HAPPY 2 YEAR ANNIVERSARY TO BRENT AND I!!!

As of tomorrow, December 20th, Brent and I have been married 2 years!!! and will have technically been together for 7 1/2! i cannot believe how fast it has gone! i feel like i have known him forever (in a great way :)) and we're still a "fresh pair"- its a wonderful feeling! i am soo incredibly blessed to have such an amazing, funny, caring, all around FANTASTIC man to call my husband. we learned new things about each other everyday and appreciate the funny little quarks that make us the interesting people that we are! to marry your best friend and be even more in love with him every day is an incredible thing!!! thank you lovemunch for choosing me! :) love you!

Also, 2 years ago Brent and I had the MOST AMAZING WEDDING EVER! the weather, the ambiance, my WONDERFUL family and friends, the staff, the place, the decor.....THE ENTIRE DAY was incredible and i wish i could relive it over and over again. I could not have done it without my amazing mom and dad, supportive sister and friends, supportive husband (obviously), awesome in-laws, i could go on and on! i really cannot express how thankful i truely am! :)

aaaand my amazing wedding photographer who took pictures that we honestly still look at on a daily basis because they are just that INCREDIBLE! as a toast to the day heres a little Lauren and Brent wedding day viewing for the blog world!

also....i

id also like to do a little bragging if i may. Last Friday my alma matter the Henderson Lions won thier first state championship in school history!!! aand it was in Cowboy Stadium which was AMAZING as well. My dad has been coaching there for 34 years now and will prob retire before this opportunity comes around again so i cannot even begin to express how PROUD and EXCITED  i am for him and my mom for all her support throughout these years! dad even got to be the "toter of the trophy" for the drive back from Dallas... honestly, if it werent for that beauty we prob wouldnt have the picture below....the only reason we got the star cowboy treatment was b/c dad was holding it lol. even better....we had practically the entire town of henderson in attendance to witness it and i got to see a bunch of my family that i sadly will not get to see at Christmas this year so that was really special as well! CONGRATS to the team, coaches, coaches wife, faithful fans, etc... it was an awesome night

ooooh i have been sooo bad!

sorry for my absence blog world... i have been thinking about you i promise! and i have been making all kinds of good things however MOST of those things are Christmas presents so i cant really post anything till after it has been gifted to that special someone. but i do have some exciting things to show you..... for one..... Christmas decorations! this year i was determined not to spend any money on any Christmas decorations because Lord knows i have PLENTY (getting married around Christmas gives ya a good excuse). however due to the absolute LACK of holiday both at Thanksgiving and what will be repeated next week for Christmas, i was not able to get all of my decorations from the rents house to fully go all out...regardless its still a jolly merry Christmas at the Lows so lets get to the showing.....



our lovely little tree and fireplace



now a little TV mantle action.... and of course muppet christmas carol is on... only my fav :) and a little wedding duck shout out because after all tis anniversary season as well :) i cant believe its almost been 2 years since our amazing wedding!!!


now over to the kitchen mantle



i actually constructed this tree myself! super easy and turned out really cute! all i used was a little paper mache tree, used the cricket to cut out "balloon" shapes in different paper and glued them on...tad da cute paper tree!!!



Merry Season!!

oodles of doodles

okay, sorry for the uber cheesy title but it made me laugh...therefore...the title stays. done and done. anywho not much to say on this one ive just been in a "doodle-mood" lately which basically boils down to whatever is on my mind, in my sight, or just something i like to draw.... enjoy!

Its beginning to look a lot like FALL

So it has been very busy and stressful over the past few weeks so today i decided i was taking a PERSONAL DAY! basically, this is the first time in a L-O-N-G time where i actually didnt have something else that needed to be done first. You know, when you want to do something just for fun but in the back of your mind theres that something that would be the more responsible, sensible choice to do...and for me thats what i go with lol. so i took this "free day" as a little present and i snatched that opportunity and had sooo much fun... i even made time for just me in my planner ;)



first i went over to the Farmers Market where i got some fresh veggies for the vegetable beef soup and grilled cheese dinner i made tonight (you know, middle school style ;) )and snagged the cutest baby pumkin in the process...not too worry, he's just for decoration....thats it and thats all baby...just for decoration. (whistle tip reference anyone? no? ok..moving on)

then i took a little trip to michaels to browse and get my creative juices flowing, then i came back home to create a little Fall ambience in our tiny little living room
Fall is by far my most favorite of seasons....cool weather, less humidity (= straight hair days), leaves changing color, football games (get a little nostalgic from my cheering days), and a flurry of holidays all packed in! Since Brent and I are on quite a tight budget this year my challenge for myself was to spend as little as possible on decor and be resourceful with what i had/found around... heres the finished product....

First a little corner shout out to halloween.........




now over for a nature-themed fall display


i collected leaves behind the apt to display in the frame, found pinecones, twigs, and acorns for accents and even made pinecone flowers for a little extra something ;) i made a little sign from my cricket and some twine i had, fun random-shape flower vases, and even a refurbished picante jar ;) ta da





the only $ i spent on the whole project was for the baby pumpkin at the market...everything else i either had already, found out back of our apt, or on excursions to stonebriar mall or odessa ;)

Weekend doodles!

A nice, lenghty rain storm across the state Sat. morning provided some AH-MAZING fall weather! we have all been praying, crossing fingers, weather dancing, whatev...and our collective hard work has finally paid off. Sunday Brent and I decided it would be a travesty to waste the day inside doing prob the same things we'd do in the apt......doodle, read, hang out :). we'd been wanting to check out White Rock Lake for a while. From some info id read (on the internet) it was a quite a find for Dallas!

We headed over to check it out for ourselves. the lake is nestled only miles from Downtown,

does not allowing swimming, and from what i
gather does not allow motor boats (or at least motor boats over a certain speed). This makes it sooo peaceful! This place had great views of the city, tons of wildlife, outdoor enthusiasts abounding, and it was relatively quiet! they did have cute little sailboats and kayakers though (def. something brent and i will be coming back and doing in the near future)


between the weather and scenery i got a small sensation like i was back in my love Seattle! of course this is nothing compared to say Kite Hill but it was totally a fantastic thought! hopefully one day i can post pics from there as my "daily outting" !!

then we moved around the lake some more to find where the Dallas arboretum was and find a nice little spot to read/doodlle.... heres my wonderful hubby sunbathing....
i am sooooo lucky to have a man who loves exploring and nature as much as i do!
All in all i would def. say a nice find for a nice day!

now to the main event of the post....my lovely Lake Day doodles..... for your enjoyment pleasure i give you not 1, but 2!! peices of art from the Lauren collection.......





aaand i know what you are thinking, yes, it is Brent and Lauren in that Love balloon in the corner....
so all in all the day was def. not as educationally productive as i had intended but id say it was not a loss considering my naturistictivity ;P.....( you know you like that new word, dont kid yourself )
till next time!

crafty addition

and just to give you a little something fun that i "made" recently, heres so eccletic cupcakes......



ok so let me clarify...ive been wanting to make fun cupcakes for about a week but i wouldnt let myself until i finished everything...including a test i had last night in my class..... so about 9 i decided i want to make sunflower cupcakes..... cupcakes with sunflowers made of oreos and yellow/orange icing on top. it was a great IDEA...however i remind you i started this venture at 9....that means running to the store for supplies, then running back to walgreens for eggs that i forgot, then baking, cooling, mixing icing, etc..... so about 11 im ready to decorate and i realize my icing got a little too warm in vacinity of the oven..but i was a little OVER it at this point and decided to try my art out anyway.... the flower is yes, a flower (bottom right one) but it looks as if its had a little too much time in the sun ;( womp womp. so after looking at that i SHOULD HAVE just chilled the icing and tried again later or tom. but NO- i wanted to relax and be done so i said screw it and just did my own thing on the rest.... the result..... 2 suns, the inside of a lightbulb (top left), what s ideally satelites (or space ships) orbiting above the oreo earth (bottom middle), and a brent-cake ;) TAD-DA!!!!


ps..and to clarify in my previous post "ghetto lunch" refers to me taking the challenge of not going to the store this week and being creative to make lunches and dinners... so i am really getting a little low on my lunch stuff. turns out i made a pretty great little meal.... with the remainders of 1/4 jar of totamo sauce, 1/4 cup penne pasta and some biquick i made myself a nice little italian meal and cheddar biscuits! mm mmm good! ;)

study study study leaves little blog time

WOW! it has been WAY too long on here.... i just realized my soothing Friday was now almost 3? weeks ago- where did September go my friends? So i have to apologize for my lack of blogging. I had my first PA school interview last Sat. so i spent MOST of my days and night studying and prepping for that which left sadly little room for blogging or for doing much of anything interesting to blog about ;)

So lets see what weve missed......
1. my grandaddy celebrated his 85th!! birthday on Sept. 1st. He is such an amazing man and i am sooo blessed hes in mine and my families life! Since this is such an accomplishment (and whats even more impressive is he still feeds his cows, bails hay, gets trucks out of ditches, and finds time to keep updated on Skype and Facebook)! The family wanted to have a little get together to celebrate so Sunday the 5th Kris,Justin, Brent and I headed to Palestine to meet up with the rest of the gang. Another treat of the day was I got to see my Aunt Carlynn and cousin Kera- they live in Maryland so we dont get to see them nearly as often as we'd like. We were missing a few from the bunch but id still we had an impressive group for a sunday afternoon


2. soo i was really nervous about the interview coming up and i was REALLY missing my friends at Scott and White so on a bit of a whim ;) i decided to drive down to visit and get some tips and encouragement! i am SOOO glad i went. i may have been exhausted come thursday night but it was all TOTALLY worth it! i got up at 5:30 AM! and drove through a monsoon for 3 hrs to get to CS right on time at 9:30 for an appt. with my old PA adviser (9:30 was all she could do wed- trust me-i didnt choose that time ;)) and of course its raining the WHOLE drive....super dry in big D for days leading up to Wed. but of course i want to hit the road and BAM

*little side story* so it is act. a little funny that it was raining as i went back to cs. when brent and i were doing long distance for the two months i was still in cs and he was here it would rain everytime after i left dallas and would rain right before i got there on the weekends. brent said that Dallas was crying b/c i was not there :P it was super cute that he said that but also super ironic that when i decided to go back to visit CS Dallas cried again lol

anywho, i got some great advice and encouragement from my old Pa advisor at A&M- i really dont think i would done nearly as well if it hadnt been for her advice! then i went to SW to visit and spent the entire afternoon up there! but lets face it, when you work with such wonderful people 8-13 hrs/ a day its really really sad when you dont get to see them anymore... i got to see almost everyone, lunch with maggie and alisa, hung out in FM and TC ALL afternoon (sorry if i made anyone unpreductive btw) ;) and then dinner with the Kings and Rick! so much fun! thursday my buddy Dr. Bailey quizzed me and then i was on the road once more....Dallas was not crying thursday upon my return mind you ;)

3. that weekend i had another FANTASTIC girls weekend with Jennifer, Rachel, Lara, and Sarah. We went ate a TON of sugar, girl talked over wedding magazines and E! TV, and checked out the Dallas Flea- and i do love a good Flea. its a little difficult to find ones that are not 1. super sketch 2. actually have afforadable merchandise...this one was great...wished it been a little bigger but the merch was a nice mix of vintage finds and cute crafts of today! i love hanging with these ladies so it certainly lifted my spirits!


4. i got a JOB offer last week! i am now officially a seasonal employee at Crate and Barrel on Alpha....once i know my sched. you should come visit me. Yes, and you may laugh, but that does mean that the Lows are now a Crate family (a fam of 3 if you count our dear one Erin ;)) but i will act. be working at a diff. one than Brent and Erin so sadly that does not mean more face time with them....its ok though, we make it work ;) and the impt thing is ill be making money again soon and doing something that sounds pretty entertaining!

5. I had my first interview! i think it went pretty well but now comes the lovely waiting game! fingers crossed and prayers going that i hear something sooner than later but i really really LOVE the school and the staff and students were sooooo nice! so it would just be amazing to get in. i was completely worn out after the interview Sat. but at least i am feeling good about my answers no matter what.

6. Went to the Freedom Parade in uptown with Erin, Brent, and Sarah. We met up with Morris, Rudy, and eventually Maurice for what became an amazing Sunday outting! Morris got there at like 6 am to secure us a great location to watch the festivities! we had mimosas, tons of cheetos, hamburgers, beer, snickers, and tons of fun celebrating the wonderful differences in our great little city! heres a group shot from our perch....sorry its a little dark


and now you are officially up to date! sorry for such a long post but i guess in retrospect i was more active than i thought for these past few weeks! lol hope you have a fabulous wednesday...im off to finish my ghetto-lunch concoction ;)

BEAUTIFUL END TO THE WEEK

So if you are not from Texas, we actually had some what of a "cold front" come through this past week and God blessed us with sensational weather on Friday. You trod begrudginly out of your apt door as usual to expect the freshly makeuped face to be wiped away by natures washcloth and then this amazing crisp breeze hits you and all you want to do is dance..... ok so that was a bit novelsque i agree but i did want to stay outside as long as possible!!

So Friday i decided to be a bit ballsy! i just want to do something... though i love to be creative and artsy i just cant stand to be cooped up in this house all day long. i need soooommething to do! i put in a job app about 2 weeks ago so i decided to give them a little facetime to add to the app. i drove to the employer, introduced myself to a couple of people, completed another app (cause sadly i waited a little too long for that last one), and just let them know i was a friendly, available applicant. Even if nothing works out there i still felt empowered having made myself do that

so after that i knew there was N-O way i was going to stuff myself into the apt for the remainder of the afternoon.....afterall, why waste one of TXs very few nice days inside! so i decided i would find me a nice park, read some books, doodle, people watch, explore, and just cont. being ballsy by going somewhere new all by myself in my new city!

i landed only a few miles from the house but in a park/residential space that was so cool i felt like i was in another state! It is a park in Addison that boasts loft style apts with stores underneath, a big main park, theatre, water features, NICE public restrooms, and mini hidden parks at every turn! and of course a giant blue scuplture to top it all off!

heres where i settled for my first hour of reading and watching...nestled in a nice shady spot where i could still hear the water rushing from the fountain and the cars go by around the loop


i then decided to look for hidden parks amongst the apts... while walking i actually felt like i was in Seattle from the looks of the place and THAT made me extremely happy! for my next location i found a quite little place inbetween some buildings

all in all i think i "parked" for about 4 hours... read about interview skills, doodled a bit, made some new doggie friends, watched some people play some odd catching game, walked the neighborhood, and enjoyed the beautiful day!



after that i went over to see Brent and Erin at Crate and Barrel and join the crew for Happy Hour in uptown ;P it was a great finale to the week!

math whiz, coupon clipper, homemaker-wha!

since not working i have vowed that i am going to get us into the specials searching, coupon clipping, batch cooking club. you can save so much money (and cal) not eating out and since in a few months ill have way less time to cook we need to get this club business down now :) anyway, the reason i say all that is i have found for me the best way to enjoy the activity is to treat it like a game... find the best deals, stretch the meals as long as possible, see the savings, etc. So yest i got some AWESOME deals at the grocery store and i was really curious what my savings would equal per meal. So i took my Meals Plan from Wed to Wed for this upcoming week, my cookbook, and a calculator and crunched and crunched! So after doing all the #s i had some FABULOUS encouragement for cont. my quest......

So from Wed. (yest) to next Wed (sept 1st) i calculated that for brent and I's dinner we are going to average $4.30...or $2.15 per person for dinner each night for the next 7 days!

you cant even get a happy meal that cheap anymore! so thats it really, just me being excited at our money saving progress! have a great day!

Reverse Bucket List

So included with my L&B tour de world book brent and i included our bucket lists. If you are unfamiliar with the term, a bucket list (put in my def) is a list of things you want to do/accomplish before you "kick the bucket"- it can be skills you learn, places you see, activities you want to do, etc...its pretty personalized so whatever you want on it, go for it!

well in the past few weeks i have had a lot of ups and downs in regard to school and future stuff so i was tired of being in a rut! i started with making my tour de world book b/c being creative makes me happy, talk of travel makes me happy, and traveling of any sort makes me SUPER HAPPY. Well while doing this i started realizing, yes school is not going as smoothly as hoped but i have done A LOT of  fun great stuff in my little 24 years (almost 25) of life. So i had the idea to do what i call the REVERSE BUCKET LIST.... who knows if this is what it would actually translate to or if its been done before but it was a totally new concept in my head... so here it goes, instead of all the things i WANT to do... Im listing for you a list of things that i HAVE done/seen/accomplished so far (theres prob more  to it but i dont remember everything)

Laurens Reverse Bucket List
1. Fell in L-O-V-E and married by Best Friend
2. Skydived
3. Kayaked rapids
4. Took a spontaneous midnight road trip 5 hrs to the beach to see the sun rise with some friends
5. Made a music video
6. bowled in a prom dress
7. Had an easter egg hunt in a Super Wal-Mart
8. Seen a moose, and gotten way to close, in the wild
9. Taken a photo every day for one entire year
10. camped on a mountain ridge
11. eaten a pickeled grasshopper
12. sang a solo on stage in front of people
13. seen the Grand Canyon
14. had mult costume parties within public resturants with friends
15. walked in the middle of the street in downtown Dallas
16. visited an Amish township
17. fed/pet sting rays
18. danced shamelessly in the parking lot of a busy supermarket
19.taken a striptease class (bacc party)
20. gotten my LIP tatooed
21. got really good at tumbling- fulls, backhandspring backs, layouts, etc
22. chugged a gallon of koolaid
23. Been diamond hunting
24. had the most PERFECT WEDDING i couldve ever imagined
25. driven a segway
26. been to an Aggie bonfire
27. eaten my weight in crab
28. had my hair go black-brown-mix-red-blonde within one year
29. been to Dollywood
30. experienced the pain of breaking something and recovering
31. jumped off a super high bridge into unknown water
32. been to canada!
33. Hiked to the top of a mountain, slowly
34. won $1000 on the radio and a sony playstation from the movie store
35. had teal and maroon hair
36. had a photographic scavenger hunt in a big fancy public mall
37. experienced a renaissance fair
38. placed #1 in the East Texas area for choir competition
39. driven a mini bike
40. traveled to Washington state (my fav) mult times~
41. experienced Pheonix in July
42. dove into 50 degree water and swam
43. enjoyed spontaneous trips to galveston for now reason at all
44. had a snowball fight
45. dined on champagne and donuts
46. enjoyed collegiate football games
47. been to disneyworld
48. have been blessed with the best family EVER

i have so many things to be thankful for and so many awesome things i have experienced... i am sure i missing some obvious, awesome things but well leave it now at 48!:) hope you enjoyed it and maybe it inspired you in some way! ;)

newest project!

a few posts back i had shown a little "sneak peak" of a little project I have been working on... between grad school apps, job apps, registering for a new class, reading medical and financial books i needed a break for some creative me time. Let me preface the whole thing by letting you know this is just a fun, silly thing i wanted to make. It does represent concrete wishes from the Low household but its not so technical it sucks the fun out of it. :) So here it is.....
Introducing Brent and Lauren's plan to Tour De World!!!!

Heres the project...ive made a cute little book that highlights the trips that brent and i want to take in our lifetime.. we didnt think about money, accessability, future children, jobs...we just put what we WANT to do!!! we also included a bucket list for each of us so its a handy place to see what we want out of that too... what we did was make a preliminary list of places we want to see... then i made sections for these trips.. i included our "plan" for why we want to go there/see this etc and some maps and tips for visual aids and to help when we actually settle in to do these trips.. let me give you a small pictoral view of some of the book...
- ps all the writing and designs were done by me! ;)













ive had a lot of fun making this and just getting to day dream a little ... we do LOVE to travel so i have no doubt in my mind some of this will def. become a reality...may be after retirement but well make it! :) enjoy!