BLOG IS MOVING!

ATTENTION ALL BLOG READERS!


this blog is moving to www.friendlikethat.tumblr.com


Tumblr will be much better as it allows me to post from my phone, and makes the posting of quotes, pictures and the reposting of things other people thought was interesting, easier....

thank you for reading my blog, please check it out at the new address!

Want to know more about where I am working in January?

De La Salle Elementary at Blessed Sacrament Parish (K-8) is located in the Binghamton area of Memphis, an area with a diverse population of black, white, Hispanic, and Vietnamese populations. Immigrant families come from a wide variety of countries. The school buildings are on the same block as the community house where the volunteers live with the Christian Brothers. Thanks to substantial donations, De La Salle Elementary is operating in new and newly renovated buildings.
Over 90% of the students qualify for the USDA Free and Reduced Lunch Program. Over 50% of the students come from non-English speaking homes. The students begin behind their peers in language and math development. The school is a safe, caring, disciplined, and academically challenging environment for the children, most of whom have experienced a chaotic home and school environment. As a result, the children show dramatic improvements each year, primarily due to the individualized attention they receive.

SHAKING THINGS UP!!!!!

I feel adkfja;dslkfja;sdlkfja;kldfja
that's pretty much me right now.

I am officially done with fall semester at St Mary's College!

I am going home, then LA, then home, then MEMPHIS TENNESSEE for JanTerm

I need a change. a big change. so I've found a bunch of things and decided to change them all. READY, GO!

much much much more coming as soon as I get home tomorrow!

<3

"Swallowing this hurt
Making it lie down
I'm my strongest ally, living life as I know how
I'm carrying the weight of a world that sold me out
I'm running with my eyes closed
Hoping you don't see this doubt"
~Rescue Me by Krystal Meyers

"She's screaming out,"I've lost control"
Caught in another undertow
She's only barely hanging on
Been holding her breath for so long
Her feet never touch the ground
She's not sure which way is up or down "
Casualties by Addison Road

packing. story of my life.

wow, i missed a whole week...sorry! it's this packing/last minute stuff, it's taking over my life....sooo i might be gone one more week due to moving, unpacking and the first week of school but after that i hope to be back to blogging. i also hope to add in a new segment so it's not "no regrets" everyday...more details later...
<3

No Regrets - Sat & Sun

Saturday

Reread an old favorite book

Sunday

PAINT!!!

No Regrets - Wed, Thur, Fri

Wednesday
-splurge on a little something that makes you smile [ok, yes, i chose shoes haha]

Thursday
-spend some time with your parents [not arguing or fighting]

Friday
- friends. never forget them. never underestimate their value.

Saturday
- turn 19!! :D

No Regrets - Tuesday

Split a banana split with someone :)

No Regrets - Monday

Catch up with an old friend...

No Regrets - Sunday

Have a frosting fight with friends :D

No Regrets - Saturday

Eat a kinder egg! [picture coming soon]

No Regrets - Friday

TAKE A TRAIN

so ive decided

I'm going to do a blog a day about something I did for the first time....the concept will be ironed out sometime soon, when it's not 3:30 am but basically,
people do the same things every day. and then wonder what they did with their yesterdays. and i want to try and live life with no regrets. to the fullest. so here is what I am going to do. Every day I will post something I either I did that was an experience. I dont really know how to phrase it, just something that really makes life LIFE. If someone made a movie about my life, it would be interesting. These No Regrets posts are to ensure that....
<3

Lauren-michelle is...

packing...story of my life. In the next THREE days I will be a)in Yelm, W.A. b)on a train c)in Portland, O.R. d)at Ember's house e) on a plane f)in California! g) home h) at church i) at a birthday party j) ALL OF THE ABOVE. ♥

BUT i have great plans to continue regular daily blogging once the madness of the trip home subsides....
<3

sorry!

ive been gone forever but will update soon!
<3

California here I come!

sorry ive been gone this last week! I was at Canadohta Lake, PA. More on that later. Right now im waiting for my flight in an hr and a half. im in the Pittsburgh, PA airport on my way to SFO!
<3

watching the sun rise...

in Charlotte, North Carolina.

I already miss all of my Washington friends and really truly hope i can go back there in 2 weeks.....
I will be boarding my plane soon for Pittsburgh, PA and then my mom is driving me 2 hrs up to Canadohta Lake to hang with the family for the week, spend time with the Aurias and celebrate 4th of July while watching fireworks over the lake!
<3

more later seems to be a frequent saying but..

a speaker gave a talk at the camp tonight that reminded me of the song
"About You" by ZoeGirl

in other news...camp has rocked and having shows ever day has been way great and lots of fun! i leave for PA on thursday evening and get in on friday. I wont have much internet for 2 wks after that and limited cell service but feel free to txt or call and if i can answer i will. Also, the 2nd wk i will be in CA as a counselor for a camp and definitely NO technology. just a heads up...

here are the lyrics for that song...

I've been thinking lately about You
When it hit me from nowhere, out of the gray
Everything's been coming together
Now that I've moved beyond myself
And wrapped my head around something else

It's not about me, it's gotta be about You
(Everyday and...)
All I wanna see is who You're turning me into
(In every way and...)
I will not forget that You said You'd always lead me through
To who I wanna be, making every part of me about You

I’ve been spending so much time disconnected
I was searching for perfection inside myself
But I finally turned away from my reflection
I saw Your world outside my door
And everything that I'd been looking for

So I'll lay down my pride 'cause You laid down Your life
And I'm giving up all that's holding me back
And clinging to You
And You'll lead me through
'Cause You always do

TESTING TESTING 1 2 3

Hi Im emily and Im trying to test this code thing out for Lauren-michelle. because I'm waaaaaaay cool.
So lets pretend this blog it way long and I want to hide the rest.


** Sad, It didnt work. ):

Show time!

so....I'm of to a camp in Randle, Washington today. The band is going to play mostly worship and we're all supposed to hang out with the kids, be good role models etc. We leave in an hour and I am sooo not ready. Still have to shower, get dressed, pack iPod, gum, extra clothes etc..And then a two hour car ride.....but Mercedi is coming so that will be cool too! I actually dont mind the van rides cause I think traveling with the band is fun. Ok, off to go get ready or I wont be going anywhere :D
<3

i love my friends...

seriously.
and i have been having the best late-night conversations recently. First i had an intensely long conversation about summer camp and then about the future. Seriously awesome. be jealous. Anywho, you all know you are welcome to call/txt anytime cause I love you all times a million!
<3
p.s. went longboarding again today, photos almost up, i promise. church tmr (well today)...and online class starts monday, im excited! and shows monday thru thursday nxt week!

Let's go fly a kite...

or LONGBOARD! I had an awesome day in the sun (it came out finally!) , learning to longboard, and longboarding around town with Tiffiny and Cherie. Pictures will be up soon...
Also, yesterday was a parade in town and it was super cute!
Pictures of the parade will also be up soon!

<3

Bad things come in 3s?

RIP Ed McMahon
Farrah Fawcett
Michael Jackson
<3

I <3 Converse, Camp and Crazyness....

haha maybe thats what I should have titled my blog...anyways....i love late night conversations with amazing people, looking ahead to the future and loving what you've learned from the past. Thanks Jessie, for everything :D
<3

Happy Father's Day!

To all the wonderful dads out there, happy fathers day!

p.s. havent had any shows lately, just figuring out everything for my new upcoming graphic design class, keeping a close watch on the upcoming NBA Draft [St Marys lost Patty Mills to the world :( so he wont be returning in the fall, still waiting to see which team he'll play for], and doing random things like rescuing birds from garages and getting ready for Crystal's birthday tmr!

<3

i figured out the photo uploader!

so now most old posts have photos!

All the world's a stage.....

But especially real stages like this one at Experience Church in Puyallup, WA.....more pictures to come!

NoonDaySun is on iTunes!

Search "NoonDaySun" in iTunes store today to listen to and buy their new cd "So-Called Life" !
<3

graphic design and other such awesomeness...

i got the summer class i wanted!!!!!!

after much time on the phone and much debating with st marys about whether this course from foothill college should count for art 50 at smc, i finally got it to count! hallelujah!

so now i just have to do a bunch of annoying stuff
-pay for the class [done]
- call foothill to argue that since it's online only i shouldnt have to pay for a health fee
- buy the textbook
-buy a sketchbook and pencils
- register for how to use foothill's online course program -tutorials
-register and pay for product tutorials
- figure out when to register for the 30 day trials of the products [photoshop, illustrator, creative desgin etc] because they cost like 1, 500 for all three, i checked. but the professor said the 30 day trials, if started at the right time, should work.

and then im finally ready to actually take the class! i hate when things have like 5 to-do things before the actual doing of something. oh well.
so, im super excited for this course and cant wait! guess that means i have to get started on all this little annoying stuff....

Omak and recent events....

Spider Traps….

What the heck are spider traps you might ask….well, youre lucky you don’t know. I had no idea what they were until Wednesday night, in Omak WA. The lady’s house we stayed at was nice but we stayed in the basement which had recently been remodeled. Well, those of you who know me well know that I have intense arachnaphobia. Like, seriously, spiders creep the heck out of me. So, in this house, in every SINGLE ROOM, were spider traps. 4 by 6 pieces of white sticky pads to which LOTS of SPIDERS were stuck to. In my bedroom, maybe 20 spiders on that one trap. Tiff’s room’s trap had even BIGGER SPIDERS. I almost started like hypervenhilating. Anyways, I had no choice, I had to sleep there. So I gathered all my stuff, even my shoes and zipped it into my duffle bag, except for my iPod. I shook out the sheets, crawled underneath, placed my bag on my bed and lay my head down on my own pillow, blasting music into my ears in an attempt to drown out thoughts about spiders eating me in the middle of the night. Yeah all the spiders on the traps were dead but where there were dead spiders, there must have been live ones, right?! Needless to say, I didn’t sleep much that night.

Thursday – show day

The next morning we woke up, got ready, made the required trip to starbucks and spotted California rock roses growing on the side of a shopping center (random, I know) Then we went to the park, set up, soundchecked, hung out for a bit, played a pretty bomb (awesome) show, hurridly packed up again and took off for home. We got back in Yelm, WA at about 11pm…..all in all, a pretty great day! :D

Friday and Saturday were relax days and today (Sunday) was church and then chilling and discussing ideas for the new merch table layout.

Tomorrow Lisa (the manager) goes to the doctor to hopefully get her knee fixed ( I forget whats wrong….) but prayers for that!

Until next time…..


<3

Let's pack up and start again...

[title is from "36 days" by Hawk Nelson]

General…the usual….my life.
The day started out with the usual
- Loud alarm
- Shower
- Cup of coffee & facebook/yahoo/check airfares

Good news: I bought my airline ticket from SEA to PIT AND it’s on July 2nd!!!!!
Bad news: Airlines are stupid and charge inflated prices for a seat in their stupid airplane. You know, I might travel more if it was a tad more affordable. Jeeze
In the end: I was super super happy cause I love the dates the flights are and I get to go to Canadohta which I LOVELOVELOVELOVELOVE!!!!! :D


MY TRIP TO OMAK, WASHINGTON!!

PACKING!
So then I threw a few things into my Jansport bag cause we left for Omak, WA today. You know, clothes, makeup, all the essentials :D

On The Road…
We left for Omak, WA at like 5pm…we were supposed to leave at 4 pm but church directory pictures that the family had to be at ran a bit over so everyone was running a bit late due to the need to change into comfy van clothes, bring their dogs to the dog sitters etc…. But once we finally got on the road it was pretty smooth sailing. I had my Macbook, IPod, Phone and trail mix to keep me company :D.

What's it like?
Well....there are 5 rows in the van. I'll break it down by row
Sean drives - Cherie talks :)
Jonah plays with toys, playdough, reads and watches movies/tv shows like Sesame Street - Lisa plays with him or reads
Crystal watches movies, tv shows, naps, talks on her phone or looks at horses out the window :D
I listen to music, watch tv shows, movies, talk on the phone, take pictures, blog or sleep
Tiffiny watches movies, tv shows, listens to music or looks at horses - ditto on Jacob. and they both talk.
[and Tiffiny makes crazy scary sounds out of nowhere that scare you to death :D ]
did I paint a nice picture for you?


Dinner
We stopped in North Bend, Washington for dinner where the band ate at McDonalds. I didn’t eat there because like 6 years ago I made a new years resolution not to eat there or support McDonalds in any way and I haven’t since. You have to pick your battles in life, that’s one of mine. Anyways, after McD’s, some people ran to Safeway to buy movies, grab a 7-up for the curvy mountain roads etc while the rest of us went to Starbucks. I got an Orange Mango Banana Vivano, per Crystal’s recommendation and which I would recommend to anyone who likes those flavors and smoothies. It’s actually pretty healthy for you at just over 200 calories and it has a whole banana, along with protein powder in it. I absolutely loved it. I also got a Roasted Tomato and Mozzarella sandwich for my dinner and it was absolutely delish! It must have been my lucky day because that Starbucks was sampling whole, glazed, old-fashioned doughnut so I got one of those free too!
We also stopped in Cashmere, WA for a rest-stop

Entertainment on the road….
MOVIES!
Ok so I stole the movie The Secret Life of Bees after Tiff and Jacob finished watching it and ohmygoodness was it a fabulous movie! The way the characters were captured, the storyline, everything about it was simply amazing! Seriously, if you haven’t seen it yet, go check it out!

ANIMALS!
I saw a few elk while we were on the road. We had to stop and wait for one to cross in front of us once and it joined a friend on the other side of the road, stopping then running up the hill together. Cherie exclaims (narrating for the elk) , “ Dude, you almost got hit, that was awesome! You could have died!” in like a manly (elk?) accent. Well it might not be an easy feat but the elk did survive!
Oh, and I saw buffalo!


The adventures of my trip to Omak are to be continued…

On the road again..

well, not quite, but soon enough! Leaving for Omak, WA soon, 5 hr van ride here I come! No worries, I am armed with the essentials:

- laptop
- cell phone
- ipod & headphones
- dvds
- pillow
- trailmix
-comfy sweatpants
......
what else could i need? nothing. :D

Omak, WA HERE I COME!

<3

Ringo ate my shoe....

SHOE-EATER aka RINGO
so, what else is new? I've been really diligent and have NOT let Ringo anywhere near my possessions because he is a klepto-doggie. I hear it runs in the breed (chihuahua aka large mousy fox) So I was strapping one of my brown wedge-heel shoes on, about to leave for church on Sunday and Ringo, being the meanie that he is, stole my other one! Well, TRIED to steal my other one. He, of course, tried grabbing my shoe by the large wedge heel and the slightly wedge toe instead of the straps, making it hard for him to take it to his den of iniquity and also chewing up the shoe in the process. I now have a lovely tear in the front of my shoe and bite marks on the back. BAD RINGO. oh well, it's hard to stay mad at him for long.

AIRLINES SUCK.
I am just saying...cause i found a fare sunday night for one-way from SEA to PIT (Seattle, WA to Pittsburgh, PA) for $199 so I checked back Monday morning and lo and behold, the same fare went up $100......i checked today and, guess what?! it went up another $100....STUPID. There is no real reason for the price increase except that they can. and it makes me mad. Because I WANT to leave WA on July 2nd and i was choosing between the 2nd and the 28th except now theyre both ridiculously expensive. So I might have to leave even earlier which I would HATE. darn it.

PACKING....
Tomorrow afternoon the band and I leave for Omak, WA which is Eastern washington, like a 5 hr car (van) ride. Which sounds kinda cool actually cause chillin in the van with the band is fun :) But....I havent packed yet....booo....I HAVE however, done laundry ! yay! haha one less thing to do!

<3
p.s. I did inventory today and enjoyed putting the merch into beautiful, new, unbroken boxes :D

Barbie Nation is stuck in my head.

NDS performed Barbie Nation this morning, per request of the pastor.
[i'll add more later]

In which Tiff slams her mouth into her mic...

...and Cherie plays a wrong note :D
[oh, and Tiff stabs her eye with her mic too]

We had another show today, we played for some family friend's grad party. It was pretty chill and NoonDaySun rocked of course!

But...now the sky is all gloomy :( I honestly wouldn't mind if it rained (with no thunder or lightening of course) but it's not raining, it's just gloomy and depressing. if it's not going to be rainy can it go back to being sunny then? Guess not....

oh and i think, for my 19th birthday i will be at a Superchick concert! It turns out they are playing in Fremont, CA on august 22, my actual birthday. how awesome is that! so im SUPER excited about that now :D

<3

9 volt batteries and the like...

another show today (well..friday)
this was the little crowd that could. i swear to goodness, they had so much energy it was AWESOME!

other things learned include
Crystal does great Elmo imitations



goodnight for now!
<3

oh goodness...look what the storm blew in...

So.....can i just say there is some intense wind outside! like, seriously! it was a wonderful, beautimous, sunny, 90 degree day and out of nowhere BAM! crazy wind!
I spend a majority of the day at the stables with Tiff, Crystal and Crystal's friend and got to ride a new horse named Gustifir, a huge horsie that walks beautifully :)
came home and all of a sudden there is crazy wind! like whoa! i am such a weather wimp, i like nice dry 85 degrees, no breeze, cloud-less days. I DO NOT like wind. nope, not at all. anyways, after fixing the intense umbrella that was spazzing i returned to the safety of the couch and decided to be content watching the crazy trees from inside.

Show tomorrow! in Puyallup, WA at a church....and maybe one on saturday? we were going to spend the day in Seattle, WA but a show turned up last minute so perhaps....

bye for now!
<3

ringo licked my keyboard [and other such randomness]

i would have a cooler picture but all the cooler pictures have too many MBs.... :(

Ok so since saturday ther has been BigSplash which ROCKED! and the CD release party at Mr. Doug's restaurant in Yelm, WA which was totally fun and awesome. SoulDeep, another WA band, came and played in addition to NDS and brought with them their awesome lights and sound system which totally made it an awesome show!

what to say...

Yelm, WA is the cutest little town :D It's about the size of Moraga but flat and in the distance you can see Mt. Rainier in all its beautiful-ness. There are a bunch of fast-foods, a few starbucks, and a lot of cute little houses hehe

People....So I am staying with the manager, Lisa, and her husband. They have three girls, Cherie, Crystal and Tiffiny, all of whom are in the band...there are also two guys in the band, Jacob (Tiff's husband) and Sean (Cherie's husband). Sean and Cherie also have a little boy named Jonah. Jonah is awesome, and is like my own personal parrot :D

Dogs....At the house i'm living in there is Spencer, a big golden retriever/lab mix and, Ringo, Tiff & Jacob's chihuahua hangs out here a lot too. Crystal (and her husband Steele) have Greta, a boston terrier/pug mix and Snuggles (?) a St. Bernard. Cherie and Sean and Jonah have Toby, a Great Dane...

Horses...Tiff has King and Crystal has Flower...

other randomness....they drink Diet Coke and Coffee like there is no tomorrow :D they use the expression "Goodnight" like...."Goodnight traffic..." or "Goodnight smelly dog" or...idk...hard to explain :D
and Jackal....that's Jonah's favorite...it's like a substitute for meanie....you jackal! :D

haha so yah ive been having a great time here...monday, tuesday and today have been nice and restful after a few busy days, everyone's been at work and I've been working on a few of NDS's sites, updating and uploading pictures, making videos etc...this afternoon/evening we're going to hang out at a nearby park and barbeque etc and just enjoy the nice weather...Tomorrow I have to get started on the Merch Inventory and cleaning....show on Friday!

anyway, off to go meet up with the band...bye for now!
<3