Committed

Today is my parent's 30th wedding anniversary.

I am so grateful for the example of commitment and true love they show to me and my siblings. No marriage is easy, and my parents have had plenty of tough times, but I am so grateful for the character they possess in the face of difficulty.

The Coalwells are not quitters.

We don't give up when it gets hard.
We don't do things unless we're going to do them well.
We don't start something unless we're going to finish it.

Thanks, Mom and Dad, for teaching me that and so much more.

Not just another last name

Love-to-be:

Someday, when we take a road trip to your hometown (whether it's 3 days driving or 45 minutes away) so I can meet your folks,

I want to see your high school and eat at the restaurant you bussed tables at before college.
I want to go to your little sister's dance recital, and watch your nephews play little league.
I want to visit with your mom while we clean up the dinner dishes and see all of those embarrassing pictures of you when you were awkward and brace-faced and thirteen.
I want to go out to dinner with your grandparents and listen to them tell all the stories you've heard every year since you were little.

I even want your Dad to tease me because I say "pop" instead of "soda" or the way I jump ten feet if someone sneaks up behind me.

And I hope you don't find it strange that I'll want to send your mother a card on her birthday, or remember to leave the pecans out of the brownies because your little brother is allergic.

You see, my family means everything to me. So if I'm going to become part of your family, too,

well, I'm all in.

home is...

chocolate chip cookies
a fridge full of food I didn't make myself
graham crackers with peanut butter and chocolate chips
reruns of old tv shows like Andy Griffith
a brother who wants to be writer
seeing people I know everywhere
umpqua dairy chocolate milk
driving my big red truck
late night chats with dad
a double bed
not worrying about school
borrowing my mom's heels
no snow, and sunshine in december
people wanting to see me
high school friends
talking about health and nutrition with my mom
making resolutions to be better
being asked if I have a boyfriend yet
...and then being assured that I've still got time

I'm so happy to be home.
To relax and not worry about papers or tests.

I hope you're all having a wonderful holiday, wherever you are!

simplify

It's halfway through the school year and I'm just finally unpacking half the boxes I moved in with.

Figures.

But at least I'm doing it, right?

It feels so great to get rid of all the stuff I don't need.

To take a big box of clothes that don't fit/don't look good/I'm bored with/aren't my style to DI and say goodbye to them.

I always sleep better in a room that isn't full of junk.

I found my old pointe shoes and leotards while I was cleaning out our storage room and I was reminded of the many opportunities I've been blessed with over the years.*

I put the leotards and ballet skirt in the giveaway pile, for some future ballerina to find.

But I kept the pointe shoes.

Because they taught me that hard work means blisters and tired feet and sore muscles.

And doing the same routine over and over and over.

But it also means getting to show off, just a little bit, when the work really pays off.

*And that really made me want to take a jazz or ballet class. It's funny how I came to college all excited to leave jazz behind and move on to ballroom. And don't get me wrong, I really do love ballroom. But sometimes I miss the grand jetes and the pirouettes and the tour jetes that my arms and feet grew up with.

image via deviantart

swimming

This week I get to play catch up on all the responsibilities I skipped out on last week. Which means taking a test, learning at least a minute of a Viennese Waltz routine, relearning the foxtrot, loads of reading, and thinking of ideas for a commercial.

Oh well.

My room is clean.

My bed is made.

And I'm ready to conquer the world.

{Last week at this time, I was walking around the financial district, eating pizza at Grimaldi's and feeling like a real advertiser. I feel like I understand just a tiny bit how people who come back from study abroad feel. I feel no shame in saying I lived in Harlem for six days, and I'm allowed to miss it just a bit.

Someday, NYC, I'll be back.}

new york

I wish I could post the few pictures I took (never been much of a picture taker, more of a picture moocher), but I don't have a camera cord with me so no luck.

This trip has been incredible. So enlightening.

When I first got to the city, I expected to be overwhelmed. with excitement. just high on life.

And I was.

But mostly, I just felt right at home.

I felt like, yeah, I could live here.

It felt comfortable and almost familiar.

Not in the sense that I'd been here before, because I haven't.

More like I felt confident in my abilities to get around and survive in the crazy concrete jungle.

I'll definitely have to write a more detailed post of what we did each day, but this is just a smattering of thoughts and reflections about the trip.

For now though,

Three things I loved:

-yummy bagels

-Shake Shack (!!)

-oddly enough, the subway. (what can I say, I'm a sucker for efficient mass transit)

Three things I didn't love so much:

-sharing a bathroom with about 20 girls

-the elevators at subway stations. they smell like urine.

-the stress of coordinating 28 opinions. love the group. just not the stress.

I will say that when we visited Wieden + Kennedy, it confirmed my thoughts that working at Wieden in Portland is my dream job.

Their culture just seems so perfect for me.

I'll write more later.

But New York, it's been great. So thanks.

nothing wrong with a little change

Love-to-be:

Please choose your occupation because it's something you love, not simply because it will make you loads of money.

I've told you before, it's not about the money.

I will love you just as much for your passion for what you do as for the inventive ways we will stretch our dollars.

Love it enough to do it for 20, 30 or 40 years, but love me enough to let it mellow into a conversation topic when you come home.

Let it be your profession, your passion, but not your life.

I always admire men who choose a career that may not be the most financially cushy, but that is something they truly enjoy.

So. Whatever you choose to do, do it with passion.

There is absolutely nothing wrong with being a doctor or a lawyer or even an advertising man. There is no reason you should feel guilty for making six figures. That would just give us more opportunities to do good, and I would love that.

All of this is just to say that if what acts as your figurative cup of coffee in the morning is the thought of teaching 17-year olds about The Cold War or mitosis or Shakespeare, we will be just fine.

We'll live in a small*, older house, with chipped paint and a kitchen table we'll refinish ourselves.

We'll find adventures in weekend camping trips and coveted nights out, but mostly in good conversation and great food.

Made by yours truly, of course.

We'll learn to save our pennies and nickels and dimes and when we finally have enough to take that big trip to Europe or South America or Africa that we've always wanted to take, we'll appreciate it that much more.

So, dear, do what you love, love what you do, and love me too.

*I don't much care for housework, anyway. So, in my opinion, the less house to clean, the better.

image via deviantart

pitter pat

{Colby posted this image on Pray Hard. Live Easy today. She always has the most perfect quotes and such beautiful pictures.}

All I have to say is, frankly, I don't mind being barefoot in the kitchen.

image seen at prayhard.liveeasy

Roots

Is it possible to fall in love with someone's family, before you fall in love with them?

To want to be swallowed up in the chaos of a life you didn't grow up with.

To understand the inside jokes and references to family stories.

To share a last name, but not a bloodline.

And to be trusted enough to live up to that name. To know what it's like to be a "______."

I feel like I know just a bit how Lucy feels in "While You Were Sleeping," when she says "I fell in love with all of you," talking about the whole family.

It's not that I'm planning on changing my last name anytime soon.

But when I do, I want to love his family almost as much as I will love him.

And I hope that they feel the same way about me.

image via this

Let's pretend like it's the summer.

The past six days have been pretty heavy.

Two midterms.

One weekend living in the Adlab.

3 days of falling asleep in my classes (what's new?).

This week has been good to me, though. The crappy days are a reminder of what I'm capable of, and I needed that.

"Fear less, hope more; eat less, chew more; whine less*, breathe more; talk less, say more; love more and all good things will be yours."

-Swedish Proverb

image via sabino

*I'm working on this one.

You say "ee-ther" and I say "eye-ther"*

Love-to-be:

I hope you don't fall asleep when we listen to "A Christmas Carol," the old radio version. Because my family listens to it every year, and it's one of my favorite traditions.

I hope you like fudge and almond roca, because my mom makes the best.


I don't know if I'll ever be able to cook a turkey or a Christmas ham to perfection like my mother or grandmother, but for you, I'll sure try my best.

I hope that you want to bundle up and go cut down our own tree, and that we'll quarrel just a little bit over which one to get. But we'll settle it over candy canes and hot cocoa.

I hope that you have funky ornaments you made in grade school, just like I do. Because they have so much character.

I hope you like my family. And I hope I like yours just as well.

And even if your family does things differently when it comes to Christmas, I'm okay with that. We'll compromise. And make our own traditions.

I hope we don't get too caught up in the shopping and cooking and planning to remember that his holiday is about love, and giving of ourselves, rather than our pocketbooks.

Because those are always the best gifts.

"It is a fair, even-handed, noble adjustment of things, that while there is infection in disease and sorrow, there is nothing in the world so infectious as laughter and good-humor."

-A Christmas Carol, Charles Dickens

image via deviantart

*I've always been a sucker for jazz. Especially this time of year.

"bendita la luz de tu mirada"

a little evidence of my recent purchases from my new favorite music store...

Oh how I love this CD already. I can't believe I waited this long to buy it.

And the other two that I bought:
One I've been wanting for a long time...

And one I fell in love with...again.

Music makes my heart happy.

a little bit of goodbye

Today was my last full day in my beautiful Oregon, before I leave for currently-sunny-but-soon-to-be-snowy-you-know-where.

We shopped a little.
My mother and I.
And we ate a little junk food.
And got lost in Everyday Music. Definitely a new favorite. (I might have bought three CDs on impulse.)
And we watched a wonderful movie: Julie & Julia

I love Oregon, my mom and music. A lot. It was a perfect day.

{And on a random note: I bought a pair of skinny jeans. Black ones. This is totally out of character for me; I don't do "trendy." But I like them. I really do. And don't blame me if tomorrow is the third day I wear them...in a row.}

i love my little town

I got up early today. (And by early, I mean, 8:27 am)

My ma and I went and picked peaches and mulberries (surprisingly really good!) at Sterken Farm U-Pick. I'm thinking peach pie this sunday is a definite possibility :).

Then we went to my new favorite little bakery, cafe & country store, Lighthouse Center. It's this adorable little place out in Umpqua. I took a quick tour, because we didn't have very much time, but was already drooling when I saw they have pistachios in bulk, organic dark chocolate, fresh produce, and fresh BREAD. I'm dying to get some of their Garlic Romano, and try their Triple Cheese. For breakfast, I got some chocolate-dipped almond biscotti. It was to-die-for.

I plan on making many a trip their way this summer.

This just further confirms my belief that it is so much more fun to shop at small independent businesses. Katie's right, they have so much character.

Mmm...small town fever. It's addicting.


{Also. I think I am this. An Ethicurean. At least I try to be. Check it out.}

photo via Think Local Umpqua Blog

Carolina

A while ago, one of those "forward-esque" notes on facebook/emails/copy and paste type things circulated about posting 25 random things about yourself. I never did it before, but the thought just came to me to do it, over time, one fact at a time. So here goes:

Random Fact about Laura #1:

I am, and always will be, an Oregon girl.

(anyone who knows me well, knows how proud I am of that fact, and how much I love the trees, the rain, the lack of sales tax, and the tie-dye.)

BUT, I must say that I have significant amounts of California blood (from my mother) and Southern roots, (Charleston, South Carolina from my grandmother).


I need the beach, the pouring rain, and southern barbeque. Is that too much to ask for?


*Note: the title of this post is the title of my favorite Matt Wertz song. Check it out.