2010 Thanks.

It's hard to believe that Thanksgiving is upon us yet again. I can distinctly remember last year's holiday, and it's crazy how another year has flown by. Like every year, 2010 has had it's ups and downs, but God is still faithful, and for that, I am forever thankful. As a Christian, I strive to be continually and daily thankful and live a life of gratitude as Christ has called us to, but there are days and weeks that go by without truly giving thanks for my life and everyone and everything in it.

I'm thankful for my Savior, Redeemer, and daily hope - Jesus Christ. I know that this may not make sense for everyone, or some people take thanking God and everything He is and does lightly, but I can truly and sincerely say that my life is amazing because of Him and I would be a serious wreck, if I did not have Him to turn to. I have overcome and found peace in life's madness only due to the comfort and love Christ gives. I'm amazed by His grace and mercy. Thank you, Lord.

I'm thankful for my amazing and wonderful family. They are my everything. I seriously have, hands down, the best family ever. My parents are all I could ask for and more. They have been my love, support, shelter, guide, example, and friend. I am so thankful for their selflessness and love. I would not be who I am today without them. I owe them my life. Thank you, Mom & Dad.

I'm thankful for my crazy, fun, and loving siblings. We have so much love for each other. They make me laugh, make me crazy, and show me how to enjoy life, each in their own way. They are my best friends. I'm thankful that I am close with my siblings. I know that there are many siblings that are not close, and may not even speak to each other. Recently, many people have told me that they love how close my siblings and I are, and that they are even envious. Although sad to hear on their end, it makes me even more thankful. Thank you, Priscilla, Rebekah, and Isaiah.

I'm thankful for all the amazing friends in my life! I'm thankful for the old, faithful friends that have stayed in my life over the years despite changes and challenges. Just as much, I'm thankful for all the new friends that have come into my life. I am amazed at how people enter your life and have such an impact. The love and faithfulness of a friend amazes me. I'm thankful for the laughter, confidence, advise, and encouragement friends bring into my life. Thank you, friends!

I'm thankful for my health, my entire family and relatives, my church, my pastor, my pastor's wife, leaders in my life, my ministry and purpose, my education, my Toby, my job, my house, my car, my country, my freedom.

I'm thankful for this beautiful thing we call LIFE! ♥

Happy Thanksgiving!

Much Love,

Sarah ♥

Red.

How fun would it be to be a red head? ♥

I gasped when I saw this picture. Beautiful side chignon too. Here are the instructions.

SF Giants!

Congratulations to the San Francisco Giants - the 2010 World Series Champions!

Being a SF native, I remember going to Giants' games at Candlestick Park when I was little. Albeit, I am not a die hard fan but I love the game of baseball and the city of San Francisco. My family and relatives are all super excited for this win! I'm happy the Giants finally have their victory.

-Beautiful city

-Beautiful game

-Beautiful players ;)

Go Giants! ♥

Bike.

I'm getting a bicycle custom built! Super excited.

♥

Sweet memories.

Wouldn't it be nice to be a little girl again? So carefree and bright-eyed.

This gal is adorable and seeing this photo brought back fond memories.

Birthday Month.

It's my birthday month! ♥

Hurt.

Betrayal, pain, hypocrisy.
Always the victim...right?

Life brings the unexpected, the unimaginable.
Perfect world turns upside down.

Deserved? Or is life really this unfair?
Continually growing stronger in my pain.

I give it all to You.
I would crumble trying to handle all this on my own.

Desiring the happy days of old,
how did life take such a turn?

I'm a survivor.


-svc

Weddings.

Thinking about tomorrow's wedding, here are some of my favorite wedding photos... ♥

Ahh, the weekend!

I love Fridays. I love the weekend. I'm such a planner. I always have my weekends planned out and attempt to avoid as much idle time as possible; except for Sunday afternoons - those call for naps and lounging.

This weekend will proceed as followed:

+Paesanos for dinner and opening night of Eat, Pray, Love with my girlfriend, J. {I loved the book & am super excited to see the movie!}

+Gym, shopping, & errands Saturday morning.

+My friend, B.'s, wedding on Saturday evening. {I love weddings. They melt my heart.}

+Church on Sunday followed by lunch & hanging out at a friend's house after.

tgif. ♥

NYC Dumpster Swimming Pools.

New York City went green by converting city dumpsters into swimming pools for NYC residents during the summer months. How fun is that?! :)

Read the full article here.

Summer Fiesta Wedding.

Aren't these wedding photos just delightful?

So fun, so unique, so green! ♥

I am very much into unique, non-traditional weddings like this. It's all about details.

Via: Design*Sponge

Hillsong LIVE!

I went to my 4th Hillsong concert on Wednesday night! I oh-so-love them. It was a great worship experience. I always get so encouraged at these events. I love Jesus. ♥ OH! And my friend, Jonathan, and I actually got to meet a few of the members of Hillsong!

Here are some pictures.

Weekend in Pacifica.

Here are some pictures from my weekend in Pacifica.

Nature, family, beauty.

Bliss.

I arrived Friday night and enjoyed some girl chat with my aunts and cousins along with some zumba dancing and tons of laughing! Saturday morning we went to this cute diner for breakfast and stopped in a little surf shop to browse around. Then, we headed over to my cousin, Tyler's, play performance. He landed the role of Aladdin in the this oh-so-adorable version of Aladdin. We all headed back to the house for the celebration of four recent family birthdays - food, cake, dancing, and fun. A few of us headed out to the beach to enjoy the ocean, watch the surfers, and hike up to a beautiful view of Pacifica. Late night, I went out with my cousin and some of her girlfriends to SF. Fun times. Sunday consisted of church, seeing some friends, and some more hiking and beach time. All around a great weekend. ♥

If you are my amigo on FB, you can see more pictures there.

The Sartorialist.

This is why I love The Sartorialist....

♥

Mom, 1987.

I found this vintage photo of my beautiful mother at the tender age of 22. Here she is in Hawaii on her honeymoon. I love the look on her face - inquisitive, perplexed, relaxed. Isn't she lovely? ♥

The Weekend.

Happy weekend! I'm headed to Pacifica to spend the weekend with my cousins. It has been way to long since we've had a "sleep over". Can we say like 10 years! I'm looking forward to spending time with my family and escaping the valley heat.

What are you doing this weekend?

♥ S

Happy Birthday, Isaiah!

Happy Birthday to the best brother ever! Okay, my only brother. ;) He's talented, creative, and hilarious. You can see all three in his video here. Ahh, I heart him!

God's Eye View.

Adam & Eve. {you can see them laying in the grass}

Noah's Ark on Mount Ararat.

The Red Sea Crossing.

The Crucifixion.

Artist, James Dive, used Google Earth to recreate Biblical events from 'God's Eye View'. Read the article here. I love how real these photos make these miraculous events.

The Call - Sacramento.

I just found out about this event yesterday, and boy did it make my day! The Call - Sacramento is happening September 3rd and 4th. This looks like an amazing, life changing, spiritual event. I'm uberly excited!

Camping.

Want to know a secret? I've never been camping. I've been to "camps" where you stay in cabins and eat in the dining hall, but never sleep in tents and gather around the fire kind-of-camping. I long to. I love nature. It's rejuvenating. It's tranquil. It's beauty. Hopefully soon.

Happy Weekend!

Did you know that the real world doesn't have Easter/Spring break?? Darn Corporate America. This is my first year without the oh-so-necessary spring break. Bummer. :( On the up-side though, my boss decided mid-week to give us Good Friday off! {I'm God's favorite, in case you didn't know. ;)} Helloooo, 3-day weekend! Considering these 3-days my "spring break", I've decided to make the most of it. Today I am doing much-needed errands and er...shopping! ;) Then, going to the Rock and Worship Roadshow tonight at Arco Arena. I'm sooo excited! Mercy Me, David Crowder Band, Family Force 5, and more! Then, on Saturday I'm going snowboarding! I use to go allll the time years back (like every Thursday for $10 lift tickets!), but sadly, have not been in a couple years. Maybe I can squeeze one more in before the season is over. Saturday night's plans are still pending. My sisters want to go to an Easter play in Modesto; our attendance just depends on how exhausted we are from snowboarding. Easter Sunday will consist of church, family, and relaxation. Looking forward to starting my weekend...now!

Love,

Sarah

Dream Home.

Wouldn't it be wonderful to have a home like this...

and it looked this this on the inside...

♥

Craigslist.

I recently have been enlightened with the amazingness of Craigslist. Looking for something? Anything? Don't want to pay retail price? Looking for a great deal? (Wow, can you say salesperson? haha.) Well, Craigslist is your answer! I'm currently looking into buying a LV purse, Coach purse, and a bike cruiser. Bliss!

Fun. Not fun. More fun.

What a week it has been! Is it typical for awesome, fun weekends to be followed by crappy week days? ...to balance out? Possibly. As mentioned, this past weekend was so great! It was fun being with friends, sharing laughs, and creating memories (most of them hilarious ones!). It's a shame it had to come to an end and all of us go back to our lives & schedules; but that's life, right? This week has been so difficult...emotionally, at work, with life's demands...I can't wait for it to be over. At times, I wish to escape all of it. Jump on a jet plane, land in a remote place, and rejuvenate myself - with my thoughts, my emotions, with Christ, regain perspective on life. Does this make sense? I find myself questioning my life and the route it's taking. I'm at stage in my life where there are decisions to be made, goals to accomplish, and where I need to start "spreading my wings". I get discouraged that I have such high goals and dreams stirring up in my mind, but seem so far-fetched when reality seeps in. I don't want to drag on, but it's just been a tough week. On the up-side, I have another fun weekend to look forward to. It's my friend, M.'s, birthday and we're heading to SF (yet again!). We plan on biking the Golden Gate bridge! Being born in SF and visiting The City alllll the time, I am sad to say I have never had this experience. Besides that, there's no real set plan...just hanging out, shopping, eating, and possibly manis & pedis. Bliss! One more day of hell! (pardon my French!)

Weekend in The Bay.

I'm spending the weekend in The Bay! I have some friends from Arizona who are visiting California for the weekend. Although, I would have loved to spend the entire week with them, I am bound to my typical week of work, homework, church, & gymming. So, after work today, my sister & I are heading out to San Jose for a fun-filled weekend! We're doing the typical tourist run in San Francisco on Saturday...Pier, Union Square, Haight, Palace of F.A., Twin Peaks, etc. The weather forecast looks great, 66 degrees & partly sunny. I look forward to shopping, yummy food, and good friends. Then, on Sunday we're going to Jubilee Church, I've never been there for Sunday service only for Hillsong concerts. I'm looking forward to it! The rest of Sunday will probably consist of relaxation & possibly the beach. I can't wait! Is it 3pm yet?!

Fun times await!

What are your weekend plans?

Thai Deliciousness.

Have you ever tried Thai food? I'm semi-new to it, and love it! A co-worker introduced me to a noodle plate that I can seriously eat every day - Beef Drunken Noodle, or it's authentic Thai name of Pad-Kee-Mow. There's a restaurant 2 blocks from where I work, on J & 25th, called Thai Basil. It's a cute, clean, & modern family-owned place. If ever you're in the area, it's a must! (Don't be fooled by the picture - it's heaven in your mouth!)