19 months later

I AM GIDDY!!!!!!!!!!

there is something different about me

I'll give you a hint.

pass the kleenex and cough drops

I'm sick.

Booooooooooooooo...

he said my name

I got to watch my adorable 16 month old nephew Judah the other day. Fun for Auntie Sarah! I swear he gets cuter each time I see him. Anyway, I wanted to get a video of him so I whipped out my camera after he woke up from a nap and was eating a snack. And without any prompting, he said my name! Ahhh! He can't say it fully yet, it's more like "Sahhhhr", but STILL. And the smile he gave me with it...oh my gosh.

a walk in the woods

Yesterday I led "A Walk in the Woods" (some students called it a "Frolic in the Forest"). We are doing a series in the college group about worship. What is it? Why do we worship? How can we worship? And we've been talking about how you can worship God in anything and everything you do. And yesterday we worshiped God in the beauty of His creation.

It was such a beautiful day and we had such a good time. We ate sheep sorrel and miner's lettuce. We stuck "sticky monkey" leaves on our faces. We put yerba buena leaves, douglas fir needles, and bark from a madrone tree into a thermos of hot water and made "Nature Tea". We explored a grove of redwood trees. We found 2 newts and everyone got to hold them. We climbed fallen logs and trees. We put charcoal from a burnt tree on our faces. We kissed many banana slugs. We smashed goldenback ferns onto each other's shirts and looked at the markings the spores left behind. We saw birds, a field mouse, and a snake. We rolled up bay laurel leaves and stuck them up our noses to clear our sinuses. At the end, we came back and drank our delicious minty Nature Tea and marveled at God's creativity.

things that made me smile this week

1. THIS WEATHER! Sunny, breezy, 70 degrees. Windows down when I drive, sunglasses, hair going crazy, singing with the radio at the top of my lungs. Absolute bliss.

2. Hip hop class - this week we got the chance to choreograph a short dance with a partner. So fun!

3. St. Patrick's Day! Wore green, ate corned beef and cabbage, took college students to McDonalds to get shamrock shakes, and pretended to Riverdance.

4. My new favorite singer/songwriter/musician: Greg Laswell. Put him as a station on Pandora and you can thank me later.

5. Cherry blossoms on every corner. Those trees make me so happy.

6. The Sawyer-centric episode on LOST.

7. This picture I found:

8. Speaking of GLEE, the new promo video was released this week.

9. A Wednesday morning hike through the redwood forest. I stopped and had conversations with three banana slugs.

10. My sister Liz's birthday is today! Happy B-Day sistah!

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Personalize funny videos and birthday eCards at JibJab!

Congratulations Jenn and Nick!

This weekend, there was an engagement par-tay for one of my roomates, Jenn, and her (now) fiancee Nick. Jenn and I worked together at camp summer of 2000 and we've been friends ever since. And we've lived together for the past 5 years which I've loved. I am SO excited these two are getting married.

Nick's parents threw a Mexican fiesta at the beach, complete with decorations, food, and a pinata. The previous day it had been pouring rain, but the day of the fiesta it was gorgeous and sunny. Yeah! You know something I love about parties like these? People coming together. It's like a reunion of sorts. People from all different stages of life, coming together to celebrate, being surrounded by family and friends - it's like a preview of their wedding day.

But not only is it fun for them, but it's fun for US! I got to see friends with their husbands (I want one) and babies (I want one) that I haven't seen in awhile and it was so great to catch up with everyone. The food was soooo good, the weather was perfect, the kids went nutzo over the pinata, the faces of new and old friends was beautiful.

Congratulations Jenn and Nick!!

2 things

1) This week I found out three girls in the college group are pregnant.

2) I want to go back to Maui.

Flo and I would be BFFs

Do you remember last month when it was "Doppelgänger Week" on facebook? You were supposed to post a picture of a celebrity who you look like as your profile picture. Mine was Flo from the Progressive commercials. Ever since those commercials came out, people have been telling me I remind them of Flo. Maybe not so much in looks (I currently do not own bright red lipstick or a Bump-It), but more in mannerisms and enthusiasm. So unbeknownst to her, Flo and I are doppelgängers and I think if we were to meet, we'd be BFFs.

AND THEN

I get a link from someone saying that Progressive is looking for someone to be in a commercial with Flo! Here's what you have to do to enter:

1. Create a video that tells us why you would be great helping Flo at Progressive.
2. End your video in 50 seconds or less with: "Now that's Progressive".
3. Submit your video at HelpFlo.com by logging in to your YouTube account.
4. Upload your video and then fill in the required information.
5. Click submit and you'll receive a confirmation email.
6. Once your video has been reviewed, you'll receive an email of acceptance (with a video link) or rejection (read all rules before you submit).
7. Then share your video with all of your friends and see what happens.

I AM SO DOING IT! Anyone else want to do it, too? We have until March 21st to submit a video. And then the top 3 finalists get flown to LA to tryout with Flo and the grand prize winner gets to be in a commercial with her. I know I won't win, but it will be fun to make a video anyway. I'll post it for you all to see once it's done.

"Now that's Progressive..."

GYFAD

Last night we had a GYFAD with the college group. GYFAD stands for "Get Your Friend A Date". Everyone got dates and we all went out together. My date was a friend named Luke and we had a great time. First stop - pizza.



Second stop - bowling, mini-golf, arcade, laser tag, air hockey, and more at the Boardwalk.




Last stop - ice cream at our favorite local place.



It was cool seeing the guys in the group opening doors for the girls, refilling their dates' drinks, paying for everything, being gentlemen. We've never had a night like this before (I think all the students were a little wary of getting dates), but I'm glad it ended up being a fun night for all.

time for a RAVE

One of the students in my group is going to be famous.

He wrote, composed, played keytar (yes, keytar), and sang a song that is on a techno CD that got released yesterday. Last night at the college group, he played us a live version and we were so into it! It's super catchy and he has a great voice.

Today at work we couldn't get the song out of our heads. We were singing or humming it all morning. One of the guys in the office noticed I have a "touch lamp" on my desk - ya know, the kind that get brighter every time you touch them? And then another guy noticed that when you sit on my couch a certain way, it makes my halogen lamp go on and off (the cord is behind the couch and is halfway in the socket). We were inspired to play the song and have a mini-rave. Enjoy!

Don't Stop Believin'...that I'll see them in concert

The GLEE kids are going on tour. Guess who will be going to LA to see them live in concert?!

I mean come on, every news I hear about this show makes me happy. Where do I start?

* Joss Whedon will be directing an episode this spring

* One of my heroes, Neil Patrick Harris, will be in that Joss Whedon episode!! I just read a quote about this: "One solid Glee insider shares that Neil is playing a character who is really funny and really mean. He will be much more of the Dr. Horrible variety than Doogie Howser, M.D. And the fans will LOVE it."

* The all Madonna episode with 10 of her songs. This is the episode my sister Emily got to be an extra in. Mercedes and Kurt sang "4 Minutes" in the gym with the cheerleaders.

* Idina Menzel (the original Elphaba in Wicked on Broadway) will be the coach of the GLEE kids' rivals - Vocal Adrenaline.

* More Kristin Chenoweth! She'll be back as April Rhodes. Could she and Idina possibly have a scene together? One can hope!

* Jonathan Groff (Lea Michele's [Rachel] co-star in the Broadway musical "Spring Awakening" which I've just started listening to and I really like) will be the lead male singer for Vocal Adrenaline. And a love interest for Rachel!

* Olivia Newton-John will be on the show to sing a duet ("Let's Get Physical") with Sue Sylvester. Not sure what her character will be, but who cares? Stoked.

* Molly Shannon is going to be Sue's nemesis! She will play "Brenda Castle, the busty 45-year-old new astronomy teacher and badminton coach at McKinley High School who is both an alcoholic and a pill-popper." I'm already picturing how flippin' awesome her scenes with Sue will be...

* the promo for the last 9 episodes of the year:



And now the cherry on top is the announcement made yesterday that GLEE is going on tour. They will be in LA on May 20 and 21. I don't know if I will drive or fly but I will BE THERE. And forget "Team Finn" or "Team Puck". I'll be wearing a "Team Schuester" t-shirt with pride.