Happy Father's Day

Happy Father’s Day to the greatest dad! I know most people think that their dad is the best, but my dad was truly amazing! I look back at everything he did for me, and I am incredibly grateful. I only wish I could tell him Thank You for those wonderful things to his face this Father’s Day.

Unfortunately, my dad passed away about 1 year and 3 months ago. This is the 2nd Father’s Day we’ve celebrated without my dad actually present. It definitely brings a different feel to this Hallmark holiday.



For us, it is now a time to remember our dad, and to be thankful of how wonderful he was.

Here are a few great memories of my dad I’d like to share:

When I was in elementary school, I can remember him taking me out of school in the middle of the day for a dentist appointment, or maybe it was an orthodontist appointment. After the appointment he would take me to lunch at McDonalds. At that age, getting McDonalds was a real treat!



I also remember a time when he went with me on a field trip to Chicago for my ACT class. I think I was in 4th or 5th grade at that time. He took the day off work, and we rode in a Greyhound bus to Chicago for the day. I think it was my first time ever going to Chicago. We went to Shedd Aquarium. We went to the Field Museum. We had lunch in the park. It was a day of just me and my dad. I can’t really remember the details of the day, but I still can’t believe he did that with me!



Other memories of my dad include him teaching me how to drive! I’m sure he enjoyed that… but not really… :-) To teach me about driving in the snow, he had me drive around in the high school parking lot before it had been plowed. The car I learned to drive in didn’t have anti-lock brakes. So he had me drive super fast (or what felt like super fast) across the lot and then slam on my brakes and try and turn the wheel. For anyone who’s driven in the snow, you all know that my car did not turn and continued to go in the direction I had been driving. He then had me repeat this little exercise and then pump my brakes and turn the wheel. This time, my car turned in the direction I wanted to go. I think that was a lesson I’ll never forget! :-)



Something I am so grateful for is that my dad was able to walk me down the aisle on my wedding day. I was very nervous and stressed out on my wedding day. I remember walking down the aisle, more like running down the aisle, and my dad said “I think we are supposed to walk slowly.” I said “Oh crap, that’s right!” We were already half way there, but we immediately changed our pace. I just find that so funny. That was my dad’s way of calming me down!



I have so many incredible memories of my dad, just too many to write about here. Even after a year, a day doesn’t go by that I don’t think about him and miss him. HAPPY FATHER’S DAY, DAD!

Me, a name, I call myself!

This blog post started out because random terms that I would use to describe myself were floating through my head. I felt like I needed to write them down and get them out so I could concentrate on my work. And as I was writing, I realized that the majority of the terms were negative, negative, negative. They were not helping boost my mood at all.

And when I got to about my 30th term/phrase to describe me, I realized I was digging my own grave of sadness and negativity. I was wallowing in my self-pity. For what? Why would I even bother writing all that negativity out, and then publishing it for all to see? It just seemed to bring me down deeper into the dumps!

I know I’m in a little bit of a ‘rut’ and the winter blues are carrying on into summer, but I just need to get over it… Maybe if I can lift my mood, then I’ll stop seeing the everyday monotonous tasks of life as just something that you are required to do, and start seeing them as something to enjoy, to cherish, to remember…

So I have decided to “turn my frown upside down!” Instead of writing ANY ol’ term that comes to my head, I am going to purposefully think about and write only POSITIVE terms or phrases that describe me!

So, here are 50 POSITIVE/UPLIFTING terms and phrases that are me. Maybe you’ll learn something new!

1. I am female.
2. I am a daughter.
3. I am a sister.
4. I am a wife.
5. I am an aunt.
6. I am a cousin.
7. I am a friend.
8. I am a neighbor.
9. I am a listener.
10. I am shy.
11. I am good at math (when using a calculator).
12. I am an engineer.
13. I am a college graduate.
14. I am a home owner.
15. I am a reader.
16. I am an online shopper.
17. I am a volunteer.
18. I am the ‘Inspire Change’ Committee Director for the Grand Rapids AHA Start! Heart Walk.
19. I am the ‘Community’ Chair Person for the Herman Miller WIN Team.
20. I am quiet.
21. I am loyal.
22. I am easy-going.
23. I am a life-long learner.
24. I am thankful.
25. I am helpful.
26. I am a jewelry maker.
27. I am a recycler.
28. I am dependable.
29. I am passionate about the environment.
30. I am honest.
31. I am sensitive.
32. I am half-Filipino.
33. I am quirky.
34. I am silly.
35. I am Christian.
36. I am modest.
37. I am dedicated.
38. I am a dreamer.
39. I am a person who likes to celebrate holidays, birthdays, and other special occasions.
40. I am a newbie crafter.
41. I am cautious.
42. I am a fast typer.
43. I am an animal lover.
44. I am a newbie blogger! :-)
45. I am a planner.
46. I am goal-oriented.
47. I am an ice-cream lover.
48. I am a Diet Coke addict.
49. I am interested in a lot of different things, like history, traveling, crafts, and psychology.
50. I am in love with my husband.
Ok, that was actually pretty difficult to come up with 30 terms/phrases to describe myself. Does anyone else know something about me that I should add??? Could you come up with 50 positive terms to describe yourself? I’d love it if you’d share them here! :-)

Simple Joys

I’ve been feeling kind of down lately, so I decided to do some self-therapy by listing a bunch of things in my life that bring me joy!

1.First and foremost, my wonderful, loving husband Chaz. He is amazing! Whenever I am down, he is there to comfort me and make me laugh. Sometimes, he can just look at me and I start laughing. I also love the fact that he knows me better than I know myself sometimes. I know it’s cheesy, but he truly is my BEST FRIEND!

2.Second is my family! We are all CRAZY, we are all ALIKE, and we are all DIFFERENT at the same time! I know that makes ZERO sense, but that is seriously how we are. I can’t help but smile when I think of what an outsider must think looking in at our family. They probably have difficulty understanding us because we talk so fast, but they definitely wouldn’t have trouble hearing us because we talk LOUD! But no matter how crazy or unique we may be, we are always there for each other. And that is what makes my family awesome!

3.My friends also bring me a lot of happiness. I love how I can get together with my closest friends from high school that I haven’t seen or talked to for several months and we can chat like no time has passed. I also love that after I spend time with friends, my face usually hurts from smiling and laughing so much! Making new friends makes me happy as well, and I’ve been making lots of new friends lately! Yay!

4.Next would be my cat, Peanut. I know everyone thinks their pet is the cutest pet out there, but seriously, sometimes Peanut is so cute I can barely stand it! I love that he is so snuggly. He will come right up to me and plop down on my chest and he will sleep there until I move him (or Chaz pushes him down :-P). Plus, he chases his own tail. How cute is that? I wish I could capture it on video, but by the time I grab my camera, he is over it and on to something different. Snuggling with my cat can definitely lift my spirits!

5.Sunshine and blue skies! This is basically self explanatory. Every time I go outside and see the clear blue skies and the sun shining, I am reminded of how awesome God’s work is. It always reminds me of my favorite verse, Psalm 118:24 (NIV), “This is the day the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it.”

So that’s just a few Simple Joys that I decided to write down. I feel better already! Feel free to share some of your Simple Joys in life here and lift everyone’s spirits! Have a wonderful day!

Happy Mother's Day!

Since Mother’s Day is this weekend, Sunday, May 9, I’d like to say “Happy Mother’s Day” to all my friends who are Mommies! I love looking at the pictures you share of you kids! They are all so beautiful and you are all wonderful Mom’s! I also love reading random posts of the antics your kids get into. They sound hysterical! I can’t wait for it to be my turn to join the Mommy Club! I’ll make sure to share it all with you, and expect me to ask for lots of Mommy advice!

Next, I’d like to wish a very Happy Mother’s Day to my wonderful mother-in-law, Debi! Thank you for raising such a strong, caring, and hard-working son. Thank you for teaching him good morals. And thank you for letting him move to a different state!  You did a great job with him! Also, thank you for being such a great mother-in-law to me. Whenever I’m with you guys, I feel accepted as part of the family. I know a lot of people that complain about their mother-in-law or they don’t get along, but I have NOTHING to complain about with you. You are great!



Finally, I’d like to wish my own Mom a Happy Mother’s Day! There are no words to express how grateful I am to have you as my Mom. I wouldn’t trade you for anyone else! You have taught me how to be a good person and how to be strong during difficult times. Plus, you have given me a life that experiences a different culture, and I look forward to sharing it with my children someday! Thank you so much for working SO HARD for over 29 years to give me all my heart could desire! I’ve seen what it is like where you worked and I don’t know how you did it for so long. You are amazing! Lastly, thank you so much for making it “the law” to go to college. I wouldn’t be where I am at today without it. I love you, Mom!

Time Traveling Through Music

Distractions at work are inevitable! It could be hearing the people in the aisle next to you talking very loudly about what they did over the weekend. Or people arguing about some pointless issue that could be resolved quickly but they INSIST on dragging out. Or having tours go through because my cubicle is in a “working” showroom…

So, to avoid these distractions and attempt to get some work done, I put on my headphones and rock out!!! My method of streaming music has evolved since I began working. I began by listening to Launchcast Music through Yahoo.com. Launchcast was nice because I could rate different artists and songs and it would personalize my station if I was logged in.

But eventually Launchcast was discontinued and converted into CBS Radio. This was still through Yahoo.com. I did not like this as much because I could only choose pre-set stations, and I could personalize a station. This meant I did not get very much variety in what I listened to. I usually just chose the “Pop” or “Today’s Big Hits” stations.

As Chaz and I began to regularly attend church, I decided to try out some contemporary Christian music. So, I began streaming from the local stations WayFM (89.9) and JQ99 (99.3). This was a nice change and I realized that contemporary Christian music isn’t that bad! :-) It was uplifting and positive, and I could still rock out to it. Plus, I started learning the words to the songs they rock out to at church, so it was a nice change.

But I felt I needed more variety, so I began using Pandora.com. And I love it! I am able to personalize my station, and it is a lot easier that Launchcast ever was. I am able to just type in an artist and it is added to my station. And if I don’t like a song that is playing, I just give it a thumbs down, and it skips the song for me! And let me tell you, my station is VERY DIVERSE! I still have my contemporary Christian music like Casting Crowns and Newsboys, and then the next song could be Xzibit or Notorious B.I.G.

So anyways, let me get to my point. Now that I’m listening to Pandora and my diverse radio station, I am hearing songs that I haven’t heard in FOREVER! And I LOVE IT! Isn’t it crazy how you can hear just the first few beats of a song, and instantly be transported into some other time where that song had some meaning or was a part of some event? All the emotions of that time are stirred up and it just brings back SO MANY memories! It definitely makes work more interesting when I “time travel” to those different moments in my life.

For example, any time a Boys II Men song comes on, I am back in 6th or 7th grade! I was obsessed with them during that time. It makes me think of those Junior High dances and first crushes and boyfriends. I get the same feeling from Mariah Carey’s song, “Always Be My Baby.” The emotions that come up from those songs always bring a smile to my face. Oh, to be young again!

I am brought back to fun times in high school with Jen Miller any time I hear an Nsync song, of course! We love our teeny-bopper music together! I also time travel back to high school when I hear DMX’s “Up in Here” or Jagged Edge’s “Let’s Get Married.” And then there are just way too many songs to name that being me back to the college years! But I’ll try to name a few anyways: “In Da Club” by 50 Cent, “Suga Suga” by Baby Bash and Frankie J, “Dance with the Devil” by Immortal Technique, and “Ignition” by R. Kelly.

I seriously love how music is such a memory trigger! And for me, those emotions that get stirred up can be so strong! Am I the only one that feels this way???

And this leads me into shamelessly plugging my new little Etsy shop that I started – www.AccessoryLove.etsy.com ! :-) I’m not sure how many people read my blog, since I’m new to it and I haven’t been regularly blogging, but I thought I’d give my readers (if there are any other there :-P) an opportunity to get ONE of my fun jewelry designs at 50% off!!! All you need to do is comment here with the name of a song and when/where it makes you “time travel” to. Then visit my shop and pick out an item that you want! Add it to your cart, fill in the information, and in the “Notes to Seller” section, put BLOG READER. Then hit the “Commit to buy” button. I will send you an invoice with the 50% off sale price. And remember, all my items have FREE SHIPPING within the United States! :-)

I look forward to reading about your songs and “time travels!” :-)

I got a hobby, I got a hobby, I got a hobby hey hey hey hey!

Wake up. Work. Dinner. TV/Read/Clean. Sleep. Repeat. That is a typical day in the life of Sarah. With such little variety, I’ve become bored, bored, bored. So, to add something interesting, I’ve decided to try doing random crafts…

This past weekend, I spent a lot of time trying out my new hobby! And I enjoyed it! I had been doing a lot of research about different crafts that I thought might be fun, and I decided on jewelry making. I chose this because there are several varieties of jewelry to make, and A LOT of different materials that you can use.
Through my online research, I’ve discovered so many fun projects out there that allow you to create fun jewelry with materials that a person might normally throw away.

And let me tell you, one thing I’m really passionate about is the environment! And not just because it’s the new trend to be “green.” I’ve cared about the environment since I was in elementary school. I remember having a club called the “Save the Earth Club.” I think it was me, Emily Stanton, and Cindy Brew. I think we created a newsletter about it and we tried picking up trash in the undeveloped part of our neighborhood. I think we also bought a bird feeder to help the birds, and we planted some plants in the undeveloped part of the neighborhood, that was later torn up and turned into the rest of the neighborhood. So yes, I’ve always been interested in the environment.

Well, as I was saying, you can basically use “trash” to make jewelry! The first upcycled material I decided to use was the tab from a soda pop can. I had seen many projects using these tabs and so I started saving them a few weeks ago. My intention was to save enough to create a purse! But unfortunately, I haven’t been able to save that many. So, I decided to make a bracelet instead because it requires a lot less tabs. After a few attempts at getting started, I was finally able to get into the swing of things and create my first pop can tab bracelet. Check it out!



Also, during my research of fun craft projects, I discovered Etsy.com. I had heard people mention it before, but I never really checked it out until recently. They have A LOT of cool stuff on that site! It is a site for people to sell handmade or vintage items. There are a lot of creative people out there. And I hope to become one of them! So, in order to promote my new crafting hobby, I decided to create my own Etsy shop, www.AccessoryLove.etsy.com. It was easy to set up, and although I haven’t sold any of my creations yet, I hope maybe I will someday! It would be fun to know that somebody else thinks what I did is so cool that they would want to buy it and wear it around! So, hopefully I’ll make my first sale soon! :-)

My other jewelry crafts that I made were drop earrings. I had wanted to make these for a long time since I saw them at a craft fair on the 4th of July. They seemed like something I’d be able to do, and I love earrings, but hate paying too much for them. And after buying the materials at Hobby Lobby, I discovered it was possible for me to make them! I was very excited about my first pair. I wore them to work today! I’ve created a few different designs so far and I made these available on my www.AccessoryLove.etsy.com. I still need to design more pairs! :-)



The final project I created this past weekend was a wreath for our front door. I got the idea from my friend Ashley, and it was a fun project to do! The wreath is made out of lima beans, hot glue, and a foam floral wreath. I spray painted it flat black, and glued on an “M,” the first initial of my last name, that I spray painted green. I hung it from our front door on a wreath hanger with a thick green ribbon. Because of the flat black, it kind of reminds me of a tire hanging on our door, so I might paint the wreath a different color, but for now, I’m satisfied! Another thing I might change would be to have it say “Welcome” instead of the initial “M.” All in all, it was a great, inexpensive project that I enjoyed creating! And I hope it makes our front door look decorated! :-)



I’m really enjoying my crafting hobby! I have several more projects that I want to try that involve upcycled materials, including but not limited to: water bottle or juice wrappers, old gift cards or credit cards, and more fun with pop can tabs! It gives me something to do when I come home from a rough day at work. And it’s something I can do while still spending time with Chaz. I sit at the kitchen table and make earrings while he works on his laptop. We can chat about our day and still get something accomplished. It is better that sitting in front of the TV! Chaz has also been very supportive in gathering all the “trash” that I want to make crafts from. We have little bowls and piles of “junk” all over the kitchen right now, but he hasn’t complained yet. He’s a good guy! :-)

So, stay tuned for more fun craft projects made by me! And stay tuned for more handmade accessories listed at www.AccessoryLove.etsy.com! :-)

I Feel the Need, the Need for Change!

This year, I turned 27… 27!!! That is crazy. It just seems so… old! Where did the time go? On the inside, I still feel like a high school kid. I still feel very immature… But on the outside, I’m supposed to be a responsible adult, with a husband, a career, a mortgage, bills, bills and more bills… a “grown up.” It’s hard to explain, but lately, I’ve been looking around thinking, is this it? Is this all that there is for the rest of my life?

Don’t get me wrong, I love my life! I have a great husband and we have a great relationship. He is my best friend. I have a wonderful, supportive family that is always there for me. I live in my dream house in a great neighborhood with awesome neighbors. I have a college education that has led to a career that I enjoy and is really perfect for me. I really have been blessed. But for some reason, it still feels like there is something missing... I’ve just been really confused. Basically, I feel like I need a change.

Not a lot of people know this, and I’m not sure why I’m sharing in such a public method, but one change that I’ve been wanting for almost a year now has been to start a family. This is very strange because Chaz and I have always planned on waiting until we were at least 30 to start a family. I never really felt ready for kids. I was always scared of kids, and frankly, I still am a little scared. But suddenly, at the end of last summer (2009), it just clicked that I was ready to have a baby.

Chaz, however, was not on the same boat. He wanted nothing to do with kids. Those first few months were spent with a lot of arguing between us, and a lot of tears from me. I just couldn’t understand how he couldn’t want the same thing I did. We had always wanted the same things. And I hated the fact that I couldn’t change his mind. I had already stopped trying to prevent a pregnancy, if you know what I mean, and this did not make Chaz happy.

But eventually, things settled down between us. I cut back on how much I talked to Chaz about babies and baby making and basically anything baby related. But I think the amount I did talk about it helped Chaz become more comfortable with the idea. I think he accepted that it was something I was ready for and he wouldn’t be able to change my mind. We are both so stubborn… So basically, as long as I didn’t admit that we were “trying,” then we were doing just fine.

But to me, we have been trying. I’ve been trying. I’ve been taking my vitamins. I made Chaz start taking vitamins. I’ve used ovulation kits. I pay attention to cycles and certain times of the month. I’ve even called my doctor (they won’t see me until we’ve been trying one year). I’ve taken pregnancy tests. But it’s been 10 months now, and still no positive result. This has been incredibly frustrating. Especially when it seems like everyone I know already has kids or is pregnant. I’m not sure why they feeling is so strong, but for some reason, my biological clock is ticking very, very loudly!

So, that’s where things are right now with starting our family. Basically, nowhere. I really thought getting pregnant would be easy. How many times have I heard “All it takes is 1 time.” Apparently that’s only true for the 16-year-olds on MTV. I know that it’s only been 10 months. I know of other people who have been trying longer than us and haven’t had good news to share. So for now, I’m just settling with what is going on. I can’t control this (which I hate). So I’ve just got to go with the flow. The plan is to keep trying, and if nothing happens, see my doctor in September (I’ve already got the appointment scheduled).
So, starting a family is a change I’m ready for, but I can’t control when it will happen. So, the second change that we’ve been working on this past week has been a geographic change.

Chaz and I decided this week that we want to move somewhere that stays warm year round. Somewhere tropical. Somewhere near the beach. So, we began looking at possibly moving to Hawaii, specifically the island of Oahu. I know, it seems far-fetched. It seems impossible. But we both know that life is too short to not try something new, try something crazy. If we didn’t like it, we could always move back home. So, we researched jobs. We looked into places to rent or buying a condo. I started getting my resume ready. We did this same research for other areas of the country, including Sarasota, Florida, the Florida Keys, and southern Texas.

And most importantly, we made an appointment with realtor to check out our current house to see how the process would work to get it on the market.

That’s when this new idea of change was shot down. Of course, everyone knows about the current housing market. The values of homes have gone down. And unfortunately, that includes our house… At best, we’d be able to list our house at the same price we owe on it, so we aren’t quite to an upside-down mortgage yet. But we are pretty darn close. I had figured that our home value was down, but it’s still disappointing to hear it from a professional. That doesn’t leave us anything for a down-payment on a condo, or for moving expenses.

So for now, we are putting this new idea on hold for a year. We are going to work on paying extra towards our mortgage and prevent it from getting upside down. We are going to build equity the old-fashioned way.

My need for change has still not been satisfied. I’m not sure what I plan to do. And my little quarter life crisis continues… Chaz suggested a hobby. I might try making jewelry. I’m not really sure.

In the past I’ve tried basket making. I took a few classes through the community education Tri-Ace. I also took a Zumba class with my mom. And Chaz and I took a ballroom dancing class. I’m also taking a Marketing class as a pre-req for my MBA. But all this hasn’t filled the void I feel.

I will be on the planning committee for the AHA Start Heart Walk beginning later this April. So maybe that will satisfy my need for something more.

I will also try to blog a lot more! Hopefully my future blogs won’t be so depressing!