New Month's Resolutions

Well howdy there.

So, as is the case with lots of things, I forgot how to be a real person in architecture school and one by one had to strike things off of my list of "to-do's". So, sorry blog you were one of the first to go.

Good news is, architecture school is over! WOOHOO!! And, I've spent the last nine months of my life trying to nurse my architorture hangover and catch up on all the things I missed out on. It feels good to get things done!

So, in my random musings in the last month - my blog popped back into my head. It's been one of those ideas that sort of just sits in the junk drawer of your mind, but last week it popped up again. And, the first step in getting yourself to do anything, is to have someone else hold you accountable for it. (Because let's be honest, if we were able to just sit at home alone all day with no one to judge, we would all be living dessert menus with Netflix obsessions that would scare Lindsay Lohan) So when I mentioned it at lunch, the first question was "What would you write about???" As funny as it was, it was pretty darn true. So, I've decided to not decide on one particular thing. (Isn't that so wonderfully easy? If only that could apply to more things in life..)

From now on, I'm going to focus on my "New Month's Resolutions". What's that, you ask?

Well, everyone makes New Year's Resolutions. Please raise your hand if you did that this year. Pretty much everyone? Cool, good job kiddos.

Now, keep your hand raised if you have kept that resolution until today. Probably half of you have your hands down. But honestly, if you kept it past January 5th please start yourself a slow clap because you are freaking wonderful.

Now, for those of you who are left, keep your hand raised if to this day you have kept your New Year's Resolution from last year. Okay, if anyone still has their hand raised - please step away from your computer, go outside and throw your head back and shout "I AM THE GREATEST". Because you are, and congratulations you are actually done. You've lived a more successful life than the rest of us and we are all maddeningly jealous.

So why have the rest of us not kept our resolutions? Well, promising to focus on one thing for the whole year is sort of daunting. And I'm sorry, but your resolution is probably kind of lame. You probably picked to eat better, be healthier, or the like - but let's face it no matter how hard you try no one likes rabbit food. And if they say they do, they are lying.

So here's my plan. They say that it takes 21 days to make (or break) a habit. So, can I promise to do something for a month? You betcha. And it is a whole lot less scary than promising to do it for a year. Not to mention, you can probably focus on it much easier.

So from here on out, I'll be documenting this. I'll tell you what my resolution for the month is, and how I'm maintaining it. And, I'll tell you if I fail. Because that happens. If you'd like to make your own New Month's Resolution, or follow along with mine - please do! Let me know what you choose, and how yours is going - and together I think we'll be pretty freaking awesome at the end of the month!

sweat is fat crying.

WOOHOO! Today marks 25 miles (well, 25.86 to be exact) with my new running shoes. Needless to say, I am obsessed. Something about neon just makes you a little more excited than plain old white sneaks.

And just because it made me smile - I have to brag a little. Today I also clocked my fastest mile so far! Along with my neon green shoes, I splurged on a Nike+ which clocks your speed, distance and calories burnt when you plug it into your ipod, and place the sensor into your shoe. At the end of my run today, it said "This is Tiger Woods, Congratulations! You just recorded your fastest mile so far!". I'm REALLY not sure what Tiger Woods has to do with running quickly, but I'll take it.

Although two miles a day really isn't that far, I'm slowly edging towards being able to run a 5k (about 3.2 miles) every day and then... maybe on to a 10k or a half marathon if I'm brave slash insane enough. I've always wanted to run a half marathon - but I just don't know if I can do it. Maybe someday...

But to help with my running, together Derek and I are working on eating better. For anyone who knows me, if you put any type of bread in front of me - don't expect it to be there when you return. Bread is my absolute weakness. So I am trying to cut it out, at least for a week - and follow a cleaner, healthier diet instead.. even though I walked out of the gym today and yelled cried whined about how I would do embarrassing things for a dinner box from Pizza Hut. But we walked by quickly, I made it out of there safe and pepperoni-less.

Today, I could eat as many fruits as I want. If it is possible to overdose on blueberries, I adamantly believe that I did today. Tomorrow will be a little more trying, because it is nothing but vegetables. Since I'm much less excited about eating vegetables than I am fruit, this should be "muy interesante". My sad excuse for a lunch looks like rabbit food..

But, for those of you who are inspired to try a similar routine I will let you know how it goes! But now, to sit back and relaxxxxxx to prepare for another full day at the office and the gym tomorrow!

And last but not least, a little bit of comic inspiration...

you asked for it..

I believe that everyone has the best intentions when starting a blog. They're sure that they'll post at least every other day, keeping an accurate account of the day's activities, successes, pitfalls and occurrences. Some of us are really good at this, and for those of you who are I'd like to salute you for having the time and dedication to pursue this type of literary exercise.

But for me that’s never what my blog was about. Routine, dedication and habit all sound like white walls, fluorescent lights and three day old chili to me. Don’t get me wrong, some routines are good – so please don’t throw brushing your teeth and showering daily out the window. But one of my recent favorite quotes says, “don’t be so busy making a living that you forget to make a life”.

As I sit and reflect on my past several months, serving as the New Member Educator for our newest pledge class, finishing my 4^th year of architecture school, being chosen as a Rho Gamma for the upcoming year, and finally my proudest moment – acquiring a “real person” job for the summer at an architecture firm, I realize that routine truly isn’t what works for me. It seems that my hectic, chicken with my head cut off strategies have garnered me a pretty thrilling and rewarding college experience.

In one of my earlier posts I mentioned a goal to “grow down, not up”. I think this summer is a test of that principle. I’m getting to a point in my life where things like dental insurance and what to make for dinner cloud your day, and that’s not what I want to allow my life to become. By approaching life through the eyes of a child, we constantly question set truths and demand a more efficient and positive outcome. Be inquisitive, and most of all be excited.

So as I sit here and eat my grown-up, high in fiber lunch while listening to Disney music I feel as if I truly am on the fence between the blissful ignorance of my adolescence and the “real world”.

Many of you asked for me to keep my blog up again – and I will do my best to tell this unfolding story.. But remember, routine and ordinary just isn't my thing ;)

well i'm back..

Well, it's been awhile. The semester was crazy and I was lucky to have thoughts to myself that didn't involve architecture, let alone get a chance to write them down. But with things winding down, there is finally some time to reflect.

To most people, I would probably appear to have things figured out. Last night, I finally admitted that I don't. It's unsettling, a little, to know I can walk around thinking I know it all - and fake it decently well, when deep down I'm flying by the seat of my pants.

So (and I feel like my mother should be listening and rejoicing about this?) I finally can admit.. I haven't got a clue about the world.

That realization has led me into not only some self-reflection, but to see things in a new light. What if we could go back, and see the world as a child again? What if we could look at things so purely and innocently, and not have them tainted by learned stereotypes or behaviors.

I know it's a stretch, so bear with me here, but I think that one of my new year's resolutions will be to grow down, not up. I'd like to act a little more like a kid, and a little less like an adult. Now - you all have pictures of an over-sized child playing video games and eating junk food at 30 living in their parents house right? Well, sadly that is what we've come to be taught that acting like a child, as an adult, means. But not for me. For me, it means to question anything and everything. Why is that the way it is? Why do we do that? Why do we act like this? Not to go all political on you, but I think if we all acted more that way - our nation would not be stuck in the rut that it is in now.

"If you don't like what is being said, change the conversation."

I want to live in a world where politicians question policies and budgets everyday, where designers ask why are doors square and scientists inquire how chemistry works. I want to live in a world of why nots and rule benders rather than robots.

I mean hey, do it now - and ask for forgiveness later right?

don't blink..

It seems like just yesterday that I was doing this very same thing. Trying to fit all of my clothes, accessories and that extra pair of heels into my already stuffed suitcase, praying that it won't go over 50 lbs like every girl prays that somehow that chocolate we ate won't go straight to our hips.

This summer has been so chock full of excitement, adventure and stress that I'm actually not so surprised that it blew by so quickly. But then again, I guess the tortoise and the hare phenomenon hasn't ever really applied to me.

On the eve of my departure, as I sit and look around the room that I've grown up in - things start to get sentimental. That door frame that I've run into countless times, the bathroom that my sister and I have made into our pride and joy of interior design, the window where I would sit and wait for my boyfriend's arrival, the desk where I mastered my BC Calculus course and the closet that somehow always opens up a little more space for that new dress that I just had to have. Even though I'm excited for what is to come, I can't help but wonder about what I'm leaving behind.

I truly feel as if I have become a different person over the past year of my life. For anyone who knew me well before, you would most likely say the same. I look at things in a different way, I celebrate smaller victories (I actually cried with joy last semester when I had time to get a haircut) and I'm a whirlwind of activity, on any given day who knows what I'm up to or where I am headed.

Well, tomorrow I'm off to the windy city. A city so big, powerful and bustling that it could blow any polished businessman off his feet the first day. Should I be worried? A barely twenty-one year old, on that awkward fence of being in the real world and clinging to youthful naivety? Probably. But honestly, even with my dumb luck, what's the worst that could happen... traumatic run-in with a hobo? exasperating attempt to catch the metro? cantankerous case of the measles? kerfuffle (yes dears, that is a real word) with the owner of the Chicago Cubs?

When you get right down to it, I'm pretty good at getting myself into predicaments. But if God leads you to it, he will lead you through it. So I say, brace yourself Chicago. Lauren is coming to town.

{diy}

Now that I've been back in the good ole' US of A long enough to realize that yes, people really do speak English here and stores don't use Euros but instead the American dollar, I am beginning to look forward. I've had too much fun spilling my beans about all the really great random things that I call my life, and I don't want that to come to an end just because I'm in the same country as all of you again.

So, here's the sitch. (cue Kim Possible ringtone) I'm going to continue this blog this summer by mixing the old with the new. A couple new stories, a couple flashbacks to things that I didn't get to from Spain, and a couple things that I have come across that every girl (and the occasional brave guy too!) should know. Because in the journey towards "pura vida" you've got to stop, breathe, and take it all in.

So what am I doing when I'm not "fiesta"-ing with the Spaniards? Well here's a little sneak peek into what's to come for me. This fall, I'm studying in Chicago. It's really a dream opportunity: working with top architecture firms in a thriving city, spending three months with some of the coolest most intelligent people I know, and pushing my limits of comfort by throwing myself into a new area to call home. But in an architectural world full of Helvetica and all black hipster outfits, what's a girl to do to retain her originality?

Well my friends, it's called the wonderful world of crafting. Take a trip down an aisle of Michael's, and if you aren't inspired you need to go get your head checked. With so many inexpensive ways to brighten a room, you can flex your imagination muscles and still have money to spend on that new dress that you really don't need!

In the days to come, I'm going to be posting my newest adventures, my successes, and my fails and hopefully lots of beautiful final projects! I hope yall will like them...!

hasta luego mis queridos!

time flies

No preocupes, I haven't been kidnapped "Taken" style and whisked away to some far away corner of los Vascos never to return. I simply have been enjoying being free from technology.

I know that there have been possibly about nine thousand articles saying this same thing, and I read them all on my Droid smartphone while browsing Facebook on my tank of a laptop. But seriously guys, you don't know how good it feels. I thought a month without a phone would be the most difficult thing in the world, but it has been so liberating. It can be slightly more challenging to make plans with people but remember, there WAS a time when our parents were alive when cell phones didn't exist, and shockeningly, people actually still met up and hung out! I know, crazy concept.

Since being in Spain, my outlook on things has changed. I take things in stride now - before had you told me I would be living in a closet without air conditioning with three other girls I may have run the other direction. But now that I'm here and have seen the way the rest of the world lives I can honestly say I am ashamed of the cavalier lifestyle that most Americans enjoy. People here are content living with much less than what we have at home. I am shocked and disgusted at the standards of living I have considered normal after seeing how thrilled my madre here is to own a flat that probably a 1/4 of the size of my house, and she shares it with 10 students.

But on the other hand before you think I've gone completely yuppie, I do have one large compliment for Amurica. (Yes, that was Amurica.) We have an impeccable work ethic. I can't express how obnoxious it is to try to do errands and have literally the entire city closed from 2 to 6. These stores don't open until 10 at the earliest, and most close for the day at 2 for the siesta, but never re-open. And they wonder why they have such a high unemployment rate... If they had a shift from 2-6, how many more people do you think would have jobs, and more people would buy things, which would better the economy.... but ughh I digress, this is not a political or economical blog I promise hahaha.

About a week ago (who knew I was having so much fun without you guys right?) I took a weekend trip to Mallorca, in the Islas Baleares. The beach there was gorgeous, but there were quite a lot of Germans there. It is a big area for vacations and the European equivalent of "spring break". But, because there are so many different cultures that come to visit - I got probably the biggest compliment on the trip so far. Walking up to a restaurant to eat, the waiter approached me and handed me a menu in what language? Spanish? Wrong. English? Nope. It was a menu in Dutch. Finally, I have managed to convince someone that I am not American. When I looked at the menu, confused, he quickly handed me one in German until he realized I was from the good 'ole US of A. Nonetheless, I'm pretty complimented that I don't blatantly look like a tourist!

The hostal where we stayed was "Hostal Atlanta". But when I think of a hostal, I think of a small dark room with 4 bed high bunk beds and a sketchy man in the corner clutching his suitcase. This was nothing like that. Our room was gorgeous and had three huge windows with plantation shutters and a huge door out to our very own patio. If you ever are in the area, stay there. Olly, the guy who runs the hostal, will become your best friend and you won't ever want to leave even to go back to a place as gorgeous as Alicante.

But now I'm off to get ready for the "fuegos artificiales" or as we know and love, fireworks. After Fogueres (which is a week of fiestas that I haven't even begun to tell you about yet- they have yet ANOTHER week of firework competitions. I'm telling you these people never stop...