Travel

Good morning, sweet friends!
I greet you from the beautiful Hilton Head Island, South Carolina this morning and I could not be more thrilled.

Today marks one year since my granmom passed away and when I realized I would be away from home on not only the day she passed away, but her birthday too(which is the same day) I was hesitant to go. I debated postponing the trip a week, then I realized I would be spending her birthday just the way she would have wanted me to- Traveling.

It is no secret on this blog that I love to travel.  I love to experience different cultures and ultimately live in different ways.  My belief is that traveling teaches you things about yourself that you sometimes never knew, and certainly would have never learned sitting behind a desk at an 8 to 5.

In this chapter of my life there are a few realities that some might think I need to change, or might even want to change for me.  I see them as blessings.

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I am single.
I live with my parents.
I am a saver.
I live in a small town.
I am a homebody, especially during the week.

To me, all of those equal one beautiful thing which allows me to travel and gives me a passion to travel.

My granmom is someone that I grew up looking up to my entire life.  Now that she is gone, I just look up to her even more.  I imagine following in her footsteps, and traveling is one way I can do that.  She was a traveler and in her singleness after my grandfather passed away she traveled.  I like to think I am just picking up where she left off.

So where is the next trip going to be?  Only God knows, and I can't wait for him to bring me along! One thing I do know is that we have a birthday to celebrate today, and you better believe Katie and I will be finding a sweet treat to celebrate with!

Confessions of an Interior Designer: O.C.

When I was in college I had a great advantage of having my own personal tutor and encyclopedia just a phone call or text away.  Actually, I had a few tutors just a call away.

Coming from a family with a father as an engineer and an uncle and cousin as architects I was always getting great help on projects.  My dad almost got to where he expected the calls when he knew I would be in the studio all day.  Even my friends and some teachers would have me call him for help!

One of my favorite times that I called my dad was when my friend Renee and I were looking at a floor plan and we had no idea what o.c. stood for.  We were scratching our heads and needed to figure this out.  So we text my dad and what does he say it stands for:  "Oh Crap(the wall is in the wrong place)."

Now we both know this is wrong, and maybe it is just funny to designers, but we lost it!!  Luckily dad followed his text up with what it really stood for and told us 'On Center.'

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So you may not be a designer, but you can imagine that it would be an Oh Crap moment if a wall was put in a wrong place!  Luckily, no walls were put in the wrong place that day and we learned a little something.  I love this story and shared it with you all today because it brings back sweet memories from design school and all the help my dad was.

Perhaps I should have known better and knew what O.C. stood for.  Perhaps my dad is just weird.  Or perhaps this is just a Confession of an Interior Designer.

Texas Tuesday: Buffalo Gap

Today I am so excited for three very important reasons.
1. I am sharing with y'all my great weekend away in Buffalo Gap!

2. I am co-hosting Texas Tuesday with the wonderful Amanda and Crystal!!
3. And I am linking up with Helene for Travel Tuesday!

A few weeks ago my dad and I made use of our half day Fridays and left at noon to head out with my mom on a weekend camping trip.  We headed to the Abilene/Buffalo Gap area and were so excited to get away for the weekend!  We drove 3.5 hours and were so happy when we arrived at the camp ground to get all set up.  The weather was perfect and we were so thrilled to be there for the weekend.

After we made some dinner we loaded up in the truck to go drive around and got to watch the beautiful sunset.  We roasted marshmallows around the fire and enjoyed being together.

The next morning we all slept in.  Once again it was proven that the Lord gives us rest when we need it and believe me when I said we needed it!  Dad headed out on his bike and mom and I went into town.  We ended up at an antique store where we bought a Buffalo Gap Egg Cooker.  It is an awesome stoneware dish that cooks eggs, omelets, and lots of other yummy stuff in the microwave!

Once dad got done with his ride we all met back up and headed back to the Buffalo Gap Historic Village.  I had a great time snapping tons of pictures and exploring the village with my mom and dad. 

We explored the jail, blacksmith shop, gas station, train station, chapel, and so much more.  To be honest we weren't really sure how it was going to be, but it was great!!  Far exceeded our expectations and we loved it!

From the village we headed to the Perini Ranch Steakhouse.  We knew it was going to be good, but can we just get real for a second and let me admit that I had the best hamburger that I can ever remember having.  NO lie, it was to die for!  We started with the Jalapeno Bites, had an AMAZING Hamburger, and then followed it all up with splitting Jalapeno Cheesecake and Bread Pudding.  

After an amazing dinner with the parents we headed back to our humble abode for the weekend and spent another great night by the fire.  We took it easy the next morning and then headed home the next day for a leisurely ride home.

Lovely weekend.  Great time away.  Perfect family time.

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Brother Wedding Prep

The morning of my brother's wedding he and I showed up at the hangar early to make sure everything was how it was supposed to be for the big day and be there for the arrival of the air plane.  So like any good sister I decided to snap a few pictures of the morning.

When I told him and his best man to pose for a few photos this is what I got.

I kid you not!  I assumed they would just stand there and give me a good smile.  But I must have not been awake yet, because I know better than that.  Apparently this is how Steven and Matt felt that they needed to prepare for the wedding- silly and all!

This is the actual sequence that these photos were taken in!  What is that you ask?  Was there an actual serious photo taken... later that day when the photographer made them shape up.  But none that this loving sister was able to capture.  And truth be told, these are far better than any posed picture anyways!

And one last picture of the brother and I before we got all gussied up for the ceremony!

So now we have seen The Rehearsal Dinner, The Wedding, and The Wedding Prep, but that's not all, friends!  You better believe there is one more post coming your way showing off my dress for the Rehearsal dinner, my dress for the wedding and those infamous mint heels!!!!!

Until then... Happy Monday!

You Want More

Dear AT&T,
This could have been me in another life.  Since the appearance of your lovely commercials with Beck Bennett multiple people have told me that this commercial reminded them of me when I was little.  Not the talkative little girl part, but the girl in a frilly dress with matching headband and wavy brown hair.  Yep, that part!    

I am not complaining, but rather just bringing this to your attention.  In hindsight, some more originality would be appreciated.  This might as well have been one of my grade school picture outfits!  And from what I gathered from Christa's post last week, she is tired of this little gem.

Sincerely, Lauren
___________________________________________

Dear Readers,
If you want to know what I looked like when I was little, just imagine this girl with more freckles and a Texan accent.  I kid you not, at my brother's wedding I had multiple people tell me that this commercial reminds them of me.  Later that night when it came on when my parents and I were watching tv we almost fell out of our chairs because we were laughing so hard!

What?  You want more, too?  Well maybe one of these days some proof of this accusation will appear on the blog for a little Throwback Thursday.  Until then, just use your imagination!

Yours Truly! -Lauren

Charming House

It's been a while since we had us some Mr. Darcy on this here blog, and I thought it was about time we fix that.  

When I saw this I thought it was extremely humorous for a few reasons (in no particular order):

-I would do the same exact thing, because a. I'm a designer and notice those things and b. I'm awkward too.

-Could you imagine being on the other side of this conversation?!?

-I love me some Mr. Darcy

Yep, that's all I got.  Really, I just love me some Mr. Darcy and thought I would share that love with you all today!  

Keeping it short and sweet today as I wish you a happy weekend!!!

Happy Friday!

Happy Sunshine!

Happy Summer!

Yeast Free

One month and one week before my brother's wedding my mom and I were talking and she was saying how she wanted to lose some more weight before the big day and just wasn't getting the results she wanted.  So I recommend trying a Yeast Free diet after reading about such great results that Danielle had from it.

We thought it sounded like a good idea, and the more we looked into it we were on board. So we started on a Sunday morning and were in it for the next month.

For the first two weeks we ate vegetables, meat, nuts, and eggs.  I missed fruits, and sweet tea those first two weeks.  After the first two weeks, we got to introduce fruits again and let me just tell you that my first strawberry was the sweetest thing I have ever had.

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We got use to the diet a lot faster than I thought we would.  It was a true success and we both did really well on it. Mom lost 7 pounds and I lost 8 pounds.  We both feel great and I'm really happy with the results.  The belt has moved to the next notch and now I have to hold on to my skirts.

One of my favorite things about the diet was all the cooking we did.  It reminded me how much I like to cook and how I use to cook when I was in college.  This will definitely be kept up!

The biggest thing that I noticed from the diet, other than feeling great, was the amount of processed foods that we weren't eating.  I am allergic to soy and sesame and let me tell you, they are in everything.  It is hard to find processed foods that don't have either of those ingredients in them.  So while we were strictly on the diet I had no processed foods, and guess what... you can live with out that granola bar or bag of chips mid afternoon at the office.  I did, and could definitely feel the difference of not having the things I am allergic to in my food at all.

Now that our strict month of the diet is over my plan is to keep it up during the week as much as possible and be more lenient on the weekends.  Not go crazy, but not deprive myself of a bit of something sweet if need be.

Huge shout out to Danielle for all the support and tips along our journey.