high note: 23rd Birthday

I missed last Friday's "high note" post due to the pure craziness that has been my life for the past couple of weeks! September 29 was my 23rd birthday, and October 7 was my one year anniversary with my boyfriend Reed, so needless to say my last couple of weekends have been packed! 

Birthdays are always a great reminder of the sweet, precious people in my life - they always make me feel so special and loved! Here are some pics from my birthday week and the loved ones who shared it with me! :)

Every Thursday morning, my amazing team and I have a weekly meeting at Panera. The Thursday before my birthday,  Kristy (we sing in Warr Acres together & she's also Reed's cousin!) surprised me with these adorable - and delicious - cupcakes! 

To my additional surprise, Kristy gave me these darling chevron mugs that she hand-painted! I absolutely love them!

This girl is an absolute gem of a friend/sister, and I love her to pieces! 

Every year, my mom never fails to make sure I wake up to something like this on the morning of my birthday. She really is the sweetest, cutest, most thoughtful mom around. 

I thought this gift idea was so cute and clever! (My mom said she found it on Pinterest, of course) Chocolate, money, jewelry, perfume - seriously, what more could a girl want?! :) 

As I mentioned in yesterday's post, my best friend Katie and I have a tradition of making each other gifts for our birthdays. Each year she continues to blow me away with her creativity and thoughtfulness! Each of the canvases above have lyrics to different songs that I've written over the years! I can't wait to put these up in my future home! Grateful for a best friend who's been so supportive of my music!

My wonderful boyfriend Reed went above and beyond on my birthday and our anniversary (I'll be going into more detail about our anniversary in another post)! He surprised me with this cute little set-up (I love the touch of the iPad slideshow of our pictures!) which included a personalized "coupon" he designed for me to pick out a Michael Kors watch of my choice, something I've been secretly wanting for a while!

He's the cutest and sweetest! :) 

This is the one we eventually landed on! I absolutely adore it and have worn it almost every day since. It literally goes with virtually everything! Most of all, I love looking at it and instantly stopping to think about how blessed I am to be with a guy who makes me feel so special, loved and appreciated! 

All in all, my birthday was nothing short of wonderful! Excited for all that the 23rd year of my life will hold! Thanks for reading! 

-Lael

The new panoramic feature on the iPhone update/iPhone 5 is awesome! Birthday dinner at Zio's! 

high note: "Happy Work Anniversary!"

Does anyone get excited about their work anniversary like I do? Today marks three years of working on staff at Victory Church. Three years! I'm still taken aback every time I say it. All I know is I couldn't imagine working anywhere else (I always joke that I'd have to hear an audible voice from God to ever leave). I'm surrounded by incredible people who simply love God and love people. If this was the job I had for the rest of my life, I couldn't complain. There's nothing like writing a song for the Church to sing, then leading them in singing it. When I started writing songs at 13, I had no idea how God was going to use them or this gift for songwriting that came out of nowhere. Seven years later it all became clear though when my pastor's wife, Jennifer Crow, invited me to check out Victory Church in March of 2009. She encouraged me to visit the church and volunteer with the youth worship team, and I instantly fell in love. I dove in head first, singing and playing piano whenever and wherever I was needed. This church cared about people and accepted everyone in a way I hadn't seen before. A way that was truly Jesus-like. And the music...the music blew me away. One day after church in the summer of 2009, I remember commenting to my mom that it would be so awesome to work at a church like Victory someday. That fall, Jennifer called and offered me a job. 

Since then, I've helped write and perform several songs for this album...

...and enjoyed every minute of working with these amazing people...

Kristy Starling, Chris Crow, Lael Louthan | Beautiful Conference, August 2012

Chris Crow, Kristy Starling, Josh Belcher, Lael Louthan | Live recording, March 2012 | photo by Derek Green Photography

Lael Louthan, Kristy Starling, Oscar Ortiz, Chris Crow | Recording cover of "Titanium", Spring 2012 | photo by Jaron Nix

Lael Louthan | "Heaven Bound" music video shoot, April 2011

Do you celebrate YOUR work anniversary? I'd love to hear what you do and how long you've been doing it! Leave a comment below! Happy Friday! :)

- Lael