Author: lfranza

After reading a rendition of “Brer Rabbit and the Tar Baby” to Peter this evening and having him laugh his butt off at me, we were laying on the bed being goofy. In the spirit of the hillbilly reading, he says to me, “Where are you going to put your corn?” I respond with, “In the cornhole.” I have no clue why he’s laughing so hard, until he says, “So you’re a gay hillbilly with a fetish?” And I say, “Is that what a cornhole is?”

I love our conversations. I never cease to make a fool of myself. At least it’s amusing 🙂

And the picture is just a way to make myself feel like less of a dork. Way to go, Crabby Pete 😛

I guess I should start here:

I grew up in Philadelphia, PA, not in Center City but definitely in the city enough to call it “the city”. I went to a Catholic school with about 50 or so classmates who all grew up in the same neighborhood. Most of us went to kindergarten together and knew everything about each other.

Yesterday while searching through dozens of myspace, facebook, and all of those other bloggish things, I found a bunch of people that I went to elementary school with. I was excited to see what they were up to, what they look like now, and what their life is like now. Rather than finding college graduates, engagements, employees of well-known companies, I found strippers, alcoholics, high school dropouts, illegitimate children, druggies, and other things that make you go Hmm.

Rather than thinking, “Wow. I’m glad I got out of there before I turned into that,” I think, “Holy crap… if I stayed, would I turn into that?” I’d like to think that the foundation of my personality is strong and no matter where I lived, I would’ve been the same; I’m not sure if this is true or not, but I’d like to think that the basis of “Lauren” would have and will always be there, underneath. My family has always been a strong influence on my life, and I know that they wouldn’t let me turn out like the above-mentioned, at least not without a good fight.

I love you, Philadelphia, and I always will. You hold a special place in my heart. But I guess distance makes the heart grow fonder.

It’s just sad to know that my peers didn’t have the chance to get away and see things from a different perspective.

So if you are reading through this blog and you are from a “big city,” I challenge you to become someone to be proud of.

At the moment, I am listening to Adam’s interview online. It’s actually interesting to listen to (ha- Adam, I mean it in a nice way). I wasn’t sure how exciting it would be to listen to people talk about blogs but good job.

So now that I’ve graduated from college, I don’t really have time to update my blogs a lot, but I should try to do it anyway. I think it’s important to write about things that go on in life. Maybe that’s the thing; I don’t have anything going on now. I substitute teach, eat lunch and dinner, hang out with Peter, watch movies with family, work for ECPI, and maybe go out with friends once and a while.

I did join a chorus, directed by my old high school director. We meet on Monday nights for 2 hours. It’s mostly older members, but we are slowly bringing in the 20-somethings. The chorus dress is a bit expensive $123.00, and here’s why I say “expensive”:

1. The dress is mostly spandex.
2. The purple coat is ridiculous.
3. The outfit sparkles.

I’ve been painting squares for Peter’s living room. I made 4 canvases of different colored squares that will match the room, but they’ve been taking forever. I need to put 900 coats of paint on them.

Paintings for Peter’s Living Room

I got my haircut about a week ago. It’s shoulder-length now. I would love to grow it out again, but I don’t have the patience anymore. As soon as it hits a certain length, it gets tangled, gets huge knots, looks greasier, has less volume.

This weekend, ECPI is having a Dance/Dinner at the local Marine Science Museum. I have 2 old dresses that I could wear. I will probably decide which to wear the day before I go. Maybe I will post some pics of that up here.

Ok, time to shower.

So today I subbed for a music teacher at a local primary school. I taught second and first grades. We had to watch this ridiculous KidSongs video, and I had to act like it was super exciting. I guess I’m good at that, because I had the kids dancing in their seats and singing along with me. The funny part is that the teacher walked in (–I was only there for a 1/2 day) and laughed at me. Since I was actually involving the children and keeping the class well-behaved, she said that she will add me to the sub list at another elementary school that she teaches at, too. Woo! That is awesome. All I had to do was some silly dance.

I went to a Mexican restaurant with Meem and Peep today. Afterward, we went to the Dollar Store (which is the best store ever). They have all this teachery stuff lately, so I’ve been buying it every other week. I got a buttload of stuff today… posters, bulletin board accessories, window stickers, weather charts. Good stuff. I also got a fun coffee mug. I’m sorry… I just had to buy it. I love cups.

Petri is doing well. I brought him up to my room so that I will remember to feed him everynight. My mom had put him in a room that nobody ever goes in, and I felt bad when I forgot to feed him.

These are just some pieces that I thought were pretty or I just liked something about them.

This is for you.

I like the square in this necklace.. I enjoy squares. I’m weird.

I think these are really classy and simple.

Plain and simple.

Pretty and simple.

I think is kind of celtic looking.. I really like it.

I like the circles.

Antique-ish and lovely.

I love the whole antique look.

I don’t know why, but I think this is pretty.

More to come as I am inspired.

Yesterday I auditioned for the Cantata Chorus, directed by my old high school choir director, Jeff Ward. I got in and will be singing Alto. I find it a little more challenging than soprano, because sops just have the melody all of the time. At least I can sightread the 3 notes that altos sing all the time. Mixing it up.

Luke’s party last night was a success. The food…fabulous. The movies…not so good. Peter and I left early with Matt and Bronwyn when everyone brought out the Russian subtitled movie.

The weather yesterday was beautiful. Clear and 70 degrees–until about midnight when it started snowing 2 inches. Just when you think you know the Virginia weather (–rainy)…

I really need to do some sit-ups. Ick.

Ok, guys, so I’m going to apologize in advance and put up a warning on this blog:

WARNING: You are about to see a buttload of adorable black lab pictures. If you gag easily over ridiculous cuteness, this site is not for you.

Phew. There we go.

BTW, we named her Lily.

Well, the week has been somewhat eventful. I subbed for a local high school (Spanish) and am under the impression that kids get stupider every year. Honestly. Sixteen year old boys are just the oddest things I’ve ever come across. They are old enough to drive, have jobs, get speeding tickets (which they love to brag about), crack jokes, throw spitballs (along with any other objects that they can get their hands on), and be general pains in the ass. I never have any problem with the girls. So boys, if you are reading this, grow up.

I’ve been filling in for the Registrar at ECPI for the past two days. Her mother just passed away, and I think my mom was freaking out due to work overload (–FYI my mom works at ECPI in the same office as the Registrar). She talked to the Provost, who decided that it would be a good idea for me to come in and get the past week all caught up. So yay for extra spending money.

Umm, let’s see.. What else? Oh, I clipped my toenails today. I know that you totally wanted to know that. I thought it would surprise you. It’s like “Yea, yea, puppy talk… subbing…ecpi…whoa, that’s gross.”

I desperately need to clean my room. It’s disgusting. I can’t even believe I let it get this messy. I have a feeling that this weekend will consist of some Lauren-bedroom bonding. Well, not bonding, because that sounds too much like “bondage”. Just lots of cleaning time in the bedroom.

I have absolutely no idea if I mentioned this or not, but Peter and I went to see The Lion King musical on Sunday. It was faaaaaaaaaabulous!!! I’ve never seen such great costumes, scenery, puppetry, etc. in my life. My mom kept talking about how badly she wanted to see the show, but she didn’t want to pay the prices again for tickets (–she bought me tix for graduation), so I bought her 2 tickets for her birthday to see the musical in Philadelphia. I had to tell her, even though her birthday is in June, because she kept checking ticket prices online. Happy Early Birthday, Mom!

Ok, time to watch this crappy tv and get ready for bed. ‘Night.

Cuddling in Peter’s lap

What’s going on?

Lauren and Lily (taking a nap)