back to college-land!!

i got back to college on saturday and classes started on monday. as hard as it was to leave my family and my animals, i was so excited to get back. even after just one semester it already feels like home and i have a little "college family" that i love. one of my goals for my blog this year is to blog more about my life and my college adventures. this semester is going to be a little busier than last semester.

(my super awesome planner!!)

the first semester is one of the harder semesters because people are adjusting, finding themselves, meeting people, and learning to live on their own. my stats grade wasn't the greatest but i passed which is what matters most. i have one more math class this semester and once i'm done with that i'm freeeee of math. i'm also fundraising chair for the ballroom dance society, meaning i get to plan all the fun little events to build up funds. i'm already working on the first little event that should be held later this month. i'm also on the sketch comedy team, hanging out with friends, working on my etsy and blog, and getting ready for our huge formal event, the captian's ball, coming up later this month. more on that laaater... ;)

so far my classes seem okay. i had to switch one that doesn't start till next monday, but hopefully that one will be good as well. i'm in one of the easiest math classes and 2 of my ballroom friends are in there so i should be able to get by. my history class actually seems pretty cool. the professor was well-recommended by a friend who had him and he seems pretty rad so far. i'm in 2 psych classes, 201 and 202, and i have them back-to-back so tuseday and thursday evenings from 4 to 7 will be all psychology. the first professor seems amazing, but the second...not so much. during the first class he lectured for almost an hour without stopping. i'll try not to complain too much but i don't think i'll be praising the class much either. i do need to get my study habits in order, however. i have my binders (but i still need cover pages!!) for each day, my super colorful pens, planner (50% off at Barnes & Noble!!) and most of my books are in. Now all that's left is actually starting to study.

(supplies)

we had a "ballroom free dance" last night and it was sooo amazing to see everyone again and start dancing. i had so much fun dancing with all my friends that i've missed. damian, my cha cha partner, and i had an especially great time dancing together again. we were cha cha partners at the dance competition we went to in november, and missed advancing to the next level by one judge. our plan is to practice like crazy and take no prisoners at the competition next november.

tonight we have our first official ballroom lesson of the semester and rumor has it this guy i've been talking to a lot recently will be there. more on that later. ;)

xoxo, Lauren

Must Have Mondays-

I finally have internet again!! i got up super early (well, 8:35am but that's early for a college student!!) and treked over to the tech services place. at first the guy had no idea what to do and i was convinced my laptop was screwed but with the help of google (by this point i was almost ready to give up hope completely) they got it working again. :) :) i just about jumped over the counter and hugged the guy when he said it was fixed.

anyway, now that i finally have my lovely little laptop working again, i'm ready to dive into blogging and my etsy. i plan to devote a lot more time to it this semester. i'm adding more features, one of which is this one. "must have mondays" is basically where i'll be showing you some of my favorite stuff i've found recently. i decided on "must have mondays" because 1. a lot of people do "fav fridays" or "things i like thursday" and i just wanted something a little different and 2. i like the alliteration. teehee and now, onto my first "must have monday"

1. this adorable headband from my etsy shop

i know it's from my own shop so maybe that makes it a little tacky but i just can't help it. i made the first one with the intention of selling it and loved it so much i had to keep it. therefore, i made 2. and then 20 more in different colors. plus, they're perfect for valentine's day. :)

2. these adorable key covers.

the second i saw them i just about died. more accurately, i squealed with excitement. i want them so badly but if i got them i'm not exactly sure where they'd go. i don't exactly have any keys (except for my one house key) to put them on. nonetheless, they are so sweet.

3. this super awesome print

i'm a teenage girl. it's a fact that no matter how many hours you put into it, your hair will almost never do what you want it to when you need it to. next year i'll be living with 4 other girls and sharing one bathroom. i'm thinking this print may end up hanging on the wall next to the mirror.

4. this super cool USB drive

i lost my flash drive awhile ago. so far i've been using my friend jessica's flash drive (not sure if she knows i still have that...ooops) but i suppose i'll need to get my own eventually. this one is so sweet and it even comes in pink too!! that's the one i'll be getting.

5. this happy little print

something about this print makes me super happy. not sure if its the bright yellow of the simplicity of the message but something about it just makes me smile. and you should too. :)

2011!!

My first post of the new year!! How refreshing!! I love new beginnings. I think that people can always start over fresh and it doesn't matter how many times you do it, it's always fun, new, and a little scary. The best times to start these "new beginnings" are usually times when you're going through changes in your life. Starting school (like when I started at college in the fall) or a new year (like now!!), or maybe a new job, move, or anytime you feel like it. :)

My last few hours of 2010 were spent at a friend's house. It was a small get together but we still had a blast. We built a fort (totally silly but totally awesome too!!) and did a bunch of other fun stuff. Then my first day of the new year was spent with friends again. We got our nails done, went out to eat, then Allison (one of my fav people in the whole world) slept over. We stayed up talking about everything and laughing our heads off. It was much needed.

Sadly, my laptop still isn't connecting to the internet and my mom's laptop bit the dust over new year's. I'm posting this from the library right now. I can't wait till I can get back to college (i miss everyone so much) so one of my nerd friends can fix it for me. I promise once it's fixed i'll be back out with tons of fun posts but until then i thought i'd just let everyone know i'm still alive and hoping for the best in 2011.

xoxo, Lauren

Merry Christmas!!

The past few days have been filled with lots of shopping and getting ready, then enjoying Christmas with my family. My mom and I traveled down to GA, which meant we didn't have very many decorations. :( The first few days down here were filled with running around and shopping. We found a cheap fake tree to buy and decorated in some super cute ornaments. My sister flew in on the 24th, just in time for us to have a small family Christmas. I'm putting up a few photos from Christmas morning, then I have a few more things to share at the bottom. Sorry some of them aren't the best quality. The camera was being passed around by my family. :)




our adorable tree with our presents around it.

 



we found the most adorable stocking for my sister and myself. she had the bear and i had the penguin.

  


this is when i was demonstrating for my sister how to appropriately show off for pictures

 


even the puppies like to get in on the Christmas excitement

 





my dad and i (plus the puppies) after all the gifts had been opened.





For now that's about it. The next day (the 26th) we went to the World of Coke and the Georgia Aquarium. The WOC was kinda (really) boring but I had fun taking pictures, and of course I totally loved the aquarium, as per usual. My plan is to post about both of those trips in the next few days but we'll have to see. My laptop has no internet access, for some odd reason so I have to use my mom or dad's laptop when I can. I also want to post a few pictures of some of my favorite gifts I got (a super cute sweater!! a mini cupcake maker!!). And with the new year coming up soon, I want to post a little about my new goals and resolutions. Hope you all had a great Christmas. Any exciting or sweet stories you want to share??

xoxo, Lauren 

Stream of Consciousness Day, Baby

A. I'm a new sponsor on a super cute blog called 'Crafted Love'. Check out my intro post here and stay tuned for my guest post coming soon. :D

B. Speaking of sponsoring...if you want to advertise my blog on your blog, you can now!! Over on the left of the screen is a super cute button (designed by Allison of Crafted Love), and under it is an HTML code you can copy and paste onto your page. And you really should. I mean, doesn't every blog deserve a little dash of cuteness?? ;)

C. Remember that list of "19 things before 19" I was working on?? I'm still working on it, I promise, but I'm changing it a little. With my birthday coming up in March, I feel like I don't have enough time to do anything big. Instead, I've decided I'm going to make a list of "19 Things Before 20" and try to accomplish them all by then. I figure that way I can add a few more of the bigger things to my list.

D. I added a few new things to my etsy shop!! The tote bag is already a new favorite among my friends and I even made a second one for my mom for Christmas (shhh, don't tell!!) and the little bunny cap is just so sweet. I wish I knew a baby to give it to. :) You can check out my etsy shop here!!


Little House (on the) Tote Bag




Newborn Baby Bunny Cap

 E. Lastly, a quick reminder that I love to hear from you!! Leave a comment, e-mail me at lauren.vaughan.10@cnu.edu, or ask to be penpals!! Everyone loves getting mail. :)

I'll be back later with an actual post, and hopefully pictures of this gorgeous snow that's starting to fall. xoxo, Lauren

Bubble Baths in Clawfoot Tubs

There's still a few years until I'm out in the real world and living on my own. While I'm in no hurry to have that happen, I can't wait for the day when I can decorate and design my house to my heart's content. Although I don't actually have any set plans I do like to think about what I want. And I'm sure I won't get everything that I dream about but there are a few things I'd love, one of which is a clawfoot tub.

I love everything about them. I think they are gorgeous. They add a glamorous and classy touch to any bathroom. I love the style that dates back to an earlier time. One of my favorite things to do, especially when I'm stressed, is to take a long, hot, usually bubble-filled, bath. The cat enjoys sitting with me and occassionally dipping a paw in as well. I'd get one of those little trays to put my book in as well so it doesn't get wet. (I will admit the corners occassionally get a little wet when I read in the tub. Oops!!) Here are a couple more clawfoot tubs I totally love.

So amazing...I love. <3



I love this one because of how they use all the color.



Like I said, I can deal with not having a lot of stuff in my future house but this has to be one of the major things on my wishlist. Guess my future hubby needs a good job. ;)

xoxo, Lauren

Baking, Baking, and oh Look, More Baking

I've been home alone the past few days. I dropped my mom off at the airport on Saturday and went to the grocery store that afternoon to pick up all my essentials in case I wouldn't be able to later or didn't want to. Since she's in New York (my grandpa's doing okay, thankfully) I have the house to myself. A little scary because it's my first time staying home alone, and a little weird to be alone since I'm a people person, but not too bad. I had plans (ex- baking) and people to see during the day. However, that Saturday night I started my first mission: peppermint bark.

(yes, these are actual pictures of the bark i made)

Was it as pretty as the real stuff?? No. Did it tase just as great?? Yes :) I was quite pleased with myself. My only piece of advice to anyone making this is to make sure you really crush the peppermints.

Then tonight one of my best friends from high school, Amanda, came over. We went to see the movie Love and Other Drugs (I cried but the ending was totally sweet and I loved it. I majorly reccommend it. Plus Jake and Anne are amazing) Afterwards we made sugar cookies. (From here on out these are my pictures, but I promise my food will look just as good, if not better!!) We did have a minor problem at first. Too little flour in the dough caused major stickiness and a big mess. We did manage to fix it really quickly and had fun decorating. I'm a sucker for anything artsy and creative like that. Give me some icing, a few bottles of sprinkles, and I'm good to go!!

Tomorrow (as well as the rest of the week) the baking continues. I plan on making 2 of my favorite old stand-bys, peanut butter blossoms and chocolate chip, as well as a new addtion. Last Christmas I tried a Snickerdoodle for the first time in awhile and discovered how much I really like them. They seem pretty easy to make and I love baking, obviously, so I figure I'll try them out as well sometime this week. To balance out all these cookies I plan on making a second batch of peppermint bark (this time to share!!...maybe) and some chocolate covered pretzels as well. So much fun and super yummy too!!

I plan on taking some more pictures of my tasty creations as the week. I also have a few new etsy items I plan on listing. I just need to wait till tomorrow so I can get some sunlight to take photos. And of course, I am so excited for Christmas!! :) :) Until then,

xoxo, Lauren

The Madness has Started Already

I'm finally home!! My stats exam went okay today...I think I knew about 2.5 out of the 4 pages of problems, so here's to hoping for a D+ or C-. I know it's sad to some but math just isn't my subject. My English exam, on the other hand, was crazy easy and I finished in a little less than an hour. All we had to do was memorize 20 terms we've learned during the semester and write examples. I was quite proud of myself for being able to include 3 of the Grey's Anatomy characters, the Cast of Glee, Brittney Spears, and kittens, among other things, in my examples.

Traffic was crazy on the car ride home and we brought a friend of mine, Damian, along with us as well but it's worth it to be home now. The puppies flipped out when they saw me. I'm pretty sure Phoebe (the darling in my banner) just about threw her hip out again she was so excited. It's great to see my mom but a little sad knowing I have to take her to the airport tomorrow to be with my grandparents and I'll be here alone. At least my grandpa got through his surgury okay.

Like I promised though, I'm already adding new stuff to the shop. I finally got around to finishing my first project I decided to make. It's an adorable gingerbread man headband that I'm already in love with. :) Tomorrow I plan to start work on some new ideas and head over to Kroger to stock up on baking supplies. I'm thinking that hopefully I'll be motivated enough to possibly do my first ever DIY?? Hmmm...guess you'll just have to keep reading to find out. Until then...check out the new listing and tell your friends!!  :)

xoxo, Lauren

Finals!!

Life has been a little crazy since around Thanksgiving. Thanksgiving itself was chill, but all the shopping, planning, and events I did with my parents were a little much. Then I came back to school where we had one week of learning followed by...

FINALS!!!!!!!!!!

I can already tell you that finals and I do not get along. This past weekend was spent having a little too much fun (nothing illegal, think ice-skating with friends (cute boy included), then staying up till almost 6am in the lobby of our residence hall talking and playing "Apples to Apples") but needless to say that doesn't result in much studying.

I wasn't too worried about my theater, english, or history classes but stats and art history had me working up a sweat. I just finished art history at 12 and I'm not feeling too badly about it. Of course, that usually means you bombed it so I'm trying to stay positive. Stats is tomorrow and I'm hoping that with the help of a graphing calculator, my trusty cheat-sheet, and thoughts of going home dancing in my head I'll be able to get through it. The only bummer is that means tomorrow I officially finish my first semester of college and go home for a month. I don't want to leave my friends here!!

On top of all this, I got a call Wednesday morning from my mom that my grandpa fell the other night and broke his femur. He's in the hospital with surgury and weeks, possibly months, of rehab in front of him. My mom's leaving Saturday to stay with my grandparents in NY and my dad has a business trip so I guess I'll be in the house by myself my first week of break. If anything, it leaves me with plenty of time for crafting.

I'm really looking forward to break. A time for more posts, crafts, baking, and hopefully babysitting for some extra $.

xoxo, Lauren

A Small Revalation of Sorts

This week has not been the best week for me. I've had multiple assignments due which means a crazy amount of work and as mentioned previously, an issue with one of my closest friends here. We talked tonight, and it'll be okay, but we both need some time to get back to where we were. However, I was still pretty upset about it and the conversation ended with me going back up to my room and crying. I was texing Patrick (also known as Mystery Badger) and he was being so sweet about everything.

I decided I would spend the rest of my night in my room on my laptop trying to get homework done. About a half an hour in, no homework had even been started and I was still just as upset when my phone rang. It was Patrick, telling me that I was going to meet him and Molly, a good friend in the making, at Einsteins, our library's version of Starbucks and a favorite place for students, to do some homework. I didn't want to, but he was a little insistent so I figured after making him listen to me being all sad I could at least agree to meet him.

I'm so happy I did. I ended up running into a few other friends, talking with people, laughing, and even got a little homework done. By the time one am came around and they were kicking us out I was laughing and smiling and feeling much more like myself. I thanked Patrick for making me come out about 50 times, but he deserved it.

So here's the part where my revalation comes into play: As I've said before, this is my fresh new start. I'm still working through the past and that will take a long time but I'm working on it and I'm making sure to do things differently here. Yeah, bad things are still going to happen. Upsetting things too. But what I realized tonight is that it's already different. Had this been high school, none of my friends would have called to make me go out. They would have let me be in my room alone. Here, I have people who care enough about me to do something to make me feel better. I have people that I can trust. I have people that think I matter. Because I do. Things may not be perfect, nor do I want them to be, but I'm still a pretty lucky girl.