Fun times in Charlotte!

Thanks to Jake, this is the video of them surprising me for my birthday. Hopefully you can

see the shock on my face and hear the surprise in my voice when I got to Kristy and

Jake's house...(oh, and i was 30 minutes late) :) oh, and yes, i do say, "I'm glad I'm wearing

something cute"...when I am nervous or center of attention, I tend to say random, sometimes

inappropriate things. insert phrase above! :)

I did have an AWESOME time in Hilton Head/Charlotte this past weekend! Sarah and Macky's

wedding was beautiful and a blast! Since I've already had one celebration, I feel 30 already! :)

only 8 days to go til it's official!

During the 2 days in Charlotte, I got to see lots of friends and faces that I have missed the last

5 months...it was further confirmation that I am where God wants me to be, because He has

allowed me to have such great friends in both Charlotte and Dallas! I am so blessed!

Lots of pictures to come...(when I get them from some friends) but thanks to all my

wonderful friends who made time in this busy season of life to see me when I was in town!

I love you and miss you alot!!! :)

This weekend, I am off to Houston to see my friend Mandy who is in town from Charlotte

and can't wait to catch up with my girl, Cassie who lives in Houston! :) Good times!!!

I promise...pictures to come...

The Most Wonderful Time of the Year...

I am officially in the holiday spirit...hence my blog redesign!

It is t-minus...

6 days til Thanksgiving

7 days til I leave for the Carolinas

21 days til my 30th birthday

34 days til Christmas Eve

36 days til snowboarding in Colorado

41 days til a brand new year!

It truly is the most wonderful time of the year! Embrace the celebration! :)

What I've been up to...(in pictures)

This workout is kickin' my butt...seriously! Shredding until I turn 30!

One of the best books I have read in a while...making me think about life and the story mine is telling...

This is hawaii...i wish this was true, but sadly, i was just the chauffeur to the airport so my parents could go to Paradise!

Loving this latest masterpiece by the Shanes...it is AWESOME!

I can't get enough of the NCIS marathons that have been on...get sucked in every time!

And probably most importantly, I have been looking for an LPC internship...have been narrowing it down and have some great options that I will fill you in on when I make a final decision!

That is all for now...off to watch Taylor Swift on SNL tonight and read a little of Don Miller's Blue Like Jazz before bed! Inspired to make my life/story better each new day!

A little homesick for Charlotte...

Today I am missing this little city and the people in it! :( So, if you are reading this and you are one of my friends in Charlotte...just wanted to let you know I miss you alot!!! In 1 month, I will be back up there for a wedding, so I am hoping to jam as much face time with friends as I can into a couple of days at the end of November! Here are just a couple of the things (besides a long list of people) that I miss from Charlotte:

1. Polka Dot Bake Shop cupcakes

2. Sweet Tea

3. My sweet little condo

4. Driving only 10 minutes to work/church/anywhere really in the city

5. Freedom Park

6. Dinner and Guitar Hero with the Charlotte family

7. Going to the annual USC game

8. NC Barbeque - wow, can't believe I said that!

9. Blowing Rock's cute little town with Kilwin's delicious toasted coconut ice cream

10. Sitting outside on the patio at Dean and Deluca

11. Charlotte traffic...it's no where near the nightmare that Dallas traffic is!

All that being said, things are going really well for me here in Dallas. God has provided so much for me the last few months that I have been here with a great living situation :), an awesome job at Frisco Bible Church with a staff that I am so blessed to be a part of and love spending time with, an awesome opportunity on the horizon for a counseling internship...more on that later if it works out, and most of all...sweet time with those that I was away from for 4 years! I am loving getting to catch up and spend quality time with so many that I missed while I was so far away! Now the table is turned and I feel that way about those whom I was so close to in Charlotte...

Fall and U2 visit Dallas...

This past week was a good one!!! After I passed my test, I went and celebrated at the U2 concert at Cowboys stadium. I have ALWAYS wanted to see U2 in concert and felt like this was my chance!!! (This has been a dream since high school when my "boyfriend" went to U2 and called me from there to play me a couple songs over the phone...LAME! He should have taken me to the concert!!!) So, this was going to make up for that!!!

My friend Todd and I met up with my cousins Matt and Seema and their crew on the party bus before the concert!


Matt, Seema, me and Todd on the party bus

The 2 Laurens and Seema in front of the Cowboys stadium

The stage was AMAZING...our seats were really good!!

Love this pic of Bono...he did not disappoint...puts on a great show!!

This past weekend was TX/OU...Ali and Kennedy and I went to Erin's housewarming party on Friday night. Sarah and I braved the crowds on Thursday to go to the State Fair...corndogs, cotton candy, livestock and lots of people watching to be had there! :) Saturday, my dad and I went to play golf at Dallas National. I was super intimidated to play this course, but was fairly pleased with how I played! I think I can hang with him out there! :) My new clubs were awesome and I love them!!!

So....there is a little bit of what has been going on around here...I leave for DC to see my sister this Thursday and then for Cincinatti the next weekend for Youth Specialties conference...its going to be a busy couple of weeks! I'll try and take lots of pictures to be able to update this blog along the way...

I Passed!!!

Yes, that's right, I am on my way to being a licensed counselor! Yesterday I took the dreaded NCE and after 2 1/2 hours and a mild panic attack in the midst of it...I got my lovely score sheet with the word PASS on it!!! What a relief! :)

So...everyone is asking, now what? well, simply put...I now find a job! There is some paperwork and red tape to get through but having the exam, not to mention 3 years of Masters degree work behind me, I am feeling pretty good! After accumulating 3000 hours of Internship, I will have my permanent license!

I had so many sweet friends who prayed for me, texted me, facebooked me yesterday and I really appreciate it!!! I actually got sick on Thursday and didn't feel great all day Friday, but wanted to take the test anyway...and then some great friends took me out to celebrate last night...so all in all it has been a fun end of the week and weekend!

Now I can look forward to U2 on Monday night!!!! Can't wait...

Aggie Football Weekend

+

=

1 Awesome Weekend!!!

Normally, I wouldn't be this excited for an Aggie Football game, okay, maybe that's not entirely true...I do love watching the Ags play (when they are on TV...) but this weekend marks a unique experience...the Aggies are playing in the new Cowboys Stadium...aka Jerry World, aka Deathstar, aka 1.2 billion dollar stadium and....I get to go!!!! A couple months back, while I was still living in Charlotte, some of my college girlfriends decided we should all get tickets and have a little Dallas reunion at the A&M/Arkansas game...this was before all the hoopla that has gone on since then about the new stadium. So, we bought tickets, and mine was going to also have to include a plane ticket to get here but thankfully I saved a chunk of change on that deal and just have to drive across town! So, tons of our friends are going....our class of '02 is having a tailgating party as are a bunch of other friends...so it is sure to be a great time!!! I wonder if Jerry will be rooting for the Ags or Pigs?