I'm back-2012 is a new year! (I know I'm behind here).

If you look at my last post, you'll see that again I am in fact a terrible blogger.

I'd like to assume that I've had good reason for my lapse in posting-I GOT MARRIED!

Yes, the bliss of engagement and marriage was unimaginably wonderful. However, the whole planning a wedding thing can really be quite the time consumer. So needless to say I had my hands full up until now.

I'm not sure where to begin, really. In a previous post I mentioned that I'd met someone very special. He indeed proposed to me January 27th, 2011. From there, we had around 8 months to plan the best day of my life. While it was stressful at times, I do think we had a lot of fun along the way! Engagement sure didn't stop the ability for us to travel, go to more weddings, hang out with friends, and just enjoy life as an engaged couple!

Here are a few pictures to recap a wonderful time of learning about my soon to be husband and some memories I'll always cherish. But for now, that is all that I've got. The wedding day post will come at a later date. Enjoy!

Lauren

 The proposal!

 All of my friends came to celebrate.

 Our trip to San Antonio right after we got engaged, I was still in shock!

 Feb. '11. Jonathan & SB's Wedding.

 Trying on THE DRESS.

 Engagement pictures-March 2011.

 John and Lauren's Wedding!

 Grizzlies 1st eve playoff win! One of my favorite nights ever.

 Steeplechase-May 2011.

 Destin-Memorial Day Weekend.

 Couple's Shower in Birmingham! August 2011.

 Bachelorette Party in ATL :) July 2011

Our last picture as an engaged couple-Rehearsal Dinner. 9-9-11. Again one of the best nights of my life. We were so blessed to be surrounded by such a wonderful wedding party!

I'm a Terrible Blogger.

Okay well I'm back! I'll admit I've been terrible at keeping up with this blog but hey that's what new year is for right? Only took me however many months later to post something so here goes nothing.To get you up to date, I've been busy busy busy. Last semester was a crazy couple of months for me! I traveled to LSU, UT, UT Chattanooga, Vanderbilt, APSU, WKU, Memphis, Ole Miss, and several other places multiple times in a 3 month period. Needless to say I didn't get to see many people during the work week.

However, I have some great memories to share during the last 90 days. I had some wonderful friends get married, and by some, I mean several :) A day in the life of a 24 yr. old I suppose. But it was a blast! Not only did I travel week days for work, but I also went all over the south east on the weekends to celebrate these unions!

Let's start with sweet Jocelyn. She was the 1st to kick off the wedding spree if you will in August, ha. Hers was actually in Nashville so I stayed here for that one! Her wedding was a blast! My favorite aspect was the band and the grooms cake, so creative! She was a glowing bride, so pretty and happy! I also enjoyed running into an old friend I used to play basketball with back in the day.

Next was Julie, my September wedding. She had an outdoor ceremony on some beautiful land in Knoxville. She was a knockout bride and picked beautiful bridesmaids dresses too! Unfortunately I wasn't able to stay at the reception too long but I heard the band was a blast. Here's a sneak peak from her big day!

October features Katie, my wonderful co-worker. Her wedding was in Myrtle Beach, SC. I'd never been there before so it was fun to see a new portion of the state! It was so fun reuniting with all of my colleagues in South Carolina and celebrating her big day! Katie and Chuck had been dating since high school so it was a long awaited day. She of course looked beautiful too!

Last one was my dear friend Sara Beth. I had the honor of being in this wedding, which was so much fun! Her wedding took place in Huntsville, Alabama. Her reception was atop a mountain that overlooked the city, it was gorgeous. The Lord also blessed her with 72 degree weather just days before Thanksgiving, so it was the perfect day! I've never seen a more cheerful bride, she literally couldn't stop smiling. Here's a peak into her day as well!

December was capped off with 0 weddings but a wonderful vacation to Sunny San Diego! I went with my good friend Whitney and we just took a few days to relax and enjoy the scenery out there. Pretty sure I could live there given the opportunity. The weather is perfect! I was lucky enough to get to spend a day with Caroline Lee and April Ciervo too! These are 2 of my married friends who were in Chi Omega with me at Samford. It was so much fun shopping with them in La Jolla! And last but not least, we got to meet Roberto from The Bachelorette that won last season! He was super nice. Here's a few pictures from our trip!

Okay that's all I've got for now, I promise I'll get more in tune with the blogger in me and be more consistent. Here's to more memories in 2011!

Steele

MIA

Thanks to Heather Mackey Brown, I've been inspired to write another post.

While I understand it's been a while, I have my excuses....

So at the end of May, I met this guy....yeah he's pretty swell. This may potentially be the cheesiest post I have/or ever will write, but I'm okay with that. You see this guy just so happens to bring out the best in me and challenges me daily. I'm more than blessed to have him in my life..not to mention my parents love the boy too.

He comes from a GREAT family and loves Jesus, sports, & traveling just as much as I do. What's not to love?

So here he is...William Langston Ivy. If you're my friend and haven't met him yet, you will. Excited more than ever about the journey the Lord is taking us on!

Love you all. Back to work, just wanted to share :)

This is Will!

This was in his hometown, New Albany MS where I got to meet his sister and her sweet husband and kids. What a fun day at the pool! She was a Chi O too :) Loves it.

24.

So it's been a couple of days but it's all settling in that I am 24. So weird! I was a fresh 22 when I moved to Nashville, and A LOT has happened in these last two years. I grow to love this city more and more every day and definitely call this place home.

When I look back on the last year specifically, it's scary to think how fast the time flies! I'm at a point now though where I truly love my job and the friends that the Lord has blessed me with. I'm excited to see what is in store for this upcoming year and cannot wait for the Lord to reveal where He wants to use me in the upcoming months.

It's been a year of unexpected challenges and growth and I'm grateful for where the Lord has me now. A year ago, I may have told you I would be moving, but it's always neat to see that His plan is bigger than mine. No matter how many times I try to plan out my life, I will always fail. He knows what is best, if only we always had the faith to entrust our entire life with Him. But it's a constant struggle and praise Him all the more for His grace and mercies each morning.

To sum it up, I am blessed beyond measure and have lived a wonderful life so far. I'm excited to see what He does next and to Him be the glory! And thanks to everyone who made my birthday so special :) I love y'all more than you know!

Devastation.

As I'm sure you've all heard, Nashville was hit was the 10th biggest flood in American history. It's hard to believe that we were just enjoying out trip to downtown on Saturday night, eating at a restaurant that is now underwater.

Catastrophic damage has been done to our beloved city-it's really hard to wrap my mind around it. People's homes are destroyed, some have lost their businesses, pets are missing. Not one person in Nashville can say that haven't been directly affected by this tragedy. Whether or not it affected their home directly, everyone knows someone who has lost everything.

Here's a couple of pictures that I took when heading to downtown Nashville yesterday to see the damage. Water was rising up around my feet while I was taking the pictures and is still continuing to do damage downtown. So please pray for this area and the lives of those who have been affected. It truly is a sad situation but at least we know the Lord is in control and has a master plan behind all of the tragedy. He is good.

Coffee Shops

I'm sitting in Frothy Monkey, your typical Nashville coffee shop. You have your eccentric crowd, the Vandy crowd, the professional crowd, your "I do nothing with my life" crowd, and a few other randoms. It's interesting if you sit in here long enough the amount of different people you'll actually see.

And here's me...sitting here pretending I work out of an office, all dressed up. Really though I could potentially be in sweats and it wouldn't make a difference. But I have an image I'm trying to uphold, or so I think...how dumb is that? I bet you a million bucks these musicians probably don't want to be in black skinny jeans right now considering the weather, but they probably do it to maintain their image and their look. Our society is so image driven and we're so conscious of everyone around us and their perception of us.

I know I'm guilty of it along with a million other people, but I am just sitting here and watching all the people around me. Funny thing is, all of these people are doing the exact same thing. We're all judging and inquiring in our minds where in fact these people came from, their backgrounds, how they got where they are now. It's comforting to know that the Lord looks at our hearts and not our outside image! I'm so quick to judge someone's appearance, and my mind has been trained to do so, hence why I wrote this post.

May this post remind me that I need to focus on what really matters, a person's heart, instead of writing a whole post about the different crowds I see in a coffee shop.

Friends and FNL.

So this guy named Katlin Miller randomly walked into my life about a year and half ago. It was one of those things where one our mutual friends (the one and only Sara Beth Turner) was like "Hey Katlin's moving to Nashville y'all should be friends." You meet the person, always nod politely and agree...never assuming you'll actually hang out....

Well, fast forward to today and I couldn't tell you another guy (including his room mate of course) that I'm better friends with in Nashville. Who knew!? Him and his rooms Jason moved here in October '08 and thankfully we all became fast friends. I have always had guy friends over the years, but I can't tell you how thankful I am that they are in my life! They have truly been such consistent friends and challenge me spiritually, give me advice, and model how a Godly guy should act!

Our favorite thing to do is to watch Friday Night Lights. If you haven't seen this show, you need to jump on that train immediately, no seriously. We started with Season 1, and actually just finished Season 4 tonight! Season 5 aires in the fall, so there's still time to get caught up, you won't regret it I promise. I've definitely gotten a lot of people hooked, it's worth your time!

Anyway, all of that to say I have so much fun with them whether we're watching TV shows, making dinner, having pool time-you name it and they're game. Oh and did I mention they're both actors? So yeah occasionally you'll see them in a random commercial, TV show, or music video :) Just to give them a shout out, they've been in Gilmore Girls, The Island, and The O.C., just to name a few.

So the bottom line is, don't rule out any of the "randos" you meet, you never know when a wonderful friendship will truly blossom. I'll leave you with a picture of the 3 of us watching FNL tonight.