Ode to a Chai Tea Friend

Today, while the internet was down at work for literally the entire morning, I was pondering these Chai cookies I'd recently shown to my dear friend Elizabeth (they sound super delicious, okay?) and I decided that if our friendship were a cookie, we would be an Iced Chai Tea Cookie. (I renamed it from “frosted chai tea cookie”) – As if any real persuasion is necessary, here is why:

1)      Iced chai tea is the most wonderful drink known to man. Hot chai is equally as wonderful.  We are the most wonderful girls and friends known to man.

2)      It is a cross between a cupcake and a cookie. Which to me says fluffy, warm, inviting, delicious, and soft.  We are warm, inviting, and fluffy/soft in that we are approachable and loving.

3)      It has icing. Chai Icing is sure to be the bomb. Clothes are like icing and we are stylish in our own ways and thus, the bomb(s).

4)      This cookie is almost certainly sweet and cinnamon-ny and nutmeg-y and delicious. Chai Tea is one of the sweetest ties that bind us! (From our Joffrey's days, where I introduced her to the, now, infamous drink)

5)      Like Iced Chai Tea Cookies, our friendship has depth. At first you taste the sweetness, but then you notice the many different delicious savory notes that give it it’s unique flavor.

6)      Chai Tea is a gift from God. Our friendship is a gift from God!

7)   Cookies are delicious. We both like cookies. This one seems pretty self-explanatory.

8)   I can never have Chai without thinking of Elizabeth, and now I will never be able to see/eat these cookies without thinking of Elizabeth.

Elizabeth and I really met when we became twins of our big, Ashley, in Sigma Phi Lambda, but I think the place where our friendship was really tested and grew was at sweet Joffrey's.  I made her her very first Iced Chai Tea and started her training and she became PRO and now has coffee making skillz running through her veins.  Now we're graduated and off in different states doing non-coffee jobs and the friendship forged in mid-morning rushes, and late night zyrtec filled Bible studies, and patience-teaching Senior Tuesdays, and yoga classes, and sweet retreats, and Gainesville trips, and parking garage heart-to-hearts, and Chai Tea dates is still ever so sweet. But with just enough deliciously subtle savory notes to give it depth and make it unique. ;)

Visions of PW Eggs Benedict danced in her head...

Do you ever go through phases where you see or partly experience something new and it becomes idyllic and wonderful in your mind and you want to do it SO DARN BAD? And then later you come to your senses and realize just how awful that thing would be if you lived it every day?

I like to call that The Illusion/Disillusionment Cycle, my friend.

I liken it to a child who, for example, wants to be a teacher when she grows up but when she gets older she realizes that she wants nothing more than to NOT be responsible for a group of 20-30 snotty kids who all would much rather be anywhere in the world but in her classroom. It's suitable for others, but definitely not for her.

For grown-ups though (and I use the term loosely) (the word loosely looks so strange regardless of how its spelled. Loosely, loosley, loosly.) I imagine the process to be much quicker. The disillusionment comes in a matter of hours or days. 

I bring all this up and discuss my theory because I have recently gone through the Illusion/Disillusionment cycle myself.  And it's all The Pioneer Woman's fault. 

Now, before you lambast me for blaming my problems on the Pioneer Woman, let me first explain that I love her blog and, since discovering it not really that long ago, I read it all the time. Seriously, if you haven't read her blog before, go read it now. She has a multi-faceted blog about various aspects of her life on a cattle ranch, and my favorite sections are Confessions and PW Cooks.  She is absolutely hilarious and everything she cooks makes me want to immediately reach into my screen and eat whatever horrible-for-you-but-oh-so-deliciously-good-looking thing she created. Sometimes she even makes me want to try things I don't like, and I know I don't like - like mushrooms. (blech! ick! ptooey!) Thus is the power of the Pioneer Woman.

Now back to the blaming.

It all began when I started reading her blog and saw her cute photography from the ranch and could catch a glimpse into the life of living in the sticks and doing the cattle thing.  Horses and gardens and a pond to fish in and fish kitchen utensils out of (read her blog) and autumn and lots of land and a pretty ranch house all trapped me in Illusionment.  I began daydreaming of how much fun it would be to live on a ranch and raise a family on a ranch and sit on my porch in the fall with a cup of hot chocolate, looking out at my ranch.  It sounds so peaceful, idyllic, lovely.

And then I realized what a horrible horrible idea it would be for me to live on a ranch. Me - who hates camping and outdoors and outdoors coming indoors. Me, who would love a garden but doesn't want to tend to it becuase there are bugs in the dirt, you know.  Me, who can't keep house to save my life and certainly wouldn't be out tending to cattle or whatever was going on on my ranch.  Me, who can only imagine the wild buggy creatures who would sneak into my house in the middle of the night and terrorize me in my spice cabinet and bathroom and on the back of the couch, when I least expect it.  Not to mention the fact that I simply cannot be more than 5 minutes from some sort of civilization and grocery store. Mostly the store. Preferably a Walmart so I can get other stuff too.  Also, cell reception. I'm just assuming cell reception on a ranch isn't the most ideal. Not to mention, waking up early in the morning to tend to whatever is on my ranch. That sounds horrid.

Thus, Disillusionment.

So thank you, Pioneer Woman, for reminding me that, while ranch life can be awesome for the right people, I am not the right people.  Now, console me and my lost dream with your tasty looking food. Amen.

My Facebook Has an Imp

This morning an imp invaded my facebook.

Imps are common problems in technology, in case you didn't know. They are always hopping in things, messing them up, and leaving just as suddenly as they came.

Every inexplicable technological problem you have that mysteriously resolves itself after torturing you with varying levels of mischief was caused by such an imp. Also, the kind that don't mysteriously resolve themselves. Imps there too.

Today, there is an imp in my facebook. Not the kind that really makes a mess of things and shuts down computers or convinces cell phones to leap out of the safety of an owner's pocket into the watery depths of the nearest toilet or washing machine, but the kind that just makes enough trouble to be aggrivating. 

My facebook imp makes my FB newsfeed continually jump right back to the top, no matter where I am in the page. I could have scrolled down to Timbuktu and have been reading about something that happened last week, when all of a sudden, with no warning or cause - JUMP! - suddenly I am staring at that blasted first post on my newsfeed again. No worries, though, I'll just scroll back down, I think. Right? Obnoxious, but easily resolved.

*scroll scroll* goes my mouse.

JUMP! goes the imp. Right. Back. To. The. Top.

Well now that's just insulting. I try to see if I can outsmart this FB imp. I let my mouse wander around the screen as if I am perusing my options to play Gardens of Time, and then ah HA! I scroll so fast I must be halfway through yesterday!

Jump! goes the imp. Ever so nonchalantly. Like he was waiting for me.

Then in dire frustration I vow FB off completely (only for the next few minutes, of course, I am from this generation after all) and log off to blog about the imp and expose him to the world. Or at least the 3 people who read this blog. 

This has been a Public Service Announcement.

You're welcome, you three.

A Summer Celebration!

Two Mondays ago was Jason's final Final of the YEAR!! So to celebrate (because I love any excuse to celebrate) I planned out a WHOLE WEEK of fun activities! Originally, I was going to plan a weekend, but there was a dire need for garage sale-ing. (Mom, bet you never thought you'd hear me say that!).  So instead, I planned out a little thing for each day of the week after I got off work.

Monday we didn't do anything because he had his last final at 8:00 at night (yikes, UF!)

Tuesday, we had a veg out day to let his brain relax and to begin the summer in true L&J style. Because Jason already figured out what we were doing on Thursday, we decided to watch all of the movies leading up to the big night! The Avengers! So on Tuesday, we watched Iron Man and The Hulk. (HULK SMASH! - we had to watch that part a couple times)

Outside of the card

Inside the card! (That says Pizza, not Rizza.)

I have a good helper. He likes to be where I am.

Wednesday, we went to a nearby park for a picnic and to play frisbee! I learned how to properly catch and release a frisbee! Our frisbee adventure was cut short because I had choir rehearsal, but we resumed our celebration afterwards with $5 Bang Bang Shrimp at Bonefish. So flipping delicious. Also, the cheapest Bonefish date ever!

Outside

Inside

Thursday was originally supposed to be a surprise, we were going to the midnight premiere of the Avengers, but he figured it out and then I had some bank problems so he ended up buying the tickets for us. But it was SO AWESOME! Our theater was hilarious.  We were in a Regal and they always have a roller coaster when the previews are about to start so you know the movie is coming and to quiet down.  Its a first person perspective and you go up and down on a roller coaster through giant popcorn and sodas and other various concessions.  Jason and I usually pretend we are on the roller coaster but we are very subtle about it so that other movie goers aren't disturbed.... by us. Well, when the roller coaster started, over half of the theater throws their hands in the air and leans back and forth in all the turns and drops going "WOOOO!!!!!"

Then, after the movie was over, the credits began rolling and about 8 people got up to leave (noobs). The guy sitting directly in front of us shouts as loud as he can "SIT DOWN, YOU FOOLS! YOU CAN'T LEAVE YET!!" And everyone else burst out laughing.... because we're in the know. You ALWAYS stay for the sneak peek at the end. Those poor souls ignored his advice and left anyway.

It was the single greatest movie-going experience of our lives.

Envelope

Outside

Inside

 I had originally thought I would have Monday through Thursday for events, so I planned an extra one, but seeing as Jason's final was obnoxiously late, it got bumped to the next week.  I don't really have a good picture of the event itself, but I got 150 glow-in-the-dark stars and put them all over my ceiling. Jason and I love stargazing and we are always wanting to go, but don't because of light pollution, or bugs, or weather, or work in the morning, or whatever. So now we can stargaze whenever we want! Fun Fact: Jason had no idea how glow in the dark stars worked. He LOVED them!

"You are cordially invited...."

"I would be distinctly honored if you would join me for an evening under the stars.
Please RSVP with a kiss"

Each day, he got coupons with his activity! There were like, 2 or 3 per day. He's really excited about them, but will likely save them for so long he forgets he has them.

 

It was an AWESOME week full of fun Summer things and it rang in the summer excellently for the both of us!  And just because I know you want to see this:

Kitty in wrapping paper!!!!

The Auntie is a Dangerous Auntie

Well, Auntie Lauren has been replaced by Tragic Auntie.

Tragic, because Terrible, Horrible, No-good, Very bad Auntie is much too wordy.

This weekend, while visiting my brother and his family, I took my 2 year old nephew for a walk around the block while his parentals prepared for a garage sale.  We had a lovely time jumping out of the way of cars, jumping on rocks in the parking lot, jumping out at lizards to scare them witless. Essentially lots of jumping. Also running and squealing and generally being a rambunctious 2-year-old boy.

We took the Go-Go and he decided to run up a driveway (scaring lizards) and he realized "That would be an awesome hill to ride my Go-Go down". So he hopped on his Go-Go and before I could react, flew down the driveway, hitting the lip where the driveway meets the road, flipped straight over the front and smacked his face on the road. I could see it coming. It happened so quick. It was like it was in slow motion as he rode down the hill with such glee on his face and I ran towards him yelling in a deep slow-motion voice "Nooooooo! Yooouuuu'rree gggooonnnnnaaa ccrraaasssshhh!!!"

And sure enough, he did.

His poor forehead broke his fall.  He immediately started crying (I don't blame him! I almost did too!) and so Tragic Auntie picked him and the Go-Go up and walked them both back around the circle to the house. (Tragic Auntie later learned she could have cut straight across. Sigh.) Daddy came and rescued him and the poor baby was distraught for the rest of the day.





It's okay - chicks dig scars.
PS - Aren't his eyes just gorgeous?

 
The next day he was just fine. Unless of course, you tried to wipe his nose. Then he became a Tasmanian Devil. But what kid doesn't become a Tasmanian Devil when there is nose-wiping to be done?

And that is the story of how Auntie Lauren became Tragic Auntie.

The Nanny-Auntie

In about 2 1/2 months, I will be moving from this Swampland to the "north" South - North Carolina!! I will be living with my sister and brother-in-law and nannying for my newest adorable nephew! For a little backstory:

He was born 9 weeks early at 3lbz 6oz by emergency C-section.  He and his loving, attentive parents and assorted grandparents stayed by his side in the NICU for about 2 months until it was finally time to come home! Now, clearly, I've skipped a bunch of his story, but that is my sister's story to tell (link to be added). He has since been doing spectacularly and is (what seems like in comparison) a pudgy 7lbs and some oz change! His adjusted age (how old he would be if he were born on his due date) is now about 1 1/2 weeks old. He's already rolled himself over! I am very excited to be his nanny (I hear he is very snuggly! I love baby snuggles!)

I will be his Nanny-Auntie when his Mommy goes back to work.  I think this calls for a theme song.... (to the tune of The Nanny theme - if you dont know it, shame on you)

"She was working as receptionist in swampy lands
til her sister had a kid and needed a helping hand.
What else could she do? Why would she not go?
They were in need of a nanny!
So all the way from Florida to her sister's door,
She was there to feed bottles and change diapers galore!
She has style! She has flair! And nice hair!
She is the Nanny-Auntie!!"

Yup, that should do it. Just play that everytime I walk in the room from now on, please. Thank you.

Look at this sweet little face!!!

A Very Bloggy Makeover!!!

In honor of having a new job that I enjoy and not working for those horrible old people I used to work for, and therefore being much happier and less stressed...... I gave my blog a makeover!!!! I like it. And those who know me.... will know the green is right up my alley. Yes indeedy.  So, dearest family and friends (most of whom are family), I would love to delight you with the current ongoings of my life:

• As I have mentioned, and many of you know, I now work for an insurance marketing company here in this town where I live.  Essentially, our office is a wholesale office and we sell annuities to the agents who sell them to people getting their retirement plans together.  It is a very casual office and I regularly wear jeans and tennis shoes or sandals of some variety.  I have been recycling my old work tops though so I always look at least semi-professional. Lately there has been a whole lot of NOTHING for me to do, resulting is vast amounts of down time at work where I straighten what I've already straightened, re-check emails I've already re-checked, and occasionally write letters to my beau. Bubba says things will pick up and "look busy" until then.
  
  
• Last week Jason and I celebrated our 50th month together! It was a pretty amazing week. We always take turns planning out surprises for each other for birthdays and anniversaries and such.  This time it was Jason's turn to plan something out for us to do and our 50th monthaversary fell on a Tuesday. He wouldn't tell me what he'd planned but he said that we would be getting home late. I said "okay, how late?" and he said "well.... around 12:30?" I was really uncomfortable with this. I wouldn't even GET home til 12:30 and then I had to get ready for bed and go to sleep and then get up in the morning for work? So I kind of hemmed and hawed about it (I believe that is the phrase) and eventually he decided it would be easier on my nerves to just tell me the surprise and let me decide if we wanted to postpone to the weekend. So he revealed that he was taking me to Ocala to a Drive-In Theater!!! This is something I've never done and we've been talking about how cool it would be to go to a drive-in for FOREVER now. So naturally, I burst into tears. He, being understandably confused, said "Sweetie, what is it??" and I managed to choke out that it was wonderful and I ruined the whole surprise and I still didn't want to get home at nearly 1:00am.  So he kept telling me it was okay and I didn't need to cry (I was still crying). He didn't exactly have a contingency plan, so we decided to get gussied up and try a new restaurant we'd never been to before. We looked it up on his phone (He had an app for that) and finally decided on a hibachi place called Miraku - almost every single review was great and said to ask for Mr. Yummy as your chef.  Soooooo we got ourselves ready and did just that! When we got to the restaurant we noticed it was a little.... empty. We went in and were seated.... and we were the only patrons in the entire restaurant. I joked that Jason was so thoughtful to rent the whole place out just for us! So we had Mr. Yummy (the only chef working that night anyway) and it was delicious! He put on a great show and I tell ya, that was some of the best hibachi I've ever had. In addition to the seafood sauce and ginger sauce they usually give you, he offered us "Spicy Sauce." Naturally, we accepted. He ended up refilling our little cup a couple of times! THAT SAUCE WAS SO GOOD!!! It went with everything and make everything spectacularly amazing. Jason asked our waitress if it was a certain brand, and she told us that Mr. Yummy actually makes the sauce himself. So not for sale. But, she did let us take a little to go cup for the road!! mmmmmm spicy sauce...
  
  Wednesday we successfully completed one of the runs on our Couch 2 5K program that we started (and have since been faltering on). 
  
  Thursday we finally went to the Drive In Theater in Ocala (it wasn't so bad because Friday is a short work day for me. I justified it) We saw This Means War and it was actually pretty cute overall! We had a great time! There was a little concession stand with NORMAL CONCESSION PRICES instead of a 6 dollar small popcorn.  We watched our show and listed to the audio over the radio. We discussed sitting in the bed of the truck but boy, am I glad we didn't!!! At one point in the movie I see something move across the movie screen and realize it was a SPIDER and it was on the CAR WINDSHIELD!! Now, for those who know how I feel about spiders, you know I have the slightest tendency to exaggerate their size. This time, though, I have a witness and this spider was bigger than a silver dollar. It was definitely a monster. And it was right in front of me. Jason whisked it away with the windshield wiper and I shuddered and shook for a while before convincing myself it really did fly off of the car into grassy oblivion and not just moved onto another area of a car to lay in wait for me to open the door to get out. (Spiders are feisty like that. They hold grudges.) We enjoyed the rest of our movie, spider-free, and he took me home and I fell into bed. 
  
  As if that wasn't enough of an awesome celebratory week, that Saturday was Jason's christian fraternity BYX's joint formal with Phi Lamb! (the UF chapter, but I totally counted) So I re-wore my bridesmaids dress from my friend/totes presh biff/Phi Lamb Big/roomie Ashley's wedding and Jason wore a brand new shirt and vest from JC penny's that we got for SUPER CHEAP! We looked awesome.We danced like crazy people along with all of the other crazy people there dancing and we sweated like pigs and got Jamocha shakes on the way home. MMMMM! So much fun!!!

 

Mmmyeah, see, I've been working on my mus-tache, see?

 So that has been my past few weeks.  This week Jason has finals (he is taking one right at this very minute!) and then he will be FREE and summer will be here! Aaaaand this will be my first summer as a workin girl, but we don't want to dwell on that.  I have been cookin up some fun ideas in my noggin for a week celebrating no more finals! Starting next Monday after his last final, we will be doing various activities every night to celebrate and relax and the FINAL activity of the week is a big surprise but he's been talking about it forever so I know he'll be super stoked.

In other words, he and I recently talked about some areas we could improve upon in our relationship and I would like to share one of mine so you can help me be accountable and encourage me to be mindful of my words.  I recently saw an article on Yahoo (another thing I do to pass time at work) about what this one psych-something-ist essentially called "the four horsemen of the divorce-poclypse"  It is a list of things people do while fighting that just make everything worse and nothing constructive is accomplished by the argument.  1) Criticism 2) Contempt 3) Defensiveness 4) Stonewalling.  Now, granted, I have problems with all of those to a certain degree. But my big two are Criticism and Contempt. With Jason, I just am not a fair fighter and that's something I've come to realize lately. So he and I agreed that we would each work to really be mindful of our big two and we would lovingly and gently point out when the other was being contemptuous, defensive, etc.  We haven't yet had another fight where we've needed to, but we've been at this for 4 years, we know it'll happen. Therefore, keep us in your prayers as we work on this together and work to build our relationship to as healthy and strong as it can be. :)