good times in the 'ham...

I know my blogging absence has been greatly missed these past few days. :) I'm sure you have all been sitting at the edge of your seats patiently anticipating my next blog post to see what is going to happen next in the exciting and unpredictable life of Laura Tomlinson. I apologize for leaving you for so long. haha. :)
I spent the week with Claire in Birmingham and had a fantastic time. I will not bore you with every detail of our trip. I have, however, composed a list (bulleted for easier reading) of my favorite events of the week: Note: these are in NO particular order

• of course the obvious, good hanging out time with Claire
  
• seeing Marc Broussard perform at WorkPlay (he was fantastic!)


• the CD's Claire burned for me...artists include a little Johnny Lang, Eva Cassidy, Gavin DeGraw, and lots more. They are mostly songs I didn't know, and totally not my taste, but I must say, I'm enjoying all of them. Nice work, Clurry.


• the 2 new books I bought: "Battling Unbelief" by John Piper and "Beside Still Waters" by C.H. Spurgeon. Has anybody read either of these? If you recall in a recent post, I've been looking for another good devotional type book. I kinda knew what kind of book I wanted, I had just been having trouble finding what I was looking for. I ended up buying 2, as opposed to just 1, but as my brother-in-law Trey says "you should never turn down buying a good book. I will always say yes to reading." I'm excited about both of these purchases.
  
• the fabulous chicken salad Claire introduced me to at O'Carr's.


• the new ipod car-thing (I don't really know what it's called) I got on ebay. I've been wanting one of these so I can listen to my ipod in the car, but they're usually about $80 or so, so it really hasn't been a possibility. I'm getting a brand new one for $22 (that includes shipping!). I'm pumped. I hope ebay doesn't become a problem for me now. I'm pretty sure the one I'm getting is like the one in this picture, except it's black.

• Sonic blasts (how many of these did I have? hmmmm....I'm now 2 sizes bigger than I was before the trip).
• watching Claire attempt to eat a taco salad from La Paz (have you ever in your life seen a salad this size??) It was quite humorous and of course when she "finished," it looked untouched.

• ummm...sleeping... It's no lie that Claire and I stayed in bed until 12:30 one morning (well, afternoon really). AND to make things worse, we woke up only because the phone rang! I probably haven't slept that late since college...seriously. In our defense though, we WERE up until at least 2:00 am the night before though. Doing what? I'm not so sure. Don't judge us please. We work hard 9 1/2 (+) months out of the year. We deserve a little R & R. :)
  
• hanging out with Claire's little sister, Hailey. Are you jealous Heather?? :) She's living in Birmingham for the summer. It was so good to see her.
  
• watching "The Office" marathon with some of Claire's friends. Have I ever told you just how much I LOVE that show? I do have one problem though. I have the most difficult time choosing a favorite character. The show in itself is genius, but the actors are phenomenal, each playing their role perfectly. Let's think about this.... of course there's Michael, who truly is "The World's Best Boss" and who is so terrible you can't help but love him. Then Dwight, who I'm convinced would want to be friends with me. I just look at him and laugh. Of course there's Jim, who's the love of my life. Pam, who is so perfect for her part...I want to be her. Creed...does anybody else think he's as funny as I do? Kevin, who's hysterical. Toby, who I think is completely underrated. Stanley, who, like Dwight, makes me laugh just by looking at him. Of course that's not all of the characters, but you get the idea. I just can't choose a favorite. Can you?

Max had a blast too. He loves his "Aunt Claire!"

Look how cute this is. You have to understand, Max hardly ever snuggles with anybody but me, so Claire's a pretty big deal to him.

Me and Claire at Workplay.

Me, Claire, and Hailey at Workplay.

I now leave you with my new favorite picture of Claire. This picture in no way makes up for the NUMBER of horrendous pictures that Claire possesses of me, but it's a start. :) Enjoy!