A Hot Day Calls for a Delicious Drink

The other day when the sun was shining, surprisingly, I wandered downtown and went to one of the local coffee shops. I hate coffee, but I do like Italian sodas. They had one there called the "Mellonade". Yum yum, one sip and I was hooked. What I wasn't thrilled about was the cost; $1.75 doesn't seem like much but I was so filled with desire that I felt as though I could drink one mellonade every hour for the rest of the summer. For someone who doesn't have a job that $1.75 could add up. So instead I ordered the ingredients online from this website, for only $4.99!!!

To make a Mellonade add:

1 can of unflavored polar sparkling water (blue can)

1 spoonful of Torani Lemon

1 1/2 spoonful of Torani Orange

1 1/2 spoonful of Torani Mellon

3 cubes of Ice

1 straw

And Voila! A delish sparkling summer drink. 

 Charles and I enjoy this drink on the balcony while eating diner on a regular basis. I think it had been a rough day in the clinic for me judging by the looks of me in this picture. The mellonade might be the only thing that keeps me holding on. 
Charlie can be so ridiculous sometimes.  But I still like him.
Do any of you have any favorite summer drinks?

Enjoy the heat!

Lauren

A Maine Adventure

This weekend I went to Maine and went on a Maine adventure. No not to Reny's! (Although I did go there is weekend too.) My mom's friend from High School was visiting from Florida, he hasn't been in Maine recently so we decided to take him to the Dump, talk about adventure, after we unloaded our stinky trash we decided to take the empty trash can for a drive. But first we had to take a pit stop. 

Haha, just kidding. We saw these two toilets and a TV and just had to take a picture on the side of the road. Pretty funny huh? After I was done with the comics and Mum was done with the Arts and Leisure section we found our way to a town called Brooks. Where we stopped for gas and I took a pretty picture. Oh ah!Then I saw an old steam engine and wandered up the road to check it out. Next to the engine was an old station, which to my surprise had people inside. Apparently they have been fixing everything up and running the trains on the weekends. So the nice people let us poke around inside, and poke around I did. 
I thought the front door knob was very nice. 
The stained glass windows were also excellent.  Very beautiful. 
Inside the office was this ticket box. It was wicked cool. 

Here is an up close shots of the tickets.
And this is the luggage tags and stamps. The whole inside of the station was wicked cool. It was like stepping into the 1900's. 
Then we went outside and saw these:

They are called "Rail Bikes". The yellow wheels go on the tracks and you can pedal the bikes down the tracks. We thought that the milk crates in the back would be great for carrying a 6 pack, but then the nice woman from inside the station told us that she is the guide and goes on all the rides, in other words ex-nay on the beer drinking on the rail bikes. Oh well. I still hope to return to the lovely town of Brooks sometime soon and ride the rail bikes with some friends and family, who's with me!? 

Hasta Luego!

Lauren

Oh S^!t

I may have mentioned to some of you that I am planning on running a half marathon in December in Las Vegas. This December date has been looming in the back of my mind and sparking fear when I really think about it but then I say to myself; "Hey, it's in December, that's like 5 months away. So what if I have never run over 6 miles? So what if a half marathon is a grueling 13.1 miles? It's 5 months away...I'll think about it later." Later came today when Charles said to me, very nonchalantly; "We should register for the half marathon tonight." The very chalant thought that sprang to mind was "Oh S%!t". Register? That means I am committed, no backing out. Backing out of a half marathon in Las Vegas would be awful. Have I mentioned that Charlie and his entire family are all running/walking the Las Vegas Half?  As if just running wasn't difficult enough, no no, his whole family has to be there at the finish watching me crawl past the line 13 hours after the race began. All of these thoughts raced through my mind as I thought of ways to back out, fake an injury, make up a December commitment. But no my response to Charles was: "Yeah, sounds great!"

For those of you who do not know, Charlie, my boyfriend, is an avid runner. He eats, drinks, and breaths running. He stayed in college an extra semester, not because he is dumb, but because he wanted to run cross country one last time. He gave up meat for running. He works at a running store. He watches running videos online constantly. When faced with the opportunity to run or spend time with me he will 9 times out of 10 pick going for a run. (He also wears shorter shorts than I do and likes running without a shirt on, and looks cute doing so :) ). My point is he likes running A LOT and I sometimes feel like I run so he'll keep liking me and so we have something to do together, although he rarely runs with me, unless he is in the "mood to race walk". So let's just say that there is a little bit of pressure he puts on me when it comes to running races. 

So any-who I agreed (against my better judgement) that we should register for the Las Vegas race tonight. THEN Charles says to me; "Do you want to run a half in September with me and my dad?" My thoughts, you guessed it; "Oh S%!t". My actual response; "Okay, but isn't that really soon?" Charlie convinced me that running one before the actual half would be very beneficial. I am not exactly sure what he thinks will be beneficial about it. Perhaps he is referring to the fact that if I don't successfully finish this half  marathon I will have another one looming over my head that I have already committed to, already bought a plane ticket to, and already booked a hotel room for, and these factors can push me to success, or more likely, push me to my ultimate demise. Ekk!

So we are home and I am sitting on the couch anxiously watching as Charles registers me for not one, but two half marathons. If you don't believe me you can check for my name here and (soon to be) here, and in 9 weeks you can check for my name in the obituaries. 

Goodnight to all of you happy, non-half marathon-committed friends out there.

Lauren

P.S. Harry Potter was great. 

I am Going to See Harry Potter Tomorrow

I am excited. That is all.

Enjoy the night!

Lauren

Inspiration for Baby Shower Number 2

After the last baby shower I decided to try to make something different than the knit stuffed animals I have been making for my friend's babies for the last 3 years. My grandmother (not senile in the least) made me blocks with my name spelled out on them when I was little. I do not recall ever playing with them, but I do love them, and keep them displayed in my (well, kind of my) room. 

 They inspired me to make a set for my friend's soon to be baby boy Dylan. Ta da!
On the back side of the ones my grandmother made for me she embroidered little animals. Since Dylan is/will be a Mainer, and since the things on the registry looked nautical, I went for a beachy/ Maine theme for the embroidery on the back. A lighthouse, pail and bucket, life preserver, whale, and a sailboat. 

These are my two favorites:

I think I like them the best because they have the most color. 

Now that the showers are over all I have to do is sit around waiting for the healthy babies to arrive. I also am going to hope that Dylan does in fact come out a boy like the ultra-sound technicians say he will, and that his parents name him Dylan, otherwise I just wasted a lot of time making the blocks. I also hope that Olive comes out a girl, otherwise baby boy Kelley will have to play with a purple stuffed elephant. Anyways, I just hope the babies are healthy and happy, and I can't wait to see them and hold them (but when they cry or poop I will give them back to their parents). 

Goodnight!

Lauren

P.S. I just remembered my cousin is pregnant and her shower is in August. I guess I better get crackin' on another present. :) 

Goodbye Cable

 I have been contemplating canceling it for a while, but after reading my blogging friend April's blog about her cable extravaganza I decided to wait a little while longer. But alas the last bill made me gasp, so on Saturday I made Charlie call to cancel it, because I knew I couldn't do it myself. 

My justification for canceling the cable, well for 1. It's a lot of freaking money! Money I could be wasting on fabric or nice clothes or exotic trips to Australia... or dare I say saving (that's laughable) 2. I have recently decided that Charles and I do not spend enough time together. When we are together we are sitting in front of the TV arguing over watching PTI (dumb sports show) vs. "Little People: Big World". In my dreams the cable will be canceled and Charlie and I can sit on the couch giving each other foot massages, talking about intellectual things (like the War or the Economy) and gazing lovingly into each other eyes. I know I know, I said dream world, okay! 3. I could be spending my time doing much more productive things than watching TV. Do I really need to watch "Mermaid Girl" on TLC for the 3rd time? Or "Worlds Tallest Children"; "Project Runway"; "Trauma: Life In The ER"; "House Hunters"; "16 and Pregnant"; "True Life"; "Gilmore Girls"; or any of the other mindless crap I tend to choose? Are these shows making me any smarter? I doubt it. Although the other day someone was talking about high blood pressure caused by pregnancy and I responded "Oh, do you mean preeclampsia?" I also have a vast knowledge of the drug Pitocin and seem to know a lot about Epidurals. But now I am just trying to make it seem like I am gaining a doctorate degree in gynecology based on watching TLC.  In my free, TV-less time I could read books for pleasure, knit a sweater, do some school work (ha), exercise more, go for long walks or just sit and think. Lastly, 4. I have gone without TV before. I was basically raised on PBS and PBS alone. We didn't have cable, only an antenna on the roof that you could turn 360 degrees and still only get 5 channels. From October until Christmas my brother and I were not allowed to watch anything but PBS because, according to my parents, there were too many commercials (code for: We don't want to hear you beg for those stupid toys). I also remember my dad telling me the TV didn't work for about 3 weeks until I finally figured out that he would unplug it every night after he watched "The Simpson's" and "The Late Show". Another fond memory of my childhood was being constantly made fun of for not watching  "90210" or not knowing the theme song to "Fresh Prince of Bel-Air" like every other normal kid in my class. It is surprising that after all of this trauma in early life that I agreed to go without TV for my entire Sophomore year of college. Lorelei said we didn't need one so we just didn't have one( I typically do whatever she tells me to, this was no exception). How on earth did we live??! (Now Lorelei doesn't have internet or cable, she makes me feel so bad about myself sometimes.) Junior year I never watched TV, and Senior year Charlie and I would do acrobatics to get our antenna to bring ABC into our living room and I am sad to say we did not appreciate that the $5 internet bill we shared with all 8 people who lived in our apartment building. 

So where, oh where did it all go wrong? Well living with my Grammy last summer and being introduced to "Project Runway" and all the other junk on TLC was the start. But I cannot blame only her. When I moved in Charlie found out that the cable from the last resident was still working, Free Cable= a dream come true.  It's lonely living alone, so let's just say that I lived in constant fear of the cable being taken away and living a miserable lonesome exsistence, and when the day finally came that the cable man knocked on my door to tell me he had audited the cable I would have given him my soul to keep it, plus, it was a Tuesday and there was a new episode of "The Hills" on that night. In November I started paying a monthly bill for cable TV and internet. 

Anyways back to my story; I made a big stink today to all my friends about having to come home today, and be in the house from 3-5 so the cable man could come and un-connect me and take my remote and cable box. 

*I should mention here that we did not fully cancel the cable. No, No, we are not that strong. We switched to "basic cable" which is $15 a month, much less than the $65 we were paying. The main reason for keeping some (all 23 channels, only 11 of which are worth watching) is because if you only get one service the price goes up for that service. So the two possible options were to pay $60 for internet alone and be forced to  stand on our heads trying to get "World News Tonight with Charles Gibson" from the digital converter box, or pay $60 for internet and all 10 channels of "basic cable".*

After my session with my client was over I ate lunch, complained no less than 4 times about having to meet the cable man, and talked about how I had metaphorically gorged myself on TLC last night, like a prisoner eating his last meal before being executed.  Then I came home to wait. I decided to work on the baby project I have been trying to finish. At approximately 4 pm my phone rings "Oh no" I think, "The devil man has come to take my cable!" I answer, and an automated voice  says; "We at the cable company would like to ask you 3 questions about the service you were provided today, blah blah blah" At this point I was too shocked to listen. Service, what service? No one came? No one knocked!?! I quickly turned on the TV "Out of Service" was all that showed up on the channel that used to be MTV! 

NOOOOOOOO! My cable was gone. ("My world, my beautiful world") I really wanted to have some dirty man with his butt crack showing to come into my house and rip the cable box from my desperate hands. I wanted to have someone to blame, a face to think of and despise whenever I was bored and lonely and wanted to watch "Divine Design" or "Help: I'm a Hoarder". Someone to hate. Instead I am left here with only myself to blame, I can only hate me for putting myself in this misery. Or I suppose I could hate/blame Charlie for being the one who called the company in the first place. But I think that might put a damper on our intellectual conversations next to the open fire place (not to mention that we don't even have a fire place). 

Now I am off to find something "productive to do" (I hate myself already, I could be watching re-runs of Gilmore Girls right now) 

Lauren. 

You Know What "Really Grinds My Gears"?

I want to be an SLP because I like helping people. I don't like realizing that I can't always help everyone. It makes me sad. No one warned me about this. 

I also don't like when parents who are divorced bash each other in front of their kids. Nothing irks me more. It's very unfair, to everyone involved. 

These are the only things I can think of. I guess that's good, but I still feel sad. 

At least the sun is out. 

Lauren 

Tote Bag Give Away and Weekend Summary

Here is the finished product...my fusion tote bag. Although, it is no longer mine. I gave it to my brothers girlfriend, Jaimie. She is pretty much the only blog follower who I didn't force to follow me, and she has also made a few of the same projects I have. So I decided to give it to her. (*But I might do more giveaways so be sure to become a follower and leave me nice comments, and also then I will know you people are reading my blog so when you say something about it I won't get creeped out and think you are stalking me or reading my mind). 
Here's the inside. I made a pocket and added the "Made By Lauren" tag. 
And lastly, here is the back side. I like the way target bags look so I used a few of them and also added words like "recycle." I found the bias tape and handle at my mom's house. So the bag was technically free, unless you count all of the times I went to target and bought things to get the bags (but I'm not counting that). 
This weekend was great. I went to my dad's house and saw some fireworks with my friend, went for a motorcycle ride (to vermont, eww, but I only stayed there for 10 minutes and never set foot off of the motorcycle. I hate vermont) and also spent time at our manifest destinied boat house, here's a clip of my brother tipping our boat over to drop a 200 pound mooring. Please excuse the cackling laughs from me and Charlie. We also went to a NH Fishercats game this weekend, it was great, baseball is much more interesting when you have lots of weird people to look at, and fried dough to eat. 

Today was the 5th day of clinic and I didn't cry, get mad, throw my hands in the air, swear or anything else extreme. In the words of the Beatles, "It's getting better all the time."

So that sums up the last few days. 

If you just read this post and you aren't a follower you should become one! (JACLYN! CARLA! MONICA! to name a few)

Have a great night!

Lauren!

I'm Superstitious

Since clinic started I have been getting up early to go running. I know I would have no motivation after being in the clinic for 9 hours to come home and run so I wake up at 5:30 and go. Today, like clock work, my head sprung from the pillow at 5:33 am and I got ready and set out on a 3.5 mile run. 

WARNING (Lauren goes off track here): it should be said that I am quite superstitious. I am not afraid of dying, or breaking my mother back, no I am afraid that bad luck will sneak up and get me. I am not so superstitious that people notice, but once they find out, they certainly think I am strange due to the oddness. For example I always lift up my feet when I drive across railroad tracks, I never pick up pennies if they are facing tails up, I think it's best to not jinx myself by saying things that might be jinxing, and I say "rabbit rabbit" on the first of the month, before anyone talks to me, and while doing so I hop on one foot in a circle. Weird enough for you?

Typically when I run I think about a lot of stuff. Lately on runs I have been thinking about how  I am not a fan of school at the moment. I wish I could quit and sell handbags. I wish it was easier, I wish I knew what I was doing, I wish I could have a job this summer and make money instead of paying money to work, I wish I felt like I was actually helping people, I wish didn't feel so sad about everything. Then  11 minutes into my run I remembered that today was July 1st, the first of the month. Time to say "rabbit rabbit". But first, had I spoken to anyone yet? No, it was 5:49 am, who would I talk to?....perfect. I stopped running, stood on one foot, hopped in 3 circles while saying "rabbit rabbit" and continued running, a bit dizzy, but I recovered. La La La, my run took me into the woods, it's been raining so it was wet on the trail. Wet dirt = mud. Mud= slippery, Lauren= clumsy. I might stink at math but this equation leads to me falling face first down a hill into the mud. As I was falling (you always have a long time to think when you're falling) I was not thinking "oh crap I am falling", I was thinking "This isn't fair! I said rabbit rabbit, I'm supposed to have 1 month of good luck!!!" SLPAT!

I picked myself up out of the mud just in time to think to myself; "In the first 30 minutes of the month I have jinxed myself to 31 days of bad luck, until I can attempt the rabbit rabbit trick again. I have another month left of clinic and it is going to be awful!!! I QUIT!" 

After wiping my dirty hands on my shirt and realizing that my knee was bleeding I began walking home in despair thinking of ways to tell everyone I quit school after 5 years and that I should let my knee bleed out until I died in the street.  

Then I looked up and saw a nice old man walking towards me. Was he on his way to rescue me? Would he say something uplifting to keep me from dying in the road? No, he said to me; "Looks like you fell in the mud, hahahaha" and I thought about saying; "Gee willikers I hadn't realize, thank so much from bringing my bleeding muddiness to my attention, you stupid asshole." Instead I gave the man a fake smile and then went back to thinking of ways to quit life. If I jumped in Great Bay and tried to swim to the other side would I get a cramp and drown? 

Just as I was contemplating jumping in front of a garbage truck I spotted something small and round in the road. A penny. Heads up. I picked it up and began running again. My thought was that the dirty wet penny will give me good luck to last the rest of the month, and a dirty penny could be cleaned and be shinny again, just like me. I could take a shower and get un-muddy. My leg would stop bleeding and heal, someday. Someday clinic might not suck, someday I would know what the hell to do in the clinic. Someday I will have money and a job and someday I will actually feel like I am helping people, and things wouldn't be so awful.  

I also came home to a text message from my mum saying "rabbit rabbit xoxo" (thanks mum). 

Well clinic still sucked today, but not as bad as yesterday. Maybe that penny will give me good luck someday. 

Here's a picture of my muddy/cut leg (some of the mud dried, it was worse, suicide inducing, I swear):

Happy trails!

Lauren