New Beginning

So, I have officially moved in
I've technically been in my dorm since Thursday
but today I finally finished unpacking
So it feels like home
My first class is Monday but before I can stress about that.....
I haven't found a church to go to yet! I'll figure it out

Anyways. Quick blast to the past
May 22nd- I graduated
May 23rd- Me and my girls went to the beach!! Whoop whoop (I had so much fun, such a great bonding experience before we all went our separate ways)
May 28th- Aunt Cathy had her retirement party at the farm
May 29th- I had a small graduation party at the farm
May 31st- I went to Kids Camp to be a counselor
June 8th- Family cruise to ALASKA!!! (I also got to meet up with Austen, so it was even more fun <3)
June 20th- IMPACT at Lipscomb University!
June 24th- LMU registration :)
June 30th- Family vacation to Deep Creek in North Carolina
July 5th- I met Austen's family at Paradise during their family vacation
July 9th- My last NBYG trip to Mexico (this was one of the saddest moments all summer, I had to say goodbye/ see you later to some girls that I have been friends with for 4 years, I don't know when I will return, but I have faith that God will take me back)
July 17th- Me and Mom went to Chicago for one of her conferences and we got to the the Jungers!
July 21st- Ned McWherter's Scholarship Reception (this was a big deal, only 180 graduates in all of Tennessee get it)
July 22nd- My last NBYG trip to Camp Shiloh in New York
Whew that's a lot going on
Total days gone: 57
Total days at home: 14

And now I enter LMU as a freshman in the graduating class of 2020
butttt I'm going to Vet School too so I'll also be the class of 2024

It's been a wonderful 6 years Central Magnet and I already miss it
A tiger never loses its stripes,
this one just happened to learn a new trade
Go Railsplitters! :)

Live
Laugh
Love
~Laurel

Catch Up

Hey!
Sorry it's been so long!
My life has been super busy over the past few months
Tennis season, last semester of high school, had to do my thesis, prom... so much
Anyways, CMS girls and boys tennis won districts. WOOO!!!
Me and my partner made it to the finals in individual regionals.. last chance for State and we were so close, but it's alright. Better things are ahead of us
Prom was awesome. I got to go with my bf :) so lots of fun, great pictures
I finished my thesis and it was bomb
so good
I'm really proud of it, it ended up being over 40 pages... you know, no biggie
and, I graduate Sunday..
so cool stuff, right?
I'm one of 39 Valedictorians lol
My school doesn't "rank"
Anyways, I could not be more excited
This is it
I've officially accomplished high school
I started this blog over a year ago and soon, I'm going to be in my doorm room going back through all of these memories
I think I did a relatively good job at keeping up with this thing
I really only fell behind this past few months because my life got so hectic and I seriously haven't used my laptop in over 3 weeks
Well, I guess that's it for now.
That was a super quick flash back
And I would really like to thank anybody who reads these, I never intended to have many people read them, quite frankly, I only believed that me and the people who I write about would read my blog but I've noticed that I've had quite a few views so I hope this has at least been enjoyable to some people
thank you

Live
Laugh
Love
~Laurel

Valentine's Day/ Promposal

February 14, 2016
a.k.a. one of the most eventful days of my life
First off it's Valentine's day, so of course I was going to spend it with Austen
but what he didn't know was that I was asking him to Prom that day
The whole week leading up to it he was thinking he wasn't going to get to spend much time with me
His mom said he needed to be home (because I was going to be there haha)
but to distract him long enough for me to set up, his brother took him disc golfing
So, at 9:30 I arrived in Eagleville to begin setting up my master plan
I covered his floor with blue balloons, set up posters around his house, and left a trail of plastic bait leading to his room
First thing's first, he walked in his house and saw a poster that said "take the bait" with a tackle box full of candy sitting next to it
Then, "I've been fishing for a date"
"I'm hooked on you"
After that he's in front of his door and then he has to walk in
As soon as he was in his room, I threw a net over him and then he read the final sign, "so, will you be my catch for"
I left it at that just to confuse him a bit and then I pulled out a fishing pole that said PROM cascading down the line
if you want to watch it: Promposal Video

little did I know, he had a surprise for me too....
long story short, I'm now he's girlfriend
and he couldn't have asked in a cuter way

and then the rest of the day was spent hanging out with his family and I couldn't have asked for a better Valentine's Day

Live
Laugh
Love
~Laurel

The Winter Dance

Saturday January 9th
the adventure began early in the morning
before I could go to the dance, we had to shop for cars
(I found one, yay!)
I arrived back home around 2:00 and I began getting ready immediately
I'm not sure why, but I was kind of nervous for this date
I had Emma come over to help me because I have no idea how to do makeup
I'm like the least girly girl ever.
Anyways, got ready, had a small meltdown when my hair wasn't curling right, got over it, went downstairs where my knight in shining armor was waiting
except, he was in a t shirt and soccer pants...
But he changed and everything was shaping out quite nicely
Of course, before we could leave my mom had to take pictures, a ton of them
I'm really glad she did though, we look really cute :)
Okay, next stop, Austen took me to dinner at Chop House
(I'm pretty sure we were the most dressed up, oh well)
7:00, time to dance
He doesn't really like to dance, but at least he does for me
The dance was absolutely awesome, so much fun
Great friends, good music, even better date
This was by far my favorite dance I've ever been to.
We sang and danced the night away
And then 10:00 came way too quickly
I could've stayed for another few hours
3 hours was not enough, and not once did they play any country music!
So, everyone was leaving and I decided that I was not leaving until they played "Die A Happy Man"
I went to the DJ and requested it
And we danced, and we sang, and it was the perfect moment
And that was it
The night was over

Me, Austen, Thomas, & Emma - Me & Austen
Me & Austen

Live
Laugh
Love
~Laurel <3

Happy New Year

It's been awhile...
But I'm feeling bloggy
I hope y'all had a wonderful Christmas and an awesome start to the new year
I know I did :)
For the first time ever, I got a New Years kiss (only on the cheek)
but hey, it's better than nothing
And Christmas was absolutely fantastic too
My best guy friend got me a GIANT teddy bear and it is so cool!!
He also got me bullet shell earrings which are totally rad because I may have a small redneck side to me
He actually ended up spending all Christmas Day with me and my family (mostly me)
but we had a great time
He also spent all New Years Day with us too..
funny how that worked out
But the big thing that I've been dying to get out is that he finally asked me to The Winter Dance
by the way, the dance is in 4 days
so he may have been a little behind
but it was totally worth it
Anyways, so here's the breakdown:
He picked me up at my house, and we went to dinner with his family to celebrate his birthday
then he took me to see Star Wars (which was supposed to be a surprise except towards the end of dinner his dad asked me what movie we were going to see haha)
then he drove me home and once we got there, he pulled out a dozen roses that he had hid and asked me to go to the dance
I couldn't have asked for anything better
2016 has started off on the right foot.
Last semester of high school, here I come

Live
Laugh
Love
~Laurel <3

Senior Thesis

Sooo I should actually be working on my Lit Review right now...
But, I have writer's block and I find that sometimes I just need a distraction
I'm totally stressing
Please
Help
How do I do this thing??
I'm going to drown with all of this work

17th Birthday

Okay, listen up guys.

I literally have the best friends in the entire world!

So, my 17th birthday was Friday (August 21st)

I had zero plans

My best friend knew this and told me to save that day for her

That wasn't too hard because everyone had already told me that they had plans

Yeah,they lied.

They all made up stories of why they were busy

I mean, they were all busy, but not for the reasons they told me

They threw me a surprise party!

But not the normal kind, no way.

It was a secret scavenger hunt thing :)

The first surprise that happened (which wasn't part of the scavenger hunt) was that one of my bestfriends, Emma, showed up at my school and brought me brownies! They were delicious.

After that, I went home and waited for Olivia to show up

She was late.

But that doesn't matter, she told me to change and to head to her car

Since, I thought we were just hanging out, I took my time, which threw off the whole schedule

ANYWAYS, the first thing she did was blindfold me

I was so confused

She tied it on and put me into the car

Once we were all set to start our adventure, she read me a clue

It said "I am your best friend and 'partner in crime', I'm the mild to your wild, the one you tell everything to, and the one on the other side of the soccer field. I think you've probably already guessed who I am, so I hope this nails it home: our child is Judi Graham Vulcano. I am taking you somewhere that will hopefully become our new tradition"

That's when all the craziness ensued

I was supposed to guess where we were going, but she would never tell me if I was right or wrong

Our first stop happened to be Waffle House (I love Waffle House, and yes I know that is weird)

We got something to eat and then we were off again

However, this time I was not blindfolded, so I thought "oh okay, we're done, time to head back home"

Nope, she read me another clue...
"You might know me from my plentiful hugs, want for a goat,or maybe just the word duck says enough. If this doesn't say enough about me then here is one more hint: You will find me where you spend your days whipping with my mom and watching The Walking Dead just for me."
So, this clue lead me to Mark's house.
We picked him up and then had to make a pit stop at my house at the request of my dad
Apparently, my brother and niece had a little gift for me so we stopped and talked for a bit and then headed to our next adventure.
Clue #3 read "You maybe know me from the fact that we are considered the Three Amigos or maybe you know me from the phrase, 'you take so slow'. I also released the turtles you gave me for my birthday this summer. We are cadre leaders together and always pass out the Baskin Robins coupons to the visitors. We roomed together at Impact and share many memories. You might know me from Spanish Club where you called me you 'Fat Fish' or maybe you only know me because you love my mom. Either way, you will find us at the one place you have been wanting to visit all summer long and even want to take up the activity for when you possibly work at Sonic."
This place was CLEARLY Skate Center West
I LOVE SKATING!
We ended up arriving a little later than we were supposed to so they deferred me and drove me to Goodwill
There was this one lady standing outside of Goodwill as they were taking the bandanna off my eyes and she thought we were absolutely insane
It was hilarious
Mark ended up buying me my favorite movie and a disney cd
After we had spent an adequate amount of time at Goodwill, we went back to the Skate Center where they actually revealed that I was at the skate center and Jackson, Jordan, and Emma were there too
We skated for at least an hour before heading out again
I thought "Oh okay, I guess that was it"
So, I hugged everyone thanked them for coming and said goodbye
Then we got back into the car and they blindfolded me again!
"I thought we were just going back to my house" I said
And Olivia assured me we were but she just liked blindfolding me
Then we got to my house and they made me wait outside the car
it was dark, i was alone, and i was scared
So, like the curious and fearful creature I am...
I decided to CRAWL towards my house, I figured I knew it well enough
When they finally came back outside to get me, they found me almost to the front porch
They led me inside and unveiled me once again
EMMA, JACKSON, AND JORDAN WERE THERE TOO!!
We had cheesecake and pizza and I opened presents and we just hung out for awhile
UNTIL, they loaded me up once more
Our final stop was Mark's house where we watched my favorite movie, ever, The Holiday.
Emma had to go home, so it was just Olivia, Jackson, Jordan, Mark, and I
A great way to end the day
it. was. awesome.
I am so thankful to all of my friends :)

Me & Emma - Me - Me & Tennis Fans
Jackson, Olivia, Jordan, Me, Mark, & Emma - Olivia, Emma, Mark, Jackson, Jordan, & Me
Me & Claudia - Me, Emma, & Olivia - Tennis - Statue Man & Me
Mark, Me(blindfolded), & Olivia - Olivia, Mark, Jordan, Emma, Jackson, & Me

Live 

Laugh

Love

~Laurel <3