Christian Hippie Foster Momma

Well, I edited my last post after finding out that I give people too much benefit of doubt.  My brother called the other day to find out what happened and I was explaining how I didn't see any red flags this time, so that's why the whole thing scares me.  Then, I started to tell him about a few little things that made me uneasy, but I didn't really see them as flags.  I'm starting to realize, though, maybe that feeling in my gut is the red flag.  The moment I start to feel insecure - is that the point I need to say I'm done? About a month into dating this guy, someone used the word "boyfriend/girlfriend" about us and we hadn't used those terms  yet.  I kind of laughed and said, "So... are you my boyfriend now?"  What I envisioned to be a cutesy moment where we start using the title turned into a conversation that left me feeling uneasy about our relationship.  He spouted off things about how we needed to take it slow and I was so determined

So, in my previous post I talked about the guy who made my heart flutter.  Oh yes, he made it flutter an awful lot!!  And then... all of the sudden... he just wasn't into me.  It's interesting, I have the book "He's Just Not That Into You" as I am sure I have mentioned here before, and it really should be required reading material for girls who are dating.  Not everything in the book will line up with people's values, but the general concepts in the book are spot-on.  I pulled out that book about three weeks ago because I was having a weird gut feeling about the boy and wanted to see what the wise book said about my situation.  Seriously, that should be my first clue.  If I have to consult a book "He's Just Not That Into You" to determine what the guy is thinking, I should count that as good intuition and just start the healing process, right?  Well, the book was inconclusive - kind of - it was too early in my relationship to really tell if I sho

I am doing theater again!  WOOHOO!!!  I honestly thought the day would never come, but after interpreting for Level Ground Arts' last production, Xanadu, I got an opportunity to actually be in the next show - A Samurai Nosferatu.  I am so excited to get back to my first passion - I didn't realize how much I had missed it!  This show is a bit weird and a bit creepy, so what better time do it but October!  Please come see the show!  It will be running every Friday and Saturday in October (yes, even on my birthday which I am slightly bummed about having to change my big plans for my first annual 29th birthday, but being on stage almost makes up for missing Randy Travis at the TX state fair). :) COME SEE IT!  Check out the link for more info... I'm so excited! :)

You know the saying "you never know what you had until it's gone."  Well, I have recently decided that you also don't know (or forget) what you're missing until you have it.  I have done a lot of dating... okay, not a ton  but I have had a few relationships in my life, some more serious than others, some just a few weeks long, some a few months, and a couple for a few years.  Those guys are all special people and each have unique qualities that attracted me to them, but it's like Bono sang so beautifully - "I still haven't found what I'm lookin' for." It's interesting, while I was in these relationships, there are behaviors and red flags that I was completely willing to ignore because I would think "he's such a good guy" or "he has a good heart and means well," when in reality, I deserved better.  For the past year or so, people in my life would ask me why I wasn't dating so-and-so and my response was alwa

Just trying to get back in the habit... Absolutely no makeup on, but hey!  It's summer! :) Shirt - Target Skirt - Old Navy Shoes - DSW Happy Wednesday!

Yes, you read that right.  I recently signed up on match.com.  For those of you who followed my internet dating drama of 2007 (it was an era!) I'm sure you are wondering what crack I have smoked to make me high enough to sign up for that again.  {Side note, does one smoke crack?  I don't know how that works.  I thought you did something else with crack.  My drug knowledge is limited.}  Well, yes I signed up and I have received a barrage of emails from guys that think I'm hot. heh  And where are all these guys when I go out for a girls night and feel invisible next to my beautiful friends?  Oh yeah, they're sitting behind their computers, surfing match.com. Well, it's always fun to see what people say when they are trying to put their best foot forward.  It amazes me how, instead of "forward," they put it straight in their mouth!  An email I received today is a good example of that.   "Wow, you are gorgeous! It seems as though we have a lot in common

I have been reading Beth Moore’s book “So Long, Insecurity.”   Wow!   It’s funny the way that things come into our lives just when we need them, even though we aren’t sure we needed them at the time.   Am I right?   I have a couple hours every day when I take Marco to a daily appointment and just find things to do for two hours.   There’s a Weir’s Furniture nearby and they have a “Christian Book Nook” and the cutest little country store you’ve ever seen.   I was browsing the books the other day, wanting something beneficial to read, and saw this book by Beth Moore.   She had several books on the shelf but this one jumped out at me.   And the funny thing is, I never really considered myself insecure, but something told me I needed this book.   So, I bought it. The first half of the book is recognizing what insecurity is.   She quotes different specialists’ definitions of insecurity.   In a nutshell, insecurity is self-doubt, self-consciousness, fear of rejection, uncertainty about whet

Hello, My name is Sarah and I'm a commitment-aholic. So, yeah, I tend to over-commit myself and it never fails, I'll get to a point where I feel like I can't juggle it all and I'll say to myself, "I am taking a year off!  I will not commit myself to anything for a year!" and then something happens and I just can't pass it up, and the vicious cycle starts again. Unfortunately, I'm at that breaking point right now.  So much has happened in the past month and so much is due to happen in the next month - I'd appreciate some prayers on just getting through it all!  And hopefully somewhere in the midst of all this stuff , I'll have some time to do a real blog post! :) OH YEAH -  Happy Mother's Day to all you Moms out there, and especially mine - cause she is awesome! :)

Our world is filled with people that have a sense of entitlement.   People who can’t afford luxuries complain if they don’t get them and expect others to pay for them.   A lot of times kids, even kids that are being raised in low-income homes, expect a hand-out and get mad when there isn’t one.   I often get so infuriated that these people feel like they deserve things just because they want them.   But my anger quickly turns to sadness because I realize that these people are missing out on the “little things." I had a great childhood, but our family was not one that had extra money.   Things got better as I got older, but f or most of my life, I remember being *that kid* that went down every aisle of the grocery store (my favorite thing to do, btw) and ask for every single thing.   I don’t know why I never seemed to grasp the meaning of “we don’t have money for that” or “no, not this time.”   Despite hearing these things every time I asked, I continued to do it.   One day, I mus

Sorry, had a Rebecca Black moment. Okay so I totally missed WIWW but I liked my outfit today (which, since it is now after midnight, is actually yesterday.  I think we should count time in sleeps, it just makes more sense.  So, it was 0 sleeps ago, so.. yeah... today).  Jacket - Gap (clearance!!) Shirt - Gap (clearance again!) Skirt - Hilfiger Shoes - stole from Mom and completely wore out Necklace - Forever 21 (I think... it's been a while) I have an assignment in my Interpreting 2 class to perform a song (basically, a loose interpretation) and I'm seriously considering doing Friday by Rebecca Black.  Oh man, I could have a fun time with that one! :P Have a happy FRIDAY and enjoy the weekend!

So today is my 5-year divorciversary.  Ya know... that thing.  Maybe I am supposed to be sad today, or reminiscent, but honestly I am not.  I really forgot all about it until I was just looking at the calendar and thinking, "why does this date stick out so much to me?  Am I forgetting someone's birthday?" I still don't know why things had to happen the way they did, but I fully believe in the verse that says God works things out for good for those who love Him.  Because I love Him and the trauma from five years ago has turned out to be one of the most obvious blessings in my life.  Yes, there is an occasional frustration from loose ends that never got tied up (mostly money issues) but I would rather deal with that any day than be on a life plan that wasn't what God had planned for me.  God is SO good!

Undershirt - Target Shirt - Gap (clearance! yeah!) Jeans - swapped Shoes - Dillards Outlet Earrings - Claire's - love me some cheap jewelry! ;) Here's a view of my earrings for you,  Hannah . :) Bonus outfit: This is what I wore yesterday for an observation and last night for a presentation in class. Shirt - Ann Taylor Loft Jacket - Jones New York (2 sizes too big) Skirt - swapped! Shoes - hand-me-downs I received compliments on the shoes all day, so I wish I had a for-real camera to take a nice picture of them... or the ability to take a picture of my shoes without showing you my cankles, but here is the best I could do: Stop staring at my cankles!!!!  No, really, it's okay.  God gave me cankles for some unknown reason, so I will just assume it's a good reason.  One day something in my life will happen that I would not have been able to do if I had normal-sized ankles, and then I'll know. Happy Wednesday! Peace out.

I was talking to a friend of mine last night about being jealous of another person.   I recently noticed some beautiful compliments paid to a very sweet friend, well deserving of said compliments.   I was getting more and more frustrated, though, because I realized how jealous I was.   I kept thinking to myself, “Wow, I wish someone thought that of me” or “I wish I was more like them” and other things of that nature. Before, if you had asked me if I was a jealous person, I would have said that was not one of my weaknesses.   I would have said that I want what other people have, but not that I wanted to take it from them, so that couldn’t be considered jealousy, right?   Unfortunately, I was mistaken.   Not only was I jealous of that person, but I was also deceiving myself into thinking I was better or more spiritually mature than I actually was.   Recognizing that recent jealousy of my sweet friend has really made me aware of an attitude I never thought I had.   I’ve sometimes been a

Earrings - Claire's Sweater - Swapped Shirt - American Eagle (like a bazillion years ago) Skirt - Swapped Shoes - Nine West Bracelets - Premier Designs

Jacket - swapped Shirt - Ann Taylor Loft Skirt - swapped Shoes - swapped Did I say I loved doing the swap already?  Cause I did. :)

Shirt - Ann Taylor Loft (clearance - love their sales!) Skirt - swapped! Shoes - don't remember where they came from - oops! I desperately need to clean my room and put all the swap clothes away...  so you can just ignore the background. :)

I hosted a clothing swap this afternoon.  It was fun, but I really think that I got more clothes out of it than anyone else.  Didn't intend for it to be that way, but we didn't have a lot of participants so it was just one of those things! To show what I got, though, I thought it would be fun to do a What I Wore - Swap Edition.   Every day (or close to it) I will post an outfit or piece of clothing that I got from the swap.   Here's what I wore out to a casual dinner with the family tonight. I am always wanting at least one long jean skirt in my closet, so I was stoked to get this one today!   Also love a t-shirt with some spunk, and I just loved this.   Yay for swaps!

Since the boys I nanny are Catholic, go to a Catholic school, etc. we've had a lot of discussion about Lent and Easter recently.  The fun conversations started on Wednesday last week.  I knew it was Ash Wednesday and wondered if they would ask me why I did not have ashes on my forehead.  Amusingly enough, when I picked them up from school, before even saying "Hello," Nando (short for Fernando) informed me that he had to wipe that stuff off his face because it was dirty.  Nando is five years old and says the funniest things!  He didn't seem to notice that I didn't have any ashes.  Marco is seven and hadn't wiped his off.  He is old enough to start to understand what it is all about, and one of the first things he told me is that they had to give up something for Lent. Marco has decided that he is giving up video games.  What a sacrifice for a seven-year-old!  It will be a sacrifice for all of us, though, since it would be torture for us to play while he's

I was recently asked by my friend, Kathleen, to be involved in the planning of a charity fundraiser 5k and 1 mile Fun Run/Walk.  Well, we have the go-ahead so mark your calendars for May 21 and make plans to come to Irving, TX!  We are coordinating the event to benefit Family Promise of Irving.  I'll post the details as they are confirmed.  We will need people to be involved in every aspect - runners as well as volunteers! Family Promise is really cool - it's an organization that partners with "host congregations" to provide a place for low- or no- income families to stay while they are getting back on their feet.  For more info, check out their website - clicky clicky . This is just one of the many things that has kept me busy!  (I even missed WIWW this week!  Eeek!) Be on the lookout for a crafty blog post, soon! :)

Headband - Claire's Shirt - Target Skirt - Ann Taylor Loft (love that store!  They have the best clearance!) Shoes - Target Happy Wednesday!

As I mentioned on my facebook last week, I somehow injured my thigh just two days before the Surfside Half Marathon, for which I was registered and STOKED to run!  How did I injure it, you ask?  Well, I actually hurt it twice - both times, playing with a five-year-old.  I'm still not sure what happened, exactly, but all I know is the searing pain that struck my leg on Friday afternoon as I jumped up to be the "goose."  Talk about making you feel old ! I traveled down to my friend Ben's house in Houston Friday night and couldn't even lift my leg at that point.  I had to pick it up with my hands in order to get out of the car! Crazy.  I took some Nighttime Recovery and fell asleep as soon as I got there. Saturday morning started so early!  I woke about 5:30 and was disappointed to learn that my leg was still hurt.  It wasn't as bad as Friday, but I wasn't sure I would be able to run.  I decided to get dressed and go anyway.  Thankfully, Ben was driving dow

Jacket - At Last (it's OLD... can't remember where it came from!) T-shirt - Gap Jeans - CK Shoes - WalMart Bracelet thingy - made by me from scrap material (Hi Bricky-poo over in the corner!) Happy Wednesday!

Irving Church of Christ  hosted an event this weekend for teenagers called "Impact Weekend."  It's the 3rd time we've done it and this one was the best yet!  We started the weekend off on Friday night by watching the movie "To Save A Life."  If you haven't seen this movie, go get it NOW! It's one of those things that makes you want to be a better person.  Good stuff. I was a group leader, so I spent Friday night through Sunday morning with five awesome girls!  We had studies and discussions about situations we saw in the movie (things that teens face) and how the Bible tells us to respond.  There were 6 groups in all.  It sounds so cliche' to say this, but I feel like I got more out of the discussions and studying the Bible than the teens did. Throughout the weekend, there were lots of games, laughs, tears, jokes, friendships, and sleep deprivation .  I wish that everyone could have that experience! We wrapped up the weekend by attending chur

This is my "I'm nannying all day and don't need to get all dolled up" look. :) Sweater - Mossimo/Target T-shirt - Mossimo/Target Jeans - CK Shoes - Walmart Hair ties disguised as bracelets - Walmart :)

As I mentioned on Tifany's blog , I love stitched paper!  Something about it just makes me so happy. :)  With that in mind, I made a few Valentine's notecards.  They are pretty plain, but they're cute enough that you can embellish or leave them plain! Making the cards is really easy, but I'll give you some tips to make the process smooth. First, you need a notecard (I used 4x6 cardstock), embroidery thread and a needle. I usually freehand my design, but if you are not confident in your artistic abilities, just grab a cookie cutter and trace this bad boy out!  For this card, I just wanted a simple heart. Don't try to be perfect.  I think imperfection makes them cuter. :) Next, you just want to use your needle to make holes all along the outline you just drew.  You can space the holes fairly close together, just keep in mind that you make the hole bigger as you pull the thread through it, so if the holes are too close, that can be a problem.  It wouldn't

My first What I Wore Wednesday post, and I'm cheating.  This was Tuesday!  But, considering that we were iced in yet again today, I am still in my PJ's so you won't be seeing a picture of that! :) *top to bottom* Headband - made by me Earrings - Avenue (they have cute, BIG jewelry!) scarf - made by me long-sleeve shirt - Target jacket - A.M.I. (hand-me-down) Blingin' ring - Avenue pants - Ann Taylor Loft The big mess that is my room - definitely made by me! :P

My best friend, Rachel, recently turned 25 and we went to dinner tonight to celebrate her birthday.  I wanted to make a fun cake for her and finally decided on Bejeweled Blitz - a facebook game that we both play!  Since lots of people ask me just HOW I make my cakes, I thought I would show the process! First, I almost always use a cake mix.  People always tell me how amazingly delicious my cakes are, so why bother making them from scratch?  Also, I don't have to wonder how they will turn out because everything is so consistent.  My favorite brand is Betty Crocker and I love the French and Golden Vanilla the best.  Yummm You might not be able to tell in this picture, but I always line the bottom of the pan with wax paper.  If you don't do this, DO IT!  I made cakes for a year or two before I realized how wonderful this step is!  Now I never have a cake stuck in the pan! Also contributing to my non-stick success is THIS stuff.  I spray the sides of the pan with Bak-klene an

I have spent the majority of my day discovering blogs.  It's like a never-ending process because I find a blog I love and then notice all the blogs they  love, so I go to those and see all the blogs that THEY  love.  Whew!  I think I had about 50 tabs open in one session.   Anyway,  in the midst of my discovering, I came across Simply Handmade by Paige .  I dig this girl's style!  Also, she is having a GIVEAWAY for a gift certificate towards a bag made by Aubrey Plays .  The bags are simply adorable!  If you have a minute or two - check them out!  Even if I don't win this giveaway, I'm pretty sure I will be toting one of these bags pretty soon!

Before I get started, you must know that I am copy-catting from a great blog that I love,  Make it and Love it . I saw this scarf tutorial months ago and am just now getting around to trying it myself.  Because, let's face it, I'm a procrastinator but being snowed in for four days really gives me no excuse!  So... here we go! I found a little bit of black knit in one of mom's closets (she has gobs of fabric!) and thought it would be great for this project.  It's heavier than I like, but I didn't want to spend the money to buy fabric for such a simple project.   Cut strips that are 7 inches wide.  No idea what the ending length of mine were because I was rushing through that process a bit and just cut until I ran out of fabric.  I would guess that the completed strip of fabric was about 12 ft long.  (Which turned out being a bit long, so keep that in mind if trying it for yourself!)  I had to piece several together, so that's why I don't know for sure. N

Although I bought the storage bins with the pink lids thinking they were the cutest ones available, I hate seeing them every time I walk in my room. I thought that this lovely Waverly fabric would come to the rescue! I bought it years ago to make a curtain and then decided it was too busy to cover that much space. I have toyed with a few different ideas and I think making an extra-long bedskirt (since my bed is extra high off the floor) is the best choice... I think. Before I start all this sewing, though, I'd like some opinions. Does this look like too much? Whaddya think? Need to see more of the room? Is this just TOO much? Any other ideas? I'd love some advice!