Digital Get Down....

If you don't remember that song - download it. Digital Get Down by NSync. It is super fun & great to run I mean walk to...I suddenly have this addiction to all the highschool boy band groups. After watching the AMA's and seeing New Kids with Backstreet Boys - how can I not want to relive the poppy goodness?! So consequently my itunes is being flooded with NSync, Backstreet, and some more New Kids. Side note: the Backstreet Boys/New Kids on the Block tour is coming full force in June. I'm so there. You should be too..

Soooo I found my wedding dress! Yes! I did! Well I have to say that it was a group effort. If you realllly know me you already know I thought I found THE dress. It was simple, no fuss, and ok, not gonna lie. Soooo affordable. Like sick affordable. I was OK with that. I loved that about the dress. More money to spend here and there. Open bars aren't cheap people! So I brought my mom, sister, and bridesmaid/best girl ever, to go on a dress hunt. I really just thought we were going to David's Bridal I was going to put on the dress and then bam - mom and sister would say how much they LOVED it and that it was THE PERFECT DRESS! Well, yeah. None of that happened. Here is more of how the convo went..

Lynsey: it's pretty....with a not so convincing smile.
Mom: silence....smirk.
Steph: that is so perfect (steph knew how i felt about the dress and i had talked her into loving it as well)
Mom: breaking her silence: well if you want it lets buy it.
Me: do you like it?
Mom: silence - slight head movment from the left to right....
Mom: but it's your dress if you like it lets get it.

Me: maybe we should go to our next appointmet at Venturas
Mom: good idea.

sooooooooooooooooooooooooooo i was sick all the way to venturas. what was wrong with the dress?! why does nobody like it?! do i have awful wedding dress taste? and if that is the case do I just have awful wedding taste?! ooooh lord. my wedding is doomed. so we drive. i try to make small talk. Steph is being funny steph and making me feel 10 times  better per minute. so i just let the dress go and decided to give venturas a chance.

and thank goodness I did!

as you pull up it looks like a scary warehouse. its a little sketchy. Wanna know my opinion though?! I think they make the outside look that way to prevent theft. Theft of alllll the beautiful gorgeous amazing gowns that they have in the wedding dress heaven. Im telling you...we walked in and despite the lists of rules here and there ( we were thrown off a bit ) but once you get the "ok you're clear come in" it is like a candy store for brides. Silk, taffeta, lace, ribbon, jewels, ooooh M G.

My awesome consultant led me through rows and rows of amazingness. I chose a few to start off with -and she assured me she had some ideas that she would bring out later..

As she helped me into the first dress a crazy cool feeling came over me. I felt like a REAL BRIDE. The Davids dress was pretty and casual and i felt pretty. This dress made me feel glamorous, gorgeous, I can honestly say as I looked in the mirror I wondered how one dress could make me feel so great about myself. If you haven't guessed  - I ended up choosing the first dress I tried on. I tried on quite a few more but my mind kept pulling me back to dress one...and just seeing my mom, sisters and Stephs face just made me feel that much more confident in my decision. Mom said if I didn't pick that dress I was crazy & that she knew that was the dress I was supposed to marry James in. There were tears. Just seeing my favorite people so happy for me meant more than the dress. (the dress is fantastic though)..so after one day only I had the dress of my dreams. I can't wait for everyone to see it! My dad is going to wonder where his daughter went ;) I am so excited to see James' face when I walk down the aisle. He tells me I'm the prettiest girl ever pretty much every day but he has no idea what a treat he is going to get! LOL! This dress makes me feel sexy and confident and all the things I think of when I think of glamour. Yes, I said sexy ;)
Hurry up September!!!

So it's Thanksgiving. We went to mom and dad's in mont belvieu and it was a perfect day!

Games and puzzles with Lynsey. Wine. Listening to my dad, uncle, and James argue about foreign, vs. american made cars. Football. FOOOOOOOD!

my mom knows how to make thanksgiving dinner. let me tell ya. I so look forward to it. then I so regret it. but yeah, worth it totally.

to wrap up this post I am going to just throw out 5 things Im way thankful for!

1.) FAMILY - i would be lost without them.

 me and the fam. my dad may or may not be an undercover pimp. we don't talk about it ;)

this was at 9-5 for my mom's birthday. we had a blast! and yes, Dolly Parton was actually there (just for my mom's big day of course)

2.) JAMES he pretty much makes my day every single day.

sorry babe! thats what you get with you don't smile when i want to take your picture. this is your warning ;)

love him.

3.) HEIDI!

4.) FRIENDS

5.) NO DEBT & A STABLE FUN JOB!

oh man.

have to add one more.

6.) IM GETTING MARRIED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

HOPE EVERYONE HAD A GREAT TURKEY (in our case ham) DAY!

sorry for the last few pictures missing but James just came in and said he had a prize for me - he put up the tree! Woooohooooo! Off to decorate for our party next saturday, what?!

LOVE,

ME

xoxo

gosh have to say it one more time: I am soooo thankful for my handsome fiance for wanting to

MARRY ME ;)

and that my dermatologist is going to fix my oil problem - do you see that oil slick on my face - gross!

I suppose I have soooo much to be thankful for - kind of overwhelming! 

the end. 

Sex In The City

I can join that club!!!!!!

Yes, I went there.

Yes, I mean NEW YORK! (and maybe the sex in NY part too, maybe....you dirty minds)

but - sooooo in love with the big apple. We had the most amazing time. I know I could never be a true New Yorker but I had blast trying. Picture me: dark alleys, late night, coffee in hand, hailing taxis - I was legit. Legit & scared out of my ever loving mind. I grew up in the country people. Some nights we didn't lock the door - ok only when mom knew I would be home late and she didn't want the dog to wake up but you know what I mean. I was looking over my shoulder every ten, no 5 seconds ( I read in a magazine if you act aware of your surroundings are you a less likey target for a scary person) anyway James lauged at me and reminded me that he in fact was perfectly comfortable because he grew up in the ghetto - I mean, Channelview. I will admit having my man so confident in his street smarts did make me feel way way better and I think him  being so handsome helped too ;)

Ok - besides me being a little uncomfortable at night the actual city is amazing. and gorgeous, and wonderful, and busy and perfect. I think it would be the neatest girls weekend destination so yeah, start saving girls!

Here are a few pictures from the trip: They say more about the beauty of NY than I could ever type.

Ok - so these are just a few..didn't want to bore anyone ;) BUT if you want to see more (and you should) I have them loaded on my facebook under the NY:LOVE album I think...and it's not private so yes you can see them. No excuses!

So to round up our NY trip blog here are 10 fun things:

1. We saw Chicago - James was drooling. Those girls were smokin' and yeah, the musical talent: AMAZING!
2. We went to the Natural History Museum. Nothing came alive while we were there. I asked J if we could wait and see - big negative. Lame. but we did see some very very neat exhibits. I love a great museum :)
3. I rode the subway. YUCK. Not my fav but taxis are way expensive and I would rather spend my money on beer.
4. While in the subway I got shoved and instructed to "Get out tha way" by a homeless scary girl. Who then began asking everyone to open a phone she "Fout in da taxi"........where was my dang taxi?!
5. We found the cooooolest dive bar EVER. It was called Steve's. The sign outside simply said in neon lights: "BAR" Thank you YELP app for making our Saturday night at Steve's epic.
6. We spent maybe an hour of the total shopping. There was soooo much to do we really didn't have time. Guess we have to go back!!
7. The food was to die for. I don't think we had one bad meal. These people eat well. I'm jealous. and they walk EVERYWHERE so they don't have to worry about what they eat...Lucky. I wonder how long it would take me to walk from home to work...I would be a skinny biatch.
8. James is the love of my life. I know this because I didn't murder him while spending the weekend cooped up in our 2X5 hotel room...ok it was a bit larger than that BUT at the same time it was hella small. We made it :)
9. Times Square is crazy. It is like the Vegas strip on steriods. So cool. I do think it is crazy however that people actually want to cram themselves in there though for New Years. We went on an average weekend and were getting booty bumped left and right. New Years!? No thanks....
10. I look a boy when I wear hats. Especially beanies. and especially while I have my hair pulled up in a pony tail & wearing ear muffs. seriously! example in 3...2...1...look down!

So from my get ready room in the fabulous state of Texas I just wanted to fill you in on my so awesome trip to super fun New York!

Love,
Lauren

see I look way better without a hat :)

isn't James too cute?!

ok I'm really done......

xoxo

Halloween at the 4911...

Huge success!
I honestly have been looking forward to Halloween night for the last 2 months. This was our first real Halloween at the 4911 and we were ready! We had a bucket FULL of candy and most of it is gone. We still have little bit left. I'm not gonna lie. I was worried we wouldn't have enough. Not because I was afraid to run out for the kids but um, because I needed breakfast this morning.
side note: Can you tell my diet is going splendidly?! I am on a roll - let me tell ya. Ew. like a stomach roll?! yes, I went there. I need to get to the gym asap. Im feeling way guilty right now.
Ok - i'm taking the focus off of my favorite holiday....getting back to halloween: so last year we went to Philly to meet up with some of J's friends for a concert and halloween party so while we were living here at the 4911 at the time - we weren't halloweening it up HERE. Last year was a freakin' blast - don't get me wrong. I wouldn't have traded last Halloween for anything except maybe not taking so many $2 jager shots or was it $3. doesn't matter. Yeah. I would trade that. Here is a recap of last Halloween before we get to this year.
 Drum roll....HALLOWEEN 2009 what, what?!

So much fun :) Pretty much one of my favorite Halloweens so far.

Now lets look into Halloween 2010:

This year was in the running for my favorite halloween - but in a different way. Last year we did the costumes, the parties, the $2-3 jager shots.....you get it. This year we stayed home. I raked leaves and cleaned the front entry. We hung webs and banners and plugged in sparkly pumpkins and James set up glowing paper bags. It was a fabulous first halloween decorating attempt. It was bittersweet in a way. We were the ones staying in, waiting for the trick or treaters and ooooh'ing an awwww'ing over the so so cute costumes. We were peeking out of the window waiting like a 5 year old waits for their birthday party guest to arrive. Just sayin' - we were excited! Then - I got nervous. What if I scare the kids, what if I don't say the right thing, what if they kick me and steal all of the candy?! Soooo James did the passing out. I just watched from a distance..smiling and waving like a goof. But I wouldnt have done it any other way. My man looks super hot while passing out candy & was so so adorable talking to everyone about their costumes and telling them to have fun. he is going to be an awesome dad. at one point there was a group of older boys and they asked him what he was and he said he was an old man in pj's. as he shut the door he asked, "do we have an age limit?!" oooooh yeah, that's my hubby to be ;)
so we only have a few kids on our street. but these are some smart kids. let me tell you! they hit our house ummmm like 3 times?! each time with a new little story on why they were back. well i take that back. the little girls across the street didn't say much. they just held out their bags and smiled (very sneakily). Love them. Now the boys were hilarious. They were our final trick or treaters. They came back just to let us know we werent getting anymore trick or treaters - they were the last ones out...I saw those boys eyeing up MY breakfast. I got a little panicky. This is how I know my guy knows me. He didn't give them allll the candy! I sooo thought it was about to happen but nope James just laughed and gave them each a handful. I was ok with that ;)
We also had a few special halloween visitors! Steph and Jeff brought over Iron Man (Jayden) and the cutest Ladybug ever (Bryleigh). They were my favorite trick of treaters of the night. I just want to say that Steph and Jeff are doing a fabulous job with their babies. Umm polite?! Sooo polite! Ok here is a scenario and you decide how you would have handled this as a kid in kindergarten or a toddler. You are in a ladies house that you know knows your mom and dad. She says here take whatever you want. What would you do? A) grab the biggest handful you coud ever imagine - then go back for more?! or B) take a few pieces and say Thank you. Um- A?! but nope. Jayden was so sweet. He took a few pieces said thank you and was totally satisfied. It was sweet. and Bryleigh was ok with just one snickers (my kind of girl) Good job Steph & Jeff. Your kids are AMAZING & way cute :)

So here are a few pics to end my blog - I have things to do people. NYC in 3, yes THREE days! WooHoo!

 Jayden

Bryleigh

So while I had my wine and James had his football - all the neighborhood kids had a crap load of candy. Score 1 for the 4911!

Can't wait for next year!
I am going as a Trophy Wife since it will be pretty much right after we GET MARRIED (a month and a day to be exact)! Perfect, I know! I think I'm partial to the first one...we shall see!!!

Maybe James can do the whole prisoner with a ball and chain with a sash that says slave husband....too much? maybe.....

Hope everyone had a fabulously spooookified Halloween!

Love Always,

Lauren

Legalize Frostitution!

The blog title today is the slogan for the cupcakery Cupcake Royale, in Seattle....so cute!
Last night instead of dinner we had cupcakes at the new Frost shop in the Woodlands :) I had a caramel apple cupcake with apple buttercream frosting. Yummmm! Karla got the boston creme pie cupcake with buttercream frosting and chocolate ganache. Delicious. Why can't a fabulous cupcakery come to this side of town. Two minutes from our house would be even ideal, just sayin'....
So to bring this around to the other point of this spill - at the beginning of wedding planning I told James I realllly wanted a cupcake bar for the reception. He wasn't having it. He apparently doesn't care for different types of cupcakes - side note (i brought him a chocolate cupcake with vanilla cream frosting last night & he ignored it. He went to our halloween candy and picked up some snickers and twix and probably a kit kat for good measure) who does that?! who denies a perfect chocolate cupcake?! ooooh he's special. so anyway: he said no to the cupcake bar but after last night - we may have to do some reconsidering. I'm sold ;) Our receptionist Kori is going to culinary school. Im thinking that by our wedding next year she will be able to whip up some A+ wedding cupcakes. I will accept that instead of a gift. Perfect!

So it's challenge time!

Talk about your favorite musician and why:

There are too many. I will say I used to be legit crazy about Gavin Rossdale. Can you blame me?! His voice is just soooo amazing - it doesn't even matter that his lyrics are crap. He could sing to me allll day and night and I would be on cloud 9. and let's not forget he is GORGEOUS.

and while still being the talented singer songwriter guitar playing devishly handsome crush of my life: he plays TENNIS! sigh.


Next up: Lil Wayne. I don't find him attractive in the slightest but i LOVE me some weezy. Everytime I listen to him I feel a little more gangster. ( we all know how incredibly gangster i am) but - he just puts in a great mood. Period.

We can't forget Dave Matthews! He is one guy James and I can always agree on listening to. He makes me smile from ear to ear - and totally rocks my world. And how. I would just like to let everyone know Dave will be at our wedding. Maybe not in person but in spirit and in song. We are thinking we might use You & Me for some part of the ceremony or reception...and for our favor cds he will be frequenting.

Ooooooh yeah :)

Love me some Dave!

and I have to give a shout out to my girl T. Swift.

she rocks my socks. what can't you say about how awesome Taylor is?! Inside look into the 4911: J has this exact picture of Taylor on our refrigerator. True story. You gotta love him.

oooooooh and speaking of my girl - we have talk about my boy. Kan to the YE. He's just misunderstood and needs better friends. I think he's working on it. So don't be judgey ;) I have to throw a lyric out that I just heard from one of his new songs that made me laugh - a lot. It said (and you can use this) "You should be a flight attendant because you're a f*ing trip" LOL! oooooh I loved it. Kanye - I will always love you!

Anyway - those are my favs. It always changes but most stay the same.  There are tons tons more but these popped into my head. That must mean something!


So in closing. I love music & I love cupcakes. and I love my boyfriend. Yummmmmm :)

you should visit this shoppe - the owners son looks like he is in like 2nd grade and is really helpful - too cute ;)

Until next time!

XOXO

Lauren

Hoarding, really?!

Hey everyone! It's been a few days - but what's new.

Here is something new: Brynn is ENGAGED! So excited for her & her man. He really lucked out - really. I am so happy that everything worked out the way my so deserving friend wanted. It's really funny because when we met we were both in an ugly relationship place in our lives. It is such a blessing to see that the Man really did have a plan for us. I have my super amazing James & she has her super awesome RT. Good things come to pretty girls who wait. We know ;)

Just want to say I know my last blog ended rather abrubtly. Good reasons for this. My computer froze mid blog ( I fully intended on posting Snooks & Jwow ) then Kori came over and not only did we watch the Jersey Shore finale (xoxo) but we watched The Vampire Diaries & Project Runway! It was so nice to have someone there who knew what was going on for every show and didn't ask me every 2 minutes what was going on (James). Yes, Kori might just be my tv watching soul sista.

With that being said: Before I start my challenge I need to address hoarding.

Compulsive hoarding (or pathological hoarding or disposophobia)^[1] is the excessive acquisition of possessions (and failure to use or discard them), even if the items are worthless, hazardous, or unsanitary.

So I guess I'm talking about the compulsive kind.

It makes me sick. What makes me sick is that I see pre-hoarding signs in our house. Not because of James - because of ME! Eeeeek!

Last night I couldn't sleep so I decided to zone out with some snickers and one of the hoarding shows. Now I have never really watched a full episode until a few weeks ago. I decided I wanted to see what the end of the show was like. I wanted to see pristine homes. Uncovered treasures. Smiling faces. I wanted to see some results people.
Didn't happen.
Even a televsion show couldn't completely clean the two homes featured. I asked a few clients if they had ever seen a completed house and the general answer was no. This makes me so upset and sad. I always wonder why James is so against my 1,000's of scentsys or my crazy amounts of clothes and shoes that just hang out that I might wear again...now I know. My man can see our hoarding future & it isn't pretty.

Today (my day off) I decided to clean out closets, drawers, and my get ready room. I should have done before and afters. That would have been fun. Oh well. I was sooo amazed at the crap I have. I have 50 bottles of differents lotions. vitamins for everything imaginable, boxes. weird boxes. Enough random hair products that I could open my own beauty supply. and clothes. ooooh the clothes. This is making me sick right now. These people have their lives taken away by THINGS. These people push away and alienate people and loved ones and life for THINGS. Well no more. We all know I love me some things - but I going to keep this to a minimum. I'm thinking once a month or so Im going to do a sweep of this house. If I haven't used you, sorry thing, you are outta here. I think everyone should take just a day and really look around (and inside or behind) and see what you have been kind of noticing building up but say I'll get that next week - yada yada and get rid of it! Goodwill, Plato's Closet, resale - there are so many options and while keeping your pre-hoarder self in check you could also help someone else :) pay off, what?!

So here is to being happy with the ones you love and not things. Things may be nice but in moderation. Ok - I feel better. No hoarding at the 4911....nice.


Challlllllenge tiiiiiiime!

A photo of something I ate today....so exciting ;)

Strawberry PopTarts for breakfast. It's my new thing. I always get a on kick for a bit. Sometimes it's apples, sometimes donuts, well for the time being its the yummy 400 calories (yep) for 2 toasted tarts of deliciousness. See! I'm really into them!

 So this is neat: PopTart art! Crazy!

....and this is weird. Who would ever wear PopTart earrings. Don't answer that. I love Strawberry PopTarts but really?!

Ok, all this PopTart blogging is making me really one. I think I will just make one. That's only 200 calories. Worth it? Ooooh yeah ;)

So here are my Jersey girls. I couldn't leave them out (better late then never)! Miss you already Snooks and JWow - next season can't get here fast enough (tear). Keep those fists pumping and the drama coming!

XOXO

& until next time,

 Lauren



Rollin' with the homies....

Just have to say that while I was driving home from work I was thinking about friends. I love having them. I love the ones I have. So then the song "Rollin' with the homies" popped into my head and it isn't going to leaving any time soon...good thing they are really are my homies. Not only do I think I have great homies - I am so lucky that they are all talented great homies. Thanks Brynn for the new(er) blog design & thank you Steph for making my hair beautiful. To all of my other homies: I'm sure you are talented at something - it just doesn't apply to me (but I bet it's gangsta)! Ok - enough homie talk. That could get old really quickly ;)

With that being said I think I'm going to talk about friends for a quick minute. I am fortunate enough to know the difference between my real friends and my acquaintances. Some people don't and that leads to issues. I feel really bad for those people :( That is one reason there is a lot of drama running rampid. Anyway - I have tons (TONS) of acquaintances. I only have handful of real friends. Now - these friends are the ones I know for a fact would be there for me no doubt. I have sifted through many a friend to find these diamonds in the rough - cheesy i know, but so true. It is super nice to know if I'm having a bad day, week, you choose - I know that it won't be too long before one of them either makes my day in some way, large or small, or just knows something is up and finds someway to get me out of my funk. Love that. It's funny how life throws many people in your path and at the time they are very important. They have an impact on decisions you make, other people you meet, sometimes they are really awesome to go shopping with. All I know is that not very many of those people turn out to be the real deal and I am so blessed to have to some of the realest deals around. Just sayin'. Ok not to leave my acquaintances out - love them too, but probably not the best shoppers. They just didn't quite make the cut. Moooooving on......

Challenge #3
A photo of an animal you would love to keep as a pet.

Ok. Everyone knows I already have the pet I would love to keep as pet because I have the best pet on the the planet, duh. Here is a pic to just reiterate that fact.

Yep. She's my #1 pet. EVER! 

but.

If I could have ANY pet on the plant I would  want a Koala Bear!

They are pretty much the cutest things besides Heidi...

So there you go. If I had to trade Heidi this is what I would be bringing home. James would freak.

So tonight is Jersey Shore finale night!

my boyz.

This could be scary....

Since my phone is syncing & it looks like it is going to take some time - I guess I will do challenge number two before I head to work :) Can I just say realllly quickly how annoying syncing an Iphone is. Ridiculous!

Challenge number 2: A photo of yourself from 2 years ago.

Eeeek! I'm trying to remember if that is before or after I lost my "going out & drinking beer every night because of my selfish border line depression" weight. Hmmm. I don't think so because James and I have been together for over three years. Who knows. I think he met me somewhere in the middle. Like I said - this could be scary. Let's take a look!

 So this is what I'm talking about:

above: after i lost my pity party weight.

below: well you get the picture. i REALLY liked corona and lots of fried food and whataburger at 2 am. now i stick to budlight and some fried food and i'm rarely out at 2 am. fun facts right?!

 So those are two pics from two years ago. It seems like yesterday when I could outdrink and outweight James. Those were the days. Oh, I'm just teasing! That would be silly.

Side note: I need to get back to some boot camps though. Ive been super lazy lately and I hear wedding dresses aren't very forgiving!

Oh. and notice how James NEVER changes. I really believe he has been genetically altered. No joke. His dad did work for Nasa - it could be possible. Hopefully our one day child gets his super amazing genes. That would be the bomb, like woah.

Everyone have a fabulous Wednesday! I'm going to try to!

XOXO and all that jazz!