That’s our philosophy...

Inspiration is all around us. You just have to look for it.

Keep it Real

Sara Nicole

courstesy of awkwardfamilyphotos.com

Almost Tomorrow

Hiiiii

I only have 4 official days left in Prescott, AZ.

Can you believe it?! I can.

This weekend will be spent saying farewell to my brother and sister in San Diego.

My sister’s actually moving into my room for a little while a few days after I leave.

I left her secret messages around my bedroom.

Her reaction will probably be something like this when she finds out.

hahahahahahahahahahahaha.

Today I had the pleasure of hiking with Michelle, who is leaving for NAU in the morning.

It was pretty hot. But pretty fun. And pretty.

One of our more awkward photos. The pressure of the camera really got the best of us.

Other than that, I’ve been hanging with these kiddos.

Keep it Real

Sara Nicole

329 is significant.

Today, against all notions of good and right I bought sushi for the first time. Nothing seemed too out of the ordinary until I hit a bunny with my car in my neighborhood, then came home to find my fish, Sushi the III dead.

Coincidence?

Yes.

I'll leave you with that.

Keep it Real

Sara Nicole

The Proverbial Skeeter

I need to practice my spanish.

According to stuffwhitepeoplelike.com, pretending to learn a new language is number 115.

Speaking of white people,

Today Kaushik and I made Zuchinni bread.

Kaushik’s your regular domestic goddess.

John gave us moral support.

These pictures indicate that we had a good time.

We didn’t document the final product so you will have to trust us on this one. Less than three Zuchinni breads were burnt.

Kaushik and I are writing are own song together. It’s not done yet. So you will have to hold your horses on that one. Don’t worry, it will be worth the wait. You need to calm down.

I miss my friends that have left for college. But, I wish I were here.

More than I am able to express in human words.

Keep it Real

Sara Nicole

Eat. Pray. Love....Flutter Kick

Saturday was spent doing some quality swimming and blackberry picking in Sedona. See?

It sounded like a good idea to write our name on the rocks. You know, to prove we were there.

I don’t know who peed on Nicole’s potsticker. I really don’t.

I guess the device I used to write our names was fox feces. She wasn’t amused. Who am I kidding? Yes she was.

An entire year of AP bio, and they couldn’t have taught me that?

That was followed by Saturday night church at the Heights with our dear friend, Hannah. In fact, our last Saturday night church at the Heights. A tear or two might have been shed.

We’ve been going to together every week for I don’t know how long.

I guess you could say a lot of Sara and Nicole foundational moments happened on those Saturday nights.

I didn’t cry per say, but it takes a dead dog movie to get me going.

We snapped a quick self-timer on top of the car before we left. See?

Oh, and Jesus gave us another vivid sunset, just like the very first time we went.

Following those events was The Blue Quintet’s very last jazz night at Bada Beanz.

More goodbyes. And a lost moustache comb.

No really, there is a lost moustache comb floating around downtown Prescott right now.

Fingers crossed.

My Aunt Becky says I need to stop making so many references that so few people understand in this blog. Sorry, Aunt Becky, you need to take one for the team in this case.

Following those events was some star gazing and two and a half hours of doing absolutely nothing.

It was perfect.

On that not, it feels like June. But it’s not.

Keep it Real

Sara Nicole

Bon Voyage Friends

One by one I have said goodbyes to friends embarking on their college adventures. Some leave in a week or so. Some leave in a few days. Some have already left. Of course, there are several categories of goodbyes. There are the ones where one person says “well, I guess I’ll never you again" kind of goodbyes. Then, of course, there are goodbyes to the people who really meant the most. There are those people that you could never express adequate gratitude or culminate the journey taken together into some climactic ending, whether or not the friendship will continue. It’s not a time of sadness. It’s a time of retrospection. I really truly think about what each friendship meant to me-- how valuable each person is to that time in my life. The moments that shaped the person I am today. The personal growth. The laughter. The unforgettable experiences. The jokes. The awkwardness. The times that I could not have written myself. How is it that every friendship can be so completely different? It blows my mind. Just thinking about how I was given the exact combination of individuals that I was given is almost too much for me to even grasp. The more I think about it, the more I realize that there is not one replaceable person. There is not a single other so-and-so in all the world. There never has been and never will be. It’s a sentiment I don’t think I could ever sufficiently convey. It is not a loss, but rather a tremendous gain. I can take with me these times, these lessons learned and in few cases these friendships. Even moreso, it gives me anticipation for what is to come. There are things ahead that I would never have expected because life is just as diverse as the people who live in it. I just know it. Right now I feel like that scene from The Office where Jim looks at that picture of himself and Dwight on a sales call and says, “Oh young Jim, I have so much to teach you, and tragically I cannot.” That is what it is. I feel like Young Jim. So here is to new beginnings. To memories. To holding lightly the things of this world. And to frienships.

Keep it Real

Sara Nicole

Expectation

It’s a spark of possibility. It’s a glimmer of hope. It’s a preconceived notion of the future that evolved deliberately into a divine destiny. It’s the methodical belief that you somehow deserve more and better. It’s the half-hearted words they told you when you graduated high school-- that the world is in your hands and that you can do anything you set your mind to. If you focus hard enough and concentrate enough energy to this single cause, it will be enough. It is the way your life SHOULD go, as long as you fight for it. What had only begun as a feeling grew into a hope and a murmered thought. As the thought grew louder and louder it turned into a battle cry. You thought you were invincible. You thought you were immune to circumstance. They must have lied to you. Why else, then, would you be here coping with the pangs of regret? At one point, anything less would have been the end of life itself, leaving you to lie emotionless as the world spins madly on. Yet, here you are. It was the hope you fought for and clung to throughout even the invisible restraints of reality and the trials of adversity. It was supposed to be your source of happiness, a representation of beauty and an epitome of perfection. All the world, even God, would follow suit...A beautiful letdown. As you inhabit the clocks of time and reality of the world, expectations are stripped away and you settle for what seems like less and less. You never saw it happening, but now you have somehow surrendered. Somehow, you have let go. And somehow, there is beauty through pain. It’s not in vain. You’re not defeated. In fact, through it all, it is somehow better this way. The life ahead is far far greater ahead than any expectation left behind.

2 Corinthians 4:18

Keep it Real

Sara Nicole

The Case Against Antiquing

Yesterday Emily and I drove took the little Subaru down to Laguna beach.

We visited Emily’s family who live on a hilltop with a brightly colored house near the oceanfront.

It was a beautiful drive and a beautiful little town.

Emily’s aunt cooked us a delicious lunch.

Have you ever had an authentic Columbian meal? I have.

We spent the rest of the day taking walks, swimming in the ocean, discovering Netflix and playing Yahtzee with Amber and Mike. The amount of Yahtzee played in this family is unhealthy, to tell you the truth.

It would be hard to describe the events that took place today.

We played a game called pick out what free tickets can we use from my sister’s Sea World job.

Legoland won.
Then we had one of those awkward moments where you realize that this is fun when you are 12.

We ended up taking a 45 minute nap on the grass there until a man dressed like a Transformer woke us up. I guess that’s why they are there.

But really, it was a great day.

Emily was just being her regular self.  And we took on a new project instead.

It’s more Yahtzee tonight.

Emily is undefeated in Yahtzee.

That means she’s never lost.

Keep it Real

Sara Nicole

Road Trippin

Good morning Vietnam, but mostly just America.

Today is Thursday August 5 10:47 AM in the year of our Lord 2010.

On Monday, after saying goodbye to an old friend going away to college, Emily and I hit the highway.

We had discussed going on a roadtrip once about 6 months ago.

After a quick lesson from Emily's dad on using pepper spray and hitting men with large sticks, we were as good as gold.

Better than gold even.

Although, there was that time Emily forgot she was a US citizen when crossing the border. oops.

It was just Emily, Daniel and I. Daniel is the GPS.

We are staying with my brother and his wife, Sara in San Diego at the college campus where they work.

Actually, Daniel sleeps in the car.

On Tuesday morning, we got up and played Tuesday Tennis at Two. At Nine.

The courts were overlooking the ocean, and you could feel the cool ocean breeze.

The weather was perfect, and there was music coming from the baseball field.

It was most definitely the greatest tennis I have ever played.

Afterward, we headed to Pacific Beach for some beach related activities and walking downtown.

We got lost. It wasn’t Daniel’s fault.

That evening my sister and her boyfriend, Mike picked us up and brought us back to the parking lot we had somehow wandered miles from. We met Sara at Amber’s apartment and all had Mike’s now famous vegetarian sloppy joes followed by frozen yogurt. We ran into one of those potentially rabid possums on the way back, or PRPs if you will.

Where are my pepper spray and large wooden pole when I need them?

It’s the story of my life.

Keep it Real

Sara Nicole

Ten Miles till Tomorrow

This is what summer should be about-- spending time with the people that mean the most. When you are young, it seems your whole world revolves around friendships. The people who you surround yourself with have so much influence on your identity. It’s as if your primary focus is shaping the person you are rather than the person you should become. Friendships are everything. They consume every aspect of your life. When a person enters the world of adulthood, it seems everything is about practicality and attaining goals-- preparing for the future rather than living in the moment. Your focus shifts. Priorities change, and you spend less time doing pointless activites just for the sake of it. It’s a pattern that every person subconsciously follows but seldom acknowledges. It’s as if these last few weeks of summer are really the last chance I have to be in that childhood lifestyle. Or at the very least, it’s the last chance I have to be surrounded by the same circle of people I have grown so accustomed to. It seems like I am saying goodbye to a someone almost everyday. Of course, distance is the best true test of friendship. Meaningful friendships extend far beyond great moments and memories. And just like anything meaningful in life, great friendships are things you surely will hold tightly.

To be honest, great friends are really what is getting me through this summer. It seems like my days have been filled with constant frustration and discouragement and I feel so incredibly at peace with everything that is going on in my life. I am confident that at any other point in my life I could not have felt the same.

“ I know what I need and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret to be content in any and every situation.

-Phil. 4:12

That verse has taken on so much meaning for me in so many ways.

Keep it Real

Sara Nicole