Three/Twelve = A Giveway

Please tell me I'm not the only one whose birthday parties were the highlight of their childhood experience? I'm not talking lavish, expensive parties, but the fun, unique ones that created special memories for years to come.  A few of mine that come to mind include designing a float and riding in a rural Mardi Gras parade with all my best friends, borrowing a covered wagon and hosting a Western-themed shindig, and setting up backyard tents to sleep out under the stars.  Good stuff, people.

Personally, I believe birthdays are a big deal.  It's the one and only day of the entire year that is absolutely yours (unless you share it, of course...but still, yours)!  It may be the unique birthday parties my parents entertained for me all those years, but my love for birthdays hasn't waned with age.

So today, as I inch closer to the big 3-0 (NOT YET!!!!), I invite you to party with me.  Share your favorite, most unique birthday story for a chance to win a FREE 1/2 sheet of Jamberry nail wraps from my very own personal collection.  For a bonus entry, visit my website to check out the new 2015 Spring/Summer Catalog and tell me which design is your "must have" this season.

Feel free to share this post with friends - I'll throw in a double bonus entry if your friend leaves a comment saying you referred her.  ...Yes, I am most definitely in the giving mood today!  In the mean time, I'll be admiring those beautiful flowers from my sweet husband and savoring surprise cupcakes from coworkers. Comments (entries) close Wednesday, March 18th, and winners will be announced thereafter.

Leave some love, ya'll!
-Lauren

The Lineup

Continuing my "Wedding Wednesday" series, it seems like a good idea to start with an introduction of the people who played an important role in our wedding.  We jokingly refer to this group as "The Lineup" because of Alex and his friends' ties to working in the sports industry.  Our D.J. for the reception was an actual P.A. Guy, who Alex met while working at USC-Upstate.  When he provided introductions for the group, he performed it as if we were an actual team lineup...it was hilarious!

Bride:

Lauren Nicole was born in south Louisiana, on March 12, 1980-something.  She grew up in Abbeville, LA, with her parents and younger brother, Austin.  In 2000-something, Lauren graduated from high school and went on to pursue a Bachelor’s degree in Family and Consumer Sciences with a concentration in Child, Family, and Social Services from Nicholls State University in Thibodaux, LA.  She completed a Child Life Internship at St. Luke’s Children’s Hospital in Boise, ID (2008), and worked as a Program Assistant for Wonders of Washington in the greater Washington, DC area (2009).  She then moved to Raleigh, NC to further her studies at North Carolina State University.  After completing a Master’s degree in Extension Education in 2011, Lauren moved to Arkansas to begin her work as the Volunteer Coordinator for Camp Aldersgate in Little Rock.

Groom:

Alexander Blake was born in southeast North Carolina on November 15, 1980-something.  He was adopted in December of that same year.  He attended elementary school in the Benson, NC area, before moving to Dunn, NC at the age of 11.  In 2000-something, Alex graduated from high school and went on to pursue a Bachelor’s degree in Parks & Recreation Management from the University of North Carolina at Wilmington.  In 2007, he moved to Greenville, NC to further his studies at East Carolina University.  After completing a Master’s degree in Exercise and Sports Science with a concentration in Sport Management, Alex went on to begin an unpaid internship at Campbell University in Buies Creek, NC (2009).  Then, Alex moved to Spartanburg, SC, for a paid internship at USC-Upstate.  In 2010, Alex was promoted to Assistant Media Relations Director, taking on the role of primary contact for women’s soccer, men’s basketball, baseball, and tennis.  In 2012, Alex made the big move west to northeast Louisiana after accepting the position as Director of Media Relations for a local university.  

Bridesmaids:

Dawn – She (Maid of Honor) and Lauren met through 4-H at Louisiana Co-Op Camp in 2004; they’ve since shared countless state and national-level 4-H experiences over the years. Dawn was working toward a Master’s of Occupational Therapy at Washington University in St. Louis, MO, at the time of the wedding.  These days, Dawn works as an Occupational Therapist at The Emerge Center in Baton Rouge, LA. 

Alyssa – Alyssa is Lauren’s first cousin; they grew up together, sharing a love for family and Nanna’s good cooking.  At the time of the wedding, Alyssa is in her Senior year of high school. 

Currently, Alyssa is pursuing a Bachelor's Degree at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette.

Lendy – Lendy and Lauren were classmates and fellow Graduate Assistants in the Agricultural Education Department at North Carolina State University (2009-2011).  Lendy is currently employed by the North Carolina Farm Bureau, based in Raleigh. 

Kara – Kara and Lauren were introduced by mutual friends while both were students at North Carolina State University (2010).  At the time of the wedding, Kara had recently received her degree in Agricultural Education and was actively pursuing employment opportunities. Since then, Kara married the love of her life, Peyton, and they built a log home together.  She currently works for an agriculture company based in RTP (Raleigh, NC). 

Victoria – Victoria and Lauren met at a local 4-H event when the girls were in middle school.  At the time of the wedding, Victoria was pursuing her Master’s in Speech-Language Pathology at the University of Louisiana-Lafayette. Since then, she and her husband, Seth, gave birth to a son (Carter, Dec. 2012), and have another child on the way (Sept. 2015). 

Groomsmen:

Bill – Bill is Alex’s Best Man and wonderful father.  He lives in southeastern North Carolina and is currently employed by Sampson Bladen Oil Company.

Christopher – Chris and Alex met in 2009 during Alex’s internship at Campbell University in Buies Creek, NC.  Chris is an Agricultural Education teacher at a private school in eastern North Carolina. He recently became engaged and has plans to tie the knot in December 2015. 

Justin – Justin and Alex were cabinmates at Camp Caraway in 2006.  At the time of the wedding, Justin worked as an armed security guard for North Carolina Detective Agency. Now, Justin is employed as a firefighter in Wilmington, NC.  

Scott – Scott and Alex were coworkers at USC-Upstate in Spartanburg, SC (2009-2012). Currently, Scott serves as the Associate Director of Athletics at a private university in Texas. He and his wife, Marla, have two sons (Cade - 9; Reid - 7).

Austin – Alex met Lauren’s brother, Austin, on his debut visit to Louisiana in Summer 2011.  At the time of the wedding, Austin was a Junior at Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge, LA. Austin has since received his Bachelor's Degree, and is now currently pursuing a Master's Degree at LSU-BR.  

Ring Bearer & Flower Girls:

Drew (Lauren’s godchild), Sophie, and Emma are Lauren’s four-year-old cousins (two, at the time of the wedding).  They love reading books and are enjoy attending preschool.  The triplets live in Scott, LA. 

There you have it - our wedding party.  Of course, there are other people who were integral in this whole process (namely family, but also other friends, and of course vendors), but let's just keep it simple and stick with these "first string" players.  Thanks for visiting!

-Lauren

Note:  "The Lineup" was originally written in 2012 featured on our wedding website, hosted by Shutterfly.

Also featured in the Wedding Wednesday Series:

Us, According To Him

#s 11-15: Faith Category

I'm back for Round Three in updates for the category-by-category summary of my 20 in 14 goals list.  Click here for Goals 1-5 and Goals 6-10.

And here's the snapshot of Goals 11-15 (Faith Category):

Faith
11. Designate a person-a-day in prayer.
12. Rest in faith with practicing NFP as we TTC.
13. Receive the sacrament of reconciliation quarterly (at least).
14. Register as members of a church parish. 
15. Tithe to church (instead of non-profits) more regularly.

Overall, I think the items in this category went pretty well.  Excluding #12, the goals were very specific, and pretty typical of what would be considered S.M.A.R.T. (specific, measurable, attainable, realistic, and time-oriented).  Achieving these goals also didn't cost any money or require me to go outside of my comfort zone (except maybe #13).  So let's break them down:

11. Designate a person a day in prayer.  I'm really glad I included this one on my list, even if it did take longer than planned to implement.  (#oops) Click here to read a detailed summary of this experience.

12.  Rest in faith with practicing NFP as we TTC.  This is a bit of a touchy subject for us right now. Obviously we're not pregnant and we haven't moved forward with becoming a certified foster/adoptive home, but we have put thought and discussion into both.  I think one day I will write more on this topic, but for right now it just feels too personal and I'm not ready to talk about it here.  (Prayers are always welcome, however.)  Update (8/8/15):  Read here.

Designed by Kendra

13.  Receive the sacrament of reconciliation quarterly (at least).  I started out pretty well with this, and then sort of fell off the wagon.  Thinking back, I received the sacrament in March, June, September (I think), and November.  You'll notice that does include Lent, but not Advent.  One random weekend, the priest at our church gave absolution to everyone during his homily (I forget what the reason/occasion was), so that was unexpected.  But...then time totally got away from me and I didn't make to Confession during Advent.  Boo.  Now it's Lent again, so I need to make that happen sometime before Easter on April 5th...

Designed by Kendra

14. Register as members of a church parish.  I actually wrote about this back in April, asking for input on criteria for finding a "church home" (as I often hear Protestants refer to it).  Fast forward to today, we have settled on which local church will be home to us while we live here.  Mostly it came down to being located 3 minutes down the street versus almost 30, but that's neither here nor there.  These days we only attend other churches when the Mass times at our regular one don't work for our schedules.  Technically, we still haven't registered as members, but I keep telling myself to e-mail or call the office so we can figure out exactly how to go about doing that.  (A carryover for 2015, maybe?)

Just because it's funny.  (source)

15.  Tithe to the church (instead of nonprofits) more regularly.  Can I just say that I LOVE tithing?!  (Ok, maybe I'm weird?)  It's so fun to decide where to give our money too each month.  At certain times of the year, it's even more exciting to know I am supporting friends or family who have a particular cause/event that is close to their hearts.  I have gotten better about dividing the funds evenly between church and other organizations, even if that sometimes means everything goes to the church or other organization one particular month, and switches the next time.  I don't know what else to say except that I truly do get giddy feelings when writing those checks every month.  #callmeaweirdoifyouwant  :)

(source)

So there you have it, folks!  I committed to recapping 20 in 14 and it will happen!
-Lauren

Better Late than Never - A Birthday Trip

You may remember that Alex celebrated his 30th birthday back in November.  Since we have no family and friends nearby, it broke my heart for us not to be able to make a big deal out of the celebration.  In an attempt to make it up to him, I planned a weekend getaway to a secret destination after football ended in early December...Hot Springs, Arkansas.

At one point, I planned on heading to see the Christmas lights in Natchitoches, but further research indicated more exciting things to do in Hot Springs.  Then I lucked into being offered a free condo (a friend's parents' condo) for the weekend and that pretty much sealed the deal.  And let me say...that condo was sweeeeeeet.

We couldn't leave until after work on Friday and it was super foggy, so we arrived pretty late due to the four hour drive. On Saturday morning, we explored downtown Hot Springs, did quite a bit of Christmas shopping, and enjoyed our time exploring together.  We also stopped in at the local casino (which is really a horse track, just out of season) for a bit.

One of my favorite things to do when traveling is enjoy eateries that we don't have in Monroe.  Being back in Arkansas meant that I wanted to eat everything that reminded me of Little Rock, and then some. For lunch, we ate at the Dixie Cafe, then planned to grab a milkshake at Purple Cow after a faaaabulous Chinese dinner buffet.  Unfortunately, we had to scrap our plans for the Christmas lights at Garvan Gardens due to traffic, but that purple peanut butter milkshake made it allllllllllll worthwhile.

And finally, on our way home, I introduced Alex to geocaching as he scored his first-ever cache in the middle of nowhere, just north of the Louisiana state line.

The funny thing about this dog is that he was mentioned in the clues for finding the location.  LoL.

I'd say the trip to Hot Springs was well worth our time, and I would absolutely visit again (maybe in warmer weather?).  Since making this trip, I read about Stephanie's babymoon trip to Eureka Springs, and she definitely has made me want to visit there.  I mean, who could argue with sleeping in a treehouse or a castle?!  That drive is nearly twice the distance for us, so not great for a weekend, but maybe a vacation one day...So where is your favorite place to take a weekend trip?

-Lauren

#11: A Person a Day

"Be kind, for everyone you meet is fighting a battle you know nothing about." - Wendy Mass

It's true, right?  No matter how similar your situation may be to mine, my experience and yours are totally different.  It's easy to fall into the pattern of offering advice to every person you meet, or to feel like you should be coping better with *insert situation* because so-and-so experienced the same struggle and is doing so much better than you are.  False.

"...everyone is fighting a battle you know nothing about."  Let that sink in for a minute.

The first (and one might argue, most important) way to be a better friend/spouse/employee/sibling/child is to pray - pray hard, and pray often.  For a while I have wanted to be more intentional - more specific - with my prayers.  The only idea I had on how to get better at doing that was to designate a person/group of people/specific need in prayer each day.  And to hold myself accountable, I wanted to sit down with a calendar and write something down for each day of the year.

Anyone want to guess how that worked out?  Yeah...2014 came and went and it never happened.

Cue Lent 2015 when Rosie shared her paper chain concept.  Aha - that's it!  What the perfect way and time to implement this goal I planned over a year ago.

It took us a few days (after Ash Wednesday) to sit down and write down our intentions, then assemble the chain, but we did it!  And sometimes we have to double up (re: my husband travels a lot for work) on reading the strips, but it's working and I love it.  Our prayers are so much more intentional (read: mature) than they were before and I really hope we can find a way to continue the concept long after the Lenten season ends.

Excuse the cat food and catnip-filled sock.

I'd certainly be interested in hearing how others keep the habit of making specific, intentional prayers happen in their lives.  Let me know if you have any ideas, tips, or suggestions!

-Lauren

Helleaux Sneaux

Last week, we lucked into 3.5 days at home thanks to a little thing I like to call...SNEAUX!  Well, it started out as ice on Monday, melted a little on Tuesday, then legit snowed (2 inches?!) on Wednesday, and by Thursday, let's just say it was time to get out the house.  I'm pretty sure Alex felt a bit more claustrophobic than I did, but ah well.  By Thursday at Noon, we were back to work (even if the rest of the state wasn't) and eternally grateful for the surprise of extra time together.

But of course, I know all you really want to see are pictures!

First, ice.

We waited anxiously patiently...

See that dot of green (rain) in the center...yeah that was us.

 And then, SNEAUX.

As Kara so kindly pointed out, I didn't put on "real" clothes for four days.

Yeah, no beuno on the roads.

Obviously, we did quite a bit of walking that week.  It helped to get fresh air and break up the day.  We also really enjoyed seeing the winter weather evolution.  And...snow is pretty, duh!

I tried to make a snow angel...but I got wet.  (Re: Cold and wet is not a fun combination.) 

But of course, we had to build a SNEAUXMAN!

Accessories courtesy of the recycling bin.

I guess this is a little bit of a "throwback Thursday," since I'm currently sitting on the couch with a glass of wine, writing this at 2:30 in the afternoon...Yep, you got that right, I'm home again for yet another ice day.  Can we say "beautiful?"  (The only downside is that this time Alex had to leave for 4 days in Texas on a baseball trip, so he's not home enjoying it with me.  Boo.)

So what are you up to on this lovely Thursday?  I heard over 1 million students were home from school for a snow day today.  Are you one of them?

-Lauren