I am such a Scrooge on Monday's..

It's Monday.  Monday's suck.  And I haven't updated my blog in almost a week sooooo......here I go....

Did y'all have a good weekend?  Mine was nice.  Very low-key.  Aaron and I hung out in Griffin over the weekend spending time with my mom and dad.  I love visiting my parents on the weekends that Adam works because: 1) Aaron has lots more room to run around and play both inside and outside, and 2) I get a break from full-time mommy duty which is always nice.  Yesterday, I went and spent some time with one of my besties, Natalie, who is due to give birth anytime over the next few weeks.  Eeeekkk!  I'm so excited to meet her sweet baby boy!  It was heartwarming to see her and her sweet belly, and to know that in a very short time she's going to be holding that sweet bundle of love.  Very happy and excited for her and her hubby!

On a random note, whilst in Griffin this weekend my mom and I decided to do a little Christmas shopping in G-town (AKA hit up Marshalls).  After putting my whining toddler in a buggy (while he's wailing "I not wide in buggy, I wide in buggy car!!"  The "buggy car" he's referring to is indeed a buggy shaped like a car that he rides in when we shop at Publix.  This.is.my.life.) we proceeded to start shopping.  That's when I noticed a girl in high school....who used to terrorize me.  Literally.  She once chased me down the 400 hall at Griffin High.  I was wearing high-heeled loafers.  Don't hate, that was the style back back then.  She stalked me by phone, threatened me through messages delivered by her buddies, the works.  I'm not kidding, y'all.  I know some people reading this will know exactly who I'm talking about.  I was Lindsay Lohan in Mean Girls eating my lunch in the bathroom (except not really, I would just beg my teacher to let me eat my lunch in my 4th period class room) this girl harassed me so bad.  And you know why she hated me?  All because of a guy.  Now this guy, he was gorge back then.  And it was a full-on high school love affair for me.  Getting back to my story, I run into this girl while shopping.  And do you know, she wouldn't even look at me?!  Seriously.  Saw me walk in, put her face down, and wouldn't even make eye contact with me.  I gave her several chances- she wouldn't bite.  Now let me say, I don't hold grudges.  High school was a long, long time ago and I'm sure she doesn't even think about high school drama.  I don't either, until it's right in my face like it was this weekend.  I just wanted to smile at her.  That's all.  Let bygones be bygones.  She wouldn't make any sort of eye contact.  And she saw me.  Oh well.  I hope she's happy with her life.  And can I just say that it was so nice to run into this person who used to scare the s&*t out of me, and be able to look at her and think "I really don't care anymore."  I wish her the best.  I really do.

Anyway, a busy week awaits.  Another one of my besties is getting married Saturday and I'm so excited for her!!  It is truly a joyous, happy time for many of my friends. :)

I have some news.  Well actually, a new development in my life...................................

I GOT BANGS (again)!!


They're side bangs.  And, I loved them at first sight.  And I still do, surprisingly.  I'll try and post a pic of the infamous bangs.  Agh!  I heart them....again!  Our relationship is like JT and Jessica pre-wedding: they treat me bad but I can't stay away!  The saga continues.....

~LL

Rant

The past few days these Instagram photos of Rihanna and Chris Brown have been leaking all over the Internet:

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image via

Uhhh.  I'm sorry, but they disgust me.  I know that's not a nice thing to say, but if you put it out there people are gonna talk.  Rihanna is the one of the biggest singers/celebrities around; for goodness sakes, she's supposed to be a role model.  And she instagrams/tweets pictures of this?  Her straddling the guy that beat her down 3 years ago.  He tweets a picture of her practically naked with a cigarette hanging out of his mouth.  It's gross.  They're gross.  Sorry, I'm not sorry.  (BTW, I want to give a shout out to Ashley over at Kindredly for letting me steal her awesome phrase.) 

What happened to self-respect?  Does she even know what kind of message she's sending out to young women?  "It's okay for a man to hit you.  It's okay to act like a slut."  I know this blog entry is harsh, but I'm so sick of it.  What happened to good role models?  I know there's something to be said for not caring what other people think, but have a little self-respect.  Posting classy pictures like this are doing you no favors:

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The thing is, I love her music.  And I'm sure she's probably a really great person.  She's probably just very confused.  I can't imagine living under the telescope she lives under.  It's a double-edged sword.  However, if I see one more picture of her and Chris Brown.....together.....looking like they just crawled out of the bed or are about to hop in the bed.....I'm going to puke.  For real.

Getting off my pedestal...

Walking Dead: I'm glad Sunday was the mid-season finale.  I'm getting bored.  I actually fell asleep 15 minutes before the show ended, and had to re-watch the last thirty minutes yesterday morning.  I will say I was worried that Michonne was going to get taken down by the Guv'nuh's zombie daughter.  Guess we all know how that ended....

Looking forward to seeing Daryl take care of bidness' next year.  Love him.

Sad to say, but those are my thoughts.  I'm kind've in a mood today if you can't already tell.  Luckily, tonight five of my girlfriends and I are going out for a Christmas dinner/gift exchange and we're heading to my fave- Carrabas.  Stoked.  Excited about some vino.  And pasta.

Laters, baby!

~LL

Like a Prayer

Last week, L Cpl Blake Rodgers was killed in the line of duty in Afghanistan.  This young, handsome man was only twenty years old; he had his life ahead of him, and it was taken from him in an instant while he was serving our country.  I did not know Blake, as I am a lot older than he is, but coming from such a small town where "everybody knows everything about everybody," I have heard a lot of wonderful things about him and his lovely family.  His body was brought back to the states this past weekend, and he and his family made their way back to Griffin this morning by a motorcade of policemen and firefighters.  Although I was unable to be there, many people uploaded videos they took with their cameras, and it was truly one of the most moving tributes to a fallen hero that I have ever seen.  God bless this brave Marine, and his family as I am sure this will be a very tough and trying time.  

As I was on Facebook viewing this heartfelt tribute, I came across people asking for prayer.  Asking for prayer is wonderful and inspiring; I believe in the power of prayer, and it is always so wonderful to see the many people that share in your beliefs.  However, I don't want to see your prayer request for: your child to poop, your hair appointment/color job to look great, your lack of sleep, your period to appear (yes, I have actually seen those), your hard day at work, or any other dumb-ass status update.  There are people that are going through difficult times: death, loss, sick children, job loss, dying parents, and you want me to pray for you because you had a rough day??  Get over yourself.

I hate that I even had to include that rant in a post that should be solely dedicated to this brave young man, but it just had to be said.  I know there have been several times in my life where I was "me, me, me" and horribly selfish, but then something as sad as this happens, and I find out that I'm pretty darn lucky to be blessed with the life that I have.  So tonight, and tomorrow night, and the next night, I will be praying for this brave Marine who lost his life protecting us, and I will be praying for his family and friends for strength in their days ahead.

The Real Housewives of New Jersey Reunion- My take

 My love for reality television has always been very obvious through my blog posts.  It really grew to new heights when I discovered Bravo, and all of the reality TV goodness that it offered.  (I discuss the love here.)  Being such a big fan to Bravo, I, of course, have grown to love my housewives; the Real Housewives that is.  I am not a big fan of Atlanta (shocker, I know), but cannot get enough of New York, and currently, New Jersey.  Last night was Jersey's big reunion show, and since my bedtime is 10 pm these days, the DVR was set up and ready for all of the name-calling, hair-yanking, and screaming that was sure to ensue............and ensue it did. 

Let me just say, I am not a fan of Danielle by any means. She acts like a victim, but is constantly threatening everyone else through her "thug" friend Danny, and I find the fact that she literally uses the plural form of woman as "woman," horrible; these are just a couple of annoyances to top off the list.  However, after watching the first part of this reunion show this morning, I honestly feel a little bad for her.  Within the first five minutes of the show she was verbally attacked by Teresa, and at this point we were only 3 minutes in.  Granted, Danielle acts terrible and does awful things, but what happened to showing a little class and respect for other people?  (Teresa, I'm looking at you. "Just stay on the couch!")  Jacqueline, on the other hand, attacked Danielle throughout the show by throwing out little jabs here and there.  Is it just me folks, or do you feel that the only reason Jacqueline even says anything against Danielle is to show-off in front of Teresa?  I like Jacqueline, but what happened to standing your own ground?  You were the one housewife that had a friendship with Danielle at one point, why continue to kick a woman while she's down?  I have been a big supporter of Teresa throughout this season, but after watching last night's episode my fondness of her has dwindled, just a little.  There was no class whatsoever; we all know Danielle is a crazy loon, but getting in her face, screaming profanities, chasing, and throwing pillows, all because Danielle threw a little jab your way.  Grow up.  What happened to the art of saying your peace, and ignoring what someone else has to say?  The only person that showed any class during the reunion show was Caroline.  The rest of them need to take notes.

With all of this being said, I cannot wait until next week!

What was your take?

Some things never change.......

Happy Monday, friends!  Hope everyone had a superb weekend.  Mine was great, just busy.  After spending 3 hours studying for the frickin' GACE exam Friday night, I went to bed at 11:30 pm feeling pretty confident about acing this test.  Saturday, I was a hot mess.  I'm not going to bore you will all of the details; basically, I arrived at the test site at 1:00 pm on the dot (the test started at 1:00 pm on the dot).  Trying to print my ticket, turned into a printer malfunction, which led me to FedEx Express at the last minute to use their computer to print out my ticket, which led me to be the random straggler walking into the classroom while everyone was already settled in.  Oh well, at least when I was having to do the whole "excuse me, sorry, oops, didn't mean to knock over your purse" song and dance while managing to walk my ass down those skinny aisles of school desks, I had on my Miss Dior Cherie fragrance.  As my late great-grandmother said, "It's always best to smell your best, Lauren Hayley."  Hope they got a good wiff! Anyhow, I think I did pretty well on the exam.  I guess we'll see in a month!

Yesterday, me and my monkey man went to a bridal shower for my best friend's sister.  She's getting married in Mexico in less than a month (jealous!).  After getting back to my parents house, (Aaron and I are visiting for the weekend) I realized that I was almost out of diapers and wipes.  I jumped back in the car and drove to the nearest supermarket to pick up the toiletries.  As I was walking down the diaper aisle I spotted a girl that I went to high school and college with.  She was on that same aisle with her hubby and precious son, looking for diapers as well.  This girl has never liked me.  She didn't like me in high school, didn't like me during the college years, and obviously, still doesn't like me.  I say this because as I was walking past her I made eye contact and smiled at her, and she looked directly at me, didn't smile back, and turned her face.  WTF??!  This girl still hates me and it's been over 8 years!  Granted, she shows up on my Facebook page as "People you should know" and I never send her a friend request because in the past she hated me.  I guess some things never change.  But seriously, we are grown women now; we are married with children (both boys, nonetheless) and she still cannot get over a grudge she's held for me since 2001??  Grow the eff' up! 

In other news, I have something I want to share with you soon that I'm really excited about.  (No, I'm not pregnant.)  It's not set in stone yet, but when it is I'll be sure to let you know.

Have a great Monday, peeps!