1. Do you usually sleep with your closet door open or closed? Closed
   

1. Do you take the shampoos and conditioner bottles from hotels? Nope
   

1. Have you ever ‘done it’ in a hotel room? Perhaps
   

1. Where is your next vacation? Nothing planned in the immediate future
   

1. Have you ever stolen a street sign before? Nope
   

1. Who do you think reads these? Hopefully the people you share it with
   

1. Do you have a calendar in your room? No, but we have one in our kitchen
   

1. Where are you? My room, sitting on the bed
   

1. What’s your plan for the day? Watch a bit more Grey’s Anatomy, then bedtime
   

1. Are you reading any books right now? Just finished rereading Michael Crichton’s “The Lost World”
   

1. Do you ever count your steps when you walk? VERY occasionally
   

1. Have you ever peed in the woods? I’m sure I have at some point, but it was such a terrible experience I have repressed the memory

1. Do you ever dance even if there’s no music playing? Yes! Haha, most recently when John and I were cooking, we just started dancing together J
   

1. Do you chew your pens and pencils? Ew, no
   

1. What is your “Song of the Week”? Fifth Harmony's "Worth It"
   

1. Is it okay for guys to wear pink? Yup!
   

1. Do you still watch cartoons? Haha yeah
   

1. Whats your favorite love movie? Pride and Prejudice, the Kiera Knightly version

1. What do you drink with dinner? Water, occasionally wine
   

1. What do you dip Chicken Nuggets in? Depends: McNuggets—nothing. The frozen kind you buy and bake in the oven-- ketchup and sometimes BBQ sauce
   

1. What is your favorite food/cuisine? Lasagna/Italian, basically all the pasta, bread, and wine
   

1. What movies could you watch over and over and still love? Disney movies
   

1. Last person you hugged/kissed? John
   

1. Were you ever a boy/girl scout? I was a Brownie once upon a time
   

1. Would you ever strip or pose nude in a magazine? Hard no
   

1. When was the last time you wrote a letter to someone on paper? I included a hand written note in John’s Easter gift I sent him
   

1. Can you change the oil on a car? No, but maybe someday I’ll learn just because
   

1. Ever gotten a speeding ticket? Yup. Got to go to driving school too
   

1. Run out of gas? No, but very close one time.
   

1. Favorite kind of sandwich? Avocado on slightly toasted bread or a meatball sub
   

1. Best thing to eat for breakfast? I’m quite fond of yogurt and granola, fruit, bacon, hashbrowns, eggs in a basket—I should just end it there
   

1. What is your usual bedtime? 11 pm?
   

1. Are you lazy? I try not to be, but I am when I feel I can afford to
   

1. When you were a kid, what did you dress up as for Halloween? I’ve dressed up as a mouse, Arwen from LotR, and as a generic princess before
   

1. Do you have any magazine subscriptions? Nope
   

1. Which are better, legos or lincoln logs? Legos, duh
   

1. Are you stubborn? I can be stubborn if I believe I am right
   

1. Who is better…Leno or Letterman? Letterman I suppose, I don’t watch either
   

1. Ever watch soap operas? I started watching “Yo soy Betty, la fea” as a way to study for the Spanish CLEP test
   

1. Afraid of heights? Kind of? I like heights, but I also like to know that I won’t fall
   

1. Sing in the car? Oh yeah. Especially on long car drives by myself.
   

1. Dance in the shower? Nope, as John Green replied, “it seems unsafe”
   

1. Dance in the car? I kinda wiggle around and clap my hands
   

1. Ever used a gun? I’ve shot a couple of shotguns before thanks to Jake
   

1. Do you think musicals are cheesy? Yes
   

1. Is Christmas stressful? At the chocolate shop it was, but not out of work
   

1. Ever eat a pierogi? Yup

1. Major annoyance right now? Not having anything to do
   

1. Occupations you wanted to be when you were a kid? A nurse (until I learned nurses to the hard jobs, then I wanted to be a doctor)
   

1. Do you believe in ghosts? Yes
   

1. Ever have a deja-vu feeling? Yup, all the time
   

1. Do you take a vitamin daily? Biotin, for my hair and nails
   

1. Wear slippers? Very occasionally

1. Wear a bath robe? I wish I had one
   

1. What do you wear to bed? It changes every night. If I can wear to bed what I wore that day (like a t-shirt) I will
   

1. Wal-Mart, Target or K-Mart? Target--unless I want food, then Wal-Mart

1. Nike or Adidas? Nike I suppose

1. Cheetos Or Fritos? Cheetos!
   

1. Peanuts or Sunflower seeds? Sunflower seeds
   

1. Ever hear of, “gorp”? Umm..no
   

1. Ever taken karate? I took Tae Kwon Do for a couple years
   

1. Ever kissed someone of the same sex? Twice
   

1. Can you curl your tongue? Yup
   

1. Ever won a spelling bee? Hahahahahhahahaha...no. I suck at spelling
   

1. Ever cried because you were so happy? Does laughing so much I cry count? Then yes
   

1. Own any record albums? Nope

1. Own a record player? Nope
   

1. Regularly burn incense? Never
   

1. Ever been in love? Just recently 
   

1. Hot tea or cold tea? Hot
   

1. Tea or coffee? Tea
   

1. Favorite kind of cookie? Too many to choose from, but I could eat roughly a bjillion chips ahoy cookies
   

1. Can you swim well? Well enough
   

1. Can you hold your breath w/o manually holding your nose? Umm yeah
   

1. Are you patient? Not really, even though sometimes I can seem so
   

1. Ever won a contest? I got second place in a hula hoop contest and got a bookstore gift certificate as a prize and I thought that was a better prize than a fancy dinner for two the first place winner got.
   

1. Ever had plastic surgery? No
   

1. Which are better black or green olives? Green
   

1. Can you knit or crochet? No. I tried knitting once and it didn’t work out.
   

1. Wash room or bathroom? Bathroom
   

1. Do you want to get married? Yes
   

1. Who was your High School crush? I had on and off crushes throughout high school, none of which I will type out and post for all the internet to see
   

1. Do you cry and throw a fit until you get your own way? No
   

1. Do you have kids? Not that I know of
   

1. Do you want kids? Yup, eventually
   

1. What kind of mom are you? I’m not a mom yet, but I hope to be a good one
   

1. Do you miss anyone right now? Yes, immensely
   

1. Who do you want to see right now? John (obvs), Amy, all of you, and my friend Katie M.

PS I COULD go back and change the numbers, but I'm being lazy. But if you wanted to know there were 88 questions. I originally wrote this down when I was in NY and bored out of my mine and John Green's answers were posted on Tumblr, so here's mine! 

10. Chester! He is just a ball of adorable fluff that I can play with and love. He has learned that even though his mom has to go away for weddings, trips, etc, I still love him and miss him and look forward to coming home to him again. :)

9. Vanderbilt is in the CWS again! We want to be national champs for 2 years in a row… Here we come!!

8. More sports! I am enjoying rooting for American Pharaoh winning the Triple Crown, Team USA in Women’s FIFA, Vandy in CWS baseball, and my hometown Columbus Clippers! I went to a Clippers game, and we won, bottom of the ninth after being down 5-4, Jerry hit one off the backboard to clinch it 6-5 over the Louisville Bats. Plus, it was “Dime a Dog” day. 5 hotdogs for 0.50? Please and Thank You!

7. Weddings! I loved being a bridesmaid in my friend Katya’s wedding in PA last weekend (That was why I didn’t blog this week/last one- my mom was visiting to watch Chester). It was wonderful being reunited with her and her new husband Jay, and I am looking forward to continuing my friendship with both of them. They’re so sweet and loving and kind to each other. I didn’t cry during the ceremony, but I cried tons when Katya danced with her dad to “Beauty and the Beast” during the reception (totally stealing that). Also, I carried a book-quet down the aisle (stealing this idea too): each of the bridesmaids got a fancy hardcover book with a flower and ribbon tied to the front, and we carried them instead of bouquets of flowers (I have Selected Plays of Shakespeare). Weddings are the best.

6. Sleeping in on Saturdays and reading until my stomach forces me to get up and get breakfast and then going back to read more. :)

5. Singing with my choir! We’re prepping for England now, and rehearsals are intense. As in, we have a rehearsal list of 10-15 different pieces that we go over each rehearsal, and I have 29 different pieces of music in my possession that I am going over in my free time outside of rehearsals too. Some of those pieces have multiple selections, so really, it’s like we’re singing closer to 40 different anthems. This includes 3 different “Magnificat and Nunc Dimittis” settings, Howell’s “Te Deum and Jubilate”, a 59-page Byrd Mass, and the beautiful Bach “Lobet den Herrn, alle Heiden”. All of this is for England! It is so much fun!!! :D

4. My new camera! I took AB’s (and Jill’s- do you have it too?) advice and bought the Canon PowerShot Ellph 300HS in black. It’s older, but I couldn’t find a newer one that matched it… and I certainly couldn’t beat the price! I really love the thinness of it, and I bought it used without a scratch on it, so it’s really like it’s new. It has such great shots and video! I am definitely looking forward to using it in England.

3. Friends! I am really thankful for you guys and your support and silliness and laughter and adventures! My Columbus friends are super nice to me, Mark is a great boyfriend, my closest college friends still keep in touch, and just having friends makes me happy! I didn’t have a lot of close friends before high school, so knowing that there are people who are supporting me and loving me makes me feel like the luckiest person in the world.

2. Columbus! I really love living in a city with bike trails and summer festivals almost every weekend (it’s the river-side Downtown Art Festival this weekend!). Plus, I’m happy with myself and who I am. I’ve achieved what I didn’t think was possible or likely 1.5 years ago in BG: living by myself in a new city with a stable job and being an adult and thriving happily. Thanks be to God who made all of this possible!!!

Aaaaaaaand…. *drumroll*

1. I’m moving to DC! It’s official (though I’m keeping it on the DL for a while). New job (I won’t be writing about it on here), new city, new apartment, new furniture, new adventures, new friends (and old ones!)… A dream I’ve had for several years is finally coming true. I just found out for sure yesterday and am super excited and happy and thrilled beyond my wildest imagination. August. This girl is heading to the Nation’s Capital!

The Mountain Goats- “This Year”

I'm really happy.
It could be the fact that I'm more emotional when I'm on my period, or the relief from the general awfulness that is me during PMS, but I've never been one to attribute feelings purely to hormones. It's getting out of Ireland, probably. 
And praying more, going to a good church last Sunday, my Russian alliance, feeling closer to God. His blessing shining on my face. 
And it is good to feel the sun again.
It's the warmth of the weather, the castle on the hill, the clear air, the Scottish brogue, the exceeding kindness of strangers, the religious conversations with random roommates where I feel I've done just a little something by actually trying. The (possibly erroneous) notion that maybe that's why God is blessing me. The desire to do better, to be better. 
It's finding Coronation Chicken and Wotsits again. It's postcards arriving and looking forward to sending more. It's loving people and knowing they're temporary in a botanical garden where everything is so alive. It's picnics by rivers and soft rejections by well trained dogs. It's cats appearing from nowhere and hobbit-haired bagpipers and attractive skaters with stag tattoos. It's cute shops and markets. Birds and moths and motif wrangling. It's windows with no screens, a single star in the sky, and a stopped clock pointing second to the right. It's honking car parades, copious balloons, and "Don't Stop Believin'."
It's eyeliner and selfies and '80s aesthetic with a Taylor Swift song for every occasion. It's cheeky Nandos, museums, and taking our time. Letting off the pressure to do and be and create, and just living. It's missing American summer but looking forward to an English one.
It's seeing the water in the distance, and then up close on a shore-view drive. A ten-hour drive with good music and a good friend. It's a bus with leg room and a song stuck in my head. Why can't we just be better than we were yesterday? It's knowing that we can. It's changing my ideas and learning that's okay. 
It's looking forward. To London and more theatre than we can afford. To seeing a new friend and to the hope of running into a certain busker. To simple things like a hot shower and hostel breakfast for a pound. To things beyond, like a cat to cuddle and the idyllic sound of a place called Peacehaven. It's wanting to go everywhere yet being happy where I am.
It's tiny pinpricks of nervousness soothed by the surety of seeing old friends again soon. It's the proximity of a family I love dearly. It's days-long conversations about the novels we'll someday write. It's giggling reading fanfiction in the middle of the night under the same covers I wept under nights before when everything was a bit too much. It's knowing that I still have a lot of issues but being too content to dwell on them. 
It's meeting people who drop everything and travel the world. It's talking to Canadians about our insane love of Tim Hortons. It's comparing travel tales and realizing how fun and beautiful, how blessed and completely crazy my life has been so far. It's having plans, having no clue, and the certainty that if I left right now, the whole trip would still have all been worth it. A certainty I didn't have before Edinburgh. It's gratitude. It's the hope of someday returning to the people who love me the most. It's dreams and the determination to really achieve them this time, but more than that, the knowledge that everything will be okay. No matter what happens. It's trust in God and hope that sustains me. It's looking forward to a wedding that won't happen for a year and already having a card picked out. It's wanting to embrace each and every one of you! It's unyielding belief in the power of friendship. It's rejecting that tiny wriggling doubt that says to worry, that happiness won't last.
It's 11:11 and I can't think of a thing to wish for. 
Whatever it is,
It's Thursday,
And I am very,
very
happy.

Hello. :)

Hello from summer break! I am happy to say that, a week into June, my school year has officially ended. Wednesday was the last day for the kids, and I definitely did not cry when I told my class to give me a hug before they left. My eyes may have gotten a little red… my voice maybe got a little rusty… but I did not cry! Then yesterday was closing day, which means all the teachers spend the day removing everything from the floors and shelves in preparation for summer cleaning. We also got fed, like, three times, so all in all it was a pretty good day. It combined two of my passions- organizing and eating.

And today I slept in until 9 and have done next to nothing except shower and surf the internet. I do have plenty of productive things on my summer to do list, but I don’t have to get up at 7 to do them :)

I’d like to say that I’ll be a more consistent blogger now that I’m not wrangling kindergarteners every day, buuuuut we’ll see how that goes. I hope all of your days are lovely and hopefully I’ll see a couple more blog posts before my turn rolls around again (hint, hint). Bye for now!

Love,

Sara

          Why hope in a world so filled with disappointment, where cynicism runs rampant, and there’s such a gap between dreamers and doers, between idealism and practicality? Why bother when there will always be people who are more qualified, more connected, and more talented standing right between you and the things you want? Why feed those desires when they cost too much, they’re too far away, or you have to jump through too many hoops to get to where you want to be? When it takes so much time, so much effort, and so much sheer luck?

            Believe it or not, these aren’t just rhetorical questions. There’s an answer to why we need to keep hoping, keep trying, and keep dreaming. It’s because hope nurtures hope and feeds determination. It has this effect on others, of course. Your hope can inspire your friend to hope; your friend’s hope—nurtured by your own—can inspire another, and on and on until the world is inspired. Of course that’s possible. But it also works within oneself.

            When I was in high school, I received a brochure in the mail telling me of a great opportunity. It was a summer program at Cambridge, and it was my first real invitation to dream of England with a realistic hope of getting there. My parents said that I could go if we had the money, but it turned out we didn’t. Still, a spark had ignited, and it wouldn’t be snuffed out so easily.

            Later in high school, I went through a bit of a National Treasure phase, I guess you’d call it. Basically, I spent my time online reading through treasure hunting forums and investigating conspiracy theories. I was convinced I knew where to look for an ancient Templar treasure in the western United States. My dad and I even planned a theoretical treasure hunting road trip, which, for a while, I believed we might actually take, though we never did.

            When the spring of senior year rolled around, another road trip was proposed, this time with my friends from school. Victoria and I spent hours on the phone discussing a spring break trip to Florida. I collaged the front of a composition notebook with beach pictures and used it to plan our route, our budget, and everything. But…that trip didn’t happen either. Neither did my uncle’s proposed trip to Honduras. He was going to take me, but a coup d’état or something equally unpredictable got in the way.

            You’d think I’d be discouraged with all the false starts and misplaced wishes. You’d think those once consuming and lovely dreams lying in pieces on the floor would deter me from getting my hopes up again. But they didn’t. The broken pieces came together to form a more colorful mosaic, and I grew to become more determined than ever to see the world, and to achieve the countless other things I hoped for. Preparation for the derailed Honduras trip led me to the post office, where I stood in line to obtain my passport. And look where that small step has taken me. Oh, and those road trip plans that never came to fruition? Well, I still haven’t found any treasure, but I’ve been to both Florida AND the western US with the greatest friends I could ever imagine. And I don’t have to tell you how my dreams to study in England eventually came true…I probably talk about that one enough. ;)

            The point is, a little hope doesn’t have to be crushed when faced with initial disappointment. It can grow, until it’s too big to be defeated. Just because your plans don’t turn out the way you want the first time, doesn’t mean you’ll never get what you’ve been yearning for. It just may take some time, and it may look different than you imagined when you do get it. And chances are, it’ll be even better. Maybe because it’s different and unexpected. Maybe because you can appreciate it more after not getting it originally. And maybe because it’s more satisfying knowing you could’ve given up, but you didn’t. You kept hoping.

            My pastor said something very wise several Sundays ago. He said that the difference between wishing and hoping is action. You can wish for things, but you can rarely get them without hope, without action, without trying. After a setback or disappointment in life, it’s easier to wish things had worked out than to hope that they still can. But wishing won’t get you too far. You’ve got to hang on to that hope, as battered and crushed as it can get sometimes, because that’s what will see you through. Hope nurtures hope and feeds determination, but it requires action.

And I guess that’s the next step, isn’t it? 



_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Now, don't we all feel better after a heaping helping of cheese? This is Anna Beth, by the way. I know it's not Thursday, but I had something that was ready to post. And isn't the trend this week posting on days that aren't your own? ;)

.......BUTTTTTTT it's not that great. I recorded the narration, but then I didn't know what I wanted to do with it, so it's kinda random. Oh well. Let me know what you think.

We're just missing Amy!

Hello from election day! No, it's not Friday, but Rachael didn't post on her day either. Maybe this can be our next unofficial theme for the week? Don't worry about what day it is, just post whenever you feel like it!

Anyways, I do have a legitimate excuse for not posting this time (the last few it's literally just been that I forgot, lol). Instead of writing up a blog, I was sitting in a car on an 8 hour marathon drive to Florida! A couple of Jake's (and my) friends got married in Destin this weekend, so we roadtripped it down and back. I couldn't really take off work, so we left right after and met some other friends in Bowling Green to ride with them. We ended up getting to the hotel around 2 a.m., which was at least better than we thought- we were imagining 4 or 5.

As I'm sure you can imagine, the weekend was a little bit rushed, what with spending about 20 hours of it in a car after everything was said and done. But it was definitely worth it. We went to the beach after getting a few hours of sleep Saturday morning (girls and boys separated, of course, because the bride and groom weren't allowed to see each other). It was cloudy, and I applied sunscreen twice, so no sunburn! Then we spent several hours showering and everyone getting ready. I wasn't a bridesmaid or anything, but Jake was a groomsmen, so I ended up hanging out with the bridal party and helping to get table pieces where they needed to be and running whatever errands I could to help out. Whitney (the bride) looked beautiful in her dress, of course, and the wedding itself was gorgeous. It took place out on the sand before we moved up to the deck for the reception. Since it was a destination wedding, there were probably less than 50 people total. We all tried not to cry during the vows, then watched the wedding party take pictures (with varying degrees of seriousness) on the beach before enjoying the delicious food and crazy fun dancing of the reception. By the time that was over, everyone was exhausted from the nonstop dancing and jumping around, and it was time to get some sleep before another marathon drive back to Kentucky.

All said and done, I got home around 10, just in time to go to bed for work in the morning. Today, happily, is election day, so I get an extra day to sleep in before the rest of the week.

So it was a very busy weekend, with lots of driving (Alabama is so big, guys. Why does it have to be SO stinkin' big?), but the ceremony was beautiful, I am so so happy for Whitney and Jonathan, and I can't wait for the next one. Admittedly, that will probably be mine, so my motives are a little skewed. But, the moral of this story is that I love weddings. So you guys better get on it. I need more excuses to dress up and cry and dance til I drop.

Love,

Sara