1. Lately the disorganization that exists on my computer, especially with my photos, has been bumming me out. (Related question: Do people still say things are bumming them out?) However, I don’t really know how I am supposed to organize them, because each time I go to sort through them I get sucked into the vortex of looking at old pictures, which is equal parts hilarious, nostalgic, and depressing. I think you all know what I’m talking about. I would like to delete every photo from when I was 13-15. Then select photos from 16-19. After that, I guess we’re okay. Although sometimes I’ll look at photos from last year and say, “WHAT WAS I THINKING?” But the nostalgia is the most overwhelming. When you’re young, you think 18 years at home is FOREVER. 4 years for college is FOREVER. Guess what? It’s not. Those years fly by. I’m sure that someday soon, I’ll look back on this time in my life the same way. Which is why I am trying to live in the moment in 2012.

(Whoa, that was weird. I went from talking about photo organization to all carpe diem, y’all! Someone stop me while I’m ahead.)

2. No, but seriously. Suggestions for organizing my photos? It’s getting out of hand.

3. Speaking of photos, I hate and avoid using my camera. I think it’s too complex for me. A) Does anyone want to buy it? It’s the Canon PowerShot SX120 IS. It’s a great little camera, with a lot more functionality than a regular P&S (in my opinion). Which is why I need to sell it and get another, more low maintenance one. I was ambitious when I bought it, thinking it would be my stepping stone to a big girl (read: DSLR) camera. Because if you can’t take photos with a P&S, you should totally plan to buy a camera that costs more than your car. Anyway, if you’re interested, it’s practically new, I’ll throw in the case and memory card, and make you a heck of a deal. Email me for more info: laurenfromtexas(at)gmail(dot)com. B) Does anyone know of a VERY, VERY simple P&S that takes good photos? Or a website that can teach me how to use a P&S effectively? Taking iPhone photos for the rest of my life is not going to cut it.

4. Also speaking of photos (I swear I didn’t mean for this post to be all about photos), WHY IS PICNIK CLOSING!?! It was my favorite thing ever. The website says “Picnik is moving its easy yet powerful photo editing tools to Google+.” What does that MEAN? There are people who are still using Google+? Who are these people? I thought we abandoned that ship awhile ago.

5. This weekend, I really don’t have anywhere to go or anything specific to do. (This is not a lie, so don’t expect me to show up knocking on your front door this afternoon. Probably.) I love it. I’m making myself a reasonable to-do list, cooking a couple of meals, and possibly checking out the new thrift store in town. I should probably clean my house too. Have I mentioned I hate cleaning my house? I turn into this OCD person and before I know it I’m 7 hours into a job that should have taken 2, and I’m on my hands and knees scrubbing my baseboards with a toothbrush. Maybe I can rein in the crazy long enough to get some dusting done. There are dust bunnies floating around this house that are bigger than Pancho. Just keeping it real, y’all.

Well, I said “y’all” twice and rambled incessantly! My job here is done. Happy weekend!

If you’re in a reader/RSS feed, click through. You’re going to want to see the above photo.

Saturday night, as my friends and I were sitting around watching Kelly make her fabulous risotto and drinking prosecco with passionfruit juice and raspberries (yum), we decided to put Chelsea’s famous nail pens/polishes to use and give ourselves fancy manicures.

Chelsea was really wanting to do glitter french tips, but nothing too neat or perfect. After googling several DIYs and trying a couple of techniques, we thought that maybe the glitter in the nail pens was too fine/small for what we were trying to accomplish. But I decided to keep trying. Here’s what I did:

I painted my nails China Glaze Spitfire (2 coats) and let them dry. Then I grabbed the dark silver/gray glitter polish, and did a medium-thick coat in a horizontal swipe across the very tip of the nail. It was pretty much a perfect straight line, and thin in width. After allowing that to dry, I did a few short, vertical strokes on the top 1/3 of the nail, making sure to cover the original line. The result was a darker color where the polish had two coats, on the tip of the nail. I let that coat dry completely, then did one or two extremely light, vertical brushes over about half of the nail, fading into the previous coats.

Basically, the idea is that the tip of the nail has three coats, the part right beneath that has two, and right below that there is a very light couple of strokes so that it fades into the color of your nail and nothing looks too perfect. I dubbed it the “Ombré Glitter Nail,” and ended up doing it on myself, Chelsea (base color: OPI Dutch Tulips), and Lyndsey (base color: OPI Evening Seduction). As you can see above, it looks different depending on which colors you use. I’m sure others have already done this, but since I had trouble finding DIY instructions and ended up figuring it out myself, I thought I might as well post it here.

If you decide to try this, link back so I can see!
Have fun and happy painting.

Note: I wish I would have taken step by step pictures, but alas I did not. I thought about doing a step by step tonight, but here we are, over 4 days later and my nails still look pretty good with only a couple of chips. Maybe the extra glitter on the tips helps with that?

One of my favorite things in the whole wide world is makeup. Typically, I wear drugstore makeup; wearing only bareMinerals on my face is my one exception. I have a couple of other “nicer” makeup pieces, but they are few and far between. You are going to see a lot of CoverGirl, Maybelline, and L’Oréal in my makeup case. It’s not that I don’t enjoy the fancier brands, I just can’t justify spending the extra money on them right now.

My hunt for the perfect mascara has been an obsession. OBSESSION. And that’s putting it lightly. I have tried every drugstore mascara in the world. My favorites are L’Oréal Voluminous and CoverGirl Lash Blast. I love them, but they always leave me wanting more. I thought that maybe my eyelashes were the problem. They are blonde and fine and not all that long. Mascara might be great and everything, but it can’t work miracles. Or can it?

Chelsea gave me a tube of Benefit’s They’re Real! mascara last weekend. She said she thought it was awesome but that it got all over her eyelids in two hours. I was willing to give it a try. I quickly put on a couple of coats, without doing the rest of my eye makeup, and liked the way it looked. I thanked her and slipped it into my purse.

I did my makeup for today, and decided to give They’re Real! another spin. I applied eyeshadow primer (as I always do), a shimmery champagne shadow all over, a dark gray/brown in my crease, and black liner on the top and halfway across the bottom. Then I applied The Mascara. Now, keep in mind that I am not a one or two coats kind of girl. I do a good two coats, let it dry, curl my lashes, and do one more light coat to separate my lashes. HOWEVER, I have never had results like this. See for yourself:

Sorry for the creepy stare. It was the only way I could capture the full effect on camera. I mean, LOOK AT THEM. Yes, those are my real lashes. I never want to wash my face again.

I didn’t have the problem of the mascara rubbing off on my eyelids. I think the primer/shadow combo took care of that. I feel that I have been able to achieve this look with Voluminous and Lash Blast, but it never STAYED this way for longer than a couple of hours. When I took this photo, I was a good 6 hours into this mascara. It stayed put and my lashes stayed curled.

The only bad thing about this discovery? Trying to figure out a way to not feel guilty about spending $22 on mascara. I’ll get back to you if I make any headway with that.

Note: Another mascara of Honorable Mention that I’ve recently tried is Maybelline The Falsies. Not as natural looking, and a little harder to work with (clumped easily and I didn’t like the curved “spoon” brush), but stayed curled pretty well and gave the same effect.

Note 2: I will be doing a tutorial of sorts for my Ombre Glitter Nails (featured in the first photo) later this week. They were a bit hit at Glamazon weekend.

Look at me! You’d think I’m running some kind of makeup blog!

I may have told a tiny white lie in my 5 Things on a Friday post. I didn’t stay home and clean out my closet. I did that the previous weekend. Instead, I traveled to Chelsea’s house to pull off a 4-part surprise. Everything went SO well and she was completely surprised. All 4 times.

Chelsea’s been having a rough time lately. I don’t like that. She’s my girl. One night a couple of weeks ago, I couldn’t sleep, so I texted Molly and said “We have to do something. Let’s visit Chelsea, but make it a surprise.” Molly, being the amazing friend she is, wholeheartedly agreed. We got Chelsea’s husband, sister, and mom on board, and they were invaluable in helping us plan. I also have to thank Chelsea’s high school friends Debbie and Jennifer, who told Chelsea she was hanging out with them on Friday night, so she wouldn’t make other plans. We couldn’t very well have a weekend with only 3/5ths of The Glamazons*, so we got Kelly and Lyndsey in on it too. I was so afraid that with so many of us planning and talking and lying, Chelsea would find out. But she didn’t. I love a good surprise.

Friday morning, I drove to Chelsea’s house, knocked on her door, and scared the crap out of her completely surprised her. We may have both cried. I told her that Debbie and Jennifer were in on it, and she was stuck with me instead for the whole weekend. We would do nothing but sit around and eat and talk. We played with Jansen and began discussing our many, many Thoughts and Feelings (T&F for short). Then, there was a knock at the door. It was Kelly! She said she was just in the neighborhood! Kelly and I had invented some story about how she knew I would be in town so she would stop by at some point, but that she needed to leave because her fiance didn’t have a car. We hung out, more T&F were discussed, then Kelly “left.” Chelsea and I dropped Jansen off at her dad’s house and went to dinner. I was trying to pull off a very quick dinner, just long enough for Kelly to pick Molly up from the airport, but apparently Chelsea thinks that when you get dressed and enlist a babysitter and get out of the house, you need to stay out for longer than an hour. Somehow I talked her into going back home. We settled into her living room with glasses of wine, and there was another knock at the door. Molly (with a bottle of Chocovine)! And Kelly too! We told Chelsea that Lyndsey couldn’t make it due to her dad’s birthday, when really we thought she wasn’t supposed to show up until the next day. A couple of hours later, another knock. That sneaky Lyndsey surprised all of us! The Glamazon circle was complete.

I feel it’s important to say that the next day, as we were sitting around eating Molly’s delicious bruchetta, there was yet another knock at the door. We all looked at each other like WHO THE HELL IS THAT? Chelsea was all, Come on y’all! But it was just a girl scout. We told her she couldn’t be a Glamazon but we kind of wanted some Thin Mints, kthx.

The rest of the weekend was spent cooking, eating, drinking, laughing until it hurt, staying up later than any of us working women/moms had in a long time, painting our nails, taking iPhone photos, telling stories, and discussing every T&F we have ever had. We talked about Lucy and how special she was. A few tears were shed. We hugged on each other and realized, more than ever, how wonderful it is to be a part of this group of girls. I left feeling revived and that I could conquer the world (at least until the next Glamazon weekend).

Some things I never, ever want to forget about the weekend:

♥ The guy we overheard on his cell phone telling someone that buying iPhones and iPads was like investing in gold, because Apple products don’t depreciate in value. Um, WHAT?

♥ Lyndsey and I talking about ponies and whether or not it was worth having a horse, and we simultaneously asked (as though we were asking the horse) “Can you [insert thing here]?” Except she said “fly” and I said “make me a latte.” I think that sums us up pretty well.

♥ Kelly describing the Wendy’s employee they saw eating a nectarine and talking on her cell phone, looking like a chimpanzee, on her break. Who brings a nectarine to eat on her break at Wendy’s? Like, in the restaurant. Maybe you had to be there.

♥ “Goat cheese is my love language.” -Chelsea

♥ Hearing Molly’s husband give us the weather report on speakerphone.

♥ Doing our hair and makeup, only to go to Goodwill and browse maternity clothes (it should be noted that none of us are pregnant).

♥ Declaring the day to be “John Lewis Day.” Yeah, I did look good.

I love these girls. If you don’t have a solid group of girlfriends, build one. Reach out to people, either IRL or online, and start to put together a solid group of friends. I met Chelsea less than 3 years ago through my blog, and now she is one of my best friends. She brought us all together, which makes her awesome. It might take a little bit of time, trial and error, and some travel, but I swear to you, it is worth it. As Chelsea put it, it’s Risotto for the Teenaged Girl’s Soul (Kelly made THE MOST AMAZING risotto, btw). Which may or may not make sense, but the point is: Girlfriends are worth their weight in gold. Or, you know, iPhones and iPads.

(You can read Chelsea’s version of the weekend here. Molly will be blogging about it too.)

*Our group was dubbed The Glamazons because we are all 5’10″ and over. Except Molly. But since she’s a lawyer (and freaking hilarious/adorable), we let the height thing slide.

1. Thank you guys SO much for all the supportive comments RE: my plan to take a semester off from school. I was a bit afraid of the reaction I would get, but y’all made me feel much, much better about the whole thing. Met up with some classmates last night and they also encouraged me. It’s amazing what kind, helpful words can do.

2. Despite the fact that I have never gotten a ticket, and have only been pulled over twice (once for a non-working brake light and the other time was to check the back of my pick-up truck for illegally hunted animals [another story for another time, but welcome to driving through the woods in Texas]), I am TERRIFIED of cop cars. I see one in my rear view mirror, and even though I’m going the speed limit and not doing anything wrong, I will start to have heart palpitations and feel like I’m going to throw up. I get so anxious you’d think I’m driving half lit in a carful of illegal substances. Why is this?

3. I don’t understand the phrase “I will cut you.” Like, actually cut me? With a knife? Cut me out of your life? Someone help me understand. Where did this phrase originate? Maybe I don’t want to know.

4. I’m looking forward to a laid-back, low-key weekend. No bridal shows, no traveling- just a long to-do list and lots of coffee. Maybe I’ll finally clean out my closet. Organizing and throwing/giving things away is good for my soul.

5. I cannot keep plants alive. I have tried to grow basil about four times, and have killed it every time. Not killed it like, Wow, she really killed that! Actually killed it. I need help. I’m currently trying to grow some basil in a pot on my kitchen windowsill. I bought it at the grocery store the other night. It was already growing and looking pretty good, but since coming home with me, it’s not doing too well. Sort of wilty and pathetic, like it needs a hug or a latte. Isn’t basil supposed to be easy to grow? Tips, please.

Well, these were really random and unrelated to one another. Please don’t cut me.

Happy weekend!

She’s kind of my hero.

Lately, I’ve been DVR-ing her show, fully expecting The Look of Judgement (no pun intended) from Michael. But you know what? He loves it. He’s now been saying the four words I love to hear most, “Let’s watch Judge Judy.”

So we do. We make fun of the cases and the people (because, OHMAHGAH) and cheer for Judge Judy when she is particularly mean and makes an awesome judgement.

Side note: Molly, I think you’ve found your calling. You have the law background, and you’re plenty feisty. I see Judge Molly being quite the popular future show. Make it happen.

Anywho, last night, we were watching some real lowlifes. I mean, people suing their own family members, suing for $5000 in “pain and suffering,” suing people over poodles. I AM NOT EVEN JOKING. When a man with what can only be described as a “spiky mullet” came on, I made a joke that he was a total fox, and it got worse from there. The guys who followed were less attractive, if that’s possible, so I kept it going. This is probably funny to no one except myself. I kept saying things like, “I’m sorry, honey, but I can’t stop staring. He is just so fine. Why can’t you be missing teeth too?” Things of that nature. It was then I remembered a hilarious childhood memory.

My sister and I went through a phase where we were a bit boy crazy. Every boy who came on TV, one of us would “claim.” The process of claiming was basically going up to the TV and planting a big kiss on the screen as it showed whoever we were claiming. Once one of us claimed a boy, the other one could do nothing. NOTHING. He was ours forever. It was sort of like dibs but so much better. I claimed JTT (AKA Randy on Home Improvement, be still my heart), for example. I mean, how much better does it get? No matter what you say or do, I already claimed him. Ya snooze, ya lose. Greatest rule ever made.

One of our favorite shows was Wheel of Fortune. Do you see where I’m going with this? One night, Katherine bounded from the couch, leapt across the room, and planted a big wet one on Pat Sajak. And I didn’t even think it was weird. I mean, I can respect that. The man knows how to say “Vowels are worth nothing, consonants worth…” like no one else.

You know those blog posts that you write and delete? That’s probably what I should have done with this one. But I didn’t. You’re welcome.

Now to wait for the death threat call from my sister in 3…2…1…

PS: This may be the greatest YouTube video I’ve ever seen.

{img via}

All of that babbling to say: School starts tomorrow, and I will not be in attendance. I know. All of the challenges that took place last semester, only to lead to this. Here’s the thing: Having two parts of a married couple in grad school is difficult beyond what you can imagine. It’s difficult in a lot of ways, but financially is sticking out to me the most.

I don’t feel like this announcement needs a lot of fuss or explanation. I’m not going back to school this semester, but I will be going back. Michael graduates in May (!!), and we’ll reevaluate the situation then. Until that time, I’ll be working a lot and focusing on other aspects of my life, all the while keeping grad school on the back burner of my brain. Just because something doesn’t happen in the correct order of the originally planned timeline doesn’t mean it won’t happen. It will, and when it does, it will be great. Now is simply not that time, and I’m okay with that.

If you’re a new reader of LfT, Stuff My Husband Says is a very romantic series of posts. Or not. Basically, whenever Michael says something funny (and I’m quick enough to record it), I store it in the Notes on my iPhone. When I have a few collected, I turn them into a post. So, ladies (and possibly one or two gentleman), here’s the sixth installment of SMHS:

Story: Pancho had fallen between the front and back seat in the car, which happens about once every half hour on roadtrips:

Michael: Lauren, help him. He’s squinching!
LfT: WHAT IS SQUINCHING.
Michael: It’s a cross between squishing…and… (trails off).

Playing with his new iPhone:

Michael: I wish I could turn Siri’s voice into your voice.

Michael: That bottle of [unopened] champagne has been in the fridge for a long time.
LfT: I know.
Michael: Maybe we should drink it.
LfT: But it isn’t a special occasion.
Michael: Yeah, but it might go bad.

LfT: You know that chef from Dinner Impossible?
Michael: Who?
LfT: You know, the guy with the beefy arms.
Michael: (narrows eyes) WHO do you think is beefly?!?! (Yes, he said “beefly.”)

LfT: What do I have to do to get you to stop talking to me?
Michael: Divorce me!

And last but not least, I heard one of my favorite songs as of late on the radio today, so I decided to let Michael know I was thinking of him…

{Previous installments of SMHS can be found here.}

1. What’s your favorite yoga DVD? I can’t currently afford a membership to the local yoga studio (which is such a bummer, because it’s awesome), but the yoga classes at the student rec center suck. So DIY yoga it is. Looking for a good DVD that won’t bore me to death. I bought this one a couple of years ago and every time I turn it on, I feel like taking a nap on my yoga mat. I’ve heard good things about Bob Harper’s and also some others; I wanted to see if anyone else had any input before I made an Amazon purchase.

2. Are you subscribed to my blog? If you’ve had troubles subscribing in the past, it should be fixed now. There’s a button in my sidebar that says “Subscribe” as well. Please let me know if you see anything that’s not working.

3. In the same vein, a friend left a comment saying that the titles of my post are always cut short; that is, she can’t see them past where the text ends on the left side. Is this happening for anyone else? If so, please leave a comment and tell me what OS and browser you are using. I promise I will get these kinks worked out eventually!

4. Thanks for the kind words on my post yesterday. Over 500 people attended Lucy’s funeral. Were you encouraged or inspired by her story in any way? Leave a comment here or on Chelsea’s blog. I know it would mean a lot to Chelsea and Lucy’s other loved ones during this difficult time.

5. I was a model in a bridal show last weekend and it was so much fun! I’m in another one this weekend. Last time, I did my hair in a loose updo based on this YouTube video. While it worked just fine, I am thinking of doing a half updo for this weekend. What’s your favorite elegant (yet simple) half-up hairstyle? Links to videos are always helpful, since “curl hair and pin to head” leaves a lot to be interpreted.

That’s it. Have a wonderful weekend!

One of my dearest friends, Chelsea, experienced the death of a close friend last week. Lucy, who I had met a couple of times, passed away after a very brief battle with cancer. You can read the whole story here.

Last Thursday night, I looked down at my phone and saw a text that said simply, “Lucy died today.” Immediately, it felt like my stomach dropped out of my body. Just three weeks earlier, Lucy had been diagnosed with cancer. We had all been praying that she would make a full recovery. She was young, in shape, and very healthy. Everyone was hopeful. Except, for reasons we will probably never be able to understand, she didn’t. When Lucy passed away, she had only known she was sick for eight weeks total.

It’s been so hard to know how much pain Chelsea is in and not to be able to reach out and give her a hug. I know she has a wonderful husband and excellent support system, but even still, I want to be there with her. I think it’s natural for women to vicariously undergo, in smaller ways, the experiences of their close friends. Chelsea says she feels guilty when 20 minutes pass and she doesn’t think of Lucy; I feel guilty when 20 minutes pass and I don’t think of Chelsea. You can only text How are you feeling? I love you. I’m praying for you. I’m thinking of you. Etc. so many times, but it never feels like enough. If I’m feeling this terrible, what must she and Lucy’s family be feeling?

All this feeling sad has also brought a lot of reflection. After you read Chelsea’s story about her friendship with Lucy, you’ll probably do some thinking too. Like about how life is too brief to spend it hold grudges. That the everyday things we whine and moan about really aren’t so bad, because at the end of the day, we’re all pretty healthy. That forgiveness and selflessness are more important than pride or being right.

Something else I’ve realized is how short life can be. Just because you’re 25 doesn’t mean you have all the time in the world. So really, what’s holding you back from doing what you’ve always wanted to do? From going on that trip? From visiting that special friend? From calling your parents, not because you need anything, but because you wanted to see how they were doing? You may not have 50 more years to do these things. By no means am I saying to throw caution to the wind and be foolish about decisions; however, if your whole life is spent making excuses about why you shouldn’t do things, maybe it’s time to reevaluate. Grant forgiveness. Enjoy the blessings in your life. Let others know that you love them.

I hope Lucy’s story touches some of you the way it has touched me. Tomorrow (Thursday) is her funeral, and it’s going to be an especially hard day on her loved ones. If you think of it tomorrow, please say a prayer for strength and peace to be granted to Lucy’s friends and family, and that every part of Lucy – her beautiful and sweet spirit, her caring nature, her faith in God, and her forgiving and selfless heart – will be remembered.

(And if you'd like to make a donation in Lucy's honor, please click here.)