A Non-Scary Halloween List

Irrational Things I'm Afraid Of

a list by Lauren Kay

ONE:  the dark. sometimes i still think there are wolves under my bed. i know, i know, i'm not seven anymore (or 12 or 15 or 18...) but i somehow always thought there were wolves under my bed as a kid. i used to have to place pillows along the base of the bed so the wolves couldn't come out. (and sometimes when i'm at my parent's house i feel the urge to run up the back stairs two at a time as fast as i can so they can't follow. because obviously wolves aren't able to climb stairs. 

TWO:  having not cute babies. this obviously shouldn't even be a thing because i'm no where near having babies so why would i be worried that my babies wouldn't be cute? i think it's because most of my friends from college are on baby two, three, four even. and there are pictures all over facebook and i can't help having not as nice thoughts as i should occasionally. NOTE: i'm sure i'm not talking about YOUR baby, YOUR baby is adorable. 

THREE: spiders in the shower. this morning there was a teeny tiny spider hanging from the bottom of my shampoo bottle. i lifted the shampoo in an effort to rid the space of the spider. then the spider dropped down the the edge of the tub. i proceeded to splash water on that itty bitty spider until it got caught in the stream of shower water to the drain. but as it floated towards the drain i had to do a little dance to make sure the drowning spider didn't inadvertently hit my foot. 

FOUR: my earring being ripped out of my ear. a few months ago my earring somehow got caught on my sweater at work. i was bringing a guest into the building for a meeting and somehow my earring was irreversibly stuck to my sweater. i couldn't get the earring out either because of the way it was stuck and all i could think at the time, while i tried to squelch my panic and remain calm in front of our guest, but what actually happened was my voice sqeeking out, "i'm stuck! will you unstick my earring???" i'm pretty sure my plea for help probably sounded more like, "OMG OMG OMG MY EAR IS ABOUT TO FALL OFF AND THE WORLD WILL END IF YOU, THE PERSON I MET NOT 90 SECONDS AGO, DON'T STOP SMALL TALKING WITH ME AND HELP UNHOOK THE EARRING FROM MY CARDIGAN!" yes. i'm dramatic. but i would hate to have my earring ripped out. i have equally scary moments when little babies get overly excited and grabby with their cute little chubby hands.

FIVE: the chainsaw guys at haunted things. i think i'm mostly afraid because i don't know how those work. i've decided to forgo traditional scary halloween things until i know exactly how they make those chain saws safe. until then, you can enjoy being scared without me.

Happy October! 

Halloween and all the candy I shouldn't eat are one week away!

Happy 4th!

I love living in a patriotic city on The 4th of July. It was really fun to go into DC and watch the fireworks on the grass outside the Lincoln Memorial. I love it when the fireworks are big and practically right overhead and the booming can really be felt in your chest. And the white, semi sparkly, lingering fireworks are my favorites.

walking across an empty Memorial Bridge

view of the Lincoln from our seats in the grass

view of the Washington and Capital from our seats

white fireworks are my favs

the "weeping willow" ones especially the favorites

awesome finale, they just kept coming

I hope you had a wonderful Independence Day too. I just wish I had today and tomorrow off to celebrate too.

Easter Dresses

Growing up my mom always made us dresses for Easter Sunday. (She is such a good sew-er.)  It was awesome. I asked her to send me a couple pictures of us in our dresses (though some of these aren't from actual Easter Sunday, they are still our Easter dresses).

this is actually with my cousins Olivia and Lindsay, look at my cute med school dad off to the side.

Emma is on the blanket, then Cami, Jess and me (this is when we were living in Texas)

When we were living in Germany. I loved that hat. Jess, me, Cami, Emma, my foxy Mama

picture taken in England but those were our Easter dresses that year. I especially love our lace socks. Jess, Cami, me

And for your enjoyment, here is one of the professional pictures we got taken in our pretty cream dresses a year and a half after they were our Easter dresses.

Don't you just want to kiss all our chubby cheeks?

And lastly, here's a picture of Rach in the dress my mom made her for prom last year. I don't want her to feel left out of all these Easter pictures since she's not in any of them. I'll have to find some old pictures when I'm in Oregon next weekend.

Wish I had an Easter dress to wear this weekend...

Happy Valentine's Day!

I made mini pies last night to celebrate. Aren't they so cute? 

If I could, I'd give you one for Valentine's Day too.

Here's hoping you have a lovely day filled with lots of love and fun, 

and that if you're like me and don't have a Valentine this year,  hopefully you'll have one next.

Love,

Lauren Kay

Happy New Year!

I think 2012 is going to be a good year.

I will not be sharing most of my resolutions this year because then I don't feel guilty when I don't keep them up 5 months later. No, I did not learn how to do the splits, and some of my resolutions were completely forgotten as I headed completely in the other direction (ie. less baking/improve waistline. I actually did MORE baking and gained 10 lbs). But yes, I did read four books a month, except I failed on the non fiction side. I might have read three nonfiction for the entire year, maybe, and those were comedian memoirs... yeah, a little shy of that goal.

So anyway, I thought I'd give you my favorite 10 books read in 2011 (I actually ended up with 67 total on my list) since that was really the only goal I succeeded at. Ok, so here are my books I chose to recommend to you. Written in order of completion, not in order of preference.

• The Lost Hero by Rick Riordan-- if you like Greek/Roman mythology, these books are so fun. I recommend all the Percy Jackson books too and incidentally bought them for my sister Cami for Christmas since she just finished a Greek/Roman mythology class at BYU. Rick Riordan won Author of the Year at the Children's Book Choice Awards.
• The Chosen by Chaim Potok-- classic story about two Jewish boys in New York in the 1940s who become best friends despite their differences of religious practice. I reread this this year and liked it just as much as the first time.
• These Is My Words by Nancy Turner-- maybe my favorite book of the year. Told in diary format, it follows the life of Sarah Prine and her relationship with her family and husband in the 1800s.
• The Thief by Megan Whalen Turner-- I loved this book, I loved the characters, the storyline and the intrigue. I debated whether or not to buy this for my sister instead of the Percy Jackson books.
• Bossypants by Tina Fey-- I actually listened to this one since it was read by Tina Fey and found it so hard to not laugh out loud while listening on the metro. It was that funny. Seriously.
• The Wednesday Wars by Gary Schmidt-- a nice feel good story about a middle school kid and growing up during the Vietnam War. It won a Newberry Honor.
• Room by Emma Donohouge-- I expected to be really disturbed by this book since it is told from the perspective of a little boy who was born in a high security one room prison that keeps him and his kidnapped mother. I avoided reading it for a while but am so glad I finally read it. 
  
• Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston-- recommended to me by my mom, the author had such a good way of writing accents I some times found myself reading out loud to get the full effect.
• Entwined by Heather Dixon-- I like fairytale retellings and this one of the twelve dancing princesses was unique and original and I really liked the characters. Though the description of all their gorgeous hair was unrealistic. Or is it just that I'm jealous my hair isn't super lush and waist length?
• Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me? by Mindy Kaling-- I always felt like I'd love Mindy Kaling, but really, I want to be her best friend. She is real and funny and enjoys the same stupid things I do.

Happy Reading, Happy New Year!


P.S. I think you can tell a lot about a person by what they read. I don't know what my list says though. I like kids books and laughing with a smattering of seriousness? Half of my books on this short list were written for adolescents. I feel only slightly embarrassed. But I like stories, and I like fiction. I only know of one person who enjoys reading books on the history of cancer during their work commute. I prefer something light.

Happy New Year's Eve!

Blogging when on vacation is hard. And I've been milking my vacation. Sleeping in late, getting completely hooked on Toddlers and Tiaras (thanks Netflix), seeing lots of movies, eating out courtesy of Papa Richey, and playing games with my sisters.

The pictures I've snapped really don't even come close to showing what a good vacation I've had. But I'm going to post the ones I instagramed here anyway. (Sorry if you already follow me on instagram... you're about to see them again...)

Christmas Eve was spent with roommate Lisa and her family at the Botanical Gardens until my flight to Oregon

Pit stop home from the airport to see the famous Eugene Christmas lights

Our lone, leftover Christmas stocking of Missionary Sister Emma

This picture is actually of Emma. She's on the phone.

My dad's shoes as he gets dressed for us to play floor hockey at the Stake Center on Boxing Day.

We're all excited about the Rose Bowl in Duck country. And if I had a niece she'd be sporting this outfit.

Cami (24) and Rach (18) got their ears pierced for the first time. Look how cute they are.

Puppy Ellie gets a picture, she got a shower after going on a run through the mud in the rain.

Tonight the plan involves dinner with friends and probably games. If I make it to midnight we'll count that a success. (I'm lightweight when it comes to staying up late.)

Happy New Year's Eve everyone!

Merry Christmas!

It only took us until 4:00 to finally finish opening presents but we were able to have a lovely church meeting and talk to my sister Emma on her mission in London too. It's been a good Christmas.

And I'm posting this video again because I liked it so much last year.



Merry Christmas! Hope you all have had a most wonderful day!

Party Planning Committee

Somehow I ended up on my bureau's holiday party planning committee. I missed the first meeting due to the National Christmas Tree Lighting. And I conveniently was "sick" during the other meeting. Next thing I know, I'm being totally dragged onto the committee being thrust $500 and sent off to Costco to make sure enough booze was purchased. (Great idea people, send the sober MORMON for alcohol.)

I was informed that all the other meetings were pointless because one person veto'd all the ideas that were different. And then everyone else felt awkward to bring up other ideas. It felt like a scene right out of The Office. So many similarities in this video:

Except Angela veto'ing karaoke and drinking games, it was someone veto'ing African food in favor of Soul food and Popeye's Fried Chicken. Gross.

Two more days of work. Two more days...

Post Thanksgiving Wrap-Up Post 1

I'm at work today. I know. It's so depressing. So I will drown my sorrows in the Thanksgiving leftovers I packed in my lunch and post the first update of Thanksgiving.

Two years ago Lisa and I started a tradition of running a race on Thanksgiving morning. We did a 10K two years ago, a 5 miler last year and yesterday we did a 5K. Except that 5K wasn't actually a 5K it was actually a 5 miler (which incidentally is the same race we did last year but we for some reason kept thinking last year's was a 5K too). Soooo let's just say, I could have run a 5K without a lot of trouble, I was NOT prepared for a 5 miler and am suffering the after affects today of sore knees and legs. BUT, the thing about the 5 miler is that I (with Lisa and Debbie) ran the entire thing. We stopped only once to grab the cups of water around the 3.5 mile mark and walked as we drank for about 20 feet, then we picked up and ran again.

I know it sounds braggy, but I'm awesome. And proud of myself for running the entire race! I kind of can't believe I did it all without stopping and with no training since I had shin splints a couple weeks ago and took a three week hiatus on running. I know for you runners out there, 5 miles isn't really that big of a feat but for those who profess to hate running (cough, cough, me), and is entirely too out of shape, it is a real accomplishment.

And, let me tell you, I'm thankful for friends who cheer me on to keep going, run with me at my pace, tell stories because I can't talk and fist bump me each time we pass another mile marker sign.

PS. Sweat bands? Best invention ever! I don't know why I've never worn one before. I'm totally wearing one every time I run from now on.

PPS. Good thing I ran yesterday because it totally prepared me for running down the street this morning at 7 am in my Hawaiian printed robe and boots pushing our big trashcan because we forgot to put it out last night... Yeah... there's a good chance that trash guy got a peek of more Lauren than he should have...

Thanksgiving Prep

Never plan a Thanksgiving dinner while you're hungry. Otherwise it will look a lot like ours:

Thyme and Sage Turkey

Mashed potatoes

Sweet Potatoes with Brown Sugar and Pecans

Green Bean Casserole

Brussels Sprouts (I'm now convinced this is an East Coast thing)

Brown Sugar Glazed Carrots with Rosemary and Pecans (sounds a lot like the sweet potatoes actually... perhaps I should search for a new recipe...oooh, found one: Honeyed Carrots and Oranges)

Roasted Butternut Squash Salad with Tangerine Rosemary Dressing 

Raspberry Jello Salad (and yeah, this is definitely a western/Mormon thing)

Rolls

Pumpkin Dessert (courtesy of Debbie)

Banana Pudding

Pumpkin Pie

Apple Pie

Razzelberry Pie

I'm full just looking at it.

 And I'm not going to tell you that there are only six people coming do our dinner...

Happy Thanksgiving Eve!

Happy Halloween!

The Golden Girls graced the DC Mormon Halloween Dance. Though generally a bit of a disappointment, it's still fun, my friends are still there, and it's still fun to dress up and see everyone dressed up. So, we keep going. This year we made ridiculous fools of ourselves dressed up as Dorothy, Blanche, Rose and Sophia.

And you thought zombies, axe murderers and Jasons were scary...

And for a little more Halloween joy, I give you The Zombie Song:

Enjoy, I've been listening all morning.

Easter Bunny Sighting!

Note: I have no idea why this wasn't actually posted around Easter time, so I'm posting it now.

We were visited by the Easter Bunny a few weeks ago! 

 She was such a sneaky little bunny but we still managed to get a picture with her.

Hope you all had a Happy Hoppy Easter too!

Pinch Me

I forgot to wear green today
even after I was reminded multiple times
at the gym this morning.
Oops!

Happy Saint Patrick's Day anyway!

Bill and Phil

I have a date with these two tonight.



And possibly a later rendezvous with the latest East Coast Storm.

Snow.


Day.


Snow.

Day.

Snow.
Day.
Snow. Day.
SNOWDAY!!

Please? Pretty pretty please?



P.S. Did you know Phil saw his shadow today? Boo. I'm ready for Spring!

Thanksgiving Feast

(Carly left, Lisa right)

Our Thanksgiving feast turned out wonderful. Lisa and I prepared Mr. Bird the night before so that we could just pop him in the oven when we finished our race and got back to my house.

Carly arrived around 1:30 on Thanksgiving Day from NYC and jumped right into food preparation. We made sweet potatoes, mashed potatoes, green bean casserole, stuffing, gravy, and heated rolls. (Jello salad was made the night before but it was forgotten in the fridge for the meal. Whoops!)

Here is our group, minus Lisa, and me and Carly clearly love each other more than everyone else in the group.

Have you seen the Miley Cyrus Movie? No? That's alright, you can watch THIS: Lisa happens to be a certified Miley Cyrus "Hoedown, Throwdown" Instructor. She taught us the dance:





We were so full after we ate that for some reason it more comfortable to sit on the floor.

Thanksgiving was surprisingly great. I had fun cooking lots of food for lots of people. We had fun dancing and playing games.

But overall, I'm thankful for all the things and people that bless and enrich my life.

Halloween

We're off to see the Wizard! The wonderful Wizard of Oz!

Tinwoman (Katie); Scarecrow (Andrea); Cowardly Lion (Erin)

(And, a special thanks to Holly for the pictures!)