when in Greenville

Tonight Greenville had their annual Christmas parade. I have never been and I've lived here for a few years. Don't you find that most of the time you take for granted the things in your hometown? One of my friends lives downtown and she invited me over for hot chocolate, snacking and the parade. It was absolutely freezing outside and the last thing I wanted to do was leave her house and walk to Main Street but we bundled up and took our hot chocolate with us. The parade was so much fun. Greenville did such a good job of organizing and most of the floats were fantastic. My favorite float was that of Bob Jones University. It just looked so pretty and there were several little kids on it singing. I didn't realize children attended BJU. They must be smart kiddos. The weirdest float of the night was something about a rapping elf. He was middle-aged and dressed up similar to an elf with sunglasses and "chains". The float looked completely ghetto and they were playing ghetto rap music. How did those people get into the lineup?? Of course I do love a good marching band so seeing all of the bankds come through was fantastic. Mandie and I shook are booties. The night was freezing but made warm with good company, hot chocolate and a good ol' fashioned parade. It makes me appreciate where I live even more.

On a side note, Tim and I are going to see a boxer/lab puppy tomorrow afternoon. I don't know what will happen but she is really cute in the picture. So...we'll see. We may have a sister for Flash tomorrow! I hope he's ready to be a big brother.

awkward turtle!

Tim and I drove to Ohio for the long Thanksgiving weekend and I love seeing family even if that means I sleep on an air mattress in a house where the "heat" is set at 64 degrees when it's 30 outside. The trip was quiet and uneventful except for the traffic. We took Flash with us and he did so good on that long car drive. Unfortunately he's having a serious halitosis problem right now and whenever he yawned it smelled like he was farting through his mouth. We think it's his food. I picked up a different dog food during a quick and desperate trip to Walmart (it was Walmart which means it was desperate) made by Rachel Ray. It's all natural but if all natural is going to give him THAT breath, then fillers it is! Just kidding. I'm going back to the old food, Eukanoba, which is pricey and gave him gas but I'd rather him have gas than that awful breath.

Wow - I really got off subject! I was saying the trip was uneventful, but I forgot that we found an iPod Nano! One of our potty stops along the way we were walking the dog around and I saw the nano on the ground but ignored it. We were out there for awhile and nobody came by and I never said anything until right before we left and then I went ahead and picked it up. This person has some great music on their playlist and a fantastic mix. Tim and I understand we need to do everything possible to find the owner and we are taking the appropriate steps to do so but until then Tim is enjoying it.

I really do enjoy seeing my family at the holidays, but what I realized I don't enjoy is the drama. I don't need anymore drama in my life and Thursday turned out to be quite the Lifetime movie. Thanksgiving was at my grandma's like usual and the guests consisted of my grandma, uncle, cousin, mom, family friend, Flash, Tim and I. It was definitely small without my sisters and I really wish they had been there although I know they were okay with not being there, especially after this story! Everyone was there and then my uncle walked in who is a mailman. He sees Flash and before he even says hello he starts freaking out and asked if Flash was a pit bull. I affirmed. This prompted a five minute diatribe on how dangerous pit bulls are and he reports people with pit bulls because they are banned up in the unfriendly north. He also won't deliver mail to someone who has a pit in the front yard and had plenty of dog stories to tell. My uncle would absolutely not let up and it was making everyone very uncomfortable and me very angry. He made sure to let me know that he wasn't happy with Flash being there. I was sooo close to telling him that he is an angry old a*hole and that he could leave. I didn't want to make a bad situation worse so I kept my mouth shut and he finally shutup. The whole entire dinner turned out to be his own personal soapbox about some guy him and my cousin mutually know. This guy is in his Bible study and my cousin was telling him that he is a womanizer. This news made my uncle extremely upset and he wouldn't stop talking about it. Not to mention that he talked about JFK and how everyone idolized him but when he died they found out he was riddled with venereal disease. Who talks about venereal disease at the dinner table??? The whole dinner was one big awkward turtle.

That evening we headed to my aunt & uncle's house with the cousins, husbands/wives and kids. When Tim walked in the door he asked if this was Thanksgiving redo and it completely was. We all had such a great time. I can't remember the last time we were at my aunt & uncle's with so many of us there. I was able to talk to my cousin for awhile which we haven't done in forever and a bunch of us played Monopoly. Tim would want me to tell you that he schooled everyone going from "nothing to something". I definitely miss that part of my family :)

The remainder of the weekend consisted of helping my mom get ready for selling the house and visiting family and friends in Youngstown. Tim's grandma has alzheimers and it is so sad to see her that way. We realize we don't have very much time left with our grandparents so every trip matters. Tim's grandpa is still fit as a fiddle at 90 years old and can tell stories for hours on end without fail. After the family visit we headed to a friend's and went to dinner at a place called Upstairs and yes, it was actually upstairs. The wine was good and the food even better, plus our friend Courtney has a Canon Rebel XSI and let me fool around with it! See the pics below.

Sunday we left for home. The 9 hour trip took about 13 and it was horrendous. The details are pretty ugly so I will spare you. Needless to say we were very glad to get home and sleep in our warm house in our comfortable bed! *Sorry mom.

We will be flying next time!

s'mores, turkey, buckeyes and vampires

What a crazy, wonderful weekend it has been! I am exhausted and have no idea when I'll have time to get ready for our trip to Ohio but I wouldn't trade it for the world. The fun started with a good ol' fashion bonfire which I haven't been to since I went camping with my sister and brother-in-law. The weather was freezing which of course you want it to be. Our friend Crystal was the marvelous hostess and she made sure we had everything necessary including a fantastic fire she created herself! I've never had s'mores with Reeses cups before but I highly recommend it, especially the way Todd made them. He just stuck the peanut butter cup on the stick with the marshmallow and it melted perfectly :)


We couldn't stay late at Crystals because of the very early morning we had Saturday. I hate getting up early, but alas we had commited to the Turkey Trot 5k. I've started running and training to run 5k's. Tim has been a trooper, sticking with me even though he's a runner and can go alot faster. We woke up to 25 degree weather and bundled up for it. There were a group of people that I work with who showed up and have been running a lot longer than I. My plan was to walk the whole way because my shin splints have been extremely bad but after the race started I got the itch to run. I definitely didn't have the energy to run the whole way so Tim and I did a run/walk/run/walk the whole way which didn't make for very good time but nevertheless we finished! Yay! Our next 5k is December 13th and I just want to beat my time from this past Saturday. That's my only goal. Oh, and to not die.



I would've loved to just ice my shins and take it easy in the afternoon but I wouldn't miss the biggest game of the season - Ohio State vs. Michigan. Tim and I headed over to Bailey's to meet fellow fans Katy & Matt. They were awesome and included us in their reservation. I didn't understand why reservations were needed but understood when we arrived. The whole back half of the restaurant was dedicated just for the game and it was packed with OSU fans and a few Michigan fans. They were brave souls to stick around. The game turned out well for us Buckeyes and we know how to shove it in the opposing teams face!



The rest of the day was shot. We were sooo tired and zonked out on the couch after the game. Flash was awesome and just napped with us. What an awesome dog he is.

The weekend was not over after all of this busyness. It was just getting started. The weekend ended on an extremely high note...the highly anticipated Twilight movie. There is no way to possibly explain how addicted I am to this series. First the books and now the movie. My excitement was high and my expectations low. The movies are never as good as the books and that was the case for this movie as well, but I was pleasantly surprised at how completely awesome it was. I was in love with the books before and if it's even possible, I'm even more in love with them now. I read the reviews and they were negative but I don't believe these critics actually read the book. They spoke of over-dramatized angst and clumsy acting. To anyone who read the book, they understand the whole book was a story about teen love and we all remember how much drama that was in high school! Now imagine that drama added with a forbidden relationship with a guy that wants to drink your blood aka killing you but chooses to be your protector instead..ahhhh. The writer and director stayed true to the book with very few changes made. I was highly impressed and the movie brought to life all of the intensity and passion that was in the book. If you haven't read the book, the movie probably won't be all that great. But if you have seen the movie...see it. You won't regret it.

That was my busy weekend in a nutshell. My hair still smells like smoke, my shins are sore, the fridge is still filled with buckeyes and my heart is still pounding from Twilight. I could do it all over again next weekend!

Tim and I are headed to Ohio for Thanksgiving which means another roadtrip (refer to very first blog post) so wish us luck ;)

adios

quick thought

I'm not much into politics. Recent days have sharpened my view though. I don't like to debate and I don't know enough to write a full on diatribe about the election and the shortcomings of both candidates but I will say this.

When Tuesday comes along I will be voting for the apple that has the fewest bruises because let's face it, neither candidate is really all that great. Also, even though SNL and the late-night hosts and newscasts only have negative things to say about McCain/Palin none of it's that serious really. Most of it is about McCain being old and Palin having an accent. On the other hand, the opposing candidate, Obama, has several very serious black marks.

Instead of voting for Obama, visit Cuba. Then when you realize socialism isn't all it's cracked up to be you can hop a boat back to the States.

rewind

Focusing this morning in church was very hard. There were three sisters sitting in the pew in front of us, all different ages. As they all filtered in the youngest one was trying to move spots and I don't know where she exactly wanted to go but her older sisters blocked her from going anywhere. This made her quite angry and she began saying over and over again "but mom said I could". After she still wasn't getting her way she started pinching her sisters extremely hard on the arms. Of course this just made the whole process more entertaining. The two older ones started whispering in each other's ears making the younger one even angrier. As we're singing a hymn I'm just laughing. Then, about 5 minutes later the little one had her head on the middle sister's shoulder.

The whole experience took me back to my childhood. I saw me and my sisters at those ages, hating each other then loving each other and going through it all over again in repeat fashion. I don't remember Liz being much of an instigator but Leah and I went at it all of the time. She would quietly aggravate me and would push me to the point of screaming at her, much like the pinching the younger sister was doing in church this morning. My parents never saw the "pinching" but only heard the yelling so guess who got in trouble...moi.

There are a multitude of acts I'm not proud of when it came to my sisters, but I'm not closer to anyone than them. It gives me great hope that those three sisters I observed this morning will grow up to be the best of friends.

Skinny Fitch

I have to admit that when I came up with the title while folding copious amounts of laundry I laughed out loud. There's no one around except the dog to hear me laugh either and he would laugh but he's a dog so he sneezed instead. I went ahead and took the liberty to interpret the sneeze as a laugh.

Recent trips to a dressing room and my own closet have proven torturous. Checking out how my rear looks in the mirror is a serious mistake and that's only if I can get to that point. Most pants or skirts stop at mid-thigh while I huff and puff and pull. This results in a lot of sweat, tears, cussing and holding on to the wall so I don't fall on my face. I've decided it's time to try and lose some weight. About five years ago I became obsessed, lost a lot of weight and had killer arms. I'm not so sure that I want to go all crazy like that again. My lazy gene is not recessive. I would like to healthily lose weight though.

Day 1:
9am - protein shake
10am - cup of coffee (cream and splenda)
11am - cup of coffee (cream and splenda)
1pm - chicken, beans, tomatoes and cheese
The afternoon is the worst time for me. I become hungry and weakness starts to take over. I try nuts but unfortunately they're not covered in chocolate
3pm - 1 oreo
3:05 - 1 oreo
3:30 - piece of dark chocolate bar
4:00 - 1 oreo
4:05 - self loathing
4:10 - insulting an innocent, unsuspecting bystander
The rest of the day proves to be successful and the self loathing has worked.

On to day 2. Hopefully the Oreo's will be gone.

Give me your funnel cake!

I hope that wherever you live there are at least 3 seasons: spring, summer and fall. Those of you in the world with only two seasons are severely deprived and I can say that because I lived in one of those places, Florida. Now I am blessed to live in South Carolina where fall might not be as long and beautiful as New England, but it's just enough to make me all glowy and happy inside. There's something I noticed while walking the dog and that is a heightened sense of smell. It's probably due to the fact that the air is clean and fresh without humidity hanging around. You can tell who's doing their laundry, who has lit a fire, and who is cooking burgers on the grill. Sure, those smells are always there and you can faintly smell them, but fall makes them much more prominent. I LOVE it!

This past weekend I was FINALLY in the mood to decorate for fall. The weather dropped down to the 50s at night and it was time. Pinecones, potporri, apples, cider, warm colors, pumpkins, football and changing leaves are just some of the things that I love about fall. If you visit us during fall I hope when you walk in the house you will feel warm and cozy. We'll be sure to have a fire going for you.

Fall for Greenville was two weekends ago and I went for the sole purpose of seeing NeedtoBreathe. The band was fantastic and afterwards I had time to walk down Main Street before the 2008 festival closed. Sunday is definitely the day to go. Friday and Saturday night tend to be a little crowded with the wrong type of people. Last year we saw drug deals going down and some kid gettin' smacked into the pavement by a po-po. Sunday was much less crowded and I couldn't smell weed walking down the street. What I could smell was funnel cakes and all kinds of yummy foods that I wanted to try. Check it out. I had spent my tickets on some dinner and a drink with only 2 tickets left, but I really wanted a funnel cake with all the powdery sugary goodness! Plus it didn't help that about 5 people walked by me licking their fingers that were covered in the sugar. I believe they were taunting me, smiling and winking at each other. Oh the torture. I finally found a stand selling the sweetness only to find that they were 4 tickets each. I died a little inside. All of the ticket stands were closed! I told the kind gentlemen behind the counter of my plight and offered to pay cash but to my dismay they had been reprimanded the day before for doing that very thing. Curse the person who came before me and ruined my getting a funnel cake. After that I walked back to my car defeated and alternately between staring daggers and giving puppy eyes to the wonderful, lucky people who were enjoying the buttery, greasy sweetness. I could really go for one of those right now.

I'll end my post on an exciting note. My little sis' Leah is coming to visit me this weekend, and we are hitting the spa and carving pumpkins. I am thrilled! I haven't seen one of my family members in awhile so this will be a treat and probably a little crazy. Say a prayer for Tim :)

till next time

accosted

I'm about to go on my daily walk with Flash. I use the word daily loosely although I am pretty good about going every evening..almost. There is this annoyance that hits me though before going on a walk...being accosted by children who want to pet Flash and tell me all about their lives. The petting is okay but I'm not one for small talk with an 8 year old. It's an awkward turtle moment. So, I'm left with either avoiding that section of the neighborhood, stopping politely or peaking down the street to see if they're around. Our neighborhood isn't very big and I want Flash to get a decent walk so I usually head down towards that end just waiting for the kid to yell, "Hey Flash". My eyes roll at the thought.

Over the weekend we were taking such a walk and I decided to brave it. I didn't see any little heads or hear any little voices so I took a chance. Oh we were so close to being home free. I was almost tiptoeing past the street and making sure his collar didn't make any noise just holding my breath. Then I heard the little squeals. Oh joy. My feet decided to move a little faster and I heard the greeting but acted like I had suddenly become deaf and just kept walking. Thank goodness they can't leave their street or I'm sure they would've come running after me.

You must be thinking I'm awful but I'm not and I do like kids but making small talk with a child I don't know is frustrating especially since at this point during the walk I'm mid-way, annoyed and out of breath due to my lack of exercise and healthy eating habits. They're virtually non-existent.

So wish me luck as I endure another journey through the neighborhood in fear of being accosted.

ttyl

PS. I'm well aware of the concept of Karma and have no doubt my children will be the worst accosting offenders in my neighborhood.

i'm blown away

an elderly couple playing tennis
a family having a picnic
two bicyclists preparing for a race
a brother and sister playing catch with the football
kids hanging from the monkey bars
a father taking a picture of his young daughter
a couple playing fetch with their dog

this is Cleveland Park in Greenvile
it's where I live and I am blown away

funk

An invasive grumpy alien has taken over my body. He's a mean little bugger and yes, it's a male because no female could be this awful! I am just so darn tired from the wedding in Orlando. Late nights and early mornings. My body is trying to adjust because it still wants to go to bed after midnight but it definitely does not want to get up at 7am. The alien took over on the way home from Orlando on Sunday. That sucker weaseled its way in and to keep murder from happening to either Tim or I it was necessary for me to don my headphones and listen to the wicked funny Bob & Sheri all the way home. I heart them like I heart Sbux white mochas: www.bobandsheri.com. I am happy to report that both Tim and I are still alive.

So far work has been difficult. I am not happy to be there and trying to get caught up after being gone for 3 days is like Kate Moss trying to force a chili cheeseburger down her sewn up throat. It's painful and very visible. Yes, I'll get over it soon but getting back in the groove stinks. I greatly look forward to a weekend of sleeping so it can't get here soon enough!

Orlando was a lot fun and all the pics are posted on my facebook page.

ciao...

luau, karaoke & some breeze

Thursday evening was my sister-in-laws bachelorette party. It was planned by the maid of honor, my other sister-in law and she did a fantastic job. We started at Seaworld for the luau at the Seafare Inn. There were kahunas waiting to greet us with leis of course and the always present photo op with one of the island girls. Our table was front and center with Tabitha at the front of the table with her Bachelorette sash and Bride-to-Be tiara :) I absolutely loved the fire-breathing dancers. They were awesome! The Polynesian girl dancers were amazing as well. I would love to be able to move my hips that way. At about midway through the show the show started to become interactive. Tabitha was asked to come up on stage and we didn't want her to have to go up by herself so all of us learned some movements and had the opportunity to go up on stage and move our arms around in a very uncoordinate manner. But it was such a blast! The food was great too. Mahi-mahi, ribs, chicken & rice...mmm.

We thought the night may have been over but our waiter told us about a karaoke bar in CityWalk. We certainly couldn't pass THAT up! I have never been to CityWalk and it was a lot of fun just walking around. People watching is so interesting and not in a creepy, stalker way. I was really surprised at the karaoke bar. There was a huge stage with backup singers and a real band! The place was nice, not your normal run of the mill cheesey bar that stinks of smoke and other unpleasant odors. None of us were brave enough to go on stage alone but we all couldn't agree on one song so we watched other brave souls and sang along with them. Most everyone that got up on stage sounded decent and I would never make fun of them because I wouldn't want to be laughed at if I was up there. We heard Pour Some Sugar on Me by Def Leppard about 3 or 4 times.

The bride-to-be started to get tired at around 10pm and not all of us were done for the night so a few of us headed over to Bahama Breeze where my brother-in-law works and hung out till around 2am. I have not been out that late in a very long time and it was fun! Plus with the hook-up of a brother-in-law there's the benefit of free stuff which we took advantage of ;)

All in all it was a great night. I got to hang out with my younger sister-in-law which I dont get to do very often and she made me feel young again so I'm thankful for fun moments with family.

on the road again...

We are on the road after a nice long break from the bear of traveling. I loathe any car ride longer than 2 hours and this can result in some interesting...let's say conversation. It's less controversial than argument. Tim on the other hand loves to drive and just wants an aura of happiness in the car. The best way to accomplish this would be for me, Sarah, to sleep the whole time. Sometimes that's easier said than done. Since Tim gets the privilege of driving the whole way he has to stay awake. We left after work yesterday and drove until about 11pm. For Tim to stay awake and keep us both alive he needs cold air and loud music. You can see how this might affect my beauty sleep. Past trips have resulted in...conversation. Tim has become wise in our 8 years of marriage and can predict the outcome of such conversations. Therefore on the past few road trips there has been a blanket and one of those airplane neck pillows waiting for me in the backseat. He is a smart man. Now we just need to invest in some Bose noise canceling headphones. Christmas perhaps?

So, we are on our way to Florida for Tim's sister's wedding. The drive has been pretty uneventful except for my brief madness last night of just being punchy, ornery and cynical. We stayed at a Hampton Inn overnight. It has become our hotel of choice and we signed up for their points program. The hotels are clean and the beds comfortable. Tim has obviously been spoiled because this hotel didn't have a flat screen tv, but *gasp* an old fashion tube. The travesty. When we checked out this morning I took the keys to the front desk and nobody was there. No biggie, maybe there was a bell to ring. But then I saw the lady that was supposed to be manning the front desk was catching flies and some zzz's in the office. My normal reaction would've been to go ahead and ring the bell with some extra oomph but I decided to let it go and let her sleep. My good deed for the day.

Our ride today began with a "conversation" about music. Driver gets to pick the music but I hardly ever drive. Bummer. Only another couple hours to go before we hit MickeyWorld. I'm personally ready for some lunch and my bladder is full from the marvelous cup o' joe from Sbux. I heart their white mochas.

until next time...