Pictures of life lately

I wanted to post some pictures of life recently. Pixs of Mexico, some of my students, the triathlon, etc. Enjoy.

Bumper cars in real life is not fun

I had my first car accident this week. Scary. Let me set the scene for you. I am driving to work. Beautiful morning. I am behind a red Mitsubishi. We come up to the street light right before the on-ramp to the freeway. Just as we approach, the light turns yellow. The guy in front of me makes every indication that he is going to go through it and onto the freeway...and so am I! Yeah!

However.

Then, he happens to look to his right and sees two police cars. He freaks and thinks he'll get pulled over if he runs the yellow light (even though everyone and their mom knows once your front tires make it over the line, you're fine. Right? Everyone knows that, right??). He had plenty of time to make the light and I had plenty of time to make the light. Heck, the car behind me could have made it too! Sorry, I'm ranting.

So.

He slams on his breaks. Not expecting this, I slam on mine and I proceed to have my first world-in-slow-motion experience. Have you ever had one? It's very strange. It was like in that .5 second amount of time, everything slowed down and I knew I was going to hit him and there was nothing I could do about it. My tires squeal, I skid, and them *BAM* I hit him forward just like in bumper cars. But this was real.

And this all happened in front of the cops.

Sweet.

So the cops come over to us and bring us into a nearby parking lot. The guy gets out of his car and we introduce ourselves with me constantly apologizing. Once the officers make sure we are ok, we start exchanging information and they take off. The guy's name was Matt and he was so cool. I think if he had been some raving lunatic shouting obscenities at me, I would have been crying. But Matt and I were both friendly and still in shock of what had just happened. Good combination.

Here's the good news: it could have been a lot worse. His car only has some scratches on the rear bumper and he said it's so old and has so many dents/scratches already he is just going to get a new car. So I don't have to pay for any of that damage. My front bumper has dents, scratches, a bent license plate, my hood is a little unaligned, and there's some red paint from Matt's car. BUT it could have been a lot worse. My car could have been totaled. My hood could be all scrunched up like an accordian. Our air bags could have gone off (it's a couple thou to stick those bad boys back in the steering wheel) or we could have had other people in the vehicles with us.

So now I've had my first car accident. I hope I never have another. They are scary. The bad news from all of this is I have whiplash. My neck and upper back hurt soooo much. I want to make an appointment to see someone, but I have to wait till Monday to see if I'm covered through my insurance.

What life lesson should I take away from this experience? Anticipate people breaking at yellow lights? Don't drive so close to cars in front of me? Only hit old cars to give their drivers excuses to buy new ones?

Wildflower Triathlon

I just got back from completing my fourth Wildflower Triathlon at Lake San Antonio! Woot. Here's is why I love Wildflower:

1) It keeps me motivated to work out during the year.

2) I get to train with my roomates and friends.

3) I love getting away for the weekend and camping at the lake. We always have a big group that gets together for this weekend and it's a fun time to catch up with friends.

4) Crossing that finish line is the BEST feeling.

Ok, so here is one of my highlights of this year's tri: I saw the Bachelor! Hopefully you don't watch The Bachelor on ABC because it's super cheesy. But if you do, you'll know who I'm talking about. Ok, so on the show, Andy Baldwin (aka: The Bachelor "An Officer and a Gentleman") was talking with one of the girls and she said, "I know you're a triathlete and I'm training for my first one." He said, "Oh really? Which one?" She said Wildflower and he said, "I'll be there too. I'll see you there." So all my roomates and I knew he was going to be there and we were going to try and find him. (We've bumped into Survivor contestents at Wildflower before so it seems to attract reality TV stars or something)

Anyway, all weekend I had my eye out for Andy. No dice. Oh well, there is a million people here, I thought. I doubt I'll see him. So on Saturday morning I had my race. The swim was great...I felt better about it than I did last year. My bike was challenging, but still felt good. When it came to the run, I started feeling really low on energy and dehydrated. I was heading back to the finish line and I was looking down, breathing. I looked up for a second and all of a sudden, The Bachelor ran right by me! I fully stopped running and did the whole turn-around-with-gaping-mouth. (The chick behind me almost ran into me) But it was him. We shared air.

It seems so silly to get so excited about that. But I guess it's always weird to see someone in person when you've seen them on TV. He's a bit shorter than I thought (he looks taller on TV) but super cute. So then when I saw everyone afterwards, I kept saying, "I saw the Bachelor!" Some random ladies overheard me telling my friends and they said, "Ooooo, you're so lucky!!" and they were genuine about it. They must be fans of the show. It was so funny.

Another great year at Wildflower. I'll post some pictures in about a week. It takes me forever to download pixs to my computer. Peace out.

oh man, I love this video

My favorite group is no longer together

Concert tickets: 40 dollars
Parking and gas: 25 dollars
Snacks and drinks inside: 10 dollars
T-shirt: 25 dollars
Seeing Nickelcreek in their "Farwell Tour"...priceless.

Update on our psycho neighbor

This was on our CBS station news. Dang. Here's the article online:


MAN SUSPECTED OF STABBING HIS BROTHER SURRENDERS
04/28/07 3:35 PDT

A man suspected of stabbing his brother at their home in on Thursday turned himself in to the County Sheriff's Office on Friday, police reported.

Police received a phone call from the two brothers' neighbor at about 12 a.m. on Thursday reporting that one of her neighbors was being stabbed with a knife, police reported.

Responding officers determined that 25-year-old Daniel Campbell allegedly stabbed his brother in the abdomen while the two brothers were in the backyard of their home.

After the stabbing, the neighbor took the victim to the hospital while Campbell reportedly fled the area on a bicycle.

Police issued a warrant for Campbell's arrest and sent out a press release warning people that he should be considered "armed and dangerous."

Campbell turned himself in to the County Sheriff's Office shortly after noon on Friday, police reported. He was transported to the County Jail and booked on suspicion of attempted murder.

Sirens in the night

Wow. Who knew that my tiny little town could be a hotbed of criminal activity??

To begin this story, I better go back a bit. We have some interesting next door neighbors. And by "interesting", I mean "psycho". Well, one of them is anyway. They are two twin brothers - Jon and Dan. Both probably 25. They've lived in their house for 6 years. Their parents died and that is what was left for them. They've had roomates come and go and we talk with them whenever we see them and have had them over a few times.

But in the past year, things have gotten bad.

It all started when they decided to have a HUGE bonfire in their backyard. It was in the summer when everything was dead and dry and if a tree caught on fire, we'd all be toast. (We have a mini-forest in our backyard) So after asking them to tone down the fire and them drunkingly not repsonding, we called the fire department. After the fire dept. came and asked them to put it out, they came out to the street, flipped off the world, and screamed, "SCREW YOU, NEIGHBORS!" not knowing which neighbor made the call.

Then, came the night drag races. They love dirt biking. I usually don't mind it. Unless it is on a quiet Saturday or Sunday or in the middle of the night. Which has happened. They have made a mini-course in their backyard which came into our backyard which made our landlord pretty angry. Sometimes they'll just ride up and down our street and the noise is deafening. These things are not a big deal, we're all pretty nice and flexible with each other. But then things got worse.

About 8 months ago or so, we would wake up at 2 or 4 or any other ungodly hour of the morning to the sound of screaming. Terrifying, loud, piercing screaming. And then that was usually followed with swear words, threats, and more screaming. When you wake up in the dead of night to that, it is so scary! And there's the fact that our driveway echoes like crazy and it sounds like that is all happening right by our window. Ack!

Basically, one of our neighbors, Dan, has not been doing well. According to his brother Jon, he has scared away all of their roomates (they've probably had 5 roomates come and go in the last year). He gets drunk, violent, angry, you name it. He has punched people and ripped out the fence between their house and the other neighbor's house when they got in a fight. Anyway, it was happening a lot. We totally called the cops a couple times because all the screaming made us worried that someone was hurt. Even when we weren't calling the cops, cops just always seemed to be over there. Finally two weeks ago, we saw the house was up for sale. Whew. Enough of this drama. In talking to Jon two days ago, he said he and his brother were kind of going through a "divorce", it wasn't going well, and Dan needed help. Jon didn't know what to do.

That brings us to Wednesday night. I always get home late on Wednesdays because of college group. I was getting ready for bed around midnight and all of a sudden I heard the screaming again. "Not again," I thought. But then it got worse. I heard a guy yelling, "HELP ME! SOMEBODY HELP ME!" I freaked and ran to my window. Outside I saw a white truck take off down the street. Someone else got on a bike and took off. What the heck is going on?!?!

Then, I heard sirens in the night. At least 5 or 6 cop cars came to the house and there were officers everywhere. They came into our driveway and started searching around their house and in our backyards with flashlights. I realized they were probably looking for the brothers because something happened. So I decided to go out and tell them I saw them both leave. I threw on a sweatshirt and shoes and ran out the door, where I bumped into a roomie who was also going outside to see what was happening. I saw a policeman so I started to say, "Excuse me, sir..."

"GET BACK IN YOUR HOUSE!"
"Um...but...
"GET BACK IN YOUR HOUSE NOW!"

We fled. A couple other roomates were up now and we all were looking out the window. A couple minutes later an officer came up to our window and told us to stay in our house. Something had happened and they thought Dan was armed with a rifle. We of course got all scared. He really has gone psycho.

The 8 or 9 officers plus dogs surrounded the house and yelled for them to come out with their hands up or they were going to let the dog in, who would bite them if he found them, etc. I felt like I was watching an episode of Law & Order/CSI in my front yard. They searched the house and found no one. I did hear them say they found some marijuana growing. Lovely.

I stayed up till 2:30 am listening and watching, too scared to go to sleep. We were all so tired on Thursday. I called the police department after work to get an update. The guy I talked to gave me the scoop: Dan and Jon got in a fight, Dan STABBED his brother in the stomach (what the crap?! Who DOES that?!) and then took off. They had not found him yet. They were afraid he had taken his rifle with him. There was a warrant out for his arrest. And Jon was still in the hospital. If we were ever to see Dan sneaking back into his house, we were to immediately call 9-1-1.

The officers came back last night at midnight and did the whole house-search with the dogs and everything. Dan hasn't been back. This is probably the most action this city has seen in 5 years. And all of this happening right next door to us.

Needless to say, we lock our doors at night now.

What Not To Wear

My roomates have started something: What Not To Wear (Gordon House Edition!)

If any of you have watched the show on TLC, Clinton and Stacy go to hopeless fashion victims and pledge to educate them on "What Not To Wear". They go through the person's wardrobe and make snarky comments while the victim watches helplessly off to the side. For example: Clinton says, "Oh no you DI-DN'T buy this wrap! This looks like a picnic blanket!" He and Stacy will then pretend to sit on it and have a picnic. Quickly after, they'll stand up and toss it into the big garbage can while the woman tears up a little bit because her husband gave that to her on their 20th wedding anniversary or whatever. Pure drama.

Anyway, in the name of "spring cleaning" and "fun", my roomates started our own version of "What Not To Wear". One of us brings ALL our clothes into the living room. The rest who are the Stacys and Clintons get ready: pj's, food, drinks, exercise balls, magazines...whatever we're going to do between changes. And then it begins...

The other night it was roomate # 3's turn. During the night as she tried things on, here were some comments I made/heard (in between lots of laughter):

"It makes you look too box-y."
"You are only allowed 10 cotton T-shirts."
"That makes you look like 'Fonz' from Happy Days"
"What IS that?! Outdoorsy pants? Oh ok, you can keep that."
"I don't like the bottom. I like from the waist up, but not the bottom."
"Do you have any other colored shirts besides maroon, brown, or turquoise?"
"Yes, you can have two pairs of pj bottoms."
"You don't need more than 2 long sleeved white shirts."
"Next time you go shopping, buy tops with patterns on them."
"Oh, yeah. Those are definitely 'work' pants. Keep 'em."
"What?! Are you a lumberjack?! Toss it!"

I am looking back at these comments in wonder. Who ARE we?! Wow, we can be pretty harsh in the name of fashion. The 2 previous roomates who already had their turn seemed to be extra vocal with their comments...they already had to endure comments about their clothes and were ready to dish it out to others.

Ok, so here's my confession. I am scared for my turn. I really want to do it, because I need to clean out my closet and I am interested in what my roomates' opinions are on my clothes. But secretly I am terrified. Everyone has those articles of clothing that have sentimental value and we want to keep them forever even though they are completely ridiculous or out of style. I can just picture myself trying on a shirt and being like (whining voice) "Come on, guys! I know I never wear it! But what if one day I wake up and think, 'I really want to wear my Rainbow Brite shirt!' "

Yikes. I have a feeling I am going to be donating a lot of clothes to Goodwill. And my pitiful excuses will not hold up to the roomates' scrutiny. And I am also going to probably feel like a complete and total fashion victim. Maybe I should give Stacy and Clinton a call.

Spiderman 4 without Kirsten??

I read something today that made me laugh. Since Spiderman 3 is coming out in a couple weeks, there is already speculation about whether this will be the last one or if there will be a Spiderman 4.

The director (Sam Raimi) might possibly be working on "The Hobbit" next. And recently, Kirsten Dunst said if Sam weren't going to direct the next Spidey...well she wasn't on board either. And I quote:

"Audiences aren't stupid. It'd be a big flop without me, Tobey, or Sam. That would really not be the smartest move. But they know that already. [Sony chief] Amy Pascal would never do that."

Here is my response:

Dear Kirsten,

Look. I'm sure you're a nice person and all. I'm a big fan of the cheerleading moves you and your team busted out in "Bring It On". But I'm sorry to have to say this - you're one of my least favorite actresses. I wouldn't be all that sad if they replaced ya in Spiderman 4 with another actress who can...um...act.

Kindest regards, Sarah

What would you have said to him?

I had a conversation with a college student - I'll call him Kevin - the other night. He told me he grew up Catholic but fell away from "religion" in high school. He said he turned his back on God. He instead became fascinated with science. He could prove (or disprove) anything with science. That made him pumped to find Christians to argue with. He said he also got into history.

So while we're talking, he said, "Sarah...I only came to the college group because of Michelle. And during the whole time we were dating, she would tell me about the Bible and Jesus but I never really wanted to understand. Now that we're broken up...I still want to come to church. I want to learn more. This is really hard for me, though. I love science so much. I've always used it against Christianity. And now I'm looking into Christianity and it's weirding me out a little. And I also love history, and let's be honest: Christians don't have the greatest history. When I think of them forcing their religion on the Natives when they first got here and spreading their disease and death...and then when I think about the Crusades and other times in history like that...why would I WANT to be a part of that?"

And then Kevin paused.

"And even if I did...why the hell would God want me?"

not again

I remember where I was when the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake hit. I remember what I felt when I saw on the news the sadness of Columbine in 1999. I remember the shock that registered through me when a friend told me the horror in the morning of 9/11. I remember standing in the living room and watching the Indonesia tsunami in Dec. '04 and then Hurricane Katrina in Aug.'05. These country (and world) events stay with me. I remember them vividly.

And now, sadly, I have a new one.

I came home from Mexico last night and was so tired, I couldn't even put words together to form coherent sentenes for my roomates. I went to bed and didn't wake up till noon today. I was still so incredibly tired. "Gosh, what an amazing week," I was thinking. "These high school and college students built 5 houses. We all bonded as a family. There were no major illnesses, accidents, car problems. Such an awesome experience!"

Because I had planned to not leave my bed all day, I grabbed my laptop and went to check my email. As I got on yahoo, my heart stopped. WHAT?! A school shooting? Virginia Tech? 33 people dead and more than 15 injured? How could this happen???

It felt so surreal. Here I was, recovering from an incredible mission trip and feeling so tired and weary...and the first day back, I am reading about the worst shooting rampage in our nation's history.

I was watching the news and they showed about 20 seconds of someone's cell phone video capturing the sounds of the gunfire inside a school building. I seriously felt like I was going to throw up. And then a half hour later, they played it again. STOP! I felt like back at 9/11 when the news kept replaying the scenes of the planes hitting the towers over and over again. I wanted to look away or turn the TV off, but I couldn't. I felt so sick to my stomach.

I am so sad.

I don't get our world.

Make a run for the border

Hi everyone. Tomorrow morning I head out to Tijuana, Mexico with 100 other people (high school students, college students, adult leaders, parents, etc). We are going to build 5 homes! I am really looking forward to what God has in store for us. We'll be back April 15th. Please pray for us while we are gone. Hasta la vista, mis amigos.

9 seconds of awesomeness

Wait...it's Easter?!

Ever since I've been back from vacation, we have been working non-stop on Mexico. 100 high school and college students plus a ton of adult leaders are leaving this Sunday for a week to build houses in Tijuana. So all of us here in the Student Ministries office are running around like chickens with their heads cut off. A co-worker and I just mentioned how we don't think we've ever made so many phone calls in our lives. There's all these last minute details that need to get ironed out before we leave.

And then as I was at my computer sending out my millionth email...I had a revelation. Wait a sec! It is EASTER this Sunday. I have not thought about it at all. At all. I'm bummed. I've gotten so wrapped up in Florida and Mexico, I haven't stopped to think about what this week means. And it means a lot to me. So I am going to make sure I spend some good reflection time before we leave. That's all. Just felt like sharing.

I dig vacation

In the immortal words of the Go Go's: "Vacation all I ever wanted. Vacation have to get away!" Well, it's what I wanted and boy did it feel good to get away.

I had kind of a rough start to my vacay thanks to a lame airline that was delayed and made me miss my connecting flight. Which airline, you ask? Oh, that's not important. (*cough* American *cough*)

But instead of focusing on the fact that I got up at 4 in the morning to make my flight in SF, then got there and found out it was delayed and no one else could get me to LA in time for my next flight and the lady helping me treated me like I was a big bother and then waiting around the airport for 6 hours (airport floors are NOT fun to sleep on) plus longer because THAT flight was delayed and then flying to Dallas and having to wait another 4 hours for my next flight to Orlando (which was also ran late) and then having to find my bus and arriving at my hotel at 1 in the morning....I will focus on better things. (I'm laughing on the inside...really)

Disney World! Ok, first off, the weather was amazing. Sunny, clouds, 70's and 80's, ahhh...it was wonderful. The first day, BFF Elissa and I went to the Magic Kingdom. We tore it up. Second day: Animal Kingdom and Disney-MGM Studios. We tore those up, too. Third day was Epcot. Woot. Last day we visited all the parks and caught everything we had missed the first time around. Highlights:

* First and foremost was spending time with Elissa and her hubby Mike. They live in So. Cal so it's always so fun when I get to see them.

* I have NEVER eaten so well in my life. We bought this meal plan where you pay $40 a day and you get a Take-Away type lunch (meal, drink, dessert) Snack (popcorn or ice cream, etc) and a fancy-schmancy sit down dinner. Now normally, when I go to places I get something pretty cheap on the menu, water to drink, and no appetizer or dessert. Ya know, the basics. Well, we went for it! We had Italian food one night, steak one night (our meal cost over 50 bones each...and we only paid 40 for the whole day. Ha!), Chinese one night, and Japanese where they cut, cook, and serve everything right in front of you. Woohoo! What a fun splurge.

* At the Animal Kingdom we saw a Finding Nemo musical. So cute!

* Speaking of animals, we saw them everywhere. Bunnies came out at night at our hotel, there were ducks, egrets and blue herons all over the parks, we saw a snake our last night, I caught a couple frogs by the water, it was so fun.

* We rode every type of transportation possible: cars, boats, trains, buses, monorail, trams, even go-carts at our hotel.

* Elissa has a small bladder, so we now know where every single bathrom is at all 4 parks...and which one we are closest to at any given time.

* Whoever invented the "Fast Pass" needs a raise, medal, or ceremony. We didn't have to wait in many lines.

* I loved getting into conversations with kids in lines or on the monorail. The first reason is because kids are super cute and excited to be there and the second reason is because kids say really funny things. Most of what they say ends up in my "Quote Board" book from the trip.

* There is a new fast ride called "Expedition Everest" and inside is a huge yeti. Rockin'.

* My last night I had to switch rooms (because a new family was coming to take my room) and at first I was a little bummed. But then when I got to my room, I realized it was an UPGRADE! Holy cow, I had a living room, kitchen, balcony overlooking a lake, two bathrooms (one with a jacuzzi tub!), and a bedroom with a massive king size bed just for little ol' me. I don't think I've ever slept so well. It was such a surprise. Heck, you guys can switch rooms on me anytime

And then to end the perfect vacay, I flew home and the next day saw Josh Groban in concert. He is AMAZING!!! I was in awe. As much as I love my job, I did NOT want to go back. I think I always feel like that after time away. I am so thankful for vacation! Can't wait for my next one... =)

Yes, I love Disney

It's vacation time again....yesssssss. I feel like I just HAD vacation, but then I realize it was three months ago at Christmas time. And then that makes me realize how fast this semester is flying by. And then THAT makes me realize that time is like sand in the hourglass...

But I digress.

Ok, so this vacation came out of nowhere. I got a call a month ago from my BFF (the one who works at Disneyland) and she asked what I was doing at the end of March. When I told her I thought I could get some time off, she informed me that we were going to Disney World. Yup, not DisneyLAND, but DisneyWORLD. Woot.

Here's the sitch: her hubby just got a new job at D-land but they are training him for 2 weeks at D-World. (I'm not sure why) She thought it would be fun if we went out for a week to play and her husband could join us at night and on the weekends. FUN! And since they both work for Disney, they got us a free hotel room and free entrance to all 4 parks. All I am paying for is food and my plane ticket.

Dude, they are hookin' a sister up! I wish I could hook them up with stuff, but um...I don't know if they count a Bible, microwave popcorn, or Nerf guns as a "hook up". Oh well.

So, tomorrow morning I get to wake up at 4 a.m. and fly across the country to the lovely state of Florida, where it is currently 75 degrees with some clouds. Perf.

Be back next week. Off to enjoy the Magic Kingdom again...

I'm almost 30

I went to a Mary Kay par-tay this afternoon that one of my students was putting on. If you've never been to one (so, basically all guys...) it's about 2 hours of learning about Mary Kay products (make-up, skin care, etc) and getting free make-overs and "Satin Hands" (where your hands come out as soft as a baby's you-know-what).

About halfway through, our "consultant" was telling us how important it was to take care of our skin, blah blah, blah, and then she said something super random:

"Ladies, you know how you can tell how old a tree is by counting its rings? We get rings, too. We get one ring around our neck every 10 years." My first thought was, "Whatever..." but nonetheless I turned my head to look in the mirror. ACK! She's right! I have two lines ("rings") on my neck and the makings of a third one! Seriously, go look in the mirror and check out your neck lines. You should have one for every ten years of life you've lived.

Yep, I'm almost 30. Freakin' Mary Kay.

Grandma Judy

I have talked to many of you about this, but for those of you who I haven't...I have some sad news. My grandmother passed away last week. She was my mom's mom and my last living grandparent. Her husband, my grandfather ("Pop-Pop") passed away last year around this same time. It was so weird to be at the memorial service at the same church we were at last year, celebrating our grandma's life...when I feel we had just done that for Pop-Pop.

My grandmother loved music. She had a piano, wrote songs, always led us in carols at Christmas time. When my mom was growing up, my grandma Judy would write musicals for her school or church. And she passed down her love of music to my mom who has in turn passed it down to my sisters and I. What a gift.

We wanted to honor that at her service. So my mom, 2 aunts, and uncle would get up and share about Grandma's life and then a group of family members would get up and sing a song about that period of time. It was like a musical in Grandma Judy's honor! My sisters and I sang two songs for Grandma - "Love in Any Language" and "How Beautiful". Here are the words for that one:

" How Beautiful the hands that served
The Wine and the Bread and the sons of the earth
How beautiful the feet that walked
The long dusty road and the hill to the cross
How Beautiful, how beautiful, how beautiful is the body of Christ

How Beautiful the heart that bled
That took all my sins and bore it instead
How beautiful the tender eyes
That choose to forgive and never despise
How beautiful, how beautiful, how beautiful is the body of Christ

And as He lay down His life
We offer this sacrifice
That we will live just as He died
Willing to pay the price
Willing to pay the price

How Beautiful the radiant bride
Who waits for her Groom with His light in her eyes
How Beautiful when humble hearts give
The fruit of pure love so that others may live
How beautiful, how beautiful, how beautiful is the body of Christ

How beautiful the feet that bring
The sound of good news and the love of the King
How Beautiful the hands that serve
The wine and the bread and the sons of the Earth
How Beautiful, how beautiful, how beautiful is the body of Christ "

I miss her so much. But it's also interesting that I am happy, too, in the midst of my sadness. It was the same way with Pop-Pop. I saw how much pain they were in...and I just longed for them to be with their Jesus and to be free of that suffering. And when I found out my grandma has passed, I imagined her being reunited with Pop-Pop again and it brought me so much joy.

She lived 87 long, full years. Surrounded by many friends and family who loved her. I am so thankful I knew her and got to have her in my life.

winning video

About a month ago, we had a "Make Your Own Video" night where the college students got to get in groups of 8 or so and make a 2-5 minute video. They had an hour and a half. We all came back and watched the videos and voted for our favorite. Would you like to see the winning video? It is entitled "Peanut Butter and Jadie". I hope you like it as much as I did.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kf1rjAuhdSc

Today

Today I processed film, went grocery shopping, got an oil change, and worked on my taxes. Gosh, I'm such an adult. I should go take out a loan and buy a house or something.

Spring!

Oh my word, the weather is BEAUTIFUL!

Yesterday I sat outside Starbucks with a student for a glorious TWO HOURS in the sun. We chatted, sipped ice blended goodness, and just enjoyed being outside with the sun shining down on us. Ahhhhh...

I feel like everyone is in such a better mood. There is more smiling and laughter and eating outside and walking and commenting to others about how nice it is.

Good for the soul.

Best. Musical. Ever.

I laughed many times. I gasped three times. I cried twice. And I even got goosebumps once. What a phenomenal show. If any of you get the chance to go to L.A. to see this musical...please do! It is worth every penny.

Off to L.A.

Peace out, everyone. Myself and some buds are heading down to traffic-y, smoggy, not-very-pretty L.A. to see the best musical ever!!!


"So if you care to find me, look to the western sky. As someone told me lately: 'Everyone deserves the chance to FLY!' And if I'm flying solo, at least I'm flying free. To those who'll ground me, take a message back from me:

Tell them how I am defying gravity!

And nobody in all of OZ, no wizard that there is or was, is ever gonna bring me down!!!"

- - Elphaba, the Wicked Witch

Best Oscar party

Last night, I had the opportunity to see the Oscars in style. One of my roomates (Jessica) has a friend who won 4 tickets from a radio station to a ritzy Oscar party in a ritzy hotel in San Jose. Jessica's friend asked if she wanted to go and bring a friend. Jessica knew how much I love the Oscars so she invited me!

Let me back up. I really do love the Oscars. I think they're fun. When I was in college down in L.A. my friends and I always wanted to dress up and pretend we were famous so we could walk the red carpet and catch a glimpse of the movie stars. One year we came really close...we were within 2 blocks of the red carpet and we could see the tall Oscar statues out front and all the cameras. But sadly, we got turned away.

So anyway, this was a FORMAL occasion so we got all dressed up, hair, make-up, the works. We meet up with Jessica's friend (Jenna) and her husband (Joe) and we all drive over together. The first thing we see are ladies in full-on formal gowns. Whoa, this thing really is fancy!

When we walk into the hotel, there is a red carpet! Woot! I was going to get a (fake) taste of what it would be like to walk a red carpet. I was totally in my element. They even had people with cameras taking pictures of us. A lady all dolled up comes up to our group and tells us we are going to be filmed for Comcast cable further down the carpet and we will be asked to quote a favorite movie line. If we do a good job and are selected, we will be shown in movie theaters before the movies start.

I start wracking my brain as we get closer and closer to the interviwer lady, trying to think of an amazing movie quote. Think, Sarah, think! There are a million good movies out there with a million good quotes! And all I could think of was Ace Ventura Pet Detective. WHAT!?!?! I don't even like that movie very much! I remember it coming out when I was a junior or senior in high school and I thought parts of it were funny, but mostly it was dumb. So why is it at the moment I need a good movie quote, that is the ONLY movie that was in my mind?!?

Before I realize it, we are at the video interviewer. She is super dressed up and totally has the "announcer-interviewer" type voice. I happened to be first, so she asked me to look at the camera and say my quote. So I get the biggest, dumbest grin on my face, open my mouth real wide and say, "ALLLLLLLLLLL RIGHTY-THEN!!!!!!"

Do you ever have that feeling where you wish you could turn back time? At that moment, I wish I could have. There was this silence and the lady just looked at me. I am sure she had heard all sorts of good ones like "Life is like a box of chocolates" or "But they will never take OUR FREEDOM!!" and then some chick comes and quotes Ace Ventura. (* crickets*) I was pretty much mortified.

So then it gets BETTER. The lady wants to make it seem more like the Oscars so she asks us where we got our dresses. If you watch the Oscars, this is where the actresses get to share their designers like Versace, Armani, Dolce & Gabbana, etc. So since I happened to be first, she turned to me. So...where did you get your dress?" And without thinking, I said, "Ross."

ROSS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I am surrounded by women in gowns and men in tuxes and I just said I got my dress at Ross. Wow. I can't believe I just said that. It was true, but I should have made up a fib, like Macy's or some nice outlet in San Francisco or something. But no, I had to say I got my dress at ROSS. I felt like I was headlining the "white trash" version of the Oscars. First Ace Ventura Pet Detective, then this.

So after that debacle, I was like, "Get me out of the spotlight!" and I made a beeline for the ballroom door. We went inside and it was SO NICE. Tables everywhere, candles, a buffet table, two bars, and a popcorn machine. Ooooh, popcorn! Jessica and I drop our stuff off at a table and make our way to the popcorn machine. The guy serving us is super nice and tells us he works at the radio station. I make the mistake of asking him if he is an intern (he looked kind of young) and he gets totally offended and says no he is NOT an intern. He is a program manager thank you very much and the only reason he is stuck slinging popcorn all night is he wore a suit instead of a tux. We could tell he was pretty bitter.

So he hands me my popcorn and our hands miss each other and the bag of popcorn falls all over the floor. "White Trash Sarah" strikes again! I started laughing nervously and apologizing profusely while Mr. I-Am-Not-An-Intern just starts moving the popcorn under the popcorn maker with his shoes. He's just sweeping the popcorn with his feet under the machine! It was something I would have done. Suddenly, in my eyes, we were kindred spirits. Probably not in his eyes though. Jessica and I hastily left the area and returned to our seats.

Nothing really eventful happened after those first exciting ten minutes. When we got closer to our table, we saw some men sitting there who Jessica described as "the Italian mafia". Tan, suits, pinky rings, you name it. I am half Italian on my dad's side so I confidently tell her that these are "my people" and I comfortable being the one to sit next to them. So we sit down and introduce ourselves. It turns out we are at the "Sponsers" table. We were sitting with VIP guests, who are the CEO and Vice President of a carpet company and they advertise on the radio station hosting the gala.

Because of them, we got primo service, lots of visits from the radio station president, and we got to go first in the buffet line. Thanks guys! The food was delicious! The plates were super small though. I am sure everyone felt like a pig because you seriously needed three little plates to hold an average amount of food. It was fun being in line and seeing people struggling and juggling their plates around.

The Oscars were so fun! At commercials, the morning DJ's would go up and give out raffle prizes and talk up the crowd. I am glad Helen Mirren won for Best Actress, because I made a bet with a guy at work. I am now ten bucks richer. Sweet. The Departed won for Best Picture, which I haven't seen but I heard it was pretty violent so I'm not sure if I want to see it.

Anyway, we were at the party from 5-9:30 and we were super tired by the end. I have never been to a formal Oscar party so it was a fun experience. I sure left my mark. I can't wait to see if I've been chosen to be shown in movie theaters. I highly doubt it.

New home group

I have realized on Wednesday nights (college group) that a lot of my role is "Hospitality". New college students come into the house and I love meeting them, getting to know them, introducing them to others, etc. That role has become natural and I really enjoy it.

So how strange was it when last night I went to a new home group for the first time and the tables were turned? I walked in to a house with 14 people looking at me and I knew none of them. Hmmm...that can be quite scary. I am so used to being the "welcomer", I haven't felt what it's like to be the "new person" in such a long time.

But it was a great night. The group seems really cool. I am looking forward to going back.

the countdown

10 days until I get to see Wicked in LA!

Yesssssssssss...

Amy and David

My older sister and her husband. Aren't they adorable? ha ha

I'm a clencher

Yowch. My left jaw has been hurting for awhile now so I finally went in to get it looked at. Turns out I'm a "clencher". One who clenches and grinds their teeth in their sleep. I don't even know I am doing it because I'm asleep, but it's true. So, I am going to have some x-rays taken of my jaw bones and muscles and then I'll get a plastic teeth shield that I will wear for 6 months to help prevent more clenching. Crazy. Aren't I too young to have stuff like this happen??

Weekend O' Fun

I am home from the weekend and still trying to recover. Zzzz....

What a great time we had. I rented a big ol' GMC Yukon XLT or whatever those beasts are. That thing was MONSTROUS! And amazing to drive. I felt so high and so powerful. I could cram 8 people (including myself) in that bad boy plus tons of luggage. And yeah for 4 wheel drive because boy did we need it.

The snow was so great. Best snow I have probably ever skiied in. I guess Tahoe has had no snow all season...until this weekend! Thanks, God! It snowed all weekend so we were always walking, skiing, snowboarding, or playing in feet of fresh snow. It was so soft and perfect. Man, it was hard to come home!