The pursuit of happiness...good movie by the way.

Believe it or not, I've been feeling a little guilty about not writing sooner/ more often. Sometimes I actually sit around and ponder over what my next blog topic should be. Lame much? I only want to put my best ideas out there for all of my beloved readers! So here's what I've got for today...

As much as I hate to admit it, I absolutely believe in the saying, "things happen when you least expect them." Don't people always say that though? Perhaps there was a part of me who always believed in this saying, but it is so much easier to believe when those "things" actually start happening. In my last blog I wrote about how boring my life has been lately. I kid you not, it seemed like as soon as that blog was posted EVERYTHING in my life picked up a few paces. Don't get me wrong here, I'm not trying to say that my life went from a 0 to a 10 over night, but there have been some great things happening in my life lately. I honestly believe that patience and time are such a critical part of a happy, fulfilling life. Not everything good about life happens in a day. If it did, that would make the other 80 years extremely miserable. I admit that I often wish for the future to speed up because I don't like not knowing what is going to happen. But it seems like when I just stop worrying and sit back and relax, things start to work themselves out. In my opinion, happiness is something that we all crave, but when we finally find it, we are almost hesitant to believe it. I know I for one have a real problem with pointing out what is wrong about something rather than just accepting what is right about it. So this is my mission for you. Seek happiness. Wait patiently for happiness. And when it comes, have your arms wide open to greet it.

Living for the moment...

I am not exaggerating when I say that my life has been boring lately. I don't mean it in a bad way, but just not that much has been going on. My summer job officially starts next Monday, and I'm sure after a few days with my campers I will be wishing I had those boring days back. But seriously, I am excited to start the job and have something to do! These days my life consists of waking up around 9, finding a breakfast that's low in carbs, sugar, flavor, smell, you get the point. After that I'm usually off to the gym to do my cardio or lift weights. The afternoon usually consists of laying by the pool reading Twilight (Hey, everyone else is doing it right?)Evenings consist of fixing a healthy dinner, and searching for something semi-interesting on tv. I would say that the latest I've stayed up the past couple of weeks is 12am. How sad is that? I used to be such a nighttime person! I never thought I would see the day where I would go to bed early and wake up before noon. I guess there's hope for college grads after all. And as far as my social life goes, let's just say I am officially not in college anymore. One or two nights a week of going out and I'm exhausted. Some of you who know me well are probably sitting at the computer with mouths open at this point. I swear its still me posting these blogs! I think adulthood is slowly trying to creep in. Don't worry, I won't go down without a fight.
I guess you could say I'm living for the moment. I don't really have much on my mind other than what I'm doing with the day at hand. I'm starting to see this as a good and bad thing. For the past four years I have been on a roller coaster of stressful days and nights, constant dramatic situations, and never ending deadlines. So going from that, to being practically stress and worry free, is a weird feeling. There is part of me that thinks I should be more worried right now. I only have a job thru August, and after that I have no idea what I'm doing with the rest of my life. Scary right? But then another part of me sees this as a great thing. I can do whatever I want with the rest of my life. How exciting is that! I have no limits or boundaries as to what career path I can choose! And everyday, much to my parents dismay, I come up with another career path that I might like to pursue. The whole thing is exciting/scary/motivating/nerve wracking all at the same time. My feelings are this. Enjoy each day that you have because once it's gone you will never get it back. I'm sure someone really famous already said that but it is true. Why spend your days wallowing in self-pity and regret when you can choose to look at each day with optimism and a positive attitude. Someone let me know if these last few sentences are too corny because I'm almost starting to surprise myself with how happy my thoughts are.

The nightlife

Lately when I've been out at the bar (not too often I promise), I've found myself in deep thought with my vodka tonic. I can't help but wonder, is my future boyfriend/husband lingering around this bar waiting for me to meet him? I know it seems like a silly question, but if you really think about it, where do you meet guys after you graduate college. It seems like its becoming more and more of a trend to meet someone out on the social scene or heck, even E-Harmony seems to be a success for some people. Well, since I'm not desperate enough to try E-Harmony (yet), I find myself coming back to the same old question. What if I've already met "the one" and I didn't even know it? Or, what if I let him go because I wasn't sure that he was "the one", and then ten years later I realize he is? Deep, I know. If you know me at all, you know that my mind works in weird ways. I'm in no hurry to get married, but I can help but try to predict the future. I won't even get started on the topic of whether or not there is only one "one." If you're still with me, props for sticking it out to the end. I plan on continuing my research until I find an answer. Bottoms up.

Reality Check(s)

I have two stories to share that I think are funny/ironic/slightly embarrassing. So, obviously I must write them down and document them to the fullest so that you can laugh with me and I can have these memories saved forever...or not.

Story 1

On Monday night I went to the mall with my mom and sister. For once I took my own advice to NOT try on clothes and just watch instead. Not to mention the fact that I need to drop atleast 15 pounds before I attempt to try on a swimsuit. So after my sister found a dress we went to Barnes and Noble. Going to Barnes and Noble has been giving me mixed emotions lately. I love to read, and I enjoy the challenge of finding a good book, but there are SO MANY books in there about random crap. It kinda makes me wonder, do people actually read all of these books? And what publisher would publish a book called, "50 Days Worse than Yours," or "100 Best Golf Jokes." Either way, it really makes me wonder, if I wrote a book, would it end up being one of those random books on the shelves that people like me make fun of? As I've said in earlier blogs, I have a dream about writing a book about life before,during and after college. I'm leaning towards it being a memoir (maybe change names to protect the innocent) and let it serve as a guide for future students. I think each chapter should be a different story. One on freshman year roommates, one on dining hall food and the freshman 15, one on your first frat party-avoid drinking anything that smells weird, and etc.

Anyway, enough of my book that hasn't been written and back to Barnes and Noble. So, I'm browsing the new releases/ on sale books and I come across a book that makes my mouth drop (literally). I pick up the book and the title is something like "Chic U, a College Survival Guide." I open the book and the whole thing is about life before,during and after college. They even had a section about going greek. Needless to say I was shocked that someone had stolen MY book idea and had it available in hardback and paper. I grabbed the book and ran over to my mom and said, "Mom this book stole my idea." She rolled her eyes and laughed at me. Then she said, "Oh Lauren, you can't possibly think that you're the only one who wants to write a book about college life." Um, yea mom I honestly did think that until now. Point of the story, I needed that reality check to make me think a little harder about how I can put a different spin on my book to make it better and more awesome than that one. I mean, lets be serious, regardless of how great that other book is, I've got some hilarious college stories that would knock them out of the water.

Story 2

This morning I went to a step class around 9am to get in my cardio for the day. Go me! Unfortunately, I was unaware that the step class was an advanced class. I usually stick to the basic level 1 class because I get confused easily with all the steps. So I start the class and I'm moving alright with the steps. Then, about half way through I am exhausted and all the soccer moms in the room are kicking my butt. I was embarrassed to say the least. And the harder I tried to keep up with them, the worse I got. I'm sure to anyone who glanced in the window, I looked like I was having some sort of seizure. So today the reality check was, I'm in worse shape than 40 year old women. Ouch. But the good news was, I stuck it out for the whole hour and lived to tell about it. Next time I'll probably stick to the basic class just to be on the safe side.

Come Back to Me

Song of the moment: "Come Back to Me" by David Cook

Come Back to Me

You say you gotta go and find yourself
You say that you're becoming someone else
Don't recognize the face in the mirror looking back at you

You say you're leaving as you look away
I know there's really nothing left to say
Just know I'm here whenever you need me I'll wait for you

So I'll let you go, I'll set you free
And when you've seen what you need to see
When you find you, come back to me

Take your time, I won't go anywhere
Picture you with the wind in your hair
I'll keep your things right where you left them
I'll be here for you

Oh and I'll let you go, I'll set your free
And when you've seen what you need to see
When you find you, come back to me

And I hope you find everything that you need
I'll be right here waiting to see
You find you, come back to me

I can't get close if you're not there
I can't get inside if there's no soul there
I can't face you, I can't save you
It's something you'll have to do

So I'll let you go, I'll set you free
And when you've seen what you need to see
When you find you, come back to me
Come back to me

So I'll let you go, I'll set you free
And when you've seen what you need to see
When you find you, come back to me

And I hope you find everything that you need
I'll be right here waiting to see
You find you, come back to me

You find you, come back to me
When you find you, come back to me
When you find you, come back to me

Apparently people do read my blogs...

It has come to my attention recently that more than 3 people read my blogs. In the past week or so a few brave readers have come forward to tell me that they have indeed read the writings from the very depth of my soul...or something like that. I find it a little funny when people tell me that they read my blogs. I guess part of me thought I was just writing for the sake of writing and no one actually cared what I was saying. Other than my one loyal commenter I have had no feedback or encouragement about my posts. So now I'm wondering, do you people actually like what you're reading or are you just bored with facebook and twitter? I want to write things that people WANT to read. I want people to wake up in the morning and feel like they need to read my inspirational blog before they start their day. Hey, a girl can dream can't she?

The more and more I watch Chelsea Lately (on E! for all of you who have been living under a rock), the more I want to be like her. Not necessarily the part of her who excessively parties and acts ridiculous, but the part of her that commands people's attention and can make a hilarious joke without even trying. A few people have even gone so far as to tell me that I resemble her. I'm not sure if they meant looks wise or personality but I guess I'll take it as a compliment either way. But the point is, she is sassy, confident, insanely successful, and people love her.

A couple weeks ago, someone asked me what I really wanted to do with my life. It seems that this has become the million dollar question lately. I thought about the question for a moment before I answered him. Finally, I responded that I wanted to write a book. I told him that I wanted to write a book about life, before, during and after college. Non-fiction short stories? I'm not sure if my friends will be willing. Ha! To this he responded with great enthusiasm and told me he would be the first to by it, without even knowing if I'm a good writer or not. I felt inspired by his encouragement, yet afraid at the same time. Afraid to fail, afraid to start and never finish, or maybe even afraid that I might be really successful. Lately I've learned that we all need a little push to get our feet moving in the right direction. Perhaps floating around in a pool all day is not the right path for motivation. I am seriously lacking self-motivation right now. Maybe its because I already feel accomplished for getting through the last four years with out any serious problems. A ton of minor set backs yes, but looking back, it seems like I blinked and college was over. And now my life has really started and I can't just blink again to go backwards. Forward is where I must go. But it seems like right now I'm just stuck standing still.

Topics for Discussion

It's late, I'm tired, and I don't feel like writing a lengthy, comical blog right now. With all of my spare time lately (between going to the gym 5 days a week and laying out the rest of the time) I've been thinking of topics for future blogs. Mainly just whatever tangent my mind wanders off to after an hour on the eliptical or 2 hours on a pool float. The following topics are being considered; discuss amongst yourselves.

1.) Why am I such a tightwad when it comes to spending my own money?

2.) Why is the time after college ends but before the real world begins so boring and uneventful? (AKA- my life right now)

3. How long does it take to figure out what the heck you want to do with your life?

4. What would it be like to wake up and be famous?

5. Why is staying in touch/ making plans so hard for people?

6. How do people make new friends when all of their other ones are 300 miles away?

7. When does drinking past the point of embarrassment become socially unacceptable?

8. Why are people obsessed with Twilight and Robert Pattinson? (Seriously, he's ugly)

9. How come its 100 times easier to gain weight than to lose it?

10. Gym Etiquette: Since when do women work out with a full face of make up and perfect hair?

And I'm spent.