Here comes Santy clause here comes santy caluse

Day #9 Picture of the last thing you purchased.

We don't have a whole lot of family traditions around Christmastime. Only to all be together. No matter where we are, we try to all come together for Christmas. This is very important to our family.

But a tradition we have that I absolutely love is the Christmas Sock and Christmas Pajama tradition. Every year, mommy, seester and I buy pajamas for Christmas. These were last year's pajamas.

Mine are bright pink with artsy looking partridges in pear trees. Mommy's were tan and pink and had a bunch of sock monkeys all over them. Seester's were cream colored and had old fashioned looking Santa's all over them. The shirts coordinated, too. Mine was white, Nellie's (mom) was red and seesters was green. Seester bought these and some fuzzy aloe infused socks for all of us.

That picture was taken in Salt Lake on Christmas morning. My family came to see me last year and we hung out on my turf for a week. :)

I really wanted to be able to afford our Christmas jammies this year but between the play, walking pneumonia and not being able to work much, I just couldn't. What I COULD afford was our Christmas socks. :)

Seesters look like candy canes, mine are white with red on the heel and toe and have Christmas Trees and Nellie's are the same but with Frosty on them. They too, are fuzzy. :) I'm really looking forward to just relaxing on Christmas and being together.

Cheers, my dear readers. I hope you all have comfy warm traditions with your families this holiday season! :)

Hark how the bells!

Day 8 is a song to reflect your mood.

I chose "Carol of the Bells." While it's not really accurate of my mood, it's one of my favorite songs. I've been totally high on Christmas lately so this is very apropos. Carol of the Bells is almost always guaranteed to make me cry. It's so musically complex and yet it sounds so...uniform. It's like hot chocolate for my soul. :) Ok. I'm done geeking out now. So here's the song. It's sung by the Mormon Tabernacle Choir. No, I'm not Mormon... but MAN can these people sing! Please ignore the cheesy video that's accompanied with the song. But it's my favorite version of the song. Destiny's Child's version of the song is probably my second favorite.

Goin' to the chapel and we're gonna get married!

Well, we're not. I'm not.. it's just.. never mind.

Today's challenge is to write about your dream wedding.

Now, my dear readers. Not many of you know this but I was engaged a few years ago. I was 21 and had been in a relationship for 3 1/2 years. We were engaged for about 6 months and then we broke up. It just wasn't the right timing. I'm thankful for the learning experience and how I grew in that process.

I pretty much had my wedding planned. Colors: Champagne, black and red. My maid of honor is seester (duh). Yes. MAID of honor. She WILL NOT get married before me! :) Bridesmaids are soulmate, Kelsey (friend of 14 years), and Rachel Rupel (soon to be Rachel Castleberg). I wear a dress made by my mom and carry a gorgeous bouquet of calla lilies and blood red roses. Tied with a black ribbon. My bridesmaids wear black party dresses that are classy and don't look too much like bridesmaids dresses (so they can wear them again) Tied with a red sash around the waist.

My brother is the minister. My groom has yet to be determined and my whole family is there. The setting is a rose garden. I'm barefoot. :) I'm getting married in the church building at the Southside church of Christ. After the wedding to the man of my dreams, we party! I want a big reception with all my friends and family! I plan to sing to my husband at our wedding. There WILL be dancing! :)

All this is just a dream. Minus the part about my brother being the minister. That's tradition. :) I don't care much WHERE I get married. All that matters is that my husband loves God, loves me and has a desire to do ministry with me. So there ya go... perfect wedding.

what do you mean you can't cuddle a fish?

Today's challenge is to post a picture of an animal you would like to keep as a pet. I already have a pet! It's a beta fish and his name is "puppy." Don't look at me that way. I didn't name him. I got him as a birthday present from a friend last year. I love me beta fish. :) But alas, you can't cuddle a fish.

This is puppy. And while he's very very cute, he's not very cuddly. I had a dog. His name was Humphrey Bogart Hall. But we just called him "Bogie." We had to put him down just before my birthday this year. He was 13 years old. He was a bichon frise. I loved him and I'm sad he's gone. I LOVE doggies. I hate cats. With the fiery passion of 1,000 suns I hate them. That being said, I still think the animal I would like to own as a pet would be this animal here.

a bush baby! I think they are so stinking cute. :)

Day 5 Day 5 God made birds and fish alive

Remember that song from VBS or Sunday school? I sure do. It talks about the 7 days of creation. I LOVE that song. :)

Ok. So. Day 5 of this challenge is a picture of myself 2 years ago. So... here goes nothin.

I hate posting pictures of myself. I feel narcissistic when I do. But... I'm just following orders. So this is a picture of me almost 2 years ago. I was 22. Whoa. I was living in Lubbock, Texas about to finish up my classroom training; then moving to Salt Lake City shortly thereafter. This picture pretty much sums up my personality. I laugh. A lot. I LOVE to laugh. Not only does it burn calories, BUT it's been proven that it lengthens your life!

Wait... did I just make that up? I'll check my sources later. I mean, this is a blog. Moreover, it's my blog. I can say whatever I want. Check this out.

Marry Poppins fruit loops snorkel pop tarts wiener dogs pick up sticks.

See? There. No one can come after me and tell I'm wrong because it's MY blog. Now, they may have me committed because they think (read: know) I'm insane. But they can't prove it!

But I digress. Where was I...oh. Right. I love to laugh. This picture is representative of a lot of things. I feel like it was taken a million years ago. I have been so many places and done so many things since that picture was taken. I've grown so much. Unfortunately not in stature. But I have grown in my spiritual life and my walk with God. I've also grown in my patience and understanding. So this picture represents a Sarah of a different time. I look about the same. Maybe I have a few laugh lines now ;) I hope that two years from now I can look back at a picture of me from today and think "wow, I've grown since then."

So, friends. Here's to laughing and constantly evolving. Cheers.

oh!! and look what I found! a webpage about laughing and longevity! It's on the internet! It MUST be true!

Time keeps on slippin slippin...

Day 4. A picture of your best friend.

This woman is my best friend.

But, I've also been told that doesn't count since we're seesters. Don't know what a seester is? Well, it's kind of like a sister... but more. It's someone even more than a twin. We have a ridiculous bond. We tell each other everything and we can read each other's minds. Pretty crazy, huh? Wish you had a seester? Yep...I know you do. But you can't have mine. You'll have to search elsewhere. So... since I can't choose Seester as my best friend (since she's more than that) I'll show ya who is.

So...I was planning on writing about this person and then I checked her blog and she had written about me! This is just further proof of why we're soulmates. So, folks... here she is! The beautiful, the wonderful, the funny, talented and amazing. Kylie Jones!!

I met this beautiful creature at church camp 2 years ago. It was my first time counseling at a high school camp. Let's be honest. I was terrified. High schoolers are scary. Kylie was in my small group and my first memory of her is when she was showing me compassion. My small group had been kind of rough because... well, because high schoolers are scary. I was upset so I walked away for a minute to collect myself and when I came back, Kylie wrote me a note that said "are you ok?" I loved her immediately; and as I got to know her better, I loved her more. She's SUPER smart, strong, quirky, talented, beautiful and compassionate. Kylie loves people. I'm glad she loves me! I can be pretty strong willed and stubborn but she's still there with a kind word or a silly word play to perk me up. :) We've started calling each other "soul mate." Yes, I'm fully aware of what a "soul mate" is but calling each other "soul sister" sounded too much like the song by the 1980's girl band Labelle. Anywho, I am so much more thankful for Kylie than I could probably ever express. She has always been there for me and I KNOW we'll be friends For.Ev.Er. She is just....amazing! So, Ms. Jones...Cheers!

Proverbs 27:17 NIV
As iron sharpens iron, so one man sharpens another.

Not only is she sharp...but she...sharpens me? Well, you know what I mean. :) Love you, Soul Mate~!

There's a big difference between "feeling better" and "healthy enough for work"

Day 3

A picture of yourself and how your day was.

My day was "ok." It started off pretty well. Seester made me soup! Which was super yummy. I was really feeling better... Then I went to work. There's a big difference between feeling better and "you're well enough to go to work." I got to work and was ok for a little bit. Then my voice started going out and my lungs hurt and I had no energy. My boss had mercy on me and told me to just go home and rest. Bless his soul. So... I worked a total of 1 hour this week. Wooo!! a whole $8.25 before taxes! I am thankful for my job and for a boss who realizes when I'm not feeling well. So, half my day is over.

I'm going to rest before my call time tonight. It's closing weekend of my show! So exciting! Depending on my energy level when I get home tonight, I'll post about the show!

Cheers, everyone!!