in the spirit of march madness...

I have new wall decorations!

A few months ago, Groupon offered something crazy like $20 for $60 worth of photo prints from Replay Photos, which is a) a really awesome company with an archive of sports photos from 140+ colleges and all 32 NFL teams, and b) a company in Durham I actually interviewed with last spring, and they knocked my socks off!  They were such nice people, but the job just opened up way too late.  In fact, they called me in for a second interview after I had already moved to DC... oh well!

Anyway, since being at the Final Four when Carolina won the National Championship my senior year was probably the single biggest moment of my college career, I knew I wanted to find a way to tastefully archive it on my wall.  I'm very, very over the poster-and-3M-strips look I had in my dorm rooms.  So, I ordered a picture of Ford Field (that I'm in somewhere)...

...and that famous picture of Tyler Hansbrough running onto the court with a huge grin right after the buzzer sounded.

And those frames were just $10 each at Ikea!  Love them.  If you were wondering, my panoramic picture of the Old Well is now hanging above my diploma near my canvases, and I like it a lot over there!

I don't know how well UNC is going to do in the tournament this year (I'll share my bracket tomorrow), but at least I have these sweet memories!

Go Heels!

happy 25th anniversary, mom & dad!

I'm super, super proud of my parents today, because they've officially been married for 25 years!

They met through a mutual friend on March 13, 1984 and married two years later on March 15, 1986.

In today's world, I know that's a very special thing, and Leanna and I are especially blessed to have parents who have stayed in a Godly, happy marriage.  It made our childhood one that we can look back on fondly, and we always know we can go to them for support (and lots of laughs)!

So, congratulations on 25 years, Mom and Dad!  Get excited for the next 25!

something borrowed

Some of you may have already read this book, but for those of you who haven't , I have to say...

I'M TOTALLY OBSESSED!  I just finished reading it last week, and I literally did this for about a week straight...

The book revolves around two best friends.  One, Darcy, has everything going for her - looks, career, social life, you name it - and the other, Rachel, has a mildly successful career as a lawyer, but isn't particularly gifted or lucky anywhere else.  When Rachel falls in love with Darcy's fiance (whom she knew first), chaos ensues, and you literally cannot put the book down.  I didn't turn on the tv for about three straight days.

If you haven't read it, you can get it pretty inexpensively on Amazon (click here), or you can wait until May 6 for the movie to come out!  (Ummm, hello?!?  John Krasinski?!?  SIGN ME UP.)



And the author, Emily Giffin, has already written four other books, so I've moved on to Something Blue, which is the sequel to Something Borrowed, except it's from Darcy's perspective.  I can't wait to read all of them!

clara & bob are engaged!

Ladies and gents, it happened!  Last Friday night around 11:30 PM, Clara called me from West Palm Beach, and I knew since it was so late that she either had a ring on her finger or needed me to airlift her out of a hurricane.  And I didn't even let her tell me herself, I just screamed, "ARE YOU ENGAGED?!?!?!?"

I told Clara when she left last week to spend the week in Florida with Bob that I expected her to come back with a ring, and she (as most brides do) dismissed it as a tiny possibility, but not an inevitability.  I told her I was pretty good at this stuff, because I definitely predicted my friend Lauren's engagement.  And I was right AGAIN.  Two for two.  That gets me like 80% off at Tiffany, right?  Or something?

Anyway, Clara told me that Bob proposed by writing what he wanted to say inside a new Bible that had "Clara Lutz" (her married name) engraved on the outside.  He wanted her to read it, but she was too excited and emotional, so he read it to her! 

So, before she got home on Wednesday night, I decided to make her an engagement cake!  And since we're all watching what we eat and Clara's big on getting in shape for the wedding, I decided to make it a Rice Krispie cake.  I'm really happy with how it turned out!

And then we took some ring shots!  (I know they all look the same, but I couldn't choose!)

Didn't Bob do a great job?!?  I think so!  We're expecting that their wedding will be in July, so I'm excited for all the planning that will happen between now and then!

Congratulations, Clara and Bob!

happy birthday, amanda! / top ten on the tenth

Today, my sweet Amanda turns 24!  Happy Birthday, love!!!  It hope it's as fabulous as you!

Ok, so now for my favorite songs of the month!

10. Stuttering - Fefe Dobson  (Pop Princess Central right here.)




9. Do the John Wall - Troop 41  (I actually loathe John Wall. More than you can imagine. But this song is super catchy, and he plays for the Wizards, so...)




8. Life in Letters - Lucy Schwartz  (This girl just turned 20 and already has a super impressive resume. Seriously, Wikipedia her.)




7. He Won't Go - Adele  (Just more genius from her. Her album should probably just take up the whole top ten this month.)




6. This = Love - The Script  (Molly has had their whole album on repeat all week, and I'm falling for it more and more everyday. Brilliant.)




5. Roll Away Your Stone - Mumford and Sons  (Not only have these guys made bluegrass cool again, in their own European way, but the Scripture behind some of their songs is really solid.)




4. Stuck in the Moment - Justin Bieber  (This month was all about The Biebs. I can't even lie. And this is one of the song Molly had on her iPod that I did not. Shameful.  Also shameful that I have ranked him above Mumford.  But it's my countdown.)




3. Hit the Lights - Jay Sean  (Fun. Pure and simple.)




2. More - Usher  (OMG. This song always makes dance and sing super loud. April 30 will be no different.)



1. Set Fire to the Rain - Adele  (Just listen. This girl is only further proof of how much God loves us I think.)



So there it is! Happy listening!

public service announcement

I have a few pet peeves.  They're not huge, but if you are an offender, you will know it.  One of them is calling me "Laura".  That's not my name.  It is shorter than my name, and I will automatically assume you are lazy if you address me this way.  Verbally, or over e-mail.  And if it is via e-mail, I may not respond to you with an open invitation to ask me for further clarification.  I may leave you high and dry and expect you to like it.  But you will never know, because I will douse it in exclamation points.

Another pet peeve is the following statement: "She had went to see if the mailman delivered her Big Mouth Billy Bass."  No, she didn't.  Tackiness aside, she had actually gone to see if the mailman delivered her poor taste.  I will vom all over your Timberlands if you make this mistake within earshot.

But ladies, here is my last noteworthy pet peeve for today.  I need you all to check every last skirt and every last coat in your closet for the following:

If you have a large "X" sewn into the kick pleat of your skirt or coat, it's not because the designer thought he was trendy.  He didn't anticipate that you would have a flat booty and need that extra little bubble that's created by this sucker when you walk.  He wanted to make sure your spring wardrobe didn't do a little flexibility exercise in transit and leave you with a permanently creased kick pleat.

So PLEASE, I beg of you, snip it before you sport it.  You can even donate the thread to your next loose button if material conservation is your jam.  But I WILL laugh at you if I ever see you trying to rock the "X".  And then I will take a pair of scissors to you faster than Vidal Sassoon.

new additions

Slowly but surely, the look of our living room is changing!  Last week, Molly and I picked out a new rug from HomeGoods (that Molly bought since she's more likely to keep it whenever we, tearfully, have to separate), and we think it'll look beautiful with the new couch we're getting this week!

I want to show you a picture of the whole room, but I might just wait until we're all done with it!

But I also went to Ikea on Friday to return a rug we ended up not liking, and I found this...

Which holds our mail perfectly (and actually has a really nice cedar smell... I'm not even kidding)!  Plus, since it's right inside our front door, it's easier to leave notes for each other here than on the fridge.  So, ta-da!  No more mail-cluttered coffee table and no more missed messages!  For $15.

It also has these super convenient hooks on the bottom for wet umbrellas and jackets that shouldn't go back in the closet yet.

I think I'm in love.