A Long Time Past.....

So, I have realized it has been forever since I have blogged......almost 6 months. A lot has happened since then. We spent Christmas in Vegas. Mom, Dad, and I had a blast! New Year's was spent in Mobile, again, with my best of friends and it was thoroughly enjoyable with all my babies! Since then, the year has flown by and I can't believe it is already April and almost May! I ran the Cooper River Bridge Run again this year. It was a blast and I am enjoying the new tradition of living in SC and running it with the Stewart clan! I was, also, very excited to be running it with some Columbia peeps! Beat my PR from last year, so was pumped about that as well!

    The next big adventure is coming up quickly! Friday, Tiffany and I leave for Australia. To say we are a little excited is truly an understatement! It seems like we have been planning this trip for such a long time that the fact it is actually here is just crazy! I am really excited to be visiting Ben and Leslie Mosteller and know they are going to be the best tour guides in the world! And, can't wait to see them after almost 9 months! Miss my little brother and his precious wife! Tiffany and I are excited to go on this crazy adventure and 23 hour flight....so if you read this before Friday, know that we covet your prayers on our level of ADD for this flight! I will definitely post some pics when we get back and tell all about it! Well, off to pack. Until the next time!

Thanksgiving and SEC Championship

SO, it has been a crazy past few weeks. I have had a great month of November. Work has been great, diet has gone well (20 pounds and in second or first place in the competition!), and been really busy! Thanksgiving was great with just Mom, Dad, and I enjoying each other's company. Mom had fallen and hurt her knee a few days before Thanksgiving, so all of our plans changed abruptly. We went from being on the go every second to just relaxing and taking care of mom!

Sleeping with the boy in front of the fire....how we spent a lot of the break.

    Last minute, I decided to do some Black Friday shopping with friends. It was hilarious to watch people who were so intense in buying things! We began our night at 10:30 and our first stop was Starbucks for coffee. Well, Starbucks didn't get the memo that they should be open then on Thanksgiving for the start of Black Friday. So, this began our adventure to McDonald's where everyone else who wanted Starbucks went. 30 minutes in the drive thru line, almost leaving my friend Jessica at the McDonald's because I forgot to get the change, and two cups of coffee later, we were on our way to Calhoun Outlets. Mrs. Seehorn, Brady, Jessica, and Andrew and I were ready for the mayhem! We had a blast there and finished all the stores with not too many purchases. It was around 2:30 am by then and we headed towards Chattanooga. We hit up Chick-fil-a for an early morning breakfast and went to Toys-R-Us and the mall. It was all around a good time. We returned home that morning around 7 am. Exhausting but great! Dad left Sunday AM for China and I decided to take a few days to help mom out. I, also, got to have my traditional date day with Avery Carr and make an amazing Gingerbread house!

Avery showing off the gingerbread house! She did it all by herself!

   Mom came home with me for the week. It was good spending time with her. I took her home this past Saturday and on the way home found out I got to go to the SEC championship! I LOVE where I work! I just had mentioned that I would be going through Atlanta Saturday and they hooked me up! It was so much fun to watch the game. I had my first SEC game period this year, then this....a blast!

Ticket

Carolina running in

Auburn running in

Celebration at the end of the game

    Now just getting ready for Christmas Season. I love this time of year, it is my favorite. I will share my Christmas stuff later...ciao for now!

A Year Ago....

So, to FINALLY continue my back trekking....a year ago is when my trip around the US took place. So, after my round with St. Louis. I did a "wonderful" trip across Kansas...there is nothing in Kansas! Why they put a toll road for you to go through it....gotta make money somehow! After an overnight stay in Colby, KS, I made it to Denver, CO.

I have a wonderful friend from college, Holly, that invited me to stay with her while I was there. First on the list of "to-do's" was eat lunch...I will never have anything that compares to the freshness and true flavors of Denver food! It was amazing!

 After our lunch, we went even higher than the "mile-high" city and hiked the Rockies. It was gorgeous! There was still snow on the ground from snow earlier in the week. It was just beautiful there!

After that, we toured around town and she introduced me to spaghetti squash....another new favorite of mine! Also while I was in Denver, some friends from Charleston were there. So, Thoma and Valerie and I got to spend some time together while we were there. We toured a candy shop and went around downtown Denver. It was great! Hard to leave that place and can't wait to return!

     I decided to make a hotel reservation that night for Salt Lake City, Utah and be ahead of the game. So, I started my trek to Salt Lake by way of Cheyenne, Wyoming. On my way to Wyoming, about 2 hours out of Denver, my alternator decided to die on the car....not a fun problem to have in the middle of nowhere as I like to call it, or Loveland, CO. Four hours later, I had a new alternator (thankfully they had a small Ford dealership there). I headed back on my 9 hour trip to Salt Lake...I just had to make my reservation!

  This caused my trip through Cheyenne to be a lot shorter than it was supposed to! But, I got to see some of the life size boots they are famous for! It was so cool!

    Alright, enough for today.....more to follow later.

OVO!

This weekend was very busy and a blast all at once! I finally made it home to Dalton to see my parents and friends. I made it home late Friday to a nice, warm fire my Dad had made....it was great since it was freezing outside! Saturday morning, I woke up and had brunch with my friend Jennifer and her wonderful family! The clutz in my spilled my coffee as soon as I got it...thankfully it wasn't scalding and didn't burn me or any of the children! I was excused because I was sitting on the "kids" side of the table. The girls told me from then on out, "Don't spill it!" Hilarious in the end. After that I met my friends Courtney and Chris and some new friends in Atlanta. We watched OVO which is Cirque du Soleil! It was great! I loved it, and it being my first time seeing it, I was very impressed! Then, we went to a brazillian steakhouse for dinner and ate our hearts out. It was great spending time with them and laugh til we cried! Sunday, it was church, which was great to see my church family, and lunch with the Carrs. Avery is the smartest girl I know, smarter than me for sure. We had a blast and got "Sweet Treats" from Panera.....only we found out they weren't called "sweet treats" but "Bakery Items" after Matt had gone and ordered a "sweet treat" to add to his meal! Hilarious! Overall, a great weekend and I look forward to the next trip to Dalton to see everyone again and maybe have a little down time! Until next time!

Back to the Gym

Well, after sitting around miserable because I can't run, I decided it was time to get back in the gym! I have been thinking about it for awhile, so I finally got motivated and joined. The doctor told me I was allowed to do eliptical, cycling and swimming after 3 weeks (which will be this Tuesday) but no running. Great thing is, the gym has all three!!! So, now to stay motivated and stay in the gym! The new adventure this week! Along with a new gym membership, I got a new hair color...was going a little fun with red/purple color to peak out underneath the blonde. She did it a little more blonde than I wanted it, but oh well.....it will change again in a few weeks!
     Also, this week, was sad because our dog of almost 14 years was put to sleep. Darla Mae had been with us since we were pre-teens. She had definitely lived a great life and was having a hard time getting around any longer. She was supposed to come stay with me the next few weeks, so Momma had taken Darla to the vet to get pain medicines for her to be able to make the trip to my house. They just knew there wasn't much more they could do. So, now she is just as happy and healthy in doggy heaven. It was a hard day Friday for all of us! But, I have sweet Brady and crazy Beau to keep me busy now.
     I tried out a new church today close to my house. I really enjoyed it. It is different than other churches I have visited, but I liked that about it. I am at the point now, I am just ready to find a church! AND today I turned the heat on in the house.....I am excited about cooler weather, but not looking forward to the cold! Next week is hopefully just a normal week, but I am really looking forward to going home to Dalton, FINALLY, to see all my long lost friends and meet with some college friends in Atlanta on Saturday to see Cirque du Soleil's OVO! Until next time!

What Color is That?

SO, it has been very busy since I last posted. Mom and Dad came in town for Mom's birthday and her 30th college reunion two weekends ago. It was great to spend time with them and utterly hilarious! Mom was bound and determined that the people standing in the alumni section were way too old to be her class......much to her surprise, she had some classmates standing around! I guess Momma just ages well! After traveling to Clinton for the morning/early afternoon, we car "toured" Newberry. I wasn't able to walk too much, so the amount of walking done at PC was enough for me for a bit. Mom, of course being herself, decided I needed to ice my foot....she went into the Clinton Hampton Inn and got me a bag of ice. She is special....and I love her. We then headed back to Columbia. Mom decided on the way back we needed to take the scenic route and find North, SC so we can say we had been to 90 miles southeast of Due West. :)



Momma and I in North, SC



We celebrated Mom's birthday that night with Olive Garden to eat and lots of cupcakes from Cupcake here in Columbia and Dad's totally AMAZING pound cake! (Needless to say I broke the diet....yet somehow still lost weight!). We spent the rest of the weekend hanging out and enjoying each other's company.

The week was my busiest yet with flu shots. I was out of town 3 days of the 5 and worked way over my normal 40 hours! That left me with tons to catch up on at the office when I got back! It was a good week overall and I got to meet some awesome people in satellite locations!

I got an itch to change things in my house this weekend. So, I decided it was FINALLY time to change bathroom colors in my room, as well as my bedroom. After much scrutinizing over the colors, I figured it out, bought the paint, and was ready to go! A friend of mine was amazing and offered to help me paint. After 3 hours Friday, our first coat was done! Light blue with an accent wall in the bathroom and light gray in the bedroom. I spent Friday night with friends just relaxing and letting lose. Saturday, woke up early to see some of the cutest twins in Columbia. Ate some Moe's...which was way overdue, and came back home. My amazing friend came to help me finish the painting. We finished the second coats in about 3 hours as well. When we finished moving all the furniture back and were inspecting our work we noticed something funny. The trimming in the bedroom looked blue......weird. Then looked in the bathroom.....dang it the trim is gray! We somehow, still unbeknownst to us, switched our paint cups and trimmed in the wrong colors! So, we got back to it and fixed our problems. Now, all is painted and looks so good! I bought a new comforter and now just have to decorate the walls!



The new bedroom and comforter...just have to add the wall art!



Other than that, just have been catching up on work and resting. We start a new Bible study this week, which I am excited about too. AND it is halfway point for our weight-loss challenge at work! I am down 16 pounds so far....totally pumped! Hoping to lose that much more in the second half! Pressing through.....until next time.....ciao!

You did what???

   A lot has happened in the world of Lauren since the last post. I got to visit my first satellite location for flu shots in Spartanburg, which was a lot of fun, and then I headed to good ol' Mobile, AL. After working all day Thursday, I drove straight to Mobile and got to visit with all of my besties there and attend a beautiful wedding in Pensacola. The first part of my trip was spent with Nikki and her precious children, Vivi, Luke, and Logan. I was blessed and excited to spend the majority of my Friday with Luke and Logan as Nikki had to work. Logan is 3 months and absolutely precious....but poor baby was sick. Luke is my sweet boy who is so funny. He decided to rename me this weekend to Wanda. We have no idea where it came from, but it brought us all to tears in laughter as he continually called me this. Nikki and I got to have a long-needed "Girls' Night" Friday night. It was great! We had Zia's (one of my fav's) and it wouldn't be a meal with Nikki if we didn't get something free.....she got us a free dessert...AMAZING! After being stuffed there, we went to the mall and did some shopping, then went and saw a movie. It was great to be back with such a close friend. Saturday morning came early and I got to attend my sweet, athletic Vivi's soccer game! She rocked! I was so proud of her.
    After the soccer match, I had to rush to get ready for a wedding of my friend April's in Pensacola. It was gorgeous and I was so happy to see her happy. Plus, it was a beautiful drive to and from Pensacola. After the wedding, I came back to spend time with my other bestie, Tiffany. She and I had a wonderful "Girls' Night" as well with dinner at Bonefish Grill! It rocked! Then we went by Target and got some amazing chocolate chip cookie brownies to make. We allowed the boys to join us and we had a great dessert and catch up time. Sunday, I got to spend with Tiff, Johnathan and the growing twins. They are getting way too big and are talking up a storm! Seems like yesterday Brooklyn and Jacob were being held in my arms as babies. Sunday night, Nikki and her fam, Tiffany and the kids, and Cheryl (another friend) and her kids got together at Olive Garden. We had a blast to catch up and enjoy food......can you see my diet was blown this weekend? Anyway, it was great. Monday I got to go to my old work and surprise everyone and catch up with old co-workers. It was then lunch, scrub purchasing, washing the car and back to Columbia.
    It was a busy long weekend, but great fun! I miss them so much! Then, it was back to work Tuesday to play catch up on everything I had missed. It was a crazy day. Tuesday afternoon, I had an appointment with Ortho because my foot was not getting better from hurting, but only worse. Well, it seems like I should probably listen to my body when it says I am hurt and not be stubborn and go run further/do the Mud Run injured. Seems I have ruptured my plantar fascia. Rare to do, and I was like,what the heck?!?! But, glad I have figured out why it is hurting. Now I am on strict restrictions with a "sexy" sock to wear to bed that lifts my foot in a very awkward angle (no sleep last night because of it), no weight bearing, no running, heel supports and a horrible injection of medications that I swear was given to me so that I will hurt worse and obey orders. Anyway, that has been my busy week in a "brief" discription.
    In this next week, I will be out of town 4 of the 7 days for satellite flu shots, so I am hoping I can walk appropriately. And the whole fam is coming into town for Mom's b-day....so excited! That is about it.....until next time!