Staring Down 30

One week from tomorrow I will turn 30.  Aaauuuugghhhh!!!!!  Shouldn't I be more like, 22?  That's about what I feel like.  But, time slows for nobody and here I am, staring it right in the eye.  Sound dramatic?  Maybe.  I have to admit, when I turned 29 I had a mini freak out session about the fact that 30 was closing in pretty quick and I'm single.  But now I can honestly and whole heartedly say that God has done a huge work in my heart and I'm definitely over the freak out session. He has really helped me focus on the perks and benefits of singleness and I'm really okay! Well, except for the occasional regression into freak out mode.  But let's get off of that tangent.

This weekend was the beginning of my celebrating.  Last summer I ate at a restaurant with my family that really had the best burger I've ever tasted.  Not even kidding.  Everyone else agreed.  Ever since then, I've wanted to go back but the restuarant is two hours away.  So for my birthday, I went there with my friends and we spent the night at a hotel.  So fun!!  Then on the way home the next day we stopped at an outlet mall for some good deals:)  Here we are....

A little chaotic trying to get everyone organized for a group shot

Yay!  There we are!  I love us:)

Sometimes ya just gotta show off your tough side, ya know?

So many memories were made.  I have to share a story which might get a little long, but bear with me.  It was really funny.  So, when we went to check in to the hotel, it was a complete disaster.  There were supposed to be two rooms, but there was one.  And it was booked under the wrong name, the wrong address, and there was no credit card number on record.  We got everything settled but through all that mess I got to be buddies with the guy at the front counter, who was probably in his mid to late 60's.  Anyway, we got up to our rooms and were having quite the time figuring out the lamps in between the two beds.  We tried every different light switch combination we could think of but those lamps would not turn on.  So I called the front desk and the conversation went something like this:

Me:  John!  Hey, it's Sarah up in room 316.  Uh, this is a dumb question, but we can't figure out how to turn the lights on.

John:  Have you turned the knob in between the two lamps?

M: Yeah and it's definitely not working.  (meanwhile, someone suggests making sure it's plugged in and at the very same time he responded...)

J: Well, is it plugged in?

M:  Uh..... now it is!!  Okay, I'm dumb but thanks for your help!!

We were all ready to go to the pool at this point and started to walk out the door when the phone rang.

M: Hello?

J: Sarah?

M: Yeah?
J: Hey, I just wanted to let you know, that tonight when you go to bed, if you want to sleep under the covers, you have to pull them back first.

M: Shut up! 

Then I hung up on him.  We laughed and laughed and laughed and the night just kept getting better from that point.  But don't worry, I'll refrain from typing out every story:)

Saturday night after we shopped we had game night at a friend's house.  They host game night every so often and it usually turns into an extreeeeemely late night, but one we always look very forward to.  When I got there, there was a sign on the door!  Their son wanted to make a welcome sign for everyone but then his mom told him it was almost my birthday so he added a happy birthday sign too.  So sweet!

There's still more celebrating to come, too.  At first I felt a little dumb about all the different little parties I'm having but then I decided birthdays only happen once a year and milestones only happen once every ten years so I'm just going to soak it up and enjoy it!

My New Life

Well my new life which now consists of school has been going quite well.  I have one week under my belt now and out of four classes, I think I'm going to like three of them.  The one I'm not really excited about is the history of OT and blah blah blah.  We're already diving in with some research stuff- whoop de dooooo!  Something I've never enjoyed.  My other OT class is Theraputic Media which is a lot about the use of arts and crafts in OT.  So far we've painted, colored, done a personality collage, and a yarn craft thing.  Definitely more up my alley!  Then I have a psycology class which I wasn't super thrilled about having to take, but the professor is reeeeaaaalllly good.  So far anyway.  And that helps tremendously.  She makes me want to be there.  And then there's Spanish.  Fun, but hard.  And since I have three other classes, I can't devote quite as much time to it as I would like but hopefully I at least gain a little ground over the next few months.

Oh- and I'm also teaching Sunday School this year.  3 yr olds.  Yay!  Usually they have mom's do the three year old class but none of them were really available this year.  So my cousin (who is sending her little boy this year) asked me if I wanted to do it and I jumped on it!  I'm pretty excited about that.  It will be good for letting me get my kid fix since it looks like I won't be teaching preschool again any time soon.

Today I made a wonderful/terrible discovery.  I discovered all the goodness of the food carts just a couple blocks down from school!  So fun!  And so tasty!  But so unhealthy:(  And so costing money:(  So the goal is to limit myself- a lot.  But occasionally I WILL be partaking.  It's just like a big city.  Or Mexico.  Take your pick.  There's a Chinese food cart, Mexican, BBQ, and a couple more across the street that I didn't go check out.  And if I'm being honest, it will probably be more than occasionally.

Oh one more thing.  I was going to try and get a picture but......  Something that excites me greatly right now is the fact that my dad's combine is sitting out in the yard, getting ready for harvest!  Even though harvest will be pretty dismal and depressing this year, I still can't help but be excited for it.  Yay!

My mom just called me.  On the phone.  I'm upstairs.  She's downstairs.  Oh boy....

I Moustache You A Question....

My cousin's husband turned 30 and she threw a surprise party for him.... with a moustache theme!  Partly because it was just a funny theme and partly because he secretly wants a big moustache:)  We had lots of fun sporting our face decorations!

My mom and dad

There was also a photobooth to capture memories of the night.

Just a fun time!

Coolest. Thing. Ever.

Last night I went to an outdoor concert at a friend's house.  Somehow she heard this guy sing somewhere and liked his stuff.  He does house concerts so she put her name on the list about two years ago.  A few months ago he sent out an email saying he would be in the area and would she still be interested in hosting a concert?  So she said of course!  And it was awesome.  The night was beautiful, the music was great and the company was good, too.  The picture is dark but you get the idea of the setting we had.  A-maze-ing.

I had gotten there early because a) I wanted to be a good friend and help get set up and b)it was kind of like having a backstage pass!  Although since he does these house concerts, pretty much everybody has a backstage pass because he just hangs out with everyone who's there.  By the time the night was over I was a groupie and got a picture with him before I left:)  He was pretty cool!

And here's the hostess with the mostest!

This was one of my favorite songs of the whole night.  It's basically about spending our money on things that matter rather than things we don't need since it's not really ours in the first place.  The story line is a person going into the store but putting their money back in their pocket.  They eventually send it to where it will go toward orphan care.  Such a great night!

Life Changes

Well my week certainly did not go as planned.  A couple weeks ago I told my boss that I would be quitting my job within the next month.  I didn't know for sure when- probably around the end of August.  I was going to work full time at the elevator through harvest again and then after that?  I didn't know where I would end up.  I was going to look for jobs here in Illinois and also back in Alabama.  I was reeeaalllly excited about the thought of moving back to Alabama. 
Now, if you may remember, I had applied to the Occupational Therapy Assistant program at my local community college for the second time back in January.  And for the second time, I didn't get in.  But I was really okay with that.  I had completely moved on from it and was very much so looking forward to whatever else might happen (hoping it had something to do with living in the south).  So imgaine my surprise Monday morning when my phone rang and I heard the voice on the other end say "Hi, this is so and so from the ICC Health Careers Department and you've been accepted into the OTA program!"  Uhhhhh...... WHAT?!?!?!?!?  I was completely unprepared to hear that.  She kept going on and on about how exciting this was and congratulations and stuff.  But all I could think of was that MY plans were all of a sudden coming to a screeching halt and MY life was doing a 180 and I was NOT ready for that!  So I spent the day being extremely overdramatic/crying/playing poor me.  But God.  He ever so kindly reminded me that this is a great opportunity and MY plans maybe weren't what he deemed as best for me.  I don't know the reason behind all the inconvenient timing, but he has also helped me get pretty excited about this new path.  I'm not really thrilled about becoming a poor college student as I enter my thirties, but here I am.  And I absolutely know that God will provide.  And to top it off?  I still get to work at the elevator.  Only part time, but still enough to make me happy:)
The next two weeks will be kind of a whirlwind, trying to fit in all my different things to get done for the program and finishing up at work, but here we go!