Meredith

So my roommate Meredith is totally awesome, and she blogs, too.  Check her out at "Sincerely, Me."  I have no tech savvy whatsoever, and I don't know how to hyperlink, but she commented on my last post so go click on her name. Yeah, old school, I know.  Get over it.  Anyway, one of her friends gave her this cool blog activity to do, and Meredith tagged me to do it.  She actually tagged me to do it a month and a half ago. I fail at blogging. Haha.  First, I have to put down eleven facts about myself. Then, I answer the questions she left for me. Here goes!

1)  I'm currently obsessed with Hugh Jackman.  I plan to at some point own an Australian Shepherd, and I will name it Hugh. After Hugh Jackman and not Hugh Greenwood. I understand this is a common misconception and thought I'd clear that up.

2)  I've been ripped off by a gladiator outside the Colosseum.

3)  I know a lot about Paris hospitals...

4)  I hate the sound of people eating. Even myself. This is all Abby's fault because she smacks her bagels and has done so ever since I can remember.

5)  I don't like cats.  I chase the feral cats around my house down the driveway and yell at them.

6)  I laugh to the point of crying on pretty close to a weekly basis.

7)  I've read 26 books since the beginning of August.

8)  I flare my nostrils when I'm annoyed.

9)  I always sing in my car.

10)  I love to dance, but I have zero rhythm, and thus, I am a terrible dancer.

11)  Lord of the Rings, Harry Potter, Emperor's New Groove, Mulan, and The Princess Bride are integral parts of my daily conversations.

1. If you have a smart phone, what is your favorite thing about it and why?

GAMES.  Sudoku, Bejeweled Blitz, and 4 Pics 1 Word are some of my favorites.  Also, Siri is fun to mess with sometimes.

2. What was/is your favorite thing about school?

LEARNING. I love school. I love that feeling when all of a sudden something makes sense. Or the epiphany when I'm writing a paper, and I make an awesome connection. Or sitting in the library between shelves pouring through books for a research project. I love learning random facts and thinking to myself, "If I'm ever on Jeopardy, I'm gonna smoke my competition!"

3. If your life had a sound track, what would be your theme song?

"In Christ Alone." I cry almost every time I sing this song. "And as He stands in victory, Sin's curse has lost its grip on me. For I am His and He is mine, Bought with the precious blood of Christ." Amen. Thank You, Jesus.

4. Favorite TV show and why.

Blue Bloods. See every other post I've ever written. Haha.

5. Pet peeves?

People who can't merge on the highway. For real? Get off the road. Oh, and the ignorance of the Lobo student section during basketball games. Stop cursing, sober up, and learn the rules of the game. Also, when my contacts get small rips in them after like two days of being used. Seriously, Acuvue? COME ON. And the sound of dripping water.

6. What was your favorite memory of 2012?

Yikes! Just one?? 2012 was a wild year. I traveled to China, Abby almost died in Paris, and I lived in Rome for 6 weeks. But overall best memory would probably have to be June 16, 2012: the day Abby and I spent in Valencia, Spain. It was paradise.  Also, rereading this, it looks like I'm saying Abby almost dying was one of my favorite memories. That is false, people! I just added it to truly round out the 2012 experience.

7. Anything exciting coming in 2013?

Life is exciting in general, isn't it?? But I'm going to California for Spring Break to look at grad schools, I'm doing Summer Staff at Lost Canyon, and I'm going to see ONE DIRECTION IN LA IN AUGUST.

8. If you randomly got the afternoon off, what would you do with the free time?

Realistically, sleep. Or watch Fight Club because I've had it from Netflix for like a month now.  Oops.

9. Crunchy or creamy peanut butter?

ALWAYS creamy. I have very strong opinions about which food items can contain crunchy nuts and which can't.

10. The reader in me has to ask: What's your favorite book/author/series?

Ummm. I don't know how to answer this. Favorite author: J.R.R. Tolkien. Favorite series:  Harry Potter.  Favorite book(s)? Ella Enchanted. The Kite Runner. Jane Eyre. Among others...I'm sorry. Asking an English major for ONE favorite book is like asking a parent to choose their favorite child, haha.

11. How do you find contentment in your day to day life?

Simple. Jesus and the blessings He gives me. My life is abundant because of Him.

Break

Hey, remember me? Yeah, I blog. I forgot too, don't worry.

I have four days left of Christmas Break. Boo. I like this life of watching Blue Bloods, reading books (for fun and not because they are required), and eating the delicious food my mama makes.  But I guess I have had a lot of fun during vacation.  Well, some of it wasn't fun, per say - maybe more like "adventurous" and "really weird". I don't know. You be the judge.

1)  Blue Bloods.  Because I've probably spent the most time on this pursuit, it comes first.  This is the best show on TV, hands down. My whole family agrees. If you don't like this show, you're crazy and don't talk to me. Just kidding. Sort of. Anyway, I know I've raved about this show before, but my obsession reached a whole new level over break because my parents gave me the first two seasons for Christmas. I've finished both seasons, and now I have proceeded to go back through and rewatch my favorite episodes. And I'm probably going to rewatch both seasons with Nicole. Blue Bloods Mania has escalated to the point that Abby and I legitimately feel really attached to the characters - we talk about them like they actually exist. This may classify in the aforementioned "really weird" category. Don't care. Jamie Reagan is my soul mate, and Danny Reagan and I may be distantly related (which makes the whole "marrying Jamie" plan really awkward): suspicions arising due to our shared rage trait.

2)   Harry Potter.  Two incidences regarding HP have made me smile over break.  Back story. My parents have been reading through the HP books together for the past 8 months or so.  They take turns reading a chapter or two aloud to each other every night.  Precious, I know. First, while away from the house one evening at the beginning of break, I received a phone call from my mother.  Our conversation went something like this...
"Hello, Mama."
"Is this the Harry Potter Hotline?"
(I laugh maniacally) "Yes. How can I help you?"
"Once you've stunned someone or 'stupefied' them, how do you wake them up?"
"Oh jeez. It's embarrassing that I know this. Just use the countercurse. It's 'ennervate,' if you're wondering."
"(To my father in the background) I told you she'd know, Pete! Thank you. Now we need to get back to reading!"
Yep. That happened. I need an HP Nerd badge or something. It's riddikulus. See what I did there?
Second, I've been reading the last few chapters of Deathly Hallows aloud to them.  It's so fun to see them unraveling the story and putting together obscure plot points. I love HP. I love reading. I love my parents. So. Much. Fun.

3) Moving Abby to Denver. This classifies as adventurous. Adventurous because Abby accidentally purchased a couch that was too big to fit in the back of our Rav-4.  Commence the next hour and a half of being parked in the 15 minute loading zone at IKEA, tearing into a newly purchased tool kit using jumper cables because the plastic was atomic bomb proof, taking the couch completely out of its cardboard box to save several inches, my finger bleeding all over the cardboard, us eventually squeezing the couch in with the front seats moved all the way forward, me having to drive the car back to Abby's apartment because I was the only one who could fit in the driver's seat, my dad folding himself into the passenger seat because he didn't want me to drive alone (literally, he folded himself in - it was such a small space, he had to take his shoes off to fit...no joke), and me praying the whole drive because if anything happened, Dad was going to fly through the windshield to his doom.  NEVER. AGAIN. Also, this same couch was later dropped on my arm. If I hadn't sacrificed so much to get this couch into Abby's apartment, I would've tossed it off the balcony. RAGE.

4)  Going to the Caldera to see the stars. Ok, this was incredible. If you live in Los Alamos, and you haven't done this yet, PLEASE GO.  I have never seen so many stars. It was like a blanket over the Caldera, and the light was reflecting off of the snow. So beautiful. I couldn't stop gazing at the universe in awe!

5) The Hobbit and Les Miserables. Both incredible movies. The dwarf song in The Hobbit gives me chills every time I hear it.  And let's be real, I am so okay with it being made into three movies because I never want the magic of these movies to come to an end. And I have no words for how amazing Les Mis is. I downloaded the whole movie score off of iTunes yesterday, and today, I actually just sat on the couch for awhile reveling in its glory. So incredible. Empty Chairs at Empty Tables, I Dreamed a Dream, On My Own, Bring Him Home. I can't stop listening. Hugh Jackman is probably the most talented individual on the planet. I've seen so many great summaries of this movie, though. Wolverine sings to the Gladiator while the Princess of Genovea (whose secret identity is Catwoman) sings in the street, and Borat and Bellatrix Lestrange open a hotel together. Something like that.

I have so many more things I could include in this post, but I won't. I want you to keep guessing at what other amazing things I do with my life. HA. Kidding. I'm just lazy.  But this vacation has reaffirmed that I have the coolest family and coolest friends ever. Not that there was ever any question regarding those matters :)

Peace and blessings, y'all.

'Tis the Season to be Thankful: Mama

As I'm sitting here at my table eating a delicious burrito made from the taco meat my mom brought down several weeks ago (no one panic - it's been frozen all this time), I thought, "Hey, I'm really thankful for this premade food," which led to, "Hey, I'm really thankful for the mom who premade this food." These are just several of the many things I love about my mommy :)

1) She knows me best. This stems from the fact that I'm incredibly similar to my mom. Not only do most people think we look a lot alike, we are also extremely like-minded. We react to situations in much the same manner, so my mom knows when I'm going to be upset/stressed/excited, etc.  She knows exactly how long to let me rant before cutting me off and saying, "Enough is enough." Which leads to #2...

2) She is wise. Just this past week, I was complaining to my mom about an annoying feminist girl in one of my classes. Per usual, my mom listened to me for several minutes before dropping a truth bomb on me. She simply told me this: "Sarah, not everyone grew up like you, surrounded by men who value the opinions and actions of women. Not everyone grew up with a father who loves and respects his wife." In essence, I have no idea what storms this girl has walked through. My mom reminded me to look through this girl's eyes before I claim knowledge of her heart. Which leads to #3...

3) She is kind. She cares about other people's feelings and needs, she listens, she encourages (I have a stack of cards my mom has given me over the years, usually with a verse or two, encouraging me to keep running my race), she teaches, she tells it how it is. She doesn't put nuts in brownies because I don't like them even though she does. She doesn't make meatballs when my dad is around because he doesn't like them.  I have not seen heads or tails of a mushroom in our house my entire life because none of the rest of us like them even though my mom LOVES mushrooms. In high school, my mom would stay up late with me some nights when I had lots of homework, simply to keep me company. She loves me even when I am unlovely.

4) She buys me salt water taffy. And if you know me, that's the surest way into my heart :)

God has truly blessed me with a Proverbs 31 mother:
"She is clothed with strength and dignity...She speaks with wisdom, and faithful instruction is on her tongue...Her children arise and call her blessed; her husband also, and he praises her...a woman who fears the Lord is to be praised."

Yes, I am bragging about my mom because she deserves it. Mom, I am thankful for you always! I love you :)

'Tis the Season to be Thankful: Mundane

I love writing things when I have a topic to write about. I'm not good at pulling things out of thin air, so I thought, "Hey, it's almost Thanksgiving (sort of...I wish) - I should write about things I'm thankful for!" This thought process also coincides with major conviction regarding the angst that is so prevalent in my life. Thus, by reminding myself and writing about all of the 3,098,403,803,834 things I have to be thankful for, I'm hoping to offer myself some help in the anger management department :) Tell me what you're thankful for, too!

Item #1 that I'm thankful for: Mundane Tasks.

You're probably thinking, "She's crazy..." (HA! I caught you! And...you're right).  But seriously, I love little tasks that are so perfunctory and mindless and seemingly boring. Like dishes. Each night before I go to bed, I trek upstairs with the dishes I've accumulated during the day, and I wash them. It takes me like 5 minutes maximum so it's quick, easy, and painless. One of the only activities of my day that falls into all three of those categories.

Mundane task #2 - making my bed. Yeah, I never used to do this. Until I came to college and started spending my entire existence in my bedroom, and I realized that an unmade bed was a serious distraction - napping just seems like the only feasible activity when my rumpled covers beckon to me! Now, I make my bed every morning right after I get up to A) prevent me from getting right back in bed and B) provide several peaceful moments in which I struggle to accustom my mind to the chore of being conscious. Haha.

I think one thing I am thankful for about these tasks is the fact that they really cannot be done wrong. And they are built in moments of my day that I don't have to be completely focused or paying attention. This does not mean that I'm dying to come do your dishes or make your bed. But I am learning to appreciate these tasks as unavoidable facts of life that I might as well enjoy because it's better than grumbling for an extra ten minutes every day.

P.S. I'm also grateful it's starting to feel like fall in ABQ!
P.P.S. Someone should do a statistical study on how my blogging rate has a positive correlation with how much homework I have to do...

Bonne soirée!

Dreams

What the heck.  The semester is already half over, and I've been really bad about updating this bloggy-blog. Oh well, one day I'll have a college diploma to prove that I actually do stuff with my time other than watch online TV.  Speaking of online TV...LET ME JUST RAVE FOR A MINUTE. Oh my gosh. Blue Bloods has to be one of the best shows going right now. If you're not watching it, you should be.  That's all.

So...my life...

I'm really busy.  I have a job (yay, income!), Young Life is so much fun, and school is wild and crazy, but this is probably the most interesting semester of education yet. I love my roommates and my housemates (welcome, Elliott Clay Collins!), and I'm finally feeling the coolness of fall in the air :) Yippee!

Also, I'm thinking of changing my major. Again. Why you might ask (or maybe you wouldn't ask that, but I'm going to tell you anyway).  Well, I want to change my English major to a creative writing endorsement instead of liberal arts.  So nothing too drastic, nobody worry. I really only have about 12 credits until I could graduate, but I'm going to stick around because honestly, I am totally not ready for the real world. I'm scurred. However, I also am really interested in pursuing creative writing. One of my dreams is to be published at some point in my life.  I still want to teach, but maybe one day, when I lead a quiet life living on the Italian coast and sipping wine, I will write a novel. On a typewriter. Or not. But wherever I am, I would love to write.

I've also begun checking into grad schools, and I would absolutely love to go to Columbia's Teacher College.  Yes, that's setting my sights high.  But in my opinion, it's better to dream big than not dream at all. I've always loved the quote by Eleanor Roosevelt - "the future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams." I feel kind of like Oprah writing this post..."Yeah, you go, girl! Believe it and do it, sister!" (or brother - yay, boys who read this!). Seriously, though, don't count yourself out. If I'm going to try to get into Columbia, you have to chase some crazy dream, too. Ready, set, GOOOOO!

Peace and blessings, y'all!!
(You should probably watch this if you haven't yet...http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gtkU2ch0sRI)

Thief

My roommate Meredith is fantastic. And she has a great blog, and she does this cool thing sometimes where she documents current things in her life so I'm stealing the idea from her.  But I'm not plagiarizing because I just gave her credit. At ease, MLA police...

Currently...

Reading:  The Kite Runner and The Autobiography of an Ex-Colored Man.  Both excellent books.  Kite Runner is seriously such a heart-wrenching story, and it is SO WELL-WRITTEN.  Lovin' me some Khaled Hosseini story-telling, for sure.  I'm probably going to bed really, really, REALLY late tonight because I can't stop reading.  English major problems...Also, I'm not very far in Autobiography yet, but I like it already.  Hefty subject matters but extremely well-written.

Why doesn't the New York Times hire me to review books? Oh yeah, because I'm a 20 year old that doesn't even have a college degree yet...patience...

Watching:  MERLIN. Meredith and I (ok, actually Meredith's amazing sister to whom I'm forever indebted) found season four of BBC's Merlin online on Thursday night.  This show is great.  I love Merlin. And Arthur. And Lancelot. And Gawain. And Gwen.  And Gaius.  And...yeah, you catch my drift.  Also, the US Open tennis tournament is going on right now.  My productivity level is low if you can't tell.  But let's be real, watching Federer gracefully destroy his opponent > Cortes' adventures in the New World.

Thinking About:  Writing a book.  Or a short story.  Afghanistan.  The amount of work I have to do this weekend.  How dang awesome my life is.  The Lobos winning at football - actually, that should go under what is currently blowing my mind...haha.

Anticipating:  Umm...I don't know.  Christmas?  Is it too early to be anticipating that?

Listening to:  I won't bore you with my typical "One Direction, Ed Sheeran" rant (although I am listening to them obviously!).  My dad and I spent the evening reliving the golden age of incredible music as we listened to James Taylor, Cat Stevens, John Denver, and Keith Green.  I am confused as to why these men's voices are not still blasting out of every radio portal in the universe.

Eating:  HAHA. Real question: what am I not currently eating?? Most accurate description of college eating habits I've ever heard: "I don't gain the Freshmen 15 from cafeteria food, I gain it from going home on the weekends and over vacations."  I simultaneously love and hate the stocked refrigerator at my home here in Los Alamos.

Working on:  I'm trying to write some sort of short story/novella about my adventure this summer.  It's one of my goals in life to get something published.  Maybe this is my opportunity!

Wishing:  Weekends never ended.  But then again, if weekends were everyday life, they wouldn't be special :)

Favorite quote at the moment - "A reader lives a thousand lives before he dies.  The man who never reads lives only one"  (George R.R. Martin)

Back

I took a sabbatical from blogging.  Yeah, I know, I've only been blogging for about four months, why would I need a break?? The truth? I got depressed after I left Rome, and I seriously couldn't write anything.  My life was so much less epic once I got back to the States that I didn't want to depress myself even more by frantically trying to dig up something funny, awesome, or witty that was happening in my life because all I did was sit on the couch and watch the U.S. dominate the Olympics (Ok, let's be real, that was pretty awesome, but I wasn't going to write about the medal count - USAToday had that covered).

So now I'm back in good 'ole Albuquerque, hitting the books once again.  Well, right now I'm not.  As soon as I got done with class today, I promptly returned home, started blasting Ed Sheeran, got my daily dose of One Direction stalking (new single out in October - HOLLER!), shopped online (and bought cute boots!!! So stoked for fall!!), and chatted with Abby for half an hour since neither of us has a life.  See what I mean about my life being much less epic?  I go from dance parties at the Pantheon to laying on my bed creeping on the internet...Annnndddd now my pity party is over.

A side effect of living in Rome for 6 weeks:  I'm an aggressive walker.  I stride around campus like nobody's business, and I get really peeved when people meander along in front of me.  MOVE PEOPLE.  We need walking lanes on campus:  slower traffic keep right.  I'd always be in the left lane.  Yeesh, these turtles...

I'm sure my Early American Lit professor is going to provide me with lots of great stories to share.  Every time I walked out of his class this week, I felt as if he lied to all of us.  He's extremely entertaining and really funny, but some of his information is highly suspect.  If one day I go on Who Wants to be a Millionaire, and I answer the question "What famous red-haired explorer did Spain support because Spain's red-haired queen had a crush on him?" with Christopher Columbus, and Regis tells me I'm wrong, I'm blaming Dr. White.

Bon week-end, tout le monde!