Bad Sara does not blog enough. It's almost Christmas and I have not posted since Thanksgiving. Shame on me. Well, you'll all just have to understand that planning a wedding and moving into a new house take up a lot of time.

So--- the house is amazing. I keep promising people I'm gonna post pictures and I will, I swear! Soon...

As for the wedding--- we got our engagement pics, booked our honeymoon (Mexico!) and ordered our save the dates. They are supposed to come in today. Could not be more excited about that! Here's a few of our engagement pics...

Happy Holidays all! I, for one, will be sad to see the holiday season go. January and February can be so dreary. However, the amount I have drank and ate over the last month has been ridiculous. I'll be happy to get back to a little healthier lifestyle.

sniff sniff

Well, busy busy as usual. We got the keys to the house on Wednesday! This is still very exciting even thought it was almost a week after we were supposed to close and have the keys. I've been sick the last few days so I haven't really had the energy to be excited about things but I am now. I just wish the weather would cooperate. Rain, all weekend.

Other than that- I'm looking forward and dreading the next 3 weeks. Our fall production opens next week at the theatre, Finian's Rainbow. Looking forward to it because my general work day schedule changes at 1030am-4pm. Dreading because I'll be working longer hours on show week days and working shows on the weekend and won't have a day off for about a month. It's a bummer especially because I can't really take babysitting jobs on the weekends so there isn't the usual extra little bit of cash coming in. With the wedding and the house and all that extra cash is very appreciated.

So bottom line? Come see my new house! :)

I am so damn efficient

I am a wedding planning machine, people! I have been engaged for 3 weeks and I now have---

1. A dress! So excited!!! It's beautiful but I'm not going to talk about it much here because who know if a very special you know who reads this. Let's just say I got a CRAZY AMAZING deal!

2. A location and date--- Location is Windows on the River... my DREAM wedding spot. I have literally wanted to get married there since I was in high school. Seriously. A friend had a project for extra credit about planning her wedding and I told her she should have her reception there. AND 7 years later I AM!!!!!!!!!!! Check them out on their website -- www.windowsontheriver.com The date is May 24th. "A sunday?" you may ask. Yes, and it's saving me crazy amounts of money!

3. A photographer. Chris and I met with and hired a photographer Monday night. I"m really psyched because I love his stuff. And the best part about it is the name- Rad Productions. Could it be more perfect???

4. A DJ--- our DJ is my friend Matt Haze from high school. And no- this is not a random friend being our DJ. Matt has been DJing as long as I've known him (and that is about 10 years!) so I'm really stoked to have him be part of our day.

That is all for now. Pretty good for 3 weeks of engagement, no? The next thing on my list is engagement pictures. That will likely be followed by invitations and flowers. We're have the ceremony at Windows so that takes a big weight off finding someplace for that. I THINK Chris's uncle is going to do it. We'll have a kind of non-denominational service (his uncle is a presbyterian minister, we're lapsed catholics- we'll make it work i'm not worried.). But it should be amazing and I'm counting down the days (209!).

I hope all is well in all your worlds.

Sara

What a difference a week makes...

Well, I must say--- I am TRULY blessed. I cannot even express it.

As I stated in my last blog, my nannying job ended on Thursday October 2. I Friday October 3rd I was offered a promotion and raise. That's right! I am not the Marketing Associate & Office Manager. I'm gonna get business cards and everything! It's basically my current job with some marketing thrown in. I'm pretty stoked.

Then on Saturday October 3 I found a house I LOVED. 3 bedrooms, 2 bath, attached 2 car garage and totally renovated! Sunday we but in a bid and Monday we got it! So, Chris and I are now in the process of becoming home owners. A scary but really exciting thing!

Lastly, on Tuesday October 7th, Chris proposed. We're engaged! I could not be happier and I still cant' stop looking at the ring. Here's a picture of us right after he popped the question...

So, now I'm busy planning a wedding and getting ready for the house. The craziness never ends!

an ending...

This is the last week of my nannying job. Susanne's schedule is being changed (there's more than that but it is really more than I feel like explaining in this blog) and she won't need me anymore. I'm not saying that the job was all flowers and sunshine, but I am really going to miss it. Not just the extra money. But Thomas. And Susanne. And Pat.

I'm not quite sure what I'm going to do with my extra time. Probably keep my apartment cleaner, possibly work out more, make dinners regularly and spend some much needed time with Chris. Then in a few weeks, we'll see if financial or for my own sanity I need a new second job. Who knows- maybe I'll do a show with my newly freed evenings. Maybe...

Looking at my calendar for October. The weekends are already so booked. But there are things to be excited about...

Oct 4th- Susan and Mike's wedding!
Oct 11- Babysit for Charlie and Jack
Oct 18-20 - DC to see friends and for the Browns vs. Redskins game!
Oct 25- Full day babysitting adventure with Charlie and Jack
Oct 31-Nov 2 - Hocking Hills with the GDIs

Sounds busy but sounds good!

busy busy busy...

Well... things move along. The waiting I was refering to is over. I'm not gonna say much about it except it was NOT for an engagement ring. Still don't have one of those but I'm not really worried about it. I trust Chris to work it out!

Still looking at houses. We found one we both like it Lakewood. It's at the very top of our budget but it's got 2 full baths on the 2nd floor which would be AMAZING! It's been on the market for a while so we're gonna keep looking for a few more weeks. Might make an offer if we haven't found anything else/still want it/it's still on the market then.

I feel lazy. I need to start working out again but I just cannot find the motivation. I find that I go in spurts. I rarely ever WANT to workout. However, sometimes I am more motivated that others. And I must say, my Fitworks membership has gone to waste this summer. I've probably worked out a total of 10 times in the last 4 months. I need to get better about that. I need a workout buddy or something. Something...

Thoughts?

The waiting is the hardest part...

It seems like these days my life is completely consumed by waiting. Waiting for this or that. Waiting to find the right house. Waiting to figure out about vacation plans.

If you know anything about me, you know I HATE waiting. I am the WORST at waiting. I get antsy and I play out all the possible scenarios in my head and can't sleep because of it. I'm just one of those people who doesn't wait well. I want to know. Whether it be good or bad, I just feel like it's better to know.

Currently I'm waiting on some pretty big things in my life. Maybe not once in a lifetime things but things that happen rarely. So, I'm extra crazy about the waiting. I even have a condition that is instigated when I get stressed (which is usually only when i spend a lot of time waiting..). It's called intercostal chondritis. Sounds fake huh? It's real. You can look it up!

Well it's really not a big deal. It's just more of a pain. Basically when I get stressed, the cartilidge between my ribs inflames. This inflamation makes it ridiculously hard to get a deep breath. You dont' really how good breathing deeply feels until you just can't quite get there.

So, ya, I'm literally messing up my body with stress about waiting. Arg.

Back to the waiting...

Let's all cry for the teachers...

This is a pretty bitter sarcastic post- You have been warned.

I don't have anything against teachers. I have a great deal of friends who are teachers. I respect what teachers do educating the youth of America. I even wanted to be a teacher for a while.

However---

I am sick of hearing about and reading about on facebook how their poor summer break is ending. I didn't get a summer break. Why should they feel so bad for themselves after multiple months off and moreso why should I feel bad for them??? I will probably never get a "summer break" again. They get them every year! I miss my summers off. I bet most people in the work force do too. But do we complain? No. Because we are adults and adults have to work... ALL YEAR ROUND!

And another thing, you always hear how teachers are so underpaid. Well maybe that is because they don't work all year round. If they work through the summer- they make more money! I am college educated, work all year round and do not make as much as a teacher. And I'm not the only one. Take social workers as another example. We all knew what we were getting into. Some jobs have to be more for the love than anything else. But you can't tell me that with all the complaining done about teacher salaries that they didn't know in advance what the situation was.

So please- dont' complain to me that your precious summer is ending. When I get my summer breaks back- I'll listen. Until then, there will be no sympathy here. Sorry.

On that note- I will be on MY summer vacation from Friday till Tuesday. Till next time-- Keep it real.

If only the weekend was all week...

So, as I mentioned before- weekends are exhausting. This one was exhausting but in a good way. We spent a lot of it obsessing over the idea of buying the house next to our friend, Ray. It was foreclosed on over 2 years ago and is up at sheriff's auction.

I have learned more about foreclosures and auctions in the last 3 days that I ever wanted to know. I think we've reached a resolution though. 1. Sheriff's auction bad and complicated. 2. Letting bank buy home at sheriff's auction and put it on market for us to buy- good.

We will just have to see if that actually happens. If not, I hope Ray gets cool neighbors. But all this confusion and the complete focus I have on buying a house has finally led me to get in touch with a realtor (recommended by my former-realtor friend, Matt Hayes!). So, I'm looking forward to starting to explore the possibility of buying. Scary!

Otherwise, it was another crazy weekend. We got lost on the way to Chris's family gathering. I don't like being lost. What do I like? Little Richard. Check out these pics of the coolest 1 year old I know---

This is the schedule that never ends... yes it goes on and on my friends...

Hello All-

Welcome to blog number 2. Its friday afternoon and I am thinking about my very busy weekend to come. Here's what it looks like...

Friday
- Box office for West Side Story
- Dinner with parents and Chris
Saturday
- Mtg. with financial advisor
- Give blood with mom
- Box office for WSS
- Babysit 7:30- ???
Sunday
- Box office for WSS
- Radak summer Christmas party

And this is a pretty normal weekend. So, if you would like to hang out with me, here's my schedule for the next few months...

Aug 9-10 Columbus for Children of Eden
Aug 15 My dad's birthday
Aug 22-26 NY @ Zininger's Lake House
Sept 20 Amy's 24th Birthday
Sept 26-27 In michigan at track day with Chris
Sometime in October- Trip to DC???
Oct 31-Nov 2 Hocking Hills


I'm confused about when I got so popular. The idea of the lazy weekend has kind of died. Got things to do and people to see :)

Welcome!

Welcome to my blog!

I have blogged before but I find that it often turns into a way to vent and complain about all the things that go wrong in life. I don't want to do that. I want to celebrate the things in my life that matter... and occasionally complain when it is ABSOLUTELY neccesary. lol. It seems that I am very busy and time has flown over the last year or 2. Why not put those memories somewhere?

So, here we go... with the basics.

I'm Sara-

I have a fantastic wonderful handsome boyfriend who is obsessed with motorcycles, Chris-

I work at a not-for-profit community theatre in Cleveland, Ohio-

I also nanny for the cutest little 8 month old, Thomas-

When I'm not at one of those 2 jobs, I like spending time with my friends (here's just a small sampling)...

So- I think that's enough for this very first entry. I'll try my very best to keep things up to date.

Thanks for reading!