This weekend Nicholas and I traveled to California to surprise my dad for his 50th birthday. We got in Friday afternoon and met up with my friend Haley. We ate Sprinkles cupcakes and had sushi at Koi...really did the whole scene. We had a total blast.
Saturday morning we rode with my cousins Corey and Michael to Bakersfield. When my dad got back from playing golf, my aunt told him she had an early birthday present for him. I was soooo nervous waiting for her to call us out! I have no idea why. But we all came out singing Happy Birthday. Corey and Michael came first so he would think they were the present and then I came around the corner. His face was absolutely priceless. He made a perfect O face like the Screamer painting. He was completely stunned. That moment alone was worth the entire trip.
Little did he know the surprises were just beginning. He had planned a big dinner at Macaroni Grill but we got the restaurant in on the whole plan. They kept making us wait and wait for a table. The even told my dad that our waitress got in a car wreck! He took it hook, line and sinker. It was so hilarious. Finally, his friend Warren said my aunt Sheree was sick and we needed to get back to the house. Well, my dad took off with no explanation.
When we got back his big surprise party was waiting with a very special guest. One of his best friends who he had not seen in 10 years had flown from Atlanta to surprise him. Again the perfect O face this time followed by "You guys are going to give me a heart attack!" It was so wonderful as was the rest of the night, including (if I do say so myself) the video I made for him, which I will post later on.
The weekend was a total success and we had such a wonderful time with all of my family. It felt really great to do something for my dad because he has always been so generous with me.
Wednesday, August 30, 2006
Tuesday, August 22, 2006
Back to School
So I started school yesterday. On Monday, I had Race, Crime, & Politics, which I think is going to be a really interesting class. Our grade is based primarily on fake legislative hearing where we have to testify about a certain reform. I think it will be a really cool experience. Today, I had American Political Process and Legislation. I'm really excited about Legislation in particular but both should be good. I'm taking Lawyer Bargaining on Fridays and The Politics of Mass Communication at the School of Government on Wednesdays. Overall, its a really cool schedule, involving almost no "real" law classes which is good since I don't want to be a "real" lawyer.
Thursday, August 17, 2006
Let's go to the movies!
In less than a week, Nicholas and I managed to see the best movie and the worst movie we've seen this year. Let's start with the good.
Little Miss Sunshine. Seriously ya'll I cannot say enough good things about this movie. It was absolutely wonderful. I laughed, I cried, I did both at the same time. The characters were complex. You hated them one minute and loved them the next. I won't even get started on the actors themselves - who were truly superb. The movie was about family, its disfunction but its overall important. It was so beautiful and sincere I found myself missing my own family very very much. So in other words stop what you are doing and go see this movie immediately.
Now on to the bad...
Step Up. So here's the thing. I have a weakness for dancing flicks. I've grown out of the romantic comedies and teen girl movies of my youth but give me a dance sequence and a cheesy love story and I am there! Maybe it was growing up on Dirty Dancing, I don't know but I am powerless in the face of it. Step Up looked like the best kind of dancing flick. Good girl meets boy from wrong side of the track. Plus, I loved the whole classically trained v. street style bit - it's so The Cutting Edge.
Alas, Step Up turned out to be a complete piece of crap and a great example of why truly great dancing flicks are so rare. It turns out being able to dance AND act not so easy. These kids could definitely dance but wow. They. Could. Not. Act. It was painful. Really truly painful. So painful we were laughing at really inappropriate times - like when one of the characters got shot. Because it was just that bad. It really makes you appreciate the John Travolta's and Patrick Swayze's of the world I'll tell you that much.
But none of that matters now and let me tell you why...
Because ...
tonight ...
I am going to see ...
SNAKES ON A MOTHERF*$&ING PLANE!!!!!!
Monday, August 14, 2006
Fripp Trip
(Our internet is officially working! YEAH!!!!)
Two weeks ago, I traveled to Kentucky to drive with my girlfriends Erin and Elizabeth (we picked up Aimee in NC) to Fripp Island, SC. Elizabeth's parents own a beautiful home there and generously agreed to let us stay there for a week. We went twice when we were in college and have fond memories of long nights on the screened-in porch playing Phase 10 and drinking Arbor Mist.
We recreated those memories pretty closely. Only we spent less time on the porch and more time on the beach because it was stinking hot. We played Phase 10, Rummikub, and Trivia Pursuit. However, I prefer not to talk about because my luck was crap and I lost miserably every time.
There isn't much on Fripp so we ate at home most night. Elizabeth and Aimee made us an assortment of delicious meals including pasta and seafood, salmon patties, and burgers. I even contributed a small sampling of my baking mastery with a banana macadamia nut cheesecake.
We stuck pretty close to a strict schedule of sleeping till 10:30, doing jack shit inside for a while, and going to the beach from 2 till we were hungry and went in for dinner. It was pretty awesome.
The most exciting moment came on Wednesday. We decided to go out in the water in some floats and drift in with the tide. Erin and Elizabeth were on an innertube and I was on a pool float. However, Aimee just had a noodle and noticed that we were in fact being pulled out instead of drifting in. Since the rest of us were high up, we really couldn't feel it and thought Aimee was just being paranoid. Elizabeth and Erin decided to jump down and realized Aimee was in fact right. Of course, I am too smart for that and continued to play on my raft while they waved at me. Before I knew it, I was a good 40 feet from them and the shore. I promptly started freaking out and wondering why I didn't bring my lifeguard husband with me.
I tried letting the wave float me in and digging in against the undertow because I could touch. As you might suspect, that was not working so well. Now, I'm really starting to freak out. At this point, Erin swims out to me because she is the most amazing friend in the entire world and disregarded her own safety and Elizabeth's warnings because she knew I needed her. Once she was with me I calmed down and we gradually worked our way in.
Turns out, you are supposed to swim parallel to the shore until you are out of the rip tide. Of course that is good to know now but would have been better to know then. Luckily, alls well that ends well and I made it in to blog another day.
Anyway, besides Erin saving my life, it was a pretty low key girls' vacation. Fun was had by all. I love those girls with all my heart and can't imagine a better way to spend a vacation.
Two weeks ago, I traveled to Kentucky to drive with my girlfriends Erin and Elizabeth (we picked up Aimee in NC) to Fripp Island, SC. Elizabeth's parents own a beautiful home there and generously agreed to let us stay there for a week. We went twice when we were in college and have fond memories of long nights on the screened-in porch playing Phase 10 and drinking Arbor Mist.
We recreated those memories pretty closely. Only we spent less time on the porch and more time on the beach because it was stinking hot. We played Phase 10, Rummikub, and Trivia Pursuit. However, I prefer not to talk about because my luck was crap and I lost miserably every time.
There isn't much on Fripp so we ate at home most night. Elizabeth and Aimee made us an assortment of delicious meals including pasta and seafood, salmon patties, and burgers. I even contributed a small sampling of my baking mastery with a banana macadamia nut cheesecake.
We stuck pretty close to a strict schedule of sleeping till 10:30, doing jack shit inside for a while, and going to the beach from 2 till we were hungry and went in for dinner. It was pretty awesome.
The most exciting moment came on Wednesday. We decided to go out in the water in some floats and drift in with the tide. Erin and Elizabeth were on an innertube and I was on a pool float. However, Aimee just had a noodle and noticed that we were in fact being pulled out instead of drifting in. Since the rest of us were high up, we really couldn't feel it and thought Aimee was just being paranoid. Elizabeth and Erin decided to jump down and realized Aimee was in fact right. Of course, I am too smart for that and continued to play on my raft while they waved at me. Before I knew it, I was a good 40 feet from them and the shore. I promptly started freaking out and wondering why I didn't bring my lifeguard husband with me.
I tried letting the wave float me in and digging in against the undertow because I could touch. As you might suspect, that was not working so well. Now, I'm really starting to freak out. At this point, Erin swims out to me because she is the most amazing friend in the entire world and disregarded her own safety and Elizabeth's warnings because she knew I needed her. Once she was with me I calmed down and we gradually worked our way in.
Turns out, you are supposed to swim parallel to the shore until you are out of the rip tide. Of course that is good to know now but would have been better to know then. Luckily, alls well that ends well and I made it in to blog another day.
Anyway, besides Erin saving my life, it was a pretty low key girls' vacation. Fun was had by all. I love those girls with all my heart and can't imagine a better way to spend a vacation.
Saturday, August 12, 2006
Accidents and Accusations
This post is dedicated to Jessica Lotz, The Dixie Chicks #1 fan. :)
So from the file of "Things we did several weeks that I haven't posted about yet"... For my birthday, Nicholas and I took the train to Philly to see The Dixie Chicks on July 25. I was going to be out of town when they came to D.C. so we made a night out of it and cashed in some Marriott Rewards Points.
For those of you who don't already know, I am a huge Chicks fan. I was hooked from their debut single "I Can Love You Better" released my junior year of high school and have been a devoted fan every since. I buy all their CDs the day they come out and have seen them in concert three times. Of course, my devotion has only intensified since they've taken a more political turn. However, what I have always respected the most about them is their talent and clear passion for music. Between them I think they play something like 15 instruments and they wrote or co-wrote every song on their new album, which critics acknowledge as their best yet.
Compared to the other two times I've seen them, this concert was more stripped down and focused on the music. There were no tricks or videos but there were six musicians joining them on stage. The sound really was awesome.
The most intense moment of the show came when they performed their new song "Not Ready to Make Nice," which is about the controversy surrounding Natalie's 2003 comment about Bush. (If you don't know what she said by now, I'm not telling you.) There is a strong crescendo in the song when she is singing about the death threats she received. Her energy and the crowds energy in response was so intense I got chills. I've never before felt emotion like that at a show. I must not have been the only one because there was thunderous applause for a solid 3-5 minutes after the song.
All in all, it was a great night. We even got to meet my good friend Reagan while in Philly. She's a complete trip and it's always nice to visit with her.
So from the file of "Things we did several weeks that I haven't posted about yet"... For my birthday, Nicholas and I took the train to Philly to see The Dixie Chicks on July 25. I was going to be out of town when they came to D.C. so we made a night out of it and cashed in some Marriott Rewards Points.
For those of you who don't already know, I am a huge Chicks fan. I was hooked from their debut single "I Can Love You Better" released my junior year of high school and have been a devoted fan every since. I buy all their CDs the day they come out and have seen them in concert three times. Of course, my devotion has only intensified since they've taken a more political turn. However, what I have always respected the most about them is their talent and clear passion for music. Between them I think they play something like 15 instruments and they wrote or co-wrote every song on their new album, which critics acknowledge as their best yet.
Compared to the other two times I've seen them, this concert was more stripped down and focused on the music. There were no tricks or videos but there were six musicians joining them on stage. The sound really was awesome.
The most intense moment of the show came when they performed their new song "Not Ready to Make Nice," which is about the controversy surrounding Natalie's 2003 comment about Bush. (If you don't know what she said by now, I'm not telling you.) There is a strong crescendo in the song when she is singing about the death threats she received. Her energy and the crowds energy in response was so intense I got chills. I've never before felt emotion like that at a show. I must not have been the only one because there was thunderous applause for a solid 3-5 minutes after the song.
All in all, it was a great night. We even got to meet my good friend Reagan while in Philly. She's a complete trip and it's always nice to visit with her.
Thursday, August 10, 2006
So we bought a condo
Sarah and Nicholas: Adventures in Real Estate on Vimeo
As many of you know, we bought a condo in Cleveland Park last month. We haven't posted since the offical closing because I was waiting for the above video from our real estate agent. It's all ready for viewing now so enjoy. It was an exciting moment for us followed my a lot of painting, more moving, and even more unpacking.
After several weeks, things are finally coming together. I still have a lot of decorating/nesting to do and not suprisingly I exhausted my decorating budget pretty quickly but there you go. As excited as Nicholas was the new drapes and side tables, I think our new TV is where his passion lies. He just keeps saying "This TV is so nice." Like it belongs to somebody else or something. I honestly don't know what was harder for him laying down the case for the condo or for the TV.
But here we are, all of you can now go to your mailbox and wait excitedly for our adorable change of address cards coming out soon!
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