This year...

Aren't you all itching for a grand 2010 recap?
No need to sit there biting your nails on the edge of your seat!

Here we go...

In 2010...
1. I got rid of my first car (who also doubled as my first love).
2. I got a brand new car and quickly realized it is the very best car in the world.
3. I lost a friend.
4. We got an adorable new nephew.
5. I began my fourth year of teaching, 
6. I got the best, sweetest, most funny class.
7. I realized I don't miss New York.  Only my family there.
8. I became a vegetarian.
9. We celebrated our 5 year anniversary.
10. I got much better abut blogging  :)
11. We finally joined a bowling team (and placed second!)
12. I achieved one of my dreams of photographing a bolt of lightning.
13. I started a 365 project...and made it to day 26.  ha!
14. I saw my best friend graduate as an RN.
15. I achieved another dream of finally seeing Something Corporate in concert...TWICE.
16. I decided I really don't care for New Year's Eve as a holiday. meh.
17. I fell in love with Josh all over again...every day.

I'm a lucky girl.  I know this. 
Maybe I'm a little spoiled.  Maybe I'm a little high maintenance sometimes.
Maybe I'm not nice to everyone I meet and everyone I know, every single day.

But I know for a fact I live my life the best way I can.
I love.
I laugh.
I give.
I teach.
I learn.
I feel.
I cry.
I comfort.
I work.
I play.
I LIVE.

I'm not making some crazy New Year's Resolution. 
These are the things I'm going to strive to do in 2011.
They're simple.
They're complex.
They're me.

Happy 2011 Everyone!
Let's make it great.

Tis the Season

Christmas is practically here.

There's only 12 days left.

Lights on our home are glowing.

Tree is up...and beautiful!

Cards were mailed.

Gifts have been purchased (well..not all of them, but most!)

The good times are upon us!

Time to laugh with family and friends.

Time to drive around with a (oh my gosh, best thing I've ever tasted) Carmel Apple Spice from Starbucks, listen to festive music and look at lights.

Did I mention time to laugh?

Speaking of laughing...

Did you notice my reflection in the ball ornament to the right of the "joy?"

Need a closer look?

.

.

.

Ya...

Josh likes to jump up and down like a yetti while I'm taking a picture

just to see if he can make into the reflection.

He's like that adorable spirit of light you find in a photo after you develop it.

...Well kinda :)

Hope you're all ready for the season!

A Brand New Holiday!

Did you know there has been an actual holiday called Wives Day?

I know for a fact it exists because I created it.

Here is how it all began...

Many years ago we were spending a lovely evening with our dear friends, Laci and Dan.

It occured to me,

(DON'T JUDGE ME)...

there was not a holiday between my birthday (in May) and Christmas.

Well...not a holiday where I receive a present.

Once again, DON'T JUDGE ME!

I was excited about being a new bride and I truly believe wives day is an important and specacular holiday that everyone should observe!

This is not some crazy made up thing, well...it began that way.

But, now it has been a real part of our marriage since it began.

So...Wives Day is August 5.

Why, you may be asking, does her husband celebrate ridiculous holidays that she makes up!?

I will answer that question by saying...

First, it is NOT ridiculous.

And second, he does it because he loves me.

He loves me and I love him. Truly.

But, as I said, this is not a new holiday. We have been celebrating it for years!

It can now be new to you though!

-

-

-

So, what is this new holiday I am speaking of?

Everyone constantly asks me, "When is Husbands Day?"

My answer:  "Everyday is husbands day."

.

.

.

But...after five years of marriage and knowing everyday that

(sorry ladies)

I get to have the BEST husband ever.

I am happy to announce...

Husband's Day - July 2

This is the first annual Husband's Day and you know about it and can celebrate too!

Tell your friends!

But then don't forget to make sure your spouse knows about Wives Day on August 5 too.

I hope these holidays are something fun for you to celebrate and you enjoy them just as much as we do.

And remember...If you want to do something or create something, DO IT!

Why not, right!?

Never Too Old!

Happy  Easter!

Easter was wonderful.

I still get an Easter basket.

That's ok if you're a little jealous.

I LOVE it!

You are never too old to get an easter basket.

This year, my Easter basket consisted of...

1. Yummy candy including some Reese's Peanut Butter Eggs!

2. Two giftcards...for food!

3. A paddleball

4. Jelly Beans

5. Silly String  :)

6. Silly putty!

7. A mini bowling game

8. Mini Robin Eggs

9. Warm and fuzzy feelings.

ALL very good things!

Easter was also filled with family time which always makes me very happy and reminds me how lucky I really am.

I really like never being too old for things.

It keeps us young.

The big 25 is comin up soon...

hmmm...older?...yes.

Better?...Oh YA!

-------------------------------------------------------

In other news...

I went to a friend's funeral yesterday

and that is a bummer. Too young.

Like I said...tell people you care about them.

Do what you can to make the lives of others better.

It makes a difference.

Also, on an entirely unrelated note...

I love my Crock-pot, which I have used twice this week alone (and it's only Wednesday), which happens to be almost as many times as I have used it in the past few years.

But it makes my life so easy

and it makes for a very happy and non-stressed Lauren!

Caution: Romance Ahead!

Valentine's Day. 

My husband is an amazing man and my best friend.

With V-Day falling on a Sunday and Josh having to work on Sundays, we celebrated on Saturday (well, he spoiled me on Saturday and then I got to spoil him on Sunday.) We went to lunch on Saturday at Mangos. It was delicious, like always. The weather was beautiful so we decided to sit outside and really enjoy it. The sky was blue, trees overhead and love in the air.

Then we shopped around, got cookies from Sweet Cakes and spent the afternoon just enjoying the day together.

When we got home, I went into our bedroom to put some things away and I returned to the living room to a beautiful dozen roses.

I had to stay in the living room and watch tv while josh made a surprise dinner.

I was shocked when he was done...

Bacon wrapped Filet Mignon, rosemary red potatoes and steamed asparagus.

For dessert...something called Strawberries Romanov.

Fancy Right!?

He blows me away.

It was strawberries in a cream that is made of a bunch of things like melted vanilla ice cream, whipped cream and sour cream with a drizzle of orange liqeour.

Then topped with mint and chocolate shavings.

My husband did that!

It was soooo good!

I was so full and smitten with him.

I told him that even if the food would had not came out good, (though it was one of the best meals I've ever eaten) it was so amazing that he put so much effort into finding those recipes and making everything.

I slept like a baby.

I don't even remember him leaving for work at 5am.

 8:30 rolled around and of course the pup needed to go outside to do her little doggie business.

As I walk past our bathroom, something caught my eye...

Even when he isn't home, he amazes me.

So I got ready for the day and went to meet him for his lunch.  I called Pei Wei on my way and had them make our food so it was ready when we got there. He was surprised.

After I dropped him back off at work I went and bought a balloon, card and magazine for him.

I went back to his work, where I used my extra key to his truck to put those things on his seat.  Aww.

(Even though he can't read a magazine on his drive home, I know...)

I will be making chicken enchiladas for dinner and a berry crisp for dessert.  My man loves berries and I never really buy them because I could take em or leave em. So...on this Vday, he get's berries :)

And to top it off, (since he really would have no need for flowers) I bought him the car mount for our Droid phones.

He's gonna LOVE it!

No, we don't need a holiday to do things like this for each other, but it's just another chance for us to show our love in different ways.

Happiest.
Valentine's.

Day.

Sedona, Refrigerators and Christmas! Oh my!

Diana and I took our overnight trip to Sedona on Sunday just to get away and spend much needed time together. We had tons of fun. We ate amazing chicken salad sandwiches at the Brewery in Tlaquepaque (*most fun word to say!), saw a living Nativity and walked around looking at all the touristy stuff. I can't believe this gal and I have been best friends for so many years. Best 17 years of my life!

Tonight, my other BFF (Becky) and I are doing the Christmas lights date. It's gonna be awesome. Cant wait!

Onto stuff that is not so awesome (Grrr face >: ) Yesterday after I drove home from Sedona I spent some time with my mom and then went home to meet Josh there just as he was getting home from work. As I walk into the kitchen I am greeted by a puddle on the floor in front of the fridge. I say to myself "What the heck!?" and yell "Josh, we've got a problem!"

So I open the freezer door and things are all soft and not frozen. Great. We have only had the fridge for the five years we have had our house. It's still practically brand new. We moved into our house the week of Christmas in 2004, SO since it has been five years I immediatly said, "the warranty isn't good anymore. I'm sure we didn't get the 5 year warranty!"

I go to look in the file cabinet and there, right in the area labeled "Appliances" is a folder with "refrigerator" written on it. (Uncle Gene is awesome at making sure I have things when I need them, because it was written in his handwriting!)

Anyway...I open the folder and the first page I see is the warranty information... dun dun dunnnn! I look at the coverage start date :Dec.23, 2004. The end date: Dec. 23, 2009!

I screamed as Josh was talking to his dad on the phone and I'm pretty sure my father in law can't hear out of that ear anymore.

Anyway, after calling and dealing with a woman who was very hard to understand and only added to my frustration, I got an appointment for someone to come look at it, but the first available wasn't until Wednesday. We had to take EVERYTHING out of the fridge/freezer and throw most of what was in the freezer away.

The upside... Josh's parents always had a really old fridge in their garage that they would just use for drinks and extra storage. A few years ago when they bought a new kitchen fridge, their old one went into the garage and we go the really old one for our garage. It keeps things so cold and I was glad to have that to at least put in all the stuff that I could save.

We'll see what happens when the repair person comes to look at my poor ice box.

Oh, ya...the saddest part of all...we got everything all cleaned up and wiped out and then we sit down and say "let's have a nice cold drink"...then we realize...we now have no ice.

I kid you not, I took two glasses over to our neighbor's house and asked for ice. They filled our glasses and gave us a whole ziploc full (which we can still keep in the garage fridge's freezer :)

Christmas is in 3 days!!! Aggghhhh!!!!!! So excited!!!!!!!!!!!!

Two Posts in One!? Awesome!

The Holidays are here!

Well, first, let me say that science camp did happen and of course it went GREAT! I am so lucky to have a class I love so much. I actually have fun with my students (even when I have to "yell" at them for stuff. (I never really yell, it just seems that way to me. I can think I do it and then my kiddos say stuff like "what? you never yell at us!") That makes me smile :)

Another great part of school life is being able to work with my best friends. Ya, we're lucky. My teammates are the most awesome people I could have ever gotten to work with.

(*I am posting this picture despite how awful I believe I look in it.)

(Cameras really do add ten pounds. )

Now that camp is over and I can actually breathe and think if other things... it's time for Christmas!! Woo hoo!

Oh, and if you recall the whole lost reservation fiasco of camp '09
(I know you're saying, "Lauren, how could we forget!")

... this year I got printed confirmation of next year's reservation AND I saw the woman enter it into the computer with my own eyes. I'm not going through that again, sheesh!

Ok, back to Christmas... Josh and I got the tree put up this week and I know I say this every year, but, I really love our tree. It is so beautiful. I just want to stare at it for hours.
(Which I know I achieve by the time Christmas is over. )

The weather has gotten colder and it really is beginning to look (and feel) a lot like Christmas!

I still have to finish shopping for everyone, make some sort of delicious treat for neighbors and friends and wrap all the wonderful gifts I get to give to people I love.

One more week of school and then two weeks off!

What do I get to look forward to for the break?

1. My annual "date" with Becky where she takes me out to look at Christmas lights. I love that we do this. People say we are lovers*, I say they are jealous!
*P.S. We are just awesomely best friends and people really are probably jealous. Dont worry Kole, you're marriage is safe :)

2. My other BFF Diana and I are going to spend a night in Sedona! For no other reason than just to spend time together because I pretty much never see her and it sucks. It's going to be so fun and I get to buy this game they apparently only sell in Sedona called Yamslam.
Look it up. If you love Yahtzee, you will be like "I love Yamslam!"

3. Family time: a.) The big Christmas Eve shin-dig at my parent's house-it's pretty much one of the highlights of my year.
b.) The time Josh and I spend alone opening our presents to each other (which we have decided we may do on Christmas Eve morning because we are at my parent's house all night and then we wake up and go to his parent's house Christmas morning, and because we love making our own rules!)

c.) Celebrating the fact that Josh proposed to me six years ago on Christmas Adam (Dec. 23- get it? because Adam came before Eve, hee hee, love it!). Maybe i'll post about it after it happens.

C'mon Christmas break!!!!
-
-
-

Surprise! Since I haven't posted in a long while, I will do another post within this post.

The Eight Crazy Nights!!!

Remember how awesome I was just saying my friends are? Well, we decided a few months ago that we were going to conduct our own series of Eight Crazy Nights. These nights consist of eight different Saturdays at different people's houses, each with a different drink (optional for the non-drinkers), and a different game.

We are half way done and so far we have had so much fun!
Here are the details of the first four Crazy Nights:

#1 - Vodka bar and Singstar (we had to miss this one, but it looked awesome)
#2 - Malibu Barbies (Malibu rum and pineapple juice) and Bunco
#3 - Dirty drinks (like Sex on the Beach) and the game Dirty Minds: For example..."I am pink and when you put me in your mouth I get soft." I don't know what you're thinking, but it's bubble gum! :)
#4 - Appletinis and Apples to Apples

These nights have been so fun and I cannot wait for the rest!
This may have to be a year-round thing. Good friends, good times! You should come!

Christmas!

Well, Christmas is over. It was wonderful though. A great time with friends and family. Laughs, hugs and of course egg nog! We were lucky to get to have three different Christmases. Josh and I had our own, we spent Christmas Eve with my parents and then all Christmas Day with Josh's family. I love giving and the joy it brings me to see someone open a gift that makes them smile. That is worth any amount of time, stress and money that may come along with shopping during the holidays. I got many gorgeous and wonderful gifts but one that was very exciting is my KitchenAid Mixer! We got one for my mom months ago when we started shopping for Christmas and without even thinking of it (though I've really wanted one) to my surprise I opened one as well! Now it is on to the New Year and new adventures. I hope you all had a great year and I can't wait to see you in the upcoming one!