the weekend = lauren goes to work.

that's right folks. these past 2 days have been my "weekend" of sorts (where i only work 4 hours one day, & only 6 hours the next day!) & now it's back to the daily grind of working doubles, trying to make enough money to be able to go to school 5 days a week in the fall. did i mention how stressful senior year is!? holy freaking cow! 
anyways, sometimes going to work for hours at a time isn't so bad. especially when one of south ogden's favorite regulars takes me for a spin through the drive thru to get my black tea lemonade:

ps did i mention i hate bullet bikes? i wouldn't let him go any faster than 5 mph. he kept chuckling at me for screaming every time he had to turn the wheel.

someday i'll get over my fear of bikes... & get a vespa.

the arts festival

this past weekend was the UTAH ARTS FESTIVAL in good old SLC. i love this time of year because festivals are my favorite, & the arts festival is my VERY favorite. luke & i spent a couple hours wandering the various booths & talking with artists from all over the nation. we even bought 2 prints from a lovely girl named kendra all the way from north carolina. kendra baird is awesome. look her up here.

this guy was carving a statue into a block of sand. it was so crazy! 

making friends with the entertainment. this guy wouldn't even crack a smile, & was running around on stilts, even after i pretended to pick his "rides" nose.

SLC library.

already counting down the days til arts fest 2013! 

pray for CO.

what a crazy past couple days it has been. i feel like it's just a matter of time before every county in the state is on fire! (knocks on wood.) currently my friend ben winslow is out in southern utah covering a huge wildfire that's already destroyed several homes & killed one person. other reporters are all over the state.. it's just so crazy. 
not only is UT on fire, but an even bigger fire is burning in my best friend emily's hometown of colorado springs.

 it breaks my heart to see the photos she's been posting. i can't even imagine what it must feel like to see your old high school & parts of your old town go up in smoke. i feel so very sad for her :(

it just goes to show how crazy nature can be. heat + plus = horrible.

everyone keep colorado springs, as well as the towns affected by the 6 wildfires burning in UT, in your thoughts. i know i am.

hope everyone's being careful out there, & for heaven's sakes don't light any fires!

it's...so...hot

but seriously. how can it only be june??! it's ridiculous. hope everyone's staying safe out here. here's some of my weekend:

luke's hair is long...& perdy. i'm only a little jealous.

more later this week on the ART FEST from this weekend! yay hooray.

dreamin'.

i'm sure many of you know, but one of my lifelong dreams (& #2 on my bucket list) is to open my own business. for years i've wanted a simple coffee shop, perhaps with some pastries, but mostly low-key and NOT starbucks (haha). a few months after luke & i started dating, he told me one of HIS dreams: to open his own antique/thrift shop. i pretty much knew i loved him then. 
a year later, luke & i have a full-fledged dream in set, though it's a big one. we are combining our "dream jobs" into one. what's better than sipping coffee while you look at old records, anyway??? we personally can't wait & really hope to get things taken off in about 10 years from now (after we make a little money).
though the dream is still a decade away, i am always browsing the internet looking at cute little shops. i have a perfect vision of what i want in my head (a san francisco looking feel to it, with the business on the lower level, & mine & luke's awesomely cute, tiny apartment above it), and sometimes i see pictures online & think, "they got that from my head!" here are a few examples of what i mean:

love your mother earth.

wednesday was a lovely day. luke had the day off, & i was off work by noon (early shifts rock, sometimes) so we decided to enjoy the cooler day by hiking the mountains less than a mile from our house. as you can see, we live close to some seriously beautiful outdoors.

do you spy the snake?? yeah.

oh you know, just on the edge of a cliff.

beautiful ogden.

please ignore luke's farmer's tan. i made him wear a wife beater to try to get rid of it...it didn't work.

after the hike we spent a couple hours at home, & then headed to ogden's own farmer's market. i love this little town.

quote of the week.

"your soul you must keep totally free."

-mumford & sons, "awake my soul"

the weekenders

though the weekend is more my "week days" than anything, i still manage to find some time to kick back, relax, & enjoy the lovely summer we've been having.
the past 2 weeks i've worked 7 days a week, with 3 of those days being "doubles" (cafe 8 am to 3:30 pm, starbucks 5-9:30 pm). needless to say yesterday's day off was MUCH needed. and this week my doubles are cut back to only once a week, so hopefully y'all will see more of me.
in the meantime, here's what i've been doing with life in ogden:

facetime with matthew & grace.

they were telling me all about their mom's spider bite, the pond by their apartment, and their new friends. they seem to love texas!

closing shifts at starbucks aren't so bad. working at the top of a hill = i get to see hands down some of the best of utah's sunsets. love!

ally & i made homemade pizza & had a "pizza & wine" night out on our patio. i love my yard.

of course, a bit of thrifting...cuz what else do i do with my spending money? bought this bad boy on vinyl for 6 dollars, & just yesterday morning found a billy joel record for 50 cents at savers. sometimes this is a cheap hobby...sometimes. ;)

thoughts.

i'm very glad i don' t work until late tomorrow, because i have caught the insomnia bug...bad.

last night i had anxiety over what to do come fall, balancing school & my 2 (& a half) jobs. it all seems like so much sometimes.

but today it feels like nothing.

earlier this evening i heard about the sibling of an old, dear friend of mine passing away. my friend arianna marsden lived in my parent's neighborhood when we were in jr. high. she was my locker partner, my confidant & my friend through many awkward years. she played a role in the lds movie, "the testaments" (the little girl with the monkey!) so i always felt so privileged to be her friend. her whole family was so lovely, & always welcoming to me.

i remember her little brother, sawyer. he was so cute & lovable. he always wanted to hang out with us, even though most of the time we were far "too cool" for little brothers. that was hardly the case, though. he was always coming up with clever pranks to play on their little sister, alanna, who is my sister rachel's age. we had a blast through those years. it was a lovely time in my life.

it's been a good 10 years since i've really even thought about sawyer, or talked to him. they moved back to canada when i was going into 9th grade, & other than keeping in touch with ari, i didn't know much about the family through the years.

i'm up tonight because i'm so, so sad for her family. i'm so sad for the heartache they have to endure. i can't even believe the little boy sawyer is gone. i don't even think he made it to 21. it breaks me, to my core.

i've always had an irrational fear of losing family & those close to me. i've been dealt a great hand in that i've never had to deal with something like that. a close friend of mine passed away my sophomore year of college, & that is it: the closest i've come to true, complete heartbreak.

anxiety is keeping me up; mostly i'm afraid something will happen to those close to me. sometimes i have to talk myself out of this sort of thought process. all growing up, i guilted myself into doing what i was "supposed" to do, because if i didn't, god would punish me by taking away someone i loved. i see now the complete irrationality of that mindset, though at the time it made sense... the scare tactics used by the church i was raised in can be a bit bothersome. i was truly terrified that if i did something considered a "sin," the next day my mom would die. i remember when my next door neighbor died at the age of 8, i spent months & months trying to convince myself that it WASN'T because i did something wrong. she was just...gone, because the universe made it so. & i have gotten lucky to not be one of those chosen to just...go.

that's another thing eating at me this evening. if i were gone tomorrow...just gone, completely, with no time to say my goodbyes... what would people think? i guess it would depend on how i went. but i get so paranoid of thinking that what if tomorrow i get hit by a bus, & people think, "oh, poor lauren. she was never on the right path anyway." or that they never know how deeply i care for my family, despite how different & isolated i sometimes feel. that they would never know how hard i tried to be "normal," to be one of them, to be something i'm not.

i guess the point of this post is to point out how much i truly love you all. my family, boyfriend, close friends, acquaintances..even those who read my blog that i have never met. life is special. life is sacred. it's something bigger than what we know.

cherish those you love, & make sure you never hesitate to tell them how you feel.

i already feel better (& more sleepy). sometimes a good venting/admittance of how much i love those around me is just what i need.

mon pere, etienne.

i know this is a day late, but i think it's ok, since we should spend every day telling our parents how much we love them! father's day was yesterday, and all day long i was completely bummed that i had to be at work. i worked a 9 hour day, and i felt very frustrated, because i ALWAYS work sundays (i've had maybe 4 off since i started at starbucks 2 years ago). usually i'm okay with it because there are partners who go to various churches, but sometimes...ya know. it'd be nice to see my family, especially my papa who was on my mind all day yesterday.

with my brother, alex, and i in 1990.

my dad is my rock, in recent years especially! i realized a couple years ago that the reason my dad & i never got along in high school (other than the fact that i was a brat...) is because WE ARE THE SAME in so many ways. we are both very passionate about our beliefs. we get hot-headed..but only a little ;). we love unconditionally, even when people give us reasons not to.

the only difference is what we believe is 100% different! haha! this realization helped me realize other things, though. my dad would yell & scream at me when i was a teenager because he LOVED ME. and he knows what he's doing, and i don't. i'm crazy every time i ignore his advice! talk about a man who has been to hell and back... and here i was as a 17 year old punk, telling him i knew what i was doing!

luckily, we get along like peas & carrots now. i love him so much. he is always putting his family first. i love his quirky sense of humor, and his ability to make friends with anyone. i love his tastes in music (i owe him for maybe half the bands i listen to), and i love how he's always, ALWAYS been there when i've needed him. what a lucky girl i am to have such a great dad!

hope your father's day was splendid. even though i was bitter about spending mine working, i sent my papa a card, and got a picture of my nephew wearing his favorite shirt, bought by his favorite aunt. ;) that was enough to make me smile, and make me so excited to start working days again...so i can actually go to family functions.

happy monday!

vintage cake stand diy.

i made this cute cake stand originally for my sister's wedding...my mom told me "white," so that's what i did. turns out my sister wants wooden.

so now, i have a cake stand & no cake (or cookies) to put on it! anyone want one? hehe.

either way, if you'd like to know how to make one yourself, hop on over to indie ogden & check out my latest diy post. it was a fun one!

happy thursday!

Peace, Love and Pizza

yesterday i was able to see my best friend, emily, & her boyfriend, erick, for a short lunch & thrifting date. even though em now lives in ogden, our lives have gotten so busy that i truly treasure the little time we get to spend together!
i took her to lucky slice (my fave pizza place in ogden) & showed her the wonders of 25th street. for those who don't know, this is where i spend the majority of my time... & money. 

erick & emily quickly understood why as i took them to two of my favorite little shops, sock monkey'n around antiques, & olive & dahlia.

a shelf i wanted...really bad.

us outside green the world. as you can see, i couldn't resist purchasing a couple things (socks, that were so cute, as well as a wooden owl.)

emily's awesome fish-eye of lucky slice!

i have to draw on the chalkboard wall every time i go there. just cuz..

*ahem* my birthday is in november.....

all in all it was a lovely time seeing miss emily. i miss her, & wish we had more time to ourselves.

Le weekend.

The highlight of our weekend by far was Chase & Kaylee's wedding. Luke worked with Chase at Verizon and he has become one of our closest friends. The reception was held in his wife's parent's backyard... And it was fancy. My dad would have died if he saw it. It was pretty much a forest, complete with 2 waterfalls and a river! But no chickens, so Dad's yard is cooler ;)
Other highlights include relaxing (something I don't do enough of, & Luke's back was hurting so he was okay with it too!), reading, and going to my friend Ben Winslow's birthday party. I always get nervous to go to his social gatherings, mostly because I'm always the youngest (& most inexperienced, & there's lots of journalists there), but he always makes Luke & I feel welcome. It was fun, especially when we sent a picture message of him "crying into his birthday cake" to my old coworker Laura. He was so sad she didn't get to come!
How was your weekend?

quote of the week.

"the best is perhaps what we understand least."

happy weekend everyone. we've got another busy one... weddings & birthdays mostly. stay happy & stay safe!

preston's baby blessing.

last sunday we hoofed it up to logan for my nephew's baby blessing! it was lovely seeing my family, eating delicious waffles (thanks again alex & susan!) & getting to hold my chunky preston james. he's got some ginormous cheeks that are so cute it's impossible not to kiss them!
i can't wait for this kid to get bigger & start scootin' around! he is such a little studmuffin already. 

me & luke with preston, laughing really hard cuz we realized as the photo was being taken that he kind of looked like our kid.

no worries, though. no babies for us for at LEAST 15 years. haha!

pride weekend.

last saturday luke & i headed to SLC for the pride festival. it was such a blast! we met up with some of my coworkers as well as luke's best friend, amy. i bought a buddha necklace & got another tattoo for my car, gigi :) 
i was sad i didn't get to go to the parade sunday (i had work as well as my nephew's baby blessing...well worth missing the parade in the end) but i heard over 200 mormons marched in the parade to show their love & support for the gay community. i would have cried! that is so very awesome.

me & luke arriving at the festival.

i ran into jess, a good friend of mine from high school, as well as josie & matt!

me & amy at the after party. there was a zipline, a bouncy house, & a huge jenga set. so fun!

with my coworkers jill, mitzi & aimee!

happy pride 2012!