my goodness!!! i can't believe it's almost the end of the year. wow! i ALSO can't believe that i turn 25 tomorrow!!!!! yikes! no more of this "early twenties" business...

so on the eve of my quarter century, what is there to write about? lots, actually.

a) wedding planning is going well! we finally picked a date and secured the location. it'll be in april 2010, and we're getting married here in the la area! neither of us can wait! :D our wedding website is currently under construction, but when it's ready, i'll surely post a link to it on here, so keep an eye out for that! we took a few engagement pics with our friend, jer, but the weather was bad, so we plan on taking some more. here is just a little taste, though...




b) last weekend, parker and i went to visit his parents and family in virginia! it was just the perfect dose of fall that i always crave this time of year (especially since living in la, where seasons don't exist). we did a ton of hiking, eating, and good old-fashioned hanging out. it was so crazy and wonderful knowing that i was sitting around a table with my future family-in-law!!! i couldn't be more blessed, though--i've said it before, but i'm inheriting the best family!




there are more pictures that i haven't gotten ahold of, but it was just beautiful and we were so spoiled! also, parker's older sister, molly got engaged to jesse, while we were there!! so wonderful to be a part of that!



c) i just made some changes to my professional website: laurenparrent.com. i added a bunch of links on my reels page to videos that i've done the voiceover work on! i've also been doing weekly improv with monkeybutlercomedy.com and i'm LOVING it! i've only been taking the class for about two months and i just got word that i'm getting promoted to the next level! i've always loved comedy, and feel that it's my forte, so it's exciting to see another route of acting being set in my path. hopefully there will be updates on this front soon!

d) we just finished celebrating one of my favorite holidays--halloween!!! i LOVE dressing up and trick-or-treating was always a huge deal for our family growing up. anyway, parker and i had two halloween parties, and thus, two costumes! let me tell you, we used a TON of cardboard! anyway, here we are as 1) the geico gecko and the money you could be saving with geico, (along with jon who was the geico caveman), and 2) ms. pacman and inky the ghost!




e) my mama is here for a visit!!! i can't wait to do a bunch of fun wedding and non-wedding things with her! hooray family!

ok, more soon i hope! take care!

as my time in indiana winds down, and i prepare for my return trip to the city of angels, i thought i'd take some time to sit down and document my annual holiday pilgrimage to the midwest. it's been a wonderful Christmas spent with friends and family, where i've visited several of my "homes," and traveled through missouri, indiana, kentucky, and tennessee--when i head back this way, i really try to make it count.

my holidays began before i left los angeles, with some presents, parties, ice skating (outdoors in santa monica, complete with palm trees!), it's a wonderful life watching, and verrrrry serious apartment decorating, evidence of which you can see below...



my flight to st. louis was thankfully uneventful, and i loved the subsequent car ride with my good buddy, kyle, and the frigid wintry air biting at my nose!!! spending a few days at my first stop in missouri was amazing. i love my cape families, and my best friends from high school--we always seem to pick up right where we left off! we celebrated with a baby shower for kelly, and got some cute pictures. i know i'm probably a little biased, but i think we're all aging quite well ;) here we all are with kelly and baby!!



then, of course, we had to take our signature staircase picture at meredith's house. if you've known me since my high school days, you may have seen our almost full decade of pictures on these stairs. if not, maybe sometime i'll scan a series of these. that would actually be pretty hilarious--proms, Christmases, bad hair, babies, spice girls...these stairs have seen a lot, let me just tell you...



after the shower, mom and i headed to evansville, where i spent the next few days relaxing and enjoying having television and my huge queen sized bed, and staying inside to avoid the inclement weather! hanging with the family was, of course, a favorite part of my trip. and, i had fun with my "5/3 family" at my mom's work Christmas shindig (shoutout to all you guys!). next came Christmas and KY with extended family, delicious food, and spirited board games, to name a few fun things! here's a little family pic for ya:



another fun outing in kentucky was our annual Christmas trip to the movies...except this year was sort of more exciting because i had my "big screen debut," haha! ok, so not really, i was just an extra and barely even saw myself, but! we went to see adam sandler's "bedtime stories," which i was VERY briefly in earlier this year. if you go see it, i'm in the pier/beach scene riding by on an orange bike. blue tank top and red shorts. i seriously had to strain to find myself. it was a bit like "where's waldo," so good luck! maybe this time next year i'll have been in something where i actually have a line or something (gasp!), but until then, thanks to my friends and family who joined me in the trek to the theater to see even my blurry premiere.



all in all, the holidays have been excellent, and i'm relishing in my last moments here, while also looking forward to going back to california. i hope you all had blessed Christmases (or other holidays), and were able to escape the craziness of the season to experience the heart of the holiday. this will most likely be my last post of 2008 (wow), so i wish you all a great last few days, and an even greater 2009! something tells me it's going to be another good year...

take care.
lp

since i've been writing more infrequently, these posts tend to be pretty lengthy and content-rich. hope that's ok with you all. this one is certainly no exception...


yard sales
first things first, i can't recall if i already blogged about this, but i don't think so, AND even if i did, it is notable enough to reiterate!! scott, holland, and i went yard saling a couple weeks ago, and i have never had better luck! i found several things for great deals; things that i've been thinking about getting for months!! including: a $3 pair of chucks, a $2 camping pad, some cute clothes, and...a BIKE!! a basically new one for only TWENTY dollars! i've already used it several times, and it's so wonderful to have for exercise, transportation, and just for beach cruising. in fact, i'm pretty sure i passed owen wilson on the bike path in venice the other day...

and here it is in all it's pink glory!



easter
i had an excellent easter this year!! i got to see the sun both rise and set on easter sunday, which i've never done ever before. and both the beginning and end of the day was on a beach with gorgeous weather. i can't complain. a bunch of people from our church went to a sunrise service on the beach, to celebrate the resurrection of Christ with about 20 westside la churches. it was super early, but it was definitely worth it!

after that, i took a nap :) and then was treated to a delicious easter brunch (my first eggs benedict-so good!!) at liz's house. we dyed eggs the night before, and then had this wonderful meal with several friends! here's a glimpse of some of our colorful eggs (complete with bobble-head Jesus!), and then liz (our lovely hostess!), holland, jd (holland's friend from college who now lives here), amy (liz's roommate), and me (in my $1 yard sale easter dress)!




as if that weren't enough fun for an easter sunday...holland and i then party hopped on down to manhattan beach, ca, just a few miles south on the coast. holland attended asbury university in kentucky, and a lot of her fellow classmates relocated to the la area to use their media degrees. so...they all got together for an easter beach cookout, and i tagged along. like i said, the weather was amazing--it was about 90 degrees that day, but not stifling or anything! we had burgers on the beach, juicy watermelon, and sat around until the sunset that evening, just hanging out and chatting. it was the perfect end to a really full day.

here we are on our way to the beach.
















manhattan is adorable. it's a very wealthy town, so there are nice houses, and the beach was beautiful.
















these are all the asburians (holland's college pals) getting together for a little photo shoot to send home to their alma mater.
















me on the beach, and our friend, parker, in the background, braving the freezing ocean waters!!
















next...my family came for their visit!
my mom, cody, and his friend, tyler came for about 5 days at the end of march. we had so much fun! i think the highlight of the trip for the boys was that they got addicted to the best frozen yogurt place in the world-pinkberry! it's only in nyc and california, i think, but if it ever comes your way, definitely give it a go. we spent time on the beach, in venice, and breezed through tourist spots like hollywood and the fashion district. they got to experience a lot of culture, and i really enjoyed their company! oh, and we saw the movie "21," which i recommend!! it was so great to have them here...it was a first big trip west for my brother (and i was happy to share that with him), and my mom was really glad to see how i had settled in, since last she left me, all she had seen was an empty apartment and a car full of possessions! below are some pictures from their excursion. one at my house, some on the beach, and one with the skyline.





i bet you thought that was it, right? wrong-O! :) just a couple more things.

one, this past tuesday, i did extra work on the tv show "ghost whisperer." it's jennifer love hewitt's show, however she wasn't in any of the scenes that day, only her co-star jay mohr. it was fun, and as always, i met some cool people. on guy, joe, is a really creative photographer/graphic designer, and i think he and i might meet up to do some themed photo shoots for fun in the near future...

and finally...

futbol
last night, i lucked upon an extra ticket to the opening home game of the la galaxy soccer team (yes, david beckham's team). so, holland, nate, jd, and i made it a thursday evening roadtrip, which turned out to be loads of fun! we were in the car most of the afternoon and evening, since we had to all get together from various parts of the greater los angeles area, and then drive down south to the home depot center, where the galaxy plays. we saw a great game, too! the galaxy beat the san jose earthquakes 2-1. and, there were fireworks afterwards, too, as a special season opener treat!! for all your harry potter fans out there, when i got to stadium, i seriously felt like i was at the quidditch world cup! i loved it, and i really want to go to another game!

here's me playing around with the camera on the way




here's becks. and some pics of the stadium and scoreboard.





and here are the four of us diehard roadtrippers! so much fun and laughing, i love it!





after the game, we had to make an honorary stop at sonic. it's the closest one to us, so anytime sonic-lovers from la go near where we were, it's basically a requirement to at least get a lemonberry slush and some onion rings!!


ok, i lied, there is one more thing. i have been feeling very nostalgic for good ole mizzou. well, really just my friends in the mid-missouri area, lol. and, so i decided to plan a trip to missouri for mid-may. if you're reading this and you are one of those friends in that general area, then know that i really hope i get to see you when i make that trip! more details to follow, i'm sure.

congrats to those of you who made it this far. thanks for your diligence, readers :)

~lp