Time for a step back

Have you ever allowed yourself to become too busy, too wrapped up in your own issues or simply too whelmed by the everyday + tasks that you find yourself becoming a complete blob? Not just any blob but one that has a hard time finding a reason to get out of bed in the morning, can go from being somewhat OCD about cleanliness to being the messy roommate. I seem to have hit that point recently.

At this point I could go on about all of the things that have been eating away at me or the demands that have been placed upon my shoulders, the added responsibilities that seem to grow larger and harder to carry each day,  being shocked by someone you have looked up to for years or worse, finding out that life really isn't easy and it most certainly isn't fair but then I would just be sitting at my keyboard crying. And that doesn't help anyone.

I'll try to be brief. I dropped Craig off at work this morning and drove back to campus to wait for the next item on my agenda. Sometimes I feel more like it is controlling me than I it.  I had been sitting in the warm car listening to quiet music while being illegally parked in the JKB parking lot eating too many thin mints that likely won't stay down when I realized how wrong I have been handling things. Anyone can sit in a warm car eating slightly melty thin mints but not everyone can put them down and get out of the car. As pathetic as it may sound, that seemed like a completely unreachable goal today. I have already ruined the day, right? I was grumpy at the love of my life this morning, kicked the cat who was just trying to get some lovin',  made our oatmeal with about a 1/2 cup too much water, missed most of my last 8:00 class, only half-heartedly did my literature assignment and had eaten almost an entire container of thin mints. But I put the few remaining cookies down, turned off the quiet background noise of the radio and got out of the car. I made it almost to the flag pole in front of the ASB when I heard a pretty little bird sitting in a tree chirping away. My first thought was "See!! Birds really do sound repetitive! It's not just my sound effect!" Once I got past that, I stopped and looked around. There are some pretty patterns in the stonework. The grass is starting to turn green and gosh darn it, I liked that looping bird.

I hate cliches. Perhaps it's true, though. When you are so focused on getting everything around you perfect, you really can't see what is already there. Tender mercy. That's what my little moment was.

I am alive!

Just a quick post to say that I'm alive. Sorry to my diligent blog followers.  I haven't updated recently because I have been far too busy living life. Doing what, you may ask?

-School

-Working a show

-Being a color guard director 

-Watching my girls win 2 competitions in a row

-Attempting to continue to move in

-Cleaning up after ... a "cat"

-Baking

-Primary stuffs a bit 

-Sleep, on occasion

Stay tuned! More later..

Over the desert and through the woods to Grandma's house we went!

Last Friday evening after Craig's interviews were over, we drove from Bellevue to Tacoma/Lakewood to see my Grandma and Grandpa Nasson! It was the first time in 4 years I've seen them and the very first time I've ever driven there. It was funny- even though it has been several years since I have been to visit and it was the first time I'd ever driven in that area, I just sort of knew where to go. It's funny the random things you can remember. We got to grandma's quickly- it's funny how quickly time can pass when you're having fun singing everything from 80's pop to grunge songs at the top of your lungs with your bestest friend. That was actually one of my favorite parts of the trip.

Once we were at grandmas, Craig sat with grandpa in the living room and talked and I helped grandma in the kitchen as we chatted. While grandmas yummy lasagna was baking, we all got to sit and talk! I had printed my bridal pictures and the wedding pictures to give to grandma & grandpa. Grandma needed to update her pictures of me-- there was a rather incriminating photo of me from the summer I felt the need to put an entire bottle of "sun-in" in my hair- and grow it out. To top it off, I was in my purple & teal majorette costume complete with a cowboy hat. Grandma loves it. Must be a grandma thing. In any case, we have supplied her with 50 new pictures. Her photo book (one I made her and grandpa for Christmas last year...or maybe the year before) is now completely full.

After dessert (homemade carrot cake with homemade cream cheese frosting...my mouth is watering even now just thinking about it) we went back to the living room to talk some more. Grandma showed me the book everyone contributed to for their 50th wedding anniversary. This sparked conversation on topics such as learning that grandma and grandpa had been married for a while before they were sealed in the temple. If I recall, all three of their kids had been born at that point. I was curious about that and found out that grandpa didn't join the church until well after he and grandma had been married. Who knew? Does that make me third generation? Oh, and we got to hear stories about my dad and aunts when they were growing up- things such as Aunt Carol getting really badly injured playing church softball.

It was just a lovely time. I miss my grandparents so much. It was sort of surreal to be there with my husband. Whenever I think of going to grandma's house, I imagine being a little girl playing tea party or house using the little tin kitchen (which apparently is still in the garage), climbing the green apple tree that is no longer in the backyard, going on evening walks with grandma & grandpa, getting star bursts out of the candy bowl on the little counter in the kitchen, taking baths in the bathroom with "crystal" lights, playing board games at the kitchen table, going down to the sound and watching the ferries and, among many other things, best of all, sitting on grandma's lap on the pink recliner. Shall I admit the thought very briefly crossed my mind when grandma sat down?

Beautiful Friday Morning

Craig had to be to the lobby of the hotel by 7:00 Friday morning to catch a shuttle the Microsoft campus in Redmond for breakfast and a series of 4 interviews. I'll let Craig post about what that was like. All I could gather from his itinerary was that he would be in 4 interviews for 45 minutes, get a 15 minute break and then go again. 

Apparently, during that 15 minutes the interviewers would conspire against the interviewee's  and try to trip them up or find their weaknesses. So kind, right?  With Craig off sweating for 6 hours, I had plenty of time to do just about whatever I wanted. After helping him get bathed and looking really great in that argyle sweater, I got back in bed and rested for a while longer. 

Oooh so nice. Then I took a 20 minute shower. Also so nice. Then I did the unthinkable. I blow dried my hair. And flat ironed it. And took time to put on my makeup. Wow.  At this point it was only 10 so I decided to go do something exciting like try to find a Verizon store since someone *cough* forgot to pack our phone chargers. Once again, I got turned around but I didn't really care because I was planning on exploring anyway. (Besides, how lost can you get when you can still see the giant skyscraper that says "Microsoft?")

 I found, by accident, a gorgeous park in the middle of the city and decided to take advantage of the great lighting and awesome sights to play with our new digital SLR. 

The photos in the blog are a few of the pictures I took. The rest will be on facebook since I still haven't gotten the hang of putting pictures into a blog aesthetically.  I was just goofing off with these, but the park was so pretty I wish I had been able to capture it better. 

Aaah, the Pacific Northwest

Yeah for fun trips!
Several months ago, Craig took part in a career fair interview with Microsoft. While we were home at Christmas, he received an invitation to fly to Seattle to interview again with the company. Since he was only going to be 15 days out from a fairly intensive surgery, I got to go with him! (Hey, someone had to drive him around.) Microsoft flew us Delta which perhaps isn't the most glamourous airline but when you're used to the Southwest cattle call, it was 5-star. Since Craig was in a delicate condition, we went to ask for a pre-board pass but instead of just getting to get on early, they changed our seat assignments and we got an entire row to ourselves so he could stretch out. So nice. Oh, and there was internet on the flight. What? How does THAT work?

As previously mentioned, I was there to drive Craig around. Microsoft also paid

for a nice rental car. We spent our time there driving a saucy silver two-door Nissan Altima. It was an automatic which threw me off for a bit and made Craig a bit nervous, but it was great! We made it to the hotel- The Westin on the East Side in Bellevue (very nice)- got checked in and then walked (well, I walked, Craig scooted) to McCormick and Schmicks fish house for lunch- also on Microsoft. It was delicious. Craig needed a nap at that point so we headed back to the hotel so he could sleep and I could follow up on email. I had checked and taken care of things about 6 hours earlier and by the time I got to check it again, I had another 18 items to follow up on. Good grief.

As most of you know, I am a bit directionally impaired. Wait, my mom is going to read this- I am impossibly directionally impaired.  Craig had a dinner shindig on Thursday evening with the recruiters and the other people who were interviewing. Since we were so close (about 8 minutes according to google maps) to the Seattle temple, I decided to go for a session. I got lost going to the temple and ended up on my way to Issaquah. I was planning on making the 6:30 session but ended up getting into the 7:30 session. Then, once I was finished there, I got lost again. I knew something was up when I saw exit signs for Mercer Island- which meant I was on the floating bridge. In my attempts to get turned around, I ended up near Safeco Field in Seattle. Then I was on Mercer Island-very pretty. I had been trying to call anyone who Washington at all at that point and no one was answering. So what did I do? I called mom in Connecticut! Sure it was nearly 1:00 in the morning and 17 or 18 years since we lived there, but mom could get me back! Jeffery woke her up by saying "Mom, Sarah doesn't know where she is" to which my mother replied something along the lines of "okay, me either." She then repeated something similar to that once she woke up enough to answer the phone before telling me exactly how to get back from 90 to 405 to Bellevue. Yes, that is love.

BREAKING NEWS!

THIS JUST IN:

In a strange and unexpected turn of events, Sarah totally kicked Craig's trash at Checkers, the game of choice for "Craig & Sarah's Sunday Evening Game." When seeking a reaction, all Craig could manage to say was, "I thought I wore the left brain in this relationship." Sarah was unavailable for comment.

Maple Mountain High School Winter Color Guard (Or MMHSWCG, if you prefer)

As most of you know, I've been the color guard director at Maple Mountain High School in Spanish Fork for the past 9 months. Starting with summer band the end of last April through fall band finishing in November we're now two months into our Winter Guard season! And the season was started off quite strongly yesterday afternoon. This is my first season teaching winter guard and my second being involved with a winter guard. Needless to say, it has been both educational as well as stressful. I have a great group of girls to work with and I absolutely love each one of them. I haven't been able to say that about other groups elsewhere in the past. 

Anywho, I think I'll step back and start at the beginning of my day. I am running a show at BYU called "Tartuffe" this month. My friend, Kt, is the sound designer and has done a great job on it- I recommend seeing and hearing the show. (I hope you enjoyed my shameless plug.) We had a tech rehearsal yesterday that was supposed to run from 9-12 giving me the time to scoot out of Provo by 12:15 getting me to the school by 12:40 followed by a 1:00 departure from the high school. Let's guess how much of that happened.... I ended up leaving rehearsal at 12:35ish (leaving Kt-I felt bad about doing that to her) and getting to the high school around 1:30.  We then stopped so the girls could get some food and then carefully followed the speed limit. We got to the competition site in Salt Lake at about 2:50.

After getting checked in, we found our warmup location, ran through the routine a few times and then we were off! All the while, Craig and Laura gimping along behind us on crutches, both favoring right food breaks. (Laura broke her metatarsal while catching a rifle triple toss with her foot at practice on Friday morning.) The girls got in the gym, set up and in their places very quickly and professionally. The music started and they went for it! Laura included. She was able to do some of her swing flag work and then gimp off the floor. Everyone has been very supportive. The judges had some good suggestions for me as the designer and choreographer as well as for the girls and things that they can personally improve on. We have survived the first show and I am feeling much more confidant about my role as director as I now know more of what to expect! More stories of success about the Maple Mountain High School Winter Color Guard coming soon!

p.s taking suggestions for a group name as MMHSWCG doesn't exactly roll off the tongue. EWCG (Eagles Winter Color Guard)?