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.