Lauren from Texas

{clockwise from top left: my nails, Lyndsey’s, Chelsea’s, & Chelsea’s nail pens} If you’re in a reader/RSS feed, click through. You’re going to want to see the above photo. Saturday night, as my friends and I were sitting around watching Kelly make her fabulous risotto and drinking prosecco with passionfruit juice and raspberries (yum), we decided to put Chelsea’s famous nail pens/polishes to use and give ourselves fancy manicures. Chelsea was really wanting to do glitter french tips, but nothing too neat or perfect. After googling several DIYs and trying a couple of techniques, we thought that maybe the glitter in the nail pens was too fine/small for what we were trying to accomplish. But I decided to keep trying. [...]

I don’t think it’s a huge secret that I am a cheapskate. Which works well with my life right now. I buy store-brand food and medicine. I buy hair products from the Generic Value Products line at Sally.  I only buy clothes that are on sale. Am I making my point? One of my favorite things in the whole wide world is makeup. Typically, I wear drugstore makeup; wearing only bareMinerals on my face is my one exception. I have a couple of other “nicer” makeup pieces, but they are few and far between. You are going to see a lot of CoverGirl, Maybelline, and L’Oréal in my makeup case. It’s not that I don’t enjoy the fancier brands, I just [...]

{l-r: Lyndsey, me, Chelsea, Molly, Kelly} I may have told a tiny white lie in my 5 Things on a Friday post. I didn’t stay home and clean out my closet. I did that the previous weekend. Instead, I traveled to Chelsea’s house to pull off a 4-part surprise. Everything went SO well and she was completely surprised. All 4 times. Chelsea’s been having a rough time lately. I don’t like that. She’s my girl. One night a couple of weeks ago, I couldn’t sleep, so I texted Molly and said “We have to do something. Let’s visit Chelsea, but make it a surprise.” Molly, being the amazing friend she is, wholeheartedly agreed. We got Chelsea’s husband, sister, and mom [...]

{breakfast of champions} 1. Thank you guys SO much for all the supportive comments RE: my plan to take a semester off from school. I was a bit afraid of the reaction I would get, but y’all made me feel much, much better about the whole thing. Met up with some classmates last night and they also encouraged me. It’s amazing what kind, helpful words can do. 2. Despite the fact that I have never gotten a ticket, and have only been pulled over twice (once for a non-working brake light and the other time was to check the back of my pick-up truck for illegally hunted animals [another story for another time, but welcome to driving through the woods [...]

I have been watching Judge Judy for many years. There’s something about her. She’s spunky. She doesn’t take crap from anyone. She calls people out on their stupidity. She’s kind of my hero. Lately, I’ve been DVR-ing her show, fully expecting The Look of Judgement (no pun intended) from Michael. But you know what? He loves it. He’s now been saying the four words I love to hear most, “Let’s watch Judge Judy.” So we do. We make fun of the cases and the people (because, OHMAHGAH) and cheer for Judge Judy when she is particularly mean and makes an awesome judgement. Side note: Molly, I think you’ve found your calling. You have the law background, and you’re plenty feisty. I [...]

I debated writing this post. After all, how much “behind the scenes” stuff am I supposed to share on my blog? I finally decided that yes, I needed to post this. One, because some of the friendships I have formed through this blog are more encouraging and supportive than some of my IRL relationships. I like for you guys to know these things about me. Also, because this blog is how I record events in my life. The good, the bad, and the ugly. All of that babbling to say: School starts tomorrow, and I will not be in attendance. I know. All of the challenges that took place last semester, only to lead to this. Here’s the thing: Having [...]

{Photo taken NYE; what a stud.} If you’re a new reader of LfT, Stuff My Husband Says is a very romantic series of posts. Or not. Basically, whenever Michael says something funny (and I’m quick enough to record it), I store it in the Notes on my iPhone. When I have a few collected, I turn them into a post. So, ladies (and possibly one or two gentleman), here’s the sixth installment of SMHS: Story: Pancho had fallen between the front and back seat in the car, which happens about once every half hour on roadtrips: Michael: Lauren, help him. He’s squinching! LfT: WHAT IS SQUINCHING. Michael: It’s a cross between squishing…and… (trails off). Playing with his new iPhone: Michael: I [...]

I thought I’d do something a little different this week, so here are 5 questions: 1. What’s your favorite yoga DVD? I can’t currently afford a membership to the local yoga studio (which is such a bummer, because it’s awesome), but the yoga classes at the student rec center suck. So DIY yoga it is. Looking for a good DVD that won’t bore me to death. I bought this one a couple of years ago and every time I turn it on, I feel like taking a nap on my yoga mat. I’ve heard good things about Bob Harper’s and also some others; I wanted to see if anyone else had any input before I made an Amazon purchase. 2. [...]

{Lucy and Chelsea’s son, Jansen} One of my dearest friends, Chelsea, experienced the death of a close friend last week. Lucy, who I had met a couple of times, passed away after a very brief battle with cancer. You can read the whole story here. Last Thursday night, I looked down at my phone and saw a text that said simply, “Lucy died today.” Immediately, it felt like my stomach dropped out of my body. Just three weeks earlier, Lucy had been diagnosed with cancer. We had all been praying that she would make a full recovery. She was young, in shape, and very healthy. Everyone was hopeful. Except, for reasons we will probably never be able to understand, she [...]

My relationship with fitness has been sporadic at best. Mostly because, before the age of 21, I never even had to think about staying thin. I ate whatever I wanted (including entire pizzas) and never gained a pound. I’m not saying, by any means, that I struggle with weight now. But let’s just say that I can’t eat entire pizzas anymore, and that I had a moment last spring where I weighed myself and the number was roughly 20 pounds more than it was in 2009. Before I got married, I did not exercise. I was one of those brides. I was happy with my body and wasn’t worried about perfectly toned arms. Right after I got married, I started running [...]