Welcome to: The Comedy Club Stardome

Saturday night turned out to be quite the affair!

**A little background: Sam had invited Dave and me to The Comedy Club back about two years ago. Before the show was over, they asked us to fill out these little questionnaires, said you could win prizes, etc. Of course I was down for that! Little did I know that they would call me once every three months with 12 free tickets! Anyway, that's the reason that lead us to Birmingham on Saturday night, and what a good night it was :)



The "headliner" was absolutely HILARIOUS! I can't remember the last time we laughed as hard as we all did that night. The show was great and the friends we spent the evening with made everything that much better. So, next time we get a call (for 12 free tickets) you might just get a call to come with us - and you should because what's better than getting to laugh for two whole hours?

Thank you to Luke and Julianna for always being our partners in crime; Sarah and Blair for reuniting part of our BIG group of Bham friends (and having one of my very best friends back in town in order for me to have fun nights with!); and most especially my brother - I had a blast Big Guy! Can't wait to do it again!

New School Year... New Experiences

About three weeks ago, Luke and Julianna invited Dave and me to go to church with them one Sunday morning and for the last three weeks now, I've been wondering why it's taken us so long to find a place we BOTH enjoy! I've found myself longing during the week for Sunday mornings... for the two of us to be enveloped in this AMAZING atmosphere, TOGETHER.

The Church at Tuscaloosa is absolutely ASTOUNDING. The worship... the wonderful people... the way the message is delivered and how it convicts your soul... I love it all.

For three and a half years now, I've been searching for this place... somewhere both of us were happy... somewhere that when we walked out of the front door, our entire conversation on the way home was about how what we had just heard applied to the two of us. I like contemporary worship. Dave had always said he didn't. But, when we walked out of TCAT three weeks ago today, I was elated to hear that he was excited we had gone!

So, here's to another adventure we have started TOGETHER and to hoping it brings wonderful revelations to us along the way.

Once again, we have such dear, sweet friends. Thank You!

What a surprise!

So, I had a surprise waiting for me when I got home from clinical on Thursday night!
Dave had snuck into my apartment and put them on my dining room table right when you walk in the door for me to see when I got home. It was a nice ending to a very stressful day. They are so pretty and make my apartment smell all girly! I had to seperate the arrangement today though and put the flowers in smaller vases because of some the gerber daisies started to wilt AND because I wanted to enjoy them in my room as well as in the living room before they all died (Dave didn't like this idea too much, but now I get to see them when I walk into my bedroom, too!).

Thanks a MILLION, Dave!

Laguna

Last weekend Dave and I were both graced by a visit from our sweet parents! And on this trip, Sandye came bearing a little gift from her vacation to Laguna! I have always loved her mugs that she finds from local artists galleries wherever her and Mike may go and this time she brought me back one!
Now, I know my family is going, "But, Loren, you don't drink coffee." Well, folks, I will let you in on a little secret I came to find out during finals this last May. If I mix half a cup of coffee with half a cup of hot chocolate, it's just right. I can only imagine some of you coffee drinkers reacting with an, "EWWWW!", but for now, that works for me... Until I find something I like better, anyway. So, I had my first cup of "choco-coffee" yesterday morning and just wanted to send a little THANK YOU to Sandye! I LOVE my new mug!

**(I didn't think about this until this afternoon though, so I ran over to Dave's, made him take my picture and so you now have this blog!)

OH, the joys of school!

As most of you know, school is back in session! Some of us are excited about this happening (Sandye, that would be you), while others of us are extremely sad (that would be me and my mom and dad). Even though I had an incredible summer, I'm never quite ready to leave home... AGAIN. There's something about being home that will forever make leaving HARD. I love coming home to my mom making dinner and her waiting anxiously to hear my "story of the day". I love sitting at the bar with both mom and dad waiting for Daddy to ask, "Did anything exciting happen today?" or his famous quote of the summer, "How many cokes did you sell today?". But once I packed up my little Honda and drove all my belongings back to school, I had to leave all those wonderful things behind :(

I did however come back to school not moving into my matchbox sized room at the sorority house, but my new apartment. Mom and I had come down the first weekend in August to do the little things (unpacking dishes, Tupperware, pots and pans, silverware, etc and wash them) before moving all the big things in. So that weekend we also hung blinds (or Dave did, I was so proud), lined all the cabinets and CLEANED - because we all know (if you know mom and me) that no one cleans well enough for us. So, even though we had walked in that weekend and found this little cleaning company's card, mom proceeded to RE-CLEAN what had already been cleaned, and I am SOOO appreciative of that :) After coming back down the next weekend and moving all the furniture in, it slowly began to take form. Now, all the pictures are hung and the objects arranged and it feels a little like home. There are still a few things I want to do, but those are projects I'm saving for when Momma comes to stay :)

This was my Chirstmas present from Dave (and my study table - sorry about all the books and bookbags)! He gave it to me early (he can't keep secrets!).

This is the first piece of furnature I ever bought the summer before I came to college!

Dave checks in on me MULTIPLE times a day and makes me feel a little safer while I'm still in the process of looking for a roommate (which I am in desperate need of). He's also quite the little handy man! He helped me hang my Daniel Moore print, fixed my dryer, called the cable guy for me after he found out what the girl I had talked to was charging me, hooked up my cable box, secured my shelves in the bathroom... just all sorts of stuff! I'm finding new sides of him every day ;) He even called me one day on his way to work and said "Hey, there's an estate over here like you're going to Fastenal. You should go!". I was so proud - and I actually found a little table to put by my couch! I'm glad he's close!

As for school: YUCK!

I had orientation last week. Nine to Five Wednesday, Thursday and Friday. And as most of them have gone in the past - for nursing school anyway, I came home crying... AGAIN. For whatever reason, I always get so overwhelmed those first three days (that's not to say it doesn't follow me throughout the semester as well, but orientation seems to have this death grip of anxiousness that wraps itself around me and just won't let go). But after crying and talking to my mom and Dave I realized this is just one more stepping stone to the bigger picture, and that not everything I was upset about is bad. "What could possibly be BAD?" you might be asking yourself. Well, let me just tell you. I found out that ALL of my classes would be moved to MONDAY'S from 8am until 6 pm and that my clinicals for Adult Health will be on Thursday and Friday NIGHTS from 3pm until 11pm the whole semester. My first reaction to the class thing: No big deal. That just gives me another reason to get up, put something cute on and look nice all day at class (while everyone else decides to wear their usual t-shirt and Nike shorts). My reaction to the clinical schedule: TEARS! TEARS TEARS! Not only does this just suck because of the days, but that ruins my normal study hours and also means going home is going to be hard. That cuts me short one night each time and I like to go home, that's where my momma and daddy are, after all. BUT, there are a lot of up-sides to the clinical process, and I'm going to hope that it all turns out for the best... AFTER my first test on Monday - AHHH!!!!

On the weekend front, Dave and I have been accompanied by our good friends Luke and Julianna for the better half of the last two weekends and we usually have the same itinerary:

• Friday Night: Dinner and Innisfree
• Saturday: Pool and Dinner
• Sunday: Church and an afternoon activity

It's nice to have close friends that like to hang out and understand all your ways better than you realize :) These two are really very special to us!

Sorry we've been lacking on the updates here lately. Everything's been so crazy since we got back from Vegas. I promise to take a little time at least once a week to let you in on our little life here in TTown. Football season's starting soon, after all, and I'm sure there will be some stories to tell! Find a weekend and come visit. It's sure to be ball!

Until then...