Vacation

Ahh, Vacation.

It was perfect. I’ve never had such amazing days all in a row. Nothing went horribly wrong. Nothing ruined our day. The weather was perfect. The lake was beautiful and the cabin was perfect. I seriously have zero complaints.

We drove out on Wednesday, it was a 2.5 hour drive. We arrived at the cabin shortly after check in, and I fell in love at  first sight. It was so cute, it was the perfect size for us, and had everything we needed. I loved having the screened in porch and the private deck with the jacuzzi. I loved the private beach. I love the boy who shared it all with me.

Thursday we went exploring and ended up at Notre Dame and visited a friend of ours. We saw his chemistry lab and walked around campus. We ate lunch at an Irish Pub and Grille. We drove home, napped for a while, and relaxed at the cabin and on the beach.

Friday we woke up, packed up and left for home, sadly. But, our vacation didn’t end there. On the way we stopped at Turkeyville for lunch, ice cream and a souvenir. After Turkeyville we went across the street to The Medalist Golf Club so Kyle could hit balls on the driving range and I could lay in the sun and read (by the way, in that hour or so, I got the worst sunburn I’ve had in years). 

We headed home to East Lansing after that. We arrived just in time for Kyle to have to run to school for a meeting (during which he recieved awesome news that made us both happy). After the meeting we headed over to Hawk Hallow Golf Course to spend some more time in the sun. I laid out and got more burnt (on accident!) and he worked on his short game. Once we left Hawk Hallow, we decided to go down to Dick’s Sporting Goods and see if they had any good deals on anything… and they did! The Golf Clubs I’d been wanting for a few months, had dropped in price again, down to a mere hundred dollars. SOLD! We picked those up and went straight back to Hawk Hallow so I could hit balls on the range with my very own set of clubs!!! I was so happy, and I feel like I’m doing fantastically well with my golf swing too!

After that, we relaxed at home for a bit, and then headed to Flint to spend Saturday with Kyle’s family and celebrate mothers day.

Saturday I woke up, ran some errands, spent some time around his parents house with his family. Kyle and I ran out during the afternoon and hit balls again on the golf range in town, picked up some flowers for his sister and mom, the mothers in the family, and then went back to the house. Later, we had dinner, and then Kyle and I headed back home to our apartment.

Sunday, I relaxed and cleaned the house all day, watching movies and enjoying the sunshine on the balcony. Perfect relaxing last day of vacation. Kyle had to work all day, but afterwards we got dinner together, and then spent the rest of the evening at home.

And today, I’m back to the real world.

Life sucks, then you die.

When I was growing up I didn’t see my dad often, he was in the military and then later worked for the government and just generally wasn’t around. It wasn’t until I got closer to graduating that he retired and starting working normal, in town, hourly jobs, and shortly after I moved away.

There were two pieces of advice he would always give me though, every time I saw him.

1. Marry rich.

2. Life sucks, then you die.

I used to think he was such a negative person for constantly saying these two things, like I couldn’t take care of myself with a rich husband, and that life is just a bunch of inconvinces until you die… such a horrible way to live life.

But, now that I’m older, and am one of the most positive people I’ve ever known, I find myself giving a lot of advice to friends that need it, or being the one my friends come to when they’re having a bad day. I find myself regularly saying things like “You have to just ignore all the things that life throws at you that makes you feel down, stomp all over them, do what you have to do to deal with them and make them go away, and then keep on moving forward”.

Today was one of those days where everyone I knew was having a bad day, and I was saying the same things to each of them. The first friend, her car broke down and I said ‘Cars suck, money sucks, life sucks. You just have to fight against it and do what what you want to do, no matter what tries to stop you.”

The second friend, found herself short on cash right before her vacation, due to a bank error. I told her that same thing. “Money sucks, people sucks, you have to try to make the best with what you have and move forward, hoping for the best and knowing deep down it’ll work out okay.”

Later, I realized what I was really saying is just “Life sucks, and then you die” with more words. Which then made me turn around and think about my dad, maybe he’s not as negative as I thought.  Life DOES suck. Everything that can get in the way of a perfect day, usually does.  Jobs don’t pay enough, Bills go up and up, people get sick, plans get changed. Life sucks. Nothing ever goes as planned.

Ignore it. Keep moving on, keep smiling, keep living. Take it as it comes and beat it down before it beats you down.

 

And Marry only for Love <3

A note to Andrea Jean

Andrea Jean is my sister. Not by blood, but by choice and experience.

I just wrote four different sentences to start off his paragraph but erased them all because there isn’t any way to begin to explain how deep our relationship is. She’s always the first person that comes to mind when I think of unconditional love.  She’s been my most significant confidant for the last 9.5 years, we’ve been on countless adventures, we have dozens of inside jokes; we’re the epitome of best friends. We have gotten through the best and worst times of our life together, even though those times have often fallen on opposite ends.

We lived two miles away from each other for four years, then we lived an hour away from each other for four years, and now we live 2 hours away from each other, and the growing distance between us hasn’t changed a thing in the last decade. She is now moving ten hours away… and even though I’m extremely sad that we won’t be able to see each other as often, I know that nothing between us will change.

 

Aaaand I’m crying.. Moving on..

There have been times in our relationship when we’d go long periods of time without speaking or knowing what was going on in each others lives. Sometimes we were just too busy, my first year of college for example, we hadn’t talked since we graduated, and then had busy summers, and then I went off to college… ect… and we barely spoke, except for a few MySpace messages, until Christmas. But, when she showed up at my apartment and spent a few days with me… it was like we’d never been apart. In the past, when we were younger and bitchier (haha) we used to fight from time to time… huge blowouts… but as soon as one of us needed the other one – it was like the fight never happened, and never needed to be discussed.

We haven’t fought in years though, not anymore. We have truly have learned every bit of one anothers’ mind and personality, and we just plain get it now. That’s the only way I know how to explain it. When one of us does something or says something, the other one of us gets it without confusion or having to ask ‘why?’. I know a lot of people in the world have these types of friendships, I’m thankful every single day for mine.

With her moving to Tennessee, there are a few things that will obviously change. I will no longer get to see her 6-8 times a year, I will now maybe see her once, maybe twice, maybe not at all in a whole year. I will do my best to make sure I see her, but sometimes money and time available doesn’t line up… but even in that case we’ll still be close. I will do my best to actually send her things. I have always said I’d send her little thing in the mail that I think she’d like or things that remind me of her, I never did it. I suck at doing that kind of stuff, but with her being SO far away now, I’ll make it a goal to actually start doing. She’ll need things for her new place from me! We’ll have to make some sort of agreement to make sure we don’t go too long without talking, since we’re overly comfortable with our friendship, that accidently happens from time to time. Maybe a weekly text or phone session. Or we have to send each other a picture every week. Andrea… I need ideas here.

I love her and I’m thrilled that she’s moving on with her life and she’s embracing the opportunity that life has granted her… I’ll see her in five days, we scheduled a sobfest… and life will move on, and now that I’ve written this and gotten it off my chest I can move on now too, kind of.

I’ll see you Saturday Andrea Jean.

 

My “going back to school as a full time working adult” experience.

Step one: Decide what you want to do for the rest of your life. DECIDED.

Step two: Find the program. FOUND.

Step three: Apply to school. ACCEPTED.

Step four: Meet with Advisor. ADVISED.

Step five: Sent Transcipts from bachelors degree. TRANSFERRED.

Step six: Find classes that fit around your full time work schedule: FOUND.

Step seven: Register for classes. (not elligible to do that til tomorrow), but I already have the work sheet filled out, so lets just call that pre-REGISTERD.

Step eight: Get credit limit raised to pay for classes without student loans. Since I’m only taking one or two classes at a time, it won’t cost more than $500 a semester. Affordable for me to pay for up front, and pay off by next semeter. RAISED.

Step nine: Kick ass and get 4.0′s and be the best damn student, ever! [In progress. Classes start June 6th].

Step ten: Take placement tests to determine where I fall in math. ew. [I'm saving that for later so I can study my butt off].

Well, kids. I’ve decided to go back to school. I’ve been working hard to get everything worked out quickly so I can start this upcoming summer semester. I’m extremely excited. I’ve never been more proud of myself. I know how hard it will be to do this while keeping my current job and full time status, but I’m determined to do this, and pay for it all myself (while also paying my student loans off from my first degree.. heh).

Wish me luck kids. I’m feeling really good about this. For the first time I feel like I’m really doing something for myself. Doing something so I can succeed in my life. My bachelors was a mistake, forced upon me by social, societal and parental pressures, but I can’t regret it because it has been a part of the process that has delievered me to where I am today. The happiest I’ve ever been. I’m in a job that I don’t hate. I’m with a man I love. I’m following my dreams. Life is good.

I bought a KOBO! and breaking bad habits.

I bought Kobo’s latest product, the Kobo Vox. It’s comparable to a Kindle Fire.  Its an Android Tablet E-Reader.

I never make large purchases, and for me to splurge on a $250 toy is a big deal, but after much thinking and many people telling me it would be worth it, I did it! On April 2nd I made the big purchase and have been patiently waiting ever since…

Okay, its only been 9 days, and that is technically onl 6 business days even. But my account still says “processing”. It’s very frustrating. I want it so bad! I emailed customer care last week and they said to be patient. I’m being patient, I promise, but I’m going a little insane waiting. 

Even boyfriend is sick of hearing me whine!

In other news, I have a disgusting habit of chewing on my fingers. I started doing it in elementary school I think, it’s a terrible terrible habit. I seriously have tried everything to stop. I’ve been through numerous rubber bands and welted wrists. I’ve covered my fingers in lotions and vaseline and worn bandaids to stop myself from chewing and sometimes its worked, until the day I look down and see my fingers bleeding and have no memory of chewing them all up again.

But, I think this time I may have finally done it! It’s been one week. One whole week! The first three days I coated my fingers in Liquid Bandaid until the initial broken skin had healed over. I still have divits and scarring but I haven’t bit at it. Four days without anything on my skin to stop me from biting and yet I still haven’t found myself falling back. I’m still aware though of wanting to chew. That hasn’t gone away. I feel the skin on my fingers and I can feel that it’s there and bitable. But I haven’t once drawn my fingers up towards me teeth.

I know this is really gross but I’m really proud of myself. I really hope I’ve overcome this.

And in random other news -

• Easter was good. Poor boyfriend had to work the entire weekend, but I went to my parents house on Saturday to see the family and then his family’s on Sunday to see his family.
• My best friend is moving [ten hours] away and I’m proud of her and heartbroken at the same time, but I’m working on another post that explains that in more detail which will be posted at some point in the coming weeks.
• I’ve decided to go back to school, slowly, one class at a time to better myself and my transcript. I know it’ll take three years or so, but I found a way I can work towards the sonography program and maybe have a new career someday. But, like I said, I’m going to do it very slowly in order to pay for for it out of pocket and keep my current full time job for a few years at least.
• It’s playoff season! Go Red Wings! The Tigers are back in season again also, so plenty of Tigers Games coming up for Kyle and I to go on day trips! Yay! Detroit is about an hour and 40 minutes away but it’s always worth it!

 

 

What have I been doing lately?

Um reading Hunger Games mostly. I read the first book in two days, the second book in three day and  just started the third book. I would’ve read them faster if my job didn’t get in the way.

Besides that, I haven’t been able to write because the only thing that’s been going on for the last month was my planning a surprise party for my boyfriend’s 25th birthday. But the closer I got to it, the more stressed I became, and the more I feared writing ANYTHING because I figured I’d end up letting it slip one way or another.

So on Friday, after a month of planning, I pulled off an amazing surprise, with the help of a few friends It was a great turn out, even with friends from out of state making their way into town to celebrate my boyfriends quarter century life.

At this party I also surprised him with Section 123, Row 1, Seats 1 & 2 tickets to the following days Red Wings game!! We were both so excited, the game was phenominal. We sat right next to the players bench, best seat in the house!

Handing Kyle the tickets right after the big Surprise!

Literally sat right next to them.

So that was Friday and Saturday. Sunday, I made the trip to meet my parents half way to pick up Asia so she could come live with us. Sunday night, I couldn’t have been happier. Asia was thrilled to be at home with me and really liked our apartment. However, just two days later, I had to call my mom to come pick her up. After two years away from her I had forgotten just how demanding she was. She’s the type of animal that is, well, spoiled rotten. She doesn’t like to be left alone and needs constant attention otherwise she cries. Turns out she’d gotten quite accustomed to living with my parents, with my mom staying home all day to entertain her. I cried, A LOT, when I realized it wasn’t going to work out. But she really is better off there. Our apartment is too small for her to run around and we aren’t available to get her all the attention she wants. I’ll see her again on my trips home.

Seeing my mom two times in three days, each for a half an hour each (picking up and dropping off Asia) has made me terribly homesick.  I see my parents for a day or so every 2-3 months. Sometimes a little longer. I’ve gotten used to it and I talk to my parents regularly on the phone, but those quick meetings this week, ugh they killed me a little! I wanted so badly to curl up on the couch with my mom and talk all day, or take my dad all over town to the museums and art galleries and coffee shops. Sigh.

As for the near future: Tomorrow is Kyle’s actual 25th birthday Saturday I’m seeing a good friend from my previous city and we’re getting dinner and seeing the Hunger Games (by then I’ll have the entire series finished.. woo!). Sunday, hopefully just spending a long lazy day with my love.

Thats all for now.

Kyle+Sara+Asia

Eeeeeeeeeps! I can’t keep in my happiness!

Last night my darling boyfriend said that, after two years apart, I can have my cat back!

(Two years ago I had to send her to live with my parents when Kyle and I moved in together, and we’ve discussed many times having her come live with us now that we’re settled, but it’s never worked out. I’ve never stopped hoping though, and now the day has come!)

I got Asia when she was ten weeks old. I fell in love with her, at first sight. I had my hands on another cat, a little orange one, and was on my way to fill out the paperwork to take him home, but on my way towards the paperwork room, I passed a cage with a black cat who was stomping all over a tiny gray kitten. I put orange kitty down and scooped up the tiny gray one, and my heart melted.

She was sick, had problems with her lungs, and the humane society said she probably wasn’t work the $100 she costs, but I bought her anyway.

This is Asia and I the day I met her and took her home with me.

I took her home, took her to the vet, got medication for lungs, scheduled her to have her fixed once she was old enough, and we bonded. I saved her life, she was my favorite part of my day. 

I am so excited to get her back.

Please mom, no more kisses.

I know she’ll be scared in a new, strange home for a little while, but I’m sure once she warms up to the place, Kyle will learn to like her.

This seriously makes me so happy.

practicing our lookalike faces.

Thirty and Thriving!

Remember the movie ’13 going on 30?”

I have the same mindset.

I am 24, only a short six years from 30, and was lying in bed last night thinking to myself “I’d much rather be thirty. At thirty I’ll have things figured out. I’ll be in a career, instead of a long-term yet temporary gig, I’ll hopefully still be with Kyle, and we’ll be in the city of our choice, in the home of our choice, with a dog. I don’t know how to explain it. I just feel like at that point, my life will be sorted out, and I’ll no longer be waiting for that next step. I’ll have already reached it.”

Kyle disagreed. He said no matter how old we are we’ll still be lost, still in the process of changing, still stepping towards something else. I understand where he’s coming from, but in my mind I still see thirty as more solid ground than where I am today, but hell, during certain days next week feels more solid than now. I suppose this is a common feeling for a fresh young college graduate making their way into the full time working world, seeking something career worthy but realizing she has no idea what she should be doing.

We really are getting there though.  Kyle is graduating in 52 days and starting his internship in the fall. I’m only 84 days away from the end of my contract with my current job and then will hopefully find some where in the company I can stay for much longer, for a more permanent placement. We’re 24 and still growing up

Tidbits

I try my best to be the type of person who keeps my work life separate from my home life. I come home each night and not bring along any bad moods that may have developed while sitting in my cubical, or come home talking about things that happened at work, whether it’s good or bad. If I must, I’ll say a few words right when I get home, but then wont say much about it the rest of the night. Going home makes me so happy, honestly happy that I pretty much forget I’d even spent the last ten hours somewhere else. Kyle has that effect on me.

I found out recently that Kyle wants to travel as badly as I do, through a few passing words. It’s strange how he and I haven’t ever really discussing traveling. I mean, everyone wants to travel, but the two years we’ve been together we’ve been too busy and too broke to even really think about it, and it never came up in our long term plans. Yea, we want to see places, yea we’ve mentioned fantasy trips, but it has never been an entire topic of conversation. As I said before with my own personal goals, I plan on starting small and close, and moving outwards throughout my life as my income grows. Kyle and I are going to our Lake Michigan resort vacation in May, I’m hoping we can then do our short zoo trip shortly there after, maybe even June. Granted, these are still very small trips, but they’re something, and I’m excited for each one I start to plan in my mind. I hope that someday Kyle and I get to travel as much as we hope to.

I recently developed the condition called ”clumsiness”, and it’s a severe case. I seriously don’t know whats been going on in my mind. A few weeks ago I feel down two flights of stairs right in a row. The next day I cut my finger open with a knife. A few days after that I smashed a wine glass against the shelf I was trying to set it on. Yesterday, I pushed a curling iron out of the way with my bare hand on the barrel, moments after using it and burnt two of my fingers to the point of blistering. These things have all been painful, but more frustrating than the pain is the fact that it all came from pure stupidity! I’m so annoyed with myself.

My obsession with Boston Terriers is becoming uncontrollable. A coworker that I talk to on a semi-regular basis has one, and she’s starting to show me pictures every few days, and it’s just tearing me to pieces! I adore these little dogs! Boyfriend thinks they’re ugly but I think they’re precious. I love their small, lean bodies and their little noses and their black and white coloring. (I prefer the black ones rather than the browns or ‘blue’). They’re perfect little Sara dogs!

I just want to say Hi, and Thank You :)

I’ve been writing in a blog for as long as I can remember. I think I started around age fifteen. When I was younger I just complained a lot and was childish and talked about my day. As I grew older I eventually made that blog private and kept it just for me, since for years it was just a dramatic mess of posts and it was nice to have a private outlet.

At that point though, I still really had the desire to write something that might possibly be worth reading. I still don’t know if anything I write is interesting by any means, but I enjoy writing it and I love when I get new followers and comments.

This blog has more followers than any other public blog I’ve attempted, and compared to other blogs – I don’t have many followers at all, but I’m thrilled at the ones I do have and hope that if nothing else, when they pass by my blog, I give them something worth reading, sometimes at least.

So, I want to say hello to you, my followers. I appreciate you so much!! I’ve seen a drastic increase in followers in the last couple of weeks, which definitely motivates me to continue writing my random thoughts and stories… and writing makes me happy, so in turn, my followers make me very happy!!