be mine

Here’s a bit of my story: I’m a recently graduated elementary school teacher who has dreams of taking a masters degree in rehab medicine and traveling lots... and unfortunately those are expensive habits.

So when I came back to my hometown from backpacking Greece last year I was offered a job at a copper mine- a place I worked at to put myself through my bachelor degree. And since I’m a sellout... i mean, so I can raise funds to follow my dreams I turned into elementary school teacher turned short-time miner.



That’s right: haul trucks, excavators, turbochargers, and transmissions. A far cry from little innocent grade one students putting apples on my desk… but ya know what? I like it.



But lets clarify something first: I’m fairly girly.

I’m a 24 year old girly girl that was a ballerina from age 5-17, routinely looked like a bottle of Pepto Bismol, and currently enjoys makeup, shopping and clothes… a little more than what would be considered healthy. When I’m not in coveralls I can be found in a dress, or some sort of other sparkly or (self proclaimed) stylin’ apparel.

So when I started my job at the mine at age 17, I was handed a pair of too-large coveralls with “Lauren” elegantly scrawled across the pocket, and directed to climb in an excavator engine and scrape the grease out so it could be welded. My jaw dropped a little.




But, as in any story a little magic happened... Just about the time that one of the older men came up to me and told me that he didn’t think I should be there because I was a smaller girl, and there was no place for me on the shop floor. I got my sh*t together.

I don’t care what anyone says, when you’re told you can’t do something, you adjust your pink hard hat, make sure your hair looks damn good, dive into the grease, and prove the h*ll out of yourself.



So, I did. I worked on the shop floor as a labourer for 3 summers, then as a shipper-receiver in the warehouse for 2 more years. Now I am the Assistant Maintenance Planner, and plan component change-outs such as the engine that I was inside scraping grease off of in my first day here.

The funniest think out of the process here is how much I love it. And those grumpy old men? They turned out to be some of my best friends and ‘second dad’s’ now.

And in the bonus round, I get to enjoy this beautiful setting of a mine in the mountains.



The point of this story, you ask? Simply to be able to look back in this little online ‘diary’ and remember this time, and to share some of the photos I took this week, of course.



but really I guess it comes down to this:

As I see it, life’s about getting dirty, diving in, and learning all you can while you’re here.

weekend leftovers

First of all- to make your Monday a bit happier...

This is just a little bit of amazing:

And now that we got that out of the way... I'd like to speak of

Weekend Leftovers.

I know i know, it doesn't sound too appetizing. Kind of brings to mind the 4 day old Kraft dinner that you made on Friday night as your study snack, or the soggy salad that you thought you might eat the next day while it was still fresh (then didn't, because no-one ever does.)

But no, i'm talkin': you wined and dined all weekend, ate at digs that you couldn't normally afford so you're stretching out the five course meals and savoring like it should be. You're unpacking those leftovers and enjoying every last little bit, cuz it was plate-lickin' kind of good.


My weekend leftovers...

::Loving a sunset driving home from work


:: Snowshoeing this weekend, and the sun dog we spotted.

or should I say, Check out this sun, dawg.


:: Laughing at a coworkers photo of a gas station sign they saw on the drive to work. Accurate reaction to the gas prices, I'd say.

:: This made me happy.

And I hope this house comes with the dog and the little boy scout, because it's an amazing real life trial of Up!

(it flew 10,000 feet high for about an hour.)

:: Pumped that B and I just booked front row tickets to "O" Cirque du Soleil at the Bellagio for our Vegas trip!!

:: Looking forward to: next weekend when my friends are coming from out of town for a ski bum weekend. Snowboarding, sun, and friends.


Oh, I have a feeling those leftovers will last me for a while. Hope you're having fun savoring some of your own!

Happy Monday.

a town painted red.

Celebration. I love it.



To revel in an individual's achievements, kick up ones heels, paint the town red, be jubilant, dress up and make it a party [life, or otherwise].

Making important times stand our from the rest. It's like bold-ing the font of life.

Having someone feel special, their day a little brighter for a little or big reason. I'm into it.

So when my engineer friend passed her P.Eng exam and entered into the world of capable designers of our mine, we didn't hold back.




Some co-workers bribed her: if you pass this exam we'll have a party! With balloons, a cake, and really good champagne!

And that we did.


Last weekend we celebrated this little engineer, our friends, and the community we've made at our home away from home (living in camp at the mine). We intertwined the worlds of camp and home, and showed each how wonderful the other one is.



I've had this funny little moment a few times this year: the moment where I look around and think, yep, I didn't know I'd be here.

After leaving my world at university not knowing where I'd go after getting back from my backpacking trip through Greece and Turkey, I landed right in the middle of this little party.

A party reflecting people, ideas, and activities totally different than what I predisposed. Including friends that are a big ingredient of my weeks living in camp, and the loved ones that fill my weekends at home with fun and lovin'. I would have never guessed that each one of these people would be in one room, together, all special to me.

But you know, I'll celebrate that too. The unpredictable enjoyment of it all.

Dear Winter, Love Lauren.

Hey Winter, Whats up?

This is tough, but the thing is, we need to talk.

This is kind of awkward... so I’m gonna skip the cliches and admit right up front: It’s not me, it’s you.



We’ve had some really good times together, and I mean awesome: like face-hurting- because-I’m-laughing-so-hard, romping through snow covered fields mitten-in-mitten while-bundled up in my favorite new snow jacket kind of awesome. But you see...


as much as I enjoyed rocking out to your theme song of “ice ice baby” for the last 6 months, It’s been a little overplayed.


I just think we have our time and place, and you know what they say about winter romances, they don’t last forever; they really only work out a few months of the year when the snow is light and fluffy, falling from the sky, or when I’m on my snowboard.


But you see, I just feel like we’ve been together for a while now, and, well, you’re just too needy.

So, I think we should just take a break... Maybe just until next December? The space will be good for both of us.


Then I can relish your crisp, cool flakes and soak up your blue (sk)eyes. I am really into them, you know.



So, lets not end it on a bad note, I think we should be friends and remember the good times.
But... take a damn hint.



I'll always love you Winter, you know that.

xoxo




All photos taken by LCR

swag bag {of life}

Oscars. I'm a little late. But I still wanna take part in the fun:

In a season when one of the favourite movie-The King's Speech- was about rising to the occasion of a historic public speaking moment, one of the first speeches of the night resulted in a not so eloquently spoken f-bomb.


But, It's not dropping the f bomb I want to talk about,

or Anne's many costume changes. [seriously, does any girl deserve to wear that many gorgeous designer dresses all in one night? ...ok ok, i'm jealous.]



or even J. Beibs taking his new haircut... I mean Selena out for the big debut.


Nope. It's the swag.

Offside: how fair is this: already famous, rich, beautiful people get to attend the luxury of a red carpet event, dress in designer digs, and bring home a reportedly $75,000 swag bag.

Forget the little gold statue. I'd just go for the good stuff. The swag.

So, in the event that none of us got so lucky. I bring you the swag bag {of life}. Enjoy.
________________________________________________________________________



-"the future belongs to the few of us still willing to get our hands dirty"

as you unwrap this poster your hands get covered in the ink that will reveal the poster. The words and method- very cool.




-These teas. Two of my favorite things in the world. Tea+snail mail.

You fill out a postcard online that is the label of the tea, it's then sent anywhere in the world. And if a girl can't have tea with her friend, being sent a postcard tea is almost as good.



-This website.

One of my favourite things is to grab a coffee and peruse Chapters or a library. Sometimes not even in a goal to read a book, but just to leaf through the thick, aged pages and look at the wonderful design that is their covers.

Don’t judge a book by It’s cover... Really, don’t. But you can drool over the ones you like.

This website is a gallery of literature spines from over the years. Either used as a gallery or a way to keep track of your own library.

librariangraff, this one's for you:)

-and if you haven't heard this girl, i'm throwin' her in the swag bag too:





-Oh, and my biggest bit of swag for the week: a friend that just passed her P.Eng (professional engineering) exam. I'm so proud of her. and I'm pretty into the cake and party that is to follow in celebration tonight.



and don't ask where (or why) I find some of these things. I work at a mine and I'm covered in dirt most of the week, so I like looking at pretty things in my break... and I've got to do something with all the links;)

Have a great weekend, I'm headed to get ready for my little engineer-that-could's party!

photos sourced here

to weekend

I wanna weekend.

And by weekend, i mean the verb: like, I weekend, you weekend, she weekends
....and she weekends good.

I know, it’s great- I’m gonna be an English teacher one day and teach little 5-year-olds this important verb.

But, in the spirit of education:

week·end /ˈwikˌɛnd,-ˈɛnd/
–noun
The end of a week, especially the period of time between Friday evening and Monday morning in which one parties, spends time with cool people, and has a generally good time.

ok ok, so I added the last bit. but it’s quite accurate, no?

This week I rocked mining. And although that is an amazing pun, I meant it figuratively. I ran the up hill climb (and this time I really mean figuratively... my friends are training for a half marathon, and literally running up hill... on a weekly basis, and i think they’re crazy. officially.) end tangent.

So I ran the uphill climb. Seriously, at points this week I thought Taio Cruz wrote his song for me: "I throw my hands up in the air sometimes"...

But I didn't. That is to say that I dealt with difficult people in a graceful way, I worked hard and put more check marks by the things I did do than X’s through things I just didn’t want to do. I did it alone.

My 2 bosses weren’t there, and so I had maintenance planning on me for the week (and next week). I think they are quite crazy for leaving a 24 year old girl in charge of 2 engine change outs, 1 turbocharger failure, 1 transmission failure, and 5 services... but i took advantage of the opportunity to prove the heck out of myself.



At about 2pm today (the start of the weekend) I left camp feeling that buzz like you do after you push really hard through a tough workout. Like I tore muscle that will grow back into new, bigger muscle and I got my heart pumping so all the healthy oxygen-filled blood pumped through my body. I felt like I broke through the problems and frustrations and quizzical moments into a more confident able place.

And, I don’t want this to be a post of shameless self promotion, I just want to be able to look back on this entry and remember this funny little time in life that i planned maintenance at a mine, and felt good about it, and grew in many ways.


So now... I’m weekending. I’m not quite sure what this will consist of yet. But I think it’ll be good.

Have a good time weekending everyone, and I hope you grew some new muscle this week (again, figuratively... or literally!)

whimsy

To add a little whimsy to your Wednesday...

I fell in love with some photography by Lissy Laricchia this week and thought I'd share this dream series.

Enjoy, and happy Hump Day!