+ seattle, part one +

This is one of those posts where I have no idea what to blog, but feel so guilty for not posting in so many days that I force myself to drop what I'm doing and type out a few thousand characters to ease my conscience.


I am in Seattle for two weeks visiting my best friend, and it is beautiful.

Plenty of photos will be popping up online over the next few weeks.

There is so much to see that I haven't been able to process half of it...and I am finding that I am desperate to go bury myself in a tiny coffee shop somewhere to get my mind and creative eye straightened out.

So far it has been incredibly perfect - I don't know what cloudy days and rain they are talking about...maybe it's another part of Seattle? :) I have walked miles already and have nearly cried three times over how breath-taking it is. I can't imagine ever running out of things to do.

Yesterday we woke up bright and early to take Eli to an adorable little farm out in Bellevue, and then explored a tiny little private beach on Lake Washington. We walked to QFC and Whole Foods and various other places to get some grocery shopping done in the late afternoon, and walked to The Pub at Third Place last night for incredible Lamb Souvlaki and drinks.

Alright, my conscience is eased! Time to walk to the Apple Store to pick up Snow Leopard, maybe peek into the bookstore down the street and find some morning coffee. Then we're headed to a farmer's market in Fremont, and then Waldorf Salad & homemade lemonade with blackberries on the beach at Lake Washington. Mmmmm. So excited.

+ kevin and kegan shoot. +

time for a photo shoot blog. :) haven't put much up lately...my brother kevin and his new band member needed some photos taken so i got to take some pretty ones. :) these boys have the most beautiful eyes. the actual "band photos" aren't up yet...but i'm in love with the portraits i did for kicks. you can go here for the rest of my photos.

+ tumblr +

Dear Blogspot,

I have been cheating on you with Tumblr. With eight Tumblr's, actually.

I am a horrible person.

I will be back soon, if you'll have me.

Love,

Lauren

+ uh oh. +

i also want to learn all these words.


next time you are bored, go explore here.

+ i said no. +

credit: julia.

credit: myself & my flickr.

+ tiptoes. +

i really should combine my writing and photography more. really.

+ things that i miss today +

credit: le love image


credit: stunik


phoenix skyline from south mountain

+ i am not dead. yet. +

I can't believe how long it's been since I've blogged. Or done anything online.

I've been working on taking care of my own life before attempting to do anything else. My flickr watchers are getting annoyed, and my friends are wondering where I've been. My etsy shop hasn't been updated in weeks, and I feel as if I've just generally sucked at spitting anything of worth out.

I'm tired of the high highs and low lows. I hate that last night it was the end of the world, and that this morning everything is beyond fabulous. But thank goodness that my God is my rock, and my foundation, my deliverer, my shield and my stronghold. (Ps. 18.2) I may be a highly caffeinated, sleep deprived, prescription-hormone-altered, over-extended and confused female in my early twenties, but I can always sit down and know what I'd still have if I lost everything, even my sanity.

Good things:

- I just purchased a new macbook pro. :)
- I am buying an alienbees b800 this week.
- I just found out OSU is paying me to go back to school this fall. It won't cost me a cent.
- I am signing a lease on an adorable house tonight.
- I have really, really good friends.
- Only 16 more days til my 2 week vacation in Seattle.
- Next month my best friend and I will be living in the same city for the first time in over 3 years.
- I just got free coffee.
- I am a third of the way done with my love + 100 strangers project.
- I am still loved. Still.
- And I am still consumed with love.

Love is complete trust. Love is willing to be vulnerable. Love is no secrets. Love is enjoying someone's presence, and saying nothing. Love is being a wife, a mother, and a grandmother. Love is the reason for our existence.

+ things you should know about. +

"12 moves and four high schools. I don't have to write anything more if you are or were a Brat. You know what I mean. I'm not whining. I'm not contemplating my navel. I hope to pass onto others what it's like growing up with a father who was a career soldier during a war. The war was Vietnam. A long time ago. A war a lot of people want to forget. It will be a part of me until the day I die."

The blogosphere is full of women, and the few men that make an appearance seem to be around just long enough to help us ladies figure out all this html, css, widget, 3-columns-at-once, best-computer-of-the-year nonsense. (No offense, boys.) We also were primarily born in the 70's or 80's. (No offense, old people. We all love vintage!) I was shocked when I stumbled upon a veteran/army brat in his 60's blogging regularly about his life, from day one. I need more of this in my life. Read it.

- - -

Gotta love all of our social networks for our social selves! I've been pretty overwhelmed by them lately, but I think I'm liking the Twenty-Something Bloggers. And yes, it's for we/us (grammar help, anyone?) bloggers in our 20's!

- - -

We all need more financial advice in our life. Follow this guy: @fiscalgeek

- - -

Attention bloggers & anyone with a website! If you haven't made use of Google's free (yes, free!!) Analytics tool yet, you will never forget the girl that told you about it. Go here, now, grab the code, and dump it somewhere on all the websites you've got. Easy, simple, and free - for extensive and detailed tracking of every single person visiting your blog.

- - -

Article for your education & entertainment from Wired.com: How to Behave; New Rules for Highly Evolved Humans.

- - -

"Marx called religion the opiate of the masses while offering the drug of happiness in some future revolution. Faith, far from making us apathetic, enables us to be present to what surrounds us. It also provides a sense of peace, which is always a better platform for action than anger or grievance. Saint Francis didn’t stand on a soapbox in Assisi hectoring the rich about the plight of the poor; he asked those who had bread to give him some and then he delivered it to those who didn’t. And you can be sure that as he did so, he didn’t feel important at all." - Fighting The Urge Towards Declinism

From one of the best articles I've read in awhile. Thank you to my friend Paul Shanks for sharing, and to Gregory Wolfe for writing it.

+ i will have this read at my wedding. +

Because you will be safe in marriage, you can risk; because you have been promised a future, you can take extraordinary chances. Because you know you are loved, you can step beyond your fears; because you have been chosen, you can transcend your insecurities. You can make mistakes, knowing the other will be there to catch you. And because mistakes and risks are the very essence of change, of expansion, in marriage you will expand to your fullest capacity. Within the shelter of marriage, you will continue to grow and develop, so you can discover your individual paths and offer your gifts back to each other and the world. Marriage, then, makes you free-to see, to be seen, to love.

thank you to kyla

+ august planning. & etc. +

myself.

i rarely blog on the weekends as i am much too ADHD to sit down and construct anything from start to finish, unless it's food. so, this will probably be updated throughout the day, and only truly completed on monday when i'm glued to my office chair at work correcting all the mistakes i've made over the weekend.

at some point today though, i will be doing my august planning, like i did last month.

home decor.

this before & after kitchen from thekitchendesigner.org absolutely amazed me:

fashion trend.

so, from browsing lookbook and stockholmstreetstyle a bit i've noticed a very odd thing. oversized tops are in again (thank god), but that isn't what's odd. a handful of these girls are wearing their daddy's shirts. hm. interesting.





more found here, here, here, and here. go look. really.

other blogs.

please go read belle chantelle's post, "turmoil" if you haven't already clicked thru to the blog of the week and read it on your own. her second post, along the same line, is here. you would be well off to read it, as well.

photography.

i am in the middle of getting a DAM method down for my photography. what a nightmare. i brought it upon myself though. i should have established a better method for keeping myself organized before i completely filled my entire harddrive with images. :\ here are two photos i found and flickr'd.


[self portrait]


[brother]

oh...i have to go do something...i will be back!