delicious dish, you're on the air.

me and jon's dinner last night.



grilled ham & pineapple kabobs.
with cayenne pepper.
and a honey/dijon mustard glaze.
homemade rice-a-roni.
a beautiful bouquet of fresh picked flowers.
lime wedges.
delicious tecate.
yum.

UIW camp and Reagan camp ended this week.
i got to play on teams with the girls today.
it was funny.
i'm like twice their age. ha.

working vb camp @ factory of champions next week!
i am excited.
i get to share my love of vball with younger girls.
and make that money honey!
what a great combination.

these are some good times.

it's back from the beach - and back to the gym. lindsey and i have been working at the reagan vball camp for middle school girls. we are working at bush with the 8th graders. it's pretty crazy to think that ten years ago i was an 8th grader at bush, and it was the school's inaugural year! [[ i was president of national junior honor society and got to say the benediction when president bush (governor then) and his mother, barbara bush (who the school is named after) visited... p.s. i got to meet and greet them both! mo, my best friend and roomie in nyc, was student council president, so together we greeted them at the front of the school. we were kind of a big deal. :) back to the point. ]] wow. time flies for sure. i've been thinking about all of that and how it seems like it wasn't too long ago that i was in those girls' position - working hard all summer long and training for volleyball, anticipating a new school year where our greatest fear was being reprimanded by the administration, wearing the same outfit to school as another girl, and dealing with icky boys who left you notes in your locker. high school flew by, college was a flash, and it seems like my semester in new york went by in a quick minute. asong i heard on the radio the other day really hit me and made me think --

chorus for 'you're gonna miss this' by: trace adkins
you're gonna miss this
you're gonna want this back
you're gonna wish these days
hadn't gone by so fast

these are some good times
so take a good look around
you may not know it now
but you're gonna miss this

i just thought the lyrics were something worth thinking about. cherish the moment. enjoy simple pleasures. laugh at yourself. soak in nature around you. how sweet it is.
so now i'm signing off with some photos from this afternoon/evening that make me smile and appreciate this blessed life i'm living...

peace
lauren

thanks dolly!

when we got to the beach thursday evening -- yes, thursday evening; we were held back by my dad bc of the bad weather, plus we made like 5 stops on the way -- it was full of seaweed and tons of seafoam. disgusting. seafoam green is one of my favorite colors - and that real life seafoam was NOT lovely. it was awful. by friday morning it cleared up!! so dolly was kind of a pain, but in the end she steered clear!!

[[cue 'here comes the sun' by the beatles...]]

we were blessed with three days of sunshine bliss. it was awesome to spend all day in the sun and with my family. we perched our chairs right at the water's edge and soaked up the rays. i'm going to put some photos on here later -- when i retrieve them from my sister, cousins, etc.

now im back home. with more color than i began with ((whoooo!)) and i am exhausted. this week lindsey and i are helping with vball camp at bush (where i went for 8th grade!) in the mornings, 830-1130. and helping work with jenn at the uiw setters/hitters camp on tuesday and thursday afternoons, 1-4. whoo back to a busy week of vball. gotta love it. hopefully fitting in private lessons with brady and ashley too.

it's bed for now. i need to get refreshed for this week!

my knees told me it was going to rain.

ah what a week. i am worn out. this week i have been helping coach at the UIW volleyball camp from 9-4 each day. there were about 60 girls at camp with the youngest being 7 years old, and the oldest being 15 years old. on top of that, yesterday and today i helped run a vball clinic for river city from 6-9 at SAC (same place as UIW camp). oh yea and today in between my 2 hour break I went to pick up ashley, brought her to SAC and we had a one hour private lesson. my left kneed is swollen and my ankles are telling me ive been standing far too long. camp was fun bc during the lunch break i got to play with some of the incarnate word vball players (they were helping coach too) and though it made me feel old (both physically and literally, ha) it was a lot of fun! i guess all in all hurricane dolly and long hours of volleyball were factors in letting me know it was going to rain hard today.

speaking of hurricane dolly.... we are leaving for the beach (port a) tomorrow! haha. figures. we've been planning the trip for months and then this happens. hopefully the worst of the rain will pass by tomorrow and we will get at least one day of sunshine. i am SO excited to be with my cousins and family this weekend. i hope to have lots of pics to post when i return. rain or shine, i know it will be a good time.... buttt i am hoping and praying for lots of sun!!

peace and love
lauren

nina garcia says no to crocs

http://video.bravotv.com/player/?id=273312

i thought it was hilarious to find this clip on the project runway site.... whenever i see crocs i think of one of my best friend's, kirby and her opinion on the little rubber shoes. HAHA. she thinks they are absolutely horrible and cannot stand when someone over the age of 4 is wearing crocs...not to mention when they match the person's outfit!! ha. so funny.

i must confess though... that, yes, i do own a pair of crocs. i bought them three years ago and they are bright pink. maybe extreme. but it's better than getting a pair that i thought i could actually wear out in public on a day to day basis. okay, i shouldn't even try to justify it - im just trying to be honest!

proof found here (mind you, this photo is circa summer 2005 IN colorardo, RIGHT AFTER rowboating and stuff and is not to be used for blackmail! ha) i have to admit that they are great for outdoor activities like gardening, rowboating, or stuff like that - i wore them while we were in colorado and were frolicking through the streams and rivers. i don't get around to wearing them much any more - but they are pretty good when mopping floors! i find that if they're good and clean on the bottoms, it's easy to walk around after you've been cleaning to keep your floors from gettin dirty before they have a chance to dry. so - wear em to clean. wear em in the garden. they could possibly even be acceptable when tubing at the river... but remember, crocs are not a fashion statement. owning a paper to match various outfits in your wardrobe is a personal decision, though i do not condone it. and keep the little button things that decorate them to the small children.... :)

ciao
low

funky fresh.

Below are pics from my cousins' Sean and Debi's 'Sip and See' this evening - the 'Sip and See' is like a baby shower but it's after the baby has been born ... it was way more laid back and relaxed than a baby shower! Husbands, wives, and children were all invited. They had food and a margarita machine and the weather outside couldn't have been more perfect. It was a great night to sit out on the porch and hang out. I also got to babysit my niece and nephew tonight! We had fun, like we always do :)

nature day.

Wednesday was a great day to love and appreciate nature -- Jon and I went to the nature trails! We stayed a little less than an hour - we decided to leave when we couldn't take the mosquitoes any longer! Guess we should have thought about that and doused ourselves in cutter or off before we left. oh well. we were the only one's there and it was nice to just walk around beneath the canopy of trees and check stuff out.

Back at the house we prepared the pasta salad for dinner - stuck it in the fridge and headed out for a walk. we took the 2 mile route through the neighborhood. it was neat looking at all the flowers in bloom and pointing out the ones we recognized.

for dinner we got to make the shredded barbeque chicken sandwiches that we have long been anticipating. we ended up tweaking the homemade barbeque sauce recipe to make it our own - and make it better and tastier. we also made german potato salad and grilled asparagus - a repeat, and our fav! i was very pleased with the way the german potato salad turned out! no mayonnaise in this recipe - which allowed it to be lighter and perfect for a summer dinner.

we also transferred the baby tomato plant to the big pot!! I'm excited to see it continue to grow and hopefully we can get some tomatoes out of it!

p.s. we took our own bags with us to the grocery store!! and it turns out that when you pack your groceries in your own bag, they give you a 5 cent credit per bag! it doesn't seem like much, but its something that would definitely add up over time!

can't touch this

my sister introduced me to the most hilarous show today - rock the reception on tlc. the basis of the show is that couples decide that to do something out of the ordinary for the wedding, they choose to do a choreographed routine for their first dance as a couple. the couple that i loved did a routine to mc hammer's 'can't touch this'. oh it was absolutely wonderful. i think it would be so funny to do something like that or to witness something like that. we were joking that my sister would want to do it at her wedding and me and whoever else would be in it. ha.

i think its a really funny idea and a great way to kick of a wedding reception!

tomorrow jon and i are going to the judson nature trails in alamo heights (san antonio audobon society ). i am excited. we haven't been there in a long time. it's a lot of fun to go exploring and check out neat stuff in nature. last time i was there we found a huge puddle that had millions of earth worms in it. i used some of the earthworms to spell out my name. yea im weird like that. i guess my sister is right about me being easily amused....


we're going to go to the comic book store on broadway also. i've never been to one before and im interested to see all the comic book fans and people watch.

i think we also will finally get to cook/grill the meal we were planning on making the day jon ended up going to the hospital (like two weeks ago). and it's wednesday, so it's coupon day at sun harvest ;) we're going to 'go green' and bring our own canvas bags too. i suggest anyone out there reading this tries to incorporate this habit into their daily shopping routine!!

cheers
low

The Bucket List

I've been wanting to see the movie, The Bucket List, for quite some time now... and today I finally got the chance! Jon and I watched it, despite Michael, his roommate, telling us it wasn't good. Well he was wrong. I really did like it. We have been wanting to get that movie for my dad for quite some time now. Last summer my dad told us he made a 'Enough' list. Which is his own bucket list, things that he 'doesn't do enough' that he thinks he should do more often. He kicked off this new tradition last summer in upstate New York, by running and jumping off the dock and 'cannon-balling' into the lake. It's the same lake my dad grew up living right near, and spending all of his summers at. Of course I got an action shot of him - the look on his face is priceless! My dad celebrated 828 months this May (he calculates his age in months bc he figures most people can't figure it out!! ha. so i'll let you figure out his age) and I support all of his efforts to make the most out of his every day life.

I thought it would be cool to start making my own 'bucket list'. I've always had thoughts of things that I want to do in my lifetime. So I'm going to start with a list today, and then eventually add on as more things come to mind.

BUCKET LIST
- go sky diving
- spend new years eve in Paris
- sit court side at a spurs game
- roadtrip to the grand canyon
- learn to play the violin again
- fill my passport with stamps
- visit stonehenge
- scuba dive in the great barrier reef
- go on a hot air balloon tour


UMMM i'll add more later. my mind is blanking.

xo
LH

p.s. i added a new 'current obsessison' - the hillshire farm 'go meat' commercials absolutely kill me....hahaha. my sister said that i am easily entertained. here is my favorite commercial. the little asian lady on the left (who of course reminds me of a mix between aunt linda and sandra oh playing gupta in princess diaries) is so fabulous. cracks me up every time :)

Beverly Hills, what a thrill

Troop Beverly Hills.

What young, girl scout, didn't love this movie? I remember countless numbers of sleepovers and late nights with my sister in which this movie was the main attraction. Shelly Long as Phyllis Neffler is perfection and was every girl scouts' dream for a troop leader.

'We're the girls from Beverly Hills, shopping is our greatest thrill!'. Selling cookies in Beverly Hills. Fondue at camp-outs. Camp-outs that ended up at hotels and room service. Ghost stories that involved a hair dresser nightmare. Parties on yachts. 'We don't need no stinkin' patches'. Wilderness Jamboree. 'Annie Herman...boy-yoi-yoiiiiing!' get on up, it's cookie time!

I'm hanging at home today with my mom and sister and Troop Beverly Hills is playing on encore. It's hilarious that Lindsey and I still remember almost all of the lines to the movie. So, cheers to old movies that still make me smile.

:)
Lauren

God Bless Uh-Mer-i-Kah!

It's been a week since the fourth, but I've finally uploaded some photos and so now I'm putting them up. To celebrate the holiday, we all relaxed at my aunt linda's with the family. Well, 'relax' generally isn't a word you would use in a sentence that describes my family... ha. There was bbq, swimming in the pool, adult beverages, juice boxes for the little ones, dessert, and lots and lots of laughter. My little cousins were bummed that we couldn't shoot off the fireworks... eh. whatever. It was still a fun afternoon/evening. Brenna got to borrow Derek's floaties (he opted for Esther's life vest) and summoned up the courage to jump in the pool all by herself!! Okay so maybe it involved me tricking her just a little bit... and by that I mean, I told her I would catch her, and then I let her just jump in a few inches short of my reach - hey though, she conquered her fear! She was SO proud of herself and kept running around telling everyone what a big girl she was because she swam by herself. I was very proud of her! I am SO blessed to have such amazing people in my life. My family means so much to me and I have so much fun when we are all together. There is always plenty of food and drink, and never a dull moment. How sweet it is.

sorry for being such a pain!

what a miracle modern medicine is! after a long evening of feeling ill saturday, jon decided to go to texas med clinic early sunday morning to find out the cause of all the pain. several hours later after his bloodwork was processed, it was determined that it was 99.9% possible that he needed his appendix removed!! ahhhh.

so sunday afternoon we checked into the hospital. and waited. and waited. lots of pain. and waited. until finally, after a cat scan, it was determined that YES jon's appendix had to be removed immediately. surgery lasted less than an hour, which during it was discovered that the fluid that was shown on the cat scan was actually the result of his appendix rupturing. the doctor compared the appendectomy to 'removing a porcupine from your stomach'. holy wow. so i stayed with jon in the hospital and played nurse... because their nurses took for-ev-errr to get to the room whenever you paged them... and because i just had to be there to be with him. i wouldnt have had it any other way. well we stayed sunday night - i slept in a chair, with my feet propped on his bed. stayed there monday - room had to be shared with a new guy, BUT a nurse snagged me a recliner ( i slept MUCH better). stayed tuesday night. and then at last on wednesday, jon's white blood cell count had decreased to the doctor's liking, and he was allowed to go home! after several days of walking laps around the hospital, smelling the awkward smells that filled the air in each hall, hospital food, hours and hours of television, not getting enough sleep... the highlight was getting to see the momma ducks and her 7 ducklings in the courtyard. yes. it was an eventful stay at north east baptist.

so jon is recovering nicely now... getting better at walking, sitting, getting up, breathing, etc. not to mention, he can actually laugh outloud now without feeling like he is going to have to keel over. the image up there is what i made for him the other day. ha. i was bored. it was nice yesterday when we went for a walk down the block (yay no more smelly hospital halls)... when we got to the end of the block it just started raining. and raining. and raining. it was kind of lovely walking back to the house in the rain. it was refreshing and comical that we just had to enjoy it, since running back to the house definitely was out of the question!

many thanks to modern medicine, dr. gong, the nurses in 2south, and everyone who visited jon in the hospital.

xo
low

p.s. HAPPY FOURTH OF JULY to all. God bless America. Land that I loveeeeee.