Eat, Sleep, Teach.

"When are you gonna blog again, you haven't updated in a while?...and your last blog was boring." - Jennifer

Apparently my last blog was boring... and I'm beginning to realize more and more that this is actually not a "blog."  This is a place where I go and type funny stories about my family.. TO my family...

Basically I could type a mass e-mail to my family and save them the trouble of having to call each other(mainly Aunt Judy and my mom) to say "Lauren has updated her blog."

Even so I would like to think that one day my stories will be famous and maybe be made into a book or a movie like Julie & Julia... though I think that would require a constant theme of some sort.

Anyway... I'm blogging because I'm on Spring Break.  It's pretty much the only time I've had to do any writing since January 25th.  The day my social life bit the dust.

I've been Student Teaching, up at 5 AM down for the count by 8:30 every evening... and weekends?  They fly by...filled with lesson plans and the only real "adult" (if you consider 20-somethings adults) conversations I get all week... so blogging?  No time. Until now.

Student Teaching is going really well! I like my school, my cooperating teacher, and LOVE my kids.  First graders say the funniest things and they are really sweet! I love first grade curriculum, they are a lot more self sufficient than Kindergarteners although I do love some 5-6 yr olds.  I have a new story every day and I am really excited about being able to have my own classroom and lets be honest.. a paycheck. 

So yeah, that's pretty much my life right now! Teach, sleep, fill out job applications.. and try and remember to eat sometime in those free moments.  I complain a lot, but I do love the structure and routine of it all! I value my free time with family and friends a lot more.  AND I'm excited about the next 6 months of my life, although I have NO clue where I'll be! 

AND I promise, the next time I think of something ironic or even remotely funny to blog about I WILL! It's just that usually all those ideas come from my mom.. and I'm pretty sure she's sick of bein ragged on... which means I'm all out of material. :)

Until then.

Decisions... Decisions...

Flashback:

Four years ago, I was a Senior in High School. And here comes the cliche statement--- Sometimes I think about high school and it seems like it was just last week, but other days it feels like a lifetime ago. I've been thinking about where I was at four years ago a LOT lately, and I think it's because I'm in a very similar place right now. I'm about to face some pretty big decisions. In a lot of ways, I know exactly what I want to do with my life. I've always been confident in that way. Four years ago, I knew I wanted to be a teacher and I wanted to go to a "big" school. Because of this I ignored the advice of my mom, and the constant requests that Daddy Troy made for me to attend Texarkana College, and I began to apply to such places. Baylor, Texas A&M ... and as a last resort Texas State(they had a good education program... it was too far away... but it made for a good fallback). The acceptance letters started rolling in around March, and during Spring Break my mom and I started making college visits. At this point I was over the idea of Baylor(too expensive), and pretty dead set on A&M. Even so we took off to Waco, stopped for one last visit, and kept driving to San Marcos...just in case I had a change of heart.



The one thing I can say for myself as a high school student is that I was in a good place as far as my faith was concerned. I was praying like crazy for God to show me where I was supposed to be, yet I was pretty positive that my goody-goody image was no match for "The Biggest Party School in Texas..." Who is it that says God has an interesting sense of humor? ...I toured Texas State and fell in love, and later that day as we drove home to East Texas through College Station, I took a five second look at the towers of concrete that make up Texas A&M, and told my mom to keep on driving... I had made my decision.



Here I am four years later, wrapping up what most people call "the best years of their life." Once again cliche, but I totally agree. The "Biggest Party School in Texas" turned out to be a place where I have grown more in my relationship with God than I could've ever imagined. Brother Joe's standard quote "God loves you and has a wonderful plan for your life," has definitely taken precedence in the last four years. I've been well taken care of in that area.

For instance, I went potluck for my room mate freshman year. Terrified, I waited for months to receive word of my crazy goth, party-loving, pot smoking room mate... Only to meet Brittany Oskey, my own personal Barbie-Doll who's first statement to me after introducing herself was a long explanation about how she was a christian and she wouldn't be interested in the party scene. Believe it or not, I met more people like her... she wasn't the only one! ...Confused? "You mean you didn't have to hand out tracks to everyone you met in your dorm? ...Seriously?! There are Christians there?!" I know right! What happened to that four-year-long party I thought I was going to be a part of!?



Over the next few months I realized that not only were their "good" people at Texas State, but there were incredible people. The people I have become closest to are the most genuine people I've ever known, and the close friends I've made are like my family away from home.



SO- contrary to a lot of Atlanta, Texans belief.... I did not move off to San Marcos and become a heathen. I am still a self proclaimed goody-two-shoes, and I take complete and utter pride in the fact that I almost never break the rules--- AND I still love Jesus.. maybe even more than I did when I left!



Flash Forward:

Long story long... I am back to decision making. Right now I am stuck between two lives. One being a life I left four years ago. The only difference is that when I left Atlanta, I knew it would pretty much be the same when I came back. I knew my family would greet me every holiday, and that when I came home for breaks I would see all the friends I was leaving behind. Therefore, even though I was sad to leave, I knew that life would be waiting in the wings to welcome me home if I ever wanted to go back. The life I am about to leave is not so stationary. The family I am leaving here will scatter all over Texas... possibly farther. I WILL keep in touch with my best friends.. but for how long until it becomes impossible? This is something that is pretty much haunting me these days... I don't like to think about it at all.



Here is where I am at right now... a little freaked out, on the verge of applying for jobs... and possibly grad-school... who knows. I mean it's 2 am and I'm blogging about being freaked out and decision making... so obviously it's on my mind a lot.



BUT, there is one thing that allows me to take a deep breath and feel the panic lift. That is looking back to four years ago and seeing how God picked me up and placed me right where I needed to be, right where he wanted me. I think of how I stepped onto Texas State campus and I felt a huge sense of relief in knowing that the path was right in front of me...



As I wrap up my last semester of college classes wondering where the heck the last four years of my life went... I wait. I wait on that job interview, or the graduate program acceptance, or maybe a phone call where I get that same feeling that maybe I should turn down THIS road....yeah... I kinda hope that happens pretty soon.

Until then.



For I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart. -Jeremiah 29:11-13

I forgot to say Thanks... :)

Thanksgiving was Thursday, and I spent the entire week in Atlanta hanging out with my parents and extended family.

There are three things I missed about San Marcos this week-besides the obvious.. roommate, friends.. etc. Those three things are: Cable, High Speed Internet, and good Cell Phone Service! The more and more I thought about those things today on my drive home, the heavier my foot got. Before I knew it, my 6 and 1/2 hour drive turned into a 5 and 1/2 hour drive... and here I am back in my cozy San Marvelous apartment holed up in my room on the computer.

I quickly unpacked in my own very messy unorganized way, showered, ate... and finished the homework I never really worked on this week. Now what? Of course... a Thanksgiving Blog!

The sad thing is that I started to think about all the funny things that happened over Thanksgiving and I realized that nothing I did was at all "Thanksgivingy." Besides the enormous amounts of food and family, I realize that this year I did not once observe the actual meaning of the holiday. I didn't think about the Indians or the Pilgrims.. I didn't sing any Turkey songs from my preschool days... and not ONCE did I think about what I am Thankful for. So here I am a few days late... giving thanks!

1. I am thankful for my friends, that make me laugh everyday! It never fails that on the day I decide I am going to be ticked off at one of my room mates, or give up on one of my close friends... that they seek me out and make me smile. I then forget anything they ever did to make me the slightest bit irritated!! ...I am also thankful that none of them have ditched me for being far more irritating than they ever thought about being ;)

2. I am thankful for my parents who take great care of me! I am very lucky to have parents that have sacrificed a lot for me to have almost everything I could ever want or need! I'm a bit spoiled in that way!!

3. I am thankful for my brothers and my sisters-in-law, I couldn't ask for better role models and friends! I am ESPECIALLY thankful for them this year because they've given me two beautiful nieces and a darn cute nephew whom I love VERY much!

4. I am incredibly thankful for my extended family... there are soo many of them, and they are all very different... and VERY special to me! ...Some more loud and entertaining than others! I am thankful for all the memories that I have of holiday traditions, birthday gatherings, and everthing in between! .... & it just keeps growing!

5. Most importantly, I am thankful for a God who has blessed me with all these things! I am so glad that he has placed me exactly where I am meant to be in this world with these people and this life. Four years ago I was in exactly the same position I am in now, about to graduate high school and clueless about where my life was headed. Look how well that turned out for me! I can't wait to see what he has in store for the next leg of my life :) I am thankful for him because I know I can place my life in his hands and trust him to put me exactly where I need to be!


OK. Now that I've been all sugary and sweet...it's time to move on! It is time to move on because in the midst of my forgetting to be thankful, I was busy visiting with family on Thursday. So now it is time to share, and I'm sorry in advanced-because as you know, I can be inappropriate... & I do not filter :)

Thanksgiving 2009...

My mom, my dad, and I were loners this year and we all went to Aunt Judy's to have our feast with the Griffin side of the family. There were 10 kids under the age of 13, and somewhere in the ballpark of 15-20 adults...

I can't really blog about the whole day in detail because details are fuzzy and the days are running together... so I will bullet the quick bits of what I remember.

• The Cowboys won
• I put on an Aggie jersey that smelled like attic to irritate Flint...
• I found Carson on the roof
• Jana and I spotted Carson on a haystack..little did we know that he was being chased by Brown Sugar... who was really named "Classy," and he may have had to change his underwear sometime after that.
• Jennifer invaded my personal space... a few times.
• Jana may or may not be a MILF
• Mallory has retarded strength... (pet a puppy... kill a puppy), and I found her in a tree.. more than once.
• There was a lot of food..

....and it was good.

....and I did filter a little bit

The informality of family life is a blessed condition that allows us to become our best while looking our worst. -Marge Kennedy

Jennifer Jo

I'm 4 years old... home from preschool... pacing the halls of our new house. Jason comes in. I am thrilled! Not because Jason is home, but because I know how he got home. He rode home from school with Jennifer, my cousin. I run down the hall to stand on top of the toilet and peer out the window. White Nissan? Check! Sound familiar? I wrote about this is my "Aunt Judy's Back Porch" blog. Since then I have received a specific request to elaborate. ;)

So the series of events go like this... I ask my mom if I can go visit.. she says no, and I call Aunt Judy who says I can come. She puts Macbeth away and I run down the trail. That is where I spent the rest of the day pestering my cousin. I would run into her room(and this is where you can start to be amazed by the things I can remember from my days as a four year old). She had floral wallpaper and a pink striped bedspread and she had 'Good Luck' and 'Congrats' balloons all over her ceiling! She had her megaphone and gigantic pompoms in the corner and I would play with them until I absolutely drove her nuts and my mom forced me to come home.

Other than the people in my immediate family, Jennifer was probably the most influential person in my life when I was little. This might explain a lot about my personality as I am very influenced by the people around me. Because of this I tend to have multiple personalities. I think that the portion of my personality that comes from Jennifer is the portion that allows me to laugh out loud in a room full of people.. REALLY loud with no reservations. Or to say what I think without being self conscious about how other people will react. These are personality traits that I learned because that is the kind of person Jennifer is, she is confident... and I am very proud to hold a peice of that kind of confidence even if it is just a very small peice!

I spent most of my summers with Jennifer. She babysat me during the days while my mom worked. I would start my day at her house and when lunch time came she would either make me Kraft Blue Box Macaroni and Cheese, or she would bribe me to call Grandmommie and see what she was making for lunch(this worked because I was the youngest and I was impossibly cute, so we always got an invitation). After we ate, we would usually get ready to go the Indian Hills Country Club and I would get ready really fast and then sit in the bathroom impatiently while Jennifer primped and shaved her legs. We would head out to the country club where Jennifer would slather me excessively in sunscreen and then make me wait forever at the side of the pool watching all my friends play as it dried. Eventually I could pull on my floaties and jump in. I would swim until my fingers and toes pruned... and when I took breaks she would send me to the Pro-Shop to get her snacks... I never wanted to leave! As summers went on Jennifer decided I needed to become brave and jump off the diving board like all my friends. I was so scared and she would swim under and catch me... until she decided I should learn to jump off by myself, and she pushed me. I still have issues jumping off diving boards.

Something I didn't notice as a little girl paddling around in floaties at the country club was the looks Jennifer got from all the little boys I hung out with. They know her as 'Jennifer Jo.' If you've ever seen The Sand Lot then you'll remember the boys at the city pool and their infatuation with Wendy Peppercorn. Jennifer Jo was the Wendy Peppercorn of my pool. When she wasn't sunbathing in the summer she was cheering for the Atlanta Rabbits as these same boys ogled her from the stands, I wanted so badly to be a cheerleader just like Jennifer.... and I made myself her permanent sidekick, attached at the hip.

We went to the Forrest Festival together, she took me shopping, we got snow cones, occasionally I got to spend the night at her house, and we fought... a lot. I later realized that 75% of the time my mom was paying her to watch me. I like to think that she hung out with me because she liked having me around.

Well over a decade later I'm still close with my 'big cousin' but these days I consider her much more of a close friend than an idol! I love going home and visiting with her, and my extended family and watching her three beautiful kids grow. In them, particularly her middle child... I see a bit of a role reversal as I pull my car up her driveway and watch a pair of big brown eyes peering out the window and then immediately run out to greet me. I currently have 5 saved voicemails on my cell from the very person behind those big brown eyes. "Hey Lauren? It's me. Umm... I was just wondering when you were coming to my house... I was just gonna let you know... ok bye.. umm this is Maddie."

Daddy Troy :)

Monday, would have been my Grandfathers 86th birthday... I think.. I'm not so good with math! I thought about this when I walked through campus and got a sniff of some ciggarette smoke.. Winston to be more precise. It made me happy/sad...

My mind drifted into a list....

here is the list...

• Easter eggs filled with money.


• Butterfingers.


• 1$ for being sick.


• Hankercheifs.


• False teeth.


• Laughter.


• Farmers tan.


• Johnson.. and his old grey mule named Simon Slick.


• Pulling teeth with a string.


• Rocking chairs.


• The western channel.


• Money hidden in a Christmas Tree.


• Me eating too much rice... and being told my eyes were gonna get squinty.


• Cows being cussed at.
  
• Whistling and the slamming of a screen door.


• Tractors.


• Loafers.


• Coveralls.


• Applesauce cake


• Coffee.. black.


• Tradition....

Do you think they have birthday parties in heaven?

:)

Doll-babies.. Sweet-Milk.. and Homemade Hot Sauce!

I dedicated a blog to my mom, and to my Aunt Judy's back porch, and what I'm finding out is that all my family members are super entertained by my stories about the other family members.. So I'm just gonna go with it.

This one goes out to my Dad. :)

A few things that I've heard all my life that I've learned to love, appreciate... and laugh a little bit when I hear them....

Win Friends and Influence People... This comes from a book, but I'm pretty sure my dad didn't actually read the book. Even so it was a staple phrase in my years of being dropped off to Elementary School and Jr. High... and even sometimes when I shot through the kitchen...late... in High School.

"You're probably not drinking enough water..." If you've ever seen My Big Fat Greek Wedding, then you'll remember how the father thought Windex was a cure for everything... dirty windows?... Windex! Wake up the morning of your wedding with a mountainous zit on your forehead? ... Windex! For my dad, the common solution is either Duct Tape, or water. Growing Pains? ...Drink more Water! Complaining about how your hair and nails won't grow fast enough? ...No drinking enough water!! Headache? .. WATER! This one is probably true, but until recently it just annoyed me because of my preference for Kool-Aide and Dr. Pepper!


"Goin' Down The River Stories..." My mom used to read me bedtime stories, sometimes. I like to complain and say my mother never loved me enough and she didn't ever read me books.. but sometimes she did. All the other times though, my dad would come in and make up his own. These were the times when I would come into the living room and complain about how I was hot, or hungry, or I couldn't sleep. Mom would usually tell me to go back to bed, but dad has a solution for everything. Solution #1- One leg in... one leg out(this cured the hotness problem). Solution #2- Midnight snack.. usually a heaping bowl of ice cream or a coke float(a really nutritious way to solve my late night hunger)... & Solution #3-Goin' Down the River Story... and all I remember about these stories is that they were all about floating down a really calm river in a canoe and after that... I usually fell asleep. Those stories are pretty different than my real life experiences in a canoe, for example our trip to Broken Bow, OK where there are pictures of me laying in the bottom of a canoe is sheer panic because of the rapid water. Other than that, my pre-college canoeing experiences are slim to none, even though a staple at our house was to have a canoe in our backyard or garage. We would take it out once every two years maybe... This is because my dad grew up an army brat and never got to have a canoe growing up(and always wanted one), so we have always had one that he either built, bought, or traded up.


Kool-Aide Ice Cubes... Red ones. My dad has always talked about Kool-Aide ice cubes and occasionally we would have them when I was little. This meaning I would have 2 or 3 and my dad would race me for the rest of the tray. I've always been pretty impressed by how fast my dad can take down cold stuff, his explanation being that Uncle Cliff always snuck in and got all the Kool-Aide cubes in the middle of the night and.. "He never got all he wanted." Because of this I gave my dad a gift certificate for a lifetime supply of Kool-Aide Ice cubes... a tub of Cherry Kool-Aide, and an ice tray in his stocking a few years ago. He has it hidden and pulls it out for me every time I come home. My mom really enjoys listening to the noises we make while eating them. :)



"That was pretty good... what there was of it.." This is a phrase you might hear him say after a small snack, or after Thanksgiving dinner when all our stomachs are protruding into the table and we can't breathe...

"Why don't you wrap this up and put it in your purse.." a common suggestion to my mother about leftover food at restaurants... I don't know why.

To finish this up... let's throw in a few words that you may have never heard, most likely because my dad made them up. (Hence the title of this blog)

• Doll-baby
• Sweet-milk
• Bow-Ribbons
• Foldin-Money
• Head Sweatin' Salsa(which apparently we all "shovel")

...just to name a few.

Dad- if you're reading this, you are either laughing or you are annoyed with me... either way just remember... Mom's was worse!!! & Although I have said multiple times that I am becoming my mother(see "Morphing into Mom")...when I wake up in the morning.. big T-shirt, hair pulled back, no make-up. I'm sometimes a bit taken aback upon glancing into the mirror, because I look just like you!! I LOVE YOU DADDY!!!!!!!!!!! :)

30 Things Update!

So, sometime last spring I wrote 30 things I would like to do before I turn 30. It's amazing to me to look back and see how much can change in a year. It's even more weird to thing of where I was, when I moved to San Marcos almost four years ago. I was one of those people who said I would NEVER change when I went to college.. but I did, for the better I think. The way I think about EVERYTHING is different, but for the most part my goals are all the same ... Love God, Love others.. nothing else matters :)

Here are some of the things from my list of 30 that I have either done or that I'm working on :)

2. Write a children's book... and teach a child to read it. I did this, but only because I had to for a class. BUT I am tutoring a 3rd grader who is a struggling reader.
7. Learn patience. I don't know that I'll ever become an incredibly patient person.. but working on this one...
8. Be accused of being the coolest aunt ever. I haven't had this happen yet, but some of the smiles and giggles I get could be translated to state this :)
11. Learn to play guitar. I did this! Pretty proud of myself.. not quite concert ready yet .. but still practicing!
13. Sing "Let's Give Em' Somethin to Talk About" on Karaoke... In front of a large crowd! Somebody spiked my sonic drink one night.. it happened.. I'm not ashamed..
15. Learn to chop vegetables like a chef. I haven't chopped off my fingers yet.. and I cook a lot.
17. Learn to throw the perfect spiral... farther than 5 yards. I think I threw a decent one 5 &1/2 one day ;)
20. Watch all of American Film's 100 Greatest Movies Of All Time. 20ish down.. a lot to go!
21. Smoke a Cigar.. (or at least take a picture holding one). Did this... it wasn't that horrible.. it's amazing the experiences that pile up after your 21st birthday!
24. Sit by myself contently all day... preferably outside.
27. Learn to country dance.. without killing some poor boys feet.
28. Give more compliments. This is something I'm still working on :) I'm doing okay..
29. Ride a horse really fast... like in an old western. Chelsea is gonna help me on this one.. I have been feeding Cort lots of carrots.. and sometimes he gives me pony rides back to the barn when I'm too lazy to walk :)
30 Learn to love more like Jesus loved. This one is impossible.. but I love it!



Now. I have ONE more I want to add to my 30 things... I want to go to a Cowboys game in the new stadium.. or a game anywhere.. I just think it's necessary... How can we arrange this?

Holla.