I don’t need much introduction into this post. Most everyone knows that last night, the death of Osama Bin Laden was announced. As I lay in bed and watched the news unfold and President Obama address the nation, I couldn’t help but feel a sense of uneasiness about the whole thing. Now, let me preface things with the facts that 1) I’m not overly political and 2) this is just my opinion. Do I believe that Osama was responsible for the deaths of thousands of Americans? Yes. Do I believe that he needed to be stopped? Of course. But when did America appoint itself judge and jury? Are we living in ancient Babylon under Hammurabi’s Code? Does killing Osama Bin Laden rebuild the twin towers or bring back the people who died? No, we are not, and it does not. Again, I don’t know the details of how these things really work, but there’s just a part of me that feels like there could have been another answer.
To add to my unease, every couple of minutes I see news feeds on every little detail of what happened. From the idea of there being a woman used as a human shield to “Geronimo” being the code word for the operation. I don’t know why the world needs to know these things. Isn’t it enough to know that he’s dead? Maybe it’s just me. I don’t feel less American for feeling this way though.
And what about the backlash from these actions? I can’t help but feel like this is just the beginning of a downward spiral. Just because their leader has died doesn’t necessarily mean that Al-Qaeda is going to die with him. If anything you would think that this would only fuel them to continue and seek some kind of revenge. I don’t see any way that things would just “go away” now that Osama is out of the picture.
I guess time will tell. I’m glad to know that Osama Bin Laden will no longer be a threat to my country. I pray that this will bring soldiers home. I’m hopeful that this will allow the leaders of our country to focus on other important issues like poverty, slavery, and our debt.  God Bless America.

OK, I was never a “Hanson” kind of girl. MmmBop disgusted me and so did they trio’s lack of haircuts. I couldn’t for the life of me understand why girls got in such a tizzy over these boys and their stupid song that didn’t even make sense. I was an official Hanson Hater.
———————————–>fast forward<——————————————
I believe it was my senior year in high school and I was watching vh1 as I often did. A particular video began playing fairly frequently and I heard the song and adored it. I could not believe my eyes though when I saw who the artist was. It was HANSON. An adult and trimmed up version but still Hanson nonetheless. My eyes and ears couldn’t believe it, WOULDN’T believe it! This couldn’t be! I was sworn to loathe these boys and their poppy songs. But this song was different it was called “Penny and Me” and it was such a far cry from MmmBop. I was converted.
Recently Hanson has a new album floating around the airwaves and again vh1. The 2 songs I’ve heard so far are great and I love surprising people when they listen to them in my car with me. SO, that being said, I just had to share with the rest of you too. Here it is, a most excellent song by the band, Hanson. Enjoy! xoxoxo

I’m beginning to feel as though life isn’t about getting what you want. It’s about getting what you get and finding a way to be ok with that. I can’t control the universe, I can only control me. And me is only human. Me can only do so much with what I’ve got. So what can I do about it really? I’m not sure that there’s much. Just because I know what I want, doesn’t mean the rest of the world will ever align with that. I can’t force a theatre to hire and pay me. I can’t force someone to want to be with me. I can’t force people to treat me the way I treat them. So…do I just control me and hope for the best? I’m beginning to think so.

The best way to describe the way my brain is would be a stock ticker. It never stops. It just runs, thought after thought. Some are entirely random, some aren’t. Sleep or stupid TV shows are my only real break from it. At times, like in the blogosphere, it’s a great thing. I can get my thoughts out there and sometimes other people can relate to whatever it is I’m talking about. It’s a great feeling when someone else says that they were helped or inspired by something I wrote.  You never know how your ideas will be taken by other people or if they’ll even be read. ANYWHO…on the opposite end of that comes the over-thinking of things. With such an active brain I tend to over think things and usually I think them into the negative. Can we say unproductive??!! I’ll take a normal situation and slowly turn it into something that it probably isn’t. I prepare myself for the worst too. Somewhere in my mind I tell myself that if I expect the worst, when it happens I won’t be taken off guard by it. And if great things do happen then I’ll be pleasantly surprised. While this seems like a “safe” way to look at things I can’t help but wonder if it’s healthy. Why wouldn’t I expect the best for myself? Maybe because that’s not always what life deals out. I was discussing my “turn to the negative” thinking with someone the other day and he flat out said to me “stop it. don’t do that with me”. I couldn’t help but be a little stunned. He said it so matter-of-factly, like I have a switch. If only it were that easy. So I started thinking about it. How do I shut my brain off, when I’m not sleeping? And more importantly, keep it from picking things apart and turning every little bit into a negative. I don’t even know where to begin. I’m not a negative person at all so it’s not like I need to focus my thoughts on rainbows and sunshine. Maybe it starts with catching the negatives when they start. Recognizing them and stopping them. NOT taking apart every situation and analyzing it to the Nth degree. If that doesn’t start to work….well…I guess I’ll have to think of something else. In the mean time, I will keep using this as a tool to get things out of my head and hopefully that will slow the ticker down a bit a little. It definitely feels good to get things out there. It brings clarity to things that I would usually just keep in my head and never work through. Thank you blog!

When you think about YOU what’s the first thing that comes to mind? Is it something negative or critical? If so, CUT IT OUT! Instead ask yourself “what’s great about me?” and the answer is NOT allowed to be “nothing”. If you don’t know that there are great things about you then no one else will know them either. Are you creative or thoughtful? Do you have a great ass or perfect teeth? It doesn’t matter what it is, just find it and know it! There’s a huge difference between being cocky/full of yourself and having self-assurance. Being full of yourself just makes you ugly on the inside and outside. But self confidence can really take you places. AND it’s contagious.
So ask yourself, right now, “What’s so great about me?” and then answer yourself. You don’t have to tell anyone, just yourself, and really believe it. Loving yourself is the first step to letting someone else love you too!

Everything is a first; a discovery; a dance. You watch yourself turn into this giddy person that you never were before. You can’t not smile when your phone rings and it’s him. You were content with your life before him; things were just the way you wanted them to be. Now you find yourself going to the gym at particular times and making sure you look a little bit better than usual. When your elbows touch casually a spark of electricity runs through you and you never knew you could be more conscious of your every limb. You can’t help but wonder what it will be like when you touch more than just elbows. You never knew you could smile as much as you do when you’re together and you can’t help but wonder how far things will go. Could this person be the best thing to ever happen to you or could he be someone who teach you a lesson about life and love that you haven’t quite learned yet? Everything is new and fresh and wonderful and a question. There’s nothing else quite like the beginning.

You can watch it here:
http://vimeo.com/17163085

Jake Gyllenhaal – SNL Opening http://vimeo.com/17163085 How can you NOT love this!!! ❤

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LOVE,

I’ve come to despise this question. Does anyone really want to know how you are? Or do they say it out of habit in order to hear “I’m good” and move on with the conversation. I feel like if someone’s answer was “I’m terrible and hating my life” then the person asking wouldn’t know where to go from there. Lately I find myself spitting out an “I’m good” whenever I’m asked this question, but on the inside I’m screaming “I’M UNHAPPY, LONELY, AND MISERABLE!!! THIS ISN’T WHERE I WANT MY LIFE TO BE AND I DON’T SEE A LIGHT AT THE END OF THE TUNNEL”. But I don’t want to be the Debbie Downer and unload my issues on someone who is just trying to make conversation. Even if that someone is my best friend or mother. I figure, they have their own stuff to deal with so why should I bother them with mine too?  Is that wrong? I can’t decide if it is or not. On one hand I feel like I’m sparing them from my crap but on the other hand it only makes me feel more lonely. It’s a terrible cycle. I want to be happy but I can only force myself under these conditions for so long. I don’t want to have to force myself. I want to just BE happy. I want to enjoy what my life is instead of pretending to like it and just hope that it gets better. ugh 

This is the best and funniest car commercial I’ve seen in a LONG time! I had to watch it twice!I hope it will bring you the same little slice of joy that it brought me this morning!!
Happy Friday!!!

My full time job is being a nanny for a local family. While I’m here during the day I take care of the kids as well as do light housework like laundry and dishes. This whole week I’ve been a cleaning machine for some reason; doing at least 3 loads of laundry a day and cleaning the floors and doing 2 loads of dishes some times. Yesterday it all started to get to me. I got a little annoyed with the fact that every day I was having to do the same exact things because overnight all my hard work was erased. I talked to my mom and vented about it a little bit just to get it out of my system. Afterwards I wasn’t exactly at peace about it but I didn’t feel so frustrated.
Today, while I was cleaning up from lunch, I got a text from the mother of the kids saying “Hey Sarah thx for all your help with the house lately! we really really appreciate it!” I immediately thought of how ironic it was that just yesterday I was venting about it and then today the mom thanked me. All my hard work was worth it for that text alone. I couldn’t help but think about how funny life can be. How timing is everything. How when you’re in that moment of total frustration it’s so hard to look at the big picture and you never know what the next day will bring. And just because you don’t think people notice your actions and efforts, doesn’t mean they go unseen.

DON’T SWEAT THE SMALL STUFF! It probably isn’t worth it!