Throwback Thursday (on a Saturday): Meeting Mayer.

For the inagural Throwback Thursday, we have to travel all the way back to the year 2002.

It was a normal morning for little 11-year-old, 6th-grade me. I was with my best friend Morgan, and we were in her bathroom, crimping our hair and putting on purple eye glitter (or something equally heinous). I was holding the crimping iron and working with intense concentration when, out of nowhere, this song came on. I had an 11-year old heart attack. It was the most amazing, perfect, wonderful song I had ever heard in my entire life. It was as thought the universe had composed a song specifically for me and sent it down to Earth that morning just so I could be enlightened.

I ran out of the bathroom, fell on my knees, and turned up the radio. I looked at Morgan, who was clearly perplexed.

"What IS this??" I said. "Why hasn't this been on the radio before?!"

She rolled her eyes. "Oh, that song's been on for a while," she said. "It's by some dude. John something. I don't know."

Luckily, the radio announcer knew. The song was "No Such Thing," by John Mayer, and it was the single that introduced him to the public just before he was rocketed into superstardom. It is still my favorite song to this very day.

That morning began a still-continuing love affair with John Mayer and his music. Even now, his music empowers me ("Say"); allows me to just be by myself and cry ("Dreaming With a Broken Heart"), or says what I simply can't articulate ("Back To You").

If I listen to his music for long enough, it turns into a religious experience for me. I don't know why or what it is exactly, but I literally can't make it all the way through one of his albums without crying, either because his music is so beautiful, or because it reminds me of something I've been through, or just...because.

I know it sounds totally crazy, but I really am totally in love with the music of John Mayer. And it doesn't hurt that he's incredibly sexy. :)

Keep it classy and fabulous!

xoxo, Laura

Things every girl should do.

So I just read a list from Glamour magazine about 36 things every woman should do before she settles down, and it inspired me to make a list of what I think every woman should try, just in general. So here goes!

1. Go to a gay bar. It sounds SOOO weird, I know, but I promise you, there is no better place to just go out with your girlfriends. You can just dance all night long, and if a guy hits on you (there are plenty of straight men there, trust me--usually to hit on the straight female friends of gay men, but some just for the experience), all you have to do is tell him that your female friend (take one with you) is your girlfriend, and they'll generally take the hint. Boom. Creep problem solved. Unless he's cute. Then dance with him.

2. Go to a drag show. Not just for the amazing performances (and trust me, they are amazing), but to gain a little insight about yourself as well. The first time I went to one, I was like, "Wow. These men are literally more in touch with their feminine side than I am." In a weird way, it gave me reassurance that being super-girly is okay, and it also helped me realize that I needed to get more in touch with my sexy side.

3. Go to a foreign country. I haven't actually done this (other than Mexico--like that even counts) but I have plenty of friends that have, and they all agree that the experience is irreplaceable.

4. Do yoga. After Alex and I broke up, I lashed out at everyone around me. Luckily, I have great friends who recognized that I was just bitter, and one of them suggested I go to yoga to try and relax a little. It did wonders for my self-esteem and overall mental health, not to mention my flexibility and coordination.

5. Do something creative. I pretty much live in a creative blur, but not everyone does, and I recognize that. However, if you can find just one things that helps you express yourself, you'll feel amazing.

6. Go camping. When Will and I went last October, I was terrified. No running water, no cellphone, no makeup. The only electronic things we brought were his cellphone (in case of emergency) and my camera (to document the experience, since everyone thought I was joking about going). On top of that, I am not the camping type at all. Between being allergic to grass, constantly needing to feel clean, my fear of inclement weather, and my general disdain for tennis shoes, I thought it would be the worst experience of my life. But really, it turned out to be one of the coolest things I had done in a while! I pitched a tent, I cooked dinner over a fire, and I even slept on the ground (albeit in a tent, but a very small one). I felt so self-reliant!

7. Go shopping with a straight guy. Granted, these types of men are hard to come by, but my friend Mike (Jeff's twin) and I went shopping at Urban Outfitters one night and it was great! He picked out things for me that he thought were hot, and they weren't what I expected at all. It gave me a perspective on what was actually sexy to a man. Plus I got to pick out stuff for him!

8. Hang out in an art gallery. One day first semester, my roomate Jordan and I thought our cars were going to be towed soon by either A. the city of Columbia or B. USC Parking for unpaid parking tickets. In our frenzy to leave campus ASAP, we drove to The Vista (a bar, shopping, and restaurant district). She went to go get coffee, and being the way I am, I ran into a random art gallery. I was the only person there, and the owner was just like, "Hey, what's up? Oh, you're evading the parking police? Have some wine!" (He was out of the wine, though.) He let Jordan and I hang out for as long as we wanted looking at the paintings and art books and what not. It was great!

Anyways, that's all I have for now. It's late and I have to be up early. So much for sleeping!

Keep it classy and fabulous!
xoxo, Laura

Stuff Sorority Girls Like #9: Sorority slang.

There's a common misconception among the general population that all sororities are the same. In reality, we're all quite different, with different rituals,sisterhoods, rules, and, most importantly, different girls.

With all of these differences amongst the organizations, it stands to reason that each sorority may have its own slang. The slang may be something as minor as giving a guy a certain nickname to something so distinctive that everyone says, "Oh, she must be a fill-in-the-blank" when the word comes out of a girl's mouth.

My sorority has one particular word that all of us say. But I'm not going to tell you what it is. Because after all, it's only for us. ;)

Keep it classy and fabulous!
xoxo, Laura

Oh Oh my God.

New songs (and some old ones) that you will be obsessed with.

Play them at your next party.

See what happens. ;)

Warning: these songs contain explicit themes and language and are not for those who are easily offended.













Keep it classy and fabulous!
(Even when you're partying it up, which I hope you will be.)
xoxo, Laura

Coming soon...Throwback Thursdays!

So I've come up with a new idea for regular posts, inspired by the post below.

Introducing...Throwback Thursdays!

Every Thursday, I'll be sharing a random story from back in the day. It may be something stupid, like when I went blonde, or it could be something serious, like when I first fell for Jake. But I guarantee it will always be entertaining.

Get excited!!!

Keep it classy and fabulous!
xoxo, Laura

Throwback time!!

Gentle readers, it has recently come to my attention that you have followed me throughout my college experience, but you don't know where I came from. So now we shall embark on a journey to a place called Summerville, South Carolina, where it all started.

But luckily for you, the first 14 years of my life are not particularly significant. You only need to know a few things: I swam, sang, danced, and acted. I went to Rollings Middle School of the Arts for Creative Writing (that major is now defunct...our class was the last class to have that option available.) Going into 8th grade, I decided I was going to do things MY way, and I didn't care what anyone else thought of me. Enter uber-preppy Laura, who dressed according to "The Four Essential Preppy P's": pink, polka dots, polos, and pearls. Mind you, this sort of behavior was taboo at my middle school--cliques were so pervasive that they literally ruled our lives. There's even a period in 7th grade that is now referred to as "The Clique Wars," which was really just a huge uprising of the geeks (my group, though I had a few "popular" friends) and the popular kids trying to maintain the status quo. However, it got so out of hand that our principals became involved. But I digress.

A typical outfit in 8th grade

The most significant event in my life up to that point happened 3 days into my freshman year of high school. My best friend, Michael, died from neuroblastoma, an aggressive form of leukemia. I was devastated. However, I pressed on with my life, insisting nothing was wrong. Michael and me in the Creative Writing classroom in 8th grade

Preppy Laura stuck around through sophomore year. I was a sweet little church girl, a straight-A student, your average 14/15/16-year-old kid. My closest friends were girls I went to church with, and we all hung out on the weekends, doing things like going to the movies or going out to dinner. We thought we were being edgy when we listened to bands like The Scene Aesthetic, The Red Jumpsuit Apparatus, and Jack's Mannequin. I liked boys who were football players and I ran cross country and track. I had an on-and-off boyfriendishthing named Jake who was the epitome of what Preppy Laura liked--3rd in his class (and fighting to be Valedictorian), went to church with me, Commander in ROTC, on the track team, drove a nice car, tall. I dated a lot of other guys besides Jake, but he is still the most significant man during that time in my life. Basically, I was about as clean-cut and All-American as you could get. Me at 15 in a pretty standard look (note the Vera Bradley purse and monogram necklace)

April of my sophomore year, though, my dad died unexpectedly from a massive stroke. This, combined with having to quietly deal with Michael's death for the past year and a half, and again compounded with the stress of my tumultuous relationship with Jake, pushed me over the edge. It was a very dark time in my life, but that time gave way to the person I remember as the ACTUAL High School Laura.

High School Laura liked classic rock music, black nail polish, and bottles of hair dye in various colors. I was not as edgy as this probably makes me sound, but I was certainly much edgier than before. I went for the vintage look instead of the standard uniform of a polo, jeans, and flip flops. I wore printed miniskirts (which I was often sent to In-School Suspension for), skinny jeans, flats, and floaty, romantic tops. I quit cross country in favor of focusing on dance (I later joined Summerville's first dance team), and I turned up my nose at the typical "southern" lifestyle. My best friends and I grew apart, and eventually we barely spoke at all. My academic performance also tanked--even though I was president of Beta Club, I was failing half of my classes by December of my junior year. Luckily, that changed with the threat of community college, and soon, I was back on my straight-A track. It was also during this time that my taste in men changed significantly. Instead of the typical Alpha Male, I was into scruffy musician types who spent their free time chain-smoking cigarettes at Starbucks, skulking around downtown Charleston, or writing songs with their band. My most significant relationship, by far, was with a guy named Alex. He was the epitome of the kind of man I liked, and it didn't hurt that he was also wildly intelligent. He eventually broke my heart (broke up with me 2 days after prom--nice), but luckily, that only made me focus even more on both school and dance.
Junior year prom night (sorry, I had to crop out Alex)

My breakup with Alex didn't just change how I felt inside, though--I decided to change my outward appearance as well. I had my cartilage pierced (the upper part of my ear) and dyed my hair blonde. Alex hated blondes, except Heidi Klum, but everyone loves Heidi Klum. By February of senior year, though, I was done with Blonde Laura (and the $180 bill at the salon every time I needed a touch-up). I went back to brunette, and started focusing on my future at college.

Typical Blonde Laura--black nail polish, goofy face. PS I was going to my 18th birthday dinner with my then-boyfriend...I don't know why I thought a ponytail was an appropriate hairstyle choice.

One of my favorite pictures of me during my blonde phase

But I don't need to go through the college thing, because this blog chronicles my time at USC. So there you have it--my life in a nutshell. I was a church kid, then a hipster kid, then a blonde, and then a brunette again.

But I still like my scruffy men and black nail polish.

Keep it classy and fabulous!
xoxo, Laura

I used to be a blonde.

So I used to be a blonde. And a smart one, at that.

I'm gonna toot my own horn here on two things:
1. I look hot as a blonde.
2. I know what I'm talking about when it comes to foreign relations. (I used to do speech and debate--my area of competition was extemporaneous speaking on domestic and foreign affairs.)

Watch the video below between 3:23 and 4:15 to hear my views on peace and foreign policy, and see me as a blonde.

P.S. This video was filmed during September of my senior year (almost two years ago--throwback? yep) and the girl interviewing me is one of my best friends growing up, Sallie.



Keep it classy and fabulous!
xoxo, Laura

Wild Wild Wednesday.

So today was a very special day.

Today was my friend Elizabeth's first show EVER. She played at Buffalo South in Charleston and totally ROCKED IT. She has such a pretty, soothing voice...you can listen to her sing for hours. She played for about 3 hours, doing both covers and her original songs. To listen to her music, check her out on MySpace (www.myspace.com/ehughesmusic) or do a bit of light stalking on Facebook. She has several songs from her demo up, so check them out!

During a break between sets, Elizabeth introduced me to her friends Jaron (who is totally fabulous and who I am officially in love with) and Ryan. It turns out I went to high school with both of them but never met them! (This is actually totally normal, since our high school had 3600 people.) Actually, to be fair, I met Ryan once through my ex-boyfriend, but as I generally try to supress memories of that particular relationship, I didn't remember. Anyways...it turns out that Ryan is actually a fairly successful musician himself! He's opened for several major acts, has his own merch, and ringtones! His music is fabulous, and you should check him out! You can find him on Facebook, MySpace (www.myspace.com/ryanlillmusic), Twitter (@ryanlillmusic), or at http://www.ryanlill.com/. But take note, loved ones, Twitter is his favorite form of communication.

So after all of this fabulousness, Ryan, Jaron, Elizabeth, and Elizabeth's friend Cameron and I decided to head out to Pour House in Charleston to hear a band called Deepwater Soul Society play. I had never heard of them (maybe once or twice in passing), but I do so enjoy dark bars, scruffy men, and new music, especially when that music is live. So since this particular adventure was bound to have all of those things, I was all about it. I was pleasantly surprised to find that the music of Deepwater Soul Society was the love child of Pink Floyd (Dark Side of the Moon Era) and Dave Matthews Band. So again, I must plug these wonderful musicians--look them up on Facebook and MySpace (www.myspace.com/deepwatersoulsociety).

Delicious music, new friends, scruffy men...what more could a girl ask for?

Keep it classy and fabulous!
xoxo, Laura

My life is an absolute joke.

Seriously, sometimes I think I serve no purpose other than being here purely for God's entertainment. If something totally ridiculous doesn't happen to me at least once every 2 weeks, Hell will freeze over.

For example:

The one time in a YEAR I was going to get to hang out with the guy I like, his brother ended up in the hospital. On the only night I was in town.

I was out at a Japanese hibachi restaurant with my family, and I happened to make eye contact with this REALLY hot guy. He looked a bit embarassed, but I brushed it off. It happened two other times before we were seated. We sit down at the table, and look who is joining our family for dinner?? Hot guy! And his wife. And their small child. And then my grandmother said, IN FRONT OF HIM, how she was surprised I didn't go chasing him down the hall. Awesome.

I had been casually dating a guy for a couple months, and he just stopped calling out of nowhere. He told me he had been talking to someone else, and he had been hoping I would take the hint. It turns out he's dating a girl I've known for my entire life, and less than an hour after he told me, I ran into her at the movies...I was at the movies because I was upset about him dumping me.

Those are just a few of the things that have happened to me in the past couple of weeks. It wouldn't be so bad, except these are the kinds of things that happen to me CONSTANTLY.

Anyways, I just needed to vent. Do these kinds of ridiculous things happen to everyone? Or is it just me?

Keep it classy and fabulous!
xoxo, Laura

Destroying the illusion.

What if you found out that everything you had experienced for 4 years of your life was fake?
What if you found out that every friend, every feeling, every fight, every relationship, every image you had of yourself was completely and utterly false?
What if nothing happened the way you experienced it?
What if you found out that no one had ever loved you the way you believed?
What if your identity, relationships, and entire existence were blown apart in a matter of seconds?

And, after all of that, you found out the one thing that you thought absolutely did not happen actually did?
What if things came full circle and you were given a second chance to do what you should have done in the first place?

What would you do?


"Years went by, the dream fell apart, and one truth remained: you had loved me all along."

xoxo,
Laura

A song that makes me happy.

Okay, so before you listen to this song, you have to know the story behind it. (Or at least what I was told.)

The guy who wrote this song lived in the 1800s and had a fairly normal life. He and his wife were very much in love, until he started to go blind. After he went completely blind, his wife left him, because she didn't want to be with a man who was disabled. When his wife left him, his sister became his caretaker. However, his sister soon fell and love and decided to get married. Naturally, because she would be living her life with her new husband, she could no longer take care of him. About 20 minutes before his sister's wedding, this man realized that he was going to be completely alone in the world once his sister was married. Instead of hating his life and being angry with God, he wrote "O Love That Will Not Let Me Go," which was a song PRAISING God for all of the wonderful things he had done. In his darkest hour, this man did not ask why God had forsaken him, but instead, was happy. That, to me, is amazing. This song has been sung as a hymn for many years, but my favorite version is by Indelible Grace. Listen, enjoy, and be sure to pay attention to the lyrics!



Keep it classy and fabulous!
xoxo, Laura

So I have this friend...

And his name is Jeff.

I met him in 10th grade biology class and was immediately intrigued by him. He was so different from what I (thought) I was at that time. He had these ideas about music and the world and society and general that were so different but just made so much more sense than anything else I had ever heard. He was a beacon of light for me.

I had coffee with him today, and he's still the same way, only older, wiser, and with even better ideas. He always seems to say what I'm thinking but can't articulate. Perhaps that's part of why we've remained friends for so long.

Anyways, he has a new blog that he just started today, and it's amazing. Read it.

Keep it classy and fabulous!
xoxo, Laura

Stuff Sorority Girls Like #8: Sundresses.

The dress is a wonderful invention.
The sundress is even better.

Sundresses come in all sorts of colors and styles to match every personality; they're easy to throw on in the morning when you're running late; they can be worn with sandals in the summer or boots and a jacket in the fall, and, best of all, they make you look and feel put together when you're running late or having a rough day. (Tell me, when's the last time you saw a girl in a dress and thought to yourself, "Bless her heart, that girl looks ROUGH?" Exactly. Never.)

Girls like sundresses for all the reasons above, but perhaps one of the best reasons to embrace the sundress is that men love them, too. They're usually short and breezy, so they look sexy and fun, but never in a way that's trying too hard. (If there's one thing men hate, it's a girl who tries too hard.)

For sorority girls, the sundress is a particularly useful item to have in one's closet because it can be worn for multiple occasions: parties, recruitment, functions, backyard BBQs with the fam, class, and, of course, special events like Carolina Cup or weddings.

So let's recap: both guys and girls love sundresses, you can wear them anywhere, and they go with everything. What's not to love??

Keep it classy and fabulous!
xoxo, Laura

P.S. Check out this snazzy Lilly number I just picked up for recruitment...

Stuff Sorority Girls Like #7: Making Good Grades.

We have established multiple times before that we sorority women are a competitive breed. We like to help others as much as we can, throw the biggest and best parties, win the most awards, etc. Many of the measurements of being "the best" are qualitative measurements, but some of them are quantitative.

Grades fall into the latter of the two categories. Grades are a measureable form of determining who is the best. If someone has a 3.5, and you have a 4.0, your grades are better. Period. End of story. No arguments.

So while some of us sharpen our perfectly manicured nails and prepare to do battle over who is the "prettiest," "most charming," "most southern," or "most fun," when it comes to grades, what's done is done, and no one can argue with the numbers. The best part is, the office of Greek Life at most schools prints either a semi-annual or annual report of the grade point averages of all the Greek organizations on campus, so not only do you know you're the best, everyone else does, too. (PS, Alpha Delta Pi and my sorority, Delta Zeta, tied for the best grade point average in USC Greek Life for the spring semester, with a 3.56.)

Plus, it doesn't hurt that good grades help you get scholarships and earn the respect of those around you.

And you can throw your 4.0 in someone's face when they say you're dumb.

Keep it classy and fabulous!
xoxo, Laura

Ring-A-Ding-Ding.

So, one of my friends (and sorority sisters from the Winthrop chapter) just got engaged. She and her boyfriend, William, have been together for about 6 years (I think). They were dating when I met her my freshman year of high school (she was a sophomore), and they never took a break or anything. They always seemed like they cared about one another quite a lot, but in high school, I never expected them to get married.

Reading about her engagement (all the delicious details here, and William's side of the story here), I started thinking about how lucky she is to know so soon that William is the man she is meant to be with. I've dated countless guys, all of whom were every type imaginable. (No, seriously, my best friend Kaitlyn and I played a game one night where we thought of every type, sub-type, and hybrid-type we could and I had dated every single one.) So even though I have dated every single type of man I can think of, I still haven't found The One.

Oh, sure, there have been contenders. For a large part of high school, I thought that my on-and-off man and I would be together forever. It was a joke for quite a while that we fought so much, we were destined to be married. (Or at least be future exes.) Then along came The Love of My Life, but of course, he dumped me because I was too clingy. (I was 17 and in love, sue me.) Then there was last year's summer fling, and we did actually talk about getting married someday. (We realized later that I was too much of a "wild child" for us to actually go anywhere.) Then there was my boyfriend first semester of college, who has been mentioned a couple of times on here, and who can be seen in the post called "I brushed my teeth in a creek." I never really thought he wanted to get married, until one night I made a comment about him wearing my semi-formal shirt and talking to his kids about his ex-girlfriend, the crazy sorority girl, and he said, "Wouldn't we be talking about Mama's semi-formal, and how Mama was the crazy sorority girl?" I said, "Are you serious?" and he said, "Sure." That seems like a lot of people that I thought I was going to marry, but bear in mind that, with the exception of Will, all of those boys were from high school, a time when I was very much in love with the idea of love.

Now, though, not so much. Do I want to find somebody to fall in love with? Sure. But I don't plan on chasing after it. Lynn's engagement story got me thinking about how behind I am in terms of love, though. I've never been in a relationship that lasted more than 4 months, I've never had a guy really "woo" me (you know, flowers, candy, romantic dinners, the whole shebang), and I've certainly never had a man take me ring shopping.

I'm know I'm only 19 years old, and people say to me, "Go out and just have fun," but for God's sake, I've been "having fun" since I was 14. Don't you think it's time for someone my age to try and settle down at least a little bit? The problem is, most guys my age (and a bit older) are either A. Not looking for a serious relationship or B. Already taken. The playing field has already been narrowed quite a bit. I have 2 friends MY AGE that got engaged over 4th of July weekend, and 3 others, also my age, that are married...one with a child, and another with a baby on the way! Those are probably extreme cases, but you can't argue with the fact that most people my age have been in a serious, long-term relationship at some point in their lives.

It's just a bit odd, don't you think?

What's even more odd is that I'm not even in a serious relationship, and I already know what kind of engagement ring I want. This, however, is not because I've been ring shopping, but because when I was 13 (maybe even younger), my grandmother and I went into a little jewelry store in the Charleston Market, and I looked down into the case, and THERE IT WAS. It was the most gorgeous, perfect ring I had ever seen in my life. It had a canary diamond, and I want a white diamond, but still. I knew it was the ring I wanted on my finger one day. Luckily, it was a classic style, and I've been able to find it at a couple of different places, but my favorite version of it is the ring below. It's from Tacori's "Dantela" collection, style 2639RDP65, and I absolutely LOVE IT!! If you want a closer look at it, (or maybe want it for yourself!) you can see this ring and more at www.tacori.com/Engagement-Rings.

Keep it classy and fabulous!
xoxo, Laura

CaCAW!

So in case you haven't seen it, Miley Cyrus recently released her music video for her new single "Can't Be Tamed." The song itself is good, but the video is...questionable.

What do you think of the MileyBird's avian theme? Is it fierce? Or has Miley's mind flown the coop?


P.S....GloZell has an opinion!


Keep it classy and fabulous!
xoxo,
Laura