Card Making (woohoo!)

Making cards has become something of a tradition for my trips to Maine. My mom is really good with that stuff and always has great supplies to make it happen. Years ago, I started having afternoon where I'd make a few cards to use over the next few months. While I am not very artistic or crafty or creative (totally left-brained usually), making cards is something I really enjoy. Often they are simple, but this summer I have begun to branch out a little. It's probably a combination of crafting sessions with friends lately, Pinterest making everything easier and more accessible, and even learning some great techniques last spring in my Art for Elementary Teachers class (the only bearable 7hr Saturday class is a small art class...it was even fun!)

As I said, lately I have branched out a bit, and I've also made more. While some of them are extremely simple, some have become more than that. Yesterday my mom and I were running a few errands when we stopped in at A.C. Moore and picked up more supplies. She also said she would show me how to use more of what she already had at home. So I finally have the supplies and the know-how to step up my game. I'm excited. While to some people what I make may never look that advanced, I just really enjoy making them and hope that what I make might brighten someone's day. Giving cards and writing little notes is something I've loved for just about forever, so it's fun to be able to make my own cards. Today is going to be a good day. 

Have a great one! xoxo, Laurie

Lessons from the past.

In high school, I did something that most people in my circles scoff at: I dated. My sophomore year I met a guy in my biology class and we became pretty good friends. The next year we started dating, and continued until the midpoint of my summer between graduation and college. Let me tell you, those years were really full of a variety of things. First of all, dating is fun. The majority of the people we hung out with as a couple also happened to be couples. Group dates and traditions for our Homecoming and Jr/Sr banquets were tons of fun. I learned a lot about life and I truly had deep feelings for him.

There are so many things I'm glad I got out of the way in high school. I can't tell you how many times I have been (or have had conversations with girls who are) hurt by their friends who are dating for the first time (it's always that first time!) and have not learned to balance. And it sucks. So I'm glad I'm one less person to cause those feelings going forward. I'm glad I got my first ever date/argument/breakup out of the way before college, because as my good friend Sheryl Crow says, "the first cut is the deepest." Nothing relational hurts more than your first breakup after you've been together for a long time. I understood for the first time what all the corny songs were talking about. I learned how to cope through "meet the family" situations for the first time. I learned a lot about myself and my attitude through the disagreements we had. I felt what it meant to have someone truly always 100% back you up (even if you were wrong). It was him and me, best friends as well as a couple, against the world. We were like a team. And then I felt what it was like to lose all of that so abruptly. I felt my whole world shake. God was my stability through the breakup, but I had coasted too often in my relationship with Him while I was dating in high school. I learned the absolute necessity of relationships (of all kinds, really) to be centered around God through our omission of that. 

Of course there are also things I regret from those times. If I could take back some of the pain I caused friends by being too busy with my boyfriend, I would. I wish I had avoided some of the drama that came from other girls trying to take him away (duh, younger me, he was dating ME). I wish we had been more careful physically. I really just wish I had served him more and encouraged him more in his pursuit of Christ. And I wish I hadn't held our relationship so firmly in my hand that God had to painfully pry it out. But I can't go back, I can only go forward.

I have dated once since then, but it was a much shorter relationship. It was fun while it lasted, and I thought it was centered around God, but maybe it wasn't. Suffice it to say, I still learned a lot. Mainly I learned that you can't be friends with your ex when you both have different expectations of the friendship.

I don't regret either relationship, though I was definitely naive the first time around and made more mistakes than I care to admit the second time. I learned so much that it was worth it. But when/if I date again in the future, it's going to be very different, partially because I am already so different than I was even a year ago. I am so thankful that the Lord graciously grows us through our own shortcomings and makes us more like Christ. Looking back occasionally is definitely a good thing if you can learn from it. But looking forward is a much nicer view, even if I never date again, because God has a plan for my life and He will work both for His glory and my good.

By The Sea...

Little Things

- waking up refreshed
- sour patch watermelons
- old memories that still make you laugh
- the soreness you feel after a workout
- good books
- brightness after the rain
- finding good music
- painting
- finding the perfect gift
- old couples
- little kid's jokes that make no sense
- friends who always make you laugh
- the feeling of sunshine through your clothes on a lukewarm day
- cloud shapes
- bright colors
- trying new things
- cute songs
- hearing someone's love story
- popsicles
- handmade cards
- snuggles from your dogs

books, reading, & that feeling.

This summer, I can't get enough of either. I've been on my summer vacation for 37 days now, and what have I been up to? Lots of family time in Orange County, Sacramento, and Cumberland. Hanging out with friends (mostly church get togethers) and youth group. Cleaning (our house and also a big building my sister cleans). Watching Psych on Netflix and other things like movies I never planned to watch. In between? I've been reading. I've already read several books, finishing my 8th, Coraline, yesterday. That quick book was the last one I had in a line of books I'd been wanting to read or books that I at least found reading the previous one and knew it would be next. But after finishing Coraline (a children's fantasy book by Neil Gaiman), I got that feeling you get after finishing a good book. That book kept me interested and it went by too fast. When it was over, I felt it. It's hard to describe it. It's not horrible but it's a tad depressing. It's definitely a feeling of loss mixed with anxiety. Not real anxiety, but you just wonder what the next book you'll read will be and if it will be as interesting as the one before it. You don't always get that feeling after a book, but you do after a really good one. I have a couple lined up, but one I've never heard of before and another I read years and years ago. I need to get to the library and find something quick before those run out, too.

little letters

Stole this idea from one of my favorite blogs...from her archives. Is that embarrassing?

Dear Taza,
Thank you for this idea.

Dear Maine weather,
I'm glad you're nice and pretty today.

Dear backyard deck,
Betcha can't wait for some QT together today.

Dear Massimo,
I'm totally on your side, even though your competition is Matthew McConaughey.

Dear TMC,
Why are you so expensive? Even though you're worth the price I cringe when I look at the numbers.

Dear senior year,
Please be a wee bit nicer to me than junior year was.

Dear fair boss,
Please email me soon saying you want me to work for you again.

Dear body,
This may be your palest summer yet - sorry, I'm just not trying anymore.

Dear sun,
Why must your rays be harmful?

Made Me Happy Lately

I haven't posted about things that make me happy in a very long time. Honestly, as the semester got busy, I forgot. How can you forget to write about the things that make you happy? I don't know the answer. But it's not because I haven't been happy. Because I have! Anyway, here's my list from lately:

• Maine. My home here - my family, our pets esp our doggies, the variety of weather, friends, etc.
• We had tacos for dinner last night and my mom fried corn tortillas for the shells.
• I have read a lot since being here
• Journaling
• Baking
• Being more involved with White Pine (our church here in ME) people
• Sister dates
• Having a couple card-making sessions
• Watching all 3 of the old Star Wars movies for the first time
• Chinese food dinners
• Getting to see my grandma and two of my cousins recently
• Vacation
• Writing a lot
• Walking to Food Stop with Abby a couple days ago to get ice cream
• Lots of game nights and movie nights
• My hair is so long that the term "top knot" rings especially true...I tie it into a not at the top of my head

Life Plan

My older sister and I figured out the plan for our lives. In four years, after I've graduated college (in one year), gotten my CA credentialing certificate (in two years), and cleared my credential (2 years of teaching after you receive the certificate), we're moving to Texas. We were both born there and spent our early years in that great state, and so we decided to move back. My friend Becca and I keep talking about living together eventually while we're still single, so hopefully I can talk her into moving there with us :). We're thinking San Antonio or near it, because it's a city, near a river, and an hour away from our aunt, uncle, and three cousins. That's the plan, and I don't know that I necessarily expect it to happen, but it's okay to dream a little, isn't it? We'll see where the Lord has us by that time...maybe it will work!

Some thoughts lately

Just some things going on in my head recently:

1. In true stalkerish form, I found out that Jeremy Sumpter (the Hollywood love of my life)(is a person considered "Hollywood" if they aren't A-listers?) at least used to consider The Giver to be his favorite book. And that's when I knew that he and I are meant to be, because out of the millions hundred(ish) books I read for Children's Lit, that was my favorite. Seriously, I'm not just saying that to agree with him. Dr. Adams asked us all what we liked best, and that's what I said. So it's for sure true love. You are all invited to the wedding.

2. Is it acceptable to stalk people on Instagram? Not that I do that, I'm just wondering...

3. Story time. The day before I moved out of the Brooks' after school got out, I decided I needed more shorts. And why not use jeans that were already pretty trashed, and save a couple bucks? Well...I forgot that I had two veeery similar pairs of jeans, one in great condition and the other...not so great. Instead of taking a second glance, I literally grabbed the pair on top and cut them...and you can probably guess where this is going. I cut the good jeans. And at that point, I really only had two good pair that I wore. So I was down to one. Well the other day, I was dusting up in the living room because we were having a few ladies from church over for a game night. After I dusted I vacuumed, and then I was hungry so I went to the basement to grab something from the big freezer for lunch. While I was in the basement I realized that my backside felt a little too...chilly. I went upstairs, and sure enough, somehow I had ripped a 4-inch gash into my only pair of jeans I brought to Maine with me. (That night I wore my holey sweats for our company...let me tell you, that'll humble you!) But it gets better, because yesterday I went jeans shopping with my mom and now I have a couple pair to hold me over til I can do more shopping.

4. Last week I wrote this post on contentment because it was something I had been thinking about and fighting for recently. And I can't explain it, but since then, it's been pretty easy to be content. It's funny because it feels as if writing that out and admitting it in public would make it harder. But it has been easier lately. Confused, but happy about that.

5. If you haven't watched The Rocketeer you are missing out, my friend. Yes, it came out in 1991 (I was a little bitty baby) so the effects are...simpler. Haha. But it's so cute and good and I loved it.

6. Also, even though this truly deserves a post of it's own, I'll just put it here. I really should be broadcasting to the world at large, but I won't. Here goes: a few nights ago, I, Laurie Bannister, willingly watched an entire Star Wars (episode IV) movie and DIDN'T FALL ASLEEP. C.R.A.Z.Y. But it happened. And I may just have plans to watch the next one with my parents soon.