Oh Hi There!

Y'all it's been so long since I have blogged and today is the day I get back into the swing of things. I'm going to do a bullet list because it seems a bit intimidating to get back into blogging and bullet lists are good.

1. Well it was my birthday this week so that's pretty exciting. I feel like 20 is not that big of a deal. The most noteworthy thing is that I have survived every teen statistic known to man I guess.

2. This is the year I graduate. That's terrifying and scary and pretty awesome. I can't wait to have my own classroom and be able to teach full time. But at the same time, it means I have to adult all the time and that's super scary and really exciting at the same time!

3. I'm currently at my internship and y'all I love these kids so much. They make me smile and laugh. There are some really challenging days but also some really exciting days where I am able to make them smile, or clear up a challenging idea, or seeing them succeed in something they thought they couldn't do. Teaching is so rewarding to me and I love every minute of my time with them even if I come home and crash.

4. Rayce is coming this week! Which really should be number 1 because that's the most exciting thing. I've missed him and I can't wait to celebrate my birthday with him and my whole family. It'll be great to see him and spend time with him.

5. I am super excited because I'm taking an Adolescent Literature class right now. We have to read 2 books every week which is daunting but awesome because I've already been able to recommend some of the books I have read which is the whole point of the class. And not only was I able to recommend them but my kids have loved the books I've read which is really exciting, and THEY ARE ACTUALLY READING! Like sitting down for hours at a time to read which is a rare thing let me tell you!

6. My birthday happens to be National Grammar Day. Coincidence? I think not. It was destined to be from the very beginning.

7. Here is my two cents about politics. If everyone could stop telling me who to vote for that would be really great. Thanks!

8. A pop culture reference: The face swap happening on Snapchat and Facebook are creepy. Not funny. Not cool. Just really creepy.

9. Downtown Abbey ends today so the mourning period commences at midnight tonight. I don't know... I'm considering not watching the episode because if I don't watch it, it means the show hasn't ended right? Please send flowers, ice cream, and donations to me directly. Haha, but seriously. I'm really sad this is coming to an end.

10. This year has stretched me and grown me and I can't wait to see how else I grow. It's been a lot of work but God has been working and it's amazing.

I'm also going to try and write more. Thanks for reading and hopefully this will be more consistent this year. We can hope, but it probably won't happen.

If You Tell A Kid You're Dating...

The first thing to realize when you give kids information is that they will ALWAYS WANT MORE. Always. They're inquisitive. They have no filters or boundaries. With this in mind...

I was over at a friend's house and Rayce had been busy with kids all day and had a few minutes to talk so I slipped away from the gathering and went on a walk to be able to chat for a few minutes. Meanwhile, four kids under the age of 10 asked my parents who I was talking to. They told them it was probably my boyfriend. While on the phone, I had asked Rayce all about the kids in his squad. I said if it ever came up to say hi from me. I believe his exact words were, "Babe, not one of these kids is going to ask if I have a girlfriend.We have a more professional relationship than that. They won't be asking that. Sorry, Sarah." I laughed and laughed and laughed and then I said, "No no no. You're so wrong. They definitely will. They're high school students. They will definitely be asking. No questions are off limits. The more personal the better." Rayce was so sure he was right he decided it was bet worthy. He said if they didn't ask I owed him a dinner... like a nice dinner no fast food etc. (his clarification) And if they did in fact ask, he owed me a nice dinner. The deal was on. 

We hung up after a while and I went to go play with the kids. Here's what went down. Looking back, it reminded me of the whole "If you give a mouse a cookie" and as soon as you give them a snippet of information they take off with it and it's a snowball effect.

I walk over and catch the frisbee throwing it back and then I basically get knocked over from the kid wrapping herself around my leg full force all out yelling "WHO IS YOUR BOYFRIEND AND WHERE IS HE AND HAVE YOU KISSED ON THE LIPS AND CAN I SEE HIM!"

And then you laugh and say his name is Rayce and he's at the Naval Academy and that's a silly question to ask and yes you can when he comes. 

A little bit of time goes by and they yell more questions for the whole neighborhood to here- ARE YOU TEXTING YOUR BOYFRIEND? WHY ARE YOU ALWAYS TALKING TO HIM? DO YOU LIKE HIM A LOT? DO YOU LOVE HIM? ARE YOU MARRIED TO HIM? ARE YOU ENGAGED? ARE YOU EVER GOING TO GET MARRIED? ARE YOU SURE YOU'RE NOT ENGAGED?

Yes I am texting my boyfriend and I do like him an awful lot and I do love him. No silly, I'm not married and I'm not married because we have to finish college so we can get jobs and no we aren't engaged either. 

And then they asked and asked and asked those same questions over and over again. And I gave them the same answers in a more roundabout way. So if you tell a kid you're dating, be prepared for any and all questions over and over again and also they will be shouted at you in exuberant excitement. 

And Rayce's squad asked him the next day if he had a girlfriend, and he goes are you kidding? My girlfriend and I had a bet going you wouldn't ask so now I owe her a nice dinner because y'all asked. And their response? They laughed and said of course they're gonna ask something like that. So guess who owes me a very nice dinner when he comes down in July? And it turns out I do know the teenagers very well which is, coincidentally, why I'm going to be teaching them! 

And that's what happens when you tell a kid you're dating...

Word Nerd

Hi, Sarah here,

It's been a while. I apologize. I'll make up for it somehow. Not sure how. But I will!

As most of you, I am an Secondary English Ed major and with this particular major comes some heavy reading. Like - whole novels assigned for that night's readings. And I can gripe and complain about it, but with all that reading comes some really epic words that render me speechless. Not only do I read the words, but since all my teachers are like walking libraries, their vocabulary is stupendous. And since I'm a self-proclaimed word nerd, I get super excited and kinda geek out. This is generally what happens.

Teacher: blah blah blah boring words boring words using gesticulations instead of words blah blah blah and the Juxtaposition and defamiliarizing of these words is blah blah blah

Me: *A slight flapping of my hands in excitement.*
"OH MY WORD what a fantastic word. I also have no idea what is means! But it just sounds so cool!"

*Pull up my dictionary app and looks!*

*Tries pronouncing it right. Botches it the first couple times. Uses it in a sentence.*

*Looks at what part of speech the word is. Memorizes the definition, sample sentence, pronunciation and part of speech.*

*Incorporates it into every day language even though it's highly obnoxious, superfluous word and no one else will know what I'm talking about.*

But it doesn't matter because I do and it's a cool word and I like learning and using cool words.

Do you have any cool words? Are you a word nerd? Have other geek out moments? Please share! Tell me I'm not alone on this!

Sincerely,
Word Nerd

It's Been Far Far Too Long... So "Things You Should Know" Post Is Needed I Think

I really, really hate when I'm following a blog, and the blogger doesn't blog for months. It's super irritating to me. I finally went to see when my last blog post was and you know what, I've failed horribly. Horribly! I'm that blogger I hate. I don't even know where to begin. To be honest, I've written a few blog posts, but haven't felt like sharing them, so I never published them. So I really have been writing, just not sharing what I have been writing and for that, I apologize. Lists are really easy for me so I'll do the ever popular "Things You Should Know" posts I used to do on Sundays. Also, this is unedited. Don't judge if there are mistakes. I'm in the throws of finals week!

1. This is my last week of school. Hallelujah! Thank you Jesus! Finals and papers, but I see the end, and it is oh so close! I can't wait for the sleep that is to follow Thursday. Ah yes!

2. I have this cough that is persistent and it's really annoying, especially when it's cold outside and I cough and cough and cough and can't breathe. It needs to leave. I got a bad cold on the week off of school during Thanksgiving. It was a sort of strike my body had, declaring I had been much too hard on it all semester. I would concur. It's been a long, tough semester.

3. Christmas break is coming which means my favorite people are coming home! I'm going to list them in alphabetical order so there are no hurt feelings or ideas as to which ones rank higher ;) Emy Lee, Kelso, and Rayce. I'm so thrilled they are all coming home. There are so many memories that are going to be made, and it makes my heart so happy.

4. I currently have a 4.0 in school which I haven't decided whether or not it's been worth all the hours of hard work to pull that off. I'm also slightly terrified that I'll get a B+++ in one of my classes and be rather bummed after working all semester to keep them at A's. We shall see. We shall see.

5. Coffee is my friend at the moment and sleep is a fading memory. Come back sleep! I miss you terribly!

6. I've done no Christmas shopping and frankly have no idea what I am getting anyone. It's horrible really. I've been so focused on school and work that I've not had time to think of anything else. Next week is "Operation Christmas Shopping". We'll see how well I do.

7. It's CHRISTMAS!!! Which means Christmas lights and Christmas music (I'm talking about you Michael Buble, Pentatonix, David Archuleta, and Francesca Battistelli). Oh how I adore this time of year. It's the greatest. Merry Christmas everyone!

I promise to come back to this more often. Please forgive me for my long absence. Hopefully, distance made the heart grow fonder?? Miss my ridiculous blog posts even more than you normally did?!?! ;) One can hope! Have a great week

Merry Christmas to All and to All a Good Night!

Love,
Sarah

My Wild and Crazy Friday Nights

Dear People Who Read My Blog,

Hello. I'm sorry we haven't chatted in a while. It's been a little crazy for me. I work all the time and if I'm not at work, I'm at school. And if I'm not doing one or both of the aforementioned, I'm doing homework. It's a really fascinating life I live, or as my sister "kindly" told me last night "You know Sarah, you're kinda lame. You don't have a life anymore. Like you need to go do things on Friday nights and you need more friends." Ah yes. Thank you dear one.

You see, here's my problem. Because I am out of the house all day every day and I am constantly interacting with people, Friday night rolls around and literally all I want to do is go to bed. I don't want to go anywhere, be with anybody, or do anything. So Friday night, (last night), rolled around and I was more tired than I have been in a long while. My sisters went to a friend's house for a sleepover and my parents wanted me to catch a movie maybe and grab some dinner with them, and I sat there and shook my head.

"No, I said, I'm not going anywhere. I'm putting my pajamas on, doing some homework, eating, and going to bed."

"Just grab dinner with us. It won't be for too long."

"No thanks. I'll just stay home."

"Why are you wanting to stay home," they ask.

"Because. Because it's Friday and this extrovert wants to be an introvert for the night and stay home. And not be social. And not do anything. And not talk to anyone. I just want to stay here and act very old."

So that's exactly what I did. I put pajamas on and worked on homework. Then, I made myself some coffee so I wouldn't go to bed at 7 at night because that's just a LITTLE too adult-ish for me. And then my parents brought me home dinner, and I ate, and I talked to them, and then I went upstairs and went to bed. Because that's what I do on Friday nights. My parents really have to watch me because I really like to sneak out and party hard on Friday nights. *cough* Not.

I must say I am bewildered about how people can go out on Friday nights and party till 2 or 3. I really am. I have no idea how they do it. Because this 18 year old hits 2 or 3 in the afternoon and begins calculating how long it is till I can crawl into my bed. I honestly don't know how people do it. If you do this staying up and enjoying the night out, please tell me how you survive because I'm feeling very old and adult-ish for wanting to stay at home and doing absolutely nothing at the beginning of every weekend. So those are my wild crazy Friday nights. It's really almost too much fun to handle all at once. What do your Friday nights look like?

Thanks for listening to me ramble.

Sincerely,
A wild and crazy Sarah

Why, Hello There

I've been so remiss and for that I apologize. It isn't that I haven't been blogging. No, that hasn't been the problem. The real problem is that I have a REQUIRED blog for school, so naturally, that takes precedent which means this gets neglected. I'm so sorry. I feel like I may have a favored child who I am spending more time with. Is this what it's like. No, probably not. Not by a long shot. But still, here I am, not spending time creating rambling posts.

10 Things I Have Been Up To:

1. Sleep. HA. Just kidding. This is something that has been brushed aside.

2. I have worked a lot!

3. Homework. Papers. Reading reading reading. Tests.

4. Stress. That's what's been up in my life.

5. Coffee. Lots of it. And I am not ashamed.

6. Health. Not sure what's really going on. Doctor was fairly inconclusive, but we're just gonna wait and see if it gets better.

7. Rain. Well there has been a lot of rain, but mainly there has been a lot of Sarah not being prepared- no rain coat, hood, or umbrella. So yes, I've been wet a lot this week.

8. Ice cream. Where is it and where can I get more. Did I mention Mom thinks that not consuming dairy (like ALL of my diet) will help me feel better. And I think that sounds like a scenario with Sarah spiraling into a very dark spot in her life. I know what it's like to be without ice cream: for a whole year, and it's miserable.

9. Music. Did you know Spotify offers a discount to students that allows us to have premium Spotify for a very small amount of money everyday. Yes. Music makes my world go round.

10. General busyness: I have discovered that I am never bored. I also have things I can do all the time! It'll slow down sometime I'm sure!

That's all for now. I just wanted y'all to know- I am alive and I do care about this blog. I'm just having to create some priorities which is not so fun and very adultish but alas. Farewell for now!

Colorado Colors

The sky was blue before the thunder clouds rolled in.

The haze created a whimsical smoky affect.

The colors were so deep and contrasted against the dark sky.

The yellows lit up the sides of the road against the deep green of the pine trees.

The road led everywhere and no where.

The barn beckoned me to hear the tales of animals and people who used it as a shelter from the storms and a home in the cold.

The tractor took me back to my grandparent's farm where laughter is endless and memories are great.

Lead me on an adventure. Take me where no one has gone before.

The tractor took me back to my grandparent's farm where laughter is endless and memories are great.