Welcome to Texas!

Yet again, I am starting my blog post by apologizing for my month long delay.  I feel compelled to step up my game as my dear friend Alaina mentioned in a recent blog post how behind we both were on our blogging....

So here it is: back to March.  I arrived back in NC around midnight on Monday night from my spring break trip.  Friday morning, I was on a 6am flight headed to Midland, Texas.

Why Midland you ask?  Well, let me explain. One of my best friends from college, David, moved to Dallas after we graduated and fell for girl named Katie.  Who happened to be from Midland, Texas.  So off to Midland we went.  Thankfully, I had three fantastic girls to serve as my travel buddies for this adventure: Emily, Gretchen & Shanley.

As I mentioned, our flight left RDU at 6am on Friday and after a layover in Memphis, we were supposed to be on our way to Lubbock, TX where we would rent our car and drive the last two hours to Midland.  The adventures basically started as soon as we boarded the plane since we had some sort of weather disturbance (a month later I’m still not exactly sure what happened) which landed us in Dallas for a while.  Eight hours after we left RDU, we made it to Lubbock.  Needless to say, we were quick excited to be in Texas!

Once we made it to Midland, we changed and headed to the rehearsal dinner, where we were able to see old friends and make new ones.  After the dinner, we headed to a little bar around the corner and spent the evening just hanging out and having our own mini Wake Forest reunion.  I loved my time at Wake, but being around these friends helped me to remember how blessed I was during college to be around such amazing people.  And it made me miss college.

Saturday we spent a little time exploring Midland, finding a little lake and park in the city.  It was wonderful to just relax and hang out.   Mid-afternoon we started getting ready for the wedding and headed over to the church.  

Not that I would expect anything less, but the wedding was absolutely beautiful.  Katie was stunning and both she and David looked so incredibly happy. 

We headed to the Midland Country Club for the reception and we had an absolute blast.  Once the music started, I don’t think we left the dance floor.  I even forgot to eat wedding cake because we were so busy dancing and just having a great time.  The dancing even continued after David and Katie left, as one of our new friends taught us a fantastic new line dance.  I gave up early and took pictures instead, but Gretchen was a champ.

Sunday we did a little more exploring, including seeing the childhood home for the Bush family, one of the major attractions in Midland.  After that, we headed back to Lubbock to start another three leg flight home.  After a few bumps and snags in getting home, we finally made it back around midnight on Sunday.  A whirlwind trip, but absolutely worth it.

Before I conclude my post, I should probably bring up one of the more entertaining details of our trip.  During the hours we spent in the car driving from Lubbock to Midland, the four of us decided to make a list of things we should do in Midland. Twenty-six things to be exact, one for each letter of the alphabet.  I’m very proud to say that in our 48 hours in Texas, we accomplished almost our entire list.  Felt just like college again J

SB 2012 (part 2): continued

In the spirit of catching up on VERY delayed blog posts, I have devoted this entry to finishing up my spring break travels!

After our weekend in San Fran, Alaina and I traveled a few hours south to San Luis Obispo, where Alaina teaches at Cal Poly University. When we arrived close to midnight, I woke up and instantly noticed that the entrance to Alaina’s house (really the entrance to her canyon) was marked with a sign to beware of mountain lions.  I promise that I am not exaggerating.  After traveling a few hours south, I felt like we were in a different world than the city of San Francisco.

Despite my initial concern over mountain lions, my few days in SLO were wonderful.  I spent my time in SLO going to the beach, exploring downtown, hiking and even horseback riding.  I can’t remember the last time I was on a horse.  Probably when Alaina and I were in middle school.  All our adventures were so fun and had the perfect balance of relaxation and adventures. 

 

Each night we made dinner and watched movies, Friends, and Jeopardy. And yes, I do know how incredibly cool we are.  I finally was able to read The Paris Wife, which I had been looking forward to reading for months.  This kicked off my new fascination with Earnest Hemingway and the 1920s, but that’s another story.  (Note: the dinner pictured below was our proudest meal of eggplant parm, brussel sprouts and sweet potato biscuits.  Any picture I ever take of food should be credited to Caroline Merrill.)

The most important thing about this part of my trip was the wonderfulness of spending time with Alaina.  The friendship I have with this girl is one of the most treasured relationships I have.  It is amazing the importance and balance that a best friend can bring to your life.  If only California wasn’t so darn far away. J

Thursday afternoon we packed up and headed down the coast to LA, where Alaina dropped me off for the next phase of my trip.  Arriving in LA was quite the culture shock after being in SLO.  LA and I got off to a rough start after my ticket at the LAX airport.  However, after I got over the ticket and picked up my friend Emily, our 24 hours in LA were much better.  The highlight was definitely the Warner Brothers Studio Tour, where we saw the Friends set and Harry Potter props. Amazing.

After our short and sweet LA trip, Em and I headed to Vegas for Ali’s wedding.  Vegas was a welcome quiet after LA and almost felt like going home.  Which I know sounds strange but I was so ready to leave LA, we really could have gone anywhere and I would have been a happy camper.

Despite that we had just been in Vegas two months ago, this trip was incredibly different.  We stayed in the north part of Vegas at the Red Rock Hotel & Casino, pretty far removed from the strip.  When we arrived Friday night, we were able to meet our friend Mo and make it to the rehearsal dinner after-party.  The weather was perfect on Saturday and we were able to do a little hiking at the Red Rock Canyon, only a few miles from our hotel.  After the hike, we got ourselves dressed up and headed to the wedding. 

From the moment Ali walked down the aisle, we all knew that her wedding was going to reflect her perfectly.  The dress, the colors, the venue, the dinner, the flowers and all the details just matched Ali and Steve so well.  We had an absolute blast at the wedding, catching up with old friends and making new ones.  After sending Ali & Steve off in style, the entire wedding party went back to the Red Rock to continue the celebration. 

On Sunday, Mo and I spent our last day in Vegas at the wedding brunch and then exploring the strip.  We stayed at the Bellagio (my favorite Vegas hotel!) and just enjoyed walking and exploring on Mo’s first Vegas trip.  Even though we had a fabulous time, by Monday afternoon we were definitely ready to head back to the east coast.  After a few airport adventures and canceled flights, I finally made it home at midnight.

Monday night when I got home was the most exhausted I had been in quite a while.  But it was totally worth it.  I have been so blessed with amazing friends who love me and love adventures.  And really, what else can a girl ask for?

SB 2012 (part 1): San Fran

Being back in school definitely has its benefits.  And after two miserable weeks of midterms, you get rewarded with a week off.  The genius of spring break.

For my week long break from classes, I decided to visit one of my very best friends, Alaina, who moved out to San Luis Obispo to teach at Cal Poly University.  It was timed quite well since I could spend a full week with Alaina and then head to Vegas to celebrate the wedding of my very first dc friend, Ali Hamrick.

Since San Luis Obispo (called SLO by the locals, apparently) is in the middle of the state of California, I had the option to fly into either San Francisco or Los Angeles and then Alaina and I would spend the weekend in either place.  I clearly opted for San Fran.

I was told that San Francisco is called “the city” in Nor Cal. And it was definitely unlike any other city I have ever been to.  It has the ‘anything goes’ attitude of NYC, the neighborhood feel of DC, and the ease of a Californian lifestyle.  I loved it.

I arrived Friday night and since I was on east coast time, we crashed right away.  Saturday morning we were up early and headed into the city to begin our day of playing tourist.  We headed to the bay and walked around Ghirardelli Square and Fisherman’s Wharf.  We walked down several of the piers, including pier 39 with all the sea lions! We had a delicious seafood lunch in the wharf then headed to Presidio Park on the bay and spent a few hours relaxing on the beach with a beautiful view of the Golden Gate Bridge.  Thankfully, the weather cooperated as it was 75 degrees and sunny for both days.

After our first day of adventure, we checked into our boutique hotel in the Union Square neighborhood.  The highlight of the hotel was this sign at which point we decided that San Fran was not meant for overweight people.

Saturday night we ventured out in Union Square for dinner and drinks.  After our sushi dinner, we ducked into a little dive bar called the White Horse Tavern.  At this point in the evening, highlights included the worst sangria I have ever had in my life, meeting members of the Duke basketball team, and Alaina legitimately spilling popcorn across the entire bar.

Sunday we did more exploring, this time by simply walking and walking.  We walked through several neighborhoods, my favorites being Nob Hill and Russian Hill.  The houses were beautiful and with those hills, we definitely got our exercise for the weekend. We had brunch in Nob Hill, walked down the famously crooked Lombard Street and then ended back up at the waterfront. 

After meeting up with a few friends, we had Ghirardelli sundaes as our last stop.  After making Alaina promise we could stop at In-N-Out for dinner, we were on our way to SLO J

The Oscars

As written in one of my earlier posts, I had a goal of seeing every movie nominated for best picture this year.  While I definitely didn’t make that happen, I did manage to see five out of the nine, with encouragement from my friend Nader.  While I’m watching the Oscar pre-show, I have decided to write my opinions on what should win this year for yall. J

First, let me fess up that I didn’t see Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close, The Tree of Life, War Horse or Midnight in Paris.  The first three I didn’t really have a desire to see and I just ran out of time to see Midnight in Paris.  However, Midnight in Paris is definitely on my Netflix queue, and from what I hear, this movie would have made it pretty high on my Oscars list…

So on to the movies I did see: The Artist, The Descendants, The Help, Hugo and Moneyball.  I really enjoyed each of these movies, all for various reasons.  If I were in the Academy, here would be my votes:

5. Moneyball

Despite that I’m putting this movie in last place, I really really enjoyed it.  I wasn’t familiar at all with this story but I immediately googled Brad Pitt’s character as soon as I left the theater.  The story was heartwarming and I thought both Brad Pitt and Jonah Hill did a fantastic job.

4. The Artist

This movie has received high reviews since it opened and I completely understand why.  This was the first silent movie I had seen and honestly, I liked it a lot more than I thought I would.  It held my attention the entire movie and I really felt for the characters.  I think the silence actually helped me stay engaged in the movie as it required me to pay close attention to the film, even reading the actors lips at times.

3. The Help

This was the story I already loved.  I literally could not put this book down when I read it about a year ago.  I always worry that I won’t like the movie interpretation of books that I love, but I was pleasantly surprised by The Help.  While this movie may not have my vote for best picture, Viola Davis and Octavia Spencer certainly have my vote for best leading and supporting actresses.

2. The Descendants

The call between spot number 2 and 3 was a tough call.  However, the reason I went with The Descendants over The Help was the family dynamics in this movie.  I thought George Clooney and his daughters in this movie demonstrated an incredibly moving performance of a family caught in the middle of betrayal and heartache.  Watching this family put their lives back together in the midst of crisis was touching. And the beautiful Hawaiian scenery helped.  J

1. Hugo

Hands down, this would be my choice for best film of the year.  This was the last movie of the five that I saw and it was simply amazing.  As cliché as it sounds, I laughed, cried, and wanted to watch the movie again as soon as it ended.  I wanted to adopt Hugo, encourage Isabel and save George Melies.  Upon learning the truth of the story about George Melies, I loved this movie even more.

So there are my thoughts.  We will see if the Academy shares my views tonight...

DC Adventures

So last weekend (now technically two weekends ago) I went to DC for what has become a bimonthly tradition.  There were multiple reasons for this trip.  Of course, I was able to see most everyone in dc that I love.  It helped that I would be able to celebrate Emily’s 26^th birthday with her, a tradition I didn’t want to miss. The weekend was made even better as it was the first time that Catie, Mary Tanner & I had been together in dc for an entire weekend since 2009.  So this was LONG overdue.

And as expected, we had a blast.  It made coming back to reality quite difficult.

Friday when we got into the district, Catie and I went to our old King & Spalding stomping grounds and had lunch at Breadline.  I’m glad some things never change.  After getting ourselves ready for the evening, we did the usual happy hour and dinner with the crew.  Trying to make the most of our dc reunion, Catie, MT and I met up with more friends and just had a fun night out.

Saturday we stayed busy despite the chill.  We had brunch at founding farmers (my favorite restaurant in dc!), shopped at eastern market,  went to the new(ish) Serendipity in Georgetown, and curled up to watch downton abbey.  Once we got ourselves moving again, all old roommates were reunited and we had dinner at Sushiko in Glover Park then headed to Policy to celebrate Emily’s birthday with the crew.  Policy is one of my favorite bars in dc and didn’t disappoint.

Sunday was my one day of winter this year and freezing.  So we went to brunch in the neighborhood and promptly came home and watched back to back movies.  Yes, we are really cool.  Then it was time to get in a few last dc goodbyes and head back to nc.

This was my third trip back to dc since I moved and it was definitely the hardest to leave this time.  For the first few days when I was back in Raleigh, I started thinking about moving back to dc after finishing grad school, even looking up some housing options on craigslist (one of my favorite pastimes).  But then as I settled back into life here, living in Raleigh seemed so normal and easy.

Sometimes it overwhelms me that I feel like I am constantly caught between two worlds.  When I start to think about where I want to be and what I want to do after grad school, the decisions keep piling up.  But it seems so silly to stress about those things.  So I have decided to change my attitude.  Instead of worrying about picking dc or nc in a year in a half when my MPA is done, I’m just going to feel blessed that I have two places to call home.  I'll let yall know how it goes. 

Downton Abbey & Literary Heroines

Over the past week or so, I have become slightly infatuated with the mini-series Downton Abbey.   For those of you that already know and love Downton, I’m sure you are beyond excited to read this blog post.  For those of you that haven’t yet watched, stop reading, go to pbs.org, and watch this show.  Then come back and read my post. J

Downton Abbey centers around a family, the Crawleys, in early 20^th century England.  The family includes the Earl of Grantham, his wife, and their three daughters.  When the family's heir dies with the Titanic, the entire family is pulled into chaos to find a new heir.  Eventually a distant relative from Manchester, Matthew Crawley, is found to be the new heir.  The show then continues in following the Crawley family, their household staff, and the people around them for the years ahead.

It is no surprise that my favorite character is the oldest daughter, Mary Crawley.  Mary is independent, stubborn, and a little rebellious.  But when it comes down to it, she is fiercely loyal, takes care of those she loves, and isn’t afraid to stand up for what she believes in.

Despite that fact that I can’t consider Mary Crawley a literary character (even though Downton Abbey is on PBS- that must count for something), she reminds me of my two very favorite literary heroines: Scarlett O’Hara and Emma Woodhouse. 

Scarlett has always been my favorite, since I read Gone with the Wind years ago.  I was recently reminded of how much I love Scarlett when we watched GWTW a few weeks ago for our girls movie night. Everyone wants to hate Scarlett.  She is selfish, cunning, and doesn’t let anything get in the way of what she wants.  Scarlett is the complete opposite of the meek and mild Melanie Wilkes.  However, the movie doesn’t portray the complexity of Scarlett’s character.  That her strong, stubborn front hides her desperate desire to be good, gentle and kind, just like her mother.  Despite her inner desires, Scarlett cheats, lies, steals and even kills to save her family and her family’s land.

My other favorite heroine is Jane Austen’s Emma Woodhouse.  I think Jane and I would have gotten along quite well, as she wanted to make Emma a heroine “whom no one but myself will much like.”  Emma is headstrong, spoiled, and impatient.  She constantly acts without thinking about the impact her actions will have on others.  However, despite not thinking through her actions, everything she does is meant to help her friends, family, and those she loves.

I see a theme in all these characters and really, I wish I could be friends with  each  of them.  Each of these characters wants to be respectful, kind and generally a good person.  But each of these heroines make mistakes.  Big mistakes.  Mistakes that stay with them throughout their lives. Fortunately, in Emma’s case, when she falls in love with her best friend they end up happily ever after.  Sadly, the opposite holds true for Scarlett.  

Despite not liking Mary’s character during most of the first season of Downton, my tune has changed.  Mary Crawley reminds me of a mix of Scarlett, Emma, Elizabeth Bennett, and Josephine March.  Mary’s story hasn’t played out yet, but I’m hopeful.  Needless to say, I’m cheering for you Mary Crawley!

Living in the Season

So for my third official post, I wanted to write about something that has been on my mind for a few days now.  And while I summer is by far my very favorite season, I promise that my post is not about the months of June, July and August.

My friend Catie sent me a blog entry a few days ago from tulips and flight suits (http://tulipsandflightsuits.squarespace.com/tulips-flight-suits/2012/1/17/all-the-single-ladies.html) titled “All the Single Ladies.”  Before you judge, I want to tell you about my favorite part: “do what is possible & that you love in this season of life."

This is something I struggle with ALL THE TIME.  I know it is human nature to look forward and think about the future, but I feel like I do it constantly.  It’s what we have been taught our whole lives: get good grades in high school so you can go to a good college, do well in college so you can get a good job, work hard and figure out what you really want to do, go to grad school, get the next promotion, and it keeps going.  People ask you your five, ten, twenty year plan and frankly, sometimes it is just exhausting.

While I have heard this a million times, for some reason this blog post just hit home with me. When we are constantly looking ahead and anticipating the next life stage: when I go to grad school, when I get married, when I get this certain job, when I move to this place, we often miss out on the great things about right now.

I had a blast when I lived in DC.  There were hard times, just like any other part of life, but in general, I loved my life there.  I had a good job, great friends, a wonderful church and a fantastic home.  It is bizarre for me to think that if I move back to DC, it won’t be the same.  Friends will have come and left the city, my job will be different, and I’ll just be in a different life stage.  So often in my time in DC I was thinking about the next step, sometimes I forgot to enjoy the present.

So after being inspired, I’m going to really try to love the stage I’m in right now.  I can’t really define it- some combination of a single, grad school, young adult, but that doesn’t seem to cover all of it.  But I know that I’m here for another year and I love grad school, Raleigh, my friends, and my family.  So really, there is no reason not to love my current life.

The author of tulip & flight suits lists examples of doing what you love: taking a trip to italy with your best friend; taking that assignment with work out of the country for a few months; have a west wing or downton abby marathon weekend; eating apples with peanut butter, wheat thins, hummus, and ben & jerry's s'mores ice cream most nights for dinner; going to yoga three times a week; taking that painting class; switching jobs, again; splurging on those j.crew flats; leaving on a spontaneous road trip with five minutes notice; staying up all night ... 

While all these things sound lovely and I have accomplished quite a few of them (NOTE: if any of my best friends want to go to italy- just let me know), I’m going to try to start small.  Last week I went out on a Thursday night, just because I wanted to.  This week I decided that over the next month, I want to watch all the Oscar nominees for Best Picture.  Last November, within 24 hours, I planned a long weekend trip to Florida with two of my best friends.  These are things that make me happy and that I love.   And I get to do them with the people I love, in Raleigh, in DC and across the country.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m looking forward to eventually doing all the things in the American dream.  Maybe even a picket fence one day.  But for years the Lord has been trying to teach me to be patient and to let Him control the timing in my life.  And while patience is still a work in progress for me, I’m going to have a great time doing the things I love while I’m waiting. J

Ringing in 2012

So I’m just going to pretend that I started this blog at the beginning of 2012.  We can go with the fact that it was a New Year’s resolution since that seems to be the thing to do these days.  So forgive me if my first few posts are a little old.  However, since Caroline just put up her NYE post this week, I don’t feel too bad.

So New Year’s 2012. Or 2011.  I’m never sure if you call it the previous year or the new year.  Regardless, for NYE 2011/2012 we went to Vegas.  Those of you that know me are probably very surprised by this destination.  New Year’s was the second time in my life I had been to Vegas - the first being when I was 8 years old on a cross country bus tour with my grandparents.  A great story for another day.

Back to NYE.  I had an amazing time spending a few days in Nevada with nine of my best friends and basically having a mini DC reunion.  One of my reasons for this trip was to be able to spend some quality time with my friend Ali and see her wedding planning in full force.  So my first day in Vegas was spent picking out flowers, visiting her wedding site, looking at menus, and registering at Bloomingdales.  It was so much fun and a great time with Ali and the Hamrick family.  I’m beyond excited to be back at Canyon Gate (picture below) in March to celebrate Ali and Steve!

Then on the 29^th, the whole DC crew arrived and more adventures began.  Of course, being the nerds we are, the first thing we did was visit the Hoover Dam.  We all went on the tour and literally got to look out from inside the dam. Because we were the largest group on the tour and there were nine of us, someone (not sure how this came about) noted that we looked like the Von Trap family.  Of course, we thought this was hilarious.

I even faced my bridge phobia and walked across this bridge.  All of you should be very proud.

For NYE, we all packed up and headed to the strip where we had two suites at the MGM.  After a little bit of champagne, we had a DELICIOUS dinner at China Poblano and drinks at the Chandelier bar, both in the Cosmopolitan Hotel.  Around 11:30 we gathered to head down to the street for fireworks and the countdown.  Then we kept going.

After rallying the next morning, we basically had 24 hours of being Vegas tourists.  We explored several casinos on the strip, ate at one of the hotel buffets, went to a Cirque de Soleil show, rode the NY NY roller coaster, saw the Bellagio water show and of course, played a little blackjack. We even took the monorail.  At this point, I decided that Vegas really is Disney World for adults.

All in all, we just had an awesome time with great friends.  From eating In-N-Out for the first time, to the Hoover Dam, to Studio 54, to singing Sound of Music sounds throughout the streets, it was just really great.  Now we can officially check Vegas off our NYE bucket list.  It’s going to be hard to top that.

here we go....

So after weeks of contemplating this, I’m actually getting my act together and starting a blog. After being inspired by three of my best friends (Caroline, Chelsea and Alaina- I’m talking to yall), I decided to join the blogging world. While I’m not promising anything incredibly interesting or insightful, I’m excited to improve my writing, get my thoughts out, and maybe even find out some new things about myself. I’m hoping my posts will somehow document lessons I’ve learned, things I love, and let’s be honest, lessons I’m still learning.

For anyone that doesn’t know my life story already, here it is. My name is Lauren. Very few people actually call me by my first name. I grew up in Wake Forest, North Carolina and lived there until my high school graduation. I then made my way over to Winston-Salem and spent four fantastic years at Wake Forest University. Leaving Wake on May 19, 2008 was a sad day.

About a month later, I moved to DC. I’m still not sure why I picked this city over Charlotte, Atlanta, Charleston and all the other places in the Southeast I was considering after graduation. Believe it or not, I received my job offer to move to DC in the midst of senior year post exams with the entire graduating class of 2008. And then I did it.

Moving to DC and knowing only two people in the entire city was one of the most frightening and most rewarding decisions I have ever made. I lived in the city for three years, making wonderful friends, exploring city life, and learning more about the person I wanted to be. Like many District residents, I started to get the grad school itch and moved back to Raleigh, NC in August 2011 to start the MPA program at NC State University. 

I can’t count the number of books that I have read about small town girls moving to the city. But there seems to be a shortage of stories about what happens with the newly formed city girl moves back…and that’s where my story starts.