A Christmas Gift for the Future

If you're close to me, it's not an unknown fact that one day, I'd love to open my own coffeeshop. Only me working behind the counter, maybe my lover (second to coffee, that is) too, the aroma of espresso, and my customers to entertain me during the day, which would be fine by me. God, I'd give anything for the next five Christmases to be filled with bean grinders and coffeeclub memberships. I know how odd this might sound to some of you. But really, since I was a child, I always dreamed of doing just this. I distinctly recall sitting at our island in our kitchen, drawing the corner coffeeshop with the arched doorway and stoop that would sit in the city. The door was a blue tint with a heavy brass knob. I still have the drawing in my sketch book. I always thought of having a roof garden for patrons to get away from the bustle of the city streets, to enjoy trees and flowers while having their coffee. God, it would be perfect...

My boyfriend bought me two books this Christmas that dealt with opening your own coffeeshop. And, although it was a gift most people wouldn't have enjoyed as thoroughly as I did, I had to choke back tears. How strange, that a book concerning coffee could bring me to wipe my eyes! And yet, it was not about the coffee. It was that someone was giving to me books that would help me to accomplish my goals, my dreams, without a hint of sarcasm or doubt hidden in the meaning of the giving. That is what meant the world to me.

Ironically enough, he does not know that I wrote these exact words in my senior year book: "I plan to attend a private university for international business/entrepreneurship. I will travel throughout Europe, meet an amazing man, and eventually open my own coffee shop in which I will stock the novels I'll write."

Well, I go to Elizabethtown. Check.
I was International Business. Check. (Scratch that off of the list).
Switched to English to better write the novels. Check.

And met an amazing man, whom I'm hoping I can one day travel with in Europe and that he will one day be there when I buy my own place to open my dream coffee shop. <3

Funny the way things work out...

Excuses, excuses!

Friends, I apologize for not writing. I promised myself over Christmas break I would write more on my blog, but low and behold, sleep has a way of sneaking up on me and dragging me to dreamland in the oddest of places. The other day, I fell asleep on my sofa sitting dead upright, only to be rudely awakened by the four-month old creature my parents adopted. Rocky, if you haven't heard, is the newest addition to our family. And he is the cutest puppy ever. No matter how cute your puppy is/was, I'm convinced this adopted teddy bear is the most precious thing I have ever seen. But anyways, back to my excuses for not writing.

See, you know the phrase "things aren't always as they seem to appear,", right? Well, how accurate this is in this situation! Funny thing is, I HAVE been writing. Just not on my blog; I've decided it's time for me to actually write, not that what I write on here isn't actual writing, but it isn't edited, reviewed, and re-edited...the whole shebang, you know what I'm trying to say. So after a little bit of planning and a lot of frustration, I am now on my third page of a manuscript. And I am very, very excited. Of course, I've hit some bumps in the road, but I'm plugging along pretty well so far. My goal is to hopefully have something finished in rough format in a year, and if things keep progressing like they are right now, I will have a storyline completed.

I'm trying to keep it a bit hush-hush, although I realize posting to a blog that I am writing a book is not the most private of ways to keep a matter secretive, I decided I owed my readers a bit of an explanation for my laziness. Of course, once the holidays settle down, I'm positive I will be back on my blog, writing away.

My main issue is, it is very difficult for me to think of prompts, so I have a proposition: If you have a subject you would like for me to write a blurb on, I will definitely take employment! I crave new ideas that are out of the box from my mind, so please, comment away and give me some prompts.

I hope you all are enjoying time with your families. Merry Christmas!

With love,
Lauren.

A blurb on Christmas. :)

So I've been away from blogging for a little while; sometimes, unfortunately, college gets the best of me, and it is difficult to find time to write. It's especially hard when I do writing in all of my other classes, and by the time I get to the computer to write what I actually WANT to write, I'm exhausted.
Has anyone noticed all the Christmas Cheer going around? I know here at Elizabethtown, it is everywhere: people writing Christmas Cards in the Blue Bean, Christmas music being played all over campus, Christmas-themed parties being thrown in the quads. My boyfriend made me an amazing Christmas drink a few weeks ago, his own concoction: delicious!
I seriously wish every month could have the same cheer. Maybe it's just me, but from the end of November to the beginning of January, people are just nicer. I know I feel much more alive. The only thing that upsets me is the commercialism that has occurred with Christmas. Somewhere along the generations, I think the true meaning and feelings have been buried under the obligations and stress of shopping for people you barely know, spending money you don't need to spend.
I know as a college student, I really don't have much money to spend. So, time to get creative with gifts. I'd give some ideas, but I don't want to spill the beans because some people might be reading this post. I love thinking of personal gifts that have an intimate meaning behind them; from the time when I gave my mom shadow boxes of my brother and me when we were little, she loved it more than any purchased gift could ever mean. So, this Christmas, show your love in a different way. Create things for the person you love, give meaningful gifts to your parents, maybe something from your childhood.
Also, I attend a college with a motto "Educate for Service", and I was thinking about this today; I've been so wrapped up in myself and school that I haven't had time to go out and do anything for people. I remember in high school, I volunteered for a soup kitchen, and it was freezing outside, but the feeling of goodwill warmed me up a bit. Last year, I drove to a mall to buy Legos for an underprivileged child (and wrecked my car in the process, but that's beyond the point; I MAKE SACRIFICES), and (besides the car wreck), I felt pretty good about myself (it was raining and my windows were really foggy, ok. No women driver jokes).
But anywayssss... So instead of buying, give of yourself. I honestly think that giving a part of yourself to another person, whether it be through volunteering or making a gift for them that has a true meaning means the world to the receiver. I know it does to me.