I got a letter today from William Woods University today. I've officially been accepted! I'm so super excited. I got a call Wednesday informing me, but something about getting an official letter just feels awesome. So, Lord willing, I'll be an owl next fall. Woot! 

  

Cheers, 

Lauren 

This is one of my favorite Christmas songs. I really like the way these guys sing it too, but they all "know" they're cute. It's kind of annoying. But I like pulling up the song, and then checking my mail/facebook. -That way I can listen and don't have to watch them. :)









Also, mom told me that there isn't a link back to my blog from the automatic e-mail that some of you get when I post. So I'm going to try to remember to hyperlink my name back to the posts. Basically, if you want to see my page instead of reading my posts as an e-mail, click my name at the bottom of the post. 


Cheers,
Lauren 

This is an essay I had to write for school last week. It's a personal essay about Thanksgiving. Hope you enjoy it! ~Lauren 

~~~~

For many families, Thanksgiving is a joyful day of giving thanks, yummy food, family and football. While this is certainly the case for my family, I can’t help but think that most families don’t have what I’ve grown up with. Our most recent thanksgiving holiday stretched into a four-day weekend, starting with a wonderful Thanksgiving dinner, and ending with a fantastic Sunday lunch, but the fellowship with extended family through the weekend is what made it one that I will remember for a long time. 

While football is part of our holiday weekend, I love it solely for entertainment reasons. When my aunts and uncles watch football, they are very vocal. Listening to them whoop while doing their victory dances, or yell at the players to run faster is much more entertaining than the actual game. Of course, our weekend wouldn’t be complete without also having a chick-flick movie night. We usually have one “girls only” movie night, while the guys watch sports and play video games. This is always fun, and we get to enjoy having some girl time while watching period-pieces. 

Another tradition that my cousins and I have established over the years is coloring Disney pictures with crayons, while listening to musical soundtracks. This tradition was a big part of our holiday this year, including an eleven-man parade to the store to buy coloring pages. Another tradition we love is playing “outside” games, such as ultimate frisbee, basketball, mafia, (a made-up game based on a card-game) and tag. These games are especially great because we can all enjoy time together, even though our group this year varied in age from 11 to 20. 

Sunday morning Church is also a great blessing because the relationships we’ve built up during the week are fortified as we worship our God together. This is something that I’ve never really thought about before, but this holiday season has really helped me appreciate the amazing blessing of a wonderful family. 

This holiday season, I really feel like I’ve had an epiphany. I’ve learned that I’ve been blessed with a wonderful childhood, with great family, and memories I will never forget. I’ve learned that crazy families are the best, tradition is good, and the future will be amazing. As we have built up relationships and memories together, I have learned what a gift my grandparents, parents, aunts, uncles, and cousins have given me: the gift of a close family. That is what I am thankful for this year.  

Happy Birthday :)

November 30th

I found out a few days ago that today is Jonathan Swift, Sir Winston Churchill, and  Mark Twain's birthday. Pretty cool, huh? So, in honor of them, I found a bunch of their quotes. (What is it with me and quotes??) :)

Anyway, they were all pretty interesting men, so I hope you enjoy!

~~~~~~~~~~

Difficulties mastered are opportunities won. ~SWC

There are two things that are more difficult than making an after-dinner speech: climbing a wall which is leaning toward you and kissing a girl who is leaning away from you. ~SWC

You have enemies? Good. That means you've stood up for something, sometime in your life. ~SWC

“A kindness spontaneously offered to him who needs it, is doubly gratifying.” ~JS

Too often the strong, silent man is silent only because he does not know what to say, and is reputed strong only because he has remained silent. ~SWC

I think we never become really and genuinely our entire and honest selves until we are dead--and not then until we have been dead years and years. People ought to start dead, and they would be honest so much earlier. ~MT

Never tell the truth to people who are not worthy of it. ~MT

Oh, this infernal Human Race! I wish I had it in the Ark again--with an auger! ~MT

Nothing is so great an example of bad manners as flattery. If you flatter all the company, you please none; If you flatter only one or two, you offend the rest. ~JS                                 

God's noblest work? Man. Who found it out? Man. ~MT

I never knew a man come to greatness or eminence who lay abed late in the morning. ~JS

Power is no blessing in itself, except when it is used to protect the innocent. ~JS

I don't mind what the opposition say of me so long as they don't tell the truth about me. But when they descend to telling the truth about me I consider that this is taking an unfair advantage. ~MT

“Vision is the art of seeing things invisible.” ~JS


The truth is incontrovertible. Malice may attack it, ignorance may deride it, but in the end, there it is. ~SWC

“May you live all the days of your life.”  ~JS

The length of this document defends it well against the risk of its being read. ~SWC

Soda

I'm considering taking sodas out of my diet. Thoughts? Opinions?

Cheers,

Lauren

A bucket full of dreams

Someday I'm going to look back on my 17-year-old self, and laugh at the things I think (thought) are (were) important. Oh well. Anyway, I know some people write letters to their future (or former) self, and I've been thinking about doing that, but it would probably just end up unbearably awkward. So instead, I've decided that I'm just going to publish (on the world-wide-interweb,) a list of things I hope to do in the future. Sort of like a bucket list, but not really.

Enjoy!

Someday, I want live in the middle of no-place, own several wooded acres, and have a blueberry farm and llamas. 

Someday, I want to grow a garden like this: 

Someday, I want to hang-glide. 

Someday, I want to mountain-unicycle. 

Someday, I want to milk a cow.

Someday, I want to climb a mountain.

Someday, I want to be a published author. Like of a book. Preferably Books. 

Someday, I want to be a Wife, Mother, Grandmother, and Great-grandmother. 

Someday, I want to travel the world.

Someday, I want to be an amazing cook.

Someday, I want to speak in front of 1,000 people. Or maybe 10,000 people.

Someday, I want to run a marathon.

Someday, I want to be a good snowboarder. ( I guess this mean I should snowboard someday?)

Someday, I want to live (for at least 2 years,) in another country.

Someday, I want to pogo a mile.

Someday, I want to be an American Sign Language Interpreter.

Someday, I want to work with kids.

Someday, I want to (short-term) work in a museum. (Smithsonian? Library of Congress?)    

Someday, I want to look back on my life, and say "I have really lived. And not because of me, but because I have lived for God."

~~~~~~ 

"In my world everyone is a pony, and they all eat rainbows, and poop butterflies!"