San Francisco, ding ding!

I just got back from a whirl wind trip up the coast to San Francisco. :) It was amazing. My older sister, Nikki, and I drove up from Irvine to see our other sister Manda. We only spent a couple days there but wow what a blast. I think I was born in the wrong place. The houses there are fantastic, they have so much personality! Lol, and we all know how much of a climber I am... can you imagine how burly I would get on my bike with all those awesome hills to practice on??? It would be love at first pedal. Plus I would be able to kick everyone else's ass which I would find pleasure in because I am just not a very nice person. ha ha. Ah, the truth comes out. So the first night I was there we pretty much just crashing out because of the drive. Nikki and I sung at the top of our lungs the whole way up as you are supposed to on road trip. While we are both charming women, singing is not our strong point no matter how much joy we get from it. So we were deaf and our throats were sore but by the next morning we were ready to go out and take the city by storm! First we hopped a bus and hiked up to twin peaks to get the view of the whole city. It was beautiful. Lol, sadly both sisters were not digging on the hike too much so while all I wanted to do was keep going UP, they were much more into the idea of going DOWN. I was a nice sister and only made them climb two hills. Then we hopped on another bus and went down to the Castro district. This is the part of San Fran that I have always heard of. Rainbow flags everywhere, awesome outfits and little dogs wearing pink studded leashes. So much fun. OH! there was this little alley that Manda took us to that was full of amazing graffiti. I'll have to post some pictures, I was in heaven with the exception of the condom wrappers I saw everywhere. Art...promoting sex in alleys since spray paint was invented. Yucky... not my idea of a romantic, "let's get it on" spot but then again I am a rather picky person on that front I guess. Just not much of a gravel on my butt kind of girl... :) Okay, I am getting side tracked here... yes... spray paint..ew..okay back on the side walk again, whew. After that we went and had an amazing lunch at Nirvana's. Why in the world we don't have one of those in Denver I'll never know, it makes me drool thinking of the food.. wow was it good. Note to self, you can put cinnamon on chicken and it will not taste as gross as it sounds. Side tracked again, I am not good at this game. After that there was lot of walking around and shopping, me not being much of a shopper just had a blast people watching. Things that are funny but I really shouldn't laugh at: Nikki got chewed out by a homeless guy. The phrase, "Die! Crucify!" was shouted at her, but she handled it like a champ and even put up with us re-enacting it all day.. she is such a trooper. I don't think she get crucified because she just too nice. It is punishment enough having to deal with two little sisters for three days straight. :) The next day we headed down to Pier 39. The general mood for the day consisted of me running around, clapping my hands and pointing at various seals and boats. I had company of course, however not too many of them were over the age of 10 but meh... I like the ocean and when I am excited I can't help it if I retain my youthful outlook on life. Lol, I'm a great person to take the fair... I'll tug on your hand, beg for cotton candy and scream when I am on the rides. That is the point of life. Have fun people, everyone is far to mature when it comes to things. BOO to you people. :) After we spent all day wandering, and searching for the perfect gift for me to take back that guy I've got a wee bit of crush on. That night we headed out to meet Chrissy for drinks. I swore up and down that I would not drink too much because I knew that I had to get up early and drive all the way back down to Irvine, but yeah... the waiter and Chrissy did not seem too impressed by my grand plan. So several martines and glasses of wine later, a very tipsy sara crashed out while still fully dressed. This morning I of course woke up with a killer hang over, crawled into the car and began the slow drive back. No music was played until at least 2 hours in, and the singing did not begin until much later. But damn, what a great trip! Tomorrow I am going to go to the beach, chase seagulls and collect seashells. Anyone wanna come with me???

The chapter before the mouse hunt

2. The Species: Roommate

I have had several roommates over the years. I enjoy roommates because you get to see people at their worst, as well as at their best. You get to see all of the little details that people hide from the real world. All of their faults, and the bad hair days before they throw on the baseball hat. In roommates I look for at least two things, I don’t want to live with people who never stop to think and I don’t want to live with females. Girls take work, and they are less likely to come out of their room before shoving the baseball hat on. They are trained to be perfect almost all of the time and when someone sees them before they have reached a state of perfect then they grow fangs, growl and may even be biters. I should know, I am one of them. But I don’t growl, I roar and claw at the walls before going back to my bed and donning not just a baseball cap but the entire bedcover. So I like living with guys. I like pretending I am a spy on a mission to infiltrate the male race, although by writing this I just blew my cover and therefore must report to my leader that the mission was failure. I wonder if I will get the firing squad or if I will be marooned on a deserted island? Like I said, girls can be evil, they are vicious and punishment for failure is no laughing matter.

My last two years of roommates have been educational to say the very least. There has been four us. The spy and the three unsuspecting guys. It sounds like a bad comedy but it isn’t. The latest addition to the house has been pretty entertaining. I nicknamed him the “whirlwind”. The first weekend he lived in the house I thought we had been robbed. I went into the kitchen one morning and every cupboard and half the kitchen drawers were open. “Oh, no! Quick check to see if they got the Cheez Nips!” No, the crackers are safe. Whew. Relief. That was a close one. Wait, if they weren’t after our food, then why the ransacking of our kitchen? Do we have a ten foot tall mouse? Do I need to call someone? The Police? A Jungle Safari Leader? A female who hasn’t put on her make-up yet? Because if it is a ten foot mouse I am going to need either something with teeth or guns. A roommate stumbles into the kitchen to get some food. I watch carefully, noting his reaction. Nothing. This is normal to him. Ooooohh. It dawns on me slowly. I have found the mouse. Not quiet ten feet but bigger than I am. I bare my teeth…Hmmm.. no.. too big to chew. So I laugh, and I comply with the secret roommate code, meaning I ignore it. We have weird habits and we all have a right to them. As the months progress the midnight robberies of the kitchen cupboards continue. After a while I just can’t resist. I have to ask. “So, little mouse, why do you leave all of the cupboards open?” I get a look like I am the freak here. “Easier access.” Obviously if one leaves the cupboards standing open and wants a snack they then do not have to take the time to actually OPEN the cupboard. The food is already there, waiting to be chosen and devoured. Silly me. About three weeks later we got our first mouse.

Happy Sarie Marie Pudd'n and pie

My life is going really well right now. I couldn't be happier. :) Darren, the new guy that just moved in, is turning out to be a great addition to the house. The whole place has a good, healthy vibe now. AND the best part... all of the messy boys are gone so it is just me and people who are responsible enough to clean up after themselves. Revolutionary idea, adults who act like adults..AWESOME! Mauh ha ha!!! It's only been one week since all of the crazy upheavals and it is already so drastically different that I am excited to see what will come in the future. I'm always shocked at how much my life can change in only a matter of weeks. I have met a great new person, which all of you know about and I am sure I'm made fun of for in more than one circle, speaking of which Seth, Hutchison, the other Brian etc... I'm on to you... Grrrr...
Anyways, getting distracted... yes, happy, life good, wonderful people, and spring break is in two days. I'm going to go visit my beautiful sister Nikki in CA for a week. Lots of going to the beach, going to see Body World 3 and then up to San Francisco for a few days. The weather is supposed to be in the high 60's to 70's. Yes, you can be jealous now. Woot.. teeny polka dot bikini here I come! (followed by a trip to the dermatologist for the skin cancer that will ensue shortly there after)

In honor of the time of year

14. New Twist on Old Easter Traditions

Now when most people think back to their childhood Easter experience they come up with visuals of fluffy little girl dresses, and brightly colored Easter eggs hidden in the grass at the park. Throw in going to church at some point during the day and you have a picture perfect Easter holiday. Here is what I come up with when I think back to those days….getting poked by cactuses, and being hit in the head by flying taffy. Sounds like a bad joke right? No, this was my childhood. There is a very good reason I have the strange sense of humor that I am so proud of today. I blame my parents. This is pointing my finger at them and saying this entirely your fault type of blame. And they have no retort because I am without a doubt right about this. You see when I was little my mom, god love her, was a little twisted when it came to hiding the candy. Most kids find their Easter eggs and chocolates hidden in the soft comfy of couch cushions and the like, but not my family. Oh no. It was much fiercer than that in our home. My mom would take jelly beans and stick them in between the cactus thorns in her little desert garden. After my sisters and I had found every single possible piece of candy that was not a hazard to our health we would line up in front of these cactus plants, look at eachother and wait for the first one dumb enough to make a move. That child was generally me. I’d like to think it was because I was brave, daring and the owner of an over powering sweet tooth but really I was just the only one who wasn’t bright enough to realize that sticking your fingers into cactuses was not a good idea. Sadly, I actually managed to perfect this art which lets you know that it wasn’t a one time event that I fell for. You should see the grin on my mom’s face when she tells that story, purely wicked. My other fantastic Easter memory was not my mom’s fault. Nope this one was all my step-dad. They had a trait in common when it comes to this sense of humor thing I have been talking about. His was much more surprising however. Easter morning comes around and we are all in the living room waiting for whatever is going to happen, my step-dad wanders off towards the kitchen and as he does so he casually flips on the fan. Crash, Zing, Thwap! AHHHHHH!!!! Horrified screams of little girls, laughter from parents, and taffy exploding all over the room like tiny missiles. My sister and I had no idea what the hell was going on, all we knew was that suddenly our calm conversation was interrupted because we were being pelted in the head with not-so-soft candy. Steve turned the fan off and we all come out of our hiding places. My parents had stacked 2-lbs of taffy on the fan blades so the candy would “fall” when it was turned on. They didn’t realize it would come cascading out of the sky like the wrath of god. After the shock wore off it was really funny. We all laughed and giggled at how surprised we were. Months later we were still finding taffy in plant pots and under tables. There were very few holidays in our household that were normal, and they were never boring.

Hard Run

Nothing makes a run better than when you have a lot of emotional garbage on your mind. Each thud, slap, thud, slap of your feet gets you further from whatever is making you unhappy or stressing you out. The more you think about it the harder you push yourself until you lungs feel like they are going to explode out of your chest in the ultimate protest against the strain. You stop, chest heaving with each breath, eyes watering and the blood pounding in your ears. You gasp for air and as your heart finally slows you realize your mind is calm. Your thinking is clear, and you are strong enough to take anything on. Each step you take in your cool down jog lets you feel the sheer power in your thighs as the muscles contract, the rhythm flows through your body in harmony with your surroundings. You can feel like a god among mortals, you can see the full spectrum of your life just off the horizon. People ask me why I run, the answer is so simple. These are the feelings I get from it, the better question is why DON"T you run? This is how I deal with sadness, this is how I express happiness, this is part of my soul. Man was meant to gallop across fields and run full tilt through the forest jumping ditches and dodging trees. Okay, not really, our bodies are not actually built for that as you can see by the sheer amount of knee injuries runners seem to fall victim to, but on days like today there is absolutely nothing that compares.

My cheer up on dreary days

This has nothing to do with anything really, but I love this video and the guy that is in it. It makes me happy, which makes me smile, which means that life isn't half bad. And yes, I'm aware of the fact that it annoys a lot of people. But I am not a lot of people, I am a Sara. A rare breed who likes strange things. Enjoy!!!

http://youtube.com/watch?v=60og9gwKh1o

Oh school, how I loath thee

The difference in between my homework for my art degree versus my homework for nursing school is a vast region of wanting to do and having to do. Granted I absolutely love learning about the human body and diseases fascinate me but I get so sick of having to study all the time. :) When I would do "homework" for painting class all it would be is me taking something I am already good at and just having fun until I had something to turn in. I always feel kind of silly telling people that I have a degree in painting. Yes, it was a fluff major although it is harder than most people give it credit for. Forcing your brain to come up with 12 paintings a semester that are all bigger than 3' by 3' is harder than it sounds. I'm glad I did it though. If I hadn't gone through with it I always would have wondered if I should have gone for that whole artist lifestyle. Now I know that I would go crazy if I had to paint for money, it was bad enough having to paint for a grade. Painting is something I'll do only for my pleasure and sanity. Ha ha, besides I still can still say that I am not only a published artist but one that sells their work. So really by some standard I made it in the art world. Right now the whole reason this is even on my brain is that I am supposed to be studying for a Microbiology test and I would much rather be jamming out to some good music and letting my mind wander in paint. Alright alright no more procrastination, I won't get those A's I am so fond of if I keep day dreaming about painting pretty pictures. I think of it this way, when I am nurse I can combine the two degrees and draw really cool pictures on kid's casts. All of the kiddies will think I am awesome and I will be able to tell their parents that they owe me $15,000 for the one of a kind piece of art encasing their child's leg. Great plan. Note to all of you other artist out there reading this, I have patented that idea so you can't steal it. Neener Neener