The Forgotten Holiday

I have many things in my life that I am thankful for. Instead of making a long blog(as Lauren Godwin tells me they are) I will just try to list things that I am so very THANKFUL for. If I forget something or someone please forgive me and know that I love you dearly.

-God's LOVE for me......there are no words that can describe this

-My Parents...I know they give up so much so that I can have this wonderful life. I hope I make them proud one day.

-My Family....we are all scattered in age but I can count on them for ANYTHING

-The Cowan's ..They are my second family. I would not have made it through many days without them. They always make me feel like I am special.

-All of my AMAZING friends...You were all placed into my life for a reason and I thank God that he chose you to put up with me!!

-The University of Alabama....yes I have been here long enough to call it my home but I can't explain the person that UA has helped me become and the confidence I have from attending this great place.


-My Roommate...yes she is a friend but I think she is special enough to have her own personal shout out! Thank you for ALWAYS putting up with my mess and doing the dishes. I would not have any if it were not for you! Love you


-The other 2 not mentioned above you know who you are......Its been a great few years together and I don't want to think about us being "big girls"...the end

-Mrs. Jan Brakefield....for making me feel like I am going to be a difference maker in this world.

-Butler and Patrician Academy for helping me develop into the woman I am today

-Leslie and The Nashville Country Club.....for making my dreams come true with the most amazing internship and for showing me that I can make it in this world in a "big city"

-Blake for giving me hope for the future and for just being him

-Those cute little Pillsbury cookies that Lauren and Leigh Ann introduced to me

-My Precious MEME....I love her more than words can explain.

-LOU...my best friend since 1st grade....that says a lot!

-FOOTBALL

Flush Wipe Flush Wipe....Feliz Navidad

Since it is the time of year to be giving thanks .....I am so thankful for many things in my life. One of those things being my amazing friends. I was once told a quote that said "If you have one true friend in life then you are blessed." Well I am so happy to say that I have more than one true friend. This weekend I did not feel so great. Even though I did not feel well it was a memory filled weekend. I did not make it to the game because I was running a fever but I got up and went to the concert. I could not miss this show no matter how bad I felt and I'm so glad I went.

For starters I have been without a cell phone for a couple of days now. As many of you know this is KILLER for me. Something as simple as going over to Lauren and Leigh Anne's to borrow their phone is something I should not take for granted. It's something small but I am so grateful for the friends I have. People defiantly come into our lives for a reason. These little Georgia Peaches always brighten my day. I sure am glad their parents raised them right and taught them the meaning of BAMA Pride!!!

Paige also came into town this weekend. We miss our Paige a lot now that she is not in Tuscaloosa. It's always great on game weekends because we get to see her. This weekend we also had concert tickets to go see Jamey Johnson and Randy Houser. It was WONDERFUL!!! Nothing like a bunch of BAMA people joined together for a country music concert. You never know what you might see. At one point a KY guy got so excited over Jamey that he thought it would be a wise idea to throw his shirt across the Alabama Theater. I don't know if the events planner at the Alabama Theater quite knew what they were signing up for when the closet thing to Hank Jr. wanted to come to town. I guess the KY guy forgot that it was 20 degrees outside. I'm sure that was a fun ride home!! We also had to evict someone during the show for smoking pot. Keep it classy .....Keep is classy.

Before the concert we went to have a little dinner at Crazy Cajun's. Let's just say Princess Paige is hard to please when it comes to food. The spicy ranch was more than she could handle along with.....EVERYTHING else they had!

On the way home Amy and I talked away....Princess Paige was about gone. We finally get back into Tuscaloosa we stop to get something to drink at the McDonald's drive-thru. I turn the radio station and out of the backseat we hear FELIZ NAVIDAD as loud as can be. Well lets say if you ever want to make the Princess happy crank up the Feliz Navidad!!

We laughed and laughed this weekend over different things that are unique about us all. These are the memories that will last forever. I'm so thankful that the Big Man Upstairs has a plan for each and every one of us. I am so glad he placed each and everyone of us in Tuscaloosa Alabama when he did. So as Thanksgiving draws near one thing I am very thankful for are the friends that I have made throughout my life.

Cotton Pickin' Ain't Half Bad

I must go ahead and warn you I have a lot to say. I must also let you know that The Patterson's will be mentioned in this blog more than once!! This past weekend or should I say week...I decided to go and stay with one of my best friends Paige and her family. Let me just go ahead and say that I have made some of the best friends in college a girl could ask for and each of our families have just taken us in as their own. I think any of us could go to the others home and be treated just like we were their own child. That is such an AMAZING feeling.



Well Paige and I were planning a little trip to Nashville just to go play but I also wanted to get a little lesson I would like to call COTTON PICKIN' 101! It was so much fun...I learned way more about BOB and FLAVA FLAV than I did about the cotton. I got to see the biggest John Deere piece of machinery that I have ever laid my eyes on. It picks 6 rows of cotton at a time...none of that hand pickin going on anymore! I had no clue that it was not done by hand anymore. I also got to work the cotton presser as I would lik to call it. Mr. Don(Daddy Patterson) taught me how to work it and let me go to town. I was out there for maybe 30 minutes but it was a ball as you will see in the pictures posted.


Mr. Don teaching me

I'm working it now

Here the pusher is going to town


Paige, Mr. Don, and Flava Flav working on the finished product or the pusher


ROLL TIDE!!

While at the Patterson's I had some of the best food. I love Teresa's(Mama Patterson) cooking.....it's called RESTURANT of your choice!! Mr. Don picked thecutest little whole in the wall I have ever seen for the first meal called PoBoys. It is owed by a LSU fan who serves cajan food. However, he obviously knew he could not be a rajan cajan in Alabama and not give credit to all SEC teams. He had the eiling tles painted like wach of the SEC teams..also you will seetis in the pictures. I had a Muffaletta and bread puddin..it was GREAT. I will be going back on day.

The next night was my pick ......ROSIE'S!!!! It was wonderful as always.

Before we were ready to head to Rosie's Paige wanted to show me the pasture. Well I was down I love the country shoot thats where I'm from. We head out and dang if we do not get stuck. Paige goes clinch mode and does not want to call her parents. We call everyone we know trying to get the 4WD to work. We finally have to call Mr. Don.....well I will let the pics tell the rest of the story...









Saturday Paige and I headed to Nashville but not before we went through Fayetteville TN to try to find a Regions bank. NOT SUCESSFULL AT ALL. That was a town and an experience that I will never forget.

We had us a GiGi's cupcake once we arrived in Nashville and then we did lunch at none of than a Paige/LaLa favorite the "Doba." We had the pleasure of being surrounded by drunk Vandy Frat boys...hey it gave us something to laugh about! We then went dowtown for I kid you not 10 minutes just to look around and take some pics. I love the downtown area....and I am not a tourist!! We must go back one day when we have more time to play. I had a massage to go to at 4 that was a gift from my wonderful boss Leslie at the Nashville Country Club (goncc.com). We then met Leslie and followed her to the Tin Roof 2 to watch the BAMA game and have dinner. That was a night full of memories.



We arrived at about 6 on the dot. We sat down ordered our food and in that amount of time had a ...drunk friend address us. Our little friend was from New York and he needed some help. We all said we were students at Alabama hoping he would go away...oh nooooooo he just demanded that the bar tender give us Alabama Slamma's. We all looked at him like he was crazy and he could not figure out why we would not take the shots. Thanks but No Thanks New York. Mr. New York got himself a cab at 7:25....yes he was that drunk! The food was wonderful and atmosphere was even better. Of course I had the whole resturant/bar as out friend because I am that loud..and friendly!! We ended up meeting a past State football player and non other than Eli Manning's Father-in-Law. How Cool...he was the sweetest man ever. It was a great night as always when the TIDE wins! I sang Ramma-Jamma for the Tin Roof ...well really the state fan and then we left.




We stayed at Leslie's house and let me tell you a pull out with Paige is about the closest thing to what I invision Hell being like.....JUST KIDDING! But it was pretty rough.I hugged a metal pole most of the night because princess needed the whole bed or so she thought. Well I think I left there with a worse back issue than I went there with!

We had a little shopping to do at the Opry Mills before we could head out of town. Paige tried on something in every store and did not buy a thing....for a moment with all thatr trying on I was wondering was she Abby!! We also were on a mad dash for some Chargers gear. All I have to say is next time Mrs. Teresa you can get your workout walking that dang mall 3 times over!!

It was such a relaxing fun weekend. I really did not want to leave but due to the fact I have 2 test tomorrow ...I had to. This weekend is also going to be great becasue Paige is coming down to hang with the girls.

JAMEY JOHNSON and RANDY HOUSER satuday night after the game!! AHHHHH Paige and I are ready we practiced the whole CD the whole weekend hahaha!

Bye Bye Cotton Pickin....Booooo School!!!

I Miss My Hair...and Nashville

So tonight I watched the CMA's and yeah I almost cried. Not because the show was emotional but because I miss Nashville so much. The show was amazing, I loved every single minute of it!!



I'm super excited about my weekend festivities. Tomorrow I'm going to hang out with Blake after class. Then I'm heading to Huntsville to see one of my other families the Patterson's! We are going to eat Rosie's and pick cotton!! I'm fired up Ive never picked cotton before. On Friday Paige and I are heading up to the Nashville! YAY!!! My home away from home. I miss my hair but I really miss Nashville. I hope I can find a job there.....say a prayer! Then we are going to make Paige and Abby apply in Nashville as well...how stinkin fun would that be. Of course we would love the Byrd to join but you never know from day to day with that teaching.



So Saturday we are going to play in Nashville. Hang out with my boss from this summer Leslie. Then I get my massage FINALLY! I'm so excited I can't wait. Then maybe on Sunday we can find tickets to the Titans vs. Bills game to see my VY! If that does not happen then it will be ok...but I do LOVE my TITANS!!

So one more thing to get excited about....Amy, Paige, and I are all going to the Jamey Johnson - Randy Houser concert. Paige and I have been looking forward to this for a couple of months now..its going to be so fun! Then I talk to Blake and he says they got tickets...after I already asked that terd to go. Well if they got their tickets tonight like we did...I'm real nervous that we will be sitting in the same dang section. That should get interesting! Haha

Ok I'm going to sleep now...I'm way tired!

My Birthday week is now over…sad day. However, I must say that my Birthday week was PERFECT!



I will recap the week for you:
Thursday- B’day Dinner with Abby
Friday- Mom and MeMe took me to Bday Lunch…Prepared for BAMA domination of LSU….Midnight got some of the best phone calls to wish me Happy Birthday
Saturday- Sick as a dog because I was so worked up over the football game… Watched as my TIDE beat those Tigers!!!!
Sunday-Took the whole day to recover from the emotional roller coaster witnessed the night before!

So how could I not say that my weekend was PERFECT!!! BAMA showed the SEC how the WEST was won!

So today Amy and I had a great ROOMIE day! We watched about 15 episodes of 20/20 that had collected up on the DVR, both of us did homework, and we went and tried Yogurt Mountain….you MUST try it=AMAZING! I love her dearly and cherish the moments I get with her. I asked her tonight what she was going to do if I did get a job and had to move….her response “I guess find someone to pay the other half of the rent.” Great I’m glad that was what she came up with!! Nahhh I know she will miss me just like I will LOVE getting to finally run the flippin air 24/7. My favorite part of the night was when we were looking at our bills. I asked her how much the power was she told me. I then asked how much is the water? She said yay the water is way down. Last month we used 5000 gallons of water and this month only 3600 gallons. First of all I have no clue how we use that much water but whatever. She says I don’t know either but our bill is only $121.00 I about lost it I said ONLY $121.00 dollars… a water bill should only be around 20-30 dollars. She said Ohhhhh its only $36.00 we averaged 121 something. This is why I love Amy Byrd……..she always brings laughter to my life!!!! Gah I LOVE HER!

She has also recently found someone else’s blog that she likes. Let me say she has no clue who this person is but it has brought her all kinds of entertainment. I made her assure me that livinglikelala would remain at the top of her list considering she ACTUALLY knows me.
As the times nears for me to begin applying for jobs ….I can’t believe it’s here. I am so excited but way nervous about what my future holds. I am really open for anything and willing to go anywhere. I hope that I end up in Nashville …that would be the dream. I am going there this weekend and I am going to look for some places to apply that I might not have noticed while working for the best internship ever. I really hope things work out in Nashville because it feels like that is where I need to be.

I know everything will work out how it needs to so I am excited to see!

Time to finish studying for the test I have tomorrow …..ROLL TIDE and Go Titans!

It's My Party And I'll Cry If I Want To...But I'm Not Crying

So it’s officially the week of my 24th Birthday. CRAZY!! It has been a great week so far even if homework consumes my life these days. I truly believe the reason it started out so wonderfully is because my Vince Young played starting QB for the TITANS and they FINALLY WON!!!!! Whoo Hooo




This morning I had the honor of speaking in one of my professors classrooms. Mrs. Jan Brakefield has been one of the BIGGEST blessings in my life! I had been so confused about my future when out of nowhere my advisor says you need to take HES 310. I said ok sign me up ….anything to get me this degree. She said I know it’s hard to get up at 8AM but I think you should take Mrs. Breakfield…you will LOVE her. I’m so thankful my advisor gave me such great advice because she was right….I LOVE her. Like I said she has been the biggest blessing in the world. My first day I felt like that would be me in years to come, excited, fired up about life, Alabama lover, and wanting to still help others on their journey in life! As the days flew by I grew to love her more and more and I took the advice she gave us to heart. I finally worked up the courage to set up an appointment….why I was nervous I do not know. As all of you know I am not scared to talk to anyone but for some reason I felt as if my worries would be pointless to her. When I met with her it was the complete opposite, she took me under her wing and gave me even more sound advice that I will take with me forever. The most important thing that I took away from that meeting was not the advice she gave me but the encouragement she gave me and the way she gave me confidence.

With all that said….I guess she saw something special in me because she asked me to speak to her HES 100 class on resume building. How AWESOME!!! I was so honored I of course said yes and today was the BIG day. I talking to a group of about 40 freshmen students and just told them pointers on how to build a resume and the things I did to build mine. Like I said to the freshmen, I am nothing special but if they can gain any knowledge or if I helped them in any way it was worth me taking to time to talk to them.


After I was finished speaking to the class Mrs. Breakfield says she needs to introduce one more person and she did not do so before the class because she did not want to make me nervous. I was thinking to myself what in the world is she talking about. Well she had invited a guy by the name of Michael from the community relations department at the university to come hear me speak. Once again how AWESOME!!! He comes up to talk to me after class and ask me could he use MY story to help promote THE UNIVERSITY OF ALABAMA. I almost said “Are You Serious?” thank goodness I did not speak before I thought it through. Of course I said yes there is nothing more I would love to do than help promote my FAVORITE place on earth!!!! What an HONOR again. Who would have ever thought all of this would happen to little ole small town, Lara Ellen? Not Me ……but gosh am I BLESSED!

So after I spoke with the class I could not even get home before I had an email waiting on me. I opened it and it was from a young lady from Gainesville, FL. She told me that I had inspired her to go for her dreams and that she wanted to be a “go getter” like me. Once again I wanted to say “Are You Serious?” I went in there to try to help them and in return I feel like I am the one who got the biggest pat on the back. A young girl expressing how I made her feel will never realize how important her comments to me really were. There is no greater feeling to me than helping someone out in any way possible.


All of this happened over making an appointment for a little guidance. I will forever be so thankful for Mrs. Breakfield. She will always be in my “Network” as she calls it! After talking to her I feel like I can take on the world. With over 28,000 people on this campus, we still have professors who take time out with each and every one of us. How can I not be in LOVE with my school when it LOVES me right back!

Ok so I will move on from that or there will be 7 pages on how AMAZING my day was!!!




Tomorrow is my sweet friend Abby Smith’s 24th Birthday! We will also be doing out annual joint birthday dinner tomorrow night. I’m so excited…its way fun having a birthday a day apart from one of your best friends!! We always have a way good time. All we want is to not cry on our birthday weekend …..the only way this will happen is if the TIDE has a WIN!!!! ROLL TIDE






My Mom is coming into town with my precious MEME on Friday to do a birthday lunch with me! I can’t wait to see them. I have not been home very much this semester because I am so busy with school and on the weekends I can go there is a football game.



LIVING LIKE LALA has been slacking I know….But I hope this LONG LONG Blog has made up for my Long time away. I will try to never let it get this far outdated again.

My day has been one that I will tell my grand kids about……Roll Tide