It must be the teenager in me, but I love this song. Check it:

That girl is pure spunk, pure rock. I love it.

Validation.

2008-06-15T14:06:00.004-04:00

As I was lying out yesterday, relaxing in the sun by the lake (I have a horribly, wretched life), I was reading my InStyle magazine and “what’s sexy in ’08.” Let me preface what I’m about to say by mentioning that I do not believe that I am sexy. I wouldn’t know how to be sexy if I tried. And If I tried, it would probably be disastrous. However, I seem to have stumbled across sexy and didn’t even know it. In the magazine, the question was posed “which is look is sexier? Black eyeliner or red lips?” And the winner by at 20% margin was black eyeliner. Why do I bother sharing this? Anyone who has ever seen me has probably noticed my affinity for black eyeliner (MAC Cosmetics Fluidline: Blacktrack - $15)

This is the good stuff. This is the stuff that makeup dreams are made of. If you’re not a fan of eyeliner, or even a fan of makeup for that matter, then you probably couldn’t care less. But, if you even remotely appreciate makeup then I insist you try this stuff. Guys, if you’re a fan of rocking the eyeliner too, that’s cool. Everyone has an inner rock star that deserves to shine.

Anyway, I’ve been mocked because I rock the daylights out of some eyeliner. Some call it my emo phase, but I was wearing this stuff way before I even knew who Paramore was. Mock me about the bangs, that’s fine. But the eyeliner? That’s sacred. And apparently sexy.

Throwing the goat.

2008-06-12T14:42:00.022-04:00

I’ve come to the conclusion that I’m the sort of person that takes a picture in one of 3 ways:

#1: The classic smile
Traditional head tilt (I seem to favor tilting to the left), simple smile, maybe a slight slouch in my posture if I’m standing beside someone shorter than me. You also might notice the slight lean forward which often makes my head look bigger than the persons with whom I'm taking the picture.

#2: The “Hey!” smile
I can’t seem to keep my mouth shut on this one and my expression looks like I got caught saying “hey!” right as the picture is taken. Make no mistake about it, this pose is quite intentional. For some reason I think it’s fun. And funny.

#3: Throwing the goat:
This one is probably my favorite. Well.. it was until I heard that when girls do it, it’s not very attractive. I guess sometimes I just find it necessary to stick out my tongue, or in some cases, do the Billy Idol pout and throw the goat as I have recently learned that it’s called. In a previous post, I mentioned my need to be a rock star - this is how it manifests itself most... It was only appropriate to do it when I was a rock star for Halloween or when I was at a show with Anna. The other one is just because I rock so bad.

I think the evidence speaks for itself.

Maybe it's just me...

Spread 'em.

2008-06-11T21:22:00.004-04:00

I'm finally going to spread my little pathetic wings and fly. I'm actually going to move out of my parents house. Pick your jaws up off the floor. It had to happen sometime and it is definitely time. I couldn't be more excited to be completely independent. At least I think this is what I want to do... right now I'm dog-sitting for my boss who just had a double lung transplant (http://bovsbac.blogspot.com) so I'm currently living in the lap of luxury in his 3 story lake front home complete with pool table, flat screen tv's, satellite and a new US Weekly at the doorstep every week. It's a dream come true. Until I had to buy groceries on a debit card that has a seriously small allowance. Crap. Can I really afford to be out on my own and still have the lifestyle that I've grown quite accustomed to? Don't get me wrong, I wasn't born with a silver spoon in my mouth but I have always enjoyed certain creature comforts like cable, internet, and free food. Now I'm the one who has to pay for the cable. I'm the one that has to pay for the internet. I'm the one that has to buy the groceries. No more $15 bottles of shampoo - no, it's time for Sauve. And coupons? What 26 year old clips coupons?! Well, looks like this 26 year old is going to clip coupons.

Now, could I survive without cable and internet? Of course. I sit at a computer all day with free access to the internet so there's really nothing that I would absolutely have to see between the hours of 6 pm and 8:30 am that couldn't wait. Plus, there's always those idiots who leave their wireless network unsecured so hey, their stupidity is my reward. I don't consider it stealing... is it stealing if you can hear a concert from outside the venue without actually paying to get in? No.

Anyway, the point is that I don't want to go without cable or internet. If having to pay for those things means not making a trip to the Gap every week to pick up another shirt that I probably don't need anyway, then so be it. I'll save up if I really need something. Or reserve my shopping trips for when "mama needs a happy." Lunch and dinners out will have to be the exception rather than the rule and maybe, if push comes to shove, I'll pick up another job if my Gap card gets lonely.

Despite the fact that I'm not sure if I can really bite the bullet on this one and be a big girl, I'm gonna try. The worst thing that could happen is that my parents turn my bedroom into my dad's naked room and I have to bunk up with my 31 year old "failure to launch" brother until I figure my finances out. Maybe for once in my life I can make a budget and stick to it. I think I can do it.

Maybe it's just me...

Emo-tastic.

2008-06-09T15:01:00.005-04:00

I love Butch Walker. If you haven’t heard of him, go now and learn. I’ll wait.

Now that you’ve fallen in love too, let’s talk.

I think he’s probably one of the most entertaining singer/songwriters in a while. He’s super clever in his songwriting and has managed to remain relatively anonymous in the amount of time that he’s been doing his thing. Let’s take one of my favorites for example. From his 2004 album “Letters”, “Best Thing You Never Had” is just pure genius…

Now if that doesn’t sum up how everyone has felt at one time or another when they’ve broken up with someone… my gosh, it’s just brilliant. It’s that catchy kinda crap that makes you want to roll down your windows and turn it up loud. As Butch says, "it's emo-tastic."

Love, love, love it.

Maybe it's just me...

This and tats.

2008-06-09T01:13:00.009-04:00

I decided to jump on the blog bandwagon. Is it lame? Maybe. Do I care? Not really. I probably have some great things to share and I need another way to waste my time, cause we all know that myspace and facebook just aren't enough anymore.

Tattoos. They're my new fascination. I can't really explain why, because if you ask anyone that has ever mentioned to me that they wanted to get a tattoo, I have immediately told them that it was trashy, stupid, too permanent, pointless and a list of other excuses not to get one. Last Saturday, as I pulled into Chic-fil-a for lunch, the sudden urge hit me to go get a tattoo. I didn't. I'm not the bada$$ that I'd like to think I am (I can't even bring myself to type "ass") but in my head, I'm some rocker chic who could totally pull it off. Nevermind the fact that my design of choice wouldn't really complement my GAP style. Nevermind the fact that the closest I've been to being a rock chic was singing "Pour Some Sugar on Me" or "Shook Me All Night Long", karaoke-style at Sadeed's. Nevermind the fact that I can barely leave toenail polish on for more than a week. What would posess a white bread, suburban girl to want to get a tattoo that would be so out of character that no one would ever buy into the fact that I actually did it? I blame LA Ink. I blame Pink. I blame Anna for bringing up the idea to me. I blame Lindsay Lohan for getting a white ink tattoo that made it look less bad. I blame anyone else who made having a tattoo look so sweet that I had to be that person too. When it comes down to it, would I get one? No. I went through a phase where I wanted a tongue ring... that passed, but then again, that's not permanent. Let's just hope this phase passes too. I don't know how my mom would feel about her sweet little ray of sunshine getting all tatted up just because she thought it was a good idea at the time.

But, IF I ever pull the trigger on this stupid idea, I kinda like this one...

Maybe it's just me...