Lessons Learned

It's been sixteen months since my journey of self discovery began and the lessons I have learned about myself and about life have been priceless.  This past month I have probably learned more about myself and about life then I have thought I would.  My intention of moving to Miami was, among other reasons, to complete my Associates Degree and transfer to a local university to complete my Bachelors Degree.  This past semester was a struggle for me, more so because of the lack of dedication then anything else, which has been a recurring theme in my years of college.  I started questioning towards the end of the semester whether or not continuing on with my college education was something I really wanted.  It's something that I still haven't decided one way or the other.  I have decided to take time off from school until I decide what I want to do.  I feel like I'm wasting my time and money if I'm not 100% dedicated to completing my degree and doing well in the process.  

I feel like as a society there is so much emphasis on going to school and getting a degree and some of us just go because it's "what we're suppose to do".  I have struggled with my decision to completely stop going because what else am I suppose to do?  I wonder if this is what it's like for those who spend the time going to school and working any job just to get by and then when they graduate they are no longer students,which is what they have been for the past twenty something years of their life.  I don't know which direction to go with my life and I'm struggling with that.  I just know that as much as I love my mother, I don't want to struggle like she did and I don't think she would want that for me, either.   


One direction that I do want to go with with part of my life is my health.  I have decided that I have spent too much time shopping at special stores, stressing about whether or not the seat belt on the plane will fit, or if I will be able to ride a certain ride because my boobs or any other parts of me are too big for the safety restraints.  I'm 24 years old and I feel like I can't enjoy my life to the fullest because of my size.  I don't want to live anymore of my life like that.  I am going to become healthy.  I am announcing this to anyone reading because I am hoping to get some support.  Because I have allowed myself to get this way, it's obvious that my responsibility to my health is not all that important to me and announcing it to a group of people will in a way make me responsible to all of you.  I know once I get going and start seeing results I will be able to motivate myself, but for now, any motivation I can get from you guys will be so helpful!  I am not expecting crazy results, as I know the faster you lose weight the easier it is to gain it back.  I am just hoping that I can become healthy and happy in more ways then I already am.  I am going to post weekly updates on my Facebook and just tell myself that everyone cares, even if they don't.  It will make me feel better. 


I hope everyone has a great Christmas and New Years! 


xoxo 


Sara 

Giving thanks.

I have been in Miami for three months.  Sometimes I feel like the past five years have been a dream and that I will be eighteen year old Sara, waking up in my room in my family's little condo on Knott Avenue in Cypress, California.  But then I wake up in my little room in my little duplex in the little (hehe) city of Miami, realizing that the events of the past five years have happened.  Being that Thanksgiving is in a couple of weeks, I wanted to take the time to give thanks to some things I am grateful for: 

My friends 

Who have helped me move and could not be more amazing friends

Those who spend countless hours on the phone with me

Those who, among others things, send me thoughtful text messages that make me miss home

Those who take time out of their busy schedule to help me or just spend time with me. 

Those that support the real me

Those that have become my sisters

      And those that, even though we have been through so much, I know we will always be friends, 

As well as soooo many more.  I love you all from the bottom of my heart. 

My family 

 Those here and in heaven.  I wouldn't be who I am with you (all of you...)

I am grateful for my two amazing jobs, the warmest fall weather (gotta love Miami), the opportunity I have to continue my education,and for all of the experiences, the good and especially the bad, that have tested every fiber of my being and made me the person I am today.  And today I wanna express my gratitude for the men and women who have served or are serving in the military.  I know some people may not support anything this country currently stands for, but I appreciate all those who fight for our country nonetheless.  

I am also grateful that I am alive after almost 24 years!  Yes, I will be reaching the ripe old age of 24 in a week and this sounds silly, I know, but I am coming to terms with my own immortality.  It seems like yesterday that I couldn't wait to be a grown up and now I'm getting more and more grown up every year and it's freaking me out!  Nothing has gone remotely close to the way I thought they would and I love every minute of it! 

This past month has been pretty busy here in Miami.  After much thought and prayer, I decided to quit my customer service job and take a chance on the babysitting job and boy has it paid off!  In just the past month or so I have met so many wonderful families and have spent some time in amazing hotels, where the cheapest thing on the menu was a $19 burger and fries and the bottled water was $9.  It's kinda fun hanging with the 1% (hehe).  I have spent a lot of time with a close friend and her darling baby who feeds my heart with so much love and affection.  Who knew five month old's could be so great?! 

I registered for the Spring semester and am happy to say that it will be my last full semester working on my associates degree.  With all the time I have taken off from school, this degree has been a long time coming.  The question is now... which school should I go to?  I have been taking online courses and decided to finish my A.A. online as it my work schedule is all over the place right now.  As much as I love being in class, I like the flexibility that online schooling has to offer and am contemplating completing my Bachelor's online as well. I have some time to decide, but that's been the current question on my mind.  

I have also been dating!  I have gone on more dates in the past month and a half then I ever went on since dating age (16 for those of you not raised Mormon) until I moved here COMBINED!  I was convinced by my roommate to do the whole online dating thing, which was a practical idea for me since I don't meet a lot of people.  I have met some really great guys and some not so great guys... the experience has definitely been interesting.  Unfortunately, most of them have not turned into anything.  I'm just kinda looking at it experience.  As one dear friend once said, "You can't get to the quarterback without getting through the rest of the team".  

Geez... maybe my month hasn't been as busy as I thought.  Or maybe most of it isnt' interesting enough to blog.  In any event, that's all I got for ya this time!  Take some time in your day to be grateful for the things you've been blessed with in your life.  One thing I have learned is that God is in everything... even in the things that we view as bad or negative.  Everything in life is not happening to us, but for us.  Just some food for thought... 

Until next time,

xoxo  

Sara's settled (kinda...)

So, it's been two months since I arrived in South Florida and things have been interesting!  My trip started on August 6th with a looooonnnnnnggg drive to Mesa, Arizona, where I was meeting my Dad.  Sage, my younger sister, moved out to Mesa to start her first year of college and my Dad agreed to help me drive from Mesa to Lafayette (where he lived at the time).  I arrived in Mesa around 12:30am on Sunday, August 7th, and we left the next morning around 8am.  After a couple of nights we made it to Lafayette around 2pm in the afternoon on Tuesday, August 9th.  I stayed for about an hour and then headed out on the road again alone.  I arrived in Tallahassee, Florida, late that night which was earlier then planned.  My friend that I was going to be staying with was not quite ready for me yet I decided to take a day trip somewhere in the area.  It was a huge debate between St. Augustine and St. Petersburg, as I had been to St. Augustine before, but I decided it had been long enough that going back to St. Augustine would be like visiting for the first time.  I'm not big into being by myself as I enjoy the company of other people, but gosh I had so much fun there!  

St. Augustine was founded by a Spanish explorer and is the oldest continuously occupied, European established city in the United States.  Many of the buildings and forts in the city are still standing and the Spanish influence on the architecture is so beautiful!  I walked around Flagler College and downtown St. Augustine just in awe of the beautiful buildings.  I decided to drive across the bay to the area that seemed primarily residential and found my way to the beach.  I decided to treat myself to some gelato and sat on the beach while I ate it.  It was so relaxing!  

After a good night's rest in St. Augustine, I made the last four and a half hour drive to Broward County, where my friend's home was located.  That was probably the longest drive of the entire trip as I was just ready to be there.  I stopped in Boca Raton to fill some paperwork out at the main office of my employer and arrived at my friend's apartment around dinner time.

My friend, Kylee, and her husband offered me a temporary place to stay until I found a permanent place to live.  It was definitely an interesting experience living in someone's living room and making the backseat of my car my closet, but I was just grateful to have a roof over my head.  Kylee had just recently had a baby and I was a little nervous about how that was going to play out as I hadn't spent much time around a baby since Sage was a baby eighteen years ago, but boy did I fall in love with that little guy!  He is the most precious thing I have ever seen!  He grew and changed so much from the time I arrived to the time I left I couldn't believe it!  He is such a good little baby and only cries on occasion, mostly when I'm holding him and he starts to get hungry and he doesn't understand why I can't feed him.  He get's pretty angry!  

The day after I got here I began my search for my own place, but glitches along the way deterred me from my plans a little longer then I, or Kylee, wanted.  After many weeks of searching I ended up in an area called Coconut Grove.

When I came to Miami on vacation in May 2010 my friend and I stayed in this area so I was slightly familiar with it. It is pretty centrally to everything, including downtown, the beach, school, shopping, etc.  To me, it's perfect!   I found a roommate named Amber that I met through a roommate website.  She recently moved to South Florida from Eugene, Oregon, and doesn't really know anyone other then her older sister so we definitely have some things in common!  We found a two bedroom, one bathroom duplex in a nice neighborhood with a really great landlord for a really great price!  We are definitely lucky!   We still haven't completely settled into the house as we are both poor students, but it's getting there!  

School is going well.  Due to not being sure what my living situation was going to be like in the next few months I decided to take online courses.  My work life is getting better.  I took a huge paycut moving here that I didn't know was going to happen until I actually got here and at that point there wasn't much I could do about it.  I have been diligently searching for at least an additional job and was recently employed with a national babysitting company however that's still money in progress.  Being that I'm not one to sit around and wait for the money to start rolling in I went out and got another job at Panera Bread.  I'm really lucky and grateful that I have as many opportunities as I do because I know how hard things are for people.  I am also looking into starting my own auto advertising business where I would advertise local businesses on my car and all I have to do is drive!  Hopefully I can get to a point where I can become a broker and start hiring people to advertise ads on their cars also.  I've also got some fun things going on with another friend, Julio, that I'm excited for.  He's a musician that has a good following and is in contact with Universal Latino Records and we've been working together to get his career going.  Look him up some time.  His stage name is Dainamite and his most popular song is "Dulce Caramelo".  You'll be seeing great things from him soon and I will be there every step of the way.  As the saying goes, "Behind every great man is an amazing woman!" =)  Here's a link to the video!   

http://youtu.be/FPhYRUVEYgw

That's all that's happening from the East Coast!  Stay tuned for all the exciting things are gonna be happening in the next few months!  

Xoxo!

Changes

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"Don't ask yourself what the world needs; ask yourself what makes you come alive. And then go and do that. Because what the world needs is people who have come alive."  -Howard Thurman  All changes, even the most longed for, have their melancholy; for what we leave behind us is a part of ourselves; we must die to one life before we can enter another."  -Anatole France "Change brings opportunity."     -Nido Qubein "Change means that what was before wasn't perfect. People want things to be better." -Esther Dyson  Alright, alright... you are probably wondering why I am posting all these quotes about change.  Change is inevitable.  Nothing stays the same.  Don't you love it?  If you don't like the way something is, you can change it!  Hair color, eye color, jobs... location?  As everyone knows, I moved to Utah in August 2010.  I needed a change after a long year of getting back up on my feet when my mom passed away and change I got!  Lots of Mormons!  Snow!  Below 70 degree weather!  Dry heat!  One Starbucks within a ten mile radius! O.o  While this move was difficult, I appreciate all that I have learned about myself while living in Utah.  However, it's time for a change.  After thinking about this long and hard ( shut up *Elisa*), I have made the decision to say    Goodbye Utah!  HELLO MIAMI!!!!!!!   That's right!!  Yours truly is packing her bags and heading to the East coast!  Now, I know some of you are probably wondering why I am making such a drastic move.  Let me break it down for ya... My dear friend, Andrea, and I had the opportunity to go to Miami in May of last year.  After five days of sun, humidity, gators, and rain showers, I fell in love.  I have honestly wanted to live there ever since, but I felt that I should follow through with my move to Utah since the plan was already underway.  However, after a loooonnnngggg year, I decided that Utah is a place for me to visit... not to live.  I questioned whether I should move back to California or not being that most of my life is there, but honestly, the idea of going back to California with no home to go to is too difficult for me right now.  Also, being that I am still in school and colleges in California are completely impacted, I decided it was not the place for me right now.  Living in New York was out of the questioned as I have vowed never to live in cold weather again, so when thinking of somewhere else to go Miami was at the top of my list.  I began researching schools and found that   Florida International University Has an amazing Communications program.  I also discovered that if you graduate with an A.A. from You get priority admission into Florida International University.  So, after much thought I decided this was the right move for me.  Out of state tuition at MDC is roughly the same amount of money as in state tuition at Utah Valley University, the school I have been attending for the past year.  Miami is the place I need to be career wise, as I am studying to be an Event/Wedding planner. Many people I have talked to don't approve of my decision to move.  I have been accused of running of away from "something", moving for the large amount of male attention I get in Miami and/or moving for a guy, and making a foolish decision financially, among many other things. I have struggled with this as I rely heavily on other peoples approval (self-esteem issues... that's a whole nother' blog!).  I couldn't understand how every fiber of my being felt good about this decision, but many were telling me it was a bad choice.  I then thought of all the people in history who were told they would never make it or what they were doing would never work...    Thomas Edison   Albert Einstein  Dr. Seuss  was told he could not write or draw.  George Foreman  was told that he was too old and fat and was laughed out of the ring.   Seven years later, he was name Heavyweight Champion of the world. Salma Hayek was told she would never make it because when she spoke she reminded people of their maid.  George Foreman and Salma Hayek have not necessarily changed the world, but they were successful, despite others telling them they would not be.  So... I'm in good company.  Naysayers should be proud of me... despite their disapproval, I am still going!  That's a step in the right direction as far as my self esteem goes!!   The plans are to leave Sunday, August 14th, around 11pm and arrive Thursday, August 18th, sometime in the evening.      The route we are taking is eight hours longer, however, I need to see my little sister off to college!  For those of you that don't know, Sage is going to school in Arizona!  She's a big girl now!  There ya have it!  My new adventure!  I'm so excited for what my future holds I can wait to get started!!  You'll wanna stick around... things are gonna get interesting!

Starting over...

So, it's been a lifetime since I posted anything on my blog.  It's been an interesting few months to say the least.

December came and went.  Frankly, I'm glad.  I loved that I got to see my aunt and uncle that live in Japan, my grandparents, and my cousins, but the second Christmas without my mom was much more difficult to get through then the first.   On top of the day, Christmas day was a sad day, as the Lakers lost to the Heat. =(

I also did not love the amount of snow that I had to deal with.  In case you don't know, this is my first real winter.  I am a spoiled California girl.  The weekend that my Aunt DeNece arrived in Salt Lake I went up to their condo in Midway, which is about 45 minutes up Provo Canyon.  I intended to leave on Monday morning as I had to work at 3pm.  Mother Nature had a different idea.  Half way down the canyon an oil rig had tipped over due to the ice on the roads, spilling the oil over the two lanes.  According to the police officer the roads would be blocked four at least six hours.  So, I turned around and went up the icy roads of the canyon back to Midway.  My cousin, Charity, was at work so I stopped by the hotel she worked at and picked up the keys.  Now, the condo is up a somewhat steep hill and steep mixed with ice equals scary.  I wasn't sure what to do about that so I decided to drive down the road I was on a little longer.  I think by this point there was at least a foot of snow on the ground.  I could be exaggerating.  All I know is there was A LOT of snow.  So I'm driving down the road which quickly turns into driving up the road as I began a steady incline into a neighborhood of homes.  I don't think I made it halfway up before I got stuck.  My back end was fishtailing and I couldn't move forward.  A nice, generous man with a snow plow got out of his car and told me I would be able to go in reverse and back into a driveway and turn around.  I indeed was able to do that.  I decided to brave the mini mountain that my family's condo was on, as one of the two roads to get to the condo was open.  When I arrived at the condo, I sat in the living room and asked myself, "Why did I move here, again?"  My Aunt DeNece, who made it down the Provo Canyon before the oil spill, arrived a couple of hours later.  There are two ways to get to Midway.  If you are coming from Orem/Provo and surrounding areas it's fastest to take Provo Canyon.  If you are coming from the Salt Lake Area it's fastest to take that canyon.  I'm not sure what the name of the canyon is, but I will just call it the "Salt Lake Canyon".  My Aunt DeNece had a variety of errands she had to run so she started in Provo and made her way up to Salt Lake, so by the time she was ready to go home she was in Salt Lake and was able to take the "Salt Lake Canyon", which was not affect by an oil spill.  I ended up spending the night at the condo again and the three of us went to an activity at Charity's church.  On the way back to the house, we attempted to conquer the mini mountain that the condo is located on with no such luck.  The car actually ended up spinning on our way back down to the bottom of the road.  It was quite scary.  I think I aged about ten years...

January was a difficult month for me.  As most know, my little brother, Richie, passed away on January 1st.  I went home for the funeral two weeks later.  I can honestly say that was just as difficult if not more difficult then losing my mom.  Not to say that my mom being gone is ever easy, but it was comforting to know that I was an orphan in good company, as my younger siblings and I were experiencing the same loss.  With Richie passing away my family had been cut in half.  After suffering that loss, I was also struggling with some boy issues.  Man, I'm glad that month is over.

February came and went, nothing much to report there.

March came and I was 100% ready for Spring Break.  My roommate and friend (she complains that I always refer to her as my roommate, which is "so immpersonal"), Dianna, and I decided to go to Orange County for the five days of Spring Break, which a stop in Las Vegas each way.  Dianna, who is the reigning Miss Beaver County America and will be competing in Miss Utah this summer (GO MISS BEAVER COUNTY!!!!), had a friend competing in the Miss San Diego pageant, so we did make a quick visit to Poway, which is in the San Diego area.  Unfortunately her friend did not win, but it was a good show.  When we got back to our house in Utah we realized that we basically had one month of school left.  Unlike Orange County, colleges in Utah start the semester at the beginning of January which means we get out at the end of April.

So now, April is here.  I have three weeks left of the Spring semester, I get a week off, and then Summer semester starts.  I decided to take summer courses because I only took three classes this semester and I need to catch up.  Two of the courses are online, though, and they are pretty easy courses.  I'm not too concerned about them.  I am also taking a half semester course that starts in May and ends at the end of June, so I will still have almost two months of summer when that's over. 

I don't think I mentioned this before, but I did move into a new house at the very end of November.  It is literally right next to my school and with the weather being as nice as it's been (except for today), I'm definitely going to start walking to school.  I also have two fabulous roommates.  I didn't have the best experience with roommates in California, but I also lived with people who were at least ten years older then me, so this has been the first time I have lived with girls my own age.  Originally, there were five girls in our house but due to some legal matters there are now only three and it will stay that way until our contracts end. 

Dianna (Miss Beaver County) is from Beaver, 22, and a exercise science major. 

Melissa is from Orem, 20, and is an amazing photographer and is an excellent Katy Perry look-a-like. 

We generally spend our time staying up until 3am watching Youtube videos and funny movies and talking about life, and then complain the next morning how tired we are and how much class we've missed because of staying up so late and how we vow to not stay up so late... that has yet to happen. We go out to dances, dinner, the mall, basketball games, etc.  It's been fun living with them. 

This past school year has been such an experience!  I have made some great friends that I hope to keep forever.  I have learned so much about myself since moving here and I don't regret one moment of it.  With that being said, I am itching for a new adventure.  I'm not sure what that means or where I will be headed, but I figure while I'm young, in school, and single I need to explore the world as much as possible.  I am going to work updating this blog monthly, so stay tuned to find out what my next adventures will be!!

p.s. I am transitioning back to blonde. =)