So this is how I woke up today:

– Slept in a little on my day off
– Enjoyed listening to the rain
– Realized I was listening to rain dripping in our room (again)
– Dragged myself into the bathroom to get towels, promising my bed I’d be right back
– While bent over with a towel, looked up and saw a cockroach a foot from my head
– Immediate, uncontrolled, no-filter reaction: “Oh HAYYYLLLLLL NO” (….sorry Mom)
– Swelled up with the strength of twelve tiger-nados
– Destroyed the cockroach
– Almost vomited picking its guts up with a Kleenex and throwing them away
– Gave up on ever sleeping again
– Tried to find a way to include Nutella in breakfast
– Remembered we have no bread
– Settled for eating it out of the jar with a spoon

But enough about that. First things first:

Wow. WOWWWWWW.

It’s only been two days since I started this Internet party, and I am overwhelmed by the page views, shares, likes, comments, follows, messages, texts, carrier pigeons, etc. that I have received from you all! How outstanding to be surrounded by such supportive people from the very beginning.

Secondly, I discovered “Friday Introductions” on Instagram a month or so ago and thought this was the perfect time to jump on the bandwagon! Hold on tight, because I’m about to condense two and a half decades into six bullet points (which seems to be the only way people will read anything these days):

 1. My full name is Laura Costanza Rihanna Lucita Hendrickson. (JK, that would be horrible to learn how to spell in kindergarten.) After being a Laura for 25 years, I’ve learned that many people are very concerned about saying your name the wrong way. Apparently some Lauras get very offended about mispronunciation? Some people call me Laura with a “Law,” other people call me Laura with a “Lore” (a fact which provokes the rigidly “Law” people to remind me that my name isn’t spelled “L-o-r-a” and therefore shouldn’t be pronounced with a “Lore”). I’ve been called “Simma,” “Simba,” Simma down,” and “Samantha” (maiden name variations). Someone even called me “ma’am” the other day? Definitely not old enough for that one yet.

2. I am unashamedly and unwaveringly Christian. Not the “go to church and try not to cuss” kind of Christian, but the kind with an actual friendship with God, the one true God who made me and everything else that exists. I am forever indebted to Him because He saved me purely out of His own love, not because of anything I did to earn His favor. I have nothing good to offer the world on my own, but because He rescued me and made me a completely new person, I have the ability now to love unconditionally, forgive willingly, and live freely. I am so far from perfect it’s laughable, but with God as my strength, I do my best to live each day with two commands in mind – love God and love people (Mark 12:30-31). If you want to know more about what I believe and why, please email me at embracingthechaosblog@gmail.com – I don’t have all the answers, but I would love to chat it up with you!

3. I’m married to literally the best (non-divine) man who has ever existed. He is a mess and without a doubt one of the best friends I’ll ever have. He loves coffee and weapons. Oh, and beef jerky. And camping. And doing pretty much anything else besides studying for the CPA exam. Sorry, babe. :( Remind me and I’ll rub your shoulders tonight.

4. My family is better than your family. SORRY. They just are! My parents are both seasoned Oklahoma educators, my little brother is an actual meteorologist in Amarillo, TX, and my little sis is just a year shy of being an elementary teacher! I love them more than pretty much anything else. I also got incredibly lucky and snagged not only a great husband, but a great second family! I’m grateful for “parents” who love me like I’m really one of their kids, and “siblings” who treat me just as terribly as they do each other. :)

5. Favorite things: the ocean, Chick Fil A, “watch-over-and-over” TV shows (The Office, New Girl, and Arrested Development top my list), plants on the front porch (even though I kill them all…*sad*), witty books, chocolate chip cookies, Epsom salt baths, tall trees, dogs, cats, the color grey, my cutie nephew (pictured above the 1. bullet) hammocks, popsicles, sticky notes, snail mail, and almost everything at Anthropologie.
Not-so-favorite things: green peas, COCKROACHES, cleaning the stove top, working out, anything coconut, bad grammar, and watermelon-flavored things. Actual watermelon = gimme. Flavored gum or candy = no.

6. I’m not quite on board with being an adult yet. I remember being a kid and thinking, “Man, I can’t wait to be a grown-up! I’ll get to drive, and have my own place, and get married,” and so forth. Then one day I realized that I have a car, and a house, and a husband, and a job, and a bank account, and a 401k, so I guess…I’m…an adult? Not nearly as glamorous as I thought it would be when I was in 7th grade, but it’s growing on me!

I’m also a big fan of fireworks shows! My favorite fireworks are the weeping willow ones that burst, then fall and leave glittering golden trails behind. And also the ones that burst once, and then the individual sparks split again into giant light clouds. My plan is to kidnap Daniel at some point during a CPA study session to go watch a local show tomorrow night. And, of course, no July 4th weekend in Oklahoma would be complete without our extremely shady neighbors shooting off unreliably-sourced fireworks…in their yard…next to our house…all night. Goodbye to sleep for the next 2-3 days, and dear God please don’t let our house catch on fire.

What are your 4th of July plans?