Festive Foods and Bread Blunders

Happy Christmas. It's snowy today in the city of Salt Lake and it's bringing out the festive in me. Coincidentally it's also bringing out the photography in me. Something about how all holidays must be documented for the world, I think... Anyway, this past Sunday I decided the holiday/festive/awesome thing to do would be to invite the family over for Sunday Dinner at my house. (also, it's a good opportunity to show off the CUTENESS of our adorable Christmas House.)




This is our adorable mantle. Please note my Christmas Frogs. Christmas Frogs are my favorite. I don't know what about frogs = Christmas to me... but they do.






This is our Christmas house. Cute, Cute and CUTE. (there are no other options, so you must accept "Cute" to be your answer.)

SO for dinner I made Lasagna. It didn't turn out horribly. Alright, it was a little bit slanty because I didn't make sure to keep the whole thing level. But I think for a first-try it was all the way up to AWESOME. (I took no pictures of it... tragically). However, what I did take pictures of was my horrible bread-making fiasco. What is it about bread that self-destructs around me? In good news, this was the first yeast that has actually risen... so I was so excited about the bread turning out. It rose, I cut it into halves, molded it like french bread, cut slits in the top and put an egg-wash ontop so it would come out looking like THIS:



Yummy, right? Yeah, instead my bread looked like THIS:






See? Self-destructed bread. LAME. Luckily, it tasted pretty okay. Once again, I'm going to have to give it a second (or twelfth in the case of bread) go-round before I pass-judgement.

In other food news, why is it that ONE bite of this cheeseball at my office makes my breath bad enough to knock someone over? I know how to make cheeseballs. I know what is inside them... But what inside this cheeseball is THIS toxic? I mean, it was tasty... but ONE bite was enough to make me not talk to anyone for the rest of the work day.

And finally, on this post of food and festivities... this cookie looks pretty wholesome, right? I mean, you would agree with me that this looks healthy enough to be breakfast... right?

Type B Personality

You've heard the phrase "type A personality." Well what is a type B personality? Clearly not as well-known or as notable as type A.

I'm prone to think that everyone has a little type-A personality in them - lurking in the shadows, waiting to strike. As opposed to people who have a LOT of type-A personality in them - right up front for all the world to see. Even the most laid-back and generally chill people that I know have at least one thing, one issue, one area where things must go their way. For some people it's the arrangement of movies, for others it's a clean bathroom. For some it's waxing your floors every day, or dusting before vacuuming (even if you just wanted to vacuum). Maybe it's making sure that you chew every-other bite with the other half of your mouth, and making sure each half of your mouth gets equal bites. (and these are all true)

My type-A personality area (I know, "There's only one?" Shut up.) is canceling plans. If we make plans to do something exciting and I'm looking forward to it... and then it doesn't happen, I don't know how to handle myself. And by "I'm looking forward to it" I mean "I look forward to things and get excited about them in advance far too easily (What? There is a possibility of something shiny in three weeks? I'm excited!)." What is it, logically that I can't get. Often times there's a super good reason to cancel plans... and logically I get that. But still... STILL, I freak out. (note: this is also why I dislike so many holidays... because you get excited and they let you down. And that's why I choose to like the lesser-known holidays like "talk like a pirate day.")

Anywho, I'd like to take this forum to publicly apologise for people who I may have irrationally freaked out at over the years for just this type-A reason. Because, let's all be honest... everyone goes a little crazy sometimes, and I'm trying hard to not abuse the privilege.

What do you freak out about for no good reason? Where is your Type-A personality?

D is for DECENT and T is for TAGGED! (DT is for my dad)

OH MY GOSH, OH MY GOSH, OH MY GOSH! So I was doing my random e-stalking of friends blogs, when I started reading a blog by my very own first-openly-gay-friend (formerly known as "the crazy Catholic") Bryan. And he was doing a lame survey because some "tagged" him to do it. And by the end of this survey I thought "gosh, that's an awesome survey, I want to do it. I wonder if Bryan will mock me if I fill it out without him tagging me." And then it didn't even matter because he totally tagged me. AWESOME! Please watch for the survey at the end. HA HA HA! (said triumphantly) Also, i will not mock you if I didn't tag you to do it, but you can't hold-back your answers from entering the Blogosphere.

And now: the blog.

Yesterday I saw my due-at-work time today and thought to myself "I really don't want to be AT work at 6. But I will if I have to. Maybe, just to be sure, I'll call the client and make sure they'll ACTUALLY be there at 6 so I don't waste precious morning time." So I did, and they were, so here I was at 6 o'clock in the AM. And my client didn't show-up until SEVEN TWENTY. Do you know what I could have done in that hour an twenty minutes? Well, slept for one. Done and entire workout and showered for two. Made breakfast, cleaned my room, started my laundry, cleaned the bathroom and moved furniture around to make room for our pending Christmas Tree for THREE. The list goes on. But the point is: it's about decency people.


My friend Niall doesn't like the Christmas holidays because people go around being nice to each other. And this is bad because it's clearly fake or else you'd be nice to each other all the time. I think he's got a point. No, I don't hate Christmas now... but I think it is the decent thing to do to be nice to people not at Christmas, to do a good thing when nobody is watching and to return the extra dollar if the clearly counting-inept person at Wendy's gives it to you.

My new rule of thumb is to take everyone as I see them, and treat them as I'd like to be treated. Luckily for everyone, I have very high standards. now please note: this isn't always how I act... I swear under my breath at stupid people, I think that housekeeping is there to clean my mess up and I go around slow drivers, even if I have to cut them off because my exit is coming up. This is all NOT how I'd like to be treated... but the IDEAL would be to treat people like they all matter. I mean... I want people to think I matter... Don't you?

And now: awesome survey I was tagged to do!

Seven things I can do:
1. Run a 5K
2. Sing songs I learned in pre-school
3. The "Oops I Did It Again" dance (compliments of Bryan)
4. Make syrup
5. Pretend to be knowledgeable about almost anything
6. Get ready for the day in 5 minutes
7. use correct editing marks

Seven things I can't do:
1. Spell
2. roll my R-s
3. Snap with my right hand (me too Bry!)
4. cartwheels
5. eat beets
6. use fake flowers in a centerpiece
7. math in my head

Seven Things that attracted me to NOT my boyfriend because he wants his life to be private, but instead HUGH JACKMAN (my #1 for MANY years running)

1. His smile
2. He's almost too tall. Almost.
3. Two words: LONG JACKETS
4. His faithfulness
5. He always knows what will make me smile
6. His hot accent
7. His attention to detail

Things I say often:
1. "I know, right?"
2. "Awesome"
3. "I'm waiting to hear back from them"
4. "______ plus _______ equals _________" (i.e. "That sandwich plus Sarah equals LOVE")
5. "Seriously."
6. "I love us"
7. "Lemma go"

7 people I admire:
1. James Kelley
2. My mom
3. Elisha
4. Audrey Hepburn
5. Chris
6. Jackie Onasis Kennedy
7. Alexie Baugh

7 favorite foods:
1. Risotto Cakes from Citrus Grill
2. Carne Asada
3. Lasagna
4. Mac & Cheese and Chicken Nuggets
5. Orange Rolls
6. Eel sauce on my sushi
7. Oh's cereal

Four People I tag:
1. Kim Hansen
2. Elisha Jorgensen
3. Freddy Lee
4. Lindsay Adams

HOLY FRICK! There was not one spelling mistake when I spellchecked my blog!!! HOORAY FOR ME!

Pass/Fail

"ASK ME ABOUT THE MR. SNUFFLEUPAGUS PASS/FAIL TEST!"


This used to be written on my brother's shirt. And what the test was is that if you could remember when Mr. Snuffleupagus was Big Bird's imaginary friend, you were old enough for him to date (Muppet wiki tells me this was in 1985). Chris figured this out when he decided anyone his little sister's age was too young for him, and since I only incredibly vaguely remember such event, it seemed to work. (I'm not sure about how this pickup line worked for him, but I suppose that's for his blog... his IMAGINARY blog because he doesn't have one... but then if he makes a real blog, maybe one day we can all make shirts that say "Ask me about the Chris' blog pass/fail test". It'll be like a club. With T-shirts. And decoder-rings. Awesome.)

In college I had a professor who gave the hardest tests ever. Half of the test was true/false and the other half was short-answer. But the bugger was if something was false, you had to make it true. So you'd spend for freaking EVER on one measly little point. And if you didn't make it COMPLETELY true, or one thing you said in your explination was incorrect, the whole thing was wrong. And true/false tests were supposed to be the easy ones... LAME.


Hey, quick aside... remember scantron sheets? I distinctly remember when we started using scantron sheets in elementary school. And the JOYS of the scantron. You finish your test, walk up to the teacher, put your test packet on the desk, scan your test (note the results) and then put the test on the desk and walk back to your seat. GENIUS! Whoever thought up that idea deserves a gold star. Again with the irony that because of the scantron, you didn't get gold stars anymore because there wasn't a person reading them.

Although, scandal, the last person to give me a gold star was Mo DeMoss. She was my boss when I worked at Tybrin and one day she was reviewing some technical-how-to of my job that was ridiculous and took common-sense to a new lame... and she put stickers on the top and said "good job." Apparently she didn't know that it stopped being cool/reinforcing a while ago because I just felt belittled.


I seem to remember gold stars making me feel good. Once upon a time... like when Robin gave Gold stars to all her friends in high school, but she gave Neals a green star because he sucked. Luckily, I totally got a gold star. YESSSS!

Back on point (if I can remember the point)... Yeah, sometimes life feels like a pass/fail test. I'm either SUPER-awesome, or a SUPER-failure. But the tricky thing is... life is always somewhere in the middle. It's not the teacher who gives you NO points if ANYTHING is wrong. And it's not the teacher who gives you a gold star and gives you points for just trying (and two points for writing your name correctly).

Life is both better and worse than we give it credit for. It's more awesome and more, like, SUCK. And it's also more gold stars than we see because we're too busy looking at the green ones.

Canada, Oh Canada - It's GREAT!

I am tired. Emotionally, physically, mentally. BLEH. I loves me some Canada, but I have gots to now take another week off work to recover from the whole ordeal.

Canada to me is a magical and awesome place. I know most of you think it looks like this:

And you are absolutely right! That is exactly what Canada looks like. All the time. In fact, all Canadians look exactly like they do in South Park. And summer is two weeks long. And all Canadians know each other (do you know Steve from Quebec?). And they live in Igloos (at least in the North-West Territory) and all of them wear fur pelts to keep warm.


But for me Canada is that one place that can do no-wrong. Sure it's frigid cold and they have $2 coins that weigh my pocket down and make me feel like I'm poor when in real-life I have a lot of cash... but it's that place that I talk about. The place where everything tastes better, and everything good comes from. All the people are nice, and the mountains and the prairies have better light on them.

Here are some musings as to why Canada is awesome:


- VINEGAR. Holy crap. Vinegar on fries is AWESOME. And tasty. And gives me 2/3 of the joy of eating fish and chips without actually eating fish and chips. And where else do they ask if you want vinegar for your fries?

- Know what else they put on their fries? Gravy. Nothing says "Canada" to me like offering gravy with your fries. YUM. (and death... but mostly yum)


- Know what ELSE they put on their fries? PUTIEN. Putien is gravy and cheese curds on fries. Clearly it was thought-up by those lousy French-Canadians... and it is... well... not my favorite. I mean, it's fun. And interesting. And had enough salt to choke you. And I'm glad they thought of it. But it is not for Sarahs.


- What IS for Sarah's are crumpets. YUUUUMMMM! It's like a pancake crossed with an english muffin. AND I LOVE BOTH OF THOSE THINGS! So you would assume that I'd like the off-spring. AND I DO. Esp with extra butter and lemon curd.

- Other awesome things include when people say it's beautiful outside... anything with the sun out is beautiful. It was 35 degrees and everyone was talking about what a lovely day it was. I was talking about what a cold day it was. Clearly I don't fall into the category of "tough Canadian."


- This is Radium. He is Liz and Steve's pet dog. Look at the pretty eyes, the adorable ears and the awesomeness generally surrounding this dog. This dog is the best dog in Canada. Perhaps you'd have to meet him to understand his cuteness/adorability/loyalty but trust me when I tell you that this dog is awesome.


- What I love most about Canada is my family there. Honestly, that part of my family is nothing but interesting an thoughtful and loving. In anything I do in this world, I know they will always love and accept me and never judge me. (obviously this picture is a year old...)



- ooh and also butter tarts. YUM to the butter tarts.

Hamlet

It's an interesting fact that I usually blog when I'm busiest. Apparently when I am busy I think of a lot of things that need to be said. Well... more than usual...

To sleep, perchance to dream


Last night I had a dream that I was riding a bike home from work (which was at the e-center). The problem with the dream is that every time I would stop, the bike would get harder to control and i would be less and less able to reach the pedals (the bike kept getting larger and larger). So, obviously, I looked-up what the dream meant:

Bicycle

To dream that you are riding a bicycle, signifies your desires to attain a balance in your life. You need to balance work and pleasure in order to succeed in your current undertakings. If you have difficulties riding the bicycle, then it suggests that you are experiencing anxieties about making it on your own.

Big

To dream that someone or something is bigger than normal, indicates that you either have an inflated opinion of yourself or of someone. You may be expressing a desire to be more dominant in some situation or relationship.

So apparently I have an inflated opinion of my anxieties and inability to find balance in my life?

Thus conscience does make cowards of us all

Finding balance between work and pleasure, the spiritual and the every-day, truth and what is easy. There's a fine-line between all of it. I'm not sure what the right answer for any of it is. I think too often I just don't decide. It's not a strong argument... ooh, but as is so often the case with my arguments, I do have lyrics to back me up...

Then from out of the blue, and without any guide, you know what your decision is, which is not to decide. You'll just leave him a clue: for example, a shoe. And then see what he'll do. Now it's he and not you who is stuck with a shoe...in a stew...in the goo...and you've learned something too, something you never knew, on the steps of the palace.

When we have shuffled off this mortal coil

My grandpa died this week. It was really a blessing with everything going on health-wise with him. (do not read if you're eating) He had lost over 70 lbs in a month based on eating-less and puss/goo weeping out of his legs (which apparently was good because it used to be in his lungs?). What a strange feeling it is to pray for someone you love to die. A strange feeling to feel relief when someone is gone. And a strange feeling to be sad when what you wanted to happen... happens.

But, as I told my friend Tom, he was a good grandpa. Always with a camera, always with an organization structure to make sure he got the right shot. He loved good food, good people. The lovely people at the Imperial Palace knew, based on the structure of his plate, what he wanted boxed-up to go. And most of all, he was charming. Even when he couldn't remember names he would tell nurses that he "never forgets a pretty face." I will miss him terribly.

The undiscovere'd country

So, I'm going to Canada this week. Let me know if you need anything of the Canadian persuasion... Perhaps I should buy crumpets and we can all have a tea-party when we get back (ooh... suddenly that seems like a lovely idea).

To be, or not to be, that is the question

The window I can see from my office (through my across-the-hall co-worker's glass office's window) is closed today... I've just spent 20 minutes thinking I should go open his blinds... Maybe I will.

Also, just in case you haven't heard... I had my first vaguely-sporty event ever this weekend. It was a 5K and it was AWESOME. HOORAY!!!

Wo-OOoo, Ware wolves of London

Today when I woke up, I thought three things: where's my phone, I should blog today and Wa-ooooo Ware wolves of London (not the whole song, just that line). Now it should be noted that I effing hate that song, so I'm not excited to have it in my head. I am, however, excited to be blogging. (and my phone-alarm went on snooze so I was perfectly late.)

Today is Halloween. It falls into the category of "holidays I should like and have no good reason not to, but that doesn't mean I'll start liking it." You'd be surprised how many holidays fit into that category... I've pretty much made a vow to myself (that I guess has to be real now that I'm putting it out there for all the world* to see) that until I find a realistically priced Daphne costume that doesn't suck I will not dress-up for Halloween and continue to hate it unrealistically.

Holy frick! I've been searching for white go-go boots (the perceived key to awesomeness for the perfect and not-lame Daphne costume - obviously to go with not-lame-wig but my actual (non-almostpurple) hair) but, as it turns out, I've been searching in VAIN because she actually doesn't have white go-go boots. What in THE HELL is going on here? If it's possible this makes me hate Halloween even more because now I know I could have been Daphne without spending $150 on white go-go boots (because the purple ones shown above are OBVIOUSLY wrong).

Wait, this wasn't going to be another rant about how much I hate things... Let's switch modes.

Here is a scary, and true story. Okay, scary to me. Two years ago on Halloween my alarm went-off and I heard a eerie voice talking. I couldn't quite understand what it was saying... vague words... sounded like it wasn't quite normal, or from this world and instantly instilled fear into my soul. Now, okay, this isn't quite hard to do... but still. I turned off the radio and stayed, frozen, in my bed for some-time (rendering me late for work and decisively crazy). When I actually did turn my (now obviously haunted) radio back on, it turns out what I had heard WAS IN-FACT a ghost! 101.9 does this thing where they record ghost-hunting and then play it on the radio. Thought I was going to die. Creepy, huh? And that's why I don't wake up to the radio anymore.

* speaking of people who read my blog... It has recently come to my attention that a lot of people read my blog that I didn't know about. And this is FANTASTIC. I am very excited about it. It makes me feel loved and popular (which, we can all guess from my previous post about feeling unloved and unpopular, is a nice change for me sometimes). To that end, I would like to invite people who read, but do not comment or follow (as well as those who do) to comment in someway. Commenting can include facebook or in person. I just think it would be interesting to see who reads this.


Once upon a time a very wise man (Brother Griffin) told me that, in order to stop disliking the entire month of February, I should look for the good things. That February I celebrated everything in an effort to find the good. Valentine's Day? Check. Single Awareness Day? Check (in tandem). Washington's Birthday? Check. Lincoln's Birthday? Check. (Complete with log-cabin waffle making and Olympic watching... just like Abraham would have wanted it... Abraham Lincoln, not from the Bible.) Make-up Your Own Holiday (a real holiday I found on a website about holidays)? Check. Trip to Seattle (because it's a celebration as well)? Check. ... And it was FANTASTIC. And that February was the best lamest-month-of-the-year ever. In fact, that was the year I stopped hating Valentine's Day with a firey vengeance. So maybe there is a little something to this idea of looking for a silver-lining.

Very Pollyanna. Even for me.

But that doesn't mean I like Halloween. Just hate it less.

Thanks for joining the random thought-place for Sarah Timms. I hope you stop by again soon.

And, just to make you feel good, here is our friend Charlotte dressed as a dragon (sideways, but still cute):

High School Hell

I like to think of myself as a calm, well-rounded and socially-adapt person these days... but if you so much as mention class officers, football games, biology class or locker combinations I am suddenly painfully aware of my own in-adequacy. I am a neurotic and painfully-awkward girl whose shyness comes off more like self-righteousness. And this happens all the time.

• Why can't you add this person on facebook? Because I was too much of a nerd for them to have known me in high school.
• Were you friends with this person in high school? Not really because I wasn't cool enough to be their friend (even though I hung out with them on a regular basis, and went to TWO dances with them).
• Why are you so weird about your boyfriend being so good at football? I was a drama nerd in high school and he was an all-area football player, he wouldn't have known my name in high school.

And these are real thoughts that I still have on a REGULAR basis. The thing is, I don't think all of you ever gets out of high school. A very dear friend recently admitted to me to having an "Enormous and Painful Crush" on someone in high school who, even now, TWENTY YEARS LATER said they would get me good if I told this person about the crush. And did you catch that it had been TWENTY years since this person was in school? It has been.

Who ammong us has not been this person?

If you walked down the street right now and saw an old, un-requited crush of High School days of yore would you treat them like any other person you knew back in the day, or would you instead start freaking out a little?

I'm sure there are people who were pretty hot stuff so have no need to feel like this. Recently I've seen a lot of Tom Bay's pictures from High School (thanks FaceBook) and he seems to have been happy and well-adjusted. I'm sure Matt could not care less about people from high school (that's what ALL THE COOL KIDS SAY). Well done these people. You win.

But as for me, and the other people like me, who felt insecure about who they were... *enter insightful comment here*. I've got nothin'. I guess I'll keep turning into super-nerd every so-often...

"A" is for ALMOST! or It's the little things that mean the most

A is for attitude I can't help but wield
A is for arrogance; emotional shield
A is for acting, A is for abhorrently
A is for asshole, which is what I am, how rude of me.
I owe you an apology I'm sorry

The Barenaked Ladies have a whole song about the letter A. (part of it is quoted above). In fact, it's called "A". Go fig, right? And today "A" is for ALMOST!


First, let me say that my hair is ALMOST purple. It was a bold move, and probably one I won't make again... but it is a trip. I ALMOST freaked out when I woke-up and saw I, for real, made my hair this color. But I think everyone should make interesting hair decisions at some time in their life and since I was so ultra-conservative in high school and college I would have never dreamed of purple hair. Now I don't dream it, apparently I do it.

My favorite necklace broke today. I mean, it didn't break... it's still in one piece. But, as you can see here, the clasp has broken so it JUST BARELY won't stay on. And this is really bothering me because the rest of it works famously. But it doesn't matter because of that 1mm break. Now it's all gone to pot. LAME.

You know, there is a line from Garden State (run out and rent it if you haven't seen it, or give me a call and you can borrow my copy) about how a half-inch of plastic changed his life. An interesting thought. How much of our lives are made and changed by small seemingly-usless things? A butterfly flaps its wings in south america, eh? ... (no, this necklace isn't going to change my life, but it really did make me very happy...)

Back to my "almost" idea. This iPod was almost lost. For around 2 years this iPod has done nothing but sit in a box on my desk and make me think "man... I bought a lot of songs on that iPod and now it's dead." Well Glory Be and Saint's Be Praised, it works! And now, as you can see, it is my "at work" iPod (the cute green iPod shown in previous post being the "preferred iPod of Sarah Timms" and going running and elsewhere with me). Also, you can see here my cute new speaker system. AWESOME! And since I haven't updated the iOld with the new play list, I'm listening to some good stuff. And some stuff like "Could Have Been" by Tiffany. (Yeah, Tiffany was ALMOST awesome...)

I find myself feeling like the descriptive word for me and answer to every question these days is "almost."
- Did you get to work on time this morning?
- Are you being a good person?
- Did you keep yesterday free from stress?
- Do you accept criticism without taking it personally?
- Did you return things to your old place of employment yesterday, as you planned?
- Have you finished the files you're presenting at 1:00?

Yeah... ummm... ALMOST.

The thing about "almost" is... it's like the nice way to say no.

Vignettes

Remember how everyone's favorite part to their email is the end with the random and off-topic comments. This will be the entire email today. Each will have its own title and topic. Also, the title will be a lyric from a musical. (I hope at least one of you will know all the musicals) Now that the rules are pinned down we may begin the debate.

Connection in an isolating age...

Last night I saw Into the Woods staring the wonderful and soon to be famous Jon McBride. Once upon a time Jon, Tara Randall, Scott Bleazard and I used to sing along to the song "It's Your Fault" in the choir room at lunch. (Yes, we were nerds.) Scott's favorite part was "Yes, HOW, hmmm, well!" And last night as I was watching Jon sing the SAME song, during that lyric, I was thinking of that moment.

And, come to find-out, SO WAS HE! At the same moment. Isn't it nice to feel connected to someone?


And despite the impression I give, I confess that I'm living a lie. Because I'm actually terribly timid and horribly shy

As a child, I was fairly shy. The first time I ever sang a solo was at a family reunion, and it took me 30 minutes to get up on stage during the talent show. When I finally did get on stage I sat in a chair and looked at a string coming off my dress for the entire song of "God Bless America." (The string was navy blue.) And now, twenty-something years later, I feel like I'm back in the same place. Somewhere along the line I feel like all of my self-confidence has been sucked out of me... and I'm left feeling alone, and talentless. Scared of what people will say and freaked out to try.


I wonder if it'll snow tonight?

It's supposed to snow this weekend! And while I am sad because I wanted to hike Timp this weekend (stupid work getting in my stupid weekend plans all the other weeks...) I am happy because it's fall. And I can start listening to "Song for a Winter's Night" without stop until February (which is about when I get tired of it).

Ding dong the bells are gunna shine!

Robin... my very own Robin. Robin who I dressed up like a super hero with. Robin who taught me how to tap under a streetlight on Ben Margett's street. Robin who would buy $2 worth of gas with me. Robin who taught me the joy of sugar cookies. Robin is getting married. TOMORROW! HOLY FRICKIN FRICK! I'm so excited for her.

Also, here is Elisha's list of reasons she is going to wear jeans to the reception (just so none of you judge her): 1) it's at a park 2) they'll be serving pretzels 3) they were super heroes on their announcements. So don't judge Elisha if she's wearing jeans. :)

Memories!

A fun game:
1. Add a comment on this post, leave one memory that you and I had together. It doesn't matter if you know me a little or a lot, anything you remember!
2. Next, re-post these instructions on your blog and see how many people leave a memory about you. It's actually pretty funny to see the responses. If you leave a memory about me, I'll assume you're playing the game and I'll come to your blog and leave one about you.

I spy... fabulous life

There are lots of reasons to blog. It seems to me that most of my peers blog when their children do cute things. And that's cool. I just don't have children. I mostly blog because I've got a lot of pent-up opinions or thoughts. Or sometimes because I'm bored. Or sometimes because I didn't like my last blog and want my readers to have a better "e-stalking Sarah's Blog" experience. And sometimes because I have pictures I've taken to blog about. This post may or may not be one or all of the above.



Skylines are so interesting. I've heard people say that you can tell the tourists in big cities because they are the ones looking up. Ever since then I've made it a point to look up. Think of the things we're missing by ignoring and going about the day to day... This photo is of a building that's not more than a block from my office. And until this week I'd never noticed it (from the 4th floor up).

RELEVANT STORY TIME!!!

Once upon a time I was on a train from Northampton to London. We were going into town... to go to the airport to head to Paris for the weekend (please note: that is the most jet-setting and city-dropping sentence I've ever written. I'm not that cool or jet-setty as all of you know. Just clarifying. And had I known it would turn out that way I might have started the story differently.) IN FACT...

RELEVANT STORY TIME!!! (take 2)

Once upon a time I was on a train in England (better) and overheard (as one often does on mass-transit) a conversation my neighbors were having. A boy of 7 or so was having a "champion eye-spy tournament" with his brother of, I would assume, 5. The tournament was made only more adorable by the cute accents of the players.

"I spy with my little eye somephing that is green and small"
"Is it that shoe?"
"No"
"Is it the case over there?"
"No"
"Tell me, tell me, tell me!"
"Ooh, fine. It's the flowers on mummy's socks!"

It was a fine game to be sure and didn't make me wish for the children to shut-up ONCE the entire train-ride. Plus, there seemed to be no end of ancient churches in the middle of nowhere we drove past to amuse me. It was a lovely trip and made me fall in love with England and want to live there with adorable-sounding children forever. The End.

From this story, I learn two things. Thing the first: Children notice the details (and when did this stop for adults?). Thing the second, if you are surrounded by something fabulous... you stop forgetting how fabulous it is.

Did no one else NOTICE the adorable and historical churches far older than anything in America because we nock it down after 50 years? Because, you know, Europe is where the history comes from... and they don't even care.

So this is me, publicly declaring that I'm going to try to notice more things. And love the things that I have. After all, there are people who wake-up and are astounded about things I take for granted. I live in the mountains. I have the genealogy library 2 blocks away (and people travel here from all over the world). I live in a safe place where I'm not afraid if I go running before the sun comes up. And I have lovely people in my life. I do have a fabulous life.

End of actual blog. Now it's on to random comments apropos of nothing.

- when I got home from work last night about 1am there was a large box at my door because my new fall SHOES I ordered got here. It was the best thing to come home to in a long time.

- and I wore a pair of these fall shoes today because the weather is perfect for fall. And I'm wearing a trench coat (among other things) which is ANOTHER way I know it's fall. **HAPPY!**


- This is an acceptable amount of Carmel to put on a dessert for Sarah. YUM!




- This is just too large of a cupcake for one person. It is the size of a compact DISC. ridiculous. (and has no Carmel on it.) Also, for the record, I did eat both of these on the same day.

A trip down memory lane: The Soundtrack to my apparent life.

Today we are going to do a little somethin different with the bloggo. We are going to play a game like I used to in high school with the email. Feel free to play, or not. Feel free to comment on the lameness/coolness/funnyness or not. Just don't be a hater.


So, here's how it works:
1. Open your music library.
1.b. BECOME TOTALLY LAME not unlike high school
2. Put it on shuffle.
3. Press play.
4. For every question, type the song that's playing
5. When you go to a new question, press the next button.


Opening Credits:
The Pitch/Spectacular-Spectacular -- Moulin Rouge, Vol. 2

Waking up:
She Is -- The Fray
So far, this is turning out to be AWESOME movie.

First Day at High school:
Toxic -- Yael Naim

Falling In Love:
Poses -- Rufus Wainwright

Fight Song:
A Good Idea At The Time -- OK GO

Breaking Up:
Please Don't Tell Her -- Jazon Mraz

Prom:
Overflowing -- Toby Lightman
What kind of lame-a prom is this?

Life:
Jainy -- Five for Fighting

Mental Breakdown:
Over My Head -- The Fray

Driving:
God Bless the Child -- August Rush Soundtrack

Flashback:
Jubilee -- Peter Breinholt
Yay for Peter B and flashbacks

Getting Back Together:
Waiting -- Green Day

Wedding:
Take a Chance on Me -- Little Women (original cast)
Unless edited correctly this song SUCKS for weddings...

Birth of Child:
Bubbily -- Colbie Callait

Final Battle:
Aluminum -- Barenaked Ladies

Death Scene:
Anyone But You -- Counting Crows

Funeral Song:
New Frontier -- Counting Crows

End Credit:
This is the last Time -- Keane

Please look for this movie coming soon to a theater near you. Almost certinally staring Toni Collette as me. (she's amazing actress and apparently I look like her. Becky says "a prettier Toni Collette" but I'm pretty sure she just hasn't seen the right Toni Collette movies...

cheap cheap cheap, talk a lot, pick a little more...

I read an article today about male and female communication styles. This is not the first or the last time someone has made money off the idea and I'm sure we could all talk about books and books on the same topic. Or, in some cases, games and games (like Men are from Mars, Women are from Venus, the GAME). Anywho, this book/article is about NOT communicating. Apparently the best way to communicate is to shut up.


At this point millions of men (because, yes, I'm sure I have millions of readers... not CNN or Oprah, but me) heave a collective sigh.

I kindof suck at shutting up. Shocking, yes, I know. But I'm a talker. I talk and talk and talk... and when i'm out of things to talk about, I start making stuff up to talk about. Apparently I'm in love with my own voice. But, honestly, I feel better when I talk. I feel better to not just feel things, but talk about them, and talk about why I feel them, and talk about puppies and then talk about how I feel about my previous feelings you probably thought I'd forgotten about since all that puppy talk was so cute.

All this talk about communication makes me wonder: Is it better to be a wall in communication or an open door?

(what a very Carrie Bradshaw moment I just had...)

Walls don't move. You can yell and kick and scream. And a wall stays there. As a wall you don't get dramatic lows or highs, but always a happy constant. You could get mad at the wall, but you'd never really be sure why because, after all, it's a wall and it didn't really do anything to you. With walls you never really get a lot out of them, but you also don't have to put that much into them... they just are.

An open door, on the other hand... is open (awesome). There are wind rushes that are cold, and rushes that are warm. You never know how your life is going to be when it's an open door because there are so many people inside. With an open door, you communicate with everyone - everyone knows things about you so you can't hide anything. The door is movable, changable, has days it's open more than others, and has dramatic highs and lows.

So is it worth the highs being higher to deal with the lows being lower? Is being a constant wall really the way to go?

Communication is funny. Intersexual communication (that sounds almost dirty) is even funnier. It's no wonder or surprise people say we came from other planets.

Pieces, pieces, pieces of me...

First, I shout-out to my one and only "blogger follower" Freddy. I'm not sure what someone "following" your blog means, but it reminds me that Fred follows my blog EVERY time I log-in. And for that, he gets a shout out.





So, sometimes I get a very negative view on things. (It's true.) Like I have a rant that I sometimes subscribe to on the topic of dating. I mean, dating is discouraging because you put so much time and effort and pieces of yourself into a relationship -- and when you lose that relationship, you lose all those pieces of yourself. This is why it's hard to really get over a relationship. I find that, even after romantic feelings are far, far away from where you are, you still miss who you were with that person, and the pieces of yourself you can never really get back from them.

But the same is true for non-romantic relationships as well...

(behold! A picture chalk-full of people I used to be tight with but now have almost no connection with)

Isn't it interesting to think of yourself one, five, ten years ago and see how you've changed? And to think about all of the really valuable relationships you've had all along the way - and what they've given you, and you've left with them. It's like having little tiny pieces of your heart scattered all over...

"I've heard it said that people come into your lives for a reason leaving something we must learn and we are lead to those who help us most to grow if we let them - and we help them in-return."

Land of the free and the home of the OPINIONATED

SCENE I
(A crowded exhibit hall set-up as a lounge in 2008. The lights are dim, cool music is playing, there are games around and food being passed on large, silver trays)

LISSA: Excuse me, do you work here?
SARAH:Yes I do, can I help you with something?
LISSA: Yes, can I get some more chairs.
SARAH: (looks at her name badge, just to make sure she wasn't a VP of something or in charge in some other way. *shocked*) Umm... no? Actually you'll have to take that up with show management. They requested the room look like this, and it's been approved by the fire marshall. It's a party, there aren't going to be enough chairs for everyone. Just mingle and hangout.
(LISSA now goes off to ask every security officer in the event if they could get more chairs, all to no avail because all of them call SARAH to see if it's okay.)
_END OF SCENE_

SCENE II
(The Louve in Paris, summer of 2002. A group is huddled around the Mona Lisa, which is under glass. Many are taking pictures and whispering about the painting. SARAH approaches a lady taking a picture.)

SARAH: You will get a better picture if you turn your flash off.
LADY: Excuse me?
SARAH: My father is a photographer, you'll get glair from the flash reflecting off the glass unless you turn it off.
LADY: Are you American?
_END OF SCENE_

Do you think you know everything? Do you want to share the opinion with the rest of the world? Do you think your way is the best way and everyone else would be happier if they did it like that? This doesn't mean you're a woman. It means, as you can tell by scene II, that you're American.





In other, unrelated news: I went to the acupuncturist today. CREEPY slash AWESOME! Apparently they can cure everything wrong with me in 10 short sessions. Migranes, loss of sleep at night, not-cancer, possible anxiety. GONE! Thank you needles in my arms/hands/feet and face! Plus, it's not even hurty. Weird and tingly but it doesn't hurt.

stop the world: i want to get off

it's not just a musical. Seriously i need a break.

They say that worrying about something is infinately worse than when you actually do it. Breaking up with someone, losing a loved one, your fish dying, or working from 7am-2am... these things are apparently not as bad as you'll stress them out to be. Apparently our warped eye of how things will be is scarier, takes longer, and makes you freak out more than real life. In real life you take things as they come, breakups don't seem to last as long, and you can get through a week of work that's as many hours as you want by just taking a step at a time. And I certinally hope so.

Between now and next Saturday (complete with Sunday and Tuesday off) I'm slated to work 93 hours. And that's because my boss is working 25-ish for me. SHOOOOOOT ME NOW.

Also, I had a horrible experience today where someone put a file for a show in my box... and the show was dated September 26, my ONE weekend off this month. And as I prepared to march into the schedulers office and tell her she could take that file and smoke it because I was not touching it, on reasons of sanity, i thought I'd look the file up in the sales system. And the file... belonged to my co-worker Steve. Suddenly my airway passages opened in my throat and I felt myself take the first breath I'd had in the three minutes since I picked up the file.

What is it about anticipation of things that makes them so scary? Why can't I say to my brain "brain, it will be ok. There is no reason to freak out (thus giving yourself more work when you stop freaking out) about this. You will be fine. You will work through it. And when you do, you will take all of December off."??

When i was 14 I went to Brighton Girls' Camp. It's a camp where, from what I remember, you sleep in cabins, sing songs, hike once and generally get a "spiritual twinkie." During camp we had the opportunity to repel down a (super small) mountian (slash rock-face) (Please note, this is an actual picture from Brighton Girls' Camp. But who knows who this girl is...?). I was so afraid of falling/dying/failing that I went to the back of the line. And, when it was my turn because they wouldn't let me wimp out of it, I didn't die. In fact, I had a really good time and wanted to do it again (but could not because I had pushed to the back of the line). Well, I had a really good time for the last 4 seconds of the repel. The first 20-ish I did NOT have that good of a time until I could relax and enjoy it.

Again, I thought it was going to be scary, and horrible and in the end, it was a lot of stressing for nothing. And by stressing I actually ruined the experience.

Quite a thought to try to remember...

(but I am still glad I have that weekend off...)

A blog by me: Veruca Salt

Sometimes in life there are things we want. Scratch that: there are always things we want. I ALWAYS want either a cookie, or a massage or to go to Disneyland. There are always MORE things we want: I want to wear a jacket today, I want to buy several new jackets today and I'd like to find adorable yet incredibly confortable shoes. And still there are MORE and MORE things we want: I want a puppy, I want world peace, and I want it to be socialy acceptable to wear a tiara.

I want, I want, I want.



And there are things I'm not supposed to have.

I am not supposed to buy more than 2-3 cute jackets a year because there just isn't time to wear all of them. I'm not supposed to eat more than 2-3 cookies a day because there just isn't time to burn off all those calories (supposedly). I'm not supposed to buy a new car every time I get bored of the Saturn, or go on a vacation somewhere because it was on the Food Network.

And inbetween there are things I have:
I have a great dog (even though I only have visitation rights to her). I have a great living situation for the most part (ask me in another 3 weeks and it'll be back to REALLY great). I have a family I love, and who loves me (even though they show it in rediculous ways sometimes). I have a car that works, a job that pays me enough to live, a boss who I actually like and a boyfriend who makes me laugh.

So why do I always WANT...

Things I love/don't OR selfish blog alert!

Sometimes people say this blog right here is "insightful." This one will not be. If that's that you're looking for, please keep on e-stalking until you get to someone with something more productive to say. This blog will be selfish.

I LOVE... a good song. Don't you love a song you listen to and it means something to you? It might be the first time you listen to it (Rock and Roll by Eric Hutchinson) or the 235th(You and I Both by Jason Mraz). Or it might be Frank Sinatra's My Way and be timeless. You can turn on a song and it transports you. Sometimes you're transported to a memory (Anna Begins), but sometimes it just engulfs you where you're standing. I love a good song like I love a good snowcone (in or out of season). And, my peeps, that is really something.

I LOVE... fall. The jackets, the shoes, the smell in the air. The feeling of cool air on your face. The idea of buying a new scarf. Wearing the jackets I've been buying/saving all summer long. Jumping in leaves, that damp cool feeling that makes you want to trick-or-treat. I love it. I love it. Fall makes me feel giddy. I want to be in love and take walks in the mountains. I want to come home and have some hot chocolate. Let's all fast and pray that we have a long autumn this year.

I LOVE... changing my mind mid-blog. Now here are things that...

I DISLIKE.
- hiding things I'm not ashamed of
- beets
- leftovers more than 2 days old
- birds
- going to sleep with less than 100 pages of a good book
- bugs in my house
- box elder bugs (Yes, they get their own bullet! I will squish them in their own environment, which I am usually against)
- blisters

What are some things you like? Some things you can't have around you? Are you going to join in my prayer-chain for fall?

Ch-ch-ch changes

(Condensed) List of foods I DISTINCTLY remember hating as a child:

Green Beans (apparently even as a baby I would spit them out - very smart of me)
Beets
Chili
Hamburgers
Meatloaf
Broccoli
Green Peppers
Clam Chowder

List of foods I have eaten in the last 24 hours:

4 Popsicles
protein shake
Peach Cobbler (w/ haggen das ice cream)
Meatloaf
Broccoli
Chili
Chicken nuggets

SERIOUSLY? I ate THREE THINGS I used to hate in the last 24 hours? This has thrust me into at least a moment of introspection from which I have emerged with this thought: as a human being, we are living, changing, evolving things and can't be smooshed into a mold forever.

Sometimes I feel parents are the most guilty of this. After all, they have known you your entire life... and they see you change a lot. It is interesting, then, that after a certain point, they refuse to see your progression. Example: in high school I went on and off this idea of not watching rated-R movies. However, since college, I have not held to this idea and have instead had an internal-selection-system (mostly based on the idea that if it will give me nightmares, it is OUT). Now i'd like to take you to a conversation my brother and I were having not too long ago. I don't remember the name of the movie so I will call it X-movie.

Chris: have you seen X-movie?
Sarah: ooh, yes. I liked the part where the people did the things.
Chris: that part was good, but I liked where people did stuff.
Sarah: Dad, have you seen X-movie?
Mr. Timms: No, I haven't. And neither have you, Sarah. You don't watch rated-R films.
(SCENE)

We are, each of us, dynamic, changing people. And we have to learn how to love people, and love them as they change to be happy in this life. In any relationship (marriage, family, friendship, work) when something new happens we have to accept that we change, they change, the "US" of a relationship after WE change will change as well. and the new "US" is not better or worse, it's just new. Evolving. Like how I ordered a small chili for lunch at my local Wendy's.

In completely un-related comments (like we all love):


This is Troy.

This is troy's new conscience.


IT's ME!

I'm so excited. So if ever anyone has questionable things they want Troy to do, they have to be approved by ME. This is very exciting and I am not currently accepting bribes. Probably.




THIS is what it looks like at conventions. And my first large convention is DONE. And, just as I suspected, I was awesome. Screw you people who said I'd never done this before and needed more help. I can do it all BY myself. (very Land Before Time of me...)


And, finally, I would like to give a shout-out to all the apartment complexes in the world that allow dogs. I want a dog. And an apartment. But these things apparently aren't supposed to mix. and that makes for sad times in the no-puppy life of Sarah Timms.

DWWSWWD OR Suck less - be a jerk!

Let's start by saying "GO AGGIES." I learned this little acronym "Do What We Say We Will Do" when I was a councilor at Fall Leadership. I got a pin with the acronym on it and would refer to it whenever I thought "yeah, I'm busy. I'm not going to get around to doing that." It would be good motivation to do the extra work, get some follow-through and make sure everyone was happy. DWWSWWD. It's good to live by.

The good people at my WORK, however, have NO IDEA what this means. If, at 10:30 in the PM someone tells you they will get a stage set by 8am (because we have swing-shift here), I think a rational person would be inclined to believe them, go home and sleep and get here at 7:30 to marvel at what a good job they did... But in actuality when I got here at 7:30 there was NO part of a 104' stage built. They told me THREE times they could get it done, that it wouldn't be an issue. But, clearly, this is not the case.

Point: Clear communication is more important than making people happy.

If they had told me "listen, we are not going to get the stage done by 8, but will have it by 9:30" I could have told the people who the stage is for and they would not RIGHT NOW be wasting man-hours for 50 people, who are now just standing.

As this illustration demonstrates, I am a nerd. As it further demonstrates, we need to find a happy medium with being happy, getting things done and SUCKING LESS (all without feeling like your head will explode). As I see it.

Don't get me wrong, I am a people person. I try to say yes if anyone asks me a question/favor and I don't like saying "we can't do this." It's hard for me, but it's something I've recently learned.

So I think everyone together should take a nice deep breath and start trying to be bigger jerks. After all, if you say no... but then it turns into a yes EVERYONE LOVES YOU. But if you say yes and it turns into a no, you SERIOUSLY SUCK. A LOT. And then everyone hates you.

(Jesus, however, said "Love Everyone, treat them kindly, too. When your heart is filled with love - others will love you." huh... that looks like a whole nother blog...)

HERE'S to being jerks!