About Me

ABOUT ME

"Faith makes all things possible - LOVE makes it easy" - Dwight L. Moody

Hello friends!  My name is Laura Kelmelis.  If you've found your way here it's because you want to know more about me.  Which is very cool!  I've never felt like the popular sort.  Now that you're here, I have so much to tell you!  I'm a writer after all, and what do writers do best?  Tell you stories of course!  We'll start this story at the beginning - it's always best to start there.  Less confusing for the reader.  If you started in the middle no one would know who anybody was, and you'd be asking questions like, "who on Earth is that?" and "what is this writer person thinking putting that there?"  So I'll start at the beginning to let you know I care (I rhymed!)

In the Beginning

The Earth trembled and shook. Rocks fell from the tippy top of mountains. Buildings were tossed about as if they were built on the ocean. Then I arrived, pink, and squishy, and screaming. The nurses ran about the hospital, while my mother tried not to panic. My Earth-quaking arrival is the only thing written in my baby book. Along with a plastic baggy containing a lock of my hair, and a few weird baby teeth my mother saved. I arrived in chaos, so it's no wonder I turned out to be a writer.

I Had a Dream

When I saw The Wizard of Oz for the first time, it immediately became my very favorite movie. I was obsessed with Judy Garland and would only watch musicals that she was in. Naturally, my mother put me in dance classes. At the tender age of four, I decided I was going to be a Rockette. Alas, this dream was not to be (I forgot to grow tall enough). However, my dancing did bring me experiences I never would have had otherwise.

A Theatre Life for Me

When I got into High School, I auditioned for my first musical and I was hooked! I realized that it was WAY more fun to pretend to be someone else than it was just dancing on a stage in a recital. It was also when I first realized that telling stories was my favorite thing to do. I expanded this love of telling stories to the traditional yearbook signing. Instead of signing my name with a boring "C U Next Summer", I wrote a story. This story would always be about a happy animal of some kind who learns a valuable, heartwarming message, only to end in a melodramatic teenage twist of horrible instantaneous death by random encounter - like a giant foot suddenly appearing in the sky, or a giant truck, smashing them to bits. I did mention it was melodramatic...didn't I?

Making My World Bigger

I stated earlier that my dancing opened up doors I never would have had otherwise, right? One of my best friends (still is!!) that I've known since Elementary school, is a Vietnamese American. She knew I could dance, and asked me one day if I wanted to be in a parade. I answered, "Of course I want to be in a parade!" I started dancing in the Vietnamese American Community Independence Day Parade in Washington D.C.  Thanks to my friend I learned a ton about what it's like to be Vietnamese, and opened my eyes to different cultures. It started as a way to help my friend, and then became much more! It not only began my love of learning about cultures outside of my own, I also became a volunteer coordinator for the event, a fundraiser, a choreographer, and art director. I even ended up in Vietnamese infomercials on local access television (tried hard to learn some Vietnamese), and helped coordinate the Vietnamese American Youth Leadership Conference which helped young Vietnamese Americans connect with their congressional leadership and representatives. During one of the many TV interviews I participated in, I was asked why I was doing this, given that I'm not actually Vietnamese. I answered truthfully, though not very eloquently, "It makes my world bigger."

Dance Transcends Borders

My love of dance brought me to my greatest adventure yet.  My life was quite literally changed forever when I had the great pleasure of participating in a non profit program, The Sankofa Center for African Dance and Culture. Through this program, I not only got the chance to live in Ghana, but I learned a tremendous lesson about life, about my place in the universe, and about my future. Through the beautiful people I got to know, the hard truths I've learned about myself and my privileged upbringing, and through the awe inspired from real-life experiences, my heart and my mind were opened. I literally experienced God one night which I promise I'll write about in the blog, and I am still to this day learning things from this experience and through the wonderful people I met there.

Life-Long Learning

I told you that Africa changed my life, and it's completely true.  The people I met were some of the wisest, happiest, and most authentic people I had ever met. When I left, I knew I had to be a catalyst for change.  I needed to learn who I am, what I believed in, what I liked, what I wanted. Someone authentic. Not someone who played pretend so well, she didn't actually know who she was or what she was meant to do with her life. I moved past the person I was, shed my old skin, and let go of friends that were no longer serving me. I searched for a program that could teach me to be more - a better version of my true self.  Not just one of my over dramatic back-stories or personalities I tried on like you try on clothes in a department store. I graduated from The Maryland University of Integrative Health in 2008 with a Master's Degree in Transformative Leadership and Social Change. Through this program, I found my authentic self. By being true to myself for the first time in my adult life, I found my now husband. While I hadn't quite found what I wanted to do with my life yet, I had found purpose, friendship, love, and acceptance of myself.
    “Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. {...} We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It's not just in some of us; it's in everyone. And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others.”
- Marianne Williamson

Joyful Projects Make a Happy Heart

After rediscovering myself, I began creating again. I started writing stories and drawing again. I began illustrating commissioned projects for others. I also began a love affair with handcrafted soapmaking! I created Adventures in Lala Land as an outlet for all my creative endeavors, and as a way for my mother and I to spend more time together. We turned out to be a great team and got our products into stores, and have won multiple awards for our bizarre soapy creations (YES! The phone/box, Italian dinner, and the Tex-mex shown below are ALL SOAP!) If you're looking to purchase some handcrafted goodies, check out my soapy recommendations below, and if you're just looking to see how we made these amazing award winning soaps, check out the blog!

It's Not all Fun and Games

Just like everyone else on the planet, I have had my share of hardships and sadness. I have experienced deep, personal loss that will live heavy in my heart forever. I've lost friends, I've lost children, I've come through the deep-end of depression and come out on the other side wiser, and so much more hopeful for the future.

So what happened?  Did I actually grow up?? 


That's a great question!  Remember the theatre picture from High School aaaAAAlll the way up at the top?  Well, another amazing bestie of mine I've known since Elementary School (okay, okay, I added the pic again below and circled her just for reference) grew up to be the owner of a super cool company, and hired me!  Now, I'm the Director of Special Programs and Security  which includes a great number of things including proposal writer and editor, graphic design, website design, marketing, communications, business development, strategic planning, program management, industrial and personnel security....You name it I probably do it. Hence "Special Programs" It's really fun because I get to write and make art for a living, and it's with my greatest friends on the planet!  Don't be jealous, but I get to work from home too! When I'm not doing all of that, I make illustrations for Tini...the other friend I've been chatting about for her non profit program VietKidsDC. Check out My Books for more information on that!


I live in Pennsylvania with my husband, two amazing miracles, and a polydactyl (6 toed) cat, named Sketchie-Bo-Nugget, who thinks he's a dog.  In my spare time, I write, and write, and draw, and draw some more. I then learn, and learn, and learn some more, in as many classes as I can get my money to buy.  If I had a bunch of money to waste on something, multiple degrees would be my go to choice.  I love binging on TV shows, playing board games, and have a grand collection of comic books (*cough* I borrow most of them from my husband).  My favorite superheroes are Rogue, Black Widow, and Captain Marvel.  #girlpower  So, if you'd like to nerd out at any time, I'm you're gal. And of course, not be to forgotten, even though I've given up on my 4-year old dream to become a Rockette, I still take dance classes, sing, and act as much as time allows. 

When I Grow Up

My life is filled with more joy than I could ever have anticipated back when little me wished to be a Rockette.  My dreams have evolved, I have evolved, as people do, and my hope is that one day my stories will be published for everyone to enjoy.

My Hope: To change the world with my words and with my quirky illustrations. To continually show up as the best version of myself, always willing to learn, always willing own up for mistakes, always open to others.

My Intent: To show the beauty of what God created.

My dream: To let the children growing up in this world, especially my own, know that they have the power within themselves to change the world and themselves for the better. That fear and anxiety does not have to control the way you feel about yourself and the world. That we can all do better and be better versions of ourselves.

It always seems impossible, until it's done.


For those of you who have stuck around to the end, thank you.
I thank you for your time, for your attention, and most of all for the smile I hope I've left on your face.
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