Non-stop, Non-stop, Non-stop...

That has been me lately: completely NON-STOP.  I have issues with anxiety, and I've felt that anxiety spiking recently.  Luckily, it's nothing I can't handle.  I've found that I have to remind myself to slow down.  I just need to focus on taking a breath and chilling out for 5 seconds.  After those 5 seconds I can freak out all I want as long as I remember to take another 5 second sanity check a few moments later...  Sounds fun, right?  Heh!

So here is what has been going on in my life these past 2 weeks...

Classes started back up for me last week.  I'm taking 2 classes (Cross Cultural Psychology and Statistics for Sociology Majors), though I technically only need one to be ready to transfer to a University.  I've been at a community college these past *coughsixcough* years.  It's kind of a sore subject talking about how long I've spent in college, but that's a whole other blog waiting to happen...

The midweek kids' program that I teach at my church started up the week prior.  Here we are all wearing our big ear headbands that remind us that God Always Listens.  My older kids got a kick out of this one.  :)

 

And I still have had work throughout all this...  And it was a crazy week at work on top of that!  I absolutely love my job.  I currently work in my career field.  More on what I do in a later entry.  It's complicated, often dark, heavy, and much of it deals with strict confidentiality...  Like I said, that's for another blog.

So I'm slowly but surely getting into the new swing of things with the new schedule.  Tuesdays and Thursdays are hectic as can be.  I rush from work to class on those days.  Being out of the house for 11 hours straight and not getting home until 9pm is longer and later than I'm used to, but I'd say I'm adjusting well.  Yay for being a night person!

On A Lazy Sunday...

This weekend has been quite nice.  VN and I have been so busy lately with things to do and people to see, that we haven't had much time to veg and relax together.  This weekend was my weekend to head down to VN's place in San Diego.  Today we stayed in the apartment the whole day.  This may not sound very fun, but when I'm busy as can be staying in sounds like the most amazing thing.  Today consisted of crafting (Christmas ornaments!), video games, homemade bagel sandwiches, and watching Vampire Diaries and the Food Network.  Best lazy Sunday there could be!

Viva Las Vegas!

I'm 24, and I've never been to Vegas...  Yet!  Today The Boyfriend and I are going with a group of people to Sin City (Don't worry, I'm not going there to sin.) for a friend's birthday.  I'm really looking forward to it!  I've been to and gambled at local Indian casinos before, but I've never been to VEGAS.  To be honest, regardless of how close California is geographically, prior to planning this trip I didn't see myself going to Vegas anytime soon.  I figured it was a trip I would take someday but I needed to find a reason to go first.  So now I have a reason!  I'm not quite sure what too many of the plans are.  We'll go wherever the birthday boy wants to go.  Oh, and we're definitely stopping at the Outlets in Barstow on our way there.  Whoo-hoo!  

I'll be back in a couple days with plenty of pictures and stories, I'm sure.  Wish me luck on the slots, folks!

 

13 Pounds of Deep Fried Goodness...

Happy Thanksgiving!  This year I spent Thanksgiving with my boyfriend at his best friend's house.  They go all out for the holiday.   We feasted on two turkeys (one deep fried, one roasted), mashed potatoes, gravy, stuffing, homemade french fries, steamed vegetables, peas, corn, spiced pumpkin custard pie, coconut cream pie, and various other cookies and desserts.  The Boy and I baked the Spiced Pumpkin Custard Pie.  It came out alright.  There was a slight oopsie in putting the pie together, but it still tasted good!  The Boy fried the turkey, and it was soooo good.  His bestfriend's mom made a turkey as well, and it was sooo moist!  I was pretty good about not eating to much.  I'm not a fan of the food coma (or packing on the pounds).  Turkey gumbo with the leftovers!

Me, The Boy, and his best friend's mom.

The boys checking on the bird.

The Boy's best friend's family.  So nice of them to have me!

It's Been One Week Since You Looked At Me...

Don't worry, I won't go on to sing the rest of the Barenaked Ladies' hit from the 90's.  However, it has been a full week since my last blog post.  I apologize.  My blog has only just begun, and I'm already slacking.  I don't want to be one of those bloggers who ends up disappearing for a week or two with no blog entry and no explanation.  Here is where I make a promise; I promise to do my absolute best to update frequently with quality posts.  To show you I mean business, I will be blogging more often, and I'll also be changing my layout this weekend.  So hang in there and enjoy! Hope you haven't quite given up on me just yet!  :)

Sucker; Not a Blood Sucker...

I'm a reader.  I read for fun, and I read for leisure...  When I have the time.  In general, I try not to get involved in any books with a semi-long series (4 books or more).  I prefer to read individual books simply because I'm a fairly slow reader, and reading isn't exactly that high on my list of priorities.  (Aimlessly surfing the web seems much more appealing most of the time.)  However, I've gotten involved in the Vampire Academy book series; I'm on book 4 right now.  I was a bit skeptical at first, but halfway through the first book I couldn't stop.  Vampires, high school drama, magic, and of course...  A forbidden love interest.  Bring in forbidden love and I'm instantly hooked.  That goes for anything.

 

 

I admit it.  I'm a sucker (not a blood sucker) for vampires.  Vampire movies, vampire TV shows, vampire books.  You name it, I like it.  I'm not quite sure what it is about vampires that appeals to me, but I've been fascinated with the myth from a young age.  The Count on Sesame Street?  Yup, I loved him.  Okay, maybe not that far back but the interest definitely grew once I became a teenager.  I know what you're dying to ask; was I into the Twilight series?  Yes I was.  I almost passed it up since it was the "in" thing of the time.  But like I said, I can't say no to things involving vampirism, and I definitely  can't say no to stories of forbidden love.

Veteran's Day Shopping and Fun...

Oh, how I enjoy 3 day weekends.  Sleeping in, shopping, game night, and ice cream...  Yes please!  I'm at my boyfriend's place in San Diego this weekend.  He had the day off from work today.  Waking up a little past noon was quite nice.  The boy and I met up with his good friend to run errands and then shop at the outlets!  No one told me about the outlets here, and no one told me that they're amazing!!!  The store selection was insane!  I was shopping with boys, so obviously I didn't get to do as much shopping as I would have liked.  Regardless of the fact that my boyfriend's friend is gay, he's definitely not willing to spend all day at the outlets with me.  I like to take my time shopping and make sure I've seen everything that might interest me.  I drive most of my girlfriends crazy with how long I take to shop.  Oops.  I ended up buying things at Bath & Body Works (lotion, more lotion, face mask, and a Christmas gift), Vans (bright lime green lace-up Vans as a Christmas gift for my little sis), and Charlotte Russe (a red layering tank).  All for $42.  Heck yes!  I love me some good deals.

After shopping the 3 of us had game night with a couple who the boys are friends with.  Apples to Apples, Skip-Bo, Wii.  Oh so much fun.  We ended up going out to grab ice cream at this cute little ice cream shop called The Daily Scoop.  The decor was simply darling, and the place even makes "DogScream"--ice cream for your dogs.  How cute is that?  (The couple's doxens love the ice cream.)  The shop's decor and overall vibe is so cute that I just had to take pictures.  Take a look...

Adorable paintings on the walls, and I couldn't get over

how cute the creative placing of the mirrors is.

Various individually wrapped candies available 

for sale.  A tiny little sweet shop!

Homemade cupcakes and mini pies all

displayed in domed cake stands.

Layouts, Geocities, and HTML...

Yay!  I have a new layout!  It's nothing fancy obviously, but for my first crack at putting together a layout that isn't 100% Blogger-made is pretty exciting.  I'm sure I'll be playing around with layouts a bit more, so don't be surprised if you see it change again.  I've made digital art and websites for a while now, but learning the Blogger tricks will be what takes the most effort.  Want to hear how my geekdom began and progressed?  Let me tell you a little tale...

It was freshman year of high school and, naturally, I was obsessed with a boyband.  (While most of the girls I knew growing up went through this phase in junior high, I was a bit of a social late bloomer.)  The logical (please note sarcasm) thing to do to support my obsession with said boyband was to make a website dedicated to them.  (Yes, I was that kind of teenybopper.  I formally apologize here and now for my past indiscretions.  I am very much embarrassed of my early high school years.)  So I started my own Geocities site.  If you've been around the internet for a while you remember Geocities.  It was Yahoo's drag and drop website building client back in the day.

Eventually, my boyband obsession petered out only to be replaced by an admiration for an up-and-coming singer/songwriter.  I'm sure you've heard of her: Avril Lavigne.  A friend of mine (shout out to Kristy!) heard about Avril from one of her friends, and she began spreading the word and promoting Avril.  I too wanted to spread the word and help promote, so I went to start an Avril website myself.  For some odd reason this time however, Geocities wasn't working on my computer properly.  So out of my many options, I narrowed it down to two: 1) Don't make a website, or 2) Learn HTML.  I chose the latter.  It was an interesting learning experience trying to get the hang of HTML (with major thanks to Hailey), but eventually I did.  In learning HTML, I also had to learn some form of graphic design to produce a somewhat decent layout.  I chose to learn JASC Paint Shop Pro.  Who knows what version it was...  So eventually that Avril site did make it up onto the web.  And thanks to Geocities refusing to work with my old family PC, I now have the ability to code HTML.  It may not be textbook HTML, but browsers can read it just fine.  The HTML also helped in making some pretty cool MySpace and LiveJournal layouts back in high school.  If I can manage those two sites, surely I can manage Blogger...  Right?

It's Raining...

It's raining out today, and I absolutely love it!  Sadly I don't get to see rain too often living in Southern California, so when it does rain I can't get enough of it.  When most people love the sun and heat here, I live for the days that it's overcast and drizzly.  Does anyone else love rainy weather more than sunny weather?

Back to Blogging...

So here I am back to blogging again.  The last time I found myself writing a blog was back in high school.  Though if I remember correctly, my posts from 6 years ago were mostly filled with emotions, drama, and angst.  I'll do my best to leave those out from now on--or at least tone them down.  ;)

Allow me to officially introduce myself...
My name is Sarah.  I'm a 24-year-old born and raised Southern Californian located in Northern Orange County.  I'm currently a college student, working towards a degree in Sociology.  I also work part-time in the Social Services field, where I get paid to play with kids.  (Okay, so the job is a lot more than that, but I'm trying to keep this brief.)  I've been told I have an old soul and a baby face.  I'm mistaken for a high school student quite often, and I've gotten used to it.  I've been crafty and creative all my life, but up until several years ago I thought craftiness came naturally to everyone.  In the last couple years I've spent time cultivating my creativity in making greeting cards.  I love it!  Love, love, love it!  And now, I want to share my love of crafts with the world...  Hence the beginning of this blog.  Join me on my journey, won't you?