Summer 2007 in pop culture

With September approaching and schools starting up again, I thought it might be fun to go back and reflect on the summer of 2007. Much has happened in the past two and a half months. Let's start with the "Winners of Summer 2007":

* Books - J.K. Rowling. The 7th and final book in the Harry Potter series was released on July 21st. A gazillion books were sold in the first 24 hours, breaking every record imaginable. Thank you J.K. for turning a new generation back into the love of reading!

* Sports - Barry Bonds. On August 7th, he hit his 756th homerun and surpassed the record from Hank Aaron. I had the opportunity to attend 2 Giants games this summer and one cannot deny the electricity and frenzy that erupted every time Bonds stepped up to bat. Yeah, the dude probably took steroids, which bums me out. But that's another whole discussion entirely.

* Music - Amy Winehouse for "Rehab" (girl, that beehive is distracting, but to each his own I guess) Gwen Stefani for "Sweet Escape" (love Akon's "woohoos"!), Maroon 5 for "Makes Me Wonder (guys, you don't have to drop the "f-bomb" for your song to be a hit), and Fergie for "Big Girls Don't Cry" (were you channeling Blossom in your video with the suspenders and funky hat?) Ultimate winner in music this summer: Rihanna with her song "Umbrella" (ella, ella, eh, eh, eh).

* Technology - Steve Jobs. Oh Steve. Your iPhone was a hit. On June 29th, people who had been dreaming and salivating for months finally got their hands on one. I mean, who wouldn't want one! Don't pay any attention to the $600 price or the $200 required phone activation fee...just look at how cool it is! Music, phone, camera, internet, email....the next version will also be able to make fries. Sweet!

* Television - High School Musical 2. On Friday August 17th, tweens squealed with delight as their favorite students from East High returned for some more singing and dancing. I am a big fan of HSM because just like Harry Potter...it is turning a new generation onto musicals. People are calling it the "Grease" of this generation, but without the smoking, drinking, or sex. Oh and just in case anyone was wondering (which I'm sure you weren't) Zac Efron is the It Hearthrob right now. A study showed that if you are a female in jr. high or high school, there is a 1 in 3 chance you will have a picture of Zac Efron in your locker. (Random question: who does these surveys?!) That's 33% of ladies 11-18 who are ga-ga over him. And I'm sure it will continue to rise. With HSM2 and Hairspray this summer, he's gotta be pretty stoked.

* Movies - here is Sarah's Top 10 Countdown of summer 2007 movies:

10) Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End. Most disappointing movie ever. Not even my boyz Johnny and Orlando could salvage that mess. I am just going to pretend this one was never made and the original Pirates was the first and only one. And when Pirates 3 comes out on DVD, I would appreciate it if they would rename it "Pirates of the Caribbean: At Crap's End". No false advertising there. Thank you.

9) Shrek 3 - also a huge bummer. I really enjoyed the second one so I had high hopes. Oh well.

8) Spider-Man 3 - what is with all the 3 movies sucking?!?

7) Transformers - plot was lame but the special effects rocked. Saw this at the Drive-In with my college students. We made jokes at the dialogue which was fun. Shia LaBeouf is the man. He is joining Zac Efron as dudes on the rise in Hollywood.

6) Ratatouille - cute Pixar flick.

5) Ocean's Thirteen - pure fun.

4) Becoming Jane - I am a huge Jane Austen fan, so I knew I'd love this one. Mr. Tumnus (James McAvoy) plays Jane's inspiration of Mr. Darcy in P&P.

3) The Bourne Ultimatum - my fav out of the 3. Finally, a threequel that didn't leave me cringing. On the contrary, I was so into it! Very good movie!

2) Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix - the fifth book made into a movie. I didn't really like the 4th one, so this one redeemed the movies for me. Little Harry's all grown up and kissing girls! Oo-la-la! I loved the girl they chose for Luna. Spot on.

1) HAIRSPRAY!! My favorite movie of the summer. Amazing cast, rockin' soundtrack, and a great message. Here is one of my favorite scenes: 1962 in Baltimore, Maryland. The height of racial segregation. Tracy Turnblad, our heroine, wants to show people she can dance. You go, girl!

So, there you have it. Summer 2007 in pop culture. Feel free to add anything that I missed. Farewell, summer....you've been a good one.

Limo Nite!

Yeah, I'm back from a wonderful break. I spent the week down in LA doing what I love best when I'm not working: sleeping, jogging, reading, thinking, praying, playing, and lots of laughing. Ahhhh....and now I'm back at work, getting ready for our Fall Kick-Off next Wednesday night.

I wanted to share a couple fun photos from my birthday "Limo Nite". It was Sat. Aug. 18th...some friends and I took a limo to In 'N Out for dinner and then Dave & Busters for fun and games. Our favorite games were "Whack-A-Mole" and the car driving game (whatever it was called). With all the tickets I won, I bought an inflatable football that changed colors every four seconds.

Highlights in the limo: drinking champagne and eating peanut M&M's and Red Vines at the same time, singing along with Backstreet Boys on the satellite radio, Ask-Sarah-Life-Questions time, watching the sun set, Joanna not being able to find the On-Off switch on the football, getting dropped off and picked up at the front door of everything and everyone looking at us (embarrassing but fun!) drinking Coke in the champagne glasses (ghetto fabulous!), and taking a million pictures.

Will Ferrell and Pearl

I'm sure you guys have seen these videos already, but they are too funny not to show. They star Will Ferrell and his friend's daughter....2 year old Pearl. The first one is called "The Landlord". The second one is called "Good Cop, Baby Cop". (Warning - there is language involved in these videos) I hope you enjoy them as much as I did.

Time with Mel

College roomate Melanie was here on vacay last week. Party all the time! We started having fun on Day One and the fun did not end until she left. Here are some of the good times:

* We went creekwalking and picked berries...and then went home and made blackberry milkshakes. Mmmmm...

* Mel came to the college group on Wed. night. They all loved her, of course.

* Day in San Fran! Giants game, Union Square, St. Francis elevator to the 32nd floor, cable car ride, Ghiradellis Square, shopping, Fisherman's Wharf, Rainforest Café for dinner, and our new BFF: James the taxi driver

* Mel and I hiking down to the river with the roomates. Then, Mel made us a yummy dinner.

* Day in Monterey! Whale watching (we saw 2 humpbacks, seal lions, seals, and sea otters) Eating clam chowder over the ocean while the seal lions frolicked and played nearby.

* Hanging out downtown. Watching Hairspray (my 2nd time - love it!) Buying Pizza My Heart shirts. People-watching at its finest.

* Mel came to church with me Sunday morning and watched me run around like a bandit. Typical. ha ha

* Beach Boardwalk 100th Year Celebration! The obligitory ride on the Giant Dipper and eating lots of salt water taffy.

Miss you, Mel! It was so fun having you here.

And can I again just say how much I love summer??

cumpleanos

Woohoo, today is my birthday. But not just any birthday. Today is the big 3-0. Dang, when did I get so old?! If you were to ask me if I was excited to be having a birthday, I would say yes. But if you were to ask me if I was excited to be turning 30, the answer would be no, not really. Because to me, this is a momentous occasion. I can no longer say I am "in my 20's". Nope, I have officially left those behind. I now have to say I am "in my 30's" and that just seems so dang old to me. I mean, I don't feel old, but saying I'm 30 sounds so old.

Everyone keeps telling me the 30's are great, the 30's are the new 20's, the 30's are the "power decade", etc. But...I don't know how to explain it. I have been really reflective lately as to what I think the 30's will be for me. And taking the time to process what my 20's were like. Where I went. What I've done. What I've learned.

I've always felt birthdays are a great time for reflection. When friends have birthdays, we ask, "What are 3 highlights from your past year of life?" And then after they've answered we ask, "What are 3 things you are looking forward to in this coming year of life?" But maybe since it's my 30th birthday, I'll think of my Top 10 Highlights of the past 10 years. And then the Top 10 things I am looking forward to in my 30's. Yeah! I like it.

So, let's toast to another year of life, friends! Here's to living, loving, and laughing!

Sincerely, Sarah (the old one)

back next week

My dear friend and old college roomate, Melanie, is flying out from Texas to have vacay here. Yeah! So, I'll won't be blogging again till next week. Have a wonderful week and weekend, friends.

Flipper!!!

I have an image that is forever etched in my mind.

Words will not do it justice.

But I will try.

We had "church on the beach" today. We did it a month ago too, and it was awesome. Everyone brings blankets and towels and we just sit in the sand and worship God with the waves crashing in the background. I got there a bit early this morning and was talking to some peeps, when I noticed some movement in the ocean. What was that?! Seal? Otter? Sea lion? Whale? Or worst yet...shark??

Oh heck no, techno.

DOLPHINS!!! Wooooooo. Flipper was swimming close to the shore heading west and his little fin would come up above the water. I shrieked and ran towards the water to get a better view. The ocean was flat and as smooth as glass this morning. Perfect. I kept watching Flipper's fin come up, then go down. All of a sudden, he was joined by his buds! I saw three or four more fins start showing up around him!! Cool!!

Then, after they swam down the beach a bit, they turned around and came back! I could not believe how close to shore they were swimming. And now there were probably 7 or 8 Flippers, playing around. Ahhhh! I felt like I was watching The Discovery Channel...but for reals! And just when I thought the show was over and I was about to head back to the group...it got better...

They started LEAPING OUT OF THE WATER!!! I am not kidding. I have never seen anything like it. It was better than Sea World. There were no trainers giving them signals and then rewarding them with treats. It was REAL. They were in their home and having fun. The 7 or 8 of them were swimming so fast (heading west again) and then they'd LEAP out of the ocean and we would see their whole bodies above the water before they plunged back into the watery depths. It happened multiple times. Everyone on the beach was freaking out (me included, of course). We could not believe we were really seeing this.

I am not exaggerating when I say this experience makes the top 5 coolest moments in my life. I will never forget that image. It made my morning, my week, my month, heck...my whole summer.

I LOVE living near the ocean.

Artsy-Fartsy Nite

Last night at the college group, we tried something new: "Artsy-Fartsy Nite". We were thinking a few months ago about how we live in a very "artsy" area...and wouldn't it be fun if we spent a whole night focused on that?! Expressing yourself through different art forms. Without further ado, here were the options:

Painting:


Scrapbooking:


Photography:


Dance (This was my station. We did a little of everything: swing, salsa, line dancing, hip hop...Josh was trying to teach us "The Crab"):


Creative Writing/Poetry:


Drawing/sketching:











Crocheting:


Collages:


Jewelry/Hemp:








Decorating T-shirts (for a softball game we're playing Sunday):


The night seemed to go really well. It was cool to see the students get into it. There were a few things we'd change for next time, but overall we had fun. And to end the night, we had banana splits and ice cream sundaes! Nothing like kickin' everyone out at 11:30 p.m. with sugar-highs!

I'm an Amazon dot com-er

Recently I was going through some old boxes and found all my old college textbooks. Man! What am I still doing with these?! A lot of them are teaching textbooks and since I'm not in education anymore, it seems so silly to keep them. So I got inspired to put them on Amazon.com and see if anyone was interested.

I highly doubted I would sell any. They are 12 years old, worn, outdated, and let's be honest...lame. But who knows? Some teacher out in Grand Iron Mills, New Hampshire just might need my copy of "Principles of Language Learning and Teaching".

Guess what? I've sold three textbooks so far! Amazon steals...um...takes out almost half of the money for their commission, but that's ok. I'm still getting rid of old books I don't need and making some moolah on the side. Woot.