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Thursday, December 31, 2009

Body vs. Mind

Stealing another idea from Travis, I'm going to post a conversation between my mind and my body, in accordance to one of my New Years Resolutions.

Mind:  Hello?
Body:  *snores*
M:  Hellllllooooooo
B:  *snores*
M:  HEY!!!
B:  *abruptly stops snoring and jolts*  WHA...?!?
M:  Hey, I need to talk to you.
B:  Couldn't it have waited until I was done with my nap?
M:  No, it couldn't.  I'm not waiting until I'm senile to talk to you.
B:  Rude.  Fine then.  What's so important you had to wake me up?
M:  We're going on a new exercise routine this year.
B:  You woke me up for that?  You say that every year.  I'm going back to sleep.
M:  HEY!  Don't even.  No, for real we're doing it this time.
B:  I'll believe it when I see it.  So what's this "new exercise program" you're on about?
M:  You know that 30 Day Shred DVD?  We're doing that twice a day, every day.
B:  Are you CRAZY?!?  You're trying to kill me aren't you?!?  AREN'T YOU?!?
M:  Oh relax you big baby, I'm doing no such thing.  We're going to do this along with Travis, so you won't be a whiney baby all by yourself.
B:  Travis?
M:  Yeah, you know, over at I Like to Fish.
B:  Oh yeah!  Funny dude.  I like him.
M:  I concur.  But he's doing it too.  And you should be thankful.  HE'S doing a calorie cut like the year end clearance sale at Macy's.  We're not going that extreme.
B:  Oh yeah?
M:  Yeah.  Like 800 cals a day.
B:  Are you for real?!  I don't believe that!
M:  Truf.
B:  Naw.  No way.  I'mma go ask him.
M:  Hey!  Wait..where... *sigh*
B:  Hey, Travis, this crazy mind says you're gonna go on some big diet thing.  That true?

And be sure to stay tuned folks, you'll want to see what Travis has to say about this whole thing, I can guarantee it!

Wishing you all a safe and happy New Year!  :D

Monday, December 28, 2009

Jesus in the headlights

Hi all!  I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas or Hannukah or whatever it is you do for the holidays!  And I also hope everyone has fabulous New Year's plans as well!
Yeah, I know, the title of this post sounds like some country song about finding faith in yourself on the open road.  Well, there's none of that here.  The country song bit, not the other bit.  :)  I know I still have the final installment of the journey to finish, but I just wanted to do a little bloglette today.

This time of year, I do a lot of driving in the dark.  It's dark when I get up for work some mornings, it's dark when I come home in the evenings.  It's also really - REALLY - cold.  The mix of these two things makes for some interesting driving conditions.

This morning as I was heading into work, it was dark and cold as usual.  A fog had settled in the valley, sort of making it look all mysterious and magical and other-worldly.  There wasn't much traffic on the road at the hour I was driving in, and the oncoming car was few and far between.  Now, I don't know if any of you have driven in the fog, in the dark, in the cold, but I'll tell ya, when you're cruising along in a foggy sea of nothingness and then around the corner comes another car, their headlights look like you're driving straight to The Light at the End of the Tunnel.  Hence the post title.  For real though, the light catches on all the crystalline fog particles and creates a giant halo that mostly blocks out any semblance of a car shape, and just becomes this glowing orb with a bright white center coming at you rather quickly.  I find it both beautiful and slightly disconcerting, only because I can see nothing else until the car passes.  Like say, a deer.  Which leads me to my next driving observation.

I am a lucky girl.  I've not actually hit a live deer in my time that I've been driving.  Notice I said live.  I have, however, run over two - very recently - previously run over deer.  One caused a lot of damage and my car to need a new engine.  The other simply left some...er...jerky...on my undercarriage.  After these instances, I am sometimes acutely aware of things in the road.  That said, I will tell about what I saw this evening.  I was driving home from my friend's house on the highway, cruising along, doing my thing.  I saw some seemingly fresh skid marks on the road, so I slowed down a little, just in case there were animals or remnants thereof still about.  And then I passed a fairly large poof of smoke on the side of the road, which I thought was odd, because there was nothing around that would make such a large poof.  Whatever.  So I keep on down the road, and probably about two miles later, I started to see the very familiar dark lump appear near the side of my lane.  There's no other traffic, so I slow way down.  Sure enough, another poor Bambi had met its fate with a fender not too long ago.  This was not the unusual part folks.  I know it had happened really recently because there was a giant poof of smoke coming out of the poor deer.  (Poor deer...dear...ha...k.  sorry.  *ahem*)  It's so cold and the body was still warm, so it was actually creating steam, like when you can see your breath.  I can only assume this is what I passed not too long before, since it was a similar-looking cloud.  It was really eerie though.  I kinda thought it looked like the spirt was leaving the body and heading toward the sky....but then again, I'm just weird like that.  Creepy and yet serene, those deer.  So I made a silent nod to the animal as I skirted it, and headed on home.  Funny the things that make you think eh?

Sunday, December 20, 2009

Epic Travel Part 2: The Flatlands...and Travis!




Sorry guys, I've had some internet malfunctions the last few days, so thanks for standing by.  Last we left our story we were leaving the Arctic Tundra...

Our exit from Colorado was lovely.  We had stayed with Jess' friend as I said, who has a very nice house in an adorable little neighborhood.  When we left the sun was rising over the mountains and bouncing off the houses across the street...it was all very poetic.  Though much warmer than the previous evening, there was still quite a lot of snow left on the roads that weren't main thoroughfares.  As we were turning from our last side road onto the highway, Jess was stopped at a stoplight...on a slight hill.  The light turns green, she hits the gas, and we spin.  Try as we might there was no getting around that one either, luckily we had patient folks behind us.  So when the light turned red again, Jess got out, ran to the back of the car, I jump out, and start to run round to the driver's side, and promptly fall flat on my face.  Sneakers + slick snow + running = comedic fall.  After I managed to get into the driver's seat and the light turned, a little push got us onto the nice paved surface and Jess jumped back into the car.  Impromptu Chinese Fire Drill - check!  After that little escapade we decided to go hunt down some coffee.  This would be a good time to mention that Jess' GPS (whom is called Mandy...at least by the name of the voice that it's set to) likes to take the scenic routes sometimes.  She tells us there is a Starbucks nearby, and we follow her directions, which takes us off the interstate, through a residential neighborhood, across a shopping center, and into a small corner where there is, indeed a Starbucks.  We realize after we got there we could have made the journey with one (maybe two) left turns instead.  But hey, we made it right?
All hyped up with caffiene, we are now officially ready to head out for the day.
Our drive through the rest of Colorado and Kansas was fairly uneventful.  We did make a pit stop to The Mall in Hays, KS (and yes, it's called "The Mall," which is why I capitalized it), where we grabbed some egg rolls and rangoons and went on our merry way.  We arrived at Jess' aunt's house later that evening where we feasted on leftover quesadias and chips and salsa.  As nice as the house was that we stayed at the night before, this was really, *really* nice, and her aunt is the sweetest person ever.
After a very restful night of sleep, we got up and got ready to head out for the day.  Jess' cousins came over in the morning to visit, who are ages 15 months and Brand New.  And they are SO CUTE.  So we had full breakfast, played with the kids, and then set out on our trek to Tennessee.  About three hours down the way we were passing through Travis' neck of the woods, so I coordinated with him and The Missus to have lunch!  As I'm sure you've read on his blog, we tucked in at the local IHOP and had some food and good conversation.  And yes, he is just as funny in real life.  :)  Unfortunately we couldn't stay very long because we had such a long way to go, but it was very enjoyable pit stop.  Thanks guys!
We then motored on through the rest of Oklahoma (...where the wind comes sweeping down the plain, and the wavin' wheat can sure smell swee...*ahem* sorry.) and Arkansas to get to Nashville.  We wound up getting in pretty late, but the hotel was lovely and we settled in with an episode of Craig Ferguson and then crashed.  I do have to mention the hilarious gas station attendant we met in Arkansas.  I was waiting for Jess and buying a pack of gum, and she says to me, "So, cold enough for you outside?"  And I said, "Oh, we're driving from Montana, this is much better than what we left.  It was negative 10 a couple days ago."  And her eyes get the size of saucers and she says, "Fo' REAL?!?"  I wish I could put intonation into that...cause that's really what made it.  I've also taken it and started saying it in my everyday conversations, so thank you BP lady!
That concludes the Flatlands portion of our journey.  Stay tuned for the final installment, Epic Travel Part 3: The East!


Oh Kansas....  Nothing but flatness and hay....


....and giant, white, balls....?


Yay!  Blog buddy!  :D


The polar bear cookie I bought from Starbucks meets an unfortunate end.  You might say he became a "molar" bear....*snort*

Wednesday, December 16, 2009

Epic Travel Part 1: The Arctic Tundra

Last monday my friend Jess and I headed out to North Carolina.  We were doing a road trip since she was moving and sharing in the driving.  It promised to be an adventure.
It didn't disappoint.
Our first day wasn't much of a day, for me at least.  I mean, by the time Jess came through to pick me up she had already been driving 7 hours, which is a full driving day in itself, but we needed to make it to Sheridan, WY which was at least another 5 from where she picked me up.  We also stopped to have dinner with a friend of ours about an hour down the road, so that broke things up nicely as well.
I will tell you, there's a reason that I named this part of the journey The Arctic Tundra.  It is COLD in Montana.  One might even say frigid.  I believe when Jess picked me up, which was right after lunch and thus still in the warmest part of the day, it was -2.  Yeah.  I know.
There was all sorts of snow hanging around the side of the road and sidewalks.  The first adventure with which came the moment I got behind the wheel.  Of course.  It was after dinner and we were needing to get on the road so we could get to Wyoming.  So I hop in the driver's seat, put it in reverse, back up, put it in drive and......spin.  I do short little bursts of pushing on the gas pedal.  Spin.  Put it in reverse.  Spin. Drive.....I think you can tell where this is going.  By now I have dug us a nice little cradle that Jewel (the car) was quite content to stay in.  We had no choice.  Jess got out and we had to push the car.  Oi.  The roads to Sheridan weren't terrible, but there were a couple spots that had snow and ice.  Get to our hotel, check in, try to warm up, go to bed.
Day two.  We went to grab coffee and breakfast at the complimentary buffet in the morning, which was hosted by a very awkwardly chatty but very nice lady.  While I was making my waffle, I learned that her brother and his wife were out of town in Vegas at a hotel conference and that she and the other gal at the desk were just holding down the fort until they got back.  *awkward chuckle, sip of coffee*  And that oh by the way she didn't drink coffee herself but the guys that came through earlier said that is was good and she hoped I thought it was alright because she made it.  *confirmation that the coffee was, indeed, ok and more awkward chuckling....come on waffle*  DING.  Right!  Well, good to talk to you, thanks for breakfast, thestaywasgreatwehavetogohaveagoodday *door close*  She literally talked to us until the door shut.  Like I said, really chatty but nice.  Anychatter, back on the road.
Luckily the roads were dry, but there was blowing snow that made the day's trip a little more difficult.  Especially when a car (or heavens, a semi) passed in the other lane.  Whiteout!  So yeah, that was fun.
You'll see what we had the pleasure of driving through at the end of this post.  The whole state of Wyoming was under a blanket it seemed.  It was the same intensity of grey from the time the sun came up until it went down.  Just grey.  No mountains, nothing.  it was like driving on a blank canvas.
Then enter sunny Colorado!  Finally!  Sunshine!  (Mostly) clear roads!  Above zero temperatures!  Oh Colorado, you were wonderful.  We stopped in the amazingly awesome town of Fort Collins, which is a favorite of both of Jess and I.  For those of you who don't know why this town is so special, in addition to just being welcoming and having a great downlown, it is also the home of New Belgium Brewing Company.  Which I heart.  If you get New Belgium beers in your area and aren't familiar with them, you really should be.  ;)  We stopped at the brewery for a bit, and Jess was kinda enough to let me drive that morning so I could drink beer and not have to drive afterward.  Thanks Jess!  I bought a zip up hoodie to take with me on the rest of out travels, and also met a nice, if not slightly intoxicated and chatty fellow who put his phone number in my back pocket on the way out.  (Which, if you're reading this dude, I mean you no disservice here.  You were great to talk with, but I don't think I'll be using the number.  Thank you though for making me feel awesome!)  After we had or fill, (or I had mine, rahter) we drove the extra hour and some to Denver to Jess' friend's house and also to have dinner with our friend Greg.  Which of course I did NOT get pictures of, because that was an actual event with actual people and not just landscape rolling by....  stupid.  Anywho, Greg suggested we go to the Old Mill brewpub, and an excellent suggestion it was.  I had an amazing burger and a pretty freaking stellar coconut porter.  YUM.
And so ended our journey through the tundra.  Stay tuned for Epic Travel Part 2: The Flatlands!

And as promised, some photos of what we were dealing with....


We thought this was kinda cool.  It was some little ol' town we passed through at night on the first day, but doesn't it look like something from a sci-fi movie?



A little look at our road conditions through Wyoming....


*sings* Sun, sun, Mr. Golden Sun, please shine down on me! *pause*  No really, could ya?


Me outside the Happiest Place on Earth.  (No silly, not Disneyland.  New Belgium Brewing of course!)


Jess and I having a delightful afternoon at the New Belgium Brewery bar.  Our randomly-found friend offered to take a photo for us!  And that pair of arms with the menu on the side was the other friend helping to "get the light right."  :)

Monday, December 14, 2009

Letters to the People

I'm totally stealing this idea from Travis, because I like to do it too.  But I'm giving him credit because he actually used it on his blog first. :)  These are just some letters to folks I've run into lately.  Enjoy.


Dear Little Runway Man Who Waved at Me from the Plane:
That really sort of made my day.  I didn’t think anyone would notice.  Thank you!

Dear People Who Are Obnoxiously into Decorating for Christmas:
I have a new appreciation for you now that I have flown closer to Christmas time.  Your homes are absolutely beautiful from the sky.  Keep it up.

Dear Flirtatious Men Across the Country:
I love you.  Thank you for making me feel beautiful.

Dear Airline Attendants that have Helped Me Today:
You guys have been phenomenal.  And hilarious.  It’s really helped out with the rest of the delays and gate mix up messes.  Thank you.

Dear Denver Airport:
Thank you for having a New Belgium Hub Pub.  You. Are. The. BEST.  <3

Dear Little Older Lady at Quizno's:
Thank you for being so cheerful and telling me that I need jalepenos on my sandwich because every woman needs some spice in her life.  Amen sista.  Amen.

Dear Girl That I Ran Into Three Times Because We Were Both Lost and Who Wound Up Sitting Next to Me on Our Flight:
You are a kind spirit.  I wish you much luck in your future teaching career and I hope you got back to Green Bay safe and sound.

Dear Man Who Sat Next to Me Going to Denver:
You helped me feel safe and relaxed on the longest leg of my flight.  Thank you.  I hope you have a restful two days and maybe even a super-speedy next job in NC so you can be home for Christmas.

Dear Man Who Sat Next to Me on Our First Flight:
Thank you for not giving me a strange look when I jumped ten feet because the DING! of the seat belt sign scared me.  Thank you even more for jumping yourself the second time and then laughing and saying that it got you too.  You made me feel like much less of an idiot.  :)

Sunday, December 13, 2009

Last Monday Mingle of 2009!



Hi guys!  This will be the last Monday Mingle of 2009!  Due to the business of the holidays and whatnot Jen decided it would probably be best to wait to pick it up again after the New Year.  So that gives all of you who have been thinking about it time to get your poop in a group.  :)

Anyway, here you go!  Password as always, is: misadventure.  Enjoy!


Monday Mingle Dec. 14 from Lauren on Vimeo.

Friday, December 11, 2009

Made it!

As some of you know, this week was my road trip week.  No I haven't forgotten to blog.  We've had long days and I've been tired.  I just wanted to let everyone know that we have reached our destination safe and sound, and in two days I will be on my way back home to cold, windy Montana with plenty of time (and layovers) to start a proper blogging of our adventure.

Oh.  And just so ya'll know, we did stop and meet Travis and The Missus in Oklahoma.  Yeah, you should be jealous.  ;)

Tuesday, December 8, 2009

Dear Santa

I have been a (relatively) good girl this year.  I would love the following items for Christmas:


A new iTrip for my iPod.  Mine is starting to fuzz out on me, and I am tired of my jams being interrupted by the Christian Christmas radio station.  And while it makes for amusing lyrics such as "I see you standing there with your hand on your *fuzz* Christmas tree...." I would rather rock out uninterrupted.
New headphones from Skullcandy.  I <3 the ones I have now, but the fuzz on the earpieces is starting to fall off because I have worn them so much over the last 4 years.  Yes, I know, I could send them in and get a replacement, but I love them so and they don't make the same pair anymore.  Please don't make me part with them.
A Flip camera.  I would really love to be able to take video without having to tote my laptop around.  So much great stuff happens when I am away from my computer, I need a way to record it!  Also, it would be very handy for Monday Mingles.  :)
If not the Flip, then a spare camera cord.  I am FOREVER looking for the blessed thing, and it makes it very difficult to upload pictures without it.  (I find that this is a great case for getting me the Flip instead....since it's built in and all.  And I'm very good about not losing my camera.)
A pony.  Ok, not really.  But everyone always asks for a pony.  I'm still not really sure why, but feel free to leave this one out.


That's about it.  There's a lot of stuff I want, but those are the big things.  If you could just leave them by the tree, I'll have the cookies and milk in the usual drop off point.  Just give a knock when you leave.  Plzkthnx.  :)


Love,
Lauren

Monday, December 7, 2009

Monday Mingle!



See?  I told you I'd get my mingle up.  :)  Go visit Jen @ EightyMPHmom to see the rest of the awesome mingling peeps.
My hair is a mess and I may be offering redundant information....it was late.  But I'm here!  Whoo!  Password as always, is: misadventure.


Monday Mingle Dec. 7 from Lauren on Vimeo.

Sunday, December 6, 2009

Packin' up, gettin' ready

I realize this is where I would normally have a Monday Mingle post.  Well....I haven't done one yet.  I am about to, I promise.  But I wanted to post a little something until then.  I feel like I've been stressing out too much over my blog lately.  I mean, I am SO happy that I have the followers I do.  Really truly, I love all of ya.  But the reason I started this blog was to just post about my thoughts and whatnot, and I think I've forgotten that.  I suddenly feel pressure to be more entertaining.  And as most folks will tell you, I am more so when I'm not trying.  And if you guys liked reading "back in the day" I shouldn't be so stressed about changing my ways, eh?  :)  Anyshizzle, back to the stuff.

I'm getting ready to leave on a week long road trip with my good friend Jess.  We will be driving to North Carolina, and then I'll be flying home solo.  I'm REALLY excited for the first part.  Really not so much for the second.  I have a lot of layover time, so I'll be doing a lot of reading, making playlists, and puttering on the computer.  Hopefully making some new friends too.  :)

Getting ready for this and thinking about the places we'll be relative to all my friends made me realize how badly I want to go on a road trip of my own.  I mean, like just go without a deadline or destination, stopping in to see all the people I love all over the country.  Seeing friends I haven't seen in ages, or even those I saw last summer, or even meeting those I've only known from online.  I started to think about ways to coordinate meetings of folks along the way...and then I realized that this wasn't my trip, lol.  It is Jess'.  And I am very happy to be sharing in it.

You should look forward to lots of pictures and hopefully entertaining posts for the week!  Which reminds me, where is that dratted camera cord....

Friday, December 4, 2009

WTF Friday



So in my slacker ways, I have neglected to do a WTF Friday post for last week, and am running a day late (and dollar short) for this week as well.  Eh.
Let's see what I have in the ol' wtf bag for today.... *rummaging*
Looks like this is what we're going with.  *drumroll*



Oh, what to say.  I could tell you that this is a murder mystery about a secret sect of nuns who are up to no good.  And that one of their sisters is running dangerously close to finding them out.  And that for 25 cents you can immerse yourself in the tale of twisted fates.
However, I doubt you'd really be interested.
So many things went through my head as I was laughing about this title.  Was it about a nun in the "closet?"  Were the other sisters trying to help her kick the habit? (Sorry, bad pun there, but I had to.)  Was she physically in the closet?  Who put her there?  Was she hiding?  What from?  And WHY ON EARTH would you name your book this if it was a suspense thriller?
Regardless, it does kinda make you do a double take and go, "WTF?"

Tuesday, December 1, 2009

Pftttt.....

I think today is going to be a day of blog farts.  I know I've been scarce lately.  I go through phases, as anyone who has known me for a while will tell you.  I guess I'm just in the ebb of my blogging at the moment.

I have been officially hired by two jobs, and I'm very, very pleased.  This week marks my first full week of work in....golly, well probably 3 months?  Yeah.  And bonus, I even like them both.  I know right?  I'm still in training for one, I have one more day of that and then a real shift on Thursday.  Yay!

Speaking of jobs and all that business, my friend Kate recently started a new blog Newlywed & Unemployed.  If I was a good friend I would have posted about her blog a month ago, but I am a slacker.  :-/  I'm sorry Kate!  lol.  So why don't you guys pop on over and say hello to her?  :)

This last weekend I also went up to Bigfork to paint for the kids theatre.  Fun times!  I've never been up to Bigfork this late in the year, and it's SO cute right now.  The whole town is decorated for Christmas.  I got there when it was already dark, and drove straight to the shop, missing downtown.  When we were on our way down to the bar, Brach told me "You've never been here for Christmas have you?  Close your eyes!"  So of course I did.  When he said, "Open!" It was just like the picture on a Christmas card.  If there had been snow, that would have just been it.  Which, by the way, it did the next day.  :)  So yeah, had a great time this weekend.  I took a couple pictures, and as soon as I find my camera cord I will show you lol.  I am on a constant search for that stupid thing....

I know I mentioned a secret earlier.  It's still in the works.  The holiday season kinda reeks havoc on secrets, lol.  Don't give up on me!

Oh, so I know that today is December 1st, and what more appropriate way to start out the month than with snow?  I was up at the (butt)crack of dawn today and was shocked to open the door and find snow!  Snow, wind, dark, and cold.  A lot of the first two, but the last two dissipated within a couple hours.  Way to go Mother Nature!  You are so on it!  Except next time, could you try to keep the roads clear?  Plzktnx.  :)

Alrighty, that's all I got in my brain right now I think.  I'm working on making the blog rounds again.  It's very overwhelming now with how far behind I am!  lol.  But I'll get there.  Have a great week everyone!  And Happy December!  (Christmas is just around the corner!)

Sunday, November 29, 2009

Monday Mingle!



Oh man you guys....my mingle this week is a little delirious lol.  Sorry about that.  But as always Monday Mingle is hosted by the wonderful Jen @ EightyMPHmom.  Go visit and have a look-see at all the awesome vlogs!
Password as always, is: misadventure.  :)


Monday Mingle Nov. 30th from Lauren on Vimeo.

Friday, November 27, 2009

A Memo

Dear People with Whom I Share the Road:

I understand we all have crazy days.  I know I do sometimes.  I know that everyone does sometimes.  What I ask though, is that we try our best not to drive like complete idiots.

When I have just passed someone and have not yet slowed (i.e. am speeding) and you pass me in a flurry, I KNOW you are speeding.  And going much too fast.  I am not a slow driver.  When you pass me like I'm standing still and barely make into your lane before you head-on with the car driving in it's own, you make me nervous.  You don't have to drive like a bat out of hell to get where you are going.  I'm sorry if you're running late.  I know what that's like, I get it, I understand.  Please don't be in that much of a hurry.  You'll wind up making all of us VERY late.

For those that do the opposite.  I appreciate that you are a cautious driver.  In fact, I thank you for not driving with such reckless abandon.  However, when you are driving 20 mph slower than the speed limit, I tend to get antsy.  And please, when there are two lanes, the right lane is for you.  You know that sign that says "Slower Traffic Keep Right?"  You are a slower traffic.  Please keep right.  I would like to not feel rude when I have to pass you on the right because you are in the left lane going very slow.  Also, you speedy folks that can't wait two seconds until I get a decent distance away from the car I just passed and go ahead and pass me on the right....SLOW THE CRAP DOWN.  It will not hurt you to wait two seconds for me to pull into the right hand lane.

For people who decide to walk along the highway at night, when it's raining, and wear dark clothes.  I'm sorry, I do not wish to hit you, but you are harder than a polar bear in a snowstorm to see and I really don't want to have vehicular manslaughter on my record thanks.  I especially do not like it when you step INTO THE ROAD to try and hitchhike.  You make me swerve to avoid you and then I look crazy to the on-coming traffic, whom I would also like to avoid hitting.  If you plan to walk along the road at night, please at least wear something white or shiny so I can tell you are there.

Again, I know that sometimes I do not have the best road manners, but I would really appreciate if we could all try to be a little nicer on the road.  Plzkthnx.

Love,
Lauren

Thursday, November 26, 2009

Thanksgiving...in words and pictures

Today, if you're in the ol' USA, was Thanksgiving.  Turkey Day.  The Day the Pants Don't Button.  A homage to food, friends, and family.  And a very large relative of the chicken.  I cooked a large portion of the dinner this year, and I'm happy to report we have had an all round Thanksgiving WIN.  Even the kids liked what we made, so score!  I will now bore/tempt/torture you with pictures of food from our little feast.  :)






Our turkey.  Yeah, I know, it's a little fuzzy, but you can still see how awesome and golden it is.  We brined it this year, and let me tell ya...they aren't kidding.  This was one juicy bird.



In true pirate fashion, I made crossbones out of the drumsticks on the serving platter.  ARG!  Pass me leg!




This was an apple and sage sausage stuffing that I tried this year.  AWE-some.  Yeah.  You can't really tell, but theres all sorts of goodness in there.  Apples, sausage, pecans, onions....MMM.



Yummy sweet potato bake with fresh cranberries.  I got this recipe from a friend last year, and it is stellar.  And so easy!



Brussels sprouts.  I love this things.  I think I say that every time I post a picture, and I've probably posted two already, lol.  For those of you that cringe, I say more for me!  ;)



And our Seussian pile of mashed potatoes.  It was GIANORMOUS.  And so good.  And totally almost gone by the end of the meal.  We apparently are potato kind of people.  :)

I can't even believe I didn't get a picture of my green bean casserole!  It was my pride and joy.  Made from scratch, as I mentioned in my mingle, and I am happy to report it turned out MUCH better than last year and I don't think I'll ever go back to cans again.

Follow all that up with pumpkin rum pie, and that was pretty much the day.  We played a bunch of board games afterward, and watched "Up" (which, if you haven't GO NOW.  I'll be here when you get back.) and generally had a good ol' time.  I'm very thankful for all of my wonderful online friends!  Love you guys!  I hope all of you had a wonderful holiday!

Sunday, November 22, 2009

Monday Mingle!



Hey hey hey!  It's that time of the week again!  Go visit Jen @ EightyMPHmom to share in the fun!

This was all relationship based....so I had to get a little creative.  It's a little lame, lol.  I'll try to be more on my game next week. ;)  Until then, password is: misadventure.  Enjoy!


Monday Mingle for Nov. 23 from Lauren on Vimeo.

Saturday, November 21, 2009

WTF Friday....late

Geez!  Where have I been?!?  Well, where haven't I been, lol.  I totally forgot about WTF Friday until right this second.  So it's just reeeeaaaaallllly late.  Sorry about that!



So since it was apparently "green week" (at least on NBC...or so the Biggest Loser told me) I present to you this:



....k?  This, again, as an ad I found while I was scouring the interwebs.  All I can picture in my mind is about 100 hamsters on 100 wheels generating a lot of static electricity.  Does this make sense to anyone else, or am I just dumb?  I mean, in all likely hood I'm probably dumb anyway, but seriously.  How does one simply and cheaply make their own electricity?  I kinda wish I'd have clicked the link, just to satiate my curiosity.  Hamsters aside, I also get images of the giant Tesla machine from "The Prestige."  And quite honestly I don't see that as being simple OR cheap.  Clearly I'm lacking in creativity here.  So I ask you, how would YOU make your own electricity?

Thursday, November 19, 2009

When it rains...

I've been really lax this week about making my blog rounds...and posting....and I apologize for that.  I'll be making the rounds this weekend and getting caught up.  But I have good reason!
So, as many of you know by now, I have been jobless for a bit.  This has been a point of contention for me, if for no other reason that I hate not having any money.  Everyone wants money from me, and I have none to give them.  BOO.  I figured, this would give me ample time to work on my crafts.  However, if I want new supplies....nothing to buy them with.  It's totally a catch 22.  Anyjob, I have FINALLY gotten out of that rut!  It's about time too.  Man.  What's funny is that one day I had no work, and over the next two days I now have THREE jobs.  Three!  Well, two and half.  One is still pending, but is very likely.  :)  One is one day a week and the other two are part time, so in theory I should have a full-time between all that jazz.  Oh, AND I'm going up to paint for the children's theatre the weekend after Thanksgiving, which I'll also be paid for.  Craziness!  Just crazy I tell you!  To be honest, I'll tell you what I think is responsible for all this sudden work.  These babies:




That's right.  Those are my cowboy boots.  Legit ones.  I got these beauties on sale in a second hand shop and I *heart* them.  I haven't worn them much though, and when I wore them the last two days, suddenly all this good news comes my way!  Makes me never want to take them off!  lol.

So yeah, things are lookin up for me!  I'm really excited about this.  You can look forward to posts complaining that I work too much now, instead of posts complaining that I don't work at all.  And won't that just be grand?  ;)

Oh...and I have a secret.  But I'm not going to tell you about it yet.  It's gonna be awesome.  You won't want to miss it.  Trust me.  :D

Sunday, November 15, 2009

Monday Mingle!



Ok folks, it's time again for this week's Monday Mingle!  Stop over at Eighty MPH Mom and say hi to Jen and all the mingle folks!  Or to post one of your own.  :)

So, I was all up on it and recorded my mingle early this week.  And didn't notice that there was an extra question!  URG!  Sorry Shannon!  I'll answer it next week.  Promise.  :)

Password as always, is: misadventure.  I'll also say, this is probably the worst still pic to date.  Go Vimeo!


Monday Mingle Nov. 16 from Lauren on Vimeo.

YES!

OMG you guys!  I totally just SLEPT THROUGH THE NIGHT.  This is usually an achievement saved for newborns, but I could not be happier or more pleased with myself.  Really truly.  I finally got my sleeping pattern back under control it seems.  FINALLY.  Jeez.  After waking up at 11 pm one day, 2:30 am the next, and 5 am the next.... 8:30 has never looked so good to me.  And I went to bed at 11 the night before.  Heck yeah!

Sorry for the lame post, but I'm really excited.  Stay tuned for later this evening when I post my Monday Mingle.  It's much more entertaining, I promise.  :)

Saturday, November 14, 2009

My Talents Have Been Recognized!



Check that out!  The hilariously awesome Travis @ I Like to Fish gave me this award!  Just as a side note, I loved his post title, which was "I Scribble with My Brain!" and I'm totally jealous that I didn't think of that first.  But he's the one that got it and gave it to me, so I'm really not that jealous.  I always thought this was an awesome award when it saw it on other folks' blogs, and now I have one of my very own.  Whoo!  *looks at it lovingly*  So anyscribble, I'm going to copy and paste the rules from Travis' site verbatim (with just a couple alterations):


I've gotta give it to five of you glorious bastards lovely folks.



I've gotta link the wonderful lady fella that gave it to me!



I've gotta display it on my blog.



I've gotta post the rules on my blog.



and, I've gotta post a naked picture of myself on here as well.



I'm sorry folks. I don't make these rules up.



Actually, I kinda made one of them up. The one about giving it to five people. The rest are true. Scouts honor. 


Alrighty.  Well, even though the "made up" rule is giving it to five folks, I'm still going to, cause hey, why should I hog all the awesome?  I shouldn't.  Exactly.  So I am going to pass it along to:


Yes I realize that's six.  I can count.  Swearz.  I don't think these folks have gotten it yet, and they totally derserve it!  


Well, the rules are up, the award is posted, I linked to Travis (twice, now), I passed it along... guess that only leaves one thing.





Naked picture time!  Yeah.  Enjoy that one.  I think it really shows my inner Leo.


Thanks again Travis!

Friday, November 13, 2009

WTF Friday



Well folks, it's that time again!  Time for something else to make you wonder about the world we live in.  I have a doozy this week.


Umm....WHAT?!?  I was looking up jokes a few days ago and you know how sometimes certain words will turn green and give you info when you hover over it?  Yeah.  The word "wife" was green, and I hovered.  I think the thing that is really extra special is the "shop and compare online" bit.  WTF?  I really...I have no words.  I'm just going to let you take that in.  *shakes head*

Tune in next week for another exciting edition!

Thursday, November 12, 2009

I'm a Big, Fat, Slacker (aka My Sleep Pattern is FUBAR)

Sorry I haven't been around the interwebs as much as I usually am the last couple days.  You may (or may not) have noticed that I haven't posted in the past couple days as well.  That would be the slacker part.  I realize that for NaBloPoMo that made me three posts behind, so tada! you get three in one day.  Or night.  Or very early morning.  That would be the FUBAR sleep pattern part.  For anyone who doesn't know what that means, I will send you here to the Wiki page.
I've been struggling with my sleeping for a while now, and part of it isn't having a set routine.  Mind you, I *could* have a set routine, that is also part of the slacker bit.  It would help immensely if I had a regular job.  I am much more likely to keep a schedule when I'm being held accountable for something.  When it's just me I'm going, "Well SURE I could get up at 8...but why?  I can do what I need to do later...zzzzzz *drool*..."  Which leads me to being here, now, at 2:35 in the morning WIDE AWAKE.  Usually I would have been up all day (well, since say 10:30...I KNOW...I'm lazy.  Whatever.  :p ) and would just be heading to bed around now, or maybe even an hour from now.  But no.  Today my friends, I have officially reached FUBAR.  I worked on Tuesday.  Which is totally awesome and I'm really glad I had the opportunity.  For that job though, I have to get up at about 5 a.m. which means I should go to bed much earlier.  So I went to bed at 11, finally fell asleep around midnight, and woke up at 2:30.  I could not get back to sleep.  At all.  So I was just up for the day at 2:30 in the morning and wound up passing out at 10:30 p.m. last night.  Great right?  Finally!  A normal time to go to bed.  This will fix all my problems.  Wrong.  I slept until 11 this morning (!!!) and it was a physical battle to get myself out of bed.  I was more tired today that I have been in a really, really long time.  I mean, I'm not talking kinda tired, I'm talking someone gave me an elephant tranquilizer tired.  So I drug myself around today, cleaned a bunch of my crap out of the spare room, and.... fell asleep at 5.  5!?!?  UGH.  And woke up at 11 p.m., which if you do the math is 6 hours.  JEEZ.  That's a full night's sleep for me.  So now, here I am 2:45, having been up since 11 and with no sign of sleep in sight for a good long time.  *sigh*  Well, I think I'm just gonna take one for the team (i.e. my sanity) and stay up all day again and try to straighten this mess out.  Crap.  Well, I might as well go make some coffee...

Writer's Workshop

Ok, so this week for Writer's Workshop (brought to you by Mama Kat) I'm totally recycling from an old post.  *cringes*  Sorry!  It was from last year though, when I had barely anyone reading, so it will be all shiny and new to most of you.  And hey, in these times it's good to recycle!  Right?  Right.  So here goes my being thrifty.

The prompt I chose this week was:
Show us something you did yourself!

For those of you that don't know, I am a crafter.  I love to make things, and I'm a part of a couple mail-art websites and make things to trade with folks from all over.  It pretty much rocks my socks.
For one particular swap I was doing a treasure hunt (which is SO much fun, I can't even tell you), and one of the words was "fairy."  So what do I do?  I make one.  Of course.  I don't really "sew," that is one skill I lack.  Give me a table saw and a piece of plywood anyday, but fabric....I just don't know what to do with it.  So I used felt, because it's cheap, soft, and hey, if I mess up I'm not out a bunch of money.  I made up the pattern myself, and stitched her up with embroidery floss.  Her skirt is tule, her eyes are seed beads, and her hair is yarn.  And without further ado, photos for you:


The front.


The back.


And a closeup.

So there you have it!  Something I did myself, a fairy doll.  :)

Thank you!

This evening I got an award from the lovely Redhead Riter!  Thank you!



"This award is bestowed on to blogs that are exceedingly charming. These kind bloggers aim to find and be friends. They are not interested in self-aggrandizement. Our hope is that when the ribbons of these prizes are cut, even more friendships are propagated. Please give more attention to these writers. Deliver this award to six bloggers who must choose six more and include this cleverly-written text into the body of their award." I'm going to give this award to:
1) Alexis @ Running Away? I'll Help You Pack
2) Karie @ The Five Fish
3) Daffy @ Batcrap Crazy
4) Hillbilly Duhn 
5) Jess @ This Theatre Life
6) Sassy Girl @ Hot Piece of Sass

Sunday, November 8, 2009

Monday Mingle!




It's that time again! Back for the Monday Mingle. :) If YOU want to join in the fun, go visit Jen @ EightyMPHmom. Or if you just like to pop over and visit all of the other lovely Mingle ladies and gents, that's ok too. :D Password for my video, as always, is: misadventure. Enjoy!

**Edit: Gross. My video and audio is out of sync. I'll try to fix that. It wasn't like that before! Grrr.... I apologize for the annoyingness and will try to get it back N'sync soon. (sorry, couldn't resist that...in sync....heh).

**Update: I have re-uploaded my video twice now, to no avail because Vimeo hates me. Funny, I have had kind of an "off" week this week, I guess it's just reflecting literally in my video. I'm sorry. You just get to watch me like a badly dubbed Japanese film. Kudos for your patience. I will make cookies to make it up to you. :)



Monday Mingle Nov 8 from Lauren on Vimeo.

Saturday, November 7, 2009

Learn to Appreciate Technology

OMG you guys.  I laughed so hard at this video of Louis CK and Conan I saw over at AnnOnandOn.  It's so true, and is actually a little sad in that truth, but the way he expresses it just makes me roll with laughter.  I would also like to think that I am in between the old, tough generation and the new generation of spoiled idiots, as he so nicely puts it.  I remember a lot of what he's talking about actually, even though I was young.  Point aside, it is hilarious.  Just watch it.  :)


Thursday, November 5, 2009

WTF Friday






I have decided I'm going to start a little thing called WTF Friday.  And pancake bunny is going to be my mascot.  If this is already in existence on someone's blog or has a website, sorry, I don't know about it.  All I can say is great minds think alike.  Speaking of, why does no one ever finish that phrase?  I mean, myself included.  Everyone always says, "You know what they say, great minds...." and then leave it at that.  That's not what they say.  That's what everyone else says.  If the saying is "Great minds think alike," then we should say it.  The saying isn't just the first half.  Of course if you don't know the second half, maybe you aren't a great mind.  Perhaps it's like intellectual natural selection.  Does that even make sense?  Oh well.  I digress.

So yes, I have decided I might try to do a little thing on Fridays about things that make you wonder, "What the...?"  One would think I would have plenty of fodder for this, but we shall see.  It might go over like a lead balloon.  I might get lazy.  Maybe both.  Who knows.  Only time will tell.  Mwaha.

I'm kinda in a dorky mood today, if that wasn't obvious, lol.  So I apologize if this doesn't make much sense.  But you want to know what really doesn't make sense?  This:



This was found at Goodwill in the floral section.  My friend found it.  I was stopped in my tracks.  Can anyone even explain to me what this IS?  And if so, what is it's purpose?  The best description I can possibly come up with is a doll topiary.  There are no arms, no legs...not really even a body.  Just a doll head and a *lot* of lace.  Stuck in a flower pot.  And there are not one, but TWO of them, clearly they were a set. Cause I know that if I'm going to have a doll topiary, I need at least two, otherwise the look will just feel totally unbalanced.  I'm also amused that it's hiding out in the floral section.  I mean, technically it is a kind of topiary, but those are usually out of, oh, I don't know....plants.  This has not a flower on it.  Though I applaud the worker that decided it belonged here and not in the "random crap no one knows what to do with" section.  Because clearly they have some knowledge of greenery or landscaping.  UNLIKE my very dear friends whom I love but cost me a game a Cranium.  I drew a perfect topiary.  Not a one of them knew what it was.  No one.  Yes, I am still a little bitter, lol.  Anywho, that's all I got for the first installment of WTF Friday.  Hope you enjoyed it!  If not, I'll be back to regularly scheduled ramblings tomorrow.  :)

**Addendum**
If you guys want a good laugh, you should go here and watch the video from Telling Dad.  Seriously, it's hilarious.

You have been approved

So today, I found out that I have indeed been accepted into the Animation program at the Art Institute of California - San Francisco.  Whoo!  I will be starting online classes in January and hopefully be moving down to finish the degree next fall.  I'm really excited, but at the same time I'm like...what?  What just happened?  lol.  The reason I say hopefully be moving is because I have no idea what I'll be up to between now and then.  Taking classes for sure!  I like the online class idea because I can be anywhere while I'm doing them.  It's like I'm excited and terrified.  I'm committed now.  I know that probably sounds like the dumbest thing ever, but I never said I make sense, lol.  Anywho, that's good news, so I'll at least have somewhere to direct my focus.  And Lord knows I need that!

Don't have a whole lot else for today.  I've been in bed most of the last couple days.  Alien is still present, though slightly less violent.  My suspicions are more on a tummy issue than the flu.  Regardless, I really feel pretty ok and I'm down 5 pounds.  Whoo!  I'm sure they'll find their way back to me as soon as whatever I have is over, they always do.

Hope everyone is having/had a great day!  See you tomorrow!

Wednesday, November 4, 2009

Writer's Workshop

Alien status:  Mainly subdued.  Reared head this morning for a bit.  Think it's asleep now, am trying not to wake it.  Maybe it was gelato after all.  Would feel ridiculous, but at least not be infested with the swine.

Today I thought I would participate in the Writer's Workshop, hosted by the ever-lovely Mama Kat @ Mama's Losin' It.  Each week she makes a list of prompts to write about, and you can pick one (or more) to answer over at your blog.  Then go back and link up on her page, and go visit other folks!

This week I'm choosing to answer these two prompts:
10 reasons why you can't sleep at night
and
Write a love letter to the object of your affection

I thought they were good ones. :)  So.  Here we go.

10 Reasons Why Lauren Can't Sleep at Night
1) The vampires might eat her.  (This is one of my biggest fears...vampires.  Really.)
2) She is too busy solving the problems of the world.  (And then forgetting by the time she gets up.)
3) She went to the gym late and is wired from all those endorphins.
4) She had a nap too late in the day.
5) She is, by nature, a night owl.
6) All her friends are night owls too.  (Which happens when you're in the theatre profession.)
7) She waits for SITS to update so she isn't 543927th on roll call.  (sad...but true!)
8) She has a crop that needs harvesting/dish that needs serving on her FB games.
9) She doesn't have a job yet, so why not?
10) She is afraid she might miss Something Important in the 8 hours she would be asleep.

And now, a letter to the object of my affection.  (aka Totally Cheesy, Mushy, Wishful Thinking by Yours Truly):

Dear Charming-Man-I-Have-Not-Yet-Met,
I love you.  I know it might be a little soon to say, considering we don't know each other yet, but I just thought I'd put that out there.  I love your quirky sense of humor.  I love your expressive eyes.  I love that you try your hardest to make me laugh, even when I'm being a total biz-natch.  I love that you love me even when I'm acting like said biz-natch.  I love how even though I am totally self-conscious, you make me feel beautiful when you look at me.  I love how you laugh at my completely cheesy jokes so I don't feel like a moron.  I love how you pay attention to little things I say, and use those details to surprise me later.  I love how considerate you are, of you, me, and everyone else.  I love that you are a total dork.  I love that you have no problem being a total dork with me.  I love that even though you could probably care less, you let me talk on and on about something that matters to me.  I love you for letting me be me.  But most, I love you just for being you.

With much love,
Your Future Girlfriend

Whew...that's enough sentiment for one day.  If you'd like to participate in Writer's Workshop, pop on over to Mama Kat's for a complete list of prompts, and Thursday is link-up day, so have all day to put a post together.  :)  See you guys tomorrow!

Tuesday, November 3, 2009

Lazy with a Purpose

So when I went to bed last night I had a stomach cramp.  I assumed that it was because I ate an ENTIRE PINT OF MAPLE GINGERSNAP GELATO in one sitting.  I mean, that makes sense, right?  I would even say I deserve that one.  "Wanna be a glutton, ok, here's some stomach cramps for ya!"  I figured I'd go to bed, wake up in the morning, and feel totally fine.  That's what usually happens.  Well, not today.  Today I woke up and it was worse.  Like, there's an alien in my belly and it wants to get out, worse.  To my knowledge I ingested no aliens.  They certainly weren't in my gelato.  Perhaps they were hiding my pesto tortellini.  Maybe they should put a warning on the box, you know, like under the "WARNING: MAY CONTAIN PEANUTS."  Put one right below that that says, "WARNING: MAY CONTAIN ALIENS."  Then at least I'd know, ya know?  But no, here I am, tummy cramps and all, being slightly but not quite miserable.  I told my mother about this, and apparently stomach pain has been a common flu symptom.  No nausea, just pain.  Check.  I will just put this out there, that I haven't gotten the flu in years, nor have I gotten a flu shot in years.  Mom said, "Well, people who never get the flu are catching the swine flu this time."  Great.  My mother is nurse, just FYI, so she's not just feeding me stories.  My temperature is also below normal....weird...I'm sitting at a cool 97 degrees.  Other than the alien in my belly though, I feel alright.  I was told it could "possibly" be the flu, and just to chill in bed today.  Stay in bed and be lazy?  Check.  I'm all over that one.  So I here I sit, with the possibility of having the flu, being lazy in bed.  Hey, at least it gives me time to work on NaNoWriMo.

Oh!  And I'm featured over at Hillbilly Duhn's today!  Whoo!  So go stop by and check it out!  Also, she's pretty freaking hilarious, so you should read up anyway.  :)