A Good Day

I'm pretty fortunate. I come from a very close knit family and I have a great relationship with my sister. I've been kind of on my own a lot the last several days and was itching for some sisterly fun! Lucky for me my sister, Amy, knows her way around a kitchen and is quite the crafter. What a great person to have around as I attempt to make some progress in the crafting and cooking department!

When I got married a few years back, I registered for and received a bunch of fun small kitchen appliances. My kitchen was quickly filled with all sorts of goodies...food processor, griddler, immersion blender, mandoline slicer, etc, etc. Cool, right?! Ummmm yeah, only if you have a clue how to use any of those things or the patience to read the manuals. Which of course I did not. So yes, these small appliances were all shoved into my corner cabinet and never touched. It was my "I have absolutely no clue how to use those things" cabinet. Instead of figuring out how to use those things, I manually did everything instead. Let me tell you, if something in the kitchen is supposed to take 5 minutes, it takes me triple the time. At least. A normal person would say forget taking the time to do everything by hand and use that time to learn the darn appliances. Have I mentioned that I put everything off and am a HUGE procrastinator?

So anyway, my wonderful and very patient sister came over and decided to break open the cabinet to teach me how to use my food processor. HELLO!!! Who knew that thing did about 100 fancy tricks?! Geeze, if I would have known it chops, purees, shreds, etc, I would have been all over that two years ago (ok, maybe not, but we can pretend). We (she) made some yummy chicken club salads with a creamy avocado dressing (thank you food processor!). Definitely a keeper. Now, let's see how long until I use that darn thing again.

After making lunch, we decided to forgo staying inside to watch the possible tsunami hit (yes, we are strangely and not so embarassignly obsessed with natural disasters)and instead took my nutty dog, Jamie, for a long walk. She had a blast and loved prancing around in the deep snow. She's a cold weather dog so playing in the snow is her version of heaven. Following a brief glance at CNN (the tsunami was not near as bad as anticipated-don't get me wrong, this is a good thing!), Amy busted out her digital scrapbooking materials and got to work craft-ifying me. I made a scrapbook page from my honeymoon in Hawaii and really enjoyed the process and how "simple" it was. I have tons of real scrapbook stuff, but it's such a pain in the butt to drag it all out and make such a mess, only to have to put it all away and start all over the next time. Digital scrapbooking is much easier and less messy! Now that I've invested $100 in photoshop, digital scrapbooking here I come. :)

It's nice to have a sister who's a jack of all trades! Hoping she rubs off on me a bit.

A Little About Me

Hello! My name is Sarah. I'm 28 and live in the south suburbs of Chicago. I've been married to my best friend for almost two years. So crazy how time flies by! I can't believe that two years ago I was planning our wedding and house hunting. Life is good and I'm lucky to be where I'm at and to have people in my life that I love.

I'm a teacher and I love my job. I teach blind and visually impaired kids and babies. I'm one of the lucky few teachers out there who has had the chance to bounce around a bit to test the waters on different teaching jobs. Funny enough, I'm back teaching where I originally started my first job and things are great. The grass isn't always greener on the other side and I'm thankful that I was able to find that out for myself!

My husband and I live in a cute little house in a quaint and quiet part of town. It has that small town atmosphere but is a short drive to the nearest Target. Everyone needs a little Target in their lives! Can't forget to add the other love of my life, my dog Jamie. She's part malamute, part lab and the best little buddy to have around. My husband, Matt, is a teacher and varsity baseball coach. He works incredibly hard and tends to get home later in the evening. Although I prefer to come home to Matt, coming home to my pup is the next best thing. It's a win, win situation either way. I'm guaranteed a kiss hello, no matter which one I come home to! :)

I love setting goals, making plans, writing lists and organizing. Nothing makes me happier than a happy, peaceful and organized house to come home to. I have all of these lofty plans, but follow through isn't exactly my stength! If someone was to ask me what kinds of things I enjoy spending my time doing, I'd list off running, reading, knitting, scrapbooking, taking pictures, working out and doing community service. I'm a bit of a poser. I admit it! I'm what I like to call a dabbler. I dabble in this and I dabble in that. I'm a master of nothing. I know I have it in me. It's just a matter of creating some goals, a plan and finding things that I love and interest me.

Stick around a bit and maybe you'll see me spring into a jack of all trades and a master of many! Orrrrrrrr at least maybe you'll get a good laugh at my attempts.