hurricane update

My family and friends back home have been hit hard with the damage done by hurricane sandy. I am three hours away, and was supposed to get hit with the worst of it and am totally fine.

While I was here baking cupcakes and making jokes about being stocked up on wine, my brother was saving my dog from drowning from the sudden ocean of water that went into our house and filled our downstairs practically to the ceiling.

I was home this weekend and my parents made me leave so I wouldn't get caught in the oncoming storm, and now I wish I had stayed instead and was with them so atleast I would see they were safe with my own eyes. I wish that I didn't leave because I was so worried about needing to go to work because I was new and couldn't just tell them I wasn't coming in.

My friends and family are okay, but waterlogged. My town and those around it are semi in shambles and those of us who are away from them are experiencing heavy hearts and the urge to drive back immediately, over down trees and through rivers of water just to get home again.

Please keep my friends & family in your thoughts and prayers, and if you have found yourselves in the same situation, I hope you are fairing well.

ohhhhhhh sandy.

hello hurricane day!

 

thanks to the hurricane that may or may not happen here in little rhodey, i have a whole day off with nothing to do.

 

which would explain why i am still awake at 5:30 in the morning...mostly because i'm freaking out, and mostly because i can.

 

anyway...so far i've managed to move my whole bedroom around and catch up on many a blog post that i have been so badly neglecting, besides actually writing my own, which ive also been neglecting.

 

and you know what's happened from reading so many blogs?! i am now lusting after a desk i must have immediately. and some new glasses. and a recipe i want to try...or atleast 6. and a detail wall i want to attempt and the fact that i might want to be best friends with the college prepster

sigh.

 

 

this basically sums up what i want to do today, what im shopping for today and what's keeping me occupied while my lights are flickering and it sounds like my apartment is going to fly away. (because right now it's 5pm and the storms coming!)

 

on the plus side, I did just make some delicious buffalo chicken and am contemplating making cupcakes from scratch if my power holds up.

 

 

Stay safe lovelies!!

 

we're birds of a feather

Wherever you go, just always remember
That you've got a home for now and forever
And if you get low, just call me whenever
This is my oath to you
Wherever you go, just always remember
You're never alone, we're birds of a feather

About a year ago I wrote this post, and after these last few months I wanted to go back to it, and think about how I feel now..

I don't know how many of you have ever been a part of something: a team, a club, an organization, something that you contributed to, and became bigger than yourself, but I can tell you, from first hand experience, that to find yourself surrounded by people that help you feel like you've found your place in a big world is a unique and wonderful experience.

In sorority life, we like to say it's not for four years, it's for life. While for some it may not feel that way, for me it does.

I believe that once upon a time eight years ago, when I met the women who would later become my Sisters, not by blood but by choice, my life was changed for the better. I was there for the good times, and I was most definitely there for some of the bad times as well, but through it all I have memories with those women that have stayed close to my heart. Since graduation many of us have gone our separate ways, but to me that doesn't mean anything. If anything, it just means that it makes any time spent with them that much more meaningful to me.

I've heard mixed feelings from women I have known about their own Sorority experiences...some who didn't make connections and form bonds with others, those who feel that the only reason they ever spent time with each other was because they were forced to, those who feel like they didn't get anything out of the experience..and to those women, I am sorry you feel that way.

I believe that being a part of my sorority gave me the chance to grow, to find out what kind of woman I wanted to be, to introduce me to people who would forever be a part of my life whether just at the moment or now so many years later.

These last few months I've been given the chance to work with my organization as an advisor and through that I got to be a part of the rebirth of my former chapter. I have gotten the chance to play a main role to a new generation of women who now share my letters, who I call my Sisters, and who

I care just as much about now, as I did about my own Sisters when I was an undergraduate. I see myself, and my Sisters reflected in this new generation. I find myself sitting in on their meetings, or looking at their pictures and realizing that I have the same pictures from not too long ago, with the women in them now off all over the world having adventures- falling in love, welcoming new lives, embarking on their dream careers, doing things that a few years ago seemed like things that would happen eventually...but years away. I have "met" women I have never known -- via facebook, who have reached out to me, and now they too have become a part of my life. I know that I can travel the world, and if I needed something, I could reach out to this network of women and find an answer to any question I might have, or problem I may find myself facing.

To me, that is what I was looking for all those years ago, and I didn't even know it. A connection, a lifeline, a bond. In the last eight years I have fallen in love, had my heart broken, changed jobs, and graduated college twice. I have gone through awkward phases, laughed at more things than I could ever remember and taken millions of pictures of possibly every relationship, weird haircut, night out dancing, denim mini skirt trend, heels in the middle of a snow storm, group shots with us all squished together and tons of other things you'd probably rather not have photographic proof of --- everything that probably took place over an eight year time span. I have moved, and moved again. I have celebrated birthdays, engagements and weddings. I have memories of nights spent at karaoke, basement fraternity parties, huge group dinners, nights out dancing without a care in the world and hours spent in small apartments filled with girls getting ready for one thing or another. I have driven hours to spend one night with these people, and have had others do the same. I have had people who were by my side when I was sick, who painted my apartment for me, who got on the phone to tell a guy what an asshole he was, who have helped me through any crisis that came my way-- whether it be a bad hair cut, that pesky issue of not being old enough to get into a bar, a class I just couldn't understand, plans for a friday night, a bad breakup, a crush, a ride in the middle of the night, a place to stay at a moments notice no questions asked, things that were silly and things that were really important--anything you go through in college, and then anything that you encounter when you find yourself suddenly in the real world outside of your safe college bubble and going through your twenties, quickly approaching your thirties. I am happy for all their successes, and feel for any trouble that comes their way.

I know that all of those women who I have gotten to spend years of my life making memories with will forever be a part of my life. They have been there through my ups and downs, and will continue to be there wherever my future takes me. and without being a part of my sorority, I may have never had that. I may have never even met them. and I can't imagine what my life would have been like without them.

 I have fought with these women, and loved them just the same. I wonder to myself, if those women from my past, or these women in my present realize just how important they are to me. We may not speak every day, or even within years, some I will never speak to again. Some have become my best friends and others are just acquaintances. but still, at one point we shared a bond that has always meant something to me. I may not even cross their minds at this point, but nevertheless- the fact that I have known them at all, matters to me.

I guess that's really the point I wanted to get across. You have all mattered to me. Knowing you has made an impact on my life, and I hope that I have made a mark somewhere in yours. and for all those memories -- the old ones, the new ones, and the ones in the making, I am forever thankful to you all.
Sisters always.

with a heart full of hope & a mind full of dreams,

 

Sarah

fridays...err saturdays letters.

 

 

Hello lovelies!

Happy weekend!

 

 

Well,  I'm a day late and a dollar short but here are my Friday's letters anyway!

dear midterms: i forgot you existed! why can't i just go to school and enjoy the learning experience. and then why is it an option to have midterms be both take home and in class. that's juts prolonging my stress level like woah. dear group projects: have you ever heard someone say "i love doing group projects!! they're the best!" no. you have not. and you know why? because group projects suck. unless youre working with your friends or something. but when you're working with people you don't know it's no beuno. and a group project in grad school is even worse. forget the regular issues of group projects in college then add in the grad school factors...people usually have full time 9-5 jobs and families. it's not so easy to be up til all hours putting a presentation together. why must you be a requirement in these classes?! dear weight watchers: i finally bit the bullet. i have signed up, and im hoping this is just what i needed to start holding myself accountable. it's only been a week and i'm already feeling good about it. let's do this! dear guy upstairs: you used to live in this very apartment i call my own right now. so WHY do you make so much noise now that you moved directly above this apartment. you should know how loud it is down here! headachecentral. i do love my little place though so here i shall stay. dear animal shelters & adoption agencies: i would like to provide an animal in need with a forever home. approve me. i will provide countless amounts of love, despite my lack of a legit yard. everyone else in my building has a dog and they manage just fine. dear my very abused hair:thanks for not falling out. no seriously. i know we've had our ups and downs, but here's my pledge to stop bleaching it and embrace my roots. literally. dear sydney over at the daybook: those bangs are the greatest thing ever!! I can't even count how many times i decide i want bangs and then despise them within a week of chopping my hair. i shall purchase these per your suggestion, as soon as i have some spare money to use on something i don't really need. dear halloween: i LOVE halloween. I don't subscribe to the mean girls theory that it's the one time out of the year a girl can dress slutty and no one can judge you for it. I actually HATE when girls do that. i'm sorry but wearing underwear and sticking ears on your head does not a mouse make. ANYWAY...this year I was going to be a toddlers and tiara contestant but now with this whole honey boo boo craze, i've scrapped the idea. same with being katniss. SO now im debating between being an indian princess OR max from where the wild things are. i'm sort of leaning towards max, mostly because i would love to rock some footie pajamas in public. thoughts? dear life: thanks for giving me chance after chance. i appreciate everything about you.


well, that's all for now lovebugs! hope you're all having a wonderful weekend and being productive.
....unlike myself who has two papers, one essay, two half take home midterms to study for and complete andddd a cold...but clearly i'm blogging instead of doing any of that.

with a heart full of hope & a mind full of dreams

xo

the key to happiness

This past weekend I got to spend time with some of my greatest friends. Friends that I've only known since college, but feel like I've known my whole life. Sometimes, I feel like they're strangers I barely know.

Every time I have a mini reunion with anyone Ive ever felt bonded with, I leave feeling..torn. slightly confused. happy and sad at the same time. jealous. anxious.

and then I decided I came to this conclusion:

I think the real key to being happy isn't by envying the success of your loved ones, whether it be in their relationships, careers or even their own personal growth - but in realizing that for now being happy for them is enough, even while you work to figure out where you're going in your own life, and knowing that when the time comes those same loved ones will share in your own joy as well.

and that's that.

have a wonderful end of the week loves!

with a heart full of hope & a mind full of dreams

Sarah

Confessions of a shopaholic...

 

 

Jeez, I haven't posted in a bit...and last time i did it was a woe is me post.

i hope you've been busy living my dear readers! i've missed you :)

 

welllll i've been semi busy (except not really)

 

i quit my job, got a new job and then quit that one too.

 

it was a big joke...(or maybe i am?)

 

anyway, i went home for  a few days for yet another wedding and to squeeze in as much family time as i could before i started my new, new job. because ofcourse i got another one.

 

...just chasing the dream people, chasing the dream.

 

anywho, in the meantime i'm currently cleaning out my closet and listing things on ebay and on my very own facebook page i made for this specific reason. because really even i have finally realized that the amount of money ive spent on the things in my closet is probably equivalent to a years worth of my rent.

 

soo ala becky bloomwood, miss "confessions of a shopaholic" herself : i am cleaning out, and parting with some of my treasures in the hopes that someone else out there in the big wide world will want my things and contribute to my non existent savings account.

 

 

interested? check out my page on facebook :

search "sarah's closet"

 

 

happy living lovelies!