Travel Bug: Los Angeles, CA

Every now and then I will be featuring posts about my travels.  I have a perpetual case of the travel bug that never gets satisfied.  Traveling also consumes a big bulk of my bucket list: visit every US state, touch every ocean, go to every continent (except Antarctica, brr!), etc.

Today's feature is my trip to LA in 2005. This story starts way back during the summer before I started 1st grade. Although I vaguely remember it, I met a girl my age in a campground pool at Branson, Missouri and we became instant friends. Kelly Jo was from Green Bay, Wisconsin. At the end of our vacation, our parents swapped home addresses so we could become pen pals. Our parents had to write letters for us at first because we were just learning how to read and write. We stayed pen pals all the way through high school and even visited each other several times starting in middle school. 

After she graduated high school, Kelly Jo made the huge move to Los Angeles. In 2005 -the summer before my sophomore year of college- my friend Kaylan and I went to visit Kelly Jo. It was my first flight across the country without my parents and it was a blast! We went to Venice Beach and Zuma Beach, the Hollywood sign, the (then) Kodak Theatre, the Chinese Theatre, saw some of the Hollywood Stars, Sunset Boulevard, shopping (of course), a Dodgers game, had a bonfire on the beach, and even drove by the Brady Bunch house.

 



Kelly Jo

Kaylan and I on Venice Beach

 

 

 

Pinterest Project: One-line a day

I've said it before and I'll say it again: I'm horrible at keeping up with projects. If I don't start something and finish it pretty much immediately, it will never get done.  Short and sweet is my style.

On that note, one of the things I wish I could do is journal more often. I love looking back on entries and expressing myself in that way, I just can't stay consistent. So when I saw this one line a day journal on Pinterest, I was intrigued. I started my journal on May 10th and so far it's been easy! Mine is not nearly as cutesy as the Pinterest journal, but it'll be fun looking back on it over the years!

Also, apparently there's an app for this! A few weeks ago I downloaded "Timehop" on my phone. Every day it shows "your day in history"- pictures/statuses/anything that you've posted on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, etc. on that day in years past. If you get it, follow me @sarehe212!

Bucket List: Help someone else with a bucket list item

So I'm big on bucket  lists. I always want to have something to look forward to in life and I believe it's important to set goals for yourself, big or small.  I will be featuring some of my bucket list goals and "achievements" on here in the future. This one in particular was pretty fun: I had a bucket list item to help someone else cross off one of their bucket list items.

When Scott and I had our first date in July 2012, we sat and talked for 4 hours straight. One thing that really intrigued me about him was that he had a bucket list. We started talking about it and so many of the things I want to do and places I want to go, he had on his list too. I was so impressed, I went home and wrote in my journal about it. ;) One of Scott's bucket list goals was to go to a drive-in movie theater. Well there happens to be one about 25 minutes from our hometown. (*Fun fact: I fell off a tailgate at that same drive-in when I was 3 years old and had to get stitches in my head.*) Easy right? "Let's go to the drive-in!" we said. Well, almost 11 months of dating later and we still hadn't gone - until Saturday night.

Scott was too cute, bringing about 7 blankets, pillows, snacks, and his dad's truck to pick me up. At our local drive-in you pay $8 per adult which gets you into a double-feature. The movie Epic started at dusk so about 8:30 pm. Which meant that when the second movie, Star Trek, started at about 10:45, we were super tired. We only stayed  for about 20 minutes of Star Wars since we had already seen it. But we had a blast! By the way, I super liked that Epic movie. But probably mostly because there was a 3 legged pug in it. Be still my heart!

Tuesday Tunes: Portland

I have a friend (hi Cali!) who makes a playlist of songs before every trip she takes. I love the idea of those playlists because you can go back to those songs later and remember the great memories from your trip.

I wanted a theme song for my trip to Portland with Jessica in April 2012 so I got really creative and searched for "Portland" in iTunes. I found a song with that title by Middle Brother. To be honest, I haven't looked up any of their other music, but that song was perfect for Portland. And now every time it comes up on shuffle on my iPhone, I think of that great city and all the fun stuff we did. Can I go back now please?

This ol' Town: Blumenhof Winery

Scott and I decided to start the holiday weekend off right on Friday. A couple of his friends invited us to a nearby winery in Dutzow, MO. I'd never been to Blumenhof Winery before, but it's pretty adorable! They had live music and, because we got there at happy hour, we got $2 glasses of wine! Anyone want to come visit me? I have a picnic basket to pack goodies in and the wine is delicious!

 

 

 

Chelsea vs Manchester City

On Thursday night, I had the privilege of attending a one-of-a-kind event at Busch Stadium in St. Louis, MO: the Chelsea versus Manchester City soccer match. They completely transformed the baseball stadium into a soccer field for the two English teams to play. Tickets sold out within minutes for this game and I'm lucky enough to have a friend who scored some tickets through her dad who has season passes for Cardinals games. We had amazing seats - 17th row almost directly behind one of the goals. The atmosphere in the stadium was electric, a very different feel from Cardinals games. We sat near a section full of Chelsea fans straight from England who were chanting and singing the entire time. As a former [although terrible] soccer player, I really appreciate the sport and it's amazing to see such passionate fans. It also didn't hurt that these were cute, British soccer players. I think I'm going to have to add an item to my bucket list: see a soccer match in Europe!

 

Jenna and I at the match

Warm-up

Couldn't resist getting a shirt and scarf!

 

                                        I might start wearing this around my apartment, I love it so much!

How Great Thou Art

Today was just one of those days that I don't know how other to describe but heavy. I can't stop watching news coverage on the devastation in Moore, Oklahoma and just can't stop thinking about how life can change in an instant. As if that wasn't enough to cast a somber mood over this day, I had a client, who rarely calls me even for emergencies, contact me saying that he almost tried overdosing on all of his medications this morning so he could "go to sleep and never wake up." But he decided to call me first. I spent the majority of the day with him, letting him know that I cared and helping him go to the hospital.

We all know that life is precious and that we should cherish our short time here and embrace those we love. But it really hit me hard today. I try to remind myself to go to God in prayer in these moments for strength, courage, and clarity. But sometimes that can be hard for me.

One of the most vivid memories I have of my grandmother is sitting next to her on her bed listening to her music box that played her favorite song. When she passed away when I was 16, that was the only possession of hers that I wanted. I continue to have a very special connection to that song and her music box still sits next to my bed. I listen to it when I just don't know what else to do and it always gives me hope. I hope this song will lighten your load a little too.

This ol' Town

Sometimes I might complain about living in a small town but if I had to live in any, I'm pretty lucky to be in this one.  They have frequent festivals and events that we can stay busy with.

This weekend was the annual Arts and Winefest. Small in comparison to Artsfest in good old Springfield, MO where I went to college, but cute nonetheless. Scott and I didn't get to go until the end of it today and it was so hot that we didn't stick around for the wine tastings. But I did find some steals on watercolor print cards that I'll be sending to my penpals (more on my penpals later!). Below are some pics I snapped from today. Excuse the poor quality-I haven't yet mastered the art of iPhone editing!

First post!

So...I guess I have a blog now?

Thanks to my good [read: persistent] friend Jessica, I am now technically a blogger. And it should be interesting because I know nothing about Photoshop, writing, style, etc. so shame on her! :) But if she keeps helping me along (like creating my awesome header!), this thing might work. I love reading her blog and seeing what she's up to since I no longer live a few minutes away from her. And, like I said in my About Me section, I think this might prove to be a good lesson in accountability to keep my life interesting. If nothing else, my blog can be my  journal of interests, successes, projects, trips, and any other thing holding my attention for a minute. In the past I have failed at journaling, scrap booking, and many other crafty things - all of which are now sitting scattered in my spare room. But who's to say this won't be a roaring success? I've already got a few post ideas up my sleeve but I'd appreciate any input or suggestions y'all might have to help me along!

You can also keep up with my awesome friend Jessica on her blog, More or Less Jess.