Laugh long. Laugh hard.

Monday, February 26, 2007

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.

Friday, February 23, 2007

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.

Monday, February 19, 2007

the countdown

10 days until I get to see Wicked in LA!

Yesssssssssss...

Sunday, February 18, 2007

Amy and David

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

Saturday, February 17, 2007

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??

Wednesday, February 14, 2007

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!

I had good times with my students. Getting to know them better, having good talks in the car, in our condo, or on the ski lifts. We played lots of games, ate super well (we had someone come and cook for us all weekend. Yummmmm), and took a million pictures. This seemed like the perfect weekend to go because not only did we have fresh snow, but it wasn't crowded at ALL. This coming weekend will be nuts because of President's Day. Sah-weet.

Well, that was my one trip to the snow for the year. Can't wait till 2008 for the next one. That seems so far away. *sob*

Thursday, February 08, 2007

Powdah

I am off for our annual road trip to the snow! A weekend of fun with college students, skiing, food, games, and good times. I am reading reports about all the snow Tahoe is getting. Yesssss...fresh powder!!

Woot.

P.S. LOST was amazing.

Tuesday, February 06, 2007

The wait is finally over

After three long months, my favorite show will be back.

16 straight episodes...

with no repeats...

I sound like such a geek.

I'm ok with that.

Sunday, February 04, 2007

Where's Waldo?

Thank goodness for weekends. I am feeling better about the whole situation at work. I realized that worrying about stuff doesn't change anything (duh, Sarah) and I feel God has given me some calm in the midst of this weird time. I rested a lot this weekend and I think it was just what I needed: physically, emotionally, mentally, you name it. I was able to just be. If I found myself thinking about work or my students, I had to quickly think of something else. Do any of you struggle with this? It is definitely a discipline.

On a kind of fun note, last night I was in one of my roomate's rooms and she has a stack of Where's Waldo books. Oh, the nostalgia! I remember being SO into those when I was in junior high. So I grabbed a few and went for it. Ok, when did all these new characters appear?! There's Wenda and Wilma - twin sisters who show up in different books and Waldo apparently dates both of them (scandalous...), his dog Woof with the striped tail, Wizard Whitebeard with his red/white/blue striped staff, and Odlaw the villian who looks like Waldo except his stripes are yellow instead of red and he has a moustache...which of COURSE signifies he is the bad guy. Coincidentally, "Odlaw" is "Waldo" spelled backwards. Ooooo...these guys are clever!!

Man, those books are fun. Next time you go to your local library, hunt 'em down and have fun. There is subtle humor in the pictures which I didn't get as a kid but totally enjoyed as an adult. Things like mermaids in a river, smiling and waving at men on shore. The guys run over to the edge to make kissy-faces and their nearby girlfriends look annoyed at the mermaids with their hands on their hips. Or a bunch of dudes trying to trap a bear as it comes out of a cave. They are all pointing, laughing, and sticking their tongues out at it because it's about to be captured but then you see behind the guys are some bigger bears on their hind legs tapping them on the shoulders and looking pissed. Love it!

Wednesday, January 31, 2007

Help Wanted

I am feeling discouraged and alone this week. A lot of my students are dealing with hard stuff right now. It hurts to see them hurting. And I am losing some of my adult and student leaders at work. Anyone want to love on college students? Come along side them in life and encourage them? They're not scary or intimidating, I promise.

My heart feels heavy, so I'm gonna go pray.

Saturday, January 27, 2007

Oh Target

Target can be a dangerous. And by dangerous I mean you can walk in intending to only buy two things and you walk out an hour later with 23 things and a much emptier wallet.

For example, take today. I went to Target with the intention to buy a heater for my room and a CD for my mom's belated Christmas gift. But I'm sorry, even people with the best willpower in the world can hardly control themselves. Target has EVERYTHING. Literally. It must be one of the only places you can buy milk, a digital camera, a bathroom rug, a video game, and a bed comforter all in the same trip. Crazy.

So there I was, lost in my happy place, looking at a million things I don't need but suddenly seemed very important to have. "Well, I DO need a new umbrella...and while I'm here I should get a new watch since my last one died. Oooo look at the fun jewelry over there! Ok, Sarah...FOCUS. Mom's CD. Hmmm....I wonder why they have all the CD's, DVD's, and books togeth....oh, I've been looking for that book! And it's so cheap!" You get the picture.

I don't know if I'm the only one with this problem in Target. Seriously, that place is dangerous. Soon they'll probably dim the lights, take away all clocks, and cover the windows like they do in casinos so we don't know how much time we've been in there and we keep shopping for random stuff we think we need. They might even have ladies going around to shoppers taking drink orders. Oh Target...

Tuesday, January 23, 2007

what's been happening

I was inspired by my friend Cara (Hi Macsies! We all loved your note!) to write what sorts of things I've been into lately. We'll start with:

Music - I have been listening to 2 main CD's lately. Sherwood (you can check 'em out at www.sherwoodmusic.net) and Chant (which is a CD of Gregorian chants by Spanish monks - very peaceful)

TV - Grey's Anatomy has been on the past 2 weeks (yeah for the ladies in my house!) and Heroes started up again last night after a two month break. LOST begins again on Feb. 7th and the new season of Survivor starts in Feb, too. That's all I watch, I promise! Gosh, 4 shows sounds like a lot, but it doesn't feel like that much.

Books - I just started a new book called "Transitions" by William Bridges (you can check it out under my Books section to the left). It's been really interesting. He talks about methods for coping and dealing with transitions in life whether it's moving, a new job, divorce, marriage, new child, death, etc. He breaks the transition into three stages: The Ending, the Transitional or Neutral Zone, and the Beginning. Take the example of losing a job (whether by quitting, retiring, or getting fired). He talks about how important it is to mourn for what's lost. And to take advantage of the hard in-between time (most of us would rather rush into the new beginning, but he advises against that because we can learn so much from that transitional time). And then to embrace the new beginning.

He even used the example of entering a dating relationship. I was like, "Huh? What 'ending' is involved there? Isn't it a 'beginning' right off the bat?" But he says that before we enter a new relationship, it's important to focus somewhat on how things will change. Not so much a mourning for singlehood, but a time of realizaion that we will no longer be just thinking about ourselves. We won't just be doing things on a whim anymore, because soon someone else will be involved. And like anything we want to flourish, it will need our time and attention. And then there's the in-between time of dating and the "beginning" is of course the beginning of the steady relationship. Each stage is different for different reasons. I think the idea of mourning what is lost and embracing the in-between time is a cool idea.

Movies - I just recently saw Pan's Labyrinth and it was SO good. It was super hard to watch the violent stuff (closed my eyes a few times) and if you're not into subtitles you can skip it. But wow, I was amazed and I totally recommend it. (http://www.panslabyrinth.com)

Theater - in a month and a half, I am taking a road trip to LA with some friends to see the musical Wicked! Yeah! We bought our tickets back in October, so we've been looking forward to this for a long time. I'm sure we'll be singing all the songs on the way down...

And last but not least...this doesn't really fit into any of the above categories but I just have to say how much I am loving my jazz class. I look forward to it every week. We're learning a dance and I love coming home and showing it to anyone who will watch. =)

Monday, January 22, 2007

Nunchucks

Please don't watch this video just once. It is honestly funnier every time you watch it. Go at least 3 times. I cannot stop laughing...

Friday, January 19, 2007

spiritual gifts

Ahh...spiritual gifts. I have been studying them lately and I was stoked to learn that when we become Christians, we not only receive the Holy Spirit, we receive the spiriual gifts he has already chosen for us. Trippy! But so dang cool. I guess I never thought about that. I mean, I knew all Christians had spiritual gifts. But I never thought about where they came from (or when) and how they were already pre-determined for us. I love that.

So, I took one of those "spiritual gifts" tests. I know these tests are man-made (not divinely inspired) so they are a tool, not an end. But I still thought it would be cool to get some direction on identfying my gifts. So I added up my answers and my top three gifts are: hospitality, exhortation, and pastor/shepherd.

I can definitely see the hospitality and exhortation (encouragement) gifts in my life. But it wasn't until I got the results back that I realized, "Wow! I really do have the 'shepherd' mentality!" And what else is interesting is that I never really used it or felt it this strongly in my life....until I became the college director.

According to those tests, here are some words associated with being a pastor/shepherd: "the ability to care for the spiritual needs of a group of people on a long-term basis, protecting, feeding, leading, nurturing, etc." I truly feel like a pastor/shepherd with my college students. I care so much about them, I feel protective of them (in a good way), I get such joy from loving them, "feeding" them, being a leader training them to be leaders, wanting to encourage them in their relationships with the Lord, and other things like that.

I feel great joy to think about God's soverignty and how He knew I would be in this position one day (even though I NEVER would have dreamed I'd be here) and gave me the gifts I would need for this ministry. I am weirded out by that thought, but again, in a good way. =)

If you have never taken a spiritual gifts test and you have 30 minutes to kill, here's one you can take. It's not the one I took, but it looks pretty similar:

http://www.kodachrome.org/spiritgift/

Have fun!

Sunday, January 14, 2007

The kick-off has begun

Last week the college group kicked off for the winter/spring semester. That means we go straight on until the end of May. Usually around the end of March or early April I start a countdown because I begin to get very tired. But since I've had a break, I am rearin' to go!

To kick things off, we all went to an ice skating rink. If you ever want to have 2 hours of laughter, take college students ice skating. People were falling all over the place, students were trying to do spins and turns (unsuccessfully), there was multiple running into walls, we even had a guy take his shirt off during a slow song, go into the middle of the rink, sink to his knees, and sing along with the song with his eyes closed and doing expressive hand motions.

After that we all got lost trying to find an In N'Out (my fault...I am bad at directions) but then found it and ate double-doubles to our heart's content (at 10:30 at night...yikes). And THEN on the way home, the police stopped traffic on the freeway for 10-15 minutes. Controlled chaos ensued - running around, taking pictures, Chinese fire drills, going from car to car, spontaneous dancing, you name it...all in the middle of the freeway with other people probably thinking we're crazy. Nope, we're just young people who love to have fun. It's fun making memories with these students. These are the times I sit back, sigh, and go, "I can't believe this is my job."

Tuesday, January 09, 2007

All That Jazz

Tonight was a very special night...I took a step in completing a New Year's Resolution. Let me back up and say I normally don't make "New Year's Resolutions". But I specifically did this year because I looked back at the last 6 months and realized my life wasn't very balanced (ie. working too much) and I wanted to make changes. And the new year was a great opportunity to start! =)

So anyway, one of my New Years Resolutions was to join a dance class. I grew up taking dance and loved it - 5 years of ballet and 4 years of jazz. Dancing is my favorite exercise, hands down. But if you're not in a class and you don't go out dancing on the weekends, you don't get to practice much. So I decided - heck, I'm going for it!

There's a dance studio downtown that offers classes for all ages, different types of dance, evenings after work, etc. All good things. I decided to sign up for the Beginner/Intermediate Teen/Adult jazz class. Tonight was my first one. I walked into the studio and quickly noted that it was 4 high school girls...and me. It struck me as quite funny. It became even more funny when the class started and it was obvious that these girls have taken jazz before (and from the same teacher) so they were REALLY good and I was struggling to keep up. I'm a bit rusty.

But it was so fun! I felt like I came alive! It has seriously been 12 or 13 years since I last took a jazz class and I forgot how much I loved it. Our teacher's name was Leslie and she was very nice. She worked us through warm-up, some floor exercises, and then we started learning a dance she made up. Sweet! Me and 4 teenagers! Sweet.

Can't wait till next Tuesday.

Monday, January 08, 2007

64 degrees and sunny

It was 64 degrees today. Ahhhh....I love living in California. I went out to lunch with a student and I just could NOT stop talking about the weather. Clear, sunny, not a cloud in the sky. And it's January. Winter. Love it. I am sort of dreading the rain...not because I don't like the rain, but because once it starts, I'm afraid it won't stop for months. (it felt like it rained a LOT last Winter/Spring) But for now, I am going to make sure I am outside as much as possible so I can enjoy this winter gift. Oh, the sun. How I love thee.

Thursday, January 04, 2007

Geico Cavemen Apology

You have probably seen some of these. They are hilarious commercials for Geico.com (car insurance) Enjoy.

Geico Caveman Therapy

Geico Caveman Interview