Welcome to Lauren's blog!

This poor blog! I have totally abandoned in. I definitely got a tumblr account and thought about completely stopping posting all this all together, but I just couldn't say bye to this poor little blog. I just read over my earlier post about trying to write my film paper while I had my mom's pop culture excitement interrupting my paper and I laughed for like 5 minutes. That's what blogs
are for, to help you remember funny/awesome things that happen in life.

Anyways, today I had this completely awesome God moment where I have understood grace and love to a further extent than I ever have before. I follow Rob Bell on Twitter and he posted all these tweets that were kind of...modified versions of the Beatitudes in Matthew 5. It was so encouraging and I just had this realization of
what grace is, and how we are called to love other people.

I thought of it like this:

You are in 2nd grade and you are learning addition and subtraction and all that (4+2=?) and all of a sudden you become an arithmetic master. You and your 2nd grade brain think you know everything about math because
now you've mastered addition. Then all of a sudden your teacher throws a calculus book at you and you are just dumbfounded. You obviously have no idea how to tackle calculus! You didn't even know that
this kind of math existed in the world!

That was kind of my realization this morning. I think that I have a competent understanding of grace and love and what it means to love and have grace for other people, and then God just says BAM and throws a whole new thing my way. I don't even understand a fraction of what it means to care for other people the way Jesus calls us
to.

I'm inspired now. I'm inspired to care for others in a completely new way. I'm inspired to give grace to
people in an entirely new way. I'm inspired and hopeful for the difference I can make to other people. The other night my mom said to me, "Lauren, just remember you can't save the world" and in a way, I'm
inspired to save the world.

This may make no sense and all, and for those of you that bear through reading this whole thing though it might make no sense to you, thanks for reading. I guess writing helps me process my thoughts better, so thanks fr
joining me in the journey of self-awareness. :)

dftba<3

I guess I abandoned my blog for quite a while. Sorry blog (and blog readers).

I guess I've been planning events, going to Disneyland, going to Hume, playing guitar, joining worship team, hanging out with friends, hanging out with students, chasing campers, reading, catching up on Arrested Development and SYTYCD, and trying to relax.

It seems as though Summer is coming to an end, but I don't start school until the end of September. It's good though, I still need a month+ of time left to get ready for my busy Fall Quarter schedule. I'll be nannying two days a week, at church working three days a week, and then going to school full time. Busy, busy, busy.

Good news/bad news- Wednesday we leave to take our high schoolers on a waterski trip. It's such an awesome trip, I just don't have enough time in the next 24 hours to accomplish everything I need to do before we leave! Ahhh. Hopefully though, with the downtime we have on the trip, I'll just get to relax and hang out (maybe tan all day...). I'm definitely looking forward to it, it's just arrived so soon! I think this is my last summer trip, considering I start my nanny job on the 24th.

Tomorrow is filled with work, meetings, last minute stuff for the trip, packing, and an eye doctor appointment (I'm getting new glasses! YAY!).

Fabulous:
-My Adam Pasion ringtone
-Joan of Arcadia (My dear friend Tracy has just turned me onto this show)
-Me cooking today! (Okay, so I just boiled pasta noodles and poured sauce on it....BUT STILL...)

Not so fabulous:
-Eating frozen blueberries and having my lips turn blue
-My hot house :/
-Miley's performance at the Teen Choice Award's(come onnnn she shoulda sang The Climb)!

I'm leaving in about an hour for the 8th Grade Grad Trip. I don't know if any of you have worked with crazy junior highers and taken them to Magic Mountain but if you have, you will know how insane this trip will be! :) I'm excited though, and will hopefully have enough energy as the students do.

I've been so encouraged this past week with good talks, people helping me out with protege stuff and trying to get official, good communion time, good worship, good dinners together...it's just been good.

Even though this will be a little bit of a crazy week, and there is not one morning for the next week and a half that I get to sleep in, it's gonna be okay. Even though there are no showers at the church we are staying at for the next two nights...it's gonna be okay (maybe)! Even though I have very little time to study for my finals next week, it's GONNA BE OKAY! :)

Life is good. I am happy. Life is busy, but I will continue to be joyful. Life is stressful, but I will wake up every morning and choose love and joy over anything else, because really...what else can you do?


Goodbye until Wednesday night my faithful readers! :D

Last night I tried to write a paper for my film class.
Here are the following 4 interruptions that happened:

#1 My mother yells down the hall towards my room "LAUREN! HANNAH MONTANA IS ON CHANNEL 3!"

Me: "Haa...okay mom, thanks!"

#2 My mother comes into my room a few minutes later, "Actually it is a special on Taylor Swift but Haley Cyrus or whatever was just on it also.."

Me: "It's Miley."
Mom: "Whaaa?"
Me: "Miley Cyrus, nevermind I already saw that thing on Taylor Swift."

#3 My brother playing drums.
This happens quite often at my home, but last night it was just more annoying than usual.

#4 My mother comes into my room, yet again! "Lauren, did you hear Miley Cyrus and Justin Gaston broke up!?"

Me: "Yes mom, they are definitely dunzo." (Laguna Beach reference anyone?)
Mom: "Aww, that's sadzo!"
Me: ........I'm trying to write a paper...


I also was explaining to my mom how I watched Pulp Fiction today in my film class and how it stars Uma Thurman, John Travolta, Samuel L. Jackson, etc. but it is a movie she would still hate.

She then informed me that John Travolta's son passed away. I then informed her that I indeed did hear about that when it was all over the news in JANUARY.

Do I seem like the kind of person who lives under a rock? Really mom, really?! I may sound a little harsh, I love my mother but when it comes to pop culture...I just feel like she might not be the sharpest crayon in the box! LOVE YOU MOM! :)

In other words, at least I have Tracy to discuss Laguna Beach and the Hills with, and I have Joey and Chloe to talk about Heroes with, and I have everyone to talk about SYTYCD with! YAY SYTYCD!

Off to bed now, work tomorrow at the crack of dawn! And payday is Monday! Thank goodness, I have exactly $9.00 in my bank account left and not very much gas in my car. This could potentially be an issue. Oh well, I'll attack that problem when it becomes unavoidable!

Goodnight kiddos!

Last night after Terra Nova, someone had the brilliant idea that we should go on a night hike in Los Gatos. As much as I love our weekly after party of In N' Out and Starbucks every week, it's nice to change it up every once in a while. So we all drove over to the Los Gatos hills and ended up hiking like 3 miles(?) uphill to the top of this mountain with an amazing view. I can offically say I am out of shape due to me being winded from this adventure, and feeling sore today. HA! Definitely worth it though.

Mandie and I then went to Michael's house and proceeded to lay on his bed for the next two hours (by this time it was like 2:30am). Let me remind you that when it starts to get into the early hours of the morning (4am+) Lauren gets a litttttle loopy. I begin to make Paris Hilton-esque comments that do not exactly showcase my brilliance to it's full extent. But I guess it provides entertainment for everyone present! I also thought my car wouldn't start when I left at 5am but it turns out I was trying to start my car with my HOUSE KEY.

Got home, did some laundry, and slept from 5:30am-9:30am. I got up, packed for Seattle, and was out the door by 10:45am. 2 points for me!

My airport/flying experience was actually NOT traumatizing this time! Usually I am stuck on jam packed planes and I get super anxious because I'm terrified of being in a plane crash and so I semi-freak out the whole flight and spend 75% of the time praying that the plane doesn't crash. I also have the amazing ability to pick fabulous people to sit next to (creepy men, smelly people, screaming children, etc.). As I was standing in line (number C-25 which means I was one of the last 10 people to get on the flight) the airport man said "Just so you know, this is a completely full flight and so take whatever seat you see first." FABULOUS......not. SO I'm walking down the aisle trying to find a nice lady or someone my age to sit next to but alas. There are NO SEATS. I make my way to the backish and this man is pointing at me and asking me to come sit in his middle seat between him and another man! Let's just say both of them were 6 feet+ and looked like members of ZZ Top. Luckily some other man took that seat and the ZZ Top guy goes "Aww we wanted you to sit with us because we were trying to find a small person!" I was like.."hehhh sorry!"

I ended up getting a window seat next to a cool Christian guy and his wife. I NEVER SIT NEXT TO NORMAL PEOPLE and I was so happy! He was reading a book by John Ortberg I think, so we talked about Christian lit for a little while and while I was filling out paperwork he, apparently was watching what I was doing because he asked me where South Hills was. His pregnant wife was cute and I just had a very peaceful flight. Yaay flying!

Now I am in Seattle watching Dateline, and hopefully will be going to bed soon even though I took a 2 hour nap from 5:30-7:30pm. Back home on Monday morning! :)

Life is actually halfway decent right now. I'm sick and behind in school, but hey. I can't complain. I chose to hang out with friends at Starbucks last night for like 4 1/2 hours instead of doing homework, and I'm okay with that. We talked about our favorite actors of all time and it was fun and dandy.

Yesterday I met with the fabulous old man Kit and got my paperwork for becoming a Junior High Protege. This should be really cool/interesting. I'm excited for a lot of the Summer events coming up.

Why today/this week/life is good:
-Terra Nova tonight=<3
-I discovered the beauty of french press's and I really want one.
-I didn't have work at all this week which was super convenient since I have been sick all week.
-I'm starting to feel a lot better.
-I learned how to play two of my favorite songs EVER on the guitar.
-I get to see my lovely Allee today when she comes over so I can put together the Pioneer leadership end of the year slideshow/video (how I get sucked back into these things, I'm not sure....but I love it!)
-Tomorrow I leave for Seattle/Vancouver for the weekend.


Why today/this week/life is NOT good:
-I hate flying and I have to fly tomorrow.
-I'm hoping this morning at the doctor's they give me medicine to take tomorrow so my eardrums won't burst while flying.
-I have to give blood at the doctor's? SO NOT MY FAVORITE THING EVER.
-I leave tomorrow morning and I have not done laundry/cleaned my room/packed. I don't even know what time I have to go to the airport. I guess I should get on that.
-I get back from this weekend extravaganza at 9:30am on Monday morning and have class from 10:30am-12:10pm, and work from 1-8. NOT going to be a fun day.


Time to go shower and get ready to go kick it with Dr. Chau! Waiting rooms are definitely not my favorite thing, but I'm going to bring a book I have really enjoyed reading so that should make the time pass quickly.

I guess if the only thing I really have to complain about is my fear of flying and giving a blood sample, life isn't all that terrible.

Blaaah I am sick and it's terrible. If you know me, you know I have the worst immune system ever and get sick all the time. Okay, not ALL the time...but definitely more then the average person. My little brother has been sick the past week and half or so (and he missed a full week of school) and got tested for mono and stuff. Because he's still awaiting those results, I might have to get tested for mono also? Freaking fricker. Have I mentioned how much I hate when friends visit me when I'm sick? I'm like dying in bed, looking like death, feeling like death, and the last thing I want is someone coming over. That's just me though, because I know a lot of people like it when people visit them.

The past 2ish weeks or so have been a blur, I've spent a lot of time with Em and Michael, and I've gotten home between 3am-5am almost every night. Definitely not ideal! I need my solid 9 hours of sleep hahahha.

The one good thing about being stuck at home is getting caught up on my homework. I'm definitely feeling a bit more relaxed about the next couple weeks since I got caught up on some stuff.

Last night my mom and I watched Seven Pounds (Will Smith and Rosario Dawson) and I really enjoyed it! Of course my poor mother who is basically only a fan of romantic comedies was already confused and asking questions two minutes into the movie. I, who have never seen the movie before, politely had to remind her that some of the scenes could be out of sequence, and that she should wait until the end of the movie to ask questions. Of course...5 minutes until the end of the movie, "AHH LAUREN I DON'T KNOW WHAT'S GOING ON?! I'm confused!" WELL, HOW ABOUT YOU ASK IN 5 MINUTES ONCE THE MOVIE IS OVER....
goodness gracious!
I think that confusion in movies just goes along with my pet peeve of people talking during movies. There are just some movies out there where it doesn't make sense until the very end of the film! Patience is a virtue!
Anyways, Seven Pounds had great cinematography and the score was also amazing. I know the critics didn't like it, but I did!

Now I am wasting my life away watching Discovery ID discuss the characteristics of serial killers. Classy. Thank goodness there is no school tomorrow and that I don't have work at all this week. Sometimes things just work out conveniently that way.

DFTBA friends.