Baking Day!

Every year at Christmas-time, my mamacita spends a whole day baking. It's tradition. My sisters and I have grown up looking forward to the goodies that result from such a day: brownies made from scratch (with home-made frosting on top), almond rocha, chocolate chip bread, sugar cookie cut-outs in Christmas shapes, banana bread, and much more. YUM!!

Well, this year I had the opportunity to actually join her for Baking Day! Myself and my sister, Liz. We spent hours poring over the recipies, whipping up the batter, frosting cookies, and I think I can safely say my mom's Cuisinart and I are now BFF's.

Pounds of sugar, flour, butter, and chocolate later...SUCCESS! Christmas treats galore! At one point during the baking process, I started thinking (probably a little too deep for baking time, but oh well): it felt like my mom was passing down all her secret holiday recipies down to the next generation. And now my sisters and I will be able to make these same treats every Christmas time for our loved ones. And the tradition will continue.

First knitting, now this. When did I get so domesticated? =)

knitting

Last night I learned how to knit! I'm so stoked. I learned how to crochet back in college but I've always wanted to learn knitting. I am working on a scarf right now. I will post a picture when it's all done.

What a great winter hobby.

flag football

Every year, the high school and college groups at our church play a flag football game, affectionately called the "Turkey Bowl". It was a beautiful day! The sun was out, the grass was green and dry, and the air was nice and brisk.



Final score:

High School - 21

College - 35

Turkey Day

HAPPY THANKSGIVING EVERYONE!!!

holiday movies

Here are some holiday movies I will see:



Here is a holiday movie I will NOT see:

This particular gem (Alien vs. Predator 2) comes out on Christmas Day. Are you freaking kidding me.

daylight savings

Is anyone else finding it difficult to adapt to the time change? I feel like I go through this every fall. By the time I leave work, it is already pitch black outside. And then the evenings feel sooooo long. It will feel like 10 pm, but really it's only 6:30!! Ack! Weird weird. I guess it just takes some getting used to. I definitely miss the long days of summer.

best new fall show

I am a LOST fanatic. It is my fav. show on TV. However, it does not come back on until February of '08. Grey's Anatomy has become painful to watch and even The Office is not as funny as last season. But fear not! There is a new show this fall that we should all be watching if we're not already: Pushing Daisies.
What are you doing Wednesdays at 8 pm? Nothing? Perfect. Check it out. (I feel like I should be working for ABC or something). Here's the story: the main character Ned has an amazing gift. He can bring the dead back to life...but only for a minute. He discovered this gift when he 9. His mom died while she was baking a pie (heart attack I think). He went over and touched her body. She immediately came back to life! But here's the catch...the magic has one flaw. If you bring someone back to life, they can only stay alive for one minute. If they stay alive after that, someone else nearby will die (to take their place).

Who died in Ned's mom's place? His next door neighbor. Little Ned had a crush on 9 year old Charlotte ("Chuck") next door. Her dad was out watering the lawn when Ned's mom came back to life. Because Ned didn't know about the "catch" to his magical touch, Chuck's dad died after a minute. Ned was horrified when he realized what happened. And then to make matters worse, that night when his mom kissed him goodnight, she died again. This time...permanently. Once Ned chose to keep something alive, he could never touch them again or they would go back to being dead forever. If you watch this 3 minute video, it can explain things a little better:

Two reasons I love this new show: 1) the Narrator is Jim Dale. Jim Dale is British and does all the voices in the Harry Potter books-on-CD. My roomates and I got into listening to them in our cars to and from work. Jim Dale can do over 200 voices of all the characters in the HP books! He is amazing. Just listening to his voice sounds like you are entering a fairy tale. 2) Kristin Chenoweth. I fell in love with her four years ago when I fell in love with the musical "Wicked". She played Glinda, the good witch on Broadway (and on the soundtrack). On Pushing Daisies, she plays Olive, a waitress in the pie shop with a crush on Ned.

The show is fun, colorful, entertaining, quirky, magical, and very sweet. Let me know what you guys think after you check it out.

I have T.F.

Lately I have been noticing that my right index finger has been sore. It hurts a bit whenever it touches something. What the heck is it from? I was going through all scenarios in my head and it wasn't until this morning I finally realized what it is.

I have "Text Finger". Or as I will refer to it from now on...T.F.

Some people may have T-squared or T.T. which is "Text Thumbs". Where they punch on their phone or Blackberry using their thumbs. I don't know why but I've always texted by holding my phone in my left hand and punching the numbers with my right index finger.

The point is people, I love texting. I do. At first, I was not into it at all. My students would text me all the time. "Hey! I'm in class! Just wanted to say hi!" or "What's going on at college group tonight?" Or my personal fav is when they would text me and I could barely understand what they were saying: "im at the mll. do u wnt me 2 pck u up smthng frm SB?" (SB=Starbucks) But slowly as time went on, I began to explore this new world of communication. And I got hooked.

lol.
g2g.
ttyl.
brb.
idk.
omg.
2moro.

These abbreviations are part of texting lingo. Not necessarily ones I use, but ones I see a lot.

WHO AM I!? Am I 12? Seriously, isn't texting for jr. high and high schoolers? Why do I love it so much? Will my T.F. ever go away?

Night game!

Last night, we had a college "Night Game" at church. It was rad. We turned off tons of lights inside and out. Students came wearing dark clothing, camouflage, and face paint. We had the whole church to ourselves. *mwahahaha!!*

We played Kick The Can and then Capture The Flag, using glow sticks as the "flags". About halfway through the night, I sprained my ankle. I was running from this one guy and I went off a curb and twisted it. It didn't start hurting till I went to bed. So I've been gimping around all day.

But back to the night game. We played for about two hours. Then everyone was hungry so we went to this 24-hour Denny's type place and got food. It was so great because we were all still dressed in our nighttime get-up and face paint (some guys even had ski masks on), so we got tons of "looks".

My highlight was when I went to the restroom. I was passing a table with two high school boys, texting on their phones. They happened to look up just as I walked by and both got all wide-eyed! One of 'em said, "Whoa!" (My face was completely covered in black face paint) So I smiled and thought, "Yeah that's right. I'm soooooo cool," but then I promptly tripped on the carpet. Classy.

The Golden Compass

I feel a rant coming on.

The Golden Compass. A new movie coming out December 7th from New Line Cinema. I think I saw the first trailer in May or June. It looked like a great movie - along the likes of LOTR or Narnia. And it has Nicole Kidman, Daniel Craig, and Eva Green (love her from the Bond movie!) starring in it.

Then in August I was in Target and saw the book on sale, so I bought it to read before the movie came out. I actually didn't start reading it till last month. I have just been reading a bit each night before bed. And I was really into it. I thought Philip Pullman (the author) was a gifted writer and it was entertaining.

But then.

I started receiving emails. And bulletins on My Space. "Philip Pullman is an atheist! He hates the Church. He wrote those novels (The Golden Compass is the first of the trilogy) to turn people away from Christianity." I was shocked. Huh?! I didn't get that AT ALL from reading the book. I just thought it was a fun read. What's the big fuss?

And then I was reading Entertainment Weekly magazine and came across an article about this. (Click here to read the article.) Apparently, it has escalated into a huge deal. The Catholic Church is calling for a boycott on the movie. What the heck? Didn't they do that last year for The Da Vinci Code and it still made a load o' cash?

And now we are being warned NOT to take kids to see this movie because what if *gasp* they LIKE the movie?? They might want to go out and read the BOOK!! Oh no!! Kids reading!!! The same thing happened a million years ago with the Harry Potter books. "Don't let your kids read them! They're full of witchcraft and sorcery!" And those same books ended up getting kids away from their computers, TV's, and video games to READ. Their imaginations were expanded. A love of reading began.

I guess I just have no patience for boycotts like these. I doubt kids will walk away from the movie (or the book) and immediately turn away from Christianity and become atheists. Instead of spending all this time trying to keep kids from watching the movie or reading the books, how about parents spend TIME with their kids. Read it WITH them. See the movie WITH them. TALK about these things.

And no, I don't believe that by going to see The Golden Compass on December 7th (which I am planning on) I am "supporting atheism". I will be going to watch a movie for entertainment purposes. That's all.

Golf Tourney

Yesterday I helped at a golf fundraiser. I learned some very important things: what a "mulligan" is, how to determine someone's "handicap", and proper etiquette for golf cart joy-riding. I feel so much wiser now.

5.6 earthquake!

Last night a little after 8 p.m. I was in my room downloading some music onto my ipod, and all of a sudden it started slowly shaking. I'm kind of used to earthquakes, so I thought it might be a small one and I'd just sit it out.

But then it kept GOING. And it was getting stronger and scarier. So I jumped up from my seat and ran to my doorway (my elementary teachers taught me well). And then I realized that I had some "breakable" stuff hanging on my walls - a glass flower holder, a frame, etc. So I ran over and was holding them in place while it continued. That was probably dumb, but oh well.

I felt like it went on forever. Finally, it started to slow down and then stopped. It was probably 15-20 seconds but felt much longer. I ran downstairs to see if anyone else was home. My roomate Jessica and her sister Heather were there and we all started squealing. "THAT WAS CRAZY!!" They said they ran to a doorway, too and just watched the house shake.

We got online and found out it was a 5.6 based out of San Jose area. That's pretty darn big! Luckily, no one was injured from it and no major damage anywhere. Just a bunch of people now sharing stories about how it's felt like a long time since we've had a big one, it reminded us of the '89 Loma Prieta earthquake, etc.

Shake, rattle, and roll, baby!!

Sarah's Top 5

1) The weather here has been so weird lately. It will be cloudy one minute, then sunny, then crazy thunder will start booming out of nowehere and it will start pouring. Everyone's dressing in layers, because we never know what the weather will be like throughout the day.

2) I am in love with hip hop. My class rocks my socks off. I look forward to it every week. We are learning a dance and the more I learn, the more excited I get.

3) Last Saturday was "Sharefest". All the churches in the area got assigned to a different part of town and we spent Saturday serving in our community. We were at a homeless services center. I painted a little, but mostly weeded. I LOVED IT! I did not want to leave. There is something intensely satisfying in pulling out weeds. I was inspired to plant a garden at my house, just so weeds could grow and I could yank them out. Seriously.

4) I went boogie-boarding last Thursday with some friends. I watched the sun set and it was amazing. I really get to live here.

5) Halloween falls on a Wednesday night this year (the night we have college group). So we are having a costume contest, trick-or-treating, and watching a scary (thriller/suspense) movie. I'm not sure what I'm going to be yet. Should be fun, though!

Six Flags Magic Mountain

It's funny that I finally have time to write about the road trip from last weekend. Yikes. Well, things have been super busy. Our new intern Jeff arrived from New York last Wednesday, we left for the road trip Friday and came back Sunday, and I have been catching up on sleep, catching up at work, and introducing Jeff to the fun and crazy world of college ministry. Woot.

But I wanted to share some fun pixs from the road trip and tell you guys a little about it. First off, it was fun. Not everything went smoothly, but when does it ever? I made some mistakes in my leadership role, but I will learn from them for next year. Overall though, I think the students had a good time. And Jeff got to meet them all and hang out with them, so that's good.

Friday morning we set off for So. Cal. When we stopped for lunch, one of our students (Jared) decided he wanted to ride the mechanical bull at BBQ place nearby. Here's a video of that:
So then Jeff wanted to ride the bull! Woohoo! Here's what he said right before he got on:

We arrived at our hotel near Six Flags around 5. So everyone went swimming until dinner. We ate at TGIFridays but had to wait a long time because we had so many in our group and it was a Friday night. (Hey! We ate at a TGIFridays on a Friday. How perfect.)

The next morning: MAGIC MOUNTAIN!!! We were there from 10-10. A day filled with roller coasters, games, food, screaming, pictures, and fun. I don't know why, but we all decided to buy capes. We wore them all day! Who knew capes were so much fun?! Best 5 bucks we ever spent. We kept trying top go on rides where our capes would fly behind us.

The only problem of the day was it was SO WINDY. Everyone was wearing shorts and tank tops because the day before had been so sunny. But around 4 pm, the wind was going nuts! Everyone was so cold and getting miserable. The craziest part was at 7 pm, I was walking with two of my girls and a light structure fell from the top of a building and almost hit them on the head! We screamed and tried to run away from the building, but just then a second one fell and almost hit us!! The wind was that strong! It was so scary. I can't believe we weren't hit. Thank you Lord for keeping us safe.

So then everyone went back to the hotel and hung out in the jacuzzi or took hot showers because we were so freezing. There was a Denny's nearby, so people tromped over for a late meal.

Sunday morning we went to a nearby church for worship. It was great! They meet in a high school gymnasium. Everyone was really friendly. Then we started heading home. We stopped at In N' Out for lunch because Jeff had never been to one and we needed to remedy that immediately. He loved it. Of course.

We all got home in the early evening and I promptly went home and conked out for 12 hours. I always get so pooped after trips like these, but boy is it worth it.

Road Trip!

It's time once again for the college fall road trip. This year I am taking 20 students down to Six Flags Magic Mountain to ride the rollercoasters! I'm sure I'll have some good stories and pictures to show next week. Till then, have a great weekend, everyone!

party weekend

My cold is gone, yeah! Now I can get back to some fun blogging. How about this past weekend?! Sounds great.

Ok, so roomate Laurel joined the exciting ranks of the big 3-0. We partied it up all weekend. Friday after work some roomates and I went to the BIGGEST pumpkin patch ever. Orange, white, red, yellow, heck even green pumpkins of every shape and size. It was slightly raining, so we had the whole muddy patch to ourselves. The lady at the patch even gave us some free artichokes from her garden.

Then we went to dinner at the BEST Italian restaurant ever. "Bella Roma" = amazing food. We walked around the village and stopped at a nearby restaurant where we know the owners. They whipped up some party drinks for Laurel's b-day at the bar. So sweet! It stopped raining after that so we walked around some more. Then, we capped the night off with watching Thursday's taped episode of The Office. Yes, I am officially obessed with that show. ("Take A Chance On Me!")

Saturday was Harvest Party Day! At 1:30 I took Laurel and roomate Jen in my car. We were driving down the road and all of a sudden, Laurel heard the DJ on the radio wish her a happy birthday (roomate Joanna had planned that). We then embarked on a bit of a scavenger hunt, taking pictures at each stop. Laurel had no idea where her party was, so it was fun stringing her along. heh heh

We finally ended up at the farm of a friend of ours. Farmer Rob and his family live on 90 acres of the prettiest land, complete with redwood trees, Christmas trees (which they sell every year), a barn, horses, a pond, hills, farm animals, pumpkin patch, corn fields, etc. Everyone was waiting for us by the time we got there. Oh, what a harvest party we had!




hands behind your back - eat the hanging donut!


three-legged race


bobbing for apples


hike up the hill


Farmer Rob giving us a hay ride. Yee-haw!


sack races!


Happy 30th Birthday, Laurel! We love you!

flu season

Well, the flu season is upon us once again. Time for me to go get my annual flu shot. "But wait Sarah," you might be thinking. "You aren't over 60 or under 5 or work with kids or have a poor immune system." Yes, friends, all is true. But I also dislike getting the flu. So I try and avoid it at all costs, even if that means shelling out 30 bucks and getting pricked with a sharp needle.

So I found out the drugstore near my house was having a clinic today from 10-2. I thought, "Oh how responsible of me. I'll go in early October and beat the November rush!" So I went in, paid, filled out my paperwork, and waited in line. When it was my turn, I sat down in front of the nice old lady and she looked at my answers. And then she asked, "Do you have a cold, flu, or any other illness right now?" (I just happened to be blowing my nose when she asked. Smooth.) "Um...yeah actually I'm getting over a cold." She handed me back my paperwork. "Sorry sweetie. We can't give you a flu shot if you're sick. Come back next month."

Ah, oh well. I'll go back in a few weeks.

Let's stay healthy, America! *cough cough*

ugh

I woke up yesterday and my throat was on fire. En fuego. Yikes. So for the past two days I have been sucking on lozenges, gargling salt water, downing soup like there's no tomorrow, and drinking lots of tea with honey and lemon. I feel like my insides are just pure liquid.

Being sick is never fun. Can we all agree? When I woke up today I felt even worse. Now it's moved to my nose and head. Sweet! Ok, I'm gonna go pass out on my bed again...

Jim Gaffigan kills me

My older sister introduced me to a comedian a few months ago by the name of Jim Gaffigan. You might recognize him from TV spots or commercials (my personal favorite is the Sierra Mist "beard comb-over"). He's even on a TBS show called "My Boys". Anyway, what's he most known for is stand-up comedy.

So Wed. night the college group went swing dancing. But we had some time to kill before it started so we were browsing in Borders downtown. I saw a CD of Jim Gaffigan's called "Beyond the Pale". It was on sale and I impulsively bought it, figuring I would have something fun to listen to in my car.

Oh. my. word. This guy kills me! He is so funny. I have been listening to the CD the past couple days and literally weeping in my car because I am laughing so hard. One of my favorite things about him is when he does this "internal monologue" of his audiences in a high-pitched voice.

For example: he'll be talking about food (he loves to talk about food, especially cake) and he'll go off on IHOP.

"IHOP...that's a funny name for a restaurant. I never feel like hopping after I eat there. They should name it "ICanBarelyMove". Or "INeedaWheelchair". And then he'll speak in this super high-pitched voice (as if this is what the audience is thinking about that joke...) "Hey buddy, I like the IHOP! If you don't like it, you don't have to go there!"

Anyway, I highly recommend checking him out. He's got some funny stuff on You Tube. If you have 5 minutes, here's a sample. He talks about how funny/strange our holiday traditions are. Enjoy!

I have an intern!

Big news! I finally have an intern! This has been a long process. I posted on the Youth Specialties website about our internship position. After many inquiries, applications, emails, phone interviews, reference calls, and "second" phone interviews....drum roll please...JEFF FROM NEW YORK GETS THE JOB!

I am really excited to meet Jeff in person. It's hard doing everything over the phone because you don't really get to sit down and see the person you're speaking with. But I have been praying so much about this the past few weeks, and it has been made so clear that Jeff is the man. He finished college a couple years ago with a major in graphic design, but he has felt the call to go into full-time ministry and he was looking for an internship to gain some experience.

Since he lives in New York, he won't be out here for a couple weeks. He needs to finish up his current job, do his goodbyes, pack, and do the long drive. I told him he should be here for our Fall Road Trip which is Oct. 19th the students can get to know him.

This is a HUGE answer to prayer. I'll let you guys know how things are when he gets out here.