Violated

I have never personally been robbed before, until today.

My laptop, ipods, and external hard drive were all stolen out of my car last night.

I am not concerned with the material things, that is what insurance is for. Its my pictures that have broken my heart. 20,000 pictures taken over 7 years, gone, forever. I can't even put into words how devastated I am. I know I know, they are just pictures, but they are MY memories. I looked forward to someday being able to show my kids how much fun we were, I always wish I had more pictures of my parents! I feel like I have had a close friend pass away, that is how much hurt I am feeling right now.
I have no pictures of my trips to Cuba, Outwest, 1000 islands, New York, Chicago. They are all gone to some stupid kids bedroom where he probably deleted them without a care in the world, and is selling my laptop for drug money.

They stole my wallet too, and used it for Subway, and a purchase at Mac's. At least I know they aren't going to starve to death!

A friend of mine said there might be a way to recover some of the pictures from memory cards, and from my old computers hard drive. If this is the case I will be over joyed.

I have always been too trusting of a person. I should have known it would come back to bite me in the ass. I hate that I have so much hate in me right now. and anger. I think I am going to cut myself off from the internet, and my phone while I am away in Calgary next week. I need to detox my life, and not take things for granted anymore.

Sorry to vent to you all, it just is all thats in my head right now.

Douchbag Men

First off, in this post I am NOT referring to Ryan...evah.

I am absolutely flabbergasted by the astonishing behavior exhibited a man in my friends life recently. A friend of mine was physically abused by her ex-significant other, and we had to play good friends and support her in her decision to go make a police report.

It was awful, inspiring, frustrating and educational to see her go through all of the typical emotions an abused woman has. She was in shock first. Then in denial that had that even happened. Then she was the worst one, embarrassed and blaming herself that she did something to deserve it.

No one deserves to be physically abused. No matter what. There is nothing that instigates abuse and should be tolerated. Please please please if you are ever in a situation where you are being hurt, you will be blown away by the support your friends and family will give you. No one will judge you, they will offer their time, their hearts and their souls to help you to get to a place where you are better. Never be too embarrassed to ask for help.

What's New?

I have ran in to a few people I have not seen in awhile lately, and they tend to ask whats new?

Why do I find this to be such a difficult question to answer. I don't think my life is boring or anything, people often tell me from the looks of my tweets and facebook status' i actually lead a rather interesting life... So again why do I have such trouble articulating Whats New

I am thinking it might go back to my fear of wasting peoples time, and not really believing that whoever is asking REALLY wants to know my life story.
It also might have to do with the fact I am keeping a rather exciting secret to myself right now, and want nothing more than to be able to explode and tell it to EVERYONE *don't ask, not telling, I promise you will know soon enough*.

(ugh, on a side note, my cat chose this moment to use her litter box, right beside me, and LORDY it stinks to high heavens...I am getting stanked out of the area...)

Ok I'm back....

So WHAT IS NEW LARA?? You disappeared from blogging for almost a month , what is it you have been doing with your time?

My friends and I are working on a gift for our good friend Nicoles' wedding. We have spent a couple of week nights together reminiscing about high school, making old school mix tapes, and having a great time. It has brought us all closer for sure.Here is a picture of the Fab Five at a party...this picture is about 6 or 7 years old.

Also to celebrate the wedding, we asked Kate to do a photo shoot for us. Nicole has lived in Pennsylvania since graduation from HS and we really don't have very many pictures of us all together...I ahve seen a couple wedding parties do this PRE-wedding shoots with the girls, and thought it was a great idea. We have only seen 2 picture so far but they are AMAZING. Kate is so talented!

What else...I have been hanging out with my oldest friend Jess, and her sister Ali ALOT. We just finished watching the whole first season of True Blood (HBO) and I am totally addicted.

ALSO, Ryan and I are going out west in 13 days!! We are going to visit family, including @leahblonde, and our friends Monica and Henry. We are taking Monica and Henry to my Aunt and Uncles AWESOME time share in Panorama, BC. They are going to be blown away. We are planning horse back riding, hot tubbing, tanning, hiking, and maybe some finding of hidden hot springs. We are also doing the Stampede thing, party style. I have never partied at the Stampede and I am looking forward to Leah showing us an incredible time.

On a side note. I have come to the realization that Twitter is the new form of celebrity autographs. I got a DM from a celebrity of sorts this week and I was so excited especially because I am a huge fan of her, and her boyfriend. Baya Voce from Real World Brooklyn. She is a DJ in New York, and is coming to Canada, so I asked her to come to London...lol...She seems like the sweetest, down to earth girl. I hope when I *maybe* go to NYC in the fall I can go to Angels and Kings on a night she is DJing...#dreams.

Also I am so addicted to twitter, that everything I type turns into twitter lingo so #getoverit

haha follow me @laramartens

Food Sensitivity Testing

Do you ever feel like your body isn't performing to its fullest potential?

Like maybe something you are eating isn't being digested properly but you can't put your finger on exactly what it is...

I always knew there was something dietary affecting my acne. I had tried cutting out dairy, and cutting out coffee...I dreaded that it was wheat. When I learned that our naturopath at work was doing food sensitivity testing I jumped at the chance to find out what my body wasn't a big fan of. Little did I know it would be the worst news EVER.

POTATOES

I am sensitive to my favorite food in the world. Mashed, Baked, Twice Baked, Chips, Sweet Potato Fries...all are in the family of which I should avoid

This is what it said...

RESULTS

1. MAIN INTOLERANCE = POTATO
This is to be omitted from the diet completely.

2. COMBINATION INTOLERANCE = FRUIT and SUGAR CANE within 8 hours of each other
These foods may be eaten separately, but should always be kept at least 8 hours apart. Nothing should be eaten which contains both of these foods.

The second one I have not even attempted omitting. But when I do avoid potatoes I feel awesome. I have tendonitis all over both my arms (wrists, elbows, bicep) and when I avoid potatoes I hardly ever feel pain after a normal work day. When I DO eat the evil spuds, everything that is bad is magnified. I am in more pain, my acne flares up, everything just aches, and moves slower.

There are so many problems that can be tracked back to dietary causes, IBS, seizures, even autism...so if you are dealing with anything frustrating in your body, you should try food sensitivity testing before you give up and go on a medication that will for sure give you side effects.

Its the summertime and the weather is fine

My friend Monica is home from Edmonton so we decided to all us girls take a day off and shop and hit the beach for some rays!

We started the day at a store called Greer Girls in Lambeth.
A few weeks ago we had a purse party by these girls, and it was AWESOME.
You pick the interior and exterior of your purse, and the design.
Abby (one of the owners ) is super nice! It works like any home party. They bring examples of purses to your house, and books with interiors and exteriors, you build your purse from scratch. You can add pockets, leatherette, and different strap lengths. We were blown away by how cool it was. Most of us bought 2 purses. The store is super cute, its on Main st in Lambeth! Check it out

After that we headed to Port Stanley and ate an early lunch at GT's on the beach. We walked around and shopped, and then laid on the beach for a couple hours. Here are some pics:

I am at work now, and then rejoining the girls for dinner at Moxies...There is a surprise coming for them that they have no idea is happening and I am excited to see if Meagan and I pulled it off...I will keep you posted.

10 honest things

I was tagged by June to do this! Thanks June! I have been S L A C K I N G lately and knowing someone is out there waiting to read my posts makes me feel better! Also I had a good friend of mine let me know she was missing my posts yesterday, so I apologize!

The rules are:
1. Tell your readers 10 things about you they may not know, but that are true
2. Tag 10 people with the award

1. I have my brown belt in Karate. I took karate from grade 7 to grade 10, and was about 9 months away from getting my black belt when I decided I was too cool for karate, and quit. I regret this often.
2. I always thought I would move outwest, not looking like its going to happen.
3. I dream of my wedding almost everyday, and cannot wait to start planning it FOR REAL someday! LOL
4. I want to have kids more than anything in the world, but mostly because I LOVE how being pregnant looks! I think NOTHING is more beautiful than a pregnant glowing woman!
5. I wish I played an instrument and could sing, because I find that incredibly attractive.
6. I am obsessed with taking pictures, and wondering when all my friends are going to get sick of it.
7. I dated a guy who was totally wrong for me when i was in grade 7 and 8, he did drugs, and got me into situations i cannot even explain...i saw my life heading down the wrong path immediately, and changed it. I can only hope my children will share the same wisdom my parents instilled in me.
8. I am extremely blessed to have over 15 close girlfriends, however this will make the choosing of a wedding party the most difficult task ever someday!
9. I can read an entire book in one day, most recent - My sisters keeper. I read it 8 years ago but needed to refresh my memory for the movie!
10. My goal for this year is to be more relaxed, light hearted, and spontaneous, and I think I am doing an AWESOME job already! haha


10 people tagged are
1-5. Each of the 5 blondes
6. Heather
7. Lindsay
8. Tait
9. Janet
10. No Ordinary Rollercoaster

Have fun!

Theme Parties

My friends and I have been having theme parties so often lately, I felt they deserved their own post.

The first one was our 80's party for Me, Dianne, and Donny's birthdays in September.
We had an 80's car there, and we went out to Downtown Kathy Browns. It was a night to remember, thats for sure. A 'cougar' at the bar thought Ryan looked so much like Kevin Bacon in footloose, that she proceeded to try and stick her tongue down his throat! HILARIOUS!We all got so many compliments on our outfits, I can't wait to do it again.

For St. Patty's day we all got decked out and went out to the Lucan dance. We had an awesome time!

Next we had our First Annual Playboy Bunnies Easter Party. We weren't really sure how this one was going to go over at first, but it was a hit. Meagan made Martini glasses with Playboy bunnies on them. We played 'pin the junk on the hunk', and we took an actual playboy magazine and scrap booked everyone's faces into it. That was where we got a lot of laughs from.
We also made a background to take pictures in front of that really set the mood.

Our latest one was the 'Jrunken Jamboree' A J party for Janet and Jamie's birthdays.
Everything was J themed, Jagerbombs, Jellybeans, John Deere shots, Jolly Ranchers.
And alot of people dressed up. There was Janis Joplin, Jack in the box, Jessica Simpson, Jabbawockeez, Jailbirds, John Jacob Jinglehimer Schmidt (and his name is my name too), a lumberJACK wearing jogging pants, and someone even dressed up as my dad Jerry.

We just came up with our next idea, which is a Dazed and Confused 70's party. We are going to show the movie on a projector outside, and also hopefully play rockband outside. Should be another night full of memories and laughs!

We are constantly trying to think of new ideas for parties, some we want to do are : Freaks, Geeks, and High School Cliques, A black and white party, and a 60's party of course....

Have you ever had or been to a theme party?
Do you have any ideas for one that you would love to go to?