Just have to stop in to give a super happy birthday shout-out to my beautiful sister Ana, who turns 24 today. Ana, I know you’re reading this, and I want you to know how much I love you, cherish you, and wish I could be there to celebrate with you!!! You are the best sister a girl could ever ask for & I am grateful everyday to have you in my life!
BTW, your gift will be late.
Ana and I this time last year
By the way – I’m alone again! Julian has once again been shipped off – to NYC this time to film his best friend Marc as he wraps up his new record in the studio over the next few days. I’m sad he’s gone so unexpectedly, but I think it’s a gift in a way because I really need to play catch up on a lot of school work and it’s hard to make myself focus when I have such a dashing, entertaining man hanging around the house all day.
See what I mean about the dashing part:
At least I have three furry kids to keep me company around here til he returns. Things are going well in my world – just had a lovely visit with Julian’s parents, started my 10k training program (so far so good, but it’s early – I’m enjoying the strength training & looking forward to getting some cycling in), been getting good grades at school & learning so much, and the weather is finally starting to feel more Fall-like regularly. I can’t believe it’ll be Halloween in 20 days! We don’t have costumes yet, so I guess I should get on that soon.
Hope you’re all having a beautiful October… xo
Photo: first by Julian / second by Julian’s Mom, Laura
I’m stuck in the middle of a whirlwind of doing homework and studying for quizzes and exams. It’s like I haven’t stopped except to eat, sleep, and clean! And yes, watch a little bit of The Good Wife, which I’ve been devouring via Netflix (or shall I say… “Qwikster”). Today was my first real test (in what is probably going to be my hardest class this semester) and I am pretty sure I got an A. I will definitely feel like a fool for saying that if I didn’t, but I really did study hard and there were only 1 or 2 questions that really ‘got me.’ I had little time to celebrate though, because I have my weekly quiz in Algebra at 8am tomorrow and you can imagine how much fun it is to calculate mixtures (how much pure alcohol do you add to 35L of 20% solution to get a final solution of 50%?) – I think I’m getting the hang of it, but my mind is like Jello pudding right now.
Once class is over tomorrow (and I swing by the RVT building to do a little work on an assignment), I am coming home to hopefully soak up every last minute I can with J before he leaves town for a week. What a total bummer. I’ve been so busy that I haven’t had time to mope about him leaving as I usually do, but I really will miss him once he’s gone. It’s just a week, though! And I think Frank will have it harder than I do. That dog has become so attached to him, he’s gonna wonder where his Papa went.
My birthday was absolutely perfect btw – despite getting a rough start to the morning with a dead car battery, we had a great time visiting the animals at the Gentle Barn (and met a 1,000 lb pig named Biscuit), got great massages (not at the barn, I assure you), and had an amazing dinner at a romantic Italian joint out in Santa Monica. Julian really outdid himself with the planning, and considering how busy he’s been lately, I appreciate it even more than usual. What a good man I have.
Buddha and I
Handsome Monty
A pig named Zeus (believe it or not, not the 1,000 lb guy)
Hope you all have a wonderful weekend… and happy Fall!!!
Well, I survived. But just barely. The two week double-header known as packing-moving-unpacking-get a new dog-week-turned-drive to AZ-turn around, drive back to LA-host little siblings-go to Disneyland, Warner Bros, etc-week has officially come to an end…. BREATHE.
The week with my little brother & sister was beyond amazing, but I can’t ever remember being this tired or out of sorts! Remind me to never schedule this many things in one short timeframe ever again. On the plus side, the new house is kind of starting to feel like home, I’m tanner than usual thanks to having a pool in the backyard, and the new puppy sleeps a lot, which is way better than barking/peeing on the floor a lot. As a matter of fact, he’s sprawled out in his bed with all four legs in the air as I type this. And the house is silent… which it hasn’t been since we moved in. I can’t stop taking deep breaths, because I kind of feel like I haven’t breathed since we began this process!
This ought to explain the lack of posting here. I’m sure I’ll be back to normal soon, though I plan on doing an awful lot of this for the rest of the weekend:
Hope you all have a wonderful weekend!
Photo: found via Pinterest, unknown source, TinEye came up with zip.
One of the advantages of being the first born (especially in the booming 80s) is that your parents dress you in the coolest clothes, before they realize how overpriced baby clothes are & how fast you outgrow them. Not that this outfit is a true indicator of my Mom’s splurging habits, but I do love it. I also love that Mom (or Dad?) wasn’t afraid to dress her baby daughter in jeans & a red flannel (but throwing the feminine barrette in for good measure). I am gonna have to bring this look back.
doing load after load of laundry. buying extra cat food. getting sunscreen. mailing mother’s day cards. dropping off/picking up library books. getting haircuts. picking up paychecks. searching for and buying swim trunks, shorts, hats, flip flops, sandals, etcetera. shopping for mother’s day gifts. shipping said mother’s day gifts. hauling out suitcases. buying vitamins. squeezing in lightening fast meals. notifying the bank of our travels. arranging for the car to be moved. writing notes to the cat sitter. calling to confirm our flight. downloading apps for the plane. doing the rest of the dishes. PACKING.
Oof. Is this how everyone’s day-before-vacation is? Because it always seems to be mine. From the minute we woke up, signed all nine of our Mother’s Day cards, and split a granola bar whilst dashing out the door to begin the errand running, J and I have been going a million miles a minute to get everything done in preparation for leaving our home in LA for a week in paradise. It will be worth it, it will be worth it, it will be worth it…
Did I mention it was about 350 degrees in LA today? BECAUSE IT WAS. And no, we do not have air conditioning. My poor cats! Is it wrong to leave the fan running while we’re out of town? I know it will waste a lot of energy, but I am worried about them being trapped in a hot house with no one to leave the windows open at night and let all the cool air in. I think I’m gonna have to do it.
Friends, tell me your stories about big, difficult decisions you’ve made that have changed your life in an enormous way (and how it is working out/has worked out for you).
Or, tell me stories about how you conquered being overwhelmed by the sheer enormity of taking on a goal so massive (but perhaps, so fulfilling). The ups, the downs, the fears, the payoffs…
I’m thinking about (pretty sure I am) taking a big part of my life in a different direction, and I’m kind of freaked out. Also excited, but at the moment seem to be feeling a bit overwhelmed by it all. Vague enough for you? Well, if it works out, you’ll find out eventually.* For now, I need your stories. So please, spill?
*No, it’s not a baby. We just got married, for crying out loud!
This weekend was even more exciting than I had originally planned, because among other things, I got a new camera. For the past several months and years, the only camera I’ve had access to is that of my iPhone, Blackberry or Macbook. When Julian came into the picture, he brought along a very expensive and very fancy camera, but one that I not only didn’t know how to use, but that I would probably drop and/or break. It made for very few opportunities to fully document trips, parties, and life in general.
“life in general”
But that all changed on Saturday when we decided to just bite the bullet and get a camera! After much research, husband settled on one model that seemed to be better than the rest in the point-and-shoot category – the Sony CyberShot DSC-TX5. It’s touchscreen, has a sweet (and wide) lense, is drop proof (awesome) and even WATERPROOF up to 10 ft. We’ll be putting that to the test next time we are on vacation, for sure. It was kind of a splurge, but everyone needs a camera, and this is one that we’ll have for years to come.
Here are some of the shots from my first day with the camera. As I’ve said before, I kind of suck at taking photographs, so if you see something good on here, chances are Julian took it, not me.
On another note, I’ve decided it should be illegal for me to work on Mondays. It is not only hazardous to my own health, but detrimental to the sanity of others. Thank you & goodnight.
I’ve got a video for you guys. Watch the entire thing. Not just because the illustrations are pretty mesmerizing, but because the ideas are very interesting and dare I say… world changing? The topic is motivation – what motivates people? Money, right? We love money!! We’ll do anything for money!! It pays our bills, buys us shiny things (sometimes before we even have the money), makes us sublimely happy. NOT. According to the studies explained below, we aren’t as scum-sucking as we thought we were. People just want to make an impact and do cool stuff.
“Good judgment comes from experience. Experience comes from bad judgment.”
- Jim Horning
Raise your hand if you can relate to this! *raises hand* This quote makes me laugh, my how we live and learn. Sometimes I feel like I’ve had the life experiences of a 70 year old, with all the ups and downs I’ve gone through, especially through my 20s. Though I still have so, so, so much to learn about life, I am thankful for the good (and bad) experiences I have had thusfar, because it has given me the current wisdom I possess (insert joke here).
Big ups to my parents for not sheltering me, but trusting me to try on my own, supporting me when I come back wounded, ready to give me a shove in the next direction. I can’t imagine the willpower it must take to let your children fail, knowing that in the end, it will be to their own benefit. Mom, Mom, Dad, Dad, thanks for giving me the opportunity to have experiences and learn from them.
Wonderful, you found my blog! I'm Sarah, a writer, runner, RVT student, believer, lover of pretty things (and cats.) I'm also a newlywed, which I'm finding quite enjoyable. To learn more about me, just click here. I hope my blog brings you a little bit (or a lotta bit) of happiness today.
Ana and I this time last year
