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

He's Baaaack - GBB Vol. 2

Alex enjoyed his first takeover here so much that he asked to do it again...and whattaya know, Betsy made it a regular thing, so here we are.  The Guy Behind the Blog, Volume 2.

1 // If you could write a book, what topic would you write about and why?

Well I love sports, so that is probably a topic I would write about - maybe my journeys around the country as an SID, things I have seen, and special student-athletes I have worked with, etc.  However, my book would probably be shorter than the average 250- to 300-page book, since my wife doesn't allow me to watch sports at home.  :)  (I'd like to object to this comment...but...it's true...)

2 // What is one thing on your bucket list, or one thing that you'd like to do or accomplish in your lifetime?

I have always wanted to visit London, Rome, and Paris, but with all of the terrorism BS we have to deal with, I think I will just keep myself planted in the U.S. for the time being. As far as something I would like to accomplish, I have always wanted to own rental property - you know, enough of an income to where I don’t have to have a 9-to-5 job.

3 // If you could look out your window and only see one view for the rest of your life, what would you want to see?

Water – whether it be ocean, river, lake, etc.

4 // Imagine you're opening a shop.  What are you selling?

Whatever makes me the most money – I don’t know, something trendy, but something that I also know about, so I can make the most sales possible. (If we knew the answer to this one - we'd already have the shop and be working that business instead of for The Man.)

Yes, we know this is the tiniest fish on the planet - it's a goof photo.

5 // If you could have 50lbs of anything other than money, what would it be?

Live crawfish…that would stay alive until I could cook and eat them all.

6 // Time to brag on your girl...tell us one thing that makes you proud of your wife!  

I am proud of how passionate she can be about certain things… It may not make sense to you, but to me it does – so there you go.

Okay, so these questions weren't quite as fun as the last set, but I do always enjoy sitting back and letting Alex take over.  Is there a man in your life?  If so, you should totally consider handing over the reigns every once in a while (or month, heh) and linking up with Betsy for lots of fun.  

Until next time.

-Lauren

Us, According to Him

Since I took a seven month hiatus from the blog before/after we were married, I never really took the time to say a whole lot about our wedding or the details that went into planning it.  As the cliche "engagement season" (December to February) winds down, and the resulting "wedding season" (April-August?)  gears up, I would like to take the time to recap of the features from our wedding.  Now, I know not everyone gets excited about wedding stuff on blogs, but I really do want to have this to look back on years from now...just in case some of the details fade from memory.

Allow me to present... the first installment of Wedding Wednesday.

Today's post is kind of a long one, but it takes a little bit of a different approach - Us, According to Him.

Our Story

(Shared from Alex's perspective)
The First "Date":We both agreed, at the time, and to this day, that our first meeting was an awful experience.  I was in the Old North State for the USC Upstate / NC State basketball game on Dec. 11, 2010.  The "meeting" took place on Dec. 10 and it well, was not something to remember. I drove to Raleigh from my mom's house (Dunn) and met up with Chris and Kara and we drove to Lauren's apartment complex before going to Krispy Kreme. Very few words were exchanged between Lauren and I, it wound up being more of me interacting with Chris and leaving Lauren and Kara to enjoy each others company. The quartet went and looked at Christmas lights in downtown Raleigh before calling it a night... and before it was over, Lauren made fun of my car and in her mind really made me angry. Lauren went back to Louisiana for the Christmas holidays while I returned home for a few days before returning to Spartanburg.

The Next Step:
A few days after the less than spectacular meeting, I decided to contact Lauren and just say it was nice to meet her. We conversed here and there and I figured it was worth a shot to schedule another "date", just the two of us and see if it went any better.

I really don't like dogs, but C.J.'s pitiful "please love me face" melted my heart.

The Second Date:
I left Spartanburg early on the morning of Jan. 9, 2011 and drove to Raleigh for lunch and bowling with Lauren. We ate lunch at Crazy Fire, a Mongolian place. It was really good minus the slightly undercooked calamari. (Haha) After lunch, we went to the bowling alley and bowled two games. Neither of us did well - I barely cracked 100 and that was the first game. After bowling, we went back to Lauren's apartment and watched the movie "Heavyweights" before I got back on the road and headed back to the 'burg. Date two went tons better than number one, so that was a plus.

A week later:
Lauren came to visit me in Spartanburg and told all of her friends my phone number and address in case she went missing - I guess she thought I was some crazy person. I had just gotten back from a basketball road trip, so we just hung out and watched movies and enjoyed each other's company. That was the same weekend Lauren became my girlfriend (on January 16, 2011, to be exact) - pretty bold, yes I know.

3 months into dating, March 2011

~Insert 15 month interlude involving Lauren's completion of her Master's Degree, her move to Little Rock, AR for employment, and the resulting long-distance relationship that continued to develop between us.~  

Fast forward to Easter Weekend 2012:
I arrived in Little Rock on April 4th to spend Easter weekend with Lauren and her family in Abbeville, LA. On April 5th, Lauren had to work so I just ran errands around town and etc.  While out and about, ULM (my new employer) called to set up a phone interview and restart the search for the Director of Media Relations Position. It started a crazy week of 6 phone interviews and at the end I had a on-campus interview set up for April 23-24th.

Back to the previous story, Lauren got off work at 5 pm, so I went to pick her up and then we had a picnic on a big rock at her apartment complex. Lauren and I talked about her day and I knocked the lunchbox off of the rock and jumped down and got it. While continuing to talk I reached inside and pulled out the wedding ring and asked Lauren to marry me... It took her a few moments but she screamed, "YES," for all to hear. I also had her neighbors hide and take photos. Afterwards we made the usual phone calls and then went out to dinner to enjoy being with each other.

We went down to Louisiana on Friday and it was a great weekend showing off the diamond and telling everyone about how it happened and begin Lauren's favorite part - the planning.

If you stuck around for the whole story, mad props to you!  What can we expect in future WW posts?  Oh, don't worry, there's a whole laundry list of ideas, including The Lineup (people involved), a shower I didn't expect to have, creative gift ideas, traditions, etc, etc.  Additional "guest" posts may even appear at some point.

Cheers.

-Lauren



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

Also featured in the Wedding Wednesday Series:

The Lineup

What I Am: 200th Post

Guess what, people!  THIS IS MY 200th POST!!  Woop woop!

After sharing here for almost seven years, thinking of how to recognize this milestone was a bit difficult.  I've made every list in the book at this point, including the recapping each year on my BLOGline (check it out if you haven't yet).  However, I wanted to make this point special in its own right, so I enlisted the opinions of a few of my fellow blogger friends.

Then I came across this post by Kaelene at Unlocking Kiki and it inspired me to think about what I am as a blogger, and what I am not.  For one, I am not a "Magical Blogger," by any stretch of the imagination.  And really, I agree with everything Kiki listed on her post, but in the interest of avoiding plagiarism, I created my own lists, as featured below.

Original photo by Katie H. Photography

What I'm Not
- perfect // I don't know everything about HTML, my graphic skills are (mostly) self taught, my stories are never concise yet always personal, I rarely schedule posts, and I don't always share the bad and ugly with the good or pretty.
- popular // I don't have hundreds, or even tens of followers, I haven't been nominated for awards, and I'm fairly certain others don't share my page with their blogger bffs.
- performer // My primary goal is not entertainment; I don't search out sponsors or offer solicited giveaways, I'm not going to show off the latest gadget or advertise products to gain followers.  I won't be doing back flips to hold anybody's attention just for the heck of it.
- photographer // I don't have a "fancy" camera, I'm not classically (or self) trained, and my blog is never going to be considered a work of ark.

What I Am
- me // I am Lauren.  I grew up in south Louisiana and am extremely proud of my Cajun roots.  I'm married and enjoy time with my husband as we navigate life together.
- average // Sometimes I execute creative or interesting outings; most of the time I don't.  Sometimes I travel to new states or fun destinations; most of the time I don't.  Sometimes I experience something really interesting or fun at work; 99.985% of the time I don't.
- busy // I work outside of the home (including lots of in-state travel), my husband travels for work on and off 8 months out of the year, neither of us live near our families or friends, and sometimes posting on the blog can be on the bottom of the to-do list.
- interested // I want to learn from the best of the best - how can I be a better wife and friend? Are there new hobbies I could learn, ways to be happier or healthier, more efficient, or frugal?  There are kind, generous, amazing bloggers out there, and I want to meet them...become friends with them...learn from them...become a better person because of them.

They say a blog should be the kind you enjoy reading, and the honest to goodness truth is that I enjoy reading blogs written by real people - people who share the exciting and the mundane.  People who write about throwing together dinner, watching television, discovering life hacks, and spending time with those they love.  It's like unscripted reality television (however boring that may sometimes appear)...

That's the way I like it.  And, (I think) that's the way it will stay!

So, if you're new here, leave a comment introducing yourself.  Tell me who you are as a blogger (and, if you like, who you're not).  What inspires you to blog, and what do you enjoy (or dislike) reading in other blogs?

-Lauren

7 Quick Takes (Vol. 10)

Today I'm linking up for the first time with our new host of 7 Quick Takes, Kelly at This Ain't the Lyceum!

--- 1 --

Baseball Weekend #1 was a looooooooooong one.  I think my rear end was actually sore from sitting on a hard chair for such a long period of time.  My scoreboard skills were definitely rusty in the first game, but things got a little better by game #5 for the weekend.  And of course, my cupcakes were "the talk of the town," as they say.  I'm thinking it's much more reasonable to plan on one batch of sweets for the weekend, rather than something new every game...it is Lent, after all.  ;)

--- 2 ---

Early this week I was supposed to travel to south Louisiana for the State Livestock Show (for work).  However, I was realllllllllllly dreading the trip because the university Alex works for was closed for Mardi Gras and I really thought it was super unfair that he would get days off at home while I had to go freeze my butt off at the smelly old barn.  The weather also called for some pretty sketchy wintery stuff, that may or may not have included snow at some point.  Needless to say, I was pretty thrilled when the lady I planned to carpool with decided we shouldn't chance it and we cancelled our plans.  Then, since I had already planned to be out of the office on Monday and Tuesday, I decided to just take the days off instead...so Alex and I actually got to spend an unexpected "weekend" at home together.  Three cheers...amen!

It's the best we can do in north Louisiana. 

--- 3 ---

The Carnival season is over, Mardi Gras has passed, and Lent is here.  I have to give mad props to my friend Jen for this post on why Louisiana is awesome...in particular, at this time of the year.  And if you haven't read Jen's story yet, take a few minutes to check it out.  She and I were college roommates (we actually shared a room, not just living space...though we did that too at some point) and we have followed along with each other's blogging journeys since the very beginning.

--- 4 ---

Speaking of Lent, I'm not all about public posts regarding voluntary sacrifices, BUT I am doing something that may be worth noting for the sake of others who read this blog.  What I mean to say is that I have decided to give up Facebook, indefinitely.  Alex has already deactivated his account, and I may do the same eventually.  At this point, I still need access to the page for various reasons, but I am being diligent about only signing on with a purpose in mind, and signing out as soon as possible.  What this means for you, readers, is that your best way to contact me is via e-mail.  As for my reasons and such, I'm not ready to talk about that here on the blog just yet, so that's all I have to say about that. Oh, and this related link could also be worthy of reading.  (Granted I have a public blog, but you get the idea.)

Courtesy of Kendra

--- 5 ---

And in the interest of sharing (what I think is) another interesting idea for voluntary Lenten sacrifices, Alex and I plan to borrow Rosie's paper chain concept.  Back when I wrote my 20 in 14 list, I really wanted to do a better job of praying more intentionally, for specific people and things.  As you'll see when I (finally) address that item on the list, I never got into the habit even though I really wanted to.  SO, this Lent we will be adding specific intentions to our daily prayers, and this paper chain will be the tangible indicator of how well we're doing.  Can't wait to see how it goes!

--- 6 ---

P.S. I had every intention of sharing a post with actual content on Wednesday, but then I realized it was Ash Wednesday and figured we were better left reverently absent (can that be a thing?) than sharing about light-hearted, fun things.  :)  Coming soon though...lots of fun new stuff (including MY 200th POST!!).  I may or may not have 3-4 posts/week planned through the end of March.  Now, who's going to take bets on whether it actually happens?!

--- 7 ---

It's looking to be a gross weekend.  From Friday to Saturday, the temperature will climb 13 degrees, then drop 25 on Sunday, and finish off (if you call it that) with a high at the ripe ole 28 degree mark.  Once again, they're even talking about the possibility of icy, sticky, white stuff...maybe.  I definitely wouldn't bet on too much excitement - we do live in Louisiana, after all.

Whiplash, anyone?

Stay warm, ya'll!
-Lauren

For more Quick Takes, visit This Ain't the Lyceum!