2013

Confessions with Lauren: Bible Study

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Today’s story is just about how I don’t get things.

I was raised Roman Catholic. I was big time into all doing the communion stuff when I was growing up. I have a rosary by my bed given to me by my grandmother.  I love me some gilded paintings of Jesus. I even for like 4 months at 16 thought about being a nun…. Which I later discovered I would have really sucked at (seriously, me not accessorizing to quote the great Cher Horowitz… “As if”). Nor could I really be like an Indiana Jones of religious relic’s (apparently searching isn’t as exciting as Harrison Ford makes it). And last religious confession. There is some Saint Francis statue in my backyard that I am terrified to move because he’s broken… and I don’t know what to do with him, especially since he’s broken. So he can sit there forever according to my logic until he once again becomes a part of the Earth.

Now that I have relinquished this information about me, I would like to say that in no way am I closed off or judgmental about anyone’s beliefs (but I think this blog makes that evident).  And one more thing every religion is cool… and no one should use any of their beliefs to make them think they are better than anyone else, or bring others down… because no religion except for Meanology should be into that.

But, back to my story of not really understanding things. Being raised Catholic I have never really understood “Bible Study”. When I was a kid in communion classes, Bible Study was really like studying the Bible. And for that matter I pretty much had my fill of religious learning after my last religion class in High School. It according to me and my friends, was obviously a punishment for all of our sins. And consisted of 5 days a week of an elderly man talking about whatever he felt like. 2 days were dedicated solely to his love of coca-cola products. Other days about the song “Waltzing with Bears”, because the local hillside was on fire. I actually considered it a blessing when our class was interrupted by a fire imposed break. And then when we resumed he would tell us about how he felt about appropriate theater applause, candied apples, and of course how he felt about WWII.  After that I never wanted to be an organized studier of anything, especially if I could end up with a lecturer like that.

Well anyways flash forward a few years and here I am. I am constantly hearing that people and my coworkers are going to Bible study. Having a bible study. Attending a bible study weekend. Going to a bible study conference. Leading a Bible Study. Taking a Bible Study to a hot date on a Saturday night.

And here I am thinking that all they do in their spare time is read the Bible. I mean they’ve been reading it for years, they must spend their time quoting thing like about, peace and doves, and puling camels through the eye of a needle. But they never quote the Bible at work!?! Which is cool since this is an architecture practice and not a Bible Study group. And that is how I carried on with my days.

Until Mindy Kaling taught me a little bit about Christianity. In an episode of the  Mindy Project she had a Bible Study. And I finally felt like I had an in… my questions about this are all going to be answered. And I get to see Chris Messina in a speedo.

You are welcome.

Oh boy, I pretty much forgot about the Bible Study thing for a moment there. So Mindy’s Bible study. She had wine, and a banner, a nativity, and there was food, and weird paintings of Jesus (both black and white Jesus) and she was playing Amy Grant for mood music. It was actually kind of fun looking:

This is what I imagine my Bible study being like.

Then I told my coworkers about this and they told me that Mindy was lying. That isn’t what a Bible study was. And where I was a little concerned that Mindy was not telling me the truth … I still got to see Chris Messina in speedos. (Bright side of life… right?) Then I was told in their Bible Study they don’t even study the Bible… they just like meet as a group and discuss life, or how to be successful in relationships, and stuff.

And I was like…. WHAT?!??? No multi-racial Jesus pictures? No wine? No Amy Grant?

Bible study is just people hanging out… I guess.

And well even though the whole meeting and discussing life thing is super great….I think the title is misleading, it should be called something else. Like religious people of liked mind’s. But I think that may sound scarier than it actually is. Anyways, I totally know what “Bible Study” is now. Now to go uncover other truths about things!

♥Lauren

Nancy’s Tang-a-langing Birthday

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Okay I’m going to admit something. There is nothing more that I like than celebrating things that just exude happiness. And one of those things is Birthdays! No matter how old you are, it’s just a really good time to be appreciated by your loved ones. And I really like that I get a day to make my friends feel as special as they really are to me.

I am so sorry that this post is late. But, I finally got this drawing colored and I still want to make this post super special.

Nancy Tang is one of the coolest people that has ever been in my life. There is something really quite magical about her ability to try everything (and be quite good at it.) There is no sport, or game, or challenge that she hasn’t faced without giving her all. She also has this incredible energy around her that makes you feel like you can accomplish anything, if she believes you can. And I have benefited from that several times. Not limited to the most stressful game of charades that we played this weekend. A pep talk from Tang could get you to run for President… and depending on a few swing states… you could most possibly win.

The best thing about Nancy is that she is the kind of person who you can become inseparable with, and can talk about anything with… and at different times in our 7 year friendship we both definitely have. It’s like having your own personal cast of Golden Girls, but only like 1 other person.

Another lovely thing about being with Nancy is… there is always dessert. Whether it’s deliciously crafted cake… or even home made cupcakes… there is always a sweet time when you are with her. And this leads into the doodle…

Happy Birthday Nancy… have the best 31st year that you can possibly have!

Happy Birthday Nancy Tang! Thank you for being a friend!

Also this year we will master the red velvet cupcake! And we will go to at least 2 super fun concerts. I totally promise.

♥Lauren

Amber Protocol: Tri-folds and Tribulations

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We all have our protocol quirks in my office.

-Proper phone etiquette is a biggie. (I always tell people to have a nice day when I say my professional tidings.)

-Being more streamlined. (this is all the Professional.)

-Getting our deadlines done. (I think most people want this.)

-Not having a break-room full of ants (sane people.)

-Refilling the water for the Keurig (People who don’t want the world to end. My boss wants coffee.)

-Getting prints at a good quality (the printer is my nemesis )

-Using the tri-pod to take project photos (Ahem, Professional)

-Not having enough bullet points (it seems like enough, now :) )

And well now I know one of my new desk mates big professional gripes… incorrectly folding invoices:

She’s going to judge you and your whole company if it has that weird extra bit folded over the rest of it.

So remember when you send us stuff, and you want Amber to not be mad… tri-fold it like you mean it.

Does anybody else have a serious office procedural quirk? Or just how you think things should be done? Are we just crazy in this office?

The world may never know.

♥Lauren

Whitest Sneakers

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This doodle is more like a fan shout out than a personal thing.

Everyone who watches TV knows the Office is ending after 9 season’s of being on the air. And well I think I may have mentioned it before on this site I’m a fan of the crazy antics of Dunder-Mifflin all the characters are so zany yet grounded that we can relate and feel like we know them.

Personally, I work with a girl like Kelly,

I won’t name names.

a guy like Ryan,

I get this face every time I walk into our annex.

an Andy/Dwight,

He may be the most professional of us all… still not naming names.

and even a Pete.

Just because he’s new doesn’t mean he’s any less important.

I have always related to early season’s Pam and well now that Pam is grown up and has it together, I can relate more to Erin. I have always loved to draw, and I’m a little bit on the kooky side, and I am awful at Scrabble. And I love to assist in pranking  our Andy/Dwight as much as humanly possible, and he CANNOT take a joke.

I have sounded like this on many an occasion,… this is probably why I’m not let around a lot of clients…

So in this Office nostalgic post… I share with the lovely internet, a Pam Beesly drawing that I made very ironically, while at work:

Thanks for the giggles Pam!

Also I wonder who could guess which coworkers are which :)

♥Lauren

Jimmy says the Darndest things

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I think Jimmy is going to be mad at me for posting this.

But I have known him for nearly 10 years and sometimes the things he tells me still makes me burst out with laughter. (But hey, I laugh a lot)

We all have really highly specific things that make us smile. For example: Phil Collin’s to me is like a musical angel who makes everything alright when I hear his voice, and Matt&Kim can save me from 99.2% of despair.

We are not all the same though. This weekend Jimmy shared this musical nugget of joy with me:

It’s the one he choo choo chooses!

And just in case you are wondering what the song that is #1 on the charts in the nation of solely Jimmy:

Somewhere at this very moment… he has this queued up to watch on YouTube.

♥Lauren

P to the S that crisp white doodle paper that all the kids are talking about can be seen, purchased and hugged right here… emnote notebooks!

One of those Days…

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I have spent too much time away from my blog.

And I have suffered consequences.

I am stressed, my hair is turning white. I am drinking 2 sodas a week. And umm.. I can’t think of a third thing…. but I’m sure that it’s happening… and that it is on the equivalent of 2 sodas bad.

I guess I have been too busy. But that doesn’t really excuse me, because a lot of my joy is sharing silliness with people. In a strange was it is what calms me. And right now I totally need this before I start work-related-crying. (I have been redoing the same project every other hour for the last 15 work hours… and none of the printers are working and… my head is about to explode.)

So I took a moment during my lunch break to color a few things and this is one of them.

Because I am such an odd bird, I don’t really think this drawing needs much context… because well this kind of stuff happens to me… a lot:

It’s been one of those days. Just hand me my spotted wings.

♥Lauren

 

Passing Notes

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Today I’m going to tell you a story about when I was in school…

When I was in school I was a good student… which really surprised people because I seemed really unfocused in  nearly every lecture class I had.

I just really was good at comprehending the subject matters I studied and once I did… I didn’t have all day to hear the lecturer talk about alabaster in its various applications, I just daydreamed until the hour-forty five had passed. And of course I had read the textbook the day before, so I had all my day to not think about trying to memorize anything but stuff I wanted to.

Now all my daydreaming probably would have been just fine, had I not forced my weird imagination on my friends, especially Jimmy. He wanted to pay attention so badly and all I ever did was distract him. I would spend my time sending him drawings of Jamba Juice cups, Lambs that were striped, and well taco’s and how much I wished I was eating or building a place to hold tacos and not be in that class.

So dedication time… this Doodle goes all the way out to Jimmy who is like many miles away from me right now, but could probably use a laugh:

My favorite part is when he finally gave up on learning and just doodled back instead!

Quite candidly internet, I would list distracting people as one of my finer qualities. If you spend time with me the next thing you know is that it could be hours… or even years. And there is going to be sketchbooks of doodles to go along with it.

Now I must return to some doodles that I am working on like super seriously!

♥Lauren

Sleeping with the fishies

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Happy Saturday everybody!

I wasn’t going to post today but… I haven’t been posting all that much lately. And I actually got some time to draw today, and I’m just so happy I had to share it.

My sister-in-law asked me to draw the sad tale of her beta fish Guido and his unfortunate run in with the Goldfish Mafia of Missoula Montana.

It appears Mr. Guido was 86’ed by the golden scaled crime lords… and she just wanted to share the story in graphic form.

Gangster fishes! I have had a few goldfishes in my lifetime and I can tell you they are very much exactly like this. When we cleaned out their tank there were just tons of mini aquatic weapons…

And, even though my scanner is a bit on the fritz, I used my fabulous new notebook that I got from a fellow blogger Edwin at the Awkward List.

I’m in love with this notebooks that you can get at emnote!

♥Lauren

The Fashion Statement

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Yesterday I went shopping with my homegirl, Nancy.

 

We decided to traipse into Forever 21, even though neither of us are 21. But, hey I have a giftcard. And they usually have clothing for poor young professionals scattered about their store… but not yesterday.

Yesterday was different…We didn’t understand anything that store had going on…

We passed racks, displays, and even footwear before pondering a very important question… When did we become this old? Why were all the clothes so unpurchaseable?

Neon pink baseball caps with fancy flowers on it?

I want to meet the 16 year old who wants to wear this. Just call me Blossom!

Jean backpacks for purses with neon pink trim?

I had this as a kid… it was even ugly then.

Oxford shirts cut into mullet shirts?

Dresses cut into mullet dresses?

Decorative leopard bras as clothes?

Shirts that said “Never trust a cowboy”? (Really, what have cowboys done to us? And in Los Angeles, how often do you encounter them enough to not trust them?)

And everything else is completely transparent, and says “Beverly Hills” on it.

What the what, Forever 21?!? I know I’m 27, but when did people decide to dress like my 1990s Hawaiian barbie?

This is my Tuesday meeting outfit… don’t ask what kind of clients I’m meeting with…

I just can’t fathom I would feel comfy like this! So, I spent half my gift card on some jewelry and some sunglasses. And well I think glasses are supposed to be see-through in parts so I’m doing okay!

I am just going to say remember when all the clothes were heavily Mad Men Inspired? Yeah I was down with that.

Until then I can draw Nancy wearing all the clothes she passed up yesterday:

It’s like so many layers… but still completely breezy!

♥Lauren