ordinary life

sometimes, when you're busy with all the mundane little things, the blog goes to the back burner.
and it only gets harder and harder to post again as the time goes by.
but you know, I'm still here. Life is still going, and in the midst of it, I want to document.

December is here. And we're nearing the middle of it!

1: My brother's girlfriend graduated this weekend in 2.5 YEARS! And of course, with honers. She's been accepted into multiple law schools, and we're all blown away by her. Congrats Rachel!

2: It's Christmastime! We finally decorated.

3: I've got a hankering for a chalkboard wall. In an aparment, that's a no go. So..I'm thinking large painted piece of plywood hung to the wall. Any of you aparmenters do this? Suggestions?

4: Our second anniversary's in 7 days. For now, all I will say is that it's true: marriage really only does get sweeter.

5: I'm supposed to be training for the Cowtown marathon, but it's been a bit lackluster, if I'm honest. Busy Saturdays and missed group runs make for hard running weeks and the cycle only get worse. I'm needing something to get back on the horse.

Tuesday things

Hello. I'm Lauren and this is my blog. Sorry for not writing and neglecting it. I'm working on changing that. 

 1. Thanksgiving is Thursday, yet I'm already in sit around and sleep and eat mode. 

 2. I'm going to be having a BIG SALE in the shop for black Friday. Stay tuned for that one. 

 3. I'm anxiously awaiting Friday so I can decorate for Christmas. I'm working on a few different DIY projects, which I will share later. 

 4. I ran a marathon last week, and although it was good, it was much different than I thought it would be. More on that later. It deserves a whole post. 

 5. Christmas shopping is almost done! BUT, I'll be putting together a list of my favorite things and sharing. Tomorrow. So come back for that. 

6. Community is good and hard to find. Cherish yours, whether it's your biological family, your online blogging family, a girlfriend, your book club, or your neighbors. If it's your place to love and be loved, be thankful for it.

made my day

 shirt: target, necklace: pretties by meg, pants: jcrew: bracelet: i forgot. :)

It made my day. and week, that:

that I FINALLY found a chambray shirt at Target. for only $20. and a $3 off coupon (online) made it 17. make you holla.

last night we went out to cheesecake factory with some good friends.reeses peanut butter chocolate cake cheesecake. i'm in chocolate mode before may starts and it's a no-no.

Houston weather has been surpisingly not miserable hot. it won't last for long, but I'm enjoying it while it's here

i was able to score this necklace and this necklace from Laura at along for the ride. at a great deal.

i'm hearing lots of party jams on the radio.

mint green anything. but especially nail polish.

yes, that is my cell phone sticking out of my pocket. oops.

i was in a rush to get some self portraits done before work.

tonight we're attendting a free outdoor choral concert at a park near our house.

free dates? i'll take all you've got.

what things have made your day (and week)?

may food challenge

i like dessert.
cookies, ice cream, chocolate.
i'll indulge in it all. way too often.
like i'll probably have one of those every night.

and i know that part of my diet has got to change.
we're not vegan, vegetarian, or any of that.
and we might reach that point one day, but for now, it's baby steps toward healthier eating

so, for the month of may, I'm making some changes.
I know they might seem small (and most of you probably have got this under control)
but for Sam and I, we want to live, long, happy, healthy lives, and so I've got to take inventory of what we're eating.
ANDDDD I've always heard that weight loss/health is 80% nutrition and 20% excercise. we're pretty good about the excersie, but I know our nutrition could use some work.

so, without anymore rambling introducing:

Now, these rules mostly revolve around dessert, but I will be attempting to make changes around the rest of our eating. like, all this week our meals have come from Skinny Taste, an absolutely wonderful website that has all sorts of mouth watering recipies done in a healthy way!

I would love your input.  do you struggle with diet? do you have favorite healthy recipes? share! favorite websites? I want to know!

and the biggest question of all:  what are your favorite "healthy" desserts?

my favorite weekends

are the ones without an agenda.

just two days of us relaxing, soaking in the outdoors, and spending a lot of time together

you're welcome for the picture overload.

our first "garden"

living in an apartment makes some things hard

no pets.

no yard.

small space

but we wanted plants, a garden for so long, we decided to make something happen.

and with the help of a lot of pinterest ideas,

we set out to create a garden of succulents.

We went by Houston Garden Centers, and picked up our favorites. 

At 4/$12, it was cheaper than expected, and we got  some fun plants.

A few terra cotta plants from Home Depot, 

and about an hour of deciding which pants go into which pots. and viola.

we have potted succulents.

The shelf above our couch used to be a hodge podge of stuff.

now, it holds our garden.

and with that, we made our garden.

easy, quick, and they don't need a lot of watering.

branching out

Scarf: Ann Taylor Loft  T shirt: Target  Skirt: J Crew

 

when I found out last week that we are allowed to wear skirts to work,

this changed my work wardrobe considerably.

and as summer is coming, this made the Houston heat that much more tolerable.

so I'm branching out, and trying a skirt to to work today.

and a scarf.

I love scarves, but never wear them.

they seem to feel a little lion-maney

but what the heck, i'm going for it today.

and yes, I know I look a bit tired.

it's outfit pictures on a Friday, i think that comes with the territory.

but we're seeing hunger games tongiht, so I'll load up on coffee

because i'm not missing Katniss, Gale, and Peeta

happy weekend!

currently

...I'm listening to Fun. it's so summer-y and happy. perfect for transitioning into summer.

 

...I'm still on a high from a wonderful date this weekend with my man. Grotto was wonderful, but that time with my man is so much sweeter

...I woke up this  morning from the craziest dream. crazy weird. something that would never happen, but involves people I know in real life. It's got me in a weird funk.

...enjoying my new iphone 4s. I fell at work with a power outage/generator failure/ smoke and fire. this is what happened to my iphone4. so sad.

 

...and on that note, today was a crazy monday.

we stared the day with no power, and the day ended up including

electrical fire
no power
3 hours outside
much monopoly played on a coworker's ipad
and a office-wide field trip to a restaurant down the street.

needless to say, I'm glad monday's over.