My Exciting Life. . .Or Lack Thereof. . .

So. . .let's see. . .what's interesting and exciting in Laura's life lately?

Not much.

Sorry, I'm sure you were hoping for something much more profound - I am sorry to disappoint!

I'm being completely honest, however. . .there hasn't been much of interest to occur lately. However, since you did stop by my blog in hopes of an update, and since I want to encourage people to keep reading my blog, I will share with you the uneventful and boring. You've been warned. :)

I keep busy between the hours of 8-5 with work, at least Monday through Friday. We're getting ready to exhibit at a tradeshow (I get to go - just to walk around and experience the whole thing) so we've been putting together brochures, and getting all the paperwork taken care of. I ordered a bunch of pens, bottle openers and these super-cool post-it books (called pocket flag buddies) and we're going to hand some of those things out. I'm also finishing up the company newsletter. It is going to be a quarterly publication.

On Sunday nights I've been going to a new college group. Well, it's not new new, but it's new to me. It meets at a church on the far side of Post Falls, but it's really not that bad of a drive. I've been several times and I'm enjoying it so far, and it's nice to meet some new people. You can visit the website for the group, here: Retro.

On Wednesday nights I am still getting together with two of my best friends for Girl's Group. We are getting ready to start a new Bible study guide, but we have to wait a few weeks to start it, just because some of us are not going to be able to meet this week and next.

Other than that, my nights are usually consumed by reading, or playing with the dogs, or listening to music on my iPod, and, of course, checking in on Facebook. :)

Fall is definitely here in North Idaho. Right now I'm *freezing* but that is only because it has been so warm and is now chilly. It was 37-degrees this morning! But never to worry, as they say, if you don't like the weather in North Idaho, wait 5 minutes - it will change. And change it will, because tomorrow is supposed to be 83 and Wednesday is supposed to be 90. Summer is hanging on by a thread. Although I have to say I love when the leaves fall down, and you can make ginger cookies and drink apple cider without being *completely* off-your-rocker. :) I also love jumping in leaf piles. . .what can I say?!

Anyway, yeah. . .that's a little peek into what I've been up to and what's going on in my world. . . :)

Till later,

Laura

The Rambling Thoughts in My Mind

Hello Faithful Readers!

It is I, just here with a little update on what's going on in the Life of Laura.
Let's see. . .I suppose I should start by introducing you to one of my new toys. Blog readers, meet my new Macbook Pro. :) Sorry it's such a dark picture.

No, it doesn't have a name yet. But I love it. :)

While I'm at it, I should probably introduce you to another one of my new toys.

Yep, it's an iPod Touch. It's pretty fun, as well. I can go on Facebook while listening to music, all on an iPod. Eventually I'm hoping to download some free Apps so I can play some games, too. I guess it's today's version of a PDA, or something.

I think that's probably enough new toys. . .at least for now, but I'm having fun with them.

I also found out that three of my favorite musical artists (Josh Turner, Carrie Underwood and Michael Buble) are coming out with new albums in October and November. So I'm pretty excited about that, too. I've been realizing more and more how much I love listening to music, lately. Especially country. Sorry, country-haters. I didn't like it either until I started listening to to it. Now I love it, and own more country CDs than any other genre. What can I say? :) Anyway, yeah. . .I'm trying to decide if I should get those CDs right when they come out, and are usually on sale at Target, or if I should wait for Christmastime. I'll probably wait, but we'll see!

What I really should do is get an adaptor so I can hook my iPod up to my car stereo. That would be just so cool. I think I'll try to find one.

I am on a four-day weekend from work. Yes, I get a paid holiday for Labor Day. Excited? You bet I am! I get to run errands during the week for once, and get some stuff done. I've got a whole list of things to accomplish. I also hope to go to the library - even though I don't really need to check out books because I have a bunch that I've borrowed from friends that I need to read. I borrowed Ted Dekker's circle trilogy from a friend. I started reading Black last summer, never had a chance to finish it, and hadn't been able to get it at the library since. My friend had it, so I am borrowing it and plan to read the whole trilogy - but haven't gotten to it yet. Plus I am borrowing another book from another friend, that apparently has a series connected to it, too.

As far as books go, mostly I tend to read historical fiction. They usually have a bit of sappiness, which the hopeless romantic in me enjoys, plus the historical part is really cool. I think the pioneer era would have been so cool to live in, although I can't decide if I would pick the pioneer era or the Pride & Prejudice regency era, if I could go back in time! :)

Work is going well. I am doing marketing at a software company, for anyone who didn't know yet. It's interesting and a chance to use my degree, but it's sometimes a challenge. I just finished our first issue of the in-house newsletter. It turned out pretty cool, if I do say so myself. :)

Okay, this post has become a mumble-jumble of my rambling mind. Hopefully it caught you up a little bit, and hopefully it won't be too long before I do it again!

Till Next Time,

Laura

Never Fear. . I'm Still Here. . .

Hi Blog Readers (are there any??)!

This is just a note to let you know that yes, I still exist. :) I have just been super-busy enjoying summer, hanging out with friends, seeing movies, and working full-time at my new job. . .so that hasn't left much time for blogging. . .but I will hopefully be back on here soon.

Happy Summer!

Laura

God Bless the USA!

On Saturday we will be celebrating our nation's birthday. While perhaps our country is not doing as well as it has in the past, we should still be thankful for the freedoms we enjoy as citizens of the United States of America.

If tomorrow all the things were gone,
I’d worked for all my life.
And I had to start again,
with just my children and my wife.

I’d thank my God above
to be livin here today.
‘ Cause the flag still stands for freedom,
and they can’t take that away.

And I’m proud to be an American,
where at least I know I’m free.
And I wont forget the men who died,
who gave that right to me.

And I gladly stand up,
next to you and defend her still today.
‘ Cause there ain’t no doubt I love this land,
God bless the USA.

From the lakes of Minnesota,
to the hills of Tennessee.
Across the plains of Texas,
From sea to shining sea.

From Detroit down to Houston,
and New York to L.A.
Well there's pride in every American heart,
and its time we stand and say.

That I’m proud to be an American,
where at least I know I’m free.
And I wont forget the men who died,
who gave that right to me.

And I gladly stand up,
next to you and defend her still today.
‘ Cause there ain’t no doubt I love this land,
God bless the USA.

And I’m proud to be and American,
where at least I know I’m free.
And I wont forget the men who died,
who gave that right to me.

And I gladly stand up,
next to you and defend her still today.
‘ Cause there ain’t no doubt I love this land,
God bless the USA.

Seattle Trip Pictures: Thursday

Speak No Evil, See No Evil, Hear No Evil

The Lovely Sarah!

The Three Amigas. . .All in Purple!

Only Some of the Delicacies at The Queen Mary Tea Room!

Me. . .Dressed in Purple. . .Surrounded by Purple. . .

Seattle Trip Part 4: Thursday

One of the things we wanted to do on our trip was go all out by dressing up in our formal skirts/dresses and going out to eat. We were originally planning on going out to dinner, but ended up going instead to a really cute little tea room. We decided to go on Thursday and, for a couple of us, it was a "lazy morning" day. For the other two of us, it was up-and-at-it early in the morning.

Thursday, May 28, 2009: 08:51

Sarah and I went out to run some errands in the morning. We left the other girls sleeping, and were on our way.

Thursday, May 28, 2009: 09:23

We started off by going to a coffee shop in Issaquah for breakfast. We had an Entertainment Book for our trip with Buy-One-Get-One coupons in it, including a coupon for Cafe Ladro. We each got something to drink and a treat to eat, both of which were very good!

Thursday, May 28, 2009: 09:54

Of course a roadtrip is not complete without getting gas at Costco - especially when it happens to be the cheapest place around. Of course, we had to wait in a ridiculously long line. . .but it went pretty quickly, considering there were at least 20 cars waiting before us!

Thursday, May 28, 2009: 10:10

If there is one thing I miss from California, it's In-N-Out Burger. If there are two things I miss from California, the second is Trader Joe's. Since Spokane/Coeur d'Alene are not lucky enough to have a Trader Joe's - yet (someday???) - that was one place I wanted to go. Sarah and I had fun wandering the aisles and looking at different products. I got peanut butter filled pretzels for my mom (trust me, they are amazing!) and cheese puffs (much better than Cheetos!) for me, plus a few other things. Such a fun store!

We then headed to REI in downtown Seattle because I wanted to get a BPA-free water bottle. The REI in Seattle is quite impressive. We didn't spend much time there this time, but I've been there before, and even though I'm not a big "sporting goods store" girl, I still find REI Seattle impressive. :) Yes, that waterfall is at REI.

Thursday, May 28, 2009: 11:26

We left REI and headed back to Val's aunt's house to get ready for tea! Val and Michelle had already started getting ready/doing hair, etc., so that left Val time to do my hair for me, and it didn't really take us long to all get dressed up!

Thursday, May 28, 2009: 13:40

We headed out so that we would make it to our 2:30pm tea reservation at the Queen Mary Tea Room in Bothell, Washington.

Thursday, May 28, 2009: 14:23

We arrived at the Queen Mary Tea Room and enjoyed a delightful tea time. We each ordered Afternoon Tea which came with all sorts of yummy sandwiches and treats. We each tried a different type of tea and then sampled from each other's pots.

After tea we took some pictures in a local neighborhood.

Thursday, May 28, 2009: 16:30

We left the tea room and headed back. However, however hard we tried, we seemed to hit traffic every time we tried to leave town on this trip. So even though we left tea at 4:30, we still managed to hit terrible traffic coming out of Bothell. As is evidenced from the above picture, Laura + Downtime While Stuck in Traffic = Random "Secret Agent" Pictures. :)

Thursday, May 28, 2009: 18:00

We decided to take a detour and visit the Chittenden Locks and Botanical Garden in Ballard. We got to watch several boats go through the locks, then we spent a good deal of time walking around the gardens. However, eventually our feet started to hurt, we were tired of getting funny looks, I was dangerously close to running out of memory on my camera, and Michelle's camera battery died. We were pretty tired by the time we left.

Thursday, May 28, 2009: 20:04

We finally got back to Val's aunt's house, fixed ourselves a tasty dinner of fruit-filled crepes, bacon and eggs, and quickly crashed. It was a long, but very fun, afternoon!

Seattle Trip Pictures: Wednesday

Yours Truly, "surfing" on the back of a whale at the aquarium.

Welcome to the Seattle Waterfront!

Michelle, Sarah & Val in the dome tank at the Seattle Aquarium.

All four of us downtown near Pike Market.