A Day In My Life!

A blog that I frequently visit, the Young Ladies Christian Fellowship, is having a blog carnival today! Each of the five or six regular contributors to the blog has done a "Day In My Life" post, and they have encouraged their blog readers to do the same, and, ultimately, share their links on the blog so all the other readers can peek into their day. While I can't share my blog link on the website due to my privacy settings, I thought I might still do a similar post, just for you wonderful readers. So, here is a peek into my day this past Monday, October 26.

Morning always comes too early, but it seems that it especially does so on Monday mornings. This morning was no exception. It didn't help that I had trouble falling asleep the night before! At precisely 6:45am my radio turned on and the friendly voice of the DJ on 104.9 greeted me. I, being the polite listener that I am, promptly rolled over and hit the snooze button, hereby allowing myself another 7-minutes of blessed rest. 6:52 comes around, and I, once again, roll over and hit snooze, ignoring the fact that I really enjoy hearing the weather report as soon as I wake up, and it typically comes on about this time. Another 7-minutes to try to wake up. At 7:00am my cell phone alarm goes off (yes, I know that there is a chance I'll hit snooze subconsciously and sleep through my alarm, so I set two). It normally plays a song (the 7am alarm is set to Keith Urban's Days Go By), but lately I have purposely set it to vibrate, because a loud song isn't exactly the best thing to wake up to. Needless to say, I continue to have a hard time getting out of bed (a warm bed with a down comforter is hard to get out of!), but by 7:10 or so, I finally convince myself I had better get going, and climb out of bed. I have found that by taking a shower the night before, I can enjoy these precious few extra minutes in bed in the morning.

My first order of business every morning is to greet my two beloved furry friends, Cody & Reba. Both are so excited to see me every morning, that I almost wonder if they half-expect me to not get up in the morning, so they are excited that I decided to. After petting them, telling them goodmorning and also greeting my parents, it is time to quickly get ready for work. I rush around to pick out the perfect warm outfit (it's pouring rain!), which, today is some cute brown casual pants, a black long-sleeved t-shirt and a black fleece vest. I also decide to wear my rubber Crocs, but later decided that was a bad idea in the rain! I hurry to get dressed, put my contacts in, make my hair look decent, make my bed and put makeup on (not a lot!). Pretty soon it is time for breakfast, which Reba joins me for every morning. This morning it is a bowl of Cheerios, my typical quick morning feast. After a hasty breakfast I brush my teeth, grab my red winter coat for the first time this year, pull the hood up over my head, grab my coffee mug and some apple cider mix, and make a mad-dash to the car, getting quite wet in the process. One problem with working so close to my house, is that my car doesn't begin to warm up until I am turning into the parking lot. So my chances of drying off before I get to work are slim. :)

I arrive at work, exactly at 8am on my clock, a couple minutes after on the clock that matters. I'm still convinced that the clock at work is not synchronized properly - everyone at work agrees with me - but there is nothing we can do, and nobody cares if we show up a couple of minutes after 8. I clock in, and head into my cubicle, where I turn my computer on and get ready to start my work day. I am not a huge fan of Mondays. . .there's usually a lot of emails to be read - many of them junk - and you can just tell that everybody wishes the weekend was a bit longer. I check my email, decide what my game plan will be for the day, and then I decide to make myself some hot chocolate to try to wake myself up further, warm myself up, and because hot chocolate on a very wet, rainy Monday, sounds like a perfect idea. My cup of hot chocolate prepared, I set to work on my tasks for the day.

Around 12:50 I head home for lunch. Because I work about 5 minutes from my house, I often head home for lunch. My dogs run to greet me in the driveway (of course!) and then we all head in for lunch. Today I enjoy two cream cheese and strawberry jam sandwiches on white bread. They are delicious. I head to my bedroom where I proceed to eat lunch and check in with the Facebook world. I enjoy relaxing for about an hour, and then it's back to work to finish up my tasks for the day. Today also happens to be my friend Aley's birthday. Aley is one of my best friends from California, and since I can't say Happy Birthday in person, I decide to leave her a video message on Facebook (something I recently learned I can do) on her wall. After about 5 attempts, I finally get one I am okay with. And I post it to her wall for all to see. :) I return to work soon thereafter.

At precisely 4:58 I leave work. Normally I would stay until 5, or a few minutes after, but today my boss (the only person with keys who stayed till the end of the day) has to leave right at 5, so those of us who are still there quickly finish up and get ready to leave. I head home and again check in with my Facebook friends and take some time to relax some more. I am so tired, and it's so dreary outside, that I curl up under my down comforter until dinner time, and promptly fall asleep. I wake up in time for dinner and enjoy some BBQ chicken that my mom oven-baked. I thought it was very good, but I'm not sure the rest of my family shared the sentiment. Oh well.

After dinner I head to college group at a local church. I had attended a college group in the past at my church, but stopped going for various reasons. However, recently I have been feeling the need to spend time with more young people and to get involved with a college group again, so now I am going to this particular college group. We sing a few songs and the pull out our Bibles for our study. Eventually we're going to go through the book of Zechariah, but before we get there we've been doing some background. Tonight we are doing a chapter in Ezra, and then the book of Haggai. I can't say I've spent much time in those books before, so it is an interesting study. Afterwards we all chat over nacho cheese Mexican dip, and eventually I head home, ready for bed.

Before long it is truly time to get some sleep. I'm a night owl at heart, which means that even with my best intentions I usually get less sleep than I should, but I'm in bed before midnight (I think it was before 11:30!). I read a chapter in my Bible (tonight, because I'm eager to turn my light out to start preparing my brain for sleep, I use the Bible App on my iPod), double check both alarms to make sure they are ready for the "snooze routine" in the morning, and say goodnight to the world. I snuggle deep down in my covers, pull my comforter up tight, and quickly. fall. asleep.

A Peek Into My Week

I hereby declare that this past week was one of the best weeks I've had in awhile - although it was also one of the busiest. :) During the day I worked, but it was the activities in the evenings that created the busyness. Here's a peek into my busy week.

Monday

Obviously I began the work week at 8am. Because everyone was pretty tired, my co-worker and I made a Starbucks/Donut House run and picked up coffee for those who wanted it. I, of course, greatly enjoyed my tall caramel frappucinno. Yum! Monday evening was college group. I have been going to the college group at a local church on Monday nights for a few weeks now. I had gone to a college group a few years ago at my church, but when I had night classes for school I ended up not being able to go, and eventually, for various reasons, decided that wasn't where I was supposed to be. I was content with that, but lately have been feeling the need to get involved with a college group again, and hang out with young people outside of my tight circle of friends. So I am going to a college group at a different local church now. Yes, some of my circle of friends also attend the college group, but interacting with a larger group of people my age has been wonderful these past few weeks.

Tuesday

I'm going to assume it's a given that I had work Monday through Friday, and won't mention it anymore. :) Tuesday night was Awana. I am working with the 5th & 6th grade girls and am loving (almost) every minute of it. :) I have some of the sweetest girls. It's so cool to be involved in their lives in this small way. It makes me doubly appreciate the time that my Awana leaders spent investing in my life when I was a clubber. :)

Wednesday

For the past 3 years or so, my close friends and I have been meeting for Girl's Group. For the past couple of years we have been meeting on Wednesdays. Over the years our group has grown and changed. The girl who originally started the group, my friend Andrea, left us to attend school at Moody Bible Institute in Chicago. Other girls have joined us for awhile and then moved on. My friend Val is away at school in Boise. My friend Kristy moved back to California. So, now there are three of us: me, Michelle and Sarah, and we get together on Wednesday nights to talk about what's going on in our lives (and we usually laugh a lot, too!), and for about a year or so we have been going through some Bible study guides. Right now we are going through a Kay Arthur study of 1 & 2 Corinthians. We have only covered Week 1 so far, but I think it's going to be a good study.

Thursday

Normally Thursday nights don't contain any planned activity. This week, however, happened to be the opening night of the local college's production of Shakespeare's Measure for Measure, and I happened to know two of the actors. A group of friends and I went to see the production, and it was very well done. However, it started at 7:30pm and ran for about 3-hours, so it was a late night.

Friday

On Friday I went over to my friend Sarah's house with several other girls to help her finish up decorations and food items for her future sister-in-law's bridal shower the following day. We had a blast making brownies, decorating cookies, cutting out decorations, and dancing around the kitchen to a random blend of music. . .and eating sour gummy candies. :)

Saturday

On Saturday I slept in (finally!) and went to the aforementioned bridal shower. It was a really fun shower. :)

Yep, that's my week in a nutshell. It was busy, but super-fun. I enjoyed every minute of it, and look forward to the adventures of this upcoming week!

Current Playlist: Bublé & Groban

As you might have noticed, down at the bottom of my page is a music playlist. It doesn't start automatically, just because I know some people would rather not listen to music while visiting my blog. However, if you would like to listen to random blend of music, it's there. I do update or change this from time-to-time, depending on my mood or the season.

Current Playlist: Bublé & Groban - the music of (you guessed it!) Michael Bublé and Josh Groban.

Enjoy!

I'm In Love. . .

. . .with Michael Bublé (and, of course, his music!). (I had you for a second with the title, didn't I?!)

For those of you not familiar with the greatness that is Michael Bublé, let me introduce you.

Michael Bublé is a Canadian singer, but he actually took Italian citizenship in 2005. He takes a lot of older songs by artists ranging from Frank Sinatra to the Beatles, to who-knows-who-else, and a whole variety of others - songs such as "You Don't Know Me," "Feeling Good," "Can't Buy Me Love," "Save the Last Dance For Me," - and puts a fresh spin on them. Most of his songs have a jazzy/swing feel to them. He also writes some original songs, which are amazing as well.

Anyway, Michael Bublé just released a new album on October 9 entitled Crazy Love, and I am planning to make a trip to Target tomorrow, in the hopes that the album is still on sale so I can buy it. :) In the meantime I have contented myself with listening to the songs from the CD on YouTube. So far there are several that I can't stop singing in my head.

But instead of me trying to sell you on Michael Bublé, here are two of the songs from his newest album. If you like what you hear, look him up on YouTube. There's plenty more out there. :)

Enjoy!

The Title Song, "Crazy Love"


And an original composition, the first single from this album, "Haven't Met You Yet." (And I'm pretty sure he must have had a blast recording this promo video!)

The Older I Get. .

. . .the faster my friends start dropping like flies. By "dropping like flies" I mean getting engaged and, ultimately, married.

When I was 4 or 5 I got to be the flower girl in my dad's cousin's wedding. Someday I'll find some of those old pictures, scan them, and share them with you all. For now, close your eyes and just imagine a really cute, blonde angel (okay, maybe not so much on the angel part). Picture said angelic creature in a simple white dress with a pink satin ribbon pinned around as a sash. Imagine a wreath of flowers with two little pink roses, one opened, one still a bud. Picture said blonde hair curled really nice, and a basket of flowers in hand. Okay, you can open your eyes now. That was Laura as a flower girl that you were picturing. Yes, I still have the basket.

Anyway, that was the first and only wedding I went to until I was in college. And it's still the only wedding I've ever been in (I'm working on trying to get my close friends married off. . .so far I've not been successful). I would hear people talk about the weddings they had been to, and so on, and I couldn't honestly remember exactly what being at a wedding was like. The whole flower girl experience is kind of a daze (although that is the first airplane trip I remember vividly - I couldn't figure out how the pilot knew where we were going and where to land the plane!).

In my first year of college, someone who had been involved with the college group got married. My friend and I went, because we both wanted to go to a wedding. After that wedding is when going to weddings started getting weird. Why was it weird? Because those getting married were friends of mine - my age or younger!

My friend Joanna got married about 2 years ago. She was the first actual friend of mine to get married. It was weird. I caught the bouquet at that one. Some good that's done me. :) I'm pretty sure that "luck" wears off after a year, or something.

Last year my dear friend Britney married her sweetheart. It was a beautiful, elaborate wedding, enjoyed by all.

Last month my childhood best friend, Bethany, got married. The girl who swore-off boys with me in elementary school found the love of her life and married him. And I am so happy for her.

The reason for this whole post - the events that encouraged these thoughts in my head - is the fact that today my friend Heidi got married. . .and tomorrow, in Hawaii (and no, I won't be in attendance) my childhood friend and, later, pen-pal, Tamara, is tying the knot.

I know many others who have gotten married. I've been at most of their weddings (except for any friends who got married outside of the state of Idaho!). It's a stage of life, I know, but it's weird. Eventually all of these who have gotten, or are getting, married will have children (some of them already have!) and instead of buying wedding presents I'll be buying baby presents. . .but I guess that's just the way growing up is.

As for me? I don't have any plans of getting married in the near future. I've always said I'm going to end of being the last of my friends to get married (although they tell me that by saying that I'm setting myself up to be first. *grin*), but by going to all these weddings I am accumulating ideas in my head for that someday when I am the princess walking down the aisle to meet up with my Prince Charming. And then all those who are in attendance can think about how many weddings *they* have been to, and all the single girls can wonder when *their* turn will come. But until then, we can all dream, knowing that "someday my prince will come!" And until then (and after!) I will continue to encourage my friends who are at that stage, and I will continue to be a frequent wedding gift shopper at Bed, Bath & Beyond. :)